10 Jul Lordship Title of Dame Ellensbury or Houghton Conquest ID1072
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The precise date at which the Malherbe family became seised of the manor afterwards known as DAME ELLENSBURY MANOR is uncertain, but from comparison with the history of Hockliffe Manor (q.v.), which for some time followed a similar descent, they would appear to have obtained the property early in the 13th century. At the time of the Testa de Nevill, the heir of the Malherbes being under age, the property, then assessed at 2 hides, was in the custody of Roger of the Treasury. This heir would appear to have been Robert Malherbe, who, being in financial difficulties, had before 1255 made over his estates to the Jews, and in that year Richard Earl of Cornwall, represented by Abraham, a Jew of Norwich, distrained upon them. The estate was shortly afterwards freed, and continued in the Malherbe family. In 1284–6 it was held by John Malherbe, on whose death it passed to his daughter Joan, the wife of Richard de Kersey, who held it in the right of his wife. By 1346 he had been succeeded by John de Lymbotseye and Eleanor Adingrave. It seems possible that Eleanor Adingrave married Almaric de St. Amand, for by 1372 the manor had passed into the latter's possession. His son Almaric held it jointly with (Eleanor) his wife until his death in 1402. It is doubtful whether it is from this Eleanor or from Eleanor Adingrave that the manor acquired its name of Dame Ellensbury. In her widowhood Eleanor St. Amand suffered from the persecution of Reginald de Grey, who from his neighbouring manor of Silsoe made raids on her property, destroyed her rabbits and hares, cut and carried off her crops and maltreated her servants. After her death the manor came into the hands of Sir John Cornwall, who was seised of it before 1428. The descent of this manor for the next hundred years is the same as that of the manor of Ampthill (q.v.). Henry VIII granted the manor to Sir William Gascoigne of Cardington, who in 1534, and again in 1537, is found complaining that the king had caused a portion of the woodland of the manor, valued at £17 11s. 8d., to be taken from him and inclosed in the new royal park at Ampthill. His grievances were respected, and on his yielding up the remainder of the manor he received a grant of the priory of Bushmead in exchange. The king in 1542 attached the manor to the honour of Ampthill, and it remained royal property until Charles I granted it to Edward Ditchfield, John Highlord and others, trustees for the Corporation of London, in 1628. (fn. 78) The latter in 1630 alienated it to Sir Francis Clerke, whose brother-in-law Lewis Conquest was in possession of it nine years later. Lewis Conquest alienated it in 1640 to Henry Pigott. The latter had his recently purchased estates sequestered in 1646 on a charge of delinquency, but on his proving that they were bought before the outbreak of the Civil War they were discharged. About this time Goddard Leigh laid claim to the manor, and the ensuing dispute with Henry Pigott was decided by the Master of the Rolls in favour of the latter. Goddard Leigh in 1661 is found petitioning for a re-hearing of the case; he was then a prisoner in the Fleet Prison, having been committed there for four years. Three years later he gave up his real or supposed right in the manor to Henry Pigott, who the next year alienated the property to Robert Bruce Earl of Ailesbury. It remained in the hands of the Bruces until 1738, when it was purchased from them by the Duke of Bedford. Its further history is the same as that of the manor of Ampthill (q.v.). The present lord of the manor is Herbrand Arthur, eleventh Duke of Bedford.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No