A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



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the religious houses, when '" it became crown property 

 and was leased for short terms to various persons. In 

 1550, the Princess Elizabeth was lady of the manor" 

 and apparently kept it in her hands until 1578, when 

 she granted it to William Worthington for twenty- 

 one years." In 160 1 the manor reverted to the 

 crown.'' In 161 2 Thomas, Viscount Fenton, sur- 

 rendered the office of steward 

 of the manor," which was then 

 conferred by James I upon 

 Lord Bruce." In 1628a grant 

 of the manor was made to Ed- 

 ward Ditchfield and others" 

 as trustees for the city of 

 London, who probably sold it 

 to Richard Norton, who was 

 lord of the manor in 1634." 



The family of Norton re- 

 tained the manor for many 

 years, and in 1709 it was in 



the possession of Richard the son of Richard Norton," 

 who alienated it to John Roberts of North Mimms. 

 The latter sold it to Robert Jenkin of Harpenden, 

 who in 1735 transferred his right to Edward Willes, 

 bishop of Bath and Wells,'^ 

 whose son, Mr. Edward Willes, 

 afterwards the Reverend Ed- 

 ward Willes, was holding the 

 manor in 1805." The Rev- 

 erend Edward Willes owned 

 the manorial rights during the 

 last half of the nineteenth 

 century," and at his death 

 the lordship of the manor 

 was vested in his trustees, in 

 whose hands it still apparently 

 remains. 



The site of the manor of 

 Barton was granted to Thomas Brazier, who died 

 seised of it in 1637, when Richard Norton was lord 

 of the manor ; the site was held of the king as of the 

 manor of East Greenwich in socage." There is no 

 further record of the descent of the site, which was 

 probably acquired by the Nortons. 



Records of property owned by the crown in Bar- 

 ton are found from the thirteenth century, and from 

 this grants of small pieces of land were made which 

 were bestowed, as a reward for services, upon various 

 officials and servants for definite periods. In 1264 

 Thomas Fauconer received a grant from the king of 

 I toft containing 3 acres and of i acre for the term 

 of his life." John Broun, an under clerk of the 

 kitchen of King Henry VI, and Bartholomew Willesdon 



Willis. Argent a 

 cheveron table berween 

 three molett gules. 



held land in Barton from the king at a yearly rent 

 of 7/. 6 J., which in 1 461 was bestowed upon William 

 Pole, yeoman of the chamber," and after his death in 

 1476 upon Thomas Master, to hold for his life." In 

 1 5 3 1 these lands were granted to Robert Pole, one 

 of the apposUores ciborum of the king's chamber,^ 

 and having reverted to the crown before 1536, by 

 reason of Robert Pole's death, they were granted out 

 again in that year to John Hyde, engrosser of the 

 Great Roll of the Exchequer, to hold for forty 

 years." 



In 1628 Edward Ditchfield and others were 

 granted a fee-farm rent issuing out of Barton manor, 

 of the value of ^^68 7/. <)\d., forming part of the 

 revenues of Ramsey Abbey." This rent, by some 

 unknowTi means, had become in 1745 the property 

 of Sarah Burroughs, spinster," who married Sir Thomas 

 Salusbury of Offley, and dying in 1 804 left the fee- 

 farm rent to her husband's cousin, the Rev. Lynch 

 Burroughs or Lynch Salusbury, who sold it in 1808 

 to the lord of the manor, Edward Willes, for 

 i:i,35o." 



There was a mill attached to Barton manor which 

 at the time of the great Sur\'ey was worth 2/." 

