HULCOTT
Hulcott is a small parish in the Vale of Aylesbury,
lying on the Hertfordshire border, and containing
740¾ acres of land, (fn. 1) of which 36 acres are arable land,
595 acres permanent grass, and no woods. (fn. 2) The
population is almost entirely occupied in agriculture,
and as might be expected from the large proportion of
pasture to arable land, the farms are chiefly grazed by
dairy stock. The land lies between 200 ft. and 300 ft.
above the Ordnance datum; (fn. 3) the subsoil is Kimmeridge Clay and Portland Beds, (fn. 4) and the surface is clay.
The parish is well watered by the Thistle Brook,
and there is water in the village of Hulcott. No
main road passes through the parish, two branch
roads from the Aylesbury to Tring road being the
most important. The Aylesbury branch of the London and North-Western Railway passes through the
parish, and the nearest station is Marston Gate, on
the same line, 2 miles away. An Act of Parliament was obtained for the inclosure of the two
parishes of Bierton and Hulcott, and the award was
given on 15 July 1780. (fn. 5)
The village stands round a wide green, the church
being on the east side, and the manor house near it on
the south. There is a moated site to the east of the
church, with water in some parts of the moat. The
vicarage stands on the south of the village green, the
schools on the west, and scattered cottages on the
north-west. The manor house has been modernized,
but the staircase is of early 17th-century date, and
in the panels of its timber partitions are some wellpreserved contemporary paintings, with the stories of
Phaedra and Hercules.
Manor
There appears to be no record of the
manor of HULCOTT before the 13th
century. In 1254, however, it was held
of the honour of Wormegay, (fn. 6) which at that time was
held by William Bardolf, through his mother, Beatrix,
the heiress of William de Warenne, of Wormegay. (fn. 7)
His descendants in the direct line held the overlordship of Hulcott till the reign of Henry IV, (fn. 8) when
Thomas, Lord Bardolf, was attainted and forfeited his
lands. (fn. 9) His two daughters and heiresses recovered
many of his possessions, (fn. 10) but the overlordship of
Hulcott appears to have lapsed.
The manor was held by the family of Graunt
under the Bardolfs in the 13th century. In 1254
and 1284. William Graunt was lord of Hulcott, which
he held by charter of the king. (fn. 11) He lived till after
the year 1290, and was succeeded by his son Walter
Graunt. (fn. 12) In 1322 Walter made a settlement of the
manor, excepting certain tenements which had already
been dealt with, (fn. 13) by which he was to hold it for life,
with remainder to his son William and Clarice wife
of the latter. (fn. 14) William succeeded his father in the
manor, (fn. 15) and died presumably towards the close of
the reign of Edward III, leaving a daughter Joan as
his heir. (fn. 16) In 1369 (fn. 17) William Brys or Bryd and his
wife Joan made a settlement of half the manor, to be
held by William and Joan and their heirs, or by
default by the heirs of Joan. Hence it appears to
have been held in her right, and probably this Joan
was the daughter and heiress of William le Graunt.
Two years later, however, (fn. 18) William Bryd and his
wife sold the manor to William Brancingham, with
the homage and services of their tenants. In 1307 (fn. 19)
the son and heir of Joan daughter of William le
Graunt was called John de Bury. There may have
been a confusion in the names of Bury and Bryd, or
Joan may have been married
twice. The manor must have
been conveyed very shortly by
Brancingham to James Butler,
Earl of Ormond, who was
holding certainly as early as
1396, and died seised of it
in 1405. (fn. 20) His successor, the
fourth earl, together with John
Neel, clerk, granted the manor
of Hulcott to James Butler,
Earl of Wiltshire, son and
heir of the earl, and others,
and to the heirs of the body of the Earl of Wiltshire. (fn. 21) The Earl of Ormond died in 1452, (fn. 22) and
his son obtained licence to alienate the manor in
mortmain to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, (fn. 23)
of which John Neel was then
master. The hospital was
founded (fn. 24) by the sister of
Thomas Becket, and the Butlers were her descendants.
The master of the hospital (fn. 25)
and his successors were to find
two priests to pray daily for
the souls of the king and
queen, and many of the ancestors of the Earl of Wiltshire
and Ormond. Of these, his
father and mother were both
buried at the hospital. A confirmation of this grant of the manor was obtained from
Parliament in 1472. (fn. 26) In 1535 (fn. 27) the hospital held
the manor of Hulcott, which was then in lease to
Benedict Lee for sixty-one years. (fn. 28) After the Dissolution Henry VIII granted the reversion, and the rents
reserved on the lease, namely £14 13s, 4d., to Richard
Greenway, gentleman usher of the king's Chamber. (fn. 29)
He held the manor at his death in 1551–2, leaving
his son Anthony, a minor, as his heir. (fn. 30) Anthony
Greenway sold the manor in 1571 to John Fountain
and his son Thomas. (fn. 31) They held jointly till the
death of John, from which time Thomas held it
alone. (fn. 32) On his death in 1623 he was succeeded by
his nephew, another Thomas Fountain. (fn. 33) The manor
was again sold in 1639 (fn. 34) to William Elmes, Thomas
Elmes, and Thomas Wyan; the last-named seems to
have obtained seisin of the manor, and a quitclaim
was made in 1652 to him by Thomas and Mary
Fountain and Alice Fountain, widow. (fn. 35) Twenty
years later (fn. 36) Thomas Westerne and George Wyan
sold the manor to Timothy Neale and his wife Anne.
