WESTONING
Weston (xi cent.); Weston Tregoz (early xiv cent.);
Weston Inge (xiv cent.).
The parish of Westoning covers an area of
1,626½ acres, of which 524 acres are arable land,
with crops of wheat, barley, peas and beans, and
820½ acres are permanent grass. (fn. 1)
The average height of the land is 250 ft., except
in the south near the brickworks, where the highest
point is 360 ft. above the ordnance datum. The soil
is varied, on a subsoil of strong clay, which has been
worked in a now disused claypit at Westoning Wood
End, and is used in the manufacture of bricks, the
works being in the south of the parish close by the
Midland railway line.
The village lies in the west of the parish and
consists of a group of small cottages on either side of
the road from Toddington to Flitton. These are
mostly modern, with one or two examples of halftimber and thatch.
At the south entrance of the village is the Chequers
Inn, a half-timber and thatch building of 18th-century
date. Further along the street on the eastern side
are the Methodist and Baptist chapels, the latter
founded in 1816. They are separated by the clock
tower, of brick and stone, erected by Major Coventry
Campion to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of
Queen Victoria, and by the Bell Inn, an 18th-century
brick and tile house, having its sign displayed from
an old oak standing by the roadside.
A short distance to the west of the village, and
approached by a lane bordered by high hedges and
trees, stands the church on rising ground. Behind
it to the north-west, standing in a park of 103 acres,
is the manor-house, the property of Mr. Howard
Spensley, a comparatively modern building of brick
and stone, although a large quantity of old woodwork said to have been taken from the house at
Wrest Park, then being demolished, and from the
old Houses of Parliament, has been incorporated in
the design of many of the rooms and staircases, while
at the back of the house are several much-restored
18th-century half-timber and brick barns. In front
of the house to the south-west the site of the old
manor-house can still be traced, with the moat
surrounding it. The site of another manor-house
can also be seen at Westoning Wood End, near the
farm of the same name.
In the east of the parish are Upper and Lower
Samshill, two farms dating back to the 17th century,
though the present buildings are modern. At Lower
Samshill Bunyan is traditionally supposed to have
held the service which led to his apprehension.
Ruins of the outbuildings existed till within a few
years ago.
A polished stone celt was found at Westoning in
1864. (fn. 2)
The following place-names are found in documents
relating to Westoning:—Sampsill End, Aynelles, le
Chauntrypece, Putchokkes Close (xvi cent.).
MANORS
The manor of WESTON, later known
as WESTON TREGOZ and WESTONING, was held by King Harold as part
of his manor of Hitchin, and so continued under
the Conqueror in 1086. It is not mentioned in
the Bedfordshire Survey, though its assessment was
in and always had belonged to the hundred of
Manshead. (fn. 3)
So far as is known the manor of Westoning remained royal demesne until 1173, (fn. 4) at which period
it was worth £15 yearly. Shortly after that date it
was granted to Roger de Sanford, (fn. 5) who owed 5 marks
for default in Westoning in 1176, (fn. 6) and who held the
manor until his death in 1189. (fn. 7) In the latter year
it was released to William de Buckland, who paid
£100 for seisin of the vill, (fn. 8) and who was still in
possession in 1210. (fn. 9) In 1216 the sheriff was ordered
to deliver the manor to Robert de Ferrar, (fn. 10) whose
wife was Joan daughter and co-heir of William de
Buckland. By a settlement of the estates of William
de Buckland made in 1223 Westoning Manor was
allotted to his daughter Matilda. (fn. 11) She married
William d'Avrenches, who died before 1230, leaving
a son William, who died without issue before 1235, (fn. 12)
and a daughter Matilda, who inherited the manor
of Westoning through her mother, and married
Hamon de Crevecœur. (fn. 13) The latter is returned as
tenant in chief of the king in Westoning in the Testa
de Nevill, (fn. 14) and was succeeded by a son William, (fn. 15)
whose widow Mabel held Westoning Manor in dower
