Early Centuries of Wickhamford Manor under the Abbey of Evesham (703-1540)
Three properties in Wickhamford passed into the possession of the Monastery in Evesham as part of a foundation gift in 703 and by the time of the Domesday Survey, in 1086, Wickhamford was one of the villages held by the Church in Evesham. An entry in the Church Chronicles in the time of Abbot Randulph, who died in 1229, mentions that he built granges in a number of villages, including Wickhamford. This was probably on the site of the present Manor. Abbot Roger Zatton, who died in 1435, oversaw much rebuilding of properties in the village and the erection of a tithe grange next to the existing fishpond. He later ordered the construction of a great grange in the same court.
Wickhamford as a Crown property (1540-1562)
With the Dissolution of the Monasteries, including Evesham in 1540, Henry VIII took possession of the Grange at Wickhamford. It remained under the Crown during the reigns Henry’s children, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
Throckmorton Family of Wickhamford Manor (1562-1594)
When Evesham Abbey owned Wickhamford Manor it was leased to the William Spooner in 1529, for a period of 51 years. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the property was, from 1540, in the hands of the Crown. Although the lease was confirmed by the Crown, Queen Elizabeth I sold the Manor to Thomas Throckmorton in 1562. Three years later, in 1565, he leased it back to William Spooner’s eldest son Thomas - his father had died in 1544.
The Throckmorton family have, for six centuries, been the owners of Coughton Court in Warwickshire. The short period of ownership of Wickhamford Manor by the members of the Throckmorton family ended in 1594. Thomas Throckmorton’s son, John, sold the Manor to Sir Samuel Sandys that year.
Tom Locke, February 2021