Manor Estates: In 1086 Chinnor, assessed at 13-Hides, was Held of the King by Lewin, an English Royal Servant who had been in Possession both here & at Cowley in the Confessor’s Day. Soon after the Manor was probably Held by Hugh de Vernon, whose son Richard paid £40 in 1130 to have his father’s Oxon Lands. The Family also Held Croxton (Cambs). Chinnor, however, appears to have been their Chief Seat, for the Cambs Lands were described as belonging to ‘the Honour of Chinnor‘. Richard de Vernon is also known as a Benefactor of Thame Abbey: he gave a Hide of his Land at Sydenham, a Member of Chinnor Manor, before 1146, and another Hide sometime later, before 1155. The date of his death is uncertain, but it was probably before 1186 when his son Walter had succeeded him at Sydenham and confirmed his father’s Gifts to Thame. Walter Forfeited his Lands, however, for refusing to help John against the French, and from 1194 to 1198 Chinnor was in the King’s Hands and appears on the Pipe Rolls among other Escheated Lands. Part of the Rents for 1198 were given to the Count of Aumale, and there are no further receipts on the Pipe Rolls. In 1203 Chinnor & Sydenham were granted to the powerful Saer de Quincy, who later became Earl of Winchester, and his Heirs to be Held by Service of a Knight’s Fee. Despite this Grant Saer became one of the Leaders of the Baronial Revolt against the King, and his Lands were Forfeited. Walter de Vernon’s grandson Hugh de la Mare, also called Hugh Sans Aver, a Member of a Sussex Family and the son of Ralph Sans Aver and Isabel, a daughter of Walter de Vernon, took the opportunity to recover his mother’s Lands. In 1216 he offered 2-Palfreys (light horse) to the King to be put in Possession of them.
Although Saer de Quincy made Submission in October 1216 and all his Lands were said to have been restored, it is doubtful whether Chinnor was among them. The Sheriff was ordered to give Hugh de la Mare Possession, after taking Security for the Gift of the Palfreys and for a term’s Service at Wallingford Castle. Moreover, in a Suit in the King’s Court in 1235 Saer’s son claimed that his father had the Manor by purchase or inheritance from Hugh de la Mare. In later records, however, reference is always made to King John’s original Grant. Saer died in 1219. His 2nd son Roger succeeded and had Livery of his Lands in 1220, Robert the elder son being already dead. An entry in the Pipe Roll (1229–30) indicates that Roger was then in Possession of Chinnor and at the Inquests of 1235 & 1255 it was recorded that he Held Chinnor & Sydenham. Between this date and his death in 1264 he gave Sydenham Manor to Thame Abbey. In 1266 Chinnor was given to Roger’s Widow Eleanor, Countess of Winchester, saving the Rights of the Heirs, until she had her Dowry assigned to her. On her marriage in 1267 to Roger de Leyburne, she and her husband continued to Hold Chinnor, but presumably, on her death, it went to Roger de Quincy’s Heirs. These were his 3-daughters by his 1st wife Helen; they were Margaret, the Widow of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby (d.1254); Elizabeth, the wife of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan; & Helen, the wife of Alan la Zouche. By 1279 Chinnor was divided between the descendants of the Families of Ferrers & Zouche, Elizabeth Comyn’s 3rd evidently having been transferred to the Ferrers Family. The Ferrers portion of Chinnor came to be known by the 16thC as Overcourt Manor, but the Family name was preserved as the designation of one of Chinnor’s 2-Tithings, Ferrers’s Fee & Popham’s Fee.
In 1266 Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, the son of Roger de Quincy’s daughter Margaret & William de Ferrers, Forfeited his Lands & Title because of his Adherence to Simon de Montfort. Although in 1279 Robert de Musgros was said to Hold 2/3rds of Chinnor in Chief (see below), it appears from a case of 1284/5 that the Family Held of Robert de Ferrers’s young son John, who in 1299 became 1st Lord Ferrers of Chartley (Staffs). The Overlordship of the Ferrers portion Descended in the Main Line of the Ferrers of Chartley.
