09 Sep Lordship Title of Hungerford ID14275
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HUNGERFORD, though it does not appear in the Domesday Survey, certainly existed under that name at the beginning of the 12th century, and was probably separated from Kintbury before the middle of the century, when Robert Earl of Leicester gave land in the soke of Hungerford to the nuns of Fontevrault. Robert was succeeded in 1168 by a son Robert, surnamed Blanchmains, who is thought to have been a leper; he married Parnel, said to be daughter and co-heir of Hugh de Grentmesnil. In 1173 he took the part of Prince Henry against Henry II and was taken prisoner; his lands were for a time confiscated and seem to have been let to farm by the Crown, for in 1172–3 the sheriff rendered account in respect of them. The following year the men of Hungerford owed 26s. 8d. for the farm of the township, and again the same sum in 1174–5, but Robert was restored in 1177. He set out for the Holy Land in 1190 and died on the voyage. His son Robert, who succeeded, was surnamed Fitz Parnel from his mother. He died childless in 1204, and his widow seems to have held this manor in dower until her death, which occurred before 1208, for in 1205 she received permission to sell timber from her estates here. At Robert's death the reversion of this estate passed to his nephew Simon de Montfort, the son of Simon de Montfort Count of Evreux, and Amicia, Robert's sister and co-heir. For some reason he was unable to take possession of his estates at once, and they were held in 1205, apparently on his behalf, by his uncle Saher de Quincey. Simon was confirmed as Earl of Leicester in 1207, and then took possession of the estates attached to the earldom; he was deprived of them in the same year, but they were restored to him in 1215. He was succeeded in 1218 by his son Amauri, who resigned the earldom and estates in June 1232 to his younger brother Simon, who exchanged this manor with the king for other lands early in 1265. The king granted it on 16 May 1265 to his son Edward to hold during his pleasure, but later in the same year he seems to have granted it to his younger son, Edmund Crouchback, whom he created Earl of Leicester 26 October 1265 and Earl of Lancaster in 1267. Edmund died in 1296, when the manor passed to his son Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Leicester and Derby. He was holding it in 1316, and was pardoned on 22 October 1318 for all felonies and trespasses committed before 7 August that year, as were two of his servants, men of this town. Thomas died attainted in 1322, and the profits from the manor were granted by the king in that year to Alice his widow, as they had been assigned to her as dower at the time of her marriage; she seems to have held them until her death in 1348. This manor, subject to the life interest of Alice, passed to Thomas's brother Henry, who had been created Earl of Leicester in 1324 and became Earl of Lancaster on the reversal of his brother's attainder in 1327. He was succeeded in 1345 by his son Henry, who was created Duke of Lancaster in 1351. Henry married Isabel daughter of Henry Lord Beaumont, and died seised of this manor in 1361, leaving as co-heirs two daughters Blanche the wife of John of Gaunt, and Maud, married successively to Ralph son and heir of Ralph Lord Stafford and William the Mad, Count of Hainault and Duke of Bavaria. This manor and others in this neighbourhood were assigned to Maud, but she died childless on 10 April 1362, when the manor passed to her sister. John of Gaunt and his wife received licence in 1366 to place this and other manors in settlement, and he died on 3 February 1399, leaving a son Henry, who ascended the throne on 30 September 1399 as King Henry IV. The manor thus came to the Crown and formed part of the duchy of Lancaster. King Henry IV leased it about 1406 to William Golding, and in 1415 his son Henry V granted it to trustees before starting on his expedition to France. King Henry VI in 1437 granted to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester for life £326 5s. 4d. from this and other manors. In 1446 he granted the lordship, manor, borough and park to Sir Walter Hungerford, to be held by fealty and a rent of 20 marks. Sir Walter Hungerford, who held many high offices and was one of the executors of the will of Henry V, was summoned to Parliament as Lord Hungerford on 7 January 1426. He died seised of this manor on 9 August 1449, when his son Robert succeeded. Robert married Margaret daughter and heir of William Lord Botreaux and died on 14 May 1459, when the title passed to his son Robert. Robert third Lord Hungerford married Eleanor daughter and heiress of Sir William de Moleyns, in whose right he became Lord de Moleyns. He was beheaded in March 1464, attainted and his lands forfeited, so that this manor reverted to the Crown. King Edward IV seems to have granted the manor to Elizabeth, his consort, for life. It was granted on 25 July 1483 by King Richard III to his kinsman John Howard, who had been created Duke of Norfolk on 28 June that year and was slain at Bosworth on 22 August 1485 and attainted 7 November following. The manor thus again returned to the Crown and was granted in 1548–9 by King Edward VI to his uncle, Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of the Realm. He was beheaded on 22 January 1552 and attainted, and all his honours were forfeited, and Hungerford again returned to the Crown. Various surveys of the manor were made between this date and 1612, when it was granted to John Eldred and William Whitmore. From this time the manor followed the descent of the borough (q.v.). Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester received licence on 3 May 1246 to inclose with a ditch and hedge his wood of Bauteley, in this manor, notwithstanding that it was within the limits of the forest of Savernake. This 'Bauteley Wood' seems to be the 'Batele' mentioned among the bounds of the forest of Berkshire in 1221, when a green road ran thence to Foxcot, and in 1485 in the bounds of Savernake, among which is 'the green way between Foxle and Baldele.' The park is referred to in 1296, and was broken into in 1342 and again in 1346, when some deer were carried away. It was granted with the manor in 1446 to Sir Walter Hungerford, and he died seised of it in 1449. It is referred to in a survey of the manor in 1543, and was granted to the Duke of Somerset in 1548–9. The custody of it was granted in 1558 to Richard Brininge, though it was transferred in the next year to Sir James Stampe. In 1591 the park contained about 300 acres and was stocked with 140 deer. In 1595 it was granted to Merrick and Lindley on behalf of the Earl of Essex. In the middle of the 17th century a lease of the park, which he had purchased from John Herbert, belonged to Thomas Hussey, who left this lease at his death in 1657 to his wife Catherine for her life with remainder to his eldest son Thomas. It has been said that in the 17th century the park belonged to the family of Boyland, but in 1707 it passed to the family of Stonehouse. Francis Stonehouse of Hungerford Park died in 1738, when his son Francis seems to have inherited the estate. It is said to have been sold in 1765 to Isaac Renous. He afterwards became a bankrupt, and in 1769 the park was vested in trustees for the benefit of his creditors. It seems to have been sold to Mr. Waters, and had passed before 1787 to Charles Dalbiac, who sold it in 1796 to John Willes. John Willes served as Sheriff of Berkshire in 1815, and died childless, leaving this estate to George, his nephew, fifth son of the Rev. William Shippen Willes of Astrop. George was succeeded in 1862 by his son George Shippen Willes, hon. Colonel of the Berkshire Imperial Yeomanry, who sold the park in 1908 to Humphrey J. Walmesley of Inglewood House. Edmund Earl of Lancaster died seised of a fishery here in 1296, and this seems to have been leased with the manor to Walter Lord Hungerford before the grant of 1446, for among the Ministers' Accounts for 1432–3 is an extract from an account of John Hopgrass, Lord Hungerford's bailiff, showing the receipt of 6s. 8d. from the fishery. The fishery in the river appears to have descended with the manor. In 1591 it was presented that the fishery of the rivers of Hungerford appertained to the royalty of the said manor and began at Elder Stubb on the west, opposite Leverton, and continued to Irish Stile, below Kintbury, except for the mill-ponds. The Kennet was described as 'a fayre river which yeldeth store of fishe and especiallie trowtes and crevices which by some restraynte would yield Her Majesty some proffyt, where nowe it yeldeth none, in that the inhabitants pretend title therunto by usage onlye. The trout of the same river is accompted the beste troute within this land.' It would seem that for many years the inhabitants had claimed the right to fish in the manorial waters, alleging permission to do so granted by John of Gaunt. This privilege, it was asserted, had been incorporated in a charter since lost, and in 1592 John Fowler, constable of the town, and two of the burgesses sued the lords of the manors of Denford and Avington for fishing in the waters opposite to their respective manors. The case seems to have continued for some years, and in 1598 it was reported that in 1416–17 the toll for the fishing had been returned at 26s. 8d., that the fishing was in charge until the reign of Henry VII, and that it would be well for Her Majesty to revive the rents. It was recommended that a lease of the fishing be granted to Matthew Bacon for twenty-one years, and this was done in 1598. By an inquiry taken in 1610 it was found that the king held the fishing of all the waters except the mill-ponds, and that the townsmen had the right of fishing three days a week by custom and by right of a charter which witnesses had seen and heard read, but which had been purloined. Eventually the fishing rights of the Crown were sold with the manor on 27 May 1612 to Eldred and Whitmore, who conveyed them to feoffees to hold on behalf of the town. The fishing now belongs to the feoffees, though the Crown seems to have repudiated its grant of the fishery east of the township of Hungerford. Two water-mills belonged to the manor of Hungerford from the 13th century onwards.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No