Meppershall
General History
Extract from Lysons' Magna Britannia, 1806 (Extract)

Places > Meppershall > General History

Meppershall or Mepshall, in the hundred of Clifton, lies about two miles south of Shefford.  The manor was, at an early period, in the family of Meppershall, who held it by the service of attending the king in his wars with a horse of no fixed price, a coat of mail, a sword, lance, iron head-piece, and a little knife.   They continued in position as late as the year 1453; after which, their estates passed by marriage to the Botelers.  The manor of Meppershall now belongs to the daughters of Thomas Poynter esq. to whose family it passed by purchase, from the Fleetwoods, about the year 1786.  A moated site near the church-yard was, it is probable, the seat of the Meppershalls.

The manor of Polehanger, in this parish, which belonged to the priory of Chicksand, is not the property of Sir George Osbourne bart.

The monastery of Warden had an estate in this parish called Woodhull Grange. Soon after the Reformation it was in the noble family of Grey, and is now, by inheritance, the property of Lady Lucas.

In the parish church are the tombs of the Meppershalls and Botelers, with their effigies in brass.  The advowson of the rectory, which is in the deanery of Shefford, is vested in the master and scholars of St. John's College, Cambridge.  The circumstance of this parish being situated in two counties, is noticed in the survey of Domesday; a part of it is in a insulated portion of Hertfordshire.  The dining parlour of the old parsonage house, which stood within an old moated site, and has lately been removed, was on the boundary of the two counties.  The beam had the following inscription, alluding to this circumstance:

"If you wish to go into Hertfordshire,
Hitch a little nearer to the fire."

The present parsonage house stands also in two counties.  The church is in Bedfordshire.

Near this place, in Hertfordshire, is an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Thomas, a which a further account will be given in the description of that county.

Extract from: Lysons' Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of several counties of Great Britain by the Rev. Daniel Lysons, A.M., F.R.S. F.A. and L.S. Rector of Rodmarton in Gloucestershire and Samuel Lysons, Esq., F.R.S. and F.A.S. Keeper of His Majesty's Records in the Tower of London, 1806

Page last updated: 3rd February 2014