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The Lords of

Stoborough

Ancient Crown Manor of

Stoborough, Wareham, Dorsetshire,

Isle of Purbeck

Crown Manor of Stoborough or Stowbergh - Est. 1086 The Liberty and Manor of Stoborough is historically tied to Wareham Priory. At the Domesday survey “ Beastewelle” was held in demesne by the Count/Earl of Moreton or Mortain, and it was taxed for three hides In after times it formed part of a manor called the manor of By-est-wall and Stoborough. Citation - History of Dorset by Hutchins 1860 Stoborough/Stowbergh/Stanberge is a settlement listed in Domesday Book and held by Count Mortain, in the hundred of Hasler and the county of Dorset. Domesday also had a recorded population of 3 households in 1086. Citation Anciently, it is written that Count Robert of Mortain himself had a mill in Stanberge/Stowbergh [Stoborough in Arne] A Liberty is an English territorial unit originating in the Middle Ages, traditionally defined as an area in which regalian right was revoked and where the land was held by a lord (i.e. an area in which rights reserved to the king had been devolved into private hands i.e (Similar to a Fief held direct from the Crown). The Crown Manor of Stoborough with its Liberties was acquired by John Scott, third Earl of Eldon, who then passed it to his second son Sir Ernest Stowell Scott KCMG who died in 1953. The Lordship of Stoborough was offered for sale by this branch of the family in 2001 - David Eldon Scott, a great nephew of Sir Ernest still lives at Encombe House, Corfe Castle at the time of the sale. Stoborough is a Liberty in the English county of Dorset. It is situated immediately to the south of the town of Wareham, and separated from it by the River Frome. Stoborough forms part of the civil parish of Arne, within the Isle of Purbeck local government district. Stoborough Manor historically includes lakes, the river Frome, viking ruins, views of Wareham Castle, Heaths, Meadows, Farms, Yacht Clubs, and more. Stoborough Manor historically includes lakes, the river Frome, viking ruins, views of Wareham Castle, Heaths, Meadows, Farms, Yacht Clubs, and more. The area was used as a Merchant port during Roman times. In the 18th Century Stoborough Liberty was a major smuggling route for contraband. There has been an Inn on the site for over 400 years, most famously Oliver Cromwell's troops were billeted here during the siege of Corfe Castle in 1643. The Ancient Crown Liberty and Manor of Stoburgh or Stoborough was acquired in 2021 by Counselor George Sherwood Mentz, JD MBA, Seigneur of the Fief Blondel who is a direct descendant of: Sir Thomas Grey, lst Marquess of Dorset, King Edward the Confessor, and King Aethelred of Wessex. The Stoborough name historically has been spelled several ways: Stoborough, Stoburgh, Stokeborough, Stowborough, Stowbergh, and Stowbarowe. Stoborough Manor, Dorsetshire History Stoborough is a liberty, in the parish of the Holy Trinity, borough of Wareham, union of Wareham and Purbeck, Wareham division of Dorset, ¾ of a mile (S.) from Wareham. It was historically governed by a mayor, chosen at Michaelmas; appointed by a jury at the manor court. Anciently, Stoborough belonged to the Count of Mortain who was Robert, Earl of Cornwall a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of King William the Conqueror. Mortain was Tenant-in-Chief 1086 demesne estates at the Doomsday Books. Around 1300 The Earls of March would have been lords paramount. William de Stokes held the manors of Stoke, St. Andrew’s, Bestwall and Stowbergh of Robert FitzPayne by knight’s service. Stoke and Stoborough/Biestwall Manors were owned by John Chauntmarle in the early 1400s. Afterwards, around 1439, a partition seems to have been made between the co-heirs of Stoke and Biestwall/Stoborough and the descendants and representatives of the Chauntmarle daughters and the male spouse Jurdons/Jurdaine who were the Trenchards of Litchett.The manor of Biestwall and Stobugh then became the portion of the Trenchards of Litchett. Later the manor was forfeited by the Trenchards to the Crown. The Crown Manor and Liberty was granted by King Richard in Patent Rolls in 1484 to William Claxton, Esquire, and then became a Crown Manor again where it was later granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1591. Sir William Pitt was then Lord of Stoborough. Pitt was a notable man for the Wareham area. His father John served Elizabeth as her Clerk of the Exchequer until his death in 1602. Pitt became comptroller of the household of James I and sat as MP for Wareham from 1614. He acquired a number of estates as well as Stoborough, his main residence being Stratfield Saye in Hampshire. His descendants include William Pitt, the Elder, and William Pitt the younger, both, of course, eminent Prime Ministers. Stoborough however did not descend to this cadet branch. On Sir William’s death in 1636 the Manor passed to his eldest son Edward. He sat in Parliament for Poole in 1624 and was a teller in the Exchequer. His life is most notable for its end. During the early period of the Civil War in 1643 he was seized by Parliamentary forces at Stratfield Saye and imprisoned at Windsor castle. Although he pleaded neutrality, his eldest son joined the Royalist army. Pitt was arrested and his mansion ransacked. His son died a few months later as did both he and his wife. His estate was eventually passed to his younger son who was an infant at the time of his father’s death. The manor remained in the hands of the Pitt family until sold in 1850 by George, Lord Rivers, to the Trustees of the Earl of Eldon, John Scott. It remained in the hands of the Earl of Eldon’s Scott family until the beginning of the present century. Court Leet, hereditiments, honors, and liberties have passed down to the present day owners of this legendary manor in the region of Wessex. In 1849 a valuation was conducted of Lord Rivers’ estates, ‘comprising the manors of Arne, Slepe and Stoborough, and farms called Worgret and Westport’, prior to their sale (D/SEN/16/5/49). The Boundaries of Manor and Liberty of Stoborough in the 1832 Administrative Map of Dorset shows the Territory of Stoborough. • The Northern Border of Stoberough is Winfrith with the Frome River as Border. • The Western and Northwestern border is Wareham’s ancient Southeastern walls. This is the reason that Stoborough is referred to in the Domeday records as By the East Wall of Wareham. • West of Stoborough is the Hundredsbarrow Hundred. • South and South West boarders of Stoborough is the Hasilor or Hasler Hundred. • Hasilor or Hasler Hundred contains the parishes of: Arne, Church Knowle, East Holme, Kimmeridge, Steeple and Tyneham. • Wareham is still a borough. In some ancient records, Stoborough is part of the Wareham Borough. • The Winfrith Hundred contains the following: Coombe Keynes East Lulwort, East Stoke, Moreton (part), Owermoigne (later a separate liberty), Poxwell, Warmwell, Watercombe (from 1858), Winfrith, Newburgh, Woodsford Stowborough, A great part of Stowborough is in the parish of the Holy Trinity in Wareham, but the western portion of it is in the parish of East Stoke. This seems to be the “Stanberge” of Domesday, a clerical error for Stauberge, and it afterwards formed part of a manor styled the manor of Bestwall and Stoborough. 1733-1734 Court Leet Proceedings. These are held at the County Record Office under reference D 131/M3. The proceedings are legible. They include the appointment of Tithingmen of Stoborough and also Constables, Breadweighers, Carniters, Leathersealers and Hayward and record the names of jurors. Conveyance: This Lordship of Stoborough in the administrative county of Dorset was granted, All and Singular, in Fee Simple to the Seigneur of Fief Blondel, Commissioner George Sherwood Mentz, Esquire. Further, George Mentz is the Lord of Stoborough Manor and Lord of Ennerdale Manor. The Vendors conveyed with the Lordship all: courts leet, courts baron, and other courts, view of frankpledge and all veiw of frankpledge doth belong, mills, mulctures, customs, tolls duties, reliefs, heriots, fines, amerciaments, waifs, strays, chief rents, quitrents, rents charges, rents seek, rents of assize, fee farm rents, services, royalties, jurisdictions, franchises, liberties, privileges and advantages, rights and emoluments to the manor appertaining or reputed to appertain at the time of conveyances. No covenants implied. The specifications of the grant include the rights and manorial incidents including all pastures, feedings, waste warrens commons mines minerals quarries, furzes trees woods underwoods coppices and the ground and soil thereof fishing fowlings, court leets courts baron and other courts view of frankpledge, and all that to view of frankpledge doth belong mills milctures customs tolls duties reliefs heriots fines rents charge seck rents of assize fee farm rents markets fairs services royalties jurisdictions and franchise liberties privileges easements profits advantages rights emoluments and hereditaments. The Court Baron and Court Leet of Stoborough Manor Borough of Wareham is one of the few that may have special legal exemptions. Citation The Administration of Justice Act 1977 exempted some ancient court leets such as the courts of Stoborough which is anciently part of the Borough of Wareham See Citation Stoborough formed part of the Borough of Wareham See Citation See: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/ place/21096 In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Stoborough like this: STOBOROUGH, a liberty in Wareham-Holy Trinity parish, Dorset; within Wareham borough. Real property, £1,030. Pop., 346. Houses, 81. In sum, the real name of Stoborough is Stoborough-Wareham as the historians claim that Wareham had its origins in Stoborough. Read about the Court Leet of Wareham In the book, A Topographical Dictionary of England: Comprising the Several Counties By Samuel Lewis, Stoborough is describled as: STOBOROUGH, a liberty, in the parish of Holy Trinity, borough of WAREHAM, Wareham Division of the county of DORSET and a few blocks from Wareham on the other side of the Frome River. Citation Jurassic Coast Stoborough Manor and the Isle of Purbeck are located within the boundaries of the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site putting it alongside the likes of the Taj Mahal, Machu Piccu and the Grand Canyon. Stoborough is an ancient Royal Liberty located in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. As part of the Purbeck peninsula, it falls within the Jurassic Coast's designated area, which spans from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset. The Jurassic Coast is renowned for its geological significance, featuring rocks dating back to the Jurassic period and showcasing a wealth of fossils and unique geological formations which is the only natural World Heritage Site in England.

Learn More About the Crown Manor

Stoborough was held by Count Mortain during the Domesday Surveys. The Stoborough Crown Manor & Lordship was Granted by the Crown with full rights in 1484. The later lords were Lord Rivers, and then the Earls of Eldon who sold the manor and court leet to private owners now held by The Seigneur of Fief Blondel.

The Lords of the Manor and Liberty of Stoborough trace an unbroken lineage of ownership and stewardship from the Norman Conquest to the present day. The first lord, Count Robert of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall and half-brother of William the Conqueror, held Stoborough—then known as Stanberge or Stowbergh—in demesne as Tenant-in-Chief around 1086, as recorded in the Domesday Book. Around 1300, William de Stokes held the manors of Stoke, Bestwall, and Stoborough under Robert FitzPayne by knight’s service, beneath the overlordship of the Earls of March. In the early 1400s, John Chauntmarle, one of Dorset’s medieval gentry, united Stoke and Stoborough under his lordship. By about 1439, the manor passed by inheritance to the Trenchards of Lytchett through the Chauntmarle daughters and their husbands, the Jurdons or Jurdaine family, though it was later forfeited to the Crown. In 1484, King Richard III granted “the Crown Manor and Liberty of Stoborough” to William Claxton, Esquire, but after his tenure, the estate reverted to Crown possession during the late 15th and 16th centuries. The manor was granted again in 1591 by Queen Elizabeth I to Sir William Pitt, Clerk of the Exchequer and later Comptroller of the Household to King James I, who also owned Stratfield Saye. Upon his death in 1636, his son Edward Pitt inherited the estate; he was an MP for Poole and Teller of the Exchequer but was imprisoned during the English Civil War and died in 1643. His heirs, the Pitt family—later ennobled as the Lords Rivers of Stratfield Saye—retained the manor for nearly two centuries, from 1643 to 1850. George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers, owned Stoborough, Arne, and Slepe, and sold the estate in 1850 to the trustees of John Scott, 3rd Earl of Eldon, whose family seat was at Encombe House near Corfe Castle. The manor then passed to Sir Ernest Stowell Scott, KCMG, second son of the 3rd Earl and Governor of Jamaica, who maintained the Eldon-Scott family’s stewardship until his death in 1953. His great-nephew, David Eldon Scott, last of the line to hold the lordship, lived at Encombe House and offered the title for sale in 2001. In 2021, the manor entered a new era when Commissioner George Sherwood Mentz, JD MBA DSS, Seigneur of Fief Blondel and L’Eperons of Guernsey and Lord of Ennerdale, acquired the Crown Manor and Liberty of Stoborough in fee simple. He now holds its historic courts leet and baron rights, continuing the ancient lineage of the Lords of Stoborough into the modern age.