Lordship Title of Cranfield ID1069

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The earliest mention of Cranfield is found in 969, when among the boundaries of Aspley mention is made of 'Cranfeldinga dic.' The Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey records that Alwyn the Black, who died in 998, gave the manor to the Abbot and convent of Ramsey. This grant was confirmed by Edward the Confessor in 1060, by William I in 1078, and by Pope Alexander III in 1178. The latter grant speaks of the church, which is not mentioned in the two earlier. Abbot Alfwin, the last Saxon abbot, granted a life estate in Cranfield to Ralph Earl of Hereford. The Domesday Survey states that the Abbot of Ramsey held the manor; that it was assessed at 10 hides worth £9. In the 11th century two of the abbots are mentioned as having alienated land here belonging to the abbey, giving it to their relations. On the retirement of Abbot Robert de Redinges in 1206 King John, with the assent of the abbey, granted the manor to him for life. He seems to have been involved in a quarrrel with this monarch, and no doubt the manor was given him, as a pension, to compensate him for having to retire. In the same king's reign the abbot was granted a view of frankpledge in his manor of Cranfield, and in 1251 Henry III gave the abbot and convent a grant of free warren in all their demesne lands at Cranfield, and there seems to have been some doubt as to the validity of these grants, for the abbot was summoned to the Bedford Assizes in 1330 to show by what right he enjoyed these liberties. After hearing the case the court decided to take them back into the king's hands and the abbot had to pay 40s. to have them regranted to him. In 1328 the manor was granted by the abbot to Sir William de Herle, Robert de Sachynton and Robert de Burgh, rector of Houghton, for the yearly rent of £100 of silver, the abbot on behalf of the monastery reserving the right of re-entry should the rent not be paid. This grant also expressly states that the right of presentation to the church was to remain with the abbey. During the 14th century various grants of land at Cranfield were made to the abbot. Thus Thomas de Newby gave 60 acres. The abbots continued to hold the manor till the Dissolution, at which time its value was £68 9s. 4d. It then became Crown property, and in 1542 was attached to the honour of Ampthill. In 1545 William Hutton was appointed to be the bailiff and collector of the manor. In 1550 Edward VI granted the manor to his half-sister the Princess Elizabeth, who ten years later leased it for twenty-one years to one Fysher. Later in 1603 James I granted it as part of her dowry to his consort Queen Anne, who died in 1617–18. In 1621 the manor was granted to Sir Lionel Cranfield on being raised to the peerage as first Baron Cranfield of Cranfield. The following year he was created Earl of Middlesex. He died in 1645, and was succeeded by his son James, on whose decease in 1651 his brother Lionel succeeded to the title and estates as heir male. He made a settlement of Cranfield Manor in 1653, in 1655, in 1660–1, and again in 1663. In 1672 it became the property of the Monoux family, by whom it was retained till 1729, when it was purchased by the Duke of Bedford, by whose family it was retained till 1837, about which date it was alienated to Joseph Ashby Partridge, who held it in 1847. A further alienation took place before 1864 to Captain Drake, whose widow devised it by will to her husband's kinsman, Mr. Alfred Henry Tarleton, the present owner.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes

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