ODSEY HUNDRED 



ASHWELL 



■ separate 

 ! below). 

 Westbury 



least 1728, when Salmon write! that 'the western 

 part of this manor (Westbury) is a farm of Sir Richard 

 Hutchinson's, which holds of Sir George Humble,'" 

 the Humbles, as hereafter shown, being at this date 

 owners of Westbury Nernewtes. Subsequently it 

 passed to the Leheups. William Leheup was holding 

 in 1779 s1 ant * Michael Peter Leheup in 1809." 

 Westbury Farm still remains a property qi ' 

 from the manor of Westbury Nernewtes (s 

 It is situated on the west of the 

 Farm has a homestead moat. 



The Buckinghamshire family of Nernewt (Nernuyt) 

 held land in Ashwell in the 14th century which was 

 probably originally part of 

 the Abbot of Westminster's 

 manor." This land became 

 the manor of U'ESTBURT 

 NERNEWTES. In 1340 

 Sir John Nernewt of Burn- 

 ham and Fleet Marston, 

 Bucks., settled 'two thirds of 

 one messuage, two mills, 40 

 acres of land, 10 acres of 

 meadow and 18 marks' rent 

 in Ashwell and Hinxworth' 

 upon his son and heir John, 66 

 whose daughter Elizabeth, wife 

 of John Hertishorne, inherited 

 the property. 67 John Hertishorne (together with two 

 others, presumably his feoffees) was holding 'half a fee 

 in Ashwell which John Nernewt lately held there' in 

 1428. 63 The Nernewt property is said to have passed 

 by female line to the Harveys, and on the death of 

 Sir George Harvey (before 1520) to have been pur- 

 chased by the Lees. 68 This descent is doubtful, but the 

 Lees did acquire possession of Westbury Nernewtes. 

 In 1 540-I a conveyance by Richard Heigham and 

 his wife Mary, Thomas Colt and Thomas Lysley 

 was made to Anthony Lee, kt., of a moiety of 

 the Buckinghamshire manors and of the manor of 

 Westbury in Ashwell.' After this the connexion 

 with Buckinghamshire ceases. In 1557 this manor 

 (henceforward invariably called Westbury Nernewtes) 

 was conveyed by William Hawtrey and Agnes 

 his wife to Thomas Norwood,'' son and heir of 

 William Norwood of Ashwell. Thomas was succeeded 

 at Westbury Nernewtes by his son Nicholas, and 

 Nicholas by his nephew Tirringham Norwood, who 

 in 161 1 sold this manor to Edward Waller alias 

 Warren." Chauncy says that Edward Waller 

 conveyed it to Andrew Laut, citizen of London, 

 whose son Andrew Laut (of Thorpe Underwood, 

 Northamptonshire) was lord of the manor at the date 



gibany a 



of writing (1700)." The marriage of Sarah daughter 

 and co-heir of Andrew Laut to Sir John Humble 

 brought Westbury Nernewtes to the Humbles." Eliza- 

 beth Humble, daughter-in-law of Sir John, who sur- 

 vived both her husband and her only son, bequeathed 

 this property by her will of 1758 (proved in March 

 1770-1) to her brother the Hon. Charles Vane," 

 from whom it passed in 1789 to John Pennell, and 

 on the lattcr's death in 1 8 I 3 to his daughter Margaret, 

 the wife of Bernard Geary Snow of Highgate. On 

 the lattcr's death the manor went to his widow 

 for life, and after her death was divided among his 

 children by Margaret Pennell and by a former wife. 

 Henrietta, a daughter of the former marriage, died 

 unmarried, leaving her share of the propeiiy to her 

 betrothed, the Rev. J. B. Smith. 

 Anna Maria, a daughter 

 of the Pennell marriage, 

 married Mr. Edward King 

 Fordham of Ashwell Bury, 

 who bought up all the shares 

 of the manor (including 

 Smith's) excepting that of the 

 Rev. John Pennell Snow, an 

 elder brother of Anna Maria. 

 This latter share (one-sixth) 

 was bequeathed by Mr. Snow 

 to Rupert Donald Fordham, 

 who sold it to Mr. Edward 

 Snow Fordham, who had 

 already (in 1 889) inherited 

 "ve-sixths of 



■ from his father and i 



v. The tenants 



dUf gul. 



s the present lord of 

 however, nearly all 

 enfranchised and the manorial rights have lapsed.' 5 



In 1441 John Kirkeby died seised of ' a messuage, 

 140 acres of land, 8 acres of meadow, 1 acres of 

 pasture and 50/. rent in Ashwell and Hinxworth,' 

 'a parcel of land in Ashwell called Quarrepette,' and 

 ' a tenement, an acre of land and a croft called 

 Chalgravecroft ' in the same parish, all held of the 

 Abbot of Westminster's manor of Ashwell." He left 

 a daughter and heir Alice. This estate may be 

 identified with the manor of KIRKEBIES or KIRB}$ 

 in this parish, which in 1489 was settled upon Elizabeth 

 Mervyn, widow of Thomas Mervyn, and her heirs." 

 She appears to have married subsequently John Clerke, 

 and by 1530 to have been a second time a widow, 

 for in that year Elizabeth Clerke sold the manor to 

 Richard Copcot of Pyrton.' 3 He sold it in I 533 to 

 John Bowles, who sold it in 1540 to James Randall. 90 

 By 1546 it had passed to Anthony Randall, the kins- 

 man and heir of James, 81 who in 1548 conveyed this 



