A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



MISSKNDEN ABBEY. 

 Barry -wavy ermine and 

 sable 'with a crosier or 

 bendivise. 



hands of Walter de Upton and Robert Fitz Neel, 63 

 who may possibly have obtained them by marriage 

 with the descendants of John son of Hugh de Kimble. 



In 1254 the Abbot of Missenden was said to hold 

 4 hides of land in Great Kimble of the gift of 

 John de Westhull." The 

 charter of John de Westhull 

 is given in the Missenden 

 cartulary, but the abbey only 

 obtained some of its lands in 

 Great Kimble from this bene- 

 factor." In 1284 the abbot 

 held one fee in Great Kimble 

 of the Earl of Oxford, 66 and 

 in 1330 in an extent of the 

 possessions of the abbey this 

 land is called the manor of 

 Great Kimble. 67 After the dis- 

 solution of Missenden Abbey, 

 the manor of Great Kimble 



was granted in 1541 to Michael Dormer, with all 

 the lands belonging to the abbey in Great and Little 

 Kimble. 58 The Dormers held the manor until 

 1579-80, when William Dormer sold the reversion 

 to Griffith Hampden. 59 William Hampden died 

 seised of this manor, 60 and it passed to his descendants 

 with Uptons Manor (q.v.). 



In the 1 3th century FENEL'S GROPE or 

 WHITINGHJM'S MJNOR was held by the family 

 of Fitz Neel, but it is not clear how they became 

 possessed of it. 



In a charter granting land to Missenden Abbey in 

 the time of Henry II, Richard Fitz Neel is mentioned 

 .as a previous donor of land to 

 the abbey, 61 and Hugh de 

 Bolebec in a charter confirm- 

 ing the alienation of the church 

 calls him 'his man.' 61 Robert 

 Fitz Neel witnessed various 

 charters to the abbey in the 

 reign of Henry III, 6 * and held 

 one knight's fee in Great 

 Kimble in 1 2 84-6." He had 

 a. son named Walter, who 

 held land in Great Kimble. 65 

 Robert Fitz Neel held the 



\ 



FITZ NZKL. 

 argent and gufes. 



Tal 



Of 



fee in 1302-3 and I3I6, 66 and must presumably 

 have been his son or grandson. Robert Fitz Neel 

 died before 1345, leaving an only daughter, Grace, 

 the wife of Sir John Nowers. 67 She held the 

 fee in I346, 68 but died in 1350, and John son 

 of John de Nowers was her heir, at that time 

 still a minor. 69 He, however, released the manor to 



King Edward III, and Sir Ingelram de Couci, Earl of 

 Bedford, who had married the king's eldest daughter 

 Isabella or Elizabeth. 70 The earl had come to Eng- 

 land as one of the hostages for King John of France, 

 but had risen to great favour with Edward III. On 

 the accession of Richard II he resigned his earldom 

 to the king and gave up all his English land on retir- 

 ing to France. 71 His wife, however, remained in 

 England, and held the manor till her death, which 

 took place before 1382." Richard II then granted 

 the manor to Queen Anne for her life. 73 



Henry IV apparently granted it to Queen Joan, 

 who held it in dower in 1425." He granted the 

 reversion of the manor to his second son John Duke 

 of Bedford, and the grant was confirmed by Henry V, 

 the manor to remain to the duke and the heirs of his 

 body. 75 On the death of the duke in 1435," the 

 manor passed to his nephew and heir Henry VI, 77 one- 

 third being held in dower by Jaquetta of Luxembourg, 

 the widow of Bedford. 78 The king in 1439 sold the 

 manor, which at this time was known by the name of 

 Fenel's Grove, to Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of 

 Winchester, to hold for the rent of id. a year. 79 

 The same year the bishop sold it to Robert Whit- 

 ingham, Squire of the Household, and servant of 

 Henry VI. 60 Various confirmations of this grant 

 were obtained from the king. 81 Whitingham was 

 succeeded by Sir Robert Whitingham, his son, who 

 was attainted on the accession of Edward IV, and 

 forfeited his lands. 81 John Verney and his wife 

 Margery, the daughter and heiress of Sir Robert, 63 

 attempted to recover Fenel's Grove as part of her 

 inheritance. 84 Although their son, Sir Ralph Verney, 

 was said to be the overlord of the manor in 1 5 1 6, 85 

 it seems very improbable that the Verneys ever re- 

 covered possession. In 1499 Richard Whitingham 

 was in seisin, 86 and a long lawsuit ensued between 

 him and Richard Empson, John Danvers, Thomas 

 Hasilwode, John Dey, and William Wodward ; 

 Empson and the other plaintiffs appear to have re- 

 covered seisin of the manor of Fenel's Grove or 

 Whitingham's Manor in Great Kimble, after the pro- 

 ceedings had lasted for four years. 87 On Empson's 

 attainder after the death of Henry VII, the ' manor 

 of Kimble ' was granted to Thomas Parre and Matilda 

 his wife for life. 88 The estates of his father were, 

 however, restored to Thomas Empson by Act of 

 Parliament, 89 and he recovered the manor of Fenel's 

 Grove amongst them. In 1538 he sold it to Michael 

 Dormer, Alderman of London, 90 who died seised in 

 I545. 91 Geoffrey Dormer sold the manor in 1555 

 to William Serjeant. 9 * Richard Serjeant was the 

 eldest son and heir of William at the latter's death in 



68 See Uptons Manor and Fenel's Grove. 

 M Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 31. 



Harl. MS. 3688. 

 * Feud. Aids, i, 75. 

 '7 Harl. MS. 3688. 

 " L. and t. Hen. VIII, rri, 379 (iz). 



69 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 6019 ; Feet 

 of F. Bucks. HiL 22 Eliz. 



60 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlviii, no. 



39- 



" Harl. MS. 3688. 



M Ibid. <* Ibid. 



M Feud. Aids, i, 75. 



85 Harl. MS. 3688. 



66 Feud. Aids, i, 96, 113. 



8 7 Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill (ist 

 cos.), no. 75 ; ibid. 23 Edw. Ill (pt. i), 

 no. 85. 



88 Feud. Aids, i, 122. 



89 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill (pt. i), 

 no. 85 ; Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 413. 

 Robert the eldest ion of Grace, on whom 

 the land was settled by Robert Fitz Neel, 

 was unable to manage his lands, having 

 been hit on the head with a lance at cer- 

 tain jousts. He apparently had died be- 

 fore 1350. 



70 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 387. 



71 G.E.C. Comf/ete Peerage. 

 7" Cal. Pat. 1381-5, p. 203. 

 7* Ibid. 203, 529. 



7< Chart. R. 3 & 4 Hen. V, no. a. 



Ibid. 



7 G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



77 Par!. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 317. 



7 s Cal. Pat. 1436-41, pp. 260, 520. 



300 



7 Parl. A vi, 3 1 7. 



80 Ibid. 81 ibid. Ibid. 



88 See Dinton. 



84 Parl. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 317. 



85 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxvii, no. 

 123. 



88 De Banco R. Mich. 15 Hen. VII, 

 m. 310, 361. 



"7 Ibid. Hil. 19 Hen. VII, m. 21 ; 

 Feet of F. Bucks. Mich. 15 Hen. VII j 

 ibid. Mich. 19 Hen. VII. 



88 Pat. 2 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 8. 



89 Diet. Nat. Biog. xvii, 365. 



90 Close, 30 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, no. 16. 



91 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxiii, no. 

 10. 



83 Feet of F. Bucks. East. I & 2 Phil, 

 and Mary. 



