TEMPSFORD
Temeseforda, Tamise-forda (x–xi cents.); Tamiseford (xiv cent.); Temys ford (xvi cent.)
Tempsford a parish on the Huntingdon border has
an area of 2,340 acres, of which 1,060 are arable
land, 1,010 permanent grass, and 35 woods and
plantations. (fn. 1) The ground is uniformly level, the
north-western boundary of the parish, which is here
liable to floods, being formed by the River Ouse.
The soil is sand and clay, subsoil clay, and the chief
crops produced are wheat, barley, peas, and beans.
The Great North Road runs through the village of
Tempsford, which is situated in the centre of the
parish at the junction of the road running westwards
from Potton and Everton. A second road a little
further to the north runs westward to the railway
station on the Great Northern line, and on this
road Mossbury manor, now a farm-house, lies on
the left-hand side. The main road continues to the
northern boundary of the parish through a district
chiefly agricultural.
The village is composed of two principal groups of
houses, the first, including the church and rectory, lying
to the south of the grounds of Tempsford Hall, and the
second, known as Langford End, to the north along the
road to Tempsford railway station; neither settlement
has any houses of architectural interest. Tempsford
Hall, now occupied by Sir George Sutherland
Mackenzie, K.C.M.G., C.B., was built in 1898 on
the site of an older house destroyed by fire. The
owner is Lieut.-Colonel Dugald Stewart. There is a
public elementary school built in 1870.
The church stands to the west of the road, with
the rectory close to it on the west. The latter,
though in the main modern, preserves a wing of the
older timber-built house, and a little fifteenth-century
detail, including a wooden shaft and capital in the
present larder; the roof, now hidden by a plaster
ceiling, is said to have carved or moulded timbers. Near
the rectory is the earthwork known as the Gannocks,
about 200 yds. to the south-west, of exceptional
interest as being almost certainly that, or part of that,
made by the Danes in 921, and stormed by King
Edward the Elder in the same year. (fn. 2) The whole
parish, lying in the Ouse valley, is flat, the chief natural
feature being the well-wooded grounds of the hall.
Tempsford was inclosed by Act of Parliament in
1777. (fn. 3) In the sixteenth century there were 240
'houselyng' people in the parish; (fn. 4) at the last census
the population was 434. (fn. 5)
Palaeolithic implements have been found in Tempsford, at a spot where the Great Ouse is joined by the
Ivel. (fn. 6) Tempsford also contains an example of ancient
earthworks in Biggin Wood, a type of early inclosed
homestead. (fn. 7) Among place-names which have been
foundin Tempsford may be mentioned the following:—Pesefurlong, Potteresland, Swarmereslade, examples of
thirteenth-century field-names, (fn. 8) Sernes and Slades
Closes, (fn. 9) Lamcote End, which still exists as the name
of a farm, (fn. 10) Strachyns, le Hellepytte, le Mores, (fn. 11) are
all found in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
The Gannock is also found mentioned in a sixteenthcentury document. (fn. 12)
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains two separate references to Tempsford, one in 921, as already noted, (fn. 13)
and another in 1010, when the Danes are described
as penetrating as far as Tempsford, burning and pillaging as they went. (fn. 14)
Manors
At the time of the Domesday Survey
Eudo Dapifer, son of Hubert, held
TEMPSFORD MANOR, which had
previously belonged to Ulmar of Eaton. Its extent
at that time was 5 hides 2 virgates, of which 4 hides
1 virgate were held by an undertenant, William de
Carun. (fn. 15) On Eudo's death in 1120 the overlordship
of Tempsford manor, which formed part of the
barony of Eaton, escheated to the crown, and was
granted to the Beauchamps of Eaton. (fn. 16)
Ralph de Beauchamp exercised the right of overlordship in 1284, (fn. 17) and the last reference that has been found to the exercise of this right is in 1428,
when Northill College and Robert Scot together held
one fee of this barony. (fn. 18)
William de Carun held this manor of Eudo at
Domesday, (fn. 19) and his direct descendants continued to
hold in Tempsford till well on into the thirteenth
century. Robert de Carun, probably a son, presented
Tempsford Church to St. Neots in 1129, (fn. 20) and in
1130 paid 69s. into the exchequer for lands of his
brother Ralph. (fn. 21)
In 1201 two knights' fees in the county were held
by John de Carun, (fn. 22) who was followed by Walter de
Carun, who was holding here in 1228, (fn. 23) and he in
turn by Robert de Carun, who in 1284 rendered
feudal service for one and a-half knight's fees in Tempsford. (fn. 24) He died before 1297, leaving two daughters
as co-heirs, Agnes wife of Roger de Cantilupe, and
Joanna wife of Miles de Drayton, (fn. 25) who each took a
share of the manor, their holdings being afterwards
known as Tempsford manor and Drayton's manor.
