THE HUNDRED OF FLITT
Containing the parishes of Barton; Caddington (Part of); Clophill; Flitton Cum Silsoe; Upper Gravenhurst; Lower Gravenhurst; Haynes;
Higham Gobion; Luton, With East And West Hyde, Stopsley, Limbury Cum Biscott, And Leagrave; Pulloxhill; Streatley With Sharpenhoe; Sundon (fn. 1)
At the time of the Domesday Survey Flitt Hundred was assessed at
98 hides 12/3 virgates, and included all the places mentioned above with the
exception of Luton, 30 hides in extent, which was royal property. (fn. 2) The
greater part of Caddington, 10 hides in amount, was then included in Hertfordshire, while only five lay in Bedfordshire, but since 1897 the Hertfordshire
portion has been transferred to Bedfordshire, (fn. 3) although for ecclesiastical purposes the parish is still divided between the two counties. Flitton cum Silsoe
has been separated into two parishes since 1831, and Upper and Lower
Gravenhurst were united in 1888. (fn. 4)
The hundred of Flitt followed to a certain extent the same descent as
that of the manor of Luton, and it was held of the king in chief for the
service of 60s. a year. In 1086 it was apparently attached to the manor of
Luton, and was granted with it in 1229 to William Marshal, earl of
Pembroke, on his marriage with the king's sister Eleanor, as her dower, but
subjected to the yearly rent of 60s. (fn. 5) On the latter's death in 1274 the
hundred passed to Isabel, wife of Reginald de Mohun, a daughter of Isabel
de Clare, who was one of the co-heirs of the earl of Pembroke. (fn. 6) On the
death of William de Mohun, their son, in 1282, the hundred was worth
£10, and was inherited by his younger daughter Mary, wife of John de Meriet,
after the death of her brother Reginald without issue. (fn. 7) Mary died childless, and
on the death of her husband in 1327 the hundred was divided among her coheirs, (fn. 8) descendants of the daughters of Isabel de Clare, John de Bohun, John de
Mohun, and Hugh de Mortimer, each of whom received a quarter, while the
remaining quarter was divided between the other heirs, Henry Fitz Piers and
John de Beauchamp. (fn. 9) By a series of settlements extending over twenty
years, (fn. 10) Hugh de Mortimer acquired the whole hundred and died seised of it
in 1372, (fn. 11) when it passed to his grandson William, an idiot, who died in
1391, leaving as his heir his brother Hugh, (fn. 12) who married Petronilla and
died childless. On the latter's death in 1422 the hundred passed to John
Cressy as cousin and heir of Hugh. (fn. 13) It then followed a similar
descent to that of the manor of Luton, passing from the family of Cressy to
the Wenlocks and afterwards to the Rotherhams;
in 1612 it was sold by
the Rotherhams to Lewis
and Edward Marbury for
£700, a preliminary step
to alienating it to Richard
and Robert Napier. The
Marburys were ordered to
appear in court but failed
to put in an appearance,
and the hundred was taken
into the king's hand, but
was finally restored to the
Napiers in 1618. (fn. 14) It remained, with the manor
of Luton, in the Napier
family, passing from them
to Francis Herne, a relative, who in 1764 alienated it to the earl of Bute; (fn. 15)
the latter was holding the
hundred in 1815, when
the annual payment of 60s.
was still made, (fn. 16) but after
this date all rights in it
seem to have lapsed.
Index Map to the Hundred of Flitt
In 1297 the hundred
paid £38 15s. 4½d. towards a general subsidy, (fn. 17)
while its contribution towards a general assessment had increased to
£71 1s. 8¼d. in 1597; (fn. 18)
in 1645 the amount rose
further to £80 12s. (fn. 19)
Luton, as royal demesne, is not mentioned as situated in any hundred at the
time of the Domesday Survey, but from the thirteenth century onwards,
together with its hamlets of East and West Hyde, Limbury cum Biscott, and
Stopsley, it formed a soke. (fn. 20) The hundred of Flitt, to which Luton would
have owed suit, having become attached to the manor before 1229, this union
of the manor and the hundred by its consequent merging of rights probably
arrested the development of the soke along independent lines. In 1297, on
the occasion of the levying of a ninth, Luton was assessed separately from the
hundred; (fn. 21) whilst a taxation of 1523 gives the hamlets—whilst omitting
Luton—as within the hundred. Subsequent to this latter date Luton is
found as within the hundred of Flitt. (fn. 22)
The courts of the hundred were held every three years alternately at
Silsoe and Luton, and up to a date as recent as fifty years ago the bailiff
of the manor of Luton once a year fired a gun in front of the mansion of
Wrest Park, Silsoe. This was done in assertion of some right claimed in
respect of the hundred, and it was the custom for the bailiff to be invited
into the house for refreshment. (fn. 23)
The parish of Shillington, which is situated partly in this hundred and
partly in that of Clifton, will be found under the latter hundred.