Christening Records
Sarah Cradock, born April 20, 1807, Christened January 15, 1808 at Eccleshall, Staffordshire, father Richard Cradock, mother Sarah

In the 1861 census Woodcote, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
Head Sarah Deakin, widow, age 51, landed proprietor, born Staffordshire.
Visitor Catharine Bond, age 38, born Staffordshire.
a housemaid, a cook and a groom.

In the 1871 census Woodcote Manor House, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
Head Sarah Deakin, widow, age 63, gentlewoman and landowner, born Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
Companion Catharine Bond, unmarried, age 47, Lady’s Companion, born Colwich, Staffordshire.
3 servants including 2 domestic servants and a coachman.

The 1881 census Woodcote Green, Bromsgrove, Worcester.
Head Sarah Deakin, widow, age 73, having no occupation, born Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
2 domestic servants, 1 coachman.

In the April to June 1887 death index Sarah Deakin, age 80, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, volume 6c, page 213.

National Probate Calendar
August 17 1887. The Will with a Codicil of Sarah Deakin late of Woodcote in the Parish of Bromsgrove in the County of Worcester Widow who died 24 June 1887 at Woodcote was proved at the Principal Registry by the Reverend Keelinge Addison Deakin of Cofton Parsonage Alvechurch in the said County Clerk and Bickerton Homer Deakin [Her husband’s grand nephews] of the Town and County of Monmouth Solicitors the surviving Executors. Personal Estate 27 190 pounds 16 shillings 1 pence.

Some Memorial Inscriptions - Standon, Staffordshire
All Saints Churchyard and War Memorial

Sarah CRADOCK, relict of Richard CRADOCK,
the elder, late of Aspley, 24 Nov 1857, 90
James DEAKIN, late of Woodcote Manor,
In the parish of Bromsgrove, County of Worcester,
14 Jan 1857, 63
Sarah, widow, d/o Richard CRADOCK, of Aspley,
20 April 1807 - 24 June 1887
Richard CRADOCK, late of Aspley, 2 Feb 1837, 69
Richard CRADOCK, Jnr, Gent, late of Aspley, in the parish of Eccleshall,
23 April 1840, 31

Courtesy of Anna Kingsley-Curry
the text of a brass plaque in Dodford Church (which was built in 1908),
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF JOHN BICKERTON DEAKIN OF WOODCOTE HOUSE BORN 20 MAY 1812 DIED 29 SEPT 1879;
AND OF ELIZABETH SARAH HIS WIFE BORN 20 APRIL 1821 DIED 20 FEB 1920;
ALSO OF SARAH DEAKIN OF WOODCOTE MANOR BORN 20 AP 1807; DIED 24 JUNE 1887.


From the Holy Trinity Church of Eccleshall https://holytrinitychurcheccleshall.co.uk/d.htm
[square brackets are my additions]
Name
Date of Death or Internment
Age
[all have the same map reference of M63] [This is the same church as Robert Deakin]
Craddock Sarah
24.11.1857
90

Deakin James
24.1.1857

Deakin Sarah (nee Cradock)
24.6.1887
20.4.1807

Craddock Richard
2.2.1857
69
 
Craddock Richard
23.4.1840
3 [I think this should be 31]

Courtesy of Anna Kingsley-Curry
the text of a brass plaque in Dodford Church (which was built in 1908),
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF JOHN BICKERTON DEAKIN OF WOODCOTE HOUSE BORN 20 MAY 1812 DIED 29 SEPT 1879;
AND OF ELIZABETH SARAH HIS WIFE BORN 20 APRIL 1821 DIED 20 FEB 1920;
ALSO OF SARAH DEAKIN OF WOODCOTE MANOR BORN 20 AP 1807; DIED 24 JUNE 1887.

From Pedigree of the Deakin Family, October 1859
[With details of later family members added afterwards]
In the possession of Alice Gertrude Deakin (1862 to 1946) to her grand nephew Arthur Keelinge Deakin (1917 to 1944) to his father Guy Barton Deakin (1882 to 1973) to his daughter Isabella Vera Deakin (1913 to 2005) to David Cooper.
James Deakin
Born 17th January 1793
Baptized 3 January 1794
Married at Eccleshall
Died 14th January 1857 and buried at Standon, County of Stafford
Wife Sarah Cradock [Her entry is in two or quite possibly three hands]
Born 20th April, 1807
Married 6th April 1830
There was no issue of this marriage
Born 20th April 1807 [yes written twice]
Baptized at Eccleshall
Died 24 June 1887
Buried Standon county Stafford

no issue

England and Wales Christening Records
James Deakin born January 1793, christened January 3, 1794, Eccleshall, Staffordshire, father Robert Deakin, mother Sarah.

England and Wales Marriages
James Deakin and Sarah Cradock, April 6, 1830, Eccleshall, Staffordshire.

UK Polling Books 1837
Eccleshall Polling District
James Deakin, Woodcote Manor, Bromsgrove, qualification freehold land, name of property Aspley

In the 1841 census
James Deakin is living at Halfway House Bromsgrove, age 45, Independent means, not born in the county.
Sarah Deakin age 30, not born in the county.
4 servants.
Next home is Woodcote House (Robert Deakin, James’ older brother)

In the 1842 Bentley’s Directory of Worcestershire
Bromsgrove
Mr. James Deakin, Woodcote Manor House
Mr. Robert Deakin, Woodcote House

In the 1851 census Woodcote House, Bromsgrove Worcestershire.
Robert Deakin, head, unmarried, age 40. farmer of 200 acres employing 3 labourers, born Bromsgrove.
Mother Mary Deakin, widow, age 62 annuitant, born Upton Warren.
3 house servants.
Also listed are James Deakin, head, married, age 56, Landed proprietor, born Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
Wife Sarah Deakin, age 40, born Eccleshall.
2 house servants.

UK Polling Books 1851, 1856
Eccleshall Polling District
James Deakin, Woodcote Manor, Bromsgrove, qualification freehold land, name of property Aspley, Charles Ball (not sure if Carles Ball is the owner or tenant.

A James Deakin owned Aspley, Cotes (History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851)]

Directory and Gazetteer of the County of Worcester 1855
Fockbury
Mr. J. Deakin Half-way House, Woodcote
Robert Deakin, farmer, Woodcote House

In the January to March 1857 death index, James Deakin, Bromsgrove, volume 6c, page 248.

From the research of Nicola Martin, Anna Kingsley-Curry and Jenny Beasley as co-editors of Woodcote in Worcestershire.

Woodcote Manor (also Woodcote Manor Farm or Halfway House)

James Deakin, uncle of Robert Deakin at Woodcote House (Farm), bought the Manor from the Foleys in 1820 but sold the lordship of Woodcote to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1828. However, he kept the Manor House (Halfway House) and 200-odd acres of farmland. Although he and his wife Sarah had no children, the ownership of the Manor at their deaths remained in the family until the Deakin Sale of 1917. It has been said that the original manor house (of unknown date) was situated further back from the main road but what evidence there is (of old cellars and wells) is close by the present house and seems to contradict this theory.
In 1903 the tenant farmer was David Waddle, but was followed by the James Brothers, Arthur & Rhys, who were tenants from 1911 to 1918, the Manor House having been bought by J H Cooke in the 1917 Deakin Estate Sale.
. . .
Woodcote Manor today is a Grade II listed late Georgian house.
end of excerpt
Drawing of Woodcote manor is in the Photo Page.


