BIGGLESWADE HUNDRED 



ASTWICK 



Fleming."' "Xhis was probably the same mill which 

 in 1386 Sir John Vynter, parson of Clothall, granted 

 to John Cukkowe of Clifton," but no further men- 

 tion has been found of it. 



Certain jurisdictional rights over the town appear 

 to have been possessed by the lord of the manor. At 

 his court the constable of the town was elected and 

 sworn in." At a court held in 1564 the stocks were 

 declared to be in ruin, and the inhabitants were 

 ordered to repair them by a certain date." Again a 

 Court Roll of 1583 relates that all who had offended 

 against the statute of 1 3 Elizabeth anent the wearing 

 of caps were amerced to the lord 3/. ^d." 



A document recording a lease of the manor in 1479 

 by William Astwick to John and Robert Squire 

 affords interesting detail as to the resources of a fif- 

 teenth-century manor. The manor-house or hall, 

 * with the chambers in the eyr end of the hall, with 

 botry, pantry, kechyn, 

 «tabylle, with the cham- 

 bers above the stabylle, 

 the hawkes house, and 

 the garden within the 

 mote on the east side of 

 the hall, before the hall 

 window' were not to 

 be included in the lease. 

 William Astwick was 

 also to retain ' all the 

 fruits that shall happen 

 to grow within the said 

 mote,' and a hey-house 

 at the westgate, the 

 dove-house^ a garden, 

 and the cherry trees in 

 the Church ' mede.' 

 Reference is also made 

 to a vinery belonging 

 to the said William 

 Astwick. Robert and 

 John were to make 

 yearly payments of fuel- 

 wood, two hogs, three 

 dozen capons, a gander, 

 three geese, a cock, six 

 hens, half a bushel of 



apples, one peck of ' grate walnotys schalyd,' and straw 

 for litter ' both for horses and beds,' and were to pay 

 all charges on the manor save stint money. They were 

 not to fowl with nets nor fish within the grounds, moats, 

 and waters of the manor, nor to fell or lop the trees. 

 William Astwick on his side had to provide sufficient 

 plowbote, cartbote, and harowbote, and to find at the 

 beginning of the term ' all manner of heggyngwode 

 necessary to closure,' which John and Robert were to 

 leave in good repair at the end of their lease. William 

 was also to give yearly a cloth gown or 3/. 43". in 

 money, and four cart-loads of wood or else 5/. 4</. In 

 conclusion, John and Robert entered into a bond of 

 /40 to fulfil the conditions of the lease." 



The church of ST. GUTHLAC con- 



CHVRCH sists of chancel 20 ft. 6 in. by 1 8 ft. 6 in., 



nave 36 ft. 6 in., of the same width as 



the chancel, and western tower 10 ft. 6 in. square 



within the walls. 



It is evidently only a fragment of a larger building, 



but the process by which it has arrived at its present 

 plan is somewhat obscure. The tower is almost 

 certainly the central tower of a cruciform church, 

 which in the early part of the fifteenth century was 

 brought approximately to its present use as a western 

 tower. The south transept was certainly retained at 

 this time, and there was a building of some sort on 

 the north side of the tower also. 



The chancel at this time probably occupied the 

 position of the present nave, whose south wall is at 

 least as old as the fifteenth century. The present 

 chancel appears to be entirely composed of old 

 masonry somewhat clumsily re-used, and the north 

 wall of the nave, which is clearly outside the line 

 of the former north wall, is probably of the same 

 date as the chancel. A curious point is that on either 

 side of the east window of the chancel there are 

 corbels for images, and in the south-east angle a 



Astwick Church from South-west 



piscina, features which are hardly likely to have been re- 

 set at a post- Reformation date, but, on the other hand, 

 the evidence that the chancel arch and windows are 

 clumsy rebuildings of fifteenth-century materials tells 

 strongly against the present arrangement being of 

 mediaeval date. The east window of the chancel is 

 of three lights with wooden head and mullions, the 

 jambs being re-used fifteenth-century work. Of the 

 image brackets on either side of it that on the north 

 has late fifteenth-century mouldings, and that on the 

 south, perhaps of somewhat earlier date, has an angel's 

 head and wings. The piscina has a cinquefoiled arch 

 under a square head with marks of a shelf low down 

 in the recess. The drain is much lower in the wall 

 than in normal instances. There is a plain north 

 doorway which is modern, and west of it a window 

 of a single light clumsily made up of old material. The 

 chancel arch is of three chamfered orders, the crown 

 not being central between the jambs. It has moulded 

 capitals with a half-round shaft to the inner order. 



70 r.C.H. Beds, i, 250*. 



71 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 2120. 



72 Add. R. 35008 



73 Ibid. 35009. 



205 



7"' Ibid. 35010. 



7' Add, Chart. 34975. 



