MANORS
The pre-Reformation history of
CALDWELL PRIORY, known later as
CALDWELL MANOR, has already
been traced in detail, (fn. 1) and little of the early history
remains to be added. In 1279 Caldwell Priory was
declared to owe suit to the borough, and a complaint
was made that the prior had appropriated and
inclosed a certain 'culturam' between the priory and
Barkedich, which should have been common ground. (fn. 2)
The prior owned lands, flocks and rents in Bedford
to the value of £12 17s., (fn. 3) and the same assessment
was made in 1342. (fn. 4) William Latimer died seised
of the advowson worth £10 in 1380–1, (fn. 5) and in 1456
it was in the possession of William Burgoyne. (fn. 6) In
1534 the prior, sub-prior and seven canons acknowledged the supremacy of the Crown, (fn. 7) and the
priory, whose temporalities in Bedford at this time
were valued at £11 15s. 6d., was dissolved. (fn. 8) In
1537–8 the site with certain specified lands and rents
was granted to William Gostwick and Anne his
wife, (fn. 9) who transferred it to Thomas Leigh in 1563,
the transfer being confirmed by patent in that year. (fn. 10)
John Leigh, son of Thomas Leigh, conveyed the site
to trustees in 1620. (fn. 11) Lewis Leigh, who died in
1628, (fn. 12) left a will by which Caldwell was to be sold
to provide money for the payment of certain legacies
to his sons and daughters. (fn. 13) A sale appears to have
taken place accordingly to Sir William Butler, kt.,
who in 1649 is found making a settlement of this
estate by fine (fn. 14) to Oliver Butler and others, who
in 1652 again alienated Caldwell, called here a manor,
to John Barbor. (fn. 15) It was retained by the latter until
1676, when he transferred it to Brook Bridges. (fn. 16) He
held it until 1700, when it passed to John Sindry. (fn. 17)
He held it in 1707, (fn. 18) and it subsequently passed to
Anne Garnault, whose heirs sold it to George Livius,
who held it in 1802. (fn. 19) At this time it was used as a
farm, traces of the conventual buildings still remaining
in the field adjoining the farm-house. (fn. 20) It was retained
by the Livius family during the 19th century, but of
late years the property, which is situated in St. Mary's
parish, has been dispersed, and sold in lots. (fn. 21)
At the Dissolution Lincoln Cathedral had seven
prebends attached, of which two, the major and
minor prebends of Bedford, were endowed from
property in this town known as BEDFORD MANOR
or CHAPEL HERNE. (fn. 22) The origin of this
endowment is to be found in the hide of land
mentioned in the Survey as having been wrongfully
wrested from the church of St. Paul by Bishop
Remigius of Lincoln. It was then worth 100s. (fn. 23)
In the Taxatio of 1291 the value of the major
prebend was given as £8, and that of the minor
prebend as £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 24) Nicholas de Sale and John
de Burne, prebendaries in 1331, claimed full manorial
privileges in 1 carucate of land in Bedford annexed
to the prebends from time immemorial. (fn. 25) At
the Dissolution the major prebend was worth
£15 17s. 1½d., of which 53s. 4d. was payable to
Dr. Fotherby, the minor prebendary, and 42s. to the
Dean of Lincoln. (fn. 26) Prebendal Courts were held in
the king's name in 1546, 1547, at which the usual
business was transacted. Lord Mordaunt and other
defaulting suitors were amerced; the wife of Thomas
Bird, a common brewer, was fined for breaking the
assize, and tenants claimed entry into land by copy
of Court Roll. (fn. 27) There does not appear to have been
any permanent alienation of the endowment at this
time, for in 1552–3 the major and minor prebends
were leased for ninety-nine years by the prebendaries to
William Harper at a combined rent of £10 13s. 4d. (fn. 28)
The prebendal stalls were disendowed (fn. 29) on the
sale of Church lands in 1650, when the trustees for
such sale transferred the major and minor prebends
with all their rights and appurtenances to the mayor,
bailiff and burgesses of the town. (fn. 30) The ancient
prebendal house known as the Chapel Herne or
Harne Chapel was used as early as this date as the
court-house for the yearly assizes, and was occasionally
leased 'at such time as not used for public purposes.'
John Bunyan was tried there in 1660. (fn. 31) Lysons
(c. 1802) mentions a Gothic building near St. Paul's
Church, then used as a brewery, in which the
assizes were formerly held, supposed to be an ancient
prebendal house. (fn. 32) This is undoubtedly Chapel
Herne, which he declared to be held on lease under
the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. All trace of the
building has now disappeared, but its former site is
shown by Horne Lane running west of St. Paul's
Square.
In 1280 the GREY FRIARS, who had a house in
Bedford, received a grant from the king of three
leafless oak-trunks, with their strippings, from the
forest of Wauberge, probably for building purposes. (fn. 33)
Grants of land were made at various times during
the 13th and 14th centuries to increase the original
endowment of the house. In 1310 Ralph le Toller,
the Prioress of Harrold and others granted the Grey
Friars divers small plots of land in the town to increase their area, (fn. 34) whilst in 1353 Nicholas de
Stukeley and Richard Frereman conveyed 3½ acres
to them for the enlargement of their house (manso). (fn. 35)
In 1397 they received a further gift of 2a. 36p. of
land, parcel of a tenement called 'Halydayes,' (fn. 36) held
of the Bishop of Lincoln by suit of court twice
yearly. (fn. 37) When this house was dissolved it owned
pasture valued at 100s. (fn. 38) In 1540 John Gostwick
and Joan his wife received a grant from the Crown
of the site of the Grey Friars House with the lands
attached, (fn. 39) and obtained in the same year licence
to alienate the property to William Borne and
Elizabeth his wife. (fn. 40) William Borne died seised in
1544, when the site passed to his eldest son
Richard, then aged twenty-one. (fn. 41) His daughter
Elizabeth married William Langhorne, and held
Grey Friars until her death in 1584. (fn. 42) Robert
Langhorne her son alienated the property to Thomas
Paradine in 1604. (fn. 43) The house appears to have
been at this time in the occupation of 'one Master
Lee,' for a great storm which swept over Bedford on
5 October 1607 is said to have inflicted great damage
on his house, 'the Freers in Bedford having a fayre
garden wherein was great store of Elme Trees where of
3 score were blowne downe. Also he had a
close of conies that were cleane destroyed.' (fn. 44) In
Lysons' time (c. 1802) the site, which still exhibited
vestiges of cloisters and the refectory, belonged to
the Earl of Ashburnham. (fn. 45) The old building, used
as a farm, still existed till about 1890 (fn. 46) ; it was
situated in St. Paul's parish in the north-west of the
town, the modern Grey Friars' Walk and Priory
Street perpetuating at the present day the site of
the old monastic house.
The history of ST. LEONARD'S HOSPITAL has
already been traced down to the 16th century, (fn. 47) and
there remains little to add. The advowson, which
in the 13th century had been shared by the Basset
family (fn. 48) and the burgesses of Bedford, had passed
(c. 1499) to Thomas Bassingbourne, who at that
date relinquished his rights to John Cornwallis,
apparently acting in trust for the mayor and burgesses. (fn. 49)
He conveyed it in the same year by fine to Sir
Reginald Bray, the Bishop of Lincoln and others. (fn. 50)
It was retained by the former, (fn. 51) and is supposed to
have been granted to him by the burgesses for his
good offices in getting their fee-farm rent reduced. (fn. 52)
In 1518 John Pitts, then master of the hospital,
obtained the grant of a fair to be held there yearly
on the eve and feast of St. Leonard (5 and 6
November). (fn. 53) At the Dissolution the value of the
hospital was £20 6s. 4¾d. (fn. 54) In 1575 the site was
granted for twenty-one years at a rental of 100s. to
Richard Senhouse. (fn. 55) It seems that the hospital and
farm of St. Leonard's had been concealed and detained
from the queen and her predecessors for many years. (fn. 56)
The lease to Richard Senhouse did not take effect,
for in 1577 John Farnham received a grant of the
hospital with lands attached. (fn. 57) By 1750 it had
become the property of Edward Woodcock, who at
that date sold it to the Duke of Bedford, (fn. 58) by whose
family it was retained until the 19th century. The
last remnants of the building, which was situated on
the outskirts of the town approached from the south,
were removed on the construction of the London and
North Western Railway. A modern philanthropic
association known as the Hospital of St. Leonard the
Confessor was formed in 1889 to afford relief and
help to needy persons resident in Bedford, preference
being given to those residing in the St. Leonard's
district. (fn. 59)
The Abbess of Elstow owned a property in Bedford,
sometimes known as ALDERMANBURY MANOR.
