10 Jul Lordship Title of Sotwell or St Johns ID1616
Posted at 20:05h
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In its earliest history SOTWELL is identified with Brightwell (q.v.). King Eadred is said to have granted to the thegn Æthelgeard in 948 5 hides at 'Suttunwille,' with 5 at Mackney, and both portions of this grant appear to be included in 15 hides at 'Stottanwille,' which, according to the Liber de Hyda, were granted to him by Eadwy in 957 and bestowed by him upon Hyde Abbey at Winchester; but the Mackney portion passed with the other Brightwell lands to the bishopric of Winchester. In the Domesday Survey Sotwell is reckoned as 10 hides, which were held by the abbey of St. Peter, Winchester (Hyde), in demesne in the time of Edward the Confessor, and by Hugh de Port in fee of the abbey after the Conquest, when the value had increased from £8 to £12; also eight closes in Wallingford belonged to it. In 1347 it is described as 'held of the abbot of Hyde with suit at the king's hundred of Morton.' The abbot's overlordship is last mentioned in 1416. The manor was still held of the hundred of Moreton in 1494 and 1613. In 1615 the tenure was not known. Hugh de Port's interest in the manor apparently descended in the same way as West Shefford to Sir John St. John, who in 1277 granted it to Nutus Fulberti, a merchant of Florence, and Mary his wife, for their lives. Mary outlived Nutus, and was holding the manor in 1309–10, when she was disturbed in possession by Roger St. John. The manor had apparently reverted to John's son John St. John before 1316, and in 1327 he granted it for twenty years to Margaret widow of William de Bereford. The reversion passed with West Shefford until the death of Edmund St. John in 1347, when a third of Sotwell, part of which was held in dower by Alice widow of John St. John, then wife of Reynold Pavely, was granted to Elizabeth the widow of Edmund St. John as dower, and the manor was assigned to one of his sisters, Margaret wife of John de St. Philibert, who conveyed it in 1354 to Edward St. John. In 1364 Edward settled the manor on himself and his wife Joan and their issue, with remainder to Richard son of Richard Fitz Alan Earl of Arundel and Surrey and his heirs male. Edward evidently died childless, and the manor passed to Richard, who succeeded his father as Earl of Arundel in 1376. Richard was attainted and executed in 1397, and Sotwell was granted in that year to Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester. Richard had, however, granted it to his esquire, Thomas Parker, for life, the grant being confirmed by his son Earl Thomas, who must have had this manor restored, as he held the reversion at his death in 1415. Thomas Parker held courts from 1424 to 1426, but William Parker was holding the manor in 1428. The manor of Sotwell, called 'St. John's Manor,' soon afterwards passed into the possession of Sir Thomas Poynings, Lord St. John, overlord of Sotwell Stonor, and he, shortly before his death in 1428, granted it to trustees for his tenant Thomas Stonor. These trustees leased the manor in 1430 for ten years to John Pope. The two manors of Sotwell St. John and Sotwell Stonor having thus become united descended with Didcot (q.v.) to Sir William Stonor, who held them at his death in 1494. His daughter Anne brought them by marriage to Sir Adrian Fortescue. Sir Adrian was beheaded in 1539 and the manor passed to his daughter Margaret wife of Thomas Lord Wentworth. Her son Thomas Lord Wentworth conveyed it in 1562 to John Bolney and Ambrose Dormer. Bolney seems to have sold it to John Upperton, and in 1581 Thomas Upperton enfeoffed Edmund Fettiplace, who held it at his death in 1613. Two years later Sir Michael Moleyns of Mackney died seised of the two manors, which passed to his son Sir Barentine Moleyns, and from him to his only son Michael. He conveyed them in 1655 to Sir John Smith, kt., of Crabbet, Sussex, who appears to have died in or before 1682, when his son John Smith sold them to Ralph Whistler of Sotwell. Ralph Whistler died in 1684, leaving a sole daughter and heir Joan. She married James Stonhouse, son of Sir George Stonhouse of Radley, bart. James died before 1713, and in 1715 the manor was settled as jointure on Carolina Bullock on her marriage with James's son Richard. In 1763 Richard's son James sold the manor to James Hazel of Sotwell. He devised it in 1768 to his son William, who by his will in 1827 gave it to his son James for life and afterwards for sale. It was then purchased by John and Benjamin Hazel, brothers of the last-named James, and was by them devised to John Hazel, the son of their brother Robert Hazel of Harwell. He died in 1896, leaving his estate to his widow for life and afterwards to be divided among their children, and at the death of Mrs. Hazel in 1903 the larger part of the estate was sold to various purchasers, the Manor Farm and Stonor Hayes with the manorial rights being reserved to Martha Emily the daughter of the last John Hazel and wife of Mr. Richard Bradfield Lay, who is the present lady of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes