Wilden

Overlordship

At the time of the Survey WILDEN MANOR, assessed at 5 hides, belonged to the Bishop of Bayeux. On his death in 1097 the overlordship of Wilden reverted to the Crown, and became attached to the king's honour of Peverel, the manor being held by service of one knight's fee. The latest mention of the overlordship has been found in 1492.

Lordship account 1

In 1086 Herbert held this manor of the bishop, having as under-tenant his nephew Hugh, from whom it appears to have passed some time in the following century to the family of St. Remy. This family, which was of Norman extraction, also held land in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and other counties. In 1164–5 Robert de St. Remy paid 4 marks into the Exchequer for land held in the first-named county, and in 1175–6 and succeeding years owed £100 'pro foresta' on behalf of himself and his sons. It is not until 1204 that we find the name connected with Wilden. In that year, probably during the minority of William de St. Remy, who appears to have succeeded Robert here as elsewhere, the Sheriff of Bedford was ordered to pay 15 librates of the land lately belonging to Robert and Richard de St. Remy to James St. Clare. In 1206–7 another grant of Robert de St. Remy's lands was made to Peter de Manley 'to maintain himself in the king's service,' but a year later William de St. Remy appears to have entered into possession certainly of part of his ancestral property. He died c. 1224, in which year his widow Cecilia received an assignment of dower in Wilden, and also on payment of £10 received the wardship of her husband's daughters. Of these Agnes married Ralph Ridel, and Elena John de Pabenham (whose family has been traced in Pavenham, q.v.), the dual heirship leading to a temporary division of the property. With regard to the moiety which passed to Agnes, John Ridel her son is found holding in 1286–7, and again in 1302–3. He died without direct heirs in 1313, when by arrangement with Henry Tilly and Matilda (who represented Ralph Ridel's family) and John de Pabenham (whose claim rested on his relationship to Agnes de St. Remy) the former took lands in Huntingdonshire, whilst the latter acquired the Wilden property, thus reuniting the moieties. After its acquisition by the Pabenhams Wilden Manor follows the same descent as those manors held by that family in Pavenham and Carlton (q.v.). Its history diverges from that of Pavenham on the alienation of the latter in 1340 to Thomas de Pabenham. Like Carlton, Wilden Manor passed to Margery daughter of James de Pabenham, who some time before 1388 married William Huggeford, and so, by the marriage of their daughter Alice and Thomas Lucy, to the latter family. It was retained by the Lucys till 1569, when Sir Thomas Lucy alienated it to Thomas Rolt. For nearly 200 years the Rolts, who were a branch of the Milton-Ernest family, held Wilden Manor. Thomas Rolt died at Wilden in 1617, and was followed by John Rolt, probably his son, whose son Thomas received the freedom of the manor in 1630. One of his name made a settlement of the manor in 1664, and yet another Thomas Rolt, clerk, died at Wilden in 1695. It is difficult to state with certainty that he was lord of the manor. In his will, which was proved the same year, he leaves his real and personal estate to his wife Elizabeth, £100 to 'my relations at Milton Ernest,' 50s. to the poor of Wilden and minor bequests. Thomas Rolt, a later member of this family, made in 1727 a settlement of the manor, which he sold five years later to Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. She died in 1744, and it was purchased from her family by the Duke of Bedford, whose successors continued to hold the manor till about 1837, when it became the property of the family of Chalk, from whom it has passed within recent years to the Rev. Norman Ramsay, rector of Radclive, Bucks.

Lordship account 2

An estate which once formed part of the original manor, and which is also called WILDEN MANOR, is found in this parish in the 13th century. As shown above, Peter de Manley received in 1206–7 a temporary grant of the St. Remy lands in Wilden. In 1224 (the same year in which Cecilia de St. Remy received her dower and the wardship of the St. Remy co-heirs in Wilden) Ralph Tirell received a grant 'for as long as the king pleased' of lands in Wilden which Peter de Manley had held. In 1232 a further grant to him is found of half a knight's fee, which would represent one-half the original manor. It is here stated that it formerly belonged to Robert de St. Remy, and in the event of its restoration to the heirs of the original owner, Ralph Tirell or his heirs was to receive a reasonable exchange in wards and escheats. Peter Tirell held this fee at the time of the Testa. He died c. 1246, when his brother and heir Thomas paid 50s. relief. Thomas Tirell died in 1264, and the inquisition then taken states that his fee (which included one messuage, 100 acres in demesne, 9 acres of wood and 40s. 3¾d. rent) was held of the king in chief by service of finding one esquire with hauberk, sword and lance for forty days at his own costs in the king's army. His heir was his son Ralph, then aged sixteen. In 1270 a further inquisition is found concerning Thomas Tirell's property (here called Wilden Manor) probably on the coming of age of his son. It was then worth £9 3s. 9¼d., including 2 virgates worth 6 marks, held in villeinage. In 1286–7 Ralph Tirell held half of the township of Wilden, the remaining half being the property of John de Pabenham and John Ridel. He is declared at this time to have alienated much of his lands to tenants without licence. Ralph Tirell held the same fee in 1302–3. His daughter Alice married William de Norton, and appears to have received part of this property in dower, for in 1313 she and her husband received pardon for acquiring without licence 15 acres of land and 30s. 4½d. rent in Wilden from Ralph Tirell. William de Norton's name occurs in the feudal assessment of 1316 for Wilden. Ralph Tirell died about two years later, being then found to hold one messuage, 27 acres of arable land, 2 acres of meadow, 1 acre of pasture, 12d. and ½ lb. pepper rents, which passed to his heir Alice de Norton. In 1323–4 William de Norton and his wife granted their manor of Wilden to John de Pabenham, thus reuniting the original property in a single ownership.

Lordship account 3

In the early part of the 13th century a family called Blunt owned land in Wilden, whose descent can be traced for more than one hundred years. This land, formerly part of Wilden Manor, was acquired by William Blunt previous to 1313 from Ralph and Thomas Tirell, and was held of the king as of the honour of Peverel by service of 1 lb. of pepper and 1 lb. of cummin yearly. William Blunt appears to have acquired originally without licence, for which omission it was taken into the king's hands. In 1315 his son John Blunt paid a fine to the Crown, and the property, extended at 1 virgate 18 acres of land, 4 acres of meadow and 15d. rent, was accordingly restored to him. In 1360 one Richard Blunt, whose relationship to the above John has not been established, granted this property in trust to Richard Chamberlain. Blunt died in 1377, at which time the messuage and land were worth 9s. 4d. (fn. 52) He left a natural son William White and a married daughter Agnes Morice, whose maiden name was also White. The consequent irregularity in the succession led to further inquisitions regarding Richard Blunt's property. Agnes Morice was declared to be the rightful heir in 1389–90, and again in 1391, to the exclusion of William White. A partition was arranged, however, for on the death of William White in 1401 he held two crofts and land in Wilden worth 4s. yearly, to which his son Thomas White succeeded. Agnes Morice died in 1417, when her share passed to her son John Morice. Thomas White died in the same year, and, as his nearest kin was his cousin John Morice, the moieties of this property became once more joined in a single ownership, though no further evidence of its descent can be traced.

Lordship account 4

The Abbot of Warden owned a small property in this parish which had its origin in a grant made to the abbey in 1275–6 by Bartholomew Newman and Cecilia his wife. In 1287 and again in 1330 the abbot was declared to have claimed unlawfully view of frankpledge from his tenants in Wilden. In 1291 the property was worth £1 5s. The abbot appears continually as a defaulting suitor at the court of the lord of Wilden Manor. At the Dissolution 2 acres in this parish, lately belonging to Warden, were granted to John Gostwick, who acquired most of the Warden Abbey property.