Carswell Manor, Berkshire (Now Oxfordshire), England

Carswell Manor is a Jacobean country house at Carswell in the civil parish of Buckland in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire). It is located just north of the A420 road between Swindon and Oxford.

The Manor of CARSWELL (fn. 62) (Kerswell, xiii cent.; Karswell, Craswelle, Cassewell, xiv cent.) was held of the St. Philiberts by a younger branch of the family as of their manor of Cresswell in Bray. (fn. 63) Cresswell in Bray afterwards passed to the Dean and Canons of Windsor, and this manor was subsequently held of that body. (fn. 64)

In 1316 Carswell was in the possession of Hugh de St. Philibert, (fn. 65) being held by him of John de St. Philibert for one knight's fee. (fn. 66) In 1350 Sir John de St. Philibert granted an annuity of 10 marks from it to Richard Hake, (fn. 67) afterwards in 1353 granting it for life to Richard Hake to hold at a rent of 10 marks, and at the same time settling the reversion upon Edward III and his heirs. (fn. 68) In 1355 Richard Hake, in return for 40 marks, released his estate in the manor to the king on condition that the king continued to pay the 10 marks rent to Sir John during Richard's life, (fn. 69) and in 1358 there was a final quitclaim of the manor by Sir John and Margaret his wife. (fn. 70) From Edward III Carswell passed to Richard II, and was in 1382 granted for life to Queen Anne. (fn. 71) In 1383 the queen granted it for life to her chamberlain, Sir Richard de Abberbury, (fn. 72) and in 1385 the king granted him the reversion in fee of this and another manor 'in compensation for the loss he had sustained by selling his manors of Shoreham and Tadham to support the King's estate in his youth.' (fn. 73) In 1393 it was sold by Sir Richand de Abberbury to[ Katherine Bessels (de Legh) Katherine Bessels] and her son Sir Peter, (fn. 74) who were already in possession of West Hall in this parish. Sir Peter died seised of the manor in 1426, his heir being his second cousin Robert Craumford, (fn. 75) but by his will he had directed that all his property should be sold by his co-feoffees in alms for his soul. The history of this manor, like that of Bessels Leigh, is at this date somewhat involved, because of the dishonest action of the trustees, (fn. 76) but by 1428 the fourth part of a fee in Carswell, formerly belonging to John de St. Philibert, was stated to be in the possession of Thomas Bessels, (fn. 77) who was a distant relation of Sir Peter. He died in 1458, leaving a son and heir William, (fn. 78) but the manor passed to his widow Clemence, upon whom it had been settled. Clemence subsequently married John Nowers. (fn. 79) William Bessels, son of Thomas and Clemence, died seised of the manor in 1515. His heir was his daughter Elizabeth, who married first Richard Fettiplace and secondly Richard Eliot. (fn. 80) Carswell then descended in the Fettiplace family until 1584, (fn. 81) when it was sold by Bessel Fettiplace to John Southby, senr. (fn. 82) John Southby died in 1599, his heir being his grandson John, the son of his eldest son John, but the manor passed to his second son Richard, (fn. 83) upon whom it had been settled in 1594 on his marriage with Jane, the eldest daughter of Edward Keate of East Lockinge. (fn. 84) Richard died seised of the manor of Carswell in 1604, leaving a son John, aged eight. (fn. 85) This John was J.P. for Berkshire, sheriff of the county in 1646–7 and M.P. for Berkshire in 1654–6. (fn. 86) He died in 1683, and was succeeded by his son Richard, who was buried at Buckland 7 January 1703–4. (fn. 87) John Southby, the son and successor of Richard, died in 1741, and was followed by his son Richard, who died in 1750. (fn. 88) Edward, the son and heir of Richard, died in 1793, aged eighty-one, and the estate passed to his brother Henry, who on his death in 1797 left it to his nephew Thomas Hayward, the son of his sister Bridget and the Rev. John Hayward, rector of Withington (co. Glouc.). (fn. 89) Sir Thomas Hayward's sole surviving daughter Elizabeth married Thomas William Chamberlain Perfect, and died in 1801, after the birth of her son Thomas. (fn. 90) Her husband assumed by sign manual 1 November 1822 the surname and arms of Hayward Southby, and left the estate to his son Thomas Hayward Southby, who was long resident at Carswell, dying in 1889. (fn. 91) He married in 1835 Elizabeth, the only daughter of Charles St. Barbe of Lymington, who did not long outlive him, and the estate passed to their only surviving child, Elizabeth Hayward Southby. (fn. 92) She sold the manor in 1892 to Mr. William Niven, who had occupied it for two years as tenant, and in 1902 the latter conveyed it to his son Mr. W. E. Graham Niven. (fn. 93) He sold it in 1912 to Mrs. J. L. Butler

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Original house

The Grade II Listed, three-storey manor house dates back to the early 17th century. It is constructed mainly of Cotswold stone and surrounded by mature woodland. Within the extensive grounds there is a ha-ha. There is also a dovecote dating from 1619 which is purported to be the first square dovecote built in Berkshire.

The house was probably built for John Southby who was High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1646/7 and MP for Berkshire in 1654/6. His family had lived on the site since 1584 and continued there until 1892.

Victorian Expansion & Later History

The buildings were extensively restored and remodeled between 1893 and 1898 by William Edward Graham Niven (1878–1915), a lawyer and architect, and the father of the actor David Niven, to be his country seat. The Niven family's crest and motto are still set in stone above the front porch. The Niven family sold the property shortly after David's birth. The house was bought by Captain Francis Mourilyan Butler and his wife Josephine (née Lawrence), an American heiress. In October 1917 Captain Butler was killed near Ypres during The Great War. His only son (Francis Charles Joseph Butler), born in 1915, was brought up at Carswell Manor and became a noted aviator. In June 1940, whilst serving as a Pilot Officer in the RAFVR, the younger Francis went missing in action. This situation prompted the legal case "Butler's Settlement Trust, Lloyds Bank Ltd. v. Ford" (as to whether being reported missing was sufficient evidence of death) and ultimately lead to the sale of the property. There are memorials to both father and son in nearby Buckland church.

School

A quarter of a mile down the cul de sac from the main road is Carswell Manor, a lovely old Jacobean building which is the home of St.Hugh's, a private school, with pupils from 5 to 13. The fees for this school will be high. Since 1945, Carswell Manor has been the home of St Hugh's School an exclusive preparatory school which moved there from Malvern, where it had been evacuated during the war.

References and sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carswell_Manor
• http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-250894-carswell-manor-st...

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