06 Nov Lordship Title of Netherdean or Overdean ID13893
Posted at 08:50h
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The earliest tenants of the property of whom record is found are the Cheyney family. In 1216 the Sheriff of Bedfordshire was ordered to cause Geoffrey de Gurdun to have full seisin of the land of John de Cheyney with appurtenances in Dean. Twelve years later seisin of the land of Nicholas Fitz Jocelin, a fugitive, was granted to Alexander de Cheyney, who is mentioned in the Testa de Nevill as holding a knight's fee in Dean. Alexander was succeeded by John de Cheyney, who was holding in 1284–6, and who in turn was succeeded by Bartholomew de Cheyney holding in 1302–3 and 1316. Between this latter year and 1330 the manor passed from the Cheyneys, for in 1330 John Warin of Dean made over his lands to Sir Ralf de Wedon, while the same year John Mayn and John de la Penne conveyed the manor of Dean to the same Ralf de Wedon, who was still holding in 1346 and whose heirs are recorded as holding in 1428. Two years later the name of Cheyney reappears in connexion with this manor, for in 1430 John Cheyney remitted to Thomas Broun, clerk, and Thomas Compworth all his right in the manor of Overdean. Broun and Compworth in turn granted it in 1434 to the master and college of Higham Ferrers. This college had been founded by Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the last year of the reign of Henry V. Overdean remained parcel of the possessions of the college until the Dissolution, when it was granted by the king to Robert Dacres, a member of his council. The manor place and demesne lands had been leased by the master of the college the previous year at a rent of £8. The Dacres family held the manor for more than 100 years. In 1610 Sir Thomas Dacres mortgaged it to the heirs of William Towse for £2,330. Sir Thomas Dacres died in 1615, and was succeeded by a son, also Thomas. This Sir Thomas, like his father before him, became Sheriff of Hertfordshire. He lived until 1668, but in 1648 he made over the manor of Overdean to his younger brother Edward. Edward Dacres had married Annabella widow of Sir Henry Atkins of Bedwell, and in 1658 his stepson Thomas Atkins is found associated with him in a suit concerning this manor. Thomas Atkins succeeded his stepfather, and continued to hold the manor until 1682, when he quitclaimed it to John Goodfellow. For the next 100 years the descent of this manor has not been traced. In 1722 and 1724 a Stephen Chase drew an annuity from this manor amounting to one-fifth of the value. In 1790 William Drury Lowe was seised of Overdean Manor, while four years later Francis Aickin and Eleanor his wife quitclaimed the same to Thomas Fairie and Matthew Hancock for £800. By the year 1800 the manor had passed into the possession of the St. John family, Lord St. John of Bletsoe owning at the present day.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No