26 Crown Road, owners of Mulberry Court
![Part of the 1789 Indenture which shows previous occupations. In the main body it records the sale from John Armbrough to John Battin with the demise previously in the occupation of Townsend, poulterer and son-in-law of Mr Parker of the King & Queen, but lately [lastly] in the occupation of William Julius Mickle.](images/files/1007-mulberry-court-part-indenture-13-june-1789.jpg)
A list of the owners of Mulberry Court and some history of each of them. Also listing details. The present house dates from mid-17th century.
There was a John Gadbury, who was churchwarden of the Wheatley Chapel in 1553. A Jane Gadbury, possibly William’s wife, was buried on 13 July 1612. Presumably a descendant (and there were 21 children and various John Gadburys). One of these was William Gadbury and he and his family lived on the site of ‘The Elms’ (later ‘Mulberry Court’) in the ‘third last house’ from 1612 or earlier. William married a daughter of the Curson or Curzon family from Waterperry House and their son, John, was born on 31 December 1627. John became a well-known almanac-maker and astrologer, and married c.1648. Gadbury leased 180 half-acre strips from All Souls College in 37 different furlongs, and by 1635, a John Gadbury was one of ten chief landowners. In 1661 John Gadbury ‘gent’ died. The present house dates from mid-17th century. The cottage on Crown Road was the lower kitchen. The Adeane family lived here well before Mulberry Court was purchased by the son William Whorwood Adeane sometime in the 18th century. It passed out of the Adeane family on the death of William in 1782 as he had no heirs, save four cousins.
The barn has an unusual roof structure see David Clark, Cranked Inner Principals, Vernacular Architecture Vol 35 (2004), pp. 32-39, and also see article in accession 1003.
Alexander Samuel Lysaght Newington, who lived at Mulberry Court was also the village doctor, before John Gay Barns, for approx 5 years before returning to his native Sussex to run the mental health hospital established by his great grandfather. He was also a signatory on formation of the Howe Trust. John Gay Barns lived here, then known as The Elms, from 1892 until 1911 (or later), Miss Reynell-Pack from 1920 (or earlier, she is noted in the 1920 Kelly Directory, this earlier date differing from the 1929 date shown in the owners attachment) until 1943. It was renamed Mulberry Court by the owner Ivy Morgan (lived there 1943-1962) when the elm trees were felled.