BERMONDSPIT HUNDRED 



WESTON CORBETT 



1322, and hanged, ' the royal spite being so hot that 

 burial was grudgingly granted to his corpse." Olive 

 and her son John were imprisoned in the Tower, 

 her late husband's lands being confiscated, and she 

 herself having to yield up much of her own inherit- 

 ance. 8 



An inquisition taken upon her death in 1336 

 shows that Richard de Peshale, her second husband, 

 held half the manor of Weston Corbett as his wife's 

 inheritance, and that upon her death it fell into the 

 king's hands. 9 An order followed forbidding further 

 meddling with the moiety, as the king learnt that 

 Richard de 1'eshale held of Olive's inheritance, and 

 that a daughter, born of the marriage, was living. 10 

 However, her son by her first husband became her 

 heir, since John de Mowbray," the younger, held half 

 the manor in the following year," and afterwards 

 parted with it to the other co-heir of William de 

 Breuse, John de Bohun of Midhurst, who thus 

 became sole lord of the manor. 13 John de Bohun 

 died in i$6j lt and left a son aged five years, 

 of whom the wardship was granted to Thomas de 

 Burton. 15 



This son, Sir John de Bohun, died in 1433, and 

 his heir also was a minor. 16 



The manor passed from the Bohuns with the 

 marriage of Mary daughter and heiress of Sir John 

 Bohun of Midhurst to Sir David Owen, a natural son 

 of Owen Tudor." John Owen of Wootton, his 

 descendant, sold the manor in 1558 to James Altham, 

 alderman of London, 18 who sold it almost immediately 

 to John Elliot, a mercer of London. 19 A slightly 

 different account of the descent appears in a petition 

 filed in Chancery between 1558 and I 5 79 by John 

 Grene for waste committed by John Harte and 

 Humphrey Ockley. 10 According to statements therein 

 made, it seems that John Owen leased the moiety of 

 the manor to John Harte and Thomasina his wife for 

 a term of years, and sold the reversion to Mr. Elliot 

 of London, who sold it afterwards to Mr. Alton 

 (Altham) of London. By Alton the reversion was 

 sold to William Cufande, who sold it to John Grene. 

 This account of the order of the sales is incorrect, as 

 it was Altham who sold it to Elliot, and the whole 

 manor, not the moiety, was sold ; but the truth of 

 the sale to Cufande is attested by a fine of 1559, 

 which seems to indicate a sale of the manor (it is 

 here described as the manor, not as a moiety) by 

 John Elliot to Simon and William Cufande." 



From another Chancery proceeding it appears that 

 Henry Owen tried to claim the manor. According 

 to his own account he was the son of John Owen by 

 Isabel Catesby, and was under age when his father 

 died in 1558. His mother then married John 

 Prestall, described as a hopelessly dishonourable 

 person, who obtained the young heir's property by 

 false pretences, and even wished him to murder his 

 mother." He could have had, however, no claim, 

 since his father had sold the manor. 



There is proof of the sale to Grene in that John 

 Grene held property in Weston Corbett (described as 

 land, not as the manor) before his death, which 

 occurred about or before 1 5 8 7. To his widow Agnes 

 he left this land, with reversion in tail male to his 

 cousin, John Grene of Basingstoke, and final remainder 

 to his nephew John Grene. The widowed Agnes 

 remarried, taking as second husband George Norton, 

 whose right to the property was contested by John 

 Grene, the nephew, on the grounds that in remarry- 

 ing, Agnes had failed to fulfil certain conditions under 

 which alone she could hold the property." 



The name of Norton is connected with the manor 

 during the next century, as in 1678 Richard Norton 

 of Southwick sold it to Sir Thomas Higgons for 

 i, 645." George Higgons, 

 his eldest son, sold the manor 

 in 1700 to Gilbert Serle, a 

 merchant of Leghorn." Peter 

 Serle held the manor in 

 1738," and the name of his 

 son, 18 Peter Serle, occurs in 

 1784." To this latter Peter 

 Serle, Wentworth Serle, his 

 younger brother, sold his in- 

 terest in the property in 1 793.* 

 By his will, proved 1827, 

 Peter Serle bequeathed his 

 manor to the son of his sister 

 Sukey, Sir William Oglander, who sold it to George 

 Purefoy Jervoise. 31 In 1847 the niece of George 

 Purefoy Jervoise, Mrs. Eliza Fitz Gerald, succeeded 

 to the property, and in 1848 or 1849 exchanged 

 it for other land with her first cousin, Francis 

 Jervoise Ellis Jervoise, whose grandson, Mr. F. H. T. 

 Jervoise, is the present lord of the manor. 31 



The church was in ruins at the end of the six- 

 teenth century, since which date there has been no 

 church in the parish. The earliest mention of a 



HIGGONS. Vert threi 

 crane? headi raved ar- 

 gent. 



^ Diet. Nat. Biog. 



8 Ibid. j also Dugdale, Baronage, i, 

 126. 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill, No. 32*. 

 The manor at this time was said to be 

 held of Matthew Fitz Herbert, to whom 

 probably a temporary grant had been made 

 by Edw. II. 



10 Cal. of Clou, 1330-3, pp. 259, 260. 



11 He was a minor at his mother's 

 death, but in spite of that was granted 

 seisin of the lands, which Olive had held 

 of his hereditament, by Edw. III. Four 

 years before Edw. Ill had received his 

 homage for all lands that his father had 

 held in chief (Rot. Fin. 5 Edw. Ill, m. 1 2 ; 

 ibid. I Edw. Ill, m. i). 



la De Banco R. 292, m. z$d. 



13 Exch. Inq. file 114, Nos. 10, 16. 



14 Chan. Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (ist 

 Nos.), No. 13. 



15 Abbrcv. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), 

 309*. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. II Hen. VI, No. 

 33. The extent of the manor at this 

 time includes 40 acres of pasture, each 

 being worth 3</., and 5 acres of wood, 

 worth nothing save when felled, and 

 rent of assize of divers tenants. 



" Suit. Arch. Coll. vii, 27 ; Feet of F. 

 Div. Cos. Trin. 5 Hen. VIII. 



18 Recov. R. East. Phil, and Mary, rot. 

 544. "Close, i Eliz. pt. 2, No. i. 



Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 76, No. 8. 



21 Feet of F. Hants, East. 2 Eliz. 



Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 1 3 5, No. 1 8. 



M Ibid. G. g. 1} Hants, No. 58. 

 His mother was a lady said to have 

 attained the great age of 100 years. In 

 accordance with her husband's wish that 

 she should ' live quietly and not be troubled 

 with worldly business, she gave over house- 

 keeping and betooke herself to the find- 

 inge of her sonne,' who found meat, drink, 

 apparel, and a maid servant for her for 

 ji$ per annum. 



387 



M Ibid. 



94 Close, 30 Chas. II, pt. 9, No. 30. 

 The property was then described as the 

 manor or reputed manor of Weston Cor- 

 bett and Farm of the same place. At 

 the time of this sale it was said to have 

 been in tenure either of Matthew Cufande 

 or John Hockley, and then was occupied 

 by Richard Norton. The manor at that 

 date was probably represented by a farm 

 and its lands. 



M Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. II 

 Will. Ill, m. 22. At this time it was 

 said that the manor had been in the 

 tenure of Matthew Cufande and John 

 Hocklcy, and then was in occupation 

 of Timothy Browne, yeoman. 



" Recov. R. Mich. 12 Geo. II, rot. 16. 



38 Ex inform. Mr. F. H. T. Jervoise. 



29 Recov. R. Mich. 25 Geo. Ill, rot, 



443- 



80 Ex inform. Mr. F. H. T. Jervoise. 



81 Ibid. > Ibid. 



