The Manor of Aspley alias Aspley Bury

Volume II of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1908 and gives details of the various manors in Shillington. Confusingly there have been two manors called Aspley Bury, one the manor of Shillington alias Aspley Bury and this one, Aspley alias Aspley Bury. Note that the manor is Aspley Bury whereas the part of Shillington for which it is named is now known as Apsley End!

The Musgrave coat of arms

The first mention of this manor is in 1503 when Ralph Lane conveyed one third of it to Thomas Montague and Mary, his wife with a reversion to himself. He died in possession of it in 1541. His brother Robert transferred the manor in 1556 to Laurence Eton. In 1612 the manor is found in the hands of Richard Franklin. His daughter married Sir Christopher Musgrave and received the manor as her dowry. The manor was held by the Musgrave family into the 20th century. In the 1920s a succession of Law of Property Acts effectively abolished manors in all but name.