NICOLL, MAVISTLY AND COMPANY {SOLICITORS}

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/0630
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: NICOLL, MAVISTLY AND COMPANY {SOLICITORS}
Date(s)	: 1756-1850
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.08 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Nicoll, Mavistly and Company | solicitors

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1086 Stanwell Manor was held by William fitz Other and in the time of King Edward it had belonged to Azor. The estate recorded in Domesday Book probably comprises most of the ancient parish except the manor of West Bedfont, which was already separate. In 1796 there were 539 acres copyhold of the manor, nearly all lying east of Stanwellmoor. By 1844 the lord of the manor owned Hammonds farm, Merricks farm (later known as Southern farm), and Park farm (later Stanhope farm), as well as about 84 acres around his house and a few other small areas. The manorial rights, house, and lands were separated in 1933.

William fitz Other, the Domesday tenant, was constable of Windsor castle and his descendants took the name of Windsor. They held Stanwell of Windsor castle for over four centuries, together with lands principally in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. In 1485 Thomas Windsor left a widow, Elizabeth, who held Stanwell with her second husband Sir Robert Lytton. Thomas's son Andrew was summoned to parliament as Lord Windsor from 1529. The story of his loss of Stanwell has often been told: in spite of Windsor's previous favours from the Crown, Henry VIII compelled him in 1542 to surrender Stanwell in exchange for monastic lands in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. Sir Philip Hobby was made chief steward of the manor in 1545. Sir Thomas Paston was granted a 50-year lease during Edward VI's reign, and Edward Fitzgarret in 1588 secured a lease to run for 30 years from the end of Paston's term. In fact Fitzgarret was in possession when he died before 1590. His estate was much embarrassed and after litigation Stanwell passed to his son Garret subject to certain rent-charges to his daughter. In 1603 the freehold was granted to Sir Thomas Knyvett, who became Lord Knyvett in 1607. Knyvett and his wife both died in 1622, leaving their property to be shared between John Cary, the grandson of one of Knyvett's sisters, and Elizabeth Leigh, the granddaughter of another. Elizabeth married Sir Humphrey Tracy, and she and Cary held Stanwell jointly until her death. In 1678 the Knyvett estates were divided between Cary and Sir Francis Leigh, who was apparently Elizabeth's heir. Cary retained Stanwell, which he left to his great-niece Elizabeth Willoughby on condition that she married Lord Guildford; otherwise it was to pass to Lord Falkland. After Elizabeth's marriage to James Bertie she held the manor under a chancery decree until her death in 1715.

It then passed to Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland (d. 1730), who sold it in 1720 to John, Earl of Dunmore (d. 1752). His trustees sold it in 1754 to Sir John Gibbons. It descended in the Gibbons family with the baronetcy until 1933, when the manorial rights were sold to H. Scott Freeman, clerk of Staines urban district council, who still held them in 1956.

Source: 'Stanwell: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 36-41 (available online).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1756-1850, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, including extracts from court rolls, copies of wills, mortgages, letters and extracts from the Stanwell Enclosure Award, relating to the Manor of Stanwell and to other properties in Stanwell and Knowle Green (near Staines).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

ACC/0630-1: Premises in Stanwell and Staines.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received in 1957 (Acc/0630).

Allied Materials

Related material:

For other legal papers relating to the Manor of Stanwell, see reference ACC/0027.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
July to October 2009