OTHER ESTATES.
Wallingford priory acquired land in Standlake before 1247, when it
was apparently let to the four owners of
Standlake manor. (fn. 86) In 1528, following the priory's suppression, unspecified lands or rents in
Standlake passed to Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York, who gave them to Cardinal
College, Oxford; (fn. 87) the college's successor, Christ
Church, seems, however, to have had no interest
in Standlake before acquiring separate estates
there in the 17th century. (fn. 88) Meadows by the
Thames granted in the late 12th century to
Eynsham abbey by Anketil and John de Grey
were retained as part of the abbey's Shifford
manor until the Dissolution. (fn. 89)
An estate centred on Standlake Manor, a house
on the south side of High Street so called from
c. 1860, (fn. 90) was built up from the later Middle
Ages by the Cornewell or Cornwall family and
by their successors the Yates, following the
marriage before 1487 of Margaret, daughter and
heir of John Cornwall (fl. 1480), to Edmund Yate
(d. c. 1516) of Charney Bassett in Longworth
(then Berks.). Edmund Yate's estate, not all of
it derived from the Cornwalls, descended to
John (d. 1545), Robert (d. 1554), James (d.
1608), and Francis Yate (fl. 1613); (fn. 91) he or another Francis sold it in 1647 to Richard Hyde
(d. 1665), gentleman, from whom it passed to
William Hyde (d. 1717) and his relict Mary (d.
1733), to their son Richard (d. 1741), and to
Richard's relict Elizabeth and son Richard. (fn. 92)
Most Yates and some Hydes seem to have
resided, (fn. 93) though the resident Mary Hyde let the
estate and may have occupied a different house. (fn. 94)
Ownership passed to the non-resident Newmans
before 1785 and c. 1792 to the Tomkinses of
Abingdon, who let the house and land to farmers. (fn. 95) In 1860 executors of William Tomkins's
son-in-law G. W. Anstie sold it with 228 a. as
the 'Manor House and farm', and it remained a
farmhouse until 1896 when most of the land was
sold. (fn. 96) Quitrents to Standlake manor remained
due in 1860. (fn. 97)
The house's timber-framed main range,
aligned along the street, is of the 15th century,
and was built perhaps by John Cornwall. (fn. 98)
Though of three bays in the 20th century it
formerly extended further west, the surviving
end bay having apparently formed part of a
larger hall which was open to the roof. The roof
itself has intermediate curved scissor trusses
similar to those at the rectory house, and its
western bay, above the former open hall, is
wind-braced. An evidently re-used ceiling, to
which a badge with part of the Yate family
arms (fn. 99) was nailed, was inserted into the hall in
the later 16th century or early 17th; about the
same time a stack was built into the north-west
corner of the surviving central bay, the rest of
which became a cross passage, and a twostoreyed porch was added against the northern
doorway. The overmantel of the ground-floor
fireplace to the former hall is also re-used and is
decorated with quatrefoils enclosing heraldic
shields of arms, among them the Tudor rose and
crown and other, unidentified, devices. (fn. 1) On the
first floor, the two eastern bays appear to have
formed one large room. The gable created by
the removal of the western end of the hall was
long exposed to the weather before a rubblebuilt wing was added in front of it in the earlier
19th century; timber framing on the street frontage, presumably rendered by 1860 when the
house was said to be of brick and tile, was
exposed and restored in the mid 20th century. (fn. 2)
A freehold centred on Gaunt House was built
up apparently from the later 15th century by the
Gaunt family and their descendants the
Walwyns. Spurious claims in the late 16th century and early 17th that the estate was a manor
were successfully challenged by Magdalen
College, which asserted that Gaunt House was
a cottage held of Standlake manor for quitrent
and suit of court. Though quitrents were owed
for lands then attached to the estate there seems,
however, to have been no rent payable explicitly
for the house. (fn. 3) The earliest known owner was
John Gaunt, who in 1461 held a different house
and half yardland of the Corbets' manor, (fn. 4) and
whose wife Joan (d. 1465/6) was commemorated
by a brass formerly in Standlake church; (fn. 5) the
surname was not recorded in Standlake earlier,
and may indicate Flemish origin. (fn. 6) The name
Tirletts Court, recorded, as an alternative for
Gaunt House, from the 16th century, (fn. 7) may refer
to an earlier owner.
From John (d. c. 1473) the estate passed to his
son Simon (d. c. 1506), (fn. 8) perhaps to Simon's
relict Alice, (fn. 9) and to his son George (d. s.p. c.
1516) and daughter Ann. Ann married George
Walwyn and in 1544 settled it on their son
Edward Walwyn. (fn. 10) He sold some of the land (fn. 11)
and settled the rest c. 1580 on his son George
(d. 1609), whose relict Mary (d. 1626) was in
1623 leasing it to George's son and heir Edward. (fn. 12)
Edward's brother John (d. 1628) left it to his
sister Dorothy Gascoigne with reversion to her
son Stephen Gascoigne, (fn. 13) who sold it in 1638,
including lands in Standlake, Northmoor, and
Shifford, to Samuel Fell (d. 1649), dean of Christ
Church, Oxford; (fn. 14) from him it passed to his
relict Margaret and son John (d. 1686), later
bishop of Oxford, who left it to Christ Church
to found a bursary for poor students. (fn. 15) Small
additions were made in 1715 and 1889, when the
Standlake part of Christ Church's estate totalled
67 a. (fn. 16) From the mid 17th century the estate was
let to local farmers, notably the Marchants and
their descendants the Burfords and Gileses; (fn. 17)
Christ Church sold it in 1955. (fn. 18)
The surviving house, (fn. 19) within a large L-shaped
moat, is of coursed limestone rubble, and comprises a central hall range with cross-passage
doorways at its eastern end, and two cross wings.
