06 Nov Lordship Title of Nether Dean or Over Dean and Nether Dean ID13894
Posted at 08:53h
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The manor of NETHER DEAN alias OVER DEAN AND NETHER DEAN was represented by the 4 hides in Dean held in 1086 by the Bishop of Coutances and the 2 hides there held by William de Warenne at the same period. The Bishop of Coutances' property was valued at 60s.; in the time of the Confessor six sokemen held it of Borret, a king's thegn. After the death of the Bishop of Coutances it would seem that this property was granted by the king to William Meschin, who in turn granted it to the priory of Huntingdon, and his grant formed the nucleus of the Prior of Huntingdon's lands in Dean. The 2 hides which William de Warenne held in Dean in 1086 were valued at 30s.; 1 hide and half a virgate of the land, however, William de Warenne had wrested from William Spec, to whom the king had granted it. By the time of the Testa de Nevill 4 virgates of this land were held by the Prior of Huntingdon as a tenth of a fee of the honour of Huntingdon. By 1302–3 the prior held these 4 virgates directly from the king, and so continued to hold until the Dissolution. In the 16th century Huntingdon Priory enjoyed rents to the amount of £3 8s. 9½d. in Overdean and Netherdean, apart from the farm of their manor (here called Overdean), which amounted to £4 13s. 4d. Henry VIII, after the dissolution of the priory, granted this manor in 1545 to Sir William Butt, who the same year alienated it to Richard Neale of Dean, a brother of Thomas Neale of Yelden. Some years later one William Hennes made complaint that this same Richard Neale had wrongfully dispossessed him of a messuage and lands in Netherdean. Thomas son and heir of Richard Neale lived to a ripe old age; his son John Neale died seised of the manor in 1627, leaving as heir his son John, who levied fines of the manor in 1650 and 1664. Yet another John Neale (son of the last) held the manor of Nether Dean in 1682. Hester widow of John Neale afterwards married Kinaird Delavere, and alienated this manor to John Purney. Within the next five years Netherdean Manor was alienated to the St. John family, who held it in 1706, and in whose hands it has remained down to the present day. Lord St. John of Bletsoe is the present lord of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes