Reference
RO2
Title
Manor of Howend or Readings, Houghton Conquest, purchased by Anne, Baroness Dowager of Gowran in 1740
Admin/biog history
Manor of Howend or Readings, Houghton Conquest
Confusion has arisen over the history of this manor as by the 18th century a "manor of Howend" was held by two different families (Lord Ossory and the Duke of Bedford). The account given in the Victoria County History is misleading as it confuses the two. From the evidence available it does not appear that there were from the middle ages two separate manors of this name nor does it appear that manor was ever divided into moieties - a frequent cause of confusion. It is the manor of Howend otherwise called the manor of Readings with which we are concerned here; it is the better documented of the two and may be considered the "original" manor while the probable origins of the other manor will be discussed later.
During the middle ages this manor was held by the monastery of Reading (for further details of its mediaeval history see the Victoria County History volume III pages 293-4). At the dissolution it passed into the King's hands, at which time its value was £10..15s..11d per annum (Valor Ecclesiasticus quoted in Victoria County History) and was subsequently annexed to the Honour of Ampthill on its creation in 1542. It remained in the possession of the Crown until 1587; during this period various leases of the manor and its lands were made and are listed below:
25 February 1540:
Lease to William Hale by General Surveyors for 21 years (lands) from previous Michaelmas at rent of £3..0..7
12 May 1551: (lands) Lease to William Hale for 21 years at £3..0..7
22 Mar 1564: (lands) Lease to Ralph Symondes alias Wylkynson, a page of the Chamber for 21 years commencing 12 May 1572 at rent of 60s..7d [see appendix C]
12 May 1572: (lands) Commencement of Symondes's lease
4 April 1573 (lands) Lease to Thomas Swanne for 21 years from 12 May 1593 at rent of 60s..7d
13 July 1584 (manor) Lease to Margaret Wheler, John Robinson and William Robinson for their lives and the life of the survivor of them at rent of 30s.
On 21 April 1587 the Queen granted by Letters Patent to Francis Walsingham, then Secretary of State, and Francis Milles and to their heirs for ever, the Manor of Howend and the lands belonging; the sum of £9..13..7 per annum was to be paid to the Crown. Later in the same year Walsingham and Milles sold the premises to Edmond Downyng and William Swayne of London by whom they were conveyed in 1588 to Arthur Hewett citizen and draper of London whose uncle Robert was to enjoy the profits for life and after his death the property was conveyed to Arthur's son Robert.
It appears that Robert Hewett held the premises for about ten years and then conveyed them to Giles Blofeild and a group of trustees acting on his behalf. The deeds seem rather confused here for there is no deed in the collection actually conveying the manor to Blofeild; the deeds RO10/5,6 merely convey the messuages and lands in 1615 and 1619 but clearly the manor also passed for in 1622 one of the trustees quitclaimed to Giles Blofeild his right in the manor of Howend.
During the tenure of this property by Giles Blofeild large sections of the manorial lands were sold off to local yeomen between 1616 and 1636, mainly in the earlier years, merely reserving small annual rents to the lords of the manor, [see Grants out of the manor, RO2/17-36; also RO10/8]. Possibly this indicates some financial embarrassment on Giles's part as he also mortgaged the premises in 1619 [RO2/3]. From the evidence of the deeds in section RO10 it seems possible that the manor house itself was sold off in 1629, for the farmhouse to that estate is described as a "capital messuage with dovehouse and malthouse, yard and backside belonging in Howend", whereas the deed by which the manor of Howend was subsequently conveyed mentions only a "messuage" [RO2/37]; this was presumably a smaller house on the estate and Giles's widow was residing there with her son's family in 1657 [RO2/16] It is perhaps significant that although in earlier years Giles Blofeild is described as of Houghton Conquest (1615, 1616, 1619) and of Howend (1621, 1622), from 1629 he is always said to be of Ampthill, and when he wrote his will in 1651 he described himself as of Houghton Park, Ampthill. It may be surmised that Giles sold the capital messuage at Howend on moving to Ampthill where he possibly lived in a lodge at Houghton Park since the Park itself was at this date the residence of the Bruce family. [He is not mentioned in the Bruce family account books (Mic121) which, although starting in 1675, contain many memoranda relating to earlier years]
The estate which was sold in 1663 by Giles Blofeild's widow, daughter-in-law and trustees to Nicholas Hackett for £550 consisted only of the manor, a messuage and two closes of land, being 30 acres. At the same time a third close, part of the premises, was conveyed to Nicholas Hackett's brother Thomas of North Crawley, Buckinghamshire at Nicholas's request and was by him conveyed to Nicholas in the following year in discharge of land in North Crawley left by their father to Nicholas. [see RO2/40 and Appendix B]
Nicholas Hackett had previously been living at Lidlington where his aunt Christian, widow of Richard Jones [see RO10] also lived, but after purchasing Blofeild's estate he moved to Houghton Conquest where his family remained for about ten years. He is listed in the Hearth Tax for that parish in 1671 and is assessed for seven hearths, indicating a reasonably large dwelling house. After selling the Houghton estate in 1674 the Hackett family seems to have moved back to Lidlington for a while - Nicholas's son Thomas was buried there in 1675 and another son was buried four years later - but where the family moved subsequently has not been discovered.
