Culham Manor, Oxfordshire, England

Culham Manor is a historic manor house in Culham, near Abingdon in southern Oxfordshire, England.

In 2003, the house, set in 11 acres (4.5 ha) of grounds, was for sale for GBP 2.5 million.[1]

History

Circa 1420 a religious guild financed the building of Abingdon Bridge, and the 'old' bridge at Culham. The Manor House, originally a medieval barn held of the Abbots of Abingdon was also built or rebuilt around this period.[2] It was used as a rest house until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1538

In 1468, a member of the Culham-based family of Marshall was a suspect in a Lancastrian plot. Robin Marshall, "late of Culham", was one of 15 suspects pardoned in July 1468 after dubious revelations by the spy John Cornelius, servant of Sir Robert Whittingham. He was probably the son of Robert Marchal of Culneham listed as being from Fetherstonehaugh (Fetherstanhalg) in Northumberland in 1431. After a subsequent trial, John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, was executed.

Leland reported on a visit to Culham that there was previously a 'fortres or pile, lyke a castle in Andersey'.

During the dissolution of Abingdon Abbey in 1545, Culham manor house was seized by Henry VIII and sold to a William Bury, a London wool trader and whose family had been Merchants of the Staple at Calais, in exchange for land in the Isle of Sheppey. Bury's descendants were buried at Culham Church. His male line ended with George Bury in 1662 whose daughter Sarah (1650–80) married Sir Cecil Bishopp, 4th Baronet, of Parham Park, Sussex in 1666.

The Manor House was restored by Sir Esmond Ovey between 1933-1948.

From Victoria County History:

According to tradition the connexion between Abingdon Abbey and the Culham region was already in existence in the late 8th century. The abbey was then in possession of Andersey Island in Culham and exchanged it for Goosey (Berks.) at the wish of Offa (d. 796), King of Mercia. (fn. 109) The Mercian kings used the island as a hunting seat and this caused such inconvenience to the abbey that Abbot Rathanus gave King Coenwulf (796–?821) Sutton Courtenay (Berks.) in part exchange for Andersey. (fn. 110) The abbey seems later to have lost possession, for both Athelstan, King of Wessex, and the early Norman kings are said to have resided there. (fn. 111) It was not until 1101 that a grant by Queen Maud and another by Henry I restored Andersey to the abbey. (fn. 112) The account in the Abingdon Chronicle may be inaccurate in detail, but there is no reason to doubt its general content.

Culham itself is first mentioned during the reign of Coenwulf. It was then a royal vill and was granted to the king's two sisters who wished ultimately to bequeath the island to Abingdon Abbey. (fn. 113) In the Chronicle are two charters, dated 811 and 821, in which King Coenwulf confirmed the abbey's possessions, including Culham: these charters are certainly spurious, but the weight of tradition in favour of the events described is strong. (fn. 114) A second charter of 821 is not mentioned in the Chronicle. Yet this second charter of 821—probably as spurious as the first—is really the more important, for it was confirmed by the Crown on several occasions, viz. in 1336, 1380, 1423, 1470, and 1478. (fn. 115) In 940 King Edmund is said to have granted Culham for life to Ælfhild, a royal matron. Abingdon Abbey's consent was obtained by the promise to confirm it in its possession of Watchfield (Berks.) (fn. 116) On Ælfhild's death Culham was returned to the abbey and Edmund confirmed the grant. (fn. 117)

During the Danish invasions of the 10th century Culham was one of the few possessions which Abingdon Abbey retained. (fn. 118) The abbey seems to have lost at least part of Culham at or soon after the Conquest, for about this time William I is stated to have imprisoned Abbot Aldred and to have seized properties of the manor. (fn. 119) If so, the properties must soon have been restored, for it was said that Abbot Rainald (d. 1097) was in possession of Culham and that Abbot Faritius got part of it back in about 1101 from Henry I. (fn. 120) This part may have been Andersey, which Henry certainly gave back. (fn. 121)

The manor remained in the ownership of the abbey until the dissolution of the abbey in 1538, when it was seized by the Crown, John Hyde being appointed bailiff. (fn. 122) In 1539 John Wellesbourne of Mixbury was appointed keeper of the site of Abingdon Abbey and of Culham manor. (fn. 123) In 1545 William Bury, a London wool merchant and second son of Edmund Bury of Hampton Poyle, received a grant of the manor of Culham in exchange for Calehill in the Isle of Sheppey and £600. (fn. 124) It was to be held as a knight's fee at an annual rent of £51 14s. (fn. 125) William Bury died in 1563, (fn. 126) and was succeeded by his son John. The latter was buried in Culham church in 1572, (fn. 127) leaving as his heir a son Thomas, aged four. Thomas, who refronted the manor-house in 1610, (fn. 128) died in 1615, leaving half the manor, including the manor-house, to his widow Judith for life. (fn. 129) She was the daughter of the well-known Protestant theologian, Lawrence Humphrey, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Dean of Winchester; (fn. 130) and after Thomas Bury's death she twice remarried, her third husband being Sir Edmund Cary (d. 1637), a member of a prominent official family, (fn. 131) who served at the courts of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I. (fn. 132)

Thomas Bury, Judith's son, died early in 1615, a few months after his father, (fn. 133) and was succeeded by his brother William, who died in 1632. (fn. 134) He in turn was followed by his son George, at whose demise in 1662 (fn. 135) the direct male line of the Burys came to an end. The Burys retained possession of the manor until 1666 when by the marriage of George's daughter and heiress Sarah to Sir Cecil Bisshopp, Bt., of Parham (Suss.), Culham passed to the Bisshopp family. (fn. 136) The Bisshopps lived part of the time at Culham, at least until Sarah's death in 1680; (fn. 137) but in the 18th century they lived at Parham and were mainly connected with Sussex. Sir Cecil, the 4th baronet, died in 1705, and was succeeded in turn by three namesakes. (fn. 138) Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 8th baronet, who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1779, successfully claimed the dormant peerage of Zouche de Haryngworth in 1815; (fn. 139) but dying without heirs male in 1828 his estates were divided between his two daughters, the younger, Katharine Arabella, wife of Sir George Brooke-Pechell, Bt., (fn. 140) receiving the Oxfordshire lands of Culham and Newington. The deed of partition is dated 1830. (fn. 141) An earlier agreement of 1826 declared that if Lord Zouche died without male heirs the entail male on the Bisshopp estates should be cut off.

In 1856 Culham was sold to James Morrell of Headington, in whose family it remains. The price was £72,750, the estate being indebted at the time to the tune of £40,000

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