Monument record 0146800000 - LILLYFEE FARM

THE HAMLET OF LILLIFEE ('LYLLY' OR 'LITTLE'S FEE', C15) CONSISTS OF A FARM KNOWN AS LILLIFEE OR LILY FARM. THE HAMLET OF LILLIFEE APPEARS IN CONJUNCTION WITH HEDSOR IN 1422 AS LILLIFEE OR LITTLE'S FEE. IN 1431 IT WAS APPURTENANT TO THE HONOUR OF WALLINGFORD, & SO PASSED TO THE HONOUR OF EWELME. LILLIFEE SEEMS TO HAVE COME UNDER THE SAME OWNERSHIP AS HEDSOR MANOR. REFERENCES TO THE COURT OF LILLIFEE OCCUR IN 1422 & 1431 (B1).
NO DEFINITE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOUND TO SUPPORT LILLIFEE BEING A MANOR. WOOBURN ENCLOSURE MAP (1803) SHOWS HOMESTEAD, RICKYARD & GARDEN AT 'LELLEY LEE FARM' (B3,B4).
'LINLEI' TAXED AS A SMALL VILLAGE, 1217; NO REFS AFTER END OF C13 (B6).
The fee element of the name and early 15th century references to a court suggests manorial status at least in the 15th century. The hamlet of Lillifee is first mentioned in the Curucage of 1217, in the Feet of Fines for 1237 ('Lyndeleg'), in an Inquisition Post-mortem of the reign of Henry III ('Linlegh') and in another Inquisition Post-mortem of 1300 ('Lynleye'). In 1422 it is mentioned in connection with Hedsor and in 1431 as appurtenant to the honour of Wallingford. In 1422 and 1431 references occur to the court of Lillifee. In 1605 Lamberts Farm in Lillifee was held by Thomas Reading of Roland Hynd by tenure of serving the first dish of the second course at dinner on 26th December, bringing two hens, one cock, one gallon of ale and two manchets of white bread and taking back with him after dinner one sparrow hawk and two spaniels to keep at his own cost for Roland Hynd. This service was still due at the beginning of the 19th century but a money composition was paid by the tenant as an equivalent to Edmund Waller of Beaconsfield, who then owned the farm (B7 citing Chibnall and VCH).