The Lesser Chalgrave Manor

The Crofts family arms

The histories of all the manors in Chalgrave are to be found in Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire published in 1912. This manor appears in the historical record very late - in the 17th century. At this date it was held by Lord Berkeley as overlord and it is, presumably, a late offshoot of the main Manor of Chalgrave.

The tenant of manor in 1625 was Sir John Crofts and Mary, his wife. These two, along with Samuel Crofts alienated the manor to Anthony Crofts. Four years later he sold it to the Mercers' Company of London. They continued to hold the manor into the 20th century. Manor Farm was part of this manor at that date. A succession of Law of Property Acts in the 1920s extinguished all manorial incidents, courts and copyhold tenure of land. This effectively abolished manors in all but name.