MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
In 1086 Durand of Gloucester held Moreton, which was
assessed at 3 hides. Before the Conquest Auti
had held it. (fn. 92) The overlordship descended with
Durand's manor of Haresfield, passing to the Earls
of Hereford: (fn. 93) Moreton was held of the Earl of
Hereford in 1246 (fn. 94) and although the tenants in
demesne were said to hold of the king in chief in
the early 14th century (fn. 95) the earl's overlordship was
later recorded. (fn. 96) Moreton was part of the honor of
Hereford assigned to Mary, wife of Henry of
Lancaster, (fn. 97) later Henry IV, and in 1413 and 1419
was said to be held as of Haresfield manor. (fn. 98) It
was said to be held of the earldom of Derby in
1453, (fn. 99) of the honor of Hereford as of Haresfield
manor in 1460, (fn. 1) of the honor of Hereford in 1504, (fn. 2)
and of the king in chief in 1619 (fn. 3) and 1631. (fn. 4)
Successive members of the Little (parvus)
family evidently held Moreton under the Earls of
Hereford in the 12th century. (fn. 5) Roger Little, son of
Hugh (fn. 6) gave the churches of Moreton and Whaddon
to Hereford cathedral between 1148 and 1154, (fn. 7) and
with his son Hugh gave land in Whaddon to Gloucester Abbey before 1155. (fn. 8) By 1163 Hugh had
succeeded Roger. (fn. 9) In 1166 Hugh Little was recorded
as holding 4 knights' fees in Gloucestershire which
he had held in 1135 of Durand's great-nephew,
Miles of Gloucester; (fn. 10) Hugh may have been confused
with his grandfather. Another Roger Little had
succeeded at least to the lands in Whaddon by
1205. (fn. 11)
William de Pontlarge was evidently in possession
of the estate in the early 13th century: he had a mill
next to land in Framilode granted by Henry and
Maud de Bohun (fn. 12) and in 1224 and 1226 he and his
wife Margery owed a rent of 2 cart-loads of hay from
Moreton meadows to Gloucester Abbey. (fn. 13) About
the same time he made an agreement with the
abbey about willows by his garden in Moreton,
which was witnessed by his heir Robert. (fn. 14) Robert de
Pontlarge died in or before 1246 holding 2¼ knights'
fees in Moreton and Whaddon; his wife Constance
retained them with the king's leave, and his brother
Ralph was his next heir after William de Pontlarge,
who had been outlawed. (fn. 15) By 1247, (fn. 16) however,
William de Pontlarge, described as brother and heir
of Robert, had granted to William de Valence,
Henry III's half-brother, all his right in Robert's
inheritance, including the manor of MORETON, (fn. 17)
later called MORETON VALENCE. William
de Valence died in 1296, his widow Joan (d. 1307) (fn. 18)
retaining ⅓ of Moreton and Whaddon in dower.
Their son and heir, Aymer de Valence, (fn. 19) Earl of
Pembroke, died holding the two manors in 1324
and leaving three coheirs. (fn. 20)
Moreton was assigned to Elizabeth Comyn, (fn. 21)
whose mother Joan, wife of John Comyn, was
William de Valence's sister. Elizabeth married first
Richard Talbot, Lord Talbot (d. 1356), and secondly
Sir John Bromwich (d. 1388). (fn. 22) Talbot, assessed
for the highest amount of tax in Moreton in 1327, (fn. 23)
made a settlement of the manor in 1355. (fn. 24) At
Elizabeth's death in 1372 she was said to be seised
of the manor in demesne as of fee, (fn. 25) but in 1373 her
second husband and her son Gilbert Talbot jointly
held 2 knights' fees in Moreton and Whaddon. (fn. 26)
Gilbert Talbot died in 1387 and his son Richard in
1396 (fn. 27) having conveyed the manor to trustees.
