10 Jul Lordship Title of Ravensden ID1244
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There is no reference to Ravensden in the Domesday Survey, but as the whole parish was afterwards held of the barony of Bedford it must in 1086 have been included in the fief of Hugh de Beauchamp, whose grandson William died seised of lands here in 1262. The estate of Newnham Priory, which, after the Dissolution, was called the RAVENSDEN MANOR, appears to have originated in land bestowed by Nicholas de Ravensden, clerk, upon the prior. The gift comprised 6 selions abutting on Wood Croft, a croft called Stocking, a close called Inwode, and 3 acres of land below Benham. The estate was increased by many other grants of land, among the donors being the Engayne, Thuand, le Broc, Sauvage, Buels and Rous families. Rose mother of Simon de Beauchamp, the founder of Newnham Priory, confirmed these gifts, and the names of the benefactors and details of their donations are all enumerated at length in the great charter of William son of Simon, probably dating about the middle of the 13th century. The priory's possessions in Ravensden are mentioned always in connexion with 'Ronhale' and 'Salpho,' and were assessed with them in 1535 at £12 2s. 5d. At the dissolution of Newnham Priory this property escheated to the Crown, by whom it was granted under the name of a manor, together with the advowson, to John and Joan Gostwick in 1540. In 1543 the Gostwicks obtained Goldington Manor (q.v.), with which Ravensden descended during the next 230 years, and with which it was acquired by the Duke of Bedford in 1774. The latter shortly afterwards alienated Ravensden Manor to the Rev. Robert Hart Butcher, whose daughter Frances Elizabeth Butcher was holding in 1811. After this date the manorial rights appear to have fallen into abeyance, as there is no further mention of this manor. The property may, however, have passed to Francis Wythes of Ravensden House, mentioned as a landowner in 1854 and 1877, and his descendant, Mr. Francis Aspinall Wythes Wythes of Ravensden House, has a large estate in Ravensden at the present day.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No