Early History

Origins of the settlement

The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin meaning 'Eadwulf's barrow' i.e. 'hill or barrow'. Archaeological evidence dates the village back to the times of the Roman occupation.

During the 1086 Domesday Book the village was listed as Eddinberge.

Medieval period

Edward the Confessor spent much of his childhood in Normandy and when he came to England for his coronation he brought with him several friends and relatives whom he could trust: one was Ulf, his bodyguard. Edward gave Ulf lands including 20 hides in Edlesborough (a hide is an area of land sufficient to support a family) as well as 10 in Bedfordshire.  He owned 2 mills; one of them was probably near the mill by the ford, where traces of an older mill have been found. This was undoubtedly a water mill as windmills did not exist at this time.

King Edward named Harold as his successor, but William (the Conqueror) seized the throne in 1066 and offered Ulf £13 for his lands, only £1 less than their original value.  William gave them to his nephew, Gilbert of Ghent, who also held lands in Dagnall.

There were 26 villeins in Edlesborough, these were serfs who generally rented small homes and were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields. Gilbert gave them some strips of land for their own and for this they had to plough 4 acres of Gilbert’s land in the spring, lend him 2 oxen for 7 days a year and work 3 days a week on his land. They also had to pay him 1 hen and 16 eggs per year, bring a cartload of wood from the forest to the manor house and grind their own corn in his mills. They were unable to leave the village except to go to war to fight for Gilbert, and had to pay a fine if their sons were sent to school or if their daughters married. Villeins could try to save up to buy their freedom or, if necessary, run away and live as an outlaw in the many forests, eg Ashridge. If a villein managed to stay away for a year and a day then reach a town without being caught he would be given his freedom.

The village was particularly important during the Middle Ages.  King Edward III held court in Edlesborough in the mid fourteenth century, possibly in 1349 during the Black Death, possibly indicating that the village was free of the epidemic, which reduced the population of Europe by a third. During Edward’s reign in 1332 the county assizes were held in Edlesborough.