POTSGROVE
The parish of Potsgrove on the Buckinghamshire
border adjoins that of Battlesden and covers an area
of 1,416 acres. Of these 246 are arable and 920
permanent grass. (fn. 1) The woods and plantations are
estimated at 130 acres, (fn. 2) and include part of Speedwell Belt, which skirts Woburn Park. Home Wood,
southward of Potsgrove village, is similarly part of
Battlesden Park.
Otherwise, with the exception of Bushycommon
Wood on the west, the surrounding country is open
pasture land. The subsoil is clay and gravel, the
latter being formerly worked in pits near the village.
The land lies high, reaching 514 ft. in the north
and sloping to 400 ft. in the south at Battlesden
Park. It is watered by a brook called Clipston
Brook flowing in the same direction.
The village, in the centre of the parish, is
approached by bridle paths from the high roads
running from Woburn to Leighton Buzzard and
Hockliffe and from Watling Street, its western
boundary. It consists of the church with a modern
rectory, two or three cottages and a school built by
the Duke of Bedford in 1897. To the north of
the church is the Manor Farm, a modern building,
and beyond lie Arnold's Farm and the Hill Farm,
apparently an early 18th-century house. The site
of the manor-house can be plainly distinguished to
the south of the church, a portion of the moat still
containing water. The present Manor Farm stands
to the north of the church and rectory.
The greater part of the population reside at
Sheeplane, a hamlet about a mile west of Potsgrove.
Here are Union and Methodist chapels, and the
children attend St. John's School, which stands at the
head of the street. From here a bye-path leads past
Whitehouse Farm to a moat in the north-west of the
parish.
MANORS
At the time of the Domesday Survey
the manor of POTSGROVE, comprising
7½ hides, was held of the king by
Gozelin le Breton, who was preceded in the time of
King Edward by four thegns. (fn. 3) From the middle of
the 13th century the honour of Gloucester appears
as intermediary between the lords of Potsgrove
Manor and the Crown. (fn. 4) Potsgrove, like Biddenham,
remained attached to this honour until the death of
Humphrey Duke of Buckingham in 1460. (fn. 5)
Gozelin le Breton was tenant of Potsgrove at the
time of the Survey. (fn. 6) He was succeeded by his son
Hugh, whose great-granddaughter Juliana married
Geoffrey de Lucy, (fn. 7) in whose family Potsgrove Manor
is subsequently found. In the early 13th century
he appears as overlord of the Blankfronts (fn. 8) (whose
manor is treated below). The descent of the manor
is the same as that of Woodcroft in Luton (q.v.)
until 1461. (fn. 9) In 1275–6 the whole vill of Potsgrove
was held for a fee and a quarter of Geoffrey de Lucy. (fn. 10)
In 1330 Geoffrey de Lucy, grandson of the lastnamed, claimed view of frankpledge in Potsgrove
and Gledly as appurtenant to his adjacent manor of
Gledly. (fn. 11)
An inquisition taken in 1461 on the possessions of
Sir William Lucy states that he held Potsgrove Manor
(here first definitely so called) for one-twentieth part
of a knight's fee. (fn. 12) His heirs were Elizabeth and
Walter, children of his sister Eleanor Hopton, and
William Vaux, son of another sister Maud. (fn. 13) To
William passed Woodcroft, which henceforward
followed a different descent. Potsgrove and Gledly
were divided between Elizabeth wife of Roger
Corbet and Walter Hopton her brother, whose heir
she became on his death within half a year of his
uncle. (fn. 14) The manor, which appears to have included
little more than the site and a view of frankpledge, (fn. 15)
now follows the same descent as Gledly (q.v.). No
mention has been found of it after 1602, but as
the Duncombes, who owned Blankfront Manor,
eventually obtained Gledly it seems likely that it
became absorbed in their Potsgrove estate.
