Winchester House School

Tithe House
Rectory House or ‘Tithe House’

Lyle occupied a mansion house in Brackley, presumably the Rectory but described by Baker as the ‘Tithe House’, until just before 1606,49 after which they moved to Evenley leaving the residence in the occupation of the Wenman family, two of whom were members of parliament for the town in the middle and late 17th century. 50 In 1733 William and Elizabeth Croft released to the Duke of Bridgewater the capital messuage in St.Peters where Philip Lord Wenman lived, which was William Lisle’s and Sir George Throgmorton’s. It including yards, backsides, buildings, orchards and stables with 5 butts in Castle Field butting the yard of the dwelling house. There was also a messuage in the tenure of John Coles which had been Leicester Abbey’s purchased by William Lisle with a cottage on the said property occupied by John Peckover with barn and backside.

In 1760 the 'tithe house' and 'tithe barn' stood in adjacent plots on the west side of the upper part of the High Street and by 1830 this property is described as the manor house. Baker states that ‘the manor house which succeeded the castle has disappeared, the present building, plain in character and moderate in size was probably formed out of the offices. It stands in the upper part of the High Street and is still used for holding the manorial court’.51 However the earliest architectural evidence from the 'tithe house' is only of the 17th century while in the early 16th century this property comprised simply a series of ordinary tenements. It would therefore appear that the property was acquired and created as a capital messuage for the Rectory after the dissolution. This conversion continued between 1733 and 1760 with the enclosure of the butts in Castle Field to the rear of the property to create what was by 1830 the Tithe Orchard.

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/wenman-richard-1657-90

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/lisle-william-1577-1665