Understanding the Manor of Imberhorne through its records
This is the un-illustrated version of the notes, please use the 'Contact Us' tab above to purchase the illustrated version including the series of five maps referred to in the text.
This is a set of notes from the illustrated presentation given to the Felbridge History Group on 26th January 2020 by Jeremy Clarke, as such it is a summary and not a detailed paper on this detailed subject.
Introduction
This talk is about using the records of the Manor of Imberhorne to learn more about the early landscape of the area and about the people that lived within the manor in the post-medieval period. The records span an 800 year period.
Domesday manors in the East Grinstead area
The Domesday survey of 1086 is often taken as a starting point for local history as it is the earliest record of the division and ownership of land within England. It is however a record that reflects how England was divided and owned prior to the Norman Conquest. The counties were divided into Hundreds for administrative purposes and within these, parish and estate boundaries were established.
Following the Conquest, King William divided the land amongst his Norman barons and followers, overthrowing the previous landholders. William de Warenne who fought with him at the Batttle of Hastings was granted the Rape of Lewes, a wide strip of land from East Grinstead down to Brighton and stretching from the Adur (Arundel) to the Ouse (Newhaven). By 1086, the hundred of East Grinstead had been given to Robert, Count of Mortain who was the half-brother of King William. William de Warenne was compensated by a gift of other lands as an exchange.
The Domesday book tells us who held each property prior to 1066 under King Edward and how much it was worth at that time as well as the current tenure and value, thus a set of detailed records similar to the Domesday book must have existed prior to 1066.
The local Domesday places around East Grinstead are Burleigh, Warley, Sperchedene, Brambletye, Hazleden, Brockhurst, Standen, Whalesbeech, Shovelstrode and Fairlight. We also have ‘Felesmere’ (meaning pond by the open land) which was within Grinstead hundred but we cannot place it on the map as its location has been lost, but as we will see later it is likely that this forms part of what was very soon after, called Imberhorne. In Surrey, there are no place names recorded south of the villages of Bletchingley, Godstone, Tandridge, Oxted and Limpsfield. This does not mean that the lands closer to Sussex were uninhabited as Lingfield was documented in 871 and in 984 but is not cited in the Domesday book as a result of it being held by Sanderstead manor and its value was recorded as part of that manor.
Early History of Lewes Priory
Lewes Priory, which later held Imberhorne Manor, was founded by William de Warenne in 1081 at the request of Pope Gregory VII. It was a Cluniac Priory constructed alongside the Ouse at Lewes. The Cluniacs were a monastic order founded at Cluny in France, dedicated to strictly follow the Rule of St. Benedict. The Cluniacs were a huge religious power in 12th century Europe with over 1,000 monasteries.
In 1121, the Archbishop of Canterbury confirms all the churches and possessions held by Lewes Priory, which included properties in Dorset, Wiltshire, London, Surrey and Sussex. By 1444, they had also acquired properties in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Yorkshire.
Medieval life was fundamentally different from our world and it is necessary to understand a little of their social structure and how this affects their lives.
Land ownership is a hierarchy with the King at the top as Lord of all the land in the Kingdom, the next tier is the ‘tenants-in-chief’, earls and barons who hold their manors directly from the King in exchange for services. One of the services is to provide the King with knights and soldiers when requested. The next tier is the knights, esquires and gentlemen who hold their manors from the tenants-in-chief in exchange for services, they have to provide the fighting men to the tenants-in-chief that will in turn be provided to the King.
Below the manorial lords are the tenants, each manor has a demesne or Lord’s land, this is the agricultural and pleasure lands directly benefiting the Lord. There are free tenants (freeholders) who own and farm small parts of the manor in exchange for services to the Lord. In this case the services might be provision of labour at harvest or a monetary rent. Then there are the un-free tenants who are called villains or bondsmen, they farm the Lord’s land in accordance with a set of customary expectations. This would be a certain number of days of labour per week, and in addition, tasks such as ploughing and harrowing an area of the Lord’s land. In exchange for their services they are ‘allowed’ to rent a small parcel of land within the manor to live upon that they tend themselves to produce food for their family. This property is known as a copyhold as the record of the tenure is a copy of the court entry recording the agreement of services and rent in exchange for living at the property. These un-free tenants are servants of the manorial Lord and belong to him, as will any children they have. The property they live in belongs to the Lord and the customs of the manor will dictate how it may be passed on to future generations, but it can always be taken away by the Lord if he is displeased.