Richard's heir was his son Gilbert, (fn. 28) but Richard's
widow Ankaret (d. 1413) (fn. 29) and her second husband
Thomas Neville, Lord Furnivale, held ⅓ of Moreton
and Whaddon. (fn. 30) Gilbert Talbot died in 1418, having
settled the manors on trustees, (fn. 31) and his daughter
and heir Ankaret died in 1421 to be succeeded by
Gilbert's brother John, created Earl of Shrewsbury
in 1442. (fn. 32) The earl was holding Moreton and Whaddon at his death in 1453, (fn. 33) and in 1460 his son and
heir John died holding 2/3 of the manors, as 1 knight's
fee, the remaining ⅓ being held by the first earl's
second wife, Margaret. (fn. 34) Margaret's eldest son,
called John Talbot like his eldest half-brother, was
created Viscount Lisle, his mother being the eldest of
three coheirs to the barony of that name. He died in
1453 leaving a son Thomas, whose wardship
was granted to Margaret, (fn. 35) and somehow Moreton
and Whaddon passed to Thomas, Viscount Lisle
(d. 1470), whose heirs were his sisters Elizabeth
and Margaret. (fn. 36)
Elizabeth married Edward Grey, created Viscount
Lisle, who in 1489 settled Moreton on his second
wife, Joan. Edward's son and heir John (fn. 37) settled the
manor on himself and his wife Muriel in 1503, (fn. 38)
and died in 1504 leaving as his heir his daughter
Elizabeth. (fn. 39) Muriel, who had married Sir Thomas
Knyvett, was in possession of the manor in 1506. (fn. 40)
In 1513 Charles Brandon, later Duke of Suffolk,
was lord of the manor by virtue of his betrothal to
Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle, (fn. 41) but Elizabeth
in fact married Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and
died childless in 1519. Her heir was her father's
sister, Elizabeth, who had married Edmund Dudley
(executed 1510) (fn. 42) and in 1519 claimed the lordship
of Moreton with her second husband, Arthur
Plantagenet, (fn. 43) later created Viscount Lisle. Elizabeth
died c. 1530 and her son John Dudley (fn. 44) held Moreton
in 1537. (fn. 45) In 1539 John Dudley, with his step-father
and his step-father's second wife Honor, sold
Moreton manor to Thomas Cromwell, who sold it
in 1540 to Sir William Kingston and his wife Mary. (fn. 46)
Kingston died in 1540, and his widow Mary
(d. 1548) had a life tenure of the manor. In 1543
William's son by his first wife, Sir Anthony Kingston
(d. 1556), settled the reversion on himself for life
and then on his niece Frances, daughter of Sir
George Baynham and wife of Henry Jerningham
(d. 1572). (fn. 47) Henry's son and heir Henry (d. 1619)
settled the manor in 1592 on the marriage of his
eldest son, a third Henry, created a baronet in
1621, (fn. 48) who sold the manor in 1630 to Sir Ralph
Dutton. Associated with Jerningham in the sale was
William Palmer, (fn. 49) whose father Robert had died in
1630 having settled the manor of Moreton Valence
on William's marriage in 1629. (fn. 50) William Palmer
had livery of ⅓ of the manor in 1632. (fn. 51) The nature
of the Palmers' title, and of William Palmer's part
in the sale to Dutton, is uncertain. In 1632 a small
estate at Pidgemore was held of Ralph Dutton as of
his manor of Moreton Valence. (fn. 52)
In 1640 Sir Ralph Dutton sold the manor to
Abraham Chamberlain, a London merchant, (fn. 53)
from whom it passed by will in 1641 to his grandson,
also Abraham Chamberlain. (fn. 54) In 1647 Abraham
Chamberlain settled the manor on the marriage of
his son Abraham with Judith Delawne, (fn. 55) and either
Abraham the son or his son Abraham made a
settlement in 1672 on marrying Anne Lloyd. (fn. 56)
Abraham and Anne Chamberlain in 1680 sold a
substantial estate in Horsemarling to the occupier,
Edward Fowler, a clothier, (fn. 57) another one near
Stroud Green to William Pearce, clothier of Stonehouse, (fn. 58) and a third, comprising copyholds, cottages,
parcels of land, the church house, and 23 chief
rents, to John Hill and others. (fn. 59) In 1681 they sold
to Sir Ralph Dutton of Sherborne, Bt., an estate in
Moreton Valence including the house where they
lived and liberties including a court leet and view of
frankpledge belonging to 'the said manor of Moreton Valence' which had not, however, been already
specified. (fn. 60)
Sir Ralph Dutton's estate in Moreton descended
with his Sherborne estate (fn. 61) until the 20th century. It
comprised 251 a. in 1823, (fn. 62) and 391 a. in 1841,
including Welch's farm, which had been acquired
since 1823, Manor farm, and Hill farm, all in the
eastern end of the parish. (fn. 63) The Duttons (later
Lords Sherborne) were named as lords of the
manor from the early 18th century (fn. 64) until they sold
their Standish and Moreton estates to the Gloucestershire County Council in 1921. (fn. 65)
In the early 19th century Benjamin Hyett of
Painswick was named with Lord Sherborne as lord
of the manor or as having a claim to the lordship. (fn. 66)
In 1824, the year after the inclosure commissioners
had made a small allotment of land to replace
manorial rights then disputed between Lord
Sherborne and Mrs. Mary Willey, (fn. 67) a lawsuit
resulted in a judgement in Lord Sherborne's favour.
