Anthony Fettiplace

Anthony Fettiplace was a member of English landed gentry, the equivalent of nobles on the Continent. His father died when Anthony was four years old, and was brought up in East Shefford and at Antwicks in Letcombe Regis by his mother and step-father, John Estbury.

At the beginning of Henry VII’s (r. 1485-1509) reign, Anthony was appointed keeper, for life, of the parks of Berley and Cornbury (Oxfordshire), and about the same time was granted the office of launderer of the Laund of Burford, in the Forest of Wychwood. Anthony was also made Esquire of the Body to King Henry. In 1488, along with three others, he was commissioned "to summons all Earls, Barons, Knights and other Nobles in the County of Oxfordshire, to examine how many archers each is bound to find for the King's army, and to take the numbers of those archers preparatory to the expedition for the relief of Brittany, and to make return of the premises to the King in person."

Throughout his life Antony acted in official capacity in the service of the King. In 1492 he met and rode with the French Ambassador upon peace being made with France. In 1497 he was made Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and three years later he was in attendance at the King's meeting with Phillip the Handsome, the Duke of Burgundy.

In 1505, Anthony had amassed enough fortune to allow him to purchase the manor of Swinbrook, near Burford in Oxfordshire. In 1509 his duties and incomes increased as he was appointed Master of the Hunt in Ewelme Park, and Steward of the Oxfordshire Manors of Minster Lovell, Cogges, Burford, Shipton, Spellesbury and the hundred of Chadlington, and of the Berkshire Manors of Buckland, Hatford, Langley, Aston Tirrold and West Compton.

Anthony Fettiplace died in 1510 and was succeeded in his estates by his eldest son Alexander.