lxvi 
PROCEEDINGS, 
The Manor then passed into the possession of George Hevil 
(brother of the Earl of Warwick, the King-maker); he was made 
Bishop of Exeter (1459), Lord Chancellor (1460), and Archbishop 
of York (1464), and about the year 1460 obtained a licence from 
Henry VI to enclose 600 acres in the Parishes of liickmansworth 
and Watford, thus forming the Park, in the north-eastern portion 
of which he “built a stately mansion,” where he lived in great 
magnificence. Edward IV arrested him for treason (1472) ; he 
obtained his liberty (1476), but died in that year and was buried in 
York Minster, the Manor thus reverting to the Crown, and so it 
remained until Henry VII, in the first year of his reign (1485), 
gave it to John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who led the van at 
Bosworth-field, with remainder to the issue of his Countess, 
Margaret, daughter of the late Earl of Warwick and niece of 
Archbishop Nevil. The Earl died Avithout suiwiving issue in 1513, 
and the estate again reverted to the Crown and appears to have 
been used as a lloyal residence, for the Harleian MSS., 1519-1525, 
contain an “ Inventorie of ye Gauderobe of King Henry VIII at ye 
Manor of ye More in the County of Herts.” 
There is no record of any conveyance, but about the year 1524 
Cardinal Wolsey came into possession of the estate, and he greatly 
enlarged or rebuilt the mansion. In a letter to the King (1525) he 
subscribes it “at your Manor of the More ” ; a year later, a letter 
written to the King is subscribed as “at my Manor of the More ” ; 
and writing from Canterbury, 9th July, 1527, Wolsey expresses 
a hope that the King “will be merrie at my poor house of the 
More ” ; whether he was so is not stated, but in 1529 the King and 
Queen (Catharine of Arragon) stayed there a Avhole month, and 
Ann Poleyn was one of the party. Wolsey fell into the King’s 
disfavour and retired to Cawood Castle, York; he was arrested for 
high treason, summoned to London, but died at Leicester Abbey, 
29th "November, 1530. 
The Crown again held the forfeited estate and maintained it as 
a lloyal residence, John Pussell, first Earl of Bedford, being 
appointed Banger. In 1540 Henry again visited the More with 
his fifth Queen, Catharine HoAvard. Erancis, second Earl of 
Bedford, succeeded his father as Banger, but, during the reign of 
Mary, was imprisoned for his adherence to Reformation doctrines; 
he escaped to Geneva. On the accession of Elizabeth he was chosen 
one of her Privy Councillors, and reinstated as Banger, and she, in 
the eighteenth year of her reign (1576), granted the Manor, 
“together with the Park called Moore Park,” to the said Erancis 
Bussell and his heirs at the annual rent of £120. The Earl died 
in 1585, and was succeeded by his grandson, the third Earl, who 
married the daughter of Sir J. and Lady Harrington. James I 
granted the estate to him, while his wife was made Lady of the 
Bedchamber to the Queen, but, at the death of the Queen, the 
Countess retired into private life and laid out the Moor Park gardens 
at great cost. The Earl died in May, 1627, and the Countess two 
or three weeks after. 
