Toddington Manor House

Summary

Toddington Manor to 1719

In 1528 Sir Thomas Cheney (c. 1485-1559), of an ancient Hertfordshire family, married Anne Broughton, heiress of Toddington Manor. Cheney was in the royal service and managed to increase his estate in Toddington and Harlington as a result of the dissolution of the monasteries. In c.1545 he built Toddington Manor House. From a drawing on a map of Toddington of 1581 it appears that the house was built round four sides of an inner court. It was three storeys high with turrets on the four corners. Opposite the great court was the central gatehouse. On the other side of the inner court was a lesser gatehouse leading into the back court which had a number of domestic buildings round the outside.

It is described accurately by J.H. Blundell as “Cheney's Palace”. It certainly has the effect of one, even if it was never actually called it. In 1671 it had 45 hearths, the fifth largest house in Bedfordshire. It was visited twice by Elizabeth I and once by James I. The 1644 inventory contains two rooms called the Queen's Room and Leicester's Room (after Elizabeth's favourite). Cheney had clearly intended to build a house large and impressive enough to entertain royalty.

Henry, Lord Cheney, Thomas and Alice's son, held Toddington till his death in 1587, when it passed to his widow Lady Jane. In 1614 the house passed to Thomas Wentworth, her great nephew. In 1626 he was made Earl of Cleveland and, because of the expense of life at Court, got heavily into debt. An order was made for their payment.

The Wentworths were Royalists. The Earl was imprisoned 1642-1648 and both father and sons were exiles with Charles II in 1650. Inevitably, the Parliamentarians seized their estates. Most of the furniture at Toddington was confiscated, taken up to London and “sold for the use of the State”. An inventory was made of the rest of the goods, valued at £64 11s 2d. Because so little had been left, the Countess of Cleveland was allowed to keep them and did not have to pay for their value.

A number of rooms had only been left with the bedsteads. Lady Cleveland's own room was left mainly intact, partly because most of the fittings were so old. It was hung with five pieces of old arras.