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Mottisfont Estate archaeological survey CKC Archaeology Page 22 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────── upkeep (ibid). This was doubtless an attempt to gain some relief from the decimations of the plague. In 1410 they were claiming relief from the pope again. This time they claimed that their lands had been decimated by attacks by the French. They further claimed that the buildings were in want of repair, and the fields had been left for the most part uncultivated as many of the serfs had died in the plague (Honess 1976, 8). This was probably exaggerated, but it shows that the priory felt that the plague and the subsequent disruptions had hit their establishment hard. How uch land had genuinely gone out of cultivation at this time is difficult to say. here is evidence to suggest that the plague may have caused a serious long-term decline in the priory's fortunes. In 1494 Henry VII was granted a papal bull to suppress the priory, and use its revenues to found a college. At the time there were only three canons in residence instead of eleven according to the original foundation. Henry appears to have changed his mind, and decided to annex it first to his chapel at Windsor, and then to the great chapel at Westminster Abbey. A new bull was issued in 1500 to this effect, but, surprisingly, the opportunity was never taken up. The priory survived until the Dissolution, when it had ten canons and two novices in residence, and a modest annual value of £164-12-6d (Cox 1903, 174). This episode probably demonstrates that Mottisfont Priory was still suffering from problems relating to the plagues and economic changes of the later 14th and 15th centuries. Although it is not recorded, it seems that a successful revival ensued rather than the planned suppression. The papal bull to suppress the priory was never implemented and at the Dissolution, there appears to e an almost full complement of canons again. Exactly what happened remains a mystery, but it would seem as if someone stepped in to save the priory, and revive its fortunes temporarily. At the Dissolution, some redress is made concerning the lack of mention of woodland in the c. 1340 rental. A report on the monastery states that it held 60 acres of 'Great woods' and 92 acres of coppice wood on the estate. These are estimated to be sold at £106-13-4d (Gasquet 1894, 271). This is only a fraction of the woodland on the estate today, but it can not be assumed that this was the full extent. Post-medieval written surveys discussed below give much smaller acreages of woodland than are shown on a contemporary map of 1724. Why the full extent is not ecorded then is a mystery, but it is possible the acreage given in 1536 was not the full extent of he medieval woodland. The 1536 survey possibly records only the timber and coppice ready for ale. .2 Post-medieval landscape fter the Dissolution the priory passed to William Sandys of the Vyne, who exchanged lands lsewhere with the king for the property. He converted the priory buildings into a mansion, an xercise than was apparently incomplete on his death in 1540. There are suggestions that the andys were active in consolidating their landholdings in the area. A book of deeds, many of the riginals now being lost, compiled at the Vyne records purchases in the area. In February 1540 andys bought lands in Mottisfont worth £200 from Stephen Hamon (HRO 13M63/15, folio 48). In 1584 the family bought part of the manor of Mounthyde (Hyde Farm) in Mottisfont ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────────
Mottisfont Estate archaeological survey CKC Archaeology Page 23 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────── from Nicholas Scope (HRO 13M63/11), with the other parts of that 'manor' being acquired early in the 17th century (HRO 13M63/15, folios 250-51). In 1591 Sir Walter Sandys did much to centralise their holdings in Mottisfont by buying the old manor of Mottisfont Treasury from John Willes and Richard Paice (Hollings et al 1911, 506). Mottisfont seems to have gradually supplanted the Vyne as the Sandys' main seat during the 16th and early 17th century (Currie 1994). The latter was sold in 1653, leaving Mottisfont as the headquarters of the family's Hampshire estates. The earliest major document concerning the Mottisfont estate is a survey of c. 1629. This is an imperfect document as it clearly does not list all the lands in the manor. It seems the demesne lands are not listed individually, and the fields named may be those put out to rent. The common Oakley Mead is mentioned, along with other field names that are still being used at the time of the tithe award. These include Hindes Orchard, Picked Mead, Munk Close, Great and Little Oakfield, South Field, and Drove Coppice, but also some field names that are neither identifiable later or at the time of the c. 1340 rental. One point of interest is that the survey records 'one new rubbed moorit ground' of nine acres (HRO 69M78/M4). This suggests that there was waste land r woodland in the manor at this time that was being brought into cultivation. Whether this was and that had been abandoned after the Black Death, or land that had never been cultivated, is ncertain. A further point of interest is that the survey states that the 'Mottesfount Copses' are employed for hedging stuff and faggotts for the Manor House'. he Hearth Tax returns for Mottisfont from 1665 seem to show that it was a populous manor. he mansion house was rated at 35 hearths, the next largest return being seven hearths for Doctor John Howorth', probably the Rectory. Next comes three houses with six hearths, the ajority of the other houses having one or two hearths. There are 32 properties, including the ill, paying tax on 110 hearths, and 37 properties untaxed (Hughes & White 1991), making a rand total of 69 houses in the parish, a figure not inconsistent with modern numbers outside the bviously modern developments around Dunbridge railway station. It should be noted that a umber of the smaller one hearth properties, possibly those within the roadside strip in pearywell, were abandoned in the early 20th century, often being replaced by more modern state cottages around Hatt Farm and the School. here follows a series of rentals of the estate throughout most of the later 17th and 18th enturies. The oldest dates from 1684 (HRO 13M63/39). This lists four freeholders, nine easeholders 17 copyholders and twelve 'rack renters', with an additional ten named persons in ount Hyde manor. Apart from the names of the tenants and their rents, it tells us little about the and management of the manor. The exception is William Berrier who pays his rent in kind, producing 1000 bricks, ten ridge tiles and ten quarters of lime. This indicates that the Mottisfont rickworks had already begun producing at this date. It also suggests that there were lime kilns on the site burning the produce of chalk pits to make lime. The extent of quarrying in the manor, visible through surviving quarry earthworks and pits, has clearly been extensive in the past, and this entry explains at least partly the local industries that the quarries were supplying. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────────
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