10 Jul Lordship Title of Welford or Welford with Members ID1667
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A charter of Kenwulf in 821 purports to confirm to the abbey of Abingdon, amongst other property, lands at WELFORD with its members and Wickham with its fields, in like manner as King Ceadwalla had given them, but this charter, in the form that it has reached us, has been pronounced a forgery. In 949 King Edred granted to his servant Wulfric 13 'mansae' at Welford, which the latter gave soon afterwards to Abingdon Abbey, and in 956 King Edwin granted 22 'mansae' here to his servant Edric, which were also passed on to the same abbey. Both charters enumerate the bounds of the vill, which in both cases are nearly identical, though the second series apparently includes a larger area than the first. Many of the places thus mentioned can be located with fair precision, as they occur in the bounds both of Boxford and Leckhampstead, but none of the names are found existing at the present day. After the Conquest the abbey continued to hold the manor of Welford, which seems to have included the vill of Easton as well as the hamlet of Wickham, and the abbey is returned as holding it in the Domesday Survey. In 1107 King Henry I renounced his forest rights over the waste of this manor, and at the same time he granted the abbot permission to inclose and cultivate the waste and to recover fugitives. The manor was confirmed to the abbey by Pope Eugenius in 1146 and 1152, and in 1166–7 the abbey is found paying a tax of 2 marks in respect of this manor and Boxford. We have a list of the tenants about 1190, with the conditions of their tenure. The vill of Welford was held in demesne, 3 carucates belonging to the chamberlain of the abbey; four tenants paid rent and service and seven rent without service. There were twenty-three cottagers, two of whom paid rent, the others service. With its members it was at this date assessed at 27½ hides. There are various references to the abbey's lands here during the Middle Ages. The abbey is said in 1275–6 to have had free warren here by charter from King Henry I. During the greater part of the time the abbey farmed its land here by means of a bailiff. In 1528, however, they let the principal messuage, known as Farm Place, with all the demesne lands, for thirty-nine years to Joan Woodward, widow, and Thomas Woodward for a yearly rent of £16. In 1538 the abbey was dissolved and the abbot surrendered the manor and overlordship to the king, when a number of surveys were made to ascertain its value. The overlordship remained in the hands of the Crown, and was attached to the manor of Benham Lovell, while the overlordship of the vill of Easton was attached to the manor of East Greenwich. The vills of Welford and Easton, formerly the property of the abbey of Abingdon, remained with the Crown until 1546, when they were leased for twenty-one years to Sir Thomas Parry, kt., late treasurer of the king's household, and Anne his wife, the great trees and woods only being reserved. The manor was surveyed for the king by Roger Amyce in 1550, and in 1551–2 it was granted to George Owen, one of the king's physicians, but owing to the previous lease to Sir Thomas Parry the grant was afterwards annulled. Sir Thomas Parry died in 1560, when it appeared that he had been known also by the name of Vaughan. His wife, Lady Anne Fortescue, was the daughter of Sir William Rede, and had married as her first husband Adrian Fortescue. She died in 1585. Sir Thomas's heir was his son Thomas, then aged nineteen and a half years. The following year the queen granted to him the reversion of the lordship with remainder to his brother Edward. In 1580 Thomas Parry purchased certain lands nere from Edward Yate and Jane his wife, and in 1590 the queen granted the manor to him. In the same year he settled it upon himself and his wife Dorothy, and, failing their issue, upon his sister Muriel and her husband, Sir Thomas Knyvett, and their heirs, but the manor was resettled in 1615 to the use of Thomas Parry and his heirs. Sir Thomas Parry, who had been knighted, was ambassador in France and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. He died in 1616 seised of this and adjoining manors, when his wife Dorothy survived him, but under a settlement made in 1615 the manor passed to Sir Thomas Knyvett, grandson of Sir Thomas, who had married Muriel Parry, and John Abrahall, son of John Abrahall and Frances Parry. Sir Thomas left an illegitimate son Samuel, to whom he bequeathed by will a charge on the manor, but owing to the settlements already cited the heirs refused to consider this. In 1617 Thomas Knyvett and Sir Thomas, his father, conveyed their share in the manor to Sir Francis Jones, kt., and the following year John Abrahall and Dorothy his wife sold their portion to the same purchaser. Sir Francis Jones, alderman of Aldgate in the Haberdashers' Company, was a son of John Jones of Claverley in Shropshire. He was sheriff for the City of London in 1610–11 and lord mayor in 1620–1, and died at Welford in 1623 seised of the manors of Welford and Easton. In 1622 he had settled this estate upon his son Abraham Jones of the Middle Temple and Susan his wife, and to them the manors descended. In 1626 Abraham Jones with Susan his wife conveyed the manor to trustees, and died in 1629 seised of both manors, which passed to his son George, then aged four. George died without issue before 1647, when his mother Susan, who had married again, with William Hinton her second husband and William Jones her eldest surviving son, conveyed the manor to George Cure, apparently in trust. Both she and her son William died, the latter without issue, before 1664, when we find her third son, Richard Jones, in possession of the estates. Richard married Anne daughter of Robert Mason, Recorder of London, and died in 1664, when the manor passed to his only daughter Mary, aged five. Mary married John Archer, son of Sir John Archer, kt., justice of the Common Pleas, and in 1682 he and Mary his wife conveyed these manors to trustees. Mary died in 1702, leaving the estate to her husband, who died soon afterwards, when his property passed to William Eyre of Highlow and Holne, Derbyshire, who had married Eleanor the daughter of Sir Walter Wrottesley, bart., and of Eleanor sister of John Archer. On inheriting the estate William Eyre took the name of Archer, and with Eleanor his wife conveyed the manor to trustees in 1709. He married as his second wife Susanna sister and heir of Sir Michael Newton, bart., and died in 1729, when his estates descended to his eldest surviving son John. In 1784 John with his wife Rosanna conveyed the estate to trustees, and he died in 1800, when his estates passed to his only daughter Susanna, who had been married in 1770 to Jacob Houblon of Great Hallingbury, Essex. In 1809 she assumed her grandmother's name of Newton, and died before 1822, when her son John Archer Houblon was in possession of the manor. John Archer Houblon married Mary Anne Bramston, and at his death in 1828 his property in this parish passed under his will to his youngest son Charles Archer Houblon, who was holding it in 1828. Charles Archer Houblon married firstly, in 1835, Mary Anne daughter of General Popham, who died in 1855, and afterwards Louisa Randolph. In 1831 he took the name of Eyre and died on 22 July 1886, when the estate passed to his eldest son George Bramston Eyre, born in 1843. He took the name of Archer-Houblon on inheriting the Hallingbury estates from his uncle in 1891, and is the present possessor of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes