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Barry Jobling, the previous Chair of Buckden History Society, has come across an interesting document from 1818. It is hand written on 4 sides foolscap. (For the younger among you that is larger than A4 but smaller than A3.) Between us we have managed to transcribe it. Much of the punctuation is odd by our standards, some of the spelling is strange (Buckden is variously spelt Buckden, Bugden and Buggeden) and words seem to have been missed out. A full copy of it can be found on the Roundabout website (editions tab, additional magazine articles), with some notes by Barry in red.
In 1818 the Ouse, between Buckden and Offord, was crossed by “wooden bridges” somewhere close by the “Water Mills” (probably in the vicinity of the Old Flour Mills). The document suggests there was formerly a ford in the same area.
There was a dispute about who was liable to pay for repairs to the bridges.
The water mills belonged to the Bishop of Lincoln. He had rented them out since “time immemorially” to the “Proprietors of the Navigation”, who had always repaired the bridges. The Proprietors of the Navigation charged boats using the river between Huntingdon and Bedford (which would have been a major transport route for all sorts of goods at the time) tolls, which presumably was quite lucrative. They had always paid for the repair of the bridges, but in 1818 refused to do so. They held that the public should pay for the repairs.
The opinion of the Solicitor General had been sought and he had decided the public should pay for the repairs and the County Magistrate had ordered the work to be done. This was obviously not a popular decision and someone suggested that the Bishop of Lincoln should be required to pay for the work “under the first grant”.
A Mr Caley, who I guess was possibly a solicitor, but more probably a barrister, was instructed to research old records to try to discover if the Bishop was liable to repair the bridges. He was given a set of instructions, which are repeated in the document.
It was suggested to him that the Mills had originally belonged to Ramsey Abbey but then passed to the Bishop of Lincoln, so perhaps the Abbey records would contain the necessary answer. It was also suggested that the “Protector” (Oliver Cromwell), “having a design of depriving the Bishops of their Estates took accurate surveys & that the same are still preserved among the Protectorate records”.
The documents relates: “Upon perusal of these instructions Mr. Caley could not but feel that the investigation desired was a matter involved in considerable difficulty, except so far as concerned three distinct points to which his attention is called, namely 1st the original grant of the Water Mills to the See of Lincoln, 2ndly the purchase or Exchange between the See and Ramsey Abbey in which the grant was founded & 3rdly the Oliverian Survey”.
It then goes on to set out Mr Caley’s report on his researches and conclusions. He reports that: “The original Grant of Buckden to the See of Lincoln is said to have been made in the time of King Henry the First by the Abbot of Ely, in return for leave given to the Abbot to make his Abbacy a Bishopric but Mr Caley is unable to find this Grant recorded anywhere”. So that line of inquiry was a dead end.
He is however convinced that Buckden belonged to the Bishop of Lincoln. “But that Buckden belonged to the See of Lincoln from time of remote Antiquity is evident from its being confirmed to that See by Bull of Pope Honorius 2nd in 1125 and Pope Innocent 2nd in 1138. A Licence in the Charter Rolls 16 John appears for inclosing words in Buckden and there is a document on the Close Roll Item 3rd as to the Park of Bugden, both these were granted on behalf of the Bishop of Lincoln. In 14 Edw 1st Oliver Bishop of Lincoln was summoned to answer to the King of a Plea by what warrant he claimed to have view of Frankpledge & Writt in Buggeden etc. The Bishop pleaded that he had enjoyed them and all liberties in the said Manor Time out of Mind except as to Murder, No judgement appears to have been given.”
Oliver was Bishop of Lincoln in 1286. At that time, he would have had virtually absolute control over the village and, particularly, the courts which decided any disputes (civil or criminal) between the villagers or between himself and the villagers. Except, as the document says, in the case of murder. The King required him to justify his claim to this control. It seems no conclusion on the matter was reached (or recorded at least).
Mr Caley found a record of a survey of Buckden from the time of Henry 8th. “In the General Ecclesiastical Survey made by Authority of an Act of Parliament in the 26th year of Henry 8th there is a return of the possessions of the See of Lincoln, which return is very short being only as follows, relative to Buckden viz. Buckden with its members”.
There then follows a list of the income from the assets of the village that belonged to the Bishop. In total there were valued at seventy two pounds, nineteen shillings and seven pence. (About £72.95p.) I have not been able to find out how much that would be worth today, but it must have be a fortune then.
Mr Caley had no luck with the survey of 1650.
“Lastly as to the Oliverian Survey it may be observed that these Surveys which for the most part are to be found in the Library of the Archbishop of Canterbury relate almost entirely to Spiritual and not Temporal Matters viz, to Rectories, Vicarages, Chapels etc. The Surveys of the possessions of the respective Episcopal Sees are generally to be found in the hands of the Bishops themselves having been returned thereto from the Archbishop’s Library at Lambeth.”
“The particulars for the Bishop’s Lands during the usurpation are preserved in the Chapel of the Rolls but beside the difficulty of searching them when the Purchaser’s name is unknown, it is not likely that any of them would contain memoranda casting light on the present subject.”
But Mr Caley was assiduous in his researches: “he had searched the Hundred Roll of the reign of Edw 1st to see if any liability of the Bishops of Lincoln to do the repair of the Bridges there occurs, this record being of a nature highly probable to have noticed a matter of that kind.”
He also included information which may or may not have been relevant:
“He perceived herein a presentment by the Jury of Offord Cluny, a place which is near the place in question, that the Bishop of Lincoln by his Bailiff hath stopt up the course of Water which was wont to run between the King and the Bishop and where a passage by Boats from Huntingdon to Bedford, by reason whereof the Boats afors pass by the Mills (or Mill for the contraction may serve either word) and there pay Toll. Whether this entry may be of assistance or not Mr. Caley leaves for Consideration and Official Copy of it in Latin may be had if wished for.”
Ultimately though, those instructing Mr. Caley did not get a definitive opinion:
“It may now be observed in Conclusion that unless some of the above Particulars may be of use Mr Caley’s researches tho’ made with all possible care and Diligence have not produced as to the liability of the Owners of the Water Mills any proofs upon record.”
In fact, his only conclusion was that there was no evidence which showed the Bishop of Lincoln as being liable for the cost of repairs to the bridges. So presumably the order of the County Magistrate stood and the public had to bear the cost. How that was raised I do not know. If you do know, please tell the Roundabout!
John Thelwall
(with thanks to Barry Jobling for his help.)
_________
A copy of the original document follows:
1818
Water Mills Between Buckden & Offord
Huntingdonshire
The following facts have been stated to Mr. Caley in the nature of instructions to guide his Investigations of ancient records on the subject.
Between the villages of Buckden and Offord in Huntingdonshire runs the navigable River Ouse upon which stands a set of Water Mills belonging to the See of Lincoln – Across the river is and ever has been a Fordway, but the same has of late become almost impassable, being much deepened by the streams from the Mills, and the Flood Gates, and far beyond the XXXXXXXXXX of XXXX there hath been a Bridle Way & Footpath from Buckden to Offord close by the Mills across the waters of the Ouse which is passed by means of Wooden Bridges placed across different and Brooks (reXXXXX by the Mills) for the benefit of the navigation. The Proprietors of the navigation time immemorially hired the Mills of the Bishop of Lincoln and the Bridges have always been repaired by & at the expense of the Proprietor of the Navigation but whether the same was done by them as Proprietors of the navigation or as tenants of the Mills, is unknown to the Public but certainly their undertenant the Mills has never repaired the Mills at his expense. At this time the Bridges are so much out of repair that the way is become impassable for horsemen, & the Public are thereby inconvenienced. In consequence of some modern decisions the Proprietor of the Navigation refused to repair the Bridges conceiving that the repair should now be done by the Public. The opinion of the Solicitor General which hath now been taken is against the Public & the county magistrate after due presentment had ordered the repair to be done, but it having been suggested that there is a probability of the Bishop being liable to repair the Bridges under the first grant, strict search is desired to be made into such liability of the Bishop. It has been said that the Mills belonged to the Abbey of Ramsey from whence they came to the Bishop either by purchase or Exchange. It has been said also that the Protector having a design of depriving the Bishops of their Estates took accurate surveys & that the same are still preserved among the Protectorate records; Upon perusal of these instructions Mr. Caley could not but feel that the investigation desired was a matter involved in considerable difficulty, except so far as concerned these distinct points to which his attention is called, namely 1st the original grant of the Water Mills to the See of Lincoln, 2ndly the purchase or Exchange between the See and Ramsey Abbey in which the grant was founded & 3rdly the Diocesan Survey.
These points it may be right should be distinctly answered previously to any statement being given of the Ultimate result of the searches into the records which had been consulted on the present occasion.
The original Grant of Buckden to the See of Lincoln is said to have been made in the time of King Henry the First by the Abbot of Ely, in return for leave given to the Abbot to make his Abbey a Bishopric but Mr Caley is unable to find this Grant recorded anywhere, and if found it would in all probability perused with such Brevity as to cast light on the present Objects of Inquiry.
