The Early History of the Lordship of Lucies, continued:
Sir Nicholas was among those who brought their followers to the support of Henry VII against Lambert Simnel in 1487. After the King's victory at the Battle of Stoke Field, near Newark, Vaux received knighthood.
He actively devoted himself to agricultural improvements, and was in consequence returned by the Commissioners for Inclosures in 1517-18 as having violated the acts against inclosure in several of his manors.
He married Elizaberth, widow of Sir William Parr, and later Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Green, whose sister Maude married Sir Thomas Parr. Possibly in accordance with some settlement this manor came into the hands of Sir William Parr, Earl of Essex, son of Sir Thomas and brother of Catherine Parr, consort of Henry VIII, who in 1544 conveyed it to Robert Dormer and William Jakeman.
Robert died in 1552, and his son Sir William Dormer succeeded him and died seised of the manor in 1574, leaving a son Robert as his heir.
In 1602 Sir Robert Dormer and his wife Elizabeth granted it to John Eames, who in 1606 joined with Sir Robert Dormer and Elizabeth in vonveying it to Thomas, Lord Ellesmere, and John Egerton his son, from whom it descended with Great Gaddesen to the present Lord Brownlow.
The present manor house, which it is thought is probably the manor house of Lucies, stands just outside the eastern boundary of Ashridge Park, at the corner of the road leading to Studham. The oldest portion of it probably dates from the time of Elizabeth. It consists of a central block of two stories, with attics facing southwest, with a wing containing the kitchen offices at at the southeast end, and a block of modern buildings at the back.
Over the bay window of the central block is a stone tablet bearing the date A.D. 1576 with the initials A·R·D underneath, and in smaller letters E·E (or B). The initials R·D probably stand for Robert Dormer, who owned the manor at that date, and the smaller letters, which are much more worn, are most likely E·B, Sir Robert Dormer's wife being Elizabeth Browne.
