FLITT HUNDRED 



HIGHAM GOBION 



fourteenth-century date, and near it a stone corbel 

 which shows remains of a mask. At the south-east 

 of the chancel are three cinquefoiled sedilia, with a 

 piscina to the east of them ; they are of fifteenth- 

 century style, but have been much scraped down. 

 There is a south door to the chancel of late fifteenth- 

 century date, and to the west of it is a modern two- 

 light window with old jambs. 



The chancel arch and the north arcade of the nave, 

 which is of three bays, are contemporary with each 

 other and of early fourteenth-century date, the chan- 

 cel arch having rather richer detail than the arcade. 

 The arcade has pointed arches of two chamfered 

 orders, with a moulded label and piers of four engaged 

 shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and is a notably 

 delicate and well-designed specimen of its date. There 

 are no old windows in the nave, but in the south 

 wall, west of the doorway, the relieving arch of a 

 small pointed light is to be seen on the outside of the 

 wall, and may point to the former existence of a 

 thirteenth-century wradow here. The east arch of 

 the tower is of late fifteenth-century date, while the 

 rest of the tower dates from 1880, and all the wood- 

 work of the church is equally modern. Some old 

 masonry details and carving have been used up in the 

 aisle, and in the altar table some sixteenth-century 

 woodwork has been inserted. The font has an 

 octagonal bowl and stem of rather clumsy outline, and 

 appears to be of seventeenth or eighteenth-century 

 workmanship. 



In the south wall of the chancel are set the brasses 

 of Jane Cason, 1603, and her son Julian, and below 

 them those of Catherine Browne, 1602, with six 

 daughters and nine sons. Above the two principal 

 figures are shields with Cason impaling Butler and 

 Browne impaling Butler. There is one bell of 1829, 

 by Thomas Mears. 



The plate comprises a communion cup and paten 

 of 1 68 1, and there is also a pewter paten. 



The registers are incomplete, the first book going 

 from 1585 to 1727, and the second beginning in 

 1785. 



The church of Higham Gobion was 

 JDFOWSON in the gift of Markyate Priory from 

 the date of the foundation of that 

 monastery in 1 154,°^ until the Dissolution and it also 

 acquired the rectorial tithes in the thirteenth century.** 

 About 1 291, the total value of the church was £i, 

 out of which j^3 6s. Sd. was paid to the priory as a 



pension,'' this pension was of the same amount in 

 1402,*' but in 1535 it had diminished to ^l. The 

 value of the rectory, exclusive of the pension, was then 

 ;^8 9/. di/." The church, which passed to the crown 

 at the Dissolution, was granted in 1543 to Richard 

 Andrews to hold of the king in chief by knight's 

 service ; *' Richard Andrews probably conveyed his 

 right to Robert Burgoyne, for the latter in 1 565 

 alienated the advowson of the rectory to Henry Butler 

 and his heirs.*' Sir John Butler, Henry's son, was 

 required to justify his title to the advowson in 1573." 

 The vicarage was worth ^^i i ioa 6d." The right of 

 presentation was retained by the Butler family, passing 

 from John, created Lord Brantfield, who died in 

 1637, to his son Lord William Butler, an idiot, who 

 died without issue in 1647," when the advowson 

 became the right of his six sisters : Audrey who married 

 Francis, earl of Chichester ; Helen, wife of Sir John 

 Drake; Jane, wife of James, earl of Marlborough; 

 Olive who married Endymion Porter; Mary, wife of 

 Edward, Lord Howard of Escrick; and Anne, wife of 

 Mountjoy Blount, earl of Newport, or of their 

 descendants." A series of settlements then followed, 

 by which George Villiers, Viscount Grandison, and 

 Mary his wife acquired the advowson, one sixth being 

 purchased in 1652, another in 1664, and the remain- 

 ing two-thirds at the end of the latter year.'* The 

 advowson remained vested in this fiimily for many 

 years," John, Viscount Grandison, and Frances his 

 wife being patrons in 1 7 14. In that year they con- 

 veyed their right to Richard and John Harrison, and 

 to the heirs of the former.'* After the death of 

 Richard Harrison a presentation was made in 1727, 

 by Mary, the wife of Geoffrey Hawkins, rector there 

 in ijzz.'' She was probably the daughter of Richard 

 Harrison, but no proof of this has been found.'* For 

 many years the patronage remained vested in the 

 Hawkins family, but it was transferred by the 

 Reverend John Hawkins in 1787 to Robert Cooper 

 Lee as trustee;'' the Lees were presenting in 1800 

 and 1807,*° but the advowson passed to Mr. Marvin, 

 rector there from 1855 to 1888, and is now vested in 

 his trustees. 



Dr. Castell, the author of the Lexicon Heptaghtton, 

 which was published in 1669, retired to Higham 

 Gobion, towards the end of his life, in 1 674, and died 

 as rector there in 1685 in great poverty and distress, 

 having been broken in health by his great labours.*' 



There are no endowed charities in this parish. 



'2 Line. Epis. Reg. 



6^ V.C.H. Beds, i, 360. 



«* Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 34. 



'^ Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 510. 



«7 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 209, 211. 



68 Pat. 34 Hen. VIII, pt. 4, m. 16. 



69 Ibid. 8 Eliz. pt. i, m. 23. 



ro Mem. R. L.T.R. Trin. 15 Eliz. rot. 

 13. It was then stated tliat a grant of 

 the advowson to Henry Coningsby had 

 been made for 100 years. 



'1 Blaydes, Beds. N. and Q. iii, 34. 



'" Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 21 Jas. I ; 

 ibid. Beds. East. 17 Chas. I; G.E.C. 

 Peerage, 1 1 . 



'' Waters, C Hesters of Chicheley, \, 139; 

 Inst. Bks. P.R.O. i66z. 



^* Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 1652 ; ibid. 

 Beds. Hil. 1658 ; ibid. Div. Cos. Hil. 

 15 & 16 Chas. II ; Recov. R. Mich. 

 15 Chas. II, ret. 212 ; Feet of F. Beds. 

 Mich. 16 Chas. II ; Recov. R, Mich. 



1 6 Chas. II, rot. 200 ; Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 

 1685. 



" Feet of F. Beds. East. 17 Chas. II ; 

 ibid. Beds. East. 20 Chas. II ; Inst. Bks, 

 P.R.O. 



76 Feet of F. Div. Cos. East, i Geo. I. 



7' Exch. Dep. Beds. 8 Geo. I, M. 4. 



78 Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 



79 Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 28 

 Geo. Ill, m. 130. 



8» Inst. Bks. P.R.O. «! Diet. Nat. Bhg. 



347 



