Tickford End was held by William fitzAnsculf in 1086, and was assessed at 5 hides, with 2 carucates of land (the notional area of land able to be farmed in a year by a team of 8 oxen pulling a carruca plow, usually reckoned at 120 acres) in demesne besides. In the feudalsystem the demesne was all the land which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. In England royal demesne is the land held by the Crown, and ancient demesne is the legal term for the land held by the king at the time of the Domesday Book. The manor also included meadow for 5 ploughs and woodland for 50 pigs. The manor passed to Fulk Paynel (Pagnell) sometime around 1100, and it was he who founded the priory as a Cluniac cell of the Abbey of Marmoutier in Tours.
The current slightly severe-looking three-storey mansion was built in 1767 on the site of the Benedictine priory, long ruinous and partly converted to a house around 1550. The house was given more Gothic trim in the early 19th century, and is now a Residential Home for the Elderly.
The foundations of the church have been discovered over the years, and a few carved stones and fragments have been incorporated into the house. Behind the house, to the NE of it, is a walled garden, and inside this at the west end carved stones from the priory have been assembled in a rectangular frame built into the wall. It overlooks the River Great Ouse to the north and housing to the South.
The cache is situated slightly off the path and will therefore only be accessible on foot.
Please be aware that this is a popular area for dog walking and is also used by many as a short cut through to town.
Well done to Dazz1e on FTF