Haynes Grange Manor

Information from Victoria County History, Vol. II, 1908

There was another manor in the parish known by the name of HAYNES GRANGE, which is first mentioned in 1150, when it was presented by Pain and Rose de Beauchamp to the priory of Chicksands, on the occasion of the foundation of that monastery. In the grant were included 400 acres, and the whole of Applewood except the part which Olaf the priest of Haynes held. This grant was confirmed in the reign of Henry III by William de Beauchamp, greatgrandson of the donor, and the priory continued in undisturbed possession until the Dissolution. In 1285 free warren in Haynes was bestowed upon the priory, and the value of the Grange about 1291 was £5 12s. The holding was augmented in 1308 by an alienation in mortmain of 40 acres, the gift of Robert Doket of Wilshamstead, but in 1325 the priory was involved in serious monetary difficulties, and mortgaged Haynes Grange and the chapel of St. Thomas' manor in Meppershall to John Pisaquila of Genoa, and Bartholomew Riky, besides having to sell Applewood and another wood called Inwood; the mortgage, however, was gradually redeemed, and in 1327 a yearly rent of 77s. 6d. was granted to the priory by Robert de Flamville. 

In 1330 the priory justified its claim to free warren in Haynes by the production of the charter of Edward I, and also to view of frankpledge held twice a year in the manor by prescriptive right. At the time of the dissolution of Chicksands, the priory's estate was worth £9 12s. 8d. Henry VIII in 1544 granted the manor to Henry Audeley and John Maynard and their heirs, but it was probably soon acquired by Richard Snowe and Elizabeth his wife, who had already obtained in 1540 the manor of Chicksands, and all lands in that parish belonging to the dissolved priory. Richard Snowe died in 1553 seised of a messuage and lands in Haynes, and his son Richard in 1587 alienated the Grange to Peter Osborn at the same time that he sold him Chicksands manor. Since this date the manor has remained in the Osborn family, and its history has been identical with that of the manor of Chicksands (q.v.). The present representative of the family, in whom the manorial rights are vested, is Sir Algernon Kerr Butler Osborn, bart.; the manor is now known as the Grange Farm House, and is situated about half a mile south-east of the village. In shape it is like the letter H, of which the central portion and east wing have been rebuilt at a comparatively recent date. The old west wing of half timber contains a fine old staircase, leading to a spacious apartment, in which there is a large open fireplace.