A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



of St. Helen, London, all her lands and rents in Ey- 

 worth, save only the marriage portion of her daughter 

 Joan, wife of Thomas Gravenel." The priory con- 

 tinued to add to its possessions, obtaining further 

 grants of land by purchase from John de Gravenel 

 between 1254 and 1259.*' This manor was held of 

 the crown by knight service," and it continued in the 

 possession of the priory until the Dissolution, when it 

 reverted to the crown." Elizabeth granted it in 1565 

 to Robert, earl of Leicester, to hold of the manor of 

 East Greenwich." He sold it almost immediately to 

 Sir Robert Catlin, at whose death in 1577 it passed to 

 Mary his daughter, wife of John Spencer." Her 

 husband alienated the manor by fine to Richard 

 Mays in 1 575," between which date and 1595 it 

 passed to John Spurlyng and his wife Anne, who in 

 the latter year conveyed it to the trustees of Sir 

 Edmund Anderson, at that time lord of the larger 

 Eyworth manor (q.v.), with which it became thus 

 once more amalgamated." 



Another tenant in Eyworth at the time of Domes- 

 day was Azelina, widow of Ralph Taillebois, of whom 



I M-^ cenTuiy 

 ^ 1516 .. 

 1:1 modem 



o 



Plan of Eyworth 



feeble 



Church 



o£ £eet 



Brodo held i hide of land." After the Survey this 

 holding, which never became a manor, appears to have 

 been held of the manor of Cockayne Hatley (q.v.), 

 which Azelina likewise held in 1086," and early came 

 into the hands of the lords of Eyworth manor. 



The earliest holder of this property of whom men- 

 tion has been found subsequent to Brodo the Domes- 

 day tenant is William de Pyrley, who in 1 298 received 

 a grant of a messuage and land from Robert Austin,"" 

 and in 1305 a messuage, 110 acres of land, and izs. 

 rent from John de Juvene." 



Edward le Despenser who owned Eyworth manor 

 in 1343 held the messuage and 100 acres of land 

 which had formerly belonged to William de Pyrley,'^ 

 and between this date and 1465 this property, dis- 

 tinguished by the name Pyrleys and by the different 

 lordship of which it was held, followed the same 

 descent as Eyworth, and finally became absorbed in 

 that manor.'' 



A mill existed in Eyworth at the time of the Survey 



of 1086 ; it was attached to the manor of Eyworth 

 and was worth 8/." Roger de Clifford held half of 

 this windmill in 1282 in right of his wife Isabel by 

 service of 3a'. yearly to John son of Thomas de 

 Juvene," and in 1283 Roger de Leybume held the 

 other half of the mill in right of his wife Ida in the 

 same manner.'' 



The church of ALL SJINTS has a 



CHURCH chancel 23 ft. by 13 ft. 4 in., nave 33 ft. 



by 1 6 ft. 9 in., with south aisle 9 ft. 9 in. 



wide, modern south porch, and west tower 10 ft. 3 in. 



square within the walls. 



There are no details older than the first quarter of 

 the fourteenth century ; the south aisle and arcade 

 belong entirely to this date, but the walls of the nave 

 may be earlier than this, though there is nothing to 

 prove it. The chancel seems to have been completely 

 rebuilt, but on the old plan, in the fifteenth century, 

 and the tower is also an addition of this time. The 

 rood-loft stair is of much the same date as the chancel, 

 and the clearstory of the nave belongs to the end of 

 this century or the early years of the next. The plan 

 is simple and regular, with the excep- 

 tion that the tower, for some reason 

 which is difficult to see, is not set 

 centrally with the nave, but some feet to 

 the north, its north wall projecting beyond 

 the line of that of the nave." The 

 chancel is plastered externally, and has 

 a modern east window of three lights, 

 and square-headed two-light fifteenth- 

 century windows towards the west on 

 north and south. At the south-east is a 

 segmental headed window of three lights, 

 blocked by the monument of Sir Edmund 

 Anderson, and in the north wall a door 

 with square-headed label and shields in 

 the spandrels, also of the fifteenth century. 

 The chancel arch, of early fourteenth- 

 century design, has been a good deal re- 

 paired ; it has an arch of two moulded orders, with 

 shafts and capitals to the inner order. To the north 

 of it, in the east wall of the nave, is a cinquefoiled 

 fifteenth-century recess, with a square label and tre- 

 foiled spandrels, for the image over the north altar in 

 the nave. This altar was lighted by a large three- 

 light window of fourteenth-century date, which has 

 lost its original tracery, and is fiDed with work of about 

 1 00 years later. The shafted jambs and head are of 

 very good detail. East of this window is a small tre- 

 foiled recess for a piscina. 



The south arcade is of three bays, with octagonal 

 piers and moulded capitals and bases, and arches of 

 two chamfered orders, all much scraped and cleaned, 

 the capitals having suffered particularly in this respect. 

 At the south-east angle of the aisle is the entrance to 

 the fifteenth-cpntury rood stair, and the fourteenth- 

 century east window of the aisle, of three trefoiled 

 lights with quatrefoils over them, has been pushed 

 southwards to make room for it. In the south wall 



■"I Maklani, Braclan' s Note Bk.iU, 107. 



■•1 Feet of F.Beds. 38,40,43 Hen. Ill i 

 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 3. 



■"' Feud. Aids. \, 19, 22, 37. 



■"> Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 392. Its 

 value in 1535 was ,^12 101. td, 



" Pat. 8 Eliz. pt. 7, m. 26. 



■" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxxvi. 

 No. I. 



« Feet of F. Beds. East. 18 Ellz. 



•" Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 38 Eliz. ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxciv, No. 107. 



« V.C.H. Beds, i, 261b. 



" Ibid. Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Edw. Ill 

 (ist Nos.), No. 49a ; 5 Hen. V, No. 53 ; 

 29 Hen. VI, No. 33 ; 5 Edw. IV, No. 31 ; 

 Feud. AidSf i, 37. 



"> Feet of F. Beds. East. 27 Edw. I. 

 Pyrleys is the distinctive name this pro- 

 perty acquires in later documents. 



232 



" Ibid. Mich. 33 Edw. I. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. i6 Edw. Ill (ist 

 Nos.), No. 49a. 



'» Ibid. 5 Hen. V, No. 53 ; 29 Hen. VI, 

 No. 33 ; 5Edw. IV, No. 31. 



" y.CH. Bcdi. i, 247a. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 Edw. I, No. 36a. 



'« Ibid. 12 Edw. I, No. 17. 



'" As at Codicote, Herts, and Headley, 

 Hants. 