In 1224 she claimed from Falkes de Breaute, subtenant of Adam the Clerk, 11s. rent from 8 acres of
land in Aldermanbury (fn. 60) in this town, (fn. 61) and in
1291 the value of the abbey lands in Bedford was
£7 6s. 8d. (fn. 62) In 1331 the abbess claimed as her
right from time immemorial view of frankpledge
twice yearly and assize of bread and ale from her
tenants of Aldermanbury in Bedford. (fn. 63) The temporalities of the abbey in Bedford were worth
£4 3s. 2d. at the Dissolution, when they became
Crown property. (fn. 64) One further mention has been
found of this property in 1545, when William Bourne
died seised of a tenement called Abbas held of the
king as of his manor of Aldermanbury in Bedford,
late belonging to Elstow. (fn. 65)
Elstow Abbey claimed by grant from Malcolm
King of Scotland (1153–65) the third penny of his
rent in the town of Bedford. (fn. 66) This grant of
Malcolm to the abbess is quoted in charters of
St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton, together with
its confirmation by King William (1165–1214) his
brother and heir. (fn. 67) Malcolm held the honour of
Huntingdon, from whose holders Elstow Abbey had
derived most of its possessions, and much of whose
property lay in the immediate neighbourhood of
Bedford. In spite of the abbess' claim it does not
appear certain, however, that he ever had any connexion with the borough itself, as she implied. (fn. 68)
In 1336 Elizabeth Morteyn, who was then Abbess
of Elstow, petitioned before the king in Parliament
that the Mayor and bailiffs of Bedford had detained
the rent granted to her by Malcolm 'sometime King
of Scotland and lord of the town of Bedford'. (fn. 69)
The king on her representation sent his writ to the
treasurer and barons of the Exchequer that they
should call upon the mayor and bailiffs to prove
their claim. The abbess showed no confirmation
from the king's ancestors, nor was it found in the
records of the Exchequer that Malcolm was ever lord
of Bedford. The mayor and bailiffs further declared
that the abbess could not recover in the Exchequer
a free tenement or anything that gave inheritance
unless it was recorded on the Exchequer Rolls, and
that she ought to sue by common law. (fn. 70) The case
appears to have dragged on, and in 1339 the abbess
is again found petitioning the king to provide a
remedy, who thereupon ordered the treasurer and
barons of the Exchequer to hear once more the plaint
of the abbess, to examine the mayor and bailiffs upon
the detention of the rent 'and to cause speedy justice
to be done.' (fn. 71) The ultimate issue of the case does
not appear, and no further claim of the abbess to
this rent has been found.
In the 13th century the Prior of St. John of
Jerusalem had view of frankpledge attached to his
BEDFORD MANOR. (fn. 72) He claimed full manorial
privileges here in 1330, (fn. 73) and his interest was granted
in 1540 to Sir Richard Long as attached to the
preceptory of Shingay. (fn. 74) It henceforward follows
the same descent as Steppingley and Eversholt
Manors, also attached to the preceptory (q.v.),
mention being found of it in 1649, (fn. 75) and again in
1769, when, like these manors, it was the property
of Lord Sandys. (fn. 76)
The Prior of Newnham claimed view of frankpledge in Bedford in 1287, saying that he had
not the whole vill, but ten tithingmen there. (fn. 77)
In 1317 the priory received an inspeximus and
confirmation of two charters of Henry II and
earlier, one granting the canons regular of St. Paul's
all the liberties which the burgesses of Bedford had,
and a later one which confirmed to the canons of
Newnham the tithes of Bedford Castle Mill. (fn. 78) The
priory continued to acquire small pieces of land in
the town during the 14th and 15th centuries, (fn. 79) and
c. 1363–9 (during the mayoralty of William Kempston)
obtained freedom from suit at the borough courts. (fn. 80)
In 1385 the prior received a grant of free warren
in all his demesne lands which extended into Bedford. (fn. 81)
At the dissolution of the priory the temporalities in
Bedford were worth £26 12s. 11d., (fn. 82) and were
granted in 1541 to Urian Brereton and his wife
Joan, widow of Edmund Lord Braye. (fn. 83) A grant
occurs to Henry Best in 1601 of various plots of
land in Bedford specified as having lately belonged to
Newnham. (fn. 84) Early in the 12th century Miles de
Beauchamp, with the consent of Payn his heir,
granted Bedford Mill to Bermondsey Priory. (fn. 85) In
1225 they appear to have let it to the Knights
Hospitallers, who sublet to Falkes de Breauté at a
yearly rent of 60s. (fn. 86) No trace of this mill, which
formerly stood on the south bank of the river, now
exists.
The abbey of Warden held property in Bedford,
principally in the parish of St. Peter Merton, in the
north-east of the town, (fn. 87) and probably granted by the
Beauchamps, who were benefactors of the house. At
the time of the great siege of Bedford Castle, in 1224,
the abbot claimed and obtained an annual grant of
20 marks in compensation for damage sustained to his
property in Bedford. (fn. 88) This pension was claimed
more than a hundred years later. (fn. 89) In 1535 this
property included a tenement thatched and tiled, a
stable and 'pickell,' a corner garden containing two
days' work—all in St. Peter's parish—and land in
Potter Street, in St. Mary's parish. (fn. 90)
The other religious houses who owned interests in
this town may be summarized as follows: Bushmead
received land from Simon de la Leye, confirmed in
1230 by his brother William (fn. 91) ; this land was
granted to Sir William Gascoigne at the Dissolution. (fn. 92)
Chicksands owned land, valued at £4, in the 13th
century. (fn. 93) Harrold Priory had a tenement in the
town, leased to John Risely in 1451. (fn. 94) Pipewell and
Woburn also owned small properties in the 13th
century, which still existed at the Dissolution. (fn. 95)