Absentee Landlords
From Lacey Green History
Details of Absentee Landlords are given below
First article THE LORDS OF THE MANOR
Second article Lord George Henry Cavendish
Third article Sir William Lawrence Young
Absentee Landlords. The first article research by Joan West
THE LORDS OF THE MANOR OF PRINCES RISBOROUGH were always absentee landlords, with agents living in Princes Risborough.
The Manor of Princes Risborough
The Manor stretched from Ilmer in the north to Speen and Lacey Green in the south. for details in 1558 click 1558 Demesnes of the Manor.
The Lords of the Manor had always been the Kings of England long before 1066, when William of Normandy came to the throne.
In 1343 King Edward III gave the Manor to his son, known as “The Black Prince”. He had a stud farm in Princes Risborough where his war horses were bred. He died before his father so never became King.
King Edward VI, before he died in 1553, had given the Manor to his sister Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth I in 1558. She remained Lord of the Manor till her death in 1603.
1628 SOLD BY KING CHARLES I.
In 1628 King Charles I, conveyed the Manor of Princes Risborough to the City of London to go towards debts incurred by the Crown and in 1637 it was conveyed to the Chibnall family. Mrs Joane Chibnall, one of the Lords of the Manor of Princes Risborough, set up various charities in the Manor.
COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION. From this time on the Manor passed from one wealthy family to another as straightforward commercial transactions.
GREAT CHANGES TOOK PLACE DURING THE 1600’s
Brushwood Covered Hills. It would appear that after the Chibnall family became Lords of the Manor from 1637, followed by the Abraham’s then the Adeane’s, many alterations took place in Lacey Green. Prior to then, the lettings had been for woods and scrubland, which if cleared, quickly reverted to scrub, primarily with hawthorn. In fact the ‘Old English’ for ‘Risborough’ is ‘Brushwood covered hills.
Farmhouses Built During the 1600’s, several farmhouses were built, land cleared and dew-ponds made. The result was that Kiln Farm, Stocken Farm, Speen Farm, Grymsdyke Farm, and Row Farm (Wardrobes Farm), were established. As all this land belonged to the Lords of the Manor, they must have been involved in all this development.
The Penton Family. The Pentons of Winchester and Princes Risborough were Lords of the Manor from 1692 to 1766.
Thomas Grace. Lord of the Manor during the Napoleonic Wars. Sold off many farms in Loosley Row and Lacey Green to Lord George Henry Cavendish
John Grubb of Horsenden was Lord of the Manor at the time of the Enclosures of Princes Risborough in 1823.
THE ENCLOSURES OF PRINCES RISBOROUGH
In the enclosures of 1823 all the Parish Woodland, the Common grazing land and the common arable strip land was put into private ownership. Land was allotted elsewhere to those losing their rights to these common amenities.
FREEHOLD and COPYHOLD
Some of the land of the parish of Princes Risborough was now freehold. The remaining copyhold premises were still rented from the Lord of the Manor, who was John Grubb.
Dennis Claydon takes up the research
1841 John Grubb went bankrupt and sold to Lord Buckingham and Chandos for £60,000, al mortgaged to Norwich Union.
1848 Lord Buckingham and Chandos went bankrupt. His mortgagees sold his estate in August 1849
1849 sold to Thomas Tindall for £13,ooo, all the woods West, North and East of Speen, 279acres 3roods 19 poles.
Note. The Copyholders had to pay to get their properties enfranchised to become freehold.
Thomas Tindall Esq. 3rd August 1849. Conveyance of the copyhold premises of the Manor to Thomas Tindal Esq. He took out a mortgage from Charles Brown, John Simpson, Edward Bullock and Thomas Selby Esquires, for £6,500 with interest.
1850 Thomas Tindall Dies, inherited by sons Aston and Henry
1852. Auction of 26 building and 41 Wood plots (some along the Hampden road in pencil), sold to Sir William Foster for £13,000, 279acres 3 roods 19 poles,
1853 Auction of 30 plots of 2 acres advertised in the Bucks Free Press.
Sir William Foster. 21st January 1853. The copyhold premises of the Manor were conveyed to Sir William Foster, baronet.
James Cuddon. 11th October 1858 The copyhold premises of the Manor were conveyed to James Cuddon.
Absentee Landlords The second article research by Joan West
Rt. Hon LORD GEORGE AUGUSTUS HENRY CAVENDISH, who later became Lord Burlington
INSTRUMENT FOR CHANGE
Lord George Henry Cavendish, effectively changed the parish of Princes Risborough completely.
AN OPPORTUNITY SPOTTED
The Napoleonic wars had drained finances and many were on the verge of, if not brought to, bankruptcy. Noting that Princes Risborough was not enclosed and having access to money through the vast Cavendish estates, he set to work.
MANOR FARMS SOLD
Thomas Grace the Lord of the Manor of Princes Risborough, was in financial difficulty and from about 1808 onwards he sold to Cavendish, most of the Manor Farms including Culverton Farm, Row Farm (Wardrobes Farm), Brimmers Farm, and Stocken Farm, all in the Upper Hamlets. They were all tenanted
CAMPAIGN FOR ENCLOSURE with MAP OF HIS FARMS In 1818 he had a map made showing this area and his farms and proceeded to campaign for the enclosure of the parish. The tenants remained. Cavendish never lived here.
ALL LANDOWNERS MUST AGREE It was necessary to get the agreement of all other landowners, of which there were but few, notably Ann Dell of Lacey Green Farm and Thomas, her son, of Speen Farm, who vigorously opposed it at first, then strangely changed their mind. Most other owners were absentee landlords, who like Cavendish had quietly been buying property in the area.
CHAPEL WANTED FOR AN “UNGODLY LOT”.
The vicar of Princes Risborough, the Reverend Meade, supported the plan as he campaigned to get a Chapel of Ease built at Lacey Green as an extension to his church. He considered his parishioners in the Upper Hamlets to be an ungodly lot. Note. They did live a long walk from the town church!
PRE 1823 ENCLOSURES
Before the enclosures took place a huge area of Loosley Row, from Little Wardrobes Lane to Princes Risborough was arable land, all divided into strips and allocated to the farms, so that every farm had land suitable for arable crops to go with their grazing land. This was completely organised from sowing to harvesting by the officials of the Manor.
1823. The Enclosures of Princes Risborough
MANY STRIPS TO CAVENDISH
When the enclosures were accomplished in 1823, because Cavendish owned so many farms, most of these strips became his also. Anyone else who had a right to strips was allocated manor land elsewhere, as near to their home as possible.
CAVENDISH TO CHARLES BROWN, SALE OF STOCKING, ( later called Stocken Farm)
1831 Charles Brown purchased Stocking Farm from Lord George Henry Cavendish. All his other properties were sold by 1840.
Absentee Landlords the third article. Research by Joan West
SIR WILLIAM LAWRENCE YOUNG, 4th Bart.
BORN 1806, DIED 1842 aged 36
William Lawrence Young was born in 1806 in Sidmouth, Devon. He married in 1832 to Caroline Norris, daughter of John Norris of Hughenden House. In the 1841 census he and his family were living at North Dean Farm. He died in 1842.
POLITICIAN
Young was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire from 1835 to 1842
ABSENTEE LANDLORD
Sir William Lawrence Young acquired land here, but he was an absentee landlord and it was all tenanted out.
ENCLOSURE ALLOTMENTS
In the 1823. The Enclosures of Princes Risborough the following allotments were made to Sir William Laurence Young, three were copyhold, four were freehold.
1. 693 Copyhold. Cottage. Garden off Joshua Dell Later known as Well Cottage An old property.
2. 675. Copyhold. 4 fields SW of Coombs and Smallridge Wood. Nearly adjacent to Lane Farm fields, just along a track through Smallridge Wood.
3. 676. Copyhold. Lane Farm. Church Lane, Lacey Green. Homestead and 5 fields, stretching to Smallridge Wood to the NW
4. 677. Freehold. 2 fields adjoining to the NE of Lane Farm fields. These were new allotment in exchange for tithes
5. 659. Freehold. A new allotment Purchased from the Commissioners. A field adjoining 677 on the NE
6. 810. Freehold. Bueleys. A field east of Slad Lane, was Bueleys Farm
7. 801. Freehold. Sears Wood Field. North-east of Turnip End, running down to Highwood Bottom, adjoining part of Stocken Farm.
SEPTEMBER 29th 1937. SALE of SPEEN FARM
Sir William Lawrence Young purchased Speen Farm at the above sale and leased it to tenants. He died in 1842. Who owned it next is not known, but in 1905, Eveline Forrest wife of John Forrest of Grymsdyke left it to her husband in her will.