Agnes de Cantilupe was holding Tempsford manor as
late as 1346; (fn. 26) between that date and 1428 it had
passed to the College of Northill in Bedfordshire,
founded at the beginning of the reign of Henry IV, (fn. 27)
and remained in its possession till the Dissolution,
when the temporalities of the college in Tempsford
consisted of 13s. 3½d. rent of
free tenants, and 6s. 8d. by the
bailiff of Tempsford. (fn. 28) In 1550
the manor was granted by Edward VI to William Fitzwilliam, (fn. 29) who three years later
alienated it to Thomas Sheffield, (fn. 30) and he in 1565 transferred it to George Keynsham. (fn. 31)
Keynsham. Party argent and azure three roses countercoloured.
He, at his death in 1593,
left a grandson, George, as
heir, (fn. 32) but his wife Elizabeth, subsequently married to
Francis Gill, held Tempsford till her death in
1605, (fn. 33) when George Keynsham succeeded to the
property. (fn. 34) He became insane in 1639, and the
manor passed to his daughter Anne, then fourteen
years of age. (fn. 35) She married Anthony St. John the
same year, and died in 1700, (fn. 36) and from her the
manor appears to have passed at some time to Henry
Bendish, who held this property at his death in
1753. (fn. 37) He left two daughters as co-heirs, Mary
Berners and Elizabeth Hagar, (fn. 38)
who in 1772 sold the Tempsford property to Sir Gillias
Payne. (fn. 39) His grandson, Sir
Charles Payne, held Tempsford, Drayton and Brayes
manors in 1814, (fn. 40) and in 1830
sold them to William Stuart, (fn. 41)
whose grandson,Lieut.-Colonel
Dugald Stuart, at present owns
this property.
Payne. Gules a fesse between two lions passant argent.
In the late thirteenth century DRAYTON'S MANOR
was separated from Tempsford
manor (q.v.). Miles de Drayton, who rendered feudal
service for his manor in 1316, (fn. 42) was before 1346 succeeded by a son Geoffrey. (fn. 43) By 1428 this manor had
become the possession of Robert Scott, (fn. 44) whose daughter
and heiress, Elizabeth, transferred it to her daughter,
Margaret Sheffield, as appears from an inquisition
taken at her death in 1525. (fn. 45) Thomas Sheffield, in
1565–6, alienated Drayton's manor to George Keynsham, who had at the same time acquired Tempsford
manor (q.v.), and the two manors thus reunited have
not since been separated. (fn. 46)
The origin of a third manor in Tempsford, MOSSBURY alias SARNES, is to be found in the 1 hide
1¾ virgate of land which the bishop of Lincoln
owned in Tempsford at the time of the Domesday
Survey. (fn. 47) There are evidences that the bishop continued to be overlord till 1428, (fn. 48) after which the
right lapsed, and in 1480 it is stated to be held of
the king in chief. (fn. 49) William de Carun held this
property of the bishop in 1086, (fn. 50) and it remained
with the de Caruns until 1228, when Walter de
Carun alienated it to John de Loring, (fn. 51) who in 1231
transferred this land to Nicholas de Cernes, from
whom the manor derives its distinctive name, (fn. 52) and
in 1284 one of the same name was holding half a fee
in Tempsford of the bishop of Lincoln. (fn. 53) In 1297
Nicholas conveyed property in Tempsford to the
abbot of St. Mary's, Stratford, (fn. 54) who retained possession of it till 1332, when the abbot obtained a
licence to grant to John Morice and his wife Agnes
the land which he possessed in Tempsford, (fn. 55) and
accordingly in 1346 John Morice is to be found
holding the fee of the bishop. (fn. 56) Between this date
and 1428 the manor passed to Thomas Fulthorp,
though the method of transference has not been
ascertained. (fn. 57) His grandson, John Dale, (fn. 58) died seised
of this manor in 1480, (fn. 59) and his son, William Dale,
left the property in 1537 to a daughter, Joan, married
to William Woolascote, (fn. 60) and their son, William
Woolascote, in 1596 alienated Mossbury or Sarnes
manor to Laurence Saunderson, (fn. 61) whose grandson
John held it in 1669. (fn. 62) His sister Anne, widow of
Robert Hasleden in 1683 conveyed the manor to
John Wilshire and other trustees. (fn. 63) Very little further
has been found concerning this manor; in 1737
Barwell Colling owned it, (fn. 64) and in 1803 William
Colling Cumming, with others, transferred it to
Godfrey Thornton. (fn. 65) At the present day a farm of
the same name exists in Tempsford.
