Richard de Hauley was a member of the medieval De Hauley family, who held significant land and manorial interests in Covenham during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The family is documented as holding tracts of land and dealing with local priories in Covenham and Ormesby. The family name appears in historical rolls concerning land tenure, dower rights, and presentations to churches in Lincolnshire.
In particular, the dealings with Covenham Priory, primarily concerned boundary disputes, agriculture and land transfers.
The De Hauleys were one of the major landowners in Covenham, meaning that their estates sat directly alongside ecclesiastical property. Charters show land running alongside the priory and around the surrounding fields.
Members of the family routinely interacted with the Priory by serving on royal inquisitions held at Covenham. (Probably in the local pub). For example a 1315 inquisition features Richard De Hauley and Nicholas De Hauley serving as sworn jurors to verify land tenures and feudal services.
Because Covenham Priory was so small, nearby families often vied for patronage or land dominance in adjacent parishes. The De Hauleys frequently engaged in legal standoffs, which were recorded by the Bishop of Lincoln, usually regarding who had the right to present clerks to nearby benefices and properties, thus mapping out the balance of power between gentry and monks.
The De Hauley family did not hold a single manor house that encompassed all of Covenham, but were known as ‘knights fee’ gentry who held fragmented estates spread across Covenham and surrounding parishes.
Medieval records track property through legal transactions, and it showed that their total holdings fluctuated during the 14th century. The family dealt in parcels of land ranging from small three acre holdings to roughly 160 acres.
They also held lands in Skidbrook, Grainthorpe, Grasby, and Cawthorpe.
These were held through feudal tenure, meaning parts of their lands were held under regional overlords – such as the Bishop of Lincoln or the Earl of Albermarle, in exchange for military obligations (knights service) or nominal rental fees.
By the early 1400s, the De Hauley main line in Covenham ended in a female heir who married into the prominent Skipwith family, passing extensive estates and farmland to the Skipwith portfolio.
While Covenham Priory held around 500 acres, it was still considered small and financially minor by monastic standards; and because it supported only 1 or 2 monks to oversee bailiffs and collect rents it became increasingly difficult to manage from France, where the home Abbey lay.
Eventually the entire block of land was sold to Kirkstead Abbey; under whose management, the land was better managed
Kirkstead organised the mill and grain production. They maximised the yields of corn and grain which was shipped back to the main abbey via local waterways or roads, or sold at market in Louth.
Kirkstead also expanded the coastal salt houses in Grainthorpe and Skidbrook that they inherited with the purchase. Salt was of course a highly lucrative item for preserving fish and meat.
Along with the physical buildings, Kirkstead purchased the advowson – the legal right to appoint a parish priest. The De Hauleys had previously appointed these, but Kirkstead asserted its rights.
So, when Kirkstead was eventually dissolved in 153, all of its holdings were seized by the crown.
Sir Thomas Heneage (knighted in 1537) aggressively bought up monastic lands right across Lincolnshire, and acquired significant property in Covenham and surrounding parishes.
The Skipwith family already held much land in Covenham, dating back to the De Hauley line, and they bought more land when the monastic lands became available. Later Sir. Thomas Heneage married Katherine Skipwith unifying the two largest land owners.
By the 19th century lands were being transferred and sold to the Moore family. The Moores became established as local farmers, landowners and millers across Marshchapel, Theddlethorpe, and Covenham. They continued to buy land as it became available.
By the time we arrive in the late 19th Century, Thomas Moore had consolidated his lands, and become one of the main freeholders in the parish.
The fields most associated with Thomas, were clustered around the Mill House in Covenham.