23 Oct Lordship Title of Clifton ID13772
Posted at 10:45h
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The land remained with the family of Caron, who were gradually increasing their property during the early part of the thirteenth century, but on the death of Hugh de Caron some time before 1231, the manor was divided into thirds among his three daughters, Elizabeth, Lucy, and Margery. In 1246 Margery, with her husband Robert de la More, conveyed her share to Elizabeth and her husband, William de Crespinges, in return for certain land in Tempsford, so that two-thirds from that time passed to the descendants of Elizabeth. The heirs of John de Caron were still holding land in Clifton in 1291, but Lucy probably gave up her third to Elizabeth, who apparently conveyed the whole manor to Henry Spigurnel, who was holding it in 1316. On his death in 1328 it passed to his son Thomas, afterwards Sir Thomas Spigurnel, who conveyed it to Sir Gerard Braybroke and Isabella his wife in 1340. In 1359, on the death of Sir Gerard Braybroke, the manor passed to his son Gerard, and it continued in the possession of the Braybroke family. At the death of Sir Gerard Braybroke in 1427 it passed to Sir William Babyngton, a justice of Common Pleas, one of the executors of Sir Gerard Braybroke's will. Sir William Babyngton died seised of the manor in 1454, leaving a son and heir William, who probably conveyed it to Sir John Fisher, also a justice of Common Pleas, who died in 1510 seised of the manor, which was inherited by his son Sir Michael Fisher. On the death of the latter in 1549 the manor passed to his granddaughter Agnes, the daughter of his son John, who died in 1528 in his father's lifetime. Agnes had married Oliver St. John, and through her the manor passed into the family of the St. Johns of Bletsoe, who continued to hold it until 1602, when it was conveyed to Walter Rolt by Oliver Lord St. John and his wife Dorothy. Walter the son of Walter was holding the manor in 1652, but in the visitation of Bedfordshire for 1667–8, it is stated that 'Mr. Rolt of Clifton has sold his estate and gone out of the county.' The history of the manor in the eighteenth century is obscure. On a deed recording the sale of the manor in 1789, it is stated that Walter Rolt's estate came into the possession of Mr. Trice, who sold it to Mr. Symcotts; the latter sold it to his daughter and left the county. Mr. Symcotts' daughter probably sold the estate to Sir Henry Johnson of Toddington, whose only daughter and heir Anne married Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford. The manor in 1790 was divided into thirds among her daughters Anne Connolly, Lucy Howard, and Henrietta Vernon. The daughters probably combined to sell the manor to John Lord, whose executors in 1798 sold the manor to Mr. Simpson Anderson for £5,150. The manor next came into the possession of Mr. Henry Palmer, who was owner in 1832 and 1864, and was probably sold by him to Mr., afterwards Major, Henry Maclean Pryor, from whom it was inherited by Major Ralston de Vino Pryor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No