In the two hides which Richard Pungiant held in
Tempsford of the king (fn. 66) is to be found the origin of
a fourth manor, BRAYES, in this parish. This
manor was held in 1324 of the prior of Wallingford
by service of 40s. yearly, (fn. 67) but no further mention has
been found of any overlordship.
It has not been found possible to connect Richard
Pungiant, the Domesday holder, and those who followed him, but the early history of Brayes manor is
given in the evidence brought forward by Hugh de
Bray to support his claim to a view of frankpledge
within the manor in the fourteenth century. He
says it was formerly in the possession of William de
Bretville, who enfeoffed a certain John Blundell. (fn. 68)
The Bretvilles certainly owned lands in Tempsford;
at the beginning of the thirteenth century Geoffrey
Bretville alienated land there to John Thurald, (fn. 69) and
again in 1240 Walter de Carun recognized his right
to 12 virgates of land in Tempsford. (fn. 70)
Between 1240 and 1268 what afterwards became
Brayes manor passed to the Blundells, (fn. 71) whose tenure
appears to have been very brief, for in the latter year
Roger de la Leye acquired from Richard Blundell
his messuage and a carucate of land in Tempsford. (fn. 72)
His grandnephew, Roger de la Leye, held this
land at his death in 1324, (fn. 73) and according to the
evidence of Hugh de Bray he left a daughter Ada,
by marriage with whom Hugh acquired possession. (fn. 74)
He appears to have been in money difficulties, for in
1331 he acknowledged that he owed £100 to a
London merchant, and that distraint should be made,
in default of payment, on his lands and chattels in
Tempsford. (fn. 75) This may account for the alienation
of the manor, whose history is difficult to follow at
this point.
It would appear that like Drayton's manor (q.v.)
it came into the possession of Robert Scot in the
early fifteenth century, for his granddaughter, Margaret Sheffield, was in possession of it at her death in
1525. (fn. 76) In 1559 John Colbeck and Bridget his
wife, who was possibly a Sheffield, transferred the
manor to John Fuller, (fn. 77) who in his turn sold it to
George Keynsham in 1565, (fn. 78) and it thus became
joined to and followed the same descent as Tempsford
and Drayton's manors (q.v.). (fn. 79)
The prior of St. Neots acquired considerable grants
of land in Tempsford during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1129, when Robert de Carun
presented Tempsford Church to the priory he also
granted 1 virgate 3 acres; the gift was confirmed
later by Walter de Carun, and other small grants
made by the de Bretvilles. (fn. 80) The priory held this
land of the barony of Eaton by service of one-fifth of
a knight's fee, (fn. 81) and in 1287 claimed view of frankpledge in Tempsford, (fn. 82) apparently as appurtenant to
his manor of Crendon (Buckinghamshire), for Tempsford is so described in 1535 when the prior's rents
from customary tenants were worth £6 6s. 3d. (fn. 83)
This view of frankpledge appears to have remained
attached to Crendon till 1573, when Lord Buckhurst
resigned it to George Keynsham. (fn. 84)
In 1086 Alwin, a bailiff, held 1 hide ¼ virgate
of the land of the reeves and almsmen of the
king, but no further trace of this holding has been
found. (fn. 85)
When the Survey was made in 1086 Tempsford
had four mills. Of these two were the possession of
Eudo, son of Hubert, and were worth 10s. and 12s.
