TOSELAND
Toleslund (xi cent.), Touleslund, Tholeslund,
Toulislond (xiii cent.), Touseland (xiv cent.),
Towesland (xvi cent.).
The parish of Toseland contains 1,342 acres of
land. The soil is clay and the subsoil Oxford clay and
Ampthill clay, growing cereal crops. The land is high
and is mainly agricultural. Gallow Brook runs
through the south of the parish. Various Roman
remains have been found in the village and near
Toseland Wood, (fn. 1) while the parish is crossed by a
Roman road. The parish, it is supposed, takes its name
from Earl Toglos or Toli, and gives it to the Hundred
of Toseland. (fn. 2) A large, rough, irregularly shaped
sarsen-stone (2 ft. 8 in. by 1 ft. 7 in. by 9 in. deep)
in the churchyard against the south wall of the church
is locally known as the ' Moot-stone,' and is said to
have been the ancient hundred stone. A portion of
the Roman road here is also known as Moats or
Moots Way. (fn. 3) Any importance which may have been
attached to the village as the meeting-place of the
hundred had been lost by the 11th century, when
in the time of Edward the Confessor it was one of
three berewicks in Great Paxton (fn. 4) and is not mentioned
by name in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 5) Its lands were
intermixed with those of Great Paxton at the time
of the inclosure of the two parishes under a private
Act of Parliament in 1811. (fn. 6)
The village is composed of some scattered cottages
and houses lying along the bye-road from Yelling which
joins the St. Neots and Godmanchester road at Great
Paxton. The church is in the middle of the village,
which includes some 17th-century half-timber houses.
At the west end of the village street is Toseland Hall,
which was probably built by Sir Nicholas Luke, who
succeeded his father John in 1566 and died in 1613.
It is built of brick with a tiled roof, and is of two
stories with attics. The south front facing the road
is divided by plaster pilasters into three bays, each bay
surmounted by a gable. In the middle bay is a porch
over which is a four-light mullioned bay window.
The bays on each side have similar windows, but with
sloping sides on the ground and first floors. There is a
series of four fine chimney stacks of ornamental bricks,
and some of the old interior fittings still remain. To
the west is a thatched barn contemporary with the
house. The stables are of a little later date.
There is a village hall, built in 1895, which is used
as a reading and recreation room.
The remains of a wide and deep moat are to be
found in Toseland Wood. (fn. 7)
MANOR
The manor of TOSELAND is not mentioned by name in Domesday Book, but the
township was then one of the berewicks
belonging to Great Paxton. (fn. 8) It was, therefore, amongst
the lands of the Countess Judith in 1086, (fn. 9) and afterwards was held by military service of the Honour of
Huntingdon. (fn. 10)
The first subtenant who can be traced was Robert
Taillebois. In 1202 his widow Alice de Trumpington
successfully sued David Earl of Huntingdon for her
dower in Toseland, from which his seneschal Philip
le Moyne had unjustly deforced her. (fn. 11) Probably
Robert's heir had also been similarly treated, since
Robert Basset, in a charter confirming a grant to St.
Neot's Priory, calls Robert Taillebois his predecessor. (fn. 12)
Before 1231 the manor had been recovered by Cecilia,
daughter of Elias Taillebois and wife of Imbert
Hereford. (fn. 13) Cecilia was holding it alone, presumably
as a widow, in 1242, (fn. 14) but it had passed to her son
Robert Hereford before 1261. (fn. 15) His son Roger, a
minor, had succeeded him in 1279, (fn. 16) and the whole
vill belonged to his manor, except the tenement of
one freeman, who held immediately of the Honour of
Huntingdon. (fn. 17) For some reason which does not
appear, Toseland did not pass to Roger's son and
heir, (fn. 18) but came into the possession of Sir Reginald
Grey of Wilton. (fn. 19) His direct descendants (fn. 20) held the
manor until Edmund Grey, Lord of Wilton, sold it to
Sir Robert Throckmorton in 1507. (fn. 21) Sir George
Throckmorton, son and heir of Sir Robert, sold it in
1529 to John Gostwicke, (fn. 22) who in turn sold it to
Richard Gresham. (fn. 23) Sir Richard Williams alias
Cromwell bought it from Gresham, (fn. 24) but sold it in
1540 to Sir Walter Luke of Woodend in Cople parish
(co. Bed.) (q.v.), justice of the King's Bench. (fn. 25) Sir
Walter's descendants (fn. 26) held the manor till 1624, when
Sir Oliver Luke sold it to Henry Adelmare alias
Caesar, Dean of Ely. (fn. 27) The dean left it to his
nephew Sir Charles Caesar, (fn. 28) Master of the
Rolls, who died in 1642. (fn. 29) Julius, eldest son of
Sir Charles, died six days after his father, and
the manor passed by will to the second son
Henry, then a minor. (fn. 30) He died in January
1667–8, and his son Sir Charles Caesar succeeded
him. (fn. 31) The latter died in 1694 and the manor
passed to his son Charles, (fn. 32) who seems to have
sold it, probably to Robert Pigott, before 1733. (fn. 33)