The evidence for both parties was weak. Mrs.
Willey claimed that the Chamberlains' title had
passed to Edward James, who in 1734 had by his
will given the reversion of it after his wife's death
to his sister, Henrietta Maria Holker, widow, who
later married Nicholas Hyett (d. 1777), and that
Benjamin Hyett, son of Nicholas and Henrietta
Maria, had sold the manor in 1807 to Daniel
Willey, Mrs. Willey's late husband. Mrs. Willey
relied on the collection of chief rents in 1792 (fn. 68)
but did not mention the sale by Abraham and Anne
Chamberlain to John Hill and others in 1680. (fn. 69)
The Willeys had long been settled in the parish:
Daniel Willey lived there in 1698, and with Daniel
Willey the younger was leasing land from the Duttons
in 1705 and 1721; (fn. 70) he was a churchwarden in 1716, (fn. 71)
and Daniel Willey the younger, of Moor Farm, was
constable in 1742. (fn. 72) The younger Daniel was succeeded in 1768 by his grandson, Daniel Willey,
the husband of Mary, who owned 238 a. in Moreton
before his death in 1817. (fn. 73) In 1818 Mrs. Willey
owned Moor and Church farms, (fn. 74) which in 1841,
with Putloe House, belonged to Daniel Willey
Palmer Willey (fn. 75) (d. 1860). He was the son of Daniel
Palmer and his wife Hannah, (fn. 76) so Hannah was
presumably the daughter and heir of Daniel and
Mary Willey. D. W. P. Willey was succeeded by
Daniel Leonard-Willey, (fn. 77) who died in 1913 (fn. 78) to be
succeeded by D. P. O. Leonard-Willey (d. 1961).
D. P. O. Leonard-Willey was regarded as lord of the
manor; (fn. 79) his sisters and heirs, Mrs. E. H. Daniels
(d. 1963) and Miss L. E. Leonard-Willey, sold most
of the estate, (fn. 80) but Miss Leonard-Willey still owned
and lived at Woodfield House in 1967.
William de Pontlarge evidently had a house at
Moreton c. 1225, (fn. 81) where Robert de Pontlarge-used
to provide a night's lodging for the sheriff. (fn. 82) In
1253 the king gave 10 oaks from the Forest of Dean
for building the hall of William de Valence at
Moreton; (fn. 83) next year William imprisoned there one
of the king's bailiffs. (fn. 84) Aymer de Valence's house at
Moreton was recorded in 1324; (fn. 85) in 1372 the buildings were said to be worth nothing beyond their
expenses. (fn. 86) The house presumably stood on the
moated site, c. 65 yards across, immediately north of
the church. Though there is a low outer bank 100 yds.
from the moat on the south and west sides, and some
lesser earthworks north of the moat, there is no
evidence for the tradition that there was a castle
there. (fn. 87) The house may have gone out of use by
1372, and no later reference to it has been found.
