05 Mar Lordship Title of Purley Magna ID14171
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In 1166 three knights' fees in Berkshire were held under the honour of Wallingford by Gilbert Huscarle, one of which may have been the manor of Purley. Gilbert was succeeded before 1176 by Richard Huscarle, who may have been his son. Roland Huscarle, the heir of this Richard, is first mentioned in 1199; he was succeeded apparently about 1212 by his son Thomas, who in 1224 confirmed to the Abbot of Thame 1 virgate of land in Purley which his father had given them. Thomas seems to have been succeeded by William Huscarle, who held one-fourth of a knight's fee in Berkshire as of the honour of Wallingford in 1235–6. In 1307 another Roland Huscarle was in possession of Purley, which was then settled on himself and his wife Margaret. He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who came of age in 1313 and settled the manor in the same year on himself and his wife Julian. Sir Thomas Huscarle, who was perhaps their son, married about 1343, apparently as his second wife, Lucy daughter and heir of Sir Richard Willoughby, and a fresh settlement of the manor being then made, it was vested in Sir Thomas and Lucy and the heirs of their bodies, with contingent remainders to John son of Sir Thomas and his heirs. Lucy survived her husband and married secondly Nicholas Carew in 1357. John Huscarle, named in the settlement of 1343, had apparently died without issue, and Sir Thomas Huscarle's heir by Lucy was his son Thomas, whose trustees in 1369 granted the manor to his stepfather, Nicholas Carew, with reversion to his son of the same name and the heirs of his body, and contingent remainder to the right heirs of Sir Thomas Huscarle. In 1375 Nicholas Carew the elder obtained a grant of free warren in his demesne lands in Purley, and in 1379 a quitclaim from the heirs of Sir Thomas Huscarle of all their right in the manor. Nicholas Carew was named one of the executors of Edward III. He died in 1390, leaving as his heir his son Nicholas. This Nicholas married, first, Isabel de la Mare, by whom he had a son Nicholas, and secondly, about 1398, Mercy daughter of Stephen Haym. He was still living in February 1432. He had before this settled the manor on himself and Mercy and the heirs of their bodies, with remainder to his own right heirs. There seems, however, to have been another settlement on his son, a third Nicholas, and his heirs, with contingent remainder to the heirs of Thomas Carew, son of the elder Nicholas by his second wife Mercy. Nicholas the elder died in 1432, when the manor seems to have passed according to the latter settlement. About 1450 an action for assurance of the remainder was brought by Richard Forde and William Saunder in right of their wives Mercy and Joan the daughters and co-heirs of Thomas Carew. Nicholas the son and namesake succeeded to the estate, which he settled in 1454 on himself with reversion to his son Nicholas, the fourth of this name at Purley and his wife Margaret the daughter of Edward Langford. Mercy, the widow of the second Nicholas, was still living at this time, and together with Arthur Ormesby, then her husband, was a party to this settlement. She seems afterwards to have quarrelled with the fourth Nicholas, who succeeded his father in 1458, for in 1461 she brought a suit against him, apparently on the plea that he had given her insufficient dower. Nicholas Carew died in 1466 seised of the manor of Great Purley leaving Margaret, his wife and joint tenant, surviving and a son and heir Nicholas, then four years old. The last-named Nicholas came of age in September 1484, but he died childless about 1485 leaving as his heirs his three sisters, Sanchea, who was married to Sir John Iwardby, Elizabeth the wife of Walter Twynho, and Anne Tropnell. The manor of Purley formed part of the portion of Sanchea, who was succeeded before 1514 by her daughter Joan, then the wife of Nicholas Saunder. Joan had previously been married to Sir John St. John of Lydiard Tregoze (co. Wilts.), whose descendants continued to be in possession of the manor of Purley Magna for nearly 300 years. After the death of her first husband, Joan, together with her son another John St. John, settled the reversion of the estate on Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Richard Blount of Mapledurham (co. Oxon.), for her life, with remainder to John's son Nicholas. This settlement was perhaps made in anticipation of the marriage which afterwards took place between Nicholas and this Elizabeth. Nicholas came to live at Purley, and died seised of the estate in 1589, leaving as his heir his son John. This John apparently preferred to live at Lydiard Tregoze, where he died in 1594. His heir was his son Walter, who died under age in 1597, and was succeeded by his brother, another John. John St. John was created a baronet at the institution of that order 22 May 1611. He was member for Wiltshire in the Parliament of 1624, and seems, like his father, to have lived chiefly at Lydiard Tregoze. It is possible, however, that he was at Purley in 1627, for his brother-in-law, Sir Allen Apsley, lieutenant of the Tower, was certainly staying there at the time of his illness in that year. Apsley had married Lucy, the youngest of the St. John sisters and mother by him of Mrs. Hutchinson, the celebrated memoir writer. This was not the only connexion that the family had formed with the unpopular party, for Barbara, the eldest sister, had married Edward Villiers, half-brother of the Duke of Buckingham, and Katherine was the wife of Sir Giles Mompesson, impeached as a monopolist by the Commons in 1621, who was the supposed original of Sir Giles Over-reach in Massinger's 'A New Way to Pay Old Debts.' Sir John St. John was a zealous Royalist, and three of his sons were killed on the king's side during the Civil War. He dealt with Purley Magna by fine in 1634, and died in 1648 at Battersea, which he had inherited from his uncle Oliver St. John Viscount Grandison. He was succeeded by his grandson John, who died unmarried in 1657, leaving as his heir his uncle Walter. Sir Walter made a settlement of the manor in 1673. He died in 1708, and was succeeded by his only son Henry, who had married, first, Lady Mary Rich, by whom he had one son, Henry, afterwards the famous minister of Queen Anne, and, secondly, Angelique Madeleine, daughter of Georges Pelissary, treasurer of the French Navy. Sir Henry, who was created Viscount St. John in 1716, died in 1742, and was succeeded by his son Henry Viscount Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke died childless in 1751, leaving as his heir Frederick, the son of his half-brother John St. John. Frederick Viscount Bolingbroke made a settlement of Purley Magna in 1754, and was succeeded there on his death by his son George Richard, who sold the manor in 1789 to Robert Mackreth, from whom it passed before 1791 to John Martindale. It was bought about 1793 by Anthony Morris Storer, the antiquary and collector. He died in 1799, leaving the estate to his nephew Mr. Anthony Gilbert Storer, whose son Major Anthony Morris Storer held it at his death in 1902. Mrs. Fullerton, the latter's daughter, is the lady of the manor at the present day.
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