The title goes under the hammer in MayNews
Tina Penberthy-Hutchings Commercial Editor (Property)
05:00, 30 Apr 2025
The Lordship of Rangeworthy title is to be auctioned in May 2025(Image: @AuctionHouse)
If you have ever wanted to be a Lord or a Lady now could be your chance as an honorific title with a fascinating history of holders is set to go to auction in May.
Offering a chance to add your name to a list of illustrious former titleholders, including Hugh de Audley, a favourite and subsequent rebel during the reign of King Edward II, the title of Lord or Lady of Rangeworthy could be yours for a guide price of £5,000 – plus fees.
The Lordship of Rangeworthy is five miles south east of Thornbury and 11 miles north east of Bristol, in the Thornbury Hundred of Gloucestershire.
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According to Auction House, the Lordship of Rangeworthy once encompassed a grand manor house and around 800 acres of land.
Today, the title is being offered independent of any land or property, meaning the future owner can enjoy the customary title of Lord or Lady of Rangeworthy without reckoning with liabilities relating to land or parish maintenance.
Lordship of Rangeworthy auction listing from the 1980s(Image: @AuctionHouse)
However, the title does still provide the Lord or Lady with mineral rights over the land that originally formed the manorial estate.
Along with the title, the successful bidder will also receive several documents detailing the history of the manorial land, including its Act of Enclosure, records from the 18th century and maps of the former landholdings.
Rangeworthy Award document from 1832(Image: @AuctionHouse)
A small village in south Gloucestershire, Rangeworthy was once placed on an old coach route that linked Bristol to Dursley.
When the Domesday Book was compiled, it was merely a chapelry in the parish of Thornbury, which was held by the Saxon Lord Brictric before William the Conqueror’s entrance in 1066. It was thereafter taken by the new king and gifted to his wife Matilda.
The manor house, which is now the Rangeworthy Court Hotel, seems to have been built in the 14th century.
Under King Edward II, the manor and its lands were held by Hugh de Audley, a favourite of the king who inherited several Gloucestershire estates through his wife. Audley later rebelled against the king before finding favour with his successor, King Edward III.
Document relating to the Lordship of Rangeworthy(Image: @AuctionHouse)
The lordship then passed to John Talbot, Viscount de Lisle, who died in the last pitched battle of the Hundred Years’ War, a scene later immortalised in Shakespeare’s play Henry VI .
In the 1570s, Robert Hale of Alderley acquired the manor of Rangeworthy from Elizabeth Courtney, the Countess of Devon, who had inherited the manor and its lands through her connections to the de Lisle family.
A particular of the estates of J.D. Phelps(Image: @AuctionHouse)
Matthew Hale was a notable Lord of Rangeworthy who played a pivotal role in the restoration of King Charles II and rose to become Chief Justice of England.
The Hales continued to hold the Rangeworthy land and its title until J.W Phelps purchased them in the 1770s. He also purchased other properties in the area, including the Rose & Crown public house which is still in the village today.
Document relating to the Lordship of Rangeworthy(Image: @AuctionHouse)
William John Phelps’ nephew, Arthur Clifford, eventually inherited the lordship on the proviso that he took on the family name of Phelps and adopted their coat of arms. After his death, the lordship was auctioned in the 1980s to the Bartlett family, who have been in possession of the title ever since.
Now there is a chance for someone to add the title to their own name and join the list of Lords and Ladies of Rangeworthy. The title is set to go under the hammer at Auction House’s May 8 sale. For more details, contact Auction House South West on 01752 474200.
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