A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



COLET. zahlt a chtv- 

 eron between three hinds 

 tripping argent 'with three 

 ring: table on the che-ueron. 



John Verney and Margaret petitioned Henry VII 

 for the recovery of her lands, including Weston 

 Turville. 15 ' The manor, however, had been sold by 

 John Whitingham in 1483-4 to Sir Henry Colet, 165 

 citizen and alderman of Lon- 

 don, and the Verneys do not 

 seem to have obtained it. In 

 1485 the manor was said to 

 be held of the Verneys, 166 but 

 at the death of Sir Henry 

 Colet in 1 505'" it was held 

 of the king. It passed to 

 John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, 

 son and heir of Sir Henry, 158 

 and was given by him to 

 St. Paul's School. 1 " The trus- 

 tees of the school lands, the 

 Mercers' Company of London, 

 have held Hide I6 ever since, and they hold a court 

 leet at the Manor Farm, the last having been held 

 about twelve years ago. 160a 



The name of BEDGRAVE can now only be 

 traced in the name of a farm in Weston Turville. In 

 the time of Edward the Confessor, however, it was 

 held as a manor by Suen, 161 a man of Alwin Varas, 

 who could sell his land. After the Norman Conquest 

 it was granted with Weston Turville to the Bishop of 

 Bayeux, 16 * and his sub-tenant Roger held it at the 

 time of the Domesday Survey. It was then assessed 

 at two hides of land. 1 " It does not seem to have 

 followed the same descent as the rest of Roger's lands. 

 In 121 1 16< Ralph Malet paid half a mark for the en- 

 rolment of a release by Roger de Paschedale of all 

 the land which the latter held of Ralph's fee in Bed- 

 grave. This land may probably be identified with 

 the half-fee held by the heirs of William Malet of 

 the honour of Leicester in the 1 3th century. 164 The 

 descent of Bedgrave cannot be traced further, and it 

 probably was united with one of the other manors in 

 Weston Turville. Early in the igth century Bed- 

 grave Manor Farm was the property of John Newman 

 of Wendover. 169 In 1827 it was sold by him to John 

 Hulbert of Stokes Hill, near Portsmouth, and in 

 1862 it belonged to Mr. G. A. Hulbert. 167 



In 1086 there were said to be four mills in Weston 

 Turville worth 33^. 4^. 168 At the end of the 

 1 4th century Walter de Gayton and his wife Amice 16> 

 held four and a half carucates of land, a mill, and ^4 

 rent in Broughton and Bedgrave, which were let at 

 ferm to Michael of Northampton in 1276. Another 

 mill is mentioned in 1346-7 17 in Weston Turville. 



The church of ST. MART consists 

 CHURCH of a chancel 306. by 1 8 ft. loin, with 

 a north vestry, a nave 62 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., 

 north and south aisles 9 ft. 2 in. and 9 ft. 6 in. wide 

 respectively, a western tower 1 1 ft. 6 in. wide, and 

 north and south porches. That there was a church 

 here in the I2th century is to be assumed, and the 

 present font and part of an octagonal shaft built into 

 the south wall of the chancel are of that date, but the 

 chancel arch and the three eastern bays of the south 



arcade are the oldest part of the existing building, 

 dating from the middle of the I3th century. The 

 chancel was probably narrower than at present, and 

 seems to have been rebuilt of its present width about 

 1340-50, the chancel arch being widened at the 

 same time. About the same date a north aisle of five 

 bays was added, and the south aisle rebuilt and length- 

 ened westward by two bays to make it the same 

 length as the north aisle. 



In the i jth century a west tower was built, pro- 

 jecting but slightly beyond the west wall of the nave, 

 and filling up the west bay of the arcades, within 

 which it stands. The reason for this appears to be 

 that the western limit of the churchyard was, as now, 

 too close to the west end of the building to allow of 

 the building of a tower wholly outside the nave in 

 the usual fashion ; a procession path within the 

 boundaries of the churchyard would not then have been 

 practicable, except by making an arched way through 

 the tower from north to south, as has been done else- 

 where in a good many instances. In this case the 

 expedient of building the tower partly within the 

 nave seems to have been considered the better 

 solution. 



At the same time, or soon afterwards, a clearstory 

 was added to the nave, the chancel roof was height- 

 ened, the north aisle of the nave rebuilt, and the 

 north vestry (or chapel) added. The lines of the 

 14th-century roofs of nave and chancel are still to be 

 seen on the wall over the chancel arch. 



The chancel has a modern east window of three 

 lights with flowing tracery of 14th-century design, 

 and in the north wall a two-light window of similar 

 character, but old. To the west of it is a large arch, 

 widened in modern times to hold the organ, leading 

 into the north chapel or vestry, now also used as an 

 organ chamber. It has a square-headed 1 5th-century 

 east window of two cinquefoiled lights with upright 

 cusped openings over, and a north door which is 

 modern. There are three two-light windows in the 

 south wall of the chancel, with modern tracery, but 

 old jambs and rear arches of the same date as the 

 north window ; the middle of the three has flowing 

 tracery, and the others have quatrefoiled circles in the 

 head. At the south-east is a very pretty 13th-century 

 piscina, with two drains and two pointed arches with 

 a pierced quatrefoiled circle in the head and engaged 

 shafts in the jambs. Into the same wall are built 

 several architectural fragments, the voussoirs of a 

 1 3th-century arch with dogtooth ornament, two 

 small armed figures of 1 3th-century date, perhaps 

 part of a destroyed Easter sepulchre, and the 12th-cen- 

 tury shaft already referred to. 



The chancel arch is of rather clumsy shape of two 

 hollow-chamfered orders, with responds of three 

 engaged shafts having rather coarsely-moulded capitals. 



The nave has a north arcade of five bays, the piers 

 being of four half-round shafts attached to a central 

 square, and the arches of two wave-moulded orders 

 with labels and drips in the form of human heads ; 

 the capitals and bases are semicircular and moulded. 



1M Par!. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 317. 



Cat. Inq. Hen. Vll, no. in. 



Ibid. 



'' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xix, no. 36. 



" Ibid. 



159 Ibid, xxv, no. 160 ; xl, no. 6. 



160 Lysons, Magna Brit, i, 66 1 j Lips- 

 comb, Hist, of Bucks, ii, 4.97. 



1601 From information kindly given by 

 Mr. John Munger. 



"i Y.C.H. Bucks, i, iJS. 



" Ibid. 



Ibid. 



184 Pipe R. I 3 John, m. I d. 



JM Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 245*. 



169 Lipscomb, Hist, of Bucks, ii, 497. 



37 



167 Sheahan, Hist, and Tofog. of Bucks. 



497- 



" V.C.H. Bucks, i, 234*. 



169 Cal. Pat. 1272-81, pp. 153, 178; 

 Feet of F. Bucks. East. 15 Edw. I ; ibid. 

 Trin. 17 Edw. I. 



J ' De Banco R. 345, m. 136 d. 



