BB_Sept 11.pdf - Biggleswade Rugby Club

More documents

Recommendations

Info

26 BIGGLESWADE BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2011 TEL: 01234 843905 EDITORIAL: editorial@biggleswadebulletin.co.ukBiggleswade History SocietyTHE Biggleswade 1911) and click on it to go Oak have sold 25 of our publicationsin the past two months and we see today. Colonel Franksion and built the replica whichCongregation of Jehovah’s through to the nearby photos, andWitnesses has submitted a click on ‘See on Map’ to view all a further five have been sold via Shuttleworth inherited from hisplanning application to 181 images that Mike Strange other outlets. 27 have been deliveredto Howell’s. A list of thefather in 1883 and died in 1913has uploaded to the site. EnjoyCentral Bedfordshire Councilwhen his only son and heir,exploring!Society’s publications is availableon our website.was four years old. RichardRichard Ormonde Shuttleworth,to demolish the KingdomHall in Shortmead Street, in Events and exhibitionsnever married. His first love wasthe town’s conservation area, English Heritage Open Days: Membership motor racing, but after a nearand replace it with a modern Drove Road Cemetery Chapel – A warm welcome to two new fatal accident in South Africa hesingle storey place of worship.What some readers may September, 10am-4pm Entrance has returned to us after a gap of love – flying and collecting air-Saturday & Sunday, 10-11 members: Michael Brett, who turned his attention to his othernot know is that the Kingdom is free and we hope that as many some years, and Jacqui craft. When war came he joinedHall was originally the Stvisitors as possible will come Meriwether, who is currently our the RAF as a pilot officer andalong to support this event at our only overseas member. Jacqui,Andrew’s Church Memorialdied tragically in 1940, aged 31,Victorian municipal cemetery. born and bred in Illinois, nowHall, built partly by publicin a night flying exercise. TheThere will be an exhibition inside lives in Arizona USA and has a estate reverted to Dorothy, hissubscription in 1924 in memoryof Biggleswade’s fallen in help visitors find the war graves would love to know more about Red Cross hospital then, after thethe chapel and information to daughter in the UK. Jacqui mother, who ran the mansion as athe 1914-18 War.and the resting places of various the family of her ancestor, James war, founded the AgriculturalUnfortunately the hall is prominent townspeople of the Norman, who was born to College and Aircraft Collectionnot a listed building and it past.Thomas and Susan Norman in in Richard’s memory.was purchased by theNorthill circa 1821 and married The collection contains manyJehovah’s Witnesses after the News from the archives Elizabeth Tingey in Northill in unique and rare survivals: a 1909Accessions. Our thanks for thebuilding of the Chapter1851. It is believed he then lived Bleriot XI, the oldest flying aeroplanein the world, and the woodfollowing items:in the Peterborough area beforeHouse for St Andrew’s 1. Loaned by Graham Williams, arriving in Illinois circa 1854.Church meant that a churchand fabric planes of the 1914-18via member Dennis Green, a Please contact the editor if youhall was no longer required.war, like the 1917 Bristol fighterBiggleswade Potton Road wish to help with research. with the oldest working RollsNevertheless, the hall Laundry price list dated 1929.Royce engine in the world, andremains a significant part of 2. Donation from HeatherMeetingsthe 1916 Sopwith triplane withBiggleswade’s heritage and Catterfeld of Harpenden, via Biggleswade History Societyits 94-year old engine still goinghas meaning for a great many Mike Strange, of a folder of familyhistory from Victorian times House, Shortmead Street,meets monthly at Millenniumstrong. We were reminded thatpeople. Clearly, the loss ofWW1 British pilots had no parachutes,their average age wasin Southill & Biggleswade,some 200 young men in theBiggleswade. Doors open atincluding newpaper cuttings and 7.45 for an 8.00 pm start on theFirst World War had a major19½ and their life expectancy inlocal photos 1892-1920s. first Tuesday of the month,impact on the town and its Also, two copper alloy 1911service was six weeks. Betweenunless notified. Meetings areinhabitants.commemorative coronationthe wars metal was used increasinglyin aircraft construction andfree to members, and visitors areIn three years’ time, when the medals with ribbons, inscribed