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NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST & PRESENT }OURNAL OF THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY, DELAPRE ABBEY, NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND VoL. V 1975 No. 3 %:.::; nniellt . and MODERN .... large or small. Fine building is synonymous with Robert Marriott Ltd., a member of the Robert Marriott Group, famot,;s for quality building since 1890. In the past 80 years Marriotts have established a reputation for meticulous craftsmanship on the largest and small­ est scales. Whether it is a £7,000,000 housing contract near Bletchley, a new head­ quarters for Buckinghamshire County Council at Aylesbury (right) or restor­ ation and alterations to Easton Maudit Church (left) Marriotts have the experi­ ence, the expertise and the men to carry out work of the most exacting standards and to a strict schedule. In the last century Marriotts made a name for itself by the skill of its crafts­ men employed on restoring buildings of great historical importance. A re­ markable tribute to the firm's founder, the late Mr. Robert Marriott was paid in 1948 by Sir Albert Richardson, later President of the Royal Academy, when he said: "He was a master builder of the calibre of the Grimbolds and other famous country men. He spared no pains and placed ultimate good before financial gain. No mean craftsman him­ self, he demanded similar excellence from his helpers." Three-quarters of a century later Marriotts' highly specialised Special Projects Division displays the same inherent skills in the same delicate work on buildings throughout the Midlands. To date Hatfield House, Long Melford Hall in Suffolk. the Branch Library at Earls Barton, the restoration of Castle Cottage at Higham Ferrers, Fisons Ltd., Cambridge, Greens Norton School, Woburn Abbey restorations and the Falcon Inn, Castle Ashby, all bear witness to the craftsmanship of Marriotts. While building for the future, Marriotts are maintaining the glories of the past.

J--- J-'"1 ROBERT MARRIOTT LTD. ~ r~ - RUSHOEN. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE A member of 1he French -Kier Group of companies NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT 1975 CONTENTS PAGE Particulars of the Society ii Institutional Members of the Society ii Notes and News . . . 153 Joan Wake. G. !sham 156 Patrick King writes . . . 160 The Published Works of J oan Wake. Rosemary Eady 162 The Origins of the Wake Family: The Early History of the Barony of Bourne in Lincolnshire. E. King .. . 167 Four Deserted Settlements in Northamptonshire. A. E. Brown; C. C. Taylor 178 The Fourteenth-Century Tile Paving at Higham Ferrers. Elizabeth S. Eames 199 The Medieval Parks of Northamptonshire. J. M. Steane 211 Helmdon Wills 1603-1760. E. Parry ... 235 Justices of the Peace in Northamptonshire 1830-1845. Part II. The Work of the County Magistrates. R. W. Shorthouse 243 The Rise of Industrial Kettering. R. L. Greenall ... 253 Domestic Service in Northamptonshire-1830-1914. Pamela Horn 267 King's School, Peterborough. A. Wootton 276 John Dryden's Titchmarsh Home. Helen Belgion ... 278 Book Reviews: J. M. Steane, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire 281 V. A. Hatley, 1873-1973, Mount Pleasant Chapel, Northampton: History 283 V. A. Hatley, Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution: Early Industrial Capitalism in Three English Towns... 284 G. Isham, Theatre Unroyal ... 285 B. A. Holderness, Northants Militia Lists 1777 286 N. Marlow, The Northamptonshire Landscape: Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough 287 Obituaries: Mrs. Philippa Mary Mendes-Da Costa 289 Mr. John Waters, R.J. Kitchin .. . 289

All communications regarding articles in this issue and future issues should be addressed to the Honorary Editor, Mr.}. M. Steane, The Grammar School, Kettering

Published by the Northamptonshire Record Society VoL. V Price 35p No. 3

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY DALKEITH PRESS LIMITED, KETTERING, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY (FOUNDED IN 1920) DELAPRE ABBEY, NORTHAMPTON

President: SIR GYLES !SHAM, BART., D.L., F.S.A. Secretary: Chairman of Council: Treasurer: Miss D. M. Sladden, B.A. C. V. Davidge, Esq., M.A. W. H. Pack, Esq. Delapre Abbey Little Houghton House Delapre Abbey Northampton Northampton Northampton General Editor: Hon. Solicitor: E. J. King, Esq., M.A., PH.D. R. A. Jameson, Esq., V.R.D., LL.B. The University 7 Spencer Parade Sheffield Northampton AIMS AND OBJECTS The objects of the Society are the furtherance of the science of history and of historical literature by the publication of historical records relating to Northamptonshire, and the stimulation of interest in historical studies by exhibitions, lectures, etc. MEMBERSHIP THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION for Individual Members is £2.10, and for Institutional Members, £3.15. Associate Membership, up to 25 years of age, is SOp. per annum. These subscriptions, payable each January, entitle members to free copies of publications issued for the period in respect of which they have subscribed and give the right to attend meetings and lectures. Forms of application for membership will gladly be sent on request to the Secretary, Delapre Abbey, Northampton.

Institutional Members of the Society EUROPE Corby Development Corporation Cliftonville High School, Northampton ENGLAND The Courtauld Institute of Art Abington Vale High School, Northampton W. T. Cox & Co. Ltd., Kettering Alien, A. H. & Co. (Engineers) Ltd., Northampton Dalkeith Press Limited, Kettering Allen-Lyman Bureau, Northampton Daventry Town Development Office All Soul's College, Oxford Daventry School Anglia Building Society Deacon's School, Peterborough Society of Antiquaries of London Durham University Library Ashby, R. Sterry, F.A.I., Northampton Duston Upper School, Northampton Ashby Estates, Ltd., Brackley East Anglia University Library Banbury Public Library Exeter University Library Bedford Public Library Frames Tours Ltd. Berry Bros. & Legge, Kettering Society of Genealogists, London Billingham & Son, Northampton Gotch, Saunders & Surridge, Kettering Birkbeck College, University of London Greenwoods, Messrs., Solicitors, Peterborough Birmingham Public Libraries Guildhall Library, London Birmingham University Library Guilsborough County School Bishop Stopford School, Kettering Haworth Library, St. Hild's College, Durham Bletchley Public Libraries Hertfordshire County Council Records Committee Boughton Estates Ltd., Weekley, Kettering Hull University Library Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Huntingdon County Library Bristol University Library Huntingdonshire County Record Office British Library, Boston Spa, Y orks Inner Temple Library, London Cambridgeshire Libraries, Carp.bridge Division, Institute of Historical Research Cambridge (University of London) Carlsberg Brewery Ltd., Northampton John Lea Secondary School, Wellingborough

ii INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS

Kettering Grammar School Stamford Public Library Kettering Public Library Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd., London W.l Kettering Secondary School for Girls Thrapston & District Historical Society Kettering Technical College Timsons Ltd., Kettering King's School, Peterborough Trinity Grammar School, Northampton Leeds University Library University College Library, London Leicester City Libraries Victoria University, Manchester Leicester College of Education, Corby Annexe Wallis's Garage Ltd., Kettering Leicester University Library Warwick University Library Leicester University Centre, Northampton Warwickshire County Library Leicestershire County Council Archives Department W ellingborough & District Archaeological Society Leicestershire County Library Wellingborough County High School Lincolnshire Archives Committee Wellingborough Grammar School Liverpool City Public Libraries Wellingborough Public Library Liverpool University Library Wellingborough School London Borough of Newham Library Service, Wellingborough Technical College Library Stratford Reference Library Westminster City Public Libraries The London Library Westwood House School, Peterborough London School of Economics & Political Science Wilson & Partners, Kettering University of London, King's College Wilson & Wilson, Kettering University of London, Westfield College W oodford Halse Historical Society University of London Library York University Library Loughborough Technical College Magdalen College Library, Oxford N . IRELAND Magdalen College School, Brackley Queen's University Library, Belfast Manchester Public Libraries Marshman, Warren, Taylor, F.R.I.B.A., Northampton SCOTLAND Midland Secretarial Bureau and Employment Agency Rushden and Wellingborough Aberdeen University Library Moulton Park Upper School, Northampton Edinburgh University Library New College, Oxford Glasgow University Library Newton Road Junior School, Rushden St. Andrew's University Library Northampton Business & Professional Women's Club Northampton College of Education WALES Northampton Development Corporation University College of Wales, Aberystwyth Northampton Grammar School University College of Swansea Northampton High School Northampton Public Library BELGIUM Northamptonshire County Council Northamptonshire County Library Bibliotheque-un-Livre, Brussels Northamptonshire Newspapers Ltd. Notre Dame High School, Northampton DENMARK Nottingham Central Public Library Royal Library of Copenhagen Nottingham University Library Nottinghamshire County Library SWEDEN Oundle School Lund University Library, Sweden Oundle Middle School Oxfordshire County Library Peterborough Dean and Chapter Peterborough Museum Society AFRICA Peterborough Public Library Johannesburg City Public Library Peterborough Technical College Public Record Office, London Reading University Library AMERICA Rothwell & Desborough Secondary School Royal Historical Society CANADA Rushden Girls Comprehensive School Rushden Secondary School for Boys Alberta University, Edmonton Rushden Public Library Canadian Branch Genealogical Society, Alberta St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton Carleton University Library, Ottawa The Samuel Lloyd Comprensive School, Corby Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick Scott Bader Co. Ltd., Wollaston, Wellingborough Fredricton Sheffield Central Library Huron College Library, Ontario Sheffield University Library McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Soroptimist Club of Northampton (Mills Memorial Library) Southampton University Library Queen's University Kingston, Ontario Southwood School, Corby Toronto University Library Spiro Engineering Co. Ltd. University of Western Ontario Spoune School, Towcester Windsor University, Windsor, Ontario i.ii INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Pennsylvania University Library Pittsburgh University Library Boston Public Library Princeton University Library Cache Genealogical Library, Utah Rice University Library, Houston, Texas California University Library, Los Angeles Rochester University, New York California University Library, Berkeley Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick California University Library, Davis St. Edward's University Library, Austin, Texas California University Library, Santa Barbara Santa Clara University (Orradre Library) Chicago University Library Seabury Western Theological Seminary Library, Clemson University, South Carolina Evanston Cleveland Public Library Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Columbia University Library, New York City Stanford University Library Congress Library, Washington, D.C. Tennessee Joint University Libraries, Nashville Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York Tennessee State Archives and Library, Nashville 3 University of Delaware Memorial Library Tennessee University, Knoxville Detroit Public Library Texas University Library, Austin 12 Duke University Library, Durham N.C. Utah Genealogical Society Emory University Library, Georgia Utah University Library, Salt Lake City Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. Virginia Historical Society, Richmond Fort Wayne Public Library, Indiana Virginia State Library, Richmond General Theological Seminary, New York Virginia University, Alderman Library Georgia University Library, Athens Wake Forest College Library, Winston-Salem, Harvard College Library N.Carolina Harvard University Law School Library Washington University Library, Seattle Haverford College Library, Pennsylvania Wayne State University, General Library, Detroit Henry E. Huntingdon Library, California Wisconsin University Library Illinois University Library, Urbana Yale University Library Indiana University, Bloomington Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa Johns Hopkins University Library, Baltimore Los Angeles Public Library Michigan State Library AUSTRALASIA Michigan University Library Minnesota University Library, Minneapolis AUSTRALIA Missouri University Library, Columbia Adelaide University, Barr Smith Library Newberry Library, Chicago National Library of Australia New England Historical and Genealogical Society Sydney University Law School Library, N.S.W. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society University of Western Australia New York Public Library New York State University at Binghampton Victoria State Library, Melbourne Notre Dame University Library, Indiana Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus NEW ZEALAND Pennsylvania State University (Pattee Library) Alexander-Turnbull Library, Wellington

Thanks are expressed to ... Mr. Anthony Wootton for photographs of King's School, Peterborough,· Dr. Edmund King for map of Wake estates; the British Library Board for photographs of medieval charters; The Northampton­ shire Record Office for maps of Weldon and Drayton Parks, photographs of Knuston, Overstone; Mr. A. E. Brown and Mr. C. C. Taylor for maps of four deserted villages; Mr. Fred. A. Moore, Mr. Frank Thompson, Kettering Civic Society and Kettering Public Library for illustrations of Kettering buildings, personalities and posters; Mr. Edward Parry and the National Monuments Record for photographs of Helmdon; Mr. James Barfoot for photographs of Higham Ferrers tiles~· Mr. Ron. Greenall for map of Kettering; Mrs. Helen Belgian for photographs of Titchmarsh, and Mr. S.J. Harris of Kettering Grammar School for assistance with figures and lettering. The pastel portrait reproduced on page 156 was executed in 1963 by Mrs. Arthur Harris in Rhodesia. It was given to the society by Joan Wake and hangs in the library at Delapre Abbey. The cover illustration is a Victorian engraving by Edward Blore of "The Remains of the Palace at Holdenby". It is reproduced by kind permission of Northampton County Library.

iv 153

NOTES AND NEWS

As many members already know this issue of dition by his servants to Northamptonshire Northamptonshire Past & Present is in special villages. commemorative form as a tribute to the late The Autumn Lecture for 197 4 is to be given Miss Joan Wake, a founder of the Society, who after this has gone to press, by the Richmond died in her 90th year in January 1974. Her life Herald of Arms, Mr. J. C. Brooke-Little, on and work are fully described in articles within, the duties and functions of Heralds throughout but it is fitting to note here that it was she, as the ages. This event, for members only, is to be Editor of the first two volumes of this journal, held at Lamport Hall, by kind invitation of its from 1948 to 1959, who set it firmly on the path owner, Sir Gyles Isham, President of the to success as a widely read and valued local Society. It will have been a return visit for history journal. She expressed in the Preface to some, since the Society had its headquarters at the first number of Vol. I her hope that it and Lamport from 1946-1958. The Hall has been the other publications of the Northamptonshire the seat of the Isham family since 1560, and the Record Society might be of use 'wherever there present house, built in 1655, was partly the are students of the English way of life'. This work of Inigo Jones' son-in-law, John Webb. has indeed proved to be the case, possibly to It suffered serious damage from dry rot after an even greater degree than Miss Wake had use as a prisoner-of-war camp in World War II, foreseen. Membership now exceeds 1,100, and and the huge and costly task of restoring it was includes individuals and institutions from not only completed in the spring of 197 4. The only Canada, the United States, and Austra­ house, with its many art treasures, a fine lasia, South Africa, and Rhodesia, but also Library, and a beautiful Music Room, as well from Sweden, Denmark, Western Germany, as the lovely gardens landscaped in the reign of Belgium and Japan. We hope it would have George IV, are open to the public on certain pleased her that the Society's tribute to her days during the summer. A trust is being tireless work for it should take this particular formed to look after the house, and visitors can form. see and appreciate the immense care with which the owner has restored it, making it a welcome addition to the list of stately homes which can The Society prides itself on the high standard be visited in this County. of its lectures, and was fortunate in November 1973 to hear Professor J. H. Plumb, Professor of Modern English History at Cambridge, speak on 'The growth of leisure in the Eight­ Local government changes on April 1st 197 4 eenth Century'. In a brilliant exposition he have meant the disappearance of Northampton showed how the vast commercial industry of Borough Council as such, the banishment of today had its roots in the eighteenth century, aldermanic robes to mothballs, and the coming taking the three examples of printing, the into being of a new District Council in North­ theatre, and as an outdoor sport, horse-racing, ampton, some of its functions being controlled to illustrate his theme. At the Annual General by the County Council. Similar changes have Meeting in June 197 4 Dr. J oan Thirsk, Reader taken place in other towns. Northampton itself in Economic History at Oxford, also talked about has an increase of 7,000 in population due to horses, but in the context of horse breeding in the absorption of certain parishes south of the the seventeenth century, demonstrating that town. Inevitably there have been changes in Northamptonshire's reputation in this industry personalities, and not a few arguments as to the must go well back into the Middle Ages. merits of all this. Northampton however retains Henry VIII, for example, had obtained 298 its Mayoralty under the grant of a Charter from horses for his wars from one purchasing expe- the Queen, and the Society was very pleased to 154 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT welcome the newly elected Mayor of the town, the Record Society, a tenant of the Abbey, Councillor J. L. Rawlings, accompanied by the about this plan, which seemed strange. He also Mayoress, to the Annual General Meeting and reminded the assembled company that quite lecture in June. apart from the lease the Society holds, the Local govermnent reform also means that a building would not have been standing had it new and enlarged Cambridgeshire, with the not been for the efforts of the late Miss Wake former Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely in raising the funds needed to save it. These added to it, came into being on 1st April1974. matters will be carefully watched by the Coun­ In consequence the Northamptonshire and cil of the Record Society. Huntingdonshire Archives Committee ceased to exist on that date, and a new Archives Service for Northamptonshire has been formed, From the end of the summer session 1974 with a Technical and Advisory Panel on which the Northampton College of Technology is the Record Society has four representatives, gradually closing down its Boot and Shoe thus preserving the close contact with the Manufacturing Department, which has pion­ County Archivist and his staff which has existed eered day release and full-time classes for hitherto. The Northamptonshire County Coun­ employees in the footwear industry since imme­ cil is now responsible for records relating to the diately after World War I. The local press county itself, including Northampton, and also described this as marking 'the end of an epoch the records for the Soke of Peterborough other in the history of the footwear industry'. This than those needed by the Cambridgeshire 300 year old industry was first based on North­ County Council for administrative purposes. ampton, but now with new techniques in the making of shoes it has dispersed to other towns as well, and the need for the courses has dimin­ In the Society's Annual Report for 1972 ished. But training of students in the footwear reference was made to a plan for a large sports industry will continue to be given at the centre on the Delapre Estate. Full plans for Rushden Boot and Shoe College. this were made known during 1974, and were discussed at a Council meeting in March. These plans included a proposal to turn Delapre . In Rush den too the death occurred in June Abbey itself into a Folk Museum at some future 197 4 of Mr. John White, founder in 1919 of a date. Aghast at this idea the Council instructed one-man firm called John White (Impregnable its Chairman to write the following letter to the Boots) Ltd., later known as John White Foot­ local press- wear Ltd., which grew into a huge enterprise 'I have been asked by the Council of the with 9,000 employees in nine countries. The Northamptonshire Record Society to point Northamptonshire Record Society has cause to out that in 1957, thanks to the efforts of the be particularly grateful to this highly successful late Miss Joan Wake, the sum of £15,000 firm, as for 25 years, from the appearance of the was raised by public subscription for the first issue of this journal in 1948, until 1973, it express purpose of saving Delapre Ab bey has regularly every year advertised on the back from demolition, and for the establishment cover, in a pleasing series of designs based on of the Abbey as an archives repository and the historic group of ecclesiastical buildings in as premises for the Northamptonshire Record Higham Ferrers, adjacent to Rushden. Further Society. expansion and reorganisation of John White Footwear Holdings, as it had become, has made A trust deed was drawn up for the purpose, it impossible for the Ward White Group (the and the Society's premises are now held on present title of the firm) to advertise this year. a lease from the County Council for 99 years, But it has a hitherto unrivalled record, and we dating from 1958'. hope to see it back again another year. The The letter appeared in the Chronicle & Echo of Society is grateful for such steady support from April lOth. It was also read to the Annual this firm, and for help from other advertisers, General Meeting by the President, who pointed without which it would be difficult to continue out that no direct approach had been made to publication.

157

}OAN WAKE

}OAN WAKE was the second daughter of Sir Herewald Wake, the 12th baronet, by his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Edward St. Aubyn, Bart. of St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. She was born on 29th February at Courteenhall, her father's home, in 1884 (leap year). She could rightly claim that she had had only twenty-one birthdays at the age of 84, so that she had the vigour of mind of a young woman. She died at Northampton on 15th January 1974, six weeks before reaching the age of 90. She had three older brothers, and two sisters, one older and one younger. Her eldest brother, Hereward, who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1916, served in the South African War, and the first World War with distinction, and in the early part of the second World War was in France at Lord Gort's headquarters; he was a major-general and Colonel Commandant of the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Her second brother, Godwin, also served in the K.R.R.C. as a major and fought in South Africa and France, went to Rhodesia, where he built a house with African labour on the classic lines of Courteenhall. Her third brother, Baldwin, was in the navy, and retired as an admiral. Her elder sister Thurfida was a famous trainer of gun-dogs. Her younger sister Phyllis married Richard Archdale, and settled in Rhodesia. Joan Wake brought many of the martial qualities of her family into her life's work, the preservation, custody, and publication where justified of the records of the County of North­ amptonshire. She had a strong, almost a fierce love of her native county ("of course, there is only one county"), but no obsession with her own family and its long history. She could reckon twenty­ seven generations of Wakes in a right line from that Geoffrey Wac, who held lands in Normandy and Guernsey, and was the father of Hugh Wac of Bourne in Lincolnshire, who married the heir of Baldwin Fitz Gilbert of the great house of Clare, and was the founder of a Benedictine Abbey near Bayeux. It would not be true to say that this history meant nothing to her. Historically, she was interested, but she had little pride in her genealogy, or any trace of snobbishness. She was mildly irritated when the Public Orator in his address, when presenting her for her honorary degree at Oxford, alluded to her as springing from a very ancient Northamptonshire family ("what's that got to do with it?"). Her father, a man of liberal views, with interests in natural history, encouraged his children to take their own line, and his was a singularly united and active family. Formal education was not in those days thought necessary for a squire's daughter, and Joan Wake's education was entrusted to governesses. At home, her main interest was in music. Her father said that it would be too expensive to find a mount for such a stalwart girl, so she did not hunt. She conducted the Courteenhall choir, and (in 1911) wrote an article on the singing of Christmas carols. She also became Secretary for the Courteenhall and district branch of the County Nursing Association. In 1913 Joan Wake decided, in her own words, to use her brain and began to attend courses at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Here one of her tutors was Eileen Power, then studying the economic position of women in the middle ages. In 1914 she met Frank Stenton, the historian of Saxon England at Reading, and began a lifelong friendship with him and his wife. She considered his greatest message to the historical world was that there was no distinction between national and local history. It was in these years at the age of thirty that she mastered Latin, and really learnt the business of scholarship. She transcribed in extenso hundreds of medieval charters in the Hesketh Collection at Easton Neston. In 1916, her father died, and her brother Hereward and his wife took over Courteenhall, which henceforth was no longer her home, although she was often a welcome guest. As war-work she took on the honorary secretaryship of the County Nursing Association, and was for the next three years divorced from her historical studies; but not entirely for her work involved much 158 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT travelling to villages in the county, and she realised what valuable historical material was hidden in parish chests, country parsonages and manor houses, material the value of which was not appreciated by the custodians, and which was in danger of destruction. Mter the war in 1918 she became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and with Frank Stenton and others began to collect documents and to prepare the ground for the formation in 1920 of the Northamptonshire Record Society. She enlisted the help of Mr. James Manfield, and always appreciated the great financial help he was to her in those early days. She was the Society's first honorary secretary-a position which she held for 43 years, and also for most of this time general editor of the Society's publications. The first of these, The Quarter Sessions Records (1924) she edited herself as well as Musters Beacons and Subsidies (Vol. Ill) and The Montagu Musters Book (Vol. VII). Only two years ago she edited The Letters of Daniel Baton, an illuminating correspondence between the steward of the Brudenell Estates and his master, the 3rd Earl of Cardigan in the early 18th century. Apart from the work she did herself, it was she who selected the subjects for the volumes, chose the editors, a distinguished band of historians, and she gave close personal attention to each work. The selection of printers, the format of the books with their green bindings, all these came within her scope, and it is not too much to say that she produced volumes of which any society might have been proud. Her first aim, of course, was to seek out and present the Records themselves, often lying neglected in country houses or lawyer's offices. Her next, to calendar the records and make them available to students, and lastly to publish them, when their importance justified such a course. The Records themselves were housed in rather a depressing part of the County Hall (originally part of the gaol) but this did not deter her, although she always realized that eventually the Records would need a home of their own. She used to say that to discover a 12th century charter could only be matched in excitement by fox hunting! The outbreak of the 2nd World War led to a dispersal of the Records, some to Brixworth Hall, others to a house at Cosgrove, which she had leased from Captain Philip Atkinson in 1937, and which was her home until she moved to Oxford in 1955. The publication of volumes was suspended, but she kept up the membership of the Society by promising that after the war she would make up the volumes they had missed. She was largely responsible for inducing the Master of the Rolls, Lord Greene, to take up the question of the danger to records by the salvage campaigns and to get him to appeal to solicitors all over the country to have regard to what they were patriotically sending for salvage. She con­ demned a letter to The Times from the Director of Salvage as "footling and dangerous". She herself visited 36 solicitors' firms in Northamptonshire and the neighbouring towns, and rescued many records from destruction. She also co-operated with the local advisers formed by the British Records Association which could be consulted by authorities and institutions as to what to exclude from salvage. When the war was over she began the work of collecting the records together again, and resuming the Society's work generally. It was obvious that she must find a new home for the Society's work. The writer was able to promise her the use of several rooms on the ground floor of Lamport Hall, if only the requisitioning order on the house could be rescinded. In 1942 the War Office had taken the Hall over and in 1944 it was transferred to the Ministry of Works for Italian prisoners. On the conclusion of the War in Europe, it was intended to transfer German prisoners there. She herself went to see Mr. George Tomlinson, then Minister of Works in Mr. Attlee's government, and secured his assistance in transferring the prisoners from Lamport to Brixworth and (in the words of the Annual Report for 1946) "in expediting the settlement of compensation for damages and the issue of licenses for repairs and redecoration". Exemption from rates under the Scientific and Literary Societies Act of 1843 was secured and annual grants were made from the local authorities of £371. The publication of volumes was resumed, and luckily Mr. W. T. Mellows of Peterborough had prepared two specially interesting volumes, The Last Days of Peterborough JOAN WAKE 159

Monastery and The Foundation of Peterborough Cathedral, both of which he himself paid for as a memorial to his son, Anthony, who had been killed in the war. A new venture was the annual issue of Northamptonshire Past and Present, under her editorship, which not only provided local historians with the opportunity of publishing their work, but did much to attract members to join the Society. She herself wrote many of the articles­ notably "The Tales of Whittlebury Forest" under the pseudonym of 'Wimersley Bush'-and found the authors for the varied subjects dealt with. She remained editor until 1959. She also induced such people as Professor Jacob, Professor Trevor Roper, Miss Gladys Scott-Thomson, Dr. Leslie Rouse and Mr. Arthur Bryant to lecture to the Society. The Society prospered, and the membership rose from 319 in 1946 to over a thousand a few years later. The peak year was 1967-1200, and since then it has been about the 1100 mark. Miss Wake was greatly assisted in her membership drive by Mrs. Hubbard (now Mrs. Lewis), who was formally appointed Assistant Secretary in 1963, and others. It had become obvious that the Society alone could not be respons­ ible for the custody of the Records, and, after long negotiations, the local authorities concerned, the Northamptonshire County Council, the Northampton Borough Council and the Peterborough Council, took over the custody of the Records, and the lease of part of Lamport Hall. They took over the resident archivist, Mr. P. I. King, and henceforth appointed and paid his assistants. The Record Society continued as before mainly as a publishing Society, with the yearly issue of Northamptonshire Past and Present and the volumes in green cloth, with two annual lectures in the summer and the autumn. On the death of Lord Exeter (1956), Sir George Clarke became Presi­ dent, a former regius professor at Cambridge, and Provost of Oriel College, Oxford. Largely at Miss Wake's insistence a technical and advisory Committee was appointed, on which the Record Society was strongly represented to give the necessary academic support to the Archives Com­ mittee, on which, of course, the Record Society representatives sat as advisers. The growth of the collection of records, and the distance of Lamport from the County town made everyone conscious that the Record Office would sooner or later have to move to new premises. At a meeting at the County Hall, Lord Exeter in the chair posed a series of questions. The first was "where ideally should the Record Office be?" and the answer was "undoubtedly Northampton, and on a town bus route". Joan Wake had no doubt where this ideal home of the Record Society should be, Delapre Abbey. The ancient home of the Bouveries had been bought by the Borough during the war, and after Miss Bouverie's death, became the headquarters of the War Agricultural Committee. On the disbanding of that body, it was empty and deteriorating. It was the intention of the owners, the Borough, to pull it down. Neither the Borough nor the County authorities contemplated spending ratepayers' money to restore it as a Record Office. They were deterred by the high cost estimated by their officials, and were ignorant of the fact that it was a building of historical and architectural importance. J oan Wake, with the help of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Monuments, obtained a lower estimate of what restoration would cost, and inspired the Record Society to set about raising the money. To the surprise, and even incredulity of many she did so and arranged for Delapre to become the County Record Office, and also the headquarters of the Record Society. By this time the Society had a considerable library, and this was also housed at Delapre. On 9th May 1959 when the building was opened by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Evershed, it could truly have been said "Si Monumentum requiris, circumspice". Time was going on, and J oan Wake gave up first the honorary secretaryship, then the post of General Editor, and as her infirmity increased, her visits became less and less frequent. It was a great satisfaction to all that she was able to attend the 50th birthday of the Society at Delapre in 1970. This account of her work however, is incomplete. Joan Wake exercised an in­ fluence on the preservation of Records, not only in Northamptonshire, but nationally. As long ago as 1923, she was successfully urging the annual conference of the Library Association to pass a resolution on the need for action to be taken to prevent the dispersal of records following the sales oflanded estates, and stressing the need for co-operation between libraries, record societies, univer­ sities and other bodies. She did not cease to press her cause at the Historical Association, the British Record Society, the British Records Association and all other bodies. Her close association with successive Masters of the Rolls was of great assistance, and Lord Hanworth in person lent her his support by coming to Northampton to open the Record Rooms in 1930. The War stimulated 160 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT her to fresh efforts both locally and nationally. As Mr. King has remarked in an article to be pub­ lished shortly in The Journal of the Society of Archivists she never departed from her conviction that the counties were the proper area which local record offices should serve despite the blandish­ ments of some professors who might have preferred a lesser number of larger regional offices. Late in her life many honours came to her. She was created an Hon. M.A. by the University of Oxford in 1953, an Hon. LL.D. by the University of Leicester in 1959 and was made a C.B.E. in 1960. Her literary work was considerable. Here it may be mentioned that unlike many antiquaries, who, as Professor Trevor Roper has noted were often disagreeable people and dreary writers, Joan Wake wrote with real humanity, but in an easy but always correct English style. Two of her writings stand out in memory. The last chapter of her book on the Brudenells of Deene (1955) in which she described Lady Cardigan, widow of the hero of Balaclava, whom she remembered; and the life of her friend, Henry I sham Long den, prefixed to a volume of Northamptonshire and Rutland Clergy the great work of his life, the successful completion of which was due to her alone. Harry Longden had for years collected the material, and begun printing his researches, but, as his health failed, Joan Wake took over the work, and enabled him to die in the knowledge that it would all be published, indexed and circulated just as he wanted it to be. Her study of the old clergyman, whom she held in such affection, although she was much out of sympathy with his high church views, was indeed a model of what such a memoir should be. The truth is that her interest in history derived from her interest in people, and that is what humanised her work as editor, archivist and historian. She was equally successful in getting people to work for her; witness the historians whom she induced to edit the Record Society volumes, but equally the recruiting of archivists, and the writers of articles for the Society's journal. As Professor Galbraith wrote in 1965 "Good historian as she is, and architect of one of the two model record societies in Great Britain, her services to local records were equalled by no other individual, unless perhaps by her friend, Miss Ethel Stokes". Thirty-six hours before her death the writer spent half an hour with Joan Wake in the nursing home, where she died. Her critical faculties were unimpaired, and she said after our discussion "I feel I'm in the swim again". At her death, the writer felt he could say in Shakespeare's words "There's a great spirit gone".* *Antony & Cleopatra, Act. I, se. ii, 1.126. GYLES !SHAM.

The writer of the article wishes to express his thanks to Mr. Patrick King and others for great assistance in writing this account of Joan Wake.

MR. PATRICK KING writes:- Miss Wake was, apart from being a friend and companion, the most stimulating person I have known well. Other historians whose lectures I attended may have been equally lively, Professor Galbraith or A. L. Rowse for instance. It is not therefore with the intention of being frivolous that I write these few lines but because others have and will, and I have in another place, written something more considered about Miss Wake's achievement in her chosen field. From the very first moment that I met her, her interest in early medieval charters was impressed on me for at my interview we had a tussle over quitclaims and whether that was a term of art in diplomatic. I did not know too much about such documents but I fancy I must have stuck to my guns for eventually I found myself appointed assistant secretary of the Record Society in August 1948. The Library at Lamport Hall served then both as search room and office. Down the middle was set the elmtop refectory table Lord Brassey gave the Society and in the middle of it from time to time stood that Quimper pottery jug that Miss Wake was apt to thrust full with flowers from her garden. I have always eyed that vase with mixed feelings for once it very nearly rose in my hands seemingly of its own volition preparatory to imminent destruction after a particularly exasperating hour of contradictory demands and exacting instructions. Not that the Library JOAN WAKE 161 frequently witnessed such heights of feeling. Most times a more scholarly atmosphere prevailed though when a new volume was delivered from the printer the room became a hive of activity. Volunteers were marshalled to parcel up the volumes, the capacity of each to make a good job of it being tested by the simple expedient of seeing their efforts thrown vigorously across the room to see how the packing and knots survived. Miss Wake was not going to have the recipients or the Post Office complain of any laxity in that direction. - Indeed in every aspect of her professional activities Miss Wake had divined the essentials. If one was carrying a valuable manuscript to London it might be mislaid: therefore it must be wrapped and on the wrapping her name and full address written so that it could be returned. For, for writing on brown paper, Miss Wake had long realized that 2B or even 3B pencils made a better more legible mark than the ordinary HB and no one can complain that parcels and boxes of documents that the Record Society received were not clearly labelled with the name of the donor and the date of receipt. Again the greatest danger to documents is fire and Miss Wake was abso­ lutely insistent on adequate precautions being taken: notices were printed in red and black, displayed in every room the Society leased and stirrup pumps inspected and kept at the ready. It was all very good training for a young recruit. Irrthese years Miss Wake's home was at Cosgrove and later at Charlbury Road, Oxford. The journeys were for many years performed in her battered convertible Allegro ma non troppo which she crammed amongst other things with her 'travelling office'. This consisted chiefly of a portable typewriter, one, two, sometimes even three attache cases, occasionally cartons and always a large handbag in which she kept the rolls of postage stamps meant for slot machines that she thought so convenient and that she had discovered could be bought from often reluctant head postmasters. A watchmaker's magnifying glass was also another prize possession, more than ever necessary no doubt during that period she went about with one of her spectacle lenses cracked in pieces and mended with selotape. Latterly clothes-pegs were adjudged a useful office adjunct too. More recently the car was given up and one made the journey to Oxford to see her. I savour one visit to Charlbury Road in particular. It was in summer and I was invited to have tea before we got down to business. The tea was to be in the garden where two chairs and a table awaited us under an apple tree. I forget whether it was Miss Robinson or I that carried out the tray with the small Minton cups, teapot and the famous rockbuns. Having settled Miss Wake on her chair I sat down and tea was poured. As always animated chat and comment followed. I had drunk off my first cupful when the hot sun suddenly vanished and a heavy black cloud appeared over the ridge of the roof to be followed almost immediately by quite a heavy downpour. Jumping to my feet, agitated lest Miss Wake should get soaked, I was peremptorily ordered to sit down, so down I sat to some caustic comment and the reproof: "We're not made of sugar, Mr. King' ~ . My empty cup as well as our plates and saucers were full of rainwater when the sun reappeared as hot and warming as ever. The water was poured on the grass, our spectacles wiped dry, and I started on my second rockbun though secretly I felt decidedly wet. In retrospect I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, but it was many years before I discovered that I was not as I had thought the unique recipient of the remark about the sugar but that others it seems had had a similar experience. Physically strong-there is a story about the aid she gave to two gentlewomen driving a trap home from the railway station sometime before the Great War when their trunks fell off and Miss Wake, happening to be by in the adjoining field, whilst they were discussing which of them should walk on to fetch a man to lift the trunks up, calmly and with apparent ease lifted them back herself-one must not forget too that Miss Wake was a woman of great courage and never more so than when confronting able men in powerful positions whose policies she felt were inimical to the records or other things she cared about so much. They knew it too and some were willing to take the easy way out by leaving by the back door of their offices as soon as her arrival was announced. She had the supreme good fortune to have a mind that became sharper the greater the opposition and was capable of annihilating ripostes. Lesser folk were generally more kindly treated, and there are many in all walks of life who retain memories of Miss Wake's affection for them. 162

THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF JOAN WAKE

1911 'Singing of Christmas Carols', The Gentlewoman. p. 882. 'Folk Carols', Country Life. December 23rd. 1920-1962 The Annual Reports of the Northamptonshire Record Society were written by Miss Wake as Hon. Secretary. 1920 'Manuscript Sources of History in Northamptonshire'. An Address given June 2nd. Northampton­ shire Natural History Society and Field Club. XX. No. 162. pp. 155-162. Reprinted in pamphlet form. N.D. 1921-23 'An Unrecorded Mayor of Northampton. Roger, Son ofTheobald'. Northamptonshire Notes ·and Queries. New Series. V. pp. 273-274. 1922 'Communitas Villae'. English Historical Review. XXXVII. pp. 406-413. 'Collaboration in Historical Research'. A paper read, June meeting of the Northern Branch Asso­ ciations. Library Association Record. XXIV. No. 8. pp. 245, 255. London. 1923 Rushton Hall. Written for the Northamptonshire Women's Institutes who visited Rushton on 28th June. 'The Science and Romance of Old Manuscripts'. A paper read September. Library Association Record. New Series I. December. 8 pp. London. 1924-1964 As General Editor of the volumes of historical texts published by the Northamptonshire Record Society, Miss Wake contributed prefaces or indexes to volumes IV, V, VI, VIII, XI, XIII, XIV, XVI. 1924 Editor of Quarter Sessions Records of the County of Northampton 1630, 1657, 1657-8. North­ amptonshire Record Society. I. pp. xlix-lvi, 311. How to Compile a History and Present Day Record of Village Life. Northamptonshire Federation of Women's Institutes. 64 pp. 2nd and 3rd revised editions printed in November 1925 (68 pp.), and February 1935 (95 pp.). 'Archives in the Netherlands'. The Reminder. I. No. 13. May 28th. pp. 10-11. Kettering. 'Northamptonshire Magistrates in the 17th Century'. The Reminder. I. No. 18. July 2nd. Kettering. 1925 'Local Sources of History'. Bulletin of Institute of Historical Research. I. 1924. pp. 81-88. London. 1926 Editor of Musters, Beacons, Subsidies, etc., in the County of Northampton, 1586-1623. Northampton­ shire Record Society. Ill. pp. i-xii, xxvi-xxviii, 261. 1930 'The Northamptonshire Record Society. Its Work and Aims'. Reprinted from The Library List. 4 & 5. Northamptonshire County Council. THE PUBLfSHED WORKS OF JOAN WAKE 163

1931 'Several Centuries of Fashion'. Northampton County Magazine. IV. pp. 29-32. 'A Northamptonshire Recipe'. Northampton County Magazine. IV. p. 127. Memorandum of the British Records Society. Records of Boards of Guardians 1834-1930. Suggestions for the Selection of those which should be Preserved. October. 9 pp. London. 1932 'The Romance of Local History'. Northampton County Magazine. V. pp. 147-148. Reprinted as a leaflet. 1933 'Local History and Local Records'. A paper read November 1st 1932 at Oakham. Rutland Archae­ ological and Natural History Society. 20/30 Annual Report. pp. 11-15. Oakham. 'The Romance of Local Records'. A condensed version of a broadcast. April. Northampton County Magazine. VI. pp. 109-112. 1934 Guide to St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. Published by Joan Wake, Cosgrove, Northants. 32 pp. This went into six editions between 1934-9. 1935 The Montagu Musters Book, 1602-1623. Edited with an introduction. Northamptonshire Record Society. VII. pp. iii -lxii, 289.

