THE HUNDRED OF REDBORNESTOKE
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
|
|
|
AMPTHILL |
MARSTON MORETAINE |
| CRANFIELD |
MAULDEN |
| ELSTOW |
MILLBROOK |
| FLITWICK |
RIDGMONT |
| HOUGHTON CONQUEST |
STEPPINGLEY |
| KEMPSTON |
WILSHAMSTEAD |
| LIDLINGTON |
WOOTTON (fn. 1)
|
This hundred contained the above-named parishes at the Survey of
1086, when Ridgmont was included in Segenhoe, now its dependent hamlet.
Its area for assessment was then 114¼
hides, exclusive of 5 hides in Broom, at
present included in Wixamtree Hundred. (fn. 2)

INDEX MAP to the HUNDRED of REDBORNESTOKE.
Redbornestoke has always been a
royal hundred, and was farmed by bailiffs
appointed by the Crown. A very early
Subsidy Roll (c. 1237) exists for this
hundred, when 549 persons, whose names
are recorded, subscribed. (fn. 3) Its value in
1246 was £11 16s. 2d. (fn. 4) In 1284 it
was assessed for a feudal aid at 13½ fees
and 5 hides. (fn. 5)
In 1613 the office of bailiff and the
perquisites of the hundred courts were
granted to Edward Lord Bruce for three lives. (fn. 6) In an assessment for
ship-money in 1638 the hundred paid £21 19s. 5d., ninety-two persons
contributing. (fn. 7) In 1651 a survey was made of Redbornestoke as part of the
possessions of Charles Stuart, late King of England. It was then worth
£13 6s., which was derived partly from 'certanty money' paid by the
freeholders of the various townships, and partly from the profits (£3) of
'waifs, strays, deodands, fugitives, condemned persons, hawking, hunting,
fishing and fowling.' The hundred was not at this time under demise, and
the various rents were collected by the constables of the towns, who paid
them to the bailiff of the hundred. The jurisdiction of the hundred was
declared not to interfere with the manorial courts leet within the hundred. (fn. 8)
In a report made on this hundred in 1831 its acreage was declared to
be 38,037 and its population 13,360. (fn. 9)
Footnotes
| 1 |
This list is taken from the Population Returns of 1831. |
| 2 |
V.C.H. Beds. i, 'Domesday,' passim. |
| 3 |
Lay Subs. R. 71, no. 1. |
| 4 |
Assize R. 4, m. 32. |
| 5 |
Feud. Aids, 1, 2, 3. |
| 6 |
Pat. 10 Jas. 1, pt. i. |
| 7 |
Cal. S. P. Dom. 1625–49, p. 574. |
| 8 |
Parl. Surv. Beds. no. 6. |
| 9 |
Pop. Ret. 1831. |