The site was deserted by 1674, when at the upper
end of Shootfurrow field, which lay north-west of the
church, there was a close of 1 a. with a moat,
called Coldcroft. (fn. 88)
The house in which Abraham and Anne Chamberlain had lived and which they sold to Sir Ralph
Dutton in 1681 was apparently Moreton Hill
Farm: it adjoined a close called the Green Hill, (fn. 89)
and c. 1710 Dutton had a good house with a large
prospect at Gabs Hill, (fn. 90) the name recalling Richard
Gabbe who had the largest copyhold in the manor in
1630. (fn. 91) Moreton Hill Farm, standing at 450 ft. in
the eastern tip of the parish, was built in the mid or
late 17th century; it is of ashlar, of 2 and 3 stories
on an L-shaped plan, and it has continuous dripmoulds, mullioned windows, and a Cotswold stone
roof with gables, in some of which are bullseye
windows surrounded with carving in low relief;
the grouped diagonal chimneys have moulded
caps with ornamented friezes. The principal,
eastern wing appears at the south end as though it
may have been stopped short of its intended length.
It was presumably the Hill House, where the manor
court was to be held c. 1740; (fn. 92) in 1741, as Moreton
Hill Farm, it was occupied by a tenant. (fn. 93) After the
sale of the manor estate to the county council
Moreton Hill Farm was separated from the rest, and
in 1967 was owned by Mr. H. J. Haine and occupied
by his son-in-law Mr. F. G. Hall. (fn. 94)
Gillian daughter of Auger claimed a yardland in
Moreton Valence against Reynold son of Hugh in
1221; Reynold said that not he but his brother
Walter the chaplain held the land, (fn. 95) and Gillian,
having claimed it against Walter in 1223, (fn. 96) quitclaimed it to him in 1224. (fn. 97) It was possibly the same
yardland that Richard le Neyr and Maud his wife
quitclaimed in 1236 to John de Bosco. (fn. 98)
An estate in Horsemarling called WELCH'S may
have taken its name from people called le Waleys or
le Walshe. Richard le Waleys of Moreton was
succeeded in the 13th century by William le Waleys
of Horsemarling. (fn. 99) In 1326 Nicholas le Waleys of
Horsemarling witnessed a deed, (fn. 1) and in 1327 John
le Walshe had the second highest tax-assessment in
Moreton Valence. (fn. 2) In 1470 the will of Thomas Bygge
of Rodborough mentioned land in Horsemarling, (fn. 3)
and in 1537 John Bygge of Stroud died holding
Welch's and a house in Rodborough from John
Payne, to be succeeded by his infant son Thomas. (fn. 4)
Thomas Bygge had property in Moreton Valence
in 1575, (fn. 5) but in the 17th century Welch's passed to
the Selwyns. Richard Selwyn of Horsemarling, who
in 1640 held a free tenement of Moreton Valence
manor, (fn. 6) was succeeded in 1662 by his son Richard, (fn. 7)
who owned Welch's in 1676. (fn. 8) The younger Richard
was dead by 1687, and his son and heir, a third
Richard, (fn. 9) had been succeeded by his brother
William by 1692, when William Buckle bought the
estate. (fn. 10) William Buckle settled the estate in 1719, (fn. 11)
and his son Jerome was dealing with it in 1742. (fn. 12)
By 1756 Welch's had passed to William Smith, son
of William Buckle's daughter Sarah, (fn. 13) and in 1763
Smith sold it to Nathaniel Fowler. (fn. 14) The estate later
passed to Thomas Skipp, who owned it by 1818 (fn. 15)
and apparently by 1790. (fn. 16) Between 1823 and 1841 he
or his trustees sold Welch's to Lord Sherborne, (fn. 17)
and in 1967 the Gloucestershire County Council
owned Welch's. (fn. 18) The house is of stone with a
Cotswold stone roof and has an L-shaped plan, the
cross-wing being lower than the main block; it was
built mainly in the 17th century, presumably by one
of the Selwyns, with mullioned windows and
moulded caps to the chimneys. In 1967 the house
was occupied by the tenants of two of the county
council's small-holdings. The Selwyns' house was
taxed on 5 hearths in 1672. (fn. 19)
The prebend of Moreton and Whaddon in Hereford cathedral, which originated in Roger Little's
gift to the cathedral in the 12th century, (fn. 20) included
the rectory estate, with land, tithes, and a house in
Moreton Valence. The land amounted to 34½ a. in
1652; the house was called the Grange (fn. 21) and stood
at Little Moreton (fn. 22) opposite Manor Farm, but it
