10 Jul Lordship Title of Colthrop ID1430
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The manor of COLTHROP has been identified with the Domesday manor of Crokestrope, which four freemen held of Edward the Confessor. The Count of Evreux held it in demesne in 1086, but if this entry in the survey refers to Colthrop he must have forfeited it not long afterwards. His other possessions in England he granted to the Norman priory of Noyon, but neither Crokestrope nor Colthrop is amongst the places enumerated in the charter of confirmation granted by his grandson Count Simon between 1140 and 1157. The manor of Colthrop, however, was in the hands of Henry I, who granted it at the same time as the manor of Aldermaston to Robert Achard. It was held of the lords of Aldermaston, the Achards and their successors the Delameres, until the 16th century, but the overlordship disappeared when the manor was released to Henry VIII by the under-tenants, the Warden and scholars of St. Mary's College, Winchester. R. son of Achard, apparently the original grantee, enfeoffed an under-tenant, Hugh Brittinolle, of Colthrop Manor to hold by the service of one knight's fee. The tenant in 1166 is not named, but the same family held it during the 13th century. William Brittinoile was lord of the manor about 1241, and it seems probable that he or his successor was holding it in 1263. William Brittinolle was overlord of certain land at Sandon near Hungerford, which followed the same descent, at this time. Sir William Brittinolle held this overlordship in 1294. Before 1298 Sandon had passed to Sir Richard Forkeram. The latter, or possibly his son Richard, was assessed at Colthrop for a subsidy about 1307. Sir Richard died before 1316, and two years later his son settled the manor of Colthrop on himself and his wife Isabel, with remainder to his son Robert and his wife Joan and the heirs of their bodies. Isabel survived her husband and afterwards married Richard Penlegh, and they were holding the manor in 1347–8 for the term of her life. The reversion of the manor belonged to John Fokeram of Thatcham, evidently a younger brother of the Robert Fokeram mentioned in the settlement of 1318. John granted his reversion in 1347–8 to Master Hugh Monington and four others, possibly in trust for Richard Penlegh and Isabel his wife, who were holding in 1349. There is nothing to show how long Richard and Isabel held the manor or whether the next change in ownership was due to an alienation of the manor or a marriage. In 1364 it was settled by Henry Aldrington and his wife Elizabeth on themselves for their lives with remainder to John son of Henry. Henry died before 1376, when Colthrop was held by Elizabeth Loveday, presumably his widow. Before 1392 she had married John Shilford, and in that year John Aldrington arranged the alienation of his manor of Earley Whiteknights to Shilford and Elizabeth and the heirs of Shilford. The following year Earley was settled on the Shilfords in fee-tail with remainder to Thomas Overey of London and his wife Constance and her heirs, but the relationship of Constance Overey to the Aldringtons or to Shilford does not appear. Probably a similar course was followed with regard to Colthrop, as in 1393 Overey and Constance quitclaimed the manor of Colthrop to John Shilford and his heirs. In 1402 John granted it to trustees, who conveyed it the same year to the Warden and scholars of Winchester College in frankalmoign, the overlords apparently remitting the military service due from Colthrop. Henry VIII in 1543 exchanged certain lands of Hyde Abbey with Winchester College for Colthrop and other lands. Edward VI granted Colthrop, to hold by military service, in 1552, to Edward Fiennes, Lord Clynton and Say and Henry Herdson, the latter obtaining sole possession. Three years later Herdson sold it to Thomas Dolman and his wife Elizabeth, who also obtained the manor of Shaw in Donnington (q.v.). The Dolman family owned the manor until 1707, when Sir Thomas Dolman, kt., and his wife Dorothy sold it to Henry St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, who was then lord of the manor of Thatcham (q.v.) in right of his wife. It passed with Thatcham until the sale of Sir John Croft's estates in 1798, when Colthrop Manor was bought by John Brooke and Colonel Brooke. The former was the son of Sir John Croft's sister Frances, the latter the husband of her daughter. It was bought from the Brookes in 1801 by William Mount, and is now the property of his great-grandson Mr. William Arthur Mount, M.P., of Wasing. A several fishery was held by the lords of Colthrop in the 14th century, and in a rental of the manor made in 1547 four several fisheries are enumerated, one in the Kennet, two in Allforde's Stream and the fourth in the King's Stream alias High Stream. The right was mentioned in 1707. The first reference to the mill of Colthrop occurs in 1376, but the name of Humphery the Miller is found some seventy years earlier. It passed with the manor to Winchester College, and was leased with it in 1421 to John Godfader for ten years. Two mills were built in 1472 at Colthrop; the old corn-mill was presumably rebuilt entirely, while the second mill must have been the fulling-mill, which is mentioned in the subsequent accounts of the manor. Both were let at lease by the college, but in 1485 they appear to have been leased separately from the manor. The fulling-mill was leased by the Crown to Thomas White and his wife Agnes in 1540. It was not granted by Edward VI with the manor to Lord Clynton and Henry Herdson, but in 1557 Thomas Dolman, who had already purchased the manor, and presumably the corn-mill, appears to have purchased the fulling-mill as well. Colthrop Mill is mentioned in 1605, and in 1689 two corn-mills were included in a settlement of the manor, the fulling-mill having been probably converted after the decay of the cloth trade in the earlier part of the century. These mills were replaced by a paper-mill built on their site before 1799. This has been separated from the manorial estate, and is now the property of Messrs. Henry.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes