10 Jul Lordship Title of Battlesden ID1012
Posted at 20:00h
in
County:
Parish:
Title Type:
Previous Lords:
Richard Talbot held of Walter Giffard in chief at Domesday, and his family is afterwards found holding overlordship in this parish. In 1179 a Hugh Talbot held Battlesden for one knight's fee. According to the Hundred Rolls, Warren son of Gerard preceded William Talbot, who must have been identical with the William Talbot holding a fee earlier in the 13th century. After his death it passed to the honour of Gloucester, the last mention of this overlordship occurring in 1560, when the manor of Battlesden was held of the queen as of her honour of Clare. The immediate lords of the manor are first mentioned in 1179, when Ralph Hacet held one fee in Battlesden. In the middle of the 13th century one fee was held by Paul Pever, who was succeeded by the Passelewes, of whom the last mention is found in 1297, and from whom it passed to Nicholas Fermbaud. As early as 1275–6 Nicholas held 3¼ virgates of Ralph Passelewe's heirs and 4 virgates for life, and Thomas de Brikulle also held 9 virgates of the heirs of Ralph Passelewe, which he appears to have transferred to Nicholas Fermbaud in 1287. Thus, when Ralph Passelewe granted him the manor in 1297, Nicholas Fermbaud already owned about 4 hides in this parish. Thomas son of Nicholas Fermbaud held one-fourth of a knight's fee in Battlesden in 1346, and Thomas Fermbaud, his son, died seised of the manor in 1389. It was then worth £10 13s. 4d., and passed to his son Thomas, at this time a minor upwards of seven years of age. Previous to his death Thomas Fermbaud, senior, had charged the manor with a yearly rent of £10 payable for twenty years to Thomas Hele and other trustees. An inquiry was made as to the exact date of the birth of Thomas Fermbaud, junior, in 1409, when he was declared to have been born in 1380, and was consequently over age at the time of the inquisition. In 1409 Thomas Hele and Alice daughter of Margery St. John sued Thomas Fermbaud for an unjust disseisin in Battlesden. As stated above, Thomas Hele was one of the trustees of the yearly rents levied in 1389 for twenty years on the manor, which rents fell in at this date. Thomas Fermbaud still held the fee which represents this manor in 1428, and one of the same name held it in 1460. In 1496 Sir Thomas Oxenbridge, in right of Frideswide his wife and Margery Durham, widow, conveyed Battlesden Manor by fine to Gregory Skipwith and other trustees. This was preparatory to an alienation to Sir Reginald Bray, which took place in the same year. From him the manor passed to his nephew Edmund, who was created a baron in 1529 and died in 1539. His son John Lord Bray granted Battlesden to William Saunders in 1556, and the same year Edmund Bray's widow, who had taken for her second husband Urian Brereton, alienated her right in the manor to the same William Saunders. William died in 1559, and his son Thomas, who only survived him a year, was succeeded by his sister Ellen, then aged ten years. She carried the manor in marriage to her husband, William Duncombe, who died in 1603, and his son, Sir Edward, held the manor at his death in 1638. Sir Edward's second son William, according to the inquisition, appears to have succeeded him, though in 1646 the manor seems to have been jointly held by the two brothers William and John Duncombe. In 1706 Edward Duncombe suffered a recovery of the manor, and a deed bearing the same date exists by which William Duncombe, probably in association with him, sold Battlesden Manor to Allen Bathurst. This Allen was created Lord Bathurst in 1711. In 1724 he sold the estate to Sir Gregory Page, bart., a director of the East India Company, greatuncle of Sir Gregory PageTurner, bart., who held the manor in 1807. The ninth Duke of Bedford bought it from the trustees of Sir Gregory Page-Turner in 1885, and his son, the eleventh duke, is now lord of the manor.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes