CLIFTON HUNDRED 



HENLOW 



Herbert, Lord Lucas. 

 Party azure and guUs 

 three lions argent. 



in the thirteenth century it was acquired by the family 

 of Grey. The first evidence of their holding has been 

 found in the Testa de Nevill, where John de Grey is 

 stated to hold 3 hides in Henlow of the honour of 

 WahuU."' Eleanor wife of Reginald de Grey of 

 Ruthyn died seised of this manor in 1396." Nearly 

 forty years later Reginald Lord Grey, her son, held in 

 Henlow.^" In i486 Edmund Grey was created earl 

 of Kent, and this manor ap- 

 pears to have remained in the 

 family, for in 1546 Henry 

 Grey, de jure earl of Kent, was 

 in possession '' and since that 

 date it has followed the same 

 descent as the manor of Wrest 

 in Flitton-cum-Silsoe (q.v.).°' 

 Lord Lucas and Dingwall is 

 at present lord of the manor. 



A fifth manor existed in 

 Henlow, which by the four- 

 teenth century had disap- 

 peared. Its origin is obscure, 

 but when first found in the beginning of the thirteenth 

 century it belonged to Reginald de Saint Valery,™ who 

 in 1227 granted all his lands in Henlow to Hubert de 

 Burgh earl of Kent, and six years later whilst Hubert 

 de Burgh was imprisoned in the Tower, this manor 

 was granted by the king to Robert Passelowe and his 

 heirs. Although in 1234 Hubert's property was 

 restored to him, his estate in Henlow remained with 

 Robert," who according to the Testa de Nevill held 

 this manor of the king's honour of Bedford." in 

 1253 an inquisition taken at the death of Richard de 

 Dover, who had occupied the manor by grant of 

 William de Passelowe, states that it 'ought to revert 

 to the king as it is said,' °^ but when the matter was 

 inquired into by a quo warranto his son John made 

 good his claims to the manor by descent from Alice, 

 daughter cf William de Passelowe.*' In 1276 John 

 de Wadhull recognized the right of John de Dover to 

 a messuage, a carucate of land and 4/. rent in Hen- 

 low.^ John de Dover, probably a son, held Henlow 

 in 1316,°' and some years later it is stated in an in- 

 quisition taken on his death that he held nothing of 

 the king in Henlow, but certain tenements of 

 Katharine, wife of William GifFard.™ His brother 

 Philip was his heir at that time, but no further trace 

 has been found of this manor. 



The abbot of Warden acquired the right of free 

 warren in his manor of Henlow Warden by charter of 

 1252." To the lord of this manor also belonged the 

 right of holding a court baron and customary court, 

 the last of which was held as late as 1890.'* 



In 1292 the prior of Lanthony also received a 

 charter of free warren in his demesne lands of Hen- 

 low," the lords of the manor also claimed free fishery 

 there," as well as court baron, view of frankpledge 

 and customary court, the last of which was held in 

 1891." 



Two mills are mentioned in Henlow at Domesday, 

 Of these, one was held by Hugh, of Walter the 

 Fleming, and was worth 34/.,'° the other Erfast held 

 of Nigel de Albini, and it was worth 5/." The 

 former mill is probably to be found as one of the two 

 which Warden Abbey owned at the Dissolution, and 

 which were worth £^ 1 3/. 4</.™ These two mills, 

 one of which was a corn and the other a fulling mill, 

 appear to have followed the same descent as the manor 

 of Henlow Warden (q.v.)" The mill which Erfast 

 held at Domesday passed to Lanthony Priory, which 

 at the Dissolution is found owning two mills, one of 

 which is called Lynford Mill, and both of which 

 remained with the manor of Lanthony Henlow (q.v.), 

 and followed the same descent.*' 



The church of OUR LAD7' has a 

 CHURCH chancel 27 ft. 6 in. long by 15 ft. 6 in. 

 wide, with a modern north vestry, a 

 nave 48 ft. by 19 ft. with north and south aisles 9 ft. 