Northampton Vindicated, or Why the Main Line Missed the Town. Published by J oan Wake A Northampton. 31 pp. Notes on Earls Barton Church, Northamptonshire. with A.B.C. Dover. 16 pp. Northampton. 1936 'Bibliography of the printed works of the Rev. H. !sham Longden'. The Library List, March. Northamptonshire County Council. Reprinted in Northamptonshire and Rutland Clergy by Rev. H. I. Longden. XV. pp. 277-278. 'Northamptonshire in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth'. The Library List, March. Northamptonshire County Council. Northamptonshire in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. A Catalogue of an Exhibition of Portraits and Manuscripts. March 28th - April 4th. 1937 'Manorial Records, their Interest, and their Preservation'. A paper read 16th November. British Records Association Proceedings No. 2. pp. 3-11. London. 1941 'Local Work for Preservation of Records in War Time'. A paper read 12th November 1940. British Records Association Proceedings No. 6. pp.6-8. London. 1942 St. Peter ...... himself a Married Man. Published by Joan Wake, Northampton. Originally written as a preface to Northamptonshire and Rutland Clergy by the Rev. H. I. Longden. XIV. pp. ii-vii. 1943 'A Life of Rev. Henry I sham Longden'. Northamptonshire and Rutland Clergy by Rev. H. I. Longden. XV. pp. v-xlvii and pedigree. Reprinted in booklet form. A Northamptonshire Rector. pp. 48 and pedigree. Northampton. 'County Portrait Gallery'. Illustrated. County Life August 13th. pp. 282-285. 1946 'Memorandum'. English Local Records. pp. 4. A copy is in the N.R.S. ref. M.P. 173. 1948-1962 As Editor of Northamptonshire Past and Present from its commencement to Volume Three Number Three, Miss Wake was responsible for the 'Notes and News' pages and the author of many small unsigned pieces. She is also the 'Wimersley Bush' of the Whittlebury Forest tales. 164 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

1948 'Links with the United States'. N.P.&P. I. No. 1. pp. 41-42. 1949 'The Place of the Public Library in the Care of Records'. A paper read at a conference in October. Library Association-London and Home Counties Branch. pp. 3-5. 'Approach to Local History'. Northampton Countryside. June. I. No. 1. pp. 7-11. 'Tales ofWhittlebury Forest, number one'. N.P.&P. I. No. 2. pp.13-18. 'Kirby Hall Receipts'. pp. 34-38. 'A Fawsley Christening'. pp. 39-44. 1950 'William Thomas Mellows'. N.P.&P. I. No. 3. pp. 1-5. 'Tales ofWhittlebury Forest, number two'. pp. 13-16. 'The Matter of !sham Cross'. Jointly with Patrick King. pp. 17-21 and 24. 1951 Guide to an Exhibition illustrating the History of Local Government. Jointly with Shelagh Lewis. May 1951. 16 pp. 'Tales ofWhittlebury Forest, number three'. N.P.&P. I. No. 4. pp. 19-22. 'Inclosure of Open Fields in Northamptonshire'. p. 35. 1952 'Two Justices Fall Out'. N.P.&P. I. No. 5. pp.l-9. 'Tales of Whittlebury Forest, number four'. pp. 24-28. 'The Early Days of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society'. A paper read 1st April to the N.N.H.S. pp. 39-52. 1953 The Brudenells of Deene. pp. xvi, 516. London. 2nd and revised edition, October 1954. Descriptions of Deene Church, Courteenhall,' The· Grammar School Courteenhall, and Deene Park in Proceedings of the Royal Archaeological Institute, Summer Meeting at Northampton. 1953. London. 'Tales of Whittlebury Forest, number five'. N.P.& P. I. No. 6. pp. 39-42. Review: Vaux of Harrowden by Godfrey Anstruther. pp. 49-50. 1954 Review: Local Records, their Nature and Care. Edited by Lilian J. Redstone and Francis W. Steer. The Antiquaries Journal XXXIV. January-April No. 1, 2. pp. 114-115. 'Ethel Stokes-A Tribute'. N.P.&P. II. No. 1. pp. 3-9. 'The Death of Francis Tresham'. pp. 31-41. 'Village Scrap Books', pp. 42-55. Review: Domesday Geography of Midland England edited by H. C. Darby and I. B. Terrett. p.50. Review: The Nineteenth Century Parson by A. Tindall Hart. p. 51. Review: The Lost Villages of England by Maurice Beresford. p. 52. 1955 'Sir William Dugdale in Northamptonshire' with Sir Gyles !sham. N.P.&P. II. No. 2. pp. 68-72. Obituary-Mr. Frank Lee. pp. 104-105. 1956 'William Cecil, 5th Marquess of Exeter'. N.P.&P. II. No. 3. pp. 117-121. Review: Reminiscences of Bert Drage. p. 156. 'Alice Dryden'. pp. 157-159. 'A Clerical Character (the Rev. Loraine Loraine Smith)'. p. 160. JOAN WAKE 165

1957 'The Rent of a Pepper Corn' N.P.&P. II. No. 4. p. 174. 'Traveller's Tale' an Address to the N.R.S. pp. 184-188. 'A Family of Shoemakers and Musicians'. pp. 204-206. 1958 'Northamptonshire Records'. Speculum. XXXIII. No. 2. pp. 229-235. Obituary-Lt. General Sir John Brown. Mrs. Howard Parker. N.P.&P. II. No. 5. p.220. 'Delapre Abbey' with W. A. Pantin. pp. 225-241. 'Memories of Northamptonshire Villages'. pp. 256-260. 1959 Delapre Abbey, Its History and Architecture with W. A. Pantin. pp. 1-20. Northampton. 'Delapre Day'. N.P.&P. II. No. 6. pp. 269-271. 'Churches in Trust'. pp. 294-303. 'History in Stone: the Story of Astwell Manor House'. pp. 324-329. 'Delapre Day. Extracts from Speeches'. p. 330. Review: Local History in England by W. G. Hoskins. p. 331. 1960 'Cromwell's Head'. N.P.&P. IlL No. 1. p. 3. 'Two Scholars. Hope Emily Alien; Sir Lewis Namier'. pp. 15-19. Review: Index to Wills Proved in the Peculiar Court ofBanbury. ed. J. S. W. Gibson. p. 29. 1961 'Two Northamptonshire Worthies. W. W. Hadley; Lady Etheldreda Wickham'. N.P.&P. Ill. No. 2. pp. 49-53. Review: Victorian Miniature by Owen Chadwick. pp. 65-66. 'The Justices of the Peace 1361-1961'. pp. 71-72. 1962 'A Note on the Book of Common Prayer'. N.P.&P. Ill. No. 3. pp. 79-80. 1964 'Northamptonshire in Southern Rhodesia'. N.P.&P. IlL No. 5. pp. 233-236. Obituary: Charles Darby Linnell. p. 237. 1965 Obituary: Mrs. W. T. Mellows. N.P.&P. Ill. No. 6. p. 297. 1968 'Professor Sir Frank Stenton. Some Recollections'. N.P.&P. IV. No. 3. p. 181. 1969 'Ladies' Cricket Match at Courteenhall'. N.P.&P. IV. No. 4. p. 214. 1971 The Letters of Daniel Baton to the Third Earl of Cardigan. Edited jointly with Deborah Champion Webster. Northamptonshire Record Society. XXIV. pp. i-1, 186 pp. 'Two Feet Deep in Documents'. Northampton and County Independent July. pp. 21-23. Review: Tides and Eddies by Maie Casey. N.P.&P. IV. No. 6. pp. 391-392. 1973 Obituary: Lady Stenton. N.P.&P. V. No. 1. pp. 63-64. Obituary: Mrs. George Brudenell. pp. 64-65.

Acknowledgements to Patrick King, Sir Gyles !sham and V. A. Hatley for help.

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THE ORIGINS OF THE WAKE FAMILY THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BARONY OF BOURNE IN LINCOLNSHIRE

THE copy of our journal published in Miss Joan Wake's memory would seem a proper place to examine the history of the first Wake to become an English landowner, and the early fortunes of the estate which he inherited. It must be made clear that this was not in origin a Northamptonshire estate, but one that came to be centred on Bourne and a number of other villages then on the edges of the fen in southern Lincolnshire. But the county boundary between Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire has never been a geographical barrier; and nor in recent times has it been a barrier to scholars. At the time of the First World War, when the foundation of a Northampton­ shire Record Society was being discussed, Sir Frank Stenton was much involved with the feudal history of eleventh and twelfth century Lincolnshire. Miss Wake, who attended his classes, the excitement of which she so vividly conveys,! must there have discussed some of the problems involved in the early history of her own family. And in the twenties Miss Wake's efforts in surveying and collecting the contents of Northamptonshire muniment rooms resulted in the discovery of a number of charters of crucial importance in elucidating that history.2 The core of the property which came in the mid-twelfth century to the first Hugh Wake comprised three small Domesday tenancies-in-chief. Each of the three estates was compact, being almost entirely confined to a single wapentake. The first of them is that of Oger the Breton, in the south of A veland wapentake and centred upon Bourne. 3 The second is that of Godfrey of Cambrai, in Ness wapentake and centred on West Deeping.4 Both these estates were in the far south of Lincolnshire. Further north, in Graffoe wapentake and centred on Skellingthorpe, was the estate of Baldwin the Fleming. 5 Here we have two men from Flanders and one from Brittany -the Flemings possibly connected in some way with Gilbert de Gant (Ghent), who held a very large estate in southern Lincolnshire. 6 We have first to consider the descent of these three holdings, and the process by which they came to be amalgamated. In the next generation, Oger the Breton was succeeded by his son Ralph. 7 The other two tenancies were amalgamated, and held by Hugh of Envermeu. The evidence for his tenure is scattered, but cumulatively clear. With regard to the land of Godfrey of Cambrai, we know that Hugh gave Wilsford to Envermeu priory, 8 and also that he succeeded Godfrey as tenant of two knights fees held of the abbey of Peterborough. 9 That he was the successor of Godfrey of Cambrai is certain. And there is evidence also to link him with the tenancy of Baldwin the Fleming. The whole of Baldwin's estate was in Domesday disputed by the abbey of Westminster.l0 Hugh certainly inherited the dispute, so we may presume that he also inherited the land. He had to give up the manor of Doddington Picot, which Baldwin had held in 1086 as a tenant of West­ minster,11 but he kept control over Baldwin's demesne. Hugh of Envermeu occurs as a witness

1 Joan Wake, "Professor Sir Frank Stenton: Some 6 Ibid., no. 24, pp. 105-15. Recollections", Northamptonshire Past and Present, 7 J. H. Round, Feudal England (1895), p. 220; iv (1966-71), pp. 181-4. V.C.H. Northants, i. 365-6. 2 F. M. Stenton (ed.), Facsimiles of Early Charters 8 W. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (1846 edn.; from Northamptonshire Collections (N.R.S., iv, 1930; hereafter cited as Monasticon), vi. 1018; this is the hereafter cited as Northants Chs). land of Lines DB, 51 /12. 3 The Lincolnshire Domesday and the Lindsey 9 Below, App. no. 12(a). Survey, ed. C. W. Foster and T. Longley, int. F. M. 1o Lines DB, 65/5, 72/27. Stenton (L.R.S., 19, 1924; hereafter cited as Lines 11 J. Armitage Robinson, Gilbert Crispin (1911), DB), no. 42, pp. 162-4. pp. 144-5 ( = Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, ii, 4 Lines DB, no. 51, pp. 173-4. ed. C. Johnson and H. A. Cronne (1956), no. 818). 5 Ibid., no. 65, pp. 196-7. 168 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT to royal charters in the period from around 1090 to around 1115.12 His brother Turold was bishop of Bayeux from 1099 to 1106, succeeding the Conqueror's half brother Odo of Bayeux.13 This is all that we know of Hugh's connexions; but the fact that he held two Domesday tenancies and not one suggests that his English estate came to him as a result of royal or other patronage and not through marriage.14 Hugh of Envermeu was succeeded, probably around 1115, by William de Rullos, who held his lands for around ten years.15 The Rullos tenancy is the darkest period in the estate's history; there is enough to establish the continuity, but little to give substance to the story. _William gave to the abbey of Bee "all the land which he had in Hykeham" ;16 he also sub­ infeudated a knight's fee to Osmund de Wasprey in Haddington and Whisby.l7 Both these transactions relate to the Domesday tenancy of Bald win the Fleming. There is no reason to doubt that he also succeeded to the estate of Godfrey of Cambrai. According to the pseudo-Ingulf, Richard de Rullos was a great fen coloniser, from his manor at Deeping: the story is dated to the Conqueror's day, but it would fit the 1120s.18 Also, a Robert de Rullos occurs around 1145, one of whose descendants held land in Deeping.19 . The early twelfth century surveys of Lindsey, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire tantalisingly fail to help us very much. What we need is a Kesteven Survey, but none survives. As already noted, Ralf the son of Oger the Breton held Thrapston. In the Leicestershire Survey, (Baldwin) fi.tz Gilbert had Sproxton, the one Leicestershire property of Godfrey de Cambrai;20 but in the same document Richard de Rullos held land in Thorpe Sachville and Twyford, which has not been traced in Domesday, but which later was a Wake fee. 21 It is interesting to find both Richard de Rullos and his successor Baldwin fitz Gilbert in the same document. 22 It must be emphasised here that no clear evidence has been found to connect either Hugh of Envermeu or William de Rullos with Bourne, the centre of the estate controlled by Baldwin fitz Gilbert and then by Hugh Wake. 23 This does not constitute a compelling argument against their tenancy, for our evidence from this period is chiefly from the records of monastic patronage, and it was characteristically the outlying portions of an estate which were used for this purpose. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that Hugh of Envermeu held Bourne; and that William de Rullos did cannot be proved. The evidence of the early records suggests a descent as follows .

12 Regesta, i, ed. H. W. C. Davis nos. 354, 400; in Stockerston and Smeeton Westerby. For Thorpe ii, ed. Johnson and Cronne, nos. 601, 727,794-5, 973. Sachville and Twyford, see below, App. 1, no. 4 ; 13 L. C. Loyd, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman the other two tenancies have not been subsequently Families (Harleian Soc., ciii, 1951), p. 39. identified. 14 Since Hugh of Envermeu succeeded Godfrey de 22 This might seem to cause some difficulties to Cambrai, it is worth noting that a "Euremar", the those who seek a single date for these texts; see man of Godfrey, held in Greatford in 1086 : Lines Round, Feudal England, pp. 196-7, and Slade, L eic­ DB, 51 /6. ester Survey, p. 12. 1 5 For the families of Rullos see Earlv Yorkshire 23 The only evidence of Hugh of Envermeu's Charters, ed."Sir-Charles Clay, v. 95-9. · tenancy of Bourne is the pseudo-Ingulf (Feudal 16 Monasticon, vi. 1018. England, p. 165); for William de Rullos there is the 17 Below, App. no. 7. additional evidence of Northants Chs, pp. 82-3. 18 On this see H. E. Hallam, Settlement and Society Aelina de Rullos was given Thrapston (Northants) (1965), pp. 115-18. and Skellingthorpe and Hykeham (Lines) as dower, 1 9 F. M. Stenton (ed.), Documents Illustrative of the on the death of Baldwin fitz Gilbert; she gave these Social and Economic History of the Danelaw (1920; manors to her daughter, and gave as her title that hereafter cited as Danelaw Chs), no. 470; B. M. she was "heir to the whole inheritance of Richard de Harley MS. 3658, fos. 13r, 16v. Rullos my father". Thrapston was one of Oger the 2° C. F. Slade, The Leicestershire Survey (Leicester, Breton's manors, and Stenton took this as proving 1956), pp. 21-2. that William de Rullos inherited Oger's estate; but 21 Ibid., p. 15; in addition to just under 9 carucates I would prefer to read the phrase as a general rather in Thorpe Sachville and Twyford, he also had land than a specific statement of title. THE ORIGINS OF THE WAKE FAMILY 169

BOURNE DEEPING SKELLINGTHORPE fiar eat 1086 Oger the Breton Godfrey de Cambrai Baldwin the Fleming I_ ,..------1 I I c. 1105 Ralfthe son Hugh de Envermeu ofOger I c. 1120 Ralf, or his successor, or William de Rullos

Williaffi l_e_R_u_ll_os-----;, .,--,------~

c. 1135 Baldwin fitz Gilbert de Clare I c. 1160 Hugh Wake Baldwin fitz Gilbert is the first man who can be proved to have held the three Domesday estates which later formed the core of the barony of Bourne. Baldwin was a member of the important Anglo-Norman family of Clare. The main Clare tenants in this period were Richard (killed by the Welsh in 1136), who was Baldwin's elder brother, and Gilbert (Earl of Hertford from 1138, who died in 1152), who was Baldwin's nephew. 24 It is important to note also that Baldwin's sister-in-law was Adeliza, the sister of Ranulf de Gernons, earl of Chester from around 1129 to 1153. The earls of Chester during this period had a powerful influence in Lincolnshire affairs, and it seems likely that Hugh Wake's marriage to Baldwin's daughter is one result of that involvement. Baldwin fitz Gilbert was a younger son; but younger sons of families of this eminence were important barons in their own right. Baldwin had a strong enough base to be able to give Bourne, his wife's inheritance, to a daughter in his own lifetime, even though he had surviving sons at the tiine.25 Baldwin first appears in the early 1120s ;26 he married in the mid 1120s ;27 and from around 1129 we have the first document relating to his tenancy at Bourne, a royal charter confirming to the monks of Envermeu what Baldwin fitz Gilbert had given them of the lands of Hugh of Envermeu. 28 From 1130 he is a fairly frequent witness to royal charters for a period of a quarter of a century.29 He had a military career in Stephen's reign, if not a particularly successful one. In 1136 he led a large force into Wales to avenge his brother's death. According to one chronicler, however, when he heard that he faced stiff opposition, "he was struck with fear and halted his march, and delaying there a long time, he gave himself over entirely to gluttony and sloth"; and we are told that he returned home "needy and discredited". 30 He lived to fight again, and he was much in Stephen's company in the early part of the reign. He is reported to have

24 . For the Clare genealogy in this period see Round, to Baldwin's daughter by 1146; it seems unlikely Feudal England, pp. 472-4; for royal patronage of that Baldwin was married much, if at all, after 1126. them see the remarks of R. W. Southern, Medieval For the danger~ of assuming that too many holdings Humanism and Other Studies (1970), pp. 212-13. changed hands m c. 1129 see C. Warren Hollister in 25 Godfrey and Robert, the sons of Baldwin, wit­ History, 58 (1973), pp. 21-3. nessed Northants Chs, p. 19; Roger son of Baldwin 28 Regesta, ii, no. 1577. issued Danelaw Chs, no. 470. 29 Regesta, ii, nos. 1664, 1666, 1900-1; iii. ed. H. A. 26 Regesta, ii, nos. 1222, 1283, entries which suggest Cronne and R. H. C. Davis, nos. 11, 114, 249, 276, that he was then a young man; Regesta, ii, no. 1038, 387, 413, 442, 494, 814, 835, 853, 855: 878-82, 892, which he witnessed, is dated to 1114, but the charter 896, 920, 992. has several suspicious features, the date among them. 30 Gesta Stephani, ed. K . R. Potter (1955), pp. 27 It is argued below that Hugh Wake was married 12-13. 170 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT given the oration to the king's troops before the battle of Lincoln in 1141: "as King Stephen's voice was not very powerful, Baldwin fitz Gilbert, a man of the highest rank and a brave soldier" took his stand upon a height, and "after arresting their attention by a short and modest pause" addressed the troops.31 The speech, as reported, was long and eloquent, but the result was a victory for the earl of Chester, and Baldwin was captured. He is not mentioned again by the chroniclers, but a number of charters relate to the period up to his death in or shortly after 1154. 32 It was the mid 1140s which saw the marriage of Hugh Wake to Emma, the daughter of Baldwin fitz Gilbert. The family of Wake is another Norman family, but hardly one of major standing in the first half of the twelfth century, for all that is known of Hugh's father is that he was called Geoffrey, held land in Guernsey and built a windmill in a place unspecified.33 The sudden appearance of the Wakes in England in the middle of Stephen's reign is a useful reminder that the Norman settlement of Britain was not a single event but a long process: eighty years after the Conquest a Norman knight could enter the ranks of the baronage by a fortunate marriage. In the light ofHugh Wake's later career, there must be a strong possibility that he came to England as a knight of Ranulf of Chester. And in the light of other marriages into the Chester connexion which followed after the battle of Lincoln, 34 it is possible that a measure of dependence on the earl led to Baldwin's daughter marrying Hugh Wake. Certainly she did not marry above herself. The marriage most likely took place in 1145 or 1146, well before the date of Baldwin's death;35 it is from this time on that we have clear evidence of Hugh's activity. All of his political career was in a Chester environment. At Stamford in 1146 he witnessed Stephen's grant to Ranulf's half-brother, William de Roumare, earl of Lincoln;36 and he witnessed two of Ranulf's charters around the same time. 37 Towards the end of the reign he was at the Chester stronghold at Castle Donnington in Leicestershire, and in Ranulf's company at Devizes and Stamford in 1153.38 With Ranulf's death in 1153 he leaves the national stage, on which he had only had a supporting role. The strength of Hugh's local position is, however, very clear, and with the feudal returns of 1166 we can start to build up a full picture of the original base of the Wake family in England. He had three main demesne manors: at Bourne and Morton, at Deeping, and at Skellingthorpe and South Hykeham. 39 Other properties may have been in demesne, including the manors of Stenigot in Lincolnshire, Thrapston in Northamptonshire, and some property in Leicestershire.40 These manors would have been his main bases, and have provided most of the produce which sustained his household. He also had feudal rent from the other properties that had been subin­ feudated, that is, granted by himself and his ancestors to their followers for feudal service. The

31 Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. supports the date of 1146; a Simon Wake held a T. Arnold (Rolls Ser., 74, 1879), pp. 271-4. knight's fee of William de Roumare in 1166, Red 32 Regesta, iii, no. 896; Stenton, Northants Chs, Book of the Exchequer, ed. H. Hall (Rolls Ser., 99, p. 20 note 1. 1896 hereafter cited as R.B.E.), i. 378. 33 Complete Peerage, xii, pt. 2, p. 295. A full analysis 37 R. H. C. Davis, "An unknown Coventry char­ of Wake's Norman property might well throw up ter", English Historical Review, lxxxvi (1971), pp. material of value for this period, but this has not been 534-7. attempted here. 38 Staffordshire Historical Collections, iii. 196 (pro­ 34 See the valuable remarks of D. E. Greenway, bably also at Castle Donnington, he witnessed a Charters of the Honour of Mowbray 1107-1191 (1972), charter of Richard Bacon, Monasticon, vi. 410-11; pp. xxvii-xxviii. but if it must be dated to 1142-3, Hugh Wake's 35 If Baldwin had said half the rude things about presence is another argument against its authenticity: Ranulf that are reported by Henry of Huntingdon see W. Farrer, Honors and Knights Fees, ii. 257-8); (as cited above note 31), it must have been an inter­ Regesta, iii, nos. 180, 492. esting wedding, but better chroniclers than Henry 39 In 1282 the Lincolnshire manors held in demesne · take a lot of liberties with such speeches. Baldwin were Bourne, Deeping, and Skellingthorpe, the occurs in one of Ranulf's charters (F. M. Stenton, centres in 1086 of the three estates which Hugh Wake The First Century of English Feudalism, 2nd edn., had inherited, and Kelby, which had recently been pp. 271-2); and in his company elsewhere (Regesta, exchanged: Gal. of Inquisitions Post Mortem, ii, pp. iii, nos. 494, 992). A difficulty with this date for the 261-2. wedding lies in the fact that Baldwin is described as 40 Stenigot was surveyed as a demesne manor after "of Bourne" in a charter of c. 1154: Charters relating the civil war of Henry Ill's reign, Calendar of Mise. to Gilbertine Houses, ed. Stenton (L.R.S. 18, 1922), Inquisitions, i. no. 784; for Thrapston, Northants p. 4; cf. Northants Chs, p. 20 note 1. Chs, pp. 82-3, 86-7; for other property see below, 36 Regesta, iii, no. 494, where Hugh Wake's presence App.no. 11. CHARTER OF ROGER SON OF BALDWIN DE CLARE B.M. Harleian Ch. 50 A 9; printed Danelaw Chs., no. 470; reproduced by permissio:1 of the British Library Board. 8" x 5.1". For this tenancy see Appendix No. 8.

CHARTER OF HUGH WAKE B.M. Add. Ch. 47632: printed Danelaw Chs., no. 333; reproduced by permission of the British Library Board. 6.9" X 2.5". 172 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

1166 return provides the key to the identification of these tenants and their holdings.41 William de Coleville, the lord of Castle Bytham, had the overlordship of two Wake fees, one of them close to his base, the other more distant. Ernald de Bosco, steward of the earl of Leicester, similarly controlled some at least of Wake's Leicestershire property. Renald de Tany was the chief tenant in Hertfordshire. Nearer to the centre of the Bourne honour, Hugh Wake exercised more direct lordship over a number of feudal tenants of lesser rank. An effort is made to trace the various properties granted for secular purposes in the Appendix. The subinfeudations on the honour of Bourne had taken place in the first half of the twelfth century ;42 the more important of them in the time of the Rullos and Clare tenancies in the 1120s and 1130s. From their demesne properties also, both Baldwin fitz Gilbert and Hugh Wake made numerous grants to religious foundations. Bald win appears as the founder of two religious houses, and the patron of several others. We have the original foundation charter of the Augustinian house he established at Bourne in 1138, a document discovered by Miss Wake among the muniments at Burghley House.43 In 1139 or shortly thereafter, he also founded a small cell of Thorney abbey at Deeping St. James.44 He also gave Hartsholm in Skellingthorpe to Bardney Abbey; rights in the fen at Morton to the Cistercian abbey of Vaudey three miles west of Bourne; and land in Normandy to the famous monasteries of Bee and Holy Trinity, Caen.45 Hugh Wake was the chief patron of the house ofLongues, to which he gave four churches "of his fee" in Normandy.46 He also confirmed and added to Bald win's endowments of the Lincolnshire houses of Bourne, Deeping and Vaudey.47 These religious endowments are important evidence of the position which the lords of Bourne held; the founding of a new house is the clearest evidence that a man considered he had "arrived". While we are confining our attention to the English lands, it is important to note that both Baldwin and Hugh had a base in Normandy, which still moved and influenced them. Hugh Wake had 10k fees enfeoffed in 1166, a small enough barony by any standards. In addition, however, he held at least as large an estate as the sub-tenant of other lords, both lay and ecclesiastical. Of ecclesiastical landowners he held two fees of the bishop of Durham, one of the abbot of St. AI bans and five of the abbot of Peterborough. Of lay lords, there were one fee of the earl of Huntingdon, one of the earl of Gloucester, around one and a half of the earl of Chester, and two of Robert of Stafford. There was possibly a further fee held of Humphrey de Bohun. The sub-tenancies amount to at least thirteen and a half fees, and the whole estate to a little if at all under twenty-five fees. The whole lordship gained extra strength from its relative compactness. The various subordinate holdings have been listed, and identified so far as is possible, in the Appendix. Feudal lordship was not a static thing, but a continuing struggle for the preservation of existing rights and lands, and for the acquisition of others. Our records are colourless, but the clues as to the struggle for lordship are nonetheless there. At its simplest, the successful extension of Wake authority is seen in Simon of Senliz's complaint in 1166 that "Hugh Wake has taken over Hanthorpe without any increase in service". Hugh had a demesne in Hanthorpe, but there was also a Gant tenancy there, which he had quietly engrossed. 48 A different sort of extension of authority is found with the Peterborough sub-tenancies. Godfrey of Cambrai held of Peter­ borough Abbey in 1086; but two further tenancies in southern Lincolnshire were held by Robert of Gimiges and Ansford in c. 1105, in neither of which had any ancestor of the Wakes any lordship at all. 49 Peterborough clearly had a good deal of trouble in keeping control over these two tenancies : it obtained a charter from Henry I confirming "the service due from the land of certain knights", and Ansford of Witham and Robert of Gimiges are the first two men named. The successors of

41 R.B.E., i. 378-80; translated in the Appendix. 45 Registrum Antiquissimum, ed. C. W. Foster, i. 286 42 The Domesday tenancies were sufficiently small (L.R.S., 27, 1931; hereafter cited as Reg. Ant.); and compact to have been exploited directly. It was Monasticon, v. 490; L. Delisle and E. Berger, Receuil only with amalgamation that problems of control des Actes de Henri II, ii (Paris, 1920), pp. 201, 376. would have arisen, and holdings have been granted 46 Ibid., ii. 408-10. away. 47 Monasticon, vi. 371; iv. 169; v. 490. 43 Northants Chs, pp. 18-20. 48 Below, App. no. 18. 44 Monasticon, iv. 167-9. 49 Below, App. nos. 12(a) and (b). THE ORIGINS OF THE WAKE FAMILY 173 these men held of the lords of Bourne, who held of Peterborough Abbey: in return for a secure title, the abbey was forced to share the profits of lordship with the Wakes. The arrangement was due to Wake acquisitiveness, but it was advantageous to both parties; with the disintegration of feudal tenures, it was an advantage to have scattered and subdivided holdings responsible to a landowner on the spot. As well as his Lincolnshire holdings, Hugh Wake had inherited property in Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. In theory he controlled it; but in practise the changes of the mid twelfth century confirmed the rights of tenants, and a distant landlord could not make up with local influence what he lacked in legal authority. The factors, that is, that worked for Hugh in his own area, and which we have seen enabling him to extend his influence in southern Lincoln­ shire, elsewhere worked against him. Hugh's struggle for lordship on the frontiers of his authority can also be seen, though less clearly, in the documents which survive. From around 1150 we have the only surviving charter of the first Hugh Wake. 50 It grants nine bovates of land at Waltham on the Wolds in Leicestershire to a man called Bernard: "I ask all my friends and my lords, and I order all my men and my officers to support and protect Bernard and his heirs as they love me and my honour". This is an interesting charter ;51 and one of the more interesting things about it is that Hugh does not seem to have had any land in Waltham, to give to anyone at all. 52 Hugh may have thought this was a good area for feudal take-over, and he may have been right; but the man who was to do it was Ernald de Bosco, from his castle at Thorpe Arnold a mile or so away. A similar impression of Hugh's being out of his depth is given by the one other of his charters to survive in a full copy. 53 This gave Revesby Abbey a hundred acres of land in Kirkby, and other rights; and confirmed earl William de Roumare's gifts in Sibsey. Here again, the only unclear part of the transaction is Hugh Wake's title. The Chester-Roumare connexion may explain how Hugh Wake had a hold here; and there were good opportunities for assarting and engrossing on the frontiers of the fens. 54 But there is no subsequent Wake association with either Waltham or Kirkby. Hugh Wake had reached the frontiers of his lordship. When the lands of the honour of Bourne, demesne and subinfeudated, are put alongside those held of other honours, the picture is that given by the map. It shows the villages which contained land held by the first Hugh Wake, or by his men. The greater part of this estate is within Kesteven, the southern part of Lincolnshire, and within Kesteven in the very south of the county. The changes in the period we have studied were considerable. A small barony composed of three separate Domesday estates had gone through three different families before coming to Hugh Wake. Hugh held of at least seven different lords, as well as of the king. In the process, the confusion of Domesday lordship had been translated into a relatively compact and homogenous feudal estate. The confident tone of Hugh Wake's return to the enquiry of 1166 may well be an accurate reflexion of personality; and the confidence was probably not misplaced. He cannot have foreseen the marriages which would raise his house to prominence, and the many colourful personalities who would distinguish his line. But his position was secure enough. He ran what for the mid twelfth century was a "model" estate.

EDMUND KING.

50 Danelaw Chs, no. 333. relating to Revesby Abbey 1142-1539 (Horncastle, 51 Stenton, Ibid., p. 237. 1889), no. 7(c). 52 A generation earlier, the earl of Leicester had 54 Dorothy Owen, "Some Revesby Charters of the 16! carucates in Waltham, and Alan de Craon 2! Soke of Bolingbroke", Medieval Miscellany presented carucates: Slade, Leicester Survey, p. 54. to D. M. Stenton (Pipe Roll Soc., n.s. 36, 1962), 5 3 E. Stanhope, Abstracts of the Deeds and Charters p. 226. 174 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

APPENDIX

The return made by Hugh Wake in response to Henry II's enquiry into feudal service in 1166 : translated from R.B.E., i, pp. 378-80.

To King Henry his most dear lord, Hugh Wake sends greeting and loyal service. The lord William de Coleville holds of the barony which I hold of you a fee of two knights: namely, Roland de Creeton one knight (1) and Alexander of Watford one knight (2); and from my demesne of Bourne I gave him land for which he renders a quarter part of a knight's service. Ernald de Bosco holds a fee of two knights: namely, Ilbert de Kilby one knight (3), and Ivo Mauduit one knight (4). Renald de Tany has a fee of two knights which he holds of me in demesne (5). Elias of Ringstone holds a fee of one knight (6). When King Henry enfeoffed William de Rullos, then William de Rullos gave Osmund de Was prey a fee of one knight from his demesne, which William his son holds of me (7). And Baldwin fitz Gilbert-after King Henry had for his service given him Bourne from his demesne-gave Robert the son of Gubold for his service a fee of one knight, which his son now holds of me (8). And to one of his stewards, Gerold of Deeping, he gave a fee of half a knight from his demesne in Deeping, which the same Gerold now holds of me (9). In Hertfordshire there are certain impoverished lords who hold of me: namely, Ilbert the son of Hamo the clerk for a quarter of a knight's fee; Henry de Hosselles for a quarter of a knight's fee; and the son of Hugh de Laceles for an eighth part of a knight's fee (10). My lord, you wished to know what manner of service I owed to you frt>m my demesne. This is the service which my predecessors rendered in their days to King Henry, who gave them land. And I owe the service of my body to you as my lord, who gave me all this, whenever it shall please you to take it. My lord, it is right that this charter should be made, and if I should be able to enquire further, I will send you word as my lord. Farewell.

The fees which Hugh Wake returned above may be identified as follows: (1) CREETON, Lincs. Lines DB, 51/7-9. William de Coleville had one fee in Creeton in 1212: Book of Fees (3 vols, 1920-31; hereafter cited as Fees), p. 182. (2) WATFORD and WELFORD, Northants. DB, i, fos. 227b, 229a. In the Northants Survey Baldwin fitz Gilbert had 4 hides in Watford and 1i- hides in Welford: VCH Northants, i, p. 379. The tenancy has not been subsequently identified, and Wake probably lost control of it. (3) KILBY, Leics. DB, i, fo. 236a. William ofKilby.held one fee in Kilby in 1235-6: Fees, p. 517. (4) Possibly THORPE SACHVILLE and TWYFORD, Leics. Not recorded in 1086, but in the Leics Survey Richard de Rullos held just under 9 carucates here: Slade, Leicester Survey, pp. 15, 36. Half a fee held of Wake here in 1282: C.Inq.P.M., ii, p. 262. For another possible identification, see below no. 11. (5) In EASTWICK and BENGEO, Herts. Wake tenants inherited property in and around Hertford held by Geoffrey de Bech in 1086; in all about 22 hides of a total of about 43 hides, suggesting a possible division of the property between two heiresses: DB, i, fo. 140a-b. Richard de Tany occurs in Clare charters of the late 1130s, and the family may have held of Clare in Normandy: Northants Chs, 19, 52; Loyd, Origins, p. 101. Reynald de Tany gave the monks of Bermondsey the advowson of Bengeo church in 1156: Annales Monastici, ed. H. R. Luard, iii (Rolls Ser., 36, 1866), p. 439. Richard de Tany held two fees of Wake in 1212: Fees, p. 123. (6) In RINGSTONE and RIPPINGALE, Lincs. Lines DB, 42/11-12, and possibly elsewhere. Elias of Ringstone held five fees of the Bishop of Lincoln in 1166, and witnessed one of his charters shortly before that date: R.B.E., i, 374; Reg. Ant., ii, 309. Another Elias witnessed Danelaw Chs, no. 411, and Adam his son held half a knight's fee of Wake in 1212: Fees, p. 180. (7) In HADDINGTON and WHISBY, Lincs. Lines DB, 65/1-2. Osmund de Wasprey occurs in THE ORIGINS OF THE WAKE FAMILY 175

charters of 1136-38 and 1138-c. 1150: Northants Chs, p. 52; Mowbray Chs, ed. Greenway, p. 259. Loyd says that the family came from a village close to the Clare centre of Orbec (Origins, p. 112). but it should be noted that Hugh Wake records this as a Rullos enfeoffment. The William of 1166 was seemingly succeeded by Baldwin, and Baldwin by another William, who held one knight's fee of Wake in 1212: Northants Chs, 86, 52; B. M. Harl. Ch. 57 D 27; B. M. Cotton Vesp. E. 20, fo. 208r-v; Fees, p. 187. (8) In RIPPINGALE and HACONBY, Lincs. Lines DB, 42/13, and elsewhere. The grant of part of this fee is Danelaw Chs, no. 470-"9 bovates of land of the fee of Morton, and the service of Alured of Haconby of the fee of Robert of Stafford". The 9 bovates are either Lines DB, 42/14, disputed at 72/44, or more likely 42/17-18 (probably= 61 /3), disputed at 72/42. The service of Alured of Haconby is from 59/17; for his fee of Stafford see R.B.E., i, 266. Robert son of Gubold witnessed the foundation charter of Bourne priory, and gave land to it, which Hugh Wake con­ firmed: Northants Chs, 19; Monasticon, vi. 371, confirming the land of Lines DB, 42/6 (in dispute, cf. 61/2, 72/41). A William Gubold, possibly Robert's son, occurs in Peterborough D & C MS. 23, fo. 33 (cited in Hallam, Settlement and Society, p. 108), and B. M. Add Chs. 21096-7. In 1212 John Gubbold held a fee of Wake: Fees, p. 180, and see Reg. Ant., vii. 126-7. (9) In DEEPING. Lines DB, 51 / possibly part of3. Gerold gave 6 acres to Deeping priory between 1139 and 1148: Monasticon, iv. 169. John his son occurs in Danelaw Chs, no. 443. There were many small fees in Deeping, and this one cannot be clearly traced in any later record. (10) The poor knights of Hertfordshire had part of the property held by Geoffrey de Bech in 1086; see above, no. 5.

Other fees may not have been acknowledged in 1166, including the following: (11) In SPROXTON, Leics. Held by Godfrey de Cambrai in 1086, and by (Baldwin) fitz Gilbert at the time of the Leics Survey: DB, i, fo. 235b; Slade, Leicester Survey, pp. 21-2. This is not mentioned as subinfeudated in 1166, but it was later a Wake fee: Hugh de Boby held of Wake here in 1235-6, Fees, p. 517. The family seems closely identified with the Wakes: Northants Chs, p. 18; Danelaw Chs, pp. 315, 328; B. M. Harl. Ch. 57 D 27. In Danelaw Chs, no. 443, Hugh de Boby gives St. Michael's, Stamford an acre in East Deeping which his lord Baldwin Wake gave him.

Hugh Wake also held other estates, as the sub-tenant of the following lords: (12) PETERBOROUGH ABBEY. There is no detailed list of Peterborough fees for 1166, but nonetheless a wealth of feudal inform­ ation: see Henry of Pytchley's Book of Fees, ed. W. T. Mellows (N.R.S., ii, 1927), pp. 81-4. (a) In DEEPING and STOWE, Lincs. Lines DB, 8/33, 36, 38-9; held of the abbey by Godfrey of Cambrai. Held of Hugh of Envermeu in c. 1105: Descriptio Militum, no. 43 (as printed by King in Eng. Hist. Rev., 1969, pp. 97-101). In 1212 Wake held of the abbey in demesne threequarters of a knight's fee in East Deeping, Stowe and Barholm: Fees, p. 181. (b) In CAREBY and LITTLE BYTHAM, Lincs. Lines DB, 8/5, 7: held by the abbey in demesne. Held by Robert de Gimiges in c. 1105: Descriptio Militum, no. 45. Holding confirmed to the abbey by Henry I: Regesta, ii, no. 1038. In 1212 Wake held two fees of the abbey in Careby and Little Bytham: Fees, p. 182, and cf. Lines DB, p. 1. (c) In WITHAM-ON-THE-HILL, Lincs. Lines DB, 8/6, 34-5, 37: the tenancy of Ansford, which had been held by Hereward in 1066 (hence the story of Hereward "the Wake", on which see Round, Feudal England, pp. 159-61; but this is possibly not the occasion to pursue the matter further). Held by Ansford in c. 1105, and also confirmed to the abbey by Henry I: Descriptio Militum, no. 44; Regesta, ii, no. 1038. (13) ST ALBANS ABBEY In ALDENHAM and ST. MICHAEL's, Herts. Hugh Wake held one fee of the abbey, de veteri, i.e. 176 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

created before 1135 (R.B.E., i, p. 360); this is clearly the land held of the abbey by Geoffrey de Bech in 1086 (DB, i, fos. 135b-136a). Not subsequently identified; but cf. above, no. 5. (14) BISHOP OF DURHAM In KELBY and NoRTH and SouTH RAucEBY, Lincs. Lines DB, 3/35, 57: held by Almod, the bishop's man. In 1212 Geoffrey of Envermeu occurs as a tenant of the Bishop of Durham; in 1242 as a tenant of Wake, who held of the Bishop: Fees, pp. 179, 1030. In 1282 Wake had Kelby in demesne, having exchanged it with Reginald of Envermeu: C.Inq.P.M., ii, pp. 261-2. It may be presumed that this was an Envermeu tenancy throughout the twelfth century. (15) EARL OF GLOUCESTER. In BRACEBRIDGE, CANWICK and METHERINGHAM, Lincs. In Lines DB, 6/1, Geoffrey of Coutances had 6 carucates in Canwick and Bracebridge, his only property in the county; the Metheringham estate is harder to identify, but may be part of Ibid., 68/4 the land of Ragenald. In 1212 and 1242 Wake had tenants holding one fee in Bracebridge and a third of a fee in Metheringham (Fees, pp. 177-8, 1041); but some land here must have been held in demesne (B.M. Harl. Ch. 57 D 27). (16) ROBERT OF STAFFORD. In THURLBY, CARLBY, BRACEBOROUGH and elsewhere in Lincs. Robert of Stafford's return in 1166 makes no mention of a Wake sub-tenancy, but it can clearly be identified as the tenancy held of Stafford by Godfrey (of Cambrai) in 1086: Lines DB, 59/4-8. In 1166 William de Wasteneis held a fee of two knights ofRobert of Stafford; and in 1212 Philip de Wasteneis held two fees of Wake, who held of Stafford: R.B.E., i, p. 266; Fees, p. 181. (17) EARL OF CHESTER. There is no return from the earl of Chester in 1166, but two Wake holdings can be identified in STENIGOT and WILSTHORPE, Lincs. Lines DB, 14/51,92: the land ofivo Taillebois. For the descent of this property see I. J. Sanders, English Baronies (1960), pp. 17-18 and notes; and for these two properties see Farrer, Honors and Knights Fees, ii, pp. 169-71. Part of Farrer's analysis, however, is vitiated by his association of 3 carucates in Glentham (Lines DB, 14/17) with the Stenigot and Wilsthorpe holdings; there is no evidence that the properties descended together. (18) EARL OF HUNTINGDON. In HANTHORPE, Lines, and possibly BuRLEY, Rutland. In 1166 Hugh Wake had one fee de veteri (i.e. created before 1135) of Simon of Senliz, and in addition he is stated to have engrossed Han­ thorpe without increase of service. The land engrossed in Hanthorpe is Lines DB, 24/77. The main fee is difficult to identify; the location is not stated in the 13th century returns, and is difficult to guess from Domesday, for Gilbert de Gant's lands overlapped at numerous points with what later would be Wake tenancies. One possibility is the land which Godfrey (of Cambrai) held of Gilbert in Burley (DB, i, fo. 293b), for Hugh Wake issued a charter there (Danelaw Chs, no. 333). (19) HUMPHREY DE BOHUN. Hugh Wake held one fee de novo of Humphrey de Bohun in 1166: R.B.E., i. 244; cf. Sanders, Baronies, p. 91. This holding has not been identified. Why not take acloser look at CORBY,NORTHANTS?

