ALTON HUNDRED 



EAST WORLDHAM 



dower to Sibyl widow of John in the presence of 

 Edward St. John, who had the custody of Thomas 

 son and heir of the said John de Venuz. 23 In 

 1329 John le Marshal and Constance brought an 

 action against Edward St. John, as guardian of 

 Thomas de Venuz, a minor, for the recovery of 

 the manor of East Worldham. The litigation 

 continued for some time, till in 1334 John le 

 Marshal and Constance recovered seizin with 

 damages against Thomas de Venuz. 2 * 



In 1336 John le Mareschal, being established 

 in his title, received the 

 king's licence to settle the 

 manor on the Burgheroh 

 family in fee, 25 but in 1 347 

 he granted it to Sir John de 

 Burghersh to hold only for 

 the life of the grantor ; 2C 

 Thomas, son and heir of 

 John de Venuz, relinquishing 

 in 1349 all claim to the 

 manor. 27 Next year Sir John 

 de Burghersh died seized of 

 the property, still described 

 as held by grand serjeanty, though the serjcanty 

 is not specified. John de Burghersh 28 was his 

 son and heir, aged six. In 1374 this last named 

 John conveyed the manor to the Crown. 29 After 

 this the custody of the manor was granted by the 

 Crown to John Slegh. 30 



John de Burghersh left as his co-heirs two 

 daughters, Maud and Mar- 

 garet ; the former married 

 Thomas Chaucer, son of the 

 poet, and the latter Sir John 

 Grenvyle. Despite the con- 

 veyance to the Crown made 

 by their father in 1 3 74 these 

 co-heiresses and their hus- 

 bands claimed the manor 

 against the surviving Crown 

 grantee. 31 The result of the 

 claim does not appear, but it 

 seems to have been successful, 



BURGHERSH. Silver a 

 chief gules and a golden lion 

 with a forked tail over all. 



CHAUCER. Gules three 

 cartwheels gold. [The 

 shield of ROIT] 



since, in 1418, after the death of Sir John Grenvyle, 

 John Arundel and Margaret his wife (Grenvyle's 

 widow) conveyed Margaret's moiety to her sister 

 Maud, wife of Thomas Chaucer, 32 both of whom 

 the latter in 1435 and the former in 1437 died 

 seized of the manor. Their daughter and heir was 

 Alice wife of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. 33 

 In 1442 the Earl and Countess of Suffolk were 

 still in possession of the manor, 34 and the follow- 

 ing year they perhaps wisely, considering the ex- 

 traordinary complications in the descent of the 

 manor and the conflicting evidence concerning it 



took from the Crown a fresh grant of it, to hold 



to them and their heirs by 



the annual rent of a rose to 



be paid on the feast of St. 



John Baptist. 35 In 1445 



they had licence to have 



view of frankpledge, assize 



of bread and ale, etc., in the 



manor. 36 Presumably by the 



attainder of Edmund, Duke 



of Suffolk, in 1503 the manor 



came to the Crown, and in POLE. Azure a fesse 



I C 10 was, together with {**" *" l "t ard{ 

 iv c , , heads eold. 



the lieutenancy of the park 



and custody of the forests, granted to Thomas, 

 Earl of Arundel, and William, Lord Makravers, 

 for their lives and the life of the longer liver. 37 

 The custody of the forests was taken into the 

 king's hands again in 1522 and granted to Sir 

 William Sandys with the reversion (after the 

 death of Lords Arundel and Makravers) of 

 the manor of East Worldham. 38 It was how- 

 ever found, on the death of the Earl of Arundel 

 in October, 1524, that he died seized of the 

 manor, lieutenancy and wardenship of the forests 

 for life with reversion to the Crown, 38 a find- 

 ing at variance with the grant to Sir William 

 Sandys in 1522. The Crown was still in pos- 

 session of the manor of East and West Worldham 

 (then referred to as one manor) in the reign of 

 Elizabeth, and in 1576 it was leased to Henry 

 Audley for twenty-one years from the death of 

 John, Marquis of Winchester, who held the same 

 for life. 40 In 1623 the manor of ' Wordlcham,' alias 

 East and West Worldham, was granted by James I. 

 to George Sheires and John Wells. 41 Its subse- 

 quent history is very obscure. On the marriage, 

 about 1750, of the Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge 

 with Mary Baroness Stawell, East Worldham ap- 

 pears to have been settled on the latter, and passed 

 to their only son, Henry, the last Lord Stawell, 

 who died in 1820. Mary, his heir, married John, 

 second Lord Sherborne, and on a division of her 

 property East Worldham was taken by their son 

 John Thomas Dutton, whose son, Henry John 

 Dutton of Hinton Ampner, is the present lord 

 of the manor. 



With the possession of the manor of East 

 Worldham went the keepership of Alice Holt and 

 Woolmer forests (see account of Binsted), and John 

 de Venuz who died in 1 260 granted the same for 

 life to the famous Adam de Gurdon, once an out- 

 lawed adherent of Simon de Montford (see Alton). 

 Adam died before 1305, leaving as his heir his 

 daughter Joan, then aged forty-five. Other refer- 

 ences to the descent of the custody of the forest 



23 Close, i Edw. III. pt. z, m. 19 ; 

 and 3 Edward III. m. 15 & II. 



2 * Exemplification of proceedings 

 taken in this suit. Co. Plac. Hants, 

 No. 6 ; Coram Rege R. No. 262, rex 

 roll 41 ; and Close,8 Edw. III. m. 4. 



2S Pat. 10 Edw. III. pt. 2, m. 34. 



2 Co. Plac. Hants, No. 41, and Anc. 

 D. (P.R.O.) A. 3254. 



27 Co. Plac. No. 41, and Anc. D. 

 (P.R.O.) A. 3253. 



28 Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. III. ist not. 

 No. 94. 



29 Co. Plac. Hants, No. 41, and Anc. 

 D. (P.R.O.) A. 3249, 3250 and 3251. 



30 Pat. I Rich. II. pt. 3, m. 37, and 

 7 Rich. II. pt. 2, m. 34. 



31 Co. Plac. Hants, No. 41. 



35 Feet of F. Div. Cos. East. 6 Hen. V. 



33 Inq. p.m. 2 Hen. VI. No. 29513 

 Hen. VI. No. 35; and 15 Hen. VI. 

 No. 53. 



519 



3 * Inq. a.q.d. 2o Hen. VI. No. 16. 



35 Pat. 21 Hen. VI. m. 5. 



36 Chart. R. 21-24 Hcn - VI. No. 21. 

 " Pat. i Hen. VIII. pt. 2, m. 5, and 



2 Hen. VIII. pt. I, m. 1 8. 



3 8 Pat. 13 Hen. VIII. pt. i. m. 26. 



39 Exch. Inq. p.m. ser. 2, file 978, 

 No. 19. 



< Harl. Ch. 83, H. 16. 

 41 Pat. 20 James I. 



