Lordship Title of St Thomas Chapel or Meppershall ID1275

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There was a manor in Meppershall, known as ST. THOMAS' CHAPEL MANOR, which belonged to the priory of Chicksands, and in 1285 Edward I granted to the priory free warren in their demesne land of Meppershall. In 1291, the value of this holding in Meppershall amounted to £10 13s. 6d., and their possessions were afterwards increased by various grants. Early in the fourteenth century, the prior borrowed a sum of money from John Puisaquila of Genoa, a citizen and merchant of London, and demised to him and one Bartholomew Reckey for their lives, and to their heirs for twenty years after their deaths, the manor called St. Thomas' Chapel in Meppershall, together with Hawnes Grange for an annual rent of £200. By a subsequent agreement John and Bartholomew annulled the deeds of the demise of the manor on payment of £1,200, and having received £300 as the first instalment, they released to the prior their right and claim in the manors in 1325. In 1330 the prior, called upon to show by what right he claimed free warren and view of frankpledge over tenants in Meppershall, produced the charter of Edward I, and on payment of 1 mark he was confirmed in the same. When the lands of the monastery were taken into the king's hands at the Dissolution, the priory of Chicksands had possessions in Meppershall to the value of £15 10s. The manor was leased for a short time to Henry Stringer, and in 1542 Henry VIII granted it to Sir Henry Grey of Wrest and Anne his wife. The manor remained in the family of the Greys for 167 years. After the death of Sir Henry, it passed to his son Henry, whose two elder sons died without issue, and the youngest son, Charles, inherited the manor. At the latter's death in 1623 his son Henry succeeded him, but died without issue in 1639; the manor then passed to Henry's sister and co-heir Susan, who had married Sir Michael Grey Longueville. Their eldest son Charles died in 1643 without issue male and the manor was inherited by the younger son Grey Longueville. In 1678 Grey Longueville died, and by his will, left the manor to his wife Lucy for two years and then to his sons. The elder son Grey died without issue, and the manor descended to the second son Henry, who left it at his death in 1705 to his wife Anne and their son Grey; Anne and Grey sold the manor in 1709 to Christ's Hospital, London, in whose possession it still is.
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