10 Jul Lordship Title of Meppershall ID1194
Posted at 20:02h
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Previous Lords:
John's son and heir Ranulf was a minor at his father's death in 1230, and the king appointed Nicholas de Neville guardian until he should be of age. Ranulf died in 1262, and was succeeded by his son Nicholas, who was then twenty-two years old. Nicholas was stated in 1316 to be lord of Meppershall, and died three years later; his son Robert, who succeeded him, died in 1331, leaving a widow Sarah and a son and heir John. John was followed by his grandson, John son of Nicholas, who was only seven years old, in 1369. The custody of the heir and lands was granted at first to John de Elton, falconer, and in 1375 to John Basset. In 1386 John conveyed the manor in the trusteeship to John de Broughton and John Astwick, the former of whom was the father of his wife Katherine. John and Katherine had one daughter John, to whom the manor descended on the death of her mother in 1453, her father having died previously. Joan married first John Butler, by whom she had a son John, and took as second husband Henry Godfrey, by whom she had a son Richard. She died in 1460, and was succeeded by her son John Butler, who died in 1482, leaving two daughters, Florence Ashfield, widow, and Joan the wife of John Stanford. A partition of lands was made between the sisters, but Florence probably died without issue, as her share is found later as the property of Joan. John Stanford was the second husband of Joan, and by him she had a son John and two daughters, Elizabeth wife of William Cornwallis and Mary wife of George Harvey. By her first husband, John Leventhorpe junior, she had issue Thomas Leventhorpe. She died in 1489, and John Stanford her husband was seised of the manor for his life as tenant by courtesy. On his death in 1493 the manor came to his stepson Thomas Leventhorpe, son and heir of Joan Stanford. Thomas died seised of the manor in 1498, leaving a son John three years old. John conveyed the manor in 1557 to Richard West, evidently as trustee, for in 1574 Richard West conveyed the manor to George Leventhorpe son of John. George died in 1607, his son Thomas coming of age in February, 1609. Thomas died in 1620, and as his daughter and heir was only four years old, the estate was taken into the Court of Wards and Liveries. She obtained livery of the manor in 1633, when she was sixteen years old, but from this time onward the history of the manor becomes obscure. In 1651 the manor of Meppershall was conveyed to Richard Emery by Richard Stringer, husband of Ann Leventhorpe, Elizabeth Whitehead widow, and Judith Bulthan widow, uncle and aunts respectively of Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Leventhorpe. Elizabeth had probably died without issue, and the manor had passed to her aunts as her nearest heirs. Richard Emery left two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah, spinsters, who inherited the manor and who conveyed it by fine to Christopher Deane and Thomas Suckling in 1688 as trustees. The manor passed on the death of Elizabeth and Sarah to their aunt Frances Watson, widow, in 1697. It is next found in the possession of Henry and Elizabeth Birrell and Thomas and Charlotte Fulwood, who combined to sell the manor in 1744–5 to Bartlett Mason; Elizabeth and Charlotte were probably the daughters of Frances Watson, widow. In 1805 Thomas Poynter was in possession; and apparently the Poynter family had had the manor for about thirty-three years, having purchased it from the Fulwoods. Thomas Poynter left two natural children, daughters according to Lysons, who states wrongly that the manor was purchased from the Fleetwoods and not Fulwoods. In 1854 the manor was in the hands of the trustees of Mrs. Barbara Kane and Mrs. Pen Woodburn, and is so vested at the present day.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
No