SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



LITTLETON 



was held by his daughter Elizabeth, 34 whose 

 husband, William Venour, was keeper of the Fleet 

 in I44O. 85 It came probably after the death of 

 Elizabeth to Ellen, the daughter and heir of John 

 Sapurton, brother of Roger, who married Robert 

 Markham, with whom she conveyed it in 1528 to 

 Anthony Windesore, representative of the family 

 of Windsor of Stanwell. 36 Edward Lord Windsor 

 sold it in 1563 to Francis Vaughan," and it 

 appears to have come before 1573 to John 

 Bartram, who transferred his right in it in that 

 year to Thomas Newdigate." The latter possibly 

 acted for the Somerset family, as Francis Newdigate 

 married Anne, Duchess of Somerset, the widow of 

 the Protector, 39 and Henry Newdigate conveyed the 

 manor in 1600 to her son, Edward, Earl of 

 Hertford. 40 It was inherited after the latter's 

 death by his grandson and heir William, 41 who 

 succeeded to the earldom in 1 62 1. 42 He con- 

 veyed it in 1627 to Daniel and Thomas Moore," 

 of whom Thomas conveyed it to Nathaniel 

 Goodlad in 1648." The history of the manor 

 for the next hundred years is somewhat obscure. 

 It is said to have come early in the 1 8th century 

 to the family of Lambell, 45 the last of whom, 

 Gilbert Lambell, certainly held it in 1749." He 

 died in 1783," having sold 

 the manor to Thomas 

 Wood, whose family had 

 held the manor of Astlam 

 (q.v.) in this parish since 

 1 660. His direct descend- 

 ant, Captain Thomas Wood, 

 holds the manor of Little- 

 ton at the present day. 48 

 Several members of the 

 family have gained distinc- WooD of Littleton . 

 tion in military service, of Satle a bull faaant ar- 

 whom perhaps the most g">t. 

 famous is General Sir 



David Wood (1812-94), the son of Colonel 

 Thomas Wood of Littleton." He served in the 

 Boer campaign of 1842-3, and commanded the 

 Royal Artillery at Balaclava, Inkerman, and be- 

 fore Sebastopol, and the Horse Artillery in the 

 Indian Mutiny. 50 The eighteen tattered colours of 

 the Grenadier Guards, which now hang in the 

 church, were placed there by the father of the 

 present representative of the family, who was 

 colonel of that regiment. 



The Leveland family appears to have let the 

 manor to tenants. Robert de Winton held it as 

 a tenant of Robert de Leveland in 1209, paying a 

 yearly rent of I Ib. of pepper." Edward de 

 Winton owed the service of three-quarters of a 

 knight's fee in Littleton during part of the 1 3th 

 century." It is uncertain how long the de Wintons 

 held the manor, but it was probably until about 

 1335, when an Edmund de Winton presented to 

 the rectory, 53 the advowson having been first 

 granted to Robert de Winton in 1209." Possibly 

 the manor passed very shortly to William de 

 Perkelee, who held the advowson about that time, 55 

 and tenants of the same name, who were presum- 

 ably his descendants, held the manor in the reign 

 of Henry VI, rendering the same yearly rent of 

 i Ib. of pepper by which the de Wintons had 

 held. 86 Guy de Perkelee, citizen and fish- 

 monger of London, appears to have held the manor 

 in 1424." A few years later Simon de Perkelee 

 and his brother Guy, who were possibly his sons, 

 held the manor together. 58 Simon, who was a 

 citizen and scrivener of London, died in 1439, leav- 

 ing a son William, then nineteen years of age. 59 

 Litigation took place in 1 444, Guy and his sister 

 Matilda, the wife of John Talent, having ap- 

 parently taken possession of the manor, and their 

 nephew William attempted to recover it from 

 William de Bokeland, to whom they had conveyed 

 it. 60 It is possible that William de Perkelee died 

 before the conclusion of the suit, for in the follow- 

 ing year the manor was divided, two-thirds being 

 held by Guy and his wife, and one-third by Agnes, 

 who was William's wife, with remainder to Guy. 

 The latter, in that year, 61 conveyed his share and 

 the remainder of the third part to William de 

 Bokeland, who appears to have held the whole manor 

 in 1458." After this time the under- tenure seems 

 to have lapsed. 



The so-called manor of ASTLAM (Ashlam, 

 Aschlam, Astelam, Astleham, xvii and xviii cents.) 

 appears to have been held in chief. The name 

 first occurs in 1600, when Katharine Ryse, widow, 

 conveyed the manor to Francis Townley." 

 Nicholas Townley, who was probably the heir of 

 Francis, and Joan his wife held it in 1650-1," 

 and in 1 660 sold it to Thomas Wood, the son and 

 heir apparent of Edward Wood, alderman of Lon- 

 don, 65 who was the first of his family to settle at 

 Littleton. 66 The manor remained with his descen- 



84 Plac. in Cane, file 29, no. I. 



88 Cat. Pat. 1436-41, p. 422. 



Feet of F. Midd. Mich. 20 Hen. 

 VIII. 



8 " Recov. R. Trin. 5 Eliz. rot. 608 ; 

 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Trin. 5 Eliz. m. 



'3- 



"Ibid. Mich. 15 & 1 6 Eliz. This 

 document it too much decayed to be 

 inspected. 



89 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii, 174. 

 Feet of F. Midd. Hil. 16 Eliz. ; 



Mich. 42 & 43 Eliz. ; Div. Co. Trin. 44 

 Eliz. ; Midd. East. 4 Jas. I. 



Ibid. Hil. 10 Jas. I ; Hil. 2 

 Chas. I. 



49 G.E.C. Ctmfleti Peerage, iv, 225. 



48 Feet of F. Midd. Hil. 2 Chas. I. 



44 Ibid. Mich. 24 Chas. I. 



45 Lysons, Environs of Land. (1800), 

 v, 202. 



46 Recov. R. Hil. 23 Geo. II, rot. 



383.- 



4 " Lysons, op. cit. v, 202. 



48 Burke, Landed Gentry (1906), 

 1842. 



49 Diet. Nat. Biog. xii, 354. 

 "Ibid. 



" Pipe R. 2 John, m. 6 d. 



63 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 360- 

 2. It was then said to be held of the 

 Blunts, but this was probably a mis- 

 take. 



68 Lysons, op. cit. v, 204. 



54 Pipe R. 1 1 John, m. 6 d. 



6S Newcourt, Refert. i, 688. 



403 



M Plac. in Cane, file 29, no. i. 



* Close, 2 Hen. VI, m. 14 d. 



68 Plac. in Cane, file 29, no. I. 



Ibid. 



60 Co. Plac. Midd. no. 41 ; Feet 

 of F. Lond. and Midd. 21 Hen. VI, no. 

 105. 



" Feet of F. Lond and Midd. 23 

 Hen. VI, no. 120. 



" Feet of F. Lond. and Midd. 36 

 Hen. VI, no. 185. 



8 Feet of F. Midd. Mich. 42-3 

 Eliz. 



M Ibid. Hil. 1650-1 ; Recov. R. East. 

 1651, rot. 21 ; Feet of F. Midd. Mich. 

 1655. 



* Close, 13 Chas. II, pt. xv, no. 23. 



* Burke, Landed Gentry. 



