EYWORTH
Aieworde, Aisseworde (xi cent.); Eywurth (xiii
cent.).
Eyworth is a small parish of 1,253½ acres on the
Cambridgeshire border. Its south-eastern boundary
is formed by the River Rhee. The highest land is in
the west of the parish, about 170 ft. above sea level,
and there is a general downward slope towards the
east. Of the acreage of the parish 819½ is arable land,
358 permanent grass, and 11 woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
The soil is principally clay, the subsoil clay; the crops
are wheat, barley, peas, and beans. The village is
situated in the west central part of the parish on the
road from Dunton to Wrestlingworth. After entering the parish from the Dunton side this road begins
to descend towards the village, to the south of which
a branch road on the east leads down to Thistlygrounds Farm, situated in the south of the parish.
At the south end of the village a short distance to the
east of the road lies the Church Farm, and close to it
on the north is the church of All Saints. The Manor
Farm is on the west of the road, which, still descending somewhat, passes on to Wrestlingworth. The
houses are for the most part on the west of the road,
facing a wide uninclosed green, at the south end
of which, and just to the north of the church, is a rectangular inclosure of early seventeenth-century brickwork, with small entrance doorways on the east and
west, marking the site of what was evidently a building of some importance. The nearest station is Potton,
3½ miles distant, on a branch of the London and
North Western Railway. Biggleswade station on the
Great Northern Railway is 4 miles off.
Eyworth Church from the South-East
The following thirteenth-century field names have
been found:—Blakechistel, Longelenecroft, Swynewellehul, Cattesbrayn, Donewynd, Dosshesway, Cross
of Warin. (fn. 2)
Manors
At the time of the Survey William
Spec held EYWORTH MANOR, then
extended at 9 hides, of the king in chief, (fn. 3)
and it continued to be thus held until 1343, (fn. 4) , when Edward le Despenser is described as holding it of the abbot
of Warden. (fn. 5) In 1428 the manor was held of the same
overlordship, (fn. 6) in 1451 the jurors were unable to discover of whom it was held, (fn. 7) and finally by the
attainder of Richard Carleton for treason in 1486 it
returned definitely to the crown. (fn. 8)
Walter son of William Spec died without issue in
1153, and left three sisters as co-heirs, of whom
Hadwisa, wife of William de Bussy, (fn. 9) acquired Eyworth. Previous to 1225 her son William died, when
two daughters, Cecilia
and Maud, became his
heirs. (fn. 10) Ida, daughter
of Cecilia, married
Robert de Vipont, and
Joan, daughter of
Maud, married
Thomas de Gravenel, (fn. 11)
and the de Viponts
and the Gravenels continued to hold in Eyworth until in 1258
John son of Thomas
de Gravenel finally
transferred his share
of the manor to
Robert de Vipont,
grandson of the above
Robert. (fn. 12)
On his death in
1265 the manor was
divided between his
two daughters, Ida
wife of Roger Leyburne, and Isabel wife
of Roger de Clifford. (fn. 13) The consequent division of
the manor into two parts leads to some complication
in its history; what appears to have happened is as
follows: Roger Leyburne died in 1283, (fn. 14) and Ida
married John de Cromwell, (fn. 15)
and on her death in 1334 the
manor passed under a settlement made during her lifetime (fn. 16) to Hugh le Despenser
and his son Edward successively, (fn. 17) who in 1343 died
seised of the manor held
jointly with his wife Anne,
who was the daughter of
Henry Ferrers, lord de Groby. (fn. 18)
She held the manor in 1346,
her son Edward being still
under age. (fn. 19) In 1428 Anne Despenser is described as
holding by feudal service in Eyworth 'quod quondam
eadem Anna tenuit,' (fn. 20) but by 1486 these lands had
become reunited to the other part of Eyworth manor,
for the Despenser lands were included in a grant of
the manor in 1486 to John Fortescue. (fn. 21)
Vipont. Gules six rings or.
With regard to Isabel de Clifford's share, her husband at his death in 1283 was described as holding
the manor of Eyworth in right of his wife and left a
son Robert, (fn. 22) who was slain at Bannockburn in
1314, and whose son Roger de Clifford was executed
for high treason after Boroughbridge in 1322. This
may account for the alienation of this manor, which
next appears in the family of Francis.
