Thame Local History
The North Weston Manor Houses

In the following map of 1676 :

Extract from the 1676 Plot map
Extract from the 1676 Plot map

two manor houses are drawn in North Weston.

Rycote Palace is clearly shown by a remarkably accurate symbol, and Rycote Chapel is indicated by the usual symbol for a church or chapel, as are the churches at Shabbington and Long Crendon.

At North Weston, there are the symbols for a chapel and two manor houses, whilst at Thame Park we see only the chapel and single manor house, which are still there.

There are not two manor houses at North Weston today. There isn't even one.

From documentary and historical references we know that these two manor houses were the Quartermains' ancestral home, known as Quartermains Place, and the manor house later occupied by the Clerke family, known as Hall Place.

There is some evidence that the Quartermains were living at the manor of North Weston at the time of the Domesday Book.

North Weston manor remained in Quartermain hands until the time of Richard Quartermain, who moved into the former manor house at Rycote, at which time Richard Fowler took over the ancient Quartermain seat at North Weston.

After the Fowlers, the manor of North Weston passed to Sir John Clerke, who around the year 1535 built a new mansion house at North Weston, called Hall Place.

Brown and Guest, in their History of Thame, say

"North Weston had two manor houses, one on the hill to the north; the other, in the valley below, is the Quartermain manor. This old manor house consisted of a long hall running east and west, with a porch and high pitched gable roof, and two wings at the ends extending southwards, the whole forming three sides of a square... The chapel was to the west of the house."

The following picture :

Hall Place
Hall Place

seems to be of the Quartermain manor, and the manor house to the north of it on the map above is the Clerke manor of circa 1535.

Neither manor house remains, although the sixteenth century manor house built by Sir John Clerke remained in the Clerke family until the middle of the eighteenth century when it was sold to Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough.

The 1767 Jeffreys map shows the land around North Weston belong to Lord Charles Spencer and it may be that he purchased this land to further his interests in the turnpike road being built, and had no use for the manor house.

Along with Rycote Palace and Place House these two manor houses have disappeared, leaving only the former monastic building come mansion house at Thame Park as witness to the architectural heritage of the area when it comes to manor houses.






More maps of Thame
































The Quartermain family and the Domesday Book




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