Bagendon

At Domesday, 1086, Ulward was the Thane of Bagendon, there were 5 yeomen and 5 slaves. Until 1792 there were still 5 freemen holdings. The land was in long narrow Saxon style strips until the enclosure of 1792.

At Bagendon there was a mill, Trinity Mill, for hundreds of years. It is now in an outdoor museum. Bagendon was held after William the Conqueror by Hugh Lanse(Donkey). Gilbert of Thorold held North Cerney, Rendcombe and other places. They took sides with Robert of Normandy who was unsuccessfully challenged to be Williams successor. As a result they lost their lands in 1088 to Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of Gloucester who got North Cerney. (the word Cerney may be derived from Saxon CERNE which means stone.) it remained in their hands for centuries.

Bagendon was taken from Hugo L'Anse, same reason, and given to the Chandos family. Don't know what happened to sub lease. The Chandos were fighting knights and kept a fortified castle, Sudeley. Sir John Chandos, Captain, helped sail the army to fight at Agincourt. The Chandos line produced mostly daughters who married into the Brydges and Berkeley families.(during the wars of the Commonwealth, Cromwell's Roundheads destroyed the tombs of the Chandos family.)

Thomas Seymour, brother- in-law of Henry VIII, lived at Sudeley and was lord of Bagendon. His niece Elizabeth (ER I) stayed with him as a princess age 15. She returned as queen to visit in 1592. Thomas was beheaded in 1549 and the Marquess of Bath, John Thynne acquired the land. He also got the church land after the dissolution. Thynne lived at Longleat where he built that manor (1611) and also apparently built Woodmancote. His son John succeeded him in 1580. His daughter married the Lord Mayor of London Rowland Hayward.

The Thynnes had sufficient power to influence elections for seats in parliament.

The parish register for Bagendon dates back to 1630 and the leading families were Eycotts of the Moor (Woodmancote) and the Bowles of Bagendon. They were referred to as Mr. and Mrs. being thus small gentry.

In the 1740's William Pitt (prime minister) was lord of Bagendon and his son after. In 1792 with the enclosure act the half of the land of Bagendon that was common pasture land became enclosed for cultivation. This was the first change since Domesday. The manor rights were sold by Thynne to Pitt. The church was given to Jesus College, Oxford. The last rector appointed by the Thynnes was Rev. John Bythesea of Wick House in Wiltshire. Moorwood at Wooodmancote went to Squire Haines.

Reference

History of Bagendon - Rees 1932

Who visited GRO, Somerset house, British museum, Bodleian Library Oxford, Worcester diocese

"History of Bagendon"

"History of Bagendon" George Edward Rees, Bagendon 1932 published by Oxford Press

In this book the following references are made to the Eacott - Eycott family. The record of information ends with 1880.

Introduction: Bagendon is a parish 3 miles long and up to 2/3 of a mile wide. It has ancient earthworks from pre Roman times; an ancient inn at the crossroads with a gibbet and a record of a political duel; there is a Norman church; a woods dating back to king John. The parish had once been featured in an early act of Parliament. Some famous people held the lordship of Bagendon including a queen's husband and a royal gaoler.

Moorwood is an old demesne adjacent to Woodmancote. Bagendon manor house was known as the mansion. It was built by a member of the Thynne family who also owned Longleat. The Haines family refaced it in a Georgian style.

The Moor was another residence owned by another Haines at the same time. The house in 1930's was occupied by captain Robinson. At Domesday there were about a dozen households (60 persons) and in 1712 there were 13 houses and about 60 people. And as at Domesday about half the land was cultivated.

The first bishop of Worcester was appointed by 680 AD and his land included Bagendon. Before the Norman conquest the land was held by a thane called Ulward. Under this lord were five yeomen and five serfs. The land was divided equally into occupied and unoccupied property and held equally by the lord and the yeomen (churls). This arrangement lasted until the enclosure act of 1792.

At Domesday Hugo L'anse (Hugh Donkey) succeeded Ulward (Woolward). Gilbert from Hugo held Bagendon, North Cerney, and Rendcomb but not Eycot. In 1087, Hugo and Gilbert took sides with Robert of Normandy against king William. In 1088 William gave their lands to others. Robert Fitzhamon got

North Cerney and for centuries it belonged to the Earls of Gloucester. Bagendon was given to the Chandos family (Sudeley Castle) who lost it during the time of Henry VIII. The de Bagendons were subifudators (subleased) from the Chandos. Later the king gave the land to the company of weavers of Cirencester who in turn gave it to the priests of Cirencester about 1382. On November 18, 1382 the transfer of land was entered as an Act of Parliament at Westminster.This freed the men of the parish from military feudal duties.  The property in later times, after 1450 was owned by some of these families; Twynyho, Prelatte, Arnold, Tame, Nottingham and Morton. Some of these were transfer by marriage. Sir William of Nottingham held Moorwood and Woodmancote in the 1440's.

[Pg 59 reference] "In the north east corner of Bagendon church yard near the Norman Coped slab is a massive flat stone that once rested over Frances Ashmeads body on the north side of the church, the only interment there. She married John Ashmead Jr. and lived at the Bear (Inn). Becoming a widow she went to live at the Moor where children were born to her and Mr. Eycott. She died in 1776 and the "cockley" stone upon her grave is like that still quarried at Moorwood and Beech Pike. Tradition calls her Madam Ashmead and her burial all alone in the cold shadow of the church is in contrast to ...."

Sir John Thynne added to the two manor houses and rebuilt them as mansions after 1792. The patronage of the Thynnes was mostly to Wiltshire men. They appointed the priests from as far away as Wooton Bassett. The Tynnes owned Longleat, and via the Seymours were involved with Elizabethan royalty.

[Pg 78] "The old parchment registers (1630-1740) show how few labourers were hired; the names are chiefly of those who held the small tenements or the demesne lands. The demesne houses at Bagendon and Moorwood were occupied by small gentry and yeomen; in the early days the name Eycott belonged to Moorwood and Dowle to Bagendon; these names appear for many years in the records....For ten years before 1660 there were three rectors, the last appointed by Cromwell, who were Puritans. There is not a single entry to show these men baptized, married or buried anyone. But from then on the strength of the Puritan names is shown Job, Erasmus, Lydia, Jesse, Abigail, Rebecca, Abraham, Emmanuel. In these registers the designations of the chief inhabitants were Mr. and Mistress, kept for the Dowles and the Eycotts except for Madam Frances Ashmead, but her title was equivocal. The farmer is called a husbandman, and there were a cordwinder, a rough mason, and two clothyers, a daylabourer and a shepherd, an almsman and an almswoman, a poor batchelor and an ancient maid besides several parish clerks."

Other records include churchwardens book from 1776. At Jesus College, Oxford is a map of Bagendon. (an ordinance reproduction has been made). There is a reference in the Hockaday manuscript - an index of Gloucester parish registers, deed and enclosure awards of 1792 and the Bagendon enclosure award of 1792.

" Three parishes meet at the corner of Moorwood and at that point there is a no man's land not included in any of them. This curious fact is not an accident. There is an old Saxon custom of leaving some land for the sylvan gods."

Moorwood was bought by Nathaniel Haines son John about 1800. He enlarged the house and lived there. At the same time his uncle Edward redid the manor house. There are curious external resemblances between them.

In 1572 Thomas Eycott was one of the churchwardens. There were but 7 households so a sermon was given only once each quarter. There was no cup for the service only a chalice.

In 1713 William Huntington M.A. became the curate and before his induction Berkeley Eycott and William Chandler were sequestrators. In 1714 an attempt was made to exchange five acres of Berkeley Eycotts land in North Field with some church land held for the benefit of the repair of the ancient mill. Nothing was done until 1792. The ancient mill, Trinity Mill, was in existence at Domesday and the Woods at Moorwood were designated by king John in an act of Parliament to provide wood for the repair of the mill. The mill was owned by the chaplains of Cirencester Chantry.   Today the mill has been moved to an open air museum.

Speculatively, Bagendon and the crossroads of Perrots Brook may have been Beranbyrig mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle as the place where the Saxons fought the Britons in 556 AD. and lost.

[pg 164] Place Names

The Moor - the old name of the house now called Moorwood. Usually the abode of men of substance, Eycott, Agg, Small, Haines, Longworth, Robinson.

Moorwood - the most ancient wood mentioned in King John's reign and the last property disposed of by the Marquis of Bath.

North Field - an extensive waste on the north before the enclosure act.

Parson's Grove - given out of Moorwood for repair of the mill. When the monks left the parson got control.

Egg's Piece - belonged to Agg or Egg of North Cerney and had connections with the Vyner family.

Great Wood Piece - Moorwood.

The church book of 1778 shows no Eycotts renting seats.

Testators of Bagendon - from 1427 to 1500 the names were Nottingham, Turner, Prelatte, Tywnho, Tame

In 1525 the will of Thomas Foxley was witnessed by Syr Lawrence Warburton, Wyllyam Eycott and Haylyn Bradeley.

1500 -1600 Haines, tame, Hobbes,

1581 Richard Eycott of North Cerney his will,

1583 Thomas Ekott will,

1629 Robert Eacott will,

1717 Berkeley Eycott will,

1730 Thomas Eycott will,

1732 Thomas Eycott will, and other persons. last entry of an Eycott in the records.