The Bowles of Bedfordshire

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Roger de Busli, the Lord of Busli in Normandy and a close associate of William, Prince of Normandy, was well rewarded for supporting William's successful conquest of England in 1066 with a large estate in Yorkshire. Roger's line ended with his only son who died a minor. Roger's personal estate then passed to his nephew Jordan de Builli, his brother Ernold de Builli of Kimberworth, Yorkshire's son. That male line of inheritance ended with John de Builli of Kimberworth who married Cecily de Bussey, the co-heir to her father. Through her he acquired a large holding in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. This holding would later pass to the Vipond family but it is possible that several cadet lines of the de Buillis may have continued on in Bedfordshire and elsewhere and may have become Bowles over the centuries since. See The de Buillis in Bedfordshire

Another Norman noble family, the de Boeles/de Buelles appeared in Bedfordshire in the 1100's. From that line several Bowles lines developed in Bedfordshire by the 1700's. One of their major holdings was at Old Wardon. See The de Boeles of Bedfordshire

The de Boeles lines in Bedfordshire are sometimes stated to be descendants of the de Builli due to the similarity of their names and as the de Boeles held many of the same landholdings as the de Builli family did. However while the two families both came from the same region of Normandy they were quite distinct families from villages about 15 km apart. They did not hold the same land as the other but rather each held a half share of the land. These holdings had once been held by William de Bussei, yet another surname which has been confused with the de Buillis. William's holdings in Bedfordshire had been passed to co-heirs Cecily and Maud de Bussei. Cecily had taken her half share to her husband John de Builli while Maud took her half share to her husband Hugh Wake. Their son James Wake married Aline, the widow of Walter de Stukeley. Aline survived James and left Old Wardon Manor to her three daughters by her first husband, one of which, Mary de Stukeley, took her share of the manor to her husband Simon's son Peter de Bueles resulting in the de Builli and the de Boeles each holding a share in the same land. This line of descent can be seen more clearly in The de Builli and the de Boeles of Bedfordshire Family Trees.

A Bowles line which possibly descended from the de Boelles:

Bowles of Meppershall, Bedfordshire

My Bowles research in Dublin, Ireland has led me back to a William Bolus/Bowles of Dublin who was from a Bolus family of Meppershall, Bedfordshire which is just a couple of miles south of the de Buelles holding at Old Wardon so a connection to that very old line may yet be found. This is also just about 10 miles west of Wallington, Herts where The Bowles of Wallington lived since the early 1500's providing another possible origin for this family.

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