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.

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.

Among the records of the Bedford Archdeaconry deposited at the Bedfordshire County Record Office is a volume (cat. no. ABC 3) containing court proceedings for the archdeaconry in 1578. It contains also on pp. 3-13 and 206-215 the presentments of churchwardens at the archidiaconal visitations in April and October 1578, which are transcribed below.

[p3]

Detecta in Visitatione domini Archidiaconi Bedd’ 8 et 9 Aprilis anno 1578

Felmersham Richard Leache, Robert Rotham, and Thomas Leache have not receaved the Communion at Easter last. William Burye, Thomas Hodsone, Robert Otwaye & his wife for the lyke offence.

Bedford Cutbertes Carent multis necessarijs, vide billam.

Farandiche The chancell & parsonage are in decaye by the parson’s defalt. They have but one sermon this year.

Wooton The chancell is in decaye at the Quene’s defalte. William Borne of Marston detayneth a legacye of iijs iiijd by the yeare for the poore of Wotton. He is behinde for xx yeares.

Turvey Adre Cooper was gotten with childe in Turvey by Thomas Parkins of Hygham.

Patnam [Pavenham] Our chansell is in decaye & redye to faule downe, at the defaute of Trynitye College in Cambridge.

Bletsoo We present our parson for cuttinge tymber of all the parsonage grownds. Our chancell is a little oute of repayre.

Bidnam We doe present that we had no Communion but once this yeare, and that our last churchwardens dyd not make there accompte for the yere, Thomas Wryghte, Bartholomewe Brytten.

[p4]

Chellington Our chancell is in decaye at the parson’s defalte, but the parson hathe begone to mende hit. Our churche wyndowes want glasinge. Our parson hathe ij benefycyes.

Carelton Our cancell is in decaye at our parson’s defalte. Henrye Bytheraye & his wyfe doe lyve asunder, & that our parson hathe ij benefycyes & he is not resydent with us.

Kempstone Joanes A Hewe is suspected to lyve incontynentlye with a wydowe, she is called by the name of Williamsonne’s daughter, as the common fame goeth within the parish.

Bedford Sancti Petri [sic]There is no pulpitte in the littel churche. The x commandments are not on the walles. The chancell & churche are not paved in some places.

Bedford Peters [sic] Rafe Wylson kepte Davys Buckham his wyfe in his howse, he hathe had waminge to put hir awaye & wyll not.

Because of the rarity and importance of early churchwardens’ accounts, the surviving Bedfordshire material was published by the Society in 1953. Elizabethan Churchwardens’ Accounts edited by the Rev. J.E. Farmiloe and Rosita Nixseaman (BHRS Vol. 33) included full transcripts of the accounts for three parishes in the east of the County, namely Clifton 1543, 1589-1608, Northill 1561-1612, and Shillington 1571-1604. The volume also included an analytical introduction.

When these accounts were published in 1953 the existence of the Turvey accounts for 1551-2 was unknown. They survive among the Stopford-Sackville manuscripts at the Northamptonshire Record Office (ref: SS 1808), and consist of three pages tom from an account book. The pages are 12 inches high and were originally about 4½ inches wide. The inclusion of the accounts in this volume completes the publication of the Bedfordshire material of the period before 1600.

Editorial method

The entries are dated 1551-1552 and are written partly in English and partly in Latin, all in a difficult hand. The Latin passages, which have been translated into modem English, are shown in italics. They usually deal with formal matters such as meetings and statements of accounts. The original spelling has been retained for the passages in English, although contracted forms of Christian names have been replaced by the full names in modem spelling.

The accounts

Although they cover an unsettled period in English religious history, these accounts contain little to indicate the prevailing climate of uncertainty and change. There are, however, clues. In addition to the name of Richard Woodford, the Rector, and his churchwardens, the accounts also mention the ‘collectors of the towne rentes’ suggesting that the church was well endowed with property, and in 1551 there is a reference to the ‘wardens of the sepulcre lyght’.

In 1552 there is a payment of two shillings and ten pence ‘in hamyst [earnest] at Bedfforde a Fore the Kinges Jstys [Justice] ffor … chorche goodes the exspenses’ — undoubtedly a reference to the compilation of the Edwardian Inventories of church goods in that year. Sadly the actual return for Turvey has not survived.

In general, however, the accounts deal largely with routine matters such as Visitation expenses, minor repairs to the church, work on the bells, washing the surplice, and purchase of bread and wine for the communion.