The 12th century populous viewed their position in society as being in one of three estates; those that fight, those that pray, those that work. We have already discussed the tenants-in-chief and manorial lords that are the fighters, as well as the manorial tenants who are the workers who feed the fighters and the clergy through their services, rents and tithes. The clergy’s role is to tend to the well being of the living and the souls of the dead. There was a strong belief in Purgatory, where the soul of a faithful Christian would remain until purified of any sins, and that gifts and alms made during your life and then prayers for the deceased by the clergy accelerated this process. Thus all three groups contribute to the welfare of society as a whole, this system was promoted by the landed aristocracy and the clergy who used it to justify the huge inequalities in society.
So the gifting of some of your property or a rental income to Lewes Priory was seen as a means of easing the purification of your soul after death, thus the Priory was gaining new holdings as gifts from the wealthy. They did not administer each individual property from Lewes, but attached them to the nearest manor that they already held such that they could be administered through the existing manorial courts.
Bubonic plague arrived in England in 1348, and resulted in the deaths of about 1/3 of the population. The plague returned several more times during the 14th century but was not as devastating as the first event. This changed the social hierarchy as there was now a lack of labour to work the land and whole communities were abandoned; it accelerated the replacement of the services due to the Lord of the manor into a financial payment with which the Lord then purchased labour to carry out the work.
Lewes Priory held Imberhorne manor until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, when it consisted of the original manorial lands granted to the Priory as well as any other subsequent grants in the local area that they chose to administer through Imberhorne. Henry VIII granted it to Thomas, Lord Cromwell and it was ultimately purchased by Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst in 1560. The manor remained in the hands of the Sackville family, the Dukes of Dorset, until 1872 when the ancient manor of Imberhorne was sold as an independent country estate.
Scope of the records
The pre-reformation records for Imberhorne Manor are Charters, either documenting grants of property (or rent) to the Priory, or the Priory granting landholdings to individuals in exchange for a rental income. No manorial court records have survived from this period.
Three rentals survive from the 16th century; 1557, 1566 and 1597 the first contains the minimum information of property name, rental and tenant; however the latter rentals provide descriptions of the bounds of each property and the 1597 also provides maps of some of the properties. A further seven rentals have survived spread between 1615 and 1892.
The surviving court books cover the entire period from 1606 to 1935. There are also Steward’s Papers which are mainly draft versions of the entries later copied into the court books, but within them are also administrative notes regarding the manor.
I have already mentioned the two forms of manorial property tenure; freehold and copyhold, in both cases the Stewards of the manor needed to track the tenants of each property such that they know who is liable for any rents or fines. So we get an ownership trail through the court books and rentals, the following example is for ‘Felbridge’ land in Tandridge Parish;
|
Year |
Owner |
Called |
|
1566 |
Antony Sands |
Felbridge |
|
1597 |
Michael Sands |
Felbridge |
|
1618 |
Death of Sir Michael Sande, Sir Richard Sande is his son and heir |
Felbridge |
|
1677 |
Death of George Earl of Feversham |
Sands Croft |
|
1686 |
Earl of Feversham |
Sandscroft |
|
1698 |
Feversham |
Felbridge alias Sands |
|
1730 |
Heirs of Earl of Feversham |
Sandcroft |
|
1746 |
Death of _____ Watson Esq |
Sands Croft |
|
1792 |
Death of Abraham Adkins esq, he had devised the property to _____ Martin esq who since took the name Adkins |
Sanders Croft |
|
1799 |
Death of Edwin Atkins esq, properties devised to his son Edwin Atkins esq and he is now Atkins Edwin Martin Atkins Esq. |
Sanders Croft |
|
1826 |
Atkins & Edwin Martin Atkins esq |
Felbridge alias Sands alias Sanders crofts |
|
1871 |
Enfranchised to Edwin Martin Atkins esq |
Felbridge alias Sands alias Sanders crofts |
The 1846 Tandridge Tithe states that Edwin Martin Atkins holds plots 1-5 in the parish, which is the land at the southern end of Tandridge against Felbridge Water now the site of the Cricket ground and the field to its east. We can also use the property description from the rental to check it; Tanners to the North, East Grinstead Common to the South, the tenement of Raymond Homeden to the East and the highway to the west; which fits this location.
With the 29 freeholds, 42 copyholds and the Demesne mapped we can see the extent of the lands that were being administered through the manor of Imberhorne. [see Appendix Map 1] Red is the demesne (Lords land) dark blue are freeholds, green is Copyhold. The ‘hole’ to the west of the demesne is the Domesday manor of Warley. Brook Mill is also coloured red as this is part of the demesne lands. The manor of Wald/Sperchedene is shown in light blue as this is a single freehold paying 20s to Imberhorne and the Lord of the manor of Wald has subdivided it into freeholds and copyholds that pay their rent to him.
Imberhorne manor also administers lands around Fen Place Mill with a small area in what was West Hoathly parish just south of The Crown at Turners Hill. They also hold a large area running from Standen down to Charlwood. It is worth noting that the ‘hole’ in their lands in this area is actually the site of Standen (another Domesday manor). When James Beale bought Holly Bush, Stone and Standen farms he used the Standen name for his house, built on the site of Holly Bush Farm and demolished Standen Farm, which stood further south.
Then we have the holdings in West Hoathly, they are bounded by what was West Hoathly detached prior to the parish boundary changes which moved the southern part of this area into Horsted Keynes parish. Plaw Hatch is in East Grinstead at this time until Forest Row parish was created. So we can see how dispersed the land holdings are.
Grants to Lewes Priory administered through Imberhorne
In 1444, Prior Robert Auncell ordered that a copy be made of the charters held within the title deeds of Lewes Priory, they were copied into a book (the Cartulary); that Cartulary is preserved at the British Library, but many of the original charters (and some that were not in the Cartulary) have also survived and are at the National Archives (the name spellings differ slightly). We can now look at some of the lands granted to Lewes Priory. The first grants concern lands in Surrey. In the late 12th century, William de Dan Martin and Odo de Dan Martin both grant their land of Certeham [Chartham] in the parish of Tandridge to Lewes Priory. Then c1250 Agnes the daughter and heir of Robert de Feldbrigge grants the property that her father Robert had in Chercham [Chartham] in the parish of Tunrigge [Tandridge]. The 1444 copy of the grant by Agnes in the Cartulary has an even later margin note ‘Feldbrigge parcel of manor of Imberhorne’, strongly implying that it is the property called ‘Felbridge’ in the court records, later held by Atkins. Together these grants must be the southern end of the parish of Tandridge. Therefore in the 13th century we can see that Chartham as a place-name extended west up to what is now the A22.
c1170
....I, William de Dan Martin ... grant to God and to St. Pancras ... In free alms all my land of Cereham and half a virgate of land in Chepstede ... free ... of all customs and services and of all dues to the king and to me except murder and danegeld.
c1170
... I, Odo de Dan Martin, son of Odo de Dan Martin, give, ... To God and St. Pancras ... That virgate of land in Chartehamme which is of my fee of Tunrugge and half a virgate of land in Chepstede ... as the charter of my uncle and my father Odo, which they hold, witnesses.
c1250
... I, Agnes, daughter and heir of Robert de Feldbrigge, son of Walter de la Saghe, with the consent, .... of my husband William le Turnur, have given, .... the Prior and Convent of Lewes ... all the right and claim ... in all that tenement ... which the said Robert de Feldbrigge held in Chercham in the parish of Tunrigge ...
About 1100, shortly after the foundation of Lewes Priory, William Malfield granted them half a hide (about 60 acres) of land called Imberhorne. About 1140, Aflred de Bendeville and Sibyl his wife granted the Priory lands in Sussex including a hide of land in East Grinstead and the land of Pleghe [Plaw] and of Heghtesgewinde / Hegstesgewinde and land of Buntesgrave / Buntisgraue [Buntesgrove] and land of Crottesbrigge / Crotesborghe and of Heagtima/ Heagtuna and land of Runtingtuna and of Reda. Also lands with meadows beside the bridge of Tunebrigge [Tandridge] in exchange for the admission of two monks. The lands beside the bridge of Tandridge, must be south west of Fel-bridge. The lands of Plaw (Hatch) and Buntesgrove are identifiable, unfortunately the location of the other named lands cannot be traced. This grant could account for much of the land in West Hoathly (detached) being completed by the 1190 grant of the wood of Broadhurst at Horsted Keynes by Robert Earl of Leicester.
c1100
I William Malfield son of William Malfield give to God and St. Pancras and the monks ... in free and perpetual alms for the welfare of my soul and of my father and mother and all my relations half a hide of land which is called Imberhorne, which Lefsi held, with wood and all its appurtenances ...
c1140
I Alvred de Benedeuilla and Sibilla my wife give to God and St. Mary and St. Pancras and the monks of St. Pancras for the welfare of our souls and of our lords and of our children and our ancestors, in free alms, one hide of land which we had in Grenesteda and our land of Plege and of Heghtesgewinde and our land of Buntisgraue and our land of Crottesbrigge and of Heagtima and the land of Runctingtuna and of Reda ... We give them also our land with the meadows appurtenanant to that land beside the bridge of Tunebrigge ... and for this gift the prior and monks have granted to me to provide 2 monks, one for me and the other for my wife, on whose deaths others shall take their place, for our souls.
Another early grant to Lewes Priory is from William Count of Mortain who gives a hide of land called Healdeleia previously part of the manor of Ripe. It is stated that it provides 43s 4d rent along with a considerable annual amount of timber.
1103-1106
I William Count of Mortain give ... to God and St. Pancras and the monks of Lewes serving God and St. Pancras in free pure and perpetual alms one hide of land which is called Healdeleia which is of the manor of Ripe and the men who hold it and all their progeny with a yearly rent which the same land owes, namely 43s 4d and 4 carts and 200 boards of beech and 40 cartloads of logs, and with the carrying service customary and due and ploughing and harrowing and boonwork in harvest and other customs ...
In about 1235, William de Walde grants the 20s rent from his ‘free tenement in East Grinstead’ to Lewes Priory. This is the grant of the manor of Wald (later Wall Hill and then Ashurst Wood).
c1235
I William son of Walter have given ... to God an the church of St. Pancras of Lewes and the monks ... 20s of yearly rent which William de Waldis and his heirs have paid and should pay to me and my heirs ... from the free tenement which the said William and his heirs held of me and my heirs in the parish of Grenestede ...
The charter below is not a grant to Lewes Priory, but it is within their Cartulary therefore it is likely that the land concerned was held by them. There are several entries in the cartulary that are the later transfers of freehold property that are within Imberhorne manor, and the Priory is keeping a copy of the transfer in its records, like the later manorial courts record the transfer of freeholds. In this case it is Richard of Brockhurst that is selling a piece of land.
12 March 1291/2
I Richard de Brockeherst have given ... to Walter son of John and his heirs, for seven marks, which he has given with my hands, a piece of my land in the parish of Estgrenstede lying in length from the land of the rector of the church of Estgrensted which is called Coleslond as far as my common and my road leading from my house into the high road leading to Grenested, and in breadth from the high road which comes from the town of Grenested towards Hesseherst as far as the land of Lettice my mother which she holds in dower to the said parish.
The rentals and charters also try to keep track of larger areas of land that have later been broken up. For example the following are all recorded at one time being part of ‘Sellhurst’.
Raiscombe parcel of Sellhurst 15a 18d
Sellhurst Field/Barn Field parcel of Sellers 15a 2s
pcl of the Tenement at Sellherst/Medwayes (pcl of Sellers) 33a 2s 9d
Colliers mead parcel of Tenement of Selherst 1a 3d
Using the same approach we can try to locate ‘the fel’ that gave its name to the manor of Felesmere. Here we can see Fellands (literally lands of the ‘Fel’ or field), in 1270 the lands of William le Dene were described as being in the Feldlond, in 1258 Warin le Bat was granted 18a lying upon the Feldlond, his name being preserved in Batts field. In 1275 Walter le Fyke was granted a field of the Feldelond, his name preserved as Fickfield. So with all these properties being described as parts of Feldlond in the 13th century we can identify an area stretching from what is now Crossways Avenue to beyond West Hill, which is the likely area for a manor of Felesmere with a pond at the bottom of West Hill. All of which has been absorbed into what Lewes Priory called Imberhorne Manor by 1125.
If we consider that Felbridge is the bridge by the Feld, it is possible that this early open space could have extended all the way north to the Star junction and across to Felcourt (open space where a court was held) in which case this large open land in the Saxon period is likely to be the ‘green place’ from which Grinstead is named. Compare that landscape to the place-names wrapping around the east side of East Grinstead, with
-hurst (wood) and -den (woodland for winter pig grazing); Brockhurst, Hackenden, Ashurst and beyond that Forest Row and Ashdown Forest. In fact the land to the east of the town was known as Grinstead Wild in the 17th century. There are also wood based names immediately to the west of our open area at Tilkhurst, Hazleden & Selhurst. Helping us to understand how our local area would have looked at the end of the Saxon period to people walking along the east-west trackway encompassed in woodland and then coming to this prominent high place with open land around it.
We saw above that William Count of Mortain granted the Priory a hide of land called Healdeleia. Again the charters and rentals of Imberhorne preserve the extent of the holding by noting each tenement that was a parcel of the earlier land. In the 1270’s, the Priory released three of its tenants from servitude making them freemen and converting their services into rental payments. They were Geoffrey son of John de la Dene who received 80 acres for 14s rent per annum, William de la Medewaye received 30 acres for 8s per annum and Simon de Moledino [of the mill] who received all the land and watermill that he and his father had held at a rent of 9s per annum. All of the lands were said to be in the hide of Haldelee.
As manorial rents do not change unless the tenement gains or loses land, we can find these properties in the rentals and thus plot them on our map.
In 1566, Richard Homewood held ‘The Dean’ at a rent of 14s, which is on the hillside above Wierwood Reservoir where the Rocks are.
In 1557, Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst held ‘The Tenement at Meadway’ at a rent of 8s, which is at the fork in the Turners Hill Road where you turn left for Vowells Lane.
The 9s rent for the land and mill is slightly more difficult to track as it had been subdivided and merged with other fields by the 16th century rentals but had been split out again by 1698 when;
Roger Bish holds ‘a barn and water mill, called Yawley alias Morehale’ 7s
Nathaniel Newman gent holds ‘part of Yawley alias Haley called Wayfield alias Morehale’ 9d
John Prior holds ‘Morehalls alias Sandhill field, and Sandhill mead’ 1s 3d
Total 9s
We can see [see map 3] this encompasses what is now Fen Place Mill and demonstrates that there has been a mill operating there from the 13th century. It is also possible to reconstruct the 15th century freehold properties that were generating the 43s 4d rental income listed in the Cartulary of Lewes Priory.
So to conclude this section on the early history of the manor, the Charters and later court records indicate that the Domesday manors of Felesmere and Hazleden had been combined along with a number of early grants of land such as the Hide of Haldelee (an outlier of Ripe manor) to form what Lewes Priory called the manor of Imberhorne.
Post reformation records
In 1537, King Henry VIII took into his own hands the lands of Lewes Priory and by 1555 they were held by Thomas Argall esq. Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst purchased Imberhorne Manor in 1560 and we have the first survey of all the property preserved amongst the Sackville family records at Maidstone as a copy of the 1557 survey completed for Thomas Argall. The first survey carried out under the Sackville ownership is in 1566.
In 1597/8 a terrier (survey) was completed of all the Sackville manors, including Imberhorne, and this was accompanied by high quality maps of some of the properties.
Then we have the court books, the 16 volumes provide a continuous set of records from 1606 to 1935.
The court records are diverse including the transfer of freehold and copyhold property, loans secured by tenants upon their property (mortgages), deaths of tenants and the admission of their heirs, encroachments upon the waste and the grant of new properties carved out of the wastes, repairs to buildings upon copyhold properties – the tenant has a duty to maintain the buildings, but he can ask permission to fell trees to provide timber for repairs, copyhold properties may also be let out but this requires permission from the Lord.
The purchase of Imberhorne manor by Thomas Sackville enabled him to also administer other lands through its courts, in exactly the same way as Lewes Priory had done before. A clear example is The George with Windmill Field which appear in the Terrier of 1597/8. The evidence for The George and windmill field ‘enclosed out of the portland’, which are at the west end of East Grinstead High Street not being previously part of Imberhorne manor is that it first appears in this Terrier and not in the earlier survey of the manor and that it is stated to have been the property of John Leedes esq in 1593. Being within the portlands locates this in the Borough of East Grinstead. It is known that Thomas Sackville did not like being seen as a tenant of another manor, where he did hold land from other tenants-in-chief, he often pretended that the land belonged to one of his manors such that his under-tenant thought that Thomas was the tenant-in-chief.
Another ‘stray’ property in East Grinstead town is Hill Field and Brodefield [broadfield] which are located at the east end of the High Street [see map 4], they do appear in the earliest Imberhorne rental of 1557 and therefore were probably gifted at sometime to Lewes Priory. The description of the bounds of the property provides an interesting insight into 16th century East Grinstead;
The tenement of Lawrence Langridge to the east, John Paine’s barn and the lane to the common washing well in Borough of East Grinstead to the west, the King’s Road from East Grinstead to Forest Row on the North and the tenement of John Duffield called Wellands to the South.
The King’s Road to Forest Row is along what is now Old Road, being replaced by the Lewes Road after the Turnpike Act, these fields are known as Little and Great Fair Fields by the 1840’s tithe recording that they had become the site of the town fairs in the early 1800’s.
The lane to Washing Well Field is not shown on the 1799 map, but it ran along the continuous field boundary on the west. Washing Well Field is immediately behind Hill Field, this is where the residents of EastGrinsteadTown would obtain their water for doing their washing during the 16th century and probably earlier, there being no public water pump in the Town until the early 19th century. However, this location for the washing well may not have been the best place to hang out your clean laundry to dry as to the southwest, below the Well Field, is the Tannery, which would have created considerable bad smells drifting on the prevailing wind towards the washing well.
You can also see that this is part of the land sold by Richard of Brockhurst in 1291, along the south of the highway and between East Grinstead and the road leading from his house of Brockhurst to the high road.
Most people recognise SackvilleCollege as the Almshouse in East Grinstead which was founded in 1609, but there was another early building recorded in the Imberhorne Court Books, it was the house that stood upon the copyhold called the Tenement at Ware, roughly opposite where MacDonalds now stands. It is recorded in the 1615 rental that the house had been converted into Alms Houses, and the court held on the 28th August 1639 records that ‘the buildings called the Almshouses upon Robert Goodwin’s property called the Tenement at Ware lately combusted with fire and is now ruinous and in decay’. As it was a copyhold property, the Court instructs Robert Goodwin to rebuild, repair and make amends by the 10th May next or be fined £10. At the court held 28th May 1640, Robert Goodwin is fined £10 and told to rebuild the house by the 1st October 1640 or be fined again.
Fire was a considerable risk when most buildings were timber-framed, cooking was the greatest risk and detached kitchens were a response to reduce the risk of the kitchen fire burning down the house. So it is not surprising that we get a report on 12th August 1619, that the kitchen lately being near the messuage (house) at Plawhatch in the tenure of Richard Gainsford gent ‘combusted with fire’. He must rebuild the kitchen before the feast of Saint John the Baptist (24th June 1620) on penalty of £20.
We also get records that provide information about roads and tracks that have changed or been lost. Of particular interest are the routes south of Tilkhurst around Haselden, Ridge Hill and Hurley farms [see map 5]. In 1622, it is presented to the Lord that ‘the road from Haselden to Sellers Green is a whapple way and a whapple gate is required to prevent the use of waines or carts’. A whapple way means a track that is suitable for walking or riding a horse along, but is unsuitable for a wheeled vehicle, in this case they are talking about what is now the Turners Hill Road from Haselden farm down to the end of Vowels Lane. The road from East Grinstead to Turners Hill is identified as being down Chapmans Lane to Imberhorne Lane and then taking a road across the fields from the Tilkhurst water tower to the north of Haselden Farm and joining the Turners Hill Road at Hurley Farm. This avoided descending from the high ground to cross the stream at Brook Mill and then rising up to Hazelden and then down again to cross the Medway at Hurley.
Use of the court records for tracing family history
As the manorial courts record the deaths of their tenants and who inherits the property, we have an opportunity to use the records to trace local family trees as they provide details that may have been difficult to obtain from other records. In some cases the transfer of a property provides the details;
1608 Henry Mercer is presented at court holding a tenement called Pulters als Mercers land in East Grinstead and 5 crofts of land formerly Kidneys [Kydners] and a garden called Picknotts Field containing in total 22 acres. It is presented to the court that Henry Mercer and Agnes his wife have surrendered the property to John Parsons and Eleanor his wife who is the daughter and heir of Henry Mercer.
1615 Present the death of Richard Woodman holding the tenement at Combe and 4 crofts of land, parcels of the tenement of Balding and a tenement called the tenement at Picknote and the tenement of Ossingleigh and 6 fields parcel of the same in total 80 acres in East Grinstead. Susannah now the wife of William Brasted is his youngest sister and closest heir.
Or where properties stay in a family for a long time we get a line of descendants.
[Heselden family tree example]
We assume that John and Edward (at the top) are related for George to choose to pass his property to an otherwise unrelated Edward in 1689.
Money Lenders
Before the existence of local banks (the first one in East Grinstead was 1819), tenants borrowed money against their properties, the terms were 5% p.a. interest and in most cases the period of the loan was only a year. As some of the lenders resided outside the manorial extent, their names, occupations and residence was recorded to identify them.
The list of lenders to the tenants (excluding the gentry tenants) is interesting as it shows that until 1700 people only borrowed money very locally, after that they are able to contact with lenders further afield although local borrowing is still the most common. The only three recorded defaults on these loans are around the start of the 19th century.
Timber records
For copyholders to meet their obligations to repair their fences and buildings, they could apply for a licence to fell trees from the copyhold property to repair the fences and buildings upon it – but not elsewhere. They could also apply to fell trees for sale, but if granted, the Lord received a payment for the timber (often 1/4 or 1/3 of the sale price).
[graph of the number of trees felled for repairs and sale shows a considerable building period 1826-1846]
The whole graph totals 5400 trees felled from the copyhold properties of Imberhorne manor, nearly 4900 of those trees being felled between 1800 and 1849. This level of tree removal must have made a considerable difference to the landscape.
If we look at the entries themselves we might think that the tenants are stretching the credibility for the number of trees required for repairs. Here are the entries for Brook House, Turners Hill Road.
1612 To Edward Drewe one oak for building 'a plate' for the tenement called Brookhouse
1823 Licence to James Betchley farmer of East Grinstead to fell 20 oak trees on the land called Brookhouse for repairs
1826 Licence granted to James Betchley to fell 10 oak trees from his property called Brook House for repairs of the buildings and fences
1832 Licence granted to Mary Betchley, James Betchley and William Huggett to fell 22 oak trees from the property called Brookhouse for repairs of the buildings and fences
1836 Licence granted to Mary Betchley widow to fell 24 oak trees from the property called Brookhouse for repairs of the buildings
1839 Licence granted to Mary Betchley widow to fell 54 oak from the property called Brookhouse, 20 of the oak are to be used for repairs the rest are for sale paying to the Lord one third the value of the trees
1843 Licence granted to Mary Betchley widow to fell 75 oak from the property called Brookhouse, 11 of the oak are to be used for repairs the rest are for sale paying to the Lord one third the value of the trees (paid £9 6s)
1845 Licence granted to Mary Betchley widow to fell 12 oak from the property called Brookhouse to be used for repairs
1848 Licence granted to George Head to fell 167 oak from the property called Brookhouse for repairs.
The ‘plate’ is the timber at the base of a timber-framed house, it is also the first timber to rot and can be replaced to lengthen the life of the building. As Edward Drewe does not ask for more than one oak tree in 1612, it would imply he is repairing an existing building rather than building a new one. The court book records that Brookhouse consisted of a messuage, barn and buildings in 1742. There are no further timber requests until 1823-1845 with a total of 119 trees for repairs in that period, then in 1848 George Head asks for a further 167 oaks!
But the maps appear to provide evidence as the pre 1823 map shows no buildings on the site, then the 1842 tithe shows a farm complex, probably built one building at a time, the 167 oaks in 1848 were used to provide the timber joists, rafters, boards, door, window frames etc.. for the large stone walled building that the solicitor George Head erected behind his farm.
Stewards records
The Steward of the manor is responsible for the running of the courts. In the early period, courts were held every 3 weeks and every tenant was expected to attend or be fined 2d. By the end of the 16th century, Imberhorne were only holding courts annually.
We have a letter sent out in 1731 by the Steward Samuel Calverley to John Turner who was leasing Imberhorne Farm (the demesne) instructing him to tell all the tenants of the manor that a court will be held at 10am on 8th September at the ‘accustomed place’ of Imberhorne Court Lodge (location unknown) but note it is only sent out on the 1st September – so John Turner only has 7 days to spread the message not only to the many tenants in East Grinstead but also West Hoathly and Turners Hill.
The stewards papers are also where there are records relating to the Demesne of the manor (Imberhorne Farm) which was leased out.
There is a survey of the Demesne c1653 which records the mill (bottom of West Hill) is in use at this time paying £6 p.a. rental.
There is a 1693 account of the fines imposed upon Mrs Susan Goodwyn estate after her death. The fine taken by the manor upon the death of a tenant is called a heriot, the customary heriot for Imberhorne was the best beast; and a heriot was taken for every property they held. Here the value of the fine imposed upon the estate of Mrs Susan Goodwyn deceased was £55 with the explanation at the bottom that they are ‘assessed at the rate of two pounds value, because all of the horses and cattle were conveyed away that my Lord had no heriots’.
Early 18th century letter to Earl of Dorset regarding the encroachments of the waste of the manor by his leaseholder’s (Captain Soane) under-tenants. The letter continues with a description of the state of the manor house;
Your Lordships mannor house is exceedingly gone to decay and is kept up with shores and if there be not some sudden course taken with Captain Soanes for the repairs thereof it will cost your Lordship £300 to repair the said house and what belongs to it. I am informed also generally by his tenants that they conceive his lease of the premises to expire 5 years hence at the farthest by reason theirs all expire within 4 years.
Freehold properties had started being enfranchised (released from all manorial rents and services) before the 16th century, but the process accelerated in the 19th century as inflation meant the process of collecting the annual rent from a freehold property exceeded the value of the rent with most being less than 3s and two being only a penny each.
Copyhold tenure was abolished in England and Wales by the Law of Real Property Act in 1922 that required copyhold tenure to be converted into freehold on the payment of compensation to the lord of the manor. The process was complete by the mid 1930s when copyhold land ceased to exist.
The last manorial court for Imberhorne was held on 13th May 1935 at the Dorset Arms Hotel. No persons were present who held any property in the manor, the court records that all copyhold has been enfranchised. It then lists the last remaining freehold properties, and after the court is closed there are individual entries for each of those properties being enfranchised out of court with the last one being 29th January 1937. Ending the last vestige of the feudal system in Imberhorne Manor.
Conclusions
I hope this has provided you with a better understanding of the medieval mind, and how the donations of land to a Priory created a sprawling manor of Imberhorne purely as a means of administering the amassed properties in this area.
We have also seen how place-names and personal names have been preserved in the manorial records enabling us to understand more about our local area and the landscape that was visible when these places were named.