FLITT HUNDRED 



SUNDON 



co-heiresses,'" one of whom, Margaret wife of John 

 Tiptot, acquired the manor of Sundon." 



John Tiptot held the manor in right of his wife till 

 13^7, when he was succeeded by their son Robert," 

 who at his death in 1372 left 

 three daughters, Margaret aged 

 six, Millicent four, and Eliza- 

 beth two years." Richard le 

 Scrope of Bolton obtained the 

 custody of Sundon manor and 

 the wardship of these co-heir- 

 esses in 1373," and in 1385 

 Margaret Tiptot married his 

 son Roger le Scrope." The 

 manor thus acquired by the 

 Scropes remained in their 

 family for nearly 200 years, 



the succession being maintained in an unbroken line 

 from father to son during that time.'^ 



In 1 565 Henry Lord Scrope alienated this manor to 

 Richard Tyrrell " in whose family it remained until 

 Edward Tyrrell, probably a son, transferred it to 

 Thomas Cheyne.'* He held Sundon till his death in 

 16 1 3, when he was followed 

 by a son Thomas." The latter 

 died in 1632 leaving a son 

 Thomas as heir,'" and Sun- 

 don manor remained in the 

 Cheyne family until 1716, 

 when Thomas Cheyne, a 

 grandson of the last-named 

 Thomas, sold it to William 

 Clayton," who afterwards be- 

 came Lord Sundon. He died 

 childless in 1752, and the pro- 

 perty was inherited by his four 

 cousins, daughters of John 



Clayton — ^Anne Humphrey (who afterwards married 

 as her second husband Tomkinson Cooper), Elizabeth 

 Cole, Francis Hale, and Margaret Clayton (subse- 

 quently married to James Smythe). 



The manor was conveyed for purposes of trustee- 

 ship by these four co-heiresses to William Bateson in 

 1753, and again in 1768 to James Dansie, prelimi- 

 nary to a sale which took place in the same year, 

 when Archibald Buchanan acquired the Sundon estates 

 for ^26,000." Archibald Buchanan, who died about 

 1772, left a sister Jane, wife of Sir John Riddell, as 

 heiress to the Sundon estates. Her son Sir John 

 Buchanan Riddell in 1 803 sold Sundon to Mr. Cuth- 

 bert, from whom it was purchased in 1 8 1 3 by the ex- 

 ecutors of the late Sir Gregory Osbom Page-Turner.'' 

 Sir Edward Page-Turner, grandson of the above, by 



Cheynk. Checiy or 

 and azure a fesse guhi 

 fretty ermine. 



his will dated 21 June, 1873, settled this estate upon 

 the eldest son of his eldest sister Fanny Maria Blaydes. 

 Mr. Blaydes, who assumed the name of Page-Turner 

 by royal licence, holds the manor at the present 

 day." 



Notley Priory, Buckinghamshire, which was foun- 

 ded by Walter GifFard, earl of Buckingham, about 

 1 1 6z, appears to have acquired land in Sundon, for 

 at the Dissolution their rents there were estimated at 

 40/." This property known as NOTLET GRANGE 

 was granted in 1547 to Henry Lee,'° and by 1639 

 had passed to William, who in that year died seised 

 of a capital messuage or farm called Notley Grange, 

 in Sundon, held of Sir Thomas Cheyne (at that time 

 lord of Sundon manor) by fealty, suit of court, and 

 a yearly rent," and in 1655 John Ordway conveyed 

 it by fine to John King.'' Further reference has 

 been found to this grange in an abstract of deeds in 

 the possession of Mr. F. A Page-Turner. The farm- 

 house or manor, as it is there called, then comprised 

 one close of meadow of two acres, and two plots of land 

 of 140 acres in all. In 1688 John King enfeoffed his 

 grandson Abraham Saunders of this property, and the 

 same year Abraham, on the occasion ofhis marriage with 

 Jane Pigott, granted her an annuity from the revenues 

 of Notley Grange. Abraham Saunders sold the grange 

 in 1 700 to Obadiah Lord, who, ten years later, again 

 sold it for £600 to George Urlin. In 1 7 1 9 it was pur- 

 chased from George Urlin by Thomas Pierson for 

 ;^8oo. In his will dated 1 744 the latter left all his 

 messuages, tenements, and hereditaments in Upper 

 Sundon to Hugh Cook, and, he having died previously, 

 one Richard Ashwell became entitled to the premises.'' 

 No further mention has been found of the estate. 



In 1 3 1 5 Bartholomew de Badlesmere received a 

 charter of free warren in the manor of Sundon,*" to 

 which also belonged the right to hold a view of 

 frankpledge, a court leet, and a court baron." 



There is no early mention of a mill in Sundon, but 

 in 1 7 1 2 the manor included a windmill amongst its 

 appurtenances." Sundon was a market town in the 

 fourteenth century, for Bartholomew de Badlesmere 

 obtained a grant in 1 3 1 ; of a market every Friday at 

 Sundon manor, and also a three-days' fair on the 

 feast of the Annunciation," but beyond the grant no 

 further mention has been found of these privileges, 

 which appear to have fallen early into disuse. 



The church of OUR LADY is, with 

 CHURCH the exception of its chancel, a very per- 

 fect and well- designed example of tlie 

 second quarter of the fourteenth century. It has a 

 nave with aisles of four bays with a western tower 

 standing on three open arches over the western bay. 



»» Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. Ill, No. 

 54.0. 1 Feud. Aids, i, 33. 



23 Chan. Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (ist 

 Nos.), No. 59. 



25 Ibid. 4.6 Edw. Ill (ist N09.), No. 64. 

 ^Abbrev. Rot. Orig.{Rec. Com.), ii, 325. 

 "5 G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Feet of F. 



Div. Co3. 10 Ric. II. No. 74 ; 14 Hen. IV, 

 No. 88. Margaret died in 1420, having 

 survived her first husband seventeen years, 

 and married a second, John Nyandser. 



26 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), xiii. No. 

 Ill ; V, No. 7 ; Ixxxviii, No. 30 ; Recov. 

 R. Trin. 1 Eliz. rot. 721 ; East. 5 Eliz. 

 rot. 1016. For complete pedigree of this 

 family, cf. also G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii. 



27 Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 7 Eliz j Recov. 

 R. Trin. 7 Eliz. 



28 Ibid. Hil. 28 Eliz. ; Feet of F. Beds. 

 Mich. 21 Eliz ; Mich. 28 Eliz. 



2* Chan, Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxxxvi, 

 No. 71, He had made a settlement of 

 the manor in 1607 on the occasion of the 

 marriage of his son with Margery daughter 

 of Oliver St. John of Bletsoe. 



'" Ibid, cccclxxvi, No. 62, 



" Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 10 Chas. I ; 

 Hil. I Jas. II ; Trin. 2 Geo. I ; Div. Cos. 

 Hil. 10 Chas. I ; Recov. R. Hil. i & 2 Jas. 

 II ; East. 1 1 Anne ; Trin. 2 Geo. I ; 

 Com, Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 1 1 Anne ; 

 Beds. N. and Q. i, 225. 



'' Private documents in possession of 

 F. A. Page-Turner, esq. Feet of F, Beds. 

 Trin. 8 Geo, III } Hil, 9 Geo. Ill ; Trin. 

 26 & 27 Geo, III ; Hil. 26 Geo. Ill ; Beds. 



N. and Q. i, 225 ; Lysons, Mag. Brit, i, 

 138. 8S Ibid. 



°* Information supplied by Mr. F. A. 

 Page-Turner. V.C.H. Families of Northants, 

 56. 8* ValorEccl. (Rec. Com.), 14, 232. 



M Pat, R, 37 Hen. VIII, pt. 15. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. ccclviii, 

 No. 93. 



ss Feet of F. Beds. Commonwealth, 

 1655. 



8' Information supplied by Mr. F. A. 

 Page-Turner. 



*" Chart. R. 9 Edw. II, No. 57. 



" Plac. de Quo War, (Rec. Com.), 

 26, 27 ; Feet of F. Beds. Hil. 1 Jas. II ; 

 Recov. R. Hil. i Jas. I ; Trin. 2 Geo. I. 



■'2 Recov. R. East. 1 1 Anne. 



"« Chart. R. 9 Edw. II, No. 57. 



49 