respectively. (fn. 86) The latter was held by William de
Carun, and in 1218 Amice de Carun recovered possession of it after temporary alienation during the
civil war. (fn. 87) These mills appear to have remained
appurtenant to Tempsford manor, and are given as
part of its extent in 1814. (fn. 88) The other two mills,
which were worth 40s. and 120 eels, were held by
William de Carun of the bishop of Lincoln, (fn. 89) and
remained attached to the manor of Mossbury or
Sarnes (q.v.) till the sixteenth century. Thomas de
Cernes made a temporary grant of the mills to Thomas
Esperun in the thirteenth century, (fn. 90) and in 1289
Nicholas de Cernes alienated them to the abbot of
St. Mary, Stratford, (fn. 91) who in 1297 made good his
claim against Roger de Cantilupe and Miles de Drayton. (fn. 92) In 1537 William Dale, lord of Mossbury
manor, settled a water-mill on his daughter Anne,
wife of Alexander Fettiplace, (fn. 93) and in 1613 Sir
Edmund Fettiplace died seised of 'two watermills
under one roof in Tempsford,' held of the king as of
his manor of Biggleswade, by fealty and suit of
court. (fn. 94)
The right of free fishery in the Ouse was also
attached to Mossbury manor. It was owned by
Nicholas de Cernes, (fn. 95) and is mentioned as appurtenant
to this manor in 1596. (fn. 96) John Morice also received
a charter of free warren in this manor in 1342. (fn. 97) In
1593 a free fishery is mentioned as belonging to
Tempsford manor. (fn. 98)
TINGEYS HOUSE, which gives its name to a farm
at the present day, probably dates from 1535, when
Henry Tingey was bailiff of the manor in Tempsford
which Northill College held. (fn. 99) By 1565 this capital
messuage had been transferred by William Tingey to
John Fuller, (fn. 100) who in that year transferred it to
George Keynsham, (fn. 101) whose wife held it at her death
in 1605, together with the manor of Tempsford, in
which it appears to be henceforth merged. (fn. 102)
Church
The church of ST. PETER has a
chancel 26 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in., and a
nave 49 ft. by 22 ft. 8 in. with north
and south aisles and porches, the total internal width
being 45 ft. 2 in. The western tower measures
9 ft. 8 in. by 8 ft. within the walls. There is apparently no work of an earlier date than the middle
of the fourteenth century, to which period the main
structure belongs, nor is there any definite evidence of
the earlier church from which the present building
has developed. Considerable repairs were made in
1621, especially in the south-west part of the church
and the tower, and the whole building was 'thoroughly
restored' in 1874. Records of the former repairs are
preserved on two stone tablets, one in the west wall of
the tower, on the inside, and the other at the southwest angle of the clearstory, outside. The former gives
the names of the 'overseers of the new work and
patentyes of his Majesty's letters patent granted for the
same, May xii, 1621,' while the latter records the gift
of 2s. 6d. to the work. On the south clearstory is the
date 1621.
The chancel has no features earlier than the fifteenth
century, though its walls may be older. The east window of four lights is of late fifteenth-century style, and
the south-east window, of three lights, is probably of
the same date. The north-east bay is blank, having
been masked by a north-east vestry, the entrance door
to which, and the arched head of a recess in its south
wall, like that at Sutton church, are still to be seen
on the outside. In the western bay of the chancel
are three-light north and south windows of poor style,
which are probably fifteenth-century work remodelled
in the seventeenth century. At the south-east are the
remains of sedilia and a piscina of which the basin and
drain are old, but the trefoiled head is apparently a
re-used piece of fourteenth-century window tracery,
since it is worked on both sides and has a glass-groove.
The nave with its aisles and the west tower are all of
fourteenth-century work, but have been much repaired,
the two western arches of the south arcade and the
south jamb of the tower arch, together with the whole
of the clearstory, having been rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The chancel arch is fourteenth-century work, but has been much restored and the jambs
cemented over.
The nave arcades are of four bays, with octagonal
pillars, moulded capitals and bases, and arches of two
chamfered orders. They are worked in Totternhoe
stone, the seventeenth-century repairs being in an
oolite of good quality, with details designed to harmonize with the older work, and very good of their
kind, the capitals showing a very interesting attempt
at Gothic feeling. The masons' marks on this work
are worth noting. The aisles have lost most of their
original details, but their east windows are exceptionally good specimens of mid-fourteenth-century tracery,
each of two lights, while at the west end of the north
aisle is a lozenge-shaped window with tracery, which
though now in modern stone, is a copy of a fourteenthcentury original, and notable for its unusual shape.
The remaining windows in the aisles are of late
Gothic type, and their stonework has been almost
entirely renewed.
At the north-east end of the nave the upper and
lower entrances to the rood-loft stairs remain, and at
the south-east is a blocked squint. In the east wall of
the north aisle is a fourteenth-century image bracket,
and on either side of the east window of the south
aisle are contemporary canopied niches for the same
purpose. The tower, the oldest parts of which seem
to be contemporary with the nave, has an eastern arch
with half-octagonal responds of which the northern
respond is original, and the southern belongs to the
repairs of 1621. The west window in the ground
stage is modern, and there are traces of the former
existence of a west doorway below it.
Externally the masonry of the nave and aisles is
chiefly modern, the south porch having been rebuilt in
1621, while most of the facing is due to nineteenthcentury repairs.
The font, which stands under the tower, is of plain
fourteenth-century work, and the wooden fittings of
the church are nearly all modern. The exceptions
are the base of a fifteenth-century screen at the west
of the chancel, and an octagonal pulpit with traceried
panels, a pretty specimen of fifteenth-century work in
good preservation. At the wall plate of the nave roof
is a line of egg and tongue ornament, evidently a relic
of the roof of 1621.
At the east end of the north aisle is an iron-bound
wooden chest 6 ft. 8 in. long. At the south-east of
the north aisle is part of a fifteenth-century painting
of the martyrdom of St. Katherine; the figure of the
saint, almost obliterated, stands between two large
toothed wheels, and in the foreground lie the dead
bodies of the philosophers converted by her arguments,
and martyred for their newly-adopted faith. (fn. 102a)
There are five bells, the treble and third by Miles
Graye of Colchester, 1656, the second by Chandler of
Drayton Parslow, 1703, the fourth by Newcombe of
Bedford, 1614, and the tenor of 1829, by Mears.
The plate consists of a communion cup and cover
paten of 1660, the former inscribed 'O Lamb of
God be with us,' and the latter 'Lord, evermore
give us this bread,' and on the cup a crucifix is
engraved. There is also a modern plated flagon and
an almsdish.
There are several gaps in the registers. The first
book contains all entries 1604–31, the second the
same 1653–65, and the third runs from 1691 to 1698.
The fourth carries on the entries to 1736, and the
fifth contains baptisms and burials 1743–1812, and
marriages 1745–53. The sixth book contains banns
and marriages 1754–1812.
An interesting set of overseers' accounts for 1647–94 is preserved, though in a damaged condition.
Advowson
The first mention that has been
found of the church of Tempsford is
the grant of it in 1129 to the priory
and convent of St. Neots by Robert de Carun on the
occasion of his grandson, Anselm, taking monastic vows
there. (fn. 103) In 1291 Tempsford church was worth £8, (fn. 104)
and in 1389 the right of presentation was in the king's
hands on account of the war with France, when
St. Neots, as an alien priory, became sequestrated. (fn. 105)
At the Dissolution the living, which is a rectory, worth
at that time £28 17s. 2d., (fn. 106) fell to the crown, which has
made occasional grants; thus in 1680 Henry Coventry
received the next right of presentation to Tempsford, (fn. 107)
and in 1686 James Halsal was presenting. (fn. 108) Except
for such grants the advowson has remained with the
crown. (fn. 109)
Tempsford chantry was founded within the parish
church of Tempsford by Sir John Milton and Thomas
Bowles to put in a priest to pray for their souls. (fn. 110)
The lands with which it was endowed lay in Tempsford, Everton and Sandy, and were worth at the Dissolution £5 6s. 8d. at which time the chantry was said
to have fallen into decay. (fn. 111) In 1550 this chantry
with the lands and tenements attached was leased to
Richard Hacklete for twenty-one years at a rent of
£6 11s. 2½d., (fn. 112) and in 1606 it was sold by James I
to Richard Cartwright for £175. (fn. 113)
Tempsford has a Wesleyan chapel built in 1804.
Charities
This parish is possessed of 4 acres
of grass land known as the Poor's Land,
allotted on the inclosure in the parish
in lieu of other lands in the open fields belonging to
the poor. It is let at £7 a year which is applied in
the distribution of 4-lb. loaves of bread to about eighty
families.
Unknown Donors' Charities. An annual payment of
£1 is made to the rector for preaching a sermon, and
5s. a year is distributed in bread. These charges are
upon a close of land in the parish of Cardington and
are regularly paid.
In 1847 Luke Addington by his will left £300 to
be invested and income applied in the distribution of
money for the benefit of sick and needy persons in the
parish. The legacy is represented by £327 8s. 5d.
consols with the official trustees.
In 1878 John Jeffries by his will left £200 to be
invested and dividends paid to the minister of the
Baptist chapel.