The Manors of Caddington, then called Cadyndon or Cadendon, and of Kensworth, belonged to the Cathedral of St. Paul, London, when Domesday Book was compiled in the last quarter of the eleventh century. But the possessions of the Cathedral must not be in any way confused with lands held by the Bishop of London. “ Though the statutes of the Cathedral,” says the Editor of the Domesday of St. Paul’s (Archdeacon Hales, Camden Society, 1858), “describe the thirty Prebendaries as forming with the Bishop one body (unum corpus) there is no evidence of his sharing with them any part of the revenue, or living in intercourse with them. The Bishops of London appear to have possessed their manors in Anglo- Saxon times in their own right … no traces of any of the episcopal lands having at any time belonged to the Cathedral.” The volume of the Camden Society, from which this quotation is made, contains a number of varied forms of lease of the Chapter Manors in the 12th century (pp. 122-139), an inquisition of manors in 1181, known as the Domesday of Ralph de Diceto, then Dean, and a Visitation of the Manors in 1222, together with a valuable introduction and commentary. This volume, which is the authority for most of the information offered in the notes below, will be referred to as D.S.P. In it are given a lease of Caddington Manor in the reign of Henry I., a lease of Kensworth Manor in the reign of Henry II., and important fragments of the visitations of both in 1181, with a fuller account of the 1222 visitations.

In another volume, published by the Camden Society, “ Visitation of Churches belonging to St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1297 “ (Ed. W. Sparrow-Simpson, 1895, Camd. Soc. N.S.), will be found a description of the condition of the fabric, furniture, books, vestments, etc., of Caddington and Kensworth Churches in 1297. There are other MS. documents dealing with both parishes in the Library at Lambeth Palace.

The document printed below is the draft of a lease of Caddington and Kensworth Manors by the Dean and Chapter to one of the Canons of St. Paul’s.