Mapledurham, Oxfordshire, England

Mapledurham "the maple tree enclosure"
appears in Doomsday as two manors, Mapledurham Gurney belonging to William de Warenne, while Milo Crispin, Lord of the honour of Wallingford, owned the smaller Mapledurham Chazey.(pictured right)

The larger manor takes its name from Gerard de Gournay, to whom it passed as a marriage portion. It passed again by marriage in about 1270 to the Bardolfs, who were here for about 120 years, until the death in 1395 of Sir Robert Bardolf, esquire of the body to Edward III and Richard II and builder of the aisle, which bears his name. The manor passed in 1416 to his widows nephew, William Lynde, whose grandson sold it in 1490 to Richard Blount of Iver; it has belonged to his descendants ever since.

The Blounts claim descent from a Norman family, Le Blond, who came over with William the Conqueror. Richard Blounts great-grandfather, Sir Walter who married Sanchia de Ayala, a Spanish noblewoman, was Henry IV's standard bearer at the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403); Shakespeare portrays his violent death in Henry IV, part 1. His son, Sir Thomas (d.1456), was Treasurer of Normandy in the early years of Henry V's reign; from his eldest son Sir Walter, 1st Lord Mountjoy (d.1474), sprang the line which ended so illustriously with the Earl of Devonshire (1563-1606). Richard Blount, purchaser of Mapledurham, was the son of Sir Thomas' second son.

His son Sir Richard (d.1564) who married Elizabeth Lister, daughter of the Lord Chief Justice, succeeded him; in 1558 he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London, a post also held by his son Sir Michael (d.1610)(pictured left). Father and son lie beneath a splendid tomb in the Chapel Royal in the Tower.

In 1588 Sir Michael raised a loan of £1,500 for the purpose, it is believed, of building the present House, an altogether grander one which better expressed his status as a high official of Elizabeth I. It was completed by his son Sir Richard in 1612; he also increased his estate by buying, in 1582, the smaller Chazey manor from Anthony Brydges. He tried unsuccessfully to claim the extinct barony of Mountjoy on the death of the Earl of Devonshire. The House of Lords rejecting the claim for lack of evidence. Sir Richard died in 1628 and lies in the church in a tomb surmounted by effigies of himself and his first wife, Cecily Baker.

His son Sir Charles (c.1598-1655) succeeded him. Like many Royalist gentry he was extravagant; in 1635 he had to sell off his household goods to pay his debts. There can have been little left when in 1643 the Roundheads besieged and sacked the house, a year before Sir Charles death at the siege at Oxford. (pictured right- The Great Stairwell- part of the original house [1588-1612])

The estate was sequestered by Parliament. The heir, Michael, was murdered in 1649, aged 19, at Charing Cross by a footman; his younger brother Walter (d.1671) obtained the return of his estates about 1651. Although married twice, he had no heir and left Mapledurham to his cousin Lyster (1654-1710). Lyster married Martha Englefield, from Whitenights, Reading; it was to court their two daughters that, from 1707-1715, Alexander Pope became a frequent visitor. In 1715 their brother Michael (1693-1739) married Mary Agnes Tichbourne, and the sisters went to live in London. Pope quarreled with Theresa in 1716 for reasons unknown, but his friendship with Martha had lasted until his death in 1744, when he left her a substantial part of his property, some of which is still here. Both sisters died unmarried, Theresa in 1759(pictured below), Martha in 1763.

Their brother inherited in 1710 a much impoverished estate. Like other Catholic landowners, the family had been forced to pay the penal Double Land Tax (not abolished until 1821). In the year of his death, he surveyed his finances; during his 29 years of ownership he had overspent his income by £2,500 it would have been more, he wrote, "but that my dear wife was so prudent not to accept of diamond ear-rings". His son Michael (1719-1792) also faced financial problems; like his father, he spent long periods living away, only returning when he could no longer find a tenant. Family tradition records that about 1740 he was forced to sell the family's fine collection of armour. The first in the family to marry into the professional classes, he married Mary Eugenia, daughter of the solicitor "Michael Strickland, and apparently practised too as a lawyer. His son and successor, also Michael (1743-1821) married twice; firstly, the Irish heiress Eleanora Fitzgerald, a lady of "uncommon virtues;" and then Catherine Petre. He built the chapel, but the present appearance of the House is due to his son, Michael Henry (1789-1874). He employed Thomas Martin to make alterations in 1828 and carried out further work in 1863. He married firstly Eliza Petre (1798-1848) and secondly Lucy Catherine Wheble (1809-1908) there were five sons and nine daughters from the two marriages.

The two eldest sons set up as solicitors in Richmond, Yorks. Each in turn inherited the estate, dying within a few months of each other in 1881. The estate passed to their brother, John Darell-Blount (1833-1908), and then to Edward Riddell, the grandson of his youngest sister who added the name of Blount to his own. On his death in 1943 the estate passed back to the family of John Darrell-Blounts eldest married sister, Agnes Mary, wife of Charles John Eyston of East Hendred. Her grandson Thomas was killed in action in 1940 and the estate passed to his son John Joseph Eyston, the present owner.

Since 1960 he has restored the House, and once again it is a family home, where he lives with his wife, Lady Anne, daughter of the late Viscount Maitland.

Mapledurham Watermill is a historic watermill in the civil parish of Mapledurham in the English county of Oxfordshire. The mill is driven by the head of water created by Mapledurham Lock and Weir and is preserved in an operational state.

History of Mapledurham Mill

A mill was already present at Mapledurham at the time of the Domesday Book. The central section of the current mill building dates back to the 15th century. Originally the mill had a single water wheel, on the river side of the building. The mill was increased in size in the 1670s, and a leat was constructed to drive a second water wheel on the village side. It is this second wheel which is still in use today.

In 1690 the mill was leased to James Web for the sum of £60 per year. Around 1700 he expanded the mill again, to allow him to install the equipment to produce the refined flour that was becoming popular. His son Daniel Webb took over from him in 1726 at a rent of £100. In 1747, Thomas Atrum took over the mill at a rent of £150 p.a. in 1747, which was raised to £205 in 1776. In 1777 a barn was added on the mill island, and a wharf built to allow the mill to supply flour to the London market by barge. However by 1784 Thomas Atrum was bankrupt.

The mill continued to flourish, and as late as 1823 plans were drawn up to rebuild the mill in classical style. The advent of cheap imported flour from North America damaged the mill's prosperity, but it remained in use until just after the Second World War. It was restored and brought back into use in 1980.

Admission and access

The mill is located in the grounds of Mapledurham House, and like the house is open to visitors on weekend and bank holiday afternoons from April to September. The water mill is normally working on opening days, and visitors can visit both main floors of the mill, and see (and feel) its operation.

Admission is charged, and joint tickets are available that allow admission to both house and mill. Access is by car down the narrow and steep lane that is Mapledurham village's only road connection, or by a boat service that runs from Thameside Promenade in Reading on all opening days.

Media coverage of Mill

The mill building is best known, and has gained worldwide recognition, for being featured on the cover of the eponymous 1970 debut album of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath.

The watermill is also known for its starring role in the 1976 film of The Eagle Has Landed, where the mill leat is the scene of the dramatic rescue of a local girl by a German paratrooper that results in the unmasking of Steiner and his men.

The mill appears in the introductory credits to the BBC television programme, Richard Hammond's Blast Lab, as the supposed hidden location of the underground lab.

A body is discovered at the mill in Midsomer Murders, Season 7, episode 3 (The Fisher King).