MANOR.
In 1086 Westminster Abbey held 2
hides in COWLEY, which later became the manor
of COWLEY PEACHEY. The abbey had held the
manor in the time of Edward the Confessor, and
Cowley is among the properties listed in the forged
charter of Archbishop Dunstan, which purports to
have been made in 959. (fn. 47) Abbot Vitalis (d. 1082) (fn. 48)
and the convent were afterwards said to have leased
out 2 hides at Cowley for 30s. a year. (fn. 49) Hugh of
Colham, possibly also known as Hugh of Cowley,
held the estate at farm in the early or mid-12th
century. (fn. 50) His son, Richard of Cowley, held the 2
hides after him, and Richard's nephew William of
Northolt, Archdeacon of Gloucester and a canon of
St. Paul's, (fn. 51) granted them away c. 1177-86. William
evidently held the land in fee, as tenant of Westminster, though he paid the same rent as was due
earlier under the leases. (fn. 52) The cellarer continued to
receive the quit-rent from the abbey's tenant at
Cowley until the Dissolution, though by then 10s.
was allowed from the rent for clothes. (fn. 53) The last
reference to the abbey's rights seems to be in 1546,
when the overlordship was given back to the Crown
by the dean and chapter, to whom the king had
granted it after the Dissolution. (fn. 54)
William of Northolt's grant of Cowley which has
been referred to above was made to his servant
Robert the Simple. Robert was to pay the rent owed
to Westminster and also to pay a rent to William: (fn. 55)
in the event, the rights of William's mesne lordship
seem to have lapsed very soon afterwards. In 1203
Robert de la Dune and Godfrey son of Ralph
acknowledged Robert the Simple's right in twothirds of 2 hides in Cowley. They may have been
holding the remaining third themselves, perhaps by
way of dower, but Robert was to perform all the
services owed to Westminster Abbey. (fn. 56) Robert was
dead by 1213, when his widow Juliana was claiming
dower. In 1214 she succeeded in securing it from the
tenants of one-third of Robert the Simple's 2 hides:
these tenants were Humphrey de Scoville and Maud
his wife. (fn. 57) Their holding is not mentioned again and
may itself have originated in dower and have later
been reunited with the rest of Robert the Simple's
lands. These were held in 1214 by Robert's daughter
Lettice and her nephew, John son of William, as
tenants in common. (fn. 58) Juliana, Robert the Simple's
widow, had claimed dower from Lettice in 1213. (fn. 59)
If she obtained it her total holding (made up of a
third of a third and a third of two-thirds of 2 hides)
would have been equal to a third of all her husband's
2 hides. This amount of land, as two-thirds of 1 hide,
was held later by Henry Pollard and Juliana his wife
as Juliana's dower: this Juliana may have been the
same woman as Robert the Simple's widow. By 1250
Henry and Juliana's two-thirds of a hide had passed
to Bartholomew Peachey, (fn. 60) perhaps in 1247, when
they acknowledged his right in a house, half a carucate, and the advowson of the church. In 1250, when
Nicholas of Cowley quit-claimed to Bartholomew
his rights in the two-thirds of a hide, it was said that
Henry and Juliana had held it of Bartholomew. (fn. 61)
This implies that Bartholomew already held the main
part of the tenement to which the dower belonged,
but it is not clear whether this was so. In 1252
Bartholomew's right in 1 hide in Cowley was
acknowledged by Stephen de Ayswell and Aubrey
his wife. Earlier, in 1246, Stephen and Aubrey had
granted to Thomas de Pernes and Maud his wife,
who are not referred to again, all the right they had
by way of dower in a third of a hide in Cowley. (fn. 62)
Bartholomew Peachey received a grant of free
warren in his demesne at Cowley and Ickenham in
1252. (fn. 63) His son Herbert, who died in or before 1272,
held a carucate of Westminster Abbey in socage:
this was evidently the whole Westminster fee, since
he paid the full 30s. rent for it. He also held a little
land in Cowley of other lords. (fn. 64) Herbert's heir was
his son Bartholomew (d. c. 1282), but in 1293 Lucy,
Herbert's widow, was holding the manor of the
inheritance of Bartholomew's son, another Bartholomew, who was under age. (fn. 65) This Bartholomew was
in possession in 1316 (fn. 66) and his wife still held the
manor for life in 1349. (fn. 67) In the following year Sir
John Peachey, son of Bartholomew, settled it on
the marriage of his son John. (fn. 68) Sir John Peachey was
dead by 1357 and the manor, now known as Cowley
Peachey, was held by his widow Mary. Her tenure
was interrupted for a month or so when the Crown
seized the manor after the man who had granted it to
her, apparently as a trustee, had been convicted of
felony. (fn. 69)
By 1362 Cowley Peachey belonged to Hugh
Seagrave, whose feoffees were in possession in 1369. (fn. 70)
Sir Thomas Charlton, who presented to the church
in 1427, (fn. 71) held the manor in 1429 along with Cowley
Hall and lands in Cowley called Ely's. (fn. 72) He continued to hold Cowley Hall but by 1431 Cowley
Peachey had passed to Robert Warner (d. 1439). (fn. 73)
Warner was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth,
who married Walter Green. She was in possession in
1461 and died as a widow in 1473, leaving as heir her
son Robert Green. (fn. 74) Robert's widow Cecily married
John Acton and held the manor at her death in 1480,
when it came to her son Edward Green. He died
without heirs in 1493, and his sister Cecily, wife of
William Burbage, inherited Cowley. (fn. 75) Cecily may
have married again, for William Bedyll and Cecily
his wife presented to the church in 1509 and 1516. (fn. 76)
She was succeeded by her son Thomas Burbage,
who owned the manor at least from 1522 to 1550. (fn. 77)
His son Robert lived at Hayes Park, and it is likely
that his ancestors since Walter Green had done
the same. (fn. 78) He settled Cowley Peachey manor on
his daughter's marriage with William Goring, who
conveyed it to George Goring, who in turn conveyed
it to Gregory, Lord Dacre (d. 1594), in 1582. (fn. 79)
George Goring, probably William's uncle, was also
probably the George Goring who bought Hurstpierpoint manor (Suss.) from Dacre on the same
day as he granted Cowley to him. (fn. 80) The connexion
between these transactions is not established, but
Dacre held Cowley until his death in 1594, and his
wife, who held jointly with him and survived him,
left it by will to Sir Edward Fenner, whose mother
was also a Goring. (fn. 81) Fenner, a justice of King's Bench,
was buried at Hayes in 1612. (fn. 82) His son Edward
conveyed Cowley to Richard Franklin about 1615. (fn. 83)
Franklin was succeeded by his son Sir John
(d. 1647), and he by his son, Sir Richard Franklin,
Bt. (d. 1685). (fn. 84) Meanwhile the first Richard
Franklin had leased the manor to another Richard
Franklin, whose relationship to him is unknown,
and who may be the lord named in the records of the
manor court between 1636 and 1655. (fn. 85) It was probably his widow who was said to be patron of the
church in 1650. (fn. 86) The lease under which she held
may have expired by 1655, when Richard Franklin,
the later baronet and the owner of the freehold, sold
the estate to William Baker, who held it as late as
1680. (fn. 87) By 1683 Nathaniel Weedon was lord of the
manor in right of his wife Katherine. Between 1713
and 1718 he was succeeded by John Weedon
(d. c. 1733-5 (fn. 88) ), who apparently left the estate to
his widow Anna (d. c. 1748-55) for life and then to
his daughters. (fn. 89) One of these daughters, another
Anna, enjoyed a life interest in a moiety of the
manor with her husband, Thomas Mole. She may
have died c. 1767-70 and her husband c. 1776-82, (fn. 90)
when their moiety seems to have passed to John
Sumner Sedley (d. 1782), probably the son of John
Weedon's other daughter, Catherine (d. 1747), and
her husband, Henry Sumner Sedley (d. 1755). John
Sumner Sedley left his moiety of Cowley in trust for
his children who, with his widow, sold it in 1786 to
Edward Hilliard. (fn. 91) Three years later Hilliard bought
the other moiety from John Ridge, the son of Catherine, daughter of Henry Sumner Sedley, who had
held it, at first jointly with her husband, probably
from 1755 until her death c. 1776-83. (fn. 92)
Edward Hilliard was succeeded between 1807 and
1825 by his son John (d. 1851), whom he had already
presented to the living of Cowley. (fn. 93) W. E. Hilliard
held the manor from 1851 until his death in 1884. (fn. 94)
He was followed by Major-General G. T. Hilliard
(d. 1894), (fn. 95) and he by G. B. Hilliard, who sold the
Manor Farm (87 a.) and most of his land in Cowley
in 1919-20, and Cowley House (12 a.) in 1924. (fn. 96)
The manorial rights may have lapsed by this time:
the date of their sale, if they were sold, and the
purchaser have not been discovered.
The lords of the manor probably always owned a
good deal of the parish themselves. In 1086 1½ of
the 2 hides comprising the manor was in demesne.
This was estimated as 1 plough-land, the amount
also held by Herbert Peachey in 1272. (fn. 97) There is no
more information about the manorial estate until
the 18th century, though many of the lords in the
meantime are known to have held with it lands in
neighbouring parishes. (fn. 98) The survey of 1738 lists
about 46 acres as belonging to Anna Weedon, the
lady of the manor, and in fact she probably owned
much more, since the manorial estate in 1748 comprised Cowley Peachey Farm (later Manor Farm)
with 106 acres of inclosed land, as well as about 50
acres in the open fields of the parish. (fn. 99) Cowley
Peachey Farm may have been the medieval manorhouse, though it is perhaps more likely that this
stood nearer to the church. The 'hall of the manor' is
referred to in 1357, (fn. 1) but the Charlton family, who
owned Cowley Peachey a little later, seem to have
lived at Cowley Hall in Hillingdon. (fn. 2) None of the
15th- and 16th-century owners apparently lived in
Cowley and several are known to have lived at
Hayes Park. (fn. 3) William Baker may have occupied
Cowley Peachey Farm when he held the manor in
the late 17th century, (fn. 4) but the Weedon family were
leasing it to tenants by 1748. Probably neither they
nor their descendants lived in Cowley, except for
John Ridge, who apparently did so at the time he
sold his rights in 1789. (fn. 5) It is not known what house
he occupied. In 1738 John Crosier owned a 'newlybuilt mansion house' which seems to have stood on
the site of the present Cowley House. (fn. 6) It probably
became part of the manorial estate through Edward
Hilliard, whose wife was the daughter of William
Crosier of Cowley. (fn. 7) The Hilliard family occupied
Cowley House until the 1880's. (fn. 8) It was then leased,
though J. E. Hilliard continued to live in the parish
as rector until 1902 and a Miss Hilliard lived nearby
for many years afterwards. (fn. 9)
Cowley House is now (1959) divided into several
dwellings. The main part of the building has three
stories of brown and red brick, and appears to date
from the late 18th century, perhaps having been
rebuilt by Edward Hilliard. It was altered in the
19th century, and a two-storied block on the north
side was added. This later wing was gutted when the
whole house was badly damaged by fire in 1928. (fn. 10)
The Manor Farm, now occupied as two houses,
still contains work of c. 1600 but has been much
altered. The timber-framed and weather-boarded
barn beside it dates from the 17th century. (fn. 11)