 6 in. and 1 1 ft. 6 in. wide respectively, a south porch, 

 and a western tower 1 5 feet square, all these measure- 

 ments being internal. 



In the twelfth century the church consisted of a 

 chancel and aisleless nave, the latter being shorter 

 than at present. 



In the latter part of the thirteenth century it was 

 lengthened and a north aisle of four bays added, and 

 about 1330 a south aisle of two bays was built, the 

 western part of the old south wall of the nave being 

 left standing. 



In the fifteenth century the windows of the aisles 

 were replaced by larger ones, and the walls of the 

 north aisle may have been rebuilt at this time. 

 About the middle of the century the west tower was 

 built, part of the western arch of the thirteenth- 

 century arcade being destroyed to make room for its 

 north-east buttress. The south aisle was also at this 

 time lengthened westward to the line of the tower, 

 its south doorway being reset on the new line, and a 

 wide bay added to the south arcade, carrying it up 

 to the east wall of the tower. Soon afterwards, 

 towards the end of the century, the chancel was 

 rebuilt and a clearstory added to the nave, one of the 

 fourteenth-century windows being used as the western 

 window of the southern range. 



In modern times a good deal of repair and altera- 

 tion has been carried out, the aisle walls being 



68 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.) 25 li. 



69 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Ric. II, No. 30 ; 

 Close, 19 Ric. II, m. 4. The properly 

 is here described as a manor. 



"Olbid. II Hen. VI, No. 43, here 

 described as half a fee held of John dulce 

 of Norfollc. 



ei Recov. R. Hil. 38 Hen. VIII, rot. 



455- 



62 Recov. 

 Trin. 



455 i 



R. Hil. 2S Hen. VIII, rot. 



43 Eliz. rot. 92 ; Mich. 22 

 Jas'. i, rot. 203 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 

 43 Eliz. ; Beds. Mich. 22 Jas. I ; East. 

 1651; Acts of Pari. (Priv. and Local), 

 3; Geo. Ill, cap. 43. 



^ Cal. of Close, 1231-34, p. 166 ; Cal. 

 of Chart. R.\, 1226-57, p. 6o._ Albreda, 

 mother of Reginald, had married, as her 



second husband, Walter de WahuU, who 

 held an important overlordship in Henlow 

 (Dugdale, Baron, i, 504). 



^ Cal. of Close, 1231-34, pp. 188,332, 



359. 443- 



65 Testa de Nevill (Rec Com.), 249*. 

 The extent of the manor is given as 2 

 hides. 



66 Chan. Inq. p.m. 38 Hen. Ill, No. 19. 



67 Plac. de Quo fTar.' (Rec. Com.), 21 ; 

 Robert, Cal. Gen. i, 181. 



68 Feet of F. Beds. 5 Edw. I, m. 10. 



69 Feud. Aids, i, 20. 



^o Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. Ill, No. 45. 

 These tenements were held by the service 

 of a pair of gilt spurs or 6d. {Cal. of 

 Fat. 1333-7, p. 224). It appears 61. %d. 

 was due to the crown from this land. 



283 



'1 Cal. of Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 385. 



72 Information supplied by Mr. George 

 Cribble. " Chart. R. 21 Edw. I, No. 86. 



^* Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 22 Jas. I ; 

 Mich. 7 Chas. I. 



76 Ibid. Information supplied by Mr. 

 George Gribble. 



76 KC.H.Beds.i,2Sia. 77Ibid.i,245i. 



'l^ Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 193. 

 The Greys who subsequently held Waiter 

 the Fleming's manor were benefactors of 

 the abbey in Henlow. 



79 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2) ccix. No. 

 12 ; ccxl. No. 70 ; dxxiii. No. 53 ; Recov. 

 R. Mich. 1654. 



89 Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. 12 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (Ser. 2), ccxliii. No. 83 ; ccxliv. No. 71 5 

 cccxliv, No. no. 



