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Bedfordshire is in the diocese of Lincoln, and province of Canterbury; it forms an archdeaconry, including the deaneries of Bedford, Clapham, Dunstable, Eaton, Fleet, and Shefford, and contains one hundred and twenty-three parishes… For civil purposes it is divided into nine hundreds, namely, Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redborne-stoke, Stodden, Willey, and Wixamtree, and contains the borough and county town of Bedford, the corporate and market-town of Dunstable, and the market-towns of Ampthill, Biggleswade, Harrold, Leighton-Buzzard, Luton, Potton, and Woburn.

(Lewis…, 1830)

Combs &c. Records by Hundred and Parish(in which Combs and Associated Families have been found thus far)

To learn more about medieval terms for land see the ENGLAND: Land from Medieval to Present Day.


Other possible “connections” to Bedfordshire include:

  1. The Archdale-Palmer Family: Robert PALMER, brother of William PALMER who m Barbara ARCHDALE, was “of Hill in Bedfordshire.” His (daughter?), Barbara PALMER, was wife of George CLARKE. Barbara ARCHDALE Palmer's sister, Mary, m in 1587 in London, John COMBE.
  2. Also found in early Bedfordshire records is mention of a Richard MOULTON:

Lease from Sir Thomas SACKVILLE to George REYNSHAM and William STRODE refers to “one lease of certain lands called “Moultons fine” lying in the parish of Temesforde, granted to Robert MOULTON by the late King Philip and Queen Mary by letters patent bearing the date 24 April, 1 & 2 Philip and Mary, for the term of 21 years at a rent of 3.15.2 yearly…” (Co Bedford, England, Bargain and sale, with Quitclaim, 1572-1573. 14 & 15 Elizabeth I. Note of acknowledgment in Chancery, 4 January 15 Elizabeth 1573, Harvard Law School Deeds Collection -- Bedfordshire, Deeds 793)

Question: Was this Richard MOULTON of the same family as Robert MOULTON who m Mary ARCHDALE, d/o Richard and Mary FERNE Archdale? (See Archdale-Combs Families of EN)


Primary source for Bedfordshire parish information provided is Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, S. Lewis and Company, London, 1831.