A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3

The manor of WOODCOTE is partly in Upton Warren and partly in Bromsgrove, the manor-house being in the latter parish. Before 1066 the manor belonged to Wulfsige, a thegn of Edward the Confessor, but by 1086 it had passed to Herlebald, who held it of Urse D'Abitot. The overlordship passed from Urse to the Beauchamps as in Elmley Castle (q.v.). The next mention of Herlebald's successor as underlord occurs about the middle of the 13th century when Richard de Montviron was tenant of the manor. He or a successor of the same name was impleaded for common of pasture at Woodcote by William son of Warin de Upton in 1254–5, and was holding in 1299–1300. He had been succeeded before 1315–16 by John de Bishopston, ( who was said to be his heir. ( John settled the manor in 1316–17 on Joan daughter of Edmund de Grafton, afterwards married to his son Roger. John de Bishopston was living in 1319, when he obtained a grant of free warren in the manor. Roger de Bishopston and Joan, having no son, settled the manor in 1345 on their only daughter Alice and her husband Walter, son of Richard de Clodeshale. Richard de Clodeshale, great-grandson of Alice, left Woodcote to his only child Elizabeth wife of Sir Thomas Aston, kt., and she in 1410 settled it on her daughter Margaret wife of Richard Brace and their heirs. Richard Brace and Margaret had two daughters, Elizabeth, who married John Ewnet, and Margaret, who married firstly Robert Bromwich and secondly Reginald Monington, and they claimed the manor after her death under the above settlement, their right to it being confirmed in 1472 by Walter Arderne, son of Elizabeth Clodeshale by another husband, Robert Arderne of Park Hall, co. Warw. In 1504 John Arderne son of Walter tried to obtain the manor from Rowland Ewnet son of Elizabeth and William Bromwich, grandson of Margaret, but a case before the King's Bench was decided in favour of the defendants. In 1494 William Bromwich sold his share of Woodcote to Thomas Bromwich, who in 1521–2 acquired the other half from Rowland Ewnet son of the above Rowland. Nothing further is known of the manor until 1550, when Ralph Fane and Elizabeth his wife released their interest in it to Anne wife of Edmund Horne, to whom the reversion, after Elizabeth's death, belonged. Edmund and Anne in 1551 sold Woodcote to Sir John Pakington, kt., who appears to have settled it on his daughter Bridget when she married Sir John Lyttelton of Frankley, kt. The latter died seised in 1591, and by his will left the manor to his second son George and Margaret his wife, with reversion to their son Stephen and his heirs male, and contingent remainders to John, another son of George and Margaret, and to Gilbert eldest son of the testator.
 Stephen Lyttelton was one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, and was arrested with Robert Winter at Hagley (fn. 193) through the treachery of one of his mother's servants at Holbeach. (fn. 194) Woodcote is not mentioned in the list of his lands forfeited to the Crown, probably because his mother, Margaret Lyttelton, was still living and held it for her life. After her death it passed to Gilbert Lyttelton and Etheldreda his wife. Gilbert in 1617 became bound in the sum of £2,000 in trust for the use of Anne Lyttelton, widow, who afterwards became the wife of Francis Fowke, and of her two daughters Frances and Elizabeth. Woodcote appears to have been mortgaged on this account, but Gilbert afterwards sold it to Sir Brian Cave of Ingarsby (co. Leic.). Sir Brian does not seem to have obtained possession, for the manor was afterwards held in moieties by Elizabeth wife of Walter Fowke and Frances wife of Henry Cupper, evidently the two daughters of Anne Lyttelton mentioned above. Henry and Frances gave up their share to Walter Fowke and Elizabeth, who conveyed the whole to John Cupper and Leonard Chamberlain in 1641. This conveyance was apparently made for the purpose of paying Walter's debts, and in 1652 Cupper and Chamberlain were sued for not fulfil ing the trusts of this conveyance. Chamberlain, however, stated that Walter Fowke sold the manor to him in 1639, and that he maintained the said Walter and his wife 'weekely in theyre expences in London for a long tyme.' When the Civil War began Walter Fowke became an officer in the royal army, and Henry Cupper also took up arms for the king, and begged Chamberlain's estate in the manor from the king, taking the profits until Worcester was besieged in 1646, when the manor was sequestered. It was subsequently restored to Henry Cupper, who went to the Isle of Man with the Earl of Derby, thus preventing Chamberlain from suing him. It would seem that Chamberlain never recovered seisin, for in 1668 John Baker and his wife Sarah sold the manor to Thomas Foley, and a clause is inserted in the conveyance assuring it from all claims by Walter Fowke and his wife Elizabeth and Henery Cupper and his wife Frances. From that time it evidently passed in the Foley family, following the descent of Oddingley (q.v.), being in the possession of Thomas Lord Foley in 1802. About 1820 it was purchased by James Deakin, who sold it in 1828 to John Earl of Shrewsbury. It has since descended with the title. (fn. 203) (fn 203 is Bickerton H Deakin)