Adam Francis was holding in Eyworth as early as
1371, (fn. 23) , and his son Adam at his death in 1417 was
seised of the manor. (fn. 24) He
left two daughters, of whom
Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas
Charleton, succeeded to Eyworth manor, and was followed
at her death in 1451 by her
son Thomas. (fn. 25) He died in
1463, (fn. 26) and his son Richard, a
supporter of Richard III, was
attainted of treason in the
reign of Henry VII. His
estates fell to the crown, and
in 1486 were granted by
Henry VII to John Fortescue,
'in recompense for services done to him.' (fn. 27) His son
John succeeded him in 1510, and held the manor till
his own death in 1518, when he left a son Henry,
then two and a half years old. (fn. 28) The grant of the
manor was reconfirmed to Henry Fortescue by letters
patent in 1543, because, as stated in the preamble of
the confirmation, owing to some informality the grant
was found valid only for the life of the late Sir John
Fortescue. (fn. 29)
Fortescue. Azure a bend engrailed argent between cotises or.
Henry Fortescue on his death in 1576 left a son
Francis, (fn. 30) whose son John (fn. 31) in 1594 alienated the
manor to Sir Edmund Anderson, who shortly after
acquired the second manor in Eyworth with the
advowson of the church, both formerly the property
of St. Helen's Priory, London, and after this date both
manors became merged into one. Sir Edmund Anderson, when he died in 1605, left Eyworth to his widow
Magdalen for life, (fn. 32) and Francis their son, who died in
1616, settled the manor on Edmund with remainder
to Stephen, both sons by his first wife Judith daughter
of Sir Stephen Soame. (fn. 33) Edmund Anderson died in
1638, (fn. 34) and Stephen, whose son Stephen was created
a baronet during his father's lifetime in 1664, held
the manor after him as heir male. (fn. 35) Sir Stephen
Anderson died in 1707, (fn. 36) and was followed by a son
Stephen, whose son Stephen died without issue in
1773, and the baronetcy became extinct, (fn. 37) when
the Eyworth estates reverted to Charles Anderson
Pelham, heir male of Francis Anderson, younger
brother of the first baronet, (fn. 38) who was created Lord
Yarborough in 1796, and who in 1804 conveyed the
manor by fine to Lord Ongley, (fn. 39) whose son Lord
Ongley was holding the property in 1854. (fn. 39a) Ten
years later it had passed to Arthur Peel, (fn. 39b) whose
descendant, Viscount Peel, is at the present day lord
of the manor.
Anderson. Argent a cheveron between three crosses paty sable.
Pelham. Azure three pelicans argent quartered with Gules two pieces of belts argent palewise with their buckles.
A second EYWORTH MANOR is an offshoot of
the larger manor, and orginated in a charter of Maud
daughter of William de Bussy granting to the priory
of St. Helen, London, all her lands and rents in Eyworth, save only the marriage portion of her daughter
Joan, wife of Thomas Gravenel. (fn. 40) The priory continued to add to its possessions, obtaining further
grants of land by purchase from John de Gravenel
between 1254. and 1259. (fn. 41) This manor was held of
the crown by knight service, (fn. 42) and it continued in the
possession of the priory until the Dissolution, when it
reverted to the crown. (fn. 43) Elizabeth granted it in 1565
to Robert, earl of Leicester, to hold of the manor of
East Greenwich. (fn. 44) He sold it almost immediately to
Sir Robert Catlin, at whose death in 1577 it passed to
Mary his daughter, wife of John Spencer. (fn. 45) Her
husband alienated the manor by fine to Richard
Mays in 1575, (fn. 46) between which date and 1595 it
passed to John Spurlyng and his wife Anne, who in
the latter year conveyed it to the trustees of Sir
Edmund Anderson, at that time lord of the larger
Eyworth manor (q.v.), with which it became thus
once more amalgamated. (fn. 47)
Another tenant in Eyworth at the time of Domesday was Azelina, widow of Ralph Taillebois, of whom
Brodo held 1 hide of land. (fn. 48) After the Survey this
holding, which never became a manor, appears to have
been held of the manor of Cockayne Hatley (q.v.),
which Azelina likewise held in 1086, (fn. 49) and early came
into the hands of the lords of Eyworth manor.
Plan of Eyworth Church
The earliest holder of this property of whom mention has been found subsequent to Brodo the Domesday tenant is William de Pyrley, who in 1298 received
a grant of a messuage and land from Robert Austin, (fn. 50)
and in 1305 a messuage, 110 acres of land, and 12s.
rent from John de Juvene. (fn. 51)
Edward le Despenser who owned Eyworth manor
in 1343 held the messuage and 100 acres of land
which had formerly belonged to William de Pyrley, (fn. 52)
and between this date and 1465 this property, distinguished by the name Pyrleys and by the different
lordship of which it was held, followed the same
descent as Eyworth, and finally became absorbed in
that manor. (fn. 53)
A mill existed in Eyworth at the time of the Survey
of 1086; it was attached to the manor of Eyworth
and was worth 8s. (fn. 54) Roger de Clifford held half of
this windmill in 1282 in right of his wife Isabel by
service of 3d. yearly to John son of Thomas de
Juvene, (fn. 55) and in 1283 Roger de Leyburne held the
other half of the mill in right of his wife Ida in the
same manner. (fn. 56)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS has a
chancel 23 ft. by 13 ft. 4 in., nave 33 ft.
by 16 ft. 9 in., with south aisle 9 ft. 9 in.
wide, modern south porch, and west tower 10 ft. 3 in.
square within the walls.
There are no details older than the first quarter of
the fourteenth century; the south aisle and arcade
belong entirely to this date, but the walls of the nave
may be earlier than this, though there is nothing to
prove it. The chancel seems to have been completely
rebuilt, but on the old plan, in the fifteenth century,
and the tower is also an addition of this time. The
rood-loft stair is of much the same date as the chancel,
and the clearstory of the nave belongs to the end of
this century or the early years of the next. The plan
is simple and regular, with the exception that the tower, for some reason
which is difficult to see, is not set
centrally with the nave, but some feet to
the north, its north wall projecting beyond
the line of that of the nave. (fn. 57) The
chancel is plastered externally, and has
a modern east window of three lights,
and square-headed two-light fifteenthcentury windows towards the west on
north and south. At the south-east is a
segmental headed window of three lights,
blocked by the monument of Sir Edmund
Anderson, and in the north wall a door
with square-headed label and shields in
the spandrels, also of the fifteenth century.
The chancel arch, of early fourteenthcentury design, has been a good deal repaired; it has an arch of two moulded orders, with
shafts and capitals to the inner order. To the north
of it, in the east wall of the nave, is a cinquefoiled
fifteenth-century recess, with a square label and trefoiled spandrels, for the image over the north altar in
the nave. This altar was lighted by a large threelight window of fourteenth-century date, which has
lost its original tracery, and is filled with work of about
100 years later. The shafted jambs and head are of
very good detail. East of this window is a small trefoiled recess for a piscina.
The south arcade is of three bays, with octagonal
piers and moulded capitals and bases, and arches of
two chamfered orders, all much scraped and cleaned,
the capitals having suffered particularly in this respect.
At the south-east angle of the aisle is the entrance to
the fifteenth-century rood stair, and the fourteenthcentury east window of the aisle, of three trefoiled
lights with quatrefoils over them, has been pushed
southwards to make room for it. In the south wall
are two fourteenth-century windows, each of two
trefoiled lights, that to the east having a square head,
and the other a two-centred arch with a quatrefoil
over the lights. The west window of the aisle is a
quatrefoil set in a square frame. The north and south
doorways of the nave are of plain fourteenth-century
detail, and the latter is covered by a modern porch.
The tower opens to the nave with an arch of two
chamfered orders, having an engaged shaft to the
inner order. The west window is of two lights, and
at the south-west angle is a stair contrived in the
thickness of the wall. The belfry windows are also
of two lights, and the tower is finished by a short
stone spire with four double spire-lights at the base,
and a second tier of single lights near the apex.
The church has embattled parapets throughout, and
low-pitched roofs, that over the chancel being in part
of the fifteenth century. There is a seventeenthcentury altar table and eighteenth-century rails, but
all other wooden fittings are modern. The font has
a plain octagonal bowl, much scraped, but apparently
of fifteenth-century date.
A certain amount of old glass is preserved here. In
the north window of the nave are parts of several
figures, and a shield bearing a cheveron or between
three indistinct charges; in the east window of the
south aisle is a lion counterchanged or and sable, and
a few other pieces are set in the west window of the
tower and the south-west window of the aisle.
