The Pettipher Family

PETTIPHER/PETIPHER/PETYFER 

Richard Petyfer, yeoman of Warmington, and Richard his son bought an estate from the lord of the manor in 1572. Richard paid £63 6s 8d for his messuage, three-and-one-sixth yardlands* in Warmington in his own occupation. The property had formerly been occupied by Richard’s parents Edward and Jone Petyfer.

Richard Petyfer probably also owned land in Radway, for according to Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire the Reverend Anthony Petyfer, rector of Warmington from 1605 until his death in 1629, was son of Richard of Radway. The Rev Anthony Petyfer died a wealthy man as his will shows. As well as the lands inherited from his father, which he passed to his son Anthony, he left an estate of similar size in Avon Dassett to his second son Thomas. He also left significant sums of money to his daughter Sarah and youngest son Richard.

The eldest son Anthony and his wife Anne had eight or more children born in the 1640s and 1650s. In their old age Anthony and Anne moved to Banbury, being brought back to Warmington for burial in 1698 and 1700 respectively. Of their children who survived infancy, Mary married Thomas Cheetham of London. Mary too spent her widowhood in Banbury but was buried in Warmington near her siblings in 1690. Her daughter Mary was brought for burial in 1693.

Mary Cheetham’s youngest sister Elizabeth married a Shrewsbury draper, Edward Philips, around 1691. John, eldest surviving son of Anthony and Anne, lived in Chipping Norton, but died around the same time as his elderly parents. His only son, also John, sold the last part of the Warmington estate.

Estate 

The estate totalled as much as seven-and-three-quarters yardlands at its maximum extent. Through manorial records it can be traced that two of these yardlands were acquired by the Ralegh family, and then the Bricknell family, becoming part of Harbages Farm. Two yardlands were acquired by William Claridge; his estate passed to the Holbech family as part of Grove Farm. Three yardlands were bought by the lord of the manor and this holding is today known as Manor Farm. The remaining three-quarters of a yardland formed part of the estate of Thomas Whittlesee, then Wady, then Stranks and known later as Fir Tree Farm.

*A yardland is equivalent to approximately 30 acres of land in the pre-enclosure field system and would include arable, pasture and rights of common. The exact size would vary from manor to manor.