Sir Ralph II de Verney, Lord Mayor of London (2024)

FYI: Burial

• Per Sir Ralph's Will, he desired to be buried in St. Martin Pomeroy. Years later, St. Martin’s Pomeroy was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. Where the church one stood is now a burial ground of St. Olave's Jewry, London. It's improbable for any buried bodies within St. Martin Pomeroy were disinterred, which explains why Find A Grave shows his burial in St. Olave's Churchyard.

en.Wikisource: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 27. Verney:—

• "VERNEY, the name of an English family which settled firstof all at Fleetmarston in Buckinghamshire, then at Penley in Hertfordshire, and finally at Middle Claydon in Buckinghamshire. Its pedigree goes back to Ralph de Verney (fl. 1216–1223), but the fortunes of the family were made by Sir Ralph Verney (d. 1478), who was lord mayor of London in 1465 and M.P. for the city in 1472. His eldest son, Sir John Verney, married Margaret, heiress of Sir Robert Whittingham of Penley, and the fourth Sir Ralph Verney married in 1525 Elizabeth, one of the six co-heiresses of John, Lord Braye. Sir Edmund Verney of Penley (d. 1600) left two sons, half-brothers, Sir Francis Verney (1584–1615), who became a soldier of fortune and a buccaneer, and died at Messina in hospital in extreme poverty, and Sir Edmund Verney (1500–1642) of Middle Claydon, Bucks. Sir Edmund accompanied Prince Charles and Buckingham on the abortive mission to Madrid in 1623, and was knight-marshal to King Charles I. When the Civil War broke out the royal standard was entrusted to him at Nottingham, and while defending it he was slain at Edgehill in 1642. His eldest son, Sir Ralph Verney (1613–1696), 1st baronet, sat for Aylesbury in both the Short and the Long parliaments. He took the side of the parliament at the outset of the Civil War, but went abroad in 1643 rather than sign the Covenant, and his estates were sequestrated in 1646. He returned to England in 1653, and, though he refused to act against Cromwell, was subsequently reconciled to the Restoration government. His brother, Sir Edmund (1616–1649), had taken the king’s side, and was one of those murdered in cold blood by Cromwell’s soldiers at the sack of Drogheda. Sir Ralph Verney’s estates and honours descended to his son, Sir John (c. 1640–1717), who was created Viscount Fermanagh in the Irish peerage in 1703 and was father of Ralph Verney, created Earl Verney in 1743. Earl Verney’s sister, Margaret Verney, by her marriage with Sir Thomas Cave, linked the Verney family a second time with the barony of Braye, and the present Lord Braye’s surname is Verney-Cave. Earl Verney’s eldest son, John, predeceased him in 1737, leaving a posthumous daughter, Mary (1737–1810), who was created Baroness Fermanagh in 1792. His second son, Ralph, 2nd Earl Verney (c. 1712–1791), was a friend of Edmund Burke, who entered parliament as Verney’s nominee for Wendover. Earl Verney was an ardent supporter of the Whig interest, but received no reward from the party leaders. He rebuilt Claydon House with great splendour from the plans of John Adam, but, with his financial ventures, this brought him to bankruptcy. He died childless in March 1791 and his titles became extinct.
• "The present Verney family, of Claydon Hall, Buckinghamshire, is descended in the male line from Felix Calvert (1596–1674) of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire. The Right Hon. Sir Harry Verney, 2nd baronet (1801–1894), was the son of General Sir Harry Calvert, G.C.B., created a baronet in 1818. He assumed the name of Verney in compliance with the will of Mary Verney, Baroness Fermanagh, mentioned above. This lady died unmarried, leaving the paternal estates and the Verney portraits to her half-sister, Catherine Calvert (Mrs Wright), known thenceforward as Mrs Verney, on whose death in 1827 they came into the possession of her cousin, Sir Harry Calvert (Verney) . Sir Harry Verney entered the House of Commons for Buckingham in 1832, and remained a member of the House with two short intervals for fifty-two years. He married in 1835 Eliza, daughter of Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope, K.C.B., M.P., and secondly Frances Parthenope Nightingale, sister of Florence Nightingale.
• "Frances, Lady Verney, collected from the mass of papers preserved at Claydon House the Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Seventeenth Century, which contain a charming picture of the life and manners of the country gentlemen of that day. A second edition, abridged and corrected by Margaret M. Verney, appeared in 2 vols, in 1904. See also the Verney Papers edited for the Camden Society in 1853–1854.
• "The Verneys who hold the barony of Willoughby de Broke descend from the Rev. Robert Barnard, prebendary of Winchester, who married in 1793 the Hon. Louisa Verney Peyto, daughter of John Peyto, 14th Baron Willoughby de Broke, and co-heiress of her brother Henry, 16th baron. The Peytos inherited the Verney estates in Warwickshire through Margaret Greville (d. 1631), sister and heiress of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke (q.v.), who married Sir Richard Verney of Compton Murdac, Warwickshire. Robert John Barnard, 18th Baron Willoughby de Broke, who took in 1853 the surname of Verney in lieu of Barnard, was the grandfather of the 19th Lord Willoughby de Broke (Richard Greville Verney), who sat in the House of Commons from 1895 to 1900 for S.E. Warwickshire and succeeded to the title in 1902."

BOOKS

• Bruce, John, ed. 1853. Letters and Papers of the Verney Family Down to the End of the Year 1639. London: John Bowyer Nichols and Sons. Available at: Google Books, pp. xv-xvi (See Verney Pedigree, posted in Sources); pp. 12-13, 41:—
  • ...Ralph Verney was the son of Ralph Verney (son of Edward Verney), b. London, d. June 16, 1478, married Emme widow of ? Pyking, she had a son John Pyking. Children of Ralph and Emme Verney: 1. Ralph, d. July 06, 1528, married Eleanor Pole, 2. John, d. August 31, 1505, married Margaret Whittingham, 3. Margaret, married Edward Raleigh, 4. Beatrice, married Henry Danvers...."
    • (Complete relevant pages from this book are posted as a PDF in Sources.)
• Gibbs, Robert. 1888. Worthies of Buckinghamshire and Men of Note of that County. Aylesbury, England, UK. Google Books.
  • "VERNEY, JOHN DE.—The name Verney was probably derived from some place in Normandy. The Foresta de Verneio, or Bois de Vernai, in the vicinity of Bayeux, was a celebrated hunting ground of the Dukes of Normandy. The ruins of a ducal residence, anciently called Bur, and afterwards Bur le Roi, still stand conspicuous in the parish of Noran, in the immediate neighbourhood of the old forest of Vernai. The first trace of the family of Verney or Vernay in England occurs in the reign of King John. Daring the troubles which afflicted England for some time before the close of that monarch's career of despotism, Ralph de Verney and Robert de Verney were employed in the military service of the King against his barons. For those services Robert de Verney obtained a grant of certain lands in Gloucestershire, which had been held by Richard de Veyn, a tenant in capite. The services of Ralph de Verney obtained a somewhat similar reward, In 1216, he received a grant of the Manor of Rindewic, now Randwick, wear Stroad, in Gloucestershire, John de Verney succeeded to his father's lands at Wallingford in 1229; he also held properties at King’s Langley, Herts, and Fleet Marston, Aylesbury; he married Alice, one of the two daughters and co-heiress of Geoffrey Bellew, of Fleet Marston, which place thenceforward, for nearly two centuries, was the residence of the Verney family. A Ralph de Verney subsequently succeeded to the Fleet Marston property, which passed from one Ralph Verney to another for several generations,
  • "VERNEY, SIR RALPH, KNT.—He was Lord Mayor of London in 1465, and was subsequently knighted; he kept up his connection with Fleet Marston, and, amidst his civic dignities and acquired wealth, looked to that secluded, and, in the eyes of many persons, most uninteresting place, as still being in some degree his home. He was a member of the Mercer's Company, and resided in Ironmonger Lane, in the Ward of Cheap, in the parish of St. Martin, London. This distinguished merchant passed through a period of great public discontent with prudence aud good esteem; his political party was that of the White Rose—the party of progress, and the party then popular in London. He was active in promoting its objects, and when Edward IV., on the recovery of his throne in 1471, testified his thankfulness for the friendly zeal on his behalf of the good people of London, Ralph Verney was not forgotten, and he then received the honour of knighthood. He was elected one of the representatives of the Metropolis in that Parliament which gave a legislative sanction to the restored authority of the house of York, and in consideration of his good and gratuitous service Edward IV. made him several grants of forfeited lands, He married Emma Pyking, a widow, and died in 1478. He purchased the Middle Claydon Estate.
  • "VERNEY, SIR RALPH, KNT.—He was second son of Ralph, the Lord Mayor, and was also knighted. He married a lady of distinguished connection, related to the Royal Family, and occupying the position of one of the ladies in waiting in the Household of Queen Elizabeth of York. This marriage made a courtier of Sir Ralph, His wife, Eleanor Pole, was daughter of Sir Geoffrey Pole, K.G., and Edith his wife, who was a daughter of Oliver St. John, and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe. After the death of Oliver St. John, Margaret married, secondly, John, Duke of Somerset, and by that marriage was mother of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII. Lady Verney was also sister to Sir Richard Pole, chief gentleman of the bedchamber to Prince Arthur, and K.G., and who married the Lady Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV. This was the unhappy lady who, under the title of Countess of Salisbury, was barbarously sacrificed to the tyrannical jealousy of Henry VIII. Cardinal Pole was one of her sons by Sir Richard Pole, and was consequently a nephew of Lady Verney. The near affinity between Lady Verney and Henry VII. sufficiently accounts for the position of the former in the Queen's household. Her marriage with Sir Ralph Verney brought bis family into a similar household connection with the Royal family, and greatly influenced its subsequent fortunes, Sir Ralph died in 1528, and was buried at King’s Langley. A third Sir Ralph, described as of Middle Claydon, was Chamberlain to Princess Mary, and was in attendance on her when married to Louis XII. of France; he was Sheriff of Bucks and Beds in 1511 and 1524; died in 1525, and was buried at Ashridge, but removed to Aldbury; he had three wives, the first of whom was one of the daughters of John Inwardby, of Quainton. A fourth Sir Ralph, described as of Pendley, Herts, died in 1546, at the early age of 37 years; he was also buried at Ashridge, but removed to Aldbury; he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Edmund, Lord Bray."
• Sheahan, James Joseph. 1862. History and Topography of Buckinghamshire: Comprising a General Survey of the County, Preceded by an Epitome of the Early History of Great Britain. London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts. Available at: Google Books:—
  • “Upon a partition of the lands of the Cantilupes, in the reign of King Richard IL, this manor passed to William, Lord Zouche, who died in 1381. One of the Lord Zonche’s appears to have alienated the estate to Sir John Brockley, who sold it about the middle of the 15th century to SIR RALPH VERNEY, KNT., Alderman, and Lord Mayor of London in 1465, and M.P. for London in 1466. Sir Ralph died about 1478, and was buried in St. Mary’s Church, Ironmonger Lane, London ; and the manor and estate of Claydon has since then continued in the family, though the heirs of the blood of the Verneys are only to be traced in the female line, from the first Viscount Fermanagh. After this estate was purchased by Sir Ralph Verney, the farm or site of the manor and mansion-house was demised to Roger Giffard for 99 years. The present lord of Claydon is Sir Harry Verney, Bart, M.P.
  • “VERNEY FAMILY.—Sir Ralph Verney, the purchaser of Middle Claydon, appears to have been a descendant of John de Verney who, in the beginning of the 13th century, acquired the manor of Fleet Marston by his marriage with Alice, daughter and co-heir of Geoffrey de Bella Aqua of that place. Sir John Verney, Knt., eldest son of Sir Ralph, was Sheriff of Herts in 1499; Sir Ralph Verney, Knt., of Middle Claydon, was Chamberlain to the Princess Mary; and in 1511 and 1524, Sheriff of Bucks and Beds. His eldest son, Sir Ralph Verney, Knt., of Pendley and Middle Claydon, was Sheriff of Bucks and Beds in 1540, and died in 1546….”
• Verney, Frances Parthenope, and Sir Harry Verney. 1892. “Memoirs of the Verney Family.” Edited by John Bruce. The Edinburgh Review or Critical Journal for July–October 1892 176 (362): 411–30. Babel.HathiTrust.org:—
  • p.411-12 – “Claydon House, indeed, has been long the property and the home of the Verneys, ‘who owned the manor of Claydon for fourteen generations, beginning with Sir Ralph, Lord‘Mayor of London in 1465, and M.P. for London in 1472, and going down to Mary Verney, created Baroness Fer‘ managh, who died unmarried in 1810....'”
• “To turn from the Verneys of today to those of medieval England, we find the first trace of them in the reign of King John, ‘the name itself being probably derived from Normandy, the Bois de Vernay in the vicinity of Bayeux being ‘a celebrated hunting ground of the Dukes of Normandy.’ In those early days the family had no connexion with Buckinghamshire. It was not till 1229 that John de Vernay became possessed of lands at Fleet Marston, near Aylesbury. We go on for a century and half until we come to the man who may perhaps best be regarded as the founder of the family of Verney. This is SIR RALPH VERNEY, who may or may not have been born in London, but who at any rate was, above all, a successful merchant. He served the office of Lord Mayor in 1465, espoused the Yorkist cause, and, after the battle of Tewkesbury, was one of the twelve citizens knighted by Edward IV. For his ‘good and gratuitous service’ the king granted him various forfeited lands in Buckinghamshire, whilst he himself also purchased the manor and advowson of Middle Claydon, to which his descendants added other lands. The property was leased for a hundred years to the Giffards. The descendants of Sir Ralph made Penley Hall, in Herts, their home. It was not until the year 1620 that Claydon came again into the actual possession of the Verneys….”
• Wedgwood, Josiah C., and Anne D. Holt. 1936. The History of Parliament: Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439-1509. London: His Majestiy's Stationery Office. Available at: Archive.org, pp. 906-7:—
  • VERNEY, (Sir) RALPH (1420-78); of London, mercer; of Claydon, Bucks. M.P. London 1459, 1469, 1472-5. Yorkist.
  • S. and h. of Ralph Verney, serjeant-at-mace (d. 1446/7); m. (I) Eleanor da. of Geoffrey Pole, and (2) Emma, widow of Pickering. His sons were Sir John Verney M.P. (1450-1505) and Sir Ralph.
    • (Lipscombe, Bucks., i. 378.)
  • £10 was owing to Ralph Verney and John Derby, citizens and mercers of London 1447. Verney entered into a bond for £200, being the patrimony of the orphan Katherine da. of John Goodson, 1450.
    • (Letter Book K. 329.)
  • He went bail for the Earl of Salisbury’s men, in prison after the 1454 riot:
    • (Jor. 5, fo. 152.)
  • was auditor of London 1453-5, 1464-5; sheriff 1456-7; alderman, Dec. 1457 till death; one of those sent to Northampton to oppose the Lancastrian demand for help from the city, 1460;
    • (Jor. 6, fo. 196d; Sharpe, London & the Kingdom, I, 297-8.)
  • was master of the mercer’s Company, 1459, 1464, 1471, 1476; mayor of London 1465-6; elector, 1467, 1478; pardoned, always of London and not yet of Claydon, Aug. 1455, Jan 1457, Feb. 1462, July 1468; an exor. of the will of Geoffrey Boleyn (q.v.), 1463; on London comns. 1466-7. He had a grant in Aug. 1467 of two messuages and 64 acres in Aylesbury and three messuages in 150 acres in Barton, Bucks., forfeited by the attainder of William Wandesford; then or soon after he must have bought Claydon.
  • On the common council deputation to take a gift and loan to Edward IV, Apr. 1470.
    • (Jor. 7, fo. 213.)
  • When, on 12 Apr. 1471, Sir Thomas Cook, acting mayor, fled, Ralph Verney became acting major. The alderman of Urswick, the recorder, opened the gates to Edward IV,
    • (Scofield, Edward, IV, i. 575.)
  • and Verney was kntd., 21 May 1471, by a grateful King. J.P. Bucks., 8 Aug. 1471 to Nov. 1474. And in Feb 1472 Verney and Richard Fowler (q.v.), as trustees, bought from the King the reversion on the death of Sir Thomas Montgomery (q.v.) of Salden, Dunton, etc., in Bucks. (Whittingham’s forfeited lands), and settled the same on Verney and his heirs. Next month he and John, his son and Margaret John’s wife—she being da. and h. of Sir Robert Whittingham (q.v.)—were granted all Whittingham’s forfeited lands. All these grants were specially exempted from resumption by the Parlt. in which Verney sat, 1473.
    • (Rot. Parl. vi. pp. 82, 90.)
  • Sir Ralph d. 10 June 1478, when John, aged 28, was his s. and h.; will, dat. 11 June, pr. 25 June 1478.
    • (To be bur. in St. Martin’s Pomeroy in Ironmonger Lane. Bequests to w. Emme; das. Dame Margaret Ralegh and Beatrice Danvers have had their preferment on their marriage but bequests to sons John and Rauf. Masses for self, parents and special fried, Thomas Fauconer, Philip Fauconer, and John Hertwell. Bequests to friars at Aylesbury and Northampton to pray for soul of Aunt dame Alice Reynes and her husband, john and Christmasse (q.v.). 100 marks to “cousin” Jane Ralegh da. of Sir Edward Ralegh and Margaret. 100 marks to John Pyking his wife’s son. Bequests to his “true lover” John Brown, al. of Londond and to Thomas Botelier, supervisor of his will. Exors.:—Emme his well[-]beloved wife , john and Rauf his sons. Test. Vetust., 350.)
      • 'FYI': As mentioned above, Sir Ralph desired to be buried in St. Martin’s Pomeroy in Ironmonger Lane. Find A Grave has him buried in St. Olave's Churchyard London. Understanding some history is useful for the seeming discrepancy
      • St Martin Pomeroy was a parish church that was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and it was not rebuilt. Instead, the parish was united with that of St Olave Jewry and the site of St. Martin Pomeroy church was retained as a burial ground.
• Whyman, Susan E. 1999. “Sir Ralph Verney: Networks of a Country Gentleman—The Gifts of Venison.” In Sociability and Power in Late Stuart England: The Cultural Worlds of the Verneys 1660-1720, 14–37. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press. Available at: Google Books:—
  • “As Sir Ralph Verney lay dying in his country house at Middle Claydon, he appeared cheerful and comfortable. For the past four out of five years, he had spent eight or nine months in London. Yet he felt ‘more natural’ in the country, and he abhorred ‘court compliment’ and flattery. Still, he understood the importance of sociability and his hospitality was legendary. “Tis a happiness to keep a fair correspondence with all your neighbours’, he declared, and longed for peaceful relationships. In politics and religion, above all, he sought moderation and hated extremes. Unwilling to firmly back either king or Parliament during the Civil War, he avoided partisan politics. His greatest enemy called him ‘a trimmer’’ Yet Sir Ralph’s trimming grew out of constancy not change, strength not weakness, and he commanded immense respect in the county. (See plate 5)
  • “Sir Ralph had deep feelings about his family’s importance, and it was he who started saving every scrap of correspondence including the 638 letters he wrote and the 1,184 he received that have been used in this study. He also amassed a huge collection of books and pamphlets, especially religious tracts. His own Anglicanism was tinged with a Puritanical piety and was expressed in strict outward observance. He required the same high standards of worship, personal conduct, and cleanliness from those around him. Thus, he refused to hire a gardener until he discovered whether he was ‘married or popish or phanatical or takes tobacco.” Since he controlled the family purse, servants, family, and friends learned to conform to his expectations.
  • “Sir Ralph had inherited an estate worth almost £2,000, but his debts and expenses were almost £10,000. Rebuilding the Verney estate became a lifelong obsession, for he saw the family as ‘an historical entity consisting of a long line of ancestors, as well as living members of the family and future descendants not yet born’? Like other elite patriarchs who had survived the Civil War, he put his faith in dynastic continuity and male primogeniture. Sir Ralph was proud that his family had been in Buckinghamshire since the thirteenth century and had purchased Middle Claydon by the 1460s. He knew that his family also had ancient ties to the city. Sir Ralph Verney, a knight and mercer, had been alderman and Lord Mayor of London in the mid-1460s. The Lord Mayor’s descendants later became courtiers through political and marital alliances. In keeping with this tradition, Sir Edmund Verney (1590-1642), John Verney’s grandfather, was a member of Charles I’s household and was knighted in 1611. In 1620, he made Claydon House his seat. Seventeenth-century drawings show an H-shaped brick building that probably dated from Tudor times (see plate 7). It was thirteen miles north-west of the country town of Aylesbury, but the London road passed close by the neighbouring parish of East Claydon.”

Books with Brief Bio Bits RE Sir Ralph Verney

• Burke, Sir Bernard. 1883. “Verney—Viscounts Fermanagh and Earls Verney.” In A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, 554. London: Harrison. Google Books.
• Bruce, John, ed. 1853. Letters and Papers of the Verney Family Down to the End of the Year 1639. London: John Bowyer Nichols and Sons. Google Books. See Verney Pedigree pp. xv-xvi, and bio. pp. 12-13.
• MacNamara, F. A. 1895. “Memorials of the Danvers Family.” In The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Archæological Journal, edited by Rev P. H. Ditchfield, 54–56. Reading, Berkshire, England, UK: Charles Slaughter. Available at: Google Books.

Sir Ralph Verney, Mercer

• Sheriff 1456-7. Mayor 1465-6. Knighted 21 May 1471; M.P. London 1459, 1469, 1472; Auditor 1453-5, 1464-5; Master Mercers 1459, 1464, 1471, 1476. Died Jun 1478; Will (PCC 1 Logge) 11 Jun; proved 25 Jun 1478.
• Ancestor of the Verneys of Claydon (Baronets and Earls Verney) and of the present Lord Braye.
• Source: The Aldermen of the City of London

Alternate birth Claydon, Bucks, England

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/VERNEY.htm

Ralph VERNEY (Lord Mayor of London)
Born: ABT 1410, Fleet Marston, Buckinghamshire, England
Died: 11 Jun 1478
Buried: 25 Jun 1478, St. Martin Pomeroy, London, Middlesex, England
Father: Ralph VERNEY
Mother: ¿?
Married: Emma PYKING ABT 1435, Fleet Marston, Buckinghamshire, England

Children:
1. Margaret VERNEY
2. Beatrice VERNEY
3. John VERNEY (Sir Knight)
4. Ralph VERNEY

Notes: Became the Mayor of London.

The king in 1472, in consideration of the good services of Ralph Verney, removed the attainder upon Sir Robert Whittingham, whose daughter and heir Margaret had married Ralph Verney's son John, whereupon Margaret succeeded to Pendley, subject to the life-interest of Thomas Montgomery. John Verney died seised of the manor in right of Margaret, who survived him, in 1505, and was succeeded by his son Ralph Verney, who was subsequently knighted. Sir Ralph died in 1525, leaving his son Ralph a minor. He died in l556, and the manor came to his son Edmund, a minor at the time of his father's death. The wardship and marriage of Edmund and an annuity from the manor were granted in l547 to Sir Edmund Peckham. Edmund Verney seems to have fallen into disgrace under Queen Mary, and was in 1553 ordered to keep to his house during the Queen's pleasure. He died in 1558, without leaving issue, and the manor came to his third brother, Edmund Verney, jun., who died seised of it in 1600, leaving his son Francis a minor. Edmund's second wife Mary survived him, and having persuaded her husband before his death to divide the inheritance between her son Edmund and her stepson Francis, an Act of Parliament was obtained to ratify this, and on the attainment of his majority Sir Francis tried to obtain a reversal of it. He failed to do so, however, and after selling his inheritance he went abroad, and dissipated it. He was an associate of Richard Giffard, captain of a pirate fleet, and died at the Hospital of St. Mary of Pity at Messina in 1615. The manor of Pendley had been sold in 1606/7 by Mary Verney and Sir Francis and Ursula his wife to Richard Anderson, from whom the manor descended in the same way as Wiggington (q.v.)

In 1506, it was stated that about eighty years before, Pendley was 'a great town, whereof part lay in the parish of Tring and part in the parish of Aldbury. The part in the parish of Tring was held of the Archbishop of Canterbury as of his manor of Tring and the part in the parish of Aldbury of the manor of Aldbury, At that time there was no great mansion-house there, but there were in the town above thirteen plows besides divers handicraft men, as tailors, shoemakers and cardmakers with divers others. The town was afterwards cast down and laid to pasture by Sir Robert Whittingham, who built the said place at the west end there as the town sometimes stood, for the town was in the east and south part of the same place'. From further proceedings it seems that Sir Robert Whittingham also ploughed up a common way and in 1491/2 vestiges of the hedges still remained.