10 Jul Lordship Title of Leckhampstead ID1541
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As we have seen, the tenant at the time of the Domesday Survey was Reinbold or Raimbald, who was a son-in-law of Rainald the abbot. Soon after the Survey was taken he had a dispute with the abbot, and while the suit was being tried he fled secretly to Dover and passed over to the court of the Count of Flanders, under whose protection he placed himself, leaving his sureties to pay the fines for his nonappearance. The abbot then took the lands into his own hands, to which Ralph, the justiciar, took exception, whereupon the abbot excommunicated all those who should deprive the abbey of their property at Leckhampstead. Shortly afterwards he leased Leckhampstead to Hugh de Dun for £20, but in 1100 there seems to have been a dispute with the king as to the tax from the abbey for this manor in lieu of military service, and Hugh, while retaining an interest in the manor for himself and his successors, assigned it to the king. When the bailiff of the abbey, Motbert, heard this he used his influence with Robert the elder, Count of Meulan, paid the £20 required, and then granted the manor to be held by knight's service to Herbert, chamberlain and treasurer of the king. Early in the reign of Henry I the abbey had considerable trouble with its military tenants, who desired to shake off the monastic yoke, and none more so than Herbert the Chamberlain. He restored several manors that he held, but endeavoured to retain Leckhampstead free of all service to the monastery, but failed in his endeavour. Herbert the Chamberlain died about 1129, and was succeeded by his son Herbert, who is said to have married Sibil, Adela or Lucy, daughter and co-heir of Robert Corbet of Alcester, and mother by King Henry I of Reynold de Dunstanville Earl of Cornwall. On his death, which occurred before 1155, he was succeeded by his son Herbert, who rendered account for half a mark in respect of this manor in 1166–7, and was holding it between 1175 and 1190. In 1195 he leased 5 carucates of land here to Osbert son of William, which he sold to him in 1199, while the king granted 8 acres of assart to Richard, Osbert's son, a few years later. Herbert married Lucy daughter and co-heir of Miles Earl of Hereford, and died before June 1204, when the manor passed to his widow in dower. In 1217 it seems to have been seized by Richard son of Reynold Herbert's son, but the king ordered him to restore it to the abbot. At the death of Lucy the manor passed to her son Peter, who had a park here, and received for it from the king 4 April 1228 six does from the royal forest at Marlborough. In 1232, like his predecessors, he had a dispute with the abbot, who proceeded against him for scutage which he had failed to pay. He married as his first wife in 1203 Alice daughter of Robert Fitz Roger or Sibil daughter of John Dynaunt, and afterwards Isabel sister of Henry de Ferrers and widow of Roger de Mortimer. He died in May 1235, and was buried at Reading Abbey, being succeeded by his son Herbert. The manor of Leckhampstead seems to have been held in dower by his widow Isabel, who is described as Isabel de Mortimer, and was the inheritance of Herbert the son of Peter. Herbert died in May 1248 and was buried at Reading, and as he left no heir the manor passed to his brother Reynold, who obtained possession of it on the death of his mother about 1252. Reynold obtained a grant of free warren here in 1257, and was holding the manor in 1275–6. He died seised of it in 1286, when it passed to his son John, then aged thirty. John, who died in 1309–10 leaving a son Herbert, had, before his death, demised the manor to Piers Gaveston, who on 19 May 1308 granted it to the king. It was, however, regranted to the favourite on 9 June the same year, with free warren added on 12 June. On 31 March 1311 Gaveston leased the manor for life to Robert de Sapy at the rent of a sparrow-hawk, having, it was stated, unjustly disseised John's heir Herbert. Robert de Sapy was holding the manor in 1328 when Eleanor, the widow of Herbert son of John son of Reynold, endeavoured to obtain a third of the manor which had been settled on her at her marriage. It would seem that in 1291 Herbert had married Eleanor daughter of Roger le Rous, and that on that occasion John had settled the manor upon them. Herbert had died on 25 June 1321, having omitted to establish his claim against Piers Gaveston, and in 1328 his widow was claiming her dower. The suit lingered on for some time, and the king ordered that judgement should not be given without his consent. In 1332 Herbert's son Matthew claimed the remaining two-thirds, also the third for which his mother was pleading, but, as the king claimed the reversion by the grant from Piers Gaveston in 1308, judgement was postponed. The king had evidently determined not to relinquish the reversion to a manor which he had acquired however unjustly, and in 1336 he ordered the justices not to decide the case in favour of Matthew, as he had granted his right in the manor to Sir Nicholas de la Beche. Sir Nicholas did not, it would appear, feel equally confident of the security of his title, for the following year he came to terms with Matthew, who signed the necessary conveyance at Newbury, and acknowledged the same in the court of Chancery on 12 March following. In 1338–9 Michael de Penynges and others, probably the trustees of Nicholas's wife, conveyed all their rights in the manor to Nicholas and his wife, who seem to have held the manor jointly. The manor passed at the death of Nicholas in 1345, like the manor of Yattendon (q.v.), to his widow Margery, his brother Edmund, and, finally, to the heirs of his nieces, Joan wife of Sir Andrew de Sackville, Isabel wife of William Fitz Ellis, and Alice wife of Robert Danvers. In 1365 Sir Andrew sold his share to Ralph de Restwold and Thomas Hancepe. Ralph at once quitclaimed to Thomas, who sold it in 1371 to Sir Thomas de Coleshill, after which we hear no more about it. William Fitz Ellis's share passed in 1408–9 to William Bruyly and his heirs, while the share of Alice and Robert Danvers passed to their son Edmund Danvers, who died seised of it in 1381, when it was held of him by John Shortecombe. William Danvers son of Edmund held in 1428. His widow Joan afterwards held the manor with Thomas Hanne and Isabella his wife; the latter was probably the daughter of William Danvers. About 1446–7 they conveyed the manor to trustees of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, to whom in 1466 the heir of the de la Beche family quitclaimed all right. The duchess held the manor of Donnington (q.v.), with which Leckhampstead then descended. The later history of the manor is obscure. When the manor was in the hands of the Crown the queen granted the site of it to Giles Spicer and others in 1586, but in 1599 William Stepto, son of Isabel Stepto and brother of Thomas Stepto, sued Giles Spicer for the manors of Leckhampstead and Donnington. Richard Hatt was then stated to be the farmer of the manor under the Crown. The manor passed with that of Donnington to the Earl of Nottingham, and from him to John Mordaunt Earl of Peterborough and Elizabeth his wife, who sold the site in 1632 to Robert Awbrey and Charles Hamley. It is probable that the two latter were trustees of the Spicer family, for in 1743 a number of members of that family conveyed the site to John Line. In 1798 it was the property of William Hopson Goodenough. The manorial rights seem to have been purchased by the Nelson family, and attached to their adjoining manor of Chaddleworth. The Marquess of Downshire was said to have been the owner in 1839, but they have now lapsed.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes