Hayes alias Hooburne Manor Luton

Hayes of Hooburne Manor was held as a sub-manor of Luton Manor, the first mention of an overlord being John Rotherham in 1487 and as late as 1554 the Lord of the Manor of Luton was still named as overlord. The manor itself probably sprang from land held in Luton by a de la Haye family in the 12th century - in 1198 Reginald de la Haye received four virgates of land in Luton from John de Sandon. In 1275 Walter de la Haye held the manor but had been succeeded by Roger de la Haye by 1296 who in that year transferred a house and land to Thomas de la Hyde.

This was not the extent of the family's lands in Luton, evidently as in 1390 Nicholas de la Haye confirmed lands in west Hyde to his mother Agnes Thrale and a John Hay was mentioned in a return for Bedfordshire gentry of 1433. He was steward to the Archbishop of Canterbury and was buried in 1454 in the north aisle of Luton, Saint Mary, having repaired the church at his own expense.

 
Catesby coat of arms

By 1475 the manor was referred to as Hooburne and was owned by John Catesby, who died in 1487. Thomas Catesby conveyed Hayes alias Hooburne Manor to trustees in 1586 and again in 1589 and it was sold by George Catesby to Thomas Cheyne for £830 in 1598. Cheyne died in 1612 and his younger son George held the manor until 1645 when he transferred it to Robert Cheyne, who alienated it to trustees in 1652. By 1672 the manor was the property of Sir Samuel Starling and he later sold it to the Etrick family. In 1716 Anthony Etrick alienated the manor to Benjamin Morris. The family sold the manor about 1865 to the Sowerby family who held it into the 20th century. However, a succession of Law of Property Acts in the 1920s effectively abolished manors in all but name, including copyhold land and manorial courts and income. The manor's land was in the north-east of Luton in the Butterfield Green area.

Sowerby coat of arms