The Development of the Manorial Settlement at Hartpury The comment in 1922 by Alfred Watkins, in Early British Trackways, that many British roads were as ancient to the Romans as the Roman remains are to us, is very true at Hartpury, where the village owes its existence to just such tracks. Recent archaeological investigations suggest an Iron Age settlement to the south of the parish. It was this part that later became known as Morewent. It has been suggested that the name was derived from the Celtic maro and Romano-British venta, meaning 'great market', which raises the possibility that it was a trading centre close to the lowest crossing point of the Severn at Gloucester. From Morewent one road, passing near the present church, led eventually to Hereford, while another, possibly continued up the hill to Overton and Woolridge and then to Upton-on-Severn and Worcester.

The manor of Hartpury was formed from settlements or hamlets (called ends), which were originally clearings along the tracks through the heavily wooded area known as Corse Chase. The 11th and 12th centuries were a time of agricultural expansion to feed the growing population and it was then that most of the land in Hartpury would have been cleared and ploughed. In 1123 King Henry I confirmed to the monks the newly ploughed ground of Hardpyrie, described as having once formed part of 'Corse Forest'. An extent of the Abbey's possessions, dating from the period 1260/70, confirmed that the main settlements existed by that time, Moor End and Morwents End to the south, the centre of the village around the church, Butters End and to the east a branch through Corse End to North End and then Ashleworth, while the track continued through Blackwell's End to Lampers End, there branching to Corse, Tewkesbury and Worcester to the east, Upleadon, Newent and the Forest of Dean to the west, and north to Ledbury, Malvern and Hereford. Hartpury's importance as a centre of communication is emphasised by the service required from some medieval tenants to transport salt from deposits in Droitwich to the abbey in Gloucester.

Hartpury Manor belonged to the Abbey of Gloucester, and John de Gamages, the Abbot, in about 1300 built his country residence there alongside the church. Some authorities consider that there may already have been a manor house nearby which this replaced. An intensive building programme of the 14th century continued with additions to the manor house, the building of the tithe barn and the adjoining dovecote and the development of smaller monastic granges in the neighbouring hamlets. This development of the manor appears to have predated other ecclesiastical manors in the area, such as Frocester (also St Peter's Abbey), Bishops Cleeve (Bishops of Worcester), and Ashleworth (St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol). Examination of the medieval field systems around the church reveals the settlement's expansion over earlier cultivated areas both as a result of the general growth in population at this time and of the expansion of the settlement around the church.

In the 13th century Hartpury was one of the largest of the Abbey's holdings with over 1700 acres of tenant land as well as the demesne estate. Rents were sometimes paid in kind, apples, pears and honey and even from one tenant a sheep with twelve pence tied around its neck. Following successive gifts, the Abbey's local estates eventually comprised the parishes of Hartpury, Maisemore, Highnam, part of Lassington, Upleadon, Highleadon, Rudford and Churcham. Although they were pioneers in sheep rearing on a large scale on the drier soils of the Cotswolds, the Benedictine monks seemed not have kept sheep at Hartpury. The climate and soil favoured mixed farming, although it is possible that the more specialist crops associated with the woollen trade, such as teasels or the various plants yielding dyes, might have been grown. A lease of the Manor in 1539 specifies 'The yearly rent to be delivered to the Cellarer of the Monastery (Gloucester) of 36 qrs. of wheat 3 qrs. barley and 30 qrs. oats to the Kitchener of the Monastery 30 geese 20 ducks 40 pullets 20 capons and 300 pigeons, also 1 boar (presumably from Corse Chase) or 6s.8d. at the election of the Abbot, at Christmas. The lessees also to cut and carry to the Abbot's house all necessary fuels and repair all houses and buildings on the site outside the walls of the principal mansion save for the great barn and pigeon house'. The lease reserves to the Abbot the principal mansion within the walls. Also mentioned are the Abbot's water mill and vineyard. The great barn would have been used by the Abbey to store produce from the manor.