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FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

A RECENT study shows that Northamptonshire contains the sites of no less than 82 villages and hamlets which are known to have existed in the medieval period but which have now almost entirely disappeared, leaving frequently only earthworks or a scatter of pottery and stone behind.1 While the absence of good documentary evidence makes precision impossible in all cases, it is generally thought that most of these villages finally lost their population in the period 1450-88, at a time when landlords were interested in converting arable land to pasture in order to rear sheep .. Mter this period the depopulation of villages continued on a smaller scale and was often due to the action of powerful landlords interested in the creation of ornamental parks around their country houses. This article considers four such places in Northamptonshire; Churchfield and Kingsthorpe lost their inhabitants late in the Middle Ages, and Knuston and Overstone suffered removal for landscaping in the eighteenth century.2

Churchfield Churchfield was one of a series of settlements which occupied the now almost deserted Lyveden valley S.W. of Oundle in the medieval period (Fig. 1). It is first mentioned (as Ciricfield, the open land by the church) in a charter of c.964 A.D. which describes the boundaries of an estate belonging to Peterborough monastery.3 The name suggests but does not prove the early existence of a chapel, presumably dependant upon a minster church at Oundle, and in fact Church­ field remained part of·Oundle parish until a boundary change in 1895 added to it Benefield. Its territory (Fig. 1), which was independent of the land of Oundle, consists of a tongue of land jutting S.W. into the Lyveden valley.4 This suggests penetration from the direction of Oundle and accords with the impression given by the charter, with its repeated references to clearings and treestumps, to the removal of woodland for agriculture. Saxo-Norman pottery from Lyveden5 a mile away to the S.W., suggests similar forest settlements at a comparable date. In the 12th century, Churchfield was held by the Angevin family but passed in 1289 to Hugh de Gorham.6 In 1332, the Gorhams sold Churchfield to Robert Wyvill, bishop of Salisbury, who was building up a considerable estate at Lyveden; he is mentioned several times in 14th century charters relating to it and in 1328 received licence to empark his wood at Lytelhawe by Lyveden.7 From this time on Churchfield and Lyveden remain closely linked as part of one estate,

1 K. J. Allison, M. W. Beresford and J. G. Hurst ley 1632, N .R.O. map 2221; Elmington Tithe Map The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, Leicester, 1838, N.R.O.T. 108; Barnwell Tithe Map N.R.O.T. 1966. . 289; map of Armston 1716, N.R.O. map 1376; map 2 The sites were the subject of surveys carried out of Hemington and Kingsthorpe 1716 N .R.O. map by students attending courses on field archaeology 1390; maps of Lilford and Wigsthorpe 1769 and organised by the Adult Education Department of 1794, N.R.O. maps 3782 and 3761. Leicester University. The article is published with 5 Bull Northamptonshire Fed Archaeol Socs 7 the aid of a grant from the Research Board of (1972), 49; G. F. Bryant and J. M. Steane "Excava­ Leicester University. The pottery fragments collected tions at the deserted medieval settlement at Lyveden, from the sites have been examined and commented second interim report", J. Northampton Mus Art on by Mr. D. C. Mynard of Milton Keynes Devel­ Gallery 5 (1969), 17 and 49, sites in Lyveden area opment Corporation, and have been presented to producing St. Neots ware. Northampton Museum. 6 Henry of Pytchley's Book of Fees ed. W. T. 3 J. E. B. Gower, A. Mawer and F . M. Stenton, Mellows, Northamptonshire Record Society (1927) The Place Names of Northamptonshire (1933), 212; 120-1, 146-7; VCH Northants Ill, 92-3; J. Bridges Birch Cartularium Saxonicum Vol. Ill, 368. History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire II, 413; 4 The sources used for the parish and lordship Feudal Aids IV, 48. boundary map are: Oundle Enclosure Map 1810, 7 VCH Northants Ill, 171; Gal Pat R. 1327-30, N.R.O. Map 2858; OS 6" map, edition of 1889; 310. Bryant's map of Northamptonshire 1827; map of Pap- FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 179

t

GP Settlement 0 Deserted settlement -Parish boundary

.. -r·· Hamlet boundary

4 'L"

FIG. 1 PARISH AND LORDSHIP BOUNDARIES IN THE 0UNDLE AREA. although in different parishes; this explains the statement by Bridges that "Churchfield, notwith­ standing its appendance to Oundle, [is] considered parcel of Liveden lordship". In the late 14th century it passed to the Holt family. What record material survives suggests that Churchfield was a small and relatively in­ significant place. The subsidy list of 13018 shows that only nine lay taxpayers paid the fifteenth assessed on the value of moveable property in that year; since no minimum property value was fixed for collection purposes, this is probably a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of families living there. The list was headed by Hugh de Gorham, evidently a resident lord. At the same time Parva Lyveden had 27 taxpayers and the other two hamlets of Oundle shown on the list, Elmington and Ashton, had 10 and 29 respectively. Other records of medieval taxation supply no information, since Churchfi.eld is not named in the quota list of 1334 and is presumably silently included in the Oundle payment of £9.. 9 .. 9. Together with Oundle and its other hamlets it is shown by name in the poll tax receipts of 1377 but the number of taxpayers there is not separately given. 9 Compared with neighbouring settlements it appears infrequently in other medieval records. The pleas of the forest are full of cases of poaching involving people from Lyveden, Lowick, Brigstock, Aldwinkle, Pilton and Wadenhoe but only on one occasion does Churchfield appear

8 PRO E 179/155/31. 9 Notes from files of M.V.R.G. London. 180 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT in the printed collection, when in 1251 the men of Churchfield, Lyveden and other places met before the steward of the forest to discover who had been responsible for hunting in the forest.10 Occasional references occur to the chapel. It figures in a grant to Peterborough abbey in 1189 of land in Oundle and other places, "with the church and chapels of Aiston, Elmenton and Churchefield".11 Bridges mentioned a "Chapel close" near the house at Churchfield. This chapel was distinct from the "chapel of St. Mary in Great Lyveden in a place called Overende" mentioned in a grant by Robert Wyvill in 1354.12 Bridges makes it clear that the names Great Lyveden and Over (or Upper) Lyveden refer to the same place, yet Churchfield and Upper Lyveden are shown as separate places in a document of 1346.13 Some idea of the nature of the Churchfield and Lyveden estate can be obtained from an inquisition produced in connection with the forfeiture of the lands of John Holt in 1388.14 This treats his holdings at Churchfield, Lyveden, Warmington, Oundle and Elton as a unit but it is a reasonable assumption that the main core of the estate lay in the Lyveden valley. Altogether there were 300 acres of arable land of which lOO were fallow, suggesting the operation of some kind of three-field rotation system. He had three small fishponds two old and ruinous dovecotes and two woods containing 12 acres. Altogether rents amounted to £10.. 2 and the perquisites of the manorial courts 2s. 8d annually. The detailed description and valuation of the property at Lyveden, presumably the demesne holding, indicates a mixed economy, with 64 acres sown with wheat, barley and peas; the list refers to cart horses, a cart, ploughs and their gear, oxen, pigs and 48 cattle but only 5 sheep. A list of accounts and rolls of the late 14th and early 15th centuries refers to the holding of manor courts at Churchfield and Lyveden in the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV but the only court roll to survive is one of 1403 held by the bailiff of Sir John Holt the younger ;15 a court at Lyveden was held on the same day, attended by 10 tenants. At Churchfield there was one essoin; one free tenant, William Barker, surrendered his tenement, and three more acknowledged that they held a messuage apiece. Ten other people also pledged fealty and presumably held land at Churchtield, but not all need have lived there; one person is specifically described as "of Oundell". One was a chaplain and might have been connected with the chapel. This roll is the last surviving piece of evidence to imply the continued existence of a settlement at Churchfield and thereafter the history of the place becomes as obscure as that of the rest of the Lyveden valley. The Holt family continued to hold Churchfield and Lyveden at least until 1420 but before 1450 most of the land had been acquired by the Treshams,16 who however were deprived of much of their land by an act of attainder passed by the Yorkist parlia­ ment in 1461 after the battle of Towton. This may explain why we find a substantial farm, con­ sisting of a messuage and 60 acres of arable in Churchfield and Lyveden, held by Agnes Stoke in 1465/6 who in that year was succeeded by her son Thomas Stoke, clerkY John Tresham secured the annulment of the forfeiture in 1485, and Churchfield, Lyveden, Stoke Doyle and Warmington together with other manors, were leased to the earl of Wiltshire. On his death in 1499 they were said to be worth £40 per annum18 but we have no knowledge of the way in which they were being farmed. Rather more information is available about the Stoke estate, for the lnquisitio PostMortem of Thomas Stoke of 1495/6 speaks of a cottage, 100 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow in Lyveden and Churchfield, held of Edward Earl of Wiltshire by fealty only.19 It is significant that the description at this late date is still that of a balanced agricultural unit con­ taining arable, pasture and meadow. It is also of interest to note that the recent excavations at

10 Select Pleas of the Forest Selden Society XIII 15 NRO Finch Hatton 552 and 2698. (1899), 100. 16 M. E. Finch The Wealth of Five Northampton­ 11 Gal Charter R. 1226-57, 19; ibid 1327-41, 274 shire Families Northamptonshire Record Society (confirmation of grant of 1189). (1956), 67. 12 Gal Pat R. 1354-8, 116. 17 Bridges II, 413. 13 Bridges II, 373; Pytchley, 120-1. 18 NRO Stopford Sackville 3751. 14 Gal Mise Inqs 1387-93, 24. 19 Gal lnqs P.M. 1485-97, 523. FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 181

Q Q ~) y

CHURCHFIELD

FIG. 2 CHURCHFIELD.

Lyveden have produced evidence of continued occupation of an agricultural character well on into the late 15th century ;2o perhaps the Stoke farm was situated there. By about 1540 however the whole area had been laid down to grass and had passed to a very large extent into the hands of the Tresham family. In 1540 Prior Tresham obtained licence to empark at Lyveden 120 acres of wood, 250 acres of pasture and 50 acres of meadow; in 1544 he bought a close called Somersailes, large enough for 300 sheep, and acquired another close at Lyveden in 1555. A rental of 1546 shows that the Treshams had let Somersailes and other closes near Churchfield, including Webster's Close, to tenants. Leland, who visited the area between 1535 and 1543, commented on the ancient manor house at Lyveden and its surrounding meadows. In the later 16th century the Treshams began to farm themselves land formerly leased out and went in for sheep farming on a large scale; by 1597 the Lyveden pastures, which no doubt included

20 Note by J. M. Steane in Northamptonshire Archaeology 9 (1974). 182 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT those around Churchfield, had 2,860 of Sir Thomas Tresham's sheep on them. 21 Plans were also afoot for the conversion of Lyveden into an impressive country seat.22 The settlement at Churchfield had by now vanished almost completely, and all that can be said for certain is that desertion took place between the manor court meeting of 1403 and the references to sheep farming and pastures in the 1540s although the fact that neither Churchfield nor Lyveden are mentioned in the returns collected by Wolsey's commissioners into depopulation and enclosure might suggest that these things had in the main taken place before 1488. 23 Depopu­ lation was probably a gradual process, involving the surrender of tenements for better farms elsewhere, perhaps the sort of thing that William Barker was doing in 1403. 24 Also the existence of a sizeable mixed farming unit at Churchfield and Lyveden at the end of the 15th century indicates that in some places in the Lyveden valley at least arable farming went on until quite late, with the change over to pasture not completed until the earlier 16th century. All that remains of Churchfield is a substantial stone farm house which may well be the descendant of the original manor house. This figures in the Hearth Tax returns of 1674 as the only house at Churchfield and is described by Bridges as a "mansion house" forming one of the five component lodges of Lyveden lordship. 25 The Site (TL 006878; Fig. 2) In 1959 Mr. M. Berridge of Churchfield Farm found some 20 yards N.E. of the farmhouse a well preserved stone window head with running saltire ornament in the Transitional style of the later 12th century, which is now preserved at the farm. This was thought to be associated with the chapel known to have existed at Churchfield and from 1961 to 1964 the Local History Society of Oundle School opened up an area immediately to the S. of the place where the window head had been found. The walls left exposed are difficult to interpret but seem to represent several rooms of a substantial domestic building of local limestone with unmortared walls, c.2 ft. thick, probably a manor house. A wall at the N.W. corner of the excavated area may belong to a separate phase or building since its stones are larger and its thickness greater (c. 2ft. 8 in.). Lying about were many fragments of green glazed tiles, stone roofing tiles and pottery. This building occupies the northernmost of three terraces sloping down to Harpers Brook. Close to the brook is a small rectangular depression some 25 x 50 ft. which might be a fishpond. To the N.E. are some battered plough ridges 7-8 yards across. Field walking in the small field immediately N. of the excavated building suggested the presence of scatters of limestone associated with fragments of medieval pottery and tiles. Further work showed that the arable field to the E. of Churchfield Farm contained a very dense scatter of medieval pottery of some 27 acres, with oyster shells, bones and iron slag, which evidently indicated the general site of the settlement of Churchfield. 26 The finds from the site (a) From the area of the excavated building The pottery is mainly of 13th century date, but with some 14th century material. Most of it is of Lyveden shelly type with wall sherds from jugs and bowls with thumbing around the outer edge. 27 There are sherds of Developed Stamford ware of the 13th century, and of Potterspury type and sandy wares of the 13th-14th centuries;

21 Finch op cit note 16, 69, 71 n.1, 74. The field might be thought that Churchfield and Lyveden name maps in Northamptonshire Record Office show would not have been missed. that Somersailes was in the area of NGR SP 972862 24 Also J. Steane "Excavations at Lyveden 1965- and Websters Close around SP 990870. 67" J. Northampton Mus Art Gallery 2 (1967) 6. 22 Sir Gyles !sham "Sir Thomas Tresham and his 25 PRO E 179/254/14; Bridges II, 373. buildings" Rep Pap Northamptonshire Antiq Soc 65 26 Bulletin Northamptonshire Fed Archaeol Sacs 2 (1964-5); A. E. Brown and C. C. Taylor, "The (1967), 22. gardens at Lyveden, Northamptonshire" Arch J. 129 27 D. C. Mynard in D. G. and J. G. Hurst "Exca­ (1972) 154-60. vations at the Medieval Village of Wythemail, North­ 23 I. S. Leadam Domesday of Inclosures 1517-18 amptonshire" Medieval Archaeology XIII (1969), (1897) Vol. 1. The returns record depopulation and Fig. 56, 61. enclosure at Biggin, Oundle and Elmington and it FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 183

also many fragments of Lyveden ridge tiles with characteristic stabbing. A broken iron hunting arrow and a decorated bronze strap and plate resemble examples from Lyveden. 28 There is also a small hemispherical decorated bronze stud and fragments of a green glass flask with vertical and horizontal trailing. (b) From the pottery scatter. Pottery The abundance of pottery in relation to the apparently small size of the place suggests the possibility that, as at Lyveden, pottery might have been made here, but positive proof is lacking. The pottery covers the 12th to 15th centuries, with the bulk of it belonging to the 13th and 14th centuries. There are a few sherds of St. Neots type and of Developed Stamford ware, but the bulk is of Lyveden shell and limestone tempered ware. There are sherds of cooking pots of 12th-14th centuries, with an emphasis on 13th-14th centuries. 29 Jugs are represented by rims, body sherds decorated with white painted strips and clay pads with grid stamp decoration, and also by a wide variety of strap and rod handles.30 There are five pipkin handles and bowls with rims which are upright, thumbed, everted or flanged. 31 There is also a flanged Potterspury bowl rim32 and a few late medieval sherds which are of interest in view of the attested early 15th century occupation.

33 Other Finds include two horse shoes and an ox shoe , an iron key, a heavy nail head, a piece of iron slag, 3 worked flints, and a Romano British grey ware rim.

Kingsthorpe The general location of Kingsthorpe (in the parish of Polebrook) strongly recalls that of Churchfield. The parish boundary map (Fig. 1) shows how both places, together with Papley, Wigsthorpe, Southwick and Lyveden form part of a pattern of secondary settlement on higher clay land or along streams apparently derived from primary villages on lighter soils closer to the Nene. As with Warmington and Papley and Lilford and Wigsthorpe, the settlements are grouped in pairs, the presumed mother settlement of Kingsthorpe being Armston. It is of interest to note, therefore, that in Domesday Book Kingsthorpe is linked with Armston,34 where they are assessed together at 5 hides, held by 5 knights of Peterborough Abbey. Between them they had 6 sokemen, 9 villeins and 3 bordars, which suggests a total population of around 80-90 for the two places in 1086. Kingsthorpe and Armston together were therefore just smaller than Polebrook, which had a recorded population of 1 serf, 13 villeins, 2 bordars and 3 sokemen. Ecclesiastically Kingsthorpe formed a hamlet within Polebrook parish, which means that medieval taxation records tell us little about it. The subsidy roll of 1301 does show the hamlets separately under the heading of Polebrook cum membris but the margin where Kingsthorpe might have been expected has been damaged. Kingsthorpe taxpayers are silently included in the 107 shillings assessed on Polebrook cum membris in 1334 and in the 179 people who paid the poll tax in the same parish in 1377.35 The records of the manorial administration of Kingsthorpe therefore become our main source for its history. Its manorial history is complicated. Pytchley's Book of Fees mentions two fees, which included Kingsthorpe land, both held of Peterborough Abbey. One of these, the fee of Maufe, also included land in Woodford and Hemington and was rated at 2 knight's fees. Before 1254 Robert de Vere granted tenements of this fee in Hemington and Kingsthorpe to the abbot of Thorney. Additionally in 1271 a grant was made by Hervey de Borham, archdeacon of Shropshire, to the ab bey of Thorney of his ''manor" of Kingsthorpe together with land in Arms ton

28 "Excavations at Lyveden 1965-7", op. cit. 24 report, Fig. 57, 89, 90 and 91. 10, a: "Third Interim Report", ibid,Journal9, June 31 Lyveden 1965-7, Fig. 5, f, and Fig. 7, b, c, e-h. 1971, Fig. 11, a,8. 32 Wythemail report, Fig. 58, 112. 29 The Types are as illustrated in Lyveden 1965-7, 33 As Lyveden Second Interim Report, Fig. 17, o, Fig. 4, a - c, Fig. 5, e, and Second Interim Report as and Third Interim Report, Fig. 15, b4. n. 5, Fig. 10, h. 34 VCH Northants I (1902), 315. 30 As in Lyveden 1965-7, Fig. 2, d, e; Wythemail 35 PRO E 179/155/31; PRO E 179/155/3. 184 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Q Q KINGSTHORPE

FIG 3. KINGSTHORPE.

and Hemington.36 Precisely what these lands consisted of we do not know, but the result was to make the Abbey of Thorney a considerable land-owner in Kingsthorpe lordship. This position was strengthened by other grants, as that of a messuage by Robert, son of William de Basingham in c. 1270.37 The second fee, that of Luvetot, which included, inter alia, land in Polebrook, Armston and Winwick, became much split up in the 13th century and in 1252 part of its Kingsthorpe territories were granted back to Peterborough. 38 Other land in Kingsthorpe was granted in the 13th century to the Hospital of St. John the Baptist at Armston and in the 15th century to the chantry founded by William Chamber and his wife at Aldwinkle.39 There was also a "King's Fee". In the 12th century Northamptonshire Survey William de Chirchetot is shown as holding l hide "of the King's fee"; this might be in some way linked with a "King's fee" in Pole brook to which occasional references are found in the 13th and 14th centuries, to the fact that the Crown enclosed land there in 1510 and is shown by terriers to have held land at Kingsthorpe in 1509/10 and that much of Pole brook belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster in the 17th century. 40 The name Kings­ thorpe ("village belonging to the King") suggests that at one time the place had been a royal estate, most of which had been granted to Peterborough Abbey but some of which had been resumed after 1086.

36 Pytchley, 56 and 60 n.1; Bridges II, 419-420; thants Ill, 102. NRO Buccleuch Charters 467, 481, 439, 438, 440, 39 Hospital of St. John: Bridges II, 419; Buccleuch 436; VCH Northants Ill, 106, but see also 81; Gal Charters 370 (c. 1250); Aldwinkle chantry, Bridges Charter R. 1348, 79. II, 418. 37 Buccleuch Charters 432; also 433, c. 1280, quit­ 40 VCH Northants I, 367; VCH Northants Ill, claim by Alice widow of Robert Bosingham to 103; Bridges II, 414; Domesday of Inclosures !, 23, Thorney of her right in a messuage and curtilage. 280. 38 Pytchley 97; Buccleuch Charters 434; VCH Nor- FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 185

The manorial documents which survive consist of 38 charters recording land transactions mainly between tenants, a terrier of the mid 14th century describing two tenements called Aylend and Wresteleys and a set of court rolls of the period 1384-96. The latter relates to the abbot of Thorney's manorial court and records the usual fealties and petty offences. 41 In 1384 for example Thomas Blaysworth was fined 2d. for cutting down two trees in his garden without permission; in 1386 Stephen Oliver made land waste, to the lord's loss, and was fined one shilling. That a chapel existed is shown by an entry in 1396 when John Dury, Henry Aylington, Katherine, wife of Richard Finare and Henry Blaysworth were presented for removing much timber from outside it. The number of jurymen declined from 11 in 1383 and 1385 to 9 in 1394 and 1396; most of them presumably came from Kingsthorpe and some of them can be shown from the charters to have done so. Henry Aylington for example, who appears as a juryman on all the surviving rolls, was a member of a family which is known from a charter to have lived at Kingsthorpe since c.1300. 42 More interesting is the appearance on the rolls of lists of the lord's villeins, who belong to the manor of Kingsthorpe and who are fined for being away from the manor, at Polebrook, Thurning, Oundle, Peterborough and Hemmingford Abbots in Huntingdonshire. In 1384 there were six such people and in 1385 and 1386 13 and 11 respectively, the names being the same in most cases. The impression given is that a substantial number of villeins were choosing to live away from Kingsthorpe. The terrier, which on internal evidence can be dated to before 1381 and the 13th and 14th century charters contain much topographical information about the fields of Kingsthorpe but little about the village. However, three charters speak of the "court of Simon Maufe", the "court of the abbot of Thorney" and the "gate of the hall of Kynestorp", which might relate to the moated site in the S.E. corner of the village area.43 The charters also show how much land in Kingsthorpe was owned and presumably farmed by people who lived in the neighbouring villages and not at Kingsthorpe at all. For example, in 1404 William Castell of "Jokesle" granted to John Aburne of Pole brook 2 acres of arable land in the fields of Kingsthorpe. This Aburne (or Abourne) holding, consisting altogether of a farmhouse in Polebrook with 18 acres of land, passed in 1438 to William Armston of Armston to form part of the very substantial estate held by that family in the area, the development of which is illustrated by other charters. In 1410 William Armston obtained from William Wakefield certain unspecified lands and tenements in Kingsthorpe; in 1417 he gained a messuage and 12 acres of land in Kingsthorpe and Armston from Alan Aylington and in 1438 a tenement and a further 18 acres in the fields of Kingsthorpe and Polebrook from John Davy of Hemington and Henry Philyppe of Polebrook.44 Two court rolls of the late 15th century suggest that by then the place had shrunk in size but had not yet become completely deserted. A roll of 1486 merely records that Thomas and Alice Coke of Kingsthorpe took possession of a messuage with two tofts recently held by Simon Conyton and were to pay to the sacristan of Thorney 16 shillings a year; they were required to "repair and rebuild one chamber at the end of the hall towards the south, within two years". A roll of 1488 has a small jury of 5, and the business of the court concerns two of the jurymen. Henry Aylington of Kingsthorpe is said to hold the site of the manor there with 5 virgates of demesne land and a close called Abrahams Close and John Gydon holds a messuage and 2 tofts and a virgate of land by copyhold. None of the documents however are of much use in supplying reliable information about the size of Kingsthorpe. All that can be said is that the late 14th century court rolls and charters suggest that a modest number of people lived there, but that by the late 15th century they had declined in number. Just why this was we do not know. It was not at this date due to enclosure for sheep farming and as at Churchfi.eld might simply have been the result of a gradual move away from a small hamlet at a time of declining population to better holdings elsewhere, as suggested by the earlier court rolls.

41 NRO Montague Buccleuch Collection, Box X 43 Buccleuch Charters 474 and 475, c. 1250; 433 889, which also contains the terriers and later court and 419, c. 1280. rolls mentioned below. 44 Buccleuch Charters 445, 460, 446, 447, 461. 42 Buccleuch Charters 431. 186 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Even if Kingsthorpe had become smaller, its fields were still cultivated as arable. The evidence for this is supplied by two terriers which record the allotment of land in the open fields of Kingsthorpe before and after a relatively minor adjustment in landholdings in 1509/10. Not all the furlongs listed in the terriers can be precisely located upon the modern map but the topography of the documents is sufficiently clear to show that they refer to the great bulk of the land of Kings­ thorpe lordship and not to just a part of it. The main landholders were Thomas Armston, Thomas Montague, William Dalton, Thomas Carlyll and Thomas Henson; most of these can be shown to have lived elsewhere. Substantial holdings were also to be accounted for by the demesne ("ferme"), the Hospital of St. John at Armston, the chantry at Aidwinkle, the King, the Abbey of Peterborough and the vicar of Hemington; Thorney Abbey also held a smaller allotment of non-demesne land. The reorganisation probably had the effect of reducing the number of smaller proprietors; the terriers show a difference of five in the total number of smaller landholders, leaving only three with less than two acres, but where they lived is not known. However there are hints of the enclosure of some of the arable land at Kingsthorpe in the early 16th century. An agreement between Thomas Montague and the master of the Hospital of St. John of Arms ton in 1504 recorded an exchange of land whereby Thomas Montagu was able to acquire 3 selions in the fields of Kingsthorpe between a dose already owned by him and one belonging to the abbot of Thorney.45 Better evidence is supplied by the returns of the Wolsey Commission, which record the destruction by Thorney Abbey of a messuage and the conversion to pasture of 6 acres of arable with the consequent loss of employment to 6 people ;46 this holding is almost certainly the additional Thorney property recorded in the terriers, which by the re­ organisation had been largely consolidated in Customs Furlong to the east of the village. These enclosures with attendant depopulation probably took place because Kingsthorpe had so dwindled in size that they could be effected without too much difficulty. A suggestion of depopulation occurs again in 1518 when Robert Trypshawe, presumably related to the William Trupshaw who was one of the small proprietors in the terriers, appeared at the manor court of Luddington to surrender to the lord "a waste cottage and 10 acres of land in Kingsthorpe formerly in the tenure of Robert Hanson".47 Subsidy lists of Henry VIII's reign group Polebrook and Kingsthorpe together without indicating where the taxpayers lived, but the list of 1544 shows Kingsthorpe as a separate place, with one taxpayer, John Potyr, paying 5d.48 Thereafter Kingsthorpe ceases to be mentioned at all on any of the later subsidy lists examined, nor for that matter does it figure in the Hearth Tax returns of the late 17th century. At the Dissolution the Montagu family acquired a great deal of monastic property in N.E. Northamptonshire, having already become established in the area, notably in the manor of Hemington, which included land in Kingsthorpe and was the basis of the large holding indicated in the terriers of 1509/10.49 In 1540 Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, obtained lands in Kingsthorpe and elsewhere which had belonged to Thorney Abbey; to this was added in 1544 another parcel of former Thorney land. 5° At the time of the Dissolution he was renting the Peterborough Abbey property in Polebrook and Kingsthorpe. This went initially to the Dean and Chapter of the new Cathedral at Peterborough, but eventually passed via Sir William Sherington to him in 1548. Montagu acquired the advowson and rectory of Hemington from the Priory of St. Neots in 1544 and the lands of the chantry at Aldwinkle and of the Hospital of St. John at Armston in 1547-8. He also obtained very considerable ecclesiastical property in Pole­ brook, Hemington, Barnwell, Luddington and Weekley, and bought the Armston estate, which embraced land in Kingsthorpe, in 1548.51

45 Buccleuch Charters 466. granted away in 1540 explains the small sum of 46 Domesday of Enclosures I, 289. £6.10. in rents still due from Thorney land in 4 7 Montagu Buccleuch Collection, Box X 889. Hemington, Luddington and Kingsthorpe later in 48 PRO E 179/156/209. A Potters field is shown 1540-1; Abstract of roll, Augmentations Office, from just to the south of the site of Kingsthorpe village on Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum ed J. Caley, II 612. a map of Armston lordship of 1710; NRO map 1376. 51 Gal Pat R. 1547-8, 337, 402; Foundation of 49 Bridges II 400. Peterborough Cathedral ed W. T. Mellows, North­ 50 Letters and Papers Henry VIII 15 (January­ amptonshire Record Society (1941), 54-6; Bridges II, August 1540), 123; ibid 19 (August-December 1544), 415; VCH Northants Ill, 83 and 103-5. 411. The fact that not all Thorney land had been FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 187

The remainder of Kingsthorpe's history is the history of its enclosure. This did not take place at once since the Montagu family did not own the whole of it initially, but was spread over a century or more. Some evidence for the process is to be seen in two surveys taken in 1601-2 on behalf of the Duchy of Lancaster at the instigation of the farmer of the Duchy lands in Pole brook, whose complaint was that royal land in Kingsthorpe, as listed in the 16th century terriers, had been enclosed without authorization by Sir Edward Montagu and his son Edward. 52 The surveys show that "of long tyme" a small amount of royal land had been included by Sir Edward Montagu in two closes called Hovell Close and Whyt's Close ;53 there is also mention of Hens on's Close which might belong to this earlier phase of enclosure, and of Wich Close which had been in existence for at least 20 years. More recently a far more extensive series of enclosures had been carried out by Sir Edward Montagu and his son, involving most of the lordship. The terriers show that the land involved lay to the N., N.E. and S. of the site of Kingsthorpe village but land in the extreme N.E. of the lordship and also in its S. field was still unenclosed. The process involved the tearing up of inconvenient hedgerows on the king's land near Armston field but some "woods and hedgerows" still remained within the close thus created. The surveys sug&est therefore that groups of selions had already been enclosed by hedges but that these small enclosures were being thrown into much larger ones as opportunity offered. The new enclosures were for sheep pastures. 54 The process was completed in the late 17th century. A survey of Hemington taken c.1700 speaks of land in Hemington and Kingsthorpe as being "in ye years 1699 let but for all the new enclosure". A survey of 1700 lists the closes into which Kingsthorpe was divided as they appear on the Booth map of 1710 which shows that by now Kingsthorpe lordship was entirely devoid of houses. The coppices and woods now in existence were already there but several of the large fields were to be subdivided further. The present Kingsthorpe Lodge, largely of 1903, incorporates an earlier building probably of the 18th century. The map marks the site of Kingsthorpe village as a rabbit warren-it had borne the name Conneygeare since at least 1687-the moat is shown, and trees and bushes mark the lines of the streets; earthworks were clearly visible, since in the early 18th century Bridges noted "hollow places, with marks and foundations of a village". 55 The site (TL 079857, Fig. 3) The site of Kingsthorpe is marked today by a pottery scatter of 12 acres on boulder clay. Air photographs56 show that a number of hollow ways and house sites could once be seen but these have been ploughed out, leaving only a portion of the main street 100 yards long. This continues in a mutilated form through rough coppices and pasture from TL 08088566 to TL 08258566. At TL 08058550 is a rectangular moat 250 ft. by 190 ft. overall. A low bank (as shown by dotted lines on the plan) runs through Conegar Wood on theW. of the site and might be the village boundary bank. Pottery from the site. A fragment of Samian form 33 ar:d a grey ware sherd might be strays from the Roman site nearby at TL 08158538. 57 ~arly medieval.war~s are represented by a bowl and cooking pot rim of St. Neots ware, 58 three s1mple everted nms m a coarse shelly ware probably of the late 12th century, and glazed and ~mglazed fragments ?f Stamford ware, as might be a wall sherd of a jug in fine pink sandy ware w1th r.ouletted decoratiOn. There are also cooking pot, jug, and bowl rims in a fine buff sandy ware which may be a copy of Stamford ware but is similar to pottery known to have been made in Northampton.59 Fragments of grey and buff sandy wares are 13th and 14th century and there are a number of sherds of Potterspury type and a handle in fine sandy ware with sharp decoration which might have come from Brill. There are many fragments of Lyveden ware. Jug handles include a simple unglazed strap handle, slashed,

52 PRO DL/44/633 and 645: also Montagu Buc­ 889 contains a list of sheep~ lambs and dead animals cleuch Collection Box X 889. at Kingsthorp~ Ellands and elsewhere. 53 "John Wyetts Closse" is referred to in a docu­ 55 NRO Map 1390; Bridges II~ 417. ment of 1524: Montagu Buccleuch Collection Box X 56 RAF 541 / 143~ 24. 8. 48. 4199-4202. 889. 57 Northamptonshire Archaeology 8 (1973)~ 15. 54 There are many references to pasture gates in ss Wythemail report, Fig. 55~ 30. the surveys and an undated but probably 17th 59 Northamptonshire Archaeology 8 (1973), 21. century note in Montagu Buccleuch Collection Box X 188 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

FIG. 4 KNUSTON C.1769. and stabbed oval rods 60 and an unusual example in which the stabbed handle comes out from the rim at right angles and has a sharp right angled bend downwards. The tempering consists of large limestone fragments and the piece may not have been made at Lyveden. A sherd from the neck of a jug has a stamp consisting of an interrupted circle. There are many cooking pot rims of the 13th-14th centuries; one with thumbing and an everted slightly hollow rim is somewhat earlier (late 12th-13th century) and a flat topped sharply everted rim is 14th century.61 A bowl rim, thumbed on the top, belongs to the 12th-13th centuries. The absence of late medieval wares is interesting in view of the known, if diminished, occupation of the site during the 15th century.

Knuston Knuston appears in Domesday Book as Cnutestone, Cnut's farm, a name which suggests Danish influence. The entries show that its ownership was divided. Part of it was occupied by 5 sokemen and formed part of the great manor of Higham Ferrers which belonged in 1086 to William Peverel. There was also a slightly larger estate held by Winemar as an under tenant of Gunfrid de Cioches which had 6 villeins and on its demesne one serf. The total number of families living in Irchester is not given in Domesday Book so comparison is not possible, but figures for

60 Lyveden 1965-7, Fig. 1, g; Wythemail report, 61 Lyveden, Second Interim Report, Fig. 10, c-d, Fig. 57, 89 and 90. and Lyveden, Second Interim and Lyveden 1965-7 Fig. 4, c and Fig. 5 c; Wythemail Report, Fig. 9, top. report, Fig. 55, 51. FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 189

other villages nearby show that Knuston was appreciably smaller than Wollaston, Raunds and Rushden, but about the same size as Stanwick and Newton Bromshold.62 This division of ownership is one of the factors which makes it difficult to obtain an impression of Knuston as a whole in the medieval period. The land held by Winemar remained tenurially separate from the rest of Knuston for centuries and descended in the main in the fee of Chokes, appearing from time to time in_the records of feudal taxation and when portions of it changed hands. In 1330 it was found to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Earl of Lancaster in Higham Hundred. 63 However there is relatively abundant record material relating to the Peverel ~olding, whi~h together with Higham Ferrers, Irchester ~d o~er I?laces was granted by Henry Ill m 1266 to his son Edmund Earl of Lancaster, from which tlme 1t formed part of the extensive Lancaster estates which eventually became the Duchy of Lancaster. The documents show that for administrative purposes Knuston was linked with Irchester. For example, the accounts of the reeve of Irches-ter for 1313-14 show that the freemen and sokemen of Knuston paid rent totalling 62sh and 22s 11 !d respectively, in addition to other manorial dues; remitted harvest works at Irchester and Knuston come to 33s. 9d. 64 The 14th century court rolls of Irchester record land ~~sfer agreements involving. Knuston people and show how Knuston was represented by two tlthingmen at the Irchester v1ew of frankpledge where the Knuston cert money was paid. Of particular interest is a list of tenants in Irchester and Knuston made a few years before 1345 which although relating only to tenants of the earl of Lancaster gives the best estimate we have of the number of households in Knuston in the medieval period. 65 Of the 82 names, 33 are Knuston tenants. Some of these probably held land belonging to the Chokes manor as well66 but of course we do not know how many, or how many tenants belonged exclusively to the other manor. Ecclesiastically Knuston formed a component chapelry of Irchester parish. The chaplain is mentioned in 1324 and in the list mentioned above. The chapel of St. Leonard at Knuston figures in a deed of 1348 in which a vicarage was created at Irchester under the College of the Newarke at Leicester. 67 The fact that Knuston was not an independent parish creates further difficulties because it is included under the general heading of Irchester cum membris in tax returns of the medieval and Tudor periods. As in the medieval period, difficulties arise in obtaining a general picture of Knuston in the 16th and 17th centuries. A survey of the manor of Irchester made for the Duchy of Lancaster in 1591 gives a detailed statement of the land held by freeholders and copyholders without always stating precisely where the farms and cottages they owned were. A list of 1604/5 consists merely of 5 freeholders. 68 But some significant points emerge from the documents which relate to specific estates in Knuston. Through the marriage of Robert !sham with Elizabeth Aston, the !sham family came to hold a number of tenements in Knuston; in 1505 Eusebius !sham is stated by the W olsey Commission to have converted to grass 48 acres of land "in Archester and Knuston" and to have destroyed one messuage thereby depriving 10 people of their livelihood.69 The !sham estate is described in a survey of 1560 as three farms and a cottage in Knuston (Luddington, Buryes, Brewell and Mannynge) 7o; it passed from the !shams in 1575 but reappears intact in 1624 in the Inquisitio PostMortem of William Payne, which describes a farm in Knuston called North Hall (probably the Luddington of 1560), Burgs Farm and closes and Bruell's and Manninge Closes. 71

62 The Place Names of Northamptonshire 192; VCH W. J. B. Kerr "The Township, Manor Parish and Northants I (1902), 336, 348. Knuston also contained Church of Irchester etc." in The News 1913. -k hide of land belonging to the royal estate of the 66 In the 15th century Simon Southende held land soke of Tingden (Finedon); W. J. B. Kerr, Higham of both manors in Knuston: Sergeantson, note 65, Ferrers and its Ducal and Royal Castle and Park 34 (1917-18), 70 n. 167. (1925), 7-8; Bridges 11, 183. 67 Gal Pat R. (1324-7), 56; Ketr "The Township 63 1252 Gal Inqs Mise 1, 52; 1275 Gal Close R. . . . of Irchester". (1272-99), 222; 1273 Gal. I.P.M. Edward I Vol. 2, 68 PRO DL 42/117; Musters Beacons and Subsidies 47 (lPM of Gilbert de Preston); 1346, Bridges 11, in the County of Northampton 1586-1623 ed Joan 182; 1428 Feudal Aids 4, 45; 1429 Gal. Pat. R. Wake, Northamptonshire Record Society (1926), 116. (1429-35), 29; VCH Northants 4 (1937), 22. 69 Domesday of Inclosures I, 287-8. 84 W. J. B. Kerr Higham Ferrers etc., 77-8. 70 NRO Isham Lamport 3158. 65 R. M. Sergeantson "The Court Rolls of Higham 71 NRO lsham Lamport 2125; PRO C 142 Ser 2 Ferrers" Associated Architectural Societies Reports 655 94. and Papers 33 (1915-16), 34; 34 (1917-18), 48, 55; 190 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

KNUSTON

FIG. 5 KNUSTON.

The W olsey Commission also reported the conversion of 24 acres of land, the destruction of 1 messuage and the rendering idle of 4 people at Irchester and Knuston in 1505 by Antony Catesby and Nicholas Wentworth but it is not known whether the farm concerned was actually in Knuston. The small landed endowment of the chapel at Knuston was eventually taken from it and in 1567 was granted to Robert Holmes. 72 There is a reference to "the ruined chapel of St. Leonard" in the reign of Elizabeth73 and by 1591 it had evidently gone completely, since the survey of that

72 Gal Pat R. 1566-69, 51. 73 Kerr, "The Township .•• of Irchester". FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 191

year speaks of "a dose or plot of ground ... where the chapell of ease stoode". The road which ran past the side of Knuston Hall is called Chapel Lane onfBryant's map of Northamptonshire (1827) and the name occurs in 18th. century deeds; presumably the chapel stood somewhere N.N.E. of Knuston Hall. The survey of 1591 shows the important position in Knuston then held by the Page family, representatives of which are known to have been farming at Knuston since the early 14th century at least. 74 In the survey John Page describes himself as holding both moieties of the manor of Knuston, "with all other messuages, lands and tenents in Knuston, Irchester and Irthlingborrowe". Similarly William Page heads the Hearth Tax lists in 1670 and 1674 with 8 and 10 hearths re­ spectively;75 on the latter list he is said to have two houses. Both lists agree in showing Knuston with 12 taxpayers, together with (on the 1674 list) a forge. Other Knuston people might have been included in the list of people exempted from payment at the end of the Irchester, Knuston and Chester section but nevertheless these returns, together with the statement by Bridges that Knuston contained 20 families 76 are the only overall indication we have of the size of Knuston since the early 14th century. It shows how the place had shrunk since that time, following the general fall in the medieval population, assisted to some extent by enclosures in the early 16th century. In the early 18th century the land owned by John Page was bought by Harvey Sparke, who also bought up a good deal of property belonging to smaller proprietors77 and became the preponderating influence in Knuston's affairs. Because he owned most of the land of the hamlet he was able to effect the enclosure of the open fields in an Act which was passed for this in 1769. The award78 abolished the allotments of the smaller proprietors in the open fields of Knuston, compensating them with a few enclosed fields in the N.W. of Knuston lordship, small areas in Knuston Great Meadow and land in Irchester. A map made at about this time shows Knuston lordship parcelled up into hedged fields 79 (Fig. 4). The map shows how efforts had been made to lay out the area in front of and behind Knuston Hall as a formal park, with symmetrically arranged woods and an approach drive. The street system of the hamlet was still in existence and later documents used in conjunction with the map enable 5 farms to be identified including the Hill House, later to become known as Knuston Hall. In addition there were about a dozen cottages, which suggests that perhaps Knuston had not changed in size very much since the early 18th century. The Sparkes sold the estate to Benjamin Kidney in 1775. Kidney mortgaged the estate in 1780 and 1786 and finally sold it in 1791 to Joseph Gulston. The documents produced in con­ nection with these transactions80 enable the conversion of the hamlet of Knuston into what is mainly an area of parkland to be traced. By 1775 the farm south of the road through Knuston, formerly in the tenure of William Dix, was in the hands of Elizabeth Sparke and no tenant is mentioned in the documents; the farm opposite, still in existence as Knuston Middle Farm, was occupied by Henry Harris, who was using the cottage at the end of Chapel Lane as a granary. The farm north of the mansion house had been bought from Sir Row land Alston and seems also to have been without a tenant. The Sparkes had also bought up 4 cottages in Knuston; one of these is described as being west of the private road leading to the mansion house, but otherwise they cannot be precisely located. By 1786 all were without tenants, since although their immediate tenurial history is given, the name of the present occupant has been left blank. The farm known as North Hall, dearly defined as lying south of Leys Gap Close, was in 1775 used by Henry Harris as a barn and dovehouse. By 1780 the land dose to the former Alston farm had been laid into Hall Close, which had also been enlarged in other directions. In 1780 it was stated that Benjamin Kidney had effected considerable improvements, having spent £10,000 on the land

74 In the 14th century tenants' list 3 members of 78 NRO YZ 8037. the Page family are mentioned: Henry Page (5 acres), 7u NRO Map 832. The fields of Knuston were John Page (5 acres), Geoffrey Page (10 acres). Their still open in 1756 (YZ 8033). The Eyre map included holdings are amongst the largest. in Bridges' History also shows Knuston much as it is 75 PRO E 179/157/446; E 179/254/1 4. on this map. 76 Bridges II 179. 80 NRO YZ 8035, 8042, 8044, 8046, 8048-9. 77 NRO YZ 8056. 192 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT and buildings, which were now in the best condition. A considerable quantity of young timber was growing on the estate, a reflection of recent planting by him and the Sparke family. The effect of all this can be seen on a map and schedule produced in 1791 81 at the time of the sale of Knuston to Joseph Gulston. This shows Knuston as it was until very recently. The North Hall buildings are still there but are not an independent farm in their own right, presumably being linked with the farm held by Edward Ward, the present Middle Farm. Similarly the buildings of the former Dix farm still stand, but are no longer used as such. Two new farms, Gaff's and J ackson's, both now called Knuston Lodge, have appeared in the fields away from the hamlet. Only' one cottage and garden is left, held by James Matthews, but it is of interest to note that documents of this late date still describe some of the former cottages of Knuston and recite their history, although they no longer existed. The site (SP 938662, Fig. 5) The earthworks at Knuston are relatively slight, having been disturbed by the erection of a temporary hospital during the Second World War and the straight­ ening out of the road to Rushden in 1967, which removed the hollow way representing the line of one of the streets shown on the mid 18th century map. On both sides of this are·a series of low terraces running down the hill towards the stream. Most of the earthworks seem to belong to a period when Knuston was larger than it was in the 18th century but some correlation is possible with the map, Fig. 4; the properties in field 60 can be equated with the terraces at (a) on Fig. 5; the hedge on the S. side of Foxes Close corresponds to the scarp (b) running along the S. of the earthworks; the circular forecourt in front of Knuston Hall surv.ives as a bank 5 in. high (c); the enclosure numbered 56 (and shown as a wood on the map of 1789), can still be traced E. of Knuston Middle Farm (d). There is a small tree or prospect mound 20ft. in diameter at (a). Pottery collected during road building operations. A small group which reflects most phases of Knuston's existence. There is a piece of Roman pottery and a sherd from the upper part of a cooking pot in a sandy, slightly micaceous ware, grey with a buff patch on the neck, which might be Saxon. A bowl of Developed St. Neots ware is 12th-13th century. Fragments of a fine shelly ware of 13th century date which probably originated at Olney Hyde or Harrold consist of simple everted cooking pot rims and two jug handles of strap type with stabbing. 82 Sherds with limestone tempering83 and glazed jug fragments of the 13th century may be of Lyveden manufacture. There are also fragments of 13th and 14th century sandy wares and several Potterspury ware fragments. Post-medieval sherds are of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Overstone Overstone is not mentioned in Domesday Book but the assumption that it was silently included with Sywell and that both were held by the Count of Mortain, is probably correct. The Domesday figures for Sywell are high enough to suggest that two places are included and the parish boundaries and the name of the place (Ofe's tun or farm) do not imply that Overstone was a later, dependent foundation. It is first mentioned in the Liber Niger of 1167 when it was said to be held by Humphrey de Millers. 84 From that date there are abundant records from which to construct an account of the descent of the manor ;85 from the standpoint of the later history of the place the important fact to notice is that there was only one manor; manor and parish coincided. The medieval taxation records suggest a village of modest size. It was assessed at 42s.4d. at the subsidy of 1332, which put it with Abington, Pitsford and Boughton as one of the smaller villages of Spelhoe Hundred but by 1334 the assessment had increased to 63s.4d. which placed it above these villages while still leaving it well below Moulton and Kingsthorpe. 86 The Inquisitio PostMortem of Sir Waiter Manny taken in 1372 shows that there were 210 acres of arable demesne,

81 NRO YZ 8056. and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, I s2 D. N. Hall "A thirteenth century pottery kiln (1822-30), 53; The Place Names of Northamptonshire site at Harrold, Beds." Milton Keynes Journal 1 134-5. (1972), Cl, C2, C4. 85 Baker 153-8; Bridges I, 458-60; VCH Northants 83 Wythemail report. Fig. 57, 80. IV (1937) 95-7. 84 VCH Northants I, 321, 381; G. Baker History 86 PRO E 179/155/3. FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 193

FIG. 6 0VERSTONE C.1672.

8/- in rent from free tenants, £20 rent from villeins and 24 bondsmen.87 A rental of 1398 shows 53 tenants but in accordance with the national trend there was a fall in population after $is since a rental of 1482 includes deductions of rent for 8 messuages and 3 cottages destroyed or fallen into ruin. 88 Subsidy lists of the Tudor period tell us nothing about the size of the place since the assessment fell only upon a relatively small and variable section of the population but a crude comparison can be made with other villages and on this basis Overstone seems once more to be one of the smaller villages of Spelhoe Hundred. For example in 1600 there were 5 people paying 47/-; the number of taxpayers equals that in Weston Favell and Pitsford but all other villages in Spelhoe Hundred have larger figures except Little Billing~ Only Little Billing and Spratton yielded less. In 1602 Overstone, Pitsford and Little Billing share bottom place in the number of taxpayers and only the last two produced less money. A general impression of a village of modest size is also provided by the lists of men mustered for military service in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and in the levies of money to maintai'n them. At a muster taken at

87 Gal I.P.M. XIII, 118. 88 Ministers Accounts, 1520: information in files of M.V.R.G., London. 194 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Northampton in 1591 there were only 5 people from Overstone and Overstone paid only 15/- in the rate levied in 1596 for the furnishing and setting forth of 50 soldiers, both figures the lowest in Spelhoe Hundred. At a levy of money for the supply of munitions in 1612, Overstone paid 7/-, the same as Abington and Boughton; only Little Billing made a smaller payment. But these documents give a general impression only and can on occasion mislead; the lists produced in 1612 of trained and untrained men when added together give a total of 23 men for Overstone, a number exceeded only by Moulton and Great Billing; the large village of Kingsthorpe is far behind with only 13. 89 More accurate information becomes available in the later 17th century. The·list of payers of the Hearth Tax in 167490 has 31 taxpayers plus 11 people exempted on grounds of poverty. An indenture of 167291 recording the transfer of Overstone to Edward Stratford describes the manor in considerable detail, including the mansion house, its gardens and orchards, the park, closes near the mansion house, 14 farms (with their size and the tenants' names) and 15 cottages. Both a wind-and water-mill are mentioned. This gives a total of 30 houses, a figure very close to the 31 taxpayers of 1674; evidently the very poorest cottages are not listed in the indenture. A map of about this date92 (Fig. 6), showing the village in its original position has some 35 houses on it in addition to the manor house. Some of the houses are larger than others and could have accommodated more than one family, and it does not necessarily conflict therefore with the Hearth Tax figure of 42 families. By the time of Bridges in the early 18th century the number of 93 ·families had declined to 33 , putting Overstone on a par with Abington and Pitsford. Only Little Billing had a smaller population in Spelhoe Hundred. The sale of Overstone to Edward Stratford in 1672 was important because Overstone was now to become the residence of the lord of the manor for the first time for centuries; Stratford's name heads the Hearth Tax list of 1674 as having 12 hearths. One of the first results of the change was the demolition of the old manor house and the erection of a new one, described as "good'' by Bridges. 94 A second consequence was the enclosure of the parish in 1727, which it was easy for Henry Stratford to do, since as Bridges remarked, he owned the whole manor. 95 The only land not held by him belonged to the rector and the Act of 1728 merely confirmed an agree­ ment already made between them that Stratford could enclose the open fields at his own cost as he thought fit. In lieu of his 3 yardlands of glebe and other land the rector was allotted land in the north of the parish. 96 It was in all probability Henry Stratford who was responsible for removing the village from its original position in front of the manor house to its present position along the road to Northampton on the northern edge of the park, an operation made easier by the relatively small size of the place. This cannot be dated precisely, but would fit in with the burst of reorgan­ isation and improvement now taking place. It had certainly happened by 1775, when the map of Northamptonshire drawn by Thomas Eyre of Kettering was revised by Thomas Jeffreys and approved by the county gentry assembled in the summer assizes before inclusion in Whalley's edition of Bridges' History. This shows that the village had been moved, only the church and a house to the south of it, probably the Rectory, remaining in front of the great house. The park had been enlarged, but not to its presen~ extent. In 1737 Henry Stratford sold Overstone to Sir Thomas Drury, who also bought Sywell. Drury intended to pull down the old church at Overstone and to put up a new one for Overstone and Sywell jointly on a site convenient for the two villages, which might suggest that perhaps this was the one outstanding item left over before the park was finally clear. 97 However, he died

89 Musters Beacons and Subsidies 31, 37, 76, 100, Henry was his second son: Baker I, 57. 127, 155, 158. 96 Enclosure Act: NRO Overstone 3774A; also 90 PRO E 179/254/14. YZ 3716(a). Overstone had 3 fields, South, North 91 NRO YZ 5303. and Mill or West field: the 3 fields are referred to in 92 NRO Map 564. a document of 1593, YZ 4943. Part of the extreme 93 Bridges I, 458. north of the parish had been enclosed as early as 94 Bridges I, 460. A drawing of it was made at the 1645 (YZ 5308-closes in the North Field, parcel of time of the sale of Overstone to Lewis Loyd in 1832: the demesne lands) but are not shown on the map NRO map 3078. of c.1672. 95 Bridges I, 460: Edward Stratford died in 1721 ; 97 Baker I, 60. FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 195

before doing so and the estate passed to the Brownlow family. In 1791 Lord Brownlow sold Overstone, except the advowson, to John Kip ling. The legal documents produced following Drury's death and in connection with the sale enable us to see how far the transformation of Overstone had progressed. 98 The farms which now stand in the fields of Overstone parish had been built by now; they are described as "new built with stone and very good". In addition there were 16 cottages and a blacksmith's shop "all built with stone and now very good houses and cheap at the rent". The water mill was still in existence; the name of the field in front of the house, The Dams, may reflect the existence of the mill dam. The only real impediment to the completion of the pleasure grounds was well stated by the valuer responsible for the valuation of the Brownlow estates in 1791: "There seems to be some material objection to Overstone House as a residence for a gentleman of large fortune . . . a publick road immediately past the door and the church and some part of the glebe land directly in front of the house would be considered insurmountable bars to elbow room which the generality of people of fashion are accustomed to think a necessary article of ease comfort and happiness". These problems were duly solved. In 1799 the rector sold the ruins of the old parsonage, his two ancient glebe closes and wood to John Kipling . The Brownlow family pulled down the ruins and built a new rectory on land allotted to the glebe under the Enclosure Award. The church had to wait until1803 when it was pulled down by John Kip ling and the present one built just within the northern boundary of the park; it was conse­ crated in 1807. During the early 19th century the population of Overstone parish increased, from 173 in 1801 to 190 in 1811. 99 Fresh houses were built in the village; the map and deed of sale produced in connexion with the sale of Overstone to Lewis Loyd in 1832 shows that there were now 25 cottages in the village, some under one roof, and ranged mainly along the north side of the North­ ampton road.100 Some of these 18th century cottages remain, but have been joined by houses of the present century as part of urban spread from Northampton which has penetrated the park on the north and east. The present house replaced the 1_7th century mansion in 1861.101 The Park (Fig. 7) Overstone Park originated in 1255 in a licence to the then owner, Gilbert de Millers, "to enclose with a dike and hedge or with a wall, his wood of Oviston and to make a park thereof". It was stocked with animals from Salcey Forest.102 Occasional references to poaching show its continued existence in the medieval period; Henry VIII used the keepership of the park as a way of rewarding crown servants.103 Where the original medieval deer park was is not known for certain, but a clue may be provided by the map of Overstone of 1832104 which shows the area around SP 812666 as Ass Park (area 1 on Fig. 7). By 1550 the park had been disparked105 and this area is marked on the map of c. 1672 as part of the Cow pasture, but documents continue to speak of the herbage and agistment of the park.106 The 17th century map suggests that in fact a fresh park had been laid out in an area immediately to the east of the mansion, which is shown as enclosed and studded with trees; that it was formerly agricultural land is shown by the ridge and furrow on it (area 2, Fig. 7). The Eyre map published in 1779 shows that the park had been extended to the north so as to double its size (area 3) but the area to the south and west of the house was still presumably farm land. It was after this map had been drawn that the huge existing park was laid out (area 4), and the purchase by Sir Thomas Drury of Sywell enabled a portion of that parish to be included in it as well. But the creation of the present large park was not completed until the early 19th century. The glebe closes and parson's wood were taken into the park in 1799; the mill, still in existence in .1791,107 was covered by a lake shortly before Baker wrote his descrip-

98 NRO Overstone 3915, 3916, 3760. the park etc. ibid 1519-21, 381; again in 1537 ibid 99 Baker I, 58-60. June-December 1537, 352. 100 NRO Overstone 3747 and map 3078. 104 NRO Map 3078. The name appears also in 1770 101 VCH Northants IV 95. (NRO Overstone 3916). 102 Gal Charter R. 1226-57; 441; Gal CloseR. 1254- 105 Gal Pat R. 1549-51, 408; "the disparked park 6, 146. of Overstone". 103 Gal Pat R. 1345-48, 656; ibid 1358-61, 40, 51, 1os NRO YZ 5301 (1559); YZ 4945 (1599). 91; Letters and Papers Henry VIII 1509-13, 77 1°7 NRO Overstone 3915. (1509), 453 (1511). Also 1520 lease of agistment of 196 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

,'"'\ J( / \ / \ ' I / I . ,',;',.' / \! ,){ !

,-·1"" '·\ ·· : ,' ' \ I t /f/ 0 • I ,;// \ \6) \ 1 ,/ . \ ~. : LaterVillaQe(.... ' \ . 1 ,\ '-...... ~ .: \@) JJ~ ! /l ·\g\' : i' · ~ \I &' ' ~ 1 \ )\ ~· ® C.----' A Ongmat ---- • ~ /) Vdlage ~!.); New Warren ~ [

.·· , ... Ft. ~--~----~---1~~~--~----~--~~~H.

FIG. 7 THE DEVELO:eMENT OF 0VERSTONE PARK. tion, which speaks enthusiastically of the "judici?us embellishments" of Mr. Webb and of addi­ tions made to the park by the present owner, John Kipling. The warren The earliest reference to a warren at Overstone is in a grant of Henry VIII in 1509 to Edward Vavasour as keeper of the park and warren of Overstone. Thereafter there are numerous references to a warren, as in a grant of 1537 to Sir William Fitzwilliam in which the annual rent of the warren is put at 10/- and in the grant of Overstone to Thomas Smythe in 1550 in which 108 109 "a warren of coneys" is included ; an Old Warren is mentioned in 1770. It is not certain where the warren was, but some proximity to the medieval deer park is suggested by the name "The Warren" given on the 1832 map to an area of wood in Sywell parish just over the parish boundary from Ass Park. By 1770 a New Warren begins to appear in the documents as arable land. This was in the area SP 817654 (Fig. 7); another existed in Ecton parish at SP 819652 and still remains as a walled enclosure. The site (SP 807657, Fig. 8) The earthworks at Overstone correspond in a general way with the late 17th century map. The two roads leading N. from the village survive at (a) by a park road still in use and at (b) by a hollow way. Between them are a series of scarps representing property boundaries which can be matched on the map. There are house sites at (c) and (d). At (e) a hollow way represents the W. street of the village but the house sites at (f) and the property boundaries to the N.E. of them had disappeared by the time the map was made, as had a branch road at (g), the position of which was marked by a hedged enclosure. There are house sites at (h) and (i). The site of the church

108 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII 1509-13, 77; 408. ibid June-December 1537, 352; Gal Pat R. 1549-57, 109 NRO 0 3915. FOUR DESERTED SETTLEMENTS IN NORT.H,AMPTONSHIRE 197

FIG. 8 0VERSTONE. and the surrounding closes have been removed entirely in the interests of landscaping and the shallow rectangular depressions at (j) represent gardens. The terrace at (k) which cuts through the village earthworks is the disused drive to Overstone Park. The track to Great Billing can still be traced as a hollow way or a terrace through the park.

Concluding discussion The four places discussed in this article have an interest not simply in themselves but also for the light they throw upon general trends in the landscape history of Northamptonshire. All were relatively small. In the case of Knuston and Overstone, this enabled an owner who had control over the entire lordship to effect the almost total removal of the village in the interests of emparking. Churchfield and Kingsthorpe were deserted earlier and raise different issues. Both lie in areas of heavy clay and this, together with their position in relation to parish boundaries, 198 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT suggests that they were secondary settlements derived from villages in the Nene Valley. The presumption is that these developed sometime during the Anglo-Saxon period, but it should be noted that archaeological fieldwork has shown an appreciable amount of settlement already in the Roman period in the Lyveden valley and along the high ground between the Nene and the Hunts county boundary; the relationship between this and the places now under discussion is still to be clarified. These small settlements on more difficult terrain tended to suffer severe shrinkage or complete desertion in the late medieval period, at a time of contraction in population and social and economic change. The Lyveden valley is almost completely deserted today, and most of the settlements near Kingsthorpe are either almost completely deserted, like Papley or Armston, or have earthworks indicative of considerable shrinkage, like Luddington or Hemington. The Kingsthorpe evidence in particular seems to show a slow process of decay, with tenants gradually moving off to presumably better holdings and this may be a fair reflection of what happened. At Churchfield and Kingsthorpe there was no abrupt change over to sheep farming in the 15th century; a substantial portion of the Churchfield and Lyveden estate was still arable in 1495, and the whole of Kingsthorpe was. The change-over to pasture farming came later, in the 16th century, when perhaps there were very few tenants left, if indeed any at all.

A. E. BROWN. C. C. TAYLOR.

GREEN LANE

A decrepit five-barred gate stands sentinel Bramble-runners hoop across the path Where the lane begins, its wood moss-moulded, Like spikey serpents, briars scratch with tiny soft as chalk. claws. The latch has gone; it locks itself with age At last, through straggling willow and encroach­ And its own infirmity; the final indignity of ing thorn, neglect It creeps back to the tarmacked highway The sisal-string that binds it to its post. And the land of the motorcar. Beyond, the lane twists away in hedges, A pathway wet with lanky grasses, Once this lane was a living thoroughfare Bearing a daily traffic of carts and horses. Scarred and puddled with waggon-ruts. Now, retired from use, it spends its dotage By twenty yards the gate is lost from sight Collecting birds, growing plants and trees, And you are alone in a half-forgotten world. All quite haphazardly. From belfried depths a robin peals; And so it will remain, till the Council Surveyor A woodpecker taps clocktime with its bill; Decides, in a fit of tidiness, to lop and spray. And where the track grows wider by a wood Or until it disappears within itself, Violets and primroses crawl out to the sunlight. As opposing hedges meet at last Neglected hedges branch to meet themselves, To bind themselves into a wood.

TREVOR HOLD. 199

THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY TILE PAVING AT HIGHAM FERRERS

THE church of St. Mary at Higham Ferrers is disturbed? This is a difficult question. The one of three fine medieval buildings in the west edge of the paved area on both steps where present churchyard. The other two are Arch­ the tiles abut on the new stone is correctly laid bishop Chichele's School and Bede House. and undamaged. It would be very difficult to These were built in the early fifteenth century. lay the stone while the tiles were still in posi­ The church was built in the thirteenth century tion. It seems more likely that the tiles would and remodelled in the second quarter of the be lifted and re-laid. The tiles at the east edge fourteenth.1 Among its many treasures are some of the lower step are cut off at an arbitrary decorated medieval paving tiles. These pave point to accommodate the riser of the upper the two steps which lead from the chancel to step. This riser is only 11.5cm high and could the altar. There are no tiles on the altar plat­ not have been faced with the lion and stag tiles, form itself. The paved area on the lower step which are 14.5cm square. The riser from the is Sm 66cm long and 81.5cm wide at the south upper step to the altar platform is 18cm high end, narrowing to 79cm wide at the north end. and would have taken the upright tiles, but as The paved area on the upper step is Sm 83cm there are no tiles on the altar platform, this long and 47.5cm wide at the south end, narrow­ does not indicate whether or not the paving of ing to 46.5cm at the north end. the steps has been re-laid. The riser between The steps have been altered. Two nineteenth­ the two existing pieces of paving may never century antiquarians bear witness to this. In have been tiled. 1858 Henry Shaw wrote: "Before the high The paving is divided into panels running altar in Higham Ferrers church, Northampton­ west to east across the width of the steps. It is shire, are some tiles ... Upon the ruins of the probable that these panels preserve the original steps the lion and stag are used ..." 2 (see fig. 1 layout of the paving, even if some of the tiles designs 1, 2 and 3). The Rev. George Rowe, on are not in their original position. The arrange­ two undated tracings made at some time be­ ment of the panels is shown on fig. 1, where tween 1840 and 1881, now in his collection of they have been numbered for ease of reference. tile drawings in the British Museum, describes The central panels on each step, 5 and 13 on the position of the tile decorated with the stag the plan, average lm 79cm wide. They are filled as "in one of the risers to the Altar steps". The with examples of lozenge-shaped tiles, mainly tile with the lion he describes as, "perpendicular of design 7, arranged in fourteen rows from beneath the Altar steps". Clearly, when the Rev. north to south in a herringbone pattern indi­ George Rowe traced these tiles some at least cated at fig. 2a. Each tile is scored on the surface were facing the risers and according to Henry to suggest that it is made of nine small lozenges. Shaw the steps themselves were ruinous. The tiles were glazed black or yellow and it is The steps are now in good repair and have probable that in the original arrangement the no tiles in the risers. The riser and upper edge colours would alternate. Although the tiles are of the lower step appear to be of solid stones. very worn it is possible to see that there is no The risers and upper edges of the upper step regular alternation of colour in the present and the altar platform are made of thinner slabs arrangement of the tiles. This may suggest that of stone set on a concrete or mortared face. It they are re-laid, possibly when they were is probable that these steps were made when already so worn that the colour of individual some restoration was carried out in the church tiles was no longer conspicuous. There is a in the 1860s. Were the tiles removed from the correct alternation of black and yellow at the risers while the rest of the paving was left un- north end of panel 13 but it is not maintained

1 Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Nor­ 2 Henry Shaw, Specimens of Tile Pavements, Lon­ thamptonshire, Penguin Books, (1961) pp. 246-8. don (1858) note on pls. XXXIII and XXXIV. 200 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT in the adjacent row. The triangular tiles at the apart afterwards. Between these edging tiles the west edge of these panels are mainly yellow and borders 4 and 6 consist of single lines oflozenges those at the east edge mainly black. All of these of designs 7 and 8 with the long axis north to should be halves of design 7, but there are no south, the spaces at the sides filled with trian­ black examples present and only two or three gular half lozenges. The pattern is not exactly yellow ones. There are a few yellow halves of maintained and there is most of a square tile of design 8 and of plain glazed tiles. The rest of design 6 in the south east corner of panel 6. the spaces are filled with small triangular pieces Panels 12 and 14 are more interesting and of tile. Those at the east edges are mostly black, retain part of what may have been the original but the east edge of panel 5 contains two small arrangement. A diagram of the arrangement of

PLATE I. HIGHAM FERRERS, north end of upper step, panels 1, 2 and part of 3. Photo: James Barfoot pieces of design 10 at the end of the 4th and 8th panel14 is shown on fig. 2 b. The black lozenges rows from the south edge, showing the hind are separated from the black triangles by narrow quarters of a hound on the one and the forepart yellow parallelograms. This arrangement is on the other. repeated only twice in panel 14, and only five On both steps the centre panels are flanked tiles are correctly placed in this way in panel12. by borders about 35cm wide, fig. 1 nos. 4, 6, Panel 12 contains an example of design 11, 12 and 14. These are edged on the north and divided down the long axis, at the west edge, south by narrow, plain glazed, oblong tiles 14cm and two examples of the same design, divided long and 4-4.5cm wide. This variation in width along the short axis, are the second and third suggests that they are thirds of tiles 14cm tiles from the west in the north edge. square, scored before they were fired and broken On the lower step, north and south of these THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY TILE PAVING AT HIGHAM FERRERS 201

PLATE ll. HIGHAM FERRERS, north end of lower step, panels 9, 10 and part of 11. Photo: James Barfoot 202 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

PLATE Ill. HIGHAM FERRERS, south end of lower step, panels 16, 17 and part of 15. Photo: ]ames Barfoot THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY TILE PAVING AT HIGHAM FERRERS 203 borders are two panels, fig. 1 nos. 11 and 15, their original position. On the other hand it each 1m 22cm wide. The general arrangement seems so improbable that a nineteenth-century of tiles within these panels is shown on fig. 2 c. restoration would get the alignment askew that Square black tiles are set diagonally, separated it seems that the panel as a whole must retain from each other by yellow oblong tiles of design its medieval form. 15, with small black quarters of tiles in the At the ends of both steps are borders, two corners. In panel 11, wherever the design can tiles wide, of tiles set square to the axis of the be made out, the yellow half tiles are examples building, fig. 1 nos. 2, 8, 9 and 17. On the lower of design 15, decorated with two line-impressed step these are separated from panels 11 and 15 rosettes. At least two of the small squares are by two single rows of tiles of design 15, fig. 1 examples of design 16, decorated with one line­ nos. 10 and 16. Panel10 includes a plain yellow impressed rosette, but most of the tiles in this oblong tile, and panel 16 includes a plain square panel are too worn for any colour or decoration and half of a plain square. No comparable to remain. The large square tiles include exam­ panels are present on the upper step in this ples of designs 5 and 6, which were black, an position, but at the north end three tiles are example of design 14 with four line-impressed fitted in against the masonry, one is an example rosettes, which was yellow and another, which of design 15, the other two are small plain tiles, is not illustrated, but was probably decorated fig. 1 no. 1 (cf PI. I). with five line-impressed rosettes, one in each corner and one in the middle. This tile is very Panels 2, 8, 9 and 17 include the most inter­ esting tiles in this pavement, among them worn. examples of the lion and the stag already The corresponding panel on the south, fig. 1 mentioned as having faced the risers of the no. 15, is better preserved. Most of the oblong steps. The arrangement of designs in these tiles retain some glaze and decoration and are panels is shown on fig. 3. There are two versions examples of design 15. Most of the small squares of the stag, one sinister, design 1 and one have been black, the correct colour, but at least dexter, design 2. The lion, sinister, is design 3. two were yellow. Most of the large squares are Design 4 is a black example of design 5 with examples of design 5, two are design 6, one the centre square cut out and a small yellow seems to be undecorated, and another, the third square inserted in its place. In panels 9 and 17 from the south in the west row, is an example the tiles decorated with animals alternate with of design 10, decorated with four line-im­ black examples of designs 5 and 6 except at the pressed hounds. west edge where both tiles are design 5 or 6. At the east edge the tiles are cut off in the On the upper step panel3, fig. 1, is 1m 40cm middle. In panel 2 the tiles with animal decor­ wide. This can be seen on the right in PI. I. ation alternate with one example of design 6 The general arrangement is correct. Where the and two of design 4. These tiles are shown on design can still be seen the oblong tiles are PI. I. In panel 8 two examples of animal tiles yellow examples of·design 15. One of the small and one of design 4 alternate with tiles of squares is decorated with a rosette, design 16, design 5. The east edge of both panels 2 and 8 and another appears to be part of design 15. is made up of a plain half tile and some pieces. Most of the large squares are design 5, one is design 14 and another design 13. The triangular The technique by which these animal designs, half lozenge at the south east corner of this 1, 2 and 3, are reproduced is rare. The animals panel is decorated with three line-impressed were inlaid in white clay in the red body of the king's heads, design 9. Panel 7, fig. 1, at the tiles, this is a very common method, and when south end of the upper step, is that in which they were glazed and fired they appeared yellow the axis of the layout has swung up to the east on a brown ground. On these tiles, however, towards the south end. It is lm 30cm wide. The incised lines were added to outline the animal, oblong tiles are very worn but were probably to provide details of hip and shoulder joints, yellow examples of design 15. The small squares to underline the jaw and to delineate the eye. seem to have been plain black, which would be These details differ slightly from one tile to the correct colour. The large squares include another and it seems more likely that they were two very well preserved examples of design 5. incised by hand, following some pattern or These retain their black glaze among some very template, rather than that they were stamped on. worn tiles and it is unlikely that they are in Tiles the same as the lion, design 3 and the 204 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT stag dexter, design 2, are present in the pave­ are an ingenious substitute for mosaic. Designs ment of Prior Crauden's chapel, Ely, 3 where 1, 2, 3 and 4, and to a lesser extent 5, 6, 7 and 8 they alternate with tiles comparable to design 6 are a pseudo-mosaic. to form the border against the north and south The link between High am F errers and Prior walls in the west part of the body of the chapel Crauden's Chapel, Ely, provided by designs 2 and in the sanctuary. The pavement of Prior and 3, is a very important one because Prior Crauden's Chapel contains panels of opus Crauden's pavement can be dated from docu­ sectile, in most of which lions are composed mentary evidence to 1324.4 It would therefore from a number of specially shaped pieces of seem reasonable to attribute this paving at yellow tile set in a background made up of a Higham F errers to the period of the remodelling number of specially shaped pieces of black tile. of the chancel begun about 1327.5 Linear details are incised on the yellow tiles Although the pavements at the two places forming the lions. They were probably incised are linked by these designs and by designs 6, 7 by hand. The best preserved example, in the and 8, the tiles are unlikely to have been made north west corner of the chapel, is illustrated at the same tilery. The body fabric of the Ely in PI. IV. tiles is a medium shade of red· and a medium

PLATE IV. Opus sectile panel, NW corner, Prior Crauden's Chapel, Ely. Photo: ]ames Barfoot

I think that the incised lines outlining the grey where it is reduced. The body of the lion and the stag were an attempt to make it Higham Ferrers tiles is a deep red and a dark look as if the animal was a separate yellow tile blue-grey where it is reduced. set in a black tile in the way that the yellow tile Higham Ferrers is linked by designs 9 and 10 is set in the black tile in design 4, and in the with another Northamptonshire site, Pipew ell way that the large lions are separate yellow Abbey. One example of each design from Pipe­ tiles set in black tiles at Ely. It would be diffi­ well is in the Rutland Collection at the British cult, if not impossible, to fir~ the stags with Museum.6 The king's head is on a broken their branching antlers and the lion with its oblong tile, originally decorated with two ex­ curling tail as separate pieces. The incised lines amples of the king's head with the chins to-

3 Prior Crauden's pavement can still be seen in his by other early writers. chapel, now used by the King's School, Ely. Illus­ 4 F. R. Chapman, The Sacrist Rolls of Ely. Cam­ trations of parts of it were published by Shaw on the bridge (1907), Vol. II. pp. 126-7. Plates cited in Note 2. Complete plans were pub­ 5 Pevsner, op. cit. lished by William Fowler of Winterton in 1801, and 6 British Museum index numbers 221.9 and 2439. THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY TILE PAVING AT HIGHAM FERRERS 205

gether in the middle. The hounds are on a in the middle of the tile. There may have been square tile the same size as that at Higham many other arrangements of the known stamps Ferrers, but scored into four small squares and possibly others which are no longer repre­ with a hound in each. The tiles from Pipewell sented at Higham Ferrers, especially if a larger in the British Museum include examples of area was originally paved with tiles. designs 5 and 7 and a number of line-impressed Except in places like Prior Crauden's chapel rosettes but none of the rosettes seems to be where the complete pavement survives, one is the same size as those at Higham Ferrers. The left with fragments of paving or with isolated Pipewell tiles are unlikely to have been made tiles out of their context or with limited areas at the same place as either those at Ely or those of paving such as we have at Higham Ferrers, at Higham Ferrers. The body is pale pink, and no one knows how much more was once pinkish buff and pale grey and, when a dark present. One can only compare what remains glaze was required, the body was coated with a from one site with what remains from another red slip. and many more places than we now know may Tiles decorated with line-impressed rosettes have had tiles with the pseudo-mosaic animals identical to those at Higham F errers are known for example. Until recently no opus sectile was from Elstow Abbey, Bedfordshire, where the known other than that in Prior Crauden's body however resembles that at Pipewell. chapel, but Patrick Greene has found two pieces It is clear from the slightly different placing of an opus sectile lion during his excavations on of the hounds on the tiles from Pipewell and the site of Norton Priory, Runcorn, Cheshire.7 Higham Ferrers that a small stamp with only Line-impressed decoration, both on mosaic one hound was used to make all four impres­ and on square tiles, was very popular during sions on both tiles. The fact that the stamp of the first half of the fourteenth century in the the king's head was also a small one with only area north of the Thames extending as far as one head is shown by the different placing of Yorkshire and Wales. The fact that decoration the heads in relation to each other on the tiles made with the same stamp is present at dif­ from the same two sites. As well as being ferent places on tiles with a different body decorated with various combinations of im­ fabric suggests that the tilers who were re­ pressions of the same stamp, a tile could be sponsible for this type of decoration were decorated with impressions of two or more itinerant. This means that many kilns were different stamps. This is demonstrated by some constructed but so far, except at Norton Priory, other tiles from Pipewell in the British Museum no kiln associated with the firing of this type with designs not present at Higham Ferrers. of line-impressed decoration has been found. A collection of tracings and drawings of tiles, The Pavement at Higham Ferrers does not made by Lord Alwyn Compton, Bishop of Ely, include any of the circular mosaic patterns, now in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, which are present on a number of sites with 8 includes four tracings of tiles from Higham tiles in this series, but it is interesting to see Ferrers. One is of the lion, design 3, another of what variety was achieved by the use of only a single example of the line-impressed rosette. two shapes, the square and the lozenge, and The two other tracings are of tiles no longer halves or quarters of those shapes, and with present in the church, or if they are present, only three different linear stamps. For me the the designs have worn away completely. One panels with the lion and stags form the high­ shows part of a square tile with two impressions light of the pavement. It is fortunate that this of the king's head, set diagonally with the chin tile paving at Higham Ferrers has escaped to the middle, one in each remaining corner. removal by restorers and remains for our enjoy­ The other shows most of a triangular half of a ment after over five centuries of use. square tile. This has a rosette in the complete corner, part of a rosette in one of the bisected Acknowledgements corners and most of the king's head set square My thanks are due to John Steane, who

7 I am grateful to Patrick Greene for allowing me and Laurence Keen, 'Some Line-impressed Tile to examine the tiles at Norton Priory and to inspect Mosaic from Western England and Wales', Journ. of the remains of a kiln there. the Brit. Archaeol. Assoc. Vol. XXXV (1972) pp. 65- 8 cf. Laurence Keen, 'A fourteenth-century tile 70; and Elizabeth S. Eames, Medt"eval Tiles. A Hand­ pavement at Meesden, Hertfordshire', Hertfordshire book, British Museum (1968) p.6. Archaeology, 3 (1973) pp. 90-93; Elizabeth Eames 206 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT visited the church for me to see whether the Ferrers and Ely; to Shirley Walker, who made tiles referred to in 19th-century writings were the drawings of the tile designs from my still present and made other visits; to Peggy tracings; and to the clergy at Higham Ferrers, Barfoot and Laurence Keen, who helped me on who kindly allowed me to work in the church one of my visits to the church; to James Barfoot, on a number of occasions. who took the photographs both at Higham ELIZABETH S. EAMES.

2 6 ~ 7- 0 1 3 14-1 5 1 1 la I Uppep Step

9 11 13 15 11 1 1il 1121 1141 ~~ ~ Lowe~ Step 1 m ~tp ~

FIG. 1. HIGHAM FERRERS. Diagram of the arrangement of the panels in the tile paving on the altar steps.

0 5cms.

a

FIG. 2. HIGHAM FERRERS. Diagrams of the arrangement of the tiles (a) in panels 5 and 13, (b) in panel14, (c) in panels 11 and 15. FIG. 3. HIGHAM FERRERS. Arrangement of tile designs (a) in panel 2, (b) in panel 8, (c) in panel 9, (d) in panell7. 5 1 6 2 1 5 3 5

s 3 5 4- 3 5 2 J, 4 1 1 5 3 5 1 Sa. + ~ 4 3 5 2 5 6 5 SQ. ~ a... b c d

2

f 5 6 0 FIG. 4. HIGHAM FERRERS. Designs on the tiles nos. 1-6. 208 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

8

9

10 J1 0 Scms. I I t I t r I

FIG 5. HIGHAM FERRERS. Designs on the tiles nos. 7-12. THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY TILE PAVING AT HIGHAM FERRERS 209

15

13 - 14- 0 Scms. r...... &.-...t...... L......

FIG. 6. HIGHAM FERRERS. Designs on the tiles nos. 13-16.

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THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NoRTHAMPTONSHIRE

JoHN NORDEN in his description of Northamptonshire (1610) was enthusiastic about the country­ side "many other things may be said and that not unnecessarylye touching the further comodious situation of this shire not only in regarde ofprofitt but also of Pleasure ... Deare Red and Fallowe, both in Parks, Fforests and chases are so plentifull as noe one shire yeeldeth like" .1 A century later John Morton was writing his Natural H£story and noticed "as to the Parks 'tis observed there are more in Northamptonshire than in any other County in England ... Tho' some of the Northamptonshire Parks, and particularly some of those that bear that Name in the older Maps of the County are now disused and retain only the Name; yet the Number is rather enlarged than diminished; many other Places having lately been imparked, and very finely stocked with deer".2 When we look at an Elizabethan map of the county, Christopher Saxton's County Atlas, published in 1579, the landscape is dotted with little circular and oval shapes surrounded by paled fences indicating that Tudor Northamptonshire had twenty parks.3 This number had increased to twenty-seven marked in on Speed's map of 1610. Over the longer period from the Norman Conquest to the Reformation, as this paper will show, there is evidence for the existence at one time or another of about fifty parks (Fig. 1). The Park was a distinctive feature of the medieval landscape from the 12th century onwards.4 The word, as Crawford pointed out, originally meant 'enclosure'; being derived from the Old English "pearruc", 'pearroc', a diminutive form of an old English substantive, spar, a beam. 'Pearroc' became Paddock and the word 'park' is a French form of spelling.5 Parks in the middle ages were not primarily pleasure parks for hunting, they were enclosures for storing live meat in the form of deer and cattle, and they were reservoirs of timber for building purposes and fuel. They had to have some form of bank or fence surrounding them to keep the deer and other animals from straying. The Crown was the greatest owner of parks, and after the king, many bishops and abbots and greater lords had ambitions to have them. Since all deer belonged to the king special license had to be obtained for enclosing a park, but it is clear that many parks were made without such permission. Individual lords who made a park near or within the king's forests were well advised to seek his permission and this probably accounts for the large number of licenses recorded in the Patent and Close Rolls for Northamptonshire Parks.6 They were only granted if the king was convinced that no damage would result to his lands and rights. Further conditions had to be satisfied; that there was sufficient uncultivated land or waste available and that there were no overriding customary rights attached to the land to be enclosed (Fig. 4). The range of size of medieval parks was very great. The Royal Park of Clarendon was 3 miles in diameter, the bishop's park at Waltham, Hants was 2 miles by 1 mile. In Northampton­ shire the records show that the parks were much smaller. The park of the king's clerk, Waiter de Langton at Ashley, was only 12 acres to begin with and this was enlarged 2 years later by the addition of 2 acres of wood purchased of Guy de Waterville. 7 Simon de Drayton's original license allowed him to crenellate his dwelling house of Drayton and to impark 30 acres. Two years later

1 John Norden Speculum Britanniae Pars Altera or pp. 9-24. Also E. P. Shirley Some account of English a Delineation of Northamptonshire, 1610, published Deer Parks, London, 1867, esp. pp. 147-153. 1720. 6 0. G. S. Crawford Archaeology in the Field, 2 John Morton The Natural History of Northamp­ London, 1953, p. 191. tonshire, London, 1712, p. 12. 6 Virtually the whole of the county was royal forest 3 British Museum Maps c 7 c I. in the early middle ages. See J. M. Steane- 'The 4 See the list of references given by L. M. Cantor, Forests of Northamptonshire in the Early Middle in his article on the Medieval Parks of Leicestershire, Ages' N. P. & P. V, 1 1973 pp. 7-17. Leicestershire Arch. and Hist. Soc. XLVI 1970-71, 7 Gal Pat R. 1281-92, p. 388, Bridges ii 272. 212 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT ...... ,.""•"'- .. , , ·-·' .. ·'" ·-. Torpel ~ \ ~· Eyebury ' }, ' Easton on the Hill Marholm \

• eo llyweston "'. I ; •.r Thornhaugh t / .-. Wakerley K " , • ... J .. ,.J"' angs Cliffe J -• -. Harringworth • t' Blatherwyke ) : Fotheringhay ''- •"" .~ockingham "'- ."' S Ashley Weldon f C.: Stoke A\bany Biggin J ~ • r •L ._: lyveden r --. Brigstock Lilford .o\ Geddington Drayton i •-"' • Grafton Underwood .,,- Shipley Boughton .J ...... ,# \ ·, { \ ., ~-~ Moulton • Ovcrstone t Althorpe Great ~ -"'• High:m Ferrers Dodtlington. "'• ... Dodford ,.c Stowe Nine . Churches Yardley­ Gay ton r.,.Hastings Blakeney Stoke :"'"" Easton Bruerne 1 \ Neston .r• ·,, Handley P\umpton Graft~n Regis Paulerspury Moor ~nd .-·....I Silverstone • Potterspury

( .-· / l. ,..· Halse .- lWicken - • I \ I \r• ~t::::Jt::::JI::=:::l~5Miles l ; ( ,... .~ ...... FIG. 1 DISTRIBUTION OF MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

he was allowed to add 3 plots in Rockingham Forest containing a further 62 acres and another plot of 20 acres outside the forest contiguous to the other plots. This gave him a park extending from "Plumwell to la Snape and from Gotesle to Lound".8 John Trussel in 1404 however was granted the right to imp ark 300 acres of land, meadow, pasture and wood in Gayton called "La Hay". 9 The original grant to Sir John Spencer to begin his park at Althorp specified 300 acres of land, 100 acres of wood and 40 acres of water.10 Licenses to impark at times mention the terms of the grant and it is clear that the privilege was highly valued. In 1198 Roger de Torpel paid 100 shillings for enclosing his woods of Torpel, La Rage, Ravensland and Cricklecroft, and making a park for himself and his heirs. This was not a large park for in the description of the manor taken on the death of Edmund Earl of Kent it is

8 Gal Pat R. 1327-30, p. 319, 1327-30, p. 530. 10 Letters and Papers, Foreign & Domestic, Henry 9 Gal Charter R. 1341-1417, p. 424. VIII. I, i 1509-13, p. 684. THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 213 said to be of small extent, of 60 acres. 11 William de Albany owed one Norwegian hawk and two p~lfreys for license to enclose his park at Stoke.12 More often however a license to impark was gtven to reward services, past and future. Among those expected of Thomas Engaine, knight and lord of the Manors of Blatherwyke and Laxton who held an enclosed park of 12 acres was service by sergeanty and "of finding running dogs at his own costs to destroy wolves, foxes, cats (mireligos, catos) and other vermin in the counties of Northampton etc .... as well within the parks as without" .13 Enquiries into illegal parking were set up from time to time as when Waiter de Preston and William de Insula were ordered to view and measure "assarts and to throw down dykes of those assarts and parks which have been recently enclosed and are without royal license in that county" .14 In order to retain the deer and the other animals within the park it had to be completely and securely enclosed. This was done by an internal ditch, a substantial earthen bank or linear mound topped by a wooden pale, quickset hedge or more rarely by a stone wall. Undoubtedly the problem of maintaining an effective barrier was the chief expense of a park. Licenses frequently mention it. Roger de Clifford, forest justiciar this side of the Trent was ordered by the king to allow John St. John 20 cartloads of underwood (viginti carettatos subbusci) to enclose his park at Potterspury.15 A full description of the engineering works necessary in creating a park is given when Edward Ill granted license to his Queen Philippa to make a park in the bailiwick of Brig­ stock within Rockingham Forest. He appointed Waiter de Wyght, king's yeoman, keeper of the park, "to have the enclosure finished, make dykes there and deer leaps (saltus) and lodges (lugeas) to have the palings of the park repaired with the timber of the park . . . and to make trenches (? clearings) in the park, taking care that the wood cut down in such trenches be sold or made into charcoal as shall be most to the queen's profit; also to hire carpenters and other workmen required for the works and take carriage for the timber and other necessary things as was ordained" .16 The history of the royal parks which is well documented, at least from the 13th century onwards, describes the running battle which the pa:k keepers were involved in to keep up the proper maintenance of the park enclosures. The kmg's park at Moulton, two miles north of Northampton was enclosed as early as the reign of Henry II. The sheriffs of Northampton were ordered not to distrain the lord abbot of Peterborough to enclose the royal park otherwise than had been customary in the reigns of Henry II, Richard I and J ohn.17 Evidently the task of enclosing the park at Moulton was shared from an early date by surrounding townships. The sheriff was ordered to distrain those in his bailiwick who anciently and of right had to enclose the park "quin predictus parcus cumfestinacione bene claudatur".18 In 1276 the men of Roger ofFurneus in Raunds, of Henry le Scot and Ralph de Normanvill in Cotes, of Oliver Bydun and Simon de Cotes in Little Cotes and of Richard Trayley and Robert Punteney in Ringstead were arraigned before the hundred Court for neglecting for the last 16 years to repair their share.l9 It is clear that the king himself had part of the wall to maintain since in 1328 the sheriff of Northampton was ordered to take with him some of the men of his bailiwick to survey the wall of the king's park of North­ ampton and to cause the defects that ought to be repaired by the king to be repaired by their view and testimony. 20 During the term of office of Sir Nicholas Lilling in 1393, the walls were thoroughly repaired. Two carts were employed for carrying stones to the faulty places, and at lOd. a day cost 30s. for 36 days, and 4 masons with 3 assistants were employed for 45 days. By the 16th century stones with names of townships inscribed upon them were built into stretches of the walls, "the same townes engraven upon the same stones have pay de their yerely rent towards the mendyng of the same walls". Some of these survive in the circuit of the park today. Despite these efforts it was stated in 1560 that the park was inclosed with a wall so low "that neither deer nor other

11 V.C.H. Northants. ii, 534. 18 Gal Close R. 1247-51, p. 58, and Gal Close R. 12 P.R.S.N.S. 14, 240. 1253-4, p. 82. 13 Gal I.P.M. XII Ed. III p. 115. 19 V.C.H. Northants. iv. 94. u Gal Pat R. 1225-1232, p. 252. 2° Cited in E. F. Leach 'The King's Park at North­ 15 Gal CloseR. 1268-1272, p. 526. ampton' Northants. Natural History and Field Club 16 Gal Pat R. 1348-50, p. 552. XIV No. 114 June 1908, pp. 217-226. 17 Gal CloseR. 1227-31, p. 19. 214 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT beasts can be kept there" and in many parts the wall "lyeth wyde open, the dere thereof daylye and nightlye go oute and fede of the corne and grasse growinge in the feildes nexte abowte adioyninge". Evidently forced labour was employed to fence the king's parks. In 1339 two parts of the park of King's Cliffe were enclosed by the tenants of King's Cliffe and Woodnewton who peti­ tioned next year that this should not be taken as a precedent. In the next reign however, carpenters and other workmen were 'arrested' to fence Queen Anne's park at Cliffe. 21 Paling on this scale required a great deal of timber. In 1531 Sir John Mordaunt, surveyor general of the woods and forests, was required to write to "the officers of our forest of Sawcey and of our park of Moulton", commanding them to deliver to John Hartwell esq. and Richard Wale, gent; "such and as many oaks, convenable for Posts and Rayles and the lops, tops and Bark of the same", as shall be "sufficient for enlarging the park at Hartwell, and making a new lodge there". 22 If the job was done using timber paling it had to be repaired again and again. John, son and heir of John, son of John, son of Alan was granted license to re-enclose his park of Wicken (in Whittlewood forest) because the said park, formerly held by John, son of Alan was from time immemorial enclosed until Isabella, mother of the first named John who held the same in dower, allowed the paling to fall into decay. 23 The fences of parks which were enlarged by Henry VIII caused an extravagant waste of timber. Taverner complained of this in 1583 and in 1590 as the repair of park pales "doth yearly consume more than half as much timber as all other things".24 Once enclosed the park had to be stocked and here the king was in a unique position to be able to help since he was considered to own all deer roaming in the forests. Again the Close Rolls record grants of deer to lords for stocking their parks. William de Ferrers Earl of Derby was granted 15 does and 5 bucks to stock his park at Higham by gift of the king. 25 John de Neville was given orders to provide William de Cantilupe with 8 does and 2 bucks from Rockingham Forest to stock his park at Harringworth. Gilbert de Millers when starting his park at Overston in 1255 was given 10 live does (decem damas vivas) from the forest of Salcey. Similarly Radulph de Cameys was granted 9 does and 4 bucks from the king's forest of King's Cliffe to stock his park at Torpel.26 Deer could also be attracted into the park from outside provided that there was a deer leap by which they could gain access. These consisted of a gap in the earthen bank matched by a pit or hollow inside the park boundary. They were designed to allow the deer to run up the ramp and jump into the park, but they could not do the reverse trip. 27 Only a few licenses to impark were endowed with the right of constructing deer leaps, since such contrivances were a steady one-way drain on deer from the royal forest. It is sometimes specified that there should be no deer leap. Simon de Montfort for instance, was allowed to enclose his wood at Shipley (in Kel­ marsh) and make a park thereof without a deer leap. 28 A similar proviso was enforced on Simon Simeon when given his license to impark his wood of Grafton in Rockingham Forest, "provided that he make no deer-leap therein".29 The reason is made clear in the grant of a park to Ingram de Fednes at Gayton, "provided that it is so enclosed that the king's deer cannot enter therein".30 John Earl of Huntingdon however was allowed to construct two deer leaps for his park at Fotheringhay.31 William de Ferrers had one in his park at Potterspury32 and the privilege of a deer leap might be added many years after the foundation of the park as happened at Harring­ worth.33 The parks had a distinctive part to play in the economy of the court in the middle ages. Orders were sent out at intervals by the king to his park keepers to provide the court with venison,

21 V.C.H. Northants. II 581. 27 A good example of a deer leap surviving is at 2 ! G. Baker, History I pp. 52-3. Boughton park (SP 903818). 23 Gal Pat R. 1281-92, p. 382. 28 Gal Charter R. 1226-1257, p. 460. 24 Pettit Royal Forests, p. 102. 29 Gal Pat R. 1348-50, p. 57. za Gal Close R. 1249, p. 242. 30 Gal Charter R. 1257-1300, p. 14. 26 Harringworth Gal CloseR. 1234-7, p. 43, Over­ 31 Gal CloseR. 1227-31, p. 284. ston Gal CloseR. 1254-6, p. 146, Torpel Gal Close R. 32 Gal CloseR. 1227-31, p. 346. 1268-72, p. 323. aa J. Bridges History ii, 316. THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 215

particularly at the times of the great feasts at religious festivals. Henry Ill ordered Robert de Maris, the custodian of the King's park at Moulton (Northampton) to take 20 does and deliver them to the sheriff of Northampton to be carried to Westminster for the feast of St. Edward.a4 A year or so later 100 does were sent from the king's park and the royal forest to be salted and carted to Westminster to prepare for the feast of St. Edward. 35 It would be unrealistic to imagine that parks were simply for deer. They were also enclosed areas for pasturing cattle. The sheriff of Northampton in 1229 was told to turn out of Moulton Park all the beasts except those belonging to the king, keeping enough pasture to fatten the oxen and the beasts for the royal household in winter. Another park where cattle were kept was at Great Doddington. Here Robert Chaumpaigne in 1317 complained that his house had been besieged by William de Thurleby, Roger Page and others. They had entered his close there, cut down his trees, broken his park there by night, seized cattle impounded by him and his servants and led them away. Sometimes the men of a neighbouring vill to a park had rights of pasturing cattle within it. John Byset, forest justiciar was told to allow the men of Silverstone to have herbage in the park and to keep stock. 36 As the crown looked for supplementary sources of revenue in the later middle ages we find that the herbage and pannage within parks was at times farmed out. Edward Ill confirmed a grant in 1373 to Waiter Wright of pannage, herbage, dead wood, brush­ wood, bullrushes and fallen branches within the parks of Brigstock and Geddington at £10 per annum. A century later the keeping of the herbage and pannage of the parks of Brigstock and King's Cliffe was leased out for 20 years, "rendering yearly by equal portions at Easter and Michaelmas £4 for the herbage and pannage of the said lawn, 12 marks for the herbage and pannage of the park of Brigstock, and 26s.8d. for King's Cliffe park. 37 In 1406 Henry IV leased the herbage and pannage of Higham Ferrers park to Thomas Beston and the parker was charged to provide him with the key of the gate of the park that he might have free entry with his cattle. 38 Most of the parks in Northamptonshire were enclosed within the bounds of the forest and it is not surprising to find that their timber reserves were an important factor in their economic life. Gifts of trees, particularly oaks, figure frequently in the records of the royal parks. Geoffrey de Langel, forest justiciar, was ordered to provide the prior of Lenton with five oaks for timber from the royal park of Brigstock taking it from where it would cause least harm (ubi ad minus detrimentum eiusdem parci).39 The king's park of Handley provided Thomas de Turbeville with 10 oaks and the Friars Preachers of Northampton with 6 oaks.40 The Prior of Luffield similarly was given 10 oaks from the royal park of Handley to build the roof of the monastic church (ad maeremium ad cumulum ecclesie sue de Lu.ffield).41 The royal park at King's Cliffe was the source for the timber used in building a chapel at Casterton. Adam de Casterton was allowed 5 good oaks in the park for this purpose. 42 Constant inroads were made on timber resources in the parks for repairing the royal houses and other works nearby. The keeper of the royal fishponds at King's Cliffe was supplied with 4 oaks in the park to repair his ponds. 43 Geoffrey de Langel, forest justiciar, handed over to the sheriff of Northampton 10 oaks with their loppings from the park for the repair of the king's houses at Brigstock.44 The keeper of the park of Handley was ordered to provide the sheriff of Northampton with 3 oaks for finishing the kitchen of the royal house at Silverston.45 In the complex hierarchy of the officials of the administration of the royal forests keepers of parks had their place. A Simon 'Parcarius' or 'de Parco' occurs between 1203 and 1214 as holding land in Moulton. In 1251 Robert Basset, then Sheriff was appointed keeper in the place of Robert de Mares, the office in 1261 being conferred on Alan La Zouche.46 It seems that the keepership of the park at Northampton normally went with the castle and the county. Elias de

34 Gal CloseR. 1247-51, p. 248. 40 Gal Close R. 1264-8, pp. 159, 160. 35 Gal Close R. 1254-6, p. 245. 41 Gal Close R. 1254-6, p. 106. 36 Moulton Gal Close R. 1227-31, p. 240, Great u Gal Close R. 1264-8, p. 192. Doddington, Gal Pat R. 1313-17, p. 685, Silverstone 43 Gal Close R. 1264-8, p. 330. Gal Close R. 1237-42, p. 260. u Gal CloseR. 1247-51, p. 510. 57 Gal FineR. 1461-1471, pp. 46-7. 45 Gal CloseR. 1268-72, p. 349. 38 V.C.H. Northants. iii, p. 280. 46 V.C.H. Northants. IV, p. 94. 39 Gal CloseR. 1247-1251, p. 259. 216 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Tyngewick was both keeper of the forest of Salcey and of the park of Handley.47 We find him having to accept the orders of the royal justiciar of the forests this side of Trent. The keepers of the ducal park at Higham lived in some state. A moated enclosure which still exists is thought to have been near the site of the Great Lodge which was described in the 15th century as consisting of a hall, chapel, chamber, kitchen, brewhouse, and bakehouse. There were also a dovecot and two fishponds. 48 Towards the end of the middle ages the keepership of parks was often granted by the crown in return for services rendered. Edward Vavasour and Thomas Rouse were made keepers of the park of Overston "in consideration of their services to the King's (Henry VIII's) grandmother.49 The keepership of the park of King's Cliffe was granted in 1517 to David Cecil, sergeant-at-arms, and Richard Cecil, page-of-the-chamber, in survivorship. 50 The keepership of the Abbot of Peterborough's park at Eyebury was earned in a strange way. If brother Richard Harleton, the prior is to be believed, "The abbott is defamed with Parker's wife of Eyebury, whom this prior advised him to send away, and yet he did not, and to her husband the abbot granted the office of his park for the term of his life". 51 One of the main problems keepers of parks had to contend with was the perennial poaching. The identification of the offenders was not always clear. Persons unnamed entered the park of John de Hastings at Yardley, hunted therein and carried away deer and hares in the park, chase and warren, and cut down and carried away trees in the copse. 52 In other cases the nature of the crime is not specified. William, son of Waiter de Horton was arrested and imprisoned at North­ ampton until the next arrival of the forest justices, "pro transgressione parci regis". 53 Simon de Ardeme was pardoned for his 'transgressions' in Northampton park but evidently these were illegal hunting (venacione) and park-breaking (fractura parci).54 The brothers of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem were not above indulging in coursing with greyhounds without license and they were accused of taking a hind in the park at Blakesley.55 John Waryn of Yardley, canon of Ravenstone priory (Bucks), was another hunting eccleciastic. He was indicted before Henry Green and other justices of having broken the park of Waiter de Manny at Overston. His operations were on a large scale. He was accused of hunting therein and of having taken 30 bucks and 20 does with nets and engines and carried them away, and of having fished in the free fishery of Waiter and carried away fish. He confessed, was imprisoned but was subsequently pardoned. 56 We are reminded of Chaucer's monk:- Therfore he was a prickasour aright Grehoundes he hadde as swift as fowel in flight Of prikyng and of huntying for the hare Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare. One of the most interesting poaching cases comes from Henry VII's reign when there was a clash of interests between the keepers of the "Lytell pke of Brykstok" and Sir Thomas Cheyne and the keepers of Drayton Park. As will be seen the two parks lay next to one another and Sir Thomas was accused of beguiling the king's deer out of the Little Park into Drayton Park. The royal keepers complained that the "sayde pale made by the sayde Sir Thomas Cheyne was no suffycient pale for the pale was so lowe that the keepers of drayton prke myght stande and dyd climb uppon the toppe of the dyke ofDrayton pke and shoot on the sayde pale in the sayde Lytell pke and kylled the kynges deer being ffeding in the sayde Lytell parke". The solution was that Lord Mordaunt caused a "nomber of oks to be ffellyd in Grafton Chase and Grafton pke and in other places within the boundes of Grafton for the newe amendynge of the sayde pale and hedges and thereuppon tooke down the other pale and made a newe pale of greatter lengthe". 57 It is noteworthy that most of the early medieval parks in Northamptonshire were situated on the edge of the cultivated land and their boundaries are frequently coterminous with those of

47 Gal Close R. 1264-8, pp. 159-60. 52 Gal Pat R. 1301-7, p. 540. 48 V.C.H. Northants. iii, pp. 279-80. 53 Gal Close R. 1256-9, p. 41. 49 Letters & Papers of Henry VIII, I part I, p. 453. 54 Gal Close R. 1264-8, p. 28. 50 V.C.H. Northants. ii p. 582. 55 P.R.S.N.S. 22, p. 138. 51 Visitations of Religious Houses Vol. Ill. Lincoln 56 Gal Pat R. 1358-61, p. 51. Record Society 21 (1929) p. 287. 57 N.R.O. SS 3241. THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 217

~ ~9 ~ 9 Geddington 9 Chase 'Y ~? q>~ 99 <' y ~? tf BRIGSTOCK GREAT PARK

• •• •• Parish Boundaries 1Mile

FIG. 2 GROUP OF MEDIEVAL PARKS BETWEEN BRIGSTOCK AND GRAFTON UNDERWOOD.

the parish. They are well away from main centres ~f settlement and are sharply distinguished from Tudor and Stuart parks which were so often. designed to set off a large house. An interesting group of such parks is to be found north of Kettermg; t~ey comprise the King's park of Brigstock, first mentioned in the 12th century and the Queen's Little park of Brigstock. Adjoining these are Grafton Underwood Park begun by Simon Simeon in 1348 and Drayton Old Park, Simon de Drayton's foundation of 1328. All four parks are carved out of the forest on the edge of the culti­ vated areas surrounding the villages of Brigstock, Sudborough and Grafton Underwood (Fig. 2). Their boundaries are for several miles those of the parishes. None are very near the medieval manors they take their names from. A similar group is found in the south of the county. Grafton Regis Park, part medieval and extended by Henry VIII, Potterspury Park dating from 1230 and Plumpton Park founded by Richard Damory in 1328 all share common boundaries and all are on the edge of the arable fields which surrounded the villages of Paulerspury, Yardley Gobion and Grafton Regis (Fig. 3). 218 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Regis

I GRAFTON PARK

2 PLUM PARK 3 POTTERSPURY PARK

• • • •• Parish Boundaries

FIG. 3 GROUP OF MEDIEVAL PARKS BETWEEN GRAFTON REGIS AND PAULERSPURY.

A different tendency is noticeable towards the end of the middle ages. To an increasing degree new parks are made or enlarged at the expense of formerly cultivated land, and most of the Tudor parks were meant to set off grandiose houses. Such was Althorp, begun in 1512 by John Spencer, who received permission to impark 300 acres of land, lOO acres of wood, and 40 acres of waste in "Old Thorpe" and in Great Brington. Richard Whitehill similarly imparked at Boughton in 14 73 at the expense of the land formerly cultivated round a deserted medieval village. Richard Empson began his park at Easton Neston in 1498 by taking 400 acres of land and 30 acres of wood in the towns, fields and parishes of Easton Neston and Hulcote. In 1540 Sir Thomas Tresham took in 120 acres of wood, 250 acres of pasture and 50 acres of meadow in Lyveden where there had been a deserted medieval village.* In each case there arose within the park a considerable mansion house. As Morton remarked in 1712 "And they all lie at a small convenient Distance from the Houses of Noblemen and Gentlemen; whereas some of the old ones that have been disparked, were remote". t * For references for the last two paragraphs see gazeteer which follows. t J. Morton The Natural History of Northamptonshire, London, 1712, p. 12. THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 219

CHRONOLOGY OF PARKS

IN NORTH AM PTONSHI RE IN.

THE MIDDLE AGES

1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550

FIG. 4 THE GREATEST VOLUME OF lMPARKING COINCIDES WITH THE AGRARIAN EXPANSION OF THE 13TH AND EARLY 14TH CENTURIES.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank Mr. J. Harker of Geddington and the members of the Local History and Archaeological Society of Kettering Grammar School for accompanying me on many of the journeys to medieval parks. I owe Professor M. W. Beresford of Leeds a special debt for writing a seminal chapter in History on the Ground which began my search for parks. I am grateful to Professor L. M. Cantor for several useful references in his list of Northamptonshire Parks deposited in the Northants. Record Office, to Mr. P. I. King, County Archivist, for kindly reading the paper and improving it in a number of ways, to Mr. J. Marshall of Kettering Grammar School for providing some excellent photographs, to the librarian of the Society of Antiquaries for generous help. J. M. STEANE. * * * * * * * * * * ALTHORP License was granted in 1512 to Sir John Spencer, then John Spencer, to impark 300 acres of land, 100 acres of wood and 40 acres of waste in "Old Thorpe", with free warren there, and in Great Brington (L. & P. For. & Dom. Henry VIII 1. part 1, 1509-13, p. 684). M. E. Finch mentions the series of minute purchases and exchanges made in the second half of the 16th century to expand the park (M. E. Finch, Wealth of Five Northamptonshire Families, Northants. Record Soc. XIX, 1956, p. 61). A series of datestones recording successive tree plantings were made in the 16th and 17th centuries (Datestones in Althorp Park, Northants. N. & Q. NS Ill (1910-11) pp. 65-76. Althorp was visited by John Evelyn in 1675 and 1688. He describes it as 'very finely watered, and fl.anqued with stately woods and groves', and 'the park walled in with hewn stone, planted with rows and walles of trees, canals and fishponds, and stored with game'. The park was considerably enlarged by Charles Earl of Sunderland, 1729-33 (Shirley, p. 150). ASHLEY Waiter de Langton, king's clerk, had license to enclose and impark his wood of Asshele and 12 acres of land adjoining thereto within the metes of the forest (Gal Pat R. 1281-92, p. 388). Bridges (ii 272) said that Waiter two years afterwards obtained license to enlarge his park with the addition of 2 acres of wood purchased from Guy de Waterville.

BIGGIN Biggin was a grange or manor of Peterborough Abbey. A list of rights of the Abbey, compiled in 1321 after the death of Abbot Godfrey, mentions a park ( V.C.H. Northants. iii, 90). It had been claimed by the Earl of Gloucester in 1292 but adjudged to be the property of the Abbey; a grant of free warren and a deer leap 20 feet in length were acquired at the end of the reign of Edward I (N. & Q. iii NS p. 26). The fence of the park can readily be traced alongside the road from Oundle to Benefield in the spinney and so across the park behind the house. 220 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

BLAKESLEY The brothers of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem were accused in 1207 of having greyhounds (leporarios) without license of the king and they took a red deer (unam bussam) in the park of Blaculuesl (P.R.S. NS 22, 138). BLATHERWYCKE Bridges (ii, 275) mentions that Henry Engayne in the 54th year of Henry Ill obtained license to impark 10 acres of land within the bounds of Rockingham Forest. A 14th century extent of Blatherwycke included a wood called 'Le Hallestede', an enclosed park of 12 acres, yearly rents of lOOs in Blatherwycke, etc. (Gal I.P.M. xii Ed. Ill, p. 115).

BOUGHTON Richard Whitehill obtained a grant of free warren in the manor of Boughton with license to inclose a park and embattle a manor house in 1473. (Gal Pat R. 1467-77 p. 292). The site was that of a deserted medieval village (see Hurst, Allison and Beresford p. 35). The ridge and furrow of the medieval cultivation can be traced under the trees of the park. The Montagus were enlarging the park in the 17th century. Charles I allowed Edward, Lord Montagu, to transfer 100 acres to the park. (Bridges ii, 353). The park in 1715 is seen in N.R.O. map 2834 and N.R.O. map 3006a shows that the boundaries had hardly changed by 1808. There is a fine internal ditch to the stone and brick wall to the north facing Geddington. BRIGSTOCK (Fig. 2) The earliest reference to a park at Brigstock is in 1228 when oaks were granted by the king to William D'Aubigny 'extra parcum de Geytinton et parcum de Brikestoc' (Gal Close R. 1227-31, p. 15) and there seems to have been a close connection between the park and the royal hunting lodge at Brigstock. Oaks were given to Geoffrey de Langel to repair the king's houses and fish­ ponds at Brigstock (Gal CloseR. 1247-51, pp. 510, 410). Further timber was given to the Priory of Lenton (Gal CloseR. 1247-51, p. 282), and to John Lovel (Gal CloseR. 1268-72, p. 310). In the 14th century Edward Ill granted license to his Queen Philippa to make a park with enclosure, dykes, deer leaps, lodges and trenches (Gal Pat R. 1348-50, p. 552). This was the origin of the Queen's or Little Park of Brigstock and it lay to the south of the King's or Great Park. Offences against the forest law are recorded as taking place within Brigstock park. "A certain soar was struck with a certain arrow in the park at Brigstock". (Select Pleas of the Forest, Selden Soc. 13, 1899, p. 27-8). Hugh Swartgar and Henry Tuke of Brigstock, "being suspected of nets placed in the park of Brigstock for taking hares", were ordered to be arrested but fled. (Select Pleas op cit p. 29). The parks were apparently deep in Rockingham forest for Edward Ill granted 60 acres of wood "North of his park at Brigstock" (Gal Pat R. 20 Ed. Ill, p. 74). We have already noticed that herbage and pannage within Brigstock park was farmed out late in the middle ages (p.215). William Brasiers' map of 1728 (N.R.O. map 3111) shows the boundaries of the park. A walk round these shows in places substantial traces of earthworks. They include a long linear mound in Splash Meadow which runs parallel with the hedgeline marking the bounds of the park (East of Park Farm at SP 929847). The next field was called "The Lawn" on the Brasier map and the next to the south, Ald Dykes. Here is a well preserved linear mound and slight traces of an internal ditch. The road between Brigstock and Grafton divides the Great from the Little Parks. On the east edge of Park Gate Close and Saw Tree Coppice are massive banks. The south-east and south-west limits of the park run along the parish boundaries and border on two other medieval parks, Drayton and Grafton. The western boundary of the Great Park runs north from Old Mead Wood towards Geddington Chase and is marked by a long linear bank and internal ditch with a number of ancient oaks growing on the mound at SP 912830. COLLYWESTON No park is menti?ned her~ ~til in the latter. part of the reign of Edward IV and it was probably not enclosed until the bmldmg of the mansiOn house of Collyweston in the 15th century. It is THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 221

mentioned at the end of the reign ofEdward IV before it came into the possession of Lady Margaret Beaufort ( V.G.H. Northants. ii, 553).

DODFORD Bridges i, 50, mentions "there was formerly a park including thirty acres of wood ... but the ground hath long since been applied to other uses". William de Keynes who succeeded to the lordship in the sixth year of Henry Ill "made a warren and inclosed a park in Dodford, which by inquisition were found to be·an infringement on the rights of the King's Manor of Fawsley". In Edward Ill's reign the size of the park of John de Keynes was said to be 50 acres (Gal I.P.M. Ed. Ill XII, 49-50).

DRAYTON (Fig. 2, Plates 1, 2) The modern Drayton Park surrounds Drayton House. Half a mile to the north lies the site of the medieval Drayton Old Park. Its origin is in 1328 when Simon de Drayton was given license by the Crown 'to crenellate his dwelling house of Drayton, and to impark 30 acres in the manor of Drayton and to hold the premises in fee simple (Gal Pat R. 1327-30, p. 319). Two early 18th century maps in the Northants. R.O. (maps 1402, 1403) show Drayton Old Park and a circular enclosure within it marked Round Lound Woods. Dr. G. F. Peterken of Monks Wood Nature Conservancy Station has suggested that this may be the original enclosure of Simon de Drayton's first park. Tracing the boundaries of Round Lown Wood (modern spelling) one notices at SP 955815 a linear mound with external and internal ditch running round the western side of the wood. The Lowick-Sudborough parish boundary follows this side of the wood. It seems to have been enlarged a little to the north and east, since its present edges are outside the double ditch marked on the N.R.O. maps. The present wood covers only two-thirds of the more northerly part of the area, enclosed by a double ditch. This double ditch has been ploughed out between Round Lown Wood and New Lodge. Simon enlarged his park since he was given license to impark "three plots in Rockingham Forest called Eldesale, Newesale and Lappe, containing 62 acres and another plot of 20 acres called Wynescross outside the forest, continuous to the said plots. The said plots extend from Plumwell to La Snape and from Gotesle to Lound" (Gal Pat R. 1327-30, p. 530). Again, referring to the N.R.O. maps, this extension can be traced, starting from SP952811. A fine stretch of about 500 yards of boundary bank runs parallel with the Slipton­ Sudborough road. The boundary follows the road to SP960816 and then turns north-east. The corner has been ploughed out, but the bank can be traced as a broad yellow clay band in the plough soil at SP959816. Once in Snapes wood Simon de Drayton's extensions can be followed. A boundary mound running diagonally across the later 18th or 19th century rides is noticeable at SP950826 and it turns south at SP949827 to run about 150 yards within the present bounds of Snapes wood before meeting the line of an old cattle drove way known as Meer Lane at SP94 7823 which it follows to the west of Long Lown Wood. A ditch running from SP947820 due east divides this part of the park. The moat now known as 'The Nunnery' forms part of the South West corner of the Park and may either be the park keeper's lodge, or perhaps more likely, is a stock enclosure.

EASTON-oN-THE-HILL A grant was made in 1229 to Alan de Lindon to enclose his wood called La Lounde in Easton, containing 8 acres and lying between his manor of Eaton and the king's highway to Stamford, and make it a park ( V.G.H. Northants. ii p. 566). The name of the wood means "the wood" (Place Names of Northants. p. 288). Simon de Lindon. sett!~~ the manor, th~ park and th~ wood within Cliffe Forest on Edward I's Queen Eleanor. (Bndges u443). In the mtddle of the retgn ofEdward Ill the park is called Le Grave and Easton is said to have suffered from a great mortality during the pestilence ( V.G.H. Northants. ii p. 566). At the death of John, Earl of Kent the extent of Easton includes the park containing 30 acres of wood, a wood called 'Le Cranes' and a wood called 'Heywood' within the forest of Clyve (Gal I.P.M. x Edward Ill, p. 46). 222 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

I I

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PLATE 1 THESE TWO MAPS OF DRAYTON OLD PARK (N.R.O. MAPS 1402, 1403) DATE FROM THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY AND SHOW THE PROGRESSIVE ENLARGING OF DRAYTON PARK FROM THE ORIGINAL 14TH CENTURY ENCLOSURE OF ROUND LOWN WOOD. THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 223

PLATE 2 SEE PLATE 1 FOR CAPTION. 224 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

EASTON NESTON Richard Empson, servant and councillor to Henry VII obtained license in 1498 to impark 400 acres of land and 30 acres of wood in the towns, fields and parishes of Easton Neston and Hulcote as well as a grant of free warren, a fishery, and license to build walls and towers of stone, lime and sand round and within his manor of Easton Neston and crenellate the same. (Gal Pat R. 1494- 1509, p. 163-4).

EASTWOOD John Laurel was given license in 1267 to enclose his "wood called Estwood which is within the metes of the forest of Whitlewood and contains 7 acres, 3 roods of land by the forest perch, with a ditch and a hedge to impark it". (Gal Pat R. 1266-72, p. 76).

EYEBURY Eye was a manor of Peterborough Abbey. Abbot Godfrey (1299-1321) built a new house with a bakery and dairy and enclosed land for keeping wild beasts. This was probably the origin of the abbot's park of Eyebury (V.C.H. Northants. ii, 491). The parker is mentioned at the end of the 15th century and the "parks are broken and the hinds and foals are taken and many other rights and liberties of the monastery are violated in the abbot's default since he does not defend such rights". (Visitations of Religious Houses vol. iii, Lincoln Record Society 21 (1929) p. 287).

FOTHERINGHAY A park is first mentioned in the reign of Henry Ill when John, Earl of Huntingdon, had several grants of imparking. He was allowed two deer leaps in his park of Fotheringhay, (Gal CloseR. 1227-1231, p. 284), and twice in the next few years he was granted does and bucks from Rock­ ingham to stock his park at Fotheringhay ( V.C.H. Northants. ii 572). Mary, Countess of Pembroke, was granted two deer leaps for her life in her park at Fotheringhay (Gal Pat R. 32, Ed. Ill p. 127). In the Tudor period there were two parks at Fotheringhay; the little park on the east of the castle and the great park on the north and the south ( V~C.H. Northants. ii, 572). Mountjoy, Earl of Newport, claimed to hold a great park, a little park with a deer leap in the great park in the 11th year of Edward IV (Bridges ii, 453). The park is bounded by the Willow Brook on the south and a complete perambulation can be made, starting from Walcot Lodge (TL 052937). A green lane goes north to Nassington. The park boundary is marked by a long linear earthwork a mile long and 30 feet across, with a ditch on either side, enclosed in 'Park Spinney'. This is also the parish boundary between Nassing­ ton and Fotheringhay. In several places fragments of limestone rubble appear in the boundary bank and at TL 057947 there is an inner ditch only. At TL 061951 the boundary mound runs east and joins the Fotheringhay-Nassington road, whence it turns south. There is a kink in the road at TL 065939 which may be a deer leap. The bank is picked up here and survives a few feet to the west under hedgerows and parallel with the road. The southern boundary seems to be the Willow brook. The parks are not mentioned after a grant of the castle and manor in 1603 and they were probably disparked when the castle was dismantled in the 17th century ( V.C.H. Northants. ii, 572).

GAYTON Ingram de Fednes was given a grant in 1258 to enclose with a dike and hedge his wood of Gayton which was within the king's forest of Salcey, "and make a park thereof and keep it enclosed for himself and his heirs provided that it is so enclosed that the king's deer cannot enter therein" (Gal Charter R. 1257-1300, p. 14). John Trussel evidently was allowed to enlarge it in the early 15th century. He was given permission to impark 300 acres of land, meadow and pasture and wood in Gayton, called 'La Hay' and hold the same so enclosed, provided that the said land was not within the metes of the forest (Gal Charter R. 1341-1417, p. 424). THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 225

GEDDINGTON John de Nevill was ordered to provide Richard de Clare with 30 oaks to be used 'ad se hospitandum apud Naresb extra parcum (Gal Close R. 1237-42, 38) and again, to allow Waiter de Burgh timber extra parcum de Geytinton, to repair the mews of Geddington. (Gal CloseR. 1237-42, 186). A suggestive curving line in hedge boundaries which may be the northern and north-western sides of the park is seen in the Montague estate map ofNewton (called West Leys). Shirley (p. 148) mentions the possibility that it became Geddington Chase.

GRAFTON REGIS (Fig. 3) Grafton park was part medieval and part Tudor and within it Pettit recognised that the long curving sweep of an existing hedgerow aroused suspicion of the pre-inclosure origin-part of the medieval boundary before the enlargement of Henry VIII. To enhance his pleasure when hunting at Grafton on his annual progress Henry VIII included within the honour a system of parks which he had enlarged or newly imparked. This was done at Grafton in 1532 when the king took 76 acres from the fields of Grafton and 70 acres from Alderton. It was described by Leland as being inclosed partly by pales and partly by a quickset hedge (Pettit Royal Forests 8, 14). In 1558 it was estimated that there were 500 deer in Grafton. James I enlarged the park and the Crown retained it in 1628. In 1644 Charles I sold Grafton and Potterspury parks to Sir George Strode and Arthur Duck, with liberty to dispark them, for £7,000 and in the 1660 survey it was reported that "The Lord Mounson hath cut down all the trees in Pury Park and the greater part of those in Grafton Park to his own use (Pettit Royal Forests pp. 45, 68, 119, 192).

GRAFTON UNDERWOOD (Fig. 2) This park, which borders on the Great and Little Brigstock parks, was begun by Simon Simeon who was granted license to enclose his wood of Grafton within the forest of Rockingham "with a little dyke and low hedge according to the assize of the forest". He was also allowed to sell the underwood in that wood as often as he pleased "provided that sufficient covert was left there for the king's deer" (Gal Pat R. 1343-5, p. 26). The grant was confirmed "provided that he make no deer leap therein" (Gal Pat R. 1348-50, p. 57). A century later Henry Grene was allowed to have a free chase in his woods and fields, namely, "Grafton Wodys", "Grafton Park", and the fields called "Grafton Feldys" and he had license to impark the said woods and fields and hold the same as a park (Gal Charter R. 1427-1516, p. 113). Grafton Park is a mile to the north-east of Grafton Underwood village and there is an embanked linear earthwork at SP 932813 with ash, oak and conifers planted on it. The parish boundary with Brigstock defines its north-east edge and it is possible that the south-east extension marks the extension "Grafton Woodys" and "Grafton Feldys" mentioned in the 15th century document.

GREAT DODDINGTON Robert Chaumpaigne complained in 1317 that a number of men besieged him in his house at Great Doddington, entered his close there, cut down his trees, broke his park there by night, siezed cattle etc. (Gal Pat R. 1313-17, p. 685).

HALSE Thomas Gresley, the justiciar of the Forest, was ordered to allow Roger de Quency, Earl of Winchester, 10 live does and 6 bucks to stock his park at Halse (Gal CloseR. 1259-61, p. 336). HANDLEY In 1220 John Mar and Hugh de Neville were commanded to enquire whether meadow and pasture between the king's park of 'Hanle' and the river Tove belonged to the Countess of Essex's manor or to the said park of Hanle (Baker ii, 340). In 1236 John de Nevill, justiciar of the forest, was ordered to hand over to 'Advocato de Bethun' 6 bucks and 2 stags in the forest of Whittlewood, and in the park ofHandley 2 bucks by the gift of the king (Gal CloseR. 1234-7, p. 266). Hugh of 226 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Goldingham was ordered to deliver to the Prior of Luffield 10 oaks in the park of the king at Handley (Gal CloseR. 1254-6, p. 106). Elias de Tyngewick, keeper of Salcey forest and ofHandley Park, was ordered to allow the Friars preachers of Northampton 9 oaks from Salcey forest and 6 oaks from Handley Park (Gal CloseR. 1264-8, pp. 159-60). The perambulation of the forest in 1299 included the park of Handley within the old foss. Charles I in 1631 in consideration of the sum of six thousand pounds, granted and gave up the premises, with several adjoining coppices in the forest, containing in all 863 acres to Sir Simon Benet of Beachampton (Bridges i 279). Bridges states that the property "hath been long since disafforested and converted into pasture and tillage".

HARRINGWORTH Bridges (ii, 316) states that in the 18th year of Henry Ill William de Cantilupe junior "who seemeth to have had the grant of this manor two years before, obtained license to inclose and throw into a park free from all views and regards of the forest that part of Harringworth wood called Stockes extending by the common field as far as Langlegh trench". John de Neville was ordered to hand over to William 8 does and 2 bucks from Rockingham forest to stock his park at Harringworth (Gal CloseR. 1234-7, p. 43). William La Zouche in 1330 obtained the privilege of a deer leap in this manor which lay within the bounds of the forest (Bridges ii, 316). The park was still in existence in Elizabeth's reign, figures in the Finch Hatton estate plan (N.R.O. Finch Hatton 272) and belonged to Edward Lord Zouche. Leland stated "there is a parke by this manor place and a fair lodge in it".

HARTWELL 25 acres of this park were medieval (Pettit p. 14n) and the remaining 232 acres were imparked by Henry VIII who in 1531 required Sir John Mordaunt to write to the officers of Salcey forest and Moulton park commanding them to deliver to John Hartwell and Richard Wale "such and as many oaks, convenable for posts and rayles, and the lops and tops of the same" as shall be "suffi­ cient for enlarging the park at Hartwell, and making a new lodge there" (Baker, Northants. 1 pp. 52-3). In 1564 there were 25 forest acres (presumably the original area of the park), and 460 oaks (Pettit p. 100). In 1629 it was "disparked for ever as well from vert and hunting", and sold to Endymion Porter for £2,100 and a £10 rent but the timber was reserved and sold later for £469-16s.-8d. Its later history, when it was held successively by Sir Robert Berkeley and Sir Francis Crane, is dealt with in Pettit (p. 192.).

HIGHAM FERRERS Higham park, the subject of a separate section in the Victoria County history ( V.C.H. Northants. iii pp. 279-280) is also described in detail by Beresford (M. W. Beresford, History on the Ground pp. 216-219). Henry I evidently acquired the park from the elder William Peverel and it remained part of the royal demesne till 1199. It was enlarged c.l166 by Henry II who inclosed within it certain lands for which he gave in exchange to tenants, Richard and William de Newton and Aleswas Bochard, land elsewhere in the same fee. The park came into the estate of the Earls of Derby in the early 13th century, and in 1249 William deFerrers was granted 15 does and 5 bucks to stock his park at Higham (Gal CloseR. 1249, p. 242). In 1406 Henry IV leased its herbage and pannage to Thomas Beston and the parker was charged to provide him with a key of the gate of the park that he might have free entry with his cattle. There was serious deer stealing in J ames I's reign when Sir Robert Osborne was ordered to examine the deer stealers from Higham Ferrers park (Bridges ii, 194). Its later history is recorded in V.C.H. Northants. iii, p. 280. The park is situated three miles to the south-east of the castle and borough. Near the north-west corner stands a 16th-17th century house known as Higham Park below which stands a moated site (SP 982642). In the 15th century the great lodge where the keeper of the park lived was described as having a hall, a chapel, chamber, kitchen, brewhouse and bakehouse. There was a dovecot, and two fishponds. The enclosure which is visible lies below the present house and is rectangular, 395 ft. south-west-north-east and 230 ft. south-east-north-west, with a moat varying in width from 30 ft. on the east and west sides but only 12 ft. on the north and south sides. It was evidently a wet moat with streams feeding it on the south side and draining into THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 227 fishponds on the north side. It was rather larger than the normal homestead moat and may be a stock enclosure. (cf. a similar site in one corner of Drayton Old Park). Beresford noticed that the park pale is visible on the south-east side. A recent survey shows a long linear bank 30 ft. across and 4ft. high with internal and external ditches curving along the north side of West Wood. It then strides across fields at SP 998632-3 and here it is a conspicuous element in the landscape. There is a suggestion of an entrance, possibly a deer leap, in the kink of the banks and ditches at SP 998638. This south-west boundary is coterminous with the County boundary and has been instrumental in extending a tongue of Northamptonshire into Bedfordshire for about a mile.

KING'S CLIFFE The first reference to a royal park in Cliffe Bailiwick in Rockingham Forest is in Gal Close R. 1227-31, p. 15. (Cantor). John de Neville was ordered to hand over to the Bishop of Norwich 10 oaks 'in parco de Clive' to enclose his park of Gaywood (Gal CloseR. 1237-42, p. 193). The king's men of King's Cliffe and Apethorpe were allowed to have common pasture inside the bounds of the forest outside the park (Gal Close R. 1247-51, p. 282). Further grants of timber were made from the royal park of Cliffe to Richard Le Norreys (5 oaks), Adam de Casterton (5 oaks for making his chapel at Casterton), the keeper of the fishponds at Cliffe (4 oaks to repair the fishponds) (Gal Close R. 1268-72, p. 192, 1264-8, p. 330). Grants were also made of deer. Radulph de Cameys was allowed 9 does and 4 bucks to stock his park at Torpel (Gal CloseR. 1268-72, p. 323). About 1339 two parts of the park at King's Cliffe were enclosed by the tenants of King's Cliffe and the building of a stone wall 7 ft. high round 178 acres of park is recorded in 1361 (Colvin and Brown Kings Works ii, 970 Fn). It was reckoned that only the park walls and the keeper's lodge were kept up in the 15th century. The keepership of the park was granted in 1517 to David Cecil, sergeant at arms, and Richard Cecil, page of the chamber. In Leland's day "Cliffe park was partly waullid with stone and partly palid". In the 16th century it was the largest park in Cliffe Bailiwick, containing over 1,600 acres, of which a third was woodland in 1565. There were 1,350 oaks in 1564 (Pettit p. 100). In 1592 Elizabeth I granted Cliffe park with all herbage, pannage and other appurtenances to Thomas Compton and others as the assigns of the Earl of Essex. On the fall of Essex in 1598 Lord Burghley possessed it and is said to have disparked it (Bridges ii, 433). Fragments of the boundaries of King's Cliffe park can be picked up. There is a slight depression in the field at TL 988032 which may be the corner of the park ditch. There is a lime­ stone wall with an outer ditch at TL 993022. Then the curving field boundary demarcates the park with a strong limestone scatter in which were found sherds of 13th century Lyveden ware. North of Law's Lawn is a spinney within which is a double bank and external ditch which is probably the remains of the park boundary. An ancient hedge line marks the line down to the road between King's Cliffe and Easton-on-the-Hill. The southern boundary is marked by the parish boundary between Yarwell and King's Cliffe. There is a good stretch of linear bank west of Great Morton Sale; it has a clear inner ditch.

LILFORD Robert de Willoughby's estate in 1317 included the manor and park at Lilford which he held jointly with Margaret his wife (Call.P.M. VI p. 46).