The purchaser of the estate in 1674 was Richard Denbigh of Beckerings Park in Ridgmont. The Park was at this date held by the Ashburnham family and Denbigh was their tenant (see RO1/6); his son Edwin was tenant of Brogborough Park which was also held by the Ashburnhams [see Lease dated 1679/80 S/AM145]. Richard remained at Beckerings Park and leased the house and lands in Howend to various tenants
[see RO2/68-78]. On Richard's death in 1686 the property was inherited by his son Edwin [RO2/80-82]; Edwin had moved from Ridgmont to Lidlington by 1692, he was described as of Howend in 1693/4 and of Ampthill in 1697 and when he made his will in 1719.
By his will Edwin Denbigh left the Howend estate to trustees, John Crouch and Edward Bigg, both of Lidlington. His wife Ann was to receive £30 a year for life and £30 was to be paid to his daughter Susan in the first year after his death, the remaining profits being divided between her and her two sisters. After the death of his widow the estate was to be sold as soon as possible and Susan was to receive £600 from the profits, the remainder being divided amongst her two sisters. Ann Denbigh died in 1739 and the trustees agreed to convey the estate to Ann Baroness Dowager of Gowran. However it was not clear how the profits should be distributed as various settlements and mortgages had been made by Edwin Denbigh's descendants (the Moneys and the Woodifields) of the sums to which they were entitled. It was agreed that the purchaser should take immediate possession of the premises despite the fact that incumbrances and claims on the estate meant that a clear title could not be made out at once. The case was taken to the Court of Chancery and a settlement was finally achieved some eight years later. Thus the deeds in this section continue to 1748 (as the title had to prove that there were no outstanding claims on the estate) although the actual conveyance to Ann Baroness Dowager of Gowran was made in 1740.
From a letter written by Lady Gowran to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1741 it appears that she had met with some competition for the purchase of this manor:
"... I believe Mr Potter [the Archbishop's agent] is the first person that has charg'd me with doing anything inconsistent with honour [deleted: or Justice] with regard to the Manor of Howend which Mr Potter mentions in his first Letter to me, the persons concern'd in Selling it assur'd me that after I had had a [deleted: an absolute] promise of it, Mr Potter offerer'd them £2600 for it which was considerably more than I gave, yet by that means the price was rais'd upon me a great deal more than what I should otherwise have had it for..."
[See also CRT100/25 Ministers' Accounts, Honour of Ampthill 1542]
Fee farm Rents from the Manor of Howend
In 1609/10 the annual fee-farm rent of £9..13..7 which by the original grant of the manor to Walsingham was reserved to the Crown,(RO2/1), was granted to Christopher Hatton and Francis Needham (Patent 7 James I, see Victoria County History). No further details of this have been traced until 1842 when the sum of £9..13..7 payable by Lord Holland from Howend Manor was listed in the schedule to an Act of Parliament authorising the sale of certain fee-farm and other rents devised by the will of Richard, late Viscount Fitzwilliam deceased.
The fee-farm rent of the manor of Howend was purchased in April 1845 by Francis Duke of Bedford for a consideration of £233..7..6 from the trustees of the aforesaid will; the Duke was, of course, by this date, in possession of the manor itself and so the rent was presumably extinguished.