 

In 1551, following the dissolution of the monasteries, Walter Compton, of Chalford Place, Bisley, acquired the Manor of Hartpury and altered the abbot's manor house to make a dwelling more suitable for a Tudor landowner. The Comptons, were possibly a junior branch of the family of the Earls of Northampton, but their wealth was derived from the woollen trade and their fulling mills. The manor was clearly the principal holding in the parish, but may not have been the only one. A smaller northern estate was by 1583 occupied by James Poulton and had possibly been a separate manor since the dissolution. There was also an estate to the south, occupied since at least the 13th century by the Morwents who took their name from it.
On 22nd August 1642 King Charles raised his standard at Nottingham and the Country was plunged into Civil War. The civil administration of Gloucester then covered not only the city but also the hundreds of King's Barton and Dudstone, which included Hartpury. In July 1643, Bristol fell to the Royalists, and the siege of Gloucester began. The Royalist commanders tried to blockade the City by garrisoning the surrounding towns and villages, while the defenders matched them with their own fortified outposts, one being Hartpury Court. The effect these troubles had upon Hartpury is perhaps best shown by the record of burials in 1643. In normal years the average number was about a dozen. In that year 33 were buried, many women and children, whose deaths were probably caused by deprivation and starvation.
	The principal manor was still occupied by the Comptons at the start of the Civil War. The then Lord of the Manor had recently married Mary daughter of Thomas Habington of Hindlip, Worcestershire, a catholic family. Following his marriage Walter adopted the Roman Catholic faith, but his grandmother, who continued to occupy Hartpury Court, presumably remained a Protestant. This would explain why the manor was not forfeited even though it came under the control of Puritan Gloucester.
The southern manor belonged to John Madock, an alderman of Gloucester, Madock was one of those empowered to raise money by the sequestration of the estates of 'malignants, delinquents and papists' to help pay for 'raising and maintaining of Horse and Foot for the Garrison of Gloucester and for the County of Gloucester'. The northern manor continued in the hands of the Poulton family, whose sympathies, being merchants with interests in London, Gloucester and Tewkesbury, were likely to be with Parliament. The accession of James II placed Catholics in a more favourable position and in 1686 William Compton was made a baronet. The respite was short-lived and the anti-catholic riots in Gloucester, in the wake of the declaration of William III as King, saw Hartpury Court attacked by the mob, the chapel destroyed and the house plundered.
In 1721 the Comptons inherited the Hindlip estate in Worcestershire and Hartpury became their secondary residence. As a result it remained largely unaltered although poorly maintained. The squire of Hartpury was Sir William Compton (2nd baronet). In a return compiled by the Clerk of the Peace at that time, Sir William, his Lady and a servant were declared papists. The estate is not however mentioned in the Register for Popish Estates kept under the Act of 1715.
Sir William apostatised to obtain relief from double Land tax but his children were evidently brought up as Catholics. In 1731, within three months of his inheriting Hartpury, the 3rd baronet registered the Manor as 'Papist', and presumably suffering the double taxation charged on property belonging to catholics. When the 4th Baronet died within two years of his father, the estate had become heavily in debt. Walter, the heir and 5th baronet, when only sixteen eloped to Scotland in 1765. He died without issue in 1773, aged only 24 and the Baronetcy expired. Jane, a daughter of the third Baronet, married John, second son of Thomas Berkeley of Spetchley, a catholic family. Their eldest daughter Catherine married Robert Canning, a staunch liberal, who became High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1832. Following his wife's early death, Robert remarried and had two daughters, Maria and Frances. Maria married protestant, Patrick Robert Gordon, who by Royal Licence assumed the name of Gordon Canning. The Hartpury estates were partitioned between the two daughters. Maria died in 1887 and Patrick her husband in 1893. Their eldest son Robert sold the estate to his brother William. He had married Clara Crawshay Bailey, heiress to a wealthy iron master from South Wales, who set about acquiring all the estates in Hartpury, although it was not until after 1894 that she bought the final farm and nearly all the parish came into one ownership.
	In 1919 William and Clara Gordon-Canning, unable to become reconciled to the changes brought about by the War sold the majority of the Hartpury Estate, in many cases to their tenants. A leaflet describing the Manor is available, as is a comprehensive book.

 

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