BIGGLESWADE HUNDRED 



DUNTON 



Francis Pygott, who married his daughter Eleanor 

 Enderby, transferred the manor in 1544 to John 

 Foley," who held it till his death in 1559, when he 

 left a son Francis as heir." One further mention of 

 this manor has been found in 1591, when Michael 

 Fynderne and Alice his wife alienated it by fine to 

 George Smith,'* after which all further trace of it is 

 lost. 



The priory of Holywell (co. Midd.) owned DUN- 

 TON MJNOR,thc fifth in this parish,which originated 

 in various grants of land there to the priory, of which 

 the earliest was that of Roger de Brahi in 11 81." 

 Geoffrey Chamberlain and William his brother both 

 gave half a virgate of land to the priory in the early 

 thirteenth century,'* and these grants were confirmed 

 m 1235/' In the fourteenth century the prioress 

 successfully claimed view of frankpledge twice yearly 

 in Dunton,^'' and at the Dissolution the manor, which 



vestry. The nave, 50 ft. by 21 ft., has a north aisle 

 of fifteenth-century date, I oft. gin. wide, and a 

 south aisle c. 1330, 14 ft. wide, with a contemporary 

 south porch to which an upper story has been added 

 in the fifteenth century. The west tower has been 

 entirely rebuilt in modern times except for its four- 

 teenth-century eastern arch. The roofs are of low pitch, 

 with plain parapets, only that of the clearstory being 

 embattled, and the walls are of rubble masonry of 

 flints and freestone, with wrought stone dressings, 

 much renewed in places. In the chancel the window 

 tracery in both windows on the north side, and in 

 one on the south, is entirely new, with leaf tracery of 

 fourteenth-century design, each window being of 

 two lights. In the east window the tracery is old, 

 the mullions alone being modern ; it is a very fine 

 example of mid-fourteenth-century work, of five tre- 

 foiled lights with net tracery over, and vertical lines 



3ca.le of feet 

 Plan of Dunton Church 



was valued at ^£13 6s. 8(/.," lapsed to the crown, and 

 was granted in 1 5 79 to Edward Downing and John 

 Walker, but no further trace of it has been found.^' 



At the time of the Domesday Survey Ralph de 

 Langetot also held I hide of Walter Giffard in Dun- 

 ton," and this probably became absorbed in his larger 

 manor of Millo in the same parish. 



In the confirmation charter to the monastery of 

 Warden by Richard I mention is made of a grange 

 in Dunton." At the Dissolution it was valued at 

 50/.,*' and in 1540 was granted to John Gostwick,°° 

 who held the manor of Dunton Chamberlain, in 

 which it is henceforth included. 



The church of OUR LADV is a fine 

 CHURCH building of fourteenth and fifteenth-cen- 

 tury date, with no remains of earlier work. 

 Its chancel, measuring 37 ft. by 18 ft., belongs to the 

 middle of the fourteenth century, and has a marked de- 

 viation to the south ; at its north-east angle is a modern 



in the upper part of the head which show the im- 

 pending transition to the straight-lined openings of 

 the succeeding style. The chancel has a south door- 

 way in modern masonry, and to the west of it a 

 square-headed low side window of two trefoiled lights 

 in early fifteenth-century style, and of later date 

 than the chancel. There are three sedilia, with 

 cinquefoiled heads, and a piscina, also cinquefoiled, 

 which are part of the original work, and plain but 

 good specimens of their date. 



The chancel arch has responds of three engaged 

 round shafts with small rolls between the shafts, an 

 arch of two wave-moulded orders, and moulded 

 capitals and bases ; the details are very like those of 

 the south arcade of the nave, and must be of much 

 the same date, c. 1 3 30. 



The nave is of four bays with a north arcade of 

 early fifteenth-century date, with columns of four 

 engaged half-octagonal shafts having small rolls in the 



54 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 36 Hen. 



VIII. 



55 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Sen 2), cxxii, 



No. 5. 



66 Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 34 Eliz. 



57 Harl. Chart. 83 A. 47. 



5S Ibid. A. 49, B. 10, 39, 40. 



59 Cal. of Chart. R. i, 201. 



™ Plac. de Quo Pf^ar. (Rec. Com.), 34. 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 394. 



221 



'2 Pat. 21 Eliz. pt. 6. 

 ^^V.C.H.Bedu\,z->,i.b. 

 ^ Dugdale, Mon. v, 372. 



65 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.}, iv, 93. 



66 Pat. 31 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 16. 



