A HISTORY OF SURREY 



KING, Earl of Love- 

 lace. Sable three spear- 

 heads argent 'with drops 

 of blood and a chief or 

 with three tattle - axes 

 azure therein. 



descendant, the Earl of Love- 

 lace, is now lord of the manor. 



The manor of WESTON in 

 Thames Ditton was held by 

 the abbey of Barking in 1086, 

 and continued part of the pro- 

 perty of that house till shortly 

 before the Dissolution, when 

 Henry VIII bought it to add 

 to the honour of Hampton 

 Court." It was annexed to 

 that honour by Act of Parlia- 

 ment in 1 5 39," and was leased 

 in the following year to John 

 Baker.* 3 In later times it was 



usually demised upon lease to the owner of Imber 

 Court, but in 1 80 1 the right of the Crown was 

 sold to William Speer. 34 Mr. H. Speer, grandson 

 of Mr. William Speer, 'is now lord of the manor. 

 About the same time that Mr. Speer bought the 

 manor of Weston he bought land belonging to the 

 manors of Claygate and Imber Court, which has 

 since been treated as part of the manor of 

 Weston." 



A curious reminiscence of the ancient lordship of 

 Weston is given by a notice board, which formerly stood 

 on the common, headed ' Manor of Weston otherwise 

 Barking.' The name of Barking Manor, for Weston, 

 appears also in surveys of Imber Court. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey Picot held 

 of Richard of Tonbridge, lord of Clare, a piece of 

 land called Limeurde, which Edwin and another 

 homager had held in the time of King Edward. 16 

 This land has generally been identified with Im- 

 worth, 37 but the Limeurde of Domesday was situ- 

 ated in Kingston Hundred,' 8 and also the holding 

 afterwards known as the manor of IMWORTH, 

 later IMBER or IMBER COURT must have 

 been separate from any de Clare holding," for it 

 was held in socage of the king, by the service of 

 paying 3 i8s. ^d. yearly to the bailiff of Kings- 

 ton, 40 and probably at Domesday formed part of 

 Kingston. 



Manning represents Imworth as having been gene- 

 rally held with Weston since 1539. It was certainly a 

 distinct manor in the time of Henry III, for in 1223 

 Ralph de Imworth died seised of it, and of the 

 hundred of Elmbridge." Another Ralph de Imworth, 

 probably a son of the preceding, appears in 1229 

 conducting a lawsuit against Samson of Molesey 

 about a fishpond in Imworth." This Ralph in 1252 

 received a grant of exemption from tallage for himself 



and his tenants of this manor. 43 Not long afterwards 

 the king granted to Robert de Bareville the wardship 

 of Reginald, son and heir of Ralph de Imworth. 

 Reginald died seised of the manor about I 280." Later 

 it came by sale or inheritance to John de Madham. 

 He in 1332 granted the reversion of the manor after 

 the death of his mother Eleanor, then wife of Roger 

 de London, to Roger for life with remainder to Ralph, 

 son of Roger, and Katherine his wife and their heirs.' 5 

 Roger granted Imworth to Roger Salaman, who is said 

 to have had the manor at his death in 1343, but 

 presumably this can only have been Roger de 

 London's life interest in it, 46 for later Ralph son of 

 Roger de London conveyed the manor to Thomas 

 de Braose and his wife Beatrice. 47 By a settlement 

 made in 1361 Thomas and Beatrice granted the 

 manor to John de Braose, brother of Thomas, and 

 his wife Elizabeth and their heirs, failing such 

 to revert to Thomas and his heirs. 48 Beatrice held the 

 manor at her death in 1383 "(she having survived her 

 husband, who died in 1361), and it then descended (in 

 spite of the settlement) to her son Sir Thomas de Braose, 50 

 who died in 1395. At the time of his death he was 

 seised of the manor of Imworth held of the king 

 in socage, and of a certain park lying in the said 

 manor, held of Thomas Earl of Kent, service 

 unknown. He left two infant children, both of 

 whom died within two months of their father's 

 decease, and the manor passed to Elizabeth wife of 

 Sir William Heron, kt., who was the next heir, 

 being the daughter of Beatrice, sister of the said 

 Thomas de Braose. 51 In 1405 William atte Welle 

 and Joan his wife brought a suit against the feoffees of 

 Thomas de Braose, asserting that the property belonged 

 by right to Joan as the daughter of Thomas, son of 

 Isabel sister of Roger de London, jun. The suit was 

 decided in favour of William and his wife. 5 ' In 1406, 

 however, they quitclaimed their right to John 

 Brymmesgrave, clerk, John Holyngbourne and another,' 3 

 and in 1415 George Braose, son of the above John 

 (brother of Thomas), also made a quitclaim to John 

 Holyngbourne. The latter seems to have conveyed 

 it to John Ardern, who was holding shortly after- 

 wards.* 4 In 1499 Richard Ardern died seised of 

 the manor of Imworth and half the hundred of 

 Elmbridge, held of the men of Kingston." He left 

 his estates to his half-brother John Holgrave, from 

 whom it seems to have been acquired by John 

 Dudley, afterwards Earl of Warwick and Duke of 

 Northumberland. 55 " In a survey of Imber Court, 

 dated 1 544, it is stated that Robert Smyth held a lease 

 of Imber Court for thirty years, granted by Dudley 



81 V.CJi. Surr. i, 311*. It is not 

 known by whom this manor was given to 

 the nuns ; possibly it formed part of the 

 original endowment, but it is not men- 

 tioned by name in the charter of founda- 

 tion ; B.M. Cott. MS. Vesp. A. ix, fol. 

 142. 



' 31 Hen. VIII, cap. ;. 



88 B.M. Add. Chart. 28236. 



84 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr, ii, 

 462. Mr. Speer presented to the living 

 of Thames Ditton in 1835 ; Inst. Bks. 

 P.R.O. 



85 Local information from Mr. A. J. 

 Style, and Court Rolls of Imber Court in 

 Surr. Arch. Society's Library. 



" V.C.H. Surr. i, 317. 

 7 Ibid. note. 

 88 Ibid, i, 317. 



89 The De Clares had fees at Ditton, 

 but these were their manor of Long 

 Ditton. 



40 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Ric. II, no. 7. 



Fine R. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



48 Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 297. 



48 Ibid. 1247-58, p. 182 ; see also Feet 

 of F. Surr. Hil. 25 Hen. Ill, no. 29. 



44 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. I, no 23. 



45 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 6 Edw. III. 



46 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. Ill, no. 

 45. He held it of the men of. Kingston 

 for 3 181. id. and suit of court. 



47 De Banco R. 577, m. 117. Manning 

 and Bray's statement that Thomas Sala- 

 man had the manor in 1416 seems 

 extremely doubtful. Unfortunately the 

 rental they mention cannot now be con- 

 sulted. 



464 



Feet of F. Div. Co. 35 Edw. Ill, no. 



75- 



49 She had received it by grant of Sir 

 Peter de Braose, kt., and other feoffees 

 in 1372. 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Ric. II, no. 15. 



11 Ibid. 19 Ric. II, no. 7 ; see also 

 Burke, Dorm, and Ext. Peerages (ed. 



1883), 73- 



H De BancoR. 576, m. 115; 577, m. 

 117. The transfers on Close, Hen. VI, 

 pt. i, m. 224, 24 are by trustees. 



68 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 7 Hen. IV. 



M Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 544. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Hen. VII, 14, 

 101. 



65a For a similar succession of the 

 Dudleys to the Arderns, see Leigh Place 

 in Leigh, Reigate Hundred. 



