Boodle, Hatfield and Company , solicitors

In 1618 Elizabeth, widow of Sir Thomas Berkeley (d 1611), the eldest son of Henry, Lord Berkeley (d. 1613), purchased the Manor of Cranford. Thereafter both manors remained in the possession of the Berkeley family until 1932. (fn. 81)

In 1810, on the death of the 5th Earl of Berkeley, the Berkeley estates devolved successively upon his two eldest but illegitimate sons, created Earl and Baron Fitzhardinge (d 1841 and 1867 respectively). The Fitzhardinge branch of the Berkeley family retained the estates until the death of the 3rd Baron Fitzhardinge in 1916, when they reverted to Eva Mary Berkeley, great-niece of Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, the eldest legitimate son of the 5th Earl of Berkeley (d 1810), as the heir-general of the 5th earl. From 1866 to his death in 1882 Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, the eldest legitimate son of the 5th earl, and de jure 6th Earl of Berkeley although he never assumed the title, is described as the chief landowner in Cranford. Presumably the Cranford estate was settled upon him as it reverted to Lord Fitzhardinge in 1882.

Between 1916 and 1935 over 350 acres of the estate were sold, the bulk being dispersed in 1932. This included the sale of Cranford House and park to the Hayes and Harlington urban district council in 1932; they resold it in 1935 to the Middlesex County Council, who leased it back to them for 999 years as an open space. The manorial rights are vested in the county council.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 179-181 (available online).