FLITT HUNDRED 



PULLOXHILL 



a false statement, acquired possession of the premises," 

 and the matter came up for settlement before the 

 Privy Council, by whom Norton was fined for mis- 

 representation." In 1547 Sir William Pagett was 

 granted PuUoxhill Grange,'' and in the following 

 year, an agreement being come to with Sir Thomas 

 Palmer," who had a grant of the site of the manor, 

 the latter entered into possession of the property.*' 

 On his attainder in 1553 for his adherence to Lady 

 Jane Grey the grange was granted by Queen Mary 

 to George Bredyman for life.*^ Queen Mary, however, 

 died seised of the manor, which then passed to Queen 

 Elizabeth, who in 1563 bestowed it on John Lee and 

 Thomas Julyan, and the heirs of the former.'" Thomas 

 Julyan died soon after, and John Lee, becoming sole 

 tenant, sold the grange of PuUoxhill to Sir Thomas 

 Cheyney and Lady Jane his wife in 1566." The 

 latter were called upon by the queen to justify their 

 title in 1567, and apparently made good their claim." 

 The manor was in the queen's hands, however, by 

 1595," and in 1601 was granted to Peter Page and 

 Edmund Pigeon." Matthew Page, evidently a rela- 

 tion, in 1623 conveyed the reversion of the manors 

 after the death of John Page to Richard Norton," 

 who alienated them in 1626 to Peter Duckett." 

 From him they probably passed to Noah Duckett, 

 who may have been a brother, and through the latter's 

 daughter Anne to her husband Sir William Briers," 

 who held them in 1643.'° On his death in 1653 

 there was a division of the manors, a moiety being 

 settled on Arabella his second 

 wife as her dower, and the 

 other moiety passing to Briers 

 Crofts, his heiress. It is prob- 

 able that the latter was his 

 niece, and that her mother 

 Anne Briers was his sister.'" 

 Briers Crofts' husband. Sir John 

 Crofts of Westow, Suffolk, 

 united with Arabella Briers in 

 1660 to convey the whole 

 manor to Sir Henry Crofts,'" 

 probably as a trustee, for in 

 1665, after the death of her 

 husband. Briers Crofts united 



with his relatives to convey the manors to Thomas 

 Neale,*' who in 1673 sold them to Sir John Norton 

 and John Garrard." From Sir John Norton they prob- 

 ably passed to his relatives, the Coppins of Markyate, 



Crofts. Quarterly 

 Jessewlse indented azure 

 and argent lu'tth a leopard 

 or in the quarter. 



who held the advowson between 1686 and 1 7 10, and 

 were conveyed, together with the advowson, to the duke 

 of Kent by John Coppin between 1 710 and 1 716. 

 The duke of Kent is mentioned as the chief landowner 

 in PuUoxhill in 1736," and from him the manors 

 descended to his great-granddaughter Lady Amabel, 

 baroness Lucas,** and have remained in the de Grey 

 family since that date, the manorial rights now being 

 vested in Lord Lucas and Dingwall. The manors 

 appear to have been amalgamated in the process, and 

 are now known as the manor of PuUoxhill and 

 Greenfield. 



The manor of BEECHES or UPBURY, which 

 appears for the first time after the Dissolution, probably 

 originated in the estate held by Dunstable Priory in 

 PuUoxhill of the barony of Cainho. This estate cao 

 be traced back to the Domesday manor of PuUoxhill,*' 