Sir Robert de Musgros, Lord of many Manors in Berks, Glos & Somerset, Held the Ferrers 2/3rds of Chinnor in 1279 in Right of his wife Agnes, the daughter of William & Margaret de Ferrers. Sir Robert died in 1280 and his Widow continued to Hold Chinnor in her own Right. In 1284/5 she claimed Free Warren in Chinnor and its Member Sydenham as Roger de Quincy had had it, although at that time the Manor was Farmed to the Abbot of Thame for £22. One of her Charters in which she is described as Lady of Chinnor has survived. She lived at least until about 1313 when she Sold the Manor to Robert de Sapey and his wife Aline. In that year the Sapeys were Pardoned for acquiring from her 2/3rds of Chinnor without Royal Licence.
Robert de Sapey, a Member of a Herefordshire Family, was a prominent Royal Servant. He held Huntley (Glos) and in 1316 he was returned as Holding Chinnor, Where he lived for at least part of the year. The Sapey Coat of Arms in Chinnor Church bears witness to the Family’s close connection with Chinnor. In 1334 the Overlord, Robert de Ferrers, 3rd Lord Ferrers, agreed with the Sapeys that the Ferrers part of Chinnor should be Held by them for the term of their Lives with reversion to Robert de Ferrers & his Heirs. Robert de Sapey died in 1336, leaving his nephew William as his Heir. His Widow, however, evidently Held his Chinnor Manor for her Life. In 1339 she obtained a Licence to have an Oratory there for a year. She died sometime after 1346 when she was returned as holding a 1/3rd of the Fee. The Succession has not been established, but it is clear that the Ferrers 2/3rds remained divided for some time. In 1428 Thomas Stonor of Stonor was holding half the Sapey portion (i.e. 1/3rd Chinnor) in Chief, and the Heir of a Maud Sapey the other 1/3rd.
These Tenancies were probably temporary ones, for, although Chinnor is not Listed among the Ferrers Possessions in the later-14thC, Sir Robert de Ferrers held Chinnor at his death in 1413, as did his son Sir Edmund (d.1435). Sir William Ferrers, who died in 1450, had Granted the Manor for Life for £4 a year to Richard Bedford, whose Arms were once in Chinnor Church. The Heir of William Ferrers was his daughter Anne, a Minor married to Walter Devereux of Weobley (Hereford), who gained Possession in 1453. In 1459 Devereux’s Lands were Forfeited for his adherence to the Duke of York but were restored in the next year. In 1461, after the Battle of Towton, he was created Lord Ferrers for his great services against Henry VI, and although his Lands were Forfeited after his death on Bosworth Field, his son John succeeded in 1486 to the Ferrers Lands, including Chinnor, which were the Inheritance of his mother. On his death in 1501 he was succeeded by his son Walter, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, later Viscount Hereford (d.1558), who in 1517 Pledged the Manor to Sir Stephen Jennings, an Alderman & Tailor of London, as Security for a Bond for £500 for Merchandise bought from him. Later, when Lord Ferrers was preparing to accompany Henry VIII to France, he Sold the Manor to Jennings, who immediately Resold it to Richard Fermor, Citizen & Grocer of London, for £500. In 1521 the Devereuxes were Pardoned for Alienating the Manor without Royal Licence.
Richard Fermor was the son of Thomas Fermor of Witney, a wealthy Wool Merchant, and of Emmote, the Widow of Henry Wenman, another Oxon Woolman; his Seat was at Easton Neston (Northants). By 1540 Chinnor was in the Hands of the Crown on the Grounds of Richard Fermor’s Attainder. The Manor was then valued at £22-13s-4d a year and since 1528 most of it had been Leased to Robert Stevens, a Member of a prominent Chinnor Yeoman Family. Later Fermor recovered his Lands, and in 1544 the Crown not only returned to him Chinnor Manor, now called Overcourt Manor, but also Granted him the Advowson of Chinnor. The Grant was to him & his wife Anne, a daughter & co-Heir of William Browne (or Brome), Lord Mayor of London, and to their son John & his wife Maud, but with reversion to the Crown.
Richard Davis’s Map Of Oxfordshire 1797
Richard Fermor died in 1551 and his son Sir John in 1571. In 1600 the latter’s son Sir George bought from the Crown for £362-13s-4d the Reversion of Overcourt Manor, and in 1607 he and his son Sir Hatton Fermor sold it to Sir John Dormer, MP for Aylesbury, and a Landowner in both Oxon & Bucks. Sir John died & was buried in Long Crendon Church in 1627, as his Monument there Testifies. Chinnor went to his Son & Heir Sir Robert Dormer of Ascott in Great Milton (d.1649). Although in 1632 Dormer settled it on himself for Life and then on a younger son Michael, Michael died young, and while Sir Robert’s younger son William Inherited Ascott, Chinnor went to his eldest son Robert, who also Inherited Dorton & Long Crendon. In 1667 he acquired the remaining Manorial Rights in Chinnor when he bought the former Zouche Manor (see below). It was after this that Anthony Wood Antiquery visited Chinnor and recorded him as Sole Lord. Robert Dormer, who lived at Rousham, married twice: his 1st wife was Lady Catherine Bertie, the well-endowed daughter of the 2nd Earl of Lindsey, whose Family Held many neighbouring Manors; his 2nd wife Anne was the daughter of Sir Charles Cotterel. Robert Dormer, the son of the 1st marriage, succeeded his father in 1689, but died in 1695 and was followed successively by 3-sons of the 2nd marriage. John the eldest died childless in 1719; the 4th son Robert died in 1737, also childless; and was succeeded by the 6th son, Lt-Gen. James Dormer, a Member of the Kit-Cat Club in London.
Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit-Kat Club) was an early 18thC English Club in London with strong Political & Literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig Objectives, Meeting at the Trumpet Tavern in London, and at Water Oakley in the Berks Countryside
In 1739 he Sold the Manor for £4,000 to William Huggins, the Translator of Horace. The Living had already been Purchased by William’s father, John Huggins, Keeper of the Fleet Prison. In 1747 William Huggins Mortgaged the Manor and various other Chinnor Property for £6,000. On his death in 1761 his daughter Jane & her husband the Rev James Musgrave succeeded. Musgrave was Rector of Chinnor and grandson of Sir Richard Musgrave, 2nd Bt, of Hayton Castle (Cumb). He was succeeded by his son James, who in 1812 succeeded to the Baronetcy & died in 1814. Chinnor passed to his younger son William Augustus, who in 1816 became Rector and in 1858 Inherited the Title from his elder brother, Sir James. Although by the 19thC very little Land belonged to the Manor, Manorial Rights still existed & Quit-rents were still being Paid in 1852. On Musgrave’s death in 1875 the husband of his sister Georgina, Aubrey Wenman Wykeham, Inherited the Musgrave Property. He took the name of Wykeham-Musgrave. In 1879 his son Wenman Aubrey Wykeham-Musgrave succeeded not only to his Parents’ Property but to Thame Park. Both Estates were Broken up in 1917.
When Chinnor was Divided after the death of Eleanor, Widow of Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, his daughter Helen (or Ellen), the wife of Alan la Zouche (d.1270) of Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics), received a 1/3rd, later known as Buckley’s Manor or Popham’s Fee. She sub-infeudated this (see below) but apparently held the Overlordship until her death in 1296. Her Heir was her grandson Alan, Lord Zouche, who at his death in 1314 held a 1/3rd of Chinnor, which passed to his Daughter & co-Heir Maud and her husband Robert, Lord Holand. In 1328 he was beheaded by Lancastrian Supporters, and was succeeded by his son Robert de Holand (d.1373) and then by his granddaughter Maud de Holand, a great Heiress, and her husband Sir John Lovel, 5th Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh. Maud died in 1423, having outlived her husband (d.1408) & her son John (d.1414). The Zouche Manor of Chinnor passed to her grandson William, who held it at his death in 1455. No further record of Chinnor’s connection with this branch of the Family has been found.
In 1279 the Tenant of the Zouche 1/3rd of Chinnor was Oliver la Zouche, almost certainly a younger son of Helen & Alan la Zouche. His mother had probably enfeoffed him with Chinnor as she had with Eynesbury (Hunts), and he also held South Charford (Hants). Oliver la Zouche was still Lord of Chinnor in 1316, but his son John was living there. The latter was still alive in 1359 when he Leased Land in Chinnor. He had a son named Oliver, who may have died before his father. The Arms of the Zouche Family are depicted in the glass of a window of Chinnor Church.
