MANORS.
In 1212 William of Southall (de Suhalle)
held a knight's fee in Southall of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. (fn. 99) This was probably the origin of the
manor of SOUTHALL. Alice of Southall conveyed
some property in 1223 (fn. 1) and in 1243 she paid scutage
on a knight's fee in Hayes after a dispute over payment with the archbishop's bailiff at Harrow. (fn. 2) Harrow, Hayes, and other archiepiscopal manors were
frequently organized as one unit. (fn. 3) In 1244 Alice conveyed her fee to William of Cranford, although she
retained a life interest. (fn. 4) In 1245 and 1246 William
acquired other land from Thomas of Newark and
Matthew de la Wyke, (fn. 5) and in 1247 conveyed 70 a. in
Southall to Thomas de Castre, who had bought
other property in Southall in the same year. (fn. 6) Thomas
sold a house, about 76 a., and 49s. rent in Southall to
Robert Maynard in 1250. (fn. 7) This property probably
passed by 1262 to Lawrence del Brok or Brook, who
held at least 2 carucates in Southall which were to
pass after his death to William del Brok. (fn. 8) The manor
of Southall is first mentioned eo nomine in a lease of
1319 when it was the property of Roger, son of
William del Brok. (fn. 9) In 1324 Roger del Brok conveyed the manor to John de Stonore, subject to
a life interest granted by Roger de Bloxham (fn. 10) in
1319. Stonore evidently disposed of his interest to
Bloxham, as in 1325 the succession to the manor was
determined to fall to John and Robert, the sons of
John de Bloxham. (fn. 11) In 1336 William, the son of
Robert Hykeman of Bloxham (Oxon.), probably the
Robert de Bloxham of 1325, granted all his rights in
the manor of Southall to John Charlton, a London
merchant. (fn. 12) In 1339 Thomas de Bloxham, a clerk,
conveyed his interest in the manor to John Charlton,
reserving a house and 26 a. (fn. 13) Robert de Bereford,
son of John de Bloxham, finally granted the manor
to Charlton in 1344. (fn. 14) Associated with Charlton in
these and subsequent conveyances was Nicholas
Shorediche, who had married Charlton's daughter
Juette. Their heirs were to succeed, failing any issue
to Charlton. (fn. 15) In 1361 Southall manor was in the
hands of Sir Richard de Stanley and his wife Juette,
who was almost certainly the widow of Nicholas
Shorediche. At the same date members of a Bloxham
family were still renouncing some rights in the
manor. (fn. 16)
A grant of the manor of Southall, together with
the manor of Poplar and lands in Cambridgeshire, in
1368 by Sir William Pulteneye to Nicholas de
Louthe and 6 others (fn. 17) appears to have been a settlement of some kind, as in 1433 Robert and Margaret
Shorediche were still in possession of the manor. (fn. 18)
It was finally sold by Robert Shorediche in 1496 to
Edward Cheeseman (d. 1510). The estate was then
confirmed by Robert's son George Shorediche to
Robert, son of Edward Cheeseman. (fn. 19) A quarter part
of the manor appears to have been alienated, as in
1519 Elizabeth Godstone conveyed it without licence
to John Makin, (fn. 20) but in 1547 Robert Cheeseman died
holding both the manor of Southall and that of
Norwood, which together passed to his daughter
Anne and her husband Francis Chamberlain. (fn. 21)
Practically nothing is known of the earlier history
of the manor of NORWOOD. It is first mentioned
in 1481 when John Peke, Master of the London
Ironmongers' Company, held a court for Norwood.
In 1484 Thomas Grafton and others held a court
for the manor and when Edward Cheeseman died
in 1510 he was seised of the estate. (fn. 22) Robert Cheeseman held it at his death in 1547 when it passed with
Southall to Anne and Francis Chamberlain, and
thereafter, save on the death of Anne, Lady Dacre, (fn. 23)
it descended with Southall.
In 1547 both manors were held from Sir Edward
North and his manor of Hayes by Anne and Francis
Chamberlain. (fn. 24) Their son, Robert Chamberlain, sold
the manors in 1578 to Gregory Fiennes, Lord Dacre,
and his wife Anne. (fn. 25) Dacre died in 1594 and his
widow in the following year, when 38 a. of Norwood
were sold to Francis Awsiter of Southall by Anne's
executors. (fn. 26) In 1602 they sold the manor of Norwood to Awsiter, and two months later he bought
the manor of Southall from Gregory's sister and heir
Margaret, Lady Dacre, and her husband Sampson
Leonard. (fn. 27) Francis died in 1627 and was succeeded
by his son Richard Awsiter. The manor was then
said to be held of the manor of Dudley, Lord
North, in Harrow. (fn. 28) The Awsiter family held the
manors until 1754 when John Awsiter, who was in
financial difficulties, sold both of them to Agatha
Child of Osterley, the widow of Samuel Child. (fn. 29) In
1757 Agatha settled them on her son Francis Child, (fn. 30)
on whose death they passed to Robert Child. Thereafter the descent of both manors follows that of
Hayes manor, which passed in turn to the Earl of
Jersey and the families of Blencowe and Mills. (fn. 31)
The manor-house on Southall Green was built or
rebuilt by Richard Awsiter in 1587. The house of
this date is a timber-framed structure consisting of
a central hall range of two stories flanked by gabled
cross-wings of unequal width. Projecting from the
hall range on the entrance or west front are a twostoried porch and a two-storied bay window, both
surmounted by gables. The front is of close-studded
timbering, much restored. A north-east wing was
added to the house in the early 17th century and
part of its north front with twin gables and restored
decorative framing can still be recognized. This wing
was extended westward in the 18th century, the
extension being later faced with imitation timbering.
There are many 19th- and 20th-century alterations
to the house, particularly at the rear, but two original
chimneys have survived. The interior contains fireplaces and panelling of the late 16th and early 17th
centuries. (fn. 32) The house was not included in the sale
of the manors to Mrs. Child in 1754, but by 1816 it
was unoccupied and decaying. (fn. 33) By 1821 the house,
together with the remaining Awsiter estate, had been
bought by William Welch, (fn. 34) and in 1847-8 it was
extensively restored. (fn. 35) The house was again restored
in the 1920s when it had been acquired by the
Southall-Norwood U.D.C., (fn. 36) and in 1961 it was
occupied by the Public Health and Infant Welfare
departments of Southall Borough Council.
The manor-house of Norwood on Frogmore
Green is first mentioned in 1754. (fn. 37) It may have been
so styled because John Awsiter had retained the
Southall manor-house in his hands after the sale of
the manors. A building called the Manor Farmhouse is marked on the inclosure map on the west
side of Norwood Road, approximately on the site of
the present police station. (fn. 38) In 1821 the manor-house
was owned by the Earl of Jersey and was occupied by
Thomas Walton. (fn. 39) It is not mentioned again and had
been demolished by the mid 19th century. (fn. 40)
The manor of DORMAN'S WELL seems to
have developed in the late 16th and 17th centuries
from the house and estate of Gregory Fiennes, Lord
Dacre. It is said to have taken its name from the
medicinal chalybeate springs in the neighbourhood. (fn. 41)
A Ralph Dorman is mentioned in 1294 (fn. 42) but nothing
further is known of the family. In the early 16th
century the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed
some lands as part of Hayes manor from Thomas
Burbage, probably a member of the Cowley and
Hayes Park Hall family. (fn. 43) Among these was a house
called Dormans, later called Burnt House, together
with 21 a.; the archbishop claimed that the title deeds
went back to 1401-2. (fn. 44) In 1554, however, the land
belonging to this house was said to be in Botwell fields, (fn. 45) so it may have been unconnected with
Dorman's Well. At all events the large house called
Dorman's Well was in the possession of Robert
Cheeseman on his death in 1547. (fn. 46) Cheeseman left
the house or 'great hall' to Alice his relict as long as
she remained a widow. The house descended as the
manor of Southall, and became the seat of Lord and
Lady Dacre, who had an inclosed park surrounding
the house. (fn. 47) It was devised by Anne, Lady Dacre,
together with Norwood, to Sir Edward Fenner and
her other executors and when Fenner died in 1612
he was found to hold for his life the house called
Burnt House. (fn. 48) Thereafter Dorman's Well followed
the same descent as Norwood manor. In 1770 the
land comprising Dorman's Well Farm, amounting
to nearly 108 a., was principally arable. (fn. 49) By 1816 it
was described merely as a farm. (fn. 50) There is no indication that the estate was styled a manor before the late
18th century. (fn. 51) In the early 16th century it probably
formed the manor-house and demesne of Southall
manor, and perhaps adopted the style of a manor
after Southall manor-house, built by the Awsiters,
had become divorced from its manor. There was
a chapel, possibly a domestic one, at Dorman's Well
in 1547. (fn. 52)