HAMSEY - Shelley’s FollyP125/17

Manorial tenure: freehold of the manor of Hamsey, quitrent 8½d [M505/98], consisting of M505/92 (1d), 93 (3½d), 94 (2d) and 103 (2d) [3]

referred to c1630 by John Rowe as former customary land [13]

Tithe numbers [1]

1840 / 59-67, 79-90, 97, 99, 100, 142, 2, 6, 12, 13, 76, 16
Descriptions of property (centred at TQ 404149)
GENERAL / It seems likely that the Northern portion of the parish, bounded by the Chailey and Barcombe roads East and West, formed one entity called Hewen Streets; it may be that a common recovery of 1552, from Sir Edward Lewknor to John Cook, represents a partial enfranchisement of former copyholds - at least some of the land in this area was to remain freehold of the manor of Hamsey, subject to quitrents [M505/94, 98].
It is clear that part of the land, probably the Southern portion of the land above the Shelley’s Folly triangle, remained in demesne, since Edward Lewknor was named as a neighbouring owner in 1594, and land called Hewen Streets was included in the settlement of the manor in 1667 [see P125/2].
The Cook family gradually sold off the remainder of the land as follows.
1By 1579, and probably before the death of Richard Holter of Barcombe in 1562, a house and 100 acres, forming the Northwestern two-thirds of the Shelley’s Folly triangle, had been acquired by Richard Holter. It was bought by James and Henry Plumer in 1589, and has been treated as the core descent of the Shelley’s Folly estate, this tenement, P125/17.
2In 1587 John Cook settled 30½ acres on the marriage of his son with Mary Board; in 1594 he sold 20 acres to John Allen. All this land was acquired by Roger Aderton in 1596 and 1597, and purchased by the owner of Hamsey Manor in 1751. Its descent appears as P125/92.
3In 1587 John Cook also sold the Southeastern third of the Shelley’s Folly triangle to Andrew Stone. Later that year Stone acquired two pieces of land on the West side of the Chailey road (tithe 76 and 97). He sold the whole to James Plumer in 1590. The descent of these elements of the estate before that date is presented as P125/95-96
4In 1597 John Cook the elder, who had retained the upper portion of Shelley’s Folly (tithe 2, 6, 12, 13) on his settlement of the remainder in 1587, sold it to James Plumer; this descent is discussed within P125/95.
James Plumer thus became owner of what would remain the Shelley’s Folly estate in 1840
1552> / the elements purchased from or via John Cook probably a partition of the land granted out of the manor to John Cook in 1552 [5]
1579 / messuage and 100a called Hewen Streets and Cockespyke in Hamsey [12]
1messuage and land: W: road; N: a horse or whapple way (see 1588); E: Hanley Common; S: land of John Cook of Barcombe [P125/95])
2Cockespyke [tithe 142]; (S: demesne land of Hamsey; W: road; N, E: the mill and mill-tail called The Little Mill [in Barcombe]) [12]
1587 / P125/92 and P125/95 sold off
1588 / whapple-way from Barcombe through Hewenstreet towards Resting Oak ought to be repaired by the tenants on both sides; by 1617 the sole responsibility of the owner of P125/17 [13]
1590 / P125/95-96 acquired
1597 / acquisition of Little Hewen Street (tithe 2, 6, 12-13), described as formerly part of the lands called Hewen Streets [12]
1609 / the whole estate described in a conveyance as:
1messuage, barns, orchard, garden lands and woods called Great Hewenstretes otherwise Hewarstreates and Cookes Pyke otherwise Parkefield (140a) before Holter’s and Cooke’s, occupied by Agnes Boakes, widow (N: lane from Barcombe Cross to The Beachwood; W, S, E: road) [59-67, 79-90, 99, 100]