Oliver‘s Heir appears to have been his daughter, who had married Sir John Popham, Member of a Family which took its name from the Hampshire Village of Popham. Thereafter the Zouche Manor was known as Popham’s Fee until as late as the 19thC. The 1st record, however, that has been found of the Pophams acting as Lords of Chinnor occurs in 1459. Sir John Popham, great-grandson of the 1st Sir John, and a prominent Military Commander was then Lord of Chinnor as well as of Oliver la Zouche’s Hampshire & Huntingdonshire Manors. He was unmarried and in 1459 he Settled Chinnor on Alice, daughter of John Malyns and wife of William Hertshorn, with remainder to her daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Charles Bulkley of Nether Burgate (Hants). Alice Hertshorn died in 1469 Holding Chinnor, which then passed to the Bulkleys.
Charles Bulkley died in 1483 and his son Robert, before his death in 1514, Settled it for life on his wife Anne with remainder to their son Robert, who got Possession in 1536. On the 2nd Robert’s death in 1550 the Manor Descended to his son William (d.1581) and to his grandson John, who Sold it in 1591 for £450 to Henry Stevens, Yeoman, of Bledlow (Bucks). The Manor-house was Excluded from the Sale and the Lands of the Manor were evidently being split up, for at the same time Bulkley sold £300 worth of Land separately, and more Land was also Sold by Stevens. In his Will, dated 1609/10, Henry Stevens left the Manor to his brother Edward, Vicar of Bledlow, with Reservation of a 1/3rd to his own Widow; Edward left it by Will dated 1616 to his eldest son James. In 1667 James Stevens, Gentleman, of Towersey (Bucks) Sold the Manor, excepting Oliver’s Wood, for £300 to Robert Dormer, who was already Lord of the other Chinnor Manor. Thus the 2-Portions of the original Manor were reunited after about 400-yrs.
In the late-15thC an Estate in Chinnor, called a Manor, with Land in Henton, Oakley, & Crowell, made its appearance. It was Held by Thomas Knoyle, of Chinnor, a Junior Member of a Family which held Land in Dorset & Somerset. Thomas Knoyle was dead by 1504, when the Manor was divided between his 2-daughters, Alice, the wife of Thomas Vavasour of Fisherton de la Mere (Wilts) & Elizabeth, the wife of John Popham of Huntworth in North Petherton (Som), who came of a branch of the Family only distantly related to the Pophams who held Popham’s Fee in Chinnor. In 1504 the Vavasours, being in ‘extreme necessities‘, Mortgaged their half of the Manor, valued at £5-13s-4d, to Edmund Hall of Swerford, for £40, half to be paid at once & half in 1509, but on condition, it was said, that if the £20 was redeemed by 1509 the Property would be returned. Either Edmund Hall or his son Anthony later claimed that the Transaction was a Sale rather than a Mortgage and refused to give back the Estate on Payment of the money; consequently, Alice & her 2nd husband Thomas Butler & John Popham Sued Anthony Hall in Chancery for the Property. The outcome of the Action has not been found nor the later Descent of the Manor traced.
In 1086 Norman Miles Crispin Held Henton assessed at 8¼-Hides in Chinnor, and so the Manor with Crispin’s other Lands became a Member of the Honour of Wallingford, which escheated to the Crown in 1300 on the death of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, and subsequently of the Honour of Ewelme, in which the Honour of Wallingford was later Merged.
Crispin’s Tenant here as in several other Oxfordshire Estates was William, who appears to have been the Ancestor of the De Sulham Family, which for 2-Centuries Held 7-Fees of the Honour of Wallingford. Henton was Held for 1-Fee and until about 1300 its Descent with that of the neighbouring Adwell & Britwell Salome followed that of Sulham (Berks). These Manors were Held by the Senior Branch of the Family, which had 4 of the 7-Fees. In the 13thC Aumary (III) Fitz Robert, who in 1211 was at Law with Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester & Lord of Chinnor Manor, over a Hide of Land, made his mark on Henton’s History by Granting his Demesne Tithes there in 1239 to Chinnor Church. He died soon afterwards and his Widow Euphemia received Henton as her Dower. She was holding the Manor in 1275. In 1279 Henton was again a Widow’s Dower, being Held by Joan, the Widow of Euphemia’s grandson John de Sulham. She & her 2nd husband Hugh de Plescy were Holding it as Euphemia had done as 1-Knight’sFee, but the Jurors said that it used to be Held as ½-Fee. The De Plescys were still Holding the Manor in 1285 when they claimed Free Warren there, but by 1300 Henton, like Adwell, had reverted to the Heirs of John de Sulham, Sir Richard de la Hyde & Sir Hugh de St Philibert.
About this time John, the son of Richard de la Hyde, released the Rights Inherited from his mother in the Moiety of the Manor to Henry de Malyns. Malyns certainly had an interest in the Manor by 1303, when he & Sir Hugh de St Philibert made a Joint Lease of the Mill. Soon after the St Philibert’s appear to have Sold their Moiety to Malyns, for in 1315 Henry de Malyns, who lived until 1323, Granted ‘Henton Manor‘ to his son Edmund & his Heirs, and the Grant was Licensed by the Crown. No St Philibert appeared on the Taxation Lists of 1306, 1316, or 1327, and the Malyns Family in each case paid the highest Contributions. Nor is there any indication at a later date that the Manor was subdivided.
Edmund de Malyns, who was Sheriff of Oxon in 1341, resided at Henton, where he had a Chapel. He was still living in 1364 but had been succeeded by 1368 by his son Sir Reynold. In the latter year Reynold, who was about to go Overseas, put his Lands in Trust for 5-yrs until his son came of age if he himself did not return. He was back, however, in 1370 & in 1372 the Trustees released their Rights in Henton to him. He died in 1384, and his son Sir Edmund died in the following year after having Settled his Henton, Wainhill, & Britwell Lands on his wife Isabel if she survived him, with remainder to their younger son Edmund, and then to Thomas Barantyne & his wife and their Male issue. In 1387 Isabel, by then evidently married to Adam Ramsay, was in Possession of Henton & Britwell. In a Document of 1389 Quit Claiming Burgages at Thame to him and 3-Citizens of London, he is styled Lord of Henton and he was Living there in 1401. Isabel lived until at least 1421. On her death, the 2-Manors reverted to Reynold Malyns, the eldest Son & Heir of her 1st husband. Reynold had married Alice Sackville and in 1424 he conveyed Henton & Britwell to his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Sackville & other Trustees. A Series of Conveyances & Reconveyances followed between the Trustees & Reynold Malyns with the object presumably of Breaking the Entail. Malyns died in 1431 without Issue. His younger brother Edmund was already dead and in 1433 the Trustees Conveyed to Reynold Barantyne the Lands originally given by Henry Malyns to his son Edmund ‘by name of Henton Manor‘. They also Conveyed the Reversion of Lands in Henton & Wainhill held by Reynold Malyns’s Widow, Alice.
Reynold Barantyne was the nephew of Reynold Malyns, the son of his sister Elizabeth & Thomas Barantyne (1368–99) of Chalgrove, where the Family had been settled since the early-13thC. Reynold died in 1441 and was succeeded by his son Drew, on whose death in 1453 Henton Manor again became a Widow’s Dower. Joan Barantyne, later married to Sir John Marny, Held the Manor until at least 1469 when the Feoffees Granted the Reversion to John Barantyne for £400. He and others were in fact already Leasing it for 19-Marks a year. He died in 1474. His son John took Possession in 1482, but in the following year Sold all his Property in Henton & Wainhill to Thomas Danvers.
After the Conquest William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford, held an Estate assessed at 2½-Hides at Wainhill. On his death in 1071 his English Estates passed to his son Roger de Breteuil, who probably died in Prison after the Rebellion of 1075. The De Riviers, Earls of Devon, later acquired a large part of his Lands, but a part of Wainhill with Fritwell, Noke, & Albury appears to have been given to Roger de Chesney, the Founder of a notable Oxon Family. The Descent of the Overlordship of these Manors was through the FitzGerolds, who were related to the Chesneys, to the Earls of Devon, to Isabel, Countess of Aumale, Devon & the Isle (d.1293). and to her Descendants the De Lisles of Rougement. The De Lisles were Overlords of Wainhill until 1368, when Robert de Lisle surrendered all his Fees to Edward III, including 19-Fees in Oxon, of which the ½-Fee in Wainhill was a part. The Overlordship may have been Granted to the Earl of Salisbury, for in 1397 his Widow was assigned, as Dower, many of the former De Lisle Fees, including Wainhill. This is the last record Found of the Overlordship.
In 1086 the Tenant of the FitzOsbern Manor was Rainald, son of Croc, the Conqueror’s Huntsman and an Ancestor of the Foliots of Chilton Foliot (Wilts). He also held 15½-Hides of the FitzOsberns in Albury, Fritwell & Noke. There were several Branches of the Foliot Family in Oxon and their genealogy is confused, particularly as at Wainhill and elsewhere one Branch Held of another. Wainhill, which was Held for a ½-Fee, formed with Fritwell, Noke & Albury 3-Fees, and the Mesne Tenancy of Wainhill followed the Mesne Tenancies of Albury & Fritwell and the Demesne Tenancy of Noke. Samson Foliot, who was the Mesne Tenant by 1236, died about 1280, and the Mesne Tenancy passed from him to the Tyeys Family, and in 1322 to the De Lisles of Kingston Lisle. In 1368, when the Overlord Robert de Lisle of Rougemont surrendered to the Crown, Warin de Lisle held the 3-Fees of Robert, but after this, the De Lisle interest in Wainhill disappears.
By the 13thC Wainhill had been further sub-infeudated. A Hide was claimed in 1208 by Robert Foliot, and it is likely that he was the grandfather of the Knight, Sir Geoffrey Foliot, son of Walter Foliot, who was Demesne Tenant in Wainhill in 1243 & 1255. About this time, with the consent of his son and heir Robert, Geoffrey Granted to his son Roger all his Land in Wainhill. Geoffrey’s sons apparently predeceased him, for when he died in 1274, leaving a Widow Alice, his heirs were his 4-daughters. The marriage of 3 of them was bought by Adam Foliot, whose place in the Family has not been established, and Nicholas de Cottelegh, who was already the husband of the eldest daughter Joan. Wainhill (described then as 6-Bovates or a ¼-Fee) passed to the De Cotteleghs, who came from Coltley in South Mapperton (Dors). Nicholas was recorded in 1279 as Lord of Wainhill, holding by the Courtesy of England. In 1295 Geoffrey de Cottelegh, a son presumably, was Lord. He was alive in 1319 when he leased to Henry de Malyns and his son Edmund his lands in Wainhill & Henton for life for £10 a year. In 1325 Geoffrey’s son Nicholas confirmed this arrangement, and in 1347 Nicholas’s son John de Cottelegh made a similar Grant to Edmund de Malyns, who was returned in 1346 as holding ¼-Fee there. In 1348 John de Cottelegh released all his Rights to Edmund & Granted the Reversion of his Lands to Reynold de Malyns.
Thus the Malyns Family, who had early in the 14thC acquired Henton Manor, apparently became Lords of Wainhill Manor also, although their Deeds usually refer to Land in Wainhill rather than to the Manor. Wainhill followed the Descent of Henton from the Malynses to the Barantynes, John Barantyne, when he took possession in 1482, claiming the Fee as the Inheritance of his grandfather Drew Barantyne. Thomas Danvers at the same time claimed it as the heir of the Foliots. Through his mother Joan Bruley he had inherited Waterstock Manor, which in the 13thC had been Held by 1-Branch of the Foliot Family and had passed from Sir William Foliot to his daughter Catherine & her husband Henry Bruley. Danvers claimed that Peter de Montfort had in 1266 enfeoffed his ancestor Henry Bruley with half of Henton. Since there was no record of Montforts, Foliots, or Bruleys at Henton, the claim was clearly Fictitious, although Danvers may possibly have had some Hereditary Claim to Wainhill. John Barantyne was probably in financial difficulties and willing to come to an agreement with Danvers, for in spite of the protests of his wife Mary, the sister of Sir William Stonor, who wished to keep the Family Estate intact for the benefit of their ‘fair issue‘, he and his mother Elizabeth Sold Wainhill Manor and in 1483 Mortgaged Henton Manor and other Lands to Danvers for £135. Later in the same year, they released all rights in both Manors to Danvers. In 1485 after a series of Leases & Releases Sir Thomas sold the Manors with the Advowson of Henton Chapel and with other Lands in Chinnor, Towersey & Wainhill for £740 to William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. In the following year, the Bishop Granted them to Magdalen College, which he had Founded.
