The Manor of Brogborough

Arms of the Barony of Wahull

Volume III of the Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912 and includes a brief history of the manor of Brogborough under the Ridgmont section. Brogborough is not mentioned in Domesday Book but the Manor of Brogborough had its genesis in the Manor of Segenhoe held by Walter, brother of Sihere. The Victoria County History states that Walter was related to Walter the Fleming, ancestor of the Barons of Wahull [Odell], hence the reason for the Manor of Brogborough being part of the Barony of Wahull by 1284. The Barony of Wahull continued as overlord of the manor until 1623 when the overlordship is last mentioned in surviving records.

Grey family arms

The Manor of Brogborough is first recorded in 1311 when it was held by John de Grey and his descendants, later earls of Kent, held the manor probably until 1524 when the manor became Crown property, probably alienated by Sir Henry Grey, who refused to take the title of Earl of Kent because his half-brother Richard, who died in that year, had frittered away the family’s estates, probably by gambling. The manor was later attached by Henry VIII (1509-1547) to the Honour of Ampthill.

In 1628 the Crown alienated the manor to Edward Ditchfield and others, trustees for the Corporation of London. By 1676 the corporation had sold the manor because in that year it belonged to John Stone. The Stone family sold their property to Ralph Radcliffe at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries and it was owned by Radcliffe in 1728. The family still held the manor in 1801 and in 1825 the owner was Henry Delmé Radcliffe. In 1828 the manor was sold to John, 6th Duke of Bedford.

Arms of the Dukes of Bedford

The manor remained property of the dukes into the 20th century. A succession of Law of Property Acts in the 1920s virtually abolished manors in all but name.