MANORS.
The medieval manor of HARLINGTON was generally known from the 16th century as
the manor of HARLINGTON OR HARDINGTON. (fn. 75) Herdintone' was the most usual from of the
name in the Middle Ages, (fn. 76) and the apparently unnecessary retention of the alternative forms in the
title was no doubt intended to distinguish this estate
from the later manor of Harlington with Shepiston. (fn. 77)
The names 'Lovell's' (fn. 78) or 'Byrd's', (fn. 79) derived from
earlier lords, were also used occasionally from the
late 16th century, though apparently only as additional alternatives and not standing alone.
In 1086 the manor presumably comprised the
whole of the parish except for such land, mostly in
the north of the parish, as lay in the manor of Dawley. (fn. 80) By the 17th century the waste-land in the parish
seems to have belonged to the manor of Harlington
with Shepiston, which had originated as a subordinate estate of Harlington or Hardington. (fn. 81) A presentment in the court roll of 1587 suggests that the
parent manor was then contesting the jurisdiction of
the newer manor, and another presentment in 1593
shows that the parent manor then exercised or
claimed rights over the waste of Berry Green. (fn. 82)
From the 16th century Harlington with Shepiston
had extensive copyhold lands, while Harlington or
Hardington, at least by 1818, had only a few acres of
copyhold. (fn. 83) While Harlington or Hardington's copyhold may have been reduced by enfranchisement
and by the extension of the lord's own estate, it is hard
to resist the conclusion that much of it may have
been transferred to the newer manor when that was
formed. It was the parent manor, however, which
until at least 1722 regulated the open fields. (fn. 84)
In 1086 the manor of Harlington (i.e. the later
Harlington or Hardington) was held of Roger, Earl
of Shrewsbury, by two under-tenants. (fn. 85) It had
formerly belonged to Wigot, who may be identified
with Wigot of Wallingford, a considerable landowner
in the time of Edward the Confessor. (fn. 86) At some time
after 1086, probably as a result of the forfeiture of
Earl Roger's son, Robert de Bellême, in 1102, (fn. 87)
Harlington passed with the rest of Roger's Middlesex
estates to the honor of Wallingford. (fn. 88) It continued
to be held of Wallingford until the rights of the honor
were transferred to the new honor of Ewelme in
1540. (fn. 89) The honor court at Uxbridge continued to
exercise jurisdiction in Harlington until the 18th
century. (fn. 90)
In the time of Edward the Confessor two sokemen
held two of the 10 hides in the manor. They could
not sell their land without permission of Wigot, who
held the rest himself, and by 1086 their estates seem
to have been absorbed in the manor. This was held
of Earl Roger by two men, Alfred and Olaf, apparently as one manor. (fn. 91) Harpsden manor (Oxon.),
which had belonged to Wigot of Wallingford and
later became part of the honor of Wallingford, was
also held by one Alfred. He may well be identifiable
with Alfred of Harlington since the same lords held
both manors later on. (fn. 92) Three knight's fees were
held of the honor of Wallingford by Roger son of
Alfred in the 12th century, by Ralph of Harpsden in
1196, and by Robert of Harpsden in 1201 and 1211. (fn. 93)
In 1211 one of these fees was certainly in Harlington. (fn. 94) Roger of Harpsden held one knight's fee in
Harlington in 1235. (fn. 95) In 1241 Agnes, widow of
Robert of Harpsden, Roger's father, held part of the
estate as dower. (fn. 96) William of Harpsden was in
possession in 1279, (fn. 97) and in 1302 he or a successor of
the same name received a grant of free warren in
his demesnes at Harlington and in Oxfordshire. (fn. 98)
William of Harpsden was the name of the lord of
Harlington at several dates between then and 1353. (fn. 99)
In 1340 William of Harpsden settled the manor on
himself for life and then on his son Gilbert and
Gilbert's wife Maud. (fn. 1) In 1374 Maud, who was then
a widow, granted the manor for her life to Robert de
Anesty and Elizabeth his wife. (fn. 2) It is possible that
Gilbert had died by 1364 and that Maud had married
again, for presentations to the rectory were made
then and in the following year by Maud Mirymanth: (fn. 3) no second husband is mentioned in the deed
of 1374.
