Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/614

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

���KING, Earl of Love- lace. Sable three spear- heads argent 'with drops of blood and a chief or with three tattle - axes azure therein.

��descendant, the Earl of Love- lace, is now lord of the manor.

The manor of WESTON in Thames Ditton was held by the abbey of Barking in 1086, and continued part of the pro- perty of that house till shortly before the Dissolution, when Henry VIII bought it to add to the honour of Hampton Court." It was annexed to that honour by Act of Parlia- ment in 1 5 39," and was leased in the following year to John Baker.* 3 In later times it was

usually demised upon lease to the owner of Imber Court, but in 1 80 1 the right of the Crown was sold to William Speer. 34 Mr. H. Speer, grandson of Mr. William Speer, 'is now lord of the manor. About the same time that Mr. Speer bought the manor of Weston he bought land belonging to the manors of Claygate and Imber Court, which has since been treated as part of the manor of Weston."

A curious reminiscence of the ancient lordship of Weston is given by a notice board, which formerly stood on the common, headed ' Manor of Weston otherwise Barking.' The name of Barking Manor, for Weston, appears also in surveys of Imber Court.

At the time of the Domesday Survey Picot held of Richard of Tonbridge, lord of Clare, a piece of land called Limeurde, which Edwin and another homager had held in the time of King Edward. 16 This land has generally been identified with Im- worth, 37 but the Limeurde of Domesday was situ- ated in Kingston Hundred,' 8 and also the holding afterwards known as the manor of IMWORTH, later IMBER or IMBER COURT must have been separate from any de Clare holding," for it was held in socage of the king, by the service of paying 3 i8s. ^d. yearly to the bailiff of Kings- ton, 40 and probably at Domesday formed part of Kingston.

Manning represents Imworth as having been gene- rally held with Weston since 1539. It was certainly a distinct manor in the time of Henry III, for in 1223 Ralph de Imworth died seised of it, and of the hundred of Elmbridge." Another Ralph de Imworth, probably a son of the preceding, appears in 1229 conducting a lawsuit against Samson of Molesey about a fishpond in Imworth." This Ralph in 1252 received a grant of exemption from tallage for himself

��and his tenants of this manor. 43 Not long afterwards the king granted to Robert de Bareville the wardship of Reginald, son and heir of Ralph de Imworth. Reginald died seised of the manor about I 280." Later it came by sale or inheritance to John de Madham. He in 1332 granted the reversion of the manor after the death of his mother Eleanor, then wife of Roger de London, to Roger for life with remainder to Ralph, son of Roger, and Katherine his wife and their heirs.' 5 Roger granted Imworth to Roger Salaman, who is said to have had the manor at his death in 1343, but presumably this can only have been Roger de London's life interest in it, 46 for later Ralph son of Roger de London conveyed the manor to Thomas de Braose and his wife Beatrice. 47 By a settlement made in 1361 Thomas and Beatrice granted the manor to John de Braose, brother of Thomas, and his wife Elizabeth and their heirs, failing such to revert to Thomas and his heirs. 48 Beatrice held the manor at her death in 1383 "(she having survived her husband, who died in 1361), and it then descended (in spite of the settlement) to her son Sir Thomas de Braose, 50 who died in 1395. At the time of his death he was seised of the manor of Imworth held of the king in socage, and of a certain park lying in the said manor, held of Thomas Earl of Kent, service unknown. He left two infant children, both of whom died within two months of their father's decease, and the manor passed to Elizabeth wife of Sir William Heron, kt., who was the next heir, being the daughter of Beatrice, sister of the said Thomas de Braose. 51 In 1405 William atte Welle and Joan his wife brought a suit against the feoffees of Thomas de Braose, asserting that the property belonged by right to Joan as the daughter of Thomas, son of Isabel sister of Roger de London, jun. The suit was decided in favour of William and his wife. 5 ' In 1406, however, they quitclaimed their right to John Brymmesgrave, clerk, John Holyngbourne and another,' 3 and in 1415 George Braose, son of the above John (brother of Thomas), also made a quitclaim to John Holyngbourne. The latter seems to have conveyed it to John Ardern, who was holding shortly after- wards.* 4 In 1499 Richard Ardern died seised of the manor of Imworth and half the hundred of Elmbridge, held of the men of Kingston." He left his estates to his half-brother John Holgrave, from whom it seems to have been acquired by John Dudley, afterwards Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland. 55 " In a survey of Imber Court, dated 1 544, it is stated that Robert Smyth held a lease of Imber Court for thirty years, granted by Dudley

��81 V.CJi. Surr. i, 311*. It is not known by whom this manor was given to the nuns ; possibly it formed part of the original endowment, but it is not men- tioned by name in the charter of founda- tion ; B.M. Cott. MS. Vesp. A. ix, fol. 142.

' 31 Hen. VIII, cap. ;.

88 B.M. Add. Chart. 28236.

84 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr, ii, 462. Mr. Speer presented to the living of Thames Ditton in 1835 ; Inst. Bks. P.R.O.

85 Local information from Mr. A. J. Style, and Court Rolls of Imber Court in Surr. Arch. Society's Library.

" V.C.H. Surr. i, 317. 7 Ibid. note. 88 Ibid, i, 317.

��89 The De Clares had fees at Ditton, but these were their manor of Long Ditton.

40 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Ric. II, no. 7.

Fine R. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 3.

48 Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 297.

48 Ibid. 1247-58, p. 182 ; see also Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 25 Hen. Ill, no. 29.

44 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. I, no 23.

45 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 6 Edw. III.

46 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. Ill, no. 45. He held it of the men of. Kingston for 3 181. id. and suit of court.

47 De Banco R. 577, m. 117. Manning and Bray's statement that Thomas Sala- man had the manor in 1416 seems extremely doubtful. Unfortunately the rental they mention cannot now be con- sulted.

464

��Feet of F. Div. Co. 35 Edw. Ill, no.

75-

49 She had received it by grant of Sir Peter de Braose, kt., and other feoffees in 1372.

M Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Ric. II, no. 15.

11 Ibid. 19 Ric. II, no. 7 ; see also Burke, Dorm, and Ext. Peerages (ed.

1883), 73-

H De BancoR. 576, m. 115; 577, m. 117. The transfers on Close, Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 224, 24 are by trustees.

68 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 7 Hen. IV.

M Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 544.

"Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Hen. VII, 14, 101.

65a For a similar succession of the Dudleys to the Arderns, see Leigh Place in Leigh, Reigate Hundred.

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