page_title: Pucklechurch
section_title: Farmed to Denys family
hierarchical_section_title: Pucklechurch / History / Farmed to Denys family
caption_attribution_description: English: Arms of the Denys family of Glamorgan and of Siston and Dyrham, Gloucestershire, England, UK: Gules, three leopard's faces or jessant-de-lys azure over all a bend engrailed of the last. It appears on the Denys monumental brass in the Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Olveston, Gloucestershire.
context_page_description: Pucklechurch is a large village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, 7.4 miles ENE of the city of Bristol and 8.9 miles NW of the city of Bath.
context_section_description: To save his see from the administrative burden of collecting all the rents within the manor, the Bishop farmed the manor to Sir Gilbert Denys (d.1422), of nearby Siston, that is to say, gave him the right to keep all the rents he could collect in exchange for an annual one-off payment of £40. One must assume that Denys would have been willing to pay more than anyone else for the privilege, as he already held the next-door manor of Siston, making for convenient administration. In the Communar's Accounts of the See of Bath and Wells the following entries are recorded:
  1400–01 Received from Gilbert Denys, knt, for farm of Pokelchurch                £40
  1400–01  Paid to servant of Sir Gilbert Denys for venison from Pokelchurch for the canons                2s
  1407/8 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys, farmer of the church at Pucklechurch               £40
  1407/9 Expenses of the steward about the agreement with Sir Gilbert Denys and on other occasions £1 3s 2d.
  1407/9 Received from Gilbert Denys for wood at Crotesmor            £5 13s 4d
  1408/9 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys for the farm of Pucklechurch, £5 being remitted for the first term                       £35
  1414–18 Expenses of holding a court at Pucklechurch and treating with Gilbert Denys at Sixton (Siston)  and Olvyston (Olveston) and with Abbatiston (Abson?) parish       £1 1s 5½d
  1414–18 Expenses: Sir Gilbert Denys £2 and his bailiff 3s 4d and his entertainment for horses and men at Simon Bayly's (11s 8d) £2 15s
  1414–18 Expenses hire of 2 horses at Wells and holding a court at Pucklechurch           1s 11d
  1414–18 Rec'd from the bailiff of Pucklechurch, rent and perquisites of court        £1 7s   5d
  1417–18 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys for the farm of Pucklechurch               £40
  1417–18 Expenses at Pucklechurch, with horse hire, about tithes in Pucklechurch, Abbatiston (Abson?) and Westleigh (Westerleigh?) and arranging with Gilbert Denys                   £1 8s 1d
  It would seem that it was a pleasant day out for a couple of the canons or friars of Wells to hire horses and ride over to talk business with Denys, perhaps an excuse to enjoy some all-expenses paid entertainment. It appears that Denys held the farm until his death in 1422, although records are not available to confirm this. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries the manor was granted to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke from whom it was acquired by Sir Maurice Denys (d.1561), Treasurer of Calais and builder of Siston Court.  From him the manor passed to his cousin Hugh Denys, and a cadet (younger) branch of the Denys family became lords of the manor of Pucklechurch until the death of William Dennis in 1701, last of the male line. The Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire in 1623 records John Denys (d.1559) as "of Pucklechurch", High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1551. He was the youngest son of Sir Walter Denys (d.1505) of Alveston, buried in Olveston Church, and the youngest brother of Sir William Denys (d.1535) of the adjacent manor of Dyrham. In St. Thomas a Becket Church is a memorial to Henry Dennis (d.1638), Squire of Pucklechurch, son of John "Dennys", fisherman and poet who wrote the earliest English poetical treatise on fishing "The Secrets of Angling" published in 1613.
caption: Arms of Denys/Dennis: Gules, 3 leopard's faces or jessant-de-lys azure over all a bend engrailled azure
exif: {"Image Tag 0x0301": "20000/9091", "Image Tag 0x5110": "1", "Image Tag 0x5111": "0", "Image Tag 0x5112": "0"}