Knighton Gorges Manor was one of the grandest
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
s on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, located in the hamlet of
Knighton, near
Newchurch.
The
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
-
Tudor style house's history has been a saga of tragic events. It started with a ghastly note of Hugh de Morville, an escapee who resided there after murdering
Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury, on 29 December 1170, along with his three other comrades in crime Reginald FitzUrse, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, then the death of Tristram Dillington in 1718 under mysterious circumstances and finally, 100 years later, followed by another tragic event of the owner of the Manor, George Maurice, destroying the manor in 1821 on his own volition (before his death), purely as a parental annoyance and spiteful action, to his daughter marrying a clergyman, against his wishes thus preventing her from owning the manor.
These events have also generated reportedly
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
events occurring at the manor location, witnessed in the form of the destroyed manor house itself appearing in an apparition form, ghost of Sir Tristram riding a ghostly horse each year on the anniversary of his death, and sighting of animal-like
gargoyles on top of each gatepost at the entrance to the manor site.
History
Sir Hugh de Morville (d.1202) fled to the house after taking part as one of four knights in the murder on 29 December 1170 of
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
, Archbishop of Canterbury. He fled thence to
Knaresborough Castle
Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England.
History
The castle was first built by a Norman baron in on a cliff above the River Nidd. There is documentary eviden ...
, Yorkshire, which was held by him. The manor was owned by the de Morvilles until 1256 when
Ralf de Gorges acquired it by marriage, which is where the name Knighton Gorges comes from.
The early 13th-century holders were a family of De Morville, of whom John or Ivo de Morville died in 1256, leaving a daughter and heir Ellen married to
Ralph de Gorges, who survived her husband and was in possession of the manor at the end of the century.
She died in 1291–2, leaving a son Ralph, who in 1305 leased the manor to
William de Caleshale and his wife for the term of their lives. The manor seems to have reverted to Ralph de Gorges before 1316. Ralph (afterwards Sir Ralph) and his wife Eleanor had one son Ralph, who died without issue, evidently before 1330–1, when Sir Ralph settled the manor in tail-male on two younger sons of his daughter Eleanor, who had married
Theobald Russell of Yaverland.
William, the elder of the two, died without issue and the manor was delivered to his brother Theobald Russell in 1343. He appears thereupon to have assumed the name de Gorges, and as Theobald de Gorges was sued in 1346–7 by Elizabeth widow of Ralph de Gorges the younger for the manor.
Judgement was given in Elizabeth's favour, but as she had no issue by Ralph the manor reverted to Theobald, who was in possession in 1362. He (then Sir Theobald) died in 1380 and the manor passed successively to his sons Sir Randolf, who died in 1382, Bartholomew, who died in 1395–6, and Thomas, who died in 1404.
Thomas left a son John, who only lived to be fifteen, and left his brother Theobald, a boy of ten, as heir in 1413. Sir Theobald Gorges was in possession of the manor in 1462, and probably died without issue, as the manor passed to the heirs of Thomas Russell, greatgrandson of Theobald Russell and Eleanor de Gorges by their eldest son Ralph Russell of Yaverland.
Thomas Russell's heir was his cousin John Haket, son of his aunt Alice. John Haket's daughter and heir Joan married John Gilbert, and the manor passed with Wolverton in Brading in the Gilbert family until 1563, when George Gilbert sold it to
Anthony Dillington. Anthony's son Sir Robert died in 1604, leaving it to his nephew Robert. Sir Tristram Dillington, great-grandson of the last-named Robert, was the last of the direct line.
Dying without issue in 1721, Tristram left his sisters Mary and Hannah as heirs. Hannah died intestate. Mary died unmarried, leaving the estate in common between her nephew
Maurice Bocland and her niece Jane wife of John Eyre. General Maurice Bocland was in possession of the manor in 1750 and died in 1765, when it descended to his nephew
George Maurice Bissett, who held the manor at the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1820, the house was burnt and demolished by
Bisset
Bisset is a surname of Scottish origin.
History
Sir Thomas Gray in his Scalacronica states that William the Lion in 1174, on his return from captivity in Falaise and in England, brought back young Englishmen of family to seek their fortune in ...
,
and has not been rebuilt.
George Young was in possession of the remaining estate in 1878,
and the land as of 1912 was held by Mr. Edward Carter, who acquired it under the will of his father, also named Edward.
The site of the house is now private, and a holiday cottage exists upon the estate in one of the remaining outbuildings.
Architecture
![The beast of Knighton - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/The_beast_of_Knighton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_471537.jpg)
The house was a remarkably good example of Tudor work.
All that is now left of the house is the two stone gateposts as the house was burnt down and demolished in 1820 by
Maurice George Bisset
Maurice George Bisset (1757–1821) of Knighton Gorges on the Isle of Wight, and of Lessendrum in Aberdeen, Scotland, 18th Scottish feudal baron of Lessendrum, is famous for his involvement in the scandalous court case involving his mistress Sey ...
to prevent his daughter inheriting it after she had married a clergyman without Bisset's consent.
The north front had large square windows, with an absence of stained glass, divided by stone
mullions
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
. The rooms were of large size and elegantly designed. The drawing room on the first floor was a capacious room with a long gallery in the north front. Lighting in the house was poor as it had a low roof. Elsewhere a coat of arms pre-dating the house decorated the windows.
[
In its heyday the manor house was visited by Sir Henry Englefield who gave detailed description of the manor in his "Description of the Isle of Wight". It was a favoured haunt of fashionable society including Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet of nearby ]Appuldurcombe House
Appuldurcombe House (also spelt Appledorecombe or Appledore Combe) is the shell of a large 18th-century English Baroque country house of the Worsley family. The house is situated near to Wroxall on the Isle of Wight, England. It is now managed b ...
, the latter's association resulting in a scandal and disgrace.[
]
References
''This article includes text incorporated from William Page's "A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5 (1912)", a publication now in the public domain''
{{Reflist
Country houses on the Isle of Wight
1821 disestablishments
Tudor architecture
Manor houses in England
Folklore of the Isle of Wight