The Pleydell family
Lyneham Village Online has endeavoured to research the Pleydell family roots and see how they were associated with the history of Lyneham. The Pleydell family roots, those tied with Lyneham, originate from Thomas of Coleshilll c1275 and continue through generations where Harriet Pleydell married the 1st Earl of Radnor William de Bouverie and from their marriage date 14th January 1748, they kept their names together Pleydell-Bouverie. The Earl of Radnor name is shown on the 1821 Tithe map of the Heneage Estate as owner of Lyneham Court, which was demolished by the Air Ministry in 1939 for the build up of the Second World War and the construction of the Lyneham airbase.

The Pleydell Lineage:
WILLIAM PLEYDELL esq. of Coleshill, in the county of Berkshire born about the year 1425 and died in 1495, seized of lands in Berkshire and the adjoining counties. He was interred in the church of Coleshill, with his wife, Isabella, under the directions of his will, dated 6th November 1494, and registered in the prerogative office. His son and heir;

+ THOMAS PLEYDELL esq. died in 1527, possessed of a considerable estate, (the appraisement of his moveables only, made 9th October, 1527, amounting to £353. 7s. a large sum for those times,) and was interred, with Agnes, his wife, in a chapel, (which, for that purpose he had caused to he erected on the south side of the church of Coleshill,) called in his will, "the new chapel of the salutation of our blessed ladie" and, by him, amongst other donations, endowed with ten marks yearly to a priest, to sing and pray for his soul, and the souls of his family. The probate to his will, is under the seals of Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York and Legate; and William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury. He had (with two daughters, Rose, wife of Ambrose Champneys, esq. of Frome Selwood. and Elizabeth,) a son and successor;

+ WILLIAM PLEYDELL esq of Coleshill, who married Agnes, daughter and co-heir of Robert Reason, esq of Corfe Castle, in the county of Dorset, by whom he had;

+ i. TOBIAS his heir, married Eleouora, daughter of John Yate of Buckland, Berkshire and was seized of the manor, town and hundred of Farringdon, in that county, which he had purchased of Sir Francis Englefield, and the said John Yate, where he and his wife lie interred under a handsome monument, in the chancel. He died 18th October 1563.

  ii. GABRIEL of Midgehill, Wiltshire. His grandson;

+ Sir CHARLES PLEYDELL of Midgehill was knighted in 1620, and died 1642; leaving by his second wife Jane, daughter of Sir John St. John, of Lydiard Tregoze, and widow of Robert Atty, esq. a son;

+ OLIVER whose son and heir;

+ EDMUND M.P. for Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire married Anne, daughter and sole heir of Sir John Morton, of Milbourne St Andrew, in the county of Dorset, Bart and was father of

+ EDMUND MORTON PLEYDELL esq. of Milbourne, M.P. for the county of Dorset, who married Deborah, daughter of William Kuffen, esq. and died in 1754, leaving issue.

  iii. THOMAS Of Shrivenham.

  iv. JOHN of Westcot, in Berkshire, father of;

+ ROBERT PLEYDELL who, in 1621 was seized of the manors of Amney Crucis, Amney Mary, and Amney Peter, in the county of Gloucester, with those of Wescot and Irley, in Berkshire. He died in 1642, and those estates descended successively to his son, grandson, and great grandson, all of Amney Crucis and all named Robert; the son died  about 1675; the grandson married Sarah, daughter of Philip Sheppard, of Hampton, in Gloucestershire; the great grandson died in 1719, unmarried leaving two sisters; the elder died unmarried when the younger;

+ CHARLOTTE-LOUISA PLEYDELL became sole heir. This lady married 10th August 1724, the honourable John Dawnay, eldest son of Henry, second Viscount Downe, and by him, who predeceased his father, had two sons, viz;

+ HENRY PLEYDELL DAWNEY (1727-1760) who, succeeding his grandfather in 1741 became third VISCOUNT DOWNE.

  JOHN DAWNEY who succeeded his brother as fourth Viscount Downe. This nobleman's elder son;

+ JOHN CHRISTOPHER was the fifth viscount. but d.s.p.

and the second,

HENRY WILLIAM, (b. 1772 - d. 1846) is the sixth (1837) Viscount Downe.

The third son;

THOMAS PLEYDELL esq. received from his father the manor of the Abbot of Cirencester, in Shrivenham in Berkshire, and several lands in Dunsborn and Amney in the county of Gloucester, at which last he was interred in 1605. He had two sons viz;

+ JOHN, his heir.

+ EDWARD, of Crickdale in Wiltshire, whose great grandson and successor, (after his son and grandson bearing the same christian name,)

+ EDWARD PLEYDELL, of Crickland. M.P. for that borough married Annabella, daughter of the Right Honourable Sir John Ernle of Whetham, in the same county, chancellor of the exchequer in the reigns of Charles II, James II and William and Mary and left an only son,

+ EDWARD PLEYDELL of Crickland. Berkshire.

The elder son,

+ JOHN PLEYDELL esq. of Shrivenham in Berkshire. married Anne, daughter of Oliver Ashcomb esq of Lyford in the same county, and dying 2nd August 1635, was succeeded by his son;

+ OLIVER PLEYDELL esq. who died in 1680 seized of the paternal estate above mentioned, and of several others in the counties of Berkshire, Gloucester and Wiltshire. He had two sons (the younger died unmarried.) and several daughters, of the latter. Martha who married Sir Robert Brooke, Bart. of Nacton, and Mary was the wife of Thomas Goddard. esq. of Swindon. She was mother of Richard and Pleydell Goodard, successively of Swindon. His son and heir;

+ THOMAS PLEYDELL esq., of Shrivenham married 16th February 1666, Mary only daughter of Sir George Pratt, Bart., and eventually sole heir of her brother Sir Henry Pratt of Coleshill and had an only son, Thomas his heir. Mr. Pleydell died in 1670 and Mary, his widow, carried into other families, part of the estate which had descended to her from her grandfather, Sir Henry Pratt but the residue vested absolutely in her mother, Dame Margaret Pratt, of some part of which, comprising the manors of Coleshill, Coxwell, Magna, and Coxwell Parva in the county of Berkshire; she died seized in 1698 together with the family seat of Coleshill, which she herself had procured to be built in 1650 by Inigo Jones. Her grandson and heir,

+ THOMAS PLEYDELL esq., of Coleshill married first in 1691 Jane, daughter of Sir Nicholas Stuart. Bart., of Hartley Mauduit in the county of Southampton and had an only child; Thomas Pleydell died 2nd February 1727 and was succeeded by his elder son;

+ MARK STUART, his heir.
He married secondly, Rachel daughter of Sir Michael Ernle (circa 1704-1771), 6th Baronet, of Brimslade Park, Wiltshire, and by her had

+ MARK STUART PLEYDELL esq. of Coleshill, in the county of Berkshire born c1693, who was created a Baronet by King GEORGE II on the 15th June 1732.  Sir Mark inherited the estates of this branch of his own family, and those specified above of the family of Pratt. He married 14th January 1719, Mary daughter and sole heir of Robert Steuart, son of John Steuart, esq., of Ascoy in Bute, and had an only daughter; Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell died 14th October 1768, aged seventy-five when the baronetcy expired, he devised his estates to his grandson, Lord Folkstone and to other members of the family of Radnor, in remainder, directing that each inheritor should on his accession, adopt the surname of Pleydell-Bouverie.

+ HARRIET PLEYDELL, was born 14th Jan 1748 at St. George's, Hanover sq, London, England, who married on the 14th January 1748, William Bouverie (Pleydell) 1725 - 1776 first Earl of Radnor, (his lordship’s first wife) She died 29th May 1750 They had an only child;

+ JACOB, Viscount Folkstone, born London, England 4th Mar 1750 who succeeding his father in 1765 became second Earl of Radnor. He married 23rd Jan 1777 Anne Duncombe of Holyport Bray, Berks daughter of Anthony Duncome 1695 - 1763 and Anne Hales 1736 - 1795. Jacob died at Longford Castle on the 27th Jan 1828 They had three sons;

+ WILLIAM born at 4 Grafton St., Marylebone, London, England on the 11th May 1779. Died at Coleshill, Berkshire on the 9th Apr 1869. Married firstly at St. Mary, St. Marylebone, London, England 2nd Oct 1800 Catherine Pelham-Clinton daughter of Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton Seymour 1750 - 1778

Arms – Argent, a bend, gules, guttee of the field, between two plovers, and of the second, a chief, cheques or and sable, with the distinction of the second house.

Monument to the Pleydell Family
There is a brass monument located on the east wall of South Chapel Coleshill Church Berkshire which was erected by Sir Mark Pleydell Bart. in 1787 to the memory of his 5th great grandfather, Thomas Pleydell and the rest of his male line ancestry. Thomas erected the chapel in which the monument stands in 1499 but his effigial monument beneath its niche to the south has unfortunately disappeared.

Sir Mark Pleydell Bart. outlines details of his ancestor's will on the plaque as well as an extensive family tree covering ten generations:

William Pleydell (a descendant of Thomas of Coleshill c.1275) born circa 1425 & died 1495 & Isabelle; their son, Thomas d. 8th October 1527 & Agnes;their daughter Rose, wife of Ambrose Champneys, their son William d. 1555 & Agnes daughter of Robert Reason of Corfe Castle d. 1567; their sons Tobias of Faringdon d. 18th October 1583, Gabriel of Midgehill, John of Westcot & Ilsley & Thomas of Amney Crucis d. November 1605 & Anne daughter of Higgs of Cheltenham d. December 1599; the latter's sons, Edward of Cricklade & John of Shrivenham d. July 1635 & Anne daughter of Oliver Ayshcombe' the latter's son, Oliver died 1680 & Martha daughter of John Brind died 1682; their son Thomas born 1645 & died July 1670 & Mary Pratt born 16th Fenruary 1666 & died 1711; their son, Thomas born 26th December 1669 & died 2nd February 1717 & Jane Stuart of Hartley Maudit (married 21st January 1691) born 21st August 1665 & died 6th December 1692; their son, Mark Stuart born 29th November 1692 & died 16th October 1768 & Mary Steuart (married 14th January 1719) born 13th November 1700 & died 31st December 1747; and their daughter, Harriet Pleydell (married 14th January 1748 Longford Castle) born 21st October 1723 & died 29th May 1750 & William Bouverie, The 3rd Earl of Radnor was born in 1779 and died in 1869 [pictured left]