FLITT HUNDRED 



LUTON 



Stockwood alias Whiperly which the said Thomas 

 Rotherham doth now inhabit together with the ap- 

 purtenances known as New, Woodfield, Ponds Close, 

 Stockwood Close, Woodyard Close, Slipp, and High- 

 wood.' "' 



Luke Norton held the property until 1658, but 

 between that date and 1707 it had passed to Richard 

 Crawley, whose representative, Mr. Francis Crawley, 

 holds it at the present day.''' 



The house built by John Crawley about 1 740 is 

 a rectangular brick building with stone dressings, of 

 two stories and an attic, with a balustraded parapet 

 and hipped roof. The principal entrance is on the 

 north-east, under a pillared portico, and the central 

 bays of the east and south fronts are set forward 

 slightly from the general wall-face. The house has a 

 central hall with a stair on the west side, and to the 

 west, or more accurately, north-west, lie the offices 

 and stables. The garden is on the south and west, 

 and running due northwards from a point in front of 

 the house is a fine avenue. The ground is high, 

 nearly the whole of the park being 500 ft. or more 

 above sea-level. 



The parish of Luton also contained twelve other 

 manors, or so-called manors. BJILIFF'S MJNOR, 

 which was probably never organized on a true 

 manorial basis, does not appear until the sixteenth 

 century, when it was held of Luton Hoo (q.v.) with 

 the exception of the gate-house, an orchard, and one 

 acre of land, which were said to be held of Brache 

 manor (q.v.).'" 



The known descent of this manor is as follows : — 

 In 1542 Henry Bradshaw and Joan his wife trans- 

 ferred it to Thomas Field, who died in 1556-7,"* 

 and whose son, James Field, died in possession of the 

 manor, leaving a son George,"" and between this date 

 and 1638 it passed to Sir Robert Napier, and so be- 

 came one of the members of Luton manor (q.v.).'°° It 

 is mentioned by name in a Recovery Roll of 1 8 1 5, 

 but at the present day its identity is lost."' 



No reference at all has been found to an overlord- 



So w e r b r. Barry 

 table and gules a che-ve- 

 ran befween three lions 

 argent with three rings 

 gules in the cheveron. 



ship in BENNETS MANOR, and the estate itself 

 does not appear until 1504, when Thomas Rother- 

 ham died seised of it."" The Rotherhams retained 

 it until 1573, when it was transferred by George 

 Rotherham to John Franklin,"" who was succeeded 

 by Richard Franklin, whose son. Sir John Franklin, 

 held the manor in 1622."° 

 After this date there is a gap 

 of 150 years, and the manor 

 reappears in 1797 in a con- 

 veyance from Edward South- 

 ouse to John Sowerby,"' and 

 Mr. Sowerby of Putteridge 

 Park at the present day owns 

 property in Stopsley which re- 

 presents this manor. 



The origin of BI SCOTT 

 MANOR, later held of Dallow 

 manor (q.v.), may be sought 

 with some show of reason in 

 the land of 5 ' manentes ' or 

 tenants in Luton,'" which it is recorded were granted 

 by Offa, king of Mercia, in 792 a.d. to St. Albans 

 Abbey, which he had founded in the previous year.^°' 



Between 792 and the date of the Domesday Survey 

 Biscott was alienated from the abbey, for at the latter 

 date it is given among the king's lands, and was 

 assessed at 5 hides. It was held by Edwin, a man of 

 Asgar the staller, and was declared to have been sepa- 

 rated by Ralph Taillebois from the hundred in which 

 it was formerly assessed, and added to Luton on 

 account of the additional payment.'" 



It remained crown property until 1 1 15, when, on 

 the occasion of the dedication of the restored abbey 

 church of St. Albans, Henry I gave to Abbot Richard 

 the manor of Biscott."' The abbey, however, did 

 not long retain the manor, for during the abbacy of 

 John de Cella, and in the reign of John, i.e. between 

 1199-1214, a grant was made to Robert Fitz Walter 

 of 10 librates of land, chiefly in Biscott.''^ 



After the alienation of Biscott manor by St. Albans 



*8i Crawley Papers Nos. 210, zii. 

 Though this appears to have comprised 

 the greater part of the Whiperley demesne, 

 there seems to hare been no transfer of 

 the manorial rights, and Whiperley manor 

 continues to be attached by name to Farley 

 until 1783, in which it has since been 

 absorbed. 



