Creslow Manor House and its history

Image: © D Gore Taken: Unknown

Creslow was a 14th century manor owned by the Knights Hospitallers until the dissolution of the monasteries. Until the Civil War the Manor House was the home of the Keeper of the Royal Pastures (about 900 acres) where high quality food, mainly beasts, for the King’s household were raised. The present house is one of the oldest surviving domestic buildings in England, a fascinating combination of periods. At its heart is a house of the early 14th century (circa 1330) with walls of squared limestone six feet thick. Among other features, it has a 14th century vaulted crypt, built with stone finely groined and about 12 foot square – now used as a cellar. Ref:: Royal Commission on Historical Monuments - Bucks (Creslow) 1911. See also http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42572&strquery=Parish%20Creslow#s1 In the early 17th century the Keeper of the Royal Pastures (and therefore also an Officer of the King’s Household) was Joseph Mayne of the nearby Hoggeston family Image When he became Sergeant at Arms to the Lord Treasurer, he was followed at Creslow by his son Edward. In 1635 King Charles I took pity on one Cornelius Holland, a young man at court whose father had been imprisoned for debt, and made him the Keeper at Creslow. But come the Civil War, Cornelius repaid his benefactor by being one of those who signed the King’s death warrant in 1649. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Cornelius was attainted for high treason and fled the country. Edward Mayne unsuccessfully applied to replace him but it went elsewhere – see http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42572&strquery=Parish%20Creslow#s2

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