Introduction

Landscape

The parish is in a rough crescent shape and includes 2,147 acres (860 hectares) and lies on a plateau of boulder clay. The highest point of the parish is just 250 feet above sea level, near Cherry Orchard. The parish is cut by a number of small valleys cut by streams and the lowest part of the parish, at 125 feet above sea level is in one of these valleys just south of Dean Farm. The soil is, typically, medium to heavy clay loam which can cause drainage problems.

Before The Conquest

Little evidence of early settlement has been found at Colmworth, the first main indication coming with Roman-British pottery and a third century Roman coin found just east of Colley Hill. It has been suggested that a Roman road ran from Bedford to Alconbury, running along the boundary of Bolnhurst and Wilden then across open fields to Chapel End, then along the present road to Church End and from The City towards Bushmead.

Domesday

The name Colmworth is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Colmeworde. The name is difficult to translate but may mean "the enclosure of the Culham people", it has been suggested that a lost place called Culham may have existed in the vicinity to explain this place name. Hugh de Beauchamp owned Colmworth at Domesday and it formed part of his Barony of Bedford. His tenant was clearly a native, his name being Wimund. The holding consisted of 5 hides|. The holding included 12 villagers, 13 smallholders and a slave. This total of 26 needs to be multiplied by at least a factor of four to account for these men's dependents, giving a possible total population of just over a hundred. the holding contained enough woodland for 200 pigs. Aki, a thegn |of King Edward the Confessor, had held the place in 1066 and eight Freemen also had their own land which they could grant or sell freely. The value at that time had been £4 which, somewhat unusually, had risen to £5 by 1086, indicating that if Colmworth had suffered from the depredations of William I's army, like so many places, it had made a rapid recovery.

Manors

This holding of Hugh de Beauchamp, became the Manor of Colmworth. In 1265 the Manor passed to Ela de Beauchamp. It later passed to the Braybrooke family until 1422 when it passed to Sir William Beauchamp, husband of Elizabeth Braybrooke. The manor passed from their son Richard Beauchamp to his cousin, Thomas Brooke, in 1528, who was suceeded by his son George, Lord Cobham till 1541. His son WIlliam, Lord Cobham held the manor until 1565 when it was alienated to William Tooke who transferred it in 1567 to Sir John Dyer, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.

By 1603 the latter's grand-nephew, Sir Richard Dyer, a gentleman of the Privy Chamber to James I had inherited the property and on his death two years later, his son Sir William Dyer became seised of the manor. His heir and eldest son Lodowick sold the estates by 1667 to Richard Hillersdon, who was followed by his son Thomas and grandson William. In 1725 the manor passed by the marriage of Elizabeth Hillersdon to Dennis Farrer and his family. Dennis Farrer, son of Dennis and Elizabeth, alienated Colmworth manor by fine to Francis Astry. In 1758 Francis made a settlement of the manor with Richard Ray senior and Richard Ray junior. The Rays held the manor till 1797 when it was purchased by Reverend Leonard Towne. In 1834 the trustees of Sarah Eliza Norris, who was possibly a daughter of Towne's, were lords of the manor under the latter's will. By 1847 Sarah Eliza Norris was lady of the manor by her own right

Ends

Colmworth's ends begin to be mentioned in the 13th century. In the Coroner's Rolls for 1298 [Bedfordshire Historical Records Society volume 41] Sutende [South End] is named and in the Bushmead cartulary [BHRS volume] Penyshende [Pennys End] and Mylle Ende [Mill End] are named. The parish had a hamlet called Langnoe in the middle ages which has since been lost. Over End was first recorded in 1588, later becoming known as Chapel End. Brook Lanes End was first mentioned in 1602, Channels End in 1614 and Church End in 1668 with a Mile [Mill?] or Godfreys End noted in 1820 [WG2101]. Local legend states that The City was named by immigrants from the French city of Strasbourg in the 16th century.

Drownings and Manslaughter

Volume XLI of Bedfordshire Historical Records Society series comprises translation by R.F.Hunnisett of medieval coroner's rolls for the county, entry 9 reads: "On 14 Jan 1267 Sabinia, an old woman, went into Colmworth to beg bread. At twilight she wished to go to her house, fell into a stream and drowned by misadventure. The next day her son Henry searched for her [and] found her drowned…" A similar fate befell someone at the other end of the age range a few months later: "On 7 Apr 1267 Emma daughter of Gilbert the Carter, aged 2, went to play in the street in Colmworth, fell into a ditch and drowned by misadventure…"

Entry 26 reads: "About vespers [dusk] on 8 Jun 1268 Richard son of John the Miller, aged 5, went from his father's house to a well in his father's courtyard in "le Sutende" of Colmworth, slipped, fell into the well and drowned by misadventure…"

A curious case of manslaughter took place in Colmworth in 1274, entry 173 reads: "On 6 Nov Hugh Bel, servant of Richard le Chanu of Colmworth, came from Richard's plough and met John dil Brok in "Grenecroft" in Colmworth, where a quarrel arose between them and John drew his bow and shot Hugh in the left thigh with a barbed arrow so that he immediately died. Hugh's mother Mabel Veskunte first found him dead…" At the eyre, a court held by itinerant justices who followed a circuit, it was presented that John had immediately fled and he was outlawed. Then, nearly a year later on 2 Sep 1275 Richard le Chanu appeared in court and accused Wymund le Chanu of killing Hugh Bel on 13 Nov 1274 "shoting him with a barbed arrow of peacock feathers of which the shaft was beech wood" and noting that the wound inflicted in the brawn, or muscle, was 3 inches deep, I inch wide and 3 thumbs long. At the following eyre Richard did not appear and Wymund was acquitted by the jury

Population

Colmworth has about the same number of people living there today as it did at the beginning of the nineteenth century, though the numbers have fluctuated quite widely over time as the following figures show:

1801 - 347,   1851 - 543,   1901 - 297,   1951 - 271,   2001 - 369