Bulmershe Court, Berkshire, England

The early history of the manor of BELVERSHALL, BULNASSH, BULMARSH or BULMERSHE COURT is obscure. It was probably formed partly out of the manor of Sonning and partly from the manor of Earley. In 1447 as the 'manor of Belvershal called Bulnassh' it is found in the possession of John Lovell, who in that year granted it to Richard Earl of Salisbury, John Nanfane and Ralph Mollyns, to hold to John and Ralph and their heirs. It apparently descended to an heiress, for in 1462 Thomas Colard and Agnes his wife, holding in right of Agnes, quitclaimed the manor of Bulmershe to Thomas Colt with warranty against the Abbot of Reading. In 1473 Joan widow of Thomas Colt and wife of Sir William Parr was found by inquisition to have held the manor at her death, and it was recorded at the same time that Bernard Delamare and Alice his wife claimed the manor as formerly held by William Delamare and Katherine his wife with remainder to themselves. John Colt, aged eleven, was Joan's heir. Later Bernard Delamare was sued by the Crown for entering into the manor after Joan's death and taking the profits. He with his wife quitclaimed the manor in 1482 to Sir John Elrington, treasurer of the king's household, John Elrington, gent., and Robert Forster, possibly agents in a grant of the manor to Reading Abbey, for at the Dissolution the abbey was receiving £5 as the farm of the manor.

After the dissolution of the abbey of Reading the manor was granted in February 1544–5 to William Grey, citizen of London. Grey was a friend of Protector Somerset and was famous as a writer of ballads. He was M.P. for Reading in 1547. He died in 1551, killed by the spiteful tongue of his wife Agnes as his epitaph written by himself records. His wife's first husband was Robert Blagrave, second son of Ralph Blagrave, a lawyer of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, by whom she had a son, John Blagrave, who by default of issue from her marriage with William Grey succeeded under settlement to Bulmershe Manor. John Blagrave married Anne Hungerford of Little Shefford and had four sons, Anthony his heir, John the mathematician, Edward, and Alexander, famous as a chess player, who was a yeoman of the guard. Anthony, who succeeded his father in 1597,was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1604.He had issue Sir John Blagrave, kt., Sheriff of Berkshire in 1624, who in 1649 was dealing with the manor together with his brother Anthony Blagrave, sen., and with Anthony Blagrave, jun. Anthony, jun., was his heir, and after his death the manor passed to his youngest brother George Blagrave. He suffered recoveries of the manor in 1662 and 1694, and was dealing with it again in 1701.It was inherited by Anthony Blagrave, son of John, another brother of George, who was in possession in 1714. He was M.P. for Reading and was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1712. He settled the manor on his nephew George Blagrave. George Blagrave was buried at Sonning on 30 December 1789. His only son George James Blagrave had predeceased him unmarried in 1776, and the manor was sold by his executors to the Right Hon. Henry Addington, afterwards Viscount Sidmouth, who, Lysons says, had a seat here called Woodley Lodge, at which he resided in the summer season, whilst during a period of twelve [eleven] years he filled the chair of the House of Commons. He sold the manor of Bulmershe after 1801 (when he became Prime Minister) to the late Mr. James Joseph Wheble, in whose family it remains, the present lord being Captain James St. L. Wheble.

The manor of Bulmershe lies partly in Earley and therefore in the hundred of Charlton. The boundary line between Woodley and Earley runs through the house, the principal rooms being in Earley.