Kintbury Manor, Berkshire, England

Pictured right may be Elcot Park or Kintbury

The whole of the southern portion of the parish, the original township of Kintbury, and perhaps also the townships of Elcot with Wormstall and Clapton, seem to have belonged to the king, but some time between 980 and the Norman Conquest the two northern townships and certain lands in Kintbury, near the church, were granted to the nuns of Amesbury, who were holding them at the time of the Domesday Survey. The abbey held this manor, afterwards known as KINTBURY-AMESBURY, till its dissolution in 1177, when, like the monastery, it was granted to the abbey of Fontevrault in 1179and confirmed to that house by King John in 1199. The Prioress of Amesbury was holding this manor in the 13th century, and the former grants were confirmed to the monastery in 1270. In 1275–6 the prioress had gallows and amendment of the assize of bread and ale, and received a grant in 1286 of free warren over demesne lands in Clapton,Elcot and Walcot.

In 1377 the inhabitants of Kintbury claimed that the manor was ancient demesne of the Crown, and this claim was renewed in 1402. Successive prioresses held this manor until the dissolution of the monastery, when its annual value was £64 4s. 3d.

The manor then passed into the hands of the king, who exchanged it for the manor of West Enborne with John Cheney of West Woodhay in 1542. From that time the manor was known as Barton Court and it followed the same descent as West Woodhay (q.v.) until 1634, when the latter was sold by Sir John Darell. He retained Kintbury Manor and died in 1657 without male issue.This manor passed to one of his daughters and co-heirs, Constance, who married John Elwes. Constance died before 1671, when her husband, who had been knighted in 1665, sold this manor to Philip Jemmett, a brewer of London, Master of the Brewers' Guild.

Philip Jemmett had bought the manor of Henwick in Thatcham at about this time and the two manors followed the same descent until the death of Sir Jemmett Raymond in 1754. Kintbury-Amesbury then passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who was holding it in 1756.She married the Rev. John Craven and died childless before 1779, when her husband appears to have been holding this manor. It then seems to have passed to Ralph Whitley, grandson of Elizabeth daughter of Sir Jonathan Raymond. Ralph had two daughters, Anne and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died unmarried and the manor passed to Anne, who married Charles Dundas, second son of Thomas Dundas of Fingask(co. Stirling). Charles Dundas, who was living at Barton Court in 1790, was M.P. for Berkshire for many years and was created Lord Amesbury in 1832; he died 7 July in the same year,when the manor passed to his only daughter Janet wife of James Deans. James took the name of James Whitley Deans Dundas and was holding this manor in 1839. He was knighted in 1855 and died 30 October 1862. His eldest son Charles Whitley Deans Dundas died during his father's lifetime and the manor passed to the next brother, the Rev. James Whitley Deans Dundas, M.A. He died in 1872 and was succeeded by Charles Amesbury Whitley Deans Dundas, but in consequence of a lawsuit the manor was sold in 1875 to Sir Richard Sutton, the fourth baronet.Sir Richard died on 2 October 1878 and was succeeded by Richard Francis his only son. Sir Richard Francis Sutton, fifth baronet, was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1887. His only son Sir Richard Vincent Sutton, the sixth baronet, was born after his father's death in 1891 and is the present lord of the manor.

All the land in the parish to the south of the river, except that held by the nunnery of Amesbury, had been held by King Edward the Confessor, and was in the king's hands in 1086. Of this, Henry de Ferrers held 43 acres, which had been used by Godric the sheriff for the purpose of pasturing his horses. Soon after this survey had been made this royal manor seems to have been granted to Roger de Beaumont, for the gave to the Knights Templars certain lands here now known as Templeton (q.v.). He retired about 1090 to the abbey of Preaux, and his eldest son Robert succeeded him. Robert is generally considered to have become Earl of Leicester, and on his death in 1118 his elder son Waleran, who was under age at the time of his father's death, became Count of Meulan and succeeded to the Norman estates, while the English manors and the earldom of Leicester passed to the younger son Robert, better known as Robert Bossu. He granted to the abbey of Fontevrault 25 librates of land in Kintbury and the soke of Hungerford for making a convent of nuns of the order of Fontevrault. His original intention seems to have been to found the convent at Kintbury, and this foundation may even have taken place, for Gervase Paynel gave his mill of Inkpen to 'God and St. Mary of Fontevrault and the nuns of Keneteburi,' but shortly after, about 1155, he transferred the gift to the priory of Nuneaton, which Robert Earl of Leicester had founded, and Robert endowed this priory with the land he had formerly granted to St. Mary of Fontevrault. This estate was known afterwards as the manor of KINTBURY EATON.

The overlordship of Kintbury Eaton descended with the earldom of Leicester until the 14th century.

