CLIFTON HUNDRED 



CLIFTON 



Pleas, who died in 1 5 1 o seised of the manor, which 

 was inherited by his son Sir Michael Fisher.'^ On 

 the death of the latter in 1 549 the manor passed to 

 his granddaughter Agnes, the daughter of his son 

 John, who died in 1528 in his father's lifetime." 

 Agnes had married Oliver St. John, and through her 



Fisher. Argent a 

 che'veron between three 

 demilions gules •with three 

 roundels argent on the 

 che'veron. 



St. John. Argent a 

 chief gules 'with fwo 

 molets or upon the chief. 



the manor passed into the family of the St. Johns of 

 Bletsoe, who continued to hold it until 1 602,'' when 

 it was conveyed to Walter Rolt by Oliver Lord St. 

 John and his wife Dorothy." Walter the son of 

 Walter was holding the manor in 1652,™ but in the 

 visitation of Bedfordshire for 1 667-8, it is stated that 

 ' Mr. Rolt of Clifton has sold his estate and gone out 

 of the county.' " The history of the manor in the 

 eighteenth century is obscure. On a deed recording 

 the sale of the manor in 1789, it is stated that Walter 

 Rolt's estate came into the possession of Mr. Trice, 

 who sold it to Mr. Symcotts ; " the latter sold it to 

 his daughter and left the county.^' Mr. Symcotts' ' 

 daughter probably sold the estate to Sir Henry John- 

 son of Toddington, whose only daughter and heir 

 Anne married Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford. 

 The manor in 1790 was divided into thirds among 

 her daughters Anne Connolly, Lucy Howard, and 

 Henrietta Vernon." The daughters probably com- 

 bined to sell the manor to John Lord, whose executors 

 in 1798 sold the manor to Mr. Simpson Anderson for 

 j^5,l50." The manor next came into the possession 

 of Mr. Henry Palmer, who was owner in 1832 and 

 1864,'° and was probably sold by him to Mr., after- 

 wards Major, Henry Maclean Pryor, from whom it 

 was inherited by Major Ralston de Vino Pryor. 



William de Caron was holding in Clifton at the 

 time of the Great Survey (1086) 2 hides of Nigel de 

 Albini, which four sokemen had held of King 

 Edward ; " the overlordship passed from the d'Albinis 

 to the Barons St. Amandwith the barony of Cainhoo, 

 and in 1346 was held by Peter de St. Croix, 

 but it is not mentioned after 1359.'' This holding 

 became the quarter knight's fee which John de Lacy 

 held in 1302-3 ;*' it is not known how he acquired 

 the manor, but it then became known as the MJNOR 



" Chan. laq. p.m. 38 Hen. VI, No. 25 



(•57)- 



V Cole's Escheats, Harl. MSS. 760, 



59^. fol. 378. 



18 Cott. MSS. Cleop. C. iii, fol. 103^ ; 

 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 28 Eliz. 



19 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 44 Eliz. 



20 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 1652. 



21 Harl. Soc. Puhl. xix. 

 M Close, 39 Geo. Ill, m. II, No. 12. 

 =8 Lansd. MS. 887. 

 •* Recov. R. East. 31 Geo. Ill, rot. 234; 



ibid. Mich. 32 Geo. Ill, rot. 270. 

 »5 Close, 39 Geo. Ill, m. 11 (12). 



OF LJCIES or CLIFTON, and in 13 16 was in the 

 possession of Henry de Lacy.'" By some means it 

 passed into the family of Braybroke, for in 1346 Sir 

 Gerard Braybroke was lord of the manor " and died 

 seised of it in 1359, when it passed to his son 

 Gerard ,- ^' the latter alienated it to Edward Brom- 

 fiete, who was holding it in 1428." The manor then 

 probably descended in the same way as the manor of 

 Clifton from Sir William Babyngton to Sir John 

 Fisher, and then into the family of the St. Johns, and 

 was most likely alienated to Walter Rolt in 1602 

 with the manor of Clifton, for in 1 6 1 5 the latter was 

 granted a court leet and view of frankpledge in the 

 manor of Lacies,^' and was holding the two manors in 

 1618.'° The two manors continued to be held to- 

 gether and followed the same descent,'^ the manor at 

 the present day being known as the manor of Lacies 

 aMas Clifton. 



