CLIFTON HUNDRED arlesey 



always extended into the two hundreds of Clifton and Flitt ; * the abbots 

 of Ramsey, who held Shillington till the sixteenth century, owed suit at 

 both hundred courts.* The civil parish of Holwell was transferred by 

 Local Government Board order to the administrative county of Hertford 

 in 1897. 



Clifton was a royal hundred, and remained, so far as is known, in the 

 hands of the crown until 163 1, when Charles I made a grant of the hundred to 

 Thomas earl of Cleveland,' which grant became forfeited in the time of the 

 Commonwealth.' 



Clifton paid>(^39 izs. id. towards a general subsidy in 13 13 ; ^ for ship- 

 money in 1637 it was assessed at ^16 3J. lod.,^ whilst the returns of a poll- 

 tax levied in 1667 were ^^196 u.' 



By the time of a survey taken of this hundred in 1651 it was declining 

 in value, the total of rents and royalties was ^j i^s. iod.^° and the court 

 leet had for some time fallen into disuse." 



ARLESEY 



Alricheseia, Alriceseia (xi cent.) ; Ailricheseye (xiii 

 cent.) ; Alrilseye, Arleycheseye (xvi cent.) ; Arlesey, 

 Aldrichsey (xvii cent.). 



The parish of Arlesey has an acreage of 2, 3 44 J 

 of which 1 ,564 are arable land, 2 56f permanent 

 grass, and %\ woods and plantations.' The soil 

 is strong clay and gravel, the subsoil clay and gravel. 

 The parish is watered by the River Hiz, forming the 

 south-western boundary, and by a smaller tributary 

 on the north and east. The parish is particularly 

 long and narrow, the village being built along a single 

 street 3 miles in length, at the north end of which 

 stands the parish church, and close to it, on the west, 

 Arlesey Bury (Mr. H. Carter), the only large house 

 • in the parish. At the south end of the long village 

 street is the new church of St. Andrew. The land 

 slopes slightly from south to north, and is well tim- 

 bered. At the north end of the village the main road 

 branches off to Henlow on the west, and to Stotfold 

 on the east, the site of Etonbury manor lying on the 

 north of the road. The Great Northern Railway 

 runs due north through the parish to the west of the 

 village, Three Counties Station being at the south 

 end, and Arlesey Station at the north. The chief 

 industry is brickmaking, the large works of the 

 Arlesey Brick Company, the Arlesey Station Gault 

 Brickworks, and the London & Arlesey Brick Com- 

 pany being in the north of the parish. There are 

 also here the works of the Associated Portland Cement 

 Manufacturers, and the engineering works of Messrs. 

 S. Owens & Co. Arlesey was inclosed by Act of Parlia- 

 ment in 1804.' Ancient British coins of copper and 

 brass have been found in the parish.' Etonbury or 



Stonbury is an ancient earthwork close to Arlesey 

 station, on the Great Northern Railway.* 



Among place-names in Arlesey may be noted 

 Rogerhoyesholm in the fifteenth century, which in 

 the sixteenth century reappears as Hoyesmese.' Bet- 

 wentwomen, or Tuomeen, in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury becomes Twentemen in the fourteenth, and 

 Wenman's Close in the sixteenth.' Other thirteenth- 

 century place names are Portwei, Chalcputtes (whose 

 site can still be traced in the south of the parish), 

 Waleburgesholm, and Sibwinnesclade.' 



The principal manor oi ETON BURT 

 MJNORS or JRLESEr was held prior to 1 086 by 

 Alestan of Boscombe. At the time of 

 the Domesday Survey its extent was said to be 5 J hides 

 and two-thirds of I hide. It furthermore contained a 

 mill worth I os. and a market of the same value. The 

 overlord of Arlesey was William D'Eu, from whom it 

 passed to the Earl Marshal.^ 



The history of this overlordship is identical with 

 that moiety of the overlordship of Edworth (q.v.) 

 which passed through female descendants of the Earl 

 Marshal to the Talbots, subsequently earls of Shrews- 

 bury.' The overlordship is mentioned as late as 

 1636, at which date an inquisition describes the 

 manor as held of Henry earl of Kent and Elizabeth 

 his wife, one of the daughters of Gilbert earl of 

 Shrewsbury.'" 



At the date of the Domesday Survey Arlesey manor 

 was held under William D'Eu by Burnard," whose 

 family continued in possession till late in the thir- 

 teenth century. They were liberal benefactors of 

 Waltham Abbey (who owned a manor in Arlesey), and 



8 V.C.H. Beds, i, 228. At Domesday 

 the hamlet of Pegsdon, part of Shillington, 

 is given in Flitt Hundred. 



* Mins. Accts. bdle. 741, No. 16. 



6 Pat. 6 Chas. I, pt. i. In 1613 Lord 

 Bruce had been made bailiff and collector 

 of rents ; ibid. 10 Jas. I, pt. i. 



6 Pari. Surv. Beds. No. 5. 



7 Lay Subs. R. f J. 



8 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-49, p. 574. 



9 Lay Subs. R. ^. 

 1° Which included jf 3 6s. %d, possible 

 profits of a court no longer held. 

 " Pari. Surv. Beds. No. 5. 



1 Returns of Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



2 Acts of Pari. (Priv. and Local), 44 

 Geo. Ill, cap. 59. 



8 V.C.H.Beds. i, 173. 



4 Ibid, i, 278. 



° ColU I'opog, et Gen, vi, 233. Roger 



261 



Hoyes was a thirteenth-century tenant in 

 Arlesey. 



* Ibid. 7 Ibid. 



8 y.CH. Beds, i, 233A ; Testa de Nevill 

 (Rec. Com.), 247. 



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

 &c. ; Feud. Aids, i, 30, 46 ; Plac. de Quo 

 War. (Rec. Com.), 66. 



1" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dxxvii, No. 

 46. '^V.C.}i.Beds.\,T.iVK 