The Neales held the manor till 1741, when John
Neale and his wife, together with Thomas Hanbury
and William Neale, sold it to Sir John Fortescue
Aland, justice of Common Pleas. (fn. 37) In 1746, on
retiring from the bench, he was created Baron Fortescue of Credan in the peerage of Ireland. (fn. 38) He
died in the same year, and his son Dormer Fortescue
Aland, the second baron, inherited the manor, but died
unmarried in 1781. (fn. 39) By his will, dated 27 March
1779, he left it to Dame Anne Tynte to hold for
life, then to John George Parkhurst in fee-tail male, and then
in default to John George Parkhurst, also in fee-tail
male, with certain remainders and limitations. (fn. 40) Dame
Anne Tynte was the widow of Sir Charles Kemys
Tynte, the grandson of Grace Fortescue, a cousin of
the first Lord Fortescue of Credan. (fn. 41) Dormer Parkhurst was one of the executors of the first baron's
will, (fn. 42) and the devisees in remainder in the second
Lord Fortescue's will were probably his heirs. John
Parkhurst died during the lifetime of Dame Anne, (fn. 43)
and on her death in 1798 the manor of Hulcott
came into possession of John George Parkhurst. (fn. 44)
The latter had to pay an annuity of £300 to one
John Purling, (fn. 45) and he had already granted away his
reversionary interest in Hulcott to Robert Walpole to
secure the better payment of the annuity. (fn. 46) In 1794
the annuity was £1,350 in arrears, (fn. 47) and Parkhurst
had other debts. (fn. 48) Various arrangements were made,
and Walpole agreed to convey the manor to John
Purling. (fn. 49) Finally it was put up for sale by public
auction, (fn. 50) and was bought by John Baker, (fn. 51) who was
lord of the manor in 1813. (fn. 52) Hulcott was purchased
in the middle of the 19th century by Baron Lionel
de Rothschild, (fn. 53) and Mr. Leopold de Rothschild is
now lord of the manor.
Butler. Or a chief indented azure.
Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon. Azure a cross formy party gules and argent.
A mill is first mentioned at Hulcott in 1322. (fn. 54)
The Fountains in the reign of Queen Elizabeth held
a water-mill, (fn. 55) which is again mentioned while the
Neales held the manor. (fn. 56) In 1652 a windmill is
mentioned as well as the water-mill, and was quitclaimed with the manor to Thomas Wyan. (fn. 57)
William le Graunt claimed to hold the view of
frankpledge and the assize of bread and ale before
the justices in 1276, but it is not clear whether he
made his claim for Hulcott or only for land in Aylesbury. (fn. 58) He held a free fishery in 1281, which is
again mentioned in a document of 1672. (fn. 59)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS has a
chancel 22 ft. 9 in. by 12 ft. 6 in., nave
32 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 3 in. with north
porch, and south aisle 14 ft. wide. Over the west end
of the nave is a wooden belfry.
There are no details earlier than the 14th century,
but the wailing of the nave is probably older than this
date. The chancel has a marked deviation to the
north, and seems to have been rebuilt in the first half
of the 14th century, its north wall being set outside
the line of that of an older chancel, while its south
wall is in part on the older foundations. A south
transept chapel was added to the nave about 1330, and
this was thrown into a south aisle early in the 16th
century, its east and south walls being apparently
rebuilt in the process. A second bay was added to
the south arcade, but the western part of the south
wall of the nave was left in position, with a window
in it as it now appears.
The bell-turret is difficult to date, its timbers being
for the most part rough; it may be 15th-century
work, and is set rather irregularly across the west end
of the nave, resting on four large posts.
The east window has a 14th-century rear-arch
and jambs, with shafts and roughly cut heads serving as capitals; the tracery, of two cinquefoiled
lights with a sexfoil over, is an insertion of c. 1420.
On either side are plain image brackets, half-octagonal
in plan. The eastern part of the north wall is
blank, but near the west end is a narrow doorway
with chamfered jambs and segmental head, having
a lable with large dripstones carved as grotesque
beasts' heads. West of it is a small square-headed
light, perhaps coeval with it. In the south wall is
a piscina with a roughly trefoiled head, and to the
west of it a window of two cinquefoiled lights with
a quatrefoil over, good work of c. 1330, with moulded
inner and outer jambs and head. The rest of the
south wall is blank.
The chancel arch is of two orders chamfered on the
east with double ogee moulds on the west; the
responds are half-octagonal with moulded capitals and
bases c. 1340.
The nave has a large north window of late 15thcentury date, of three cinquefoiled lights, and a 14thcentury north doorway with a moulded label under a
plain stone porch which may be of 15th-century date.
It has a plain chamfered outer arch and a squareheaded window on the west.
The east bay of the south arcade has an obtusely
pointed arch of three chamfered orders and halfoctagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases,
while the second bay has plain splayed jambs without
capital or base and an arch of two chamfered orders. It
is roughly worked and of 16th-century date, the
eastern arch being of much better detail, c. 1330. To
the west of it a 14th-century window remains in the
wall, unglazed, and having lost its central mullion; its
tracery is a 15th-century insertion, of two cinquefoiled
lights with a quatrefoil over. The west window of
the nave is of three cinquefoiled lights, contemporary
with the north window. The south aisle has an east
window of three trefoiled lights under a straight-lined
four-centred head, and south of it is a small image
bracket. To the north in the angle of the aisle is
a blocked square-headed recess which seems to have
been a squint to the chancel. The south and west
windows of the aisle are of the same character as the
east window, and all are of the 16th century, as is the
rather clumsy trefoiled piscina recess at the south-east.
The south doorway seems to be 14th-century work
of the first half of the century, and has a continuous
casement moulding between two sunk chamfers with a
label, much patched with Roman cement.
The bell-turret is covered with modern weather boarding and has a short spire; in the belfry stage the beams
have a double hollow chamfer. All the wood fittings
of the church are modern, but in the south aisle is a
17th-century altar table; the corbel for the south end
of the rood-loft remains. The altar is modern with a
white marble front elaborately carved in relief with the
journey to Calvary.
In the south aisle is an altar tomb against the south
wall with a chamfered marble slab, evidently not in its
original position, and having indents of the brasses of a
man and his wife and one child, with four shields and
a marginal inscription.
The font at the west end of the south aisle is
modern, octagonal with quatrefoiled panels on the
bowl.
There are three bells, the treble blank, the second
apparently an alphabet bell with a blundered inscription, and the third of 1621 by James Keene of
Woodstock.
The plate consists of a chalice, paten, flagon, and almsdish, of plated ware and modern date.
The first book of the registers contains entries from
1539 to 1805, the second being the marriage register
1754–1810, and the third the baptisms and burials for
1806–12.
Advowson
In the 14th century the advowson
of the church of Hulcott belonged to
the Graunts, (fn. 60) and from the heirs of
William Graunt it probably passed with the manor to
James Butler, Earl of Ormond. His grandson James,
Earl of Wiltshire, granted it to the Hospital of St.
Thomas of Acon, (fn. 61) in whose hands it remained till
the dissolution of the hospital in 1538. (fn. 62) In that
year Benedict Lee presented to the rectory, by reason
of a grant from the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, (fn. 63)
but in the recital of two leases of the manor to Lee
the advowson is expressly excepted. (fn. 64) Still he may
have obtained a separate lease from the hospital.
Henry VIII granted the advowson of the rectory
to Richard Greenway, subject to the lease to Lee. (fn. 65)
After Lee's death (fn. 66) his widow Joan held the advowson, she and her second husband, Michael Harcourt,
presenting to the rectory in 1557. (fn. 67) The advowson
was sold, together with the manor, to John Fountain, (fn. 68)
and was held by the lords of the manor till 1741.
In 1666 (fn. 69) George Wyatt presented, presumably having acquired the right for one time. Timothy Neale
presented in 1679, (fn. 70) and John Neale owned the
advowson in 1719. (fn. 71) It was not sold to Sir John
Fortescue Aland with the manor, but continued with
the Neales, who, however, did not hold it for long,
since in 1755 John Marriot presented. (fn. 72) In 1768
the name of Edward Bangham occurs as patron, (fn. 73)
but he probably held the presentation for one time
only. In 1776 (fn. 74) Thomas Marriot and his wife Jane
sold the advowson to Stephen Langston, who presented to the rectory in 1779 and 1790. (fn. 75) The
Rev. Stephen Langston appears as the next patron in
1803. (fn. 76) Rebecca Langston, presumably his widow,
presented in 1817, (fn. 77) and in 1819 John Brereton
appears to have become possessed of the advowson,
and was holding it about 1847, (fn. 78) but before 1862 it
had passed to Dr. Kenny. (fn. 79) It was shortly afterwards
purchased by the Rothchilds, and Mr. Leopold de
Rothschild is now the patron of the living.
There are no endowed charities in this parish.