06 Jun Lordship Title of Cockayne Hatley or Bury Hatley or Hatley Port ID13749
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No tenant of the overlord is mentioned in Hatley at the time of the Survey, but members of the family of de Port seem to have established their position as lords of the manor in the twelfth century. In 1197 Adam de Port confirmed the gift of the church to Newnham Priory, and again in 1231 he received the grant of half a virgate of land in Hatley, from Ellen, daughter of Agnes of Hatley, whilst in 1277 William de Port was in possession of the manor. This manor passed from the de Ports in the last decade of the thirteenth century to Roger Bryan, who acquired from William de Port 70 acres of land in 1294, a carucate of land, 8s. rent, and a messuage two years later, and finally, in 1298, lands, rents, a messuage, and a mill. Joan, daughter of Roger Bryan, married John d'Argentein, who was holding the manor in 1308, and from him it passed to his daughter, Joan wife of Ralph Butler, whose heir was her nephew Edward Butler, who came of age in 1360. He made various settlements of the manor, and finally in the year 1417 sold it to John Cockayne, chief baron of the Exchequer, for 1,000 marks. From this family, who continued to hold the manor in an almost unbroken line of succession from father to son for more than 300 years, Hatley acquired the prefix Cockayne. Reginald son of John Cockayne succeeded his father in 1427, and held the manor till his own death in 1433, when the estate passed to his son John, who died in 1492. His son Edmund appears to have left two sons, Humphrey, who died in 1515, the same year as his father, and William, to whom the estate, being entailed on male heirs, then passed. Chad Cockayne, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Luke, chief baron of the Exchequer, succeeded to William in 1527, and his son John held the manor in 1595. In 1625 Lewis Cockayne made a settlement of the manor on the occasion of the marriage of his son John to Susan Field. He, however, died without issue, and the manor passed to John Cockayne, son of his brother Richard, who succeeded his grandfather Lewis before 1663, in which year he attained his majority. He married Elizabeth daughter of Sir Richard Cust, and died in 1719, leaving a son Richard, who died in 1731, having survived all his children. He had one brother, Samuel, with whom he appears to have been on unfriendly terms, for in his will he left him the specific sum of one shilling, and the estate of Cockayne Hatley to his second cousin, Judith Cockayne, with the condition that she should marry a man of the name of Cockayne. Samuel Cockayne, as lineal representative, threatened litigation, but a compromise was effected in 1733, by which Judith in return for £1,000 gave up the estate to Samuel. At his death in 1745 Samuel left a will under which the Cockayne Hatley estate passed to his cousins by the mother's side, the descendants of his grandfather, Sir Richard Cust. Saville Cust, who adopted the additional name of Cockayne, accordingly succeeded to the manor in 1745. He never married, and the estate passed to his nephew Francis, who died unmarried in 1791, being succeeded by his youngest sister Lucy, sole survivor of the family. She, as last surviving tenant in tail mentioned in the will of Samuel Cockayne, had power to disentail the estates. This power she exercised by settling them on her nephew Brownlow Lord Brownlow, with remainder to his second son Henry Cust, and his sons in succession. On the death of Lord Brownlow in 1807 the estate passed to Henry Cust, who was holding in 1857. In 1852, on the death of Henry Francis Cust, his eldest son, the estate was disentailed. Cockayne Hatley manor was subsequently sold to Mr. Bradshaw, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Lomax, who now owns the property.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No