welcome at our indoor meetingsworld marks the centenary of the ‘Henry Franklin’ - of the typethe biplane was graduallyfor £2.00 per meeting at the door.beginning of the First World War, presented to schoolchildren. Membership subscriptions arereplaced by monoplanes. Thewill Biggleswade’s Memorial 3. Donation from Linda Butcher £6.50 per annum.collection maintains and fliesHall also be one of the fallen? of brewery related items, includinga Wells & Winch enamelled Last Meeting:several legendary WW2 aircraft.The Town Council and ourThe Spitfire fighter was the firstHistory Society have registered badge, two Greene King enamelledbadges, a Greene King pot-guests were joined by ten mem-02 August – 38 members andall metal aeroplane, renownedtheir opposition to the proposalfor its speed, positive handlingbut the decision will be made by tery tankard and1½ pint IPA bers of Eltisley History Societyand manoeuvrability. TheCentral Beds Council planning glass.for a private guided tour of the Hawker Hurricane fighters,committee – and time is runningShuttleworth Collection. Joseph which outnumbered the Spitfiresout. To comment on a planning Publications Shuttleworth bought the Old by two to one in the Battle ofapplication call 0300 300 8692, Sales and orders. Chris Warden estate from the Ongleys Britain, were still partly of woodemail planning@central bedfordshire.gov.ukor write to:made them easier and quicker toJohannesen reports that Simply in 1872, demolished the old man-and fabric construction, whichNorth Developmentrepair and return to service. TheManagement Office, PrioryThe Biggleswade History Society meets monthly at Millennium collection’s 1941 Hawker SeaHouse, Monks Walk,House, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade. Doors open at 7.45pm for Hurricane is the oldest flyingChicksands, Shefford, SG17an 8.00pm start on the first Tuesday of the month unless notified. Hurricane in the world. Finally,5TQ.Meetings are free to members; visitors will usually be welcome to let us not forget the less dashingHistory Pin has now changedour indoor meetings at a charge of £2.00 per meeting.but no less wonderful Westlandover to its full production softwareversion and BiggleswadeTempsford airfield to drop andLysanders, which flew fromForthcoming Programme (2011)has been honoured by being 4 Oct: Maps and Mapping (Part 2) – 6 Dec: Members’ Christmas Event to pick up male and female agentsretained on the front page! Ona talk by Eric Lundbe held at the Conservative Club. by night in fields in occupiedthe website www.historypin.com 1 Nov: Death Clouds a talk by Geoff Details to follow nearer the time.Europe. We are privileged tosee the photo second from right Sewell on the use of mustard gas The programme for 2012 is now have such a superb collection so(King George V Coronation in WW1.available on the website. close to home.For further information contact: Jane Croot 01767 650340, editor@biggleswadehistory.org.uk www.biggleswadehistory.org.uk
TEL: 01234 843905 ADVERTISING: advertising@biggleswadebulletin.co.uk BIGGLESWADE BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2011 27Sheriffs, Barons & Biggleswade in the time of Richard ‘The Lionheart’B U C K I N G H A M S H I R EArchaeological Society published thePipe Rolls for Buckinghamshire andBedfordshire for the years 1189 –1198, the reign of Richard I(Lionheart). These great rolls wereaccounts presented each Michaelmas(September) to the Exchequer by thesheriffs of the shires. The earliest survivingPipe Roll is for the year 1130 inthe reign of Henry I.Sheriffs were responsible for thekeeping of the peace in their shires.They also collected money from localbarons in lieu of rendering services orproviding knights for the King – thiswas known as scutage. Sheriffs couldcall up local men to fight, if need be,for the protection of the shire or therealm. They were responsible for thefinancial management of Crown landsin their area, and they collected revenuefrom judicial fines and taxes, likeinheritance tax. Furthermore, theywere responsible for the holding ofshire and hundred courts. The Sheriffof Bucks and Beds in 1190 – 1194 wasWilliam Ruffus, in 1194 – 1197 SimonII de Beauchamp, baron of Bedford,and from 1198 William d’Albini, baronof Belvoir, who had lands also inBuckinghamshire.Richard ‘Lionheart’ was crownedon 3rd September 1189. He was anabsentee monarch, a soldier-adventurer,much more interested in crusadesand military campaigning to