One record states that “There has been a manor house, and a farm adjoining it at the site of the present manor, at least since 1150 A.D.” Nothing exists of this first period of settlement, except some relics of a capital and font in the present church, St. Michaels, said to have come from an earlier church on the site. Of the whole Cheyne era, which ended in 1526, only the church and part of the manor remain. The ‘crypt’ in the manor garden may be as old as 14th century. The north wing and tower of the present manor house, although subsequently renovated, go back to the mid-15th century, probably to the last John Cheyne of the line, and the church was rebuilt in the 15th century in the perpendicular style.
In1526 the manor came into the possession of John Russell, Earl of Bedford, through marriage, and like most people who acquire a house and land, he immediately started to alter and rebuild. Probably the manor was very much run down, as the Cheyne family line died out, and the house had passed to more distant relatives, who held it from 1468 to 1526. In any case John Russell rebuilt the manor, and a visitor to it soon after (Leland the antiquarian) wrote “the olde house of the Cheynes is so translated by my Lord Russell that little or nothing of it yn a manor remayneth untranslated and a great deal of the House is ben newly set up made of Bricks and Timber; and fair logginges be new erected in the garden” – possibly the nursery block? This is the best example of Tudor architecture in the village. Probably the onslaught on the manor was reflected in the rebuilding of many more houses, and some of these survive today. These are timber and brick built, and the roofs were probably tiled originally. (There is vey little evidence of thatch ever being used on houses, although it is recorded on outbuildings). The best remaining example is Whitehill cottage (no. ) , but Ports Farm (no. ) Whiteways (no. )and “Scratch” (no. ) all date from about this time. The brickwork of all these cottages is white or colour washed. Many more timber-framed cottages existed but were gradually replaced in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Probably there was s period of relative prosperity during the occupation of the manor house by the Earls (later Dukes) of Bedford, but in 1635 the family left, and soon after took up residence at Woburn. The estates were left in the hands of agents and bailiffs, and the manor house reverted to a farm and fell into such decay that Horace Walpole, visiting it in 1749 wrote: “There are but piteous fragments of the house remaining, now a farm, built round three sides of a court. It is dropping down in several places without a roof, but in half of the windows are beautiful arms in painted glass”. Perhaps part of it went beyond repair, as the service wing and porters lodge north of the entrance were demolished around 1750, this destroying the E shaped Tudor plan.
Very little building is found in the 18th century, and the only houses representing this period and the Old Rectory referred to in the survey as “new built in 1735”; the Baptist Chapel and the Manse and cottage adjoining; and possibly parts of the present Red Lion and Dodd’s mill may also date from this period.
The Old Rectory and the Baptist Chapel have the typical Georgian shallow pitched slated roof, symmetrical arrangements of doors and windows, and are brick built with larger dimensions than the earlier cottages. Most of the opening windows are sash. The main Georgian house was Chenies Place, rebuilt between 1745 & 56, on the site of the present Chenies House, but this was pulled down on 10944. (The present Chenies Place is on an entirely different site). It is interesting that apart from the Dodd’s Mill, these buildings are in part of the village which either came late into the ownership of the manor, or as in the case of the Red Lion, were never incorporated. Development here would have been a reflection of the fortunes of the Lords of the manor, who apparently had very little interest in the village in the Georgian era. The Bedford Arms, built in the Georgian style, is 20th century. Chenies Place was of course in the original manor, in so far as it was part of the Rector’s endowment, and it would have to be kept in good repair for him.
Rejuvenation came to the village with the return of one of the Russell family to live there as Rector of the church in 1829. This was Lord Wroithesley Russell, and he appears to have had the welfare of the tenants very much at heart, and started a re-building programme which altered the face of the village during the 19th century. One old cottage after another was pulled down and replaced by the ‘model’ Victorian labourers cottages which were considered ideal, and very advanced in their day. Each cottage had “two up and two down” and cost £300 to build. The upstairs was reached by a ladder. Outside the cottages are easily recognised by their steeply pitched tiled roofs, tall cut brick chimneys, dark brickwork, and in most cases lattice windows. All are dated, and most of the later ones have the Bedford crest cut into the gables.
At the end of the 19th century the 9th Duke of Bedford replaced the ladders with a staircase, and had water laid on into the kitchen sink. In the 1850’s the Duke ploughed 20% of his gross rental back in improvements to the village. This building style continued into the 20th century, and two of the houses, Chess Croft and Woodside Cottage are dated 1907 and 1902 respectively.
There was again a pause in building, although several houses added porches, bay windows, and other extensions to suit the current architectural fashion.
The next development came after the 1939-45 war, when three private houses were built on land not previously developed along the lane to Claypits Cottages. Soon after, the Duke gave one of his fields along this lane, for a Housing Association estate and this, consisting of 12 semi-detached houses and flats, was given the name of Bedfrod Close.
The building estates of Greenstreet, Whitelands Avenue and Orchard Drive in the south of the parish, went up in the late 1950’s and within five years the original number of houses in the parish, established over 1,100 years, was doubled.
content source: Chorleywood Field Studies Centre contributor: Andy Homewood date published: 1/11/2025