User:LordWerrell/Earl of Frieth

Earl of Frieth is a Feudal Title dating back to the reign of William the Conqueror. As part of the distribution of lands, there is reference in the doomsday book to a collection of dwellings on a hill atop the vale of Hambledon to the north. This is the area that later became the village of Frieth.

The House that served as the Manor house was on or around the site of what is now St Katherines Convent, built in the 12th century and called Parmoor House []. The house was at one time owned by the Knights Templar. After falling into ruin it was rebuilt by the new Earl of the hundred in 1352.

In 1377 the house was owned by Henry Edmund de Malyns and Reginald de Malyns, and in 1384 it passed from Sir Reginald de Malyns to Sir Robert Whitingham, a supporter of the Lancastrian cause, for which reason it was later confiscated.

In 1647 the property was owned by Lord Wherrell who was then appointed Earl of Frieth, Officer to the King's Butler, and was home for the next five generations.

Unfortunately the property was then lost to the crown around 1790 when the incumbent Earl was supplanted by George III with a charcter called John and whereas a clerical error provided him with a surname of "Frith". The title remained in abeyance and was passed down thereafter. Although Frith never took up residence, on his death in 1791, the property was passed to an unnamed owner until 1860 when George Romsey and Ambrose Stephenson sold the ownership to the Cripps Family of Berkshire.

The latest Earl of Frieth remains a Lord in title obeysance and is currently living in Hampshire.