15 Apr Lordship Title of Sotwell Stonor ID14206
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One hide in Sotwell was held by an unnamed tenant in 1086. In 1156 the tithe of the demesne of Matthew de Sotwell was confirmed to Wallingford Priory, and in 1246 John son of Matthew de Sotwell purchased land here of Joan wife of William de Leckyndon. In 1253 he witnessed a charter relating to Mackney. The manor then appears to have passed to the Mandeville family, for in 1283 John son of John de Mandeville sued his father's widow Clementia wife of Simon de Montalt for her dower, Sotwell eventually passing to her, and in 1290 John de Mandeville ceded to John St. John an estate in 'Scotewell' for which he received one red sparrowhawk, while he retained the other property there. It seems probable that this was the estate which became in the 14th century the manor of SOTWELL STONOR. This consisted of a messuage and a carucate of land in Sotwell, with a second carucate which is frequently described as in Sotwell, but is clearly identical with Slade End in Brightwell (q.v.). In 1354 and in 1362 the whole was said to be held of the Bishop of Winchester as of his manor of Brightwell by service of 12s., but in 1394 the one portion was a knight's fee held of the manor of Basing, and the other was held of the bishop. John de Stonor and his sons Henry and Edmund acquired this estate in 1342 of Henry son of Robert de Sotwell as two messuages and 2 carucates of land in Sotwell and Brightwell. In 1347 half a fee in Sotwell was held of the manor of Sotwell by John de Stonor, who in 1358 granted a piece of land here caHed 'Le Fyshpollondes' to John le Smyth and Matilda his wife and their son John for their lives. John de Stonor died in 1361, and this manor descended with Didcot (q.v.) until the two Sotwell manors became united about 1429. In 1156 the tithes of the land of Matthew de Sotwell were confirmed to the priory of Wallingford, and the temporalities of the chapel were charged in 1291 with a sum of 4s. to the Prior of Wallingford. In 1392 the prior acquired land of John Seward and John Wentwode. A lease of the estate was granted in 1508 to William Jener, and in 1516 to William Lyde or Luyde, whose widow Joan held it in 1550. The Sotwell estate was included among the possessions of the priory at its dissolution in 1528 and in the grant to Wolsey the same year. After his attainder it was granted in 1532 to the Dean and Canons of St. George's, Windsor, but the grant appears to have been withdrawn, for in 1554 it was granted to Thomas Everarde together with the manor of Aston Tirrold (q.v.). In 1550 a messuage and tithes in Sotwell were conveyed by Sir Humphrey Foster to his son William, from whom at his death in 1574 they passed to his son Humphrey. The subsequent history of the estate cannot be traced, but in 1842 William and John Tayler held jointly the priory farm, which they sold shortly afterwards to Mr. Edward Wells of Slade End in Brightwell (q.v.). The Sotwell Hill portion of the estate passed to his son Mr. Alfred Dodd Wells, the present owner, and the other parts were purchased by Mr. Edward Fairthorne, who left them to his niece together with his estate at Slade End in Brightwell (q.v.). Fisheries are named as belonging to the manor in the grant by John St. John in 1277. The 'fishpool lands' having been granted away from the manor of Sotwell Stonor in 1358, no further mention of them is found for a long period, but their history is traceable. Fisheries in the Thames were held with the manor of Rush and land in Clapcot and Sotwell called the 'cyte' by John James of Wallingford in right of Christine his wife at his death in 1396, passing to their son Robert. A fishery in the Thames, described as in Clapcot and Brightwell and other places, was held with the manors of Clapcot and Rush Court, and messuages in Sotwell and Brightwell by the Dynham family from 1547 to 1571, and conveyed by Thomas Bromley to Michael Moleyns in 1576. Free fishery in the Thames was among the rights conveyed with the manor of Sotwell by Sir Barentine Moleyns in 1616 and 1627. It belonged in 1687 to Sir Edmund Fettiplace, and passed in 1770 from Richard Boycott to William Blackstone. His grandson William Seymour Blackstone sold it about the middle of the 19th century to Thomas Powell, of whom it was purchased in 1880 by Mr. Howard Wells of Sotwell, who again sold it in 1903 to Mrs. Frances Haggie of Shillingford Court (Oxon.), with whom it remains.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes