Greenford: Manors

MANORS.

Westminster Abbey held land in GREENFORD before the Norman Conquest. Between 1051 and 1066 Edward the Confessor confirmed to the abbey the gift by one Ailric of some land in Greenford. (fn. 1) Edward also confirmed to Westminster, in 1065, the gift of 5 hides by a former king, whose name is unknown. (fn. 2) By 1086 the manor of Greenford amounted to 11½ hides, of which 5 were in demesne. (fn. 3) It is not known whether Ailric's gift consisted of 6½ hides or whether the abbey acquired land in Greenford between 1066 and 1087. The manor remained in the hands of Westminster Abbey until the Dissolution.

Other land and rents were acquired in Greenford by the abbey during the 13th and early 14th centuries. These came principally from the Horsenden family, (fn. 4) who were free tenants of the abbey. (fn. 5) Other gifts came from Godfrey Fairchild (fn. 6) and his widow, Emma, (fn. 7) and from Hugh of Greenford. (fn. 8) In 1535 the total value of the abbey property in Greenford was reckoned at £30 16s. 6d. of which the farm of the manor amounted to £18, and rents of other property to £10 11s. 10d. Woods were valued at 20s. and perquisites of courts at 24s. 8d. (fn. 9) The total in 1540–1 amounted to a little less. (fn. 10)

In January 1540 the abbey surrendered to the king, together with all its property. (fn. 11) A year later, in January 1541, the manor and advowson of Greenford were granted to the Bishop of Westminster, together with other of the abbey manors. (fn. 12) When this bishopric was dissolved, the manor was granted in 1550 to the Bishop of London. (fn. 13) The trustees of ecclesiastical lands during the Interregnum sold the manor of Greenford and Hanwell in 1647, (fn. 14) but otherwise Greenford remained a part of the estates of the bishopric of London until the 19th century, and by 1873 the estates had been transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 15) Between 1945 and 1959 the Church Commissioners sold all their property in Greenford, which then mainly consisted of ground rents. (fn. 16)

In 1086 the manor of Greenford consisted of 11½ hides. (fn. 17) It is not known when the manor of Hanwell, which was held by Westminster Abbey in 1086, became part of the manor of Greenford, but this had taken place by the early 13th century. In c. 1220 1 hide, and land to the value of 1 mark, was held freely from the abbey, and the customary tenants held 27¾ virgates, 46½ acres, and three houses. This land included the abbey property in Hanwell, (fn. 18) and from this time at least the two manors were united. It seems probable therefore that the abbey lands lay in the south of the parish, contiguous to the River Brent. By 1293 the manorial demesne included a house and 80 acres of arable in Hanwell. (fn. 19) Farther north the wood called Broadhedge, Braddish, or, later, Perivale Wood, was in the possession of the abbey by 1227. (fn. 20)

The demesne lands of the manor of Greenford consisted of 5 hides in 1086. (fn. 21) When the manor of Greenford and Hanwell came into the hands of the Bishop of London, (fn. 22) the manorial property in Greenford seems to have been largely demesne. In 1775 the demesne in Greenford consisted of 338 acres, most of which were already inclosed. (fn. 23) In 1810 it had risen to 534 acres, and there were also 102½ acres in Hanwell parish. Of these 55 acres lay in the fields south and east of the Brent and almost contiguous to Greenford. The rest, consisting of 47½ acres, lay in a detached area called Covent Park, near Hanger Hill and 2–3 miles east of Greenford. (fn. 24) Covent Park had been part of the manor at least since 1538. (fn. 25) Another distant part of the manor was a 4-acre meadow in New Brentford, situated just south of the outfall of the Grand Union Canal into the Thames. (fn. 26) This was sold to the Great Western and Brentford Railway in 1869. (fn. 27) The total demesne of the manor in 1810 amounted to 640½ acres, (fn. 28) of which, in 1816, the bishop only received allotments in respect of 57 acres in the common fields. (fn. 29) In 1873, when the bishopric estates were transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the manorial estate consisted of 646½ acres. (fn. 30)

