CLIFTON HUNDRED 



CAMPTON 



under the provisions of which — after reserving an 

 annual sum of ^£15 for the general benefit of the poor 

 of the town of Shefford, and ^5 a year for an exhibi- 

 tion for higher education to be awarded to children 

 resident in the said town of ShefFord qualified as 

 therein mentioned — the net income is applicable in 

 the repairs of bridges and highways in the ancient 

 parish of ShefFord, and in parts of other contiguous 

 parishes within a radius of a mile from the parish 

 church; also in the supply of water and light and 

 other works of public utility. 



Iii 1855 William Rushton Gresham by will left 

 ;^l,ooo to be invested and income applied for bene- 

 fit of poor widows. The legacy was invested in 

 £1,052 15/. 3^. consols (with the official trustees), 

 and the dividends aniounting to ^£25 16/. 4</. are 

 administered under the provisions of a scheme of the 

 High Court of Chancery of 15 February, 1859, as 

 varied by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 

 20 November, 1906. 



In 1888 James Mead by will left ^^ 50 to be in- 

 vested and income applied for the benefit of widows 

 and orphans of the chapel members of Union chapel. 

 The legacy is represented by ^^48 3^. 'jd. India three 

 per cents, with the official trustees, and the dividends 

 of £1 8/. %d. are duly applied. 



CHICKSJNDS.—Ch.ichess.ne (?), Cudessane (xi 

 cent.); Chikesond (xiii cent.); Chickessaund (xiv. 

 cent.). Chicksands, formerly extra-parochial, is now 

 a parish of about 1,439 acres, which is ecclesiastically 

 annexed to the parish of Campton cum ShefFord. 

 The soil is sand and the subsoil gravel, and there are 

 two old sand-pits and an old gravel-pit in the parish, 

 besides two disused clay-pits. The chief crops are 

 wheat, barley, and turnips. The ground rises in the 

 middle of the parish, the highest point being 281 ft. 

 on the western boundary ; Chicksands Priory is on 

 the low ground close to the stream near the Campton 

 parish boundary, and there is a second stream in the 

 north of the parish, joining the first near ShefFord. 

 There are 695 acres of arable land, and 458^ of per- 

 manent grass.'* The boundary line between the two 

 parishes runs through the grounds of Chicksands Priory, 

 following the general direction of the stream to the 

 south of the buildings. On this stream, south-east 

 of the house, used formerly to stand a mill at a point 

 where there is now an artificial cascade. The popula- 

 tion in 1 90 1 consisted of sixty-two, and is composed 

 mainly of employees on the estate of Sir Algernon 

 Kerr Butler Osborn, bart. 



At the time of the Great Survey 



MANORS (1086) there were two manors in 



CHICKS JNDS, one of which was held 



by three sokemen of Azelina wife of Ralph Taillebois, 



who claimed it as part of her dower. °' Probably as 



in the case of Henlow Warden (q.v.) Hugh de Beau- 

 champ who held 2 hides in Chicksands,"" made a 

 counterclaim, for the overlordship passed to the 

 Beauchamps and the two estates coalesced to form 

 one manor. This manor is probably the one com- 

 prised in the grant of land to the priory of Chick- 

 sands by Payn de Beauchamp and Rose his wife 

 towards the end of the twelfth century,"" a grant 

 which was confirmed by Simon Beauchamp and again 

 by William his son.'°* 



In 1285 the priory was granted free warren in its 

 demesne land of Chicksands."" In the reign of 

 Edward III the prior also claimed view of frank- 

 pledge over his tenants in Chicksands. This manor, 

 together with that of Campton, was assessed in 1 291 

 at £18 14/. 7a'.,'°* and in 1 3 17 the second manor, 

 later referred to, was given to the priory by John 

 Blundel.'"' After this date the manors appear to 

 have coalesced, and their descent becomes identical. 

 In 1 346 and 1428 the prior held half a knight's fee.™ 

 At the Dissolution in 1539 the manor was taken into 

 the king's hand, and in 1 540 the house and site and the 

 demesne lands, worth altogether j£'3 8 y. 4</., were leased 

 to Thomas Wyndham for twenty-one years."" In the 

 same year William Ardren and Richard Cooke were 

 granted free warren and certain closes within the manor, 

 which they had rented from the priory since 1538."'' 

 Towards the end of the same year, Henry VIII 

 granted to Richard Snowe and Elizabeth his wife the 

 manor of Chicksands, and also the reversions of the leases 

 held by Wyndham, Ardren, and Cooke for the sum of 

 j^8lo 11/. 81/.'°' In all documents dealing with this 

 property, the site of the dissolved priory and the 

 manor of Chicksands are mentioned separately, 

 although their history has been identical. Richard 

 Snowe died in 1 5 5 3,"° and was succeeded by his son 

 Daniel, who apparently conveyed the manor to Peter 

 Osborn, for in 1578, Edward Snowe, his brother and 

 heir, brought a suit against Osborn, claiming the 

 estate as next of kin, and demanding the production 

 of the will which Daniel left in the keeping of the 

 defendant before he went to Jerusalem.'" The 

 manor was conveyed by fine in 1587 to Peter Osborn 

 and John his son by Edward Snowe and Emma his 

 wife ;"' and in 1592, on the death of Peter, it passed 

 "to hie son John,"' who was knighted in 161 8, and 

 who died in 1628."* The manor was then inherited by 

 Sir Peter Osborn, the son of Sir John."' The estate 

 suffered during the Civil Wars, for Sir Peter and his 

 second son Henry assisted the king against Parliament, 

 and were obliged to compound for delinquency, the 

 amount of the fine being j^2,266 5/. ^d™ Henry 

 in 1657 petitioned the Protector against the levying 

 of the decimation tax on his estate at Chicksands, and 

 was exempted on the ground that he had been 



99 Inform, from Bd. of Agric. 1905. 



99 V.CJI. Beds, i, 262. Another tenant 

 of Azelina was Walter who held i hide 

 which had formerly been held by Suete- 

 man, a man of Ulma of Etone. 



10" y.CH. Beds, i, 242. These were 

 held of Hugh by three sokemen and had 

 been held T.R.E. by four sokemen. 



"I Harl. Chart. 45, 1, 7. ^"^ Ibid. I, 1 8. 



1»8 Chart. R. 13 Edw. I, No. 78, 

 m. 30, n. 124 ; Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. 

 Com.), 32-4. 



^<»PofeNici. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 49*. 

 In 1306 the nuns received a grant of 

 40 acres of land. 



l»5 Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. 2,m. 29. 



^'^ Feud. Aids,!, 31,46. 



IW L. and P. Hen. Fill, xv, 555. 



'"3 Ibid. XV. 562. These closes were 

 worth jf 3 14J. 4^. (Dugdale, Mon. vi, 951), 

 and were called Oxeclose, Boveclose and 

 Marclesse : there were also three Little 

 Closes, which with Marclesse lay between 

 Bedlowe and Cockshot Close. These 

 closes passed to the Snowes and then to the 

 Osborns, and Sir John Osborn died seised 

 of them in 1628, when Inwood and 

 Salters Well Close are also mentioned. 



i»9Pat. 31 Hen. VIII, pt. 7, m. 

 10. 



271 



"" Chan. Inq. p.m. i & 2 Phil, and 

 Mary, vol. 102, No. 4. 



"1 Chan. Proc. S.s. 6, No. 32. 



1" Pat. 29 Eliz. pt. I, m. 8 ; Feet of 

 F. Beds. Trin. 29 Eliz.; Recov. R. Trin. 29 

 Eliz. rot. 86. 



11' Chan. Inq, p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. 249, 

 No. 59. 



1" Ibid. vol. 451, No. 106. 



115 Recov. R. Trin. 16 Chas. I, rot. 65 ; 

 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 16 Chas. I ; ibid. 

 Mich. 1649. 



11^ Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iii, 

 1974. Henry also had to pay ^5 as 

 the amount of his fine. 