had been demolished by 1841. The tithes belonging
to the prebend were commuted for a rent of £365
in 1841. (fn. 23) In 1291 Llanthony Priory had a portion of
6s. 8d. from the tithes. (fn. 24) Gloucester Abbey's land in
Moreton (fn. 25) was presumably at Standish Moreton,
in Standish parish. In the 19th century several
parochial benefices were endowed with small estates
in Moreton Valence. (fn. 26)
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
In 1086 Moreton Valence
was assessed at half its value of twenty years earlier,
but it supported nevertheless 4½ plough-teams, of
which one was on the demesne and 3½ were shared
between 10 tenants. (fn. 27) In 1220 the township was
taxed on 5 plough-teams, (fn. 28) but in 1246 the demesne
contained 4 plough-lands, the villein tenants had
3¼ plough-lands, and further arable lands were
presumably held by free tenants, who paid 50s. and
1 1b. of pepper in rent. (fn. 29) The demesne arable
was afterwards reduced in extent: it amounted in
1324 to 245 a., (fn. 30) and yielded large quantities of corn
and smaller ones of beans and oats that were taken
for the king's use. (fn. 31) There were 18 free tenants,
paying nearly twice as much rent as in 1246, and 39
customary tenants, namely 13 half-yardlanders and
18 quarter-yardlanders, owing labour-services, and
8 cottars. (fn. 32) In 1372 the demesne arable, reckoned
as 2 plough-lands, may have been as large as in 1324.
The demesne pasture was then common for 5 months
of the year. The demesne meadow was extensive; (fn. 33)
there had been a relatively large amount of meadow
in 1086, (fn. 34) and in 1640 the free tenants of the manor
held 94 a. of meadow in severally. When demesne
farming was abandoned is not known, but the lord of
the manor apparently had no land in hand in 1640. (fn. 35)
The division of the demesne arable in 1324 into
three sorts, 125 a. valued at 4d. an acre, 100 a. at 2d.
and 30 a. that were sterile (fn. 36) may suggest either a
two-course rotation of crops or a four-course
rotation on half the land, the other half being
excluded from the open fields. Names of open arable
fields in Moreton have not been found before 1575,
when Park field, Putloe (Podley) field, High (Hay)
field, Horfield, and Linsfield were recorded, along
with land lately inclosed out of a sixth, Pidgemore
field. (fn. 37) Some of the fields were shared with Standish
parish, (fn. 38) including Shutfurrow and High field, which
together provided a large part of the arable of the
parish, (fn. 39) and Charcroft. (fn. 40) Other open arable fields
recorded were the Breach, Marsh field, Hill field
(near the river), and Stockwell. (fn. 41) As in Standish,
inclosure was gradual, beginning, at least in Pidgemore field, before 1575. In 1705 part of Park field,
in the same part of the parish, was described as
lately inclosed. (fn. 42) Exchanges of land in High field
in 1739 (fn. 43) are likely to have been for the sake of
inclosure. By 1812 the prebendal estate was consolidated and almost all inclosed. (fn. 44) The process was
completed in 1823, under Acts of 1818 and 1821,
when 397 a., including some old inclosures, were
inclosed and allotted. Allotments were made to 31
owners: the largest were 72 a. to Mary Willey and
64 a. to Lord Sherborne, and only four others
received more than 10 a. (fn. 45)
In 1823 there were said to be no copyholders and
few commoners. (fn. 46) In 1608 there had been 25 or
more agricultural occupiers; (fn. 47) most of them were
presumably copyholders, for in 1640 there were 17
copyholders, of whom one had 88 a. and the rest
between 1½ a. and 44 a. (fn. 48) Abraham Chamberlain
may have reduced the number of copyholders in
1680, when he sold several parts of the manorial
estate separately. (fn. 49) In 1793 21 freeholders signed an
agreement about building cottages on the waste. (fn. 50)
In 1831 there were 19 farmers, of whom 13 employed
labour, (fn. 51) and the numbers were much the same in
1841. (fn. 52) The number of farms fell slowly from c. 12
in the late 19th century, (fn. 53) but after 1921 the county
council's acquisition of much of the land in the
eastern part of the parish for small-holdings
increased the number of agricultural occupiers.
In the later 18th century it was said that the parish
was laid out in dairy-farms, (fn. 54) and in the early 19th
only a small part was arable. (fn. 55) Wheat, barley, and
beans were grown in 1793, (fn. 56) but in 1801 only 145 a.
were returned as sown. (fn. 57) Even in 1841 only 284 a.
were arable. (fn. 58) By 1901 the arable acreage was down
to 101 a., (fn. 59) and by 1933 had shrunk still further. (fn. 60) In
the 1960s the land was increasingly sown with
crops, but dairying remained predominant.
William de Pontlarge had a mill in Moreton
between 1199 and 1220, (fn. 61) and a mill or mills were
afterwards held by the lords of the manor until the
later 17th century. Two mills were recorded in
1246 (fn. 62) and in the 14th century; (fn. 63) in 1247 the Crown
gave oaks from the Forest of Dean to repair William
de Valence's mill. (fn. 64) In the late 16th century Henry
Jerningham's mills were said to be very ancient and
were called- Saints Mills. (fn. 65) It is not clear whether
the two water-mills of the manorial estate in 1640 (fn. 66)
were Saints Mills, but the two belonging to the
lord of the manor in 1676 (fn. 67) were clearly Framilode
Mills. Saints Mill was recorded retrospectively in
1696, and the site of the former two mills of Moreton
Valence manor, at Baldwins immediately west of
Lea Court Farm (in Whitminster), was indicated in
1819 (fn. 68) and was still discernible in 1967.
In the early 19th century trade and industry
employed about half as many of the inhabitants as
agriculture. (fn. 69) In 1608 there was a badger, a tailor,
and a smith in Moreton. (fn. 70) There was a physician
in 1643 and 1674, (fn. 71) a tailor in 1670, (fn. 72) a baker in
1694, (fn. 73) and two carpenters in 1769. (fn. 74) A few tradesmen were recorded in the late 19th century and
early 20th. (fn. 75) Occupations outside agriculture have
fallen into three main groups, connected with cloth,
with fruit and cider, and with the river.
Fishermen may be presumed to have been more
numerous than the records suggest, though those
who looked after the fishing weir did not necessarily
live in Moreton Valence. (fn. 76) In 1608 the population
included 4 sailors, (fn. 77) and a mariner lived at Epney in
1846. (fn. 78) There were barge-owners and shipowners
at Epney until the 1930s, and in 1897 there were as
many as six. (fn. 79)
A clothier of Moreton Valence in 1608, Anselm
Fowler, had two male servants, and there were three
weavers there then. (fn. 80) Broadweavers were recorded
in 1613, (fn. 81) 1672, (fn. 82) and 1709, (fn. 83) and a fuller in 1662. (fn. 84)
In the later 17th century and early 18th several
clothiers lived at Horsemarling, which was conveniently placed in relation to the cloth-mills of
Stonehouse: Samuel Beard before 1676, (fn. 85) Edward
Fowler in 1680, Samuel Bower (the same name as
that of the broadweaver of 1613, who lived in
Horsemarling) in 1686, and Henry Bower in 1686 and
1708; other clothiers of the parish were William
Mills in 1690 (fn. 86) and Daniel Partridge in 1722. (fn. 87)
Cider-making in Moreton Valence was noticed
by 18th-century writers, (fn. 88) and although they
remarked on it in neighbouring parishes also it seems
to have been of particular importance in Moreton.
In 1766, when the cider tax was removed, the church
bells were rung for two days and the merry-making
included the roasting of a sheep on the common. (fn. 89)
In the later 19th century there was a fruit-dealer at
Moreton and a cider-manufacturer at Epney. (fn. 90) In
1933 there were c. 75 a. of orchard at Epney, (fn. 91) and
in 1967, when no cider was made there commercially,
the acreage of orchard was about the same.