The manor of POTSGROVE or BLANKFRONT,
which formed part of the 7½ hides which Gozelin
le Breton owned in 1086, was later held of the
Lucys, (fn. 16) the last mention of the overlordship occurring in 1428 when the fee was subdivided into nine
parts, and of the service owed nothing was declared
to be due to the king. (fn. 17) Blankfront Manor derived
its distinctive name from Henry and William Blankfront, who held one fee in Potsgrove about the
13th century. (fn. 18) In 1247 Henry was summoned to
do service to William for half a hide in Potsgrove,
but proved that he held nothing of the latter. (fn. 19) In
1275–6 Robert Blankfront, a member of the same
family, held two parts of the 1¼ fees at which this
vill was assessed. (fn. 20) The Blankfronts continued to
hold by knight's service in Potsgrove until 1346. (fn. 21)
In 1392 John Chastellon and Margaret his wife,
possibly a descendant of the Blankfronts, owned the
manor, (fn. 22) here so called for
the first time, and in 1415
granted it to John Goldington
of Lidlington, (fn. 23) who in his
turn granted it the same year
to the Abbot of Woburn. (fn. 24)
Blankfront. Barry or and gules a chief or with two pales between two gyrons gules over all a scutcheon argent and all within a border ermine.
After the Dissolution Potsgrove Manor was granted by
Edward VI to Edward
Fiennes Lord Clynton and
Saye in exchange for other
lands given to the king. (fn. 25)
Lord Clynton granted it to
William Saunders, (fn. 26) who died
seised of the manor in 1559,
leaving a son Thomas to
succeed him. (fn. 27) Thomas died
in 1560, his heir being his
sister Ellen, through whom the manor, like that of
Battlesden (q.v.), passed into the hands of the Duncombes, (fn. 28) and from this date the descent of the manor
is similar, having been bought by the Duke of Bedford
in 1884 from the trustees of Sir Gregory PageTurner. (fn. 29)
A third manor is found in Potsgrove, known as
LOVELLS or LOVELLS BURY, which, as in the
case of the other manors in this parish, appears to
have been originally attached to the honour of
Gloucester, for in 1278 Gilbert de Clare Earl of
Gloucester quitclaimed to John Lovel his right in
the manor. (fn. 30) The Abbot of St. Albans, who owned
the advowson of Potsgrove, was overlord of Lovells
Bury in 1465, (fn. 31) which rights he retained until the
Dissolution. In 1638 Sir Edward Duncombe held
Lovells of the king as of the dissolved monastery of
St. Albans. (fn. 32)
The manor takes its name from a certain Philip
Lovel, who had free warren in Potsgrove in 1256. (fn. 33)
In 1278 John Lovel, possibly his son, was lord of the
manor. (fn. 34) Before 1362 it was acquired by the
Everards, who in that year sold it to John de
Morton of Woburn Chapel for 200 marks of silver. (fn. 35)
Thomas Rufford held one quarter of a knight's fee in
1428, (fn. 36) and his widow, Joan Fitz Geoffrey, died in
1465 in possession of a messuage called Lovells
Bury. (fn. 37) The manor passed to her son Thomas
Rufford, who was succeeded by his brother John in
1479. (fn. 38) John's death occurred in 1504, (fn. 39) his son
being at this date twenty-one years of age. The
manor must have passed later
to the Saunders, Ellen
Saunders, who married
William Duncombe, owning
it in 1588. (fn. 40) From that
date until 1647 its descent is
identical with that of Battlesden (q.v.). In 1799 Sir
Philip Monoux, bart., who
held Lovells Bury in right of
his wife Elizabeth daughter
of Ambrose Riddell, quitclaimed it to Thomas Lodington and his heirs. (fn. 41) By
1854 it had passed to Sir
R. H. Inglis, in which year it was bought by the
Duke of Bedford. (fn. 42)
Rufford. Argent a cheveron between three trefoils sable.
Other holders of land in Potsgrove at Domesday
were Herbert, a king's bailiff, owner of a hide, and a
groom of the king, holding half a hide. (fn. 43) William
the Chamberlain also held 1 hide of the king at the
time of the Survey, formerly held by Morcar, a priest
of Luton. (fn. 44)
A family called Savage held by knight service in
this parish for nearly two centuries. Robert and
Ralph Savage held a quarter of a knight's fee in
1275–6, (fn. 45) the last reference to this family occurring
in 1428, when Alice widow of Ralph Savage is
mentioned as having formerly held one-fourth part
of a knight's fee. (fn. 46)
Henry Blankfront held 1 virgate of land in
Potsgrove of the barony of Bedford at the time of the
Testa. (fn. 47) By 1275 it had passed to Edmund Everard, (fn. 48)
who in 1286 was fined for holding a whole knight's
fee when he was not yet a knight. (fn. 49) Traces of the
barony of Bedford paramountcy in this parish are
found as late as 1500. (fn. 50)
CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY was
'entirely restored' in 1881, as an inscription records, and from outside
seems completely modern. Inside, however, the old
plastering and the stonework of the jambs and heads
of some of the windows show that a good deal of the
mediaeval church remains, a well-proportioned building 70 ft. by 20 ft., with nave and chancel in one
range, divided from each other by a wooden screen.
The whole belongs to c. 1320–40, though a few 12th
and 13th-century stones built into the north wall of
the nave show that an earlier church existed. The
east window is of 15th-century style, but all the rest
are two-light windows with tracery of 14th-century
character, a few fragments of original stonework being
re-used in them. A recessed tomb on the north of
the chancel retains a little of its 14th-century detail,
and has two lockers in the spandrels over its arch,
which seems to be old. The sedilia and piscina are
entirely modern.
The chancel screen is of considerable interest, as
its framework and the tracery heads on the south
side are contemporary with the 14th-century
rebuilding; it has five openings on each side with
turned baluster shafts, which are all modern.
The piscinæ for the nave altars have been reproduced, the drain of the northern piscina being old
work, and there are holy water niches on the east of
both nave doorways, only that in the north wall
having any old work in it. The doorways themselves
have some old stones undisturbed, and there are a
few in the south porch, which is, however, completely rebuilt. The lower part of the bell-turret in
the north-west angle of the nave is original, but its
top is entirely modern.
The nave walls were heightened in the 15th
century, when the present flat-pitched roof was put
on, and the chancel roof is new.
The font, of Purbeck marble, is modern, as are all
the other fittings except the screen, but in the west
window of the nave are many pieces of the original
14th-century glass, both heads of lights and parts of
roundels containing the evangelistic symbols. There
are also part of a figure of our Lord and a few pieces
of 15th-century glass.
Two brasses are fixed to the nave walls—one to
Richard and Joan Saunders, 1535, and the other,
much broken, to William Saunders, patron of this
church, and Isabel his wife, of late 16th-century date.
There are three bells: the treble, blank; the
second of 1743; and the tenor by Mears, 1813.
The communion plate consists of a plated two-handled flagon and a modern plated chalice and
paten.
The registers previous to 1812 are in three books:
(1) all entries 1663 to 1785; (2) baptisms and burials
1787 to 1812; and (3) marriages 1783 to 1812.
ADVOWSON
The church of Potsgrove was
granted by Henry II to the monastery
of St. Albans, (fn. 51) in whose hands it
remained until the Dissolution. It was subsequently
granted to the Duncombes, in whose possession it is
found in 1588, (fn. 52) and thenceforward follows the same
descent as the manor, the Duke of Bedford presenting
at the present day.
In 1291 the church was valued at £3 13s. 4d., (fn. 53)
and in 1535 the total value of the rectory amounted
to £10 18s. 5d. (fn. 54)
The rent of a balk in Potsgrove in the tenure of
William Saunders was given towards the maintenance
of a lamp. This rent amounted to 8d. A rent
amounting to 2d. in the tenure of the churchwardens
was also given for the same purpose. (fn. 55)
CHARITIES
This parish is entitled to share in
the charity of William Duncombe,
founded by will 26 March 1603
(see under Dunstable).
Under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of
23 November 1897 the annual sum of £10 is received
for the benefit of the poor and is applied in the
distribution of coals and groceries.