safeguardhis extensive lands in France than inrunning his Kingdom of England,which he left in the capable hands ofhis Archbishop of Canterbury, HubertWalter. Just before Richard’s reignbegan, the Saracen Saladin had recapturedJerusalem (1187). Richard set outon the Third Crusade, to Palestine, in1190. Little was achieved, but Saladindid promise pilgrims access to theHoly City. Richard left for England in1192 but was shipwrecked in theAdriatic and attempted to return overlandthrough Almain (Germany) in disguise.He was captured and handedover to the Holy Roman Emperor, whodemanded a ransom for Richard’srelease. The Pipe Rolls refer to the raisingof these funds. In 1194 Richardreturned to England, but only for a fewmonths. Next, he left to fight inNormandy. The French King, PhilippeAuguste, and Richard’s own youngerbrother John (‘Lackland’, later KingJohn) had conspired to prolongRichard’s imprisonment for their owngain. Richard forgave his brother butresolved to have his revenge onPhilippe Auguste, who was now threateningEnglish territories in Normandy.King Richard spent the remainder ofhis reign in Normandy and Francefighting the French king, and eventuallywas killed by an archer when he wasbesieging Châlus. His heart was buriedin the cathedral at Rouen, capital ofNormandy, and his body in the AbbeyThis article by Jane Croot first appeared in BiggleswadeHistory Society Newsletter in November 1998, exactly eighthundred years after Richard the Lionheart’s reign ended.at Fontevrault, beside his father, HenryII, with whom he had never been fullyreconciled since rebelling against him.The entries in the Pipe Rolls reflectthe fortunes of the three Bedfordshirebarons of Norman origin and the majorevents of Richard’s reign as they affectedthese barons and their knights. Alsothey highlight some local ordinary peoplewho perhaps had committed anoffence, and finally, they point to otherevents threatening the peace or thesmooth running of the local area. Hereare some extracts from the rolls.1189: (Accounts presented for theprevious year.) The rolls record twooutstanding fines: a fine of 12s 8d overduefrom Biggleswade Hundred for amurder dating back to 1185. (Where nomurderer was arrested all the citizensof the hundred were held collectivelyresponsible and had to pay a fine.)Also, one Lawrence of Biggleswadeowed 6s 8d because his surety failed topay up when Lawrence defaulted onhis fine for an offence.1190: The good news:Biggleswade was pardoned by RoyalCharter, and its murder fine annulled.The bad news: Biggleswade Hundredwas fined 2s 6d for presenting falseinformation – presumably about taxableassets!Scutage of £12 10s for a militarycampaign in Wales was due fromRobert d’Albini, baron of Cainhoe(near present day Clophill), for hisknights, at 10s per knight. In return forhis baronial lands Albini owed theservice of 25 armed knights to theCrown. The payment of scutage was inlieu of service. Albini did not pay anythingthis year, so the amount was carriedforward. The other twoBedfordshire barons from whom scutagewas due were Simon deBeauchamp, baron of Bedford (£2217s 10d) and Simon de Wahull of Odell(£13 10s). The three barons were topay these sums off gradually over anumber of years.Furthermore, Simon deBeauchamp was required to pay £100for custody of Bedford Castle, ownedby the Crown. The castle mound canstill be seen today beside theEmbankment, near Bedford Museumand Art Gallery.Each year in the Pipe Rolls thereare several entries of monies due fromJews, who were heavily taxed on theprofits from their money lending. TheJews had long been regarded with contemptand suspicion and in 1190 therewere several massacres of Jews inEnglish towns and cities. They were tosuffer oppression for another hundredyears until Edward I gave orders fortheir expulsion from England in 1290.1191: Lawrence of Biggleswadepaid his fine.Robert II, son of Robert d’Albini,was taxed £100 on inheriting hisfather’s barony of Cainhoe. He paid £36s 8d this year. The impressive earthworksof d’Albini’s motte and baileycastle can be seen today beside theA507 road between Shefford andClophill. Nearby was a small priory atBeaulieu (now known as Beadlow),founded by Robert I. The family werebenefactors of St Albans Abbey, wheretheir kinsman, Richard d’Albini, hadbeen Abbot a hundred years previously.Richard is buried in front of theabbey’s high altar, together with theother early abbots whose remains werediscovered when a new chapter housewas built