SEACOURT
Seofecanwyrthe, Seovecurt (x cent.); Sevacoorde,
Sevecurt (xi cent.); Sewkeworth, Seuekwrth (xii cent.);
Sevecheworda, Sevecowrthe (xiii cent.); Sekworth,
Sewecourte (xvi cent.).
In 1831 Seacourt was an extra-parochial area of
900 acres. Its eastern boundary was the arm of the
Thames which divides Oxfordshire from Berkshire,
while on its other sides it adjoined the parishes of
Wytham and Cumnor. At the present day there is
a civil parish of Seacourt within the county borough
of Oxford and including part of this area. The remainder is included in the civil parish of Wytham.
For ecclesiastical purposes Seacourt is joined to
Wytham, though the inhabitants attend the church of
North Hinksey.
At present Seacourt is merely a piece of open land
sloping down to the river from Wytham Wood, with
two farms which house its entire population, but at
one time there was an important village here. In
1291 there was a church at Seacourt independent of
the church of Wytham, (fn. 1) and the manor was of considerable value. (fn. 2) The fact that in the 12th century
William de Seacourt granted the tithes of his two cornmills here to Godstow Nunnery, (fn. 3) and that at the
beginning of the next century his son Robert granted
to the same house the tithes of his two fulling-mills, (fn. 4)
show that the vill was of some size.
The traditions of the ancient importance of Seacourt
connect it with the existence on the opposite side of
the river of the sacred well of St. Margaret at Binsey.
The old highway from Eynsham to Binsey passed
through Seacourt instead of Botley and crossed the river
by a bridge, remains of which were still visible in the
time of Anthony à Wood. (fn. 5) In the next century Hearne
said that there was a 'hardway' still to be seen. (fn. 6)
The village stood a little to the south-west of Binsey,
and according to tradition had twenty-four inns to
accommodate the pilgrims who flocked there. (fn. 7) As
the importance of the well decreased, Seacourt must
have dwindled. In 1439 all the houses in the parish
except two were ruined and uninhabited. (fn. 8) In 1722
Hearne described it as no more than 'an old pleasant
Farmhouse, that is in Windsor parish, though thirty
miles from it; and so are two or three houses near
it, and all the ground almost quite to Wightham.' (fn. 9)
The supposed connexion with Windsor can only be
explained by the fact that the lords of the manor of
Seacourt owed castle ward at Windsor. (fn. 10) There is
now no building on the old site of the village. The
farms that exist are to the south of it.
The soil of Seacourt is stonebrash, sand and loam,
on a subsoil of Oxford Clay. Various grain crops are
raised.
Manor
King Edwy gave to Abingdon Abbey
in 955 Hinksey, Seacourt and Wytham,
amounting altogether to 20 hides. (fn. 11)
In the 10th century SEACOURT was a member of
Cumnor, (fn. 12) and it was still treated as a manor within
that manor at the time of the Domesday Survey. (fn. 13)
Before 1086 it was granted out to a military tenant, (fn. 14)
and it was always subsequently held by a lay lord,
the abbot retaining the overlordship. (fn. 15)
The tenant in the reign of Edward the Confessor
was a certain Norman, who held 5 hides here of the
abbey, and 'could not go with it to what lord he
wished.'In 1086 the manor was held by Anskil. (fn. 16)
In 1088 his men of Seacourt destroyed the watercourse of Botley and Anskil paid a fine of 10s. (fn. 17)
Later he excited the displeasure of William II, and
was thrown into prison, where he died. (fn. 18) His estates
were seized by the Crown, but the Abbot of
Abingdon managed to get them back into his own
hands by making a heavy payment. (fn. 19) William, the
son and heir of Anskil, seemed unlikely to recover
any share in them, but he made a fortunate marriage;
his wife was the sister of the king's steward and the
niece of the Abbot of Abingdon. By means of this
alliance and the influence of his mother Ansfrida
with Henry I he was able to obtain his estate in
Seacourt. (fn. 20)
William de Seacourt was in possession of the
manor during the early part of the 12th century. (fn. 21)
Robert, who succeeded him, (fn. 22) was probably his son.
William son and heir of Robert (fn. 23) was in possession
about 1165, when he made a grant to Godstow. (fn. 24) He
was succeeded by his son, another Robert, who made
a further grant to Godstow (fn. 25) and gave the church of
Seacourt to Studley Priory. (fn. 26) His son William was
called 'Sir William, lord of Seacourt,' (fn. 27) and was also
a benefactor to Studley. (fn. 28) He had a daughter Denise,
and a son William who succeeded him. (fn. 29) To the
younger William Roger Mulent, Bishop of Lichfield,
who was his uncle, leased an inn in Oxford about
1272 (fn. 30) ; he was living in 1297. (fn. 31)
With this William the history of the Seacourt
family comes to an end. Walter le Poer of Tackley
(co. Oxon.), whose interest is uncertain, was the next
owner of the manor. (fn. 32) In 1313 he granted it to Sir
William de Bereford and his son for their lives; they
were to pay yearly one halfpenny to him, £10 to
Roger le Croudere, and 20s. to Richard de Rycote. (fn. 33)
The reversion of the manor was subsequently granted
to Isabel de Vesci and her brother Henry de
Beaumont, Lord Beaumont. (fn. 34) It accounted for one
knight's fee (fn. 35) of the two for which the Seacourts had
held their lands (fn. 36) ; 20s. was due for castle ward at
the castle of Windsor. (fn. 37)
After the deaths of the younger Bereford and
Isabel de Vesci Henry Lord Beaumont became lord of
the manor, in which he had a grant of free warren in
1337. (fn. 38) He granted it for life to his son John and
Eleanor his wife, with reversion to their son Henry. (fn. 39)
Eleanor survived her husband
and married Richard Earl of
Arundel, but released her
right in Seacourt to Henry
Beaumont the younger before
she died. (fn. 40)
In 1383 John Beaumont,
son of Henry, (fn. 41) was in possession of the manor. (fn. 42) His son
Henry (fn. 43) sold it in 1409 to
William Wilcotes of Northleigh, Oxfordshire. (fn. 44) William
Wilcotes died three years later,
and his wife Elizabeth, who had a life interest in the
manor, married as her second husband John Blaket. (fn. 45)
Blaket was holding one and a half knights' fees in
Seacourt in 1428. (fn. 46) Roger le Poer, the heir of an
earlier lord of the manor, released all his right in it
to Elizabeth and Sir Robert Conyers in 1438. (fn. 47) In
1445 she died and Seacourt was inherited by the
representatives of her five daughters by William
Wilcotes. They were William Wykeham, son of
Elizabeth, the first daughter; Elizabeth Palmer and
Philippa Catesby, daughters of Philippa, the second
daughter; Richard Beaufoy, son of Margaret, the
third; Isabel Barton, herself the fourth daughter;
and Thomas Conyers, son and heir of Anne, the
fifth. (fn. 48) Two of these heirs must have died before
1469, when Thomas Conyers was holding a quarter
of the manor. (fn. 49) This he sold to Sir Richard
Harcourt (fn. 50) ; the other shares must have been purchased shortly afterwards by Sir Richard from William
Brown, to whom they had been conveyed between
1453 and 1455. (fn. 51) In 1486 Sir Richard Harcourt
died in possession of this manor and also of the manor
of Wytham (fn. 52) (q.v.). From this date the two manors
followed the same descent. (fn. 53) In 1546 Seacourt was
included in the manor of Wytham. (fn. 54)
Beaumont. Azure powdered with fleurs de lis or a lion or.
The land in Seacourt which belonged to Studley
Priory was conveyed in 1540 with the chapel to
Sir John Williams, (fn. 55) and was so joined to the manor.
Church and Advowson
The church of Seacourt was in
existence in the year 1200, when it
was granted by Robert de Seacourt
to the Prioress of Studley in Oxford
shire. (fn. 56) His descendant Sir William de Seacourt, in
a grant of land there to the priory, covenanted that if
any other land should fall into his hands by right
of villeinage it should be subject to tithe. (fn. 57)
In 1218 an agreement was made between the
Prioress of Studley and the Abbot of Abingdon with
regard to the tithes of Seacourt. (fn. 58) Its purport is not
very clear, (fn. 59) but no doubt it explains the pension of
3s. which was due from this church to the abbot in
1291, (fn. 60) and appears again in the sacristan's accounts
of 1396–7. (fn. 61) At some time before 1396 the church
must have been appropriated to the priory and a
vicarage ordained. (fn. 62) In 1439 the vicarage was pronounced to be 'without cure' on the ground that
the church had collapsed and that there were only
two inhabited houses. (fn. 63) In 1535 the church was
called 'a free chapel of the foundation of the lady of
Studley.' (fn. 64)
After the Dissolution the priory of Studley with
all its possessions in Seacourt was granted to John
Croke. (fn. 65) He had licence in 1540 to alienate the
chapel, with the tithes belonging to it, to Sir John
Williams. (fn. 66) At this date Seacourt had probably
dwindled to something near its present size, and
there was no more need for a church. At all events,
when the chantries were surveyed in 1546, the
'chapel' was stated to have been dissolved by Sir
John Williams. (fn. 67) It was described as a free chapel
founded within the manor to find a priest to sing
there for the ease of the inhabitants. The salary of
the incumbent was provided out of the tithes. (fn. 68)
It appears from the endorsement of a 13th-century
charter of William de Seacourt that the church was
dedicated to St. Mary. (fn. 69)
There do not appear to be any endowed charities
in this parish.