Elstow Moot Hall, Befordshire, England

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Moot Hall (aka "The Green House") stands in isolation on Elstow village green. This Tudor timber-framed building was built in the 15th century, possibly by the Abbey's carpenter William Arnold, to provide both a courtroom and a market house.

When first constructed, the timber frame would have been in-filled with wattle and daub, rather than brick. The original building had only four bays on the ground floor, the two westernmost each containing two small shops. Each shop had a separate door with a broad window, with a four-centred arch above. These windows may have had a hinged wooden panel that could be let down into the window opening and used as a serving counter. Parts of the partitions between the shops remain; slots in the ceiling and floor beams showing where the other vertical timbers once stood.

The fourth bay contained a separate room, with an east–west ladder stairway to the upper storey, which consisted of one large hall. It is possible that there was originally an external stairway on the eastern wall, as there is evidence that suggests an external door in what was the east wall of the upper storey. The external entrance to the ground floor of the fourth bay was probably at the southern end of the east wall.

Sometime after the original construction, a fifth bay was added to the east end, including a large chimney breast. This contains fireplaces on both storeys, suggesting that it was designed as accommodation for high-status visitors to the wealthy nunnery. Probably at the same time, the window in western wall was moved to a higher position; a cellar was excavated under the fourth bay; a north–south staircase was erected; an Elizabethan doorway (now removed) was inserted into the north wall where the easternmost shop stood; and the external wattle and daub in-fill was replaced with bricks.

During renovations in 1950, the building was restored to its original Medieval form and the window in the western wall moved back down, but the external walls’ brick in-fill was retained. The timbers of the Medieval roof were also left intact, with new rafters being laid over the originals.

Similar late-mediaeval market houses, with a long chamber on the upper floor, are rare. Two others survive in Buckinghamshire, at Long Crendon and West Wycombe and a similar, but later, example is to be found in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. However, Moot Hall is thought be unique, being the only known example of a market house, built by a nunnery, combining a courtroom and shopping centre.

For many years, it was thought that the downstairs shop bays were only used for storing stalls and other equipment in connection with the Abbey's bi-annual fairs. However, investigations carried out in the 1990s into the building's method of construction indicated that the six shop bays were probably permanent shops, used throughout the whole year.

The Abbesses of Elstow held the title of lord of the manor and acted as local magistrates, hence their need for the courtroom which, in the case of Moot Hall, was located in the main upper room. At some point, that upper room was divided into three rooms - a single bay wide room at the west end (possibly retiring room for the steward), a double bay wide room (probably the courtroom) and a single bay wide room at the east end (possibly a waiting room). As well as being used as a manorial court, the upper room(s) would have been used as a Court of Piepowders for the settling of disputes arising during the Abbey's (and, after 1539, Elstow village's) large, four-day, May fairs.

This upper room was probably also used through most of its history as a village meeting place, hence its present name ('Moot Hall' being the medieval term for a meeting place). Some early records refer to it as "The Green House". Whether it was also known in early times as "Moot Hall" is not known – the earliest known recorded instance of it being referred to as such is in Reverend John Brown's biography of John Bunyan, in which he refers to it as 'what we may call Moot Hall'.

Two years after The Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1539, Elstow Green and the Abbey were leased to Edmund Harvey (or Hervey. He was the great nephew of Elizabeth Hervey, Abbess of Elstow 1501-1522. Edmund’s daughter, Isabel, subsequently married Sir Humphrey Radcliffe (c.1505-1566). Following Edmund’s desth in 1553, Edward VI gave the former Abbey's estate with all its manorial rights to Sir Humphrey. Radcliffe was Sherrif of Beds & Bucks 1558-9 and steward of Elstow from 1563 until his death in 1566.

In 1616, Radcliffe's son Edward Radcliffe 6th Earl of Sussex sold the Elstow estate to Sir Thomas Hillersden, whose grandson (also called Thomas) left £100 in his will so that his wife could convert part of the cloister building into a grand manor house, which was subsequently named Elstow Place. This magnificent building, its porch possibly designed by Inigo Jones, would have been seen every time the young John Bunyan walked into Elstow village and may have been the original inspiration for his 'House Beautiful' in "The Pilgrim's Progress".

Fairs continued to be held at Elstow throughout this period, though on a smaller scale, and Moot Hall continued to be used for court hearings. In 1554, Thomas Bonyon (John Bunyan's great-great-grandfather) was a member of the "homage" (the Manor Court’s presiding jury) when his wife was fined 1 penny for 'breaking the assize of ale'. (Mrs Bonyon also appears on subsequent manor court rolls for committing further offences involving the sale of ale or bread!) Moot Hall continued to be used for court hearings into the 18th century.

By 1773, the Hillersden family consisted of just two sisters who, with their finances dwindling, let Moot Hall, its equipment and fair tolls to Thomas Coleman. During the 1790s, the Hillersden sisters moved out of Elstow Place into the smaller Elstow Lodge, leaving the mansion to fall into ruin, and then gradually they sold, piece by piece, the rest of their Elstow estate to Samuel Whitbread.

The 1800 Enclosure Act allotted Elstow Green to Whitbread and, with it, the ancient right to hold fairs and exact tolls and rents on stallholders. Whitbread subsequently purchased further properties in Elstow, until he owned most of the village. (Hence the present-day numbers that appear on some houses in Elstow’s High Street, Wilstead Road and West End are Whitbread (Southill) Estate, not street, numbers.)

In 1812, the Whitbread Estate leased Moot Hall to the Elstow Congregation of the Bunyan Meeting Free Church and, for most of the rest of the 19th century, Moot Hall was used as a National and a Night school, with the Bunyan congregation holding Sunday evening services of worship in the former courtroom.[Bedfordshire Record Office on-line Archives - Elstow Community Pages - see http://www.elstow-abbey.org.uk/index.html] They regularly attracted larger congregations than the nearby Abbey Church.

Moot Hall - Hall from old Postcard

Schooling for children continued in Moot Hall until 1873 when, anticipating the Elementary Education Act 1880, a purpose-built, school was constructed at the northern end of Elstow High Street. The Bunyan congregation continued to hold their services in Moot Hall until 1910, when they too moved to the High Street, into a newly constructed chapel, next to the new school.

Fairs continued to be held on Elstow green until the 20th century. Sales of cattle probably ceased following the opening of a specialised cattle market in Bedford in 1900. From then on, only a small pleasure fair continued, until that too ceased during the Second World War. May Festivals have, however, continued to be held on Elstow green. The stump of the original Medieval market cross – which denoted the Elstow Abbey Fair's Royal Charter status – still stands on Elstow green, some 50 yards west of Moot Hall.

In 1950, Major Simon Whitbread gave Moot Hall and Elstow green to Bedfordshire County Council, which restored the building to its original medieval form, as their contribution to the Festival of Britain. A year later, Moot Hall opened as a permanent museum. It is now owned and cared for by Bedford Borough Council, which continues to operate it as a museum illustrating 17th-century English life, with exhibitions of antique furniture and information relating to John Bunyan.

References and Sources

• WIKI Elstow
• Bedfordshire.gov
• Elstow Abbey's official website
• [Clive Arnold, Curator Moot Hall, Elstow]

Main Reference WIKI Elstow Information shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - see Creative Commons Licenses