10 Jul Lordship Title of Swallowfield ID1644
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Before the Conquest the manor of SWALLOWFIELD was held in alod of King Edward the Confessor by Sexi. In 1086 it was said to be held by the king himself in demesne. It is, however, recorded in the Hampshire Domesday that Gilbert de Breteuil (Breteville) was holding Bramshill and Stratfield Mortimer' with the king's manor of Swallowfield,' although the hundred declared that Swallowfield never belonged to either Bramshill or Stratfield. It seems possible, therefore, that the manor was granted after the Conquest to William Fitz Osbern Earl of Hereford, lord of Breteuil, 'dapifer' to the Conqueror and seneschal of Normandy, and that he enfeoffed his retainer Gilbert de Breteuil (possibly identical with the Gilbert Fitz Turold who is associated with Fitz Osbern in Herefordshire), and that after the forfeiture of Earl Roger, William's son, in 1074 Gilbert de Breteuil continued to hold the manor of the king. In 1166 Swallowfield was held with Shinfield by William Earl of Warwick, and the overlordship remained with his descendants, in whom was vested also the overlordship of Great Bramshill, held by Gilbert de Breteuil in 1086. The manor was held of the Earls of Warwick by the St. Johns as early as 1166, for in that year William de Newburgh declared that Swallowfield and Shinfield, which ought to be in his demesne, were held by Thomas de St. John and his mother, who were not rendering service for them. In 1265 the representative of this family was Roger de St. John of Lagham (co. Surrey), who was killed fighting for the barons at Evesham. The manor was then granted to Roger de Leybourne, but was recovered by the St. Johns under the Dictum of Kenilworth, and John de St. John, Roger's grandson, died seised of it in 1316. John de St. John, his son and heir, settled it in the same year on himself and his wife Margery and his heirs. He was succeeded in 1323 by his son, also called John, who died in 1349, leaving as his heir his son Roger who held the manor under settlement made in 1342 on himself and his wife Joan. He conveyed the manor to Thomas de Colney, by whose brother and heir John it was surrendered to the Crown. In 1353 Richard de Colney, the kinsman and heir of Thomas, recognized the king's right to it, and in 1357 Joan the widow of Roger de St. John and her husband released their right to the king. Early in the year 1354 the king sent workmen to Swallowfield to repair the houses, inclose the park and till the fields. In 1355 the manor with all its issues except the king's stud was granted to the king's daughter Isabel for life. The king was himself there in July 1361. In the next reign the manor was held by Queen Anne, and after her death it was granted in 1394 to Sir William de Arundel for life, on whose death John Duke of Bedford, third son of King Henry IV, received a grant in fee. He died at Rouen in 1435, leaving as heir his nephew King Henry VI. The manor was granted for life by King Edward IV in 1471 to his brother George Duke of Clarence. The third which Jacquetta Duchess of Bedford had held for life was granted in 1479 to her daughter Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Richard III granted the manor during pleasure to William Tirwhitte. In 1509, on the accession of Henry VIII, the king granted Swallowfield to Catherine of Arragon in dower for her life, and it formed part of the dower of the successive wives of Henry VIII. In 1553 the manor was granted in fee to Christopher Littcott, who had already in 1542 had a lease of the mansion-house called Swallowfield Park and of the fulling-mill. He died in 1554. The manor was heavily mortgaged by John Littcott, his son, and was finally acquired by Samuel Backhouse, merchant of London, Sheriff of Berkshire 1598 and 1601, M.P. for Windsor 1603 and 1611. He died in 1626, his wife Elizabeth surviving at Swallowfield. He was succeeded by his son John, who married an heiress, Flower or Flora Henshawe, and was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I. He was a Royalist, and his estates were sequestrated and according to the inscription on his monument erected by his widow in Swallowfield Church he was imprisoned. He died in 1649, and was succeeded by his brother William, 'a most renowned chymist and Roscicrucian, and a great encourager of those that studied chymistry and astrology. He was the inventor of the way-wiser, a kind of pedometer or machine attached to a coach by means of which the distance it travelled could be determined. He died in 1662 and was succeeded by his daughter and only surviving child Flower, who married as her second husband Sir William Backhouse, bart., Sheriff of Berkshire in 1664, who died in 1669. She afterwards married Henry Hyde Viscount Cornbury, K.B., eldest son of Edward Hyde Earl of Clarendon, who succeeded to the earldom in 1674. Lady Clarendon was governess to the Princess Anne. She died in 1700 and the earl in 1709; they were succeeded by their son Edward Hyde, third earl, who before 1718 sold Swallowfield to Thomas Pitt, late Governor of Madras, commonly known as 'Diamond Pitt,' who died at Swallowfield in 1726. His son Robert, the father of William Pitt, Lord Chatham, succeeded, but only survived his father one year, and was followed by his elder son Thomas, who suffered a recovery of the manor in Hilary term 1738–9 preparatory to a sale to the executors of Dame Isabella Dodd, widow, evidently for the benefit of John Dodd, her son, who was dealing with the manor in 1763 and 1767. He entertained largely at Swallowfield, being the friend of Dr. Thirlby, Whaley, Lord Granby and Horace Walpole. He was Lieut.-Colonel of the Berkshire Militia and was tried by court-martial in 1762 on the complaint of William Mackworth Praed for unsoldierlike behaviour, but was acquitted with honour. He was also M.P. for Reading. He died in 1782 and was succeeded by his son Colonel John Dodd, who in 1783 sold Swallowfield to Sylvanus Bevan, a partner in the bank of Barclay, Bevan & Co. The Bevan crest, a griffin, appears on the stone mantelpiece in the hall. Mr. Bevan sold the manor in 1788 to Timothy Hare Earle, of Moor Place, Hertfordshire. He died in 1816 and was succeeded by his son Timothy Hare Altabon Earle, who sold the manor to Sir Henry Russell, bart. After a distinguished career at the bar and as Chief Justice of Bengal, Sir Henry returned to England, became privy councillor, and settled at Swallowfield. At his death in 1836 he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Henry Russell, bart., who had spent some time in India and was an authority on Indian affairs. He died in 1852, leaving two sons, Charles and George. Sir Charles Russell, third baronet, of the Grenadier Guards, who won the Victoria Cross in the Crimean War, was M.P. for Berkshire. Being unmarried at his death in 1883, he was succeeded by his brother Sir George Russell, fourth baronet. He married Constance daughter of the late Lord Arthur Lennox, authoress of Swallowfield and its Owners. Sir George Russell had a distinguished career at the bar, was M.P. for the Eastern Division of Berkshire and Deputy Lieutenant for Berkshire. He died in 1898 and was succeeded by his elder son, Sir George Arthur Charles Russell, fifth baronet, the present owner of Swallowfield. As early as 1323 there was a park at Swallowfield, the pasture and pannage being worth 30s. per annum. When Swallowfield came into the king's hands he reinclosed the park and turned it into a studfarm. Numerous grants of the keepership of the park occur during the next two centuries, the office being held with that of bailiff of the manor. Before 1542 the land had been disparked, although the house and surrounding lands still retained the name. These lands consisted of 30 acres of pasture called Newlands, 24 acres of pasture in a corner of the park called Martyns Corner, other pasture and a meadow called Park Mead near the park. In 1778 the disparked land had been partly turned into arable.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes