Brasenose Holdings in Marston 1525

The Marston Estate of the college was first acquired in 1525, when John Moscroft for £80 bargains and sells to Ralph Bostock, the Bursar, and John Hawarden, Fellow,'one principle messuage called the Court Place with one yardland of freehold and one messe place and one yardland called Spurriers', a half yardland and half quarter called Alexander's, one half yardland and a close called Godwats, one cottage with a close late in the tenure of John Brown, another cottage called Nashe's and another called Hayward's, and one cottage called the Water Mylne with its closes and a parcel of ground called the Mylne Acres with the appurtenances in Marston'. In 1528 under an award by Sir Simon Harcourt, the College had to pay a further sum of £10 to extinguish the interest of one Valentine.

The annual value of Moscroft's lands is declared in the conveyance to be £4 10s; but apparently Bostock and Hawarden held the land in trust to make a sure estate, for at length, after litigation, in a deed of 27 April 1543, John Hawarden (now rector of Steeple Aston) sells all his estate at Marston for £80 to the college.

Such is the history of the property. But willian Porter's composition bears date 1529, when his executers, Humfrey Ogle and William Burley, entered into an undertaking with Matthew Smith, the Principle, John London, Warden of New College, and the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, to make an estate at Marston worth £4 10s per annum (in addition to the land at Kingsholme worth £3 10s) in order to found a fellowship.It seems clear, therefore, that Porter had declared his intention to the College before his death and empowered them to make arrangements for carrying out his wishes.

The Marston deeds have a considerable antiquity, going back to 1361, to which year three documents belong giving the name of Hugo, Vicar of Merschton - all executed at Merschton or Marston. The Court Place attaching to the principle farm on the College Estate is found as far back as 1477, and the ancient field names, such as Colthorns, The Marsh, Marsh Ditch are still in use.

Four small purchases of contiguous land, including the Ferry Inn, have been made in the time of the present Bursar; otherwise the property remains unaltered. but some fields between the Ferry Inn and Oxford on the west bank of the Cherwell were purchased in 1908.

A map of 1769 shows the division made between Brasenose and Corpus Land - though the mere-stones still standing bear the date 1694 and the partition must have been made then.

[A. J. Butler, Brasenose College Quartercentenary Monographs no. VI, The College Estates and Advowsons p22 (=OHS lTI (1909)]