LYVEDEN A licence was given Robert de Wyvill, king's clerk, in 1328 to inclose, impark and hold in fee simple his wood of Lytelhawe by Lyveden if it be not within the metes of the forest (Gal Pat R. 1327-30, p. 310). This seems to be the origin of the Old Park marked on 18th century maps of Brigstock and area (N.R.O.). It is midway between the site of the deserted medieval settlement of Lyveden and the forest village of Brigstock and would have formerly been on the edge of culti­ vation between the two, probably near the "magnam trenchiam" mentioned in the Forest Rolls (Select Pleas of the Forest, Selden Soc. 13, 1899, p. 30). In 1540 Sir Thomas Tresham was given license to impark 120 acres of wood, 250 acres of pasture and 50 acres of meadow in Lyveden, commonly called Lyveden Park "whereof the Eastern side abuts into Bareshanke Wood and 228 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Whynney Grene in Pylton and the Western side abuts upon a wood called Sherylappe and Sud­ burgh Grene, and the South side upon the wood of the said Sir Thomas called Ladywood and Bradyhawe, and the North side abuts on the highway called Harlowe Rydyng and the closes of the said Sir Thomas, now in the tenures of John Ayhyns and John Palmer" (L. & P. Henry VIII 1540, p. 407). The boundaries of the Old and New park are fairly obvious on the ground. The Harley Way-the road between Brigstock and Oundle-defines the parks on the north. On the west side of the Old Park a ride runs on top of the park boundary mound from the Harley Way south to Slings Nook. There is no sign of the mound north of Slings Wood but it is picked up again with a considerable ditch to the east of Slings Nook. (at SP 971854). It has been ploughed but can be seen as a light gravelly band across the field to Lady Wood. There is a massive inner ditch, linear mound and an outer ditch at the head of Lady Wood, and south of Lyveden New Building is one of the finest preserved pieces of park boundary bank in the County (SP 984851). It seems as if Sir Thomas Tresham added to the Old Park a substantial part of what had been the open fields surrounding the deserted village as well as the site of the village itself, which is on both sides of the stream several hundred yards to the east of Lyveden Old Building.

MARHOLM In 1241, Richard, son ofHugh was dead, leaving a widow, Alice, who afterwards married Richard of Barnack, to whom Reginald de Waterville, the successor of Richard, granted the manor of Marholm for life "except the park and the wood called Luadril" ( V.C.H. ii, 500).

MOOR-END Thomas deFerrers was granted a license to crenellate his dwelling place of La Morende and to impark a plot of land and wood adjoining the said dwelling place (Gal Pat R. 1345-8, p. 270). The Place Names of Northants. mentions a Moor End 'La Mora' in 1168 in Yardley Gobion (p. 108). There is a moated site here and this may well be the site of the park.

MOULTON-NORTHAMPTON The King's Park at Northampton was identified 60 years ago by E. F. Leach in a useful paper in the Northamptonshire Natural History and Field Club XIV No. 114 (June 1908) pp. 217-226. It occupied a site of approximately 450 acres and is known now as Moulton Park, about three miles north-east of Northampton. The origin of the park goes back at least as early as the reign of Henry II, since the sheriff of Northampton in Henry Ill's reign was ordered not to distrain the abbot of Peterborough for failing to enclose the king's park "other than they were accustomed to do in the time of Henry, the grandfather of the Lord King and Richard the King and John (Gal CloseR. 1227-31, p. 19). The park is first specifically mentioned in 1201 "And in buying hay (in emptione feni) to feed the beasts in the park of Northampton. 37s". (P.R.S.N.S. 14, p. 174). A Simon 'Parcarius' or 'de Parco' is referred to as holding land in Moulton between 1203 and 1214 (Curia Regis R. vii, 132). Thereafter references in the royal records are thick and fast. John de Nevill was ordered to take 60 does and 20 bucks out of Rockingham, Salcey and Clive Forests and instal them in the king's park at Northampton and to cause wild beasts captured to be placed in the park itself(Cal CloseR. 1234-7, p. 136). Orders were given from time to time to the custodian of the park to deliver deer to the court. Robert de Maris, the custodian of the king's park was ordered to take 20 does and deliver them to the sheriff at Northampton to be carried to Westminster for the feast of St. Edward (Gal CloseR. 1247-51, p. 248). A year or two later 100 does were sent from the king's park and the royal forest to be salted and carted to Westminster to prepare for the feast of St. Edward (Gal CloseR. 1254-6, p. 245). The park was also used as a reservoir of timber. The constable of Northampton castle was ordered to use the timber blown down by the winds in the king's park for repairing the gaol in Northampton castle (Gal CloseR. 1256-9, p. 360). Eleanor, wife of the king's eldest son, the Lord Edward, was allowed 4 oaks from the royal park to mend her houses at Kingsthorp (Gal CloseR. 1268-72, p. 210). Roger de Clifford was ordered to provide sufficient brushwood from the park to warm the fires of the lord legate during his visit (Gal CloseR. 1264-8, THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 229

p. 215). The timber was sometimes sold off. Simon Passelewe and Alexander de Hamden were given permission to sell part of the timber in the park of Northampton with the counsel of Hugh de Goldingham (Gal Pat R. 1247-1258, p. 435). The keepership of the park frequently went with the castle and the County. William de Insula, for instance, was put in charge of the County, castle and park of Northampton and Richard Basset was instructed to hand them over (Gal Pat R . 1247-58, p. 135). At other times the park seems to have been linked with the forest, as when Hugh de Goldingham was appointed to keep the forest between the bridges of Stamford and Oxford and the park of Northampton (Gal Pat R. 1247-58, p. 402). The problem of enclosure has already been mentioned but the frequency of poaching shows that criminals were attracted into the park with the prospect of making a fast buck! John, the man of Robert de Veteri Ponte, had illegally entered the park with his greyhounds and was chased by the king's keepers into Moulton church (Gal CloseR. 1259-61, p. 350). William, son of Waiter de Horton was arrested and detained in prison, pro transgressione parci regis North, until the justices should come (Gal CloseR. 1256-9, p. 41). We have already noticed Simon de Arderne's crimes; Richard de Cogenhoe was also arrested for crimes within the park of the king at Northampton (Gal CloseR. 1259-61, p. 312). The later history of the park has a section devoted to it in the Victoria County History ( V.C.H. Northants. IV, 94-5). The site is now rapidly being covered by the expansion of Northampton but stretches of the drystone limestone wall surrounding the park were noticed in a recent circumambulation, notably along the B road running north-west from Buttocks Booth (modern euphemism Booth­ ville !) to Boughton. The park follows the parish boundary for !-mile and then curves round just inside the road towards the site of Moulton Park House, now covered by the new buildings of the Northampton College of Education. There is a long stretch of newish wall with two carved stones embedded in the inner side. These were not noticed by Leach in his article. One, in Roman type lettering, has J6"'i1 inscribed on it and the other near the entrance to the college is inscribed ~~b ; possibly Rothersthorpe is referred to. In 1549 Simon Mallory gave evidence "That he hath redde the names of many townes engraven upon the stones of the walls of the said parke . . . the same townes engraven upon the same stones have payde their yerely rent towards the mendying of the same walls. One of the stones mentioned by Leach has been deposited in the Northampton Museum (Information R. Moore). The south boundary of Moulton Park ran due east from Moulton Park House and the wall can still be traced under thick undergrowth. In two places, SP 768642, the wall footings are dearly visible in section. The ground drops rapidly into a disused quarry to the south. No signs of the inscribed stones mentioned by Leach are visible in this stretch now.

OVERSTONE Gilbert de Millars was granted the right in 1255 to enclose his wood of Oviston and make a park (Gal Charter R. 1226-57, p. 441). His park was stocked with deer, ten live does were given ad instaurandum parcum (Gal CloseR. 1254-6, p. 146). The park in the 14th century was in the hands of Waiter de Manny and was broken into, as we have seen. (Gal Pat R. 1358-61, p. 51). It was in the hands of Edward Vavasour who was appointed keeper of the park and warren in Henry VIII's reign. (L. & P. Henry VIII 1, part 1, p. 76). The boundaries were much altered when it was enlarged in the 19th century. A. E. Brown has described the later history of the park in an article in this issue (seep. 192).

PAULERSPURY In 1363 John de Pavely was allowed to convert his woods called Ottewood and Farnsted, containing 17 acres into a park (Baker, Northants. ii, 204). In 1410 John St. John, knight, was said to have two parks in Paulerspury "called the Oldeparke and the New Parke between which the said John has a field called Framsted and 100 acres of land and a wood adjoining the said field and Oldeparke called Esthull and Outewodes containing 100 acres of land". He was allowed to enclose the two parks, the field and the wood and make them into a deer park (Gal Charter R. 1314-1417, p. 442). 230 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

This seems to refer to imparking at the expense of arable and may well be the result of land going out of cultivation with the agricultural contraction of the 15th century. Bridges recalls (i, 311) "at the corner of this park at a place called the Benches in Whittlewood forest was formerly held the Swanimote Court for the said forest". In 1541 it was alienated to the Crown (Pettit p. 14n). Ten years later it was granted in soccage with free warren to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton (Pettit p. 192). In 1639 Lady Mary Woolton paid £100 for its disafforestation, (Petitt p. 90) and in 1673 the park still contained 77 acres of woodland and 5 closes of pasture reserved for deer. The remaining pasture had been divided into closes and leased at annual rents to local farmers. D. N. Hall has recently traced the boundaries of the parks (C.B.A. group 9 Newsletter 4, 1974, p. 27). POTTERSPURY (Fig. 3) The origin of this park goes back at least to 1230, when Henry Ill granted William de Ferrers a deer leap in his park of Perry (unum saltatorium in parco de Perye) (Gal Close R. 1227-31, p. 346). Roger de Clifford, forest justiciar, was ordered to allow John, son of John, 20 cartloads of under­ wood to enclose his park of Pirie (Gal CloseR. 1268-72, p. 526). In 1300 Matilda, Countess of Warwick died seised of the manor of Potterspury and an enclosed park, with beasts of the chase, underwood and herbage (Baker, Northants. ii, 220). We hear of a Thomas Philipp, parker of the park of Est perye in 1485 and of Edmund Hadley appointed bailiff of the lordship and the park of Perry for life in 1509 (Baker, Northants. ii, 220). The park was increased in size in 1537 when 150 acres were added (Pettit p. 14n). In 1558 there were 500 deer estimated in the Perry Park, but in 1640 this had dwindled to 200 in Potterspury and Grafton parks. (Pettit p. 49). In 1605 a large consignment totalling 516 timber trees were used to inclose Plum park and to repair the adjacent parks of Grafton and Potterspury; the total perimeter was reckoned to be 8 miles. (Pettit p. 102). In 1660 Lord Mounson "hath cut down . . . all the trees in Pury Park and the greater part of those in Grafton Park to his own use". (Pettit p. 119). The park was bounded by Watling Street on the south-west and united in boundary with Grafton Park along its northern edge. An excellent survey of Grafton park made c.1720 shows the boundaries of Potterspury park as well. (N.R.O. map 4211 G 3804). They can be traced on the ground. Watling street and the road between Yardley Gobion and Moor End define the park on the west and the south-east sides. The hedgerow between Moor End Manor Farm and Grafton Cottage Farm brings the boundary to the stream. A number of old decaying oaks are seen in the hedgerow. The curving field boundary takes the boundary to its junction with Grafton park. PLUMPTON PARK (Fig. 3) In 1328 Richard Damory had license to impark his woods of Ubleigh in Somerset and Plumpton Pirye in Northamptonshire, "although they were within the metes and bounds of the forests of Mendip and Whittlewood before the perambulation made in the late reign" (Gal Pat R. 1327-30, p. 324). Baker states that the name is retained in a small public house called "Plumb Parker Corner" and between 80-90 acres adjoining the property of Sir C. Mordaunt, Bart. still retained the name The Park (Baker, Northants. ii, p. 213). The bounds of Plum Park are seen in the c.1720 map of Grafton Park (N.R.O. map 4211 G 3804). A pronounced linear bank about 20 feet across and 3 to 4 feet high with a dense tree cover remains on the northern and north-western sides south of Pury Hill Farm. PRESTON DEANERY Waiter de Preston was allowed 6 does from Salcey Forest to put into his park of Preston by gift of the king (Gal CloseR. 1227-31, p. 6). ROCKINGHAM Two possible references to a park at Rockingham in the mid 13th century occur in Forest pleas. The wife of Sir Geoffrey of Langley "caused a doe to be taken in the bailiwick of Rockingham on the Monday next . . . and a doe in the bailiwick of the park on the Wednesday next following". In the next year (1251) Sir Richard, Earl of Cornwall, took 9 bucks in the bailiwick of Rockingham and 2 bucks in the bailiwick of the park on the Wednesday next following. (Select Pleas of the Forest Selden Soc. 13, 1899, pp. 95, 104). THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 231 .

A "new Park" was enclosed at the beginning of Henry VII's reign and in 1485 the king granted to Sir William Stokke, knight, the office "Keeper of the New Park at Rockingham for life" (Materials for the History of the reign of Henry VII, 1, p. 26). In 1578, Thomas, Earl of Sussex, chief Justice, granted leave to Edward Watson Esq., Keeper of Her Majesty's park at Rockingham to fence in 30 acres of the low lying part of the park for hay, "because a greate pte of her Masties Game in the said Parke dothe yearlye in the wynter tyme dye and decaye for want of sufficiente haye and store ffeede in the harde season (C. Wise, Rockingham Castle and the Watsons, London, 1891, p. 144). The park was granted by James I to George, Marquis of Buck­ ingham, by whom in the same year it was passed to Sir Lewis Watson, Bart. who in the 11th year of Charles I claimed to hold it (Bridges ii, 335). SHIPLEY There seems some doubt as to the siting of this park but The Place Names of Northants. p. 116 mentions a Shipley Wood in Kelmarsh. In 1257 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was given license to enclose his wood of Shyplegh within the forest of Northampton and make a park thereof without a deer leap (Gal Charter R. 1226-57, p. 460). SILVERSTONE Hugh de Neville was ordered to allow the prioress of Catesby 10 pieces of timber (xfusta) in the forest of Silverston outside the park of the king for the upkeep of her church (Gal CloseR. 1227- 31, p. 181). It seems that the park was near the site of the king's house at Silverstone. John Byset, justice of the forest, was ordered to allow the men of Silverstone to have herbage in the park of the same manor (Gal CloseR. 1237-42, p. 260). STOKE ALBANY William de Albany "obtained a grant in the second year of King John of inclosing his park at Estokes, named the Lund, with all the liberties belonging to it and the privilege of hunting foxes and hares in Rockingham forest" (Bridges ii, p. 338). It appears that for this privilege he owed one 'Osturum Norvensem' (a Norwegian hawk?) and two palfreys. (P.R.S.N.S. 14, 240). STOKE BRUERNE In 1270 Pagan de Chaworth had license to enclose his wood and make a park (Baker, History ii, 241). Pettit describes the park as wholly imparked by 1541 (p. 14n). In 1564 it consisted of 91 forest acres, 108 statute acres, 53 acres of saleable coppices but no oaks (Pettit p. 100). ·Stoke Bruerne park was granted with deer to Sir Francis Crane, a royal creditor, with an annual rent of £50 reserved c.1628 (Pettit p. 68). STOWE NINE CHURCHES Master Gilbert de Middleton, king's clerk and archdeacon of Northampton, was granted the manor of Stowe, with the park and other appurtenances, late of Warin de Insula, a rebel ... at a rent to the exchequer of £24-12-7! (Gal Pat R. 1324-7, p. 160). Bridges said in the Earl of Danby's time there were two parks, contiguous to each other, well stored with deer, which upon the complaint of the tenants have been since converted to another use. Adjoining to the park was a wood of about one hundred acres and what was now called the Heath was formerly a warren (Bridges i, p. 88). THORNHAUGH In 1334 John de St. Medard obtained license to impark the wood of Westwode and a meadow adjoining within the manor ofThornhaugh which contained 100 acres of land (Gal Pat R. 1330-4, p. 514). The V.C.H. claims that there were traces of a park around the old manor house and this is perhaps its origin ( V.C.H. Northants. ii, 531). TORPEL Torpel was in Ufford (Place Names of Northants pp. 244-5) and in 1198 Roger de Torpel paid 232 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

L 0 N Cr £ . C~OF'T E

/ ·..

PLATE 3 THE CIRCUIT OF WELDON PARK IS CLEARLY SHOWN ON THIS 1587 SURVEY (N.R.O. FINCH HATTON 272). lOOs. for enclosing his woods of Torpel, La Hage, Ravensland and Cricklecroft and making a park for himself and his heirs (P.R.S.N.S. 9, 107). Ralph de Camoys was granted 9 does and 4 bucks from Clyve forest to stock his park at Torpel (Gal Close R. 1268-72, p. 323). In the description of the manor taken on the death of John, Earl of Kent, the park is said to have been of 92 acres with deer (Gal I.P.M. x Edw. Ill, p. 46).

WAKERLEY John de Burgh was allowed to enclose his wood of Wakerley with a ditch and hedge and 'par cum inde faciat cum uno salturo' and to sell wood and assart without contradiction from foresters' (Gal CloseR. 1234-7, p. 218). WELDON (Plate 3) Bridges (ii, p. 354) mentions that Richard Basset in the 34th year of Edward I obtained license to inclose and convert into a park the Halgh wood of 71 acres lying outside the bounds of the forest in his manor of W eldon. The boundaries ofWeldon Park are exactly as they were in the 1587 Survey (N.R.O. Finch Hatton 272). The approach is from the Weldon-Benefield road which was called Outgange Lane in the 16th century. The south-eastern corner of the park is at Yoke hill and is marked by the curving modern hedge line; it accounts for the wedge shaped field between the park boundary and the road. A dense hedge marks both the park and the parish boundary on the east until it meets the wood. A few feet within the wood is a fine stretch of bank, 30 ft. across and 10 ft. high THE MEDIEVAL PARKS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 233 above the wood, with old oaks growing on the bank. At SP 947906 the bank turns south-west, but is here more spread out and only 2-3ft. high. It turns south again at a very old oak and the western edge has a deep external ditch. The southern part of the park had already been enclosed in 1587 into Withey close and Parke close. These have now been divided into five fields.

WICKEN John Fitzalan was granted license to re-enclose his park of Whichamund which had fallen into decay during the time that Isabella his mother held it in dower (Gal Pat R. 1281-92, p. 382). In 1512, John Spencer had his free park "in Wyke-hamon" confirmed with free warren. His descendant Robert, 2nd Earl of Sunderland disparked it c.1651 and Sir Peter Temple purchased the deer and put them in Stowe park, Bucks. (Baker ii, 252).

YARDLEY HASTINGS John de Hasting's park at Yardley was broken into, also his free chace there and his warren in his copse of Barton; the trespassers hunted therein and carried away deer and hares in the park, chace and warren (Gal Pat R. 1301-7, p. 540).

AN EDUCATIONAL CONTRAST

NOTHING is known, unfortunately, about the outcome of the following meeting convened in 1774, and probably the first of its kind in Northamptonshire. However, one feels that the ·persons who were responsible for making the arrangements must have had strong opinions on the importance of sound teaching and the place in society which should be occupied by a competent schoolmaster:- On Friday, the 30th inst. December, will be held at the Dolphin Inn [now the Grand Hotel], in Gold Street, Northampton, A MEETING of SCHOOL­ MASTERS, to consult on proper Measures for the Improvement of Knowledge, especially in the conveying Instruction to Youth: Those that please to encourage this Undertaking with their Presence and Advice, will be so good as to be at the said Inn at Ten in the Forenoon of the same Day, bringing with them such Regula­ tions and Articles as they think will tend most to promote useful KNOWLEDGE; that, from their various Schemes, proper Information may be obtained, and such Regulations and Articles made as may best answer the End. (Northampton Mercury, 19th December 1774) But alas! that schoolmasters were not .yet regarded as professional people is sadly evident from the sting in the tail of this advertisement in 1780:- A SCHOOL-MASTER, WANTED, to learn Children to READ, WRITE and Common ARITHMETIC. If he has a Wife that can teach KNITTING-and plain NEEDLEWORK, will be the more acceptable. And if he can SHAVE will meet with the more Encouragement. For further Particulars, apply to the Minister and Churchwardens of Old, in the County of Northampton. (Northampton Mercury, lOth January 1780) The parochial school at Old was founded in the seventeenth century and endowed with the income from two charitable bequests and rent from an allotment of land made at the time when the common fields were enclosed in 1767-68. In a government return of 1818 (Par!. Papers, 1819, IX (2), 666), it was stated that 25 children were taught in the parochial school, and that the schoolmaster, who received £40 annually for his pains, also taught 40 children who attended the Sunday School. The Rev. W. Fox, who was the Curate of Old and who made the return, added that "The poorer classes [in the village] have sufficient means of educating their children". V.A.H. 234

Traditional and Progressive

It is claimed, and generally accepted, that printing from separate metal characters was first invented about 1440, by Johann Gutenberg, a citizen of Mainz. Subsequently, it was then introduced to this country by William Caxton in 1476. Caxton printed such fine works as 'The Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosophres' at his Westminster printing plant. Now while we cannot claim to have been printing and binding since its initiation, we were producing books before the middle of the last century. However, we have progressed considerably since those early days, and have kept pace with most of the technological developments introduced to this very old craft; particularly over the last few years. We are therefore in the unique position of being able to offer the best of both worlds!

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NOTES ON OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Christopher C. Taylor is on the staff of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England). Elizabeth Eames works at the British Museum on the national medieval tile collection. Edward Parry is senior history master at Magdalen College School, Brackley. Ron Greenall is Warden of the University of Leicester Adult Education Centre, Northampton. Dr. Pamela Horn is a lecturer in economic history at Oxford Polytechnic, specialising in 19th century economic and social history. 235

liELMDON WILLS 1603-1760

IN this essay I shall examine the variety of information that can be derived from the wills made by the inhabitants of one Northamptonshire village over a period of approximately one hundred and sixty years. I hope to demonstrate the wide range of subjects which can be illuminated by a close study of the wills and also to show how these documents can contribute to our understanding of general historical problems. The village of Helmdon is in South Northamptonshire, just over four miles from Brackley and eight from Ban bury. It was thus within relatively easy reach of two market towns but not so close that its economy was subordinated to either. No turnpike road came through the village and until the railways provided Helmdon with two stations in the nineteenth century the main route which influenced the village was the drovers' road known as the Welsh Lane. However this road passed through the southern part of the parish, keeping to the higher ground and so avoided the centre of the community. In 1700 the population of Helmdon was approximately four hundred.1 The composition of this society can be indicated by noting the pattern of land ownership. Bridges refers to three manors existing in the sixteenth century2 and subsequently no one landowner emerged as dominant .. There were forty-one freeholders in 1730 of whom thirty-one were resident in the village.3 The Inclosure Award of 1759 shows that five proprietors owned over a hundred acres each, three held between fifty and a hundred acres, while more than a third of the land endosed was in the hands of thirty-five people. These figures reveal a society where wealth was spread more evenly than may have been the case in other rural communities. The economy of the village and surrounding area was based primarily on agriculture. The most important non-agricultural activity was stone quarrying though the quarries appear to have declined in importance during the eighteenth century. By modern standards the village provided a wide range of skills and services. The period chosen for this study covers the century and a half before the Inclosure Act of 1758. How representative of this society are the wills under consideration? The number used for this article is ninety-three.4 When one considers how many people lived and died in Helmdon during the years 1603 to 1760 then ninety-three may seem too small a quantity on which to build a convincing picture of the village. However, I think that the diversity of testators and their bequests do provide an important, if incomplete, source of evidence and that their analysis can contribute much to our understanq.ing of the community. The wills can be classified first according to the rank or occupation of the testators. The largest category are the twenty-four made by yeomen. Six or more were left by the following groups: husbandmen (11), widows (11), Masons (6), and labourers (6). Apart from four gentlemen the remaining wills reflect the typical village society of the time including tailors, carpenters, shoemakers, bakers, a butcher, blacksmith and maulster. Six wills contain no mention of the occupation of the testator, but as in the case of widows, it is sometimes possible to deduce the

1 This figure is based on calculations made from 3 Northants Poll Book. 1730. the following sources: 4 With one exception all the wills referred to are (a) The Compton Census 1676. at the N.R.O. 1603 is an arbitrary starting date but (b) Hearth Tax Returns 1669/70. it is convenient since W. P. W. Phillimore's index to (c) J. Bridges' History of Northamptonshire, 1791, Northants Wills begins a new series at this point, it I, P 172. also meant that the period covered and the documents (d) Levies made by the Churchwardens in the involved were of manageable proportions. In all cases early eighteenth century. the dates given for wills refer to the making not the 2 Bridges op. cit. Vol. I. P 172. probate of the testament. 236 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT source of their income either from the contents of the will or by using other documents particularly inventories. Arguably, the high proportion of wills made by husbandmen and their superiors means that we are dealing with the more affluent members of the society and so are in danger of creating a distorted picture of seventeenth century Helmdon. Two points can be made to counter this criticism. The number of people entirely dependent on farm labouring was not as large as it became towards the end of the eighteenth century. Second, one should not necessarily take people on their own estimation; the distinctions between labourer, husbandman and yeoman appear less rigid when the evidence of their testaments is examined. The one social group who are not repre­ sented by the wills are servants, although in two cases they are legatees. Before commenting further on the nature of this rural society a few examples of the contents of the wills should be considered. When examining the bequests and how far they reflect the wealth of the testator one problem immediately arises. Many people left land, freehold or lease­ hold, but did not always specify the area or the value of this land. For this reason the following examples concentrate on monetary bequests. In 1652 George Browne, gentleman, left his only daughter Elizabeth £450 as well as property in Helmdon. John Fairbrother made his will in January 1727 and after leaving his property to his eldest son gave his four daughters £200 each. The three daughters of Edward Harriott were to receive £600 between them under the terms of their father's will made in 1701. At the other end of the social scale, we find that the tailor Adkins Green left 24/- between his five children. Even so they were better off than the children of the husbandman Nicholas Sanders who received only 12d. each. In 1696 the widow Bull could leave her two sons only a shilling each. These examples indicate the enormous variation in disposable money available to the testators and thus seem to reinforce the model of a very unequal society. However there are many wills which show that social status and wealth were not so rigidly linked. Yeomen ranged in affluence from George Harriatts who in 1665 left his six children £105, to Edward Hill whose children were promised 12d. each in 1648. Some husbandmen could afford to be much more generous than Edward Hill. For instance in 1609 Robert Denny bequeathed freehold property and over £20 in cash, he also made provision for two servants, though admittedly both were his relatives. Over £60 was left by Edward Elkinton in 1666. The case of John Rookes who died in 1634 deserves comment. In 1621 he was a beneficiary by the will of Joyce Emeley who described him as "my old servant" and in consideration of his long service he was given two of her best "milche kyne", six sheep and various agricultural and household implements. When John made his will he describes himself as a husbandman and left most of his property to his wife Catherine. She died five years later and her will detailed household possessions which reveal a standard of living comparable with that of many yeomen. The use of the terms yeoman and husbandman over the whole period is revealing. In the seventeenth century an equal number of people-eleven-describe themselves as yeomen or husbandmen. Mter 1700 no wills of husbandmen survive yet thirteen testators refer to themselves as yeomen. This evidence of social improvement is supported by comparing wills made by mem­ bers of the same family in different generations. Edward Elkinton, the husbandman referred to earlier, had three sons the youngest of whom made his will in 1687 when he described himself as a yeoman. In 1672 Richard Pullen, husbandman, divided his property between his sons Joseph and Benjamin. The latter died fifty years later a yeoman. Moving a rung up the social ladder the same tendency is apparent. George Browne the prosperous gentleman who died in 1652 was the eldest son of John Brown a yeoman whose will is dated 1619. Do these instances represent real social mobility or merely the aspirations of socially conscious testators? One fu~er example poses the same question in another form. In 1658 John Pratt, yeoman, shared his property between his sons John and William. The eldest son died in 1699 making a nuncupative will in which he is described as a husbandman. Did the exigency of his sudden death prevent him claiming the status of yeoman and result in him being downgraded by his more hardheaded contemporaries? Farm labourers whom one would suppose had very little money or property to dispose of provide some interesting examples. Of the six labourers whose wills have survived, five left HELMDON WILLS 1603-1760 237 monetary legacies. In 1627 Leonard Tue left his three sons £50 between them and even his executor was to receive ten shillings. Six years later William Hawten bequeathed over £60 in cash. Two other labourers in the 1690s left £24 and £20 and the lowest sum among the five was the £6. 5. Od. of Richard Haynes in 1656. Where did this money come from? According to Gregory King the yearly income of labouring persons in 1688 was £4. 10s. Od. and he calculated that they were a drain on the country's resources.5 The figures given in the Northamptonshire Wage Assess­ ments of 16676 can be used as a basis for comparison and they seem to agree with King's results. For a man from this class to leave his children a sum five or even ten times his annual income seems unlikely if not impossible. The whole question of the resources and living standards of the labouring populations needs considerably more investigation before reliable generalizations can be made.

FIG. I. HELMDON RECTORY (now demolished). Drawn in 1844 by J. Livesey.

Another fact which suggests that the bulk of the population were better off than is some­ times supposed is the number of people who had more than one source of income. Frequently testators bequeath legacies which are not related directly to the occupation they claim. The shoemaker Marke Hilton in 1631 left "land in the Fields" and "one cowe and a common for the said cow". In 1641 John Bull, a blacksmith left his son half a yard land in the open fields. More surprising is that in 1718 Paul Peers, a tinker, disposed of a close and half yard land that he had recently purchased. A shepherd in 1696left a quartern of land to his wife in trust for their eldest son. The same diversity of resources is illustrated by the masons who often owned land, thus supporting the comments made by Sir William Coventry in about 1670. He wrote that few building craftsmen "rely entirely on their Trade as not to have a small Farm, the Rent of which they are more able to pay by the gains of their trade". 7 The farm known today in Helmdon as Wigson's was originally part of the property of a prosperous stonemason, Joshua Wigson who died in 1740. Helmdon provided stone for many famous houses in the late seventeenth and early eight­ eenth centuries. Easton Neston, Blenheim and Stowe all drew on the local quarries. It is not surprising therefore to find that masons come next to gentlemen and yeomen in the richness of their bequests. John Stockley's legacies amounted to £120 in 1714, in ~ 735 Joshua Wigson left

5 Printed in P. Laslett. The World we have Lost. Review. Vol. I. No. 1. (1965). Pp. 32-3. 7 Brit.Mus. Sloane Mss. 3828, f208. I owe this 6 Northamptonshire Wage Assessments of 1560 reference to Dr. M. R. Airs. and 1667 by B. H. Putnam in Economic History 238 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

£95. A direct link with work on a great house is provided by Francis Blincowe's will of 1741. Part of the £100 worth of monetary gifts he made was, "£20 out of ye Lord Cobhams money which is to be paid when the work is accomplished". This £20 went to his son Nathaniel, also a mason, ~ho presumably carried on his father's work. The Lord Cobham referred to was the builder of Stowe. Apart from providing for their immediate family and relatives a number of Helmdon people did make some charitable bequests. Fifteen of the ninety-three testaments made such provision. The gifts range in generosity from the 3/- which William Barzey left in 1625 (a shilling of which was to be spent on repairing the church and the remainder was to go to the poor of the parish) to William Wigson's gift of £5 to the village poor. When these charitable donations are analysed further two interesting points emerge. All except two date from before 1701 and ten of the fifteen occur between 1603 and 1640; this is the period of which Professor Jordan remarks "the curve of charitable giving lifts with a really incredible steepness". 8 A second feature of these gifts is the noticeable change in the aims of the donors during the seventeenth century. The church was the beneficiary of nine legacies but they all date from before 1630. After this it is the poor whose welfare is the concern of the testators. This pattern agrees with the nationwide trends described by Professor Jordan. 9 The shift in the objects of charity occurred when it is clear that the church was greatly in need of financial assistance. The Diocesan Survey of 1637 includes a depressing account of the state of Helmdon church. "The chancell is very defective in the roofe and lyeth open and two windows on the north side of the chancell stopped up for the most pt.... " The lamentable condition of the church might have been remedied if there had been a wealthy, dominant family in the village. The absence of such a prominent landowner has been noted earlier and though this may have resulted in a more homogeneous society, the village did not benefit from the lavish charities that did so much to improve the amenities of many seven­ teenth century towns and villages. Abthorpe, five miles to the east was fortunate because J ane Leeson who left £1 p.a. to the Helmdon Poor, endowed a free school in her native village.* *She died in 1648, luckily too soon to appreciate the irony of the inscription on the datestone of her Free School: "Feare God and Honour ye King 1642". The accounts of the Overseers of the Poor10 for the early eighteenth century provide lists of the recipients of the Lees on charity. In 1722 nine of the twenty beneficiaries were widows and five of the remainder were women. The poor widow must have been a common problem for both relatives and village authorities. The wills reinforce this impression when one counts the number of instances where wives survived their husbands. Seventy-seven testators out of the total ninety­ three were or had been married, in only thirteen cases did the husband survive his wife. So far I have concentrated on monetary bequests but of course many wills contain references to a wide variety of goods and chattels. Some give as detailed a list of household possessions as many inventories and so provide much information about furniture, ·cooking utensils, farm implements and stock. Few people were rich enough to leave their son "my grete gilded silver salt seller" as J oyce Emeley did in 1621. However this was an appropriate gift from the widow of the lord of one of the village's three manors and a daughter of the late Thomas God win, Bishop of Bath and Wells. More common are references to "pewter platters", "ye great cettle", "one brasse pott". Particular items of furniture are often specified. Vincent Shortland in 1639 be­ queathed to his wife "household stuff" including "one red chest standing at my beds foot". In the early eighteenth century Vincent's descendant Elizabeth Shortland inherited "the chest called Brag by's chest". Perhaps the original owner of this chest was the Henry Brag by who made his will in 1666 when he left "halfe my cheese" to be divided between his wife and daughter. For­ tunately for his heirs, Henry died just over a month after making this unusual bequest. The same man left his wife "my little pide cow" which with the "colly ewe" and the "red cow" of Richard Shortland evokes a countryside more colourful than today's. Among the rarest household possessions mentioned are books. Katherine Haynes left a

8 W. K. Jordan. Philanthropy in England. 1480- deals with the neighbouring county of Buckingham. 1660. (1959). 10 Bodleian Library, Oxford. Mss. Top. Northants • W. K. Jordan. The Charities of Rural England. d.10. 1480-1660. (1961). especially pp. 33-71 where he HELMDON WILLS 1603-1760 239

Bible to her kinsman Thomas Pomfrett in 1700. Ten years later Henry Haynes bequeathed "my great bible and one shilling" to his daughter Susannah. However there is no proof that these two testators were related and that the Bible in question was the same one. The only other literary bequest was made by Martha Richards. It was appropriate that as the Rector's widow she left her daughter Dorothy three volumes including, "Enlarged the grounds of Religion". Martha's legacy to her grand-daughter Sara Crofts, "The Returning Backslider" by Doctor Gibbs, was probably received with less than wholehearted enthusiasm.

FIG. ll. PRIORY FARM, HELMDON; the home of the Emilys.

The rarity of books among the .lega~ies leads t~ a consideration of the q.uestion of literacy. One of the advantages of wills as an h1stoncal source 1s the number of people mvolved with each document. Apart from the principal there are the witnesses whose signatures or marks were required to make the will legal. An analysis of the proportion of persons who signed their names to those who made a mark can be a useful guide to the standard of literacy at the time. Obviously the fact that a man signs his name is not conclusive proof of his ability to write or read, it only proves that he was capable of writing his own name on that particular occasion. Some signatures look like the result of much anxious and not always successful practice. A few testators were too weak to manage their signature and their. mark can give a misleading impression of their inability to write. Nicholas Sanders made two Wills, the first in 1662 which ends with his signature, the second of 1664 includes his mark. Bearing in mind this precautionary example we can examine the wills for evidence of literacy. Of the ninety-three wills ten give no evidence of signatures or marks, fifty-three were completed with the testator's mark and the remaining thirty were signed. It is not surprising to discover that all four gentlemen were able to sign their 240 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT names. By this criterion five of the six masons were literate, probably because their jobs involved communicating and negotiating with people beyond the village. The only real surprise is that whereas only one of the eleven husbandmen avoided using his mark, two of the six labourers signed their wills. This evidence can be presented another way to see if there is any change in the rate of illiteracy over the period. Total wills with Marks Signatures Marks as 0/o Evidence of literacy of Total 1603- 1652 17 12 5 70.6o/0 1653- 1704 35 25 10 71.4o/0 1705- 1760 26 11 15 42.3o/0 The improvements in literacy in the eighteenth century is also borne out by an analysis

of marriage certificates in Helmdon. Between 1760- 1770 only 35.5 o/0 of marriage partners used a mark. Investigations in other parts of England support the idea of a general decrease in illiteracy at this time but as yet the evidence available is fragmentary .11 The endowment of a school in Helmdon, the result of a donation from a former rector in 1723, should have helped to raise the standard of literacy by the middle of the century. Only one Helmdon testator made any provision for the education of his children. In 1672 the husbandman Richard Pullen arranged that his fifteen year old son Benjamin was to receive a year's "diet and scooleing". Whether or not as a result of this tuition, Benjarriin was capable of signing his name on his will fifty years later. Moving from the ends to the beginnings of the documents we find that the preambles provide clues about the changing attitudes of testators. A typical seventeenth century introduction can be taken from the will of Henry Bragby made in 1666. "In the Name of God Amen . .... I Henry Brag by ..... being sick and weak but of sound and pfect memory God be praised for ye same and calling to minde the uncertainty of this present transitory life . . . . . do make this my last will and testament in maner and forme as followeth that is to say first and principally I comend my soule into the ha,ndes of God my Creator Beeleiveing that I shall receive full pardon and free remission of all my sins by ye precious death and merritts of Christ my redeemer ...... ". Sometimes the testators belief in their redemption was expressed even more clearly. Marie Burrowes in 1614 referred to," .... the electe of God of which number I doo steadfastly believe myself to be one". By 1697 the opening formula was considerably reduced as William Gilkes' testament shows ". . . . I William Gilkes the elder . . . . . Being W eake of Body but of Sound Memory God be praised for the same, doe make Constitute and Ordaine this my last Will and Testament in maner and forme following, that is to say, first comend my soul into the hands of Almighty God my Creator my body to the earth decently to be buryed ....". The increasingly secular tone of the documents continues into the eighteenth century and by 1760 the brevity of J osiah Bonham's introduction provides a striking contrast with those used a hundred years earlier. "In the name of God Amen I Josiah Bonham ...... weaver do make publish and declare this my last Will and Testament in Manner following .....". Another change in the organisation of wills involves the appointment of Overseers whose principal duty was to adjudicate on any disputes between the legatees. In some cases they acted as trustees. Overseers are nominated in twenty of the ninety-three wills and all but two of these occur before 1700. Finally these documents can help the local historian by providing evidence, sometimes disconcertingly allusive, about the topography of the area. The "Carpenders Close" which John Stockley bequeathed to his son Robert in 1714 can be identified on the Inclosure Map. In 1619 John Browne authorized one of his sons to take "twenty spires" of wood out of "Westerne Hills" to be used for repairing some farm buildings. The whereabouts of "Westerne Hills" is made clear in another will. Brown's property later came into the possession of Thomas Tyte a London merchant, a copy of whose will survives at Worcester College, Oxford.12 Tyte refers to, "my coppice called West erne Hills at Syresham". An interesting piece of information about a nearby village is contained in Christopher Smith's will of 1658. He left his son a recently purchased

n On the problem of assessing literacy seeP. Laslett, 12 Worcester Coll. Box 13 Helmdon. Copy of the op. cit. pp. 194-199. will of Thos. Tyte. 20 Jan. 1691. HELMDON WILLS 1603-1760 241

FIG. III. HELMDON CHURCHYARD : Edward Harriott's Gravestone.

messuage in Charelton (Charlton), "called by the name of a chappell". These examples incidentally illustrate two other points, first a considerable amount of property was changing hands during the 1603- 1760 period. At least thirteen of the wills refer to purchases of land or houses bought by the testator and in some cases there are two or more transactions. Sometimes the property concerned was not in Helmdon and this often results in the sort of topographical information about another parish noted above. If Helmdon Wills provide useful information about Charlton or Syresham then the reverse will be true. Obviously a great deal of undiscovered or uncollated information is contained in the thousands of wills relating to this or any other locality. It is possible to connect certain features of the present day village to the wills and their makers. Very few of the same families survived into the middle of the twentieth century but some of the same names appear as field or house names today. It is tempting, but difficult, to identify some of the buildings mentioned in the wills. The houses of two of the principal seven­ teenth century inhabitants are illustrated by photographs. Figure I shows the old rectory as it was drawn in 1844 ten years before it was demolished and replaced by the present house. The Emilys who were the most important family in Helmdon during the seventeenth century occupied what is now called Priory Farm. The photograph (Figure Il) shows what remains of this house which must have been larger three hundred years ago when it possessed twelve hearths.l3 One obvious place to search for tangible evidence of our testators is among the tomb­ stones in Helmdon Churchyard. Unfortunately the practice of erecting permanent memorials seems to have been uncommon before 1700. However, the gravestone to Edward Harriott (Figure ~II) is a fitting memorial to a prosperous yeoman and also to the skilled carving of a mason working In the local stone. This article has covered diverse topics and more questions than answers have been offered. This_ i~ both deliberate and unavoidab~e. Much furt~er research into the records of village com­ mumttes needs to be done before satisfactory solutwns can be offered to the major problems especially those involving relative wealth and poverty. I hope that the points I have raised will stimulate others to undertake similar investigations when they realize that wills provide much more than a tedious recitation of bequests and legacies. EDWARD PARRY.

