Z937/3

Fielden House and Farm in Pulloxhill, Silsoe and Higham Gobion, and associated land in Kitchin Field

1813-1861

From: 1487 To: 1927

Fielden Farm and Fielden House lie on the flat land south of Wrest Park at the convergence of four parishes: Silsoe, Lower Gravenhurst, Higham Gobion and Barton; and between two brooks which run parallel to each other, west to east. The name Fielden first occurs around 1500. Before then there was a hamlet or vill called La Felde where there was a house grand enough to serve as a meeting-place at which local dignitaries met to sign documents. La Felde had its own field system and may have been one and the same as the Manor of Westhey. The Manors of Westhey and Faldo were settled by an heiress as two parts of a manor in 1389 according to the Victoria County History, so perhaps they were taken from a larger manor when labour was scarce after the Black Death. By 1500, Westhey had been alienated to Isaac Ap Rys and was amalgamated with the Manor of Faldo. Nothing is heard of it after that. The name La Felde also disappears around 1500 and is replaced by the name Fielden. Abutting La Felde or Fielden to the east is another discrete area called Ion in Lower Gravenhurst. Originally this was Eye, later Eyen, now Ion. From ancient field names like The Holmes and Eye fields, both of which mean island or dry ground surrounded by marshes, the first of Norse origin and second old English, and from the name of the Fann brook on the south, meaning fen, it seems La Felde and Eye were settlements on higher ground in a wet area liable to flooding. If La Felde and Westhey are indeed the same place, the Manor House of Westhey - the name means the hedge or enclosed piece of land in the west - seems likely to have been situated at the western edge of Eye and to have controlled the fields to the north and west which link directly with Faldo in the parish of Barton. La Felde lay next to the highway to Gravenhurst which ran halfway between the two brooks and parallel with them, presumably along a ridge of slightly drier ground in the middle of the marshy area. It was known then as the Portway, a link between two markets, although sometimes it was also referred to as the King's Highway. Fielden Farm also lies next to the road whereas Fielden House lies at the end of a track leading southeast out of the road, on the boundary of two parishes. This house was erected after 1830 on a new site, but formerly there had been a building closer to the road and farm. That there is an ancient field with a Norse name is significant. Bedfordshire lay on the boundary of the Danelaw in the 9th century, so while most place-names precede the coming of the Danes and have Anglo-Saxon names, among them are a smattering of Danish names which show that the north men were moving into an area already settled and cultivated by Anglo-Saxons. How friendly the two cultures were or with what level of tolerance the Danes were accepted we don't know, but this is evidence that they were certainly here and were permanently settled enough to name fields. For a schedule of Fielden deeds 1774-1856 see AD 3264; and for deeds relating to Rose Eliza Field's High Court petition of 1875, see AD 3267.

sub-fonds

Fielden House, Fielden, PULLOXHILL, HIGHAM GOBION, SILSOE, Kitchen End