THE HISTORY OF ORCHARD PORTMAN

The Portman Arms

As early as the 9th century an estate called 'Orceard' was claiming the attention of powerful men; for in about the year 854, it appears that Aethewulf, pious king of the West Saxons, gave the estate and another called 'Stoce' to the minster church of Taunton, mother church of the Vale. The minster's new-won territory was a large and varied domain, covering the whole of the later parish of Orchard Portman together with parts of Corfe and Stoke St. Mary. The land at Orchard was no doubt the prize, and the name it bore - signifying either an orchard in the usual sense or a garden - speaks of fruitfulness and a measure of intensive cultivation

A Saxon charter solemnly recorder King Aethewulf's gift, and included a description of the estate boundaries which is our first imperfect guide to the local landscape. The minster lands were bounded on Stoke Hill by a brook and a 'holy spring' (the latter almost certainly the spring now called Rook's Well). A great bank and ditch, still prominent in the landscape, formed an unbroken boundary from the yet more ancient farm at Greenway in Thurlbear to Broughton Farm in Stoke; and at Shoreditch, on the northern borders of Orchard itself, the charter speaks of the 'foryrthe', or projecting piece of ploughland. Following then the course of the 'Alder Brook', the boundary went southward into a steep-sided valley called 'Orcerd Cumbe' and was lost in deep woodland above Corfe. In 904 the minster and its territories were bought by Bishop of Winchester but Orchard did not remain indefinitely under the Bishops direct control. By 1135, one Elfric de Orchard was in possession as the Bishop's military tenant and thereafter Orchard was always to be administered as a largely independent manor governed by its own lord. Before 1250 great open fields, divided into unenclosed strips, were established over the level plain which reached south from Ruishton to Henlade. They made their appearance as well at Hatch Beauchamp, Stoke St. Mary and Orchard Portman, their pattern in the landscape fossilized by hedges dating from the late Middle Ages. Documents of the 14th century allow us to picture the manor of Orchard more clearly. A survey in 1348 records the six 'free' tenants and 31 'bond' tenants who worked the manor, and who formed part of a community which in good times must have exceeded 150 souls. John Seton held a house and 20 acres; eight of his fellows had 10 acres apiece but others like Alice Hatherich and Lucy Parcombes had mere cottages with a tiny share in the 200 acres or so which were tenant land. Thomas de Orchard was lord of the manor in 1348, but was destined to bring his somewhat disreputable life to a close that year as yet another victim of the Black Death then sweeping the country. Thomas was succeeded by his young son John de Orchard who was made a ward of Bishop Edington of Winchester. The de Orchard family enjoyed their prosperity for almost a century more. Then sons failed and a daughter, Christina de Orchard, was left the family representitive as the Middle Ages drew to a close. She married Sir Philip Car of Cockington who died young in 1437 but a Taunton merchant with gentry ambitions was soon at her door seeking to make Christina his wife. Walter Portman was the name of that merchant. Walter found himself favourably received by the widow Christina and at some date in or before 1450 they were married. That marriage though short lived, was decisive for the Portmans, uniting their undoubted talents with social status and modest landed wealth in a mixture which would prove unstoppable. When Walter's son John wrote home to 'hys Ryght Worshypfull Moder' it was from the Temple in London that he addressed her, providing some lawerly advice for the now widowed Christina on how to deal with her rebellious tenants. His own son, another John, achieved distinction as a lawyer and is buried in the Temple Church in 1521. Sir William Portman (c.1498-1557) was the son of John the younger and in 1517 entered the Middle Temple like his father before him. The associate of Thomas Cromwell and well known to King Henry V111, Sir William was evidently a man of outstanding gifts whose rise was correspondingly spectacular. In 1544 Sir William purchased extensive properties belonging to four dissolved religious houses in Somerset, including Taunton Priory. In 1556, the manor of Thurlbear became part of the growing estate but most significantly he acquired the freehold of about 293 acres in the fields of Marylebone in London and by the late 19th century had made the Portmans among the richest ground landlords in England.

Walter Portman (d.by 1456) = Christina de Orchard. (d.by 1472) John (d.by 1486) John (d.by 1521) Sir William (c.1498-1557*) = Elizabeth Gilbert. (Their dau Mary (1539*-1606*) = Sir John Stawell) Sir Henry (d.1591*) = Joan Michell. (Other issue: Elizabeth (bp. 1551*), Rachel (1554*-1631), and Sir Hugh (1561*-1604*), Joan (1566*-1633)) Sir John, Ist Bt. (1562*-1612*) = Anne Gifford (d.1638*) Sir William, 5th Bt. (1608*-1645*) = Anne Coles Sir William, 6th Bt. (1644*-1690*) Thrice Married, no issue. Anne (1610*-1695) = Sir Edward Seymour (d.1688) Sir Edward (1633-1708) Speaker of House of Commons. Anne (d.1752) = William Berkeley later Portman (d.1737) (g-grson of Joan sister of Sir Wm (1608*-1645*) Henry William Berkeley (d.1761) Henry William Edward Berkeley (1771-1823), 3 sons - (1) Edward, 1st Vct. (1799-1888); (2) Henry William (1801-1879); (3) Revd. Fitzhardinge (1811-1893) - no issue.

Issue of Edward Berkeley, 1st Vct. (1799-1888) = Emma (d. 1865), dau of 2nd Earl of Harewood. William Henry Berkeley, 2nd Vct (1829-1919) - 4 sons: Henry Berkeley 3rd Vct. (1860-1923) Claude Berkeley, 4th Vct. (1864-1929) Seymour Berkeley 6th Vct. (1868-1946) Gerald Berkeley 7th Vct. (1875-1948) Issue of Claude Berkeley, 4th Vct. (1864-1929) Edward Claud Berkeley, 5th Vct. (1898-1942) = Hon. Sybil Mary Douglas-Pennant (1901-1975)

Issue of Henry William Berkeley (1801-1879) Revd. Henry Fitzharding Berkeley (1838-1924) Isobel Grace (b.1891) = Sir Theodore Samuel Adams (1885-1961) * denotes a date of birth/baptism or burial from Orchard Portman parish registers.

Source: ORCHARD AND THE PORTMANS, by T. W. Mayberry 1986