DISBROW-L Archives

From: "Stephen T. Squires" <>
Subject: [DISBROW] Much MORE on Eltisley Manor...
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 20:48:06 -0500

I have decided to try new Scanner OCR again (otherwise you'd never see
posting below): ...MORE on early ownership of "advowson" at Eltisley (which
term simply refers to the "living" provided to the village pastor, and the
ownership of which apparently simply allows the owner to choose a particular
pastor for that "living"!). It is clear from this published material that
there were SEVERAL "manor" estates at Eltisley in 17th c. (none of which
show a James "junior," however). Please appreciate that this very thorough
material to follow, as published in the "Victoria History of the Counties of
England: History of Cambridgeshire" (12 pages on Eltisley village, readily
available at major libraries), unfortunately indicates just ONE James
Disbrowe here (eg: father of Thomas of Eltisley, also known as "Elder" who
m. Eliz. MARSHALL, presumed below to be parents of famous Major General).
Unfortunately, this material entirely ignores mysterious 2nd contemporary
James of Eltisley, called "Junior," who we must now conclude was father to
the 2 famous brothers (did he own lands at Eltisley??...certainly he lived
there when he was baptizing all his own children, & it's the place where the
Major General married 1636 to Jane Cromwell!). Please pay special attention,
near end, to the material on Papley Manor at Eltisley, owned by the MARSHALL
family early in 17th c., and one WILLIAM Marshall (this may explain name of
3rd son, William, in James Disbrowe/Elder's line, while implying
identification of a father perhaps for Elizabeth 'Marshall' Disbrowe!).
Also note important connection to Emmanuel College, Cambridge by 1593,
which College I especially visited on my last trip since it's closely
connected to New England settlement, producing such pastors as Thomas
Hooker, John Harvard, & host of significant others for my thesis. Also note
a reference to the "MASON" family regarding "Pembroke Farm," near end.
Recall that Thomas Disbrowe married a Susan Mason at Cambridge, abt.1650.
Does THIS give clue as to HER identity perhaps then?? Also note the very
early reference to surname "Jordan", which surname also appears much later
in the Samuel Disbrowe material as referenced by Henry Waters "Gen.
Gleanings"! The information below is very impressively footnoted
throughout (not indicated by me, so those of you w/ further interest in
detailed sourcing must consult original).

"CHURCH....The first reference to the parish church occurs when, before
1173, Roger de Condet granted the advowson to St. Leonard's Hospital, York.
The hospital did not long retain the advowson, which in 1202 was granted by
Lisiard de Musters to Roger son of Peter and thereafter descended with the
manor until 1351 when Thomas of Eltisley granted it to Mary de St. Pol,
countess of Pembroke. In 1362 the Crown licensed the appropriation of the
rectory to Denny Abbey, but the licence was rescinded because of a faulty
statement of title; in 1366 it again licensed the appropriation and also the
grant of the advowson by the countess to the abbey. The abbey held the
advowson of the rectory, but notwithstanding the second licence and a papal
licence of 1402 the appropriation was not effected until 1518, when a
vicarage was endowed. In 1539 the rectory and advowson formerly belonging to
Denny Abbey were granted to Edward Elrington, and thereafter remained in the
same ownership. Elrington sold them in 1542 to Sir William Bowyer, lord
mayor of London (d. 1544), whose devisee Alice, wife of Henry Searle [note:
my father is good friends with a modern, CT branch of English "Searle"],
sold them to Francis Mannock in 1557. The Mannocks sold them in 1600 to John
Disbrowe and they descended in the senior branch of the Disbrowe family
until 1713 when Robert Shipsea and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the
Revd. John Disbrowe, conveyed them in trust to John Disbrowe of Willingham
who is said to have sold them to Hester Baron of Little Eversden. She
devised them to members of the Day family. In 1789 Samuel, son of John Day,
sold the advowson and rectory to Edward Leeds of Croxton and thenceforward
they descended with the manor.
Throughout the 13th century Eltisley was one of the richest
benefices in the deanery. The value, 21 marks c. 1217 and in 1254, had
increased to 35 marks by 1291, and in 1364 was said to be 35+ marks. In 1279
the rector had 13 a. of land, though it is not certain that it was glebe.
Only half an a. was conveyed with the advowson in 1351. Land in Eltisley
belonging to the rectory was often mentioned in late medieval terriers. he
rectory estate was slightly more than 100 a, in 1557. It was said to be of
virtually the same extent in 1789. After appropriation the whole of the
tithes belonged to the impropriator. They were commuted for a rent-charge of
£216 in I84I, the tithes due from the lands of the impropriator, Samuel
Newton, being merged with the freehold of his estates. It is possible that
the house built by James Disbrowe and mentioned above occupies the site of
the rectory house.
The original endowment of the vicarage in 1518 was £8 a year paid by
the impropriator.57 In 1639 there was also vicarial glebe consisting of two
closes containing on & half a. In 1650 the gross value of the living was
said to be £I2 and a proposal of 1657 to augment it by £50 a year was not
carried out. In 1785 the gross income was still only £13, of which £8 was
paid as the original endowment and the remainder was derived from the rent
of the vicarage house and the glebe. In 1771 and 1784 the benefice received
grants of £200 from Queen Anne's Bounty, which was used in 1801 to buy 27 a.
in Elsworth. The total income of the incumbent was £35 in 1810. Further
augmentations of £200 were made in 1810 and 1828, used partly to redeem a
mortgage on the Elsworth land, and a further £200 was provided out of the
Parliamentary Grant Fund. The gross income of the vicarage rose to £48 1830
and £52 in 1922. In 1892 one of the glebe closes became a new burial ground.
One of the conditions for the appropriation of Eltisley was that
the rector should provide a suitable house for the vicar. In 1615 there was
a vicarage house near the church. It is not known to have been used as the
residence of the incumbent after the early 17th century. It was uninhabited
and in a very bad condition in 1783 and was said to be in ruins in 1790 when
it was ordered to be pulled down. No other house was built and since the
early 19th century the incumbent has usually resided at Croxton Rectory,
which is closer to Eltisley church than to that of Croxton.
There was evidently a medieval guild at Eltisley for in 1569 the
Crown sold a tenement formerly called the guildhall and then the town house
in Eltisley together with 19 a. of land. About 1230 William le Juvene, son
of Roger of Eltisley, granted 3 a. in Eltisley to William, chaplain of
Papworth Everard, who was to render 4 gallon of oil to maintain William's
lamp before the cross in Eltisley church. The land was later transferred to
St. John's hospital, Cambridge, and the oil was still being paid in the 14th
century...."
[page 56]

"Among notable residents of Eltisley should be mentioned John Disbrowe
(or Desborough) (1608-80), son of James Disbrowe of Eltisley. In 1636 he
married Oliver Cromwell's sister Jane in Eltisley church. He became
major-general for the west and was prominent in the revolutions that
followed Cromwell's death. In 1657 he purchased the manor of Eltisley but is
not known to have lived there. His brother Samuel (16I9-90), also born at
Eltisley, was keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland during the Interregnum.
[page 48]

"MANORS & OTHER ESTATES: ...Phillip [of Stowe] was dead by 1346 and in the
same year John Le Ward of Trumpington held Eltisley. John, however, had only
a life-interest in the manor, which descended in moieties, one owned by John
Goldingham of Chigwell (Essex) and Eleanor, his wife, and the other by Sir
Alan Buxhull. It is probable that the wives of John and Alan were the heirs
of Philip of Stowe. In 1349 Sir Alan Buxhull granted the reversion of his
moiety, after the death of John le Ward, to Thomas of Eltisley, rector of
Lambeth (Surr.), and others, apparently acting as feoffees. In the same year
John and Eleanor Goldingham granted their moiety to Thomas of Eltisley and
others. Those feoffees seem to have settled the whole manor, which became
known as STOWE or GOLDINGHAMS, on Sir Alexander Goldingham, son of John and
Eleanor. Alexander died in 1408, devising to his widow, Isabel, a
life-interest in Eltisley which afterwards passed to his son, Sir Walter
Goldingham. Walter died before 1435~4 and after the death of his widow,
Elizabeth, the manor descended in two moieties to their daughters, Eleanor
and Cecily. Cecily married William Chilton, or Chitterne, whose son, also
William, died in 1458 when his moiety reverted to his aunt, Eleanor
Goldingham, who had married John Mannock of Stoke by Nayland (Suff.).
Eleanor died in 1468 seised of the whole manor which remained with her
husband until his death in 1471. John Mannock was succeeded by his son John
(d. 1476), whose son and heir, George Mannock, was a minor at his father's
death. George Mannock died in 1541 and was followed by his son William (d.
i5~S). William's son Francis (d. 1590) devised to his wife Anne a
life-interest in the estate, but she was a recusant and in 1591 two-thirds
of the manor was sequestrated by the Crown and leased to William Twittye. In
1599 Thomas Leeds of Croxton was granted the lease of the two-thirds of the
estate. After Anne's death the manor descended to her son William Mannock
(d. 1616), although in 1611 two-thirds was still under sequestration because
of his recusancy. William's son, Sir Francis Mannock (cr. bt. 1627) died
seised of the manor in 1634. Sir Francis's son Sir Francis was a recusant
and Eltisley was again under sequestration in I650 when it was leased to
Isaac Disbrowe.
In 1653 the Committee for Compounding allowed the petition of the
creditors of Sir Francis for the release to them of the manor. In 1657
Mannock sold it to Major-General John Disbrowe (or Desborough) (d. 1680) who
devised it to his eldest surviving son, Valentine. Valentine Disbrowe held
the manor in 1706 but had been succeeded by John Disbrowe by 1710. The manor
is said to have been devised by John Disbrowe, by will dated 1741, to the
two sons of his nephew, William Walford of Bocking (Essex). In 1789 the
Revd. William Walford, Mary Walford, widow, and Thomas Walford sold it to
Edward Leeds of Croxton Park. Thereafter the manor has descended with
Croxton.
There are several medieval moated sites in Eltisley most of which were
owned by Samuel Newton of Croxton Park in I841. None has been certainly
identified as the site of the original manor-house. In 1807, however, the
manor-house, described as 'of the old sort', was moated and used as a
farmhouse. Manorial courts were still held there. It is possible that that
building may have been the Manor Farm marked on the tithe 'nap of 1841,
which stands on a moated site and dates from the late Middle Ages. It was
remodelled in the 17th century and has later additions and alterations.

"PAPLEY MANOR.....The manor of PAPLEY originated in a series of grants of
land in Eltisley and Caxton made to Hinchingbrooke Priory (Hunts.) between
the mid 12th century and early I4th.32 In 3279 the priory held a messuage
called Papley, 36 a. of arable, and 12 a. of wood in demesne in Eltisley.
Its lands in Kingsfield, originally part of Caxton, seem to have been
regarded as being in Eltisley by the 16th century. At the Dissolution Papley
was granted to Richard Williams alias Cromwell36 who sold it to William
Marshall of Eltisley in 1540. It then consisted of 130 a., about 10 a. of
which lay in Papworth Everard. The estate was sometimes called the manor of
Papworth Everard.
In 1544 William Marshall purchased a further messuage and 44 a. in
Eltisley called Mitchell's from Thomas Smith of Bedford. Smith had purchased
the estate in 1522 from the executors of Robert Mounford. In 1549 Marshall
also bought a pightle and 4 a. of land which had been given for an
anniversary in Eltisley church. Those two properties appear to have been
merged with the Papley estate. William Marshall died in 1551 and his lands
passed to his brother John. By will proved in 1591 John Marshall devised
most of his estates, including those mentioned above, to his elder son
William, who sold Papley manor to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1593. The
estate remained with the college until 1899 when it was sold to Ernest
Hooley of Papworth Hall. In 1911 and 1916 it was offered for sale under the
title of Papley Grove manor as part of the Papworth Hall estate. There is a
medieval moated site at Papley Grove which presumably marks the location of
the manorhouse. In 1541, however, the 'mansion' belonging to the estate
appears to have stood in the village by Cambridge Way. In 1770 the
farm-house was described as a rough-cast and tiled building, but its
location was not stated. The homestead belonging to the estate stood at
Papley Grove in 1841. The modern farm-house and buildings at Papley Grove,
however, appear to have been built by Emmanuel College after the inclosure
of 1868.
The nucleus of what later became JESUS COLLEGE FARM appears to have
been the copy-hold land (20 a.) formerly held by John Canon and then by
Richard Mitchell, to which Joan Stowe, widow of Richard, and her son David
Mitchell were admitted tenants in 1494. Gerard Mitchell succeeded his father
David in 1550 and was followed by John Mitchell the elder in 1571, when the
addition of other copyhold land had enlarged the tenement to over 40 a. John
Mitchell the elder died in or before 1573 and his widow Elizabeth held the
estate for life. After her death it passed to John Mitchell who sold it in
1633 to John Jeanes, who in 1639 conveyed the Mitchell property to Thomas
Knight, vicar of Swavesey. In 1653 Knight purchased from John Peaseley a
further 15 a. of copyhold land.56 The copyhold of Knigbt's estate, amounting
to some 90 a., was enfranchised in 1658....." [ETC]

"PEMBROKE FARM appears to have had its origin in small parcels of freehold
land acquired by Richard and Henry Jordan between 1346 and 1399 and by Henry
Dicon between 1404 and 1408. In 1488 Thomas, son of John Dicon of Eltisley,
conveyed 6 a. to Gerard Skipwith, rector of Eltisley, and Gerard Hammond. In
1501 Skipwith acquired another 14 a. from Robert, son of John Woodward. By
will dated 1503 Skipwith devised a life-interest in his tenements in
Eltisley to his relative, Anne. After her death they were to pass to
Pembroke College, Cambridge of which he was a fellow. In 1504 Isabel
Hammond, his sister, conveyed 20 a. to Pembroke College in trust. In 1540
William Weldysh and his wife Anne, apparently the beneficiary under
Skipwith's will, conveyed a messuage and 84 a. of land in Eltisley to
William Cook who in the same year enfeoffed the college with that estate. In
1599 it was still known as Dicon's and was extended at 58 a.
The farm-house may have been the messuage which had once belonged to
the hospital of Burton Lazars (Leics.). In 1599 it stood north of the Green
and was apparently on the same site in 1841. At inclosure, however, the
college was allotted 78 a. in the north-east part of the parish and a new
farmhouse and buildings were erected north of the Cambridge road, near the
boundary with Papworth Everard. The college sold the farm to Ernest Hooley
of Papworth Hall in 1899, and it was offered for sale as part of the
Papworth Halt estate in 1911.
By will proved 1716 Dr. Daniel Williams, the nonconformist divine,
devised the reversion of an estate in Eltisley jointly to St. Thomas's
Hospital and the London workhouse in Bishopsgate Street. The estate, which
was part copyhold and part freehold, was then worth £55 a year and was
occupied by a widow named MASON [my emphasis], perhaps Rebecca, widow of
Simon Mason who was involved in litigation over an estate in Eltisley in
1691. The estate was held jointly by the hospital and the workhouse and
managed by the former. In 1781 it consisted of 250 a., all but 20 a. being
dispersed arable. In 1829 the property of the workhouse was vested in the
corporation of London for the estab lishment of a corporation school. The
school, known as the Freemen's Orphan School, was opened in 1854. The land
was farmed in three units in 1837, but after the inclosure of 1868 it was
consolidated as one farm, known as HOSPITAL FARM. The estate was sold to
George Douglas Newton of Croxton Park in 1902. The farm-house was described
as a little rough-cast and tiled house in 1781 when it was let as two
tenements. In 1841 the main house stood at the north end of the Green on the
road to Cambridge, where the modern farm-house, known as East Farm, stood in
1968.
In 1568 John Marshall purchased an estate in Eltisley from John Smith
of Needingworth (Hunts.). By his will proved 1591 Marshall devised the land
to his younger son Matthew, who in 1630 conveyed his lands in Eltisley to
John Marshall. In 1646 John Marshall granted the reversion of it to John
Gilman. The name Gilman or Gilmyn appears at Eltisley from the early 15th
century [note: my childhood doctor in Mansfield, CT was named "Gilman"] and
the family seems to have been relatively prosperous. Thomas Gilmyn of St.
Neots and Eltisley had been C. 1487 escheator in Cambridge­shire. The
combined Marshall and Gilman lands, consisting of c. 120 a., passed
successively to John Gilman's son Joseph and granddaughter Mary. Mary
Gilman married James Chidley of Rother­hithe (Surr.). The Chidleys later
removed to Papworth Everard and raised various mortgages on the Eltisley
estate. In 1679, after Mary's death, James Chidley sold it to William
Heylock (d. 1688) of Abbotsley (Hunts.) whose lands passed to hk nephew,
Henry Kingsley. By will proved 1666 Isaac Disbrowe of Elsworth devised 20
a. and 24 a. in Eltisley to his grandsons, John and Isaac Disbrowe. John
sold his estate to Edward Cosyn of Croxton in 1669 and ten years later Isaac
sold his land to Cosyn's widow, Jane. In 1683 Jane Cosyn mortgaged both
tenements to Henry Kings­ley. John Disbrowe seems, however, to have
re­tamed some interest in the properties and finally released them to Henry
Kingsley in 1704. The Chidley and Disbrowe lands thus united passed from
Henry Kingsley (d. 1712) to his son Heylock (d. 1749) of Hasell HaIl, Sandy
(Beds.). Heylock Kingsley's daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married William
Pym (d. 1788). The Eltisley estate (c. 260 a.) seems to have come into the
possession of William's second son, Woolaston Pym (d. 1846), rector of
Radwell (Herts.). On his death it passed to his nephew Francis Pym (d.
i86o) who in 1850 sold it to Samuel Newton of Croxton Park. In 1841 the
farmstead stood on the south side of the Green near the road from St. Ives
to Potton. It became known as Green Farm and the building was stilt
standing in 1968. It dates from the mid 17th century with 18th-century and
later alterations and additions...."
[pages 51-2; SNIP...there is much more on Eltisley in reference]

This thread:

• [DISBROW] Much MORE on Eltisley Manor... by "Stephen T. Squires" <>