Lordship Title of Rowlands or Cople ID1248

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A property known as ROWLANDS MANOR appears in the parish in the 16th century, and was then held of Sir Thomas Snagge as of the barony of Bedford. Its origin is uncertain, but a family of Rodland or Rowland is associated with this parish from the 13th to the 15th century. The first mention of it as a manor is found in 1531, when John Spencer made a settlement of it. His father Robert's name occurs a few years earlier as holding land in Cople. Thomas son of John Spencer died seised in 1547. He was succeeded by his son Robert, who was followed by his son Nicholas, who died about 1625. His son, another Nicholas, married Mary daughter of Sir Edward Gostwick of Willington, and died in 1643. William Spencer, son and heir of Nicholas, was living and in possession of Rowlands in 1691. The Spencer estates in Cople were bought by Francis Brace for the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, probably about the same time that the other Cople property was purchased of Sir William Gostwick. It still bore its distinctive name as part of the Duke of Bedford's estate in this parish at the beginning of the 19th century.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
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