Reference
HF18/6/1
Title
Henlow Grange Estate
Date free text
1884-1885
Production date
From: 1884 To: 1885
Scope and Content
The background to the Sale of the Henlow Grange Estate in 1884-1891 is given in an excellent article by Philip Bywaters entitled 'The Addingtons of Langford & Henlow' (Bedfordshire Magazine XIX pages 221-227).
The Reverend Henry Addington (1820-1883), Vicar of Langford, 1850-1870, inherited Henlow Grange in 1868. He built at least twenty four houses in Henlow between 1869 & 1871 and eight more in 1880. On his death on 15 August 1883, the Estate passed to his only son, Thomas Alexander Edwards, who went bankrupt by Midsummer 1884, particularly as a result of gambling but it is possible that the estate had overstretched itself with its programme of massive rebuilding at a time of diminishing returns, as a result of the Agricultural Depression.
Three separate catalogues were prepared in 1884, 1885 & 1887 when most of the Estate was sold but not Henlow Grange. In 1889, the Alliance Bank was in possession. In 1890 it was sold to Edward Hammond Thompson of Clapham Common, who sold it onto George.J.Gribble of Hans Place, London.
The Sale Catalogue of 1884 (HF 18/6/1/1) shows that only one farm and one holding were let on a Lease for a fixed term with all the remaining property: farms,pasture, market gardens and cottages were let on Yearly Tenancies. Significantly the farm and holding were let for 14 Years at Michaelmas 1870 i.e. before the Agricultural Depression. All subsequent tenancies were on Yearly Tenancies as the Estate was worried that at the end of a fixed term that it would be unable to let the land at all or would have to drop the rent dramatically. R.Hunter Pringle in his Report for the Counties of Bedford, Huntingdon & Northampton for the Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1895, page 15, commented "Leases have almost entirely disappeared.....Year to year tenure "determinable by twelve calender months in writing, expiring with a year of tenancy", given by either one party or the other is customary throughout the three counties."
Level of description
sub-file