10 Jul Lordship Title of Princes Harwell or Upper Harwell ID1587
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PRINCE'S HARWELL, or UPPER MANOR (Principe Harwell, xvi–xvii cent.; Prince's Harwell, xvi–xix cent.), was parcel of the fief known in the 13th and 14th centuries as the honour of St. Valery. A great part of this honour was bestowed by William I upon Robert Doyley, who granted two-thirds of the tithe from his manor of Harwell to the college of St. George, which he founded in 1074 in Oxford Castle. He gave the honour, evidently including Harwell, to his sworn comrade Roger d'Ivry, whose son Roger had two distinct holdings in Harwell in 1086. The one was held directly of the king, and had belonged before the Conquest to a freeman, Ulvric; the other, held under Edward the Confessor by another freeman Achi, was of the fee of Earl William in 1086. To these Roger had added Eling, near Hampstead Norris, and the profits of view of frankpledge there still pertained to Harwell in 1279. Roger d'Ivry the second was succeeded in England by his brother Geoffrey, who is said to have died childless. His fief was acquired by John St. John, from whom descended the family of St. John of Stanton St. John. Between 1149 and 1151 it evidently passed to Reynold de St. Valery, whose son Bernard married a certain Avoris, who may possibly have been the daughter of John St. John. This Bernard de St. Valery or his son of the same name had succeeded to Harwell in or before 1167. His lands were seized by the king and given into the custody of Hugh de St. Germans about 1172. He accounted for them until 1178. They were probably recovered by Bernard in return for the manor of Wolvercot (co. Oxon.), and were confirmed to him by Richard I. He was succeeded by his son Thomas about 1193. For some time from 1195 onwards his lands, including Harwell, were in the hands of the king. A part of his land in Harwell was given to William de Lacell, and subsequently committed to the Bishop of Winchester. About 1200 Thomas de St. Valery had apparently recovered his lands, and in March 1200–1 he was commissioned by King John 'to do what harm he could' to the Court of Eu. In 1205, however, his fief was in John's hands as 'land of the Normans,' and he paid 1,000 marks to recover it in 1209. He died in or before January 1218–19, when William son of Ellis and Roger le Buc received the custody of his lands. In the following February they were restored to Robert Count of Dreux and his wife Annora daughter of Thomas de St. Valery. Subsequently Henry III seized them again as land of the Normans, but agreed to pay the count 200 marks yearly until they should be restored. They were still in the king's hands in 1230, and in 1228 he had prayed the men of the count to aid Richard Earl of Cornwall in his service. The whole honour of St. Valery in England, including Harwell, was subsequently granted to the Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans. He died seised of Harwell Manor in 1272 and was succeeded by his son Edmund, who died childless in 1300, whereupon the honour of St. Valery passed to Edward I as his cousin and heir. Harwell was assigned in dower to Margaret de Clare, widow of Edmund Earl of Cornwall, but in November 1312 Edward II granted it to John Comyn in consideration of the services in Scotland of his father John Comyn the Red, murdered by Robert Bruce. John Comyn the younger was slain at Bannockburn, and his widow received Harwell for the maintenance of herself and her son Aymer Comyn. In 1316, however, Edward II granted the manor for life to his niece Margaret widow of Piers Gaveston, compensating Margaret Comyn with an annuity of £30. In 1318 the manor was resumed by the Lords Ordainers, but the grant was subsequently confirmed to Margaret Gaveston after her marriage with Hugh Audley the younger, and a reversionary grant was made in 1337 to Nicholas de la Beche in consideration of his services to Edward III and to the Black Prince. He obtained a surrender of their rights from Hugh and Margaret Audley. From Nicholas de la Beche the manor passed to his widow Margery, who surrendered her rights to Edward the Black Prince, to whom the remainder of the honour of St. Valery had been granted. In 1361 the prince had licence to endow with this manor the college of St. Nicholas, which he founded in Wallingford Castle. The college remained in possession until its suppression by Edward VI. In 1444 the tenants had a grant of quittance from the royal purveyors. In 1557, after the suppression of the college, Prince's Harwell was purchased from the Crown by John Thomson. It was subsequently acquired, probably by purchase, by John Loder, who may have been the successor of Richard Loder, tenant of the site of the manor in 1557. In 1577 he settled a moiety of the manor on his wife Agnes, upon whose death the whole was to descend to his younger son Robert in tail-male. John Loder died in 1579 and his son Robert on 9 February 1592–3. The manor passed to John Loder, yeoman, son of Robert, who died seised of it on 2 August 1595, leaving an infant son Robert, who had livery of it in February 1610–11. Robert Loder died at Harwell on 5 November 1638, and was succeeded by his son Robert. This Robert had a son John Loder, gentleman, who was of Harwell in 1643, when Charles I demanded from him a loan of £200 in plate or money for the support of the Royalist cause. John Loder afterwards moved to Balston Park. He presented to the vicarage in 1660. Thomas Loder, probably the Thomas who was eldest son of John, married Elizabeth eldest daughter of Sir Jonathan Raymond, kt., of Barton Court, near Hungerford, and Prince's Harwell passed to Sir Jonathan, who was dealing with it in 1695. It descended to his son Sir Jemmett Raymond, kt., who died in 1754, aged ninety-two, having bequeathed Prince's Harwell to his daughter Elizabeth, afterwards wife of the Rev. John Craven. Upon the death of the Rev. John Craven about 1800 the manor passed to Sir John Chetwode, bart., a descendant of Mary third daughter of Sir Jonathan Raymond, and his son Sir John Newdigate-Ludford-Chetwode sold it to Mr. John Lay, who was succeeded by his son the late Mr. John Lay, whose trustees are the present owners. The manorial rights have been allowed to lapse. In addition to court baron, Richard Earl of Cornwall had gallows and amendment of the assize of bread and ale in Harwell. Tallage was levied by the lord in the 13th and 14th centuries, and he held view of frankpledge. A capital messuage existed in 1349.
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