In 1800 George III appointed a Commission to consider The State of the Public Records of this Kingdom, and the Necessity of providing for the better Arrangement, Preservation, and more convenient Use of the same’. These records were ‘in many Offices unarranged, undescribed, and unascertained’, and were also exposed to the dangers of ‘Erasure, Alteration, and Embezzlement’ and destruction by damp or fire.

In 1812 this Commission printed and published a transcript of the Hundred Rolls of 1274, containing the evidence obtained by an Inquisition set up by Edward I in that year. The reasons for the inquisition are given in the introduction to the published volume as follows:

‘During the turbulent Reign of King Henry the 3rd, the revenues of the Crown had been considerably diminished by Tenants in Capite alienating without Licence; and by Ecclesiastics, as well as Laymen, withholding from the Crown under various Pretexts its just Rights, and usurping the Right of holding Courts and other Jura Regalia. Numerous Exactions and Oppressions of the People had also been committed in this Reign, by the Nobility and Gentry claiming the Rights of free Chace, free Warren, and Fishery, and demanding unreasonable Tolls in Fairs and Markets; and again, by Sheriffs, Escheators, and other Officers and Ministers of the Crown, under Colour of Law.’

A second inquisition of 1279, with slightly different terms of reference, was printed in 1818. The 1274 Inquisition deals with the whole county; what survives of the 1279 Inquisition deals in considerably more detail with the Hundreds of Stodden (with Bucklow) and Willey in the north-west comer of the county.

The texts were printed in ‘record type’, which reproduces the original Latin manuscript, with special type for the conventional abbreviations. Today very few general readers can translate such a text, and so the English version below has been produced for the use of present-day local historians. The volumes and the pages relating to Bedfordshire are:

In the translation, some freedom has been allowed when the meaning is quite clear, but when this is in any doubt, the original Latin has been followed as closely as possible.

The study of the economic position of the beneficed clergy in the early sixteenth century is hindered by the scarcity of surviving accounts. Assessments for taxation, such as the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535, can tell us a great deal about the comparative values of benefices but they provide little detail about the sources of revenue, the means by which that revenue was collected, or the various items of expenditure which had to be met out of the incumbent’s income. In his survey of medieval clerical accounts, Mr Heath described six documents, ranging in date from 1414 to 1520. The three Blunham accounts printed here, dated 1520, 1534 and 1538-9, bear many similarities to those discussed by Mr Heath and they provide valuable evidence for a study of the finances of a comparatively wealthy benefice during the Reformation period.

They were among the archives of the Grey family of Wrest Park deposited at the Bedfordshire County Record Office by the Rt Hon the Lady Lucas, and have the catalogue numbers L 26/232, L 254 and L 26/1407.

The rectory of Blunham was one of the wealthiest livings in Bedfordshire. At the time of the Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV of 1291, it was one of the ten most valuable benefices in the archdeaconry of Bedford; its assessment of £20 annual value was exceeded only by the rectories of Felmersham and Shillington. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 assessed Blunham at £46 13s 4d, a valuation exceeded in Bedfordshire only by the rectory of Shillington.

The rector of Blunham during the period covered by these three accounts was Master William Wittur. An Oxford graduate, he had by 1514 attained the degree of Doctor of Canon Law. He was instituted to the rectory of Blunham in March 1514, on the presentation of Henry Grey esquire, and held the living until his death in 1542. It would seem unlikely, however, that Wittur was responsible for the compilation of these three accounts. The 1520 document records the receipt of tithes and offerings by John Cawt, the parochial chaplain or, as he described himself, ‘gubemator animarum’. The account for 1534 was clearly drawn up by the bailiff of Sir Henry Grey of Wrest, the patron of the living, and the same would appear to be true of the 1538-9 account.

HARLINGTON

The present church is essentially of the early to mid C14th, with the nave and aisles apparently earlier than the chancel. Both are in the Decorated style. Documentary evidence indicates that there was a chapel or church here in the period 1174-1181.

Recent excavations have disclosed the foundations of a buttress at the east end of the chancel which may have belonged to the earlier church. Later additions to the fabric include the Cl5th west tower and south porch and the vestry of c.1500 on the north side of the chancel. In the early Cl6th, the walls of the aisles were heightened and the body of the church re-roofed in its present form. The Edwardian inventory of 1552 noted “the churche and porche leaded and the chaunsell tyled and the stepull tyled”.

