Horsendene (11thC): The name Horsenden is from the Anglo Saxon Horsan-dun and means ‘Horsa’s Hill or Valley’. Horsa was one of the 1st Anglo Saxon Settlers of Britain, who Settled in Kent in the 5thC. The association of the area to Horsa is unknown.
The Parish of Horsenden lies in the South-west of the Vale of Aylesbury. The land is well watered by a small Stream flowing North, that breaks into many Branches near the Village. It forms a small Lake in the grounds of Horsenden House, and supplies the water in the Moat. From the Village the Stream flows North to Longwick Hamlet. The Houses are few and scattered, and there is a good deal of well-grown Timber in the Parish. The Subsoil is Upper Greensand, and the surface Loamy. The occupation of the people was Agricultural; there are 220½- acres of Arable Land, 252½-Permanent Pasture & 9-acres of Wood.
A Cross Road from the High Wycombe & Aylesbury road runs North through Horsenden Parish and meets the Lower Icknield Way in the North of the Parish. The nearest Station is at Princes Risborough, on the Great Western and Great Central Lines.
Horsenden House is said to have been Garrisoned in the Civil War for King Charles by Sir John Denham. It was re-Built in 1810, and shows nothing of Antiquity beyond the Lines of the Moat.
Robert Braybrook was Rector of the Parish in the 14thC. He afterwards became Bishop of London, and played an important part in the struggle between Richard II and his Barons. He supported severe measures against the Lollards, but also attempted to purify the Precincts of St Paul’s Cathedral, denouncing those who Bought & Sold or played Games there. He died in 1404.
Manor: In the time of King Edward the Confessor, the Manor of Horsenden was held by 3-Socmen. Two of these, Holding 2-Hides of Land, were Men of Earl Harold, and the 3rd, with 4-Hides & 3-Virgates, was a Man of Ingold. All of them could sell their Land. Before the Conquest this Land was all held by a man of Earl Leofwine, Godwin by name. A small Tenant in Chief named Harding also Held 1½-Hides here; he had succeeded Ulvured in the Land. After the Norman Conquest, however, this Land was Granted to the Count of Mortain, and formed part of the Honour of Mortain, but it does not seem to have followed the Descent of the Honour. Horsenden appears to have been Granted to John de Montagu, who held many of the Mortain Lands. He held the Manor as Mesne-Lord in 1210, but joined the Barons’ Party against King John, and Forfeited his Lands in 1216. Three pieces of Land in Horsenden, not Granted to the Count of Mortain, are mentioned in Domesday Book. The Bishop of Bayeux held 1½-Hides of Land there, of which the Hide was Held by a Sub-tenant named Roger and the half-hide by Robert. This Land must have been afterwards United to the main Manor of Horsenden, since Gerard de Braybrook claimed that the whole of the Township belonged to his Fee in 1285.A few years later this Land was held of Robert de Cogfeud, but the Overlordship seems subsequently to have lapsed.
In 1086 the Manor was Held of the Count of Mortain by a Tenant named Ralph. He may have been the Ancestor of the Family who took their name from the place and Held it in the 12thC. In 1210 John de Horsenden Granted all his Land in the Parish to Robert de Braybrook, the head of the Braybrook Family & Sheriff of Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire during part of the Reign of John. Both he and his Son & Heir Henry are mentioned among the Evil Counsellors of John at the time of the Interdict; but Henry, after his father’s death, joined the Barons’ Party, and was one of those whom the Pope Excommunicated by Name after his Reconciliation with the King. Henry’s Lands were Confiscated & Horsenden was Granted to Philip de Pery, and later to Philip Giser; however, in 1217, after the Battle of Lincoln, Henry made his peace with the young King, and his Possessions were regranted him. He Held the Manor in 1225, and had a long Law-suit with Alice, the Widow of John de Horsenden, over her Dower, the question not being settled till 1231.
Henry was succeeded by his eldest son Wischard. Walter the son of Wischard left 2-Daughters as his Heirs, and Alice the Elder married Sir William Latimer. He Held the Manor as Mesne Lord in 1284, and his descendant, William Latimer, is mentioned in the same position in 1360.
The Manor was held in Demesne by a younger Branch of the Braybrook Family. John de Braybrook, the younger brother of Henry, Held it after the death of his father. Gerard his son Held it in 1284–6, and their Descendants held it uninterruptedly until the Male Line came to an end with Sir Gerard Braybrook, who died before 1432. He demised the Manor to the Dean &
Chapter of St Paul’s, London, and others in 1426, and in 1432 Sir William Beauchamp and Elizabeth his wife, the eldest coheiress of Sir Gerard Braybrook, released all their Right in the Manor to the Dean and Chapter. For nearly 100 years the History of the Manor is obscure: it appears to have been granted by the Dean and Chapter to John Ferity, Nicholas Wotton, Thomas Knolles, John Hampden of Kimble, and 2-Others in 1437. In 1458/9 John Brekenok of Horsenden and others (John Hampden of Kimble being again named) Granted it to Sir John Leynham or Plomer. Various Settlements were made by him on his marriage, and he was Jointly Seised of the Manor with his wife Margaret. They had no children and Granted the Manor to Thomas Gaune and Others to Hold to the use of John Morton, Bishop of Ely, Lord Hastings, Ralph Hastings, and others, presumably after the death of Sir John.
He died in 1480, and the next year the Manor was Conveyed to the Grantees to the uses named in the previous Charter. Which of these Grantees had actual Seisin of the Manor does not appear, but early in the 16thC it came into the possession of the Donnes, probably by Grant of Sir George Hastings. In 1529 it was Held by Sir Edward Donne, but he left no son. His daughter, who seems to have predeceased him, was the wife of Sir Thomas Jones & had 2-daughters; Anne, who married John Cotton of Whittington, Gloucestershire & Frances, who married Robert Lee. Horsenden formed part of Anne’s share of their Inheritance and continued in the Cotton Family. It was held successively by Richard, William, & Ralph, the sons of John & Anne.
Ralph, who Matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, in 1572, and entered at the Inner Temple in 1580, married Apolina Childe. His only son, Don, died in his lifetime, leaving 2-daughters Anne & Apolina, who thus became their Grandfather’s Heiresses. Anne, to whose share Horsenden fell, married Sir John Denham, the Author of Cooper’s Hill, who had by her ‘£500 per annum, one son & 2 daughters.’ Denham was active in the Royal Cause during the Civil War, and, consequently, Lost his Property & Estates, Horsenden being bought by John Fielder in 1654.
At the Restoration Denham seems to have recovered it, for in 1662 he Sold it to John Grubbe, whose Descendants held the Manor until 1841 when another John Grubbe Sold it to the Duke of Buckingham & Chandos. The Latter Mortgaged it almost immediately, and the Holders of the Mortgage, the Norwich Union Office, foreclosed and Sold it in 1842 or 1843 to the Rev William Edwards Partridge, who held it till his death in 1886. The Manor then passed into the Possession of his Daughter & Heiress, Mrs Leonard Jaques, the recent Owner of the Manor.
On the division of the Inheritance of Sir Edward Donne between his 2-granddaughters, although the Manor of Horsenden passed to the Eldest, £2,000 charged on the Manor appears to have been part of the Share of Frances, the younger Heiress, the wife of Robert Lee. The Debt had come by Assignment to William Page of Westminster in 1654, when the Manor was among the Lands Forfeited to the Commonwealth. In order to remove this obstruction in the Sale of the Manor, it was said to have been Sold to William Page to Hold during the life of Sir John Denham, but this seems incompatible with the Sale to John Fielder in the same year.
Horsenden Manor was Held by Military Service, as 1-Knight’s Fee of the Honour of Mortain. It is also described, however, as 2/3rds of a Fee or half a Fee, but this was only in Feudal Assessments, when the Fees of the Honour were privileged to pay less than the full amount due.
When the Manor passed from John de Horsenden to Robert de Braybrook, the Latter was to pay John 2s a year for all Service, except Forinsec Service. This Rent does not seem to have been continued, and the Elder branch of the Braybrooks held in Chief of the King. The Younger branch also Held by Military Service. The Cottons, however, held of the King in Chief as of his Honour of Wallingford by Fealty & Suit of Court at the Honour. In the 14thC the Free Tenants of the Lord of the Manor of Horsenden had Pannage Rights for their pigs in a Wood belonging to the Manor of Princes Risborough. In 1574 John Cotton, who then held Horsenden, took Estovers in the Wood of Hellworke in Princes Risborough; he also paid 1-lb of Pepper as Rent to the Lord of Princes Risborough Manor, but whether this was for his Manor or for the Right to take the Estovers is not certain.
Gerard de Braybrook, in 1333, obtained a Grant of Free Warren to himself and his Heirs in their Demesne Lands of Horsenden. In 1285 or 1286 Gerard de Braybrook claimed the View of Frankpledge in Horsenden as part of his Inheritance. It had, however, then been demised for a term of years, together with the Manor, to Henry de Shenholt. Gerard answered, however, to the Quo Warrants inquiries himself & also claimed the Right to have Tumbrels. He paid nothing to the King for these Rights. At the time of the Domesday Survey one Mill belonged to the Count of Mortain’s Manor in Horsenden, but it was of no value in 1086. It is not mentioned again for many Centuries, but when the Cottons were Lords of the Manor there was a Watermill appurtenant to it; in 1813 2-Watermills are mentioned in connection with the Manors of Horsenden & Princes Risborough, one of which was probably in Horsenden.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 