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A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1912.
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THE HUNDRED OF STODDEN
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
| BOLNHURST | KNOTTING | PERTENHALL | SWINESHEAD (fn. 1) |
| CLAPHAM | MELCHBOURNE | RISELEY | TILBROOK |
| DEAN | MILTON ERNEST | SHELTON | YELDEN (fn. 2) |
| KEYSOE | OAKLEY | LITTLE STAUGHTON | |
The boundaries of the hundred of Stodden are of an irregular and artificial character. The parishes of Clapham, Oakley and Milton Ernest are completely detached from the main portion. Tilbrook parish was in 1888 transferred from Bedfordshire to Huntingdonshire, and at the same time the Huntingdonshire parish of Swineshead was joined to Bedfordshire, to which county it has always geographically belonged. (fn. 3)
In 1086 this hundred was assessed at 992/3 hides. (fn. 4) It was then valued at £146 15s. as opposed to £127 14s. 4d. in the reign of Edward the Confessor. (fn. 5) Included in the above estimate are 9 hides and 3 virgates, the subject of ten separate entries, under 'Estone,' which Mr. J. H. Round identifies with Easton (Hunts.), (fn. 6) also 2½ hides in Stanwick (Northants) and 1 virgate in Newton Bromswold (Northants). Included also are 1 hide 1 virgate in Elvendone, 1 hide in 'Hanefeld' and 1 virgate in 'Segresdone,' none of which places has been hitherto identified. In the Domesday Survey Little Staughton finds no mention, while a single virgate entered under Huntingdonshire is the sole reference to Pertenhall. (fn. 7)
INDEX MAP to the HUNDRED of STODDEN.
When an aid of 40s. on the knight's fee was raised in 1346 this hundred contributed to the extent of £45 11s. 8½d. (fn. 8) Stodden was a royal hundred and remained in the hands of the Crown until Charles I in 1629–30 granted it to Gilbert North and his heirs to be held of the manor of East Greenwich for a yearly rent of £8 6s. (fn. 9) In the time of the Commonwealth Oliver St. John Earl of Bolingbroke was lord of the hundred. (fn. 10) The rights of the hundred, which are in abeyance, have since remained in the St. John family, whose present representative, Lord St. John of Bletsoe, is one of the principal landowners within Stodden. (fn. 11)