FLITT HUNDRED 



LUTON 



in 1446 alienated the manor to Thomas Boleyn and 

 other feoffees.'^' This may have been preliminary to 

 an alienation, for in 1513 John Sylam died in pos- 

 session of the manor, leaving four daughters as co- 

 heirs, Elizabeth Mattock, Agnes Croswayte, Joan 

 Snow, and Mary Lock."' It passed eventually to the 

 last-named, subsequently married to Robert Cheyne, 

 who in 1 546 conveyed the manor into the hands of 

 trustees on the occasion of the marriage of his son 

 Thomas with Elizabeth Rotherham."' Thomas 

 Cheyne succeeded to the manor in 1554,'" and held 

 it until 1 614, when it passed to his son Robert, who 

 died in 1632.''° Thomas, son of the latter, conveyed 

 the manor in 1676 to John Crosse, whose family 

 continued to hold it for upwards of two hundred 

 years.'" Thomas Crosse held Bramblehanger in 

 1807,''' and Hammond Crosse in 1855."' In 1890 

 the estate, consisting of two farms known as Great 

 and Little Bramingham, was purchased by trustees of 

 the will of the late Sir Edward Page Turner, and is 

 at present in the possession of Mr. F. A. Page 

 Turner.™ 



In 1504 Thomas Rotherham died seised of two 

 estates in Luton called EJST HTDE and WEST 

 HrDE MANORS.^" His son Thomas held the 

 same property at his death in 1565,"' and as no further 

 mention has been found, the presumption is that 

 they became absorbed in the larger estate which the 

 Rotherhams owned in Luton. 



The property which later became known as LAL- 

 LEFORD MANOR first appears in 1425 as the 

 possession of Joan Waleys, and is then described as 

 lands and tenements called Lalleford, of whom held it 

 was not known,'" and in 1447 as 40/. rent called 

 Lalleford fee.'" It followed the same descent as 

 Brache manor, and subsequent to its transfer to Sir 

 Robert Napier in 1602 is described as a manor.'" It 

 is mentioned by name in a Recovery Roll of 1 815 as 

 part of the Luton estate, but has since become ab- 

 sorbed in the larger manor, and no trace of it exists 

 at the present day.'*" 



The history of LJNGLErS MANOR is exactly 

 identical with that of Picks (q.v.) until the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century. It is mentioned in 1 600 

 with that manor as the property of George Rother- 

 ham,"*' but does not appear in the conveyance of 

 Picks and other manors by Sir John Rotherham to 

 Sir Robert Napier. Davis, in his history of Luton, 



says this property was sold by John Rotherham in 

 1 72 1 to Lady Elizabeth Napier for ^^2,000, which 

 would imply that the Rotherhams continued to hold 

 it long after they had parted with their other Luton 

 property.'" 



The manor oi LEWSET belonged to the prioress 

 of Markyate during the thirteenth century. The 

 record of the original grant has not been found, but 

 it seems probable that it was bestowed on Markyate 

 by St. Albans, which owned extensive lands in 

 Luton, and whose Abbot Geoffrey was instrumental 

 in founding the priory in 1 145.'*' At the time of 

 the Taxatio of 129 1 Markyate owned lands and rent 

 worth j^3 o^. 1 \d. in * Levesey,' '** which by 1535 had 

 increased to ;^4.'" It remained crown property until 

 1 545, when it was granted to George Acworth,'*' 

 who owned Biscott manor (q.v.), and till 1 71 8 fol- 

 lowed the same descent as that manor, like it passing 

 to the Wingate family. In pursuance of a settlement 

 made by John Wingate in 1643 the reversion of 

 Lewsey manor passed to his second son George, who 

 must have been considerably under age at the time of 

 his father's death,**' whose two daughters (Elizabeth 

 married to John Pomfret in 1692 and Mary married 

 to George Snagge in 1700) acquired joint possession 

 of the manor in 1679.'*' George Snagge retained 

 his wife's moiety in the manor until 1 741 when he 

 transferred it to John Miller."' John Pomfrete and 

 his wife held their half of the manor certainly as late 

 as 1747,"° but in 1 77 1 Henry Wagstaffe and John 

 Peck alienated it to John Miller, son of the above 

 John, who thus acquired the whole of the manor,"' 

 and from him it was acquired in 1 782 by the trus- 

 tees of the duke of Bedford."' 