The manor seems to have been leased out from an early date. It was farmed in 1312, (fn. 31) and by 1503 the farm amounted to £18. (fn. 32) Actual leases survive from 1492, (fn. 33) when all the manor seems to have been included, though fines and perquisites of court were reserved to the abbot, and later to the bishop. Rents in kind that were due from the manor by 1540 were 30 quarters of wheat in the summer and a boar at Christmas. (fn. 34)

After the manor was transferred to the bishopric of London the manorial lands were divided and leased under two leases, the one comprising the site of the manor and the other the woodland. These were separately leased to the same man in 1640, (fn. 35) and the leases were continued to the Gerrard family of Harrow and later to others until 1746. (fn. 36) In 1723 the manor was leased to Captain Rupert Browne, who mortgaged the estates very deeply and died before redeeming them. The mortgagee, John Bridger, foreclosed on the greater part of the estate, while the remainder came into the hands of Lewis Way of Richmond (Surr.) by right of his wife. Thereupon the original two leases were subdivided into four, and the ancient corn-rent was also proportionately divided. (fn. 37) Payments in kind were due to the lord from the tenants of 2 brace of pheasants and 3 brace of partridges, the right to which was leased for terms of 21 years. (fn. 38) Quitrents amounting to £9 8s. 9d. were also being paid to the Bishop of London at the same time. (fn. 39) The estate remained divided until the late 19th century, and in 1873 the land formerly of John Bridger amounted to 419½ acres of land and 50 acres of wood, and the land formerly of Lewis Way amounted to 171½ acres. (fn. 40)

Although little is known of the manor-house at Greenford, there was almost certainly one there at an early date. On 15 May 1305 a number of public documents were dated at Greenford, (fn. 41) and there was a 'hall' in Greenford in 1538, (fn. 42) but the first specific mention of the manor-house was in 1625, when the kitchen and out-buildings needed repairing. (fn. 43) In 1647 the mansion-house was sold with the manor. (fn. 44) The position of the house is unknown. In the 1810 survey there is no manor-house described, the principal building of the estate being the manor farm-house, (fn. 45) immediately west of the church. A modern brick building near the church was called the manor-house in 1816, (fn. 46) but nothing is known of the building after this time.

A secondary manor, also called GREENFORD, developed from the lands of the Greenford family. The family first appear in a dispute in 1199, (fn. 47) and Hugh of Greenford held ½ hide in the parish by 1214. (fn. 48) Hugh's grandfather, Luke of Greenford, owned ½ virgate of land in East Greenford in 1202, (fn. 49) but this more probably lay in Perivale. Hugh granted his wife, Denise, one-third of half a knight's fee as her dower, (fn. 50) which she successfully claimed from Reynold of Cornhill in 1212. (fn. 51) In 1244 Lettice, the widow of Henry of Greenford, quitclaimed the third, which was her dower also, to the Priory of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, (fn. 52) but in the accounts of the priory there is no trace of any property or rents in Greenford. (fn. 53)

During the 14th century the Greenfords were disposing of land in the parish, (fn. 54) of which 16 acres, which had been leased in the mid-13th century, (fn. 55) were sold in 1372 to Nicholas Brembre, later Lord Mayor of London. (fn. 56) In 1390 Hugh of Greenford transferred his Greenford lands to John Broke of Chesham (Bucks.) in trust for his daughter, who had married William Broke. (fn. 57) The property remained in the Brokes' hands until 1531, when Joan Fyllyns, or Reynolds, daughter of William Broke of Chesham, sold 190 acres of land in Greenford to Henry Bradshaw. This is the first occasion on which the property is referred to as the manor of Greenford. (fn. 58) In the same year Bradshaw sold all his property to Robert Cheeseman of Southall, (fn. 59) who sold it in 1534 to John Smith, a baker of London, together with all the lands that had belonged to the Broke family. (fn. 60) It was still in the hands of the Smiths in 1601, when the manor passed to George, a cousin of John Smith. (fn. 61) In 1610 the land seems to have passed to John Coston of London, (fn. 62) but the subsequent history of the estate is conjectural. It may later have passed into the hands of the Way family, who were lessees of part of the Bishop of London's manor. (fn. 63)

