10 Jul Lordship Title of Streatley ID1634
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In the time of Edward the Confessor STREATLEY was assessed at 25 hides. It was held of the king by Asgar the Staller, and was acquired after the Conquest by Geoffrey de Mandeville. It descended to his great-grandson William de Mandeville third Earl of Essex. His widow Hawise held the manor in dower, and in April 1200 she, together with her third husband, Baldwin de Béthune Earl of Aumale in her right, received a grant of 100 acres in Streatley quit of regard of forest. This land was to revert to Geoffrey Fitz Piers, the chief justiciar and fourth Earl of Essex, who had married Beatrice de Say, granddaughter of Beatrice de Say, who was aunt to the third earl. The Countess of Aumale died on 11 March 1213–14, and in 1218 Maud de Say, sister-in-law of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, sought against his younger son and ultimate heir, William de Mandeville sixth Earl of Essex, a moiety of the Mandeville inheritance, including half the manor of Streatley. The whole manor, however, was evidently included in the portion of the Mandeville inheritance retained by William de Mandeville, and in 1284 William de Say, the direct descendant of Geoffrey, younger son of William de Say and Beatrice de Mandeville, released all claim in Streatley to Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, the heir of Earl William. In 1222 the latter had rebuilt his house at Streatley. it was probably between this date and his death in 1227 that he enfeoffed his sister Hawise of the manor. She married Reginald de Mohun, lord of Dunster (co. Somers.) and chief justice of the forests south of Trent. He had licence in 1233 to cut oaks in his wood at Tymeworth for his house at Streatley. He survived his wife, and during his lifetime the manor was held by William le Fleming, who was evidently a sub-tenant, probably for life only. In 1260 William le Fleming impleaded Nicholas and Richard de Hanreth for beating his carpenter Walter Samnel at Streatley Manor so that he died. John de Mohun, grandson and heir of Reginald and Hawise, had evidently succeeded William le Fleming before September 1273, when he was impleaded by Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, son and heir of Maud, another sister of William de Mandeville sixth Earl of Essex, concerning a messuage and 3 carucates of land in Streatley. The plea was adjourned till Easter 1274, and in the meantime the parties came to an agreement whereby the earl recognized the right of Mohun in the messuage and 3 carucates, and it was agreed that the whole manor (except a messuage with 1 virgate of land, and a fishery formerly held by William de Blewbury) should be held by the earl and his countess Maud for their lives of John de Mohun and his heirs by service of a clove gillyflower yearly. The manor was then to revert to John and his heirs to hold of the heirs of the earl by the service of £20 yearly and one-quarter of a knight's fee. The earl died on 24 September 1275. His descendants had some difficulty in securing the payment of the rent of £20 due from the manor. The knight's service due to them is recorded, until it was evidently vested in the Crown through the marriage of Mary daughter and co-heir of Humphrey twelfth Earl of Hereford with Henry, afterwards Henry IV, when it was attached to the honour of Wallingford. During the minority of John son and heir of John de Mohun the manor was apparently in the custody of Humphrey Earl of Hereford, son of the last-named earl, since in 1283 he was charged with withdrawing the service of his villeins there from the king's hundred, and in 1284 he acquired from William de Say the release mentioned above. This John de Mohun was summoned to Parliament as Lord Mohun in February 1298–9, and was in possession of Streatley in 1305, when he made settlement of the manor on the marriage of his eldest son John with Christian daughter of John de Segrave, lord of Segrave. In the time of John Lord Mohun, son and heir of John and Christian, the manor was held for a term of years by Walter de Chiriton, a citizen and merchant of London. Apparently he sublet to Robert de Chiriton, since it was against Robert that the Earl of Hereford brought a plea for rent due in 1349. The lands of Walter de Chiriton were seized for his debts to the Crown, and his interest in Streatley was granted to Sir John de Mohun in May 1357. He had entailed his reversionary interest upon his wife Joan and his heirs by her in 1348. He was in possession in 1372, shortly before his death, and in 1383 William son of Walter de Chiriton released all claim in the manor to William de Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and others, who were probably acting for the widow, Joan Lady