When We Were English, Part XL

by Glenn N. Holliman

 That Holyman Manor House

Below is the site of the 15^th Century Holyman Manor House in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire as it looked in 2010.  Today it is pasture land as part of the remaining Holyman farm.     

 In 1851, a survey was done of the farm and the document below records what was left over a century and a half ago.

        

Notice item 3 above in this statement about a post-medieval site.  James (an error; it is John) Holyman is listed accurately as the 2^nd Bishop of Bristol.  A Mr. Joseph Scott lived on the property in the middle 1800s.  Dry moats, boxtrees and old walls still stood at that time and that ‘the masion now destroyed was of some importance’.  Item 4 states that house lasted until the early 1800s.  A smaller 1698 stone and thatched cottage as well as stables do remain in 2010.

What might have this manor house looked like?  

The map above from the 1700s gives us some idea of the size of the farm and a look at the Holyman manor house.  It appears to be three floors (dormer windows and attic as the 3^rd floor) with a small tower and wind vane on top center.

          

By the 1700s, the Holymans must have been producing considerable cider judging from the number of apple orchards.

What more can be learned?  I must return to the archives in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire for more research.  For now, thanks to the current owner (Caroline Stonham) of the Holyman farm in Cuddington, we have the above and a view into our ancestral past.

 Next a Visit to more Hollymans in the United Kingdom!