The Manor of Bromham Bowels

Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912 and gives the history of manors in Bromham. The writers proposed that Bowels Manor might have had its origins in the two hides held by Hugh from Countess Judith in 1086. An argument against this is that her overlordship was termed the Honour of Huntingdon and would have been expected to continue after her exile and death, though there is no trace of it at all in Bromham.

The earliest holders of Bowels Manor so far known are the Passelowe family, William and his wife Joan holding a house and land in Bromham in 1281. William Passelowe and Nicholas Fermbaud held land in Bromham in 1302 and in 1316. In 1326 William Passelowe conveyed his lands to Richard de Ruthyn and by 1346 it was in the hands Hawise, widow of Ralph Butler. The manor then remained in the Butler family until 1551 when John Butler alienated it to Robert Ordell and he transferred it to Lewis Dyve in 1553. In 1555 the Dyve family also bought the Manor of Wakes and in 1565 the Manor of Bromham alias Brayes. Bowels then follows the same descent as Brayes.