Stotfold Bury

Information taken from Stotfold Bury and Four Other Stotfold Houses by Bert Hyde.

Stotfold Bury is an old manor house on the banks of the River Ivel with grounds extending 3 ½ acres and encompassing an acre of woodland called The Spinney. The Bury was Grade II listed in 1966 and is described as:

“House. C17, extended C18 and C19. Original block timber framed with colourwashed roughcast render, parts cased or rebuilt in brick, rear extensions in chequered brick and red brick. Clay tile roofs, that to C18 rear addition hipped. T-plan, 2 storeyed. SW elevation: LH block has 2 5-light casements to each floor, RH gable has C19 canted bay with sashes to ground floor and 3- light casement to first floor. Casements have leaded lights. Main block has doorway adjacent to cross-wing, with plank door and flat hood on cut brackets. Main block has substantial external red brick stack to centre of rear elevation. Cross-wing has integral brick stack to side elevation.”

Stotfold Bury, or a former house standing on the same site, was originally the manor house of Stotfold Brayes Manor. The earliest known reference to Brayes Manor House (the Bury) is dated 1376 when Edward III became owner of Brayes Manor. The King sent officers to Stotfold to inspect the manor house and its compound. In the officers report they state:

“In the manor of Stotfold is a hall built long ago- it is in bad condition as regards both timber and thatch. There is a great chamber with chapel annexed. The principal gate is wasted and removed except the gate staples. There is a water mill the foundation of which is in great need of repair, the pond and bridge across the watercourse in the King’s highway are also in great need of repair. The rest of the enclosure of the manor is entirely wasted and destroyed. The whole can be repaired for 100 marks”

In 1377 Edward III returned Brayes Manor to the Mowbray family. The Bury stayed part of the Stotfold Brayes Manor and was owned by the Lord of the Manor. In 1610 the Lord of the Manor George Butler sold Stotfold Brayes and Stotfold Newnham manors to Thomas Angell Esq. of Barford for £5,044, this included the Bury. Thomas now became Lord of both manors and in 1617 he sold the Bury (now know as the Berry) and 533 acres of land to Matthew Denton, a yeoman of Barton, for £2,325 [ref: X95/411/1]. Thomas maintained the lordship of Brayes Manor as it was not included in the sale, indeed, in 1620 Thomas sold Brayes Manor and Newnham Manor to Mary Lady Welde for £3,284.16s.10d, thus breaking the connection between Brayes Manor and the Berry.

The Dentons held the Bury and farm for 169 years from 1617 to 1786 [ref: X95/411/1-31]. Then in 1786 Matthew Denton, a clockmaker and grandson of Matthew Denton, sold the property to Isaac Hindley. Hindley died in 1829 and left the Bury, the farm and others to a cousin, Robert Wilkinson of London. The Wilkinson family still owned the Bury and Bury Farm when Samuel Bowman Jnr. bought the Bury and Farm in 1866. Samuel died in 1906, and the house and farm were purchased by his younger brother George. George lived in the house until he died in 1910, when in his will he left it to his two daughters Mary Gibbs and Emily Muir.  Mary’s husband John Gibbs moved from Hull to join his wife and live in Stotfold Bury to help run and work the farm.

In 1912 Bedfordshire County Council sought to obtain a purchase order with a view to turning the farm into small holdings. John and Mary Gibbs objected and there was a public enquiry. Unfortunately, the commissioner Mr Fordham was in favour of the County Council and the farm became smallholdings. None of the small holders waned to take on the house so the council resorted to let it themselves.

The councils first tenant in 1913 was Charles Townsend, a chemist who commuted to London every day by train. He was followed in 1930 by Captain George Rendel Bishop, a barrister. During the Second World War they were stranded in America and sublet the house to Joe Jones, an evacuee from London. After the war the Bishops returned and remained at the Bury until 1957.

In 1962 Bedfordshire County Council sold the Bury to Mrs Edwards, a widow from London. Dr and Mrs Stevenson bought the Bury from Mrs Edwards in 1969 and by then the house was very dilapidated and the Stevensons spent a lot of time and money into getting it back to its original state.

The Bury was sold in 2003 for around £1,000,000 and has been extensively refurbished. It continues to be a private residence.

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• X95/411/1-31: Deeds and documents of Stotfold Bury, 1617-1783
• DV2/O22: Valuation OS reference map, inc. Stotfold Bury, 1924
• Z1255/1/64: Photograph of Stotfold Bury taken from the Mill Lane bridge over the Ivel, 2006