BIGGLESWADE HUNDRED 



EDWORTH 



EDWORTH 



The parish of Edworth, with an acreage of 

 I,I22"343, is triangular in shape, having its apex 

 towards the south. The Roman way forms its western 

 boundary, the eastern and part of the northern 

 boundary lying on the Hertfordshire borders. The 

 soil is principally clay, the subsoil strong clay. Of the 

 acreage 898 acres is arable land, 149 permanent grass, 

 and 1 2 woods and plantations.' The altitude varies, 

 but the ground is inclined to slope towards the 

 centre ; the greatest height attained is 1 9 1 ft. in the 

 west, the lowest 143 ft. in the south. The village 

 is situated in a hollow towards the centre of the 

 parish, about half a mile east of the line of the Roman 

 road. The branch road leading to it forks at a short 

 distance from its start, one branch running north to 

 Dunton, the other east to Hinxworth. The former 

 merely skirts the village, and ascends to the northern 

 boundaries of the parish ; the latter passes through the 

 centre of Edworth itself. On the east of this road 

 lies the rectory, in the grounds of which a Roman 

 pavement, not at present exposed to view, is known 

 to exist. The rectory itself is said to be part of a 

 much larger mediaeval building. The parish church 

 stands at some distance to the west of the village, not 

 far from the Roman road, at the foot of the rising 

 ground over which the road passes. A field road leads to 

 the church and the Church Farm, which adjoins the 

 churchyard to the north, and to the east of the 

 church are traces of a moat. Roman remains have 

 been found at Edworth.^ The nearest station is 

 Biggleswade, 4^ miles distant on the Great Northern 

 Railway main line. 



The following -place-names have been found in 

 Edworth : Pycardes, Pykardeshadlonde, in fifteenth 

 and sixteenth-century documents ; Plannsons, Twen- 

 tyete, and Woodhill in the sixteenth ; ' Marefurlong and 

 Stonywey in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.* 

 At the date of the Domesday Survey 

 MANORS Edworth contained two manors. Of 

 these, the principal, EDWORTH 

 MANOR, formerly belonging to Alestan of Bos- 

 combe, was held in 1086 by two knights under 

 William d'Eu ; its extent was 7 hides 3J virgates, 

 and its value ^^8.' As in the case of other manors 

 (cf Arlesey and Sundon), held by William d'Eu at 

 the time of the Survey, the overlordship subsequently 

 passed by marriage * to the earls of Pembroke.' 



Anselm, earl of Pembroke, by whose marriage the 

 overlordship had come into the family, died in 1 246, 

 and his sisters and co-heirs Joan and Maud succeeded 

 to the Edworth overlordship. 



Joan's share passed by the marriage of her daughter 

 Joan to William de Valence, created earl of Pem- 

 broke in right of his wife in 1 247.° On the death 

 of Aymer de Valence in 1323 the overlordship of 

 half a knight's fee in Edworth passed to his niece, 

 Elizabeth Comyn, wife of Richard Talbot, and the 

 direct ancestress of the earls of Shrewsbury.' 



Marshal, Earl of 

 Pembroke. Party or and 

 •vert a Hon guUs, 



Valence, Earl of 

 Pembroke. Burelly ar- 

 gent and azure an orle of 

 martlets gules. 



The overlordship continued to be exercised by the 

 Talbots," and their ownership of it is last mentioned 

 in 1 581, when the jurors were unable to discover the 

 nature of the service by which it was held, but 

 previously it was invariably valued at half a knight's 

 fee." 



Through the marriage of Maud, the other co- 

 heir of Anselm, earl of Pembroke, to Hugh Bigod, 

 Earl Marshal, the other moiety of the Edworth over- 

 lordship passed into the possession of the Earls 

 Marshal of England. Thomas Plantagenet son of 

 Edward I, and at that time Earl Marshal, was overlord 

 in 1 32 1." 



Twenty-five years later his daughter Margaret, 

 claiming to be Countess Marshal, was in possession," 

 and through her the overlordship passed to the Mow- 

 brays, who became earls of Norfolk." 



The last reference found to this half of the over- 

 lordship is in 1488, when the manor is referred to as 

 lately held by John duke of Norfolk," who died in 

 1475 without male issue. As he had married Eliza- 

 beth daughter of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, 

 to whom belonged a share in the overlordship, the 

 divided parts probably became reunited. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey Bernard 

 held Edworth manor of William d'Eu,'* and this 

 family remained in possession until 1252," when 

 Nicholas son of Odo Bernard conveyed the family 

 possessions in Edworth to Henry de Cramaviila.'* 



' Statistics from the Bd. of Agric. 

 (1905). 



2 See above, p. 7. 



8 Add. Chart.' 35094.; Anct. D. 

 {P.R.O.) C. 2039 ; Court R. portfolio 

 153, No. 22. 



4 Anct. D. (P.R.O.) C. 2039, C. 3022, 

 C. 814. Gilbert son of Mare held land 

 in Edworth in 1232 (Feet of F. Beds. 

 16 Hen. Ill, m. 8). 



5 F.C.H. Beds, i, i'iib. 



6 Maud daughter' of Ralph de Issoudun, 

 earl of Eu, in right of his wife Alice, 

 direct descendant of the William d'Eu of 

 Domesday (Dugdale's Baronage, i, 136), 

 married Humphrey de Bohun, earl of 



Essex, whose daughter Maud married 

 Anselm earl of Pembroke (G.E.C. Com- 

 plete Peerage, yi, 203). 



7 Testa de Nfvill (Rec. Com.), 247. 



8 Feud. Aids, \, 3. 



9 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. II, No. 75; 

 13 Edw. IV, No. 46 i Close R. 18 Edw. 

 II, m. II. 



1" Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, No. 42 ; 

 20 Ric. II, No. 5 1 i 7 Hen. V, No. 68 ; 8 

 Hen. V, No. 127 ; 13 Edw. IV, No. 46 ; 

 (Ser. 2), vol. XXV, No. 1 54 ; Add. Chart. 

 35250*. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. cxciii. 

 No. 90. 



12 Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, No. 44. 



223 



l» Feud. Aids, i, 23. 



'^* Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 Hen. VI, No. 43. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VU, No. 246. 



l« V.C.H. Beds, i, 233*. 



^' Cf. Etonbury manor, Arlesey, which 

 belonged to the same family, Cott. MSS. 

 Faust. A. iv, f. 56* ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. ' 

 Com.), 247. 



18 Feet of F. Beds. 46 Hen. Ill, No. 

 14. The extent is here given as one 

 messuage and 136 acres, with appurten- 

 ances, and whatever Odo son of Roger 

 Bernard once held in the same vlll, ' for 

 rent of one pair of white gloves and one 

 penny at Easter and services to the chief 

 lords.' 



