THOMAS HUNGERFORD AND JOAN HUSSEYUse your back arrow to return to the previous page.
Sir Thomas acquired his first offices in the 28th Edward III (1355) as sheriff and escheator for Wiltshire. He was closely associated with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose rivalry with Edward the Black Prince, his brother, for the throne of England is so well known. He served as steward of the household of John of Gaunt, and was bailiff for the Bishop of Salisbury. In the 42nd Edward III (1369) he purchased the manor Farleigh-Montfort in Somerset from Lord Berghersh for 1100 marks. In January of the 50th Edward III (1377) Sir Thomas was knighted and chosen to fill the chair as Speaker of the House of Commons, the first person formally mentioned in the rolls of Parliament as holding that high office. This Parliament, called "The Bad Parliament" was controlled by John of Gaunt to serve Lancastrian interests.
Ruins of Farleigh-Hungerford Castle Sir Thomas continued to
build the holdings of the family, an expansion which was remarkable, for
in about 100 years, the ownership of land by this family increased from
not a single manor in 1355 to nearly 200 manors by 1460. In the 3rd
Richard II (1380) he obtained confirmation to the office of Forester of
Selwoon, acquired from Roger of Sturton. Three years later he obtained
permission to crenellate Farleigh, thereby converting his manor to a
castle. He purchased the manor of Heytesbury, called West Court, with the
Hundred of Heytesbury, from Elizabeth, widow of Edward, Lord Spencer. A
"hundred" was a unit of land for the enforcement of justice and
defense of the realm. It consisted of one hundred "hides", a
"hide" being the amount of land that could be tilled annually by
a single plow.
Entrance to Farleigh-Hungerford The next year he
fortified, without license, his manor house at Farleigh, thereby arousing
the suspicions of Richard II, Gaunt's nephew. To reduce the power of the
landholding Barons, royal assent was required prior to the fortification
of the new, more comfortable brick manor houses, which had come into style
as homes for the landed gentry. Edward III allowed 181 such
fortifications, but as succeeding kings sought to assure their position,
approval was more difficult to obtain. Richard II allowed but 60
fortifications, Henry IV allowed 8 and Henry V, only 1. Sir Thomas was
charged with treason at Salisbury. However, he was pardoned, fined, and
soon afterward procured a charter for free title to all his estates. He
died in the last year of Richard II's reign, only one son surviving him,
and is buried in the Chapel of St. Anne at Farleigh. The portrait in
stained glass in that chapel is reportedly of him. Farleigh-Hungerford is a
River Frome village where remains of the medieval castle contain the
monuments of the Hungerford family. Originally the site of the Montfort
family manor, the property was sold to the deBurghersh family in 1348. The
chapel was originally the parish church of St. Leonard. As reported above,
Thomas Hungerford purchased the manor in 1369, and fortified it as a
castle in 1384. The Chapel of St. Anne was added in the 1380's to provide
burial space for the Hungerfords. From here, the vast holdings of the
family extended to every horizon. The castle remained in the family for nearly 300 years, although at times it was seized by the crown and placed under other ownership during the attainder of various Hungerfords. Sir Edward, "the Spendthrift" eventually sold Farleigh to Henry Boynton in 1686. The manor was sold to J. Long and others to be held in trust for one thousand years - James Barber, Robert Houlton, and Edward Grant were the other trustees. The Houlton family of Trowbridge obtained sole title to the castle in 1730 when Lady Clotworthy released it from the trusteeship. Lord Donington and his wife, the Baroness Hungerford, purchased the property in 1891, held it only briefly before selling it to Lord Cairns, who placed it in the trust of the government in 1915. Sources: |
