10 Jul Lordship Title of Toddington ID1304
Posted at 20:03h
in
County:
Parish:
Title Type:
Previous Lords:
TODDINGTON, comprising 15½ hides, was held by Wulfweard 'Levet' before the Conquest, and was afterwards granted to William Spec, who before 1086 exchanged this manor for two others held by Ernulf de Hesding. Two of Ernulf de Hesding's daughters are afterwards found connected with this parish. Of these Matilda, with her husband Patrick de Chaworth, made a grant of the church of Toddington, which was attached to the manor, to the Abbey of La Couture, 1100–22. This grant was made especially for the soul of 'Ernulf de Hisden who held before us the land which we now hold' and was confirmed by Matilda's grandson Payn de Chaworth in 1167. Between this date and 1180 Toddington passed to Geoffrey Count of Perche, who represented Sibel another daughter of Ernulf de Hesding, being her great-grandson. He died in 1203, and Toddington was still held by his widow, the Countess of Perche, in 1205. At this date, on the severance of English and Norman fealties, the English lands of the Count of Perche escheated to the Crown, and Toddington was granted to Peter des Roches. This grant was temporary, and before 1229 the manor was again in the possession of the Crown, and was at that date conferred on William Marshal Earl of Pembroke on the occasion of his marriage with Eleanor sister of Henry III, who was to retain a life interest in Toddington. William died in 1231, and Eleanor afterwards married Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester, who is returned as lord of Toddington in right of his wife in the Testa de Nevill. The manor next passed to Roger Bigod Earl of Norfolk in right of his wife Maud sister and co-heir of William Marshal. Some time before 1250 (in which year Paul Pever obtained a grant of a market in this manor) Roger Bigod subinfeudated Toddington to Paul Pever, who had previously inherited property in Toddington, where his family was settled certainly as early as 1198. He was one of the king's seneschals in 1249, and died in London in 1252, directing that his body should be buried there, but his heart taken to Toddington and buried there. The manor passed to his grandson John, who was lord in 1276, and who in 1314 made a settlement of Toddington and Chalton on himself and Mary his wife. He died the following year, and his widow married Almaric de St. Amand before 1316. She held Toddington for her lifetime, and in 1329 probably entertained the king there, for letters patent for that year are dated from Toddington. She died circa 1333, and the manor then passed to her grandson Nicholas son of Paulinus Pever, a minor then aged fourteen and a half years, who held Toddington in 1346. On his death in 1362 the manor was valued at only £12 12s. 8d., 'not more because the tenants are dead' —showing that Toddington had suffered heavily from the plague of that year. Thomas son and heir of Nicholas Pever married Margaret daughter and heir of Sir Nigel Loring, by whom he had a daughter Mary. He died in 1429, when John Broughton son of Mary succeeded to Toddington. He was sheriff for Bedfordshire in 1436, 1460 and 1466, and dying in 1490 left the manor to his grandson John, who died under age and was succeeded by his brother Robert, lord of the manor in 1502–3. John son and heir of Robert left Toddington on his death in 1517 to an infant son John, who died in 1530 before attaining his majority, when the whole of the Pever and Broughton estates passed to his two sisters Catherine and Anne. Toddington passed to the latter, who married Sir Thomas Cheney. She survived her husband and on her death in 1562 was succeeded by her son Henry, who was knighted at Toddington two years later. He was summoned to Parliament as a baron of the realm from 1572 to 1586, and was one of the peers appointed to sit on the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. He died shortly afterwards without issue, and by a settlement made before his death Toddington and his other Bedfordshire estates inherited from his mother were left to his widow Lady Jane Cheney absolutely. Her nephew Henry Lord Wentworth resided with her at Toddington during the early 17th century, and in 1608 they received a visit there from James I. Thomas son of Lord Wentworth inherited the property on the death of Lady Cheney in 1614, though the Cheney family disputed her right to alienate the property at will, but without success. Thomas Lord Wentworth was created Earl of Cleveland in 1626, and his popularity at court led him and his son into great extravagance. The Bedfordshire estates were already heavily encumbered by debt in 1636, when an order for a settlement to effect a payment of their debts was made. Toddington Manor and Toddington Place were included in the settlement drawn up on the proposed marriage of Thomas Lord Wentworth son of the Earl of Cleveland and Barbara daughter of Sir John Lambe, which marriage never took place. The earl and Lord Wentworth were on the Royalist side in the Civil War, but the former was taken prisoner at Newbury in 1642 and remained in the Tower until 1648. It is not known how his imprisonment terminated, but in 1650 both father and son were in exile with Charles II. An Act of Parliament had been passed in 1641 authorizing the sale of the earl's estates for the satisfaction of his creditors. The sale of Toddington Manor, however, was objected to by Tristram Woodward, who held a mortgage on that property. In 1650, when the whole of his lands were sequestered and his debts were found to amount to £100,000, Lady Frances Weld also put forward a heavy mortgage claim on Toddington. The Earl of Cleveland returned to England at the Restoration, and died and was buried at Toddington in 1667, his son Lord Wentworth having predeceased him in 1665. Philadelphia Lady Wentworth, his daughter-in-law, assumed the management of the estates during the minority of her daughter Henrietta Maria, and the whole of the issues were devoted to the discharge of the debts of the Earl of Cleveland and his son. Henrietta Maria Baroness Wentworth in her own right appeared at court in 1674 and became the mistress of the Duke of Monmouth. A marriage was subsequently proposed between her and the Earl of Thanet, but she refused the alliance and retired to Toddington, where she was visited by the duke, and a room in the old house and Monmouth's Oak in the park long bore witness to his visits there. Monmouth fled to Toddington after the discovery of the Rye House Plot, and it is thought that the Baroness Wentworth raised considerable funds for his subsequent rebellion. She died unmarried in 1686, and Toddington then passed to her great-aunt Anne Lady Lovelace, only surviving sister of the Earl of Cleveland, who made a settlement of the property in 1687 and released it to her son John in 1692. The latter, who bore the title of Lord Hurley, died in the following year, and in 1697, on the death of his mother, the manor passed to his only daughter and heir Martha, who became Baroness Wentworth in her own right. She afterwards married Sir Henry Johnson, a rich shipbuilder of Blackwall, and they held Toddington jointly in 1704. On her death without issue the property became the absolute right of her husband, who left it to his daughter Anne by a former wife. She had married Thomas Wentworth first Earl of Strafford, and so brought Toddington back into that family. Their only son William died in 1791, when his property was divided among his three sisters the Ladies Anne Conolly, Lucy Howard and Harriet Vernon. Anne acquired Toddington Manor as her share, and at her death it descended to her son Thomas Conolly, who in 1806 sold the whole manor to John Cooper. Elizabeth daughter and heir of John married her second cousin William, who changed his name to Cooper. She died in 1855. Her husband died five years later, and Toddington then passed successively to their son William and their grandson William Cooper. The latter died in 1905, and his eldest daughter Mrs. Elizabeth Georgina Warren-Vernon is owner of Toddington Manor at the present day.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes