Bishop's Cleeve: sale of the manor by James I, 1604

In 1604, James I disposed of the manor of Bishop's Cleeve, which had been held by the Crown since the dissolution, to two London merchants, Peter Vanloore and William Blake.

[Vanloore's career is detailed in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. In brief, he was a Utrecht-born merchant, long resident in London, who appears to have made most of his fortune supplying expensive jewellery to the Court of Elizabeth I. He invested in property in many counties, the Cleeve purchase being one such. He was knighted in 1623, and died in 1627.]