Battlesden Manor

Battlesden church and Battlesden House January 2008

Domesday Book (1086)

Battlesden's first mention in history is in the Domesday Book. Walter Giffard held the Manor of Battlesden in 1086, having been granted it by King William I, who deprived seven Anglo-Saxon freemen who had held it in 1066. The manor comprised nine hides| with a Richard Talbot holding the manor as Giffard's tenant. The manor also contained seven villagers (perhaps the freemen of 1066, or their descendents) as well as ten smallholders. It had been worth £8 in 1066 but by the time Giffard acquired it this had sunk to £5, probably through depredations by William's armies during the process of his conquest of the kingdom; the figure had not grown by 1086.

Two smaller landowners are noted in the parish at Domesday. William the Chamberlain held half a hide, with one Robert as his tenant. Before the conquest this land had belonged to one Morcar, a priest from Luton, who also held a hide in Potsgrove| from the King. The scond smaller holdin gwas in the hands of one Azelina, wife of Ralph Tallebois [or Tallboys] and consisted of a hide and a half. This land had been in the hands of two freemen, Askell and Alwin, in 1066 and by 1086 two villagers (perhaps either them or their descendents) together with a smallholder are noted as living on Azelina's land. In 1066 this holding had been worth £2 but this had been cut in half in value by 1086.

Battlesden Manor

As noted above, battlesden Manor was given to Walter Giffard by WIlliam the Conqueror. The Passelewe family were lords of the manor in the last half od the 13th century, being succeeded by Nicholas Fermbaud in 1297, that family holding the manor until the late 15th century when it passed to the Oxenbridges, then the Skipwiths and finally the Brays in 1496.

Lord John Bray granted the manor to William Saunders in 1556, whose daughter married a Duncombe and that family were lords of the manor until 1706 when it was sold to Allen, Lord Bathurst, who sold it on in 1724 to Sir Gregory Page, a director of the East India Company. In 1885 the Duke of Bedford purchase the manor from the trustees of Sir Gregory Page-Turner. It seems reasonable to assume that the early medieval manor buildings were on the site of the later Battlesden House|.