Alverstone Manor: A Manor House on the Isle of Wight
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Unclassified
- Eras represented
- Unclassified
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page4 sections
History
Name and early tenure
Alverstone Manor is a manor house in Alverstone, in the parish of Brading on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Its name appears in several forms over time: Alvrestone in the 11th century, Alfricheston and Aluredeston in the 13th, Alvredeston in the 14th, and Auverstone in the 16th.
William son of Stur held the manor both before and after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Its overlordship, or superior lordship, passed with Gatcombe until at least the end of the 13th century. By the late 13th century, William de Aumarle held a fee at Alverstone, meaning a landholding held under a superior lord. After William died in 1288–89, leaving a son, Geoffrey, the manor appears to have passed to Iseult de Aumarle, probably William’s widow. She married Geoffrey de Insula, also known as Lisle, of Gatcombe. In 1293–94 he held the fee in her right.
Medieval inheritance
Geoffrey de Aumarle died in 1320–21, apparently without then holding the manor. His son William held it when he died in 1335–36, and it passed to William’s son. The younger William died without children, leaving his sister and co-heir Elizabeth to marry John Maltravers of Hooke, Dorset. Their daughter, also named Elizabeth, later married Sir Humphrey Stafford, the son of her stepfather.
The elder Elizabeth had married Sir Humphrey Stafford of Southwick as her second husband, and they held the manor in 1402. The manor remained with the Stafford family until Sir Humphrey Stafford, who held the rank of Earl of Devon, was executed in 1469. It then passed to one of his co-heirs, Eleanor Strangways.
Later owners
In 1556, Eleanor’s grandson Sir Giles Strangways sold the manor to Henry Stower. John Stower sold it to Peter Fuller in 1587, and Fuller transferred it to Richard Baskett of Apse in 1597. In 1630 Daniel Broad bought it from Baskett’s son Richard.
Grace Broad married Alexander Alchorne, and their daughter Grace married John Popham. The younger Grace and Popham held the manor in 1713 and 1728. After her death in 1735, her husband still held it in 1746. The manor was probably sold soon afterward to Thomas Holmes, who was created Lord Holmes in 1760.
The manor thereafter passed with Yarmouth. In 1859 William Henry Ashe A’Court-Holmes sold it to Thomas Webster, a Queen’s Counsel, a senior designation for a barrister. Webster’s son later held Alverstone Manor as Lord Alverstone and served as Lord Chief Justice, a senior judicial office in England.
