The arms of Dunstable Priory
The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire traced the histories of the various manors in the county. Pulloxhill was included in Volume II, published in 1908. In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded that all Pulloxhill formed just one manor which was held by Nigel d'Aubigny who had two tenants named Roger and Rhiwallon. All the later manors in Pulloxhill can trace their history back to this holding. Rectory Manor was owned by Dunstable Priory as overlord and, when the priory was dissolved by King Henry VIII 1509-1547) in 1540, was taken into the hands of the Crown.
In 1550 Thomas Kent claimed that the manor had been leased by the priory to his father. John Robbins was tenant for life, having paid £115 for the privilege. Another quarrel arose in the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) when it was claimed that Edward VI (1547-1553) had granted the manor to Robert Brocas of Horton [Buckinghamshire] but Thomas Kent had conveyed his interest to John Robbins. The result was that John Robbins junior purchased the reversion of the manor from Robert Brocas for £260 but Bernard, son of Robert Brocas refused to assure the reversion.
It is not known what happened as a result of this dispute but by 1623 the manor was owned by Richard Page who conveyed it to William Briers in that year. Half the manor passed to Briers' heiress (probably his niece) Briers Crofts and half to William's second wife Arabella. In 1660 Briers' husband William Crofts joined Arabella Briers in conveying the manor to Sir Henry Crofts as trustee, then in 1665 Briers, now a widow, joined with Sir Henry in conveying it to Thomas Neale who sold it to Sir John Norton and John Garrard in 1673.
The Crofts family coat of arms
It is likely that the Coppin family of Markyate [Hertfordshire] were relatives of Sir John Norton, certainly they held the advowson of Pulloxhill church between 1686 and 1710 and conveyed the Manor of Pulloxhill and Greenfield, with the advowson, to the Duke of Kent by John Coppin between 1710 and 1716. Presumably Rectory Manor was dealt with in the same way.
The manor remained with the successors of the Duke of Kent, the Earls and Countesses de Grey and the Barons Lucas of Crudwell into the 20th century. In the 1920s a succession of Law of Property Acts ended manorial fines and the copyhold status of land thus ending manors in all but name.
The de Grey family coat of arms
The Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record [HER] contains information on the county's historic buildings and landscapes and summaries of each entry can now be found online as part of the Heritage Gateway website. The HER describes a possible moat east of the church in Pulloxhill [HER 7662]. The entry notes that two inclosure maps of 1814 and 1826 [MA56/1/1] both show 3 arms of a possible moat. On a map of 1960 two arms of a rectangular oval are shown as water filled. In 1976 this was interpreted as possibly the Rectory Farm (Hoo Farm) and so, perhaps, the mansion of Rectory Manor.