 a capital messuage associated with it. The two were held by the same family from 1449 and treated as a single estate after the parishes of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon were united in 1587. Several religious houses had small estates in the parish in the Middle Ages.
The Manor of Wick Dive to 1587.
In 1086 Robert d'Oyley held one hide and one virgate in Wick, which Azor had held freely in King Edward's time. (fn. 99) Robert died without male issue and was succeeded in his barony of Hook Norton (Oxon.) by his brother Nigel, whose great-grandson Henry, dying without issue, was succeeded by his sister Margery, the first wife of Henry, earl of Warwick (d. 1229). (fn. 100) Their only son and heir Thomas died without issue in 1242, when he was succeeded as countess of Warwick suo jure by his sister Margery, whose second husband John de Plessis died in 1263 seised of the barony of Hook Norton and the lands of Henry d'Oyley, his wife's uncle, by virtue of a conditional grant, if his wife predeceased him without issue. (fn. 101) Among Henry's lands was one fee in Wicken. (fn. 102) John's first wife was Christian, daughter and heiress of Hugh de Sandford of Hook Norton, by whom he had a son and heir Hugh de Plessis, who was 26 at the date of his father's death, and whose own son Hugh was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1299. (fn. 103) In 1265, 1272 and 1277 Sir Hugh de Plessis was found to be tenant in chief of the Wicken estate, except (in 1277) for an assart which the undertenant held of the king in chief. (fn. 104) Possibly as a result of confusion between the assart and the manor proper, the same undertenant was said in 1281 to hold the lordship itself in chief. (fn. 105) On the other hand, Hugh de Plessis was the tenant in chief in 1284, (fn. 106) and in 1346, 1384 1398 and 1428 the manor was said to be held of the honor of Hook Norton. (fn. 107)
In 1086 the undertenant of the d'Oyley portion of Wicken was named Roger. (fn. 108) The next identifiable holder of the manor appears to be Guy de Dive of Deddington, who held the manors of Deddington and Ducklington (Oxon.), both members of the honor of Hook Norton, in the reign of John. (fn. 109) In 1216 the sheriff was directed to give full seisin to Eustace de Leon of the land of Wick which was a member of Ducklington, with all the chattels on it, parcel of the lands of Peter Picot, which the king had previously given him under the name of Eustance de Eu, and which were described as the lands of Peter in Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. (fn. 110)
William de Dive, who held one fee in Wick in 1242, (fn. 111) died in 1261 holding the same estate, when he was succeeded by his son John, (fn. 112) who rebelled against Henry IIII and was killed at the battle of Evesham in 1265. (fn. 113) His lands were forfeited to the Crown and assigned to Osbert Giffard. In 1266 John's widow Sybil recovered their manor and park of Ducklington for her life, but not the Deddington or Wicken estates. (fn. 114) In 1272 John de Dive, presumably John and Sybil's son and heir, died seised of a capital messuage and other premises in Wicken, when his heir was found to be his son Henry, (fn. 115) who the following year redeemed the rest of the family's Wicken estate from Osbert for a fine of 300 marks under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth. (fn. 116) Henry appears to have died in 1277, leaving a son and heir John aged three. A year before he had enfeoffed Edelina Corbett in all his lands in Northamptonshire for her life, including the manor of Wick Dive. (fn. 117) In March 1279 the king granted John's wardship and marriage to Queen Eleanor, although two months later a new grant was made to Alice, Henry de Dive's widow. (fn. 118) Edelina herself died in 1281 seised of Wick Dive for her life. (fn. 119) The lands which Alice held in dower in both Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire were taken into the king's hands in 1282, although the Crown appears to have retained only the Oxfordshire estate. (fn. 120)
John de Dive was still a minor in 1283 but had come of age by 1303, when he presented to the living; (fn