{ 
! 
By the Rev. J. Wilkinson. 333 
Monkton (he is never called a lord) is obsolete. The monks, how- 
ever, acknowledged no such superiority on the part of their larger 
neighbour. They asserted their independent rights by holding a 
court of their own, in which their steward no doubt adjudicated on 
such cases as fell within their jurisdiction (which was bounded by 
their territory), the penalty being generally a fine; and where the 
smaller occupiers paid their rent. This manor formerly had many 
who held under it. The value of their holdings appears by the sur- 
veys of 1525 and 1535 to have been more than one fifth of that of the 
land, £2 4s. to £10. Now there are no small tenants (there are no 
messuages other than the manor house), whereas Broughton manor 
hasmany. This circumstance (the payment of these rents being the 
chief business transacted, since these local jurisdictions were swept 
away in the civil wars of the 17th century) sufficiently accounts 
for the decay of the Monkton, and the activity of the Broughton 
court. Blackstone even goes so far as to say, that “a court for 
redressing misdemeanors and nuisances within the manor, and for 
settling disputes of property among the tenants, is an inseparable 
ingredient of every manor; and if the number of suitors should so 
fail as not to leave sufficient to make a jury or homage, that is, two 
tenants at least, the manor itself is lost.’”! 
“Monketon Farley,’ says Leland in his itinerary, “among other 
thynges was a late gyven to the Earl of Hertford.” The “a late” 
was 1537, when our Monkton, as part of the Abbey lands, was 
granted to him, who was afterwards Lord Protector, Duke of 
Somerset. There is a patent, 1582, confirming to Edward Earl of 
Hertford, amongst other lands, the manor of “Monketon juxta 
Broughton.” The confirmation was very necessary. The Protector 
Somerset had sons by both his wives, Catherine Filiol and Anne 
Stanhope. But after his attainder and execution, his widow, the 
1 Blackstone’s Commentaries vol. ii. p. 90. 
*In a note to the pedigree of Long by Charles Edward Long, Esq., it is said, 
that ‘‘ Monkton was held by Michael Quinton under Sir Henry Long of Draycot - 
who purchased the lease of William Millin who held under the Prior of Monkton 
Parley. Sold by Sir Henry Long to Sir John Thynne, and by him to Henry 
Long of Whaddon, Father of Edward. Temp. Philip and Mary.” ‘This is not 
reconcilable with my authorities, which are the title deeds of the property. 
