SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

 Gules St. Pcter't keys or. 



Ashford remained with the convent of West- 

 minster until the dissolution of that house in 

 January 1539-40," when 

 it was ceded to the Crown. 14 

 It was annexed by Henry 

 VIII to the honour of 

 Hampton Court in 1540," 

 and was leased in 1542 for 

 twenty-one years to Richard 

 Ellis, a member of the royal 

 household." In 1602 it 

 was granted to Guy Godol- 

 phin and John Smythe. 18 

 Godolphin is said to have 

 sold his interest in the 



grant to Smythe in the following year." It is 

 probable that the latter conveyed Ashford Manor, 

 as he did the rectory of Staines which he received 

 in the same way, to Urias Babington, 80 who 

 died seised of the manor in February 1605-6." He 

 left it to his younger son, William," who still held 

 it in 1630." The latter is said to have conveyed it 

 in that year to Henry Field, whose widow con- 

 tinued to hold it after his death." She was 

 married a second time, to Edward Forset, and 

 died in 1 689.** It is said that by a deed executed 

 in her first widowhood, the manor passed to her 

 brother, Abraham Nelson, and that his widow 

 Susanna, a daughter of Sir Brocket Spencer,* 6 held 

 it after his death.* 7 She died in 1712, when, 

 according to the same deed, the manor went to 

 Richard grandson of Abraham Nelson.* 8 Richard 

 Nelson certainly held it in 171 9." He is said to 

 have died intestate, and to have been succeeded by 

 his sisters and co-heirs, Frances and Mary, who 

 also died intestate and unmarried. 30 The manor 

 then passed to Sir John Austen, son of Thomas 

 Austen and Arabella, daughter and heiress of 

 Edward Forset by the widow of Henry Field. 31 

 In 1741 Sir John sold the reversion of the manor 

 after his death and after that of Mary Wright, 

 spinster (who was residuary legatee under his will), 32 

 to Peter Storer." Sir John died in March 1 74I-2, 34 

 and Mary Wright in 1753, and Peter Storer, son 

 of the original purchaser, then came into posses- 

 sion." He died in 1760, having left the manor 

 to his sister Martha, the wife of William Baker. 36 

 It was inherited by their son Peter William Baker, 37 

 who held it in I777* 8 and as late as i8oo. 39 



ASHFORD 



There is little further record of the manor. It 

 was held by Solomon Abraham Hart from 1870 to 

 1882, but the estate is now broken up among many 

 small owners, and all trace of the manor lost. A 

 grange belonging to the abbey of Westminster is 

 mentioned as early as 1278.* It was apparently 

 rebuilt some ten years later, 41 about which time a 

 considerable amount of building was in progress 

 on the manor, including a house, a dairy, and 

 piggeries." A mill is mentioned in 1277 and the 

 succeeding years, but seems to have been disused 

 after 1 309.** There was also a dovecot which 

 was built about 13 69, and which was kept up until 

 the end of the century." An extent of the manor 

 taken in 1312 shows that the capital messuage 

 was then held by William le Palmer," whose 

 family held land for a considerable period in 

 Ashford. 



The estate was at first generally managed by a 

 reeve, 46 who appears to have been elected in the 

 manor court by the homage. 47 During the 1 4th 

 century it was more often under a Serjeant 

 (itrvieai) appointed by the monastery. 48 The 

 demesne lands were farmed from 1379 to '3^7 by 

 Ambrose de Feltham, 4 ' who had already acted as 

 Serjeant from I372, w and who continued in that 

 capacity until 1392." After twenty years of his 

 administration, the tenants sent a written com- 

 plaint (in French) to Westminster." They repre- 

 sented to the abbot that not only did his ' poor 

 tenants ' suffer great wrongs and evil impositions at 

 the hands of his bailiff, but that they were called 

 ' thieves, dogs and other villainous and horrible 

 names.' Further, they declared that Ambrose had 

 falsified the accounts of his stewardship, and that 

 he kept back the best animals for his own use, so 

 that his sheep and lambs were finer and better 

 (plus nobles et bones) than the lord's. It was prob- 

 ably in consequence of their complaint that his 

 term of office came to an end, and that he appears 

 no more among the bailiffs of Ashford. His place 

 was taken by Richard atte Crouch, who acted as 

 serjeant till 1402," after which the demesne lands 

 were again farmed, the tenant acting also as collec- 

 tor of rents. 54 



Until the middle of the I4th century the manor 

 court was generally held three times a year, at 

 intervals of about four months." After that time 

 it was more frequently held twice a year, one 



14 Pofe Nict. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 1 3 ; 

 Plae. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 479 5 

 Feud. Aids, iii, 372 ; Doc. in custody 

 of the D. and C. of Westm. Chest D. ; 

 Dugdale, Afon. i, 280. 



16 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 415, 

 422. 



" L. and P. Hen. VIII, rv, 498, 

 p. 36. 



V Ibid, rvii, 704. 



18 Pat. 44 Eliz. pt. xxii, m. 6. 



19 Lysons, Environs of Land. (1800), 

 y, 244. 



Ibid. 



91 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccicii, 

 186. 

 M Ibid. 



38 Feet of F. Midd. Eat. 6 Chas. I. 

 34 Lysons, Environs of Land, v, I, 



citing information supplied by the 

 steward of the manor (1800). 



Ibid. 



26 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 200. 



*7 Lysons, op. cit. v, I. 



38 Ibid. 



29 Recov. R. Mich. 6. Geo. I, rot. 

 241. 



80 Lysons, op. cit. v, 2. 



81 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, v, 21. 

 "Ibid. 



Feet of F. Midd. Mil. 14 Geo. II. 



84 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, v, 21. 



85 Lysons, op. cit. v, 2. 



6 Ibid. ; Feet of F. Midd. Hil. 

 33 Geo. II. 



7 Lysons, op. cit. v, 2. 



88 Recov. R. Mich. 18 Geo. Ill, 

 rot. 368. 



89 Lysons, op. cit. v, 2. 

 40 Doc. in custody of the D. and C. 

 of Westm. Chest D. no. 26656. 

 Ibid. no. 26667. 



43 Ibid. no. 26660-7. 

 48 Ibid. no. 26655-97. 



44 Ibid. no. 26769-807. 



45 Ibid. no. 26703. 



46 Ibid. no. 26655-73. 

 *7 Ibid. no. 26734. 



48 Ibid. no. 26674 sqq. 



49 Ibid. no. 26786-801. 



50 Ibid. no. 26775, "H- 

 61 Ibid. no. 26801-8. 

 H Ibid. no. z6So8. 

 '"Ibid. no. 26812-32. 

 54 Ibid. no. 26833-47. 

 63 Ibid. no. 26655-748. 



