Lordship Title of Aldworth ID1343

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In the time of Edward the Confessor Edward held ALDWORTH as an alod from the king, and it was given by William the Conqueror to Theodoric the Goldsmith, who was holding it in 1086. The manor continued to be held of the king in chief by knight service, and is described as a member of the manor of Hampstead in the 13th century, when William de Sifrewast was in possession. William de Sifrewast held one fee in Aldworth, Hampstead (Norris) and Purley (in Chaddleworth), which he inherited from his father Halenath. In 1239 he leased Aldworth for twenty years to Ralph de Astin. At his death in 1244 the wardship of his heir was given to Bartholomew Pecche. This heir must have been the Nicholas de Sifrewast, afterwards Sheriff of Berks, and Oxford, who appears to have protected a highway robber who had stolen a mark from Roger the priest of Compton. In 1270 he conveyed the manor to Thomas de Clare, the king's secretary, retaining a life interest in it, but it remained only a very short time in Clare's hands, as in 1276 he exchanged it for other land with Robert de Mucegros, to whom it was confirmed by the Crown in the same year. Robert died in 1281, when 'the manor of Hampstead with the members of Aldesworth and Compton' was assigned in dower to his widow Agnes de Mucegros. Hawise, her daughter and heir, married John de Ferrers, lord of Chartley, and after his death before 1336 she married secondly John de Bures, whom she predeceased, and who held the manor until his death in 1350. Aldworth then reverted to Hawise's grandson and heir John de Ferrers, whose father Robert had fought at Crecy and died in 1350. John came of age in 1353 and married Elizabeth daughter of Hugh de Stafford, first Earl of Stafford, and widow of Lord Strange. After his death in 1367 his widow, who married Reginald de Cobham as her third husband, held the manor till her death in 1375, when she was succeeded by her son Robert de Ferrers, who afterwards married Margaret daughter of Edward le Despenser. He died in 1413, in which year his son Edmund granted the manor to his mother Margaret Edmund fifth Lord Ferrers dying in 1435 was followed by his son William, whose property passed on his death in 1450 to his only daughter and heiress Anne, then eleven years old, but it is probable that the manor was included in a conveyance of Hampstead made by William Lord Ferrers in 1450 to Sir Edmund Hungerford, John Norreys and others. The next definite reference to the manor is in 1542, when Sir John Norreys settled it upon Elizabeth his wife with certain remainders. Sir John died in 1565 and was succeeded by his brother Henry, who became Lord Norreys of Rycote. The latter was followed in 1601 by his grandson Francis, son of William, who had died in 1579. Francis was created Earl of Berkshire in 1621 and died in 1623 from self-inflicted wounds consequent on a supposed slight from Lord Scrope. The manor had been settled upon an illegitimate son Francis Rose alias Norreys, afterwards knighted, with reversion to Elizabeth daughter and heir of Francis first Earl of Berkshire. Francis Rose, however, does not seem to have entered into possession of the manor, as in 1624 it was in the hands of Elizabeth, Baroness Rycote in her own right, and her husband Edward Wray, and apparently continued with their descendants. Their daughter Bridget married as her second husband Montague Bertie, and their son James (who was Lord Rycote in his mother's right) succeeded his father in 1666 and was created Earl of Abingdon in 1682. He died in 1699 and was succeeded by his son Montagu. On his death in 1743 without issue the title and estates went to his nephew Willoughby Bertie, who dealt with the manor of Aldworth in 1731 and 1745 and sold it in 1756 to Richard Palmer of Sonning, whose son Richard was holding it in 1804. In 1812 it was purchased of the trustees of the will of Richard Palmer by John Berkeley Monck, who was succeeded by his son John Bligh Monck, and he again by his son William Berkeley Monck, the father of Mr. George Stanley Monck, the present owner.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes

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