Manor of Houghton

Information taken from Victoria County History, Vol. III, 1912.

In 1086 Houghton was a royal manor and was assessed at 10 hides. Its annual yield was £10 of weighed money, half a day's provisions of grain, honey and other things pertaining to the king's farm, 65s. for small dues and a pack-horse, the same amount for customary payments of dogs, and 2 oz. of gold for the queen; whilst Ivo Tallebosc, when sheriff, imposed an additional £3 of weighed money and 20s. blanch silver, together with 1 oz. of gold for the sheriff. It remained Crown property until Henry I granted it to Hugh de Gurney. The latter held it as one knight's fee of his barony of Gurney; but Henry I had previously granted lands and rights of common in Houghton to his newly-founded priory of St. Peter at Dunstable, and a constant struggle was henceforward waged between the prior and the lords of the vill concerning their respective rights. The amount due from the manor to the king was £40 a year, and the course of the struggle may be traced from the entries on the Pipe Rolls concerning this payment. Thus Hugh de Gurney's lands having escheated to the Crown, Andrew Botetort, temporarily holding the vill, paid the whole £40 in 1156–7; but the next year, and until 1189, the Prior and convent of Dunstable paid £17 of this, the remaining £23 being paid from 1173 to 1189 by Hugh de Gurney, junior, who had recovered seisin of his father's lands. From 1190 to 1202 the whole amount was paid by Hugh. In 1203, however, the king restored to the monastery their rights in Houghton, and for the next three years they paid the £40 jointly with the lord of the vill. In 1206, however, they were again despoiled, and the quarrel dragged on through the 13th century. From 1203 to 1205 the manor appears to have been in the hands of Almaric Count of Evreux, who had married Millicent daughter of Hugh de Gurney. By 1206 Hugh de Gurney had resumed possession and held the manor till his death. His heir was his son Hugh, a minor, and during the latter's minority the manor was in the custody of William de Cantlowe. In 1222, however, the heir attained his majority. On his sister Milicent marrying as her second husband William de Cantlowe, his former guardian, Hugh gave her a portion of Houghton Manor valued at £30; the remainder, comprising some 13 virgates valued at £8 0s. 10d., he gave to Richard de Weavile. Of this smaller portion no further mention is found later than 1284–6, when it was held by Henry de Weavile. The larger portion until the year 1566 followed the same descent as the manor of Eaton Bray.

In 1566 the descent of the manor of Houghton parted from Eaton, being sold by Sir Edward Bray to Lewis Montgomery and Jane his wife. A further alienation took place before 1575, in which year William Lord Sandys (the husband of Catherine, cousin and heir of Sir Edward Bray) together with Thomas Bawde and Jane his wife placed the manor in the hands of trustees, preparatory to a sale to Miles Sandys, who, though bearing the same name, was no relation to Lord William. He was a member of the Inner Temple, and on his death in 1553–4 was succeeded by his widow Mary, who survived her son Sir Edwin Sandys, and was in turn succeeded by her grandson William. The latter alienated the manor in 1615 to Anthony Sawrey of the Middle Temple, from whom it passed to John Egerton first Earl of Bridgewater, better known as Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. His son John Earl of Bridgewater sold the property in 1653–4 to Henry Brandreth. The manor remained in the hands of the Brandreth family until 1750, when Henry Brandreth sold it to the Duke of Bedford. It remained the property of the Dukes of Bedford until the close of the last century, when it was purchased by Mr. H. C. G. Brandreth. Mrs. Brandreth is now the lady of the manor.