Wardon Abbey and Lands in Ravensden

This page was written by Margaret Roberts, Volunteer Historian at Warden Abbey Vineyard.

View north-east towards Tilwick Wood (April 2016) © M. Roberts

Thanks to a combination of gifts and purchases, Wardon Abbey first acquired arable lands in Ravensden during the 12th century. Scattered throughout the common fields, including the Bean Field and Godwinescroft, they would probably have been managed by nearby Renhold Grange.

It is impossible to be sure about the acreage, although it is a matter of record that, in 1190/1200, Wardon Abbey was liable to pay scutage (cash in lieu of military service) to the lords of Bedford on 15 acres in Ravensden. An entry in the cartulary of Newnham Priory mentions 60 acres of land held by the monks of Wardon in Tilwick, and in 1257 William de Beauchamp, baron of Bedford, claimed service from the abbey on 243 acres in the parish.

The monks accounted for their Ravensden holdings in different ways down the years. The 1291 tax return shows combined income from Ravensden and Biddenham amounting to £9 7s 2d. Savvy businessman, Abbot Augustine London (elected c. 1500, retired early 1535), issued two leases for lands in Ravensden, both effective from 29 September 1527, and the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 documents income of £14 19s 1d from the parish. From this, an element was payable to the prior of Newnham for tithes, and likewise 20s to the vicar of Ravensden.

After the suppression of Wardon Abbey on 4 December 1537, its holdings in Tilwick and Ravensden formed part of a package sold to John Gostwick and his wife Jane on 2 March 1538. These are listed in the Court of Augmentations accounts for financial year 1537/38 under the heading ‘manor or grange of Ravensden’. However, due to Cistercian regulations concerning the proximity of granges one to another, and the scattered nature of the assets, they were never constituted into a monastic grange and ‘manor’ would be the right description.

Leases issued in the 1520s suggest that there would have been two ‘farm places’ in Ravensden, each with its own dwelling house and outbuildings. A sublease of 1529 provides evidence of a farmstead at Tilwick, which was probably in the vicinity of Tilwick Farm at the north-east corner of Tilwick Wood [TL 0725 5686], less than 70m from the parish boundary with Bolnhurst & Keysoe. LiDAR in combination with OS maps points towards an area abutting the south-east corner of the wood [TL 0719 5666] less than 150m to the south of the present-day farm buildings, and which contains man-made ponds and ditches dating back at least 140 years.

The second complex is likely to have been based around the site, later known as ‘Ravensden Grange’ [OS ref: TL 06709 55775], which, according to the OS maps, was demolished between 1884 and 1900.

Full details of the monastic holdings are available in Ravensden Notes.