Alicia de Alneto

The manor of Turvey was tenanted by the Alneto family. An Alneto heiress married into the Mordaunt family, who held Turvey until 1786.

notes

From http://www.turveybeds.com/turveyvillage.html

Turvey is a small, attractive village in North Bedfordshire. It currently has a population of around 1,200 people.

Turvey’s Early History

Turvey's history begins, like most English villages, with a probable Roman settlement.

The church is of Saxon origin but many believe that there was a Roman settlement in this area.

A member of the Mordaunt family (possibly called Osbert) is said to have been a knight with William the Conqueror (William I) who came to this country from Normandy after the Battle of Hastings in late 1066. He was granted the lordship of Turvey and his family were lords of the manor for many centuries.

The manor's tenants soon after 1066 were the Alneto family, and in the 13th century two heiresses married into the Mordaunt and d'Ardres families, from where the twin manors of Mordaunt and Ardres got their names.

These were merged into Mordaunt Manor in the 1300s.

The manor of Tornai stayed in their family until 1786 when the second Earl of Peterborough, of the Mordaunt family, a fervent Royalist, lost the estates for his allegiance

Biography

From 'Parishes: Turvey', in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 109-117. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp109-117 [accessed 16 December 2018].

There is no mention of a tenant holding in Turvey in 1086, but the family of Mordaunt is found holding this manor from the early 13th century. Halstead, the authenticity of whose early charters is doubtful, claims in his Succinct Genealogies that Eustace Mordaunt acquired this manor by marriage with Alice sister and co-heir of Hugh de Alneto, and that Sarah, another sister and co-heir, married Robert de Ardres, thus leading to the formation of the two manors of Mordaunts and Ardres held conjointly for some time. (fn. 9)
The cartulary of St. Neots certainly furnishes evidence that the de Alnetos preceded the Mordaunts in Turvey, for their name constantly recurs as benefactors to the priory. On one occasion there is mention of three generations when Hugh de Alneto (brother of Alice) confirmed the grants of Hugh his grandfather and William his father of land in Turvey. (fn. 10) Therefore it seems likely that an intermarriage did take place, especially as in 1225 an assize of mort d'ancestor was summoned between Eustace Mordaunt and Robert de Ardres and John Trailly their overlord concerning 3 carucates of land, of which each was awarded 1½ carucates. (fn. 11) The heir of William Mordaunt, son of Eustace, held this property in 1278–9. (fn. 12) William Mordaunt, probably the heir referred to above, received recognition of his right to land in Turvey from Thomas Wood in 1313–14. (fn. 13) He was living two years later, but by 1346 had been succeeded by his son Robert Mordaunt. (fn. 14)

---

The Mordaunt family obtained the manor by marriage in 1197 and were ennobled as Barons of Turvey in the 16th century. The Mordaunt family house, Turvey Old Hall, was replaced by Turvey House in 1792, by which time the estate had passed to the Higgins family. It was extended in the 19th century and still stands.

Turvey, Bedfordshire - Wikipedia

Citations

• http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00451159&tree=LEO
• The Visitations of Buckinghamshire .Page 184 link
• https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A54500.0001.001?view=toc
• https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ancestorsearch&id...
• https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=andwai&id=I18030
• http://www.turveybeds.com/turveytimeline.html
• 'Parishes: Turvey', in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 109-117. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp109-117 [accessed 16 December 2018].
• Turvey & the Mordaunts, with Some Account of Legh Richmond and His ...By Deborah Richardson Page 7 link Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the ..., Volume 1 By Daniel Lysons. Page 146. link