The Manor of Houghton Grange Houghton Conquest

Arms of the Barony of Bedford

Volume III of the Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912 and contains details of the manors of Houghton Conquest. Pain Malherbe, Lord of the Manor of the Manor of Dame Ellensbury in the 13th century, granted land in Houghton Conquest to Chicksands Priory. Geoffrey Malherbe later increased the priory’s property in Houghton by a virgate of land and six shillings rent. The overlord of the manor was the Barony of Bedford.

Before Chicksands Priory was dissolved by Henry VIII (1509-1547) in 1538 the manor was leased to James Done, who appointed William Wilbon as trustee of his will and guardian of his children. Wilbon was troubled by vexatious suits by people wanting to wrest the manor from him and Done’s children and, on expiry of the lease, the manor reverted to the Crown.

Elizabeth I (1558-1603) granted the manor to Sir Humphrey Ratclyffe and Edward, his son, for their lives, with a reversion to Richard Conquest. In 1624 another temporary grant was made by James I (1603-1625) to Henry Hobart, who sold it, in 1625, to Thomas Foscall. Later that year the Crown granted reversion of the manor to Henry and Thomas Garway. The last time the manor appears in the historical record is 1764 when it was held by Robert, Lord Granville.