(see Russell 'wallpaper books' Register V page 278 for abstract of above Act and Conveyance)
The "Manor of Howend" sold by the Bruce family to the Duke of Bedford 1738
The Victoria County History mentions a "manor of Howend" conveyed to the Duke of Bedford by the Bruce family in 1738 and confuses this with the manor to which these deeds (RO2) refer. An examination of these deeds shows that the manor conveyed in 1738 cannot be the same one which was granted to Walsingham in 1587.
From the Russell estate office registers of deeds it appears however, that the Duke of Bedford purchased from the Bruce family in 1738 the manors of Maulden, Raggins, Howend and Dame Ellins. (Register I page 308-Deed Bundle 21 nos. 10-27). This group of property can be traced back to 1703 when it was held by the Bruce family. From these registers it is possible to trace the individual purchases by the Bruce family of the other three manors but no further record of Howend can be found.
The following entry occurs in a quitrental relating to the Duke of Bedford's estate in 1739:
Quitrents of Howend and Dame Ellingsbury
Purchased of the Right Honourable Charles Lord Bruce, December 1738
4 d. Captain Armstrong
1½ d. William Clark
4 d. Widow Perry
7½ d. Mr Denton
Total 1s.. 5d. (R5/406)
and in 1755:
Manors of Howend and Dame Ellinsbury £0..1..5
arrears to Lady Day 1755 unpaid at Midsummer 1755 £1..3..4½ (R5/407)
some later entries concerning these quitrents between 1842 and 1869 are to be found in the quit-rent receiving books (R5/533-534) and part of the rents, amounting to £2..13s a year, was conveyed by the trustees of the will of Francis Duke of Bedford to Lord John Thynne of Haynes Park in 1863 (SA483)
Clearly, following the 1738 purchase, the Duke of Bedford was enabled to collect quitrents from the manor of Howend - perhaps although the Bruce family had full rights in the other three manors, their rights in Howend extended only to the quitrents. It is possible that the family's rights in this manor dated from the early 17th century as, according to the Victoria County History James I appointed Edward Lord Bruce steward of the manor in 1609-10. (the numbering of the footnotes in the Victoria County History between 153-6 on page 294 volume III has become confused and the only source which can be intended for this information appears to be note 156 referring to patent 10 James I part i [which is 1612/13])
Thus it seems likely that there was not in fact a second "manor of Howend" but merely some rights over the manor of that name, which in course of time came to be identified as a separate manor.
Archival history
NB.
There is some confusion between the deeds to the manor of Howend (RO2) and the deeds to a farmhouse in Howend (RO10) which at one time formed part of the manor. It appears that several deeds which might be expected to have been retained to provide title to the manor were in fact handed over to provide the early title to the farm. A possible reason for this could be the respective size and values of the two estates since normally on the division of an estate the deeds would remain with the holder of the most valuable portion. Several parcels of land had already been sold off from the manorial estate [see RO2 section B] and it is likely that the estate which remained with the manor (RO2) was smaller in size and value than the farm (RO10)
The intention of the cataloguer has been as far as possible to sort the deeds into the groups handed over with each respective purchase. The abstracts of title found with each group provide a clue to this as do the series of numbers endorsed on the documents. There are two series of such numbers, one is a figure in ( ) written with a thick pen, the other is written with a finer pen and is a figure in ( ) preceded by "No.". The second series of numbers corresponds exactly with the abstract of title RO10/86 to the farm. This abstract has been taken as a guide in deciding which deeds belonged to RO10 while the abstract of title RO2/128 has been used to establish which deeds belonged to the title of the manor.
The deeds have been numbered according to which group it is thought they belonged to on the purchase of the respective estates in 1740 and 1749, but in the catalogue the two series have been integrated in order to provide a logical narrative of the history of each estate. In the section of the catalogue dealing with the manor (RO2) any entries relating to deeds which are numbered in RO10 are cross referenced, and vice versa.
The correlation and confusion between the two groups of deeds was noticed by Lord Gowran's estate officers after both properties had been acquired as is shown by the following marginal notes on the two abstracts of title mentioned above:
"the title deeds wanting are amongst the writings belonging to the estate purchased by my Lord Gowran from William Edwards esquire" [RO2/128]
"this deed is amongst those relating to the manor of Howend purchased by Lord Gowran" [RO10/86]
Reference
Level of description
sub-fonds