Princes Risborough - Risborough Under The Black Prince

Risborough Under The Black Prince

At the time when the Prince became Lord of the Manor of Risborough there was a manor house and hall on the West side of the church (where there is now a car park), which old books describe as his 'palace'. This is misleading. It was the manor house (see below) and he as lord of the manor would have stayed there when he came to Risborough, but it was hardly palatial and might be better described as a hunting lodge. The Prince seems never to have spent an extended period of time there. The nearest place where he lived for any length of time was Berkhamsted Castle, where he stayed after his marriage to Joan Countess of Kent from November 1361 to January 1362 and occasionally at other times.

At Risborough there was already a stud for breeding horses and a park which was used for the horses and probably also for hunting. The main purpose of his visits to Risborough is likely to have been to visit the stud and inspect and/or select horses.

Much of his adult life was spent on campaign in France, where he won the great victory of Poitiers in 1356. In July 1362 his father (Edward III) made him Prince of Aquitaine and he remained in that province until he returned to England in 1371, probably already a sick man.

In 1346, when the Prince (aged 16) was about to leave with his father for his first campaign in France, which culminated in the battle of Crecy, a Council was set up to manage on his behalf his various manors and lordships throughout the country. The transactions of this Council were recorded and have been printed and published by the Public Record Office. Many decisions affecting Risborough were made by this Council rather than by the Prince himself. They give us some insight into life at Risborough in the 14th century.

The Manor was in the charge of a Steward (not always resident there), but its day to day management was in the hands of the Reeve, and there was a Parker, responsible for the management of the Park, and a Keeper of the Stud.

In November 1346 John de Alveton was appointed to be Steward of the Prince's manors of Watlington and Risborough. In 1347 the Keeper of the Stud was Richard de Bekenesfield and he was ordered to render tithes due to the Abbot of Notley if there were sufficient foals of the year for the purpose. In the same year the Reeve had been ordered to pay money out of the profits of Risborough to make a new kitchen at the Prince's manor of Byfleet.

In 1354 (in which year the Prince was at Berkhamsted) a piece of land in the Park was enclosed by the Prince and the Reeve (William Onyot) paid 18 shillings for it. The Prince may well have been there in person that year for the Treasurer of his household was ordered "by command of the Prince himself" to make payment for various things taken for the Prince's use and expended in the Prince's household at Risborough "after verifying that the same are really due". These included a total of 186 gallons of ale and "to John Dayly of Risborough 17 pence for underwood and fuel for the fire".

In 1359 Sir Peter de Lacey the Prince's clerk and receiver-general was ordered to provide hay, oats, shoes and litter until further order for two destriers (warhorses) which Sir Baldwin Bottecourt had lent to the Prince to be stallions at Risborough and Cippenham and to pay 3d a day to a groom that keeps them.

There seems to have been a great storm in 1362, when the Reeve was to allow the Parker to sell all the wood which had fallen in the Park except the great ash, if its value did not exceed £4.

In April 1364 the Reeve had to make provision for a grey courser which was sent to cover the mares at Risborough and in July to pay £10.10s for a black stallion for the same purpose. Also in 1364 the Reeve was to cause the garret over the gate of the Prince's Park to be demolished and pulled down, as it was reported very weak and ruinous, and to use the timber and other materials to build a lodge near the gate. He was also to flush out the ditches round the manor and to sell as dearly as possible all the large fish caught there, keeping the small fish as stock.

The Prince died at Westminster on 8 June 1376 aged 65.