10 Jul Lordship Title of Hertoke or Ashridge or Hartoak ID1510
Posted at 20:04h
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The manor of ASHRIDGE or HERTOKE, with which the hundred of Ashridge descended, is locally situate in Berkshire, but from an early period was regarded legally as in the county of Wilts., and with the hundred was appurtenant to the manor and hundred of Amesbury. The hundred included portions of Wokingham, Hurst, Shinfield and Swallowfield. The origin of this legal and territorial anomaly may possibly be due to a transference of lands in Berkshire acquired by the Longespees, Earls of Salisbury, from the jurisdiction of the Berkshire County Court to their county of Wilts. and their hundred of Amesbury. Since these Berkshire manors were so far from Amesbury, the creation of a local subhundred with a court at Hertoke or Ashridge would have been not unlikely. In the late 15th century and probably before, a court with a view of frankpledge was held at Hertoke, where the tithings of Farley and Great and Little Sheepbridge in Swallowfield, Odes, Broad Hinton, Hinton Hatch and Hinton Pipard in Hurst, Didenham in Shinfield, Buckhurst in Wokingham, and Beche, probably in the same parish, were all represented. Ashridge or Hertoke Manor proper would seem to have originated in an assart of Windsor Forest. A tract of 300 acres of woodland described as lying in Hurst was held in demesne by the Earls of Salisbury after they had granted to sub-tenants lands in Hinton, Sheepbridge and elsewhere. In 1281 an inquest was held to find whether it would be to the king's damage for the Earl of Lincoln (who then held Ashridge in right of his wife) to bring 100 acres of it into cultivation. The jury returned that Ashridge lay between the Bishop of Salisbury's wood of Bisshopesbere and the Bishop of Winchester's wood of Billingbear, and that when the king hunted in the district he generally went through Ashridge Wood, so that the cultivation would be a damage. It was also deposed that the inhabitants of the royal vill of Binfield had common of pasture in Ashridge Wood. In 1400 a steward of the hundred was appointed by the Crown during the forfeiture of John Montagu Earl of Salisbury. Through the marriage of Alice Montagu with Sir Richard Nevill the manor and hundred passed to the Nevills, afterwards Earls of Warwick, and later to the Crown. In the reign of Henry VII the hundred and manor are found as part of the duchy of Lancaster, and the frankpledge court, as already stated, was then held at Hertoke. The main value of Ashridge and Hertoke was in the woodland attached to the manor, and in 1526 Richard Turnour, clerk of the Privy Seal, was appointed bailiff and wood-ward of the hundred of Ashridge in the earldom of Warwick. By 1561 wood in the hundred and lordship of Ashridge had fallen to the queen, owing to the escheat of one Blackman, and in 1593 timber from the Ashridge woods was assigned for the repair of ships in the royal navy. The manor of Hertoke and hundred of Ashridge remained in the Crown until 1604, when James I granted them as part of 'Warwick's and Spencer's lands' to Philip Tise and William Blake, who conveyed them to Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear. Nevill before his death in 1615 granted 'the manor of Hertoke and the ground called Ashridge' to Sir Ralph Wynwood and Sir Maurice Berkeley in trust for the payment of his debts and for providing for his children. He, however, died seised of the manor of Hertoke, the hundred of Ashridge and the great wood of Ashridge in 1615 and was succeeded by his son Sir Henry. At some proceedings taken against Sir Henry Nevill, Humphrey Newberry and others for encroachment on Windsor Forest a few years later it was deposed that Ashridge was not part of the forest of Windsor. The lands claimed by Sir Henry Nevill were Broad Ashridge, Blare Close, Foxleyes, Herne and Rylands. He disclaimed any title to the lands called Ashridge, Rowgrove and Sellgrove, which he said his father had conveyed to Sir Ralph Wynwood, kt. It was deposed also that the land called Ashridge was included in the parish of Hurst by the parishioners in their perambulations, and moreover that 'a great letter H is here made in the ground upon the outbounds of the said wast ground called Ashridge neare to a place called Julian Taylors Crosse.' According to another inquisition the lands called Ashridge lay in Hurst and Wokingham and contained 530 acres. The hundred of Ashridge and the manor of Hertoke alias Ashridge followed the descent of Billingbear Manor in Waltham St. Lawrence, and are now held by Lord Braybrooke.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No