BIGGLESWADE HUNDRED 



in the P.C.C., left jfioo consols, dividends to be 

 applied as to one-half between three industrious old 

 men, and as to the other half between three indus- 

 trious old women recommended by the officiating 

 minister from among those most constant in their 

 attendance at divine worship in the parish church. 



TEMPSFORD 



The same testator also left ;^ioo consols, dividends 

 to be expended in repairing the organ of the church. 

 The latter legacy has been augmented by investment 

 of unapplied income to j£2 28 4/. zd. consols, which 

 is held by the official trustees together with the ;^ioo 

 consols left for the poor. 



TEMPSFORD 



Temeseforda, Tamise-forda (x-xi cents.) ; Tamise- 

 ford (xiv cent.) ; Temys ford (xvi cent.) 



Tempsford a parish on the Huntingdon border has 

 an area of 2,340 acres, of which 1,060 are arable 

 land, 1,010 permanent grass, and 35 woods and 

 plantations.' The ground is uniformly level, the 

 north-western boundary of the parish, which is here 

 liable to floods, being formed by the River Ouse. 

 The soil is sand and clay, subsoil clay, and the chief 

 crops produced are wheat, barley, peas, and beans. 

 The Great North Road runs through the village of 

 Tempsford, which is situated in the centre of the 

 parish at the junction of the road running westwards 

 from Potton and Everton. A second road a little 

 further to the north runs westward to the railway 

 station on the Great Northern line, and on this 

 road Mossbury manor, now a farm-house, lies on 

 the left-hand side. The main road continues to the 

 northern boundary of the parish through a district 

 chiefly agricultural. 



The village is composed of two principal groups of 

 houses, the first, including the church and rectory, lying 

 to the south of the grounds of Tempsford Hall, and the 

 second, known as Langford End, to the north along the 

 road to Tempsford railway station ; neither settlement 

 has any houses of architectural interest. Tempsford 

 Hall, now occupied by Sir George Sutherland 

 Mackenzie, K.C.M.G., C.B., was built in 1898 on 

 the site of an older house destroyed by fire. The 

 owner is Lieut.-Colonel Dugald Stewart. There is a 

 public elementary school built in 1870. 



The church stands to the west of the road, with 

 the rectory close to it on the west^ The latter, 

 though in the main modern, preserves a wing of the 

 older timber-built house, and a little fifteenth-century 

 detail, including a wooden shaft and capital in the 

 present larder ; the roof, now hidden \iy a plaster 

 ceiling, is said to have carved or moulded timbers. Near 

 the rectory is the earthwork known as the Gannocks, 

 about 200 yds. to the south-west, of exceptional 

 interest as being almost certainly that, or part of that, 

 made by the Danes in 921, and stormed by King 

 Edward the Elder in the same year.' The whole 

 parish, lying in the Ouse valley, is flat, the chief natural 

 feature being the well-wooded grounds of the hall. 



Tempsford was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 

 1777.' In the sixteenth century there were 240 

 ' houselyng ' people in the parish ; * at the last census 

 the population was 434.' 



Palaeolithic implements have been found in Temps- 



ford, at a spot where the Great Ouse is joined by the 

 Ivel.° Tempsford also contains an example of ancient 

 earthworks in Biggin Wood, a type of early inclosed 

 homestead.' Among place-names which have been 

 found in Tempsford may be mentioned thefoUowing: — 

 Pesefurlong, Potteresland, Swarmereslade, examples of 

 thirteenth-century field-names,' Semes and Slades 

 Closes,' Lamcote End, which still exists as the name 

 of a farm,'" Strachyns, le Hellepytte, le Mores," are 

 all found in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. 

 The Gannock is also found mentioned in a sixteenth- 

 century document." 



The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains two separate re- 

 ferences to Tempsford, one in 921, as already noted," 

 and another in loio, when the Danes are described 

 as penetrating as far as Tempsford, burning and pil- 

 laging as they went.'* 



At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 MANORS Eudo Dapifer, son of Hubert, held 

 TEMPSFORD MANOR, which had 

 previously belonged to Ulmar of Eaton. Its extent 

 at that time was 5 hides 2 virgates, of which 4 hides 

 I virgate were held by an undertenant, William de 

 Carun." On Eudo's death in 1 1 20 the overlordship 

 of Tempsford manor, which formed part of the 

 barony of Eaton, escheated to the crown, and was 

 granted to the Beauchamps of Eaton.'° 



Ralph de Beauchamp exercised the right of over- 

 lordship in 1284," and the last reference that has 

 been found to the exercise of this right is in 1428, 

 when Northill College and Robert Scot together held 

 one fee of this barony." 



William de Carun held this manor of Eudo at 

 Domesday," and his direct descendants continued to 

 hold in Tempsford till well on into the thirteenth 

 century. Robert de Carun, probably a son, presented 

 Tempsford Church to St. Neots in 11 29,™ and in 

 1 1 30 paid 69/. into the exchequer for lands of his 

 brother Ralph." 



In 1 201 two knights' fees in the county were held 

 by John de Carun," who was followed by Walter de 

 Carun, who was holding here in 1228,"' and he in 

 turn by Robert de Carun, who in 1284 rendered 

 feudal service for one and a-half knight's fees in Temps- 

 ford." He died before 1297, leaving two daughters 

 as co-heirs, Agnes wife of Roger de Cantilupe, and 

 Joanna wife of Miles de Drayton," who each took a 

 share of the manor, their holdings being afterwards 

 known as Tempsford manor and Drayton's manor. 

 Agnes de Cantilupe was holding Tempsford manor as 



I Returns of the Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



s For a plan and account see F.C.H. 

 Beds, i, 281. 



8 Acts Priv. and Local, 17 Geo. Ill, cap. 

 ig. * Chant. Cert, i, Nos. 23, 24. 



5 Pop. Ret. Beds. 1 90 1, p. 5. 



6 V.C.H. Beds, i, 145. ' Ibid. 307. 



8 Feet of F. Beds. 12 Hen. Ill, No. 42. 



9 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 7 & 8 

 Eliz. m. lid. 



1" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxxviii, 

 No. 147 i Add. Chart. 1986. 



11 Ibid. Robert le More held in 

 Tempsford in 1240 in right of his wife 

 who was a de Cerne (Feet of F. Beds. 

 25 Hen. Ill, m. 14). 



" Add. Chart. 1985. 



1' Angl.-Sax. Cbron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 194. 



" Ibid, i, 264. 



" F.CH.Beds. i, 235a. 



251 



16 Ibid. 201. V Feud. Aids, i, 3. 



18 Ibid. 37. 



" F.C.H. Beds, i, 235a. 

 «> Cott. MSS. Faust. A. iv. 

 "1 Hunter, Great Rail of the Pipe, 103. 

 ^ Red Book of the Exch. i, 136. 

 ia Feet, of F. Beds. 12 Hen. Ill, m. 42; 

 52 Hen. Ill, m. 13. 

 « Feud. Aids, i, 3. 

 25 Ahbre-v. Plac, (Rec. Com.), 236. 



