Sidenhall, the origin of the name is
open to speculation. It may mean "at the wide angle of land," as the Place Name
Society for Warwickshire suggests, or the broad low Iying land in a valley. Alternatively
it might take its name from an early settler, one Sida or Side. The earliest known version
of the name is Sydenhale, which appears in the Feet of Fines for 1286.
Sidenhall, an ancient manor, was for
so many years a solitary farm lying in an isolated position on the edge of Illshaw Heath.
Much earlier though it had been an active and industrious estate, with a stone-built manor
house surrounded by a moat. Dugdale in his "Antiquities of Warwickshire,"
published in 1656, indicates that the family living there in the Medieval period, took
their name from their Tanworth-in-Arden estate. Their coat of arms, listed in Burkes
"General Armory", published in 1884, was "a Fesse betwixt three
Cressents."
The family held their land from the
Earls of Warwick, and later from the Archer family.
A rental of 1299 includes a payment to Margery Archer from Henry de Sydenhale for
additional land at Cheswyke. The family also owned land in Solihull. In 1285-6 William de
Sidenhale, probably the father of Henry above, leased a house and virgiate of land in
Solihull to Adam de
Sidenhale, possibly a younger son. Early the next century we find Roger De Sydenhale
acting as a witness in several land transactions, a statement of his place in local
society. In the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1327, two members of the family, Robert, head of the
family, and Henry de Sydenhal(e), are listed in Tanworth-in-Arden. There is also a
"Will' o de Sidenal" listed in Solihull, possibly the son, or grandson of Adam.
He was taxed at two shillings, indicating that he was a moderately wealthy man.

A further five acres of land in
Tanworth-in-Arden were granted by the Archers to the Sydenhale family, c.1300, and Robert
de Sydenhale also acquired a further leld of new land in the upper Blithe valley. from the
three daughters of Roger Atte Berne. By 1317 Henry de Sydenhale had expanded the family
wealth by adding a fish-farm to the manor. He was selling fish bred in Sydenhale pond,
probably the broad northern extension of the ' h' shaped moat surrounding the house.
"Robert de Sydenhalle of
Tanworth, Esq.," as he is styled in Sir Simon Archer' s notebook, died without a male
heir. In 1330 his daughter and heiress Joan, married William Fulwode of Clay Hall, and
Sydenhall Manor and its hall passed out of the family. (5)
Meanwhile a junior branch of the
family continued in Tanworth, headed in 1331 by Henry de Sidenhale. The Assize Roll of
Warwick for 1381 records that the house of "Henrici de Sydenhale" in Tanworth
was broken into by the appropriately named Geoffrey Crok, who carried away goods to the
value of £10. The Tanworth branch were still living locally in 1580. One John Sydnall is
listed as a Freeholder of Tanworth for that year.
The Solihull branch of the family
also had its problems. In 1380, their guest, Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Sir
Egidius de Ardern, was abdueted by Thomas de Elmedon, a Solihull farmer, and five of his
companions. That he was fined only 3 s. 4d. would perhaps indicate that Margaret was a
willing accomplice.(6)
In 1404, in what appears to be a
marriage settlement, William Woodward gave as a gift to Thomas Sydenhale of Tanworth and
his wife Alice, 4 houses, 4 carucates of land, 24 acres of meadow, 18 acres of wood, and 2
acres of moor in Solihull, Tanworth, Claverdon and Preston Bagot. ( 7)
From this junior branch, "Jane
filia & haeres [of] Tho. Sidenhall," married into the Warwickshire family of
Shuckburgh of Shuckburgh Hall. As a consequence the Sydenhall coat of arms was
incorporated into that of the Shuckburghs (8)
The manor of Sydenhall meanwhile was
sold to John Hugford of Henwood, who in 1544, refers to his manor of "Sydenalles
Hall." In the following century the manor was sold to Nathaniel Cookes of Ingon, near
Stratford-upon-Avon, who was in possession of it by 1675, as the Feet of Fines for
Warwickshire indicates.
Sydenhall, along with the Cookes
family's other property in Rowington. was bought by Aaron Rogers. In 1765 the manor was
held by his descendent, Bridget Prew, and by her grand-daughter Elizabeth Wise and her
husband, Robert Roe, in 1775. Dying wlthout children to succeed her, Sydenhall passed to
Elizabeth' s sister Patience, wife of Thomas Benbow. In 1803 Matthew Wise, a relative of
the Benbows, is recorded as lord of the manor. His son Matthew sold it to James Mann, Earl
Cornwallis, whose nephew Philip Wykeham-Martin inherited it. His son, Cornwallis Philip
Wykeham-Martin, who died in 1924, succeeded to the estate which by that time had lost its
manorial rights.(9)
Over the years the owners of
Sidenhall Farm were frequently absentee landlords, and the land was leased out to a number
of farmers. The Tithe Apportionment of 1840 shows Thomas Green to have been farming here
then. In 1851 Joseph Marston, a Staffordshire man from Aldridge, is shown on the Census as
its farmer, working some 200 acres of land. Throughout the 1860s to the 1890s, Joseph
Tavlor farmed here, followed by John Gray, John Lowe at the turn of the century, later
John Murray, and during the 1920s by William Moseley. (10)
Tragically Sidenhall Farmhouse was
accidentally burnt down in 1998. It was Grade II listed, and dated from c.1600, replacing
an earlier Medieval hall. It was L-shaped in plan, the main part facing south, with the
east gabled cross-wing projecting in front. On the east side of the wing was a projecting
chimney stack of stone, over 9 feet in height (perhaps originating from the original
moated house), while beneath it was a wide fire-place. The walls of the house were of
later brick, but the story posts remained in the north wall. The south-east room contained
a heavy chamfered ceiling beam, this beam having mortices for former wide flat joists. To
the north of the house is the now overgrown moat which contains the foundations and paving
of the former Medieval Manor House.

Shuckburgh Family Crest
- Solihull Archaeological Group News
sheet, No.3, Feb. 1974
- Feet of Fines, 14 Edward I, 12 85-6.
- Archer Collection, Stratford-upon-Avon
Record Office
- Ancient Deeds A.9631 P.R.O.
- William Dugdale, "Antiquities of
Warwickshire"
- Warwickshire Assize Rolls 973/ l6, 1380
- Feet of Fines, 6 Henry IV, 1404-5
- Visitation of the County of Warwick in
the year I6I9, Harleian Society 1877
- Victoria County History of
Warwickshire, vol.4
- Directories of Warwickshire, various.
Thanks to Joseph McKenna a Local Historian
living in Cheswick Green
for permission to use this article.
  
The house burnt down a few years ago leaving only a barn and some more recent farm
buildings (derelict.) Part of the old moat is still to be seen.
Since these pictures were taken the barn has been demolished and the area cleared as part
of the development of the Blythe
Valley Business Park. Only a small part of the moat remains. A public footpath, part
of the Solihull Way from
Warrings Green to BoxTrees passes through the area then over the BVBP access road and M42
motorway.
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