Introduction

 
The lock-up and pound on The Green in March 2007

Landscape

The village somewhat hides it light under a bushel in that the houses along the A6, whilst perfectly respectable, do not give any idea of the wealth, or number, of older buildings tucked away behind. The parish varies in height between 152 and 323 feet above sea level and contains some 2,425 acres (981 hectares). The soil is predominantly greensand lying over gravel and sand with some pockets of clay. The River Flitt runs through the centre of the parish on it way to joining the Ivel. A number of springs rise along the ridge near the old church.

Prehistory

The earliest trace of settlement in the parish is a small find of flint tools east of Beadlow Manor, discovered through road widening. A Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age (12000-3000 BC) has been suggested for these objects. An Iron Age hut was excavated just south of Cainhoe Castle in 1973 which came up with a radio-carbon date of around 500 BC.

Roman Period (43-410)

Roman remains have been found on the parish boundary at the south edge of Pedley Wood and crop marks suggest the presence of a small settlement. A 4th century coin was also found at the south-west end of the village. The A6 is not a Roman road, but was probably in existence during the Dark Ages or at the latest the early medieval period as it forms the western boundary of the parish. The High Street and Shefford Road have been tentatively identified as a Roman road and the road certainly runs reasonably straight until it reaches Beadlow where it diverts around the medieval Beadlow Priory site.

Domesday Book 1086

Clophill is first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Clopelle, the name means "tree-stump hill". It contained two or three hamlets – Beadlow|, Cainhoe| and possibly Moddry. The entry for Clophill records that Nigel de Albini held the land himself, as well as more extensive lands in Husborne Crawley, Tingrith, Harlington, Marston Moretaine, Millbrook, Ampthill, Southill, Maulden, Silsoe, Pulloxhill, Streatley, Milton Ernest, Carlton, Radwell,  Turvey, Wyboston, Holme (Biggleswade), Harrowden, Clifton, Henlow and Arlesey. The manor was of five hides|. It contained 5 villagers, 5 smallholders and a slave. These would all have been men, to get an idea of the total number one should probably multiply this figure by at least four - giving a total of upwards of 50 or so. The manor had been worth £8 in 1066 but, due to the depradations of William I's army this had fallen to 30/- when de Albini acquired it but had risen to £3 by 1086. Before the Conquest two of Earl Tosti's thegns held the manor. Tosti has been brother of King Harold and had died fighting against him at Stamford Bridge in 1066 alongside King Harald of Norway.

Manors

The Manor of Clophill & Cainhoe was part of the Barony of Cainhoe until the reign of Henry VIII when it became part of the Honour of Ampthill, a group of manors and parishes designed to support a palace the king intended to build (but never did) in Ampthill. The Manor was divided into a number of shares between the daughters of Simon de Albini on his death in 1272 and was subsequently further subdivided but was eventually reunited under the Dakeney family by 1373. The manor passed to the de Grey family in the early 15th century who sold it during the reign of Henry VII to Giles, Lord Daubeny, he conveyed it to Sir William Compton and on his death in 1528 it reverted to the King, becoming part of the Honour of Ampthill in 1542.

The Manor of Clophill Hall is first known in a grant of 1354 by Joan Dakeney to Gerard de Braybroke and it probably descended with the Manor of Clophill and Cainhoe until sold in 1598 to Thomas Anscell who conveyed it to Richard Chernock in 1605, eventually passing through the hands of the Bruce family (Earls of Ailesbury and Elgin) before ending up with the de Grey and subsequently Lucas families.

Clophill in the early 20th century

Middle Ages and Later

It seems likely that most if not all of the original settlement of Clophill was on the ridge near the old church| and the springs, the name itself suggests a hillside or hilltop settlement. Most of the early references to land in Clophill refer to enclosures around the old church. It is therefore likely that the settlement moved downhill gradually during the middle ages and even on a map of 1716 [L33/10] houses are shown around the old church. Interestingly no mill is recorded in Clophill in Domesday Book whereas Clophill watermill later became an important part of the village, presumably once it had begun to move to its lower situation of today. Local tradition, as is usual in these cases of abandoned medieval villages, ascribes the move to the Black Death and it is possible that this was the final catalyst for a move which had already been underway for other social, geographic or economic reasons such as squatters seeking to set up homesteads on what was then the manorial waste or moving closer to the road tentatively described as Roman which may still have been in use.

Population

The population of Clophill has never been large as the following figures demonstrate:

1801 – 706; 1851 – 1,186; 1901 – 893; 1951 – 844; 2001 – 1,696