According to a rough note about the descent of the
manor which was made in 1534 or thereabouts, (fn. 4)
Gilbert and Maud left a daughter who married one
Lovell and was succeeded by her son Thomas Lovell.
John Lovell of Dawley, mentioned in 1349 and later, (fn. 5)
is known to have owned land in Harlington, though
at least part of it came into his hands before he can
have held Harlington manor. In 1357 rents which
had belonged to him in Harlington were in the king's
hands because he had been convicted of felony; he
was then said to be a clerk. (fn. 6) He was succeeded by
his son Thomas, and may therefore have been
Elizabeth's husband, though in 1353 his wife was
called Joan. (fn. 7) Thomas seems to have been in possession
about 1385, (fn. 8) and was concerned in conveyances of
both manors in 1415. (fn. 9) In 1412 they had been said to
belong to John Warbynton, (fn. 10) who may have been a
trustee or tenant, since according to the early-16thcentury note already mentioned Harlington seems to
have descended from father to son in the Lovell
family until the date the document was written. (fn. 11)
Despite this, however, the effect of the conveyances
of 1415 on Harlington seems to have been to transfer
it to one John Brown of Lincolnshire. Richard
Brown was said to be lord in 1428, (fn. 12) and in 1456
John Lovell and his wife quitclaimed land in Harlington to Richard Brown and his wife. (fn. 13) In 1459
Richard Brown and his wife granted the manor and
advowson to William Olyff of Farnham (Surr.). The
terms of the grant are not clear, but it seems that the
grantors were to receive an annual rent and the use
of a house in Harlington for their lives. (fn. 14) According
to the 16th-century note of the descent of the manor,
Thomas, son of John Lovell and Elizabeth Harpsden,
was followed by his son John and he by another
John. One of these was presumably the John Lovell
of 1456, and the Lovell's apparent supersession by
the Browns and others may have been the result of
some family arrangement. On the other hand it may
be that the note, which is very roughly drawn up,
testifies to the genealogy of the Lovell family rather
than to their continuous possession of the manor. In
any case Thomas Lovell held the advowson, and
hence no doubt the manor as well, in or before 1474
and in 1476. (fn. 15) He was probably the Thomas who,
according to the 16th-century note, was the son and
heir of the second John and was himself succeeded by
another Thomas. The elder Thomas had settled the
manor on his son Thomas by 1493. (fn. 16) By 1503 it was
in the hands of Gregory Lovell, son of the second
Thomas. (fn. 17) According to the note, Gregory seems to
have been in possession until it was written, but in
1510 the guardian of George Lovell, a minor, presented to the rectory. (fn. 18) Three years later Gregory
Lovell presented. (fn. 19) Gregory died in 1545 (fn. 20) and his
widow Anne, who held for life, died between 1557
and 1559. (fn. 21) They left no children and the reversion
after Anne's death belonged to Gregory's two aunts. (fn. 22)
It was sold to William Roper in 1552, so that he took
possession when Anne Lovell died. (fn. 23)
By 1580 William Roper had been succeeded by
Anthony Roper, in whose name the courts were held
until 1583. From 1584 until 1593 they were held on
behalf of Christopher Byrd, son of William Byrd
the composer. (fn. 24) William Byrd had been living in
Harlington since about 1577 (fn. 25) and it is possible that
Christopher held on behalf of his father. After
William Byrd's death, his son-in-law's widow, with
whom he had had disputes at different times, alleged
that he had settled Harlington on her marriage but
that his extravagance had made it necessary to sell
it. (fn. 26) The sale took place in 1595, and was made to
Ambrose Copinger, (fn. 27) who also acquired Dawley at
the same time. The two manors then continued to be
held together until 1772. (fn. 28)
Ambrose Copinger, by then a knight, died in
1604. (fn. 29) His widow, who held for life, married Sir
John Morris of Ongar (Essex) in 1605, (fn. 30) and they
joined with Ambrose Copinger's nephew, to whom
the reversion belonged, in selling the manors in 1607
to Sir John Bennet (d. 1627), chancellor to Queen
Anne. (fn. 31) He was succeeded by his son, Sir John
Bennet (d. 1658), and he by his son John (d. 1695),
who was created Lord Ossulston in 1682. (fn. 32) The
second son of Sir John Bennet (d. 1658) was Henry
Bennet, Charles II's secretary of state, who never
owned Harlington himself though he took his title
of Arlington from it. (fn. 33) John, Lord Ossulston, was
followed by his son who was created Earl of Tankerville in 1714 and died in 1722. (fn. 34) His son sold
Harlington and Dawley in 1725 to Henry St. John,
Viscount Bolingbroke, the statesman. (fn. 35) Bolingbroke's
alterations to Dawley House are discussed below,
with the history of the property and manor-houses
of Dawley manor. He sold Dawley and Harlington
in 1739 to Edward Stephenson, (fn. 36) who in 1755 sold
them to Henry, Earl of Uxbridge (d. 1769), the
owner of considerable estates in west Middlesex,
including West Drayton and Harmondsworth
manors. (fn. 37) Uxbridge's heir was his cousin, Henry
Bayly, Lord Paget, who sold Dawley in 1772 and
Harlington in 1773. Harlington went to Frederick,
Earl of Berkeley (d. 1810), (fn. 38) and thereafter descended
with his neighbouring manor and seat of Cranford,
and with the manor of Harlington with Shepiston,
which he also owned. (fn. 39) Courts were still held on
behalf of Lord Berkeley in 1914 but by 1942 the
manor appears to have lapsed. (fn. 40)
In 1086 the demesne of Harlington contained two
plough-lands. (fn. 41) In the early 16th century there was a
manor-house and some inclosed and open-field land,
most of which was let. (fn. 42) Ambrose Copinger and the
Bennet family acquired lands in Harlington beyond
those which had formerly belonged to either Harlington or Dawley manors, but since most of these
lay in the north of the parish they are discussed below
with the property of Dawley manor. In 1841, after
the separation of the two manors, the Countess of
Berkeley held 123 acres in the parish, (fn. 43) and most of
this is probably to be associated with Harlington or
Hardington manor, (fn. 44) but whether it represents in
any sense the ancient lands of the lords is very
doubtful. By 1942 all the Berkeley lands in the parish
had been sold. (fn. 45) Harlington manor-house is last
mentioned in 1615, when Sir John Bennet settled it
on his son. (fn. 46) After that it disappears from the records,
no doubt because the Bennets and their successors
made Dawley their chief residence. William Byrd,
however, may be presumed to have occupied it, and
in 1593 the court-yard and hop-yard of Mr. Byrd
were on one side of Berry Green. (fn. 47) In 1821 Berry
Green was a very small bit of waste-land in Dawley
Road a little north of Dawley Manor Farm. (fn. 48) This
suggests that the manor-house was either at Dawley
Manor Farm or at the moated site across the road
from it. (fn. 49) The moat indicates the presence of a
medieval house of some importance, which may,
possibly, have been replaced later by Dawley Manor
Farm, the structure of which is thought to be partly
of the 16th century. (fn. 50) There is no particular reason
to assume that Dawley Manor Farm was anciently
the property of Dawley manor rather than Harlington, though it belonged to the owners of Dawley
after the two manors were separated. There seems to
be no evidence whatever that William Byrd lived in
the house now called the Lilacs in Manor Parade,
which is popularly associated with him, (fn. 51) or that this
could have been the manor-house. Manor Parade
takes its name from Manor Farm, which stood to the
north-west of it: Manor Farm did not belong to the
owner of any manor in 1821, and it is not known why
it was later given this name. (fn. 52)
In 1086 the manor of DAWLEY probably comprised such part of the parish, probably about a
third of its area, as was not included in Harlington
manor. (fn. 53) Most of Dawley may be assumed to have
lain to the north of Harlington, but Dawley manor
had tenants in Sipson in the 15th century, (fn. 54) and in
1821 there were six copyhold cottages and some 12
acres of copyhold land belonging to it in Harlington
village street: (fn. 55) evidently the two manors had never
been geographically quite separate. Lands in Ickenham were also alleged to be held of Dawley in the
early 17th century. (fn. 56) By the 18th century the lord of
the manor had inclosed in his park the area where
most of the manor lands had probably lain, so that in
1821 the only copyholds, apart from the houses in
Harlington which have been mentioned, were a few
small allotments in the new inclosures elsewhere in
the parish. The manor-house and estate of the lords
of the manor are described below.
