EAST BEDFONT WITH HATTON
Bedefunde (xi cent.); Estbedefonte (xiii cent.);
Bedefonte, Estebedefounte (xiv cent.); Eastbedefounte (xvi cent.).
East Bedfont lies in the level country to the
east of Staines. The parish stretches along the
great main road from London to the south-west of
England, narrowing about the village, to the east
of which it spreads southward towards Ashford,
while westward and northward a long tongue of
land includes the hamlet of Hatton and reaches as
far as Cranford on the Bath road. The land for
the most part is laid out in fields and is but sparsely
wooded. The village lies on the broad London
to Staines road, the houses standing well back from
the highway, leaving ample space for a green with
fine trees, which lies before the church. In front
of the south porch are two very curiously cut yew
trees, of the most fantastic shape; the date 1704
forms part of their ornament. In coaching days
East Bedfont stood midway in the second stage
out of London, between Hounslow and Staines.
The inns were described in 1826 as 'respectable and yielding good accommodation.' (fn. 1) The
Black Dog Inn, about 1¼ miles along the London
road, was then the receiving house for letters.
A public hall, to seat 300 persons, was built in
1884 by the Bedfont Public Hall Co., Ltd.
There is a Baptist chapel, which was erected
in 1903. The Windsor line of the London and
South Western Railway runs through the southern
part of the parish. East Bedfont has no station,
the nearest being that at Feltham, 1½ miles away.
Besides the main highway from London to the
south-west, roads from Hatton and Cranford, from
Stanwell, and from Feltham converge on the village.
'The Duke of Northumberland's River' cuts in a
straight line across the parish from west to east.
It is a branch of the Colne, which leaves that river
near Longford, and running in an artificial channel
falls into the Thames near the Duke of Northumberland's house at Syon. It is said to have
been made by the convent of Syon in the
time of Henry V. (fn. 2) The more wandering course
of the 'Queen's or Cardinal's River' enters the
parish at almost the same point, and passes out
to the south towards Feltham. It supplies
water for Hanworth and Bushey Parks and for
Hampton Court, (fn. 3) and is said to have been made
by Cardinal Wolsey's orders. The latter river is
crossed by the London road at White Bridge,
and the road to Hatton is carried over both rivers
within a few score yards of one another by the
Two Bridges. The River Crane forms the most
easterly boundary of the parish, and near its junction
with the Duke of Northumberland's River are
the Bedfont Powder Mills, which are now disused.
There is a gravel pit by the road to Ashford.
Bedfont Church, from the South
The hamlet of Hatton lies 2 miles to the northeast of East Bedfont. It forms a junction for the
many byways which radiate north and south towards the Bath and the Staines roads, and for this
reason it is said to have been a favourite haunt of
highwaymen in days gone by. It then stood on
the borders of Hounslow Heath, and either road
was easily accessible from the old inn, the 'Green
Man' where the hiding-hole behind the chimney
is still shown.
Two fairs, held respectively about 7 May at
Bedford and 14 June at Hatton, were abolished
by the Home Secretary on the representation of
the Justices of the Peace in April 1881. (fn. 3a) It does
not appear how long it had been the custom to
hold the fairs.
There is a Baptist chapel in Hatton, and a
licensed mission room of the Church of England.
New Bedfont is a small hamlet consisting of an
inn, a smithy, and a few cottages on the road between Hatton and East Bedfont.
The soil and subsoil are gravel; the crops consist mainly of garden produce. There are 1,926½
acres in the parish, of which five-sixths are under
cultivation, the remainder being grass, with about
4 acres of woodland (fn. 4) and 18 acres water. The
parish was inclosed under an Act of 1813. (fn. 5) A
mill is mentioned in the taxation returns of 1291
as belonging to the abbey of Westminster. (fn. 6)
Most of the principal landowners of the parish
are resident. Mrs. Reed lives at St. Mary's,
and Mr. Henry Barnfield at Oakdene on the
Ashford Road. Temple Hatton, once occupied
by Lady Pollock, is now the St. Antony's Home
for Boys. Mr. Alfred Barnfield lives at Pates
Manor.
The following place-names occur: Goddard,
Parrette, le Tabber.
Windsor
Gules crusily or a saltire argent.
MANORS
EAST BEDFONT was assessed at
10 hides in the time of Edward the
Confessor. (fn. 7) Eight and a half of these
were held by Azor, and lay within the jurisdiction of
his manor in Stanwell. The remaining 1½ hides were
divided equally between three sokemen, vassals respectively of Edward the Confessor, of Earl Lewin,
and of Azor. The whole 10 hides were granted
as a manor by William I to
Walter Fitz Other, castellan
of Windsor. (fn. 8) His descendants took the name of
de Windsor, by virtue of
their hereditary office as
keeper of the castle. (fn. 9) East
Bedfont owed the service
of one knight's fee in the
honour of Windsor in
1212, (fn. 10) and still continued
to owe service to that
honour in the 15th century. (fn. 11) It was probably
included in the surrender to the Crown of the
Windsor lands in Middlesex in 1542, and from
that time it was held in chief. (fn. 12)
In 1086 the tenant of East Bedfont was one
Richard. (fn. 13) It seems to have then given name to
a family of under-tenants, for Walter de Bedfont
held a knight's fee under Windsor in 1166, (fn. 13a)
and Henry de Bedfont held one in Bedfont
under him in 1198. (fn. 13b) The manor was held of
the Windsors in the year 1212 by Nicholas de
Aune, (fn. 14) the king's clerk and possibly also clerk to
Richard Earl of Cornwall. (fn. 15) It is not clear how
it came to John de Nevill who held it early in
the reign of Edward II. (fn. 16) He was probably one
of the Nevills of Essex, and was a distant connexion of the Windsors, through the marriage
of his ancestor Hugh de Nevill with the heiress
of Henry de Cornhill, (fn. 17) who himself had married
the descendant and heiress of Robert Lord of
Little Easton, the second son of Walter Fitz
Other. (fn. 18) John de Nevill conveyed his right in
the manor of East Bedfont to the Trinitarian
Priory at Hounslow. (fn. 19) It was confirmed to the
master and brethren by Edward II in 1313, (fn. 20) and
remained in their hands until the suppression of
the monastery in 1530. (fn. 21)
Percy, Duke of Northumberland
Or a lion azure.
In the reign of Elizabeth it was leased to Robert
Sownes (fn. 22) but was granted in 1599 to Sir Michael
Stanhope (fn. 23) of Sudbury, Suffolk, who in 1609
protested against the king's order for the erection
of gunpowder mills and
workmen's houses on the
manor. (fn. 24) Sir Michael died
in 1621, having settled the
reversion of the manor six
years previously on his
second daughter Elizabeth,
on the occasion of her marriage with George Lord
Berkeley. (fn. 25) It was inherited
by the latter's son George, (fn. 26)
who conveyed it in 1656
to Algernon, Earl of Northumberland. (fn. 27) It has since
descended with that title, (fn. 28) the representative of
which was created Duke of Northumberland in
1766. (fn. 29)
At the time of the Domesday Survey the Count
of Mortain held 2 hides in Bedfont, which lay in
his manor of Feltham. (fn. 30) As there is no further
mention of this land, it probably became merged in
the parish of Feltham, which adjoins East Bedfont.