on the site of the original onein the 1970s.1192: The three Bedfordshirebarons paid off some of the scutage forWales, and Robert d’Albini paid another£4 10s of his inheritance tax. It wasnoted that several of de Beauchamp’sknights were on the Crusade with theKing, so an allowance was madeagainst his scutage owing.1193: None of the barons paid anythingtowards their overdue scutage ortaxes. It must have been a lean year!1194: Biggleswade had still notpaid the 2s 6d fine for presenting falseinformation.Double trouble: with scutage stilloutstanding for the Welsh campaign,there was now a demand for scutagefrom knights for King Richard’s ransom!Eleven Bedfordshire knightswere listed and six from Bucking -hamshire. However, Robert d’Albini ofCainhoe appeared on a list of twentysixmen excused the ransom scutagebecause “with the King in the Army ofNormandy”.Simon de Beauchamp paid £30 3sof his £45 15s ransom scutage, and afurther £13 6s 8d for permission toremain in England instead of serving inNormandy. Furthermore, he was to beappointed Sheriff for a term of threeyears in the Michaelmas of 1194 afterthe King’s release from Almain. Forthis position of power and advantage hewas required to pay a fee of £133 6s 8d.1195: Simon de Beauchamp, baronof Bedford, was now Sheriff.No further payments of scutage forWales nor for the ransom were madeby any of the Bedfordshire barons. TheSheriff offered to pay £66 13s 4d toavoid going with the second army toNormandy and to be excused furtherscutage payments for forty-fourknights.1196: Once more Biggleswade wasfined for a murder. Nine shillings of the£1 fine was paid.Scutages were mounting up. DeBeauchamp finally paid off his scutagefor Wales and all but 16s of what heowed for the King’s ransom, but theother barons were still no nearer toclearing their debts. There was now yetanother scutage assessed in the previousyear for the second army toNormandy. De Beauchamp wasexcused because he had already paidhis substantial fine to the Archbishopof Canterbury. A further scutageassessed this year for the third army toNormandy resulted in the threeBedfordshire barons attracting yetanother tax in lieu of service. Robertd’Albini still owed £69 13s 4d inheritancetax!Since Simon de Wahull had diedand his heir was under-age, theArchbishop of Canterbury took temporarycustody of the Wahull lands. Forthis the archbishop had a tax bill of£333, of which he paid half this year.1197: De Wahull’s scutage debtswere written off since the archbishophad custody of his lands during hisminority.1198: Biggleswade paid twoshillings of the fine for murder. Elevenshillings remained outstanding.William d’Albini of Belvoir (notrelated to the Albinis of Cainhoe), nowSheriff, was granted permission tomarry a wealthy heiress, AgathaTrussebut, and to receive her inheritance.Another opportunity for the taxman!For this William received a taxbill for £400 and he paid £106 13s 4dof it this year.So we see that King Richard hadmade heavy demands on his subjects tofund his campaigns and get himself outof trouble. Under his brother and successor,King John, the barons were torebel and seek to curb the monarch’sexcesses. The country would beplunged into civil war. The deBeauchamps lost their castle to Falkesde Breauté, a ruthless mercenary captainin the pay of King John, who heldBedford Castle for nine years andbecame a law unto himself, terrorisingall the country round about, until in1224 the castle was besieged for eightweeks and captured by the young KingHenry III, who had succeeded on thedeath of his father, King John. Thedefenders were hanged, de Breautéoutlawed and the castle restored to thede Beauchamps on condition that theouter defences were demolished, theinner bailey walls were reduced to halftheir height and an unfortified residencebuilt on the site. It was forbiddenthat Bedford should ever again have afortified castle. William d’Albini, ourSheriff in 1198, held Rochester Castleagainst King John, was besieged andeventually captured, likewise his castleat Belvoir. These were troubled timesindeed!
Page 1: Issue 9 Volume 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 Del
Page 4 and 5: BiggleswadeKNOW YOUR COUNCILLORSAlb
Page 6 and 7: Scouts return from Jamboree with am
Page 8 and 9: 8 BIGGLESWADE BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 20
Page 32: Bedfordshire’sBest KeptWedding Se

BB_Sept 11.pdf - Biggleswade Rugby Club

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?