But that Buckden belonged to the See of Lincoln from time of remote Antiquity is evident from its being confirmed to that See by Bull of Pope Honorius 2nd in 1125 and Pope Innocent 2nd in 1138. A Licence in the Charter Rolls 16 John appears for inclosing words in Buckden and there is a document on the Close Roll Item 3rd as to the Parish of Bugden, both these were granted on behalf of the Bishop of Lincoln. In 14 Edw 1st AXXX Bishop of Lincoln was summoned to answer to the King for a Plea by what warrant he claimed to have view of Frankpledge & Xaitt(?) in M(?)uggedew & S. The Bishop pleaded that he had enjoyed them and all liberties in the said Manor Time out of Mind except as to Murder, No judgement appears to have been given.
In the General Ecclesiastical Survey made by Authority of an Act of Parliament in the 26th year of Henry 8th there is a return of the possessions of the See of Lincoln, which return is very short being only as follows, relative to Buckden viz. Buckden with its members
£ s d
Rents of Assize by year ------------------------ 37 - 14 - 7
Demesne Lands by year ----------------------- 11 - 6 - 5
Farm &Mills --------------------------------------- 10 - --- ---
Pasture of rent hay by year ------------------- 6 - --- ---
Price of meadows & pastures reserved in the
Hands of the Lord, one year with another -------- 3 - 6 - 8
£ s d
Dovecotes these by year ------------------------ 5 ----------
Issues of the small park adjoining or annexed to the
Manor with a Garden & Orchard within the precinct
Of the same Manor ------------------------------- 6 - 8
Great Park there reserved in the Lord’s hands one
Year with another --------------------------------- 1 ----- -
Sale of Underwood in the Great Park and
Thornewood by year ----------------------------- 1 -- 13 -- 4
Common fire there by year -------------------- 1 ---- --
Perquisites of Courts these one year with another -- 6 - 8
£ s d
72-19-7
This is the whole of the return as to the manor of Buckden with its members and Mr. Caley conceived the Mills therein specified therein specified to be the Set of Mills espoken of in the Instructions, the charges on outgoings is however of this receipt inaction(?) nothing as to payments made for reparations of any Wooden or other bridges.
Besides the above Manor of Buckden described in the Survey 26 Henry 8 there was another Manor of Buckden which with the prebend (?) there was granted by King Edward the Sixth in the fourth year of his reign to the then Bishop of Lincoln & his successors for ever. In the second place as to the supposition that these Mills in question might come to the See of Lincoln by purchase or Exchange from the Abbey in Ramsey, Mr Caley cannot find that Ramsey Abbey ever had any Mills or Lands near the locus in qus.
Lastly as to the xxxxxxxx Survey it may be observed that these Surveys which for the most part are to be foubnd in the Library of the Archbishop of Canterbury relate almost entirely to Spiritual and not Temporal Matters viz, to Rectories, /vicarages, Chapels etc. The Surveys of the possessions of the respective Episcopal Sees are generally to be found in the hands of the Bishops themselves having been returned thereto from the Archbishop’s Library at Lambeth.
The particulars for the Bishop’s Lands during the usurpation are preserved in the Chapel of the Rolls but beside the difficulty of searching them when the Purchaser’s name is unknown, it is not likely that any of them would contain ,memoranda casting light on the present subject. Me Caley ought in point of chronology to have previously noticed that he had searched the Hundred Roll of the reign of Edw1st to see if any liability of the Bishops of Lincoln to do the repair of the Bridges (?) these occurs, this record being of a nature highly probable to have noticed a matter of that kind.
He perceived herein a presentment by the Jury of Offord Cluny, a place which is near the place in question, that the Bishop of Lincoln by his Bailiff hath stopt up the course of Water which was wont to run between the King and the Bishop and where a passage by Boats from Huntingdon to Bedford, by reason whereof the Boats afors pass by the Mills (or Mill for the contraction may serve either word) and there pay Toll. Whether this entry may be of assistance or not Mr. Caley leaves for Considerationand Official Copy of it in Lation may be had if wished for.
It may now be observed in Conclusion that unless some of the above Particulars may be of use Mr Caley’s researches tho’ made with all possible care and Diligence have not produced as to the liability of the Owners of the Water Mills any proofs upon record.
A Buckden House
by John Thelwall
A couple of years ago, the then owners of a house in Lucks Lane were kind enough to give their old title deeds to the History Society and this allows us to construct the history of the house from the mid-19th Century.