Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/36

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��William le Gras of Littleton granted 2 acres in a field called la Hulle and other land on Lidhe ' and Guildown to Robert son of William of Littleton for a yearly rent. 48 In 1285 Nicholas le Gras, who was Sheriffof Surrey, obtained a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Littleton and Arlington/ 9 He died before December I293, 60 and seems to have been succeeded by Ralph le Gras, 6 ' whose brother and heir was Roger. Roger le Gras died seised of the manor of Littleton on 28 November 1303, having been murdered in Essex. 6 * His heir was his brother Nicholas, aged twenty-two. 63 It then included a capital messuage and three free tenants and was held of John of Cobham by service of entertaining him in food and drink for two nights yearly. 64 Nicholas le Gras, brother to Roger, was in possession of it in 1323-4." The manor included much more than the present hamlet and ran up to the road (via regia) on the Hog's Back. 66 It is interesting to see that these old manors, Loseley and Littleton, were, like the old parishes generally, 67 bounded by the ridge of the chalk downs. John le Em of Compton had lands and rent there in I325, 68 and William Shepherd and his wife Margaret sold 60 acres of land and 21. 6J. rent in Littleton to Arnold Brocas in 1394 s9 (vide Loseley), probably for the use of William Sidney, with whose half of Loseley it seems to have since descended. It is now held with Loseley.

In 1406-7 a Richard atte Park held land in Little- ton. 60 A house called ' Hamptons ' was sold with land in Littleton in l63o, 61 while Orange Court Farm was purchased circa 1750 by Sir William More-Molyneux of Loseley. John Orange is among Arlington tenants in a I4th-cenlury roll ; and in 1464 Robert Bussebrigge left in perpetuity lands in St. Nicholas, Guildford, called Orenges to Thomas Costyn, and in 1481 Henry Costyn succeeded."

LOSELET MANOR (Losele xi cent., Lousle xiii cenl., Loseley xvi cenl. et seq.), which was held before the Conquest by Osmund the ihegn, was assessed at 2 hides in 1086, and was at that time in possession of Earl Roger of Shrewsbury, who had also obtained Osmund's manor of Eaton Mewsey in Wiltshire. Loseley was held of Earl Roger by Turold, 63 who, with his successors, continued to hold it of the various lords of Eaton Mewsey. 64 Among the under-tenants, successors of Turold, was Richard de Dol, one of the supporters of the barons in their struggle against John. 66 He sold 2 hides in Loseley to Hugh de Dol in January 1 2 04- 5. w Loseley descended to Robert son of Hugh de Dol, whose widow Eleanor obtained from the overlord the custody of the manor during the minority of Robert's son and heir, also named Robert. She pledged it in 1285

��to Henry Gerard of Guildford for six years. 6 ' In 1316-17 ' Elbrede atte Park de Lousle in viduitate mea ' granted land in Loseley to Robert and his wife Isabella. This was the northern part of the manor, bounded by the ' via regia de Guldedone,' i.e. the Hog's Back road. 68 It shows that the whole had not been acquired in 1204-5. This Robert was com- missioner of array for Surrey in 1 3 24, 69 and made an agreement four years before his death by which his. daughter Joan had for life the whole of the profits of the manor, together with Loseley Hall, while he himself only retained the solar or upper room to the east of Loseley Hall and an annual rent of 20 marks.'* He died 22 March 1355-6, leaving as heirs the same daughter Joan de Bures, then a widow aged sixty, and John de Norton, grandson and heir of his second daughter Margaret. The solar and rent were divided between them in 1357," and the custody of John de Norton's lands was granted to John de Tye." After the death of Joan de Bures in March 1371-2 one moiety of Loseley descended to her son William de Bures, on whom she had entailed it, while the other moiety was inherited by John Norton, great-grandson of her sister Margaret." This second moiety was committed to the custody of William de Brantingham during the minority of John Norton." In 1395 John Crosse conveyed lands in Loseley to Master Arnold Brocas and others, evidently trustees. 76 One moiety of the manor, probably the Norton moiety, 7 * was eventually obtained by William Sidney. He was the William Sidney to whom Margaret, then wife of Robert Danhurst, released lands in Arlington in 1426-7." William Sidney died 1449, and his elder son William acknowledged the right of his mother, Thornasine, to half Loseley Manor in dower in I452, 78 and died seised of the reversion, as was said, in October 1463.

This William Sidney, described as of Stoke D'Aber- non and of Baynards, left two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, subsequently married to John Hampden and William Uvedale. But he had a younger brother, also named William Sidney, of ' Kyngsham ' (Sussex), whose son Humphrey successfully claimed the moiety of Loseley under the will of William Sidney, his grandfather, after the death of Thomasine his grandmother, who survived both her sons William and died in January 1498. This claim was made in 1508. There is a large parchment roll at Loseley of an Inspeximut of the Record of Proceedings before the barons of the Exchequer enrolled Michaelmas term 23 Henry VII (i 508). The unsuccessful parties were the widow and daughters of William. Humphrey Sidney's attorney was Christopher More, and the suit is evidently connected with the acquisition

��Feet of F. Surr. 3 Hen. Ill, 20.

Chart. R. 1 3 Edw. I, m. 4.


 * Cal. Clou, 1288-96, p. 339.

" Ibid. 444.

"Cal. Pat. 1301-7, pp. 272,459.

68 Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no.

47-

" Ibid.

ss Pipe R. 17 Edw. II, ' De Ob. Suss.'

68 D. of 8 Hen. IV, referred to be- low.

V.C.H. Surr. ii, 6.

M Feet of F. Surr. 18 Edw. II, 83.

"Ibid. 1 8 Ric. II, 55.

60 D. at Loseley compare 'Elbrede atte Park de Lousle,' below.

��61 Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 6 Chai. I, m. 17.

ra D. at Loseley.

63 V.C.H. Surr. i, 314*.

64 De Banco R. 60, m. 83 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, 45 ; ibid. 8 Edw. II, 68.

85 Rot. Lit. Claui. i, 285, 307.

66 Feet of F. Surr. 6 John, file 3, no. 17.

" Wrottesley, Ptdigreet from tht Plea R. 433 ; De Banco R. 60, m. 83.

68 D. at Loseley.

69 Par!. Jfrit, (Rec. Com.), ii (2), 666, (21).

70 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, no. 45.

��" Abbrev. Rot, Orig. (Re;. Com.}, ii, 241.

7" Ibid, ii, 252.

" Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 4.

7* Fine R. I Ric. II, pt. i, m. 21.

7 Close, 19 Ric. II, m. 29 d.

Vide infra.

T> Feet of F. Surr. 5 Hen. VI, 20. A year later William Sidney and John Strode held one fee in Loseley ; Lay Subs. R. bdle. 184, no. 75.

"> Harl. Chart. 56, B. 25 ; and Loseley R. below.

" Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), file 1805, no. 2.

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