A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



Byddik and died in 1326,*' when the custody of the 

 ninth part of the manor was granted to John de Mere 

 as her son and heir John was only fifteen years old." 

 In 1334 John granted this part for life to John 

 Dakeney and Joan his wife,'* and in 1336 they 

 acquired full possession." This John Dakeney was 

 probably a younger son of Joan de Albini, the 

 youngest daughter of William de Albini and wife of 

 Roger Dakeney, and therefore uncle to Roger, to 

 whom in 1348 he transferred his right in the manor." 

 Through Elizabeth the eldest daughter one ninth 

 passed to her son Peter de Norton, who died without 

 issue in 1 330, when his brother Thomas inherited 

 it.^' The latter died in iS+e,'^ but in 1334 he had 

 alienated the ninth of the manor for life to John 

 Dakeney and Joan his wife" ; it reverted to Thomas 

 de Norton's son Sir Ralph de Norton, who sold his 

 right in the ninth part of the manor to John Dakeney, 

 grandson of Roger, and his wife Mary in 1373.'' 

 The remaining ninth, which fell to the inheritance of 

 Margery, the second daughter, passed to her son 

 Brian SafFey, who died in 1 349, probably of the 

 plague, leaving a daughter Alice or Joan, who also 

 died the next year." This part of the manor then 

 reverted to her uncle, Thomas SafFey, and on his 

 death in 1 361 passed to his sister Joan." In 1364 

 Joan alienated this ninth to John Dakeney," the 

 grandson of Roger, who thus acquired eight parts of 

 the manor, purchasing the remaining part from Sir 

 Ralph de Norton in 1373, when the whole manor 

 was reunited. Sir John Dakeney died seised of the 

 manor in 1376," and as his son Walter was only 

 seventeen years old the custody of the lands and heir 

 was apparently granted to Reginald de Grey, who 

 held a court there in 1381." Walter died while still 

 under age in 1384, when Alice 

 his father's sister inherited the 

 manor." Alice and her hus- 

 band Walter AInthorpe con- 

 tinued to hold the manor, and 

 were in possession in 1415," 

 but some time between that 

 date and 1428 it was alienated 

 to Reginald de Grey." The 

 manor continued in the de 

 Grey family " until it was sold 

 by Richard, earl of Kent, sonie 

 time in the reign of Henry VII 

 to Giles, Lord Daubeny, who 



died seised of it in 1508." His son Henry probably 

 conveyed the manor to Sir William Compton, knt., 

 on whose death in 1528 it reverted to the king as the 



Daubeny. Gules a 

 Jesse indented of four 

 points argent. 



result of a settlement made previously by Sir William 

 Compton in order to ensure the observance of his 

 will." 