for life, (fn. 16) and married as her second husband John
Tregoz. She died in 1297, and the next heirs to
the estate (fn. 17) were found to be Juliana de Weylondon
daughter of John son of Agnes, a sister of Mabel's first
husband, John de Lenham son of Isolda, another sister,
and Eleanor wife of Bertram de Kiriel, a third sister. (fn. 18)
John de Lenham sold his purparty of Weston Manor
in the same year to William Inge, (fn. 19) who also acquired
the portion of Eleanor de Kiriel in 1299. (fn. 20) William
Inge obtained a grant of a weekly market and annual
fair in his portion of the manor in 1303, (fn. 21) and five
years later obtained the remaining third part from
Juliana de Weylondon. (fn. 22) He was chief justice of the
King's Bench in the reign of Edward II, and in
1310 he received a grant of 100 marks as recompense
for wages and horses lost by him in the Scotch war. (fn. 23)
By his first wife Margaret William Inge had a son
Fremund, on whom the property was settled in
1310, (fn. 24) and a daughter Joan. The former quitclaimed his right in the estate during the lifetime of
his father, (fn. 25) who by his second wife Isolda (fn. 26) left no
issue. By a settlement of 1313, however, Isolda
retained a life interest in Westoning Manor. After
the death of William Inge, (fn. 27) and at her own death in
1371, the estate passed to William la Zouche son of
Joan daughter and heir of William Inge. (fn. 28)
The history of Westoning Manor during the next
hundred years is the same as that of the manor which
the Zouches held in Eaton Bray (q.v.) until 1485, when
on the attainder of John la Zouche his lands were
confiscated. He regained possession of this manor
on the reversal of his attainder
in 1495, and died in 1525–6. (fn. 29)
Inge. Or a cheveron vert.
George son and heir of
John la Zouche was
summoned to show by what
service his ancestors had held
Westoning in 1533. He
proved that the manor was
and always had been held of
the king by great serjeanty,
but paid £4 for relief from
the next services due therefrom. (fn. 30) Nine years later
Westoning Manor passed
from George la Zouche to the Crown in exchange
for a manor in Derbyshire, (fn. 31) and in the same year
it was annexed to the royal honour of Ampthill. (fn. 32)
In 1555 Westoning was granted to Thomas Curzon,
one of the clerks of the Controller of the Household,
and Agnes his wife in tail. He died the same year,
leaving an infant daughter Mary as sole heir, (fn. 33) the
manor of Westoning being held by his widow during
her life. (fn. 34) In 1615 Mary Curzon, then wife of Sir
George Farmer, received a confirmation of her right
to the estate, (fn. 35) which descended at her death in 1630
to her eldest son Sir Halton Farmer, kt. (fn. 36) He
married firstly Elizabeth
daughter of Sir Edmund
Anderson, and secondly Anne
daughter of Sir William
Cockayne of Rushton, by
whom he had a son and
heir William. William
Farmer succeeded to Westoning on his father's death in
1640, and in the following
year was created a baronet. (fn. 37)
He took the Royalist side in
the Civil War, and was colonel
of horse for the king. At the
Restoration he was made
K.B., but dying in the same year he was succeeded by
a son William, the second baronet. (fn. 38) He made a settlement of Westoning Manor upon his heirs male in
1669, (fn. 39) was member of Parliament for Northampton
from 1670 to 1679, and in 1692 was created Lord
Leominster. By his third wife Sophia daughter of
the Duke of Leeds he had a son Thomas, who succeeded to the title and estates in 1711, (fn. 40) and in 1722
was created Earl of Pomfret or Pontefract. (fn. 41) He
suffered a recovery of the manor in 1720, (fn. 42) and his
son and heir George remained in possession of Westoning until 1767, (fn. 43) when it was purchased from him
by John Everitt. (fn. 44)
Farmer. Argent a fesse sable between three lions' heads razed gules.
John Everitt, a son of the latter, (fn. 45) was sheriff of
the county, (fn. 46) and was knighted in 1800. (fn. 47) He held
Westoning Manor at the beginning of the 19th
century, (fn. 48) and was succeeded by another John, who
settled the manor upon himself in 1829, (fn. 49) but died
before 1836. (fn. 50) The estate was sold by his executors
within the next six years to the Rev. J. W. C.
Campion, in whose family it remained for nearly
seventy years. (fn. 51) After the death of Major Coventry
Campion in 1903 his widow, afterwards Mrs. Blyth
King, sold the house and lands in 1904 to Mrs.
Howard Spensley, by whom they were given to her
son Mr. Howard Spensley, the present owner and
occupier. The manorial rights and advowson were,
however, retained by Mrs. Blyth-King, in whom they
are now vested.
The rights claimed by the lords of Westoning
Manor in the 14th century included those of holding
a weekly market on Monday, an annual three
days' fair at the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr
(21 December), and free warren, granted to William
Inge in 1303. (fn. 52) Isolda his widow was called upon
to substantiate her claim to these rights, with those
of a view of frankpledge, waifs and strays, infangtheof
and outfangtheof in her manor of Westoning in
1331. (fn. 53)
In the 18th century rights of free fishery, free
warren, courts leet and court baron, with fairs and
markets, were attached to the manor. (fn. 54) With the
exception of the market and fair, which had fallen
into abeyance before 1800, (fn. 55) these rights are mentioned till 1829. (fn. 56)
Certain lands in the parish of Westoning held of
the king in chief by John son of William Aynell in
the middle of the 14th century were granted to
Andrew de Bures and Katherine his wife during the
minority of the heir. (fn. 57) In 1391 all those lands in
Westoning formerly held by John Aynell were
released by Gawin Elmele to Thomas Pever and
others, possibly as trustees for himself and his heirs. (fn. 58)
This property is probably the nucleus of what is
called later WESTONING or AYNELLS MANOR,
which in 1418 was held by John Shathewell of
Priestley and Isabel his wife, (fn. 59) and of which Thomas
Rufford died seised in 1480, leaving as heir a son
John. (fn. 60) The latter died in 1504, and his manor of
Aynells, described as held of the lord of the manor
of Westoning, descended to his son, another John. (fn. 61)
He with his wife Eleanor in 1541 released all claim
in their manor of Aynells to John Stirman clerk, (fn. 62)
acting on behalf of Gonville
and Caius College, Cambridge, of which he was then
master. (fn. 63)
Gonville and Catus College, Cambridge. Argent a cheveron between two couplecloses indented sable with three scallops or on the cheveron, impaling Or powdered with flowers gentle two serpents on a marblestone holding between them a book with a houseleek vert in the chief all in their proper colours and all within a border gobony argent and sable.
This property is described
in 1543 as a messuage with
certain lands called Aynells,
on which was a charge of
10s. payable to Westoning
chantry. (fn. 64) It continued as a
possession of this college, and
in an account of it given in
the College Annals in 1708
are the following entries:
'The house with the appurtenances both arable and
pasture, as valued and let,
April 18, 1668, £132 per
annum. The money rent
paid to the College £9 6s. 8d.
per annum. Corn rent,
wheat, 9 quarters; malt, 8
quarters. An outrent to the
king, 10s.' (fn. 65) The last item
represents the 10s. formerly paid to Westoning
chantry before its dissolution.
A manor called YOUNGES, which was mostly in
Westoning, is found mentioned for the first time
in 1682, when it was held by Henrietta Maria
Baroness Wentworth with her manor of Toddington. (fn. 66)
It descended with Toddington (fn. 67) up to the beginning
of the 19th century, (fn. 68) but all trace of it is lost after
1803.
At the time of the Dissolution the abbey of
Woburn held lands in Westoning of the annual value
of £2 18s. 2½d., (fn. 69) but no further mention of the
property has been found.
There is mention of a water-mill in an extent of
Westoning Manor made in 1297, (fn. 70) and in 1322 two
mills are found attached to the manor. (fn. 71) Another
extent dated fifty years later again mentions one
mill, then worth nothing, (fn. 72) and reference is found to
it in a document as late as 1615. (fn. 73) There are no mills
in the parish at the present day.
CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY MAGDALEN consists of a chancel 30 ft. 10 in.
by 17 ft. 3 in., with a modern northwest vestry, a nave 45 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 3 in., north
and south aisles about 7 ft. wide, a south porch, and
a west tower 9 ft. 3 in. by 11 ft.
A few late 12th-century carved stones are built
into the inside of the south aisle wall, and a good
deal of ruined material of this date is to be seen elsewhere, but the church seems to have been entirely
rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century on the
existing plan, with the exception of the tower, which
was added a century later; the 14th-century church
had a steep-pitched nave roof extending over the aisles,
but in the 15th century the walls of the aisles were
heightened and the present low-pitched roof put on.
The eastern part of the chancel has been refaced
and the steep-pitched roof is modern; the east
window was inserted in the middle of the last
century and consists of three uncusped lights with
geometrical tracery. On the north side are two
restored 14th-century windows of two uncusped lights
with tracery consisting of a septfoiled spherical triangle in a pointed head; between them a doorway
leads into a modern vestry. On the south side are
two similar windows, a restored 14th-century pointed
doorway in two orders moulded with a sunk quarter
round and a modern label, and a moulded pointed
14th-century piscina with trefoiled cusping. The
bowl of a pillar piscina is built into the chancel wall
at the north-west. The chancel arch is in two
chamfered orders with scrolled stops, half-octagonal
responds, and moulded capitals and bases.
The nave has a 15th-century roof in three bays
with moulded timbers having carved bosses, and it
extends over the aisles; the line of the earlier roof
can be seen in the outside walling over the chancel
arch. The arcades are in three bays of the same
character as the chancel arch. The tower arch is in
two double-ogee moulded orders separated by a large
casement, and has a moulded label; the jambs have
engaged round shafts with moulded capitals and bases
of good early 15th-century detail.
Both aisles have 14th-century east windows of three
uncusped lights with a cusped sixfoil in a circle in the
head; in the north aisle are two original north
windows of three pointed lights, the middle one alone
being trefoiled, and a 14th-century pointed doorway
moulded like that in the chancel. The walling
changes above the windows to larger-sized rubble,
and shows clearly where the 15th-century heightening
took place, the embattled parapet and the west
window, which is of three cinquefoiled lights under a
depressed arch, having been built at the same time.
The door and windows in the north and east walls
have moulded labels with either head stops or
returned ends.
The south windows in the south aisle have 15thcentury tracery and rear arches, but the external
detail suggests that the jambs and heads are original
14th-century work. The doorway is 14th-century
work of three orders and a label, each moulded with
a sunk quarter round, and there is an inside label
with a head stop on one side. The east and west
windows are like those in the north aisle, and there is
a 14th-century trefoiled pointed piscina with moulded
jambs and a moulded label. The porch is restored
late 14th-century work with an embattled parapet
and diagonal buttresses; the doorway has a wave
mould and a double ogee mould separated by a casement. There is a parvise over, lighted by a squareheaded cinquefoiled light in the south wall, under
which is a small niche; the entrance to the parvise
is up a staircase on the north side, but its doorway
into the nave has been walled up.
The tower has diagonal buttresses and an embattled
parapet with a short leaded spire. There is a west
doorway with a sundial on one of the stones, and a
west window of three cinquefoiled lights over it; its
rear arch and label once formed part of the west
window of the 14th-century nave. The belfry
windows are modern, and there is a modern stair at
the north-east.
The base of the font appears to be a 13th-century
capital placed directly on the pavement, and may have
belonged to the nave arcade of an earlier church; the
bowl is round.
The lower part of a 15th-century rood screen with
three solid panels on each side separates chancel and
nave.
There are five bells: the treble by Anthony
Chandler; the second and tenor by Russell of
Wootton, 1743; the third by T. Mears, 1829; and
the fourth by Taylor, 1903.
The plate consists of a cup of 1655, given with a
pewter flagon in 1685, a paten of 1777, given in
1812, and a paten of 1876.
