Kingston Lisle House, Oxfordshire, England

Ten hides in Sparsholt, afterwards called KINGSTON LISLE (Kingeston, Kyngeston Gerard, Kyngeston Lisle, xiv cent.), formed part of the royal demesne both in the reign of the Confessor and in 1086. This land, which was worth £20 and included 200 acres of meadow, remained in the possession of the Crown till the middle of the 12th century, when it was granted to the family of Fitz Gerold, hereditary chamberlains. ( Warin Fitz Gerold, the original grantee, was succeeded in 1157 by his brother Henry, the tenant in 1166. Henry married Maud de Cheney, and held the manor till his death in 1173, when he was succeeded by his son Warin. By his marriage with Alice de Courci this Warin inherited the manor of Harewood in Yorkshire. He lived till 1218, when his lands in Sparsholt were inherited, not by his daughter Margery, but by his younger brother Henry. His own descendants, however, retained an overlordship. Margery married as her first husband Baldwin de Rivers, and had a son Baldwin, Earl of Devon. His right was inherited first by his son Baldwin, who died without issue, and then by his daughter Isabel who married William de Fortz, and had two and a half knights' fees in Kingston Lisle and Sparsholt in 1267. On her death her estates were claimed by the descendants in the direct line of Henry Fitz Gerold, the Lords de Lisle of Rougemont, who thus became overlords of Kingston Lisle, the tenancy in demesne having passed meanwhile to a younger branch. In 1368 Robert de Lisle, Lord Lisle of Rougemont, surrendered his knights' fees here and elsewhere to the Crown. They were granted to William Montagu Earl of Salisbury, who was holding them at the end of the century. On the death of his widow Elizabeth they probably reverted to the king, and Kingston Lisle was thenceforth held of the Crown till the end of the 15th century, when the overlordship belonged to Lord Dudley.

Henry Fitz Gerold, who succeeded to Kingston Lisle in 1218, married Ermentrude Talbot and had a son and heir Warin alive in 1254. Warin evidently died without issue, for Alice, the daughter of Henry, was his ultimate heir. She married Robert de Lisle of Rougemont and had two sons Robert and Gerard. To the latter she granted in 1269 the manor of Kingston Lisle in tail to hold of her and her heirs. Gerard had a son Warin, who was in possession in 1316 and settled the manor in 1320 on the heirs of himself and his wife Alice Tyes. His lands were forfeited on his execution for rebellion in 1322 and granted to Hugh le Despencer. They were subsequently restored to Alice, who was still in possession in 1336. Her heir was her son Gerard de Lisle, who was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1357. He had a son Warin, whose daughter and heir Margaret married Thomas Berkeley.

Margaret's daughter Elizabeth, who became the wife of Richard Earl of Warwick, succeeded her in the manor and barony. She had three daughters and co-heirs, Eleanor wife of Edmund Earl of Dorset, Margaret wife of John Talbot, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury, and Elizabeth wife of George Lord Latimer. Kingston Lisle was inherited by Margaret, and her son John had a grant in 1444 of the barony of Lisle as descendant of Warin de Lisle and owner of the manor of Kingston. His heir was his son Thomas, who died without issue. Elizabeth, his sister, survived her sister and co-heir Margaret and inherited the manor; her husband, Edward Grey, accordingly had a grant of the barony. His son John died in 1505, leaving a daughter and heir Elizabeth. She married Henry Courtenay Earl of Devon, but died without issue and was succeeded by her aunt Elizabeth, the wife first of Edmund Dudley and afterwards of Arthur Plantagenet. Sir John Dudley, her son by her first husband, sold his reversion of Kingston Lisle in 1538 to William Hyde of South Denchworth.

For three generations Kingston Lisle followed the descent of the Hyde manors in South Denchworth Sir George Hyde, who died in 1623, was succeeded by his son Humphrey, whose son Humphrey was in possession in 1674. He died in 1696, having settled the manor on his son John. John died in 1703 and was succeeded by his brother Frederick, whose son John held the manor in 1716. His widow Jane, with John Hyde, who was presumably his heir, sold it in 1749 to Abraham Atkins.
Abraham Atkins had a son of the same name, who left the manor to his nephew, Edwin Martin, with a condition that he should take the name of Atkins. Atkins Edwin Martin Atkins, son of the latter, was in possession in 1824. His son Edwin Martin was succeeded by a son and grandson of the same name. Miss Martin Atkins was lady of the manor in 1907.

The Earl of Craven has had a considerable estate here since the beginning of the 19th century.

Warin Fitz Gerold had free warren in Kingston Lisle and Fawler by a charter of Henry III. He received from the same king a grant of a fair at Kingston Lisle on the vigil day and morrow of St. John Baptist, and a market on Thursdays.

Two holdings entered under Sparsholt in Domesday Book are apparently to be identified with WESTCOT. Henry de Ferrers was in possession of 4½ hides and 1 virgate, his right to the greater part of it being disputed by the Crown. It seems probable that here, as at East Hendred (q.v.), the family of Hussey (Hosee) was enfeoffed by Henry de Ferrers. The 'vill of Sparsholt' was given to the Templars by Henry de Hussey, and it seems clear that this grant, which was made before 1310, included the Ferrers fee. The second holding, amounting to 2½ hides and I virgate, was held in 1086 of Turstin son of Rou by Roger and passed before 1231 to the family of Achard. Robert Achard gave the Templars 'many lands and tenements' here. The Templars were thus in possession of practically the whole vill, which passed with the rest of their property to the Knights Hospitallers. The latter order had a grange here.

In 1544 the demesne lands of St. John of Jerusalem in Westcot were granted to Thomas Strowde, Walter Erle and James Pagett.They had licence in the same year to alienate them to Henry Brouncker.From Henry Brouncker they passed apparently by sale to John Pleydell, who died in possession in 1591.His son and heir Anthony Pleydell died without issue, and Robert, the only surviving son of John, succeeded him. Robert, son of the latter, had a son Robert, whose daughter and heir Charlotte Louisa married John Dawnay. Her son Henry Pleydell Dawnay Viscount Downe was lord of the manor in 1748, but before 1759 sold it to Abraham Atkins.Since that date it has followed the same descent as Kingston Lisle (q.v.).

An estate of a messuage and 1 hide in Sparsholt and Westcot was held of the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem by the family of Childrey. It followed the descent of their land in Childrey (q.v.) from 1353 to 1463. This was presumably the so-called manor of Westcot which in 1568 was in the possession of William Hyde. No later reference to it has been found.