Early stained glass in the easternmost window of the north wall of the north aisle in memory of members of the Wingate family was recorded in a drawing of 1634. Chancel repairs for Lady Wentworth are recorded in accounts of 1696-7. Repairs by the parish are documented in the churchwardens’ accounts which survive in a single volume from 1677 to 1918. Dated lead of 1774 recorded at the time of its removal related to roof repairs by John Carte of Ampthill in that year. Extensive repairs costing over £150 were undertaken in 1825-6. The organ - an early instance in a country church - is first mentioned in 1825. The church interior was described by Boissier in 1827 as “snug and comfortable”. He also noted “the east window filled with Modern stained glass”.

The church is said to have undergone a thorough restoration in 1867. The tower was repaired in 1869 by George Muckleston at a cost of £35. Two new stained glass windows by Powell of Whitefriars were installed, the east window in 1876 and the east window of the north aisle in 1885. The chancel roof, of crown-post type, was repaired in 1886 and the open rafters decorated in light blue studded with stars. Archdeacon Bathurst commented on the state of the church and recorded repairs to the nave roof and re-roofing of the vestry in 1888. In 1892 the south porch was restored at the expense of the patron, Major Cooper Cooper, who also had the ancient sundial repaired.

The Bedfordshire Churches series

This is the second in a series of three volumes covering Bedfordshire churches in the nineteenth century. It contains descriptions of churches “on the eve of restoration” together with contemporary illustrations. It deals with parishes from Harlington to Roxton.

In addition to the analytical index to all three parts, the third volume (due for publication as Vol.79 in 2000) will also contain:

• 1. Information on new churches and churches in the present county otherwise excluded from the survey

• 2. An appendix summarising the main stages of Cl9th restoration for each church

• 3. Addenda and Corrigenda for Parts I and II (none will be given in part II)

The sources

For each church, there are extracts from original records amplified by a commentary and explanatory footnotes. The main source material consists of:

• 1. Extracts from church inventories - mainly 1822

• 2. Antiquarian notes on churches by Archdeacon Bonney, c.1840

• 3. Archdeacon Bonney's visitation notebooks 1823-1839

• 4. Articles on churches by W.A. (John Martin, the librarian at Woburn Abbey) 1845-1854

• 5. Church descriptions by Sir Stephen Glynne 1830-1870

These sources are described in greater detail in the first volume in the series, BHRS Vol.73 (1994) pp.1-25

The text of the contemporary sources is presented in its original form, to convey a feeling for the times as well as to provide information. Most of the sources could have been condensed by editing but the Society's Editorial Group felt that they should nevertheless be published in extenso.

The commentary and footnotes

The introductory commentary for each church includes a brief history of the building, with special reference to eighteenth and nineteenth century restoration and alterations. Detailed footnotes explain and amplify features mentioned in the text.

The illustrations are drawn chiefly from the Record Office collection. They include early watercolours and photographs of the churches as they appeared - sometimes in advanced stages of neglect and decay - before the arrival of the Victorian restorers. Where they exist, pre-restoration interior views have been used.

The background research for the commentaries and footnotes has involved investigation of a wide range of sources.

This account roll [BCRO cat. no. BS 1175] contains accounts for the manor and grange of Higham Gobion, and also accounts dealing with Streatley, for the years 1379-1382. It was deposited at the Bedfordshire County Record Office in March 1940 by the London solicitors, Messrs Farrer & Co., as part of an archive of about 110 deeds and documents relating to Higham Gobion manor and rectory and Streatley manor dating from 1379 to 1595.

The parish of Higham Gobion originally lay in three detached parts, of which the largest, containing the church, the present manor farm house, and the old rectory house, was bounded south and west by Barton in the Clay, north by Silsoe and Gravenhurst, and east by Shillington and by Hexton in Hertfordshire. To the west lay two smaller areas: the first, containing the site of a deserted hamlet, and also Faldo Farm, presumably the site of the manor of Westhey and Faldo, is bounded south and east by Barton, west by Pulloxhill and north by Silsoe; further west is the second detached area, containing Higham Bury, and bounded north-west by Flitton, south-west by Westoning, south by Harlington and east by Pulloxhill. This contained also Gubbins (for Gobions) Wood.