In the early-19thC the 2-Manors of Henton & Wainhill were known as Hempton Winnal Manor. Magdalen College remained as Lord until 1953.
OS Map 1881 – Chinnor, Henton, Ilmer, Longwick, Oakley, Skittle Green
Lesser Estates: A Hide of Land in Henton, which in the 12thC formed part of Chinnor Manor, is probably to be identified with the Hide in ‘Hentone‘ valued at 20s in 1086 and Held by Edward of Salisbury, who was Tenant in Chief at North Aston. The high proportion of Meadow belonging to this Hide supports the identification, for Meadowland in Henton is plentiful. Richard de Vernon, the Lord of Chinnor in the Reign of Henry II, gave a Hide in Henton with a Mill to his daughter Alice as her marriage portion. The Grant was made with the consent of Richard’s son & Heir Walter de Vernon, to whom Alice did Service while he Held Chinnor Manor; she afterwards did Service to Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, the Vernons‘ Successor as Lord of Chinnor. On Alice’s death without Heirs, the Earl’s Servant (serviens) seized the Land as an Escheat. Although Aumary Fitz Ralph, the Lord of Henton Manor, had Quit-claimed the Land to Walter de Vernon in the King’s Court, the Sheriff Ejected the Earl’s Servant on the Grounds that Henton belonged to Aumary Fitz Robert, the King’s Ward. Consequently, in 1211 the Earl brought a Suit against Aumary in the King’s Court claiming a Hide in Henton as his Right and as part of Chinnor Manor, which the King had Granted him. The dispute with the Earl continued until 1214 when Aumary was convicted of unjustly Disseising the Earl of his Common Pasture in Henton.
This Hide in 1279 owed Suit to the Honour of Wallingford and consisted of 12½-Virgates. Its Overlordship became separated from that of Chinnor Manor, and by about 1240 had passed to Stephen de Segrave (d.1241). It was Inherited by his son Gilbert, and by his grandson Nicholas, who in 1279 Held a Hide and a Mill in Henton. The Segraves also Held an Estate in Moreton in Thame, and the Descent of the hide in Henton followed the Descent of Moreton from the Segraves to the Mowbrays, who became Dukes of Norfolk, although it was Held at any rate in the 14thC not in Chief but for 1d a year of the Hampdens of Great Hampden (Bucks), who had certain Rights in Attington, which had once formed 1-Fee with Moreton. In 1469 this 4-Marks Rent in Henton was Sold by the Duke of Norfolk to a number of men, among them Richard Fowler, who also acquired the Duke’s Manor of Moreton.
The Hide in Henton was Rented by the Overlords for 4-Marks a year to the Lords of Henton Manor. Thus in the late-13thC the De Sulham Family was in possession, as were the Malyns in the 14thC and the Barantynes in the 15thC.
The only Religious House which Held Land in Chinnor was Wallingford Priory, the Patron of the Church. The Origin of the Priory’s Estate, or Fee, which consisted of Land in Chinnor, Henton, & Wainhill. is not known. By 1208 it held 30s Rent and this is the Sum it continued to receive throughout the Middle-Ages. In the 13thC the Priory’s Tenants were apparently Simon de Chinnor, Herbert de Wainhall & William de Hempton, Members of Freeholding Families. In 1360 it Rented its Lands in the Parish, and view of Frankpledge, with Chalford Manor in Aston Rowant, to Dame Eleanor Rohant, but later it Rented its Chinnor Estate for 30s a year to the Lord of Henton Manor: in 1378 Reynold de Malyns was the Tenant & in the 16thC Magdalen College. This Rent represented the 30s Income from Chinnor which the Priory had in 1522/3.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 