Robert Pigott died in 1770 and was succeeded by
his son Robert, who sold or leased Toseland to
Francis Chambre in that year. (fn. 34) In 1786 Jonathan
Burnham and his wife Hannah sold it to
Edward Leeds (fn. 35) of Croxton, Cambs., who
died in 1803 (fn. 36) and was succeeded by Joseph
Leeds. (fn. 37) In 1809 it was in the possession of
George Leeds, (fn. 38) who was created a baronet
in 1812. (fn. 39) He sold the manor, probably in 1820,
to Samuel Newton, whose great-grandson Sir George
Douglas C. Newton, K.B.E., is now lord of the
manor. (fn. 40)
Roger Hereford in 1285 claimed to hold a view of
frankpledge in his manor and to be quit of all tolls,
the sheriff's turn, suit to the Hundred court (fn. 41) and
successive lords of the manor held a view of
frankpledge for their tenants. (fn. 42) In 1621 Sir Oliver
Luke had a grant of free warren in Toseland
manor. (fn. 43)
A windmill was appurtenant to the manor in 1323,
and was worth 20s. a year. (fn. 44)
CHURCH
The Church of ST. MARY
(fn. 45) consists
of a chancel (21¼ ft. by 14 ft.) with
vestry (10½ ft. by 8¼ ft.) on north,
and nave (40¾ ft. by 17 ft.). The walls are of pebble-rubble except the north wall of the nave, which is of
brick, and the roofs are covered with tiles. The church,
which is a chapelry to Great Paxton, was apparently
entirely of mid-12th-century date, but by the middle
of the last century it had lost its chancel and consisted
simply of a nave with a hipped roof surmounted by a
wooden bell turret. The north wall of the nave appears
to have been rebuilt in the 18th century. In 1873 it
was thoroughly restored, and the chancel rebuilt.
The vestry was added in 1897, and the nave seats in
1907–8.
The modern chancel has three single-light windows
at the east end; a single and a double light in each
of the side walls; and a small doorway into the vestry.
The 12th-century chancel arch is of two plain square
orders, very much restored, resting on responds with
small detached shafts in the jambs and larger engaged
shafts under the inner order of the arch; the capitals
are of the volute type.
Plan of Toseland Church
The nave has a north wall rebuilt in red brickwork
and has five modern single-light windows. The head
of a small 12th-century window has been reset between
the second and third windows. Some old stones have
been built in at the base of the wall. The south wall
is largely of 12th-century date, but much restored;
it has one small original window, three modern single-lights, and an original doorway with tympanum
(largely modern) under a semicircular head enriched
with beaded circles and cheveron ornament, and resting
on jambs each having two detached shafts and ornamented with the curious pallets overlapping a roll
and hollow. (fn. 46) The west wall is modern; it has two
single-light windows, and is surmounted by a modern
bell-cot.
There is one bell, inscribed Thomas Mears, Founder,
London, 1840. (fn. 47)
There are two monuments in the nave, viz. to Griffin
Fletcher, d. 1836, and a War Memorial 1914–18.
The registers are as follows: (i) Baptisms, marriages and burials from 9 Dec. 1702 to 29 Nov. 1812;
marriages end 1 July 1752. Previous to 1702 baptisms
and deaths were entered in the registers of Great
Paxton and the marriages from 1567 at Little
Paxton.
The church plate consists of: A silver cup inscribed 'Towsland Hundreth'; it appears to be of
Elizabethan date, but has no hall-mark; a silver cover
paten, engraved 'I.H.S.' and hall-marked for 1919–20;
a plated salver, inscribed 'William Palmer, Rector, (fn. 48)
Edward Peck, Joseph Howitt, Churchwardens, A.D.
1821.'
ADVOWSON
The Church of St. Mary (fn. 49) has been
a chapelry attached to the church of
the Holy Trinity, Great Paxton, since
the first notices of its existence. In a charter of King
David of Scotland, probably granted between 1124–28,
he gave all the tithes of his demesne and of the land
of his tenants in Toseland to the church of Great
Paxton. (fn. 50) In 1235 a dispute between the rector and
his parishioners in Toseland was settled by arbitration. (fn. 51) The parishioners in future were to go to the
mother church on the feast of Holy Trinity and make
their offerings there and not in the chapel of Toseland.
For his part the rector was to provide a chaplain to
serve the chapel three days a week as well as on all
feast days except the feast of the Holy Trinity. The
chapel is also mentioned in 1274, when the vicarage of
Great Paxton was instituted. (fn. 52) In 1346 Sir Reginald
Grey and John de Raveley granted a messuage and
land in Toseland and Great Paxton to Eustace,
vicar of Great Paxton, towards finding a chaplain
to serve Toseland chapel on three days in the
week, for the good of the souls of Reginald, of
John and his wife Alice, and also to bestow 7d.
for bread on the poor on the anniversary of John and
Alice. (fn. 53)
There is a Wesleyan Chapel in the village.
CHARITY
Widows' Dole. A customary payment of 2s. 9d. is made by the lessee of
lands belonging to the dean and
chapter of Lincoln, and distributed to poor widows.