That plan, together with the survival of a main
post from a timber-framed wall at the house's
north-west corner and of a section of timberframed wall in the west wing, suggests an early,
probably late-medieval origin, and the hall
fireplace, located on the northern, outside wall,
may be a later addition. Replacement, in stages,
of timber walling by stone appears to have been
substantially complete by the early 17th century,
the date of several doorways and of windows and
plasterwork in the west, parlour, wing; since
both Ann Walwyn and her son Edward leased
the house (fn. 20) those features may reflect remodelling by George Walwyn, resident from c. 1580,
or his successors. (fn. 21) During the Civil War the
house was garrisoned and besieged, (fn. 22) but though
musket loops were cut in the main door there is
no evidence of major damage or rebuilding, and
in 1649 and 1654 the Fells reserved for their
occasional use the hall and parlour, both with
chambers over, the kitchen, and a stable. (fn. 23) Some
minor work may have been carried out c. 1669, (fn. 24)
and the causeway crossing the moat to the main
door is dated 1718, but the house seems to have
undergone no further structural alteration.
There were two restorations in the later 20th
century. (fn. 25)
A freehold of 2¼ yardlands centred on the later
Lincoln Farm was sold in 1545 by William
Tyrling (d. 1546) to Humphrey Bostocke of
Abingdon (then Berks.), draper, who leased it to
Tyrling for life and in 1548 sold it to Robert
Radborne (d. 1557). (fn. 26) Radborne's son Robert, a
London stationer, sold it in 1567 to Lincoln
College, Oxford, with scattered cottages and
tenements formerly part of Standlake manor,
and other small freeholds acquired since the
1540s. (fn. 27) Quitrents to Magdalen College for the
former manor lands were compounded for in
1905, (fn. 28) and in 1918 the entire estate, c. 110 a.
after inclosure, (fn. 29) was sold piecemeal to tenants. (fn. 30)
Lincoln Farm, formerly Tyrlings, (fn. 31) includes a
late medieval hall range parallel to Standlake
High Street and a western cross wing, and is
two-storeyed throughout. The hall, which has a
smoke-blackened roof, was formerly timberframed, but much of the framing has been
replaced by rubble walls. A stack was inserted
in front of the present cross passage presumably
c. 1564, when the lessee was to build a chimney,
flue, and freestone mantel in the 'hall house'
partly at the owner's expense; there was then a
chamber over the parlour, and by 1582 there was
a storage chamber over the hall, (fn. 32) though the
existing beamed ceiling is of early 17th-century
character. The cross wing, also rubble-walled,
includes a two-light window of the later 16th
century and has an added chimney gable on its
west side; traces of ochre paintwork survived
on its roof timbers in 1970. (fn. 33) Rooms in 1582
included a buttery and milkhouse evidently beyond
the cross passage, storage within a timber
pentice at the rear, an apparently free-standing
kitchen, and agricultural buildings around a
'court'; most windows were glazed, though one,
in the chamber over the parlour, had shutters
only, and the parlour had been recently
refitted. (fn. 34) The house's east end, beyond the cross
passage, was rebuilt in the 17th century. Both
Tyrling and the Radbornes apparently occupied
the house, (fn. 35) but from 1564 the estate was let to
prominent farmers and others, among them
Walter Bayley (d. 1592), the queen's physician,
who presumably sublet it, Nicholas Dixon (d.
1627), a local man and servant to the earl of
Salisbury, who resided, and relatives of the
minister Nicholas Shorter (fl. 1650). (fn. 36) The house
continued as a farmhouse following the college's
sale to its tenant in 1918, but was later separated
from the estate. (fn. 37)
A small estate in Brighthampton and Standlake
passed from John Fettiplace (d. 1510) of
Charney Bassett (then Berks.) to his son Philip, (fn. 38)
who in 1524 sold it to Simon Starkey, bursar of
Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1529 Starkey
conveyed it to John Elton or Baker who granted
it to Brasenose, and in 1624 the college acquired
an additional tenement in Cokethorpe. (fn. 39) The
estate, let to tenant farmers and totalling c. 76 a.
after inclosure, (fn. 40) was sold in two parcels in 1911
and 1918. (fn. 41)
Land and cottages belonging to a chantry in
Standlake church passed on its suppression to
the Crown, which in 1590 sold the estate, much
decayed in 1569, to its lessee Walter Bayley. (fn. 42)
Bayley's son William sold some parts piecemeal, (fn. 43) and the rest was absorbed into his manor
of Northmoor. (fn. 44)