The so-called manor of PATES (Patys, Paytes,
Patts, xvi cent.) was held of the manor of East
Bedfont. (fn. 31) John Pate and Juliane his wife held
land in Bedfont in 1403-4. (fn. 32) It was presumably
the estate which was known later as the manor of
Pates. The manor is said to have been held in
1498 by John Naylor and Clemence his wife, (fn. 33)
whose daughter and heiress married Thomas West,
leaving an only son Edmund West. (fn. 34) The latter
left two daughters-Elizabeth who married John
Bekenham, and Margaret, and these conveyed the
manor in 1549 to Roland Page. (fn. 35) From them it
passed in 1561 to Thomas Brend, (fn. 36) who conveyed
it in 1575 to George Britteridge. (fn. 37) The latter
died seised of the manor in January 1580-1,
leaving it to his son and heir Edward, then ten years
old. (fn. 38) Edward had seisin of his inheritance in
1594, (fn. 39) but Thomas Page, possibly a relation of
Roland, seems to have had possession of the estate
even during the minority of the heir, for in 1589
he conveyed two-thirds of the manor to John
Draper. (fn. 40) The latter apparently left the same to
his wife Barbara, and she
with her second husband,
Edward Pigeon, conveyed
them in 1614 to Edward
Hewlett. (fn. 41) The remaining
third is said to have been
sold in 1593 by Thomas
Page to Philip Gerrard,
who sold it in the following year to Henry Bell. (fn. 42)
Henry and William Bell
conveyed it in 1621 to
Edward Hewlett, (fn. 43) who in
1623 gave the whole manor
to Christ's Hospital. (fn. 44) The
hospital still holds this property. (fn. 45)
Christ's Hospital
Argent a cross gules with a sword gules erect in the quarter and a chief azure with a Tudor rose therein between two fleurs de lis or.
The so-called manor of FAWNES was held of
the manor of East Bedfont. It seems to have been
conveyed to the Crown with the Windsor lands in
Middlesex in 1542, (fn. 46) and from that date to have
been held in chief. (fn. 47)
Richard Foun held land in East Bedfont by gift
of Ralph de Bromland and Alice his wife, belonging
to the latter, as early as the reign of Edward I, (fn. 48) and
Alan Foun or Fawne held land there in the succeeding reign. (fn. 49) Robert Fawne, who was probably their
descendant, and who is described as a citizen and
skinner of London, held premises in the parish in
1428. (fn. 50) Ten years later a messuage and lands called
Fawnes were pledged by William Edy, a draper,
to John Derham of Windsor, for debt. (fn. 51) Fawnes
is first mentioned as a manor in 1531, when it
was in the possession of John Kempe. (fn. 52) The
history of the manor is somewhat obscure. It
was held by Anthony Walker as early as 1583
and at his death in 1590, (fn. 53) and was inherited
by his son Thomas, (fn. 54) who still held it in 1603. (fn. 55)
In 1618, however, it came into the hands of
Felix Wilson, (fn. 56) in whose family it remained until
1654, (fn. 57) when it passed to Thomas Darling.
Edward Darling held it in 1668, (fn. 58) after which
date there is no trace of the manor until 1739,
when Thomas Manning held it. (fn. 59) He seems to
have been still in possession ten years later, (fn. 60) but
by 1792 it was in the hands of Aubrey (Beauclerk), Baron Vere, (fn. 61) who succeeded to the dukedom
of St. Albans (fn. 62) in 1787, and who held Fawnes in
1802. (fn. 63) It is now the property of Mr. William
Sherborn. (fn. 63a) Fawnes stands on the south side of
the village.
In 1086 Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel,
held 1½ hides in HATTON, which in the reign of
King Edward the Confessor had been held by two
sokemen, vassals of Albert of Lorraine. (fn. 64) This
land belonged to the earl's manor of Colham, in
which it probably became merged. A second entry
in the Domesday Survey relates to a still smaller
estate in Hatton, which was held by Walter Fitz
Other, and which had been held formerly by two
vassals of Azor. (fn. 65) It is probable that this land
became merged in the Windsor Manor of East
Bedfont, and was possibly granted to Hounslow
Priory with the rest of that property. The priory
certainly held land in Hatton in 1382, (fn. 66) and in
1599 it was granted, as land formerly belonging to
Hounslow, to Sir Michael Stanhope, (fn. 67) and from
that time has always been held with the manor of
East Bedfont (q.v.).
Edward III seems to have built a house at
Hatton, which was known as Hatton Grange.
Richard II held this of the priory of Hounslow at
a yearly rent of 50s. (fn. 68)
CHURCH
The church of St. Mary The
Virgin consists of chancel 25 ft.
