Bletsoe Introduction

 

The village in March 2007

Landscape

The soil in the parish is clay, limestone and gravel. The River Great Ouse flows through the south-west of the parish.

Name

The name Bletsoe derives from 'Blaecci's hill-spur'. Blaecci was an Old English personal name, and hoh meant a bit of a hill that sticks out sideways from a larger hill, called a spur. In Domesday Book it's written Blechesho.
 

Domesday Book (1086)

Bletsoe is recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086, when it was split evenly between Hugh de Beauchamp and Countess Judith. Hugh's tenant was Osbert de Breuil, (a certain Askell had held the land before the Conquest). Osbert's holding was of  2½ hides with land for four ploughs and consisted of seven villagers, two smallholders and two slaves. The manor had a half share in a mill and woodland for a hundred pigs.

Judith's tenant was Osbern (it had been a woman, Leofeva "King Edward's man (!)" before the Conquest) who also held 2½ hides, also land for four ploughs, and including six villagers, three smallholders and three slaves. Osbern held the other share in the mill and also had woodland for 100 pigs. Thus the two holdings together had 13 villagers, 5 smallholders and 5 slaves, a total of 23. These people would all have had families and so the entire population of the parish may have been around a hundred.

Manors

The Victoria County History asserts that the Manor of Bletsoe was the 2 ½ hides owned by Hugh de Beauchamp and that Judith's tenant Osbern was probably the same as Hugh's man Osbert. It suggests that Judith's holding was absorbed by another manor and disappeared from history. Whether this was so, or not, it is known that Osbert de Breuil's descendant Robert de Broi granted land in Bletsoe to the Hospital of Holy Trinity, Northampton in the early 13th century. His daughter Margery married Walter de Patishull. Bletsoe Manor next passed to Simon de Patishull, their son, who between 1247 and 1253 quitclaimed land to John de Berdefeude. His grandson, also Simon de Patishull, died in 1295 having previously enfeoffed his daughter Agnes and her husband John de Pabenham the manor for their lives. On Agnes' death in 1313 the manor passed to John de Patishull, son of Simon. John was succeeded by his son William in 1349, who passed Bletsoe Manor to his sister Sybil, wife of Roger de Beauchamp in 1359.

Roger de Beauchamp was succeeded by his son Roger in 1379 - 1380, who was followed in 1406 by his son John. John died in 1412, and his son John was still underage when he died in 1420 - 1421 and the Manor passed to his 11 year old sister Margaret. She died in 1482 and the manor passed to John St.John, her son by her first husband. It passed to his son of the same name in 1525, then to his son Oliver St.John in 1559. When he died in 1581 - 1582 Bletsoe Manor passed to his son John, then in 1596 to John's brother Oliver, and in 1618 to Oliver's son, also called Oliver.

This Oliver St.John was created Earl of Bolingbroke in 1624. He was a Parliamentarian and his son Oliver died in 1642 from wounds received at the battle of Edgehill. As a consequence Oliver was succeeded by his grandson Oliver, the son of Sir Paulet St.John. He died without issue in 1687 and his title and estates passed to his brother Paulet St.John, third Earl of Bolingbroke and sixth Lord St.John. When he died unmarried in 1711 the Earldom of Bolingbroke became extinct.

The Barony of St.John continued and devolved upon the last Earl's cousin Paulet, who died in infancy, and was followed by his three uncles William, who died unmmarried in 1720, Rowland, who died unmarried in 1722, and John, who died in 1757. The latter's son John succeeded him and held the title until his death in 1767. His son Henry Beauchamp died in 1805 without male issue and the manor passed to his brother St.Andrew St.John. He died in 1817 and his son St Andrew St.John succeeded at the age of six and died in 1874 at Melchbourne Park. His son of the same name died in 1887, after which the title went to his brother Beauchamp Moubray. A full list of the Barons St.John of Bletsoe and Earls of Bolingbroke appears below:

Barons St.John of Bletsoe

1. Oliver St.John, created 1559, died 1582;
2. John St.John, died 1596;
3. Oliver St.John, died 1618;
4. Oliver St.John, created Earl of Bolingbroke in 1524, died 1646 

Earls of Bolingbroke and Barons St.John

1 & 4. [i.e. 1st Earl and 4th Baron] Oliver St.John
Oliver St.John, died 1642 [predeceased the first earl; sat in the House of Lords but was never Baron];
2 & 5. Oliver St.John, died 1688;
3 & 6. Paulet St.John, died 1711

Barons St.John

7. Paulet St.Andrew St.John, died 1714;
8. William St.John, died 1720;
9. Rowland St.John, died 1722;
10. John St.John, died 1757;
11. John St.John, died 1767;
12. Henry Beauchamp St.John, died 1805;
13. St.Andrew St.John, died 1817;
14. St.Andrew Beauchamp St.John, died 1874;
15. St.Andrew St.John, died 1887;
16. Beauchamp Mowbray St.John, died 1912;
17. Henry Beauchamp Oliver St.John, died 1920;
18. Moubray St.Andrew Thornton St.John, died 1934;
19. John Moubray Russell St.John, died 1976;
20. Andrew Beauchamp St.John, died 1978;
21. Anthony Tudor St.John, born 1957