10 Jul Lordship Title of Millbrook ID1195
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The earliest mention of the manor is to be found in the Domesday Survey, where it is stated that Nigel de Wast held it of Nigel de Albini; it was assessed at 5 hides, worth £3. The manor follows the same descent as that of Ampthill (q.v.). On the death of Robert de Albini, circa 1233, this manor became divided, part passing to Azeline sister of Robert de Albini and wife of Ralph de St. Amand and part to Isabel wife of William de Hocton. Dealing first with Millbrook Manor, which passed to Azeline, it is found that her son Almeric, who held in chief of the king by the service of one knight's fee, had a gallows, a market and assize of bread and ale in this parish in 1275. Almaric de St. Amand was succeeded by his brother John in 1311, who, besides enjoying the privileges already mentioned, had the tolls of a fair which was held on St. Mary Magdalene's Day, 22 July. His son Almaric, then aged sixteen years, succeeded him in 1330, and in 1343 he obtained licence from the king to increase his property in this parish by the exchange of half of the manor of Warden with the Abbot of Warden for the abbot's property in Millbrook. In 1377 a further exchange was made between Almaric de St. Amand, grandson of the earlier Almaric, and Warden. This time the abbot exchanged land at Millbrook for land in Lower Winchendon in Buckinghamshire. Almaric de St. Amand died in 1381, being succeeded by his son Almaric, during whose tenure of the manor a grant was made to Sir Robert de Shottesbroke, probably as feoffee in trust. With the death of this Almaric in 1403 the family of St. Amand came to an end in the male line, and Millbrook Manor passed to Gerard de Braybrook, whose father Gerard had married Eleanor daughter of Lord St. Amand. As Gerard de Braybrook was only ten years old at the time of his grandfather's death, the estate was placed in the hands of trustees, one of whom was Henry (Chicheley) Archbishop of Canterbury. From Gerard de Braybrook the manor passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Sir Walter Beauchamp, by whom she had a son William, who in conjunction with his mother alienated the manor to Sir John Cornwall some time previous to 1428, in which year he had succeeded the heirs of St. Amand in Millbrook. This distinguished soldier was great-grandson of Sir Geoffrey de Cornewall by his wife the heiress of the Mortimers, Barons of Burford, and was created successively Baron Fanhope in 1433 and Lord Millbrook in 1442. He had already acquired that property in Millbrook which represented Isabel Albini's share of her brother's estate, so that now the two portions once more became united under one lord. Its history here follows the same descent as that of Ampthill (q.v.) until its acquisition by the Crown circa 1524, and was attached to the honour of Ampthill on its creation in 1542. Millbrook Manor formed part of the dower of Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I, and an extent of it exists taken in 1649. There was then no manor-house, and the court was held at Ampthill. The rents of assize, of free and copyhold land and royalties, amounted to £25 11s. 4d.; Millbrook Warren, stocked with game and conies, contained 450 acres, and was sublet by the Crown lessees at a rent of £30; the tenants and freeholders within the manor claimed to have common upon the said warren. A heriot of the best beast was paid by every tenant to the lord of the manor. Charles II in 1677 granted a lease of the manor for ninety-nine years to Robert Bruce Earl of Ailesbury, who in the lifetime of his father Thomas Lord Bruce had been appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. He represented the county in both the Long Parliament and the Convention Parliament, and after the Restoration held various appointments in the king's household. He died in 1685. A lease of the honour of Ampthill in which Millbrook was included was granted on 12 January 1771 to John fourth Duke of Bedford, but he died three days later, and it was not until 11 February 1773 that the lease was renewed to his widow Gertrude Duchess of Bedford in trust. Lysons (ed. 1806) says that in his time the lease was vested in the Earl of Upper Ossory, in consequence of an exchange with the Duke of Bedford. This manor henceforward follows the same descent as that of Ampthill (q.v.), passing back to the Dukes of Bedford in 1842 by purchase from Lord Holland's devisees. The other moiety of Millbrook Manor passed, on the death of Robert de Albini, to his sister Isabel, and follows the same descent as that portion of Clophill and Cainhoe Manor (q.v.) which she then acquired until 1364. Between this date and 1428 it was acquired by Sir John Cornwall, who also owned the other moiety of the manor with which its history is henceforward identical.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes