Royal Lordship and Ladyship of Langford in Bedfordshire

Brief Description:

Mentioned in the Doomsday book 1086. There are at the present day three manors in Langford, of which two—the manors of Holme with Langford and Langford Rectory—may be termed offshoots of the principal manor of LANGFORD. At the date of the Domesday Survey this manor, assessed at ten hides and originally held by Lewin, a thegn of Edward the Confessor, was in the possession of Walter Fleming, founder of the Wahull family. (fn. 4) This family continued to hold the manor in chief in an almost direct line of succession till the later half of the sixteenth century. Simon, grandson of Walter the Fleming, was succeeded by a son Walter, (fn. 5) who died without issue, and whose nephew Saer, son of his brother Simon, was lord of Wahull at his death in 1250. (fn. 6) Walter, son of Saer, succeeded his father, (fn. 7) and the succession of father and son was maintained unbroken from this time till the death of Nicholas de Wahull in 1367. (fn. 8)

The parish of Langford, covering an area of 2,070 acres, lies south of Biggleswade. It is watered by the River Ivel, which forms its southern and western boundary.