10 Jul Lordship Title of Keysoe or Keysoe Berrysted or Keysoe Bury ID1164
Posted at 20:01h
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In 1086 Hugh de Beauchamp held a manor of 5 hides less I virgate in this parish which later became known as KEYSOE BURY or KEYSOE BERRYSTED MANOR. It follows the same descent as the barony of Bedford (q.v.) until the death of William de Patishull in 1359. He left three sisters—Sibil, Alice and Katherine —and Keysoe became the property of Sibil wife of Roger de Beauchamp, who obtained a grant of free warren in Keysoe in 1377. Roger de Beauchamp died seised of the manor in 1379–80. His grandson and successor Roger before his death in 1406 had placed the manor in the hands of trustees. His son Sir John Beauchamp likewise settled the manor on his wife Edith (afterwards the wife of Sir Robert Shotesbrook) for life, with reversion to John his son, who, however, predeceased his mother in 1420. Robert de Shotesbrook is recorded as holding the manor in 1432, and was succeeded by Margaret Beauchamp, his wife's daughter by her first marriage. Margaret Beauchamp was twice married—first to Oliver St. John and later to the Duke of Somerset. On her death in 1482–3 the manor passed to her son John St. John. The latter's son John died seised of the manor in 1526. Oliver Lord St. John of Bletsoe, his grandson, held this manor at the time of his death in 1582. His son John died without heirs male in 1596, and after the death of his wife Katherine the property passed to his brother Oliver, who died in 1618–19. Oliver, afterwards the first Earl of Bolingbroke, son of the last-mentioned Oliver, settled the manor on his son Oliver on his marriage with Arabella the daughter of the Earl of Bridgewater. This Lord St. John was killed fighting on the Parliamentary side at the battle of Edgehill in 1642. As he left no heirs this manor probably reverted to his father the Earl of Bolingbroke, who died four years later. The latter's grandson Paulet St. John, who succeeded to the earldom in 1688, held this manor in 1703 and 1706. Between this latter date and 1715 Keysoe Berrysted passed from the St. John family to Edward Lord Harley, who was concerned in a suit regarding it in 1715, while four years later he alienated the manor to Jeremiah Sambrook. On the death of Jeremiah Sambrook and the division of his property among his heirs (see Yelden Manor) a portion of Keysoe Berrysted came into the hands of the Crawleys of Stockwood, who have retained it down to the present day. Mr. Francis Crawley is the present lord of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes