Harrold Manors

Domesday

The Manor of Harrold was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as belonging to Countess Judith. She was a niece of William the Conqueror and wife of Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon and Northumbria, who had rebelled against William, been betrayed to him by Judith, and been executed in 1076. Judith herself lost all her lands at around the time of Domesday when she angered her uncle by refusing to marry Earl Simon of Northampton.

Gilbert de Blosseville held the manor from the Countess. It comprised ten hides| and had ten villagers with seven ploughs. Clearly this was seen as under-populated as the book records that another six ploughs were possible. The manor contained enough woodland for two hundred pigs and a mill| valued at 36/8 and two hundred eels. The manor was worth, in total, £6. In 1066, when it had been held by three thegns of King Edward the Confessor it had been worth £20 and, when Judith acquired it, £16.

This severe loss in value is probably tied up with the small population. There may be many reasons for this but a popular notion, put forward from studies of manors in the county and their decrease in value, is that they were predated upon by William I's armies as they moved north to quell rebellion - a swathe of manors running south to north through the county being badly affected.

The Old Manor
The Old Manor [Z49/257]

Harrold Manor

In the 13th century the overlordship of this manor was attached to the Honour of Huntingdon, itself held by the Hastings family, Earls of Pembroke. In 1346 the Prior of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem claimed overlordship of the manor, records of 1428 and 1509 maintaining this claim.

In 1232 Gilbert de Blosseville's descendent Simon acknowledged the right of one Ralph Morin to four hides in Harrold. As early as 1194 this Ralph Morin was recorded as owning land in the parish and between 1202 and 1235 he was engaged in various suits to acquire more. In 1253 Ralph Morin and his son John obtained a charter allowing them to establish a rabbit warren on their estate and in 1272 they were accused of unjustly distraining the goods of a free tenant of the manor and his wife. By 1278, however, the manor was held by John de Grey, who claimed to have inherited the right of free warren from Ralph Morin in 1287, who joined with him to prove his claim. Harrold Manor remained in the Grey family, passing eventually, like Wrest Park in Silsoe, the family seat, to the Robinson and finally the Lucas families, Lord Lucas of Dingwall being Lord of the Manor in the early 20th century.

 Harrold Hall from the south in 1957
Harrold Hall from the south in 1957 [Z53/54/3]

Harrold Priory Manor

In 1537, the year after the priory| was surrendered as part of the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the site of the buildings, together with the advowson| of Harrold church| was granted by the Crown on a twenty one year lease to John Cheney for £10 per annum rent. At the expiry of this lease London grocer Robert Farrar received the manor permanently.

The manor, as it is occasionally called in contemporary documents, remained in the Farrar family until 1616 when Francis died leaving only a daughter Anne, wife of Thomas Boteler of Biddenham. Francis Farrer had built Harrold Hall| between 1608 and 1610 on the site ofthe old priory. In 1651 Helen Boteler, granddaughter of Thomas and Anne, married her second cousin Thomas Farrar and this property, except the advowson, formed part of their marriage settlement. The advowson found its way back into the Farrar family in 1680 when William, Thomas' son, married Mary Boteler and it formed part of her dowry. In 1714 William Farrar alienated the supposed manor to Mrs.Anne Joliffe, half-sister of Jemima, Duchess of Kent. On her death her property passed to her niece Anne Alston, who married a Doctor Mead and lived at Harrold Hall.

 Badge of the Knights Templar
Badge of the Knights Templar

Swanton Manor

In 1240 Ralph de Carun and Flandrina, his wife, granted a sixth of Harrold Mill and 151 acres of land in Harrold to Robert de Sanford, Master of the Knights Templar. Predictably the land hungry Ralph Morin [see above] tried to claim part of these lands and trespassed on the Knights' common pasture in 1244. In 1253 the Knights gained a grant of free warren for their lands in Harrold which then comprised two hundred acres of land, two acres of meadow, three virgates in demesne and four cottagers as villeins.

At some point the Templars alienated the manor, possibly as a result of their suppression in 1314. In 1330 Simon Croyser and Ellen, his wife, held it for their lives from John de Grey who had died seised of the manor in 1324. At this date it comprised a capital messuage or manor house, 260 acres, six free tenants, five tenants at will, nine bondmen and eleven cottagers. From this date the manor followed the same descent as Harrold Manor through the de Grey, Robinson and Lucas families.

Claybrookes Manor

This manor is first recorded in 1554 when Francis, Lord Russell (later 2nd Earl of Bedford) and Margaret, his wife alienated it to John and Frances Dobbe. In 1584 it was in the possession of Henry Laurence, a mercer of Bedford. On his death in 1587 his property passed to his cousin Edward Laurence who sold it two years later to John Blott. By the time of the death of his son William in 1637 the property had been reduced to a cottage and thirteen acres of land.