10 Jul Lordship Title of Milton or Milton Bryan ID1201
Posted at 20:02h
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No trace is to be found of the heirs of William Froissart, who was tenant in fee of the manor in 1086. In the latter half of the 12th century it was in the possession of the Bryan family, whose name was adopted as an identification of their estate here. The Bryans continued to hold during the next century, for in 1276 and 1284 Roger Le Strange the overlord held Milton Bryant in his capacity of guardian of the heir of Robert Bryan, and in 1302–3 it was in the hands of Peter Bryan, who was returned as part lord of the vill in 1316. In 1315 he settled the manor upon his son and heir John, who in 1344 alienated it in mortmain to the Abbot and convent of Woburn, Adam de Queldryck, vicar of Swanbourne, arranging the transaction probably as trustee. The abbey, as will be seen below, had previously received grants of land in Milton Bryant, and further increased its possession there later in the 14th century. Milton Bryant Manor, in which these other grants became absorbed, remained in the possession of Woburn Abbey until the Dissolution, when the estate was valued at £24 6s. 3¼d. per annum. In 1542 this property was annexed by the Crown to the honour of Ampthill, and in 1599 the manor was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Michael and Edward Stanhope and their heirs. In 1601 Michael Stanhope sold it to Christopher Estwick, who in 1606 settled the whole estate on his wife Anne and her issue, and, dying in 1611, he was succeeded by his son, another Christopher, who was then a minor, but who obtained a release of his father's lands in 1623. Three years later, however, he conveyed the manor of Milton Bryant to Sir Francis Staunton, kt., whose younger son William obtained it by settlement from his father in 1632, and died seised of it in 1636. His son and heir, another Francis, was then under age, but he apparently sold the manor circa 1655 to William Johnson, who in 1657 was engaged in a suit with one of the tenants as to the metes and bounds, the latter declaring that Milton Bryant was a reputed manor only, and refused to attend the court baron until shown evidence to the contrary. Thomas Johnson succeeded to Milton Bryant on the death of his father William, and dealt with the property by fine in 1680. He was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1702–3, and died in 1707, leaving the manor to his only son and heir Joseph. He was also sheriff of the county in 1726, but died in 1742, when this branch of the family became extinct. By his will Milton Bryant passed to his third cousin Henry, descended from his great-grandfather's brother, William Johnson of Olney. He remained lord of the manor until his death in 1771, when he left the estate by will to his only surviving daughter Catherine, by his second wife Catherine, to the exclusion of his two daughters by a former wife. Catherine married Sir Hugh Inglis in 1784, and in the following year settled the manor upon her husband and herself and her issue. After her death in 1792 it became the property of Sir Hugh, who was a director of the East India Company and was created a baronet in 1801. A monument by Chantrey was erected to his memory in Milton Bryant Church on his death in 1820. His son and heir Robert Harry Inglis, for some time M.P. for the University of Oxford, inherited the estates of his mother, but died without issue in 1855. By his will he left Milton Bryant Manor to his widow Lady Inglis, who resided at the manor-house in 1864. Lady Inglis bequeathed the property to Miss Thornton, who was in possession in 1885, and in 1898 Miss Henrietta L. Synnot was lady of the manor. In 1906 it was purchased from her by the Duke of Bedford, who is present lord of the manor, and whose whole property in Milton Bryant covers approximately 839 acres.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes