10 Jul Lordship Title of Stratfield or Mortimer or Stratfield Mortimer ID1633
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The manor of STRATFIELD was held in parage by Cheping and Edwin in the time of Edward the Confessor, and belonged in 1086 to Ralf Mortimer, whose descendants held it in chief of the Crown until the accession of Edward IV. Ralf was still living in 1104, in which year he was in Normandy, acting as a zealous partisan of Henry I. He was succeeded by his son Hugh, who probably died about 1180, as his debts to the Crown were charged against his son Roger in 1181. Roger died in 1214 and was succeeded by his son and heir Hugh, who held the manor in 1225 and died in 1227, leaving as his heir his brother Ralf. Ralf died about 1246 and was succeeded by his son Roger. Roger was still living in 1280, in which year he successfully claimed rights of hunting and free warren in Stratfield by a grant of Henry III. Roger died about 1283 and was succeeded by his son Edmund, who in 1297 obtained licence to settle the manor of Stratfield Mortimer as dower on his wife Margaret. In 1300, however, he demised land at Stratfield and elsewhere to the value of £120 yearly to Geoffrey de Geynvill and Maud, Geoffrey's wife, in payment of his debts. Edmund's son Roger, created Earl of March in 1328, was the well-known opponent of the Despensers; he was executed in 1330, when his manor of Stratfield Mortimer was granted as dower to Queen Philippa. Afterwards it was restored to his son Roger, who granted it (inter alia) to William Bishop of Winchester and others to hold for eight years by payment of a rose and of a yearly rent at the expiration of that term. They, however, quitclaimed all right in it to Edmund son and heir of Roger in 1360, and restored it to the hands of the king to hold during his ward's minority. In 1366 Edward III granted it with Wokefield and other manors to Edmund to hold, until his coming of age, by the annual payment of £33 6s. 8d. In 1373 Edmund demised the manors of Stratfield and Wokefield to the Bishops of London, Winchester and Hereford, Sir Roger de Beauchamp and John de Bridwode for their lives, with reversion to himself and his heirs. He died in December 1381, leaving as his heir Roger, his son by Philippa daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence. This Roger was proclaimed by Richard II heir-presumptive to the throne in the Parliament of October 1385. He accompanied Richard to Ireland in 1394 and was killed in battle at Kells in 1398. His son and heir Edmund was imprisoned on account of his claim to the throne at the accession of Henry IV, who in June 1403 granted the manor of Stratfield Mortimer during pleasure to his son John of Lancaster, created Duke of Bedford in 1414. It was afterwards restored to Edmund, who dealt with it by fine in 1415. He had been released on the accession of Henry V, two years earlier, when he was still under age. He was sent to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant in 1424, and died there early in the year following. His heir was his nephew Richard Duke of York, the son of his sister Anne wife of Richard Earl of Cambridge, who held it in 1428 and in 1440, in which year he obtained a grant of freedom from purveyance. On the accession of Richard's son and heir Edward to the throne the manor of Stratfield Mortimer passed to the Crown, and was granted to the king's mother, Cecily Duchess of York, in 1461, as part of her jointure. This grant was confirmed by Richard III in 1484. Henry VIII, as son and heir of Elizabeth of York, succeeded to one-third of the property, and in 1511 he obtained from the other two daughters and co-heirs of Edward IV, Katherine Countess of Devon and Anne wife of Sir Thomas Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, a grant of the remainder. The manor formed part of the dower of Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr, and remained with the Crown until 1559, when Queen Elizabeth granted it to Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon. In 1564 Carey obtained leave to alienate Stratfield Mortimer to William Marquess of Winchester. His descendant John Marquess of Winchester acquired Englefield and the manor has since that date followed the descent of Englefield (q.v.).
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes