| Mortimer West End | ||||||||||||
| This was once a tithing of the Parish of
Stratfield Mortimer which is in Berkshire. Mortimer West End was an
ecclesiastical parish in 1879 and became a civil parish in 1894. The
Manor of Stratfield included Mortimer West end and belonged to Ralf
Mortimer at the time of the Domesday Survey and remained with his family
until Edmund Mortimer died in 1425 in Ireland. Richard Duke of York was
his heir and on the accession of Edward, Richard's son and heir, it was
passed to the crown when he came to the throne and was granted to the
mother of the king, Cecily, Duchess of York. Henry the VIII as son and
heir of Elizabeth of York succeeded to one third of the property and in
1511 he obtained from the two daughters and co-heirs of Edward IV a
grant of the remainder, The manor formed a part of Jane Seymour's and Catherine Parr's dower and it stayed with the crown till 1559 when at this time Elizabeth the first was on the throne and granted it to Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon. Then it was sold on to William, Marquess of Winchester in 1564, and his descendent, John acquired Englefield and the manor followed the descent of Englefield. A famous loyalist in the siege of Basing House was John Paulet, and he was taken to the tower and imprisoned and sections of his land were sold, and though Mortimer West End was purchased in 1649 by Sir Thomas Jervoise it was given back to the Paulet family at the Restoration, The next two hundred years saw it descended by a female line to the Paulet Wrights and thence to the Benyons.
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