A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



The scheme also provided that three-quarters of 

 the income of the ecclesiastical branch should be 

 paid to the vicar of the parish, and the remainder for 

 the repair of the church. 



The income of the general branch to be applied 

 in repairing or maintaining any public bridge not 

 maintainable out of the rates, or towards maintaining 

 a public library or reading-room, or any public pur- 

 pose for the benefit of the inhabitants, or (as varied 



by a further scheme of 22 November, 1898) in the 

 payment of a yearly sum not exceeding j^io for the 

 benefit of the poor generally in such manner as might 

 be considered most conducive to the formation of 

 provident habits. 



The official trustees hold (1906) a sum of 

 j^57 5/. id. India 3 per cents, and £'ii^ 13/. 4<^. 

 consols, arising from accumulations of income in 

 trust for the general branch. 



LOWER GRAVENHURST 



Cravenherst (xi-xiii cents.) ; Eya (xiii cent.) ; 

 Eye (xiv cent.) ; Yon (xv, xvi cents.) ; Ion (xvii 

 cent.). 



Lower Gravenhurst, now comprised in the same 

 parish as that of Upper Gravenhurst, was a separate 

 parish before 1888. The village lies to the south- 

 west on a ridge about 80 ft. lower than that on 

 which Upper Gravenhurst is built, and is divided from 

 it by a valley, at this point nearly half a mile wide. 

 The church, rectory, and a farm-house stand near 

 each other on the high ground, the church on the west 

 of the road, with a rectangular inclosure behind it, 

 on slightly higher ground. This inclosure is sur- 

 rounded by a shallow ditch, and commands a very 

 extensive view to the north, south, and east, but is 

 itself commanded by slightly higher ground on the 

 west. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 MJNORS Hugh de Beauchamp owned a manor 

 in Gravenhurst, which was held under 

 him by William Froissart.' The overlordship appa- 

 rently passed from the Beauchamps to the crown, of 

 whom the manor was held in 1346 and 1428,' but 

 from 1562 to 1623 the manor of LOWER or 

 NETHER GRJFENHURST was said to be held 

 of the earl of Bath as of his manor of Hardwick.* 



In 1228 Mabel, the widow of Geoffrey Brian, 

 claimed a tenement against William de Beauchamp,* 

 and the Brians had owned land in Gravenhurst before 

 this date, as in 1 223 Joan, the widow of Robert Brian, 

 granted forty acres of land from her dowry to the 

 priory of Chicksands.* In 1302-3, Peter Brian with 

 lolenta his mother held land in Gravenhurst and 

 Eye,° and in 1 3 1 6 he acquired a messuage and mill 

 from John of Silsoe.' In 1346 the holding amounted 

 to a quarter of a fee, still in the possession of Peter 

 Brian, but by 1428 it had passed by some unknown 

 means to Reginald de Grey,' in whose heirs it has 

 remained until the present day," following the same 

 descent as that of the manor of Wrest in Silsoe in 

 Flitton parish (q.v.). In 1445 the rent of the 

 manor amounted to 65;. ^d}" 



William Inge was a tenant under Peter Brian, and 

 died in 1 3 1 7 seised of i virgate of land, 1 1 J acres 

 of meadow, and 11/. id. rent in Gravenhurst and 

 Eye by fealty and by service of 2d. yearly. His pos- 



» y.C.H. Beds, i, 239. 



^Feud. Aidsy i, 33, 46. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. 1 34, No, 

 194; ibid. (Ser. 2), vol. 349, No. 172 ; 

 ibid. (Ser. 2), vol. 476, No. 144. 



*Pat. 12 Hen. Ill, m. 3 </. 



'Feet of F. Beds. 8 Hen. HI, No. 11. 



'Feud. Aids, i, 14. 



7 Feet of F. Beds. 9 Edw. II, No. 14. 



s Feud. Aids, i, 33 ; ibid, i, 46. 



« Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 43 Eliz 1 



Recov. R. Trin. 43 Eliz. rot. 92 ; Feet of F. 

 Beds. Mich. 22 jas. I ; Recov. R. Mich. 

 22 Jas. I, rot. 203 ; Feet of F. Beds. East. 

 1651 ; Recov. R. Trin. 12 Geo. Ill, rot 

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



1" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 1 1 9, No. 4. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, No. 42. 



"Ibid. 20 Edw. II, No. 31. 



"PipeR. 5 Hen. Ill, m. 13 </. 



" Ca!. of Pat. 1216-25, P- 5^3. 



'' Pat. 2 Edw. I, m. 22. 



23^ 



sessions descended to his daughter Joan, wife of 

 Ivo de la Zouche." Ivo killed Roger de Belers, 

 and fled to Paris, where he died in 1326, and was 

 buried in the church of the Austin Friars there. 

 His widow, Joan, prayed for the restoration of the 

 lands, which then amounted to one messuage and 

 sixty acres of land, and were held of Peter Brian by 

 the service of l6d. and half a pound of peppsr.'- 

 The later descent of this holding cannot be traced. 



There was another estate in Gravenhurst which 

 became known in the sixteenth century as BO ff ELLS 

 MANOR. The family of Bueles were landowners 

 in Gravenhurst in the thirteenth century. Eusuce 

 de Bueles was holding land in Gravenhurst in 1 221," 

 and in 1225 he alienated half an acre of land to 

 Elias, parson of Gravenhurst." In 1274 occurred 

 the death of Peter de Bueles, probably the son of 

 Eustace. Peter left a son John, who was then under 

 age. The wardship of his lands in Gravenhurst and 

 Warden, worth jfi2 10/. i^d., was granted to 

 Thomas Inge," who held them until John proved 

 his age in 1283." At the end of the thirteenth 

 century Nicholas, probably the 

 son of John, was holding with 

 John de la Mare half a knight's 

 fee in Gravenhurst and Eye," 

 and in 1302-3 a quarter of a 

 fee with Peter Brian and 

 Yolenta his mother." In 1308 

 John de Bueles was granted 

 free warren in Gravenhurst," 

 and was one of the lords 

 of Gravenhurst and Eye in 

 1316.'° By 1346, however, 

 his estate had passed to Peter 

 Brian," but it does not appear 

 to have been alienated to 

 Reginald de Grey with the 

 other lands of the Brian family in Nether Graven- 

 hurst, for nothing is heard of the fee until it 

 appears again in 1543 as a messuage which Benett 

 Smith, son and heir of Simon Smith, sold to Laurence 

 Snowe." The messuage remained in the possession 

 of the Snowe family until 1567, when Thomas, son 

 of Laurence, alienated it under the name of the 

 Manor of Bowells to Sir Henry Compton." It did 



" CalofPat. 1281-92, p. 105 ; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. file 37, No. i. 



V Testa dt Nevill (Rec. Com.), 249. 



rcrm 



Snows, Party fisse- 

 tvise wavy argent and 

 axure three antelopes' 

 heads rasud and counter- 

 coloured viith their horns 

 gules. 



" Feud. Aids, I, 14. 



" Chart. R. i Edw. II, m. 6, No. 8. 



«» Feud. Aids, i, 22 ; Pari. Wri:s, il 

 div. 3, p. 369. ■'^ Feud. Aids, \,-,x 



^^Com. Pleas D. Enr. East 

 Hen. VIII, m. 8. 



"» Ibid. Hil. 9 Eliz. No. 

 F.Beds. Hil. II Eliz. 



35 

 12 ; Feet of 



