Lordship Title of Bolnhurst ID1029

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The Abbot of Thorney's Manor of BOLNHURST first finds mention in the Survey of 1086. It was then assessed at 2 hides and a virgate valued at 60s. This manor had been acquired before 1066 from its former owner, a woman named Ælfleda, and continued to be held by the Abbot and monastery of Thorney in Cambridgeshire in pure and perpetual alms until the Dissolution. Towards the end of the 13th century the abbot's rents in Bolnhurst together with the profits from the dovecote, courts and mill amounted to £15 0s. 6½d. In 1344 the abbot was plundered of goods at Bolnhurst to the value of £10. Commissioners were appointed to inquire into the matter and to bring the delinquents to justice. At the Dissolution the yearly value of the farm of the manor with rents and appurtenances was £25 2s. 9½d. In 1541 Bolnhurst Manor was granted by the king to Sir John St. John, who two years later obtained licence to settle the property on his son and heir Oliver and his wife. Oliver St. John was created Baron St. John of Bletsoe in 1558–9, and died seised of the manor in 1582. His son John dying in 1597 without male heirs the manor passed to a brother Oliver, who in turn left it to his son Oliver, afterwards Earl of Bolingbroke. The latter alienated the manor in 1640 to Sir William Fleetwood, elder brother of the famous Parliamentarian general Charles Fleetwood. In 1667 Sir William in conjunction with Charles made a temporary settlement of the manor on Matthew Smith, Thomas Luthmere and Gabriel Young for £900. Sir William Fleetwood, unlike his younger brother, took the side of the king in the Civil War. He died in 1674 and was succeeded by Charles, who was still holding in 1694. His eldest son Smith Fleetwood succeeded him, and was party to a suit concerning the advowson of Bolnhurst Church in 1710. The exact date of the transfer of this manor from the Fleetwoods is uncertain, but the male line of this branch of the family had died out by the second half of the 18th century. A daughter of Charles Fleetwood married Joseph Churchill, and it was to the Churchill family that the manor of Bolnhurst passed; for, though no document recording the tenure of the manor by them has been discovered, Fleetwood Churchill presented to the church of Bolnhurst in 1749, 1767, 1769 and 1772, and the advowson of Bolnhurst Church always followed the descent of this manor. In 1780 the manor was sold by the Churchills to John Caldcot, Jacob Turner and Samuel Wyatt. They were still holding at the beginning of the 19th century, but by 1811 Sir James Duberly, the heirs of Mr. Campion, surgeon, of Bedford, and the Rev. Robert Selby Hele had all purchased shares of the manor. Mr. Selby Hele sold his portion to a Mr. Chalmers, who shortly afterwards sold it to two speculators named Charles and Johnson. No further mention of this manor has been found.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes

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