POLITICAL HISTORY 



APPENDIX 



The county boundary has altered little since the Domesday Survey. In the south-west the 

 determining features have been the Chiltern Downs and the River Ouzel, but after passing Leighton 

 the bank of that stream is no longer adhered to ; its drainage basin is given to Buckinghamshire, and 

 the western boundary follows the parting between the Ouzel (or Lovat) on the west, and the Ivel 

 and Ouse in the east, with two exceptions ; instead of skirting the bluff with which the Woburn Hills 

 overlook the plain of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford, it mounts the slope and leaves Bow Brickhill in 

 Buckinghamshire, in deference presumably to the wishes of the Giffards or the Buckinghamshire ten- 

 ant of the nth century. The line then runs north to Crawley Brook, and following its northern 

 bank a mile or two to the west leaves Salford to Bedfordshire. Thus a considerable part of the basin 

 of Crawley Brook, which is an affluent of the Ouzel, is in Bedfordshire. From there to the Ouse, 

 which it crosses a mile or two west of Turvey, the boundary follows roughly the water-parting between 

 the streams drawing west and east. North of the Ouse it is generally determined by the watershed 

 between the Ouse and the Nen, though Podington and Wymington, which belong more naturally 

 to the Nen, are included in Bedfordshire, and Newton Bromswold and Rushden are excluded. So it 

 gives to Bedfordshire Yelden and Shelton, which should belong rather to Northamptonshire, 

 and crossing the Kim above Dean follows a most angular and irregular line, first keeping south of 

 the Kim, then joining it some few miles below Kimbolton, following it for a couple of miles, 

 dropping almost plumb south between Little and Great Staughton and joining the brook that runs 

 north of Bushmcad ; after following that for two or three miles it curves irregularly to the north- 

 east and joins the Kim again about a mile before its junction with the Ouse below Eaton Socon 

 and St. Neots. On the east the catchment basin of the Ivel has been included and even pushed so 

 far east as to run for two or three miles along the Rhce and Upper Cam. On the south the main, 

 idea appears to have been to include the catchment basin of the Upper Ivel as far as the Barton Hills 

 Below a line joining the Barton Hills and the Ouzel an irregular quadrilateral mass of the Chiltern 

 Hills is included,though deeply eaten into by a projection of Hertfordshire between Studham and 

 Luton. The reason for this intrusion was doubtless to include Kensworth and the greater part of 

 Caddington in Hertfordshire, as the property of St. Paul's, London, and is evidence that the county 

 boundary dates from after the Conquest, since before that time St. Paul's did not own the property."* 

 There is mention of a settlement of exact boundaries between the counties at Caddington in 1 283."' 

 But quite recently the county boundary has been modified,"* that part of Caddington which was 

 in Hertfordshire, and the whole of Kensworth, having been transferred (as civil parishes) to Bedford- 

 shire, while Markyate Street, formerly in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, has been given wholly to 

 the latter. 



One third of Edlcsborough was in Bedfordshire according to Domesday,"' but in the Feudal 

 Jids, i.e. from 1284 onwards, it is wholly in Buckinghamshire."^ On the Northamptonshire 

 ' border a small piece of Newton Bromswold, and rather more of Rushden, are given to Bedfordshire 

 by Domesday ; in the Feudal Jids they are both wholly in Northamptonshire. The two hides and 

 a half of Stanwick, which were in Bedfordshire according to Domesday, were still entered as half a 

 knight's fee under Bedfordshire in the 14th century."' A recent change has been effected, by 

 which Swineshead now forms part of Bedfordshire, and Huntingdonshire is compensated with 

 Tilbrook."* On the north-east, Domesday Book gives Everton as half in Bedfordshire and half in 

 Huntingdonshire,"' and much the same arrangement held in 1428."" The Huntingdonshire 

 boundary would appear to have been drawn through or beyond both Everton and Little Bar- 

 ford in the middle of the 13th century. An inquest of the boundaries of Huntingdonshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire was held before William de Beauchamp of Bedford and 

 other justiciarii ad hoc missis and the boundary was declared to run ' from Abbotsley (Hunts.) to 

 Tetworth, Everton, Little Barford, St. Neots, Hail Weston, Great Staughton, Kimbolton, Swineshead, 



«' Dom. Bk. and Dugdale, Hist, of St. Paul's. '" Jnn. Dunst. (Rolls Ser.), 302. 



"* By Loc. Gov. Bd. Order, 30 Sept. 1897. 



^^ V.C.H. Beds, i, zi,%a. 



536 ' Now wholly in Bucks ' (Letter from Deputy-Coroner of Beds.) 



*" Feud. Aids, i, 9, 25. 'Newton Bromswold, Rushden, and Stanwick are now and have always been 

 wholly in Northants ' (Letter ut sup.). 



«« The exchange was made in 1 898. "' V.C.H. Beds. 1, 2 14. 



"° Tend. Aids i 37 ; ii, 477- 'Everton is practically in Bedfordshire, but a small detached portion of this 

 parish surrounded 'by the' counties of Beds, and Cambs. is by Schedule M of the Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, cap. 

 64 declared to be part of Hunts. This portion is called Tetworth and with Everton forms a joint ecclesiastical 

 parish ' (Letter ut sup.). 



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