Mohun. She had by Sir John Mohun three daughters, of whom one, Philippa wife of Edward (Plantagenet) Duke of York, was holding Streatley in 1428, and in 1431 conveyed to John Knight and others in trust. Probably her intention was to sell the manor. In 1437 her nephew and heir Richard Strange of Knockin, who became Lord Mohun upon her death, sold his rights to John Pury, evidently an agent for William de la Pole Earl, and afterwards Duke, of Suffolk. A rent of £20 reserved by Lord Strange was subsequently released by him to Pury and others, and in May 1443 John Knight released to De la Pole all his interest in the manor. He paid £200 for a further assurance of his title from Lord Strange and his second wife Elizabeth about 1449. He was in possession of Streatley in May 1450, when he fell a victim to the popular fury during Jack Cade's rebellion. Settlement had been made on his wife Alice, who survived until 1475. By the attainder of their grandson John Earl of Lincoln, slain in the insurrection of 1487, the manor was forfeit to the Crown, and in April 1488 it was given by Henry VII to Robert Staunton, one of the squires of the body, for life. In the following March grant was made to George (Stanley) Lord Strange, who had married Joan granddaughter and ultimate heir to the Richard Lord Strange who had sold his rights in 1437. His son Thomas Earl of Derby pledged this manor to the Crown for payment of his debts, and it was also security for sums due from his son Edward Earl of Derby, including a fine due for the occupation of the Isle of Man. Ferdinando his grandson, Earl of Derby and lord of the Isle of Man, died seised of the manor 16 April 1594, and his brother and heir male sold it to Richard Lee in 1596. Henry Samborne the elder with his son Henry, afterwards knighted, purchased the rights of Richard Lee and also those of Henry Hurlowe and his wife Margaret in 1606. They afterwards acquired from the Crown the reversionary title contingent upon the failure of the heirs male of George Lord Strange, and in 1637 Sir Henry let the manor on a ninety-nine years' lease to John Warner, Dean of Lichfield. The manor descended in the Samborne family with Moulsford (q.v.), and in 1668 both were purchased by Anthony Libbe of Hardwick (co. Oxon.) As in the case of Moulsford, it was divided into several portions early in the 18th century. One moiety was acquired by the Rush family. In 1719 Samuel Rush the younger and his wife Sarah and Richard Butler and his wife Mary conveyed to John Shepherd and John Rush a messuage, lands and fishery in Streatley. John Rush became Sheriff of Berkshire and was knighted in 1724. He held a moiety of the manor and lived in Streatley. He was succeeded by his son Samuel, who died in 1774. John Rush, his successor, was dealing with a moiety of the manor in 1784–7. It was purchased from him or from some other member of the Rush family by Richard Palmer of Holme Park, near Sonning, who also acquired the remaining portions of the manor. One quarter had apparently been purchased in 1781 by his father, Robert Palmer of Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, from Joseph Bailey and his wife Martha. This was apparently the moiety with which Henry Bailey the elder and the younger were dealing in 1711. A portion of the manor had also been the property of the White and Predy families early in the 18th century. Richard Palmer sold the whole manor in 1804 to the trustees of Thomas Bowles of Milton Hill, then a minor. From him it has descended to his grandson Colonel Thomas John Bowles of Streatley, the present owner. The Earl of Hereford had free warren in Streatley in 1275. During the 18th century a free fishery was appurtenant to the manor, and a fishery was included in the lands conveyed to John Shepherd and John Rush in 1719. The existence of two fisheries had been recorded in 1086. Possibly the one is represented by a fishery held by William de Blewbury about 1272, which was excepted from the agreement between the Earl of Hereford and John de Mohun in 1273, and was apparently in the possession of the Aldrington family about 1362. It was settled on John Chilford and his wife Elizabeth in 1383, and was conveyed in 1407 to Thomas Attwater and his wife Joan by Richard Wyot and John Scot. Possibly this was the fishery of which Joan wife of Simon Raleigh died seised in January 1465–6. The second fishery was acquired by Goring Priory, and was probably appurtenant to its mills. A fishery at Streatley was conveyed with Basildon Manor to John Lambe and Edward Whistler in 1621–2. It was subsequently acquired by Edward Allen, and became attached to the rectory (q.v.). Richard Parsley and his wife Mary conveyed a fishery to Richard Novice and his wife Joan in 1633–4.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes