In the time of Edward the Confessor the manor of HAIL WESTON was held by two men, named Saxi and Uluin Chit. Although Uluin was a man of Earl Harold, his manor was in no way subordinate to the Earl's great manor of Kimbolton. In 1086, Robert son of Fafiton had succeeded them. He seems to have been succeeded by his son Eustace and grandson Aubyn. In the 13th century, the manor apparently formed part of the Honour of Mortimer, and in 1230 and 1242 Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, held it as a mesne tenant of the Honour. Before 1279, his daughters and heirs, Margaret, Countess of Ferrers, and Ellen, widow of Alan la Zouche, held their shares in demesne, so that the further sub-infeudation of the manor seems to have come to an end. As at Eynesbury, the Countess obtained two-thirds of the manor, which apparently followed the descent of the manor of Eynesbury Ferrers, until 1617, when the latter manor was sold by Sir William Dyer. He retained the manor of Hail Weston, for which his son Sir Lewis Dyer, bart., compounded after its sequestration under the Commonwealth and was in possession of it in 1659. After Sir Lewis's death in 1669, it passed to William Dyer, probably a nephew. Richard Dyer sold it to Henry Carter in 1699. Carter became bankrupt and the manor of Hail Weston was sold in 1715 to Sir William Scawen, kt. who resold it in 1720 to Richard Houlditch. He, in the same year, sold it to William Astell. In 1723 it was in the hands of the South Sea Company. Before 1730 it had come into the possession of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, at whose death in 1744 it passed to her grandson John Spencer, created Earl Spencer in 1765, who was holding in 1780. He was succeeded at his death in 1783 by his son George John, second Earl Spencer, who before 1803 had sold the manor to John Pyne. It had passed to the Rev. Hele Selby Hele in 1811, then to John Hyde in 1814 and to Lawrence Reynolds in 1819. The trustees of Lawrence Reynolds were holding in 1841 and Edward Reynolds of Little Paxton in 1885. His son Edward died in 1893 and was succeeded by his son Capt. Edward Reynolds. After his death Mrs. Irene Larsen and Miss Gwendolene Reynolds, sisters of Edward Reynolds, sold the manor in 1920 to Mr. Robert Holmes Edleston, F.S.A., the present owner.
Spencer.
Quarterly argent and gules fretty or a bend sable with three scallops argent thereon.
The manor of Hail Weston seems to have been held in the 12th century
by sub-tenants as two-thirds of a knight's fee. Whether
they had any connection with Robert son of Fafiton and his
descendants or whether they were enfeoffed by the de Quincys does
not appear. Probably the first sub-tenant was Robert de Broy. Two sons are mentioned in one of his charters, but he
seems to have been succeeded by William de Auno, presumably his
son-in-law, since William's daughter Agnes calls him her
grandfather. She married first Hugh de Ardres and secondly
Robert de St. George, the latter of whom had died before
1219. She had a son named John, but in 1219 she granted
lands here to William de St. George, probably a grandson of
Robert de St. George, but not of Agnes. He was holding it
in 1230 and 1242–3, but died before 1244–5, when his four sisters, Aubrey de Windlingbury or Launcelin,
Agnes wife of William Grafham or Brampton, Felicia de Buckworth and
Cecilia de Soke were his heirs. Their descendants can be
traced amongst the tenants of the Countess Ferrers and Ellen la Zouche
in 1279, but they do not seem to have held the manor of Hail Weston,
which apparently had escheated to their overlords.
The third part of the manor held by Ellen la Zouche passed with the
manor of Eynesbury Bulkeley to her son Oliver la Zouche and
ultimately to Sir James Dyer, who had purchased the other
two-thirds of the manor. Thus this manor became merged in the chief
manor (q.v.).
Victoria County History - Huntingdonshire Printed in 1932
