10 Jul Lordship Title of Remenham ID1594
Posted at 20:05h
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The manor of REMENHAM, which was held in the reign of Edward the Confessor by Queen Edith, was included among the king's lands at the date of the Domesday Survey. (fn. 5) The assessment had fallen from 12 hides to 4 hides. There was a mill worth 20s. and 1,000 eels. The manor was apparently granted by the Crown at an early date to one of the Earls of Warwick, possibly to Henry de Newburgh, the first earl, who received lands in Warwickshire from William II about 1090. It is found held under the Earls of Warwick by the family of Montfort. Thurstan de Montfort was holding fees of the old feoffment under William de New burgh in 1166, and about the same date made payment at the exchequer in regard of his lands in Remenham. The next tenant of whom we have record is Thurstan de Montfort, grandson, according to Dugdale, of the first Thurstan, whose lands were in the king's hands in 1216, including the advowson of Remenham Church. Peter son of Thurstan held 'one fee in Ramenham' under the Earl of Warwick. He was killed at the battle of Evesham in 1265, and left three sons, Peter, William and Robert. A settlement seems to have been made on the second son William, who was holding the manor in 1308. William was succeeded by Robert, son of Sir Robert de Montfort, who in 1310 conveyed the manor of Remenham (then held for life by Henry de Malyns) to Henry de Ernesfast. This was possibly a quitclaim in favour of Peter de Montfort, brother of John de Montfort, head of the elder branch, the Montforts of Beaudesert, for Peter de Montfort held the manor in 1313, when he settled an annuity of £50 'issuing from his manor of Ramenham' upon John his illegitimate son and Thomas de Ilmington, on condition that they resided there or elsewhere according to his wishes. In 1349 Peter de Montfort settled the reversion of the manor on John for life, with remainder to his own legitimate son Guy de Montfort and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, and contingent remainder to the Earl of Warwick. Guy died without issue before his father, and apparently the manor was entailed by a later settlement on John de Montfort, for William, son of his son Baldwin, was holding Remenham in 1408, and in 1425 was defendant in a suit concerning the diversion of a water-course in Remenham to the damage of a freehold in Hambleden (Bucks.). In 1450 he conveyed the manor to his second son by his first wife, Richard, rector of Ilmington (Warwick), for settlement on himself for life, with reversion to Edmund, his only son by his second wife Joan de Alderwiche, to the disinheritance of Baldwin, his eldest son and heir. William died in 1452, his eldest son Baldwin being his heir-at-law. The feoffees of William, by way of strengthening Edmund's claim, enfeoffed Humphrey Duke of Buckingham of the manor. The reversion of his Warwickshire lands, failing his own issue, Edmund settled on the Duke of Buckingham and his heirs, whereupon the duke seized both Bakdwin and his son Simon, imprisoned the one in Coventry and the other in Gloucester, and by threats compelled them to release the estates to Edmund. After the attainder and death of the Duke of Buckingham Baldwin made a final effort to regain his estate and obtained the insertion of a clause in the Act of Attainder safeguarding the rights of his son Simon to this manor. In 1471 he executed a document setting forth the pressure which had been brought to make him repudiate the entail of the estates and declaring the validity of the entail made by William on himself and his heirs. Edmund, however, appears to have been holding the manor in 1479. It is not clear what then happened to it. Baldwin entered holy orders and died in 1493. Simon was attainted in 1496, and Coleshill, his Warwickshire manor, was granted shortly afterwards to Simon Digby, but it does not appear that any grant was made of Remenham, although the manor seems to have been in the king's hands in 1498–9. Possibly Simon de Montfort's widow Anne was the Anne Preston who with her husband John released the manor in 1503 to Richard Bishop of Winchester and other trustees for Sir Reynold Bray. A quitclaim was made to the same by William Norreys, but how he acquired any interest is also not clear. Bray died without issue the same year. His niece and heir Margery married Sir William Sandys, and the manor was assigned to them at the partition of his lands between Margery and her cousin Edmund Bray in 1510. Sir William Sandys, for his military services, was created Lord Sandys de Vyne in 1523. He was succeeded on his death in 1542 by his son Thomas, who made a settlement of the manor in 1550, and died circa 1560, leaving his grandson William as his heir. The latter, who suffered a recovery in 1599, apparently conveyed the manor to Miles Sandys, father of Edwin Sandys, the husband of his daughter Elizabeth, for Miles Sandys died seised of it in 1601. His heir was his son Edwin, who was dealing with the manor together with William Lord Sandys in 1607. The latter suffered a recovery in 1608, and apparently a settlement was made on his son William Sandys, for in 1612–13 he conveyed the manor to Sir Richard Lovelace, afterwards Lord Lovelace of Hurley. The manor followed the descent of Hurley (q.v.) until the death of John Lord Lovelace in 1693. He died heavily in debt, and in 1695 Sir Henry Johnson, executor of Lord Lovelace, and Martha his wife, daughter of Lord Lovelace and administratrix of Anne and Katherine Lovelace her sisters, were paying off debts due on account of the manor to Sir William Whitlock and others, apparently mortgagees. The heirs of Lord Lovelace eventually parted with the manor, which in 1723 was held by Bulstrode Whitlock of Phyllis Court, Oxon. He by indentures of 1723 and 1724 conveyed Remenham Farm and the park or ground called Remenham Park, then held by Anne Whitlock, widow, as part of her jointure, and the manor of Remenham to Gislingham Cooper. Lysons's statement that the manor was acquired by Lord Archibald Hamilton is unsupported by evidence. It seems more likely that it descended from Gislingham Cooper to Dr. Cooper, who according to Lysons sold it about 1760 to the uncle of Strickland Freeman of Fawley Court (Bucks.), lord of the manor in 1813. His heir was William Peere Williams, Admiral of the Fleet (grandson of Mary Freeman, sister of John Cooke Freeman of Fawley Court), who took the name of Freeman on inheriting Fawley Court. He died in 1832. His grandson and heir William Peere Williams Freeman dealt with the manor in 1833 and sold it to Dudley Coutts Majoribanks, afterwards created a baronet. Sir Dudley Coutts Majoribanks sold it in 1871 to the Right Hon. William Henry Smith, who in 1891 was succeeded by his son Viscount Hambleden of Greenlands, Hambleden.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes