Whipsnade (Vaux)

A second property in this parish, later known as WHIPSNADE MANOR, was held from the early 13th century by a family who assumed Whipsnade as a surname. In 1228 one Adam de Whipsnade conveyed land in this parish to the parson of the church, (fn. 5) and in the same year was disputing with William de Eltedon concerning land in Studham. (fn. 6) Richard 'dominus' of Whipsnade, possibly a member of the same family, occurs as a witness in a transfer of land in 1305. (fn. 7) He appears to have been followed by William de Whipsnade, possibly the person of that name who in 1321 received pardon for giving land in mortmain to St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, without a licence. (fn. 8) His son Nicholas had succeeded him in 1340, in which year he granted a piece of land in the parish with hedge and ditch to Walter de Woburn. (fn. 9) Nicholas had a son Gilbert, who some years earlier in 1323 had made a grant of land in Whipsnade and Eaton. (fn. 10) From him the Whipsnadc property, which about this time begins to be called a manor, passed to Philip de Whipsnade, who died some time before 1350. (fn. 11) He left four daughters as co-heirs—Margery wife of Richard Raven, Christina wife of Henry de Walton, Alice and Joan. In 1350 the three first-named sisters were engaged in a suit with John de Swynnerton regarding their respective shares in the manor. (fn. 12) They placed their shares in the trusteeship of John de Linley, who released his right in 'a messuage with curtilage and land' in Whipsnade to Margery and Christina in 1356. (fn. 13) In addition to his wife's share, Richard Raven acquired that of Christina in 1361 (fn. 14) and that of Joan in 1369. (fn. 15) The portion of Joan may possibly be sought in the lands right in which Matilda daughter of Nicholas yielded to John Raven in 1391. (fn. 16) Whipsnade Manor passed from the Ravens to Nicholas Tettesworth some time previous to 1412, at which date John son of Nicholas conveyed his right there to John Haldenby and Margery his wife. (fn. 17) In 1443 John Haldenby settled the manor in trust on Laurence Pigot, (fn. 18) and ten years later he alienated this property permanently to William Cantlowe, (fn. 19) already a landowner in Whipsnade, (fn. 20) whose family remained in possession for the next sixty years. Henry Cantlowe died seised of Whipsnade in 1490, leaving as heir a son Richard, (fn. 21) who died in 1517, and was succeeded by a son John, aged fifteen. (fn. 22) The manor at this date is described as worth yearly £10, and held of Edmund Bray as of his manor of Eaton Bray. The history of this property during the next century is obscure. It was held in 1532 by William Hawte, kt., and Margaret his wife (fn. 23) of the king in chief, (fn. 24) in right of Margaret. (fn. 25) She was a daughter of Oliver Wood, (fn. 26) and had previously married Walter Mantell, by whom she had two sons Walter and Thomas. (fn. 27) She and her third husband James Hales, kt., settled the manor in reversion on these two sons in 1551, (fn. 28) but after the conviction for high treason and consequent execution of Walter in 1554 James and Margaret obtained a relaxation of this settlement (fn. 29) in order to complete the sale of Whipsnade to William Dobson. (fn. 30) William Dobson died in 1562, leaving the estate to his brother Miles, but an annuity out of the same to Thomas Clarke for life. (fn. 31) By his will of 1573 Miles left two-thirds of the manor profits to his daughter Frances and younger son John during the minority of his son and heir William, (fn. 32) who obtained livery of his father's lands in 1589, (fn. 33) and in 1598 quitclaimed his manor in Whipsnade to Gamaliel Cruys. (fn. 34) He sold it for £1,500 to Robert Vaux in 1606, (fn. 35) and an interesting extent of the manor made at this time describes it (fn. 36) as 'a house containing 16 rooms, barns and stables, 21 bays, with a fair brick dovehouse, all tiled, and the demesne lands as particularly followeth: 3 orchards with other necessary yards, 6 acres, the Backside, 4 acres; Inner and Outer Clapps, II acres, Studham field 23 acres, with other closes—268 acres.' There was also common for four sheep, and in a ' mast ' year the feeding of 60 hogs in Dudmanse (now Deadmancey) Wood and Buckswood. Certain quit-rents were worth 16s. yearly, and the grounds could also keep I 2 kine, and in summer yielded 30 loads of hay. The total annual value was £100, and the value of the timber on the estate £300. The manor continued in the Vaux family for the next two centuries, (fn. 37) and in 1800 the whole estate was sold to Leonard Hampson by Thomas Vaux. (fn. 38) It is now the property of Earl Brownlow.