Princethorpe Manor, Princethorpe, Warwickshire

Date: 27 Apr 2022
Location: Princethorpe, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
Surnames/tags: Chamberlayne Chamberlain Warwickshire

Princethorpe, Warwickshire, England

Princethorpe is a small hamlet in Warwickshire with a population in 2021 of 429. It lies about halfway between Rugby 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the north-east, and Leamington Spa 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south-west, and at the middle of a busy junction between the A423 (Coventry to Banbury), B4453 (Rugby to Leamington) and B4455 (Fosse Way) roads. ^[1][2]

Contents 1 Princethorpe - History 1.1 Plantagenet 1.2 Tudor 1.3 Stuart 1.4 Church 1.5 Georgian 2 Sources

Princethorpe - History

Both Roman and Anglo-Saxon artifacts have been found in and near Princethorpe. ^[3]

Plantagenet

Medieval Chapel of All Saints

The place was first mentioned in 1275–6, when William de Holeweye and Henry Coc' held 1 virgate there.

On 15 August 1346 there was a grant of a licence to alienate:

The document in question opens with a reference to the ruling of the `common Council' against religious men holding land in fee (Statute of Mortmain), from John Sparry of Warrewyk, the younger, and Lucia his wife, to `sir' Thomas de Wouluardynton, parson of Lullenham, and his successors, that he may give and assign to 2 chaplains, for himself and his soul, and for the souls of Peter de Woluerdynton and Aline, his wife and their children, and all the dead faithful buried in the Church of All Saints of Streeton on Dunnesmore, at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, every day forever: 1 messuage, 31½ acres and 1 rood of land, three-quarterns of pasture with appurtenances in Prennesthorp: to hold the aforesaid lands and tenements, to the 2 chaplains and their successors forever, for masses to be celebrated daily for the aforesaid souls: John and his family give up all claim to the land. Witnesses: Richard de Hastang, Henry de Garshale, William de Sutton of Draycote, John de Grendon, Robert Randulf, John de Groby, William Randulf, William, son of Thomas, Henry Folk, and others. Given at Stretton on Dunsmore the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1346.

Seal 1: round; device: half horse, half bird-like monster, leaping against foliage; legend: roman; `SIGILLUM ...'; black; tag.

Seal 2: round; device: armorial lozenge with the fess and 2 flour-de-lis, 1 above and 1 below; legend: roman: `SIGILUM JOHANNIS SPARRY'; black; tag.

Endorsed: Prennesthorpe.^[4][5]

Princethorpe manor was first mentioned when it was settled for life in 1357 upon one William de Peekes with 'contingent remainders' to one Sir Richard Treweloue in tail, to John de Hockeleye and Cecily his wife in tail, or Nicholas le Eyr and his heirs. ^[6] After about this time, until about 1450, Princethorpe and its neighbouring villages of Wappenbury and Eathorpe as 4 knights' fees held of the Mowbrays and the Earls of Norfolk. The immediate lords of the manor were the Hugford family in the 1400s. ^[7]

Tudor

By 1517, John Hugford had enclosed land around 2 messuages and 50 acres of land in Princethorpe. That year, Sir William Compton purchased the manor of Princethorpe and died in possession in 1528. Sir William's grandson, Henry, 1st Lord Compton held the manor of Princethorpe in 1583, a fact mentioned by Dugdale. ^[6]

In the third year of the reign of Elizabeth I:

On the Octaves of St. Michael. 3 Elizabeth. Between Thomas Sutton, armiger, Adenus Basforth, armiger, and George Eyms, gentleman, complainants, and Mathew Knyveton, armiger, deforciant of the manors of Bradley, Knyveton, etc, co. Derby, and of [the manor] of Princethorp, co. Warwick, and of the manors of Cotton and Denston, and 3 messuages, 5 tofts, 2 dovecotes, 4 gardens, 200 acres of land, 30 acres of meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 200 acres of wood, 300 acres of furze and of a rent of 1 d. in Cotton aud Denston, co. Stafford, and of 60 acres of land, etc., in Langley, co. Nottingham. Mathew remitted all right to the complainants, and to the heirs of Thomas, for which the complainants gave him £3,600.^[8]

British History Online says that William Knyveton who dealt with the manor in 1576, passed it to a Martin Chamberlyn in 1580, when the appurtenances included two mills and fishery in the Leam. ^[9]However, there was no Martin Chamberlayne in the Chamberlayne family at this time (as far as is known), but Notes and Queries 1857 says that

...in 1580, Mary Chamberlayne, in 1580, was plaintiff in a fine, passed of the manor of Princethorpe. ^[10]It is likely that a transcription error has crept in here. Mary Chamberlayne was the daughter of Sir Edward Chamberlayne who married Ralph Gifford.

Stuart

In 1625, escheator and feodary Edward Chamberlayne was defending the tenants of Princethorpe in their right to take wood, furzes, and bushes on Longhurst Hill, Princethorpe Common, Warwickshire, where he held the 16th century manor^{[7] [11]} (copyhold from Sir Richard Compton Esq), against the claims of Anne Sackville, (née Spencer) Dowager Countess of Dorset. But as the Duchess had died in 1618, the case must have dragged through in the courts after her decease.^{[12][13][14][15] [16]}

Eventually, William, 2nd Lord Compton made a settlement of Princethorpe in 1629, shortly before he died, when his younger brother Sir Henry succeeded him.^[7] It was finally sold by Richard Compton and others to Richard Jennens in 1665, but the Chamberlaynes continued to live there. William Chamberlayne, second son of Edward the Escheator, and heir to his brother Edward, was living in Princethorpe Manor in 1662, ^[17]1663 ^[18]and 1670, when he was paying 16s a year for 8 hearths. ^[19]Princethorpe was and still is a tiny settlement, and in 1662, there were eleven houses with just one hearth, four houses with two, one of six, and Princethorpe Manor, with eight. William was paying the equivalent (in 2017) of £84.14 a year, while the poorest in the village were paying the equivalent of £10.52. ^[20]From the Quarter Sessions Records of the 1660s, it appears that Princethorpe was a backwater hamlet which struggled to care for its poor; the Civil War had taken its toll on Warwickshire, and this branch of the Chamberlayne family, like many, sat on the fence politically, put economic and physical survival before religious conviction, and kept their heads down.

Church

Outline of Medieval Chapel[21]

The church of All Saints at Stretton-upon-Dunsmore was also the place of worship for Princethorpe. Registers of burials begin in 1681 and those of baptisms and marriages in 1695.^[22]A Thomas de Wolvardynton founded the Chapel of All Saints (see outline) with a Chantry, which doesn’t show up in the Taxatio, but both Chapel and chantry are recorded in 1345 and 1378. The chantry was surrendered in 1545 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Stretton-upon-Dunsmore became a separate parish from Wolston in 1696. A view of the old church c1820 (see image) shows that it had a chancel, a nave with South (and possibly North?) aisle under one roof, South porch and wooden tower, a bell-cote with pyramidal cap at the West end of the South aisle. The windows suggest a 14th century date for most of the structure, the porch being probably 18th century. A few ground-level elements of the old church can be seen in the graveyard of the modern church (dated 1837) - much of its masonry was used to build the wall between the old vicarage and the Manor House, ^[23]and the demolition of the early church may have caused damage to the Chamberlayne Burial Site, where the grave slab of Elizabeth Chamberlayne is broken.

Georgian

Another Richard Jennens appears as vouchee in recoveries in 1708 and 1739. ^[7] On 18 December 1762 an Act of Parliament came into being, enclosing the common land around Princethorpe.

the commissioners awarded "to the trustees and feoffees of the poor of Stretton and Princethorpe," owners of a quarter of a yard land and commons thereto belonging, and in lieu thereof, a plot of ground in Ratley field, containing 7 A. 1 R. 23P., bounded on the east, part of the south and part of the west by an allotment to Richard Jennens; and on other part of the west and south by the next allotment to the said feoffees. Also to the said trustees another plot of ground in Ratley field, containing 3A . 1R. 5P., bounded on the south and west by an allotment made to the said Richard Jennens. Also to the same trustees another plot of ground in Ratley field, containing 2A. 1R. 7P., bounded on the north by an ancient inclosure in the liberties of Stretton, called Stretton Close. ^[24]

The youngest daughter and coheiress of this last Richard Jennens, Anne, married William Peareth, of Usworth (Durham). The manorial rights remained as late as 1906.^[7] Princethorpe belonged originally to the neighbouring parish of Wolston but was made, for convenience, a separate parish with Stretton by an Act of Parliament in 1694, in the reign of William III.^[25][26]

Princethorpe is today still part of the ecclesiastical parish of Stretton-on-Dunsmore, but became a separate civil parish in 1866.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Princethorpe. Retrieved from wikipedia (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
2. ↑ Warwickshire; being a concise topographical description of the different towns and villages in the county of Warwick, including historical notices of its public buildings & antiquities, ancient manorial customs, &c. &c... From the elaborate work of Sir William Dugdale, and other later authorities ... Retrieved from Hathi Trust (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.
3. ↑ Doubleday, Herbert Arthur, (1904)., 'The Victorian History of the County of Warwick: Knightlow Hundred. London : Published for the University of London Institute of Historical Research by Dawsons of Pall Mall. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.
4. ↑ Doc Ref No.: CR0162/230. Retrieved from WRO (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
5. ↑ List of Inquisitions ad quod damnum :preserved in the Public Record Office., (Pt.2=no.22)., NY: Kraus Reprint. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 28 May 2023.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Dugdale, William, Sir., (1605-1686)., The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated. Early English Books., Retrieved from tcp [1] Accessed 27 Apr 2022.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} ed. L F Salzman: (1951)., Parishes: Stretton-upon-Dunsmore and Princethorpe, in A History of the County of Warwick: (Vol. 6, pp. 241-245). Knightlow Hundred. London: Victoria County History. Retrieved from BHO (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
8. ↑ ed., The William Salt Archaeological Society., Vol XVII. Collections for a History of Staffordshire., London: Farrison and Sons. Retrieved from scs (Here;) Accessed 26 May 2023.
9. ↑ Information for record number MWA3109: Site of Poss Post Medieval Watermill at Princethorpe. Retrieved from ttw (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
10. ↑ Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-Communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, Etc. (1857)., Bell., Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
11. ↑ Princethorpe Manor Today. HB Architects (Here;) Accessed 7 Apr 2022.
12. ↑ The National Archives, (PROB 11/132/2981), Summary: The document below is the Prerogative Court of Canterbury copy of the Last Will and Testament, dated 24 July 1618 and proved 25 September 1618, of Anne Spencer (d. 22 September 1618). Retrieved from the National Archives (Here;) Accessed 28 Apr 2022.
13. ↑ Short title: Countess of Dorset v Chamberlayne. Plaintiffs: Anne Compton, countess... National Archives. Retrieved from dna (Here;) Accessed Oct 2020.
14. ↑ Anne Sackville, Countess of Dorset, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia, Retrieved from Here Accessed on 8th October 2020
15. ↑ Lists and Indexes, Ausgabe 47, Great Britain. Public Record Office, Kraus Reprint Corps.,1963. Retrieved from (Here;) Accessed June 2020.
16. ↑ The Manor House, Princethorpe. Coventry Rd, Warwickshire. Retrieved from Historic England (here;) Accessed 8 Apr 2022.
17. ↑ William Chamberlayne in the Warwickshire, England, Occupational and Quarter Session Records, 1662-1866. Retrieved from Ancestry Sharing (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
18. ↑ William Chamberlayne in the Warwickshire, England, Occupational and Quarter Session Records, 1662-1866. Retrieved from Ancestry Sharing (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
19. ↑ Hearth Tax Digital. Knightloe, 1670, Rugby [Division]. Princ[e]thorpe [in Stretton on Dunsmore chapelry]. Retrieved from gams (Here;) Accessed 26 May 2023.
20. ↑ National Archives Currency Convertor (2017). Retrieved from tna (Here;) Accessed 25 May 2023.
21. ↑ Map Courtesy of: © Google Maps 2023 (Here;) Accessed 28 May 2023.
22. ↑ ed.: Page, William., (1905)., The Victoria history of the county of Sussex (sic) Warwickshire. Edited by William Page. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
23. ↑ Warwickshire County Council. Information for record number MWA3111: Medieval Church at Stretton on Dunsmore. Retrieved from ttw (Here;) Accessed 28 May 2023.
24. ↑ Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 21, Part 2, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons., Great Britain: H.M. Stationery Office, (1835). Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 27 May 2023.
25. ↑ POWELL, Harry Townsend, (1837)., 'Tithe Commutation in 1969, or the working of the Tythe Act illustrated by an example of Commutation in 1705'. The British Library. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.
26. ↑ Allen, Joseph., (1837). The Correspondence Between the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the Bishop of Ely. Great Britain. Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.

• Online Books Page : Books by Sir William Dugdale: (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.

• White Francis and co., (1850)., History, Gazetteer, and Directory, of Warwickshire. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 26 May 2023.

• Our Warwickshire. Princethorpe. Retrieved from Our Warwickshire (Here;) Accessed 28 Apr 2022.

• Nichols, John, 1745-1826. (1811), The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester. ... v.4 pt.1. Retrieved from Hathi Trust (Here;) Accessed 27 Apr 2022.

• Ed. Gairdner, James and Brodie, R H., (1905). Henry VIII: June 1545, 1-5, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, (Vol. 20, pt.1, pp.428-439). Jan-July 1545. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. Retrieved from British History Online (pp.428-439;) Accessed 28 April 2022.