Lordship Title of Hungerford Engleford ID1516

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One hide of land at Hungerford afterwards known as the manor of HUNGERFORD ENGLEFORD was held between 1204 and 1208 as a quarter of a knight's fee by John Belet, who was also holding land in Inglewood in the parish of Kintbury (q.v.). It seems to have passed with the land in Inglewood to Richard de Polhampton, who was holding land in Sandon in 1316. Margaret, Richard's widow, died in 1331 holding tenements in Sandon jointly with her son Edmund. He died in 1353 seised of lands at Hungerford, which he had held jointly with his wife Emmeline, who received possession of them in 1354. Richard, their son, granted land in Hungerford in 1364 to Edmund de Childrey, and from Edmund these lands seem to have passed, like the manor of Balsdon in Kintbury (q.v.), to Elizabeth the wife of William Darell, who with her husband was holding lands here in 1422. William Darell sold the estate to Sir Walter Hungerford in 1429. Sir Walter received a grant of the manor of Hungerford some years later, and this manor passed with it until the death of Robert second Lord Hungerford in 1459, when Hungerford Engleford passed to his widow Margaret Lady Hungerford and Botreaux. She granted it in 1470 to Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Many of the family estates were restored by Henry VII to Sir Walter, second son of Robert third Lord Hungerford, and passed to his son Sir Edward, who died in 1521. Edward's son Sir Walter is described in 1529 as esquire of the king's body. he was summoned to Parliament as Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury in 1536, and was executed on 28 July 1541, when he was attainted and his estates forfeited. His son Walter obtained a reversal of the attainder in 1543–4 and the manor of Hungerford Engleford was granted to him and his wife Anne in 1558, with remainder in fee-tail to his brother and sisters. Sir Walter died without male issue in 1596, and the manor passed to his brother Sir Edward, a gentleman pensioner to Queen Elizabeth. He died childless in 1607, when the property descended to his great-nephew and adopted heir Edward Hungerford. He, who became a knight of the Bath in 1626, held it until his death in 1648. He also died childless, and the manor passed to his brother of the half blood, Anthony Hungerford of Black Bourton, who was succeeded in 1657 by his son Sir Edward, known as the Spendthrift. Sir Edward was holding it in 1674 and 1686, and at his death in 1711 it seems to have passed to another member of the family, Sir Giles Hungerford of Coulston, Wiltshire, who was a party to a settlement in 1674. Sir Giles's only daughter and heiress Margaret married Robert Sutton, second Lord Lexinton of Aram, who died on 19 September 1723, leaving an only daughter Bridget, who married John Manners Marquess of Granby, afterwards Duke of Rutland. John and Bridget sold this manor in 1720 to Thomas and Edward Snow. It would seem, however, that the manor was purchased soon afterwards by a William Hungerford, who sold a messuage in Hungerford in 1724 to John Hungerford, one of the cursitors of the Court of Chancery. John died in June 1729, leaving by his will dated 24 May 1729 all his real estate in trust for Mary his wife. This she held until her death on 2 February 1739, after which litigation ensued with regard to a bequest by Mr. Hungerford to King's College, Cambridge, and by order of the Court of Chancery the property, including this manor, was sold in 1743 to Matthew Loder, a surgeon of Thame, Oxfordshire. By his will dated 31 May 1762 and proved 21 November 1763 Matthew Loder left to Samuel Smith, the husband of his daughter Frances, his manor in Hungerford, to go after the death of Samuel to the latter's son Loder Smith. Samuel Smith, who lived at Lacock, Wiltshire, renounced his right in his estate in 1771 in favour of his son Matthew Loder Smith, who was a surgeon in Hungerford, and sold the manor in 1811 to John Pearce. Soon after this the common fields of Hungerford were inclosed, and all manorial rights disappeared, but the capital mansion, still known as the manor-house, now belongs to the South Berks. Brewery Company.
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