The Manor of Cockayne Hatley
The manor of Cockayne Hatley was also known as Bury Hatley or Hatley Port. The history of the manor can be found in Volume II of the Victoria County History for Bedfordshire of 1908. At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 the it was held by Azelina, the widow of Ralph Taillebois or Tallboys. Along with other lands held by Ralph Taillebois the manor subsequently became part of the Barony of Bedford held by Hugh de Beauchamp. The last reference to an heir of the Beauchamps having an interest in the manor of Cockayne Hatley comes in 1515, when the overlordship was held by Sir Edmund Grey ‘as of the Barony of Bedford’.
Arms of the Barony of Bedford
In 1086 the manor was held directly by Azelina Taillebois, without an under-tenant, but by the early 12th century the de Port family were established at Cockayne Hatley as lords of the manor. In 1197 Adam de Port confirmed the gift of the church to Newnham Priory, and in 1231 he was granted half a virgate of land in Hatley by Ellen, daughter of Agnes of Hatley. In 1277 the manor was held by William de Port. It seems that at the end of the century the Ports sold the manor to Roger Bryan piecemeal: he acquired 70 acres from William de Port in 1294; a carucate of land, 8 shillings rent and a messuage (house with its immediate surroundings) in 1296; and lands, rents, a further messuage and a mill in 1298. Roger Bryan’s daughter, Joan, married a John d’Argentein who held the manor in 1308. From John the manor passed to his daughter Joan, the wife of Ralph Butler, and then to her nephew Edward Butler, who came of age in 1360. In 1417 Edward Butler sold the manor to John Cockayne, chief baron of the Exchequer, for 1000 marks (£667). Bedfordshire Archives holds a final concord relating to this transaction dated 1422 which refers to the manor as ‘Buryhattle’ [reference BW1253].
The Cockayne family held the manor for more than 300 years, and gave the parish name the prefix Cockayne. The descent from one Cockayne to another was largely uncomplicated, until 1731, when Richard Cockayne died without living children. Richard appears to have fallen out with his brother Samuel, as he left him just one shilling in his will, leaving the estate of Cockayne Hatley to his second cousin Judith Cockayne, on condition that she should marry a man with the same name. Samuel Cockayne threatened to take the matter to court, and in 1733 a compromise was reached under which Judith gave up the estate to Samuel in return for £1000. In his will Samuel left the Cockayne Hatley estate to the descendants of this maternal grandfather, Sir Richard Cust, and the manor was inherited by Saville Cust in 1745. He adopted the additional name of Cockayne.
From Saville Cust the manor passed to his nephew Francis, then to Francis’s youngest sister Lucy, the last survivor of this family. Lucy settled the estate on her nephew Brownlow Lord Brownlow, with the provision that it should then pass to his second son Henry Cust. Henry inherited the manor from his father in 1805, and still held it in 1857. Henry’s eldest son Henry Francis Cust died before his father, and the manor of Cockayne Hatley was sold to a Mr Bradshaw. The Cockayne Hatley estate subsequently changed hands several times, being on the market in 1897, 1913 and 1918, until in 1929 it was bought by John Alexander Whitehead. In 1832 he founded COPO (Cox’s Orange Pippin Orchards) and planted extensive orchards. In 1946 the land was sold by COPO to the Co-operative Wholesale Society (the Co-op). Cockayne Hatley Hall passed into private hands.
A history of the Cockayne and Cust families of Cokayne Hatley, with pedigrees, is given by R.J. Cust in Cokayne Memoranda, with much of his account drawn from the Cockayne Hatley manorial records which are held by Bedfordshire Archives as part of the Brownlow collection [references BW1248-1357].