 part of the lands of which were acquired by Woburn, 

 part by Dunstable, the rest being held by William de 

 Faldho, the Buniun family *° and the prior of St. John of 

 Jerusalem. The amount ofthe priory's holding was5 hides 

 in 1 2 8 5 ,*' and the land was ap- 

 parently leased by the priory to 

 the Pyrot family, for it became 

 known as the Pyrot fee,*' and 

 c. 1240 William Pyrot was 

 stated to be one of the lords of 

 PuUoxhiU, holding, with Wil- 

 liam de Faldho, one fee.*' The 

 priory's holding had diminished 

 to 2 J hides in 1 302,*° at which 

 it remained in 13 16, 1346, 

 and in 1428." The priory in 

 1323 was granted free warren 

 in its demesne lands of PuUox- 

 hill " and justified its claim 

 in 1330 by a production of this charter.'' The 

 lands were worth £2 10s, ^d. in 1342," but the 

 value of the manor had risen to £\ 6s. Sd. in 

 1535." At the Dissolution the manor was taken 

 into the king's hand and was by him probably granted 

 to Simon Fitz, who died seised of the manor in 

 1543 ;'° his eldest son William inherited the manor, 

 but died in 1545 without issue, when it descended 

 to his brother Simon," who had already come into 

 possession of the manor of Bilkemore. The descent 

 of the manor from this date until the early years 

 of the reign of Elizabeth is similar to that of 

 the manor of Blundells in Silsoe in the parish of 



Dunstable Priory. 

 Argent a pile sable •with 

 a horseshoe or affixed to it 

 by a staple or. 



" Pat. 31 Hen. VIII, pt.4, m. 37. 



25 L. and P. Hen. VIll, xvi, 124, 1Z9. 



"6 Pat. I Edw. VI, pt. 2, m. 43. 



27 Orig. R. 6 Edw. VI. pt. i. The site of 

 the manor was also granted to Sir Thomas 

 Palmer, and from that date followed the 

 same descent as the manor. 



23 Pat. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 5, m. 24. 



29 L. T. R. Mem. R. i Mary, rot. 24 ; 

 Orig. R. I Marjr, pt. 4, rot. 110. 



'» Pat. 6 Eliz. pt, 10, m. 19. 



81 Harl. Chart. 77, H. 9. 



82 L. T. R. Mem. R. Hil. 9 Eliz. rot. 

 103. 



83 Exch. Dep. 37 Eliz. Trin. 6. 



84 Pat. 43 Eliz. pt. 7, m. 43 (i). 



85 Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 21 Jas. I. 



86 Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 2 Chas. I. 



8/ Harl. Soc. Publ, xix, 86; Gage, Hist, 

 of Thingoe Hundred, 134 ; G. E. C. 

 Baronetage ; Henrey, fFestoiu Parish Reg. 

 189. 



88 RecoT. R. East. 19 Chas. I, rot. 14. 



2 



89 Ibid. Hil. 1656, 132. 



« Feet of F. Beds. Mich. 12 Chas. II ; 

 Recov. R. Mich. 12 Chas. II, rot. 148. 



« Feet of F. Beds. Trin. 17 Chas. II. 



« Ibid. Hil. 25-6 Chas. II. 



48 William Gordon, Accurate Map of 

 Beds. 



** Lysons, Mag. Brit, i, 126 ; Recov. R. 

 Trin. 45 Geo. Ill, rot. 41 ; vide manor 

 of Wrest in Flitton-cum-Silsoe parish. 



« F.C.H. Beds, i, 244 b. 



<8 Abhrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), temp. 

 John. Henry Buniun succeeded his father 

 Pyrot, and in 1286 Dunstable Priory and 

 Woburn Abbey were both holding lands 

 which had formerly belonged to the fee of 

 John Buniun {Ann. Mon. [Rolls Sen], 

 iii, 323). This was estimated at 2J hides 

 in 1291 {Testa de Nevill [Rec. Com.], 

 250^), and was held of Aimery of St. 

 Amand. 



■1' Feud. Aids, i, 7. 



48 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Sen), iii, 323, 325. 



377 



In 1233 the priory claimed a right of way, 

 15 ft. long, against William de Faldho, 

 near his grove in PuUoxhill. In 1250 it 

 acquired a great bam at PuUoxhill, and 

 enlarged a cowshed there in 1207, when 

 cows were placed there for the first time. 

 In 1288 a new hall and solar were built 

 at PuUoxhill by Dunstable Prioiy (Ann. 

 Mon. [Rolls Ser.], iii, 132, 180, 205, 



342)- 



49 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 250A. 



^ Feud. Aids, i, 13. 



8* Ibid, i, 21, 33, 46. 



82 Chart. R. 16 Edw. II, m. 4, No. 5, 



58 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 4 

 Edw. III. 



84 Cal. of Pat. R. 1340-43, p. 421. 



85 yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 207. 



88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), voL 68, 

 No. 15. This Simon Fitz was probably 

 one of the natural children of Henry 

 VIII. 



57 Ibid. vol. 73, No. 5. 



48 



