Introduction

 

 
Cottages in the High Street in March 2007

Name

Blunham meant Bluwa’s homestead. Bluwa was an Old English personal name, and a ham was a homestead.

Domesday

In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is written Bluneham. The parish has three separate entries in the book. The Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds held 4¼ hides|. The holding included 8 villagers, 5 smallholders and 1 slave. It included a mill and the whole was worth £6 in 1066, 70 shillings when acquired and £4 at Domesday, the lesser values the result of plundering by soldiers of William I's army moving north to quell rebellion. In 1066 four Freemen had held the land. Eudo, son of Hubert also held a virgate| in Blunham, Dominic being his tenant, again four Freemen had held this in 1066 when it was worth 5/- which declined to 3/- when acquired and 2/- in 1086. The final mention in the Domesday Book is of half a hide held by the Abbey of Bury St.Edmund's from Countess Judith. This had been worth £1 in 1066m declining to 10/- when acquired, but rising back to its original figure by 1086.

Manors

The land which became the Manor of Blunham, then, was held by Baldwin, Abbot of Bury St Edmunds in 1086. Blunham was granted by William the Conqueror to Ralph, who held it of the Abbot by the service of a Steward. The Manor next passed to Maurice de Windsor, whose tenure was confirmed by charter of King Stephen. He was succeeded by his nephew Ralph de Hastings. Before 1182 he was succeeded by his nephew Maurice who died the same year and was followed by his son Henry, a minor. Henry de Hastings accompanied Richard I on a Crusade in 1191 – 1192. He died in 1195 when William, his brother, paid 100 marks for his lands and offices. William's grandson Sir Henry de Hastings held the manor in 1240.

Ida Peche, sister of Henry de Hastings and wife of Hugh Peche held the manor for her life in 1247. Her brother John de Hastings succeeded Henry in 1268. In 1297 a licence was granted to him when ‘going beyond seas with the King on his service’ to demise the manor to Agnes de Valencia, kinswoman to Edward I, for her life. John de Hastings died in 1301, and was succeeded by his son, also John de Hastings. He died in 1325 when his son Lawrence was only 6, and wardship was passed to Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. In 1339 Lawrence de Hastings was created Earl of Pembroke. He died in 1345 and John Malyn held the manor during the minority of Lawrences’ son  John de Hastings.  John married Anne, and after his death in 1375 she held the manor during the minority of their son John.

John de Hastings died in 1389 and Blunham passed to his cousin and next heir Reginald de Grey of Ruthyn. From this time the descent of the manor is identical to that of Wrest in Silsoe.

There are traces of a second Blunham manor which originated in land held by the Braybrooke family of the Earl of Pembroke. Gerard de Braybrook inherited land from his father John de Braybrooke, which was worth £7 when Gerard died in 1359. His son Gerard, along with his cousin Reginald Kentwode, obtained a grant of lands in Blunham in 1425. In 1427 when Gerard died these lands were granted to Sir William Beauchamp and his wife Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Sir Gerard Braybrooke.

Sir William Beauchamp became Lord St Amand in 1448-9. His son Richard, Lord St Amand, was attainted by Richard III in 1483 for conspiring in favour of Henry Earl of Richmond, and the lands were granted to Lord Stanley and his son.

Elizabeth Seyntmounde held Blunham Manor at her death in 1491. She was succeeded by her son Richard Beauchamp who died in 1508. The land then passed through various hands to St. John’s College, Cambridge, but after they agreed in 1534 to pay tithes to George Lord Cobham no further trace of the Manor can be found.

Sudden Death

Volume XLI of the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society series comprises translations by R.F.Hunnisett of medieval coroner's rolls for the county. Entry 61 reads: "Towards vespers [dusk] on 11 Dec 1270 Hugh the Cobbler of Blunham came from Sandy to Blunham and tried to cross Blunham bridge on the east of the town. He slipped and fell upon the ice, which broke, and drowned by misadventure. His wife Muriel searched for him the next day because she was troubled by his delay and every day until 26 Dec when she first found him…"

Population

Blunham has never been a particularly large place. At Domesday, as noted above, the total number of manorial tenants mentioned is just 14 but this figure should be multiplied by at least four to allow for women and children, giving a minimum population of say 56. The population was static at between 540 and 667 from 1821 to 1961. Then in the late twentieth century significant development increased population by a third as these figures show:

1801: 376  1851: 667  1901: 598  1951: 598  2001: 925

In 1866 Blunham's hamlet of Mogerhanger| became a separate civil parish| (it had been a separate ecclesiastical parish| since 1860) and the hamlet of Chalton| thereafter formed part of the parish of Mogerhanger rather than Blunham.