1 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., nave 54 ft.
3 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., north transept 26 ft. by
29 ft. 3 in., and west porch with a tower adjoining
it on the west side. The earliest parts are the
chancel arch, south doorway, and two small windows
-one in the nave, the other in the chancel-
which date from c. 1130, when the church consisted
of a simple chancel and nave, both of the same
width, but considerably shorter than at present.
In order to give more light to the chancel two
windows were inserted on the south side in the
13th century, but the church appears to have
remained very small until the 15th century, when
the chancel was lengthened 8 ft. 3 in. eastward,
and probably the nave some distance westward;
there is nothing to show how much the nave
was increased, the western portion having been
rebuilt in modern times, nor can any date be
ascribed for the addition of a tower, as the present
one is also a rebuilding.
The whole of the church except the north
transept is built of pudding stone, of dark-brown
colour, even to the quoins of the original chancel,
but the doors and windows of both early and later
work are in hard chalk. The tower is lined with
brick, and the upper part is of timber with a projecting clock gable and surmounted by a four-sided
shingled spire. The north transept is quite modern,
built of yellow stock bricks with stone windowheads. Internally the whole of the church excepting the tower is plastered.
The chancel has a steep-pitched 15th-century
roof, having tie-beams with king-posts moulded
at the capitals and bases.
The east window is of the 15th century, with
three trefoiled lights under a pointed segmental
head and an external moulded label. In the north
wall is a small deeply-splayed 12th-century light,
and in the walling to the east of it can be seen
the pudding-stone quoins of the contemporary
north-east angle. In the south wall is a single
trefoiled light under a square head, of the same
date as that in the east wall, and to the west of it
is a small square recess, its head made of the top
of a small lancet window; it may have had a flue
originally. To the west are a modern pointed
doorway and two windows, one of one, the other
of two lights, apparently 13th-century work, with
double hollow chamfers on the outer face and
internal rebates for a frame.
The chancel arch, c. 1130, has a semicircular
head moulded with a single order of cheveron
ornament and a chamfered label; at the springing
is a chamfered string, below which the cheveron
continues.
The west end of the nave has been rebuilt; on
the north side are two modern two-light windows
and an arcade of two bays resting on a round
column with a capital and base in 14th-century
style, and at the north-east angle of the nave are
two pointed recesses, one in the east and one in
the north wall, with a modern shaft in the angle.
In the east recess is painted a Crucifixion, and in
the other our Lord in judgement, and the dead
rising, the date of the work being c. 1300. At
the south-east of the nave is a 16th-century redbrick projection for a rood stair, lighted by a small
four-centred window. To the west of it is a
pointed segmental-headed window of the 16th
century with three cinquefoiled lights and a
moulded label, and to the west again a small
original 12th-century window. The south doorway, c. 1130, is round-headed, of two orders with
cheveron ornament. The west wall contains a
modern pointed doorway in 13th-century style,
and above it a circular window filled with plate
tracery.
The modern transept is lighted by brick lancets
with stone heads, and has a gallery at the north
end; to the east is a small vestry.
There are no monuments of note, but in the
chancel on the north wall is a brass with the figures
of Matthew Page, 1631, and his mother Isabel,
1629. On the same wall is a 17th-century marble
scutcheon with a bend wavy and three lions rampant. In the south-west corner is a painted
wooden panel to Thomas Weldish, who died in
1640, with his arms, Vert three running greyhounds argent, on a chief or a fox gules. In the
graveyard to the east of the chancel is a slab to
Matthew Page, 1678, with the arms, a fesse indented between three martlets; this used to be
in the floor of the chancel, but has been replaced
by a brass copy.
There are six bells, the treble and fourth by
Richard Phelps, 1713, and the rest by Warner,
1870.
The plate consists of a small cup inscribed as
the gift of I. F., with the date 1719, the hallmarks being illegible, a small standing paten from
the same donor with the date-letter of 1719, a
larger standing paten with no hall-marks, given by
John and Serena Lee, 1756, with their arms,
checky a lion rampant, and a cup of 1857.
