10 Jul Lordship Title of Hurst or Whistley ID1520
Posted at 20:04h
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The earliest mention of the manor of WHISTLEY (Uuiscelea, x cent.; Wiselei, xi cent.; Wysseley or Whysshele, xiv cent.), later HURST alias WHISTLEY, is in the chronicle of Abingdon Abbey, wherein it is stated that King Edgar in 968 A.D. gave 10 hides in Whistley to his thegn Wulfstan, who conveyed it to the abbey. In the Domesday Survey it is enumerated among the possessions of the abbey, and mention is made of a mill worth 5s. and 250 eels and a fishery worth 300 eels. The manor was appropriated to the kitchen and remained with the abbey of Abingdon until its dissolution. The abbot had sometimes much trouble with his tenants and labourers on his manor. In 1393 the bondmen and bondage tenants withdrew their services from Peter, Abbot of Abingdon, and met in assembly and swore to refuse to render their accustomed services. Power was granted to imprison the delinquents. In the following year they were still contumacious. In 1396 the king gave a confirmation to the abbot of his rights and privileges, reciting the grant by Edgar to Wulfstan and a confirmation of Richard I. It appears that the foresters claimed a benefit of refreshment called 'Metehorn'—viz., a right to be supplied weekly with two repasts of food and drink for themselves or their servants, but the king released the lord from all such obligation. In 1538 Thomas, Abbot of Abingdon, delivered up the manor of Hurst with the other possessions of the abbey to King Henry VIII. Two years later the king granted it as the manor of Hurst alias Whistley to Richard Ward of Waltham St. Lawrence and Colubra his wife, daughter of William Flambert of Chertsey, serjeant-at-arms to the king. Ward was cofferer to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. He died in February 1577–8, his wife Colubra having predeceased him, and was succeeded by his son Richard, who was knighted at Reading in 1601. Richard Ward died at New Windsor in 1605, having bequeathed the manor to his greatnephew Richard Harrison and his nephew William Millward the younger. Katherine Millward and Anne Weldon, sisters and two of the heirs of Richard Ward, released their share in the manor to Richard Harrison in the same year. Harrison, who was knighted in 1621, resided at his manor-house at Hurst, and was a friend of Archbishop Laud, who several times mentions him in his Diary in 1625 and 1626 on the occasion of Laud's visits to Sir Francis Windebank at Haines Hill. He was M.P. for Wootton Bassett (1621–2), for Berkshire (1624–5 and 1628–9), and for New Windsor in 1640, and was Sheriff of Berkshire. He suffered greatly for his loyalty during the Civil War. He died in 1655 and was buried, as his will, dated 8 November 1654, directed, 'in that place in the chancell in Hurst heretofore by mee built, and neere to the sepulcher of the Lady Saville, my wives mother who lyeth interred there, as may be.' Sir Richard Harrison was succeeded by his son Richard, who was also a distinguished Royalist. Impoverished by his loyalty and his sacrifices made for the royal cause, he mortgaged the manor of Hurst Wynhurst alias Whistley in 1659 to Samuel Hyne, who paid £1,000 for that and other property at Finchampstead. Sir Richard Harrison was again in possession in 1672, when with John Harrison, LL.D., his son and heir, he made a settlement of the manor. In 1678 William Harrison, S.T.P., and his wife Dorothy were holding it, and William Harrison continued to hold it until 1694. The manor court was then held by George Harrison, presumably the son of William, who with Dorothy Harrison, widow, levied a fine of it in 1697. In 1700 the manor court was held by Catherine Harrison, widow (presumably of George Harrison), and in 1705 by Charles Willis and Catherine his wife. In 1711 the court is described as that of George Harrison, an infant in the custody of Dorothy Harrison, widow. The last court of George Harrison was held on 22 March 1719, John Dalby being steward, and in 1722 George Harrison and Sara Harrison alias Cornelius sold the manor and other property to John Dalby. Thomas Septimius (sic) Dalby, who succeeded, conveyed the manor in 1785 to Richard AldworthNeville, from which date it followed the descent of the manor of Hinton Pipard (q.v.). The manorial privileges included free fishing, free warren and view of frankpledge.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes