A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



the nearest station being Henlow on the Great Northern Ramsey, the gift being confirmed by Edward the 



Railway main line. Several small streams rising in 

 the hills on the Hertfordshire border run north-east 

 through the parish, flowing through Campton and 

 Sheflbrd to join the Ivel. 



Confessor and William I.* 



At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor, 

 held by the abbot of Ramsey, was assessed at lo 

 hides, and worth ;^I2." The abbot continued to 



Shillincton Church from South-east 



The five chief hamlets of the parish are Lower 

 Stondon in the north-east, Pegsdon on high ground 

 three miles south from the village on the hills which 

 form the Hertfordshire border, Aspley— with Aspley 

 Bury manor — one mile to the south, Little Holwell, 

 three miles east, and Woodmer End and Bury End close 

 to the village on the north. Miscellaneous Roman re- 

 mains have been found at Shillington.' The parish 

 was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1 802.' 



Among place-names may be mentioned the fol- 

 lowing : Brade Fen and Maundeacres, occurring in 

 the thirteenth century ; ' Essyngwell, found from the 

 fifteenth to the seventeenth century ; Bury Lotts, 

 Plashe Brade, Church Pannell,' Chesill, Abbots Hedge, 

 Colvers Croft, Milfield, the Pounds, and Aldwicic 

 Marsh, which are all found from the fourteenth to 

 the eighteenth century .° 



The origin of the manor of SHIL- 

 MJNORS LINGTON is to be sought in the land 

 which formerly belonged to Ailwin, an 

 alderman of Edgar, and which was purchased between 

 1016 and 1034 by .(Ethelric bishop of Dorchester.' 

 This land, then estimated at 3 carucates, the 

 bishop subsequently bestowed upon the abbot of 



hold this manor as of his barony of Broughton, and 

 received various grants in Shillington during the 

 thirteenth century. Thus Ralph de Tyville, who in 

 1230 had recovered half a carucate of land there 

 from Hugh Grandim,'" in 1265 granted it to the 

 abbey," and about the same 

 time Peter de Buel made a 

 similar grant in Shillington," 

 and the Testa de Nevill states 

 that in the thirteenth century 

 the abbot held altogether 27 

 hides in Shillington, Pegsdon, 

 Barton, and Little Holwell, 

 which were assessed at four 

 knights' fees." In 1 2 5 1 he 

 received a charter of free war- 

 ren," and in 1 3 1 1 claimed view 

 of frankpledge in his manor." 

 The abbot was in the habit of 

 leasing out the manor, of which 

 the rent (together with Pegsdon) was estimated in 1336 

 at £113 6s. 8d.," and in 14.50 at ^86 p. lid." The 

 difference between these rents may be due to the fact 

 that between the two dates mentioned certain lands 



Ramsey Abbey. Or 

 a bend azure and thereon 

 three rami* beads argent 

 cut off at tht neck and 

 having horns oj gold. 



2 See above. 



' Acts (Priv. and Local), 42 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 109. 



■• Cart. Ramcsei. (Rolls Ser.). 



' Church Pannell is an ancient earth- 

 work still existing {KC.H, Beds, i, 

 276). 



« Exch. Spec. Com. 15 Eliz. No. 34.1; 

 3 Chas. I, No. 5144; Com. Pleas D. 

 Enr. Trin. 14 Chas. II, rot. 1 3 ; Hil. 



9 Anne; Pat. 15 Eliz. pt. 2 ; Mins. 

 Accts. bdle. 741, No. 26 ; Ct. R. bdle. 

 179. 



' Chron. Ramesei, (Rolls Ser.), 243. 



8 Cart, Ramesei. (Rolls Ser.), i, 277. 



» y.C.H. Beds, i, 229a. 



1" Maitland,B™irw«'i Note Bk. Case 385. 



» Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 104. 



"Ibid. B. 3316. 



" Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 243. 



2q4 



» Cal. of Chart. R. 1226-57, ?• 366- 



"P/ac de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 

 65. Nativi are often mentioned in the 

 court rolls of this manor. At a court held 

 in 1428-9, all the goods and chattels of 

 the ' nativi ' were seized by the steward 

 (Ct. R. ptfo. 179, No. 60). 



" Cal. of Pat. 1330-4, p. 331 ; Anct. 

 D. (P.R.O.), A. 139. 



1' Mins. Accts. bdle. 741, No. 27. 