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jUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1845

Part 11 The Work of the County Magistrates

4. Crime and Poverty: The Judicial Role of the Justices

In 1841 a Kent magistrate, in the introduction to his The Practice of the Petty Sessions~ surveyed the role and authority of justices of the peace. He recognized that magistrates performed two general functions in their counties, which he described as "judicial" and "ministerial". They acted within boundaries defined more or less clearly by law. But the scope of their duties, he thought, had been even at that time "most extensively enlarged" .1 And as they have become more arduous and responsible, and required greater talent, and more matured habits of business for their proper and efficient discharge, highminded and well-informed country gentlemen have not been wanting to perform them; and, at the same time, to sustain the dignity of their station, and command respect for the laws, by their honest and impartial administration. An inspired commentary, to be sure, but in Northamptonshire, at least, it bore some measure of truth. The judicial duties of Northamptonshire magistrates in this period were indeed extensive. They were assigned the task of enforcing law and order throughout the county. Occasionally they were called upon to intervene in public disturbances and riots. Some took it upon them­ selves personally to apprehend offenders. But most magistrates relied upon their parish and county officers for such tasks. They confined their routine judicial activities to sitting on the bench at quarter sessions and to acting individually or in small groups at divisional petty sessions. Their interest in the maintenance of social order, however, extended far beyond their delibera­ tions on criminal and civil cases. Throughout this period the magistrates were seeking practical solutions to the control of rural crime and poverty. Rural crime and unrest in Northamptonshire during this period was confined for the most part to minor offences against persons and property. Though the general social unrest of 1830-31 did not entirely by-pass the county, it was never a serious menace to public order. 2 It soon died away and was never resumed on any scale for the following fifteen years. 3 This relative stability meant that the commission of the peace as an effective institution was never put to an extra­ ordinary test. It dealt instead with such routine matters as petty theft, vagrancy, bastardy, settle­ ment, assault, and game law offences. The proportions of various offences tried before the mag­ istrates did not change remarkably through the period. Larceny and theft remained in the fore­ front. They were followed in number by charges against persons who had fallen financially

1 John Stone, The Practice of the Petty Sessions, 3 Northamptonshire County Record Office, Clerk London: Robert Baldock, 1841, 3-4. of the Peace Miscellaneous Papers, Box X 1990, 2 This fact is well illustrated by a table showing Charles Markham to 2nd Marquess of Exeter, August the distribution of disturbances by counties in E. J. 22, 1842. Markham, the clerk of the peace, reported Hobsbawm and George Rude, Captain Swing, Lon­ that "an attempt or two, but of a feeble nature has don: Lawrence and Wishart, 1969, Appendix I, 304- been made for a Meeting of the Working Classes' but 305. Lord Althorp noted that disorder in the county entirely without success ... I hope to trust & have was "trifling" in comparison with other parts of the re.ason to bel~eve that our present happy state of quiet country. Nonetheless, the county militia and mag­ Will not be mterrupted by any outrages of similar istracy were mobilized into feverish activity at this ~ature ~th those ~hich have so unhappily prevailed time. Northampton Mercury, January 8, 1831. m Counues bordermg upon us". 244 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT dependent upon parishes. The proportion of prosecutions under the game laws did increase substantially in the period, particularly after the revised Act of 1831, although it had always been high. Though the nature of rural crime varied little, the number of prosecutions rose sharply through the period. The trend can best be seen in the increasing number of cases brought before quarter sessions. In the early 1820's an average quarter sessions in Northatp.ptonshire heard perhaps five or six cases. Criminal business could be dispatched quickly. By the early thirties the number of cases had more than doubled. 4 There were still occasions upon which the chairman might allude to a light or a heavy calendar. By the 1840's such distinctions were no longer mean­ ingful. It had become necessary to divide the court for hearing criminal cases and appeals, and the time so consumed at quarter sessions had still increased by one full day. Magistrates in Northamptonshire met this rising quantity of work, in petty as in quarter sessions, by improving upon their apparatus of judicial administration. In the early thirties petty sessions were conducted, from all accounts, in haphazard fashion-one or two justices, acting without the use of specified regular sessions, sitting at local inns or in their own parlours. By the 1840's petty sessions assumed a more business-like appearance. They were generally attended by at least three or four magistrates, one of whom presided regularly as chairman and whose duty it became to pronounce judgments as well as to instruct the court on matters of local concern. The court of petty sessions in all eight administrative divisions of the county now met at regular intervals in prescribed buildings-usually the county hall or local police offices-which were open to public attendance and report. 5 Magistrates, acting alone or in petty sessions, relied more heavily upon the use of summary convictions. According to the Webbs the authority of justices had been severely curbed by 1835. In fact the growing pressure of judicial business demanded that magistrates be given, in this area at least, even greater discretionary and summary powers. 6 Although the justices acting in Northamptonshire during this period were a semi-exclusive body with sizeable interests to protect, there were few direct relationships between a justice's personal interests and his judicial activities. These men applied themselves to their tasks in widely varying degree. Magistrates from some aristocratic families were prominent on the bench of quarter sessions. Earl Spencer as chairman,7 the Marquis of Northampton, and the Earl of Euston attended this court frequently and played an active part in its deliberations. Other peers came only on ceremonial occasions or when some special matter of county business lay on the agenda. None was especially active at petty sessions. They appeared from time to time, prosecuting minor offences, but it seems unlikely that their participation at this level was ever of much consequence. Magistrates from among the great gentry families of the county always formed an important group on the bench at quarter sessions. Those with long records of experience in judicial matters, frequently the barristers, were often appointed chairmen of the courts at specific sittings. But at petty sessions they too were largely inactive. It was instead the lesser gentry of the county, men with perhaps a thousand or fifteen hundred acres, with close personal ties to their neighbour­ hoods, who of all lay magistrates acted with persistence. 8 But even their zeal did not match the pervasive concern of the clergymen. Many clerics attended the criminal business of quarter sessions with great assiduity. At some sessions in the

4 Parliamentary Papers_, 1833, XXXII, 80-81. Criminal Court, for which he took great pains to 5 Returns relative to petty sessions administration qualify himself, but in conducting the County busi­ appear in Parliamentary Papers, 1845, XXXVI, 320- ness". Sir Denis Le Marchant, Memoir of John 321. Charles, Viscount Althorp, third Earl Spencer, London: 6 See, for example, a bill to "regulate and enlarge R. Bentley and Son, 1876, 249. the summary jurisdiction of justices of the peace", 8 Records of attendance have been compiled from Parliamentary Papers, 1839, V, 407. both Northampton Mercury and Quarter Sessions 7 "He made an admirable chairman", his bio­ Order Books, 1830-1845 in the County Hall, North­ grapher wrote, "not only in presiding over the ampton. JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1845 245

1830's they equalled the number of gentry on the bench. But it was in the everyday business of administering justice and keeping the peace in the localities that clerical magistrates played so predominant a role. Though a minority on the bench, they were far more active at petty sessions throughout the period than their noble or gentry counterparts. In the early thirties clergymen acted upon three-fifths of the cases brought before petty sessions, and frequently acted alone. 9 In 1840 clergymen were chairmen in four of the eight petty sessional divisions.10 Their influence was felt not only in the outlying and sparsely-populated divisions of the county but also in rural areas near the largest towns. The reasons underlying this disproportionate activity are not difficult to perceive. The aristocracy and greater gentry may well have viewed their role as magistrates within a much broader ideal of county service directed mostly toward matters of social control and order at the highest judicial level-through quarter sessions. The lesser gentry and clergy, on the other hand, took up the task for which, by virtue of their intimate acquaintance with local residents and conditions, they were best suited. They dealt with crime on a parochial basis. Zealous clergymen no doubt bore the greatest measure of concern. Acting from somewhat less exalted motives, many of the aristocracy and gentry were also anxious to be free from the inconveniences of humdrum judicial responsibility, particularly when hunting became their ruling passion, or when politics intruded. Increasingly they shifted the duties of guardian of the peace onto the resident clergy. In some instances clerical preferment actually depended upon a clergyman's willingness to undertake a larger share of the work, while his gentlemanly neighbours reposed in isolated splendour. Not all clerical magistrates accepted this practice with equanimity. "I must positively declare I cannot continue. to act if more assistance is not obtained", the Rev. H. L. Manse! complained. "My house is continually beset with com­ plainants . . . It rarely happens that I get my breakfast finished without being told that I am wanted on Justice business, & thus my mornings which ought to be otherwise employed are continually swallowed up." The rector of Cosgrove was not to be deterred, he threatened, "being convinced that with a Clergyman, the Magisterial Duties must give way to those more important ones which are due to his Parish & his own family" .11 As landed proprietors most Northamptonshire magistrates had a vested interest in pro­ tecting their own properties and privileges. Recognition of this fact has led historians to suppose that such men acted with great partiality in the administration of justice within their counties. No better example of such interest has been found than in their vigorous prosecution of offenders · under the game laws.12 Yet this assumption, while far from unfounded, bears closer examination. Poachers and trespassers were actively prosecuted in Northamptonshire during this period. They were taken before magistrates, usually at petty sessions, and often received heavy fines or sentences which ranged from a few weeks to several mon~s' imprisonment. A large proportion of these justices bought game certificates; many were active preservers as well as sportsmen.13 Evidence that justices acted unfairly or maliciously as an interested group in this matter is not however, entirely convincing. One account was given before the Select Committee on the Gam; Laws in 1846 by a Mr. Richardson, attorney at Oundle in the northern part of the county.14 Richardson had been engaged for several years as defence attorney by many poachers in the area. He testified that several of the active justices in Oundle di~sion were preservers and they were more relentless in their prosecution of game offences than m almost any other area. The evidence against poachers at these sessions, he thought, was often slim. But Richardson was

9 Returns in Northampton Mercury of magistrates 1830. acting in petty sessions appear to have been fairly 12 See Chester Kirby, "The English Game Law complete for the period 1830-34. Thereafter, though System", American Historical Review, XXXVIII, no. the cases continued to be listed, the magistrates' 2 (January 1933), 240-262; Webbs, Parish and names did not. County, 597-599. 10 Parliamentary Papers, 1840, XLI, 375. 13 Based upon game lists published annually in 11 Northamptonshire County Record Office, Clerk Northampton Mercury. of the Peace Miscellaneous Papers, Box X 1983, Rev. 14 Parliamentary Papers, 1846, IX, part 1, 727-758. H. L. Manse! to Charles Markham, December 22, 246 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

forced to admit that most justices seldom attended the sessions during which offences committed on their own properties were tried. When they did so, they took no part in the deliberations. Preservers certainly did try offenders, occasionally in large numbers, under the game laws. Nonetheless, both the returns from petty sessions in the early thirties and evidence before the Select Committee have indicated, in Northamptonshire at least, a revealing fact. Those clerical magistrates who were neither sportsmen nor preservers and who had no apparent interest at stake were, in fact, the most vigorous in their prosecutions of game offenders throughout this period. The justices of Northamptonshire were interested above all else in preserving social order and the "peace of the county". They did not sit idle where they perceived new groups and new ideas threatening not only tranquility in the county but even the very fabric of traditional rural life. Such threats were few indeed through this period but, where they seemed to exist, the justices were quick to respond. So it was that in 1834, for example, the chairman of quarter sessions addressed the assembled magistrates on the dangers of class unrest. "There are persons going about the country," he warned, "under the name of Delegates from Trades' Unions, swearing in persons to join these unions. The evil has not found its way much into agricultural districts, but in some parts it has a little extended even among the agricultural labourers". Magistrates at the time had sufficient powers to suppress these agitators, and the chairman reminded them that "their duty to themselves and to their country required them to check such proceedings immediately" .15 This commentary is significant because it seems to confirm the popular image of early nineteenth century magistrates as reactionary figures, blindly using their judicial powers to suppress demands for social better­ ment. Yet Northamptonshire justices, for all their social conservatism, showed throughout this period more than passing concern with the interrelation of rural poverty and crime. The mag­ istrates, in fact, had their own solution. They reasoned that the principal sources of crime lay among two groups; agricultural labourers who comprised nearly a third of all employed persons in the county.16 and the unemployed but able-bodied poor. According to the magistrates what labourers lacked was their "old spirit of independence and industry" .17 What they required most was not so much higher wages and certainly not trade unionism but rather a stake in the county itself. The justices therefore urged the adoption throughout all agricultural parishes of an allot­ ment system as a means of preventing crime.18 Under the plan landowners and farmers would give their labourers a strip of land to cultivate for their own use. Of course, distinctions were to be made. The magistrates agreed that nothing could be more reasonable than "to give the industrious and sober labourer a reward more highly proportioned than that allotted to the less deserving". But _humanity must also be served. Simply because a man was idle and dissolute, they could not let his wife and children "starve on that account". The belief underlying the plan was that a man busily engaged for his own gain was less likely to be involved in crime. The idea was common in agricultural society during the early thirties but in Northamptonshire it seems to have received unusual attention.19 The justices were equally concerned with conditions of employment in the county. W. R. Cartwright, speaking at quarter sessions, philosophized that crime was the result of "idleness and want of employment".20 He emphasized that landowners had a duty to employ wherever possible the surplus population of their neighbourhoods. Earl Spencer reminded both his fellow justices and the farmers on the jury that it was in their self-interest to pay an adequate wage.

15 Quoted in Northampton Mercury, April 12, 19 Parliamentary Papers, 1833, XXXII, 228. The 1934; they quickly proceeded to this "duty" at a plan was adopted in 46 of the 306 parishes in the subsequent petty sessions on May 1Oth. county. Northamptonshire was one of a very few 16 Whellan, Directory, 89. counties which adopted it at all. 17 Northampton Mercury, Apri113, 1833. 20 Quoted in Northampton Mercury, October 17, 18 Ibid., April 7, 1832. 1835. JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1845 247 Social order was at stake; furthermore, a labourer not paid enough for his support "must be maintained wholly by the parish". 21 . What we see during the 1830's in Northamptonshire is a body of thoughtful magistrates who were concerned, not only with the maintenance of order and prosecution of crime, but also with the very roots of social disorder. Their response was not imaginative but traditional. Their efforts were directed, however unclearly, toward the better integration of a stable agricultural society. On the whole they were not successful. The incidence of crime continued to grow in the period so that, by the late thirties, justices began to shift their attention away from underlying causes and toward better methods of law enforcement. Primary responsibility for the apprehension of criminals and maintenance of order had long rested with parish officers. Constables were appointed from among the parishioners, were 22 unpai~, and were generally un~ill~ng to serve. • In the 183~'s the parish. constables ~f Northamp­ tonshire were probably consctenttous enough m performmg their duties. But their experience was limited. The range of their authority extended only to the borders of their parishes. Repeatedly ~hey seem to have been the unwary victims of assault. As an effective police force they had become Increasingly inadequate. Consequently, from the later years of the eighteenth century, landowners and farmers began to band together in small protective associations. Such groups as the "Northampton Association for the Apprehension and Prosecution of Robber~, Swindlers, and Thieves" continued to grow and function through this period. They met semi-annually, employed the services of paid informers, and posted attractive rewards. Many of the active justices during this period were themselves members. 23 But neither these bodies nor the parish constables could combat the apparent rise in crime. What clearly was needed was a well co-ordinated and dispersed county police force. The reorganisation of the rural police came in 1839. It followed an extensive report of commissioners and was instigated by the whig ministry of the day. 24 Unlike the control exercised by Whitehall over the constabulary in London after 1829 and in the boroughs after 1835, however the organisation and administration of the rural police was left very much to the discretion of county magistrates. 2s And though it was not their own creation, many welcomed the plan enthusiastically. , Northamptonshire justices responded with mixed hopes and reservations to the scheme. They informed the government in 1839 that, in their opinion, the parish constables constituted a force which was "not sufficient for the wants of the coun~y''. They agreed that a paid constabulary force, "appointed by and under the control of the magistrates of the county", was desirable. 26 But there were those who felt otherwise. Despite the general concern for an improved means of keeping the peace, a few magistrates feared the consequences. Arch-tories like Sir Charles Knightley and the Rev. Francis Litchfield denounced the constabulary as "to all intents and purposes, a military force and highly unconstitutional". 27 Despite their objections the plan was ultimately adopted. The first draft of the proposed Northamptonshire force was by every standard a modest one. It was much smaller than most proposed by other counties, providing for only twenty-nine ~onsta?les in a county of 306 parishes with nearly 180,000 pop.ulation. 28 Within a year of its Inceptton in April of 1840 the force had been nearly doubled m size. 29

21 Ibid., January 5, 1839. the force were made, however. See Jennifer Hart 22 Webbs, Parish and County, 15-19. "Reform of the Borough Police, 1835-1856" English 23 The members and accounts of these associations Historical.Review, LXX (July 1955), 417-420. ~ere published periodically throughout the period 26 Parltamentary Papers, 1839, XLVII, 520. In Northampton Mercury. 27 Nort~ampton Mercury, April 11, 1840. 24 Parliamentary Papers, 1839, XIX. 28 Parltamentary Papers, 1840, XXXIX 239 25 Some stipulations on the proper employment of 29 Ibid., 1841, XX, 302-303. ' . 248 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Most magistrates held out great hope for their police establishment during its formative years. Earl Spencer predicted that, although it would increase county rates, the new force would greatly reduce the loss from crime. 30 Before long this optimism had turned to disappointment. Magistrates began to complain that their divisions were insufficiently protected under the plan. There were calls for better if not for more constables. The general dissatisfaction came to a head at the April quarter sessions of 1842. The Rev. Mr. Litchfield had circulated a questionnaire among the clergy and magistracy hoping to obtain, he claimed, a "mass of invaluable statistical information" on the subject of "crime in Northamp­ tonshire". 31 In fact the survey was followed up with a mass of ninety-seven petitions designed to crush the entire establishment. The debate which followed was long, fierce, and to some extent rooted in political animosities. Some magistrates vigorously defended the force and said crime was decreasing in their neighbourhoods. Most were forced to admit that, as an agency in the prevention and prosecution of crime, the county constabulary had not lived up to their expecta­ tions. Neither were they prepared to abandon it. The Mercury probably summed up well the feeling of most magistrates on the bench when it declared editorially :32 We are no blind eulogists of the County Police system, or the policemen them­ selves ... But we approve of a County Police, because it secures on the one hand a control over the persons employed in preserving the peace of the county to a far greater degree than any plan hitherto sanctioned by law; and on the other affords means of considerable efficiency for the prevention and detection of crime, which the parish constabulary has been shown by long experience not to furnish. In the four years which followed, magistrates continued to experiment with their admini­ stration of the county police force. At the end of 1843 they reorganised it, maintained its size, but provided it with new facilities. 33 They were at all times an active and interested supervisory body.

5. The Magistrates as Administrators of County Affairs In administration as in the law the active justices of the peace were leaders in North­ amptonshire society. Consider, for example, the wide range of their responsibilities in 1830. They supervised relief of the poor and levied the poor rate. They acted as trustees for turnpikes and canals. They directed the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges, gaols and other county buildings. They granted (or refused to grant) a myriad of licenses-game licenses, ale-house licenses, licenses to open hospitals, licenses to hold fairs. They kept a check upon the practices of trade. To finance many of these services, they levied the county rate; to ensure its proper application, they audited the county accounts. In short, the justices of the peace performed functions very similar to modern-day bureaucracies as well as state or provincial assemblies. By 1845 the scope of their authority and activity, far from being diminished, was at least as extensive as it had been fifteen years before. County administration was largely woven within the framework of the judicial courts. The justices conducted major county business at quarter sessions. But a vast part of their work must have taken place in the petty and special sessions of various divisions. Their proceedings in those minor courts were not systematically recorded or published. As a contemporary mag­ istrate's manual explained: "The gratuitous duties of county magistrates had indeed become so onerous from the length and frequency of their sittings in Petty Sessions that they cannot be expected to add unnecessarily to the tedium already imposed on them".34 The evidence at this level is therefore less comprehensive. Occasional notices appeared in the Northamptonshire papers stating that two justices in a division had decided to divert a road,

30 Northampton Mercury, Aprilll, 1840. 33 Ibid., October 14, 1843. 31 Ibid., April 2, 1842. 34 Stone, Petty Sessions, 87. 32 Ibid., April 2, 1842. JUSTICES OF THE PEACE i:N 'NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,"l830-1845 249 or that several had met and agreed to change the boundaries of their division in order to improve administrative efficiency. The names of justices were always prominent in the published lists of turnpike or canal trustees. Nonetheless, few direct accounts of business conducted at this local level are available.35 It appears likely, however, that at the parochial and divisional level in Northamptonshire it was the small gentry and clergymen who again were most concerned with administering local affairs, for judicial and administrative duties went hand in hand. At quarter sessions, by contrast, it was the greater and more distinguished magistrates who played the leading role in deliberations and decisions upon the county business. Peers and other members of long-established county families, who seldom if ever attended the criminal proceedings of the court, were often present the following day when matters of local government came before the justices' purview.36 Some clergymen and lesser gentry were active here as well. But with few exceptions the most vocal and influential participants were the titled and the largest landed proprietors. Their activity can well be understood within the structure of a tradition­ oriented agricultural society. They were the justices with the most substantial interests, the longest tradition of service and experience in county and even in parliamentary affairs. By their fellow magistrates no less than by the county as a whole these men were probably judged the most capable trustees of the local interest. The justices of Northamptonshire employed a number of officers to carry out the routine administrative functions. By far the most important of these was the clerk of the peace, an attorney who had been appointed in 1823 and who continued to serve in that capacity until his death iq 1848. 37 He kept the records of both criminal and business proceedings, published all notices of the court, qualified the magistrates, filed returns with the central government, and frequently offered his advice on points of law to the justices at quarter sessions. The clerk was not paid by salary but rather by fees and emoluments which varied widely from year to year. In the early thirties his income averaged about £225 per year. 38 With the growth in scale of county business during the period, however, his position became a much more lucrative one. By the 1840's he was earning, on the average, well over £700 per year. 39 The two other principal officers were the treasurer and the county surveyor. The treasurer kept the county accounts and received only a small salary for his services. The surveyor, who drew up plans for the building or repair of highways and bridges and who personally supervised those activities, was paid in proportion to the work he performed. In at least one year during the early thirties his income equalled that of the clerk of the peace. These men, together with divisional clerks of the peace, prison attendants, and minor parish officers, constituted a necessary and invaluable local government bureaucracy. Through this small but responsible apparatus the justices conducted their county business. The Northamptonshire justices faced throughout most of this period a considerable social and financial dilemma. On the one hand was a county which had not yet recovered from the general recession in agriculture. A witness before the Select Committee on Agriculture in 1833 explained that productivity in the county had fallen dramatically during the previous decade. He attributed this condition to "the incapability of farmers, from the want of capital, to cultivate their land" and increase its produce. 40 However exaggerated their pleas of distress, farmers clearly were undergoing a time of crisis. The response of magistrates as landowners in reducing rents on their estates or in encouraging the allotment system, offered little genuine relief. More­ over, many . localized and domestic industries throughout Northamptonshire suffered sharp decline in these years. Such conditions aggravated the problem of poverty. The cost of poor relief continued to climb through the middle and late twenties, reaching its peak in 1832.41 Rate-

35 One special petty sessions on weights and mea­ time the attendance at criminal court and county sures was fully reported in Northampton Mercury, business sessions were separately listed. June 2, 1832. It was attended by most magistrates in 37 Parliamentary Papers, 1845, XXXVI, 266-267; Northampton division, who declared their intention Walford, County Families, 669. "to inflict the highest penalties ... to protect the 38 Parliamentary Papers, 1833, XXXII, 80-81. poorer classes of persons from (excessive) imposi­ 39 Ibid., 1845, XXXVI, 266-267. tions". 40 Ibid., 1833, V, 460. 36 Based on reports of quarter sessions proceedings 41 Ibid., 1839, XLIV, 4. in Northampton Mercury, 1842 and 1843, at which 250 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT payers complained bitterly against the growing impositions. In a petition to the House of Commons in 1830 one parish in Northamptonshire declared that, of its 4,000 inhabitants, over a quarter were on the rates. There were 827 ratepayers in the parish; all but 330 had been reduced to distress and were unable to pay; another 151 of these paid less than £2. They concluded that "nearly the whole burthen falls on the remaining 179 persons".42 On the other hand, the justices were faced with a growing burden of expenditure in county administration. In the early thirties the average annual cost of maintaining county services was about £7,000. Near the end of that decade it had climbed to over £9,000.43 By 1845, with a.county constabulary to support and new county gaol to finance, the costs had increased to about £18,000.44 Earl Spencer, when he announced at quarter sessions in 1841 a revision of the county rate; sug­ gested that magistrates had adopted the course because the old rates were "very unequal and in­ accurate". He conceded at the same time that "heavy expences" were being incurred.45 The justices met their growing financial responsibilities with an overriding concern for economy. They spent as little as possible and tried to make it go far. They followed a traditional policy of financial conservatism; but it was not mere niggardliness on their own part. Spencer best described their feelings when he emphasized to his fellow magistrates that they must at all times act with great care because, as he said, "we are dealing with county money, and not only our own". 46 His was always the voice of caution in county expenditure. It was applauded as well by his political opponents on the bench. "I beg to remind the court," said W. R. Cartwright, "that this is one advantage of having a Chancellor of the Exchequer in the chair."47 To ensure economy in providing county services, the justices kept a wary eye on all aspects of administration. They paid their officers sparingly and seldom revised their salaries. They gave the treasurer only £50 per year for his services throughout the thirties and it was not until well after the introduction of the county constabulary that they felt obligated to increase it.48 When the governor of the county gaol retired, they used the opportunity to lower the salary of his successor. The magistrates carefully perused all the designs of the county surveyor and sometimes reproached him for carelessness and extravagance. On one occasion when he proposed that a new · bridge be built, Spencer reminded him that the magistrates had their hands full maintaining the old. "If once we are to improve". Spencer warned, "there is no knowing where we are to stop". 49 It would be unfair to see these magistrates acting only as social and economic conservatives, labouring awkwardly over every small detail of expenditure. In many ways they were "men in a hurry", wishing to secure maximum benefits in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. Their impatience was well illustrated during both the building of a new county gaol-the largest single item of expense in the period-and in the organisation of the new county police. The old gaol in Northamptonshire had become inadequate to the needs of the county, no longer conforming to the stringent new requirements laid down by Whitehall, and the justices in 1841 decided to rebuild. They carefully studied a large number of plans and quickly contracted for its construction. The new gaol would c.ost close to £25,000, an enormous figure for the county budget to absorb. But Spencer negotiated reasonable loans in London and personally guaranteed the entire venture. Progress at first proceeded slowly and the magistrates were unwilling to wait. They threatened to fine the contractor twenty per cent of his bid price. A few magistrates actually helped to supervise the work themselves. In the end their energies were rewarded; the new gaol was completed within a very few months of the specified time. 50

42 S. A. Peyton, ed. Kettering Vestry Minutes, 1843. 1797-1853, Kettering, 1933,205-206. 47 Ibid., October 15, 1842. 43 Parliamentary Papers, 1839, XLIV, 15. 48 Northampton Mercury, April 6, 1844. 44 Ibid., 1846, XL, 102-103. 49 Quoted.in Northampton Mercury, April1, 1843. 45 Northampton Mercury, October 23, 1841. 50 Taken from reports of quarter sessions pro- 46 Quoted in Northampton Mercury, January 7, ceedings in Northampton Mercury, 1842-43. JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1845 251

The magistrates had met the proposal of a county constabulary with some reservation. One of their chief concerns was the great expense which this force would impose upon rate-payers. When they first devised'their plan, they calculated the annual cost to the county at about £2,200.51 In the first year of operation, however, the expense amounted to nearly £3,700.52 It continued to rise until, by 1845, the force was costing over £5,400 to maintain. 53 The increasing dissatisfac­ tion with the force in its early years was the result of unfulfilled expectations. The magistrates had anticipated a rapid reduction in crime and yet, as costs rose, so did the volume of criminal business. A committee of magistrates in 1843 recommended proposals they hoped would render the force "more efficient and not more expensive".54 It was illusory to expect results from so small a constabulary in so short a time. But the justices had made conscientious efforts to grapple with a new plan they were anxious to have succeed, and succeed cheaply. The Northamptonshire magistrates conducted their county business as practical men whose aims were both efficiency and economy. They applied themselves to their tasks with considerable energy and a penchant for detail. Though they were not innovators, neither were they afraid to bend the law to changing needs. As one justice had said, "if we were to administer every Act of Parliament according to the letter, we would act with the most mischievous injustice". 55 Throughout the period the scale of services the justices administered continued to grow. Their range of authority changed very little. Although after 1834 they were no longer the principal arbiters of the poor law, they continued to take an active part on boards of guardians, continued to adjudicate in cases of settlement, and continued to prosecute for non-payment of the poor rates. And, in 1839, they were invested with a new and important area of jurisdiction­ the county constabulary.

6. Conclusion A country gentleman or farmer who had lived in Northamptonshire in 1845 would have been astonished to read that justices of the peace no longer possessed the power or assumed the responsibility they had had fifteen years before. He would have exclaimed that these men were indeed active in every area of county life. He probably would have felt that they administered justice honestly and with tolerable efficiency, that they conducted the county business with caution and good sense. From his point of view, he would not have been so very far wrong. During the years 1830 to 1845 the magistrates rationalised their judicial and administrative activities. Frequently they used their courts as forums for the expression of social purpose. The effect should not be exaggerated. They thought and acted within a wide range of personal interests and a narrow range of ideas. In the face of new institutions and new responsibilities they relied upon traditional habits of mind. In Northamptonshire historical continuity was maintained. Those justices with a stake in the county, with family traditions of service, with experience in governing, continued to be relied upon in county affairs.

R. w. SHORTHOUSE.

51 Parliamentary Papers, 1840, XXXIX, 239. 54 Northampton Mercury, October 14, 1843. 52 Ibid., 1841, XX, 302-303. 55 Quoted in Northampton Mercury, October 18, 53 Ibid., 1846, XL, 102-103. 1845. 252 Banquets: Saxonlnns A VILLANELLE FOR KIRBY HALL offer an Its ruined walls and arches dream and wait, Knowing the glory gone and that, outside The iron fox is barking at the gate. appetising The yellow gilly-flowers bloom desolate Upon the stonework and the martins glide Across the empty halls that dream and wait. Ousiness Beyond the lawn, as though to intimidate, Its haunches squatting on the countryside, The iron fox sits barking at the gate, proposition Insatiable, eager to mutilate Choose the Saxon for your next The woodland, claw the farmland gaping wide; dinner/ dance or banquet. We can offer Whilst Kirby's empty hallways dream and wait. luxurious facilities for up to 3 5o in our self-contained banqueting hall. It's the sure If stones could speak, what tales they could way to make every function a success ! relate . RESTAURANT · Of Hatton's splendour and a craftsman's pride. Open to Non-Residents But now the fox is barking at the gate, Dine and Dance Fridays and Saturdays Excellent and well-stocked Wine Cellar Impatient to enter. How can we separate The rights and wrongs when two such worlds CONFERENCE ROOM collide? Seats up to 450 Whilst ruined walls and arches dream and wait Self-contained hall with latest audio and visual equipment The iron fox sits barking at the gate. MONKS CAVE TREVOR HOLD. Now available for Young Persons' Private Functions 140 BEDROOMS First published by Kettering Poets in their collection All with private bathroom, of poems for Kirby Hall Poetry Reading 1972. It won radio and T.V. first prize. Get into the Saxon habit SnoNINN LUXURY MOTOR HOTEL Silver Street, Town Centre, Northampton Tel: Northampton(o6o4) 22441. Telex : 3II142 253

THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL KETTERING

IN the mid-eighteen seventies it was suggested was centred on Norwich and which spread into that 'Dr. Smiles ought to write the industrial Lincolnshire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Hunt­ history of Kettering; it is a subject worthy of ingdonshire and Buckinghamshire as well as his pen. Never have the advantages of temper­ Northamptonshire and Norfolk. In Kettering ance and thrift been more significantly illus­ and the surrounding villages it gave employ­ trated than in the histories of some of those who ment to an army of spinners, woolcombers and now preside over the industrial destinies of the handloom weavers. By the end of the 1790s, in town-men, who, but a few years ago, were an astonishingly short time, this trade was all working on the seat are now the promoters of but dead, a victim of the fierce competition large factories'. In the interests of strict accuracy from Bradford and the West Riding of York­ the writer was careful to point out that 'none shire. of these ... are on a gigantic scale, but they are The industrial history of the town in the first all busy and prosperous. There are factories quarter of the nineteenth century was summed devoted to the production of boots and shoes; up in an 1824 directory: 'There was formerly a stays and clothing; agricultural implement very considerable trade carried on here in the works; and even a sewing machine manufac­ woollen manufacture of serges, tammies, etc. turing establishment. ' 1 By then Kettering was This has become very nearly extinct, and the well into the process which transformed a small weavers are now employed in the crape, Persian market town in north Northamptonshire into a sarcenet, bombazeen, ribbon, silk shag and bustling industrial centre-a Leicester or Nor­ linen manufactures. Woolstapling and combing thampton in miniature. In 1861 Kettering had is still carried on, on a large scale; and there just under 6,000 inhabitants; by 1901 its popu­ are also two extensive brush manufacturies, but lation had grown to almost 29,000. The chron­ the principal trade now, is that of leather; a ology of its expansion can be followed by look­ great number of men are employed in currying, ing at the percentage increase of the population and making of shoes, for the foreign and home decade by decade. In the sixties it grew by 23 market'. 3 In that year the Kettering leather and per cent; in the seventies by 55 per cent; in footwear trade was concentrated in the hands the eighties by 75 per cent; and in the nineties, of one firm, that of Gotch. It had been founded when the expansion started to slacken, by a by Thomas Gotch in 1778 and he had built it mere 4 7 per cent. up on army and navy contracts. In 1806 it Kettering's industrial progress from about passed to his son, John Cooper Gotch. For 1860 is the more remarkable when considered Kettering the most important fact about the against the prolonged stagnation of the town in firm was that not only was it the originator of . the previous half century and more. In this the trade but until 1857 it remained the only period its economy had limped along in the footwear firm in the town. 4 aftermath of the swift decline of worsted weav­ John Cooper Gotch was Kettering's foremost ing, the town's staple industry in the eighteenth citizen in the early nineteenth century. In addi­ century. In 1784 there had been some thirteen tion to employing five hundred or so hand-sewn manufacturers of 'tammies and lastings' in the shoeworkers in and around the town he was town and another eight in villages close by.2 also the proprietor of the town's bank. At the These masters were part of an industry which vestry or any public meeting in the town he

1 Unidentified press cutting in the Bull Scrapbook, Commercial Directory, 1823/4, p. 69. Kettering Public Library, n.d. but probably 1875 4 Ray Church 'The Firm of Gotch and Sons, or 6. Tanners, Curriers, and Shoe Makers 1797-1888', 2 Bailey's British Directory 1784, Vol. 2, pp. 381-3. Journal of the British Boot and Shoe Institution, 1, 3 Pigot & Company's London and Provincial New No. 11, pp. 479-488 and No. 12, pp. 506-512. 254 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

fields, set up in Kettering, the two principal firms being those of Benjamin Riley (who opened factories in Kettering, Rothwell and Desborough) and Stephen Waiters who built one in School Lane, Kettering. It is clear that shoemaking, silk and plush weaving, and small trades like brushmaking, by no means filled the vacuum left by the demise of the old staple trade. The one fact above all others which dominated life in the town down to the 1850s was that of poverty. Widespread unemployment and underemployment reached crisis proportions on several occasions in the early part of the century. In 1821 literally half of the total population of the town were in receipt of poor relief, and the vestry were faced with the problems of supporting the poor of the parish in a town where there was but a small proportion of viable rate payers to total population. In 1830, faced with a poor rate which reached the hitherto unknown figure of twenty shillings in the pound, Kettering peti­ tioned parliament: 'that the whole number of inhabitants in this parish does not exceed 4,000 persons, the number actually receiving paro­ JoHN COOPER GOTCH (1772-1852) chial relief amounts to 1,066 ... that only 330 are able to pay their rates [and as 151 of this was automatically called to the chair. He was a number are assessed under two shillings each . pillar of Fuller Baptist Chapel, and, being an nearly the whole of this burthen has fallen on ardent dissenter, was a prominent Reformer in the remaining 179 persons]'. 6 politics. Dying in 1852 he did not live to see the remarkable growth of his native town in the What held Kettering back in the early second half of the century, but his sons and Victorian period? Apart from the obvious fact grandsons played active parts in the life of that there was no future in silk weaving and no Victorian Kettering. growth in shoe making two major obstacles faced the town: poor communications, and the It is clear that whilst some of the Kettering problem of copyhold tenure. Early railway handloom weavers turned to shoemaking in the development in Northamptonshire-the Lon­ early nineteenth century, many did not; the don and Birmingham railway of 1839 and the weavers long held to the hope that better times Blisworth to Peterborough line of 1845-by­ would return and they would be able to go back passed Kettering, and the town remained un­ to the happy position that existed before the connected to the vital markets of London and Napoleonic Wars and the coming of the power the Midlands. In 1847 it was observed 'if the loom. Meanwhile they turned to weaving other traveller wants to go to Leicester, a distance of textiles than worsted. As early as 1810 the 26 miles, he has to make the circuit of Welling­ overseers of the poor had introduced linen borough, Blisworth and Rugby, a distance of weaving as a 'make-work' scheme for the un­ more than 60 miles, at an expense by second employed5 and after the Napoleonic Wars class of ten shillings; and after the most toil­ London silk masters, seeking cheaper and less some and sagacious exploration of "Bradshaw's organized labour than was available at Spital- Guide" let him not expect to reach his destin-

5 See advertisements for 'Kettering Strong Linens' p. 225, and S. A. Peyton (editor) Kettering Vestry in the Northampton Mercury, 5, 12 and 17 July 1819. Minutes, 1797-1853, Northants Record Society, 1933, 6 Abstract of Answers and Returns under the Popu­ appendix, p. 205. lation Act 1 Geo. IV c. 94 Enumeration 1821, footnote THE RISE ·oF INDUSTRIAL KETTERING 255

The committee argued that the fine payable in LEICBST-&BBDI'ORD the manorial court on every alienation whether RAILWAY. by death or sale was arbitrary: no property could be let on lease without the consent of the lords of the manor: and stewards' fees increased the expense of making titles to property. As a A TO'fi!!!H~eeting consequence copyhold tenure was a check upon all improvements to property, sales could not THE BOYS' NATIONAL SCHOOL ROOM, be effected as freely as they otherwise might THIS ErE.NilWJ, .!IT SErE.N O'CLOCK, have been, and difficulties were thrown in the To tnl\e into eonsidea·ntion the pa•opricty of way between landlord and tenant. 9 Lord Sondes PETI'I'IOl''ING the HOUSE of LORDS, received the town committee sympathetically; in fnvoua· of the ubove Line. the Duke of Buccleuch less so: eventually the K£TT£1U.SG, June 251h, 1846. committee was informed that he had been J. TO!.L l::~ t TT I:R I~G . advised by his legal representatives that 'as POSTER ADVERTISING THE START OF THE FIRST ATTEMPT being Tenant for Life only of your share of the TO BRING THE RAILWAY TO KETTERING Manor without any power of exchange you are unable to enfranchise' .10 He suggested that they ation in less than half a day'. 7 In 1846-7 wait for the proposed Act of Parliament. And Kettering's hopes were raised by the Midland that is what they had to do. Railway Company's plans for a line from Leicester to Hitchin, which Thomas Hudson In the 1850s the fortunes of Kettering began steered through parliament, the act receiving to improve. In the first place a way out of the the royal assent in 1847. Kettering people confi­ copyhold difficulty was made possible by the dently numbered the days of the 'Royal Mail' Copyhold Act of 1852. As a result of the efforts coach and 'the Wonder' (the former running of William Garrard, a Kettering solicitor, who from the Royal Hotel to W ellingborough and 'almost single handed ... fought the battle of the latter from Uppingham through Kettering copyhold tenure with the lords of the manor daily to the same station). Their confidence was and the copyhold commissioners,11 and who premature. The Midland Company's project acted for the owners of most of the principal fell victim to the aftermath of the 'railway building allotments that were brought onto the mania' of 1845-6: faced with falling profits and market when the expansion began, this great dividends the company shelved its plan and in obstacle to the development was overcome. 1850 the provisions in the Act for a Leicester to Hitchin line were allowed to lapse. If one was asked to name specific years in which the fortunes of Kettering took a turn for In early Victorian Kettering most shop­ the better, one would surely say 1856 and 1857. keepers and businessmen would have agreed It was in 1856 that the sewing machine, which that the incubus which held it back was the was to have an important effect on the economy fact that land and property in the town was of the town, was first introduced by Robert entirely copyhold. 8 Whatever the advantages of Wallis and his brother-in-law John Turner this form of tenure in the past, in the nineteenth Stockburn. They were drapers by trade and in century its drawbacks were increasingly felt. In 1856 set up as stay and corset manufacturers. 1834 a committee was set up in the town to Wallis died the following year, but Stockburn meet Lord Sondes and the Duke of Buccleuch, built up a prosperous business, opening a large the joint lords of the manor, and to try to get factory in Northall Street in 1876. Stockbum them to agree to a system of 'enfranchising' was an Independent by religion, worshipping copyhold land and property, that is, on pay­ at Toller Ch~pel. As a boy he went to school at ment of a sum to them to turn it into freehold. Leicester where he lived at the house of the

7 The Citizen, August 1847, [NRO pamphlets recently been erected .. .'. 617a-g,]. 9 NRO G(K) 172. 8 An advertisement in the Northampton Herald, 10 NRO G(K) 170. 5 March 1842 offered two lots in Hog Leys for sale 11 Kettering Leader and Observer, 11 September and noted 'The two messuages in this lot are the only 1896. Obituary of Garrard. freehold houses in the town of Kettering, they have 256 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Reverend Edward Miall, then minister of Bond longer available in Kettering. By 1906 the firm Street Chapel and later editor of 'The Non­ had six outlying factories and employed up­ conformist'. It was there that he imbibed his wards of a thousand workers.13 By 1862 the political faith, for he lived to be 'the Grand Old underwear and clothing industries were well Man of Northamptonshire Liberalism' .12 If established in the town, and Stockburn and John Cooper Gotch was the foremost Kettering Wallis and Linnell were having to face compe­ citizen of the first half of the nineteenth century tition from two other manufacturers. John Turner Stock burn was surely the foremost The introduction of the sewing machine in of the second. 1856 was responsible for the start of engineering in Kettering, the first firm being that of Owen Robinson. Robinson was born in Desborough in 1833 and his life experience was typical in many ways of that generation which was in­ volved in the rise of industrial Kettering. He started work for a Desborough fariner at the age of six, and from then until he was twenty, when he moved to Kettering, he worked alter­ nately as a farm worker and as a silk weaver for Riley's. He was persuaded to come to Kettering by a chance meeting with the minister of Fuller Chapel and started off as a weaver at Waiters and Sons' Mill. He soon gave that up, tried shoemaking and carpentry for a spell, but found his real vocation with machinery. He first started as a repairer of clocks and watches, but the turning point in his life was when Wallis and Linnell asked him to repair some sewing machines, and then retained him to service all their machines : fifty years later the association with the firm was unbroken. Robinson soon adapted the sewing machine for the shoe trade, and built up a machine making business, grad­ uating from a small factory in 1872 to a larger JOHN TURNER STOCKBURN (1825-1922) works in Victoria Street. Later he branched out into other forms of engineering, most notably printing machinery.14 By the year 1870 there In 1856 another Wallis, Frederick, set up a were, in addition to Owen Robins on, three other clothing business with three Grover and Blake engineering firms-Frederick Mobbs, George chain stitch sewing machines in the empty silk Lewis, and Salmon and Company, the latter mill of Waiters and Sons. Two years later he two specializing in agricultural implements. took John Linnell as a partner and the firm of Wallis and Linnell commenced. In 1864 the The easy acceptance of the sewing machine mill was burned down and they replaced it with into the clothing industry was not repeated in a new factory, equipped with the latest mach­ the case of shoemaking. Kettering shoemakers ines, and opened a warehouse in Birmingham, in early 1858 agreed with the Northampton which Linnell went to manage. By that year the men that there would soon be too many workers firm employed 150-200 workers, mainly women. chasing too few jobs if the sewing machine was Thereafter the firm expanded so rapidly that allowed to replace hand stitching in the closing by 1871 it had been obliged to open branches in process.15 For more than a year the anti­ Burton Latimer, Rothwell, Brigstock, and Cot­ machinery movement obstructed its introduc­ tingham to find the (female) labour that was no tion into the trade in the town. By early 1860,

