A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



Dunstable let one holding for a ferme of 40 qrs. of wheat at 5^. per qr. 

 At ' Market Yate ' arable had let at 9^/. per acre, while new pasture let at 

 3J-. ^d. At Westoning, pasture let at 2j. and arable at is., or a trifle more. 

 We get very similar results from an examination of the return made by the 

 Commissioners in the reign of Edward VI, of colleges, chantries, free chapels, 

 fraternities, brotherhoods, gilds, &c."' Here, as in the ' Valor,' the quantity 

 of land for which rent was paid is only occasionally mentioned. The college 

 of Northill had been letting 17 acres of land and 2 acres of meadow for a 

 total of I3J-. 2d. a year. Land at Thorncote belonging to the Northill 

 Chantry, 64 acres besides 4 acres of meadow, let at 58J. 4^. ; another piece 

 of 25 acres arable let at 26s. Sd. ; a separate acre at Sd., and two 'grovettes,' 

 size not given, let at i ^d. the two. The fraternity at Blunham let 5 acres 

 of land for a total of 3J. ^d. At Cople, the rent of an acre given for the en- 

 dowment of a lamp in the church was Sd. At Cardington, 3 acres, the en- 

 dowment of an ' obyte ' (an annual service for the deceased donor) were let 

 for a total of 2s. In Bedford, i acre, the endowment of a lamp in St. 

 Cuthbert's Church, was let for Sd. At St. Mary's, Bedford, a lamp was 

 endowed with an acre let at is., a beadroU with another acre let at ij-., and 

 a light with half an acre of meadow in Fenlake Mead let at 2s. Prices 

 appear to run a little higher at Biddenham, where the chantry of Biddenham 

 Bridge (in the parish of Bromham) was endowed with two acres of meadow 

 let at 4J. each, a quarry pit let at 6s. Sd., and a grovette, size unspecified, let 

 at 5J, One acre ' divided in the fields of Bromham ' let at 4^. ; 3 roods of 

 arable ' divided ' let at 3^/., and 1 rood of meadow at 6d. Another 2 acres 

 of arable ' divided ' let at Sd. for the two, and 5 roods of land let at ^d. 

 The endowment of a lamp in the Carlton Church was half an acre of land 

 let at /\.d., and that of a sepulchre light, 21 'fote' of meadow, let at is. 

 Two lamps at the Biddenham Chantry had an endowment, the one of 3 acres 

 J rood let at iSd., and the other of 3 acres i rood let at the same rent. 

 Similarly at Harrold, half an acre of ' divided ' land in the fields let at 4^., 

 and 5 roods of meadow in Felmersham Mead at a total of 20^. At Odell 

 2 acres let at 1 6d., the two were part of the endowment of a sepulchre light, 

 and the ferme of a piece of land in the hands of the parson let at is. was 

 given 'to a drinkyng in Rogacyon Mo[n]day.' At Sharnbrook, an 'obyte ' 

 had an endowment of half an acre of meadow let at 20^., and an acre of 

 land let at 6d., the rent of half a rood of meadow let at /\.d. went towards 

 the endowment of a lamp. 



Bedfordshire being so essentially an agricultural county there is little to 

 be said about its towns. Bedford itself, which based its laws and privileges 

 upon those of Oxford,^" had a merchant gild at an early date, but never 

 attained to importance, and in the 15th century became greatly impover- 

 ished.^** Luton also possessed a gild, but this was apparently for social and 

 religious purposes rather than trading.^" This town, also, seems to have 

 fallen into decay early in the 17th century, for Sir Robert Napier and 

 another complained to the Council in 161 8 that the town of Luton was 

 being much injured by the pulling down of fair dwelling-houses with malting 



"' We are indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. J. E. Brown, of Studham, who kindly allowed us to use the 

 proof sheets of his ' Transcript ' of this return, which was in the press when we were compiling our article. 

 '" Ca/. Chart. R. i, 26. '" Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. (2nd Ser., viii, 164.) 



"* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, 206-7. 



92 