It remained as part of the ducal estates until the 

 middle of the nineteenth century, when it was pur- 

 chased by Mr. Anstey, whose son at present owns this 

 property.'"' 



A property called NORWOOD MANOR was held 

 by Thomas Rotherham in 1504,"* and by his son 

 Thomas in 1565.'" In 1573 Thomas Catesby alien- 

 ated Stopsley manor, together with Norwood, to Sir 

 George Norton,"^ but no further reference has been 

 found to the property. 



It seems probable that in PLENTIES MANOR is 

 to be found the most ancient seat of the Crawleys. 

 The first mention that occurs of it is in 1 5 19, when 

 the will of John Crawley of Luton contains the 



»26 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 25 Hen. VI. 



827 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxix, No. 

 155. A series of settlements of this 

 manor took place in 1515 by these co- 

 heirs and also George Hinton, son of 

 another sister Alice (Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 

 5 Hen. VIII, East. Trin. 6 Hen. VIII). 



82" Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 37 Hen. VIII; 

 Beds. N. and Q. ii, 68. 



829 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), c, No. 4. 



88" Ibid, cccclxiv, No. 109. 



831 Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 28 Chas. II. 



883 Recov. R. Hil. 47 Geo. Ill, rot. 6. 



888 Davis, Hist, of Luton, 42. 



88* Beds. N. and Q. iii, 34. The old 

 jnanor-house, now the farm-house of 

 Great Bramingham, contains an interest- 

 ing carved oak mantelpiece. 



885 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. xvii, 

 No. 92. 886 Ibid, cxii, No. 45. 



887 Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Hen. V, No. 3 5. 



888 Feet of F. Beds. 25 Hen. VI, No. 7. 



889 Ibid. Beds. East. 44 Eliz. 



»"> Recov. R. Hil. 55 Geo. Ill, rot. 274. 



8*1 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxvi. 

 No. 82. 



eJ2 Davis, Hist, of Luton, 50. In 1620 

 Thomas Atwood, whose daughter and co- 

 heiress Agnes was the wife of Nicholas 

 Rotherham, died seised of a capital mes- 

 suage called Langleys and land in Luton, 

 on which, by indenture of 16 10, he made 

 a rent-charge of ^^i for the beneiit of such 

 old, aged, lame, blind, or impotent men or 

 women of Luton as the vicar and church- 

 wardens should think suitable (Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. ccclxxvi, No. 12. Cf. also history of 

 Luton charities). 



848 KC.H. Beds, i, 358. 



s*-! Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 49. 



8« Valor Bed. (Rec. Com.), iv, 2og. 



8« Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. 16, m. 

 25. The manor is here described as in 

 Luton and Toddington parishes. Upon 

 the inclosure of Toddington there was a 

 great dispute about the boundary line of 

 these two parishes, the Commissioners 

 decided that the farmhouse called Lewsey 



was in Luton, previously it was said the 

 boundary of Toddington went through the 

 oven in the kitchen belonging to the 

 house (Add. MSS. 9408). 



847 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Misc. D. 

 xxxviii, No. 144. Francis Wingate the 

 eldest son was only 13 years 10 months. 



8''8 Blaydes, Genealogia Bedfordiensis, 

 186, 198; Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 31 

 Chas. II. 



8" Feet of F. Mich, i Anne ; Mich. 15 

 Geo. II i Recov. R. Mich. 3 Geo. II. 



850 Recov. R. East. 20 Geo II, rot. 138; 

 Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 6 Will, and Mary. 



851 Feet of F. Mich. 1 1 Geo. III. 



852 Ibid. Trin. 22 Geo. Ill; Add. MSS. 

 9408. 



858 Davis, Hist, of Luton, 38 ; Cobbe, 

 Hist, of Luton Ch. 582 ; Information 

 supplied by Mr. Austin. 



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

 92. 8S5 Ibid, cxli, No. 45. 



855 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 15 & 16 

 Eliz. ; Recov. R. Mich. 15 & 16 Eliz. 