In 1542 it was annexed to the royal honour of 

 Ampthill," and continued to be held by the crown for 

 many years, leases of the whole or part of the manor 

 being made at various dates. In 1530, when the 

 rabbit warren was granted by Henry VIII to Thomas 

 Sackville for twenty-one years, the site of the manor of 

 Cainhoe was leased to William Cartwick for the same 

 term." In 1 548 the reversions of these grants were 

 bestowed upon Robert Beverley, and in 1558 on 

 Robert Power, together with the custody of the 

 queen's woods in Cainhoe." In 1572 the site of the 

 manor, rabbit warren and woods were in the possession 

 of Thomas Newdigate, who had purchased them from 

 Henry and George Fisher, who had bought them 

 from Robert Power." In 1588 Elizabeth granted 

 the custody of the woods to Anne Newdigate, widow, 

 for twenty-one years, and in 1607 Thomas Viscount 

 Fenton received them for forty-one years," while in 

 16 1 3 he resigned his office of steward of the manor, 

 which was then conferred upon Edward, Lord 

 Bruce." In 1624 James I granted the manor and 

 the site to Sir Henry Hobart, bart., and others for 

 ninety-nine years in trust for the prince of Wales, and 

 included the royal woods and rabbit warren in the 

 grant ; the reversion of this lease in 1628 was sold to 

 James Beverley,"* who continued to hold the manor 

 until 1654 when he alienated it to Amabel, dowager 

 countess of Kent," in whose family the manor has 

 remained until the present day, the present lord of 

 the manor being Lord Lucas and DingwaU.** 



There is another manor in Clophill, known as 

 BEDLOW MJNOR, which probably originated in 

 the land held at Domesday by Azelina wife of 

 Ralph Taillebois" ; it amounted then to i hide, and 

 was held of Azelina by Turstin, and had been held 

 by Ulvric, a sokeman of King Edward. Between 

 1140 and 1 146 it was given to Beaulieu Priory, a 

 cell of the abbey of St. Albans, situated in the parish 

 of Clophill, by the founder, Robert de Albini, in his 

 charter of endowment.™ 



The priory continued to hold the land, which in 

 1346 amounted to the sixth of half a knight's fee 

 from the barony of Cainhoe." The overlordship 

 passed, as in the case of the manor of Clophill and 

 Cainhoe, to the crown, from whom it was held as late 

 as 1586.'^' 



In 1428 Beaulieu Priory was absorbed in the parent 

 abbey," as its poverty prevented an independent 

 existence, and the manor continued to be the property 



8» Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Edw. II, No. 87. 



81 Abbre'v. Rot. Orir. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 295. 



*' Inq. a.q.d. file 227, No. 5. 



«s Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. 1, m. i. 



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

 nos.). No. 14. 



85 Ibid. 4 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), No. 17. 



86 Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill (i8t nos.), No. 23. 



87 Inq. a.q.d. file 227, No. 6. 



88 Ibid, file 382, No. II. 



8' Chan. Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. Ill (ist 

 nos.), No. 98. 



<» Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (ist nos.). 

 No. 65. 



" Ibid. 37 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), No. 49. 



" Ibid. 49 Edw. Ill, pt. I, No. 31. 



« Ct. R. P.R.O. ptf. 153, No. 13. 



■" Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Ric. II, No. 15. 



« Ca!. of Pat. 1385-9, p. 59 ; Ct. R. 

 ptf. 153, No. 13 ; Feet of F. Beds. 

 3 Hen. V, No. 3. 



« Feud. Aids, i, 46. 



*' Mins. Accts. bdle. II 19, No. 4; 

 L. and P. Hen. Vni, iv (i), 1309. 



<8 Chan. Inq. p.m. (^er. 2), vol 25, 

 No. 156. 



"Mbid. (Ser. 2), vol. 48, No. 132; 

 Dugdale, Baronage, ii, 410. 



8" L. and P. Hen. VIH, xvii, 28 (21) ; 

 Ct. R. ptf. 212, No. 20; Ibid. ptf. 133, 

 Nos. I, 225 i Add. Chart. 6704, fol. 

 436. 



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



82 Ibid. I Eliz. pt. 9, m. 27. 



88 Chan. Proc. Eliz. N. n. i, No. 10. 



'•I Pat. 5 Jas. I, pt. 28. 



88 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 10 Jas. I. 



322 



88 Sign Manual Grants and Warrants, 

 Chas. I, vol. 7, m. 6. 



57 Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 1654. The 

 castle was occupied in 1644 by the Royal 

 forces, and James Beverley withdrew with 

 his family to London for safety. (Ca/. 

 of Com. for Advance of Money, i, 326.) 



88 Recov. R. Trin. 12 Geo. Ill, rot. 

 247 i ibid. 45 Geo. Ill, rot. 41. 



« y.CH. Beds, i, 261. 



8» Dugdale, Mon. iii, 276. By the 

 same charter he granted them pasture for 

 40 swine in the wood of Clophill, pasture 

 for 10 oxen and 100 sheep with those of 

 the lord, and common pasture for the 

 flocks of the monks and their men. 



" Feud. Aids, i, 33. 



8» Pat. 28 Eliz. pt. 2, m. 24, 



68 V.C.H. Beds, i, 351, 