The Anderson monuments in the chancel are excellent examples of their time, that at the north-east
being to Sir Francis Anderson, 1616, while opposite
to it is that of Sir Edmund Anderson, 1605, and at
the south-west is a third to Edmund son of Sir
Edmund Anderson, 1638. Sir Francis Anderson's
tomb is in poor condition, having lost its canopy and
the pillars which supported it; his alabaster effigy,
without hands or feet, kneels between those of his
two wives, Judith daughter of Sir R. Soane, and
Awdry daughter of Sir J. Bottler. Below are kneeling
figures of his four sons.
The tomb of Sir Edmund Anderson, Lord Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, is an altar
tomb under a canopy carried by Corinthian columns,
and surmounted by a circular panel of heraldry. The
alabaster effigies of Sir Edmund and his wife Magdalen (Smith) lie on the tomb, on the front of which
are kneeling figures of their three sons and four
daughters. Edmund Anderson's monument is mural,
having the busts of himself and his wife under semicircular arches, with an inscription and heraldry over,
and below the bust of their daughter, with another
inscription, flanked by allegorical figures resting on
the slope of a broken pediment. The top of the
tomb has a similar arrangement. In the chancel floor
is a brass with figures of Sir Richard Gadbury, 1624,
and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Francis Anderson; between them is their daughter, who died in
1618, and is commemorated by an inscription on the
wall near by. There are also slabs to Dame Mary,
wife of Sir Stephen Anderson, 1667, Alice, Viscountess
Verulam and baroness of St. Albans, 1656, Mrs. Catherine Anderson, 1705, and other members of the family.
There are two bells, the treble, a fifteenth-century
bell by a London founder, John Walgrave, bearing
'Sancta Margareta ora pro nobis,' and the other by
Miles Graye of Colchester, 1632. Here, as in a few
other cases, this founder latinizes his Christian name
as Milonem instead of Milo.
The plate consists of a communion cup and flat
cover paten of 1625, the cup having a six-lobed foot
of unusual type. On both is engraved in dots a boar
ermine, with a crescent on the body, which is the
crest of Bacon of Redgrave. There is also a second flat
paten of 1623, with the same device, but having a
coronet over it, and a large flagon of 1638, presented
by Dame Dorothy Constable in 1639.
The first book of registers has entries from 1599 to
1787, the second contains baptisms and burials 1788 to
1812, and the third marriages from 1755 onwards.
Advowson
Walter Spec, son of William, and
lord of Eyworth manor, gave his
nephew Nicholas de Trailly the
advowson of all his churches south of the Humber.
In a quarrel which arose between the abbot of Warden
and the heirs of Walter Spec in 1225, the jurors
decided that the advowson had reverted to the heirs of
William de Bussy as Walter Spec's heir. (fn. 58)
Maud de Bussy, sister of William, granted a charter
to the prioress of St. Helen's, London, by which the
latter claimed the advowson of the church. (fn. 59) At first
the claim of the priory to half only was acknowledged
by the Gravenels, then lords of Eyworth manor, but
eventually in 1253 St. Helen's Priory acquired the
sole right. (fn. 60) The value of the church in 1291 was
£4 13s. 4d. (fn. 61) and in 1329 the priory received a licence
of appropriation. (fn. 62) Since the Dissolution both rectory
and advowson of the church have followed the same
history as the lesser manor in Eyworth, and with it
have become merged in Eyworth manor, to which
they are still attached. (fn. 63)
Tempsford chantry owned in Eyworth 3 acres of
land, valued at 20d., for a light. (fn. 64)
Charities
It appears from a brass inscription in
the church that Sir Richard Gadbury,
who died on 16 October, 1624, gave
with certain feoffees in trust for the perpetual benefit
of the poor 6 a. of land in the fields of Wrestlingworth, and 8 a. in the fields of Dunton. On the inclosure of the open fields in the parish of Dunton and
in the parish of Wrestlingworth (1801), 6a. 3 r. 34 p.,
situate in White House Way Fields, Dunton, and
3 a. 0 r. 35 p. in Mildridre Fields, Wrestlingworth,
were awarded in lieu of the aforesaid lands. By an
order of the Charity Commissioners, dated 11 May,
1866, trustees were appointed, and the income directed
to be applied in coals, or other articles in kind, and
in pecuniary aid in special cases for the benefit of the
most deserving and necessitous inhabitants of the
parish. The lands produce about £20 a year, onethird being distributed in coals, and two-thirds in
money.