The Manor of Lower Gravenhurst Bowells

Volume II of the Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1908. It states that Bowells Manor had its roots in land held by the Bueles family from at least 1221 to at least 1316. By 1346 the manor was held by Peter Brian. A later Peter Brian alienated the Manor of Lower Gravenhurst to Reginald Grey in 1428 but the same does not seem to have happened with this manor because in 1543 it was held by Benett Smith, who sold it to Laurence Snowe.

The arms of the de Grey family

In 1567 Thomas Snowe sold the manor to Sir Henry Compton. In 1574 it was acquired by Henry de Grey, 6th Earl of Kent. The last mention of the manor in the historical record is in 1623, still in the hands of the Earls of Kent.