KK

Kroyer-Kielberg Muniments.

c14th-1896

From: 1350 To: 1896

Deposited May 1947 (further deposit September 1948) by Sir Michael Kroyer-Kielberg.

For notes on the manorial descent, prebendal estate and manorial documents see series KK1-84, KK85-104 and subfonds KK619-847 respectively. The 11 medieval deeds (KK139-49) relate to local tradesmen, and illustrate the use made of feoffees by all classes in the late 15th century. For John Esgore (KK148) cf Richmond 'Leighton Buzzard' 130-1. A summary account and a few deeds (KK22, 26, 155-7) detail property held by the Fraternity of Corpus Christi, including a tenement in the Corn Market. The Crown leases of the property were assigned to Christopher Hoddesdon in 1583 (KK157) and subsequently formed part of the manor. The market house and tolls were held by Philip Grymes of London in 1583 (KK14), when the former was known as the Shambles. The upper floor of the Moot Hall, used as a Jury-loft, was leased to Edmund Bolsworth, the steward of Christopher Hoddesdon in 1585 (KK319). Two leases and a few accounts of tolls, covering 1736-1861, have survived (KK320-323, 914/1-5). At the time of the case Talbot vs Archer in 1835 the tolls were leased to John Sanders at £65 per annum; extracts from the accounts of toll-farmers, poor rates and overseers' accounts relating to the market are among the papers connected with this case (KK914/1-5). In the early 19th century the upper floor of the Moot Hall was used as a schoolroom by Mr Copleston, as a meeting place for the manor court and by JPs in Petty Sessions (KK880-883). Interesting covenants occur in the lease of a tile-house and brick-kiln at Leighton to Edmund Bolsworth and Richard Hye (the miller) in 1579 (KK11); incidental information on early sand workings at Heath and Reach is given in the case Hanmer vs Chance, 1857-64 (KK922-928). References to digging stones on the Heath occur in the court rolls from 1394, and a list of similar references was prepared in 1864 in connection with the above case (KK927). A warren of conies was leased to ThomasTaylor c 1600 on condition that he give 6 brace per week to Sir Thomas Leigh in the winter months. Disputes between the lord of the manor and the tenants over the warren seem to have been of long standing (cf VCH Beds iii, 404); those of Christopher Hoddesdon may perhaps have led to the preparation of KK725. Articles of agreement between Leigh and his tenants in 1630 permitted the former to hold the 100 acre Park enclosed by Sir Christopher Hoddesdon; the costs of enclosure were to be borne by the tenants and a fictitious suit in Chancery was to be commenced to procure a Decree confirming these arrangments (KK29). Numbers of field names occur in the following deeds: Leighton Buzzard: 248, 249, 139-149, 260, 272, 43. Billington: 190, 293. Clipson: 209. Soulbury: 352-4, 588-9. The correspondence of Thomas Lane Wood, steward of the Leighs, 1819-1825 (KK858-885) throws light on the extent of nonconformity and Radicalism in the town. The ringleaders appear to have been the Willie solicitors, and the movement was fomented by 'The Radical papers published at Aylesbury'. Wood writes in 1821 'in this place we are surrounded by Quakers, dissenters and Radicals of the worst kind...I am almost alone with the exception of Mr Wilson the curate and a few other friends as Church and King men'. Symptoms of post-war depression can be seen in the local opposition to the proposal of the Rev W B Wroth (vicar of Billington) to alter the course of a road there, on the grounds of expense and 'the bad times and ard case' of the farmers; in the rise of poaching which by 1822 had 'become such a trade in this county that our gaol is nearly full of poachers'; and in the all-round reduction in rents on the Leigh estate in 1822-3. The brief of the plaintiffs in the case Talbot vs Archer (1835) - a test case to prove Leigh's right to tolls - states that a ring of buyers at Leighton market had combined to resist payment of tolls. This movement, it was said, was due to 'a spirit of Radicalism and resistance to all established rights' which sprang up shortly before the Reform Bill (KK918/1,3). A similar spirit was still alive in 1868-74, when, in the case Hanmer vs Proctor - turning on the plaintiff's right to levy arbitrary entry fines, the defendant was suported by the Leighton Copyholders Protective Association (KK929). The following are noteworthy: - KK339 - a settlement bond relating to Leighton of 1598. - Early examples of lease and release KK511-13 (1654-5), 418-9 (1655/6). - KK344 - agreement by Charles Lord Leigh with the inhabitants of Heath and Reach to repair the highway called Whitsun way from Stonelane to Watling Street, 1714. - KK904-12 - copies of bill an answer in the case of Mary Lady Leigh vs Humphrey Drape and the inhabitants of Egginton, relating to the right of nomination of the curate, held by the defendants to live in the parishioners (cf VCH Beds iii, 417). - KK471-475 - deeds relating to the Grand Junction Canal in Soulbury, 1801-1818.

Part of the collection was badly damaged by immersion in water at Stockgrove Park, during the flooding of Spring 1947, when the house was occupied by the military authorities. Two medieval court rolls (1399-1420) are now almost entirely illegible, but have been catalogued with the aid of ultra-violet ray. Some 17 court rolls, or membrances of court rolls, and 18 deeds (none earlier than the late 16th century) are entirely illegible and did not respond to ultra-violet ray. 116 damaged deeds have been catalogued as far as possible (KK502-618), but have been separated from undamaged deeds relating to the same properties (with cross reference).Catalogued 1954

fonds