It seems likely that this manor lay in the east of the parish. Reynold of Cornhill, from whom the Greenfords claimed land, was probably lord of the Perivale manor of Cornhill. There is nothing else to indicate the position of the land, but in 1775 Benjamin Way held property almost immediately west and south-west of Horsenden Wood and Hill. (fn. 64) The property comprised 190 acres in 1531, (fn. 65) which was increased to 390 acres by the addition of Cheeseman's lands. (fn. 66) These were subject to various settlements in the 16th century, (fn. 67) but there are no further statements of the amount of the property. In 1610 there was a capital messuage on the estate. (fn. 68)

The manor of GREENFORD or STICKLETON may once have been geographically distinct from Greenford manor, for Greenford and Stickleton seem to have been separate settlements in the 13th century. (fn. 69) The name survived until the 18th century, but, except in the case of Stickleton Bridge, (fn. 70) only as a manorial name.

Land which later formed the basis of Stickleton manor was given to Ankerwyke Priory (Bucks.), a house of Benedictine nuns, (fn. 71) some time before 1257. The gifts, from Nicholas of Farnham and Walter the Franklin, consisted of a house, 186½ acres of land, 22s. 9d. rents, and the service of ¹/6 knight's fee. (fn. 72) By the late 14th and early 15th centuries the priory seems to have held 2 knight's fees in Stickleton from Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, (fn. 73) which later passed by marriage to Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. (fn. 74) In the mid-15th century the priory was said to hold 1 fee in Stickleton of the honor of Mandeville. (fn. 75)

At the Dissolution the property of Ankerwyke priory in Greenford was transferred to the newly founded Abbey of Bisham (Berks.) in 1537. (fn. 76) The farmer continued to be James Cole, (fn. 77) who had farmed it for Ankerwyke. (fn. 78) On the dissolution of Bisham in 1539 the property of the priory was granted by the king to Andrew, Lord Windsor. (fn. 79) It remained the property of the Windsor family until 1586 when they obtained a licence to alienate it. This was the first time that the manor was specifically referred to as Greenford or Stickleton, in Greenford. (fn. 80) Henry, Lord Windsor, sold the manor to Jerome Beale in 1587, in whose family it continued (fn. 81) until 1633, when it was sold by Henry Beale to William Penifather. (fn. 82) In 1637 Penifather disposed of it to the Bennett family. (fn. 83) The manor remained in their hands until 1715 when it was conveyed by Edward Bennett to trustees for Frances Arundell, (fn. 84) whose daughter conveyed it in 1737 to trustees for Philip and Sarah Craig. (fn. 85) This is the last known conveyance, and, according to Lysons, General Francis Craig was holding it in the late 18th century. (fn. 86) By 1811 it had apparently passed to a Mrs. Wheler, (fn. 87) but nothing is known of the manor thereafter.

In 1586 the property consisted of two houses and a cottage and 155 acres of land that had been the property of Ankerwyke. (fn. 88) Various similar amounts are given during the 16th and 17th centuries, (fn. 89) and in 1737 the amount had fallen to two houses and 155 acres of land. (fn. 90) This amount seems once again to have decreased by 1775, when a Mr. Craig owned 59½ acres which were let out to Dr. Glasse. (fn. 91) The part of the parish lying within the manor is a matter of conjecture. All that can definitely be said is that in 1775 Craig's land lay almost entirely in the open fields at the south end of the parish, south of the Ruislip Road. (fn. 92)

There was apparently a manor-house of some sort in the late 18th century, for though Lysons did not mention it specifically in his first account of the manor, he supplemented this account in 1811 by a note that Stickleton House was then in the tenure of Mrs. Wheler. (fn. 93) Tradition assigns the house inhabited by Dr. Glasse as the manor-house. (fn. 94) This stood on the site of the later Stanhope Park House, but by 1939 the site had been developed for buildings. (fn. 95)