Thomas Foxley, of Bramshill and Foxley

Thomas Foxley

• Born: circa 1305 probably at Bray, Berkshire, England
• Constable of Windsor Castle
• Died: 1360 at Bray, Berkshire, England
• parents: John Foxley, Constansia de Bramshill
• spouse: 1) Katherine Ifield 2) Joan, widow of James Woodstock He was also known as de Foxle; of Foxley Manor at Bray and Bramshill Castle

biography

From David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History

Thomas was the only male child of the Judge and Baron of the Exchequer, Sir John Foxley of Foxley Manor in Bray (Berkshire) and Bramshill Manor in Eversley (Hampshire), by his wife, Constance, probably the heiress of the De Bramshill family. He married at a relatively young age to Katherine, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Ifield of Apuldrefield in Cudham in Kent and Swallowfield in Berkshire. The couple brought at least one son and four daughters into the world.

Thomas was, no doubt, found minor positions at court by his father. It was not until two years after Sir John’s death, in 1325, that Thomas was elected to represent Berkshire in Parliament. That same year, King Edward II was deposed and, in 1328, Thomas took the dangerous step of accepting the Constableship of Windsor Castle under the patronage of the new regime headed by Queen Isabella and her lover, Mortimer.

Perhaps the new nominal monarch, Edward III, noted some instances of kindness from Foxley, who the lad must have seen often at Windsor. For, upon taking full control of the country in 1330, the young king allowed Thomas to keep his offices.

While his mother remained at Foxley, Thomas and his wife had moved into the old house at Bramshill. Although it was for Berkshire that he was again returned as MP in 1332, since he spent most of his time in Windsor. It was, no doubt, at the Royal Castle that Thomas' son, John, first became acquainted with Matilda, the daughter of the Master of the King's Horse and his father's good friend, Sir John Brocas. The two caused their parents some anxiety by apparently running away together at the age of only fourteen and persuading the Vicar of Bray to marry them!

In 1333, Thomas' mother, Constance Foxley, passed away and a home much more convenient to Windsor was therefore vacated. Thomas' growing family almost certainly relocated to Bray, from where he was, once more, MP for Berkshire in 1337. Certainly by 1341, they were being granted permission to hear divine service in their chapel there. Not long afterwards, Katherine must have died, for Thomas remarried some time after 1342 to Joan, the widow of James Woodstock.

Thomas Foxley was constable at Windsor through some of the highest points in the castle’s long history. He was there for the great tournament of 1344 at which King Edward promised to instigate a grand order of knights in honour of St. George; at the famous legendary ball, two years later, at which the Fair Maid of Kent dropped her garter; and, in 1348, when the Order of the Garter was formally inaugurated. Just prior to this last event, Queen Philippa was at the castle for the birth of her fourth son, William. The captive King David II of Scots joined the celebratory feasts and remained at Windsor for the next eleven years. In the meantime, there had been vast movements of troops during the Crecy campaign against France and, in 1347, Thomas’ own Berkshire estates were charged with the supply of 120 archers for the (Hundred Years’) War.

With the establishment of the Order of the Garter and an established truce in Europe, Windsor thronged with foreign knights and King Edward decided that the castle needed considerably updating if it was to be the home of English chivalry. Furthermore King David was complaining about the state of his accommodation. A young architect named William of Wykeham appears to have been recommended by the Bishop of Winchester and hundreds of workmen arrived in Windsor to almost entirely rebuild the fortress.

Thomas found that he had many more responsibilities than those usually asked of the constable, so, in 1351, the King commissioned his friends, Sir John Brocas and Oliver de Bordeaux to help him oversee the project and "survey the workmen and their work, to encourage such as did their duty, but to compel those who were slothful". At the same time, Thomas had to contend with large numbers of pilgrims visiting the sacred 'Cross of Gneth' held at St. George's Chapel. When the war recommenced however, Sir John was recalled to France and a subsequent commission to complete the work was given to Wykeham in 1356. Of course, this man eventually rose to fill his original patron’s post as Bishop of Winchester and he always remained a firm friend of Foxley, whom he selected as one of three persons for whose benefit mass was daily to be said in the chapels of his foundations, Winchester and New College, Oxford.

During this period of rebuilding at Windsor, Thomas appears to have taken advantage of the architectural expertise available to him there. As early as 1347, he was granted a licence to enclose a (still extant) park of 2,500 acres at Bramshill and subsequently he seems to have decided to rebuild his house there too, as a more castle-like structure. Within the present day Jacobean mansion, considerable remains of this early fortress still exist, erected in the style of the period, round a court 100 feet long by 80 broad, with walls of great thickness, the vaulting of the cellars and other parts being precisely similar to what may be observed in the steward's room and servants' hall at Windsor Castle. The workmen employed by Foxley at the Royal Palace were, presumably, the same as those engaged in the erection of Bramshill.

The last years of Thomas' constableship were largely taken up with the keeping an eye on two new Royal prisoners, King John II of France and his son, Philip, both captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.

He died in 1360 and was buried in All Saints’ Chapel in Bray Church, where his son erected a, now lost, marble monument with engraved brass effigies. He had held the position of Constable of Windsor Castle for thirty-three years. He was also steward of the manor of Bray. His manors of Bramshill and Foxley, as well as other lands in Bray, White Waltham and Binfield, were inherited by his son, Sir John Foxley.

Sir Thomas de Foxley1,2

M, b. 1305, d. 1360

Thomas was born at the Manor of Foxley, Bray, Berkshire, England.3 He was the son of Sir John de Foxley and Constancia de Bramshill. Thomas married Catherine Ifeld circa 1329. Sir Thomas purchased the Manor of Foxley from Sir Ralph Dayrell in 1314. He was Knight of Foxley in Berkshire & Bramshill in county Hants. He elected to be a member of Parliament for Berkshire in 1327-1328.4 Thomas departed this life in 1360 at the Manor of Foxley, Bray, Berkshire, England, at age 55 years.5

Family: Sir Thomas de Foxley and Catherine Ifeld

Thomas married Catherine Ifeld circa 1329.

Citations

1.[S489] David Nash Ford, Royal Berkshire History, Moated Manors: Foxley Manor (Bray): Known as Pokemere in the 13th century. Home of the Foxley Family. Site of Foxley Green Farm, north of the Ascot Road (A330) at Touchen End. Rectangular moat survives in good condition. John De Foxley - whose fine brass can be seen in Bray Church - made a park here in 1321 around lands inherited from his father Sir Thomas De Foxley, Constable of Windsor Castle. 1344: Fence broken down and deer stolen. Arms: Gules, two bars argent. The Family also had a Castle at Bramshill (Hants).

2.[S489] David Nash Ford, Royal Berkshire History, Bray, St. Michael's Church: The present parish church at Bray was built to replace a previous Saxon building around 1294. The old church is said to have stood some way outside the main village at Water Oakley. The villagers weren't best pleased by the long walk and tore it down. Everyone had to contribute to the rebuilding, but some were reluctant to pay up and the beadle had to be sent in to sort the situation out. A more romantic tale tells of demons destroying the old church in at the dead of night!

Today only a few odd carvings brought from the old building remain: A dog (or a horse?) is built into the outer wall of the Chantry Chapel of Our Lady in the churchyard and an unusual "Sheela-Na-Gig" sits high up between the church's rafters. This latter is a pre-Christian fertility symbol, often found in Ireland, showing a female figure proudly displaying her nether regions. It was meant to remind the faithful of the sinful pagan rights from which they had escaped.

The church was, of course, originally constructed in the Early English style, but it was given many perpendicular additions and alterations in the early 14th century - including the fine tower. It is a surprisingly large building for a small village, but this reflects the size of the parish which covers many manors and associated hamlets scattered throughout Windsor Forest. The lords of these manors made great patrons and this can be seen in the many monuments and memorial chapels throughout the church. The Foxley Chapel (of All Saints) stood at the east end of the South Aisle and it was from here that the superb brass to Sir John Foxley and his two wives came (1378) . John lived at the moated manor house at nearby Foxley Green, but also held a small castle at Bramshill just over the Hampshire border. His first wife (with the heraldic lion decorating her dress) was the sister of Sir Bernard Brocas of Clewer, the great friend of the Black His second wife was apparently of low birth as she has only her husband's arms on her dress. Several generations of the family were Constables of Windsor Castle, including their son, Thomas, whose brass of 1436 has, sadly, disappeared.

3.[S747] David Nash Ford, Berkshire History, Sir Thomas Foxley, son of Sir John Foxley & Constance Bramhill.

4.[S483] Wharton Dickinson, Genealogy of the Fowlers In England and America, page 6.

5.[S483] Wharton Dickinson, Genealogy of the Fowlers In England and America, page 5 - Sir Thomas Foxley d. 1360 age 55.

• Constables and Governors of Windsor Castle "Thomas Foxley 1328-1360 Also known as de Foxle; of Foxley Manor at Bray and Bramshill Castle"
• Genealogy of the FOWLERS in England and America by Wharton Dickinson
• Topographer and Genealogist, Vol.111, p. 178-80
• Chronicles of Finchampstead: In the County of Berkshire By William Lyon (of Finchampstead.). Page 100-101
• 'Bray with the borough of Maidenhead: Introduction, borough and manors', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3, ed. P H Ditchfield and William Page (London, 1923), pp. 93-107 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3/pp93-107 [accessed 15 April 2015].