Before the Conquest Dawley manor was held by
Godwin Alfit, who was described in Domesday Book
as the man of Wigot (i.e. Wigot of Wallingford).
Godwin could dispose of his land as he wished, but
by 1086 the manor 'belonged' to Colham, the chief
manor in the neighbourhood of Roger, Earl of
Shrewsbury, and was held of him. Dawley does not
afterwards appear to have been connected with Colham otherwise than by being, with it, a part of the
honor of Wallingford. Its overlordship descended
after 1086 with that of Harlington. (fn. 57)
In 1086 the manor was held of Earl Roger by
Alnod. It later belonged to the Corbet family of
Shropshire, who were no doubt enfeoffed by Earl
Roger or one of his sons before their earldom of
Shrewsbury was forfeited in 1102. William Corbet
held a knight's fee of the honor of Wallingford in
1166, (fn. 58) and Robert Corbet of Caus (Salop) held
Dawley as one fee in 1212. (fn. 59) William son of Ranulf
of Whitchurch (Salop) was Robert Corbet's attorney
in litigation about woodland in Dawley in 1199, (fn. 60)
and in 1235 Maud of Whitchurch (de Albo Mona
sterio, or de Blancmuster) held the fee in Dawley. (fn. 61)
In 1253 William, lord of Whitchurch, was summoned
to do service to the honor of Wallingford, and called
Robert Corbet's son Thomas to acquit him. (fn. 62) Whitchurch passed in 1260 to coheirs, one of whom was
Joan, wife of William de Barentyn. (fn. 63) She held Dawley
in 1300, according to one list of tenants of Wallingford, (fn. 64) while according to another, she and Robert
Corbet held it together. (fn. 65) The Corbet interest, which
may have been a mesne tenancy, is not referred to
again. By an arrangement made in 1307, Joan, widow
of William Barentyn, was to hold the whole manor
for her life, and it was then to revert to William's
son, Gilbert de Barentyn. (fn. 66) He was lord in 1316, (fn. 67)
but by c. 1335 his lands had passed to his heirs. (fn. 68)
John Lovell of Dawley is mentioned in 1349, and
in 1353 he acquired a house and 70 acres of land in
Harlington. (fn. 69) In the same year the fee in Dawley
which had belonged to the Whitchurch family was
said to belong to John Lovell, William Lovell, and
their parceners. (fn. 70) How they, or John, had acquired
the manor is not known, but in 1367 John Lovell of
Harlington held lands in Jersey which had belonged
to various persons of the family of Barentyn. (fn. 71) One
of these was named Gilbert, but he does not seem to
be identifiable with the Gilbert de Barentyn who had
earlier been lord of Dawley. (fn. 72) It is possible that John
Lovell's interest in the estates of the Jersey Barentyns
was coincidental, and that his Middlesex rights were
derived from the Oxfordshire family of the same
name. (fn. 73)
Dawley manor descended along with Harlington,
which John Lovell is also thought to have acquired,
to his son Thomas. (fn. 74) As a result of conveyances in
1465, in which Reynold Barentyn of Oxfordshire was
also concerned, (fn. 75) Dawley apparently passed to
Robert Oliver, who was said to be lord in 1428. (fn. 76) He
and his wife held the manor for life in 1448, (fn. 77) but
John son of Thomas Lovell quitclaimed it to Robert
Aubrey in 1450, and similar quitclaims were made
by Richard Brown, who seems to have held Lovell's
interest in Harlington manor. (fn. 78) Robert Aubrey of
Dawley was collector of a subsidy in 1453 and died
in 1488, leaving several sons. (fn. 79) By 1515 Dawley
belonged to Richard Aubrey. (fn. 80) Thomas Aubrey held
it in 1540 and William Aubrey in 1547. (fn. 81) John
Aubrey died in possession in 1557 and was succeeded
by his son William. (fn. 82) William Aubrey appears to
have conveyed Dawley to William Roper, lord of
Harlington, in 1564, (fn. 83) but he was still living at Dawley in 1571, when he secured a lease of Harlington
rectory. (fn. 84) The manor seems to have belonged in
1590 to Richard Reynolds, (fn. 85) and in 1595 William
Hitchcock conveyed it to Ambrose Copinger. (fn. 86) It
then descended with Harlington to the Bennet family
and so to Lord Bolingbroke and eventually, in 1769,
to Lord Paget. (fn. 87) Paget sold the manor in 1772 to
Peter, Count de Salis, the descendant of a Swiss
family who settled in England in the early 18th
century. Paget sold the site of Dawley House
separately, but it was also acquired by de Salis in
1797, so that the estate became reunited. (fn. 88) De Salis
died in 1807 and was succeeded by his son Jerome
(d. 1836), who took the additional name of Fane in
1835. In 1841 part of the estate was held by Jerome
de Salis's widow and part by his eldest son by an
earlier marriage, Peter John, Count de Salis. (fn. 89) Some
of the land was sold later in the century and the
remainder passed eventually to Sir Cecil Fane de
Salis (d. 1948), (fn. 90) who was descended from the
dowager countess of 1841. His Dawley estate was
dispersed gradually both during and after his lifetime, the last small portion being sold in 1959. (fn. 91)
The demesne of Dawley comprised one ploughland in 1086. (fn. 92) About 1532 the 'farm-lands' belonging to the lord of the manor, all of which were let,
comprised probably over 250 acres. (fn. 93) By the early
17th century some of the demesne had been sold, (fn. 94)
but Ambrose Copinger bought 74 acres to add to his
estates of Harlington and Dawley. (fn. 95) His successors
also enlarged their property, (fn. 96) and in 1649 Sir John
Bennet probably owned some 600 acres in the parish,
together with Dawley House and four farm-houses. (fn. 97)
In 1692 the family's estates were estimated at some
540 acres, and in the 18th century at 602 acres. (fn. 98) In
1841 the two members of the de Salis family owned
together 533 acres in the parish. Most of this lay in
the north, in or near the former park, but it also
included Dawley Manor Farm, in the High Street: (fn. 99)
whether this house had always belonged to the manor
is not known. (fn. 1)
The first Sir John Bennet lived at Uxbridge (fn. 2) but
his successors occupied Dawley House, (fn. 3) which
stood on the site used in 1959 as a car-park in the
E.M.I. factory grounds on the west of Dawley Road. (fn. 4)
It may be assumed to have always been the manorhouse. Sir John Bennet, 1st Lord Ossulston, probably
rebuilt the house or made large alterations to it: he
was assessed for sixteen hearths in the parish in 1664
and for 27 some years later. (fn. 5) A print of 1695-1714
(see plate facing p. 259) shows an imposing house
built round a court-yard in two stories, with attics in
a steeply pitched roof, and with nine bays on the
south front. There were extensive out-buildings on
the east by the road, and formal gardens to the south
and west. (fn. 6) The 18th-century park was also formed
by the Bennets. Robert Corbet had 36 acres of wood
in Dawley in 1200, (fn. 7) and in 1515 Richard Aubrey of
Dawley converted 100 acres to pasture. (fn. 8) In 1657
there seem to have been some 200 acres attached to
the house apart from farm-lands. (fn. 9) In 1690 John,
Lord Ossulston, received licence to impark 300
acres (fn. 10) and the print of 1695-1714 shows a great
double avenue stretching away to the north. Dawley
Road, however, seems from the print to have curved
round the north side of the house so that the avenue
lay beyond. (fn. 11) In 1707 Charles, Lord Ossulston, apparently contemplated inclosing part of a road from
Hillingdon Common to Harlington, (fn. 12) and he may in
fact have moved the road away from the house to
the boundary of his land and of the parish. (fn. 13) Certainly Dawley Road followed its later line along the
boundary by the time a map of the park was drawn
between 1714 and 1722. This shows extensive formal
gardens and plantations, with avenues radiating in
all directions over the park, which comprised the
whole of the parish north of the approximate line of
Bourne Avenue. (fn. 14) This area seems to have comprised about 245 acres, (fn. 15) though the park was said at
some date in the 18th century to cover 373 acres. It
was then stocked with 750 head of deer. (fn. 16)
Despite Bolingbroke's insistence that to him Dawley was simply 'an agreeable sepulchre', (fn. 17) he 'new
modelled' the house to the designs of James Gibbs. (fn. 18)
The result was a two-storied house of brick with
round-headed windows below a rather flat roof. (fn. 19)
Bolingbroke called Dawley a farm, and for a time
lived there ostentatiously engrossed in rustic pursuits. (fn. 20) In 1728 he had the hall painted with farm
implements in monochrome: (fn. 21)
. . . what he built a palace, calls a Farm
Here the proud trophies, and the spoils of war
Yield to the scythe, the harrow and the car.
In other rooms there were more ambitious,
though still rustic, decorations:
Young winged Cupids smiling guide the plough,
And peasants elegantly reap and sow.
In 1735 Bolingbroke left England and by 1737 he
was trying to sell Dawley. (fn. 22) The eventual purchaser,
Edward Stephenson, seems to have lived there for a
while, (fn. 23) but by the time Lord Uxbridge bought the
property, Stephenson had a tenant, named Abraham
Hume. (fn. 24) Uxbridge used the house himself, and his
successor, Lord Paget, had work done on it during
his short tenure: until this time much of Bolingbroke's decorations and furniture had apparently
remained unchanged. (fn. 25) The house was demolished
soon after Paget sold it in 1772. (fn. 26) The much smaller
though still considerable house on the site in the 19th
century was said to have been formerly part of the
out-offices. (fn. 27) It was not used by the de Salis family,
who never lived in Harlington parish, though from
about 1835 to about 1929 they occupied the house
called Dawley Court (since demolished) in Corwell
Lane, just outside the north boundary of the parish. (fn. 28)
They leased their Dawley property, and for some
decades around 1800 Tattersall's may have been
occupying it as a stud-farm. (fn. 29) In 1816 the house
which had been made from the remains of the Dawley House buildings was said to be a farm-house (fn. 30)
and it is later known to have been occupied by the
tenant of the surrounding land. (fn. 31) Another and less
pretentious farm-house was later built to the south of
it. In 1929 Cecil Fane de Salis sold both houses with
23 acres of land to what was then the Gramophone
Co. of Hayes. (fn. 32) The farm-house was demolished and
Dawley House was allowed to fall into decay. It was
finally demolished several years before 1959. (fn. 33) The
only visible relic of the house and park is now
the brick wall which runs, with gaps, north from the
E.M.I. factory to the end of the old parish and estate
boundary. This appears to be substantially of 18thcentury brickwork.
The manor of HARLINGTON WITH SHEPISTON, as it became generally known, derived the
second part of its name from the hamlet of Sipson, (fn. 34)
though there is no evidence that its lands were
particularly concentrated in the west of the parish,
near the hamlet, (fn. 35) and it seems fairly certain that the
manor did not extend into Harmondsworth parish. (fn. 36)
Its origin is obscure: (fn. 37) the first reference to the estate
occurs about 1335, when the Minister of Hounslow
Friary held lands in Harlington and Dawley worth
40s. (fn. 38) In 1338 William of Odiham received licence to
grant lands in Stanwell, East Bedfont, and Harlington to the friary, and part of this property may have
been connected with the later manor. (fn. 39) In the early
16th century the Minister of Hounslow was said to
hold half a knight's fee of Harlington or Hardington
manor at 2s. 8d. and a pepper-corn rent. (fn. 40) He also
held land of Dawley manor, (fn. 41) and leased other lands
in the parish from the priory of Ankerwyke (Bucks.). (fn. 42)
The friary's main Harlington estate is first referred
to as a manor in 1540, when it was in the hands of the
Crown following the Dissolution. No demesne lands
are mentioned, but there were a good many free and
copyhold tenants, including the lord of Harlington
or Hardington manor. (fn. 43) In 1599 the Crown granted
the manor, again with tenants but apparently without demesne, to Michael Stanhope, groom of the
privy chamber. (fn. 44) He received East Bedfont manor,
which had also belonged to Hounslow, at the same
time, and later acquired another and larger estate
nearby at Osterley. (fn. 45) Stanhope's Harlington estate
passed to his son-in-law George, Lord Berkeley, (fn. 46)
and remained in the possession of his descendants
until the 20th century. Courts were still held in 1914,
but the manorial rights had lapsed by 1942, no doubt
as a result of the abolition of copyhold in 1925. (fn. 47)
In 1657 the lord of the manor exercised apparently
exclusive jurisdiction over the waste land of the
parish, and in 1821 this was the only manor to receive
an allotment for waste. At that date its copyhold
tenants held some 34 acres of old inclosed land, including houses in Harlington village and in West
End, and they received correspondingly large allotments of new inclosures. (fn. 48) In the 17th century the
Berkeleys held some 28 acres in the parish, (fn. 49) but this is
to be associated with their Cranford estate rather than
regarded as anything which could be called demesne
lands of Harlington with Shepiston. (fn. 50) In 1671 the
estate seems to have consisted only of copyhold,
but was reckoned a valuable one, since the fines at
succession or alienation were arbitrary and there
were also restrictions of various sorts on the tenants. (fn. 51)
OTHER ESTATES.
In 1249 Thame Abbey acquired a house and 12 acres in Harlington. (fn. 52) This is
the first reference to the abbey's property here,
which is later known to have been part of its manor
of Cranford le Mote, most of which lay over the
eastern boundary of the parish. (fn. 53) In 1291 Thame's
property in Harlington was worth a third of that
which lay in Cranford itself. (fn. 54) In the 15th and 16th
centuries the abbey owed suit to Dawley manor. (fn. 55)
Several cottages in Harlington village street and
some 24 acres of new inclosures were copyhold of
Cranford in 1821, (fn. 56) while the 28 acres in the parish
which belonged to the earls of Berkeley in the 17th
century may represent old demesne lands of the
manor. (fn. 57)
Other religious houses which held land in Harlington in the Middle Ages were Ankerwyke Priory
(Bucks.) and Winchester College. Ankerwyke's estate,
which passed to Henry VIII's new foundation of
Bisham, was leased to Hounslow Friary at the time of
the Dissolution. (fn. 58) The only evidence of Winchester's
holding which has been found is that the warden
owed suit to Dawley manor in 1455-6. (fn. 59) Such
property as he had in Harlington was doubtless
appurtenant to his adjoining manor of Harmondsworth. (fn. 60)
Too little is known of Harlington in the Middle
Ages to show whether there were many large holdings within or apart from the three manors. One
estate of a hide of land is mentioned in 1207 and
1235, (fn. 61) and others of 3 virgates and 40 acres in 1214
and 1233 respectively. (fn. 62) A few conveyances of over
20 acres in the 14th century and later are also recorded. (fn. 63) In 1649, apart from the estates of Sir John
Bennet (482 a.) and of two men who may have been
his feoffees (128 a.), (fn. 64) there were two holdings of
between 50 and 100 acres, and 12 of 20-50. (fn. 65) In
1692 the corresponding figures were five and three,
with one holding of over 100 acres. (fn. 66) With the separation of Harlington or Hardington and Dawley manors
in the 18th century two considerable manorial
estates replaced the single one. In 1841, apart from
these, there was one holding of 123 acres, two of 50-
100, and nine of 20-50. Three of these (77 a., 31 a.,
26 a.) belonged to the Newman family, (fn. 67) who had
been farmers and auctioneers in the area at least
since the beginning of the century. (fn. 68) By 1907 Robert
Newman (d. 1924) owned Dawley Manor Farm
(154 a.), which in 1841 had belonged to the de Salis
estate, (fn. 69) and the Bourne farm estate, lying between
the railway and Pinkwell Lane. His property was
dispersed after his death. (fn. 70) In 1937 Kelly's Directory
named John Heyward Ltd. and William Philp, both
market-gardeners, as the chief landowners along with
the de Salis family. In 1959 Ebenezer Heyward Ltd.
had market-gardens of about 300 acres, and this was
probably the largest holding in the parish. (fn. 71)