282 Ibid. Nos. 250, 273 i Cobbe, Hist, 

 of Luton Cb, 626. 



OSS Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlii, 

 No. 14. 



!»> Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 34 Hen. VIII. 

 Marquess of Bute's MSS. At a court 

 held in 1556-7 James Field held this 

 property for the rent of a red rose. 



2S5 Fine R. 39 Eliz. pt. 2, No. 59 ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlii, No. 14. 



286 Chan. Inq. p.m. cccclxzxii. No. 161. 



28? Recov. R. Hil. 55 Geo. Ill, rot. 

 214. Information supplied by Mr. Austin. 



288 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xvii, No. 92. 



239 Feet of F. Beds. East. 15 Eliz. The 

 property is here termed ' Site of the IVIanor 

 of Benetts, with lands in Stopsley and 

 Luton.' 



29" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxlix, No. 

 166 ; Recov. R. Trin. 19 Jas. I, rot. 39. 



291 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 37 Geo. III. 



292 A name identified by Matthew of 

 of Paris with Luton ; Matt. Paris, Chron. 

 Maj. (Rolls Ser.), i, 443. 



293 Cobbe, Hist, of Luton Ch. 5, &c. The 



authenticity of Olfa's charter, which is to 

 be found in the Auctarium Additamento- 

 rium {Chron. et Mem. No. 57, vii, 5) is 

 not above suspicion. The following 

 reasons may be given for identifying the 

 5 manses of Oflfa's charter with the later 

 Domesday Manor of Biscott : — (i) There 

 are two documents, formerly belonging to 

 St. Albans, containing enumerations of 

 Offa's grant to the abbey, and in both of 

 these where the name Luton (Lygetun) 

 might have been expected it is absent, 

 but in both cases the mention of a par- 

 ticular property Bisshopescote occurs. Of 

 these two documents, one is to be found 

 in the Gesta Abbat. i, 507, and the other 

 is a list of benefactions compiled by 

 Thomas Walsingham (1377-1422) (Cot^ 

 MSS. Nero, D. vii, fol. 4). (ii) Biscott, 

 though king's land, is given in Domesday 

 as a separate manor with a distinctive 

 name. This implies that it could not 

 long have been crown property, or it would 

 have become absorbed in the royal manor 

 which surrounded it. 



294 F.C.H. Beds, i, 223a. 



295 Gesta Abbat. (Rolls Ser.), i, 68; 

 Dugdale, Mon. ii, 183. There was 

 excepted from this grant land valued at 

 20s., but it was purchased by the succeed- 

 ing Abbot Geoffrey (1119-35) for one 

 hundred grazing oxen [Gesta Abbat. i, 78). 

 ' That Henry should have selected for his 



361 



grant this particular portion of his manor 

 of Luton in preference to any other part, 

 agrees well with the theory that Biscott 

 had constituted Offa's original grant to 

 the Abbey. In this case the king's action 

 would be but the restoration of the ham- 

 let to its former use, and even to its for- 

 mer owners. And if the early history of 

 the hamlet was made known to the king 

 — and the Abbey had the record of it in 

 their possession — such a sentiment was 

 not unlikely to influence anyone at that 

 period' (Cobbe, /f«/. of Luton Ch. 92). 



295 Cott. MSS. Otho, D. iii, fol. 112. 

 The Gesta gives an account of the events 

 which led to this grant to Robert Fitz 

 Walter. A dispute had arisen between 

 the abbot and Fitz Walter about a wood 

 at Northaw, and the latter had induced 

 William Pygun, ' a traitorous monk ' of 

 the abbey, by stealth to seal a false charter, 

 proving Fitz Walter's claim, with the 

 abbey seal. The perfidy of Pygun, who 

 had a personal grudge against the abbot, 

 was discovered, and he was sent to the 

 cell at Tynemouth, where his horrible 

 death while in a state of drunkenness is 

 described. Meanwhile Fitz Walter became 

 conscience stricken, the forged charter 

 was burnt, and a reconciliation took place 

 between him and the abbot, who made 

 him the above-mentioned grant in Biscott 

 {Gesta Abbat. [Rolls Ser.], i, 220). 



46 



