FLITT HUNDRED 



CLOPHILL 



running north and south from Bedford to Luton. 

 This road also forms the boundary of the parish on 

 that side, dividing it from Maulden, to which the 

 west half of the village belongs. Near the west 

 boundary of the parish is Beadlow Farm, on the site 

 of the small Benedictine priory of Beaulieu, a cell of 

 St. Albans Abbey. The farm buildings are compara- 

 tively modern and stand close to the road, but in the 

 meadow to the east the broken ground and lines of 

 banks and ditches mark the site of the priory buildings. 

 From time to time foundations of walls have been 

 traced and destroyed by the occupants of the farm, 

 some glazed floor tiles and a thirteenth-century base 

 having been found, together with part of a fourteenth- 

 century coflin-lid, still preserved on the farm. 



The fine earthwork of Cainhoe Castle, already 

 described,'" is in the south of the parish, and on 

 rising ground a short distance to the south is Cainhoe 

 Farm, an H -shaped house, evidently of some an- 

 tiquity, though showing little old detail at the present 

 day. In one of the first-floor rooms is some good 

 panelling. 



With the site of the manor of Cainhoe were granted 

 lands bearing the following place-names in the six- 

 teenth century : Plumtree Hedge, Cantywede, and 

 Inlandes' Spythell,' and in 1354 the names Foulhole, 

 Pidley Wood are found ; in 1628 Pidley Wood and 

 Howgrove.' 



The Inclosure Act for this parish, passed in 1808, 

 is private, and has not been printed.* 



The MJNOR OF CLOPHILL AND CAINHOE 

 was held of the honour or barony of Cainhoe ' until 

 the reign of Henry VIII, when it was annexed 

 to the honour of Ampthill,^ and granted out by 

 the king from time to time : the overlordship is 

 referred to as late as 1628,' but as there is no further 

 mention, the right probably fell into abeyance.' 

 On the partition of the Cainhoe barony in 1233' the 

 manor of Clophill and Cainhoe was not divided, but 

 fell to the inheritance of Isabel, the eldest sister, and 

 continued in her descendants'" until after 141 5, when 

 it passed to the Greys, earls of Kent," and finally came 

 into the hands of the king." At the time of the 

 Domesday Survey, Nigel d'Albini held the manor of 

 Cainhoe and the manor of Clophill ; " these two 

 manors were always held together and became known 

 as the manor or manors of Clophill and Cainhoe. 

 That of Clophill consisted of 5 hides, and had been 

 held by two thegns, men of Earl Tosti,'* while the 

 manor of Cainhoe was assessed at 4 hides and had 

 been held by Alvric, a thegn of King Edward. The 



manor descended to Nigel's son Henry and to the 

 latter's son Robert, who died in 1192, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Robert, who died in 1224: his 

 son Robert enjoyed the manor for only a short space, 

 as he died without issue in 1 23 3, when the manor 

 passed to his sister Isabel, who married first William 

 de Hocton, and secondly Drew des Preaux : " her 

 son William must have assumed the name de Albini, 

 as he inherited the manor under that name on his 

 mother's death in 1262.'° He apparently died soon 

 after, when the manor passed to his son Simon, who 

 died seised of it in 1272, leaving as his heirs his 

 three sisters, Isabel, Christina, and Joan," who each 

 took one-third of the manor.'^ The youngest sister 

 Joan married three times : by 

 her second husband. Sir Roger 

 Dakeney, she left a son and 

 heir Robert, to whom de- 

 scended the third on the death 

 of his mother in 13 10:" 

 Robert died in 1 3 1 6,'° and as 

 his son Roger was then only 

 fourteen years of age, the 

 custody of the lands and heir 

 was granted to Richard de 

 Cane, who enjoyed the profits 

 until Roger proved his age in 

 1324."' This Roger acquired a 

 few years before his death another portion of the manor, 

 amounting to one-ninth." When the manor was 

 separated into thirds, Isabella the eldest sister brought 

 her share to Hugh de St. Croix, by whom she had a 

 son Peter ; she married secondly William de Hotot,^^ 

 who held the third of the manor after her death. On 

 his death in 13 10 Peter de St. Croix entered into 

 possession." In 1 349 his estate suffered severely from the 

 plague, all the bondmen and cottars dying of the pesti- 

 lence. He himself died in the same year,'* and a few 

 months later his son Robert died. The custody of the 

 lands were granted to Roger de Beauchamp " until the 

 lawful age of the son and heir, Thomas, who proved 

 his age in 1362" and alienated his share of the manor 

 in 1364 to Sir John Cheyne, with remainder to John 

 Dakeney and his heirs,^ a grandson of the Roger 

 above mentioned, who was grandson of Joan. 



The remaining third of the manor, which was the 

 inheritance of Christina, second daughter of William 

 de Albini, was, on her death in 1318,"' divided again 

 into thirds among her three daughters by Peter de 

 la Stane, Elizabeth, Margery, and Christina. The 

 youngest daughter Christina married Anthony de 



Dakenkv. Azure a 

 cross argent bet'ween four 

 lions or. 



1* V.C.H. Beds, i, 291-2. 



2 Pat. 22 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, m. 30. 



8 Harl. Chart. 49 B. 48; Pat. 4 Chas. I, 

 pt. 32. 



•* Local and Priv. Acts, 48 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 8. 



» It was held in 1262 for the service of 

 one knight and two sergeants when the 

 king went to war in person, and in 1272 

 for finding one and a half knight for forty 

 days. Chan. Inq. p.m. file 28, No. i ; 

 Close I Edw. I, m. 4. 



« L. and F. Hen. VUI, xvii, 28 (21). 



' Pat. 4 Chas. I, pt. 32. 



8 For the castle of Cainhoe, which was 

 the head of the barony and chief seat of 

 the de Albinis of Cainhoe, vide infra. 



9 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, i, 65. 

 1» Vide infra. 



" Feud. Aids, i, 46. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), vol. 48 

 No. 132. 



18 V.C.H. Beds, i, 2443. 



" There was a disputed virgate, which 

 had belonged to Nigel's predecessor, and 

 of which Nigel himself had been seised, 

 but Ralph Taillebois disseised him after- 

 wards, 



1° Burke, Extinct Peerage. 



1* Chan. Inq. p.m. file 28 No, I. Isabella 

 had another son Henry, who, in 1216, 

 was playing at Cainhoe by the side of the 

 water called Piperille and fell in and was 

 drowned ; Harl. R. O. 38. 



V Chan. Inq. p.m. i Edw. I, No. 10. 



18 Close, I Edw. I, m. 4 i Cat. of 

 Close, 1272-9, pp. 27-8. In the 

 division Isabella took the Hall of Cain- 

 hoe, with the porch, chamber, and cellar 

 on the east side, and also the bakehouse, 



•221 



dove-cot and garden with fishpond called 

 Walebek. Joan received half a fishpond 

 called Langepod and a plot called Emelote- 

 pittel worth 15^, among other lands. Each 

 sister had a third of the toll of passing 

 carts. 



1" Chan, Inq, p.m. 4 Edw. II, No. i6. 



2» Ibid, 10 Edw. II, No. 13. 



21 Cal. of Close, 1323-7, p. 231. 



22 Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. Ill (ist 

 nos.), No. 14. 



a> Feud. Aids, i, 14. 



** Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. II, No. 47, 



25 Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. I, No. 84. 



» Memo. R.L.T.R, Mich. 38 Edw. Ill, 

 rot. 4. 



2' Ibid. 36 Edw, III, pt, 2 (ist nos.), 

 No. 42. 



28 Inq. a.q.d file 348, No. 21. 



2' Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. 11, No. 17. 



41 



