TOPOGRAPHY 



THE HUNDRED OF BIGGLESWADE 



CONTAINS THE PARISHES OF 



ASTWICK DUNTON with MILLO POTTON 



LITTLE BARFORD EDWORTH SANDY with GIRTFORD 



BIGGLESWADE with STRAT- EVERTON SUTTON 



TON AND HOLME EYWORTH TEMPSFORD 



COCKAYNE HATLEY LANGFORD WRESTLINGWORTH ' 



The hundred of Biggleswade takes its name from the town of Biggles- 

 wade where the hundred court was held." At the time of the Domesday 

 Survey Astwick, Little Barford, Biggleswade (with Stratton and Holme), 

 Dunton (with Millo), Edworth, Ey worth, Langford, and Tempsford are all 

 given in this hundred.' Wrestlingworth is not mentioned at all, whilst 

 Sandy, Sutton, Potton, Hatley, and Everton (the other parishes included in 

 the returns of 1831) are to be found in the half-hundred of Weneslai.* Before 

 Kirby's Quest (1284—6) this half-hundred had become absorbed in Biggles- 

 wade.^ 



' Chenemondewiche,' a considerable estate of 3I hides in Biggleswade, 

 cannot be identified, but probably lay in the neighbourhood of Blunham or 

 Sandy.* The parishes mentioned in the returns of 1831 have remained 

 attached to this hundred from the thirteenth century to the present day with- 

 out alteration.^ Biggleswade was a royal hundred, and appears to have 

 remained in the possession of the crown, with the exception of a lease by 

 Charles I in 1630 to Sir Onslow Winch for forty years.^ 



There was a court leet held at Biggleswade half-yearly, and also a 

 three weeks court at which the tenants performed their suit and service 

 to the lord of the hundred.' In the early fifteenth century Biggleswade 

 paid towards a general subsidy ^^66 lis. io|^." In 1559 it was assessed 

 at that sum, but only ^12 lu. jd. was raised," and in 1624 there was the 

 same deficit.^" 



' According to the Population Returns Abstract of 183 1. ' Lay Subs. R. 



' F.C.H. Beds. i. * Ibid. ' Ibid. ; Feud. Aids, i, 3. • V.C.H. Beds, i, 2 1 6. 



' Lay Subs. R. ; Feud. Aids, i, 3, &c. ; Pari. Surv. Beds. No. 2. This survey, whilst omitting Wrest- 

 lingworth, mentions Wormleighton as one of the townships of this hundred. It appears as an alternative 

 name of Wrestlingworth in Speed's map of Bedfordshire (1610), and also in Bowen's map (1749). 



^ Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 3 ; Pari. Surv. Beds. No. 2. The rent paid was ^i i 1 2s. 



' Pari. Surv. Beds. No. 2. " Lay Subs. R. ij. 



"Ibid.,^. "Ibid. xIt- 



o 201 26 



