10 Jul Lordship Title of Barton ID1009
Posted at 20:00h
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The manor, which belonged to the abbey of Ramsey at the time of the great Survey, had been in the possession of the abbots for some time previous to that date. It was given to the abbey in 1044 by Eadnoth, bishop of Dorchester; and the grant was confirmed by Edward the Confessor in 1066, by William the Conqueror in 1078, and by Edward III in 1334. The manor was of considerable extent at the time of the Domesday Survey for it was assessed at 11 hides and was worth £10; the abbot claimed 12 acres more, held at that time by Nigel de Albini and Walter the Fleming, of which the abbot had been unjustly dispossessed by John des Roches. The annual value of the manor, which was again confirmed to the abbey of Ramsey in 1178 by the Pope Alexander III, was £26 at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The abbey, in 1201, received a grant of free warren in its demesne lands of Barton, and was called upon to account for the exercise of this right in 1286 and also in 1330 and each time justified its claim by the production of the charter of Henry III. The value of the manor varied but little during the thirteenth century as towards the close it was worth £26 8s. 1¼d. In 1336 it was leased out at a yearly rent of £50, at the time of the Dissolution the rents and farms within it amounted to £60 6s. 6d. The manor was enlarged by several grants and purchases; in the middle of the thirteenth century Abbot Hugh of Sulgrave granted to it, for the upkeep of the shrine of St. Ives, the whole tenement purchased from Robert Peveril and about the same date John de Baxter released to the abbey fields in Barton called Bakeworthe and le Hacche. In 1278 82/3 acres of land were purchased by the abbey from Walter de la Haye and his wife Matilda and the same amount was bought the next year from Richard de Caddington and his wife Sibyl. The latter also granted to the abbey one-third of a messuage and a croft in Barton and 3 messuages; 50 acres of land were given to the abbey by Thomas Turford, a mason, in 1354. In 1301 permission was obtained to let the manor for ten years, for the discharge of the abbey's debts and in 1336 it was leased out to Sir William de Hale, Robert de Caddington and Master Robert de Bergh, rector of Houghton. The abbey continued to hold the manor until the dissolution of the religious houses, when it became crown property and was leased for short terms to various persons. In 1550, the Princess Elizabeth was lady of the manor and apparently kept it in her hands until 1578, when she granted it to William Worthington for twentyone years. In 1601 the manor reverted to the crown. In 1612 Thomas, Viscount Fenton, surrendered the office of steward of the manor, which was then conferred by James I upon Lord Bruce. In 1628 a grant of the manor was made to Edward Ditchfield and others as trustees for the city of London, who probably sold it to Richard Norton, who was lord of the manor in 1634. The family of Norton retained the manor for many years, and in 1709 it was in the possession of Richard the son of Richard Norton, who alienated it to John Roberts of North Mimms. The latter sold it to Robert Jenkin of Harpenden, who in 1735 transferred his right to Edward Willes, bishop of Bath and Wells, whose son, Mr. Edward Willes, afterwards the Reverend Edward Willes, was holding the manor in 1805. The Reverend Edward Willes owned the manorial rights during the last half of the nineteenth century, and at his death the lordship of the manor was vested in his trustees, in whose hands it still apparently remains.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes