ODSEY HUNDRED 



Tahourdin, who v 

 to Edward Slat 



Vernon" of Hertingfordbury (q.v.). Francis son of 

 Christopher Vernon and Eleanor his wife and another 

 son Edmund 76 made a conveyance of the property in 

 1654. to Elias Harvey and John Prestwood, 77 possibly 

 in trust for sale. By 1680 the manor had come into 

 the possession of Henry Lawrence and Ann his wife, 

 who conveyed it that year to Giles Lawrence 7S of 

 Stepney, mariner. He bequeathed all his estates, in- 

 cluding Gannock and ' Laomer ' (i.e. La More) Farm 

 in Sandon, to his wife Sarah and her heirs. 70 He had 

 previously settled two-thirds of his estate on his wife 

 for life with remainder to their children,™ and in 1688 

 Mary wife of John Chappell conveyed her interest 

 in two-thirds of the manors of Gannock and More to 

 William Wakelyn and Richard Wildey. 81 This two- 

 thirds was apparently acquired by Rene Tahourdin, 

 who was in possession in 1746. 82 He died in 

 1 apparently succeeded by Richard 

 vith his wife Anne sold this estate 

 1 778.^ The subsequent history 

 of this part of the property is unknown. It is said 

 that Richard Lawrance of Lambeth Marsh was 

 owner of the ' manor and estate of Gannock ' 

 (possibly the remaining third of the original manor) 

 in 1 76 1, and that it was sold by his brother Giles and 

 his sister Cecily Courtenay and others to Mr. Elias 

 Fordham of Sandon. 84 He sold it to his brother 

 Mr. Edward King Fordham of Ashwcll, who died 

 in 1847. After this the estate came by will to 

 his nephew John George Fordham of the Priory, 

 Royston. 85 It now belongs to Mr. F. J. Fordham 

 of Vew Tree House, Royston. 



The present farm-house of Gannoclc lies to the 

 north-west of the village near Gannock Green and is 

 in the occupation of Mr. J. S. Sale. 



The history of another reputed manor known as 

 GRENEHALL is somewhat obscure. It was the 

 subject of a plea in the King's Bench between 

 Robert son of Nichola, who was wife of Adam Pigas, 

 and Sir Thomas de Heslarton, kt., and his wife Alice. 

 In 1345 Robert claimed the reversion of Grenehall 

 in accordance with a settlement upon Adam and 

 Nichola, which he affirmed had been made during 

 the reign of Edward II. 87 The termination of 

 the plea, which was still proceeding in 1350,^ is 

 unknown. In 1568 Grenehall Manor was conveyed 

 by Edward Bridges and Frances his wife to Nicholas 

 Fitz Hugh for the life of Frances. 89 In 1571 a 

 settlement was made on Nicholas for twenty years 

 from March 1569 with remainder to Richard Fitz 

 Hugh, 90 who in 1584 conveyed the estate to George 



Edwards and his heirs. 91 Nothing more is known of 

 Grenehall after this date. 



The manor of LA MORE was held of the Dean 

 and Chapter of St. Paul's. 112 Walter and William 

 'de Mora' were freehold tenants in Sandon early in 

 the 1 3th century. 03 Robert * atte More ' was a 

 tenant there about 1 30 1 , 34 The earliest known 

 record of the manor is a conveyance by Robert 

 Basset of Rushden and his wife Margaret to John 

 de Preston and Thomas Scmelegli." s In lz6l 

 William Basset had been among the witnesses of 

 a surrender to the dean and chapter by William son 

 of James de Sandon of iV. rent due from Theobald 

 'de la Mor' for land in Wodewellfcld.^ Robert 

 Basset also witnessed the surrender by Warin de 

 Bassingbourn of his lands in Sandon in 1316. 97 

 Evidently the manor alienated by Robert Basset in 

 1384 was identical with the messuage and lands in 

 Sandon held by the trustees of Sir Robert Belknap, kt., 

 in r.39,0. 98 He had succeeded the Bassets as lord of 

 Rushden (q.v.). With that manor Sir John Fray, kt., 

 baron of the Exchequer, also acquired the manor of 

 La More in Sandon. 95 He settled it upon his wife 

 Agnes with remainder to their daughters Agnes and 

 Katherine in succession. 100 The latter married 

 Humphrey Stafford 1 and succeeded her sister, who 

 died without issue. 3 Possibly La More was accounted 

 an appurtenance of her manor of Rushden. It is not 

 specifically mentioned among the lands of which she 

 died seised in 1482, 3 but in 1654 4 it was in the 

 possession of Francis Vernon of Gannock, whose 

 predecessor, Robert Newport, purchased Rushden in 

 1574. 6 Nevertheless, the house and land called 'the 

 Moore ' in Sandon was the property of Ralph Parker 

 about 1 600. 6 From 1 6 5 4. onwards the manorial 

 rights seem to have descended with Gannock (q.v.). 



OLIVERS, known also as HYDE HALL, EAST 

 END or SOUTHALL, was held of the Dean and 

 Chapter of St. Paul's as of Sandon Manor. 7 The 

 family of Oliver were tenants of the manor in the 

 13th and 14th centuries. About 1277 William 

 Oliver was sued in the court of Sandon in a plea of 

 debt. 8 Towards the end of the same century Richard 

 Oliver witnessed a conveyance of a grove in Sandon. 9 

 A Richard Oliver had land in Sandon and ' Someres- 

 hale' in 1312.'° 'Magister' Ralph Oliver was in 

 default at a court held at Sandon in 1322. n It 

 was possibly he upon whom settlement was made 

 in 1314 of two messuages and certain land in 

 Sandon 12 for life with successive remainders to Alice 

 and Nichola his sisters and to William Oliver 



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