THE DESCENT OF THE MANOR
There were originally two manors in Claydon. By 1404 the subtenants of Laundfee manor were the Raleigh family who were also the holders of the other chief medieval estate in Claydon. The other Claydon manor had also come into the hands of the Raleigh family when in 1397 Thomas Raleigh had died in possession of it. By 1427 Claydon manor was settled on Joan Raleigh ( the grandaughter of Thomas who died in 1397) and her husband Edward Brounflete. In 1450 Joan having died without issue the reversion of Claydon and Laundfee manors after Brounflete's death was settled on Joan's cousin William Raleigh. William's descendants then held it until 1611 when Sir George Raleigh sold it to John Blencowe and Richard Gostelow who both conveyed Claydon Manor to Calcott Chambre in 1615. Chambre was an active though unsuccessful figure in the early 17th century land market of the Cropredy area. As early as 1616 financial difficulties forced him to sell Claydon to James Enyon a Whitechapel brewer.The manor then descended in the Enyon family until the late 17th century when it passed to the Garrard family by marriage and in 1690 they sold it to William Hindes. The Astell family ultimately came to own most of the former Hindes estate. In the 20th century the estate has been broken up. The Fox family who in 1966 had been established in Claydon for three generations had accumulated four farms there formerly held by different families.
THE DOCUMENTS
This set of 26 items came to us in 1991 and were then assigned the accession number 3306. They consist entirely of title deeds of the manor of Claydon and of land and property in Cropredy ranging in date from 1611-1775.