The registers before 1812 are in four parts:-
(i) burials 1678-1778 (with affidavits to 1725),
baptisms 1695-1777, marriages 1695-1754;
(ii) marriages printed 1754-1812 ; (iii) baptisms
1778-1813 ; (iv) burials 1779-1812.
ADVOWSON
The advowson was granted to
the priory of the Holy Trinity,
Hounslow, with the manor, by
John de Nevill before 1313, (fn. 69) and a vicarage was
ordained and endowed by the Bishop of London
in 1316, of which the master and brethren continued to be the patrons until the Dissolution. (fn. 70)
After that time the advowson was in the hands of
the Crown until it was granted to the Bishop of
London, who first presented in 1568. (fn. 71) In 1591
and 1597 John Draper, who held a lease of the
rectory, (fn. 72) was allowed to present to the vicarage by
favour of the bishop. (fn. 73) The patronage belonged to
the see of London until 1880, when it was transferred to the Crown by an exchange. (fn. 73a)
The church was rated at £5 6s. 8d. in 1291 (fn. 74)
and in 1428. (fn. 75) At the Dissolution the vicarage
was valued at £12 (fn. 76) and the tithes at £32. In
1650 it was worth £29 yearly. (fn. 77)
The rectory was held by Hounslow Priory until
the suppression of the monasteries, (fn. 78) when it was
ceded to the Crown. It came to the Bishop of
London by exchange for other lands belonging to
the see, (fn. 79) probably about the same time as the
grant of the advowson. Bishop Aylmer gave it on
lease in 1588 to John Draper of 'Luderworth' and
his daughters Margaret and Cecilia, together with
the tithes, the parsonage barn, and the StraweHouse, but saving the right of the vicar in the close
known as the Old Vicar's Close. (fn. 80) It was to be
held for the term of their lives at a rent of
£8 13s. 4d. The rectory has always belonged
to the patron of the living, but the tithes of
sheaves and grain were granted to various persons
at different times. They were conveyed in 1621
by Sir John Crompton to Edward Hewlett, (fn. 81) who
then held the manor of Pates (q.v.), and in 1645
by James and William Hewlett to Francis Page. (fn. 82)
Later in the same year a third of the tithes of
grain was leased to Thomas Bartlett by William
Norbonne for eighty years if the latter's wife
Frances should live so long, the rent to be one
peppercorn. (fn. 83) In 1691-2 the rectory and tithes
were leased by John Clarke to Robert Goodyer. (fn. 84)
Four-fifths of the rectory and tithes were conveyed
to William Sherborn in 1789 by William Adams
and others. (fn. 85) The rectorial tithes are now held
by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
Hatton has always been ecclesiastically dependent
on East Bedfont, though at the Dissolution Hatton
Rectory was valued separately (at £4) among the
possessions of Hounslow Priory. (fn. 86) It was held by
the Crown after the priory was suppressed, and the
tithes were leased under Elizabeth to Anthony
Rowe, auditor of the Exchequer, and after his
death to his three sons. (fn. 87) Probably the rectory
was granted with the advowson of East Bedfont to
Bishop Aylmer. The tithes are mentioned with
those of Bedfont in 1621. (fn. 88) They were held independently in 1726, when they were conveyed
by John Page to Richard Burbridge, (fn. 89) and again in
1787, when apparently the co-heiresses of the
Burbridge family conveyed them to George
Webber. (fn. 90)
CHARITIES
In 1631 Matthew Page, as
mentioned in the Parliamentary
Returns of 1786, bequeathed a
legacy for the poor, which is now represented by
£83 6s. 2d. consols, held by the official trustees.
The dividends, amounting to £2 1s. 8d., are
applied in the distribution of money in sums of
2s. or 2s. 6d.
The Fuel Allotment, acquired by an award
made under the Inclosure Act of 53 George III,
consists of 40 acres, let at £105 a year. In
1906-7 279 poor persons received 7½ cwt of
coal each.