Aspley Manor
Domesday Book
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that the Manor of Aspley, of 10 hides|, was held by Earl Waltheof, whose tenant was Leveva in 1066. Waltheof was Earl of Northumbria and was important enough for William the Conqueror to marry his own niece, Judith, to him. However, Waltheof rebelled twice against William and was executed in 1076. By 1086 the manor was held by Hugh de Beauchamp who, by 1100 had been created Baron of Bedford, Acard de Ivri was his tenant.
The manor was noted as containing 16 villeins, 4 smallholders and 5 slaves in Aspley - 25 people. This figure should be multiplied by a factor of at least four to account for these men's dependents giving a total population of, perhaps, a little over a hundred. The manor included a mill|, valued at 10/- and woodland for 50 pigs. It had been worth £10 in 1066 but the depredations of William I's army had reduced this to half by the time that Hugh acquired it, though by 1086 the value had increased to £8.
Aspley Manor
The next known owner of the manor after Hugh de Beauchamp was John de Wadelawe in 1219. He was a servant of the infamous Faulkes de Breauté, known as the Robber Baron of Bedford Castle, a favourite of King John. When de Breauté fell his lands were sold off, Aspley Manor realised £25/10/6. Anselm de Gyse (or Guise) was granted the Manor in 1276 and it is his family which gives the parish the second part of its name, even though the family moved from Aspley in 1540 to Elmore in Gloucestershire. A flavour of Aspley Guise at this time comes from the inquisition held on Anselm's death in 1295 which listed: the house with its gardens and fish-ponds; two dovecotes; 160 acres of arable; 12 acres of meadow; 7 acres of pasture; 80 acres of old woodland, one with underwood; 40 customary tenants; 2 cottages; and the right to cart fuller's earth. The number of tenants shows a considerable increase in population in the two hundred years since Domesday.
When the Gyse family left Aspley the manor was annexed to the Honour of Ampthill, a large group of parishes in central Bedfordshire designed to support a palace Henry VIII intended to create in Ampthill. In 1560 the military engineer Richard Lee obtained the manor from Elizabeth I. The licence Lee received to alienate the manor mentioned 60 messuages, 20 tofts and two windmills [BHRS vol. 14]. The Manor then descended, via Lee's daughter, to the Sadleir family then, in the early 19th century to the Moody family who held it into the 20th century.
Manor Farm about 1900 [Z818/27]
The Manor House
The Manor lies on Church Street, just down the hill from the church. It is, compared to the history of the Manor, a comparatively modern building, having been dated by former the Department of Environment as about 1700 when they listed it as being of historic interest in 1961. The listing describes the building as being of red brick with chequer-work and diamond patterning in vitrified headers. The house has two storeys and attics and is in an L shape. The ground and first floor windows are 19th century casements. The tile roof was laid in the 20th century and a small two storey addition to the right hand gable end of the main block is also 20th century.
Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has two sets of sale particulars for the Manor, half a century apart. The first [Z720/1/37] is for an auction sale on 10 May 1930 at The Swan Hotel in Bedford. The vendor was the last Lord of the Manor, Francis Vernon Moody; the last aspects of manorial tenure having been abolished by various acts since 1922 (and going on to 1939). The particulars are brief, describing the Manor thus: "The double-fronted detached house stands back from the road and contains Hall, Dining Room and Drawing Rooms fitted with cupboards, Kitchen, Dairy, Scullery, Brewhouse with copper, Storeroom, 4 Bedrooms, Boxroom, Store Cupboard, 2 Attics and Cellar, Walled Flower and Kitchen Gardens. Gas and Water are laid on to the House. Electric Light is available". Along with the Manor went Manor Farm, containing just over 84 acres of arable and pasture as well as clay and sand pits; the homestead was described as including: "Granary with Loft, Large Corn Barn, Open Shed with manger (the two enclosures are the property of the Tenant), 5 Bay Cart Shed, Nag Stable, Piggeries and other buildings. Brick floored Cow House for 14, with feeding passage". One of the buildings contained a butcher's shop owned by a Mr.Millard which was not part of the sale. To see a larger version of the estate agent's map of the farm below, please click on the thumbnail
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The second set of sale particulars date to 1981 when the property was sold by estate agents Kilroy, then at 4 The Square, Aspley Guise. In the introduction the particulars note that a previous owner of the Manor was Sir Kenneth Allen, who had sold it in 1969. The particulars are fuller than those of 1930 and describe the property as follows. Ground Floor: colonnade entrance porch; reception hall (21 feet 3 inches by 15 feet 3 inches) with brick inglenook fireplace, oak beams, original quarry tile floor and two radiators; morning room/study (16 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 2 inches) with beamed ceiling, Australian oak strip floor, marble inset fireplace and two radiators; dining room (15 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 1 inch) with beamed ceiling, fitted book shelves, radiator and oak hatchway to the kitchen; side entrance hall with oak panelling and quarry tiled floor as well as a cupboard and two radiators; a cloakroom with wc and wash basin; the living room (20 feet 7 inches by 20 feet 3 inches) with three radiators and a door to the terrace; kitchen (16 feet by 12 feet); laundry (10 feet 3 inches by 7 feet 5 inches) and cellar with separate wine cellars with clay pipe wine racks. The first floor: three bedrooms (one en-suite), a bathroom and separate w.c. The second floor: two bedrooms, a bedroom/playroom and landing. the gardens comprised over an acre and a half including lawns and flower beds, a paddock, tennis court and summer house; there were two garages with lofts over. The price was £157,500, indicating once again the enormity of house price inflation in the years since.
The Manor January 2008
Manors had jurisdiction over all their tenants and a number of aspects of their tenants' lives. Part of this was control over tenants' animals. If an animal was caught straying (and therefore, potentially, damaging the property and/or land of other tenants or the Lord of the Manor) it was captured by manorial officials and put in the pound. Its owner could then only redeem it on payment of a fine. The pound in Aspley is marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey 25 inches to the mile map of 1883 as being at the southern junction of Berry Lane with Church Street at a spot known as Berry Lane Corner, where a modern house stands today.
Berry Lane Corner - site of the pound - January 2008