The D'Oyley family had held lands in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire since the time of the Norman Conquest and were first mentioned in connection with Hambleden when Thomas D'Oyley (of Pishill) purchased Eweden Manor in 1384 and his son William took up residence there. From this point the whole association of the family with Eweden, Greenlands, Turville and Parmoor makes a fascinating story but briefly is as follows:-

The main branch of the family, descended in direct line from Thomas, owned and eventually lived at Greenlands. Sir Cope D'Oyley, great grandson of Thomas, and his wife and family are depicted on an interesting alabaster memorial in the N. Transept of Hambleden Church. Sir Cope's eldest son John tried to hold Greenlands for King Charles I against the Cromwellian forces in 1643 but was overcome and the house destroyed. This branch of the family retired to Chislehampton, Stadhampton and Holcombe in Oxfordshire.

Our branch of the family at Parmoor were descended from William D'Oyley who owned land at Skirmett, he was a great-great-grandson of Thomas D'Oyley of Pishill and was thus only distantly related to the Eweden-Greenlands branch of the family. However he was uncle of the aforementioned John D'Oyley who acquired "The Frith" in 1548 (see Frieth in the Middle Ages). Our William D'Oyley had a son, Robert, who married Anne Elkington (Both are commemorated by a brass on the left of the Tower arch in Hambleden Church). This Robert has been confused with Robert the 3rd son of Sir Cope D'Oyley by some historians, but a study of our own Parish Registers has firmly established the fact that they were not one and the same (see also D'Oyley Bayley). However the mistake was excusable as there were no fewer than five Robert D'Oyleys alive c.1610! Robert lived at Colstrope which he held of lease.

Timothy, son of Robert of Parmoor, was probably the first D'Oyley to actually live at Parmoor, He married the heiress Mary Saunders whose father John owned lands at Parmoor (Saunders and his two wives are depicted in a brass to the right of the Tower arch in Hambleden Church. So the brasses to the left and right of the Tower arch commemorate the four grandparents of Robert D'Oyley, son of Timothy and Mary who succeeded to the Parmoor lands). Parmoor was passed down in direct line from father to son until the last D'Oyley, John died in 1800 and was buried in the family vault in Hambleden Church.

Thus during 200 years from 1600-1800 Parmoor was owned and occupied by one family, but how much of Frieth they owned as well I have not been able to discover, so far. At no time were this branch of the D'Oyley family Lords of the Manor of Hambleden, so most of the land around Frieth would have come under the jurisdiction of first the Scrope family and later the Clayton family during the period mentioned above. A most interesting map dated 1786 shows the extent of the Parmoor estate as it was then.

[ The map is taken from a photographic copy of the map held in Joan Barksfield's collection. The photographic image was taken in black & white and has been hand coloured to reproduce the colours of the original map. The separate area in the top right hand corner covers Frieth Hill and, as detailed in the bottom right hand corner, was added to the estate after 1786. Woodland is clearly marked. The brown striped areas are fields under the plough and the green areas are pastureland. The areas marked in blue appear to be water, that in the corner of Halse Field (Haylesfield) matches the position of the pond that used to be opposite Collier's Farm and the one at the bottom of Frieth Hill coincides with the pond there and an area of ground which I know becomes very boggy in wet weather. ]

to see the 1786 Map of the D'Oyleys Parmoor estate
 
At that time the D'Oyleys owned some parts of Great Frieth on either side of the main road between School House corner and the Horsepond. These were:-

Haylesfield, then called Halse Field ('halse' means a neck of land between two valleys, so it is easy to see how this field got its name).

Pear Tree Close, this is not the present Pear Tree Cottage belonging to Miss Glyn-Jones, but is quite likely to have been Mrs. McNeil's "Flint Cottage" [in 1973].

Hatchfield, where Miss Hirst lives [Hillside View] and part of Mr. and Mrs. Owen's land.

Lowley and Moor End Wood - The field and wood below [Rowley] Mr. and Mrs. Owen's house .

Other plots on Frieth Hill are marked with the names Sir Robert Clayton, Mr. Deane , Mr. Troward and Mr. Barlow. The Deane family certainly and probably the Barlow family were related to the D'Oyleys so possibly these were freeholders or maybe still tenants of Sir Robert Clayton.

After John D'Oyley died without issue in 1800, the Parmoor houses, farms, woods and lands were eventually sold by "his heirs and successors" to Mr Cook 'of London'. Mr. Henry Cripps, Q.C. who had already been a tenant since 1860 purchased the property during the 1860s.

There appears to be a gap of some sixty years during which one or two of the Parmoor houses were occupied by the Deane family. This branch were descendants of a marriage between Susannah (nee D'Oyley) and John Deane of the Howe, an old Hambleden family by that name.