A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



of the manor.* 9 In 1900 Mr. Lasenby Liberty 

 bought the manor from John Plaistowe, and is the 

 present owner of the estate. 



The Abbot of Missenden obtained a grant of free 

 warren in his demesne lands at Lee from Edward I 

 in 1287-8," which grant was confirmed by Henry VI. 30 

 The abbot held a view of frankpledge for his tenants 

 at Lee, paying 2s. a year to the Duchy of Lancaster." 



The supposition that Ralph de Halton held Lee of 

 the Turvilles as mesne lords receives corroboration 

 from the fact that he apparently did not hold the 

 whole of Lee. Hence some land remained with the 

 Turvilles, and was not included in Geoffrey de Tur- 

 ville's grant to Missenden Abbey. After the division 

 of the manor of Weston Turville between the three 

 heiresses" of the second William de Turville, the fee 

 that passed to Hugh de Herdebergh included land 

 not only in Weston, but also in Little Broughton, 

 Bedgrove, and Lee, 33 which all formed one township 

 in 1285. This land in Lee presumably belonged to 

 the manor of Weston Butlers, and afterwards to the 

 united manor of Weston Turville. 54 



The church of ST. JOHN THE 

 CHURCHES B4PTIST was built in 1868, on a 

 site 100 yds. or so east of the old 

 church, and consists of a nave, chancel, south porch, 

 and north organ chamber. It is constructed of brick 

 in 13th-century style. At the east end of the south 

 wall are a well-designed piscina and sedile of the 

 middle of the 1 3th century, which were removed 

 from the old church, and reset in their present 

 position. Both have shafted jambs and a scroll 

 label with buckle drips. The head of the piscina is 

 moulded with a roll and a filleted bowtel, and has an 

 inner cinquefoiled head, and there is a shelf, while 

 the drain is old but mutilated. The head of the 

 sedile has a plain hollow-chamfered arch, and in both 

 cases the engaged shafts have circular moulded capitals 

 and bases. There are also a number of wall monu- 

 ments removed from the old church, one to Elizabeth 

 (Welch) the wife of Thomas Plaistowe, died 1762, of 

 grey and white marble in Adams style, and another, 

 an excellent though somewhat florid piece of work, is 

 in white marble with a rococo cartouche and cupids' 

 heads, to Thomas Plaistowe, died 1715. All the 

 fittings of the church are modern, including the font, 

 which is octagonal. 



There is one bell in a small stone bell-cot or gable, 

 at the west end of the church. This bell was 

 removed from the old church, and is of considerable 

 antiquarian interest, only four others by the same 

 founder being known. It is inscribed ' Michael de 

 Wymbis me fecit.' It is not certain when Michael 

 de Wymbis lived, but the style of his bells suggests a 

 date of about 1 2 go. 34 " 



The church plate consists of a flagon, chalice, and 

 two patens, all the gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Deering in 

 181 1, and hall-marked for the previous year. 



The first book of the registers contains burials 

 between 1679 and 1802, baptisms between 1 679 and 



1797, and marriages between 1700 and 1799. After 

 this there is a gap, the baptisms being continued in a 

 second book with entries between 1804 and 1812, 

 while the other entries are only continued from 1812. 



An extensive rectangular earthwork probably marks 

 the boundary of the old monastic grounds, and there 

 are traces of fishponds on the north. 



The OLD CHURCH, now used as a Sunday school 

 room, is built in chalk, and consists of a nave and chan- 

 cel in one range and a south porch ; it is lit on the 

 north by three lancets of 13th-century date, and on 

 the south by two, while the east window is a late 1 3th- 

 century one reset with shafted jambs and inserted 

 tracery. There are two doors to the south, a small 

 one near the eastern end, and one at the western end 

 of 15th-century date with a four-centred head, on the 

 rear-arch of which are some traces of colour decoration. 

 The south porch is of early I gth-century construction. 

 There is also a west door, a late insertion with a round 

 head, and traces of a consecration cross on the masonry 

 below. On the west and north interior wall are 

 some indistinct traces of colour decoration and, pre- 

 served on shelves, a number of fragments of late 13th- 

 century date, capitals, portions of mouldings, &c., but 

 the dismantled state of the building makes it impossible 

 to assign these to their places. The font, which was 

 removed when the new church was built, forty years 

 ago, has recently been re-erected in its original 

 position. It is old but of uncertain date. The 

 stained glass in the east window, the gift of the present 

 lord of the manor, contains in the centre light the 

 figure of John Hampden, supported in the two side 

 lights by Oliver Cromwell and Miles Hobart. At 

 the top of the centre light, and occupying its original 

 position in the window, is a very interesting and 

 well-preserved fragment of 13th-century glass. 



The chapel of Lee was originally 

 4DyOtVSON appendant to the church of Weston 

 Turville, 34 and seems to have been 

 served by the rector of that parish. Ralph de Halton, 

 when he held Lee, 36 made an agreement with regard 

 to the chapel, by which he was to pay 5;. a year at the 

 altar of Weston Turville on St. Thomas' Day in com- 

 mutation for all tithes due from his land at Lee. 

 Geoffrey de Turville 37 confirmed this agreement. He 

 appears to have granted the chapel as well as his 

 manor to the abbey of Missenden, 38 and various dis- 

 putes arose as to the payments due from it to the rec- 

 tor of Weston Turville. It was finally agreed however 

 that the abbot and canons were to pay 6s. a year to 

 the mother church, and were to hold the chapel in 

 peace. 39 The chapel was served by the canons, and 

 the rectory was impropriated. In I 5 3 5 40 the benefice 

 was described as the rectory of Lee and Brownes and 

 was let at farm, the tenant in 1 540 being Thomas 

 Adam." Lord Russell obtained a grant of the rectory 

 as well as the manor of Lee in I 547 4> and no endow- 

 ment seems to have been left for the chapel. No 

 vicarage appears to have been ordained," and though 

 there were churchwardens in 15 37," two years earlier, 



"SSheahan, Hiit. and Tofog. of Bucks. 

 169. 



w Chart. R. 30 Edw. I, 95, m. 5, no. 32. 



80 Cal. Pat. 1+22-9, P- 344- 



11 (P.R.O.) Rentals and Sury. (gen. er.), 

 portf. 19, no. 13. 



83 Cf. Weston Turville. 

 88 feud. Aids, i, 86. 



84 Cf. Weston Turville. 



* A. H. Cocks, Church Bells of Bucks. 



444- 



8S Had. MS. 3688. 



M Ibid. 7 Ibid. Ibid. 



89 Ibid. ; Valor Etc!. (Rec. Com.), iv, 

 247. 



40 Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 247. 



41 (P.R.O.),Misc. Bks.(Aug.Off.), ccccv, 

 fol. 2q. 



34 6 



Pat. I Edw. VI, pt. i. 



w In 1422 in the Lincoln Episcopal 

 Registers there is an entry of the ordina- 

 tion of ' Lega,' but it was appropriated to 

 the priory of Canons Ashby. Hence it 

 seems impossible that it refers to Lee ; 

 Bp. Fleming's Inst. 1420-6. 



44 L. and P. Hen. VIII, lii (2), 221. 



