10 Jul Lordship Title of Heywood or West Waltham ID1511
Posted at 20:04h
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The manor of WEST WALTHAM or HEYWOOD, the estate of the abbey of Waltham Holy Cross, co. Essex, in White Waltham, may perhaps be identified with the 30 mansas at Waltham granted by King Edmund in 940 to his thegn Æfsige. If so, these must have been acquired in the next century by Earl Harold, who granted 'West Waltham' to the church which he refounded at Waltham in Essex in 1060. The canons were despoiled of much of their property by William I, and in 1086 their estate in White Waltham was held by the Bishop of Durham. It was possibly restored to them, as was other land of which they had been robbed by Walcher Bishop of Durham, in the reign of Henry I, for a charter of Henry II confirmed West Waltham in Berkshire to the canons. Richard I granted them the liberty of inclosing their woods of Witeparroch (White Paddock) and Heywode with a hedge and ditch. A charter of 1227 gave licence to the canons to take the hare, fox and wood cat at West Waltham. In 1275 it was deposed that the abbot had assize of bread and ale and that he had put up gallows in Heywood and hanged a woman thereon without warrant. The Abbot of Waltham was returned as one of the three holders of the vill of White Waltham in 1316. In 1339 Nicholas de la Beche, the governor of the Tower, sent an order to the abbot to deliver six oaks fit for timber from his wood of Heywood for works in the Tower. After the Dissolution the manor of Heywood was granted in 1541 to John Norreys of Fyfield, usher of the black rod, who died in 1577. His son William Norreys of Fyfield died seised of the manor in 1591 and was succeeded by his son John Norreys. In 1606 Sir John Norreys settled his property in White Waltham and Shottesbrook on himself for life, with remainder to his wife Margery, then his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Lord Erskine in tail. Lord Erskine was created Earl of Kellie in 1619. Sir John Norreys died in 1612 and the Countess of Kellie in 1621, her uncle Edward Norreys being her heir. The latter seems to have released his right, and in 1623 Thomas Earl of Kellie together with Sir Peter Vanlore and his wife Jacquetta (cf. Smewyns) conveyed the manor to Dame Elizabeth Craven, Sir William Whitmore and Sir Edmund Sawyer. Sawyer, who was one of the auditors of the Exchequer, was holding in 1633, when he petitioned the Crown, setting forth that the privileges of cutting the woods, putting hogs therein, hunting, and freedom from foresters had appertained to the manor since the reign of Edward III, together with a liberty called 'Staffeherd' (keeping sheep on the waste), and that these had been taken exception to by the attorney-general, who had, however, maintained that a dinner for the officers at the Swanimote Court every third year and also a metehome yearly for the keeper of the bailiwick for the last-named liberty should still be continued. He petitioned for the liberty of 'Staffeherd' freed from the charge of the dinner. Sir Edmund Sawyer dealt with the manor by fine in 1651 and dying in 1676 was buried at White Waltham. He was succeeded by his grandson Edmund Sawyer, who married Mary Finch, and who died in 1698. The manor has since remained in the same family, its present owner being Mr. Edmund Charles Sawyer, who does not reside there.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes