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Sheen Manor main entrance c.1925 (Camb Chron)Sheen Manor, Meldreth
History of Sheen Manor
In 1925 W M Palmer gave a tour of Melbourn and its surrounds (Camb Chron):
The Sheen Manor
When we first hear of this manor, it was twice the size it is now, and belonged to a Saxon Thane named Goda, who held under the Earl of Mercia. After the Norman conquest Goda lost it, and it was given to the well known Norman soldier, Roger of Montgomery, who before the year 1086 had passed it to the monastery of St Evroul in Normandy. This manor was only about a quarter of the size of the Bury but it contained the two best watermills in the village, and the only two of the Domesday mills which are still in use. At the end of the C13 the original manor had become divided into two equal parts, one of which was held by the priory of ware, and English cell of St Evroul; the other half by a layman for the fifth part of a knight’s fee, that is 8s., which he owed to the Priory of Ware. It was the half held by the Prior of Ware which is now known as the Sheen.
Sheen manor: 1656 dated chimney stack
…. On the suppression of the Priory of Ware in 1414 its possessions were given to the newly founded monastery at Sheen. Like most monastic proprty this manor was held on lease, and Sir Robert Chester, who held the last lease before the Dissolution, bought it about 1540. … The manor was sold to John Sterne of Malton in 1575 and he perhaps built part of the present house. From him it came by marriage to William Ayloffe, grandfather of the cupbearer. …. they took the King’s side in the Civil War and were heavily fined by Parliament. So they sold this manor and went to live at the Bury. The purchaser of the manor in 1647 was George Pryke. … Pryke certainly lived here because he built the chimney stacks.
SW view of Sheen Manor house c.1925 (Camb Chron)
Hearth in oldest part of Sheen manor house c.1925 (Camb Chron)
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