 Barton seems to have been well provided with mills, 

 no doubt on account of the numerous streams which 

 rise in the hills here. From time to time grants of 

 mills or interest in mills in Barton were made to the 

 abbey. The first grant on record took place between 

 1254 and 1267, when Abbot Hugh of Sulgrave gave 

 to the abbey, to be annexed to its manor, half a mill 

 bought of Robert Peveril." About 1255 the abbey 

 owned three water-mills in Barton, of which two 

 were leased out at an annual rent of 2 marks, and 

 the third, retained in the custody of the abbey, was 

 worth 20/." In 1278 Walter de la Haye and his 

 wife Matilda alienated one-sixth of a mi'U to the 

 abbey," while in 1285 they conveyed a similar in- 

 terest in a mill to Robert son of John." The grant 

 of the third part of a mill was confirmed to the 

 almoner of the abbey by the abbot, William of 

 Gloucester, between 1278 and 1285, when it was 

 stated to have been the gift of Walter and Matilda 

 de la Haye and Richard and Sibyl of Caddington." 

 In the reign of Edward III the abbey stiU held three 

 water-mills," but in 1340 only one is mentioned, 

 rented at j^ I l(>s.%d.'^ In 161 1 Felix Wilson was 

 granted a mill in Barton, which had formerly been 

 two ' under one roof,' belonging to Ramsey Abbey." 

 There is now a small water-mill in Barton situated 

 near the village, and a windmill used to stand ne,-ir 

 Jeremiah's Tree on Barton Hill, but it was burr.t 

 about forty or fifty years ago." 



^^ There are numerous Court Rolls of 

 the manor of Barton at the P.R.O. Ptfo. 

 153, Nos. I, 6, Ptfo. 179, No8. I, 34, 36, 



38, 39. 41, 43. 44.45. 49. 5° 5^ 5^. 57. 

 59,61,63,64,66,67,70,71,74. These 

 have been worked on by Miss Neilaon of 

 Bryn Mawr College for her dissertation 

 on the Economic Conditiom on the Manors 

 of Ramsey Abbey (1898). 



81 Exch. Dep. S.C. No. 7064. 



82 Pat. 21 Eliz. pt 6. 



88 Ct. R. ptfo. 179, No. I. 



8^ Feet, of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 10 Jas. I. 



8* Pat. 10 Jas. I, pt. I. 



8S Ibid. 4 Chas. I, pt. 35. 



87 Exch. Dep. Beds. 10 Chas. I. T. 

 i3 At this date, there was a dispute 

 between Norton and four of his tenants, to 



whom he had given leave, as copyholders, 

 to fell timber and dig chalk in the 

 Barton Hills. 



88 Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 1654 5 Recov. 

 R. East. 1655, rot. 103; Exch. Dep. Beds. 

 1657-8, Hil. No. 17; Crawley Pap. No. 

 398, 502, 503 ; Recov. R. Trin. 8 Anne, 

 i, 140. 89 Add. MSS. 9408. 



■"' Lysons, Mag. Brit, i, 42. 



■•1 Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 45 Geo. 

 Ill, rot. 12. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. Misc. 5 3 8, 1 3 Chas. I, 

 pt. 33, No. 35. 



« Abbre-u. Rot. Orig, (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 339- 



« Cal, of Fat, 1461-7, p. 331. 



« Pat. 15 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 20. 



^8 Ibid. 23 Hen. VIII, pt. 11, m. 21. 



310 



■"7 Ibid. 27 Hen. VIII, pt. 1, m. 10. 



« Ibid. 4 Chas. I. pt. 35. 



" Recov. R. East. 18 Geo. II, rot. 145. 



*" Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 48 Geo. 

 Ill, rot. 12. " V,C,H, Beds, i, 228. 



'^ Cbartul, Mon. Ramesei. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 iiS. M Ibid, i, 474. 



" Feet of F. Beds. 6 Edw. I, No. 3. 



"Ibid. 13 Edw. I, No. I. 



*" Chartul. Mon. Ramesei. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 223. In each case the interest was the 

 right of the wife, so that probably Matilda 

 and Sibyl were sisters. 



*" Ibid, i, 277. 



88 Dugdale, Mon. Angl, ii, 590. 



89 Pat. 9 Jas. I, pt. 5. 



"'' From information supplied by Mr, 

 Ransom. 



