Corporation of London

Southwark was granted to the citizens of London by a charter of Edward III in 1327, following a petition from the citizens because felons and thieves escaped the City into Southwark where they could not be followed. A further charter issued by Edward VI in 1550 aimed to ensure that Southwark was completely absorbed into the City by making the citizens lords of the three manors there - the Guildable Manor, the King's Manor and the Great Liberty.

On 1 July 1880 Sir Henry William Peek, MP for Mid Surrey and importer of spices, tea and other groceries conveyed East Burnham Common, Burnham Beeches and other waste lands of the Manor of Allerds to the Corporation.

The Finsbury and Halliwell Estates were leased by the Corporation of London from the Prebendary (a canon of a cathedral or collegiate church who obtained income from a prebend or estate) of St Paul's Cathedral between 1514 and 1867, at which date the Corporation was unable to renew the lease. In 1665 part of the land was set aside to create Bunhill Fields burial ground.

The Manor of Isleworth Syon was in the hands of Walter de St. Valery in 1086, having been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the conquest of England. The family retained possession of the manor until 1227 when it escheated to the crown. In 1229 a full grant of the manor was made by Henry III to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, whose son Edward inherited it in 1272. In 1301, Edward's widow Margaret was assigned the manor by Edward I as part of her dower, but it reverted to the crown on her death in 1312. The manor was eventually granted for life by Edward III to his wife Queen Philippa in 1330. The reversion was included in a grant of lands to Edward, Duke of Cornwall, in 1337. In 1390 Queen Anne the wife of Richard II was given a life interest in the manor. Henry V held the manor, as Prince of Wales, but when king, separated the manor from the duchy of Cornwall by Act of Parliament in 1421 in order to bestow it upon his newly founded convent of Syon. It remained as part of the convent's possessions until the dissolution in 1539 when it fell into the hands of the Crown and was added to the Honour of Hampton Court. In 1604 James I granted the manor to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, in whose family it remained.