A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



D c w R A . Sable a 

 cheveron engrailed argent 

 between three roundels ar- 

 gent each having a pale 

 gulet upon it. 



there in 1617.™ This manor appears to have passed 

 to the Crawleys, for in 1772 John Crawley owned 

 Stopsley manor, together with other manors in the 

 same parish,^' amongst which 

 it probably became absorbed, 

 for no further mention has 

 been found of it. 



A third, WOODCROFT 

 MANOR, is found in this 

 parish during the sixteenth 

 century. It appears always to 

 have followed the same descent 

 as Bramblehanger (q.v.), and 

 the first reference to it is in an 

 inquisition of 1 5 1 5 , when John 

 Sylam, in addition to that 

 manor, held a messuage and 

 lands in Luton.'*' In a fine of 

 1546 Robert Cheyney con- 

 veyed Bramblehanger and Woodcroft manors to 

 trustees,'^ and though the inquisition taken on his 

 possessions in 1554 merely calls this property Wood- 

 croft Farm and lands,*** it is invariably from this time 

 onward called a manor, the last mention of it before its 

 final absorption in Bramblehanger occurring in 1 807.'*' 

 It seems likely that the property is represented at the 

 present day by the farm called Little Bramingham, 

 which forms part of the Bramblehanger estate.*" 



To Luton manor is attached the right of holding 

 a view of frankpledge, court leet and court baron."' 

 The marquess of Bute has in his possession a tran- 

 script of Court Rolls of Luton manor, written in an 

 early seventeenth-century hand, and covering a period 

 from 147 1 to 1559. Three volumes of Court Rolls, 

 dating back to the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, still exist, but older volumes are supposed to 

 have been burned at the great fire at Luton Hoo in 

 1 77 1. The annual view of frankpledge, court leet, 

 and court baron of the manor is still held with all 

 customary formality at the Luton Corn Exchange on 

 Thursday in Whit-week. The courts are always well 

 attended, and a fair amount of business transacted ; 

 the tenants are all customary freeholders, as the cus- 

 tomary tenements have been enfranchised. The 

 town crier is appointed annually at the court leet of 

 the manor ; it is a lucrative appointment, as the crier 

 is also bill poster and warden of the pound, which 

 belongs to, and is maintained by, the lord of the 

 manor.*** 



There is evidence that the lord of the manor of 

 Limbury cum Biscott held courts baron between 

 15 19 and 1635, but no courts are held at the present 

 day, nor have been for long past.**' 



The lord of Dallow manor formerly possessed the 

 right of view of frankpledge, and courts baron.**" 



Six mills, valued at 100/., are mentioned in Luton 

 in Domesday.**' Mills are subsequently found attached 

 to the following properties in the parish : — Matilda de 

 Kyme owned a water-mill in 1 299 as part of her share 

 in Luton manor,'** which in 1372, valued at 6s. Sd., 

 had passed to Hugh Mortimer.*** This may be 

 the mill known as the Brache, from which William 

 Marshal, who held Luton manor between 1 2 14 and 

 1 23 1, granted a pension to the dean and chapter of 

 St. Paul's for prayers for the soul of his wife.*** A 

 water-mill of this name still existed in 1855, but has 

 since disappeared.**' 



To Luton Hoo belonged a mill known as Staple- 

 ford Mill, of which the first mention is found in 

 1287.*** East Hyde had a water-mill as early as 

 1247, which was still attached to the manor in 

 1599.*" The mill mentioned in Biscott in Domesday 

 as worth 10^. afterwards became attached to Dallow 

 manor.*" 



David Ashby manor included a windmill ' worth 

 nothing' in 1448,*** and between 1332 and 1435 

 Fennels Grove held a moiety of a water-mill.*'" In 

 1330 a water-mill was attached to Woodcroft manor, 

 which included a fish-pond worth 1 2/.**' In extents 

 of the Luton estate taken in 1677 ^^^ '^941 ^^^ 

 water grist-miUs are mentioned *°' ; in 1 7 1 2 six 

 water grist-mills, and in 1 81 5 three water corn- 

 mills.*** 



Davis, in his History of Luton, written about 1855, 

 mentions as formerly existing in this parish four post 

 windmills — of which two had been blown down by 

 hurricanes in c. 1765 and 1845, one burnt down 

 in 1783, and one destroyed by lightning in 1 841 — 

 and two smock mills burnt down in 1795 and 1812. 