Besides the manor proper of Clifton and the manor 

 of Lacies, there was a third manor in Clifton belong- 

 ing to the prior of St John of Jerusalem, which was 

 held of the barony of Eaton till 1 303," and after- 

 wards of the king.^' William de Caron held this 

 property at the time of the Domesday Survey (1086), 

 of Eudo Dapifer, amounting to 6^ hides. It had 

 formerly belonged to Almar of Etone (Eaton Socon)."' 

 The prior of St. John of Jerusalem is first found in 

 possession in 1278, when he claimed view of frank- 

 pledge from tenants in Clifton," and in 1302-3 the 

 holding amounted to half a knight's fee," and so re- 

 mained." In 1 3 1 6 the prior was one of the three 

 lords holding in Clifton," and the value of the estate 

 in 1338 amounted 10^^31 ijs. Among the items 

 was a fishpond worth 6s. Sd.** The hospital of St. 

 John of Jerusalem continued to hold the manor until 

 the Dissolution,^' when it was taken into the hand of 

 the king, and was granted to Sir Richard Longe in 

 1 540, at the same time that he was given the pre- 

 ceptory of Shengay, which had belonged to the same 

 order.*' This manor he settled on his marriage in 

 1 541 with Margaret Kytson, widow of Sir Thomas 

 Kytson, alderman of London.*' It afterwards passed 

 to his son Henry, who was holding it in 1583,** and 

 through the latter's daughter and heir Elizabeth to 

 her husband William, Lord Russell, the fourth son 

 and heir of Francis, earl of Bedford, and Margaret 

 his wife, daughter of Sir John St. John of Bletsoe." 

 The son of William and Elizabeth, Francis Lord 

 Russell and Catherine his wife conveyed the manor by 

 fine to Walter Rolt, senr., and Walter Rolt, junr., in 

 1 6 1 7.'° The manors thus came eventually into the 

 possession of the same family in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, and from that time they have merged into one 

 and followed the same descent. 



The abbey of Warden held a small estate in this 

 parish. At the time of the Domesday Survey, i hide 

 of land was held by Alwin of the Countess Judith. It 



26 Priv. Act, 2 i& 3 Will. IV, cap. 4. 



27 r.CH. Beds, i, 245. 



28 Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (ist 

 Nos.), No. 31. 29 Feud. Aids, i, 12. 



s»Ibid. i, 20. 8llbid. i, 30. 



82 Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (ist 

 Nos.), No. 31. 



88 Feud. Aids, i, 46. 



84 Pat. 13 J«s. I, pt. 3 i Orig. R. L.T.R. 

 13 Jas. I, pt. 2, rot. 244. 



8» Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 16 Jas. I. 



86 Ibid. Hil. 8 Chas. I; ibid. Trin. 1652; 

 Priv. Act, 2 & 3 Will. IV, cap. 4. 



8' Feud. Aids, \, 12. 



277 



88 Memo. R. East. 17 Jas. I, rot. 203. 



89 KC.H. Beds, i, 236. 



"» Plac. de Quo IVar. (Rec. Com.), 6. 



■•1 Feud. Aids, i, 12. 



■■2 Ibid, i, 31,46. « Ibid.!, 20. 



" Larking, Knights Hospitallers. 



^' Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 19 ; 

 Feud. Aids, i, 3 1, 46. 



« Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 5, m. 34. 



1■^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, 1391 (23). 



■•8 Cott. MSS. Cleop. C. iii, fol. 103*. 



■•s Dugdale, Baron. 380 ; Coll. Misc. Gen. 

 and Herald, iii, 58. 



6» Feet of F. Beds. East. 15 Jas. I. 



