The Gatehouse website record of a licence to crenellate for Titchfield granted on 1542 Feb 11

Sir Thos. Wriothesley, one of the King's principal secretaries. Licence to build walls and towers around and within the late abbey of Tychefeld, Hants., and the site and grounds, &c., thereof, and to embattle and fortify the said walls. Also pardon to the said Sir Thomas for having, without licence, transformed the said late abbey and the manor-house of Tychefeld, &c., into a chief messuage of the manor, or great and solemn place, and decorated it with towers and battlements; and licence to hold the same to him and his heirs and assigns for ever. Waltham, 11 Feb. 33 Hen. VIII. Del. Westm., 18 Feb.— P.S. Pat. p. 9, m. 34. (LP Hen. VIII)

Granted at Waltham. Grant by p.s..

Comments

Rare, in a late licence, to not also granting right to impark (The abbot of the abbey had been licence to impark in 1424 and Wriothesley, who was possibly a consumptive, may have not felt any need to enlarge this park). The licence effectively confirms ownership of a former monastic property as well as confirming Wriothesley's social status. Wriothesley had a slightly tricky time politically in 1540, after the fall of his previous master Cromwell. The licence confirms that he had, once again, fully gained the trust and support of the king and he was in January 1544 ennobled and became lord chancellor later in the same year.

Original source is;

Gairdner, J. and Brodie, R.H. (eds), 1900, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 17 p. 61 No. 137.54 online copy

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton (1505–1550)

Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton (1505–1550), administrator, was the grandson of John Writhe, Garter king of arms... He was ‘manifestly the most successful civil servant of his day, in a way the head—not officially of course—of the civil service in the later 1530s’ (Elton, 312)... Wriothesley the bureaucrat had also become the courtier. As such he enjoyed the material rewards which resulted from loyal service and royal favour. Between 1537 and 1547 he acquired, chiefly through royal grant, former monastic manors and religious houses in eight counties, as well as three houses and a manor in London. The nucleus of his estates was in Hampshire: Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight (granted in 1537); the eleven manors and 5000 acres of Titchfield Abbey (1537); Beaulieu Abbey (1538); and Micheldever Manor, purchased from the king in 1544. Wriothesley made Titchfield the centre of his domain and transformed the buildings into a residence befitting the rising bureaucrat and courtier. Leland wrote that ‘Mr Wriothesley hath buildid a right stately house embatelid, and having a goodely gate, and a conducte castelid in the midle of the court of it’ (Itinerary, 1.281). (Graves)

Biographical source include;

Michael A. R. Graves, Sept 2004, ‘Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton (1505–1550)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) online edn, Jan 2008 online copy (subscription may be needed)