 At the time he wrote there existed two windmills, 

 and four water-mills, three of which belonged to 

 John Shaw Leigh, owner of the Luton estate.*** At 

 the present day the only mill belonging to the Luton 

 estate is the Hyde Mill.*"' 



The following manors in this parish acquired at 

 various dates charters of free warren. Luton manor 

 received a charter in 1330.*°* Luton Hoo was 

 granted a charter in 1 292, which received confirma- 

 tion in 1337, 1520, and finally in 1623, on the 

 occasion of the inclosure of the park.**' Stopsley 

 acquired this privilege in 1292, Woodcroft in 1 3 17, 

 Dallow some time previous to 1 3 3 1 , Woodcroft 

 alias Halyard in 1332, and Haverings manor in 

 1348.*** 



The right of free fishing belonged to Luton and 

 Dallow manors.'** 



8«» Pat. 14 Jas. II, pt. II. 



881 Recov. R. East. 12 Geo. Ill, rot. 



3++- 



"^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), lucix. 

 No. 165. 



88* Feet of F. Bed.. Trin. 37 Hen. VIII. 



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



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



886 Bed!. N. and Q. iii, 34. 



88!' Plac. de Quo fVar. (Rec. Com.), 54. 

 Marquess of Bute's MSS. 



888 Information supplied by Mr. Austin. 



889 Crawley Papers, Nos. n, 194. 



890 Ibid. Nos. 2, 68 i Cott. MSS. Otho, 

 D. iii, fol. 112. 



891 y.CH. Bed!, i, 232. 



89' Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. I, No. 35. 

 898 Ibid. 46 Edw. Ill, No. 41. He 



also owned a horse-mill with a garden 

 held of Hugh de Stopsley, and in 1408 a 

 third mill is mentioned in Luton manor, 

 of no value because thrown to the ground. 



»»< MSS. of D. and C. of St. Paul's, 

 Liber. A. fol. 22i. 



898 Davis, Hi!t. of Luton, no. 



898 Add. Chart. 28721. 



897 Feet of F. Beds. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 

 5 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclvii. 

 No. 42. 



898 KC.H. Beds, i, 232A i Crawley 

 Papers, No. 2, &c. 



899 Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Hen. VI, 

 No. 14. 



«" Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, No. 75 ; Mins. 

 Accts. bdle. 741, Nos. 7-1 1. 



"1 Chan. Inq. 4 Edw. Ill, No. 26. 



366 



«» Recov. R. Mich. 29 Chas. II; Trin. 

 6 Will, and Mary. 



"8 Ibid. Mich. II Anne, Hil. 55 Geo. 

 IIL 



*"* Davis, Hist, of Luton, 108. 



*"' Information supplied by Mr. Austin. 



<»8 Chart. R. 4 Edw. Ill, No. 96. 



O"? Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, No. 8 ; Cal. oj Chart. 

 R. ii, 421 i L. and P. Hen. mi, iii (i), 

 273 ; Cal. S.P, Dom, 1623-5, p. 112. 



<»8 Chart. R. 1 1 Edw. II, No. 11; 

 6 Edw. Ill, No. 35 ; 21 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 142 ; Plac. de Quo War. (Rec Com.), 

 23-5 ; Cal. of Chart. R. ii, 421. 



■"'9 Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. I, No. 35; 

 Feet of F. Beds. East. 28 Elii.; Trin. 

 17 Jas. I j (L.T.R.), Mem. R. East, ij 

 Jas. I i Recov. R. Mich. 29 Chas. II. 



