Sir Christopher Alleyne, of the Mote (or Ightham Mote), MP

ALLEYN, Sir Christopher (d.1586), of Ightham Mote, Kent, West Drayton, Mdx. and London.

Family and Education

illegit. s. of Sir John Alleyn, ld. mayor of London. m. Audrey (d.1587), da. of William†, 1st Baron Paget, 6s. 2da. Kntd. 1553.

Offices Held J.p. Kent from 1561.

Biography

Alleyn—described in one of his father’s inquisitions post mortem as Christopher Gyllet alias Carleton alias Alleyn—was the elder of two illegitimate sons of a London mercer who died in 1545, seised of lands in Derbyshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, as well as in the City. Alleyn’s father settled on him a considerable amount of real estate scattered widely about the country, and, under his father’s will he and his brother and sister were allotted between them half the remainder of their father’s moveables. Alleyn was thus wealthy enough to make a fortunate marriage into the Paget family, whose star was in the ascendant under Mary. Alleyn himself was knighted at Westminster the day after her coronation. In 1563 he was returned, whether through his own local influence or that of the warden of the Cinque Ports has not been ascertained, for the borough of New Romney, leaving no mark on the surviving records of the House.

In 1564 he was conformable in religion, allowed to continue on the commission of the peace for Kent, and in the following year was among the gentlemen commanded by the Queen to attend upon the King of Sweden’s daughter, wife of the Marquis of Baden, when she arrived in England. But he ‘kept a vile, papistical house’ and his name is on a list drawn up in the interests of Mary Queen of Scots in 1574. In September 1585 a messenger from his brother-in-law, Lord Paget, arrived at his house and subsequently left with Alleyn’s eldest son Charles. As a result, Alleyn’s house was searched, his servants and others questioned and Lady Alleyn’s chamber searched for ‘relics’.

Alleyn died 24 Feb. 1586 and was buried at Ightham. No will has been found. His widow was listed as a recusant in 1587, the year of her death. The son Charles sold the Mote in 1591.

Notes

From http://www.burton-on-trent.org.uk/category/nearby/drakelow/drakelow...

On the dissolution of Gresley Priory in 1543 the buildings were sold to Henry Criche, a speculator in monastic properties. Thirteen years later they were purchased by Sir Christopher Alleyne, son of Sir John Alleyne, twice Lord Mayor of London. Sir Christopher, who had property in Kent, married a daughter of Sir William Paget, who had acquired the monastic properties of Burton Abbey, and possibly this influenced his purchase of Gresley Priory.

He pulled down the Priory buildings, except for the church, and used the material to build a residence known as Gresley Hall. There is no foundation for the belief that the Hall was connected to the Priory by an underground passage.

It would appear the Hall was rebuilt in the Flemish style in the early 18th century and it has some interesting architectural features which have been carefully preserved.

On the death of Samuel Alleyne in 1734 the property passed into the possession of the Meynell family.

Citations

1. William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, KG PC son of William Paget, of Wednesbury, co. Stafford, one of the Serjeants-at-Mace of the City of London 1. Hon Etheldreda Paget, mar. Sir Christopher Alleyne, of The Mote, co. Kent, 1st son of Sir John Alleyne, Lord Mayor of London, and had issue

Web links

• Alleynes - Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies - Burke
• British Listed Buildings - Gresley Hall
• Brydges Topographer Derbyshire - Alleynes.
• Essex History - Wright
• Gresley Trade Descriptions - History
• History of Church Gresely Derbyshire
• Parliamentry Records
• Rootsweb - Alleynes of Derbyshire
• Topographer Derbyshire - ed Brydges

Trees

• http://trees.Ancestry.com.au/tree/11036604/person/6130989270