The lands granted by the Earl of Leicester to his priory at Nuneaton were confirmed to them by King Henry II in 1163. The nuns paid a fine of 10s. in 1189–90 for waste here. From the 14th century onward the manor was known as Kintbury and Holt, the prioress having acquired at the end of the 13th or early in the 14th century a carucate of land in Holt formerly held by the Avenels. She bought it of William le Trappere and his wife Maud, to whom it had been given by Maud's mother Amicia, widow of Alan Avenel. In 1289–90 Edward, the king's son, renounced his claim to view of frankpledge in the nuns' manor of Kintbury. The nuns continued to hold this manor until the Dissolution, when it passed to the king, who granted it in 1542 to Edward Earl of Hertford. He sold it early in 1544 to Richard Bridges of Shefford.

Richard's son Anthony sold the manor in 1590 to his son-in-law George Browne,who, with Mary his wife, conveyed it to Thomas Parry and others. Thomas Parry, the second of the name, was already holding the adjoining manor of Hampstead Marshall. In 1603 he, then Sir Thomas, with Dorothy his wife and Sir Thomas Knyvett, who had married his sister Muriel, conveyed this manor to Richard Tomlyns and Thomas Love. It seems probable that these were trustees for Uriah Babington, who at about the same time purchased from Sir Thomas Parry lands in Enborne (q.v.), for Uriah died 26 February 1606 seised of this manor, which passed to his son Uriah. He sold it in 1619 to Sir Francis Jhones.

At the death of Sir Francis Jhones in 1622 the manor passed to his son Abraham, who married Susan Pettus of Norfolk. He died on 21 January 1629, leaving three sons George, William and Richard, and his widow took as her second husband William Hinton. George died childless, and William Hinton and Susan and William Jhones were dealing with the manor in 1647. After the death of William Jhones it passed to his brother Richard, who sold it in 1662 to William Lord Craven of Hampstead Marshall (q.v.), in whose family it has remained ever since.

The capital messuage of Kintbury Eaton was sold in 1588 by George Browne and Anthony Bridges to Vincent and Thomas Smith. Vincent died seised of it in 1629 and in 1638 his son Thomas conveyed to trustees an estate called the manor of Kintbury Eaton. This passed subsequently to Henry Trenchard and Jane his wife, who conveyed it in 1653 to Duke Stonehouse and Ferdinand Gurton, since which date no further reference to it has been found.

Roger de Beaumont, Count of Meulan (Roger son of Humphrey), granted 3 hides at Inglewood in this parish to the Knights Templars. This land, afterwards known as the manor of TEMPLETON or Templeyngeflod, formed part of the honour of Leicester and reverted on the dissolution of the order in 1311 to the overlord,though Robert Hungerford and his wife Geva were holding it for life in 1327. These lands were subsequently granted to the Knights Hospitallers, who continued to hold them until the Dissolution, when they passed to the king. The manor was granted in 1543 to Richard Bridges of West Shefford and John Knight of Newbury. Bridges and Knight, who had purchased other lands at the same time, seem to have divided them, and this manor fell to the share of Knight, who in 1546 mortgaged it for £100 to Sir William Essex. Sir William Essex died at Fulham on 13 August 1548, having bequeathed his interest in the manor to his son George (fn. 92); but John Knight seems to have redeemed it, for he died seised of it on 13 January 1550, leaving a son Richard, who succeeded to this estate. Richard Knight died in 1591, leaving the manor to his wife Constance until his son John should attain his majority. Constance seems soon to have been married again to George More, and they, with the consent of John Knight, conveyed the estate in 1596 to Lawrence Stoughton.

Before 1610 the manor had passed into the hands of Joan the wife of William Gregory and Margaret the wife of Nicholas Jordan, for in that year Nicholas purchased the share of William and Joan. In 1611 Nicholas and Margaret Jordan sold the estate to George Smithes, who at the same time purchased from Anthony Bridges, the son of Richard, any interest he might possess in it.

George Smithes died on 11 July 1615 seised of this estate, which he left to one of his younger sons William, who with his wife Elizabeth sold it in 1631 to William Dormer. John Dormer sold the manor in 1685 to William Tipping, and Thomas Faithful of Templeton is mentioned in deeds of 1731 and 1742.In 1816 Samuel Daniels and James Woulds conveyed the manor to William Mott, whose daughter Sarah married Adam Blandy of Kingston Bagpuize. Adam was in possession of Templeton Farm in 1836, and the estate was sold in 1870 by his grandson John, who had assumed the name Blandy-Jenkins in 1856, to George Shippen Willes of Hungerford Park, of whom it was purchased by William New Dunn. Mr. Dunn afterwards sold it to Mr. Humphrey Jeffreys Walmesley, d.26 Dec, 1919.