Monument record 1596900000 - Whelpleys

Only a scatter of tiles marks the site of Whelpleys, which takes its name from a fourteenth-century owner, John de Whelpley. The farm was a large one, but most of it lay in Bucks, and only the farmhouse and a few acres were in Coleshill. It was leasehold of the Manor of Tomlins. Its occupancy is a matter of inference. Of Coleshill's larger farms, only Whelpleys cannot be assigned to a known occupant in 1625. Only one of the township's substantial taxpayers at this date cannot be assigned to a farm. He was Richard Child ('senior' to distinguish him from his nephew at Porch House). A
process of elimination puts the two together.
Richard Child (senior) was a son of William Child, who died in 1607, having founded a yeoman dynasty. His family had been prosperous in Amersham for at least a generation before 1524, but he himself first appears in the Coleshill record in 1566. He left three sons. John, the eldest, he had set up at
'Deans' (Bottom Farm, Amersham), whose land marched with Whelpleys. The second son, Richard (senior), was charged with the care of his mother; it can be inferred that Whelpleys had been William's home. The old lady also had a £10 annuity out of land held on lease from Sir Francis Cheyne. The third son, William, had been set up at Luckings by his father. Richard (senior) died, apparently childless, in 1634/5. He seems to have been succeeded at
Whelpleys by his nephew John, a younger son of his brother John Child of Deans. John (junior) paid tax on four hearths in 1662/3, (presumably for Whelpleys). (B1).
This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence (B2).