After the Norman Conquest in 1066 when William the Conqueror redistributed the lands, many landholdings were given to Judith De Lens as his favourite niece, some to Tostig, the King's brother in law, he also gave lands to another relative and trusted companion, Eustace, Count of Boulogne, also known as Eustace the Sheriff. Eustace then leased the land to Sir Walter De Beau-mes a knight in service to the King (pronounced Bo Mes, a name he assumed here in Britain meaning fair dwelling, although the family name in France was Beaumaison, it was spelt in various ways, Beaumais, Belmeis and Beaumes and as an alias of Welles probably his wife's family name.) The Beau-mes manor was held by that family for several generations. It later passed to the Beville family by marriage before being incorporated with All Saints Manor in the early 1400's. Later lords of the Manor were Oliver Cromwell who sold it to William Lord Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire who was a major landholder here and the Cavendish Family held lands here right up until 

the early 1900's. When an archaeological survey was done at Chapel End a few years ago an interesting theory was put forward. It was thought that the site of the old ridge and furrow, the moat site and the medieval settlement behind All Saints Church might not be The All Saints Medieval Village but Beaumes Medieval Village and part of the Beaumes Manor as it was close to St Andrews Church which was the parish church of Beaumes Manor and had been standing there since before the Norman Conquest. There was actually an ancient pathway that was excavated in the 1980's by Sawtry Archealogical Society now Sawtry History Society, which led right across one of the fields on the other side of the A1 to the Church.  We also had some Time Team members come and do some garden evaluations around Sawtry. What turned up was quite interesting especially on Newton Road and Manor Drive. A dig was also done in the 1980's before The Newton Road housing estate was built, and these later evaluations bore out what was found then. It seems that medieval pottery and artifacts were found on the Newton Road site showing that there was once a Medieval settlement there, items found were similar to ones found down at the Sawtry Judith Manor dig in the 1970's at Archers Wood and we also know from that previous Newton Road dig in the 1980's that an ancient windmill stood on the site as it is one of the high points of Sawtry, bearing in mind that at that time in the medieval period it was completely open. This was thought to possibly be the Site of All Saints Medieval settlement as it led up to All Saints Church and Tinkers Lane and the Green which were also part of All Saints Manor. There was an old Manor house which stood next to St Andrews Church, the window fragments from that old manor house can be seen in All Saints Church donated by Harriet Newton in memory of her sister. The Newton family owned the land which St Andrews Church stood on, during the Victorian period of Sawtry as there was a connection by marriage to the Bevilles.  All of the Newton Family are buried in the old St Andrews Churchyard. Archaeological survey reports are in the library and in the Sawtry History Society Archive at the Community Centre Sawtry.

 

For More information see:

Beaumes Manor one of the Three Medieval Manors on this website

British Hisory Online/Parishes/Sawtry