The register books are: (1) all entries 1560 to
1611; (2) 1653 to 1725; (3) 1724 to 1793,
marriages to 1754; (4) marriages 1754 to 1802;
(5) baptisms and burials 1793 to 1812; and (6)
marriages 1802 to 1812.
ADVOWSON
The church of Westoning was
granted to the nuns of Elstow by
Henry II with the church of Hitchin
in Hertfordshire. (fn. 74) In 1291 its value was £4 6s. 8d., (fn. 75)
and in 1535 Elstow Abbey derived £10 from the
rectory, paying to the vicar as stipend £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 76)
The total value of the vicarage was returned as
£9 17s. yearly. (fn. 77) After the Dissolution the advowson
of the vicarage was held by the Crown, but it was
apparently included in the grant made in 1615 to
Lady Mary Farmer, who died seised of both manor
and advowson in 1630. (fn. 78) From that date its history
is identical with that of the manor (q.v.).
The rectory of Westoning was granted to Thomas
Hungate and Simon Aynesworth in 1550, (fn. 79) but by a
settlement made in 1562 half was assigned to Ralph
Astrey and the other half to Richard Johnson, (fn. 80) who
also held the manor of Wadlowes in Toddington in
equal moieties. The rectory shares the history of
this manor (q.v.) down to the beginning of the 19th
century, when Francis Penyston was impropriator of
the rectorial tithes. (fn. 81) They subsequently passed to
his daughter, who held them in 1836, (fn. 82) and are at
present vested in the Penyston trustees.
In 1314 William Inge obtained licence to endow
a chantry, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in the
church of Westoning with a messuage, 30 acres of
land and 4 acres of meadow and 60s. rent, to support
a chaplain to celebrate divine service there daily. (fn. 83)
The advowson of the chantry belonged to successive
lords of Westoning Manor, and in 1535 the chantry
priest returned the whole value of the endowment as
£4 16s. 8d. (fn. 84) At the dissolution of chantries in
1549 the priest of the chantry is described as 'but
meanly learned, not able to serve a cure and hath no
other living but this chantry.' The mansion-house
of the incumbent stood near the church and was
worth 6s. 8d., and beyond the rents, which amounted
to the clear value of £4 11s. 2d., the chantry had no
other possessions, jewels or ornaments. Owing to the
age of the incumbent the rental was allowed to him as
a pension for life, reverting at his death to the Crown. (fn. 85)
CHARITIES
The charities subsisting in this
parish were by an order of the county
court of Bedfordshire holden at
Ampthill on 9 June 1856 vested in the official
trustee of charity lands, and are now regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners, dated 25 July
1899, under the title of the United Charities, comprising the following charities, namely:—
The Town Lands, consisting of allotments containing 6 a. 2 r. 22 p. in the Hooks, 6 a. 3 r. 7 p. in
the West Field, and 1 a. 3 r. in Tingrith Mead, and
two cottages and gardens, producing a gross yearly
income of £29 12s. 4d.
The Bread Lands, being an allotment of 1 a. 0 r. 35 p.
in West Field, let at £1 2s. 6d. a year; and
The Widows' Lands, consisting of an allotment of
1 a. 2 r. in West Field, let at £3 4s. a year.
The scheme provided that a moiety of the net
income of the Town Lands Charity should be applied
by the trustees thereby appointed in apprenticing or
defraying the cost of the outfit of deserving and
necessitous persons under the age of twenty-one entering upon a trade or into service, or towards the
maintenance of evening classes or lectures; the other
moiety and the whole of the income of the Bread
Lands Charity to be applied in such way as should
be considered most advantageous to the recipients
and most conducive to the formation of provident
habits. The yearly income of the Widows' Lands
Charity was directed to be applied to the relief of
deserving poor widows by the distribution to them of
food, fuel, clothing or other necessaries. In 1907
eighteen widows received 2s. 6d. each, £6 was spent
in apprenticing, and the remainder of the net income
was applied in contributions to coal and clothing
clubs.