SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



LALEHAM 



From about 1294 to 1304 the manor courts 

 seem to have been held almost monthly, and gener- 

 ally on a date towards the end of the month." 

 After 1331 they were held three times a year, the 

 court held with view of frankpledge falling always 

 near the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. 68 

 The reeve (prepositus), who was responsible to 

 Westminster for the manor, appears to have been 

 elected by the homage, 68 and to have been usually 

 a native tenant of the manor. Though the manor 

 was generally managed by a reeve, the abbey occa- 

 sionally appointed a Serjeant, 70 or a collector of 

 rents." There are four court rolls extant of the 

 reign of Henry VI," and twelve are preserved at 

 the Public Record Office which date from 1 690 

 to 1721." 



LA HYDE or BILLETS. In 1086 Robert 

 Blund (Blunt) held 8 hides as a manor. 74 This 

 land is ascribed to Laleham only, but it probably 

 extended into the neighbouring parish of Littleton 

 also, as the Blunts certainly held land there. 74 

 Littleton is not mentioned by name in the 

 Domesday Survey, but as Westminster Abbey held 

 the more important estate in Laleham, there 

 would hardly be room in so small a parish for 

 another manor estimated at as much as 8 hides. 

 In the time of Edward the Confessor Robert 

 Blunt's manor had been held by Achi, the 

 king's servant, and it had then lain within the 

 jurisdiction of Staines. 7 ' It was held of Robert 

 Blunt by one Estrild, a nun. 77 Laleham is not 

 mentioned again among the lands of the Blunt 

 family, whose chief property lay in Suffolk, and 

 who were barons of Ixworth in that county. 78 

 The last of this branch of the family, William 

 Blunt, was killed at the battle of Evesham, and 

 his estates were divided be- 

 tween his sisters, Agnes the 

 wife of Sir William Criketot 

 of Ovisdone, and Rose wife 

 of Robert de Valoigne. 79 



In the reign of Ed- 

 ward III Robert de Egles- 

 fcld held the manor of La 

 Hyde in Laleham. 80 He 

 held it by gift from his 

 father, John de Eglesfeld, EGLISFELD. Argtnt 



who was one of the heirs three eagles gulet. 

 of John de Crokedayk. 81 



The Eglesfelds and the Crokedayks were Cum- 

 berland families, 1 * and it is possible that the latter 

 represents a branch of the Criketots, and that the 



manor of La Hyde was part of the 8 hides held 

 by Robert Blunt in 1086. There is, how- 

 ever, no actual proof of the connexion, nor is 

 Laleham mentioned among the lands inherited by 

 John de Eglesfeld from John de Crokedayk. 8 * 

 Robert de Eglesfeld son of John was chaplain to 

 Queen Philippa, the consort of Edward III, and 

 the founder of Queen's College, Oxford. 84 His 

 manor of La Hyde apparently gave its name to a 

 pasture known as the Hyde Acre. An extent 

 taken in 1327 shows that it lay in Laleham, 

 Littleton, and Staines, and that it had a house and 

 garden, stables, a grange, and that there were in 

 demesne 36^ acres of arable, and 9 acres of pas- 

 ture; 84 the whole being worth 6 14*. lo^J* 

 In 1328, Robert de Eglesfeld granted the manor 

 to Edward III in exchange for Ren wick or 

 Ravenswyk, a hamlet in Cumberland. 87 The king 

 added La Hyde to the manor of Kempton, in 

 Sunbury parish, and gave it into the custody of 

 John de L'Isle, the constable of Windsor Castle. 88 

 The capital messuage and garden and demesne 

 lands were then held by Roger Belet, the pantler 

 (fatietarius) of the queen's household, 89 an office 

 which seems to have been hereditary in the Belet 

 family since the reign of John. 90 In 1337 these 

 lands were granted to Roger to hold in fee by the 

 services due, 91 though the estate still remained 

 in the manorial jurisdiction of Kempton. 9 ' In 

 1366 Belet conveyed these and the reversion of all 

 his lands in Staines, Littleton, and Laleham to the 

 abbey of Westminster. 9 * From this time it seems 

 to have been merged in the abbey's manor of Lale- 

 ham, and to have been distinguished under the 

 name of Beletes tenement. 94 At the Dissolution 

 it was probably represented by the ' manor ' of 

 BILLETS, which was valued separately from that of 

 Laleham at the sum of 6 1 3/. 4^." It was 

 surrendered with the rest of the abbey's lands to the 

 Crown, and was annexed to the honour of Hampton 

 Court. 96 



The site of the manor was leased in 1538 to 

 Thomas Cawarden, and later to Roger Rogers. 

 In 1585 it was leased to John Keye (being 

 described as ' Billets in Laleham ' 97 ), and in 1606 

 to Henry Spiller, 98 to whom it was finally granted, 

 with the manor of Laleham, in 1612." The 

 history of the two manors from that time was 

 identical, and they were generally described as the 

 manor of Laleham and Billets,' otherwise ' Laleham 

 Billets.' The name of Billets is not to be found 

 now in the parish, but land known as the Billet 



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

 of Westm. Abbey, chest D. no. 27 1 1 1- 

 14. 



63 Ibid. no. 27127, &c. 



69 Ibid. no. 27120. 



'" Ibid. no. 27119, 27133. 



71 Ibid. no. 27161-8. 



" Ibid. no. 27169, 27170. 



" 8 P.R.O. Ct. R. portf. 191, no. 4.6. 



7< Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 131. 



7 s v.. Littleton. 



7 Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 131. 



" Ibid. 



" 9 Croke, Hist, of the Crake family, 

 i, 100. 



? 9 Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Hen. Ill, no. 

 25. 



80 Ibid, i Edw. Ill (ist. nos.), no. I. 



81 Ibid. 



8a Ibid. 18 Edw. Ill (ist. nos.), no. 



53- 



83 Ibid. 10 Edw. Ill, no. 24. 

 M Diet. Nat. Blag, xvii, 165. 



85 Chan. Inq. p.m. \ Edw. Ill (ist. 

 nos.), no. i. 



86 Chart. R. 2 Edw. Ill, m. 24, 

 no. 79. 



*7 Close, 2 Edw. Ill, m. 34 d. 

 88 Abbrtv. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 17. 



399 



Mins. Accts. (P.R.O.), bdle. 916, 

 no. 27. 



90 Cart. Antiq. II, 15. 



91 Cat. Pat. 1334-8, p. 410. 



9S P.R.O. Ct. R. portf. 191, no. 41. 



99 Abst. of Chart, of Westm. Abbey, 

 no. 88, 89, 125, 134,135 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 40 Edw. Ill (2nd noa.), no. 20. 



94 Close, 3 Edw. IV, m. n, 12. 



95 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 410. 



96 Pat. 4 Jas. I, pt. xiti. 



97 Pat. 27 Eliz. pt. v, m. 30 ; 27 Eliz. 

 pt. xi, m. 33. 



98 Pat. 4 Jas. I, pt. xx, xxi. 



99 Pat. 10 Jas. I, pt. vii, m. 18. 



