CLIFTON HUNDRED 



SHILLINGTON 



the church.™ The church, however, continued to 

 belong to the priory of Lenton, and was again con- 

 firmed to the monks by Henry III in 1255 ;" it was 

 worth ^10 ^is- ^d. in 1291,*' and the priory re- 

 ceived a pension of J mark from the church, which 

 had been confirmed by Walter archbishop of Canter- 

 bury in 1 3 19, and was con- 

 firmed by Richard II in 1382.'' 

 In 1535 the church was worth 

 j^22, and was still in the hands 

 of the priory of Lenton.'* No 

 further trace of the advowson 

 is found till 163 1, when it 

 was in the gift of John earl of 

 Peterborough,*^ and he died 

 seized of it in 1644." The 

 advowson continued in the 

 family of the Mordaunts until 

 1 686,^ when by some means 

 it passed into the possession of 

 the Downes, who held the ad- 

 vowson in 1706 and 1712."° In 1765 it is found in 

 the possession of St. John's College, Cambridge,*' in 

 the master and fellows of which it is vested at the 

 present day. 



There was a chapel in Meppershall, attached to the 

 Grange which belonged to Chicksands Priory ; the 

 earliest mention of this chapel of St. Thomas the 

 Martyr occurs in 1291, when all those penitents who 

 should make a pilgrimage there were remitted one 

 year and forty days' penance ; ^ but it belonged to 

 the century before, as is shown by the still exist- 

 ing nave. This is the only documentary evidence of 

 the existence of the chapel, although the manor to 

 which it was appendant derived its name from it ; the 

 ruins of the chapel, however, still stand to the south of 

 the farm buildings, which represent the site of the old 



St, John's Colligi, 

 Cambkidgz. France 

 quartered loith England 

 in a border gobony argent 

 and azure. 



manor and are in a fair state of preservation, the 

 chapel now being used as a barn. There is an aisle- 

 less nave off. 1 175, the chancel of this date having 

 been replaced about 1500 by that now existing, 

 which was built round the twelfth-century work, and 

 is of the same width as the nave. It has a two-light 

 east window, and another in the south wall, with a 

 low side window at the south-west and a small north 

 doorway. The east wall of the nave has been entirely 

 removed at the building of the chancel, so that there 

 is no structural division between the two. The nave 

 has a beautiful little two-light north window with 

 flowing tracery, f. 1320, and a second of the same 

 kind in the south wall, and at the north-west a fine 

 and well-preserved original doorway, with a round 

 arch of two enriched orders, and foliate capitals the 

 shafts of which have been removed. The entrance to 

 the chapel it now by a tall brick-arched opening in 

 the west wall, of modern date, and all doors and 

 windows are blocked up. The nave roof is plain and 

 rough, while the chancel preserves its sixteenth-century 

 timbers, with curved braces to the principals. Both 

 roofs are covered with red tiles, that of the chancel 

 being slightly higher than that of the nave. 



Charity of Elizabeth Emery for edu- 

 CHARITIES cation, founded by deed of 17 March, 

 1 69 1— 2, in performance of will of 

 Sarah Emery. 



This parish is entitled to one moiety of the income 

 of land in Wilshampstead, the other moiety being 

 applicable in Ampthill. See above, ' Schools.' 



In 1 86 1 James Mead, by deed of trust, settled a 

 sum of j^99 12S. 6d. consols for providing poor 

 orphan children with clothing. 



The stock is held by the official trustees, and 

 the dividends, amounting to ^2 14/. %d., are duly 

 applied. 



SHILLINGTON WITH LOWER STONDON and LITTLE 



HOLWELL 



Sethllndone (xi cent.), Suthlingdon (xiii cent.), 

 Shutlyngdene, Shetelyngton (xiv cent.), Shytlington 

 (xvii, xviii cent.). 



The parish of ShlUIngton is situated in the hun- 

 dreds of Clifton and Flitt. Its area is 5,003^ acres, 

 of which 3,l26f acres are arable land, 834^ perma- 

 nent grass, and 74^ woods and plantations.' The soil 

 is strong clay, the subsoil, clay. The crops are cereals 

 of the usual kind. The slope of the ground Is from 

 south to north, the greatest height being 581 ft., the 

 lowest 1 5 6 ft. above the ordnance datum. There are 

 old chalk-pits In the south of the parish. The village 

 of ShlUIngton Is grouped round the conspicuous mound 

 on which the parish church stands. On the west there 



78 Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. ii, case 

 915. The prior of Lenton claimed that his 

 predecessor. Prior Alexander, was seised of 

 the advowson in the reign of Henry II, and 

 presented a cleric to the church, and after- 

 wards in the time of Richard I presented 

 one Laurence. John of Meppershall said 

 that the former prior brought an assize 

 against his father Gilbert, who claimed that 

 the manor with advowson was of the Ser- 

 jeant/ of the king. The prior said he had a 

 charter, but did not produce it : therefore 

 the advowson remained to Gilbert, who pre- 



sented Henry of Witintona. John then 

 showed a charter of Richard I, which con- 

 firmed the church to Henry of Witintona 

 and declared the advowson to be the right 

 of Gilbert of Meppershall. The prior still 

 said that he had the first seisin, and showed 

 a charter of Henry II. Evidently the 

 case was decided in favour of the prior. 



79 Cal. of Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 446. 



80 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 35*. 



81 CaLofPat. 1381-5, p. 187. 



82 Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 199*. 

 88 Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 6 Chas. L 



Is a fall of some 70 ft. to the outlying part of the 

 village known as Hill Foot End. On the east, where 

 the main part of the village stands, the height of the 

 mound Is not so great, but from all points of the 

 surrounding county, the fine church with Its dark 

 sandstone walls, rising among the white stones and 

 monuments of the straggling churchyard, with the 

 village pleasantly grouped below, forms an effective 

 and delightful picture. 



Close to the church are the schools and some 

 picturesque old houses of timber and brick. The 

 vicarage lies below the church a short distance to the 

 south. There is a mill In the north of the parish. 

 No main road or railway passes through ShlUIngton, 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Chas. I, No. 64. 



85 Recov. R. Trin. 22 Chas. II, rot. 22 ; 

 Feet of F. Beds. 31 Chas. II ; Recov. R. 

 Trin. 3 1 Chas. II, rot. 173 ; Feet of F. Div. 

 Cos. Hil. I & 2 Jas. II. In 1672 Robert 

 Norman and George Raynton appear to 

 have been holding the advowson (Inst. 

 Bks. P.R.O.), but this was probably only 

 a temporary alienation. 



86 Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 1706, 1712. 



87 Ibid. 1765. 



88 Cal. of Papal Letters i, 534. 

 ' Return of the Bd. of Agric. (1905), 