The manor of Higham was by 1158 in the hands of the Gobion family, from whom the parish derives its name. This family had acquired also by 1158 the nearby manor of Streatley with Sharpenhoe. Richard Gobion died in 1300, and his heirs were his two daughters of whom Hawisa, the elder, was the wife of Ralph Butler, and to her and her descendants came these two main manors. Ralph Butler died in 1342 leaving a son, Sir John Butler, but it would appear that both Higham Gobion and Streatley with Sharpenhoe continued in the hands of Hawisa until her death in 1360. By then the son, Sir John, had predeceased her, as had Sir John’s own elder son, Ralph, and so the two manors came to a second grandson, Ralph’s younger brother, Sir Edward. Sir Edward eventually died without issue in 1412, and it was, therefore, for Sir Edward Butler that these accounts were made.

Provenance

This collection of records of proceedings of the court of the manor of Eggington was deposited at Bedfordshire Record Office in November 1963 by Messrs. Lovel Smeathman & Son of Hemel Hempstead who had acted as stewards for the manor. It comprises sixteen parchment membranes numbered X310/1/1-16 and containing a record of 32 courts dated from 1297 to 1572. The membranes have been numbered 1 to 16 and stitched together at the head, but this has been done since their deposit at Bedford. In addition, four paper documents numbered X310/2-6, which are draft records of the court proceedings entered on the membranes numbered 12,14,15 and 16, have been used in connection with the translation and interpretation of the records of the relevant courts.

At one time the collection was definitely associated with papers forming part of the collection of the solicitors Messrs. E. T. Ray of Leighton Buzzard (RY at the Bedfordshire Record Office). The Ray papers (RY 2-99), which include some 17th century extracts made from the rolls, constitute a corpus of material relating largely to the title and administration of the Eggington manorial land, inter alia, in the 17th and 18th centuries. A schedule in the collection lists Court Rolls of the manor of ‘Egginton’ up to 1728 but no ‘roll’ later than 1630 exists in the Ray papers and those brief court records extant from 1578 to 1630 consist of seven small parchment documents forming part of an original file of steward’s papers. Paper drafts of 19 courts held up until 1860, however, exist in the Lovel Smeathman deposit (being catalogued as X310/2-23) along with a sizeable set of rentals of quit rents from 1540/1 up to 1859 (X310/26-48). It may be, on the basis of the evidence of the rolls written up from the paper drafts discussed below, that fair copies were never written up from the drafts after 1572.

Eggington is a small village in the south-west comer of Bedfordshire, near Leighton Buzzard and the Buckinghamshire border. Formerly a hamlet in the ancient parish of Leighton its population in 1801 was 206 and an estimated figure for the late 17th century, based on the Hearth Tax returns, is 115. The earliest reference to the history of the manor of Eggington in the Victoria County History (V.C.H.) dates back only to 1518 when it is recorded as having been in the possession of William Man, which agrees with court 14a in this collection.

First, I must apologise to subscribers who expected this volume to appear in 1997. Owing to pressure of work I was unable to produce the text in time, but thanks to the backing of the County Council I was given time to complete the project. I am especially grateful for this privilege, and for the support of my colleagues who ably looked after the Record Office and considerately protected me from interruptions while I was working on this book.

Thanks are due to the authorities and owners who have allowed the publication of their material. The 1822 glebe terriers are published here by kind permission of Lincoln Diocesan Record Office. Archdeacon Bonney's church notes were among the manuscripts transferred to the County Record Office from the old Bedford Library, while Bonney's visitation notes appear by kind permission of the present Archdeacon of Bedford, the Ven. Malcolm Lesiter. Sir Stephen Glynne's Bedfordshire church notes are published by kind permission of Sir William Gladstone. Thanks are also due to Geoffrey Veysey for providing information on the notes and for allowing me to quote from his article about Sir Stephen Glynne. The sources of illustrations are acknowledged separately.

Material for this volume has been gathered from several record repositories and institutions. My first debt of gratitude is to my colleagues in the Bedfordshire Record Office, but I must also thank the staff at the British Library, the British Newspaper Library, the library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Bedfordshire County Library Service, Lambeth Palace Library, Cambridge University Library, Lincolnshire Archives, and the Hertfordshire County Record Office for their help and advice.

Although acknowledged in the first part, special thanks are due to Pauline Newbery who typed most of the text of the original sources and to Neil Alston who prepared the initial selection of illustrations. To these names must be added that of Jackie Croot who has worked carefully through the newspaper files extracting useful references to churches and chapels. Her work has added enormously to the available information, making it possible to solve many problems of interpretation for which answers would otherwise have been impossible to find.

I owe a great deal to the support and contributions of people who have accompanied me on my visits and to the many local experts who have made their knowledge of individual churches available to me and commented on the draft text.