Holt Fleet - Medieval Period

Medieval Period

Holt manor passed to the Beauchamp family when Emeline de Abitot, the daughter and heiress of Urso, married Walter de Beauchamp then owner of Elmley Castle. Holt was then held by successive Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick, one of the most powerful earldoms in the country. No doubt using his influence with the King Edward III of England, Sir John Beauchamp (1319–1388) obtained a grant to hold a fair at 'Le Rode' in Holt. The fair was to be held every 22 July, St. Mary Magdalene's feast day. Sir John was impeached by the 'Merciless Parliament' on 12 March 1388 and was executed on Tower Hill, London, on 12 May the same year.

At the time of his death Sir John Beauchamp of Holt, Lord of Beauchamp, Baron of Kidderminster, had manors, estates and properties throughout the Midland shires and beyond. Holt was still however his principal manor. It is thought that John Beauchamp built Holt Castle. The only surviving original portion of which is the square tower that dominates the west elevation, with fifteenth and sixteenth century additions behind.

On Sir John's execution parliament expropriated all his lands and possessions, and leased them out to various parties. His distant cousin, Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, obtained Holt manor. In 1398 Parliament reversed its earlier decision and returned all his father's lands and title to John (1378–1420), son of John (1319–1388). In 1420 Sir John Beauchamp died without male heir. At that time he held the manors of Holt and Hanley, near Tenbury, four more in Warwickshire, weirs and fisheries in Ombersley and several properties in the city of Worcester. In the absence of a male heir the barony became extinct. His twenty-year-old daughter, Margaret succeeded him, but Holt Manor was split into three parts, each following a different female line of descent. Margaret married firstly John Pauncefoot and, secondly, John Wyshaw, who in 1428 was holding the manor for her.

The deer park was enclosed following the death of Sir John Beauchamp.

Following the division of the manor of Holt in 1420, over 150 years passed before the manor was recombined following a series of complex transactions between the likes of Sir John Bourne, Anthony Bourne, Thomas Fortescue, John and Martin Crofts, and Sir Thomas Bromley.

Sir Thomas' eldest son, Sir Henry Bromley was born in Holt Castle. Sir Henry inherited all his father's lands except the family seat at Holt Castle, which was held by his widowed mother for her life.

In February 1601 Sir Henry was implicated for his involvement with the Essex Rebellion, and his lands, including Holt Castle, were forfeited and he was briefly imprisoned. Upon the accession of James I in 1603 these lands were returned to him, and he proceeded to show King James his full loyalty. Nine years later Sir Henry reunited the final portion of Holt manor. As a magistrate Henry Bromley had rounded up the Jesuit priests Henry Garnet and Edward Oldcorne, the last wanted men in the Gunpowder Plot, at Hindlip on the outskirts of Worcester in 1606. Garnet and Oldcorne were held for a time in Holt Castle.

Sir Henry Bromley married four times, lastly to Anne Beswicke who erected a monument in the chancel of Holt Church to her husband who died 1615. Sir Henry’s descendants sold Holt manor to Thomas Lord Foley of Witley Court, Great Witley, in 1750. In 1837 the Foley's sold off the Witley & Holt estates in order to realise capital which was needed to pay off heavy debts incurred by the 2nd. Baron, who was an incurable gambler. The purchasers were the trustees of Lord William Ward who later became the 1st. Earl of Dudley. The estate was finally broken up in 1920 when the 2nd. Lord Dudley moved on after his first wife's death.