BIGGLESWADE HUNDRED 



POTTON 



In 1575, on the marriage of Catherine Taylor to 

 Robert Brudenell, the manor passed to the latter 

 family," and in the year 1657 Robert Lord Brudenell 

 alienated Potton Burdetts to Sir Roger Burgoyne,*" 

 since which time its history has been the same as that 

 of Potton manor (q.v.). 



This parish also contained a fourth manor, that of 

 POTTON RECTORT, which appears to have 

 originated from a grant made about 1094 by Simon 

 de Senlis to St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton." In 

 1267 John de Sudington successfully claimed view 

 of frankpledge in Potton for the prior," and in 

 I 3 1 6 one of the same name was rendering feudal 

 service here.'' In 1392 the prior enfeoffed the Friars 

 Minor by Aldgate with the glebe and advowson of 

 Potton," for which the latter paid a yearly pension of 

 66s. Si/." At the Dissolution the value of the pro- 

 perty of the Friars Minor in Potton was ^13 6s. 8<^." 

 During the sixteenth century Potton Rectory manor 

 was leased by the crown to various tenants. Elizabeth 

 leased it in 1579 to Richard Williams," and in 1591 

 sold it to Rowland Litton for £6-j() lis. 6d.*^ By 

 1608 it had passed to John Burgoyne,*' who held the 

 other manors in Potton, and it has since followed the 

 same descent.'" 



The right of holding a weekly market and fairs 

 belonged to the lord of Potton manor from the 

 earliest times. Before the reign of John it was held 

 on Sundays, but in 1203 the day was altered to 

 Saturday,'' on which day a market is held at the 

 present time. In 1287 William le Latimer claimed 

 a weekly market in Potton." In 1 501 the king 

 granted to John Burgoyne the profits of tolls of mar- 

 ket in Potton for fourteen years,'' and in 1 544 

 Thomas Burgoyne received a perpetual grant of a 

 Saturday market," and it is subsequently found 

 attached to the manor." Lysons, writing at the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century, says the market, 

 though not so great as formerly, was still well sup- 

 plied with grain, particularly wheat and barley. He 

 attributed the decline of the market to a great fire 

 at Potton in 1783, when damage estimated at 

 j^25,ooo was done.'* In 1227 Henry Braybrook, 

 lord of Potton manor, received a confirmation of his 

 right to hold an annual three-days' fair on the feast 

 of St. James in July." Four yearly fairs were con- 

 firmed to Richard Burgoyne, then lord of the manor, 

 by Charles II in 1670, viz. on the third Tuesday 

 in January, the Tuesday before Easter, the first 

 Tuesday in July, and the Tuesday before St. Luke's 

 Day,'" and fairs are still held at times corresponding 

 to the first, second, and fourth of these dates. 



There is mention of a mill in Domesday belonging 

 to the Countess Judith and worth 5J." When the 

 larger manor was subdivided the mill appears to have 

 formed part of Potton Much Manured, for in an in- 

 quisition of this manor, taken in 1332, a windmill 



is mentioned, and had increased in value to 10/. per 

 annum.™ Its site can still be seen, on the left of the 

 road approaching Potton from Sandy. 



The right of holding a view of frankpledge belonged 

 to the three manors of Potton, Potton Much Manured, 

 and Potton Rectory." 



The church of OUR LADY consists 

 CHURCH of a chancel 32 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in. 

 with a south chapel 1 2 ft. wide of equal 

 length with the chancel, nave 62 ft. by 20 ft. with 

 north transept 22 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., north aisle 10 ft. 

 9 in. wide, south aisle 9 ft. 6 in., north porch of two 

 stories 15ft. 6 in. by lift. loin., and west tower 

 1 2 ft. 6 in. square, all measurements being internal. 



No part of the present building appears to be 

 older than the first half of the thirteenth century, to 

 which date parts of the chancel and north transept 

 belong. From the position of a window of this date 

 in the west wall of the transept it is clear that the 

 north aisle has been widened early in the fourteenth 

 century, to which date the main structure of the pre- 

 sent nave belongs. The tower and north porch are 

 fifteenth-century additions, the chancel arch showing 

 the same detail as the tower arch, and being doubtless 

 of the same date. The south-east chapel, f. 1500, is 

 the latest addition to the plan, and the external fea- 

 tures of the church are almost entirely of the latter 

 part of the fifteenth and the early sixteenth centuries. 

 The church underwent repair and refitting in 1889. 



The chancel has a modern three-light east window, 

 above which are the arms of Winch and the date 

 1638, and on the north side is a late fifteenth-century 

 window of three lights, part of its sill being cut down 

 to within 2 ft. 6 in. of the floor, perhaps for the fitting 

 of a locker or for the sepulchre. It overlooked the 

 roof of a now destroyed north-east vestry, the door to 

 which still remains just west of the window, and has 

 over it on the outside a small thirteenth-century light, 

 which must have been blocked when the vestry was 

 built. Of the vestry itself the only surviving feature 

 is a fifteenth-century piscina below the north window 

 already described. Its west wall abutted on the north 

 wall of the chancel, just west of the doorway, and a 

 second doorway, now blocked, also of the fifteenth 

 century, has been cut at a slant through the chancel 

 wall just west of the vestry door in order to clear the 

 west wall of the vestry. 



At the north-west of the chancel is another fifteenth- 

 century window of three lights, with tracery in the 

 head, and adjoining its west jamb is a single cinque- 

 foiled light, which is fitted awkwardly into the extreme 

 angle of the chancel, and seems to have been in- 

 tended, like a similar window at the south-west angle, 

 to throw light on the seats at the back of the rood 

 screen. 



At the south-east angle of the chancel is part of a 

 small trefoiled piscina, apparently not in position, the 



89 P. A. Taylor, The Taylor Family, 

 15 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 17 EIIz.; 

 Beds. East. 14 Jas. i. 



■«> Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 1656 ; Recov. 

 R. Trin. 1657. 



41 r.C.H. Beds, i, 315 j Cott. MSS. 

 Vesp. E. xvii. 



" Plac. de Quo. Warr. (Rec. Com.), 9, 



^■^ Feud. Aid!, i, 19. 



« Add. Chart. I995'- 



«5 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1108, No. 21. 



46 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 197. 

 St. Andrew's still received the pension of 



665. id, from the Friars Minor ; ibid, iv, 

 314. *1 Pat. 21 Eliz. pt. 4. 



48 Ibid. 33 Eliz. pt. 13. 



49 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxxviii, 

 No. 115. 



«»Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 18 Chas. I; 

 Commonwealth, 1657 ; Trin. 16 Chas. 

 II ; Recov. R. East. 9 Anne ; East. 4 

 Geo. II, &c, 



" Ahhrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 36. 



M Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 77. 



68 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 21, fol. 

 173 i/. 



54 Ibid. 22, fol. 193 d. 



'6 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxviii, 

 No. 115. Recov. R. East. 9 Anne; 4 

 Geo. II i 35 Geo. Ill ; 57 Geo. III. 



^ Lysons, Mag. Brit, i, 124. 



'" Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), 178. 



'8 Pat. 21 Chas. II, pt. 3, No. 14. 



" KC.H. Beds, i, 258*. 



6» Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill, No. 

 46. 



" Ct. R. bdle. I, No. 1 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 5 Edw. Ill, No. 46 J Plac. de Quo 

 Warr. (Rec. Com.), 9. 



