A noble old-fashioned house with a moat and home to the Bayntuns for nine generations over a period of 250 years
The Manor of Faulston was part of the parish of Bishopstone in the Valley of Ebble, in the south of the county of Wiltshire – about five miles south west of Salisbury and approximately 30 miles from Bromham. It was the home of the Bayntun family for nine generations from 1328 to 1508 and remained in the family until 1577.
 | Today the stream (pictured left) runs silently through the area – as it has done for centuries. On the left of the river is the area known to locals as The Wilderness and on the opposite side of the water, where the river branches off briefly to the right, may have been the spot where the stream fed the moat that surrounded Faulston House. There is nothing left of this fine old house today, but for one of the towers, which stands alone as a symbol of the past. |
As early as 1066 the manor was acquired by William de Braose but the overlordship of Faulston Manor was held of the Bishops. Bishopstone was so called because it was a living of the Bishops in Winchester.
Records show Thomas le Tablier was Lord of the Manor of Faulston in the 13th century and was succeeded by his son Guy le Tablier some time before 1300. His sister, Edith, was at the time married to Richard de Grimstead and upon the death of her brother, she was heiress to Faulston and in possession of it in 1309. She had two children – Margaret and Thomas.
An Indenture, dated 13 Edward II (1320) between Richard de Grimstead and John de Farley shows Richard de Grimstead granting to his son, Thomas, the Manor of Faulston. Another document shows Thomas de Grimstead, Lord of Faulston by a deed dated 14 Edward II (1321). However, when Thomas died in 1328 without heir, his wife Joan, was given a third share of her husband’s property.
His sister, Margaret de Grimstead, was married to THOMAS BAYNTUN (1300 – 1358) and she received Faulston House as part of the remaining two thirds share in the division of the property and therefore her husband, Thomas, became Lord of Faulston by right of his wife. Records show that Thomas Bayntun – or Thomas de Benton as he was then known – was Lord of Faulston in 9 Edward III (1336) and 14 Edward III (1341).
Margaret de Grimstead died in July 1340 and Thomas Bayntun died on 28th May 1358 and was succeeded by his son NICHOLAS BAYNTUN (1334 – 1372).
Land deeds indicate the latter was known as Nicholas de Benton and he inherited his father’s two-thirds share in the Manor of Faulston, but by 1361 he also inherited Joan de Grimstead’s one-third share when she died and so the whole manor house and farm of Faulston were reunited.