10 Jul Lordship Title of Bucklebury ID1402
Posted at 20:04h
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BUCKLEBURY was held by Edward the Confessor. William the Conqueror held it in demesne at the time of the Domesday Survey, and Henry I bestowed it on the abbey of Reading, though it is not mentioned in his foundation charter. The abbey held the manor in frankalmoign in demesne until its dissolution. Henry VIII granted it in 1540 to John Winchcombe, son of Jack of Newbury, the famous clothier. John Winchcombe attached himself to the king's service and rendered important services as confidential messenger to Miles Coverdale, who held a religious visitation of Newbury in 1539 and commended Winchcombe 'for his true heart towards the King's Highness.' On his death in 1557 he was succeeded by his son John, and his descendants in the main line continued to hold the manor and to reside at Bucklebury House. They appear to have been a short-lived race, for Henry, who succeeded to the estate in 1642, was fifth in descent from the original grantee. After the Restoration he obtained a baronetcy in 1661 from Charles II, but died in 1667, when he was succeeded by his son Henry, the second and last baronet. The latter died in 1703, and his property was divided among his three daughters and heirs. Bucklebury came to the eldest sister, Frances, the wife of Henry St. John, the famous Lord Bolingbroke. The latter seems at first to have been devoted to the place, writing in 1706: 'My stable is my great diversion in the country, and in the midst of business, Bucklebury runs in my head.' Swift visited Bolingbroke in the country and describes his life there: 'Mr. Secretary was a perfect country gentleman at Bucklebury; he smoked tobacco with one or two neighbours; he enquired after the wheat in such a field; he went to visit his hounds, and knew all their names; he and his lady saw me to my chamber just in the country fashion. His house is in the midst of near three thousand pounds a year he had by his lady, who is descended from Jack of Newbury, of whom books and ballads are written; and there is an old picture of him in the house.' Lady Bolingbroke appears to have conveyed her estate to her husband, but when, on the death of Queen Anne, he was forced to leave England, and afterwards attainted, it was reconveyed to her. Bolingbroke left many debts behind him, and she granted the manor to trustees for their payment, with remainder to her nephew Winchcombe Howard Packer, the eldest son of Mary, her sister and co-heir, thus preventing its seizure by the government, until the creditors were satisfied. By this means the trustees kept possession of the estate for several years after her death in 1718 and did much damage in cutting down trees. Bolingbroke returned to England, but the devastation at Bucklebury was continued in spite of the protests of Robert Packer in the interests of his son's inheritance. On Bolingbroke's second retirement abroad in 1735, Bucklebury Manor passed to Winchcombe Howard Packer, who was succeeded on his death in 1746 by his brother Henry John Packer. The latter died in 1746–7 and the manor went to Winchcombe Henry Hartley, son of his sister Elizabeth. He died in 1794 when Bucklebury descended to his son the Rev. Winchcombe H. H. Hartley (died 1832) and his grandson W. H. H. Hartley in turn. On the death of the latter in 1881 the manor passed to his co-heirs, but by an arrangement made in 1906 Mrs. Webley-Parry became sole lady of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes