A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



FF.RMOK. Bendy of 

 eight pieces or and gules 

 and a chief argent with 

 three jleurt de Its azure 

 therein. 



son, inherited the estate of his uncle at Summertown 

 and Tusmore, Oxon, besides holding the greater 

 part of the Bradshawe estates. 31 He represented the 

 borough of Wycombe in 15623," but does not 

 seem to have been a member in later Parliaments. 

 He died before his wife, 3 * and at her death the manor 

 of Halton passed to their son and heir Richard, 34 a child 

 of three. After attaining his majority, he settled the 

 manor in 1598 upon Sir Francis Wolley and his 

 wife Mary, 35 with contingent 

 remainder to Lady Elizabeth 

 Egerton, the mother of Sir 

 Francis. On the death of Sir 

 Francis in 1601 36 Halton re- 

 verted to Sir Richard Fermor, 

 who was holding it in 1641." 

 Henry Fermor, presumably the 

 son and heir of Sir Richard, 

 was a papist, 38 and had to 

 compound in 1647 for 556 

 for his reversionary estate in 

 Halton. A settlement was 

 made of the manor in 1656" 

 between Henry Fermor and 

 a younger Richard, presu- 

 mably his son and heir, and in 1671 Henry Fermor 

 bought from Lord Hawley and other trustees for the 

 sale of rents belonging to the Crown the fee-farm 

 rent * of 4O/. "]\d. due from the manor of Halton. 

 Richard Fermor succeeded Henry before 1678, in 

 which year he leased the manor for ninety-nine years, 41 

 probably in mortgage, to Sir Thomas Crewe, Edmund 

 Verney, Ralph Sheldon, Basil Drake, and Ambrose 

 Holbech, for whom presumably the last-named acted, 

 as his name appears in a settlement of the manor 

 made in 1684," and he presented to the rectory, 

 which was leased at the same time. 43 



Halton passed to Henry Fermor before 1684," 

 and to his son James before 1719." In the next 

 year James Fermor w sold the manor with its appur- 

 tenances and a water-mill to Francis Dashwood, 

 afterwards Sir Francis Dashwood, ban., whose de- 

 scendants held it for more than a hundred years, 47 

 and his grandson, Sir John Dashwood King, lived 

 at Halton Manor House, 43 but after his death it 

 was unoccupied for some time. The manor was 

 sold either by his executors or by his son George 

 Dashwood in 1851 ts to Baron Lionel de Rothschild, 

 and Mr. Alfred de Rothschild is the present lord of 

 the manor. 



The prior and convent of Christchurch obtained 

 a grant of free warren in their demesne lands in 

 Halton from King Edward II in i3i6, M and the 

 grant was afterwards confirmed by Edward III " and 

 Henry VI. 5 ' In the latter charter, reference is made 

 to a charter of Henry II, granting warren in the lands 

 of the church of Holy Trinity, Canterbury, in Buck- 



inghamshire and Oxfordshire, 53 so that the monks of 

 Christchurch had presumably exercised the privilege 

 long before the grant of Edward II. The prior also 

 claimed to hold the view of frankpledge in Halton, 54 

 and to have waifs and the chattels of felons and fugi- 

 tives, and was quit of suit to the shire and hundred 

 courts for himself and his men. 55 When his privi- 

 leges were challenged by Edward I he quoted a 

 charter of William the Conqueror 5 * to Archbishop 

 Anselm with a long list of ancient privileges. He 

 also claimed to have his own gallows, tumbril, and 

 pillory, but it was said that neither tumbril or pillory 

 existed at Halton. 57 No privileges are mentioned in 

 the grant to Henry Bradshawe, nor in documents 

 relating to the Fermors. In 1786, however, George 

 Dashwood claimed certain general privileges in the 

 manor, 58 and presumably both the Fermors and Dash- 

 woods held the view of frankpledge. 



A piece of land in Halton appears to have been parcel 

 of the honour of Gloucester in the 1 4th and 151)1 

 centuries. Presumably it had formed part of the lands 

 of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, 59 many of 

 which descended to the Earls of Gloucester, and from 

 them to the Earls of Stafford, who were overlords of a 

 knight's fee, or part of a fee, in Halton in the 1 4th 

 century. In 1386 John Hampden was the tenant 

 of this land, and may presumably be identified with 

 the John Hampden who inherited Upton Manor in 

 Great Kimble in I377- 61 His heir is mentioned 

 in 1460," but this land in Halton is not again 

 referred to. 



The church of ST. MICHAEL is a 

 CHURCH completely modern structure consisting 

 of a shallow chancel, a nave of four 

 bays with north and south aisles, and a western tower. 

 It was built in 1813 and is faced with Heath stone, 

 and designed in a poor adaptation of 13th-century 

 style. The nave is separated from the aisles by 

 arcades of four bays with pointed arches and columns 

 with foliate capitals. The windows are either lancets 

 or have simple tracery. The tower is a small one of 

 three stages with an embattled parapet, and contains a 

 stair to a small gallery, projected through the tower 

 arch, which serves as an organ loft. The seating, 

 fittings, woodwork, &c., are all modern, except the 

 font, which is of late 18th-century date. It is con- 

 structed of white marble inlaid with coloured 

 marbles, and has a small square bowl, ornamented 

 with grotesques, which is supported upon a twisted stem. 



The only trace remaining of the old church, which 

 occupied about the same site, is some stone curbing 

 laid down to the east of the present church, marking 

 the lines of the old chancel. 



In the sanctuary, affixed to the north wall, is a 

 brass, removed from the old church, with the figures 

 of a man in armour, his wife, four sons, and four 

 daughters. The inscription runs : ' Orate p alab} 



81 Collins, Peerage (ed. Brydges), iv, 

 Zoo- 1. 



2 Ret. ofMemb. of Parl. 



88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxxxviii, 

 no. i. M Ibid. 



M Ibid. (Ser. 2), Misc. 9 Jas. I, dviii, 

 no. 8. M Ibid. 



w Lay Subs. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 80, no. 

 302. 



88 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, i, 68. 



89 Recov. R. Trin. 1656. 



40 Close, 24 Cha. II, pt. 9, no. 12. 



41 Ibid. 



43 Recov. R. Trin. 36 Chas. II. 



48 Notes of F. Bucks. Hil. ; 30 & 31 

 Chas. II; (P.R.O.), Inst. Bks. 1691. 



44 Recov. R. Trin. 36 Chas. II. 



48 Ibid. Hil. 6 Geo. I. 



46 Close, 7 Geo. I, pt. 18, no. 21. 



47 Recov. R. Trin. 26 Geo. Ill ; Lysons, 

 Magna Brit, i, 567. 48 Ibid. 



49 Sheahan, Hist, and Tofog. of Bucks. 

 138. 



50 Chart. R. IO Edw. II, m. 24, no. 60. 

 61 Ibid. 38 Edw. Ill, no. 156, m. 8, no. 



>5- 



34 



" Cal. Pat. 1429-36, p. 418. 



Ibid. 



w Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 20. 



" Plac. de Quo (far. (Rec. Com.), 86-7. 



* Ibid. 



*7 Ibid. 



" Recov. R. 26 Geo. III. 



69 Cf. Great Kimble. 



60 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, no. 38 ; 

 ibid. 16 Ric. II (pt. i), no. 27. 



Cf. Great Kimble. 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. 38 & 39 Hen. VI, 

 m. 59. 