2messuage, barn and 30a called Lesser Hewenstretes otherwise Hewarstreates, once Cooke’s, occupied by Gerard Burte (E: road from Lewes to Holmewood Bridge; S, W: land of Edward Alford, esq; N: land also called Hewenstretes, late Roger Aderton, gent) [4, 6, 12-13]
3meadow (5a), part of 2 above, occupied by Gerard Burte (E, S, W: land also called Hewenstretes, late Roger Aderton, gent; N: watercourse from Beverne Bridge to Holmewood Bridge) [2]
4piece of meadow near Cooksbridge (10a), belonging to 1 above, occupied by Agnes Boakes, widow (W: road; N: lane from the little mill of Barcombe; S: a waterstream; E: pond called Bardolfes Pond) [142, but should be demesne of Hamsey]
5messuage and land (5a) called Brewers (S: land occupied by Thomas Hardinge; N, W: land now or late Nicholas Longley; E: road) [97]
6field called Goteacre (2a), part of Brewers (E: road from Lewes to Chailey; N, W: land late Staffordes; S: glebe land of Hamsey Rectory) [absorbed into P125/41]
1617 / Philip Bennett solely responsible for the whapple-way as 1588 above [13]
c1620 / formerly customary lands called Hewenstreet in Hamsey [13]
1634 / 1 Great Hewenstreet otherwise Hewarstreet and Cookspile otherwise Parkfield
2 Brewers and Gotacre [M505/92]
3 Lesser Hewenstreet otherwise Hewarstreet
1651 / by a settlement of 1651, among other property, John Bennett settled:
1a messuage, two barns and 138a 3r 12p called Great Hewen Street occupied by Nicholas Tagg
2barn and 29a called Little Hewen Street, occupied by John King
1681 / 1messuage, barns, stables and 140a called Great Hewen Street
2messuage and 30a called Little Hewen Street
327a coppice in hand; all in Hamsey and Barcombe
1689 / in his will of 1689, among other property, Theobald Shelley described the estate as:
1messuage, barns, stables, outhouses and 140a called Great Hewen Street; messuage and 30a called Little Hewen Street; both in Hamsey and Barcombe, occupied by Edward Pollington, late TS; 27a coppice grounds in Hamsey and Barcombe occupied by Edward Pollington
1781 / tithe 76 shown as ‘Mr Shelley’ on estate map [8]
1790x1796 / shown on a map as a house, buildings and 188a 2r 21p (134a 0r 17p plain) [11]
1mansion and land called Great Hewen Street
2Barn Field, Bushy Field, Middle 3½a, Well Field
3Lower Land Brook
4former millpond (sold by 1790)
5Cooksbridge Field (tithe 97; M505/93)
6The Acre and a half (tithe 76; M505/92)
<1838-1841+ / House, cottage, farm buildings land: arable, meadow, pasture, wood 187a 2r 32p [1]
Descriptions of house (at TQ 404149)
1688 / by 29 Sep 1688 landlord to build a new wain-house thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide, set up and build an oast on the west side of the stable to dry hops in, new plank the floor of the lower barn, make and part off a stall in the upper barn big enough to stall six oxen, pall in three sides of the mansion or new built house, and do all other necessary and convenient repairs to the farm, lands and buildings called Upper Hewen Street in Hamsey [12]
1712 / probate inventory lists kitchen, drink-room, milk-house, cheese-house, sink or brew-house, cheese chamber, little parlour, great parlour, drawing room, parlour chamber, drawing-room chamber, chamber over the cheese-room, oasthouse and hops worth £42 10s 0d, stable, granary, wain-house, stall and barn; only three of the rooms seemed to have working fireplaces; inventory total £310 17s 0d [4]
1752 / shown as ‘The Folly’ on map [7]
1790x1796 / shown on a map as a house, buildings and 188a 2r 21p (134a 0r 17p plain) [11]
<1838-1841+ / House and garden (84) cottage and garden (88) [1]
Descriptions of house (at TQ 405165)
1752 / barn and dwelling house at West end of The Wood [?tithe 7] [7]

Land tax assessments [2]

<1780-1780 / 64
1781 / 52
1784 / 50
1788 / 46
1789 / 47
1791 / 40
1798 / 36
1808- 1817 / 41 4s
1833-1840 / 41 5s
Owners
<1579 / Richard / Holter / possibly the RH of Barcombe, administration of whose estate was granted to his widow Katherine in 1562 [4]
<1579-1579 / heirs of / Holter / Henry Collins of Burwash, yeoman, and his wife Alice, daughter and heir of Richard Holter deceased and sister and co-heir of Ann Holter, deceased, and William Lullingden and his wife Joan (another daughter of RH); conveyed to TG in 1579 [12]
1579-1589 / Thomas / Glyde / yeoman / of Etchingham; in 1589 he and his wife Joan conveyed to James Plumer and his son Henry Plumer [12]
1589-1608 / James / Plumer / yeo / of Southover; in 1596 John Cooke the elder of Barcombe mortgaged Little Hewen Streets (tithe 2, 6, 12-13), with a barn and dwelling-house at the West end [?tithe 7], to James Plomer of Southover, yeoman, for £100; he and his wife Joan sold this 30a to JP the following year [12]; his will proved 1608 [6]; warranty against him, and against the dower of his widow Elizabeth, given on sale in 1609 [12]
1589-1609 / Henry / Plumer / merchant / son of James Plumer; of Southampton in 1609 when he and his wife Ann sold to PB and his son PB for £950; HP warranted against the dower of his mother Elizabeth Plumer wife of James Plumer of Southover deceased [12]
1609-1623 / Philip / Bennett / gent / purchased with his son PB; in 1617 presented as solely responsible for repairs to a whapple-way which in 1588 had been the responsibility of the tenants on either side [13]; died at Wootton in Westmeston 30 Mar 1623, IPM 6 June shows estate in Wiston, Ashurst, Buncton and Steyning [10]
1623-1634 / Philip / Bennett / gent / aged 15 years 5 months 5 days on his father’s death; settled in 1632 on his marriage to Ann daughter of John Middleton; died 6 Dec 1634, heir was his son JB [10]
1634-1671 / John / Bennett / gent / of Wootton in Westmeston; aged 6 years, 6 months and 19 days on the death of his father in 1634 [10]; in 1651 he settled his estate, with his father-in-law Edward Godman of Wootton, gent, as trustee [12]; in May 1670 he granted his estates to trustees [12]; his death presented 1671; who is heir? [3]; according to Edward Woodcock’s deed of sale to Theobald Shelley in 1681, his father Thomas Woodcock’s wife Barbara was the widow of John Bennett of Wootton; but TW was married to Barbara Gratwick by 1662, so ? another JB? [17]
1671-1680 / Thomas / Woodcock / kt / (1622-1680) of Charing Cross, St Martin in the Fields, London; his father Thomas had settled in Sussex on his marriage to Ursula, daughter of Sir Edward Bellingham of Newtimber, in 1613; fought for king in first civil war, knighted 1661 when MP for Lewes; of London when will proved 1680 [6]; death presented 1681 for M505/92-94, 103; to his son Edward Woodcock [3]
1680-1681 / Edward / Woodcock / esq / of St Margaret Westminster, who sold estates in Buncton, Wiston, Ashurst, Hamsey, Barcombe, Plumpton, Steyning, West Grinstead and Ashington to TS in 1681 [3, 12]
1681-1692 / Theobald / Shelley / esq / fourth son of Richard Shelley of Warminghurst; of Horsham, gent, when he purchased from Edward Woodcock in 1681; by will to his widow MS; purchased from TW by 1684; death presented 1694, to his widow MS [3]
1692-1719 / Mary / Shelley / wid / she later married John Tredcroft, probably of a Horsham family of that name; died without issue, when the property passed to her nephew JS
1719-1740 / John / Shelley / esq / of Champneys in Thakeham and Fen Place, Worth, son of Timothy Shelley (clerk of the peace, d1671) and great-nephew of Timothy Shelley
1740-1771 / Timothy / Shelley / of USA and Horsham; to his son JS
1771-1790 / John / Shelley / esq / (1729-1790) of Field Place in Warnham [2]; to his nephew TS
1790-1844 / Timothy / Shelley / bart / (1753-1844) of Field Place and Castle Goring [1,2]; Mrs Shelley assessed for land tax in 1817
1845-1855 / John / Shelley / esq / (1806-1866, younger brother of PB Shelley), of Avington Park in Hampshire; he sold to JD
1855-1858 / John / Dodson
1859-1897 / George / Dodson / 1st Lord Monk Bretton
Occupiers
<1579-1579+ / Thomas / Comber / leased to him at £16 [12]
<1605-1606 / John / Bookes / yeoman / part leased to him by Henry Plomer and his wife Ann at £40; he died in 1606 [12, 4]
1606-1609+ / Agnes
Gerard / Boakes
Burt / widow / Great Hewen Street [12]
Little Hewen Street [12]
<1651-1651+ / Nicholas
John / Tagg
King / Great Hewen Street [12]
Little Hewen Street [12]
<1670-1681+ / John
Thomas / King
Woodcock / kt / Great Hewen Street [12]
[Little Hewen Street] [12]
<1687 / Timothy / Shelley / owner-occupier [12]
<1687-1712 / Edward / Pollington / in 1688 he was of Little Horsted, yeoman, when Upper [Little] Hewen Street was let to him for ten years (see above) [12]; buried at Little Horsted in 1712; surviving probate inventory totals £310 17s 0d [4]
<1772-1772+ / William / Howell / [14]
1780- / John / Howell / [2]
1808 / Richard / Knight / [2]
<1828- 1840 / James / Lashmer / [1,2]
1855-1870 / Thomas / Knight / of Streat [15]
1871-1871+ / Eli / Knight / son of TK
1901-1906+ / Arthur / Biden / of Gosport, director of brewing companies; house only
<1910-1910+ / Smith / major / [16]
1915-1920 / Lady / Queensbury / her son Lord Alfred Douglas occasionally in residence
<1930-1930+ / George / Murray / surgeon-commander
<1934-1934+ / Claude / De Warren-Tyler
<1938-1938+ / Patrick D / Stewart / Lieutenant-Colonel

Sources

1ESROTD 111 (Hamsey tithe map)

2ESROLT, LLT Hamsey (land tax assessments)

3ESROADA - manor of Hamsey court-books and rentals

4ESROW/A4.47 (Admon of Richard Holter, 1562); W/A12.128 (John Bokes, 1605); W/INV 353 (Edward Pollington)

5ESRO D53

6PROPROB 11/112 (James Plomer of Southover, 1608); PROB 11/132 (Philip Bennett the elder, 1618); PROB 11/363 (Thomas Woodcock, 1680); PROB 11/410 (Theobald Shelley 1692);

7ESROMOB 1699

8ESROACC 9421; copies of documents in the archive of the Minor Canons of Windsor, including map by Thomas Marchant, 1781

10SRS 14.14 IPM of Philip Bennett

11ESRO AMS 6775

12ESRO Preston manor deeds ES/CK, WS/AI/1, ES/EQ/1; CKS U1475 T278

13SRS 34.196Book of John Rowe

14ESROSHR 3686

15ESRO MOB 1172A

16ESROIRV 1/38 353

17History of Parliament