Charlton Manor
[1] Over the following four centuries the lordship of the Manor of Charlton passed as part of Hitchin Priory through various members of the Radcliffe and Delmé-Radcliffe family.
In 1925 Sir Ralph Delmé-Radcliffe was noted as Lord of the Manor in the Manorial Documents Register of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts in London.
The Lordship was then passed by Anne to Peter Havart-Simkin, a British citizen currently residing in California in the United States, who now holds this ancient title.
Earl Harold controlled some 16 Hertfordshire manors in the Hundred of Hitchin[6] (which consisted of 20 different towns and villages including Charlton).
[7] The Manor of Hitchin was the head of the group held by Earl Harold, to which King William succeeded after the Conquest.
The Knights Templar were granted free warren in their demesne lands of Dinsley, Preston, Charlton, King's Walden and Hitchin in January 1253 by Henry III.
They became the owners of the manors of Dinsley, Preston, Charlton, Walden and Hitchin by virtue of the Statute of 1324,[9] and eventually placed members of their order there.
During this period, Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries expropriating their income, and disposing of their assets.
[14] Hitchin Priory passed into the hands of Sir Edward Watson and Henry Herdsen to whom it was sold by the Crown on 28 July 1546.
[1][16][17] At around the same time, Edward Pulter acquired Charlton Manor from the Crown[3] it previously having belonged to the Knights Hospitalers.
The Radcliffe's of Hitchin Priory are a branch of the very ancient and distinguished family of Radclyffe of the county of Lancaster.
[18] Over the next four centuries, the Radcliffe and Delmé-Radcliffe family were owners of Hitchin Priory and the holders of the Lordship of the Manor of Charlton.
[3] The history and the greater part of the Delmé-Radcliffe archives was deposited in the Hertfordshire County Records Office[19] in January 1949.
John Radcliffe (1738 – 1783) was an Eton College educated politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1768 to 1783.
On Hubert's death, Francis Augustus John Delmé-Radcliffe JP nherited Hitchin Priory and the Lordship of the Manor of Charlton.
Sir Ralph was a clerk in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and was a captain in the 12th Battery of the London Regiment.
Anne sold the Hitchin Priory to Hertfordshire County Council in 1964 thus ending her family's association which had continued for more than 400 years.
After being sold, Hitchin Priory was used by the Hertfordshire County Education Department as a centre for residential courses.
Anne Delmé-Radcliffe passed the Lordship of the Manor of Charlton to the current holder of the title Peter Radcliffe Havart-Simkin (b.
Peter Havart-Simkin is a serial entrepreneur having worked in the IT industry for more than 40 years and founding several technology companies.
