Introduction
The classic view of Husborne Crawley taken around 1900 [Z50/65/26]
The Landscape
Before the loss of some of its land to help create the civil parish| of Brogborough in 1990 the parish contained around 1,610 acres, and is a mixture of sand and clay, particularly Oxford Clay and Chalky Boulder Clay, the latter being deposited during the last Ice Age. The parish contains some of the greenest of greensand, too as may be seen in the tower of the church [see below]. The parish stands, on average, 300 feet above sea level.
Before Domesday
The only known evidence of prehistoric settlement in Husborne Crawley is the discovery of a New Stone Age or Neolithic (3000-2000 BC) flint tool. Husborne Crawley is first recorded in 969 in a charter of King Edgar granting land in that part of Aspley Guise bordering the parish and it is referred to as Hysseburnan [Bedfordshire Historical Records Society volume V 1919, with a translation by George Herbert Fowler]. The meaning of the Husborne element is obscure, bo(u) rne means stream but it is not certain what the Hus means, unless it is from the Anglo-Saxon word "hyse" meaning young man or warrior or is perhaps a colloquial plant name. Crawley means "crow clearing", the first mention of Crawley is in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it is referred to as Crawelai and Crauelai. The parish is first referred to as Husborne Crawley in 1276 (as Husseburn Crawele and Husseburn Croulye).
Domesday Book (1086)
Husborne Crawley was part of the Manshead Hundred|. In 1086 it was recorded that Nigel d’Albini held a manor of five hides| in Crawley which was leased to a native Anglo-Saxon named Thorgils. The manor was home to 1 villager, 7 smallholders and 1 slave. In 1066 the land had belonged to nine thegns| and had been worth £5. Depredations by William I’s army reduced the value of the manor to £2 by the time that it was granted to d’Albini and by 1086 the value had sunk still further to 30 shillings (£1.50 in modern money). The Domesday Book noted that Thorgils held another hide from Nigel in the same Hundred which had been in the hands of one Fuglo, a man of Alric, son of Goding in 1066 but did not state where the land was, however, it is possible it was in Husborne Crawley as it directly follows that entry. As the first entry refers to Crawley, it is possible that this second entry refers to Crawley’s hamlet later named, confusingly, not Husborne but Husborne Crawley!
The other landowner in 1086 was William Lovett who, Domesday Book records, held a manor of five hides from the King in Crawley. The manor also contained 5 villagers, 3 smallholders and 2 slaves. The manor owned two mills and had, in 1066, belonged to Grimbald who held it directly from King Edward the Confessor. It had then been worth £5 but had fallen to 30 shillings value when Lovett acquired it, which had risen to £2 by 1086.
The total population figure for these two manors is thus 6 villagers, 10 smallholders and 3 slaves for a total of 22. This figure accounts only for the heads of the households and thus needs to be multiplied by a factor of at least four to account for their dependents, giving a rough population for Crawley in 1086 of 90.
Manors
There have been three manors in Husborne Crawley over time. Grimbald’s manor, which was given to William Lovett after the Conquest became Crawley Manor. It passed to the Earl of Albermarle in the mid 13th century until 1368 when it was released to the Crown and was later held by Dunstable Priory. Sometime during the reign of Elizabeth I it was acquired by her Comptroller Sir John Thompson and remained in the family until 1691 when it was sold to John Lowe, the Duke of Bedford purchasing it in 1721. The Manor house was retained by the Thompson family and not sold in 1691. It was eventually purchased by Edmund Williamson in the early 18th century and remained in the family until 1792 when it, too, was sold to the Duke of Bedford, who promptly pulled it down; from early map evidence showing an unnamed collection of large buildings, it seems to have stood in the fields on the west side of School Lane about half way between Turnpike Road and Crawley Brook. Diaries and correspondence of the Williamson family in Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service [M10/1-2] give details of the house in the 18th century. In 1765 it was described as “a handsome large House delightfully situated…On the Ground Floor – a large hall, two Parlours, a Drawing Room, a good Kitchen and Servants Hall, with many other convenient places and two large Cellars. On the First Floor are 12 good Chambers with large Closets and several good Garrets. Out-houses, a Brew-house, Wash-house, a Laundry, a Coach House, 2 Stables with Stalls for 14 Horses, a large Garden well planted with fruit trees; and 2 large Fish Ponds and exceedingly fine water”.
Nigel d’Albini’s manor became known as the Manor of Husborne Crawley was held in 1086 as part of d’Albini’s Barony of Cainhoe where it remained until the Earl of Kent sold it to the King in 1525, Sir John Thompson was granted the manor in 1579 when it merged with Crawley Manor. A third manor, called Brays was held by Nicholas Ravenhill in 1422, passing to Sir Reginald Bray in the later part of the century. Sir John Thompson also acquired this manor, in 1566. the manor house stands next to the church and is now known as Manor Farm.
Crow Lane around 1920 [X21/21/756/19]
Buried Treasure
A strange thing happened at Husborne Crawley in 1228 when assorted pieces of gold and other valuables were dug up in the churchyard whilst digging at grave. The account is translated thus in Bedfordshire Historical Records Society volume III of 1916 by George Herbert Fowler: “Concerning the finding of treasure. It happened on St.Stephen’s day [26 December] after that the Justices departed from Bedford [they left in January 1228] that when Roger Crudel and Stephen son of Gilbert had made by night a certain grave to bury a certain corpse in the graveyard of Husseborne, they found a certain brazen plate and under the plate a certain earthen pot, and in the pot six plates of gold and one chain of gold and one cross partly of gold and partly of silver and two brooches of gold. And these are weighed: and the weight of the brooches is thirty six shillings six pence, the weight of the six plates and of one brooch and of [a certain?] piece of gold six shillings, the weight of the chain four shillings two pence. And the cross is viewed, and there are two pieces partly of gold and partly of silver, the weight of which with small pieces is fourteen shillings two pence”. A total of £3/0/10 – a very considerable sum.
This treasure, if reference to a cross was accurate, cannot have been more than eight hundred years old or so at that time and might, of course, have been very much more recent and might either have been the proceeds of a robbery of have been hidden during turbulent times, such as the years of Viking raids (the boundary of the Danelaw ran in a straight line from Luton to Bedford) or during the difficult year of 1066 and immediately thereafter. At any rate the material was declared treasure trove and used by King Henry III to found a new hospital in Dover.
Parish and Population
Husborne Crawley lost some of its area in 1990 when Brogborough was made a separate civil parish. Husborne Crawley is a much smaller village today than in the past as these figures show:
1801 – 543; 1851 – 614; 1901 – 397; 1951 – 317; 2001 – 216