12 Kettering Leader, 3 February 1922. Obituary of 14 Long interview with Robinson, Kettering Leader, Stockburn. 16, 23 and 30 June 1905. 13 ibid, 18 February 1916. Obituary of Linnell. 15 South Midlands Free Press, 16 January 1858. THE RISE -oF INDUSTRIAL KETTERING 257

however, it was observed that 'closing machines stren~ merely of 'expectations of a legacy', are now becoming in general use, most of the and high hopes of a series of patents'. The manufacturers being in possession of them; Rothwell parson had the somewhat unclerical they are much appreciated for the accuracy of dream of turning nightsoil into gold. An the stitching, as well as for the firmness and amateur sanitary engineer, he took out a series expedition with which work is executed' .16 The of patents with which he hoped to make his manufacturer who first introduced them was fortune in the insanitary cities of Europe. As Charles East. 'He struggled through the perse­ his debts mounted Macpherson prudently cution that attended the introduction of boot­ took up residence in Belgium in 1853 and over closing machinery into this county, and per­ the next few years addressed some four hundred sonally suffered the severe opposition of those stalling letters to the increasingly anxious who at that time did not see that such a revo­ Gotch. Extracts were read out in the Court of lution in the trade' would bring benefits to Bankruptcy in May 1858: the batik was in­ Kettering.17 This 'severe opposition' included formed of the purchase 'of the Belgian, Dutch having the machines thrown through the win­ Austrian, Bavarian and Saxon patents, and with dows of his workshop, if oral tradition is to be all the patents of addition, so that I am now trusted. East died in 1875 but his business was the sole proprietor of seven patents for the carried on by his wife and sons, and became in purification of gas'. Another occasion he des­ time the biggest in the town. cribed 'taking out a patent for "peat charcoal" The struggle of East and others to utilise (laughter in court)' £14's worth of which (he closing machines took place just after one of calculated) 'when ~ixed with nightsoil, will the greatest shocks suffered by Kettering in the make upwards of six tons of manure equal to nineteenth century-the collapse of the Gotch guano, and realise a clear profit of £10 per ton bank in 1857. Mter John Cooper Gotch died in (renewed laughter)'. It was no wonder that the 1852 his businesses were taken over by two of judge declared that the recklessness of the his sons: the bank by Thomas Henry and the ~everend Mr. Macpherson '~as of so grossly mfatuated a character that It seemed like a shoe business by John Davis. Five years later, romance'. on the 9th of June 1857, the bank suspended payments and collapsed into bankruptcy with About nine hundred creditors, mostly local, liabilities of £132,000 (against assets of only ~ere affected ~y th~ collapse. ~ot only indi­ £82,000).18 viduals lost their savmgs, but fnendly societies 1857 was a year of bank crises elsewhere in and clubs in Kettering and some nineteen the country, but it seems that the Gotch affair villages around. Immediately after the bank­ had little or no connection with them. The ruptcy proceedings the Gotch properties were Debtors' Book19 of the bank clearly reveals the put up for sale-three farms, the bank premises cause of the collapse: two clients, John Warden, on the Market Place, Chesham House which farmer and shoe manufacturer of Little Har­ was the Gotch family home and shoe warehouse rowden and the Reverend A. Macpherson of combined, the curriers' shop, the tan yard and Rothwell, borrowed some £46,000 without put­ sundry properties including eleven cottag~s. ting up anything like adequate collateral. When Severe though the Gotch affair was for their both went bankrupt they pulled down the creditors it was not an unmitigated disaster for Gotches. In the extensive bankruptcy hearings Kettering. Paradoxically it created opportun­ it was Macpherson who fascinated the public ities and acted as a galvanizing shock to the and the irony of hitherto cautious Baptist tow!! economy. The collapse of the shoemaking bankers being led by the nose into financial busmess meant the end of a virtual monopoly disaster by a plausible parson was not missed. in the trade in the town, however benevolent Macpherson had a curacy of £120 a year and and respected. 'It began to dawn upon some of a sinecure of £200 as a chaplain in the East the managers and foremen that they might India Company. He raised a series ofloans from perhaps venture to start in business on their Thomas Gotch without collateral on the own account. They did so, and have never

16 Northampton Mercury, 11 February 1860. in the Bull Scrapbook, Kettering Public Library 17 ibid, 6 November 1875. Obituary of East. 19 In the possession of F. A. Moore Esq. · 18 The following account is based on press cuttings 258 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

GOTCH BANK NOTE regretted the step then taken'. 20 The first to crisis. In addition they behaved honourably: in move into the vacuum left by the Gotches was 1865 it was observed that they 'had signified William Hanger, closely followed by East. The their intention to present a donation of some son of a shoemaker, Hanger started his working £200 to the various benefit societies which had . life as a weaver, and then turned to shoemaking. suffered loss in consequence of their bank­ He lived frugally and saved a modest sum 'but ruptcy'. 22 And indeed it may well be that the owing to the bank failing he determined to view expressed by their friends-that they had invest his remaining capital in business and been stampeded by an 'unscrupulous group of embarked upon his own account in the shoe their creditors', who had insisted on bankruptcy trade'. His first premises were in a former silk proceedings even though the shoe firm was weaving establishment and later he moved into profitable-was widely accepted in the town. a little factory he built himself in Havelock The temporary absence of the Gotches from Street.21 In 1871 he was the second largest the trade in the years between 1857 and 1863 employer in the town. was important, for it was in these years that One perhaps surprising result of the affair the first machines were introduced into Ket­ was the fact that the Gotch brothers were soon tering. The Gotches were not, and never had back in business as manufacturers, re-com­ been, innovators. They had no incentive to be mencing in 1863: by 1871 they were once more so because they were almost entirely govern­ the largest employers of labour in the town. It ment contractors and the Admiralty and War is not clear how they were able to raise the Office long insisted on hand-stitched footwear. capital to start again after their bankruptcy­ This traditionalism persisted even after they possibly their respected position in the Baptist came back into business : except for an eyelet network was a help-but it seems likely that punching machine they eschewed machinery people were able to distinguish their worth as down to their closure in 1888. Though there is shoemakers from their shortcomings as bankers, no firm evidence for this, it is very likely that the footwear side of the firm having remained the withdrawal of the Gotches from the trade profitable right up to the time of the 1857 was a factor in persuading the hand-sewn shoe-

20 Leicester Evening News, 23 January 1903. Hanger. 21 Kettering Leader, 30 May 1890. Obituary of 22 Northampton Herald, 22 April 1865. THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL KETTERING 259 makers of the district to accept the closing considerable engineering project and it took machine in 1859. three years to complete. The official opening on 14th of May 1857 was celebrated as a great In 1857, counterbalancing the shock of the event in the town's history. And rightly so: it Gotch bankruptcy, Kettering's fortunes re­ was a most important breakthrough in improv­ ceived a great fillip for the long desired railway ing the fortunes of Kettering. Coal and raw at last came to the town. The project for a materials could be brought in more cheaply and Leicester to Hitchin line revived when a depu­ in greater quantities than hitherto and the town tation of businessmen and property owners was immediately in direct communication with approached the Midland Railway Company in London, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Shef­ 1852. The driving force was Samuel Whitbread field, Leeds and Bradford. 25 of Bedford, across whose land the projected railway was to run for some eight or nine miles The period 1857 to 1870 saw the beginnings and who offered his land to the company at of the growth of the footwear industry in £70 an acre-'its simple agricultural value'. Kettering, but there was nothing spectacular The company, too, had a strong interest in about the process. What was happening was seeing the line built: in 1852 its track stopped not an industrial revolution, but the modifying at Rugby and from thence some 325,000 tons and expanding of a craft industry. In the of coal a year was carried to the metropolis by sixties shoemaking was stimulated but not a rival concern. A further stimulus to the pro­ radically changed by the sewing machine, nor ject was the re-discovery of ironstone deposits by the introduction of capital on any great scale, in the county and the rebirth of ironmaking. 23 nor by a significant extension of the division of labour leading to a factory-based method of The necessary Act was obtained from Par­ production. These were all characteristics of liament in 1853 but there followed a period of the eighteen nineties rather than the eighteen anxiety occasioned by the difficulty of raising sixties. What happened in Kettering was that a capital. With the Crimean War looming the number of small masters came into the trade to money market was cautious, and Midland Rail­ fill the vacuum left by Gotch. Needing as they way shareholders apparently considered the did only a modest amount of capital to start up Hitchin line an unacceptable risk. In early 1854 there were at any one time in the sixties about everything depended on whether sufficient twenty of them active in the trade in Kettering, capital could be raised locally, and whether the about eight of whom could accurately be des­ landowners could be persuaded to part with cribed as wholesale shoe manufacturers.26 In land at prices cheap enough to encourage the these years the characteristics of the Kettering company to proceed. In a letter to William footwear industry emerged: it became a town Garrard, the agent of the company in the of small firms, the proprietors of which had district (and who was also working for copyhold often risen from the seat or been shopkeepers enfranchisement at this time), the Bedford who had put their savings into leather, and agent declared in 1854 'I have Mr. Whitbread's who were keenly competitive for a share of the authority to say that in the event of from cheaper end of the footwear market. £80,000 to £100,000 being raised by subscrip­ tions to the Guarantee Stock along the line the Shoemaking made slow progress in the early railway will at once be formed, but if it is not part of the sixties, there being a serious shortage it is almost a certainty that the matter will drop of work in 1861 and 1862, unemployment being through'.24 By the end of February that year made worse by the demise of silk weaving: in enough land had been secured and stock sold early 1863 it was reported that 'scores of for the project to proceed and it was let to a weavers are out of employment and those few contractor. The building of the line was a at work toil hard from morn till night to gain a

u F. S. Williams, The Midland Railway: Its Rise and 6. Sources: Melville & Co.'s Directory of North­ and Progress, Nottingham, 1886, pp. 102-3. amptonshire, 1861, Kelly's Post Office Directory for 24 In the possession of F. A. Moore Esq. Northamptonshire, Hunts ... Oxon, 1864, Post Office 25 Midlands Free Press, 21 February 1857. Directory for Northamptonshire, 1869, and Mercer and 26 This is clear from the trade directories. In 1861 Crocker's Directory and Gazeteer for Northampton­ 10 manufacturers and 9 master shoemakers were shire, 1870. listed. In 1864 4 and 9, in 1869 8 and 15, in 1870 21 260 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

It is decided that there shall oe A PUBLIIJ

••••1a,On Thursday next, the 14th instant, AT FIVE O'Ci.. OCK, AT TBB BOYAL BOTBL, TO CELEBRATE THE OPEII~G OF THE RAILWAY. All Gentlemen who wish to participate in the festivity, 'vill be kind enough to send in their na1nes to the ROYAL II01,EL, not later than Monday Night. ROYAL HOTEL, KETTERIXG, .M.Jl.Y 9th, 1857. TOLLE.R , PRINTER, KETTERING.

POSTER ADVERTISING THE OPENING OF THE LEICESTER-HITCHIN LINE IN 1857

mere scanty subsistence'.27 By 1869 the silk was a rise in the number of wholesale manu­ weaving trade was 'almost altogether defunct' facturers from eight to twenty-four, the new and the shoe trade 'which has become the staple manufacturers being largely recruited from the manufacture of the town . . . is now in so ranks of the master shoemakers. One firm which depressed a state that some firms are working illustrates this process is Meadows and Bryan. short time'. 28 What carried Kettering forward John Bryan was the son of a silk weaver who into a period of rapid growth was its share of had been an apprentice and journeyman of the orders placed in Northamptonshire in late John Cooper Gotch. With his savings he pur­ 1870 by the French army for the war with chased some land on which he intended to Prussia. build two cottages when an incident occurred This brought a tremendous amount of busi­ which altered his plans. In 1859 he quarrelled ness to the town. Between 1869 and 1871 there with the factory manager and started up as a

27 South Midlands Free Press, 23 March 1861, 26 28 Northampton Herald, 11 December 1869. April1862 and 31 January 1863. THE RISE -OF INDUSTRIAL KETTERING 261

trialized, work moved into the factories, units became larger, and industrial relations altered as well. In 1871 none of the 24 firms manufacturing footwear operated on a large scale. Only six of them employed 100 or more workers, by far the largest being Gotch. A further 12 firms employed between 20 and 70 workers, and six less than 10. 32 By 1871 Kettering had not yet overtaken Wellingborough as the second foot­ wear town in the county: but it was to do so in the eighteen eighties. Mter the initial boost of the Franco-Prussian War the shoe trade in Kettering continued to expand for a number of reasons. In the first place it began to produce footwear at a time when British working class living standards started to rise and there was an increasing demand for footwear as for other items of clothing and consumer goods. Perhaps the best

}OHN BRYAN (1834-1910) wholesaler himself 'but he soon found he was not properly trained for that' so he opened a retail shop instead. This prospered and then ten years later he entered into a partnership with William Meadows, a Kettering grocer and chemist, and John J enkinson. The firm com­ menced in the old Ebenezer Chapel which had belonged to Jenkinson's father and uncle, Cal­ vinistic Baptist preachers. 29 The firm came into the market at a fortunate time: according to Jenkinson in the period 1869 to 1874 they made no less than 237,000 boots.30 The Franco-Prussian war ushered in a period of expansion which was virtually unchecked until the early nineties. Kettering shared in the nationwide booms of the early seventies and the early eighties, and it seems that the severe STONE FROM THE WALL OF MEADOWS AND BRYAN'S slump of the late seventies was milder in FIRST FACTORY IN EBENEZER PLACE, KETTERING Kettering than elsewhere, nor was the town badly hit by the depression of 1885-7. Indeed illustration of this is the experience of William it was said that in Kettering in 1886 there were Timpson, Kettering's most famous business 'fewer bankruptcies than in any centre of the man in the nineteenth century. Timpson was trade elsewhere'.31 It was not until the slump born in Rothwell in 1849, the son of a poor silk of 1891-6 that the great expansion slackened: weaver. At the age of eleven he migrated to and by then conditions in the footwear trade Manchester to join his brother who had started began to change. It became thoroughly indus- a shoe shop there. Mter a spell back at home

29 Kettering Leader, 8 April1910. 31 Kettering News, 31 December 1886. 30 Jenkinson letters to Kettering Guardians, NRO 32 Compiled from the Census Enumerators Sche­ YZ5542. dules for 1871 (PRO RG/1494) by F. A. Moore Esq. 262 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT learning to make shoes young Timpson re­ the lack of machinery meant that fixed capital turned to Manchester and at the age of sixteen costs were low as well. It remained relatively opened a shop in partnership with his brother­ easy to enter the trade without substantial in-law. Five years later, in 1870, he started on capital; firms were small, competition was keen his own account at 97 Oldham Street, Man­ without being cut-throat. This more than any­ chester. In his first year he made £1,000 profit. thing else gave Victorian Kettering its particular In the boom of the seventies he opened another character, one which differed from Welling­ four shops in Manchester and Salford. By 1902 borough's-the trade there being in the hands he had a chain of 37, mostly in Lancashire. of a small number of firms. Wellingborough too When he was about thirty Timpson became specialized in the production of uppers where ill and his doctor advised him to return to Kettering, being a relative newcomer to the Northamptonshire, where, having married a trade without a tradition of craftsmanship and Kettering girl, he came to live in the town. For wide contracts in the market, produced a forty years his pattern of life was that every cheaper and rougher boot than Northampton or Leicester; 'boots and shoes for the workshop other Tuesday he left on the train for Man­ 36 chester returning on the Friday or Saturday, and factory, boots and shoes for the million'. staying at Kettering for the next ten days. In In fact apart from firms like Gotch and East Kettering he soon decided to start manufac­ there was little handsewn work in the town, by turing, his first premises being in his own far the most common work before the eighteen garden. In 1883 he acquired a workshop in nineties being rivetted boots. Market Street and by 1896 he was producing In this period too there was not the difficulty about 750 pairs of boots a week. 33 By 1922 when over a good supply of cheap raw material that the firm opened a large new factory in Bath was to be experienced later: American leather Road Timpson's were producing 7,000 pairs a was plentiful. In addition communications by week, though the firm was mainly a retailing rail improved still further: in 1866 Kettering organization. 34 was connected directly with Northampton via A second reason for Kettering's progress was Wellingborough when the Midland Railway that in and around the town there was a large opened its line, and in 1880 the Kettering to · pool of cheap labour-shoemakers, handloom Manton line was opened as a part of the same weavers and labourers. The expansion of the company's project to link Nottingham and its trade coincided with the final demise of silk coalfield to London. In the continuing boom weaving and the onset of the agricultural of the 1870s Kettering grew physically, and in depression. 'Agricultural labourers rushed in the new working class districts new warehouses from the country around about, and upon and factories appeared, the first notable ones payment of a small premium-often not more being built in 1873 and 1874. By 1876 there than a sovereign-they were taught the "art were some 26 manufacturers in the trade, a and mysteries" of rivetting, and in a few weeks total which had grown to 44 by 1884 (by which passed as competent workmen'. 35 There being year there were also some 54 closers, rivetters, few other industries to compete for labour in finishers and blockers serving the trade in the the district wages were lower in Kettering at town as well). 37 In 1890 it was estimated that this time than in most other footwear centres. the 45 wholesale manufacturers in the town A further advantage to employers was the fact were turning out some 50-60,000 pairs of boots that because the great majority of the workers and shoes per week, the largest manufacturer were outside the factories they long remained being East for whom a large extension to the unorganized, a branch of the union not being factory in Northall Street was then being built.38 formed in Kettering until 1885. Although Kettering was overwhelmingly a Not only were labour costs relatively low, footwear producing town its other trades devel-

33 W. H. F. Timpson My Father. Stages in the Life C. N. Wright's Commercial and General Directory of William Timpson. Gloucester, 2nd ed. 1947. and Blue Book of Northamptonshire, 1884. 34 Kettering Leader, 22 December 1922. 38 Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdon­ 35 Kettering Observer, 28 November 1884. shire and Northamptonshire, 1890, and the Kettering 36 Kettering Guardian, 26 December 1890. Leader and Observer, 19 December 1890. The 37 Harrod's Royal County Directory of Bedfordshire, Kettering Guardian, 26 December 1890, estimated Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, etc., 1876, and the output at 70,000 pairs a week. THE RISE 0F INDUSTRIAL KETTERING 263

THE PREMISES OF THE FIRM OF CHARLES EAST, NORTHALL, in 1890. First opened in 1862 it was enlarged in 1869 and in 1882 the block at the front (on the left) was added. The final addition was the large block on the right, built in 1890. oped in this period of expansion. We have upon their perfection'. 39 In addition to steam already seen how the clothing trades expanded, ploughing equipment in the early years Wick­ and the four engineering firms in 1870 had by steed produced bicycle stands, self-feeding tube 1884 increased to eleven, producing agricul­ expanders and tube benders. Hampered by tural machinery, sewing machines, and, in the lack of capital the firm grew slowly in this 1880s, a range of new machinery for the foot­ period, though Wicksteed himself, a passionate wear industry. One of the most notable entrants and opinionated Radical, played a prominent to the trade at this time was Charles Wicksteed. part in the life of the town. Another firm which The son of a Leeds Unitarian minister, after was to have an important future in Kettering serving an apprenticeship at a locomotive was Mobbs and Lewis which in 1885 opened a engineering firm there, he started up for him­ foundry in Carrington Street to manufacture self in the steam ploughing business at the age its patent 'Easy Exit' iron lasts for the footwear of 21. After three years in Norfolk he opened a trade. In the seventies the Kettering Coal and small works in Kettering in 1876 in the Stam­ Iron Company came into existence putting two ford Road. 'Never clever at complicated furnaces in blast near an ironstone quarry on machinery, his strength lay in the manufacture the north west edge of the town in 1878; a of simple machine tools and in his insistence third was added in 1889. ·

39 Hilda M. Wicksteed, Charles Wicksteed, London 1933, p. 71. 264 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

As a result of these industrial developments Kettering grew rapidly in the period after 1857. Its growth was anything but symmetrical; west of the old town there was very little building, and to the south the main development was middle class villas, along such roads as Head­ lands, Broadway and Station Road. The work­ ing class districts of new Kettering with their streets of terraced houses were entirely built to the north on both sides of the Rockingham Road, and to east of the old town. - The early stages were fraught with the copy­ hold difficulty, for even after the 1852 Act had been passed there remained the problem of actually enfranchising the plots as they came onto the market. The first of these struggles was waged by the Kettering branch of the Northampton Town and County Freehold Land Society, which had been formed in 1851. In 1857 on a plot ofland at the 'north extremity of the town' the Society laid out the first streets of the new Kettering: the upper parts of Wood Street and Havelock Street running east from the Rockingham Road. 40 They were soon lined with the first terraced houses of Victorian THOMAS BIRD Kettering. Entered into partnership with George Abbott in 1864 and after it was dissolved in 1889 continued on his Several of the men who were responsible for own account as a footwear manufacturer. the economic development of the town were · also involved in its physical growth. Rather plots they built a new factory for themselves, than bank their profits Kettering entrepreneurs Nelson Works, into which they moved from often put them into real estate, purchasing land their old converted chapel in Ebenezer Place. as it came onto the market and then selling it The rest of the estate was sold in 1883 when the off advantageously as building allotments. The partnership was dissolved. 41 On the hundreds first of these was John Turner Stock burn who of building plots on these long straight streets first bought land just east of the centre of the running from Rockingham Road to Bath Road town in 1865 on which Mill Road, Albert and were built good quality terraced houses, shops, Alexandra Streets were laid out. Another was factories, chapels, schools and few licensed Thomas Bird. In partnership with M. C. Wilson premises. in 1903 he owned four estates which had been rapidly developed in the 1890s. But by far the Mter his partnership with Meadows was most considerable of the developer-manufac­ dissolved, Bryan continued in the shoe trade turers were William Meadows and John Bryan. very successfully, and in 1895 bought and laid In 1876 they purchased a large estate of almost out another estate-'Bryan's West End Estate' 70 acres east of the Rockingham Road. Because -the only one built on the west side of the of the worsening economic climate in the late old town. The Trafalgar Road, Commercial seventies they wisely did not try to sell it all Road and Cromwell Road districts were built for building on at first, developing fourteen up, and Bryan erected his second Nelson Works, acres near the Rockingham Road to start with. this time appropriately in Trafalgar Road, They continued Wood Street and Havelock moving his business from Havelock Street. Street eastwards and laid out the upper parts of Even before they had gone into the land King Street and Princes Street. On one of the development business Meadows and Bryan had

40 Northampton Mercury, 15 February 1851, South 41 Kettering Leader, 8 April 1910. Midlands Free Press, 10 April 1858. 265

ninety per cent of the owners of houses on the Meadows and Bryan estate so far were working men.42 And there is no doubt that in addition f to wishing to make a profit by investing in property masters like Meadows and Bryan and Stockburn were also anxious to create free­ holders for other reasons. The Particulars of Sale of freehold property in Kettering in these years always carried the slogan VOTES FOR THE COUNTY. At the election of 1880 John Bryan, it was said, 'marshalled the forty shilling freeholders on the Rockingham Road estate and marched them to the polling booth at eight o'clock in the morning to vote for Robert Spencer'. 43 Nineteenth century Kettering was an in­ tensely political town. It was a stronghold of [ll] 1857- Radicalism, in the first place because it was 190 conscious that it was a Liberal island in north Northamptonshire, a fastness ruled over by great Conservative landlords. Secondly it was a town of self-made men, who saw in themselves the epitome of the spirit of self-help and free enterprise. There was, moreover, in Kettering no great social gulf between masters and men, certainly before the eighteen nineties. Men like THE GROWTH OF KETTERING 1857-1900. Hanger, Bryan, and Owen Robinson had risen 1. The upper parts of Wood Street and Have­ from the ranks of the shoemakers and handloom lock Street developed by the Northampton and County Freehold Land Society 1857-8. weavers and tended to share the democratic and M & B. The Rockingham Road estate of Meadows progressive ideas of the more politically con­ and Bryan. scious of their workmen. It is, of course, JTS The Alexandra Street, Albert Street and important not to overstress the sense of the Thorngate Street district developed by community of interest between masters and J. T. Stockburn. B 'Bryan's West End Estate' 1895. men; although they tended to vote Liberal, if BW The four estates owned by Bird and Wilson they had a vote, the working men were not in 1903. slavish followers of the bosses. The Chartist tradition was remembered in Kettering, and been involved-\vith the actual building of new the Co-operative Movement, (which was after Kettering. In 1872 such was the rate of exp~­ all essentially an alternative to private enter­ sion in the shoe boom the town faced a bnck prise) developed strongly in the town from its shortage. The two established concerns. were foundation in 1866. Not all Kettering business simply not producing sufficient fo! the bmld~rs, men were self-made. Some, like William and millions of bricks were havmg to be Im­ Meadows, the Wallises, the Gotches, Stockburn ported from Northamptm~, Mark~t Harborough and Charles Wicksteed were the sons of shop­ and Huntingdon. So, usmg their profits from keepers or professional men and did not start the French Army contracts M~adows and at the bottom. Their Radicalism almost always Bryan started a brick making b~smess: How­ was fuelled from an additional source: they ever, in the same year the Kettermg Bn~k a1:1d were the conscious heirs of a Dissenting tradi­ Tile Company also opened and faced With I!S tion which had been politically revitalised in competition Meadows and Bryan only stayed m the early nineteenth century. the brick making business for a few year~, before buying their Rockingham Road estate m 1876. This combination of free enterprise capital­ In 1885 it was remarked that something like ism, working class democracy and noncon-

43 Kettering Leader, 8 April 1910. 4 2 Kettering Observer, 6 February 1885. trade than ever before. In that year Owen Robinson brought out a heeling, paring and breasting machine, Salmon a heeling machine, and Mobbs invented his patent iron last.44 In the later nineties the different processes were being brought inside the factory. By 1907 the process was almost complete and it was remarked that 'the division of labour is a great thing with the manufacturer now and nobody works above two minutes at a shoe' and 'com­ pared with some years ago there are twenty less ~anufacturers in the town. The trade is getting mto fewer hands, but more boots are being made in Kettering than ever'. 45 In the eighties industrial relations· began to change as well. In the great days of the expan­ FACTORY OF .ABBOTT AND BIRD. sion the masters had a vast reserve of un­ Built with the first bricks from the Kettering Brick and Tile Company's kilns in the boom year of 1873. organized and cheap labour to tap. In 1885, The original factory was extended later in the century. however, the rivetters and finishers demanded the same wages as elsewhere in the trade and formity created the particular brand of Liber­ formed a branch of the union. It made slow alism of Victorian Kettering. The men who progress at first and it was not until 1890 that were the town's leading businessmen and who the clickers and rough-stuff men formed the literally built the new Kettering were also its 'Number Two' branch of the union in Ket­ political leaders, dominating the Local Govern­ tering. By that year the masters had also feder­ ment Board and its successor, the Urban ated in the town, as they were doing elsewhere. District Council, in the years from 1872 down The organiz~tion of both sides of industry did to the Great War. When the third Reform Act not necessanly worsen relationships right away. was passed in 1885 they entered the political On the contrary it did much to bring them promised land. The Kettering Liberal Asso­ together. In 1887 the Arbitration Board was ciation played its full part in making the new set up in the town and by 1890 it was Union constituency of East Northamptonshire into one policy as well as employers' to get the men into of the very safest Liberal seats anywhere in the factories, despite the fact that most still the country. preferred to work at home. But the depression of the early nineties brought an increase in The great expansion of Kettering began to industrial conflict. 1892 was a year of unrest slow down in the depression of 1891-6. With and disputes, especially over the 'boy question' the depression came unemployment, and and in 1895 amicable relations between changes in consumer demand for footwear at employers and the union came to an end. At that time meant that Kettering was forced to the close of 1894 the Masters' Federation with­ produce a lighter, better quality product, which drew from the National Conference which had increased competition with older centres of the been formed to prevent strikes and lock-outs in trade. In this period, too, manufacturers were the trade and in 1895 there was a serious having to face rising costs both in the raw national strike. The shoe trade inside Kettering, material, forced up by American Trusts, and as well as elsewhere, was entering a new and in machinery. To facilitate economies of scale more difficult stage in its development. and the standardization of the product de­ manded by the mass market from about 1885 R. L. GREENALL machinery began to play a bigger part in the

44 Kettering Observer, 1 January 1886. 45 Kettering Leader, 27 Dece~ber 1907.

Ack~owl~dgements. ~he author wishes to tha~ Mr. J.. S. Burden and the staff of the Kettering Pubhc Ltbrary, th_e edttor ofthe.Northamp~onshzre Evenmg Te_legraph, the Kettering Civic Society, and members of hts adult educatiOn classes m the town for thetr help in the research for this article. 267

DOMESTIC SERVICE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE-1830-1914

IN Victorian and Edwardian England domestic service provided the most common occupation for women and girls. Indeed, the 1881 Census Report concluded that 'of females above 5 years of age, one in nine was an indoor servant . . . and of girls between 15 and 20 years of age no less than one in three was a domestic indoor servant'. Although in Northamptonshire this occupational pre-eminence was somewhat less obvious, thanks to the existence of a flourishing cottage lace trade in the earlier part of the period, and of the boot and shoe industry thereafter, it nevertheless remained a major employer of labour. In 1861 there were 9,071 female and 763 male indoor domestic servants in the county; by 1881 the former figure had risen to 11,076, while the latter declined to 573. By 1901, the totals were 11,022 and 564, respectively. In Northampton itself at the end of the nineteenth century about one in ten of all females over the age of 10 was a domestic servant, while the 1911 Census showed that for every 1,000 families in the county there were 142 resident female servants.1 The vast majority of these workers were engaged in small households as maids-of-all­ work. Indeed, in 1861 almost two-thirds of Northamptonshire's female servants were classified as 'general', as opposed to one-ninth who were housemaids-the next most numerous category; fifty years later it was claimed that for England and Wales as a whole four out of every five employers of domestic staff kept one or two servants only. 2 Certainly an examination of the Census Returns for 1871 reveals that in the small town of Daventry, where about one family in eight employed resident domestics, nearly 80% of them were engaged in one- or two-servant households.3 Yet there were, at the other extreme, those working in large establishments where whole retinues of retainers constituted 'a settlement as large as a small village'.4 On the Brassey estate at Apethorpe Hall, near Wansford, a list of employees prepared in 1911 revealed a permanent staff of 208-including 20 women and seven men employed inside the house, and the rest distri­ buted among the woods and gardens, the stables, the garage, the home farms and various work­ shops. 5 The employment of male indoor servants was always regarded as a sign of affluence, both because their wages were usually higher than those of the women and because a servant's tax was levied upon them. Prior to 1869 this was fixed at £lls. per annum for men over the age of eighteen and lOs. 6d. for boy servants, but during that year the Customs and Inland Revenue Duties Act fixed the level at 15s. a year for all male servants. 6 In these circumstances the heavy outnumbering of male workers by the female is scarcely surprising. For many girls and a few boys, therefore, the question of obtaining domestic employment became a major preoccupation once they had reached the age of about 11 or 12. Usually their

1 According to the 1861 Census Report there were 4 Mrs. C. S. Peel, 'Homes and Habits' in G. M. 8,187 women and girls engaged in cottage lacemaking Young ( ed. ), Early Victorian England 1830-1865 (Vol. in Northamptonshire, and 4,200 in shoemaking (plus I), (London, 1934), p. 80. 5,320 classed as 'shoemaker's wife'). By 1881, the 5 Statement of Wages &c. at Apethorpe Estate lacemaking figure had fallen to 3,221 and that of prepared at the request of H. L. C. Brassey, Esq., shoemaking had risen to 7,831. In 1901, the numbers M.P.-October, 1911, preserved at N.R.O. Ted were 454 and 12,195, respectively. See relevant Humphris, who was employed as a garden boy at Census Reports: for 1861, Parliamentary Papers, 1863, Aynho House, at the beginning of the First World Vol. LIII, Pt. I; for 1881, Parliamentary Papers, War, similarly remembered that: 'The Estate itself 1883, Vol. LXXX; and for 1901, Parliamentary was practically self-supporting, for it had its own Papers, 1902, Vol. CXX. stone, gravel and sand pits which provided any 2 Hansard, 5th Series, Vol. XXXI, 16th Nov., building materials which were required, even the 1911, col. 541. This detailed classification of servants bricks were made from clay found on the Estate'. ceased with the Report of the 1881 Census. Ted Humphris, Garden Glory (London, 1969), p. 30. 3 Census Return for Daventry at Public Record 6 The servant tax was repealed by the Finance Office, RG.IO. 1491-1492. Act of 1937. 268 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

parents would begin to look round for a 'petty' place for them, perhaps as a general servant in the household of a local tradesman, shopkeeper, farmer or clergyman. At Daventry in 1871 about half the servants were employed in the households of small tradespeople and shopkeepers, the youngest of them being an eleven-year-old girl who worked for a machinist, and three twelve­ year-olds employed by a bricklayer, a cabinet maker and a music teacher, respectively.7 Recruit­ ment into these small establishments was regarded as a stepping stone to better things-a place where the youngster could learn the broad outlines of her duties. For a working-class home was a poor preparation for service in even the humblest middle-class household, and training had to be given in the basic skills of cleaning, preparing food, waiting at table and perhaps the cooking of simple meals. Yet, although mistresses often worked alongside the children they were training, the effort required could prove exhausting to youngsters of only twelve or thirteen. It is significant that many advertisements for maids which appeared in the press during the Victorian era stressed the need for applicants to be 'strong' or 'active'. Others indicated a preference for girls 'from the country', who were presumably thought to be both more healthy and more used to hard work than their urban counterparts. 8 One girl who fitted into this general pattern was Annie Mason, who was born at Guils­ borough in 1890 and entered her first place as a day servant at the Ward Arms in that village just before her thirteenth birthday. Annie was expected to start work each day at 7 a.m. She was responsible for cleaning the house and helping with the three children, as well as assisting with the cooking. 'Mter washing up, the children had to be taken for a walk until tea time and then at 6 p.m., there was bath time. The bath water had to be taken upstairs, along a passage into the bedroom and the children bathed and put to bed. I was allowed to go home at 7 o'clock in the evening-after emptying the bath water! My wages were the handsome sum of 1s. 6d. per week, of which I gave Mother 1s. and kept 6d. for myself.'9 It was customary for a girl to remain in her petty place for about a year, and then she or her mother would begin to look round for something better. Apart from answering advertisements in the newspaper, those in search of a situation might apply to one of the servant registry offices .which could be found in most of the larger towns. The Post Office Directory for 1869, for example, recorded two servant registry offices in Peterborough, two in Northampton, one in Welling­ borough and one in Kettering, while the Northampton Mercury in 1882 contained advertisements from four such agencies in Northampton alone. But in the case of the younger girls, the wife of the local squire or clergyman might be approached for help and advice. If she did not know of a suitable vacancy among her own friends she would advertise on the girl's behalf. For many country girls the obtaining of a new situation frequently meant moving into a town, perhaps London itself. Others might be taken into one of the large country houses and in the ordered, ceremonious life of the servants' hall would learn to observe distinctions of rank from butler down to kitchen maid. Here a girl would gain some notion of good behaviour and would be instructed in her duties by the upper servants who were her real mistresses. Thus at Lamport Hall in 1851, three of the junior female servants and one of the male had been recruited either from Lamport itself or from one of the nearby Northamptonshire parishes.10 But for most youngsters, a fresh situation meant employment in a one- or two-servant household only slightly more prosperous than that in which they had served their apprenticeship. In these small establishments life was often both arduous and lonely. This is made clear in a letter written by a young Northamptonshire maid-of-all-work, Ruth Barrow, to her fiance, John Spendlove of Gretton, in February, 1848. Ruth was employed by a Miss Bates of Leicester, who proved a benign mistress, but her distress at being cut off from family and friends is unmistak-

7 1871 Census R-eturns for Daventry, Public Record essay written for a competition organised by the Office, R.G.10. 1491-1492. Leicestershire Local History Council and preserved 8 See, for example, Northampton Mercury, 17th at Leicestershire County Record Office. June, 1882: 'Wanted a servant girl from the country. 10 1851 Census Return for Lamport, Public Record One used to children'. Office, H.0.107. 1742. 9 Mrs. Annie Mason, 'My Life in Service', an DOMESTIC SERVICE IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1914 269 able: 'I am allmost ashamed to say it, that I feel very dull and I cannot away with it ... it is such a great chaing, a chaing that can only be felt by those who have felt what it is to leave all they hold dear, and have sought a home amongst straingers'.11 The loneliness was especially acute among the youngest servants-children of thirteen to fifteen-who were frightened by the solitude of the long evenings in which they had to sit in the kitchen by themselves, or perhaps remain in the house entirely alone. In Northamptonshire, as elsewhere, this was a matter of some significance, for over a third of the county's female servants were under the age of twenty. The·range of duties expected of domestic staff was daunting. Victorian books on household management give an idea of the tasks to be performed by the mature servant in a small household, while John Walsh, in his Manual of Domestic Economy (first published in 1857) frankly declared of the maid-of-all-work: 'As this servant is the general drudge, she must be prepared to do everything in order, and yet be ready at a minute's notice to do anything else that is wanted by any member of the family'. A list of the duties of a housefparlourmaid in a small household in Kettering prepared early in the present century underlines the multiplicity of jobs to be carried out: 'Be down by 6.30. Open shutters & draw blinds. Sweep the stairs. Sweep dining room. Grate first. Brush chairs & sweep & dust. Polish floor & looking glass Wednesdays & Saturdays. Rub brasses & coalscuttle every day & dean once a week, also the windows. Shake rugs outside dining room window. Empty paper basket. Put fresh water every morning in Dog's bowl & keep it dean. Lay the breakfast ... 7 o'c. Call Mrs. Roughton & take her tea & Hot water. Shut· her windows & draw open blinds. Empty & wipe basin, straighten her towels. Take silver down carefully ... Breakfast 8 a.m. Ring bell when ready. Directly kitchen breakfast is finished go upstairs­ strip the beds & empty the slops. Wash up dining room bre~kfast china & silver-Always rub silver up after washing. Every Day. Sweep & dust bedrooms in use. Turn out Mrs. Roughton's bedroom once a week & dean her silver. Rub silver every morning. Fill up jug & dean water bottle & fill every day. Wash all crockery once a week thoroughly. Polish door knobs & knockers every day & any handles or brass work. Tidy Bathroom every morning & wash out & dean the bath & basin & polish taps .... Stairs & passages & landings swept & dusted daily. Answer Front door bell mornin,gs as ~ell. a~ afternoon~ .... Letters to be brought on little copper salver. Just before 1 o c. go m dmmg room, tidy room for lunch, & dean & sweep up grate, fill coal scuttles in rooms being used. 1 o' c. get dressed. Lunch at 1.30. Ring bell. Hand the plates & vegetables. Come in in ten minutes & remove plates etc. if ready, & bring the Pudding. Clear away when rung for, & wash up. Then prepare tray for Tea & have quite ready. Tea 4.30 as a ru_le. When dusk, shut up all windows, blinds in drawing room-all Shutters downstairs & blinds & windows upstairs ... 6.30 Take Can of hot water to bedrooms in use. Turn down the beds, & tidy bedrooms & take down shoes for cleaning. Supper to be laid at 7.15 for 7.30. Wait at table. Afte; supper go upstairs & empty slops ... Tea in dining room at 8.45. 9.30. Take silver upstairs. Remove tea tray ... Take up by 10 o'c. Can of Hot Water Glass of Drinking water, 2 Hot water bottles . . . ' Take shoes up to bedrooms directly after breakfast. Keep silver basket tidy, & dean & fill salt cellars & peppers daily & arrange on dean doyley. Rooms to be turned out Dining room. Every Saturday morning before breakfast. Sitting room. Tuesday morning before breakfast. Drawing room. Thursday morning before breakfast & finish in the morning.

11 Correspondence of Ruth Barrow and John Spendlove. N.R.O., Sp.G.356. 270 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

Mrs. Roughton's bedroom Wednesday mornings. Mrs. Roughton a little washing on Monday morning .... ·Darn the stockings. Clean the brass stair rods regularly. On Friday afternoons count the clean washing out, & take upstairs to linen cupboard & put out to air'.12 But in larger establishments, where there was much division of labour, a very different situation prevailed, especially among the upper servants. The butler, for example, was expected to take charge of the plate chest and of the wine cellar. Where footmen were kept, he also waited at breakfast, luncheon, tea and dinner, and supervised arrangements for each meal. 'During the afternoon it is a butler's duty to remain in the front hall in readiness to announce visitors', declared The Servants' Practical Guide of 1880. 'It is his duty throughout the day to see that everything is in its place and in order, in readiness for use in the drawing-room, morning-room, and library; . . . While the footman is out with the carriage, the butler answers the door, attends to the fires in the dining-room, drawing-rooms, and various sitting-rooms; ... and prepares the five-o'clock tea in readiness for the return of his mistress. The butler is usually allowed to go out in the morning from twelve to one, and again from half-past nine to eleven, in town establishments'. The same household manual likewise laid down that a 'first-class cook' could not be expected to be down 'until a few minutes before eight, in time for breakfast in the housekeeper's room .... After her own breakfast, she attends to and superintends the breakfast for the family ... She makes out a menu for the day's dinner and luncheon on a slate according to the contents of the larder .... In town the cook gives the necessary orders to the tradespeople who serve the house ... The pastry, the jellies, the creams, the entrees are all made by her during the morning, and any dishes of this nature that are to be served at luncheon are also made by her. Mter her own dinner, she dishes up the luncheon. The servants'-hall dinner is cooked by the kitchen-maid. 'The afternoon is very much at the cook's disposal, except on the occasion of a dinner­ party, or when guests are staying in the house. Five to nine is always a very busy time; dishing up a large dinner is an arduous duty ... When the dinner is served, the cook's duties for the day are over, and the remainder of the work is performed by the kitchen-maids'. The Practical Guide went on to point out that it was 'an understood thing that the cook had certain perquisites con­ nected with her place, amongst others the dripping from the roast joints'. Typical of the households conducted on these grander lines was that of the !shams of Lamport Hall, where in the early 1850s twelve resident servants were employed, including a butler, a footman, and a gardener on the male side, and a cook-housekeeper, two lady's maids, two housemaids, a laundry maid, a dairymaid, a kitchenmaid and a nursemaid on the female. Likewise the Elwes family of Great Billing employed in the early 1870s nine resident female and five resident male servants-comprising a butler, a coachman, two footmen and a hall boy among the men and a cook, lady's maid, nurse, two laundry maids, two housemaids, a kitchenmaid and a scullery maid among the women. Both the status and the wages of these workers varied widely. At Great Billing in 1874, the butler and the cook at the head of the household hierarchy earned £60 and £45 per annum, respectively, while the yearly earnings of the under-footman and the scullery maid, at the bottom of the scale were £12 and £8.13 Appendix 1 provides a more detailed analysis of the wages position in a number of households, but it is worth remembering that even the scullery maid at Great Billing earned more than many young general servants who were being paid only £4 or £5 per annum at the very end of the century. Junior servants were always expected to show respect to their seniors and to obey their instructions. Thus when Ted Humphris, aged 13, joined the garden staff at Aynho House in 1915, he found himself the lowliest member of a staff of seven. His hours of work were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays and from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. 'Wages were 6/- per week, Sunday of course being a day of rest .... Each Tuesday, I was detailed to assist in the

12 Duties of a House-Parlourmaid, N.R.O., R(K) Hall and Billing Hall are preserved at N.R.O. for 372. the periods quoted. 13 The servants' wages books for both Lamport DOMESTIC SERVICE .IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1914 271

Laundry at the Park House. My particular task was to turn the handle of the mangle ... to the satisfaction of the head laundry maid . . . The remainder of my working week was taken up by numerous duties, such as weeding, scrubbing the staging and floors in the greenhouses, running errands and making myself useful to the foreman gardener, who resided at the gardens, in the bothy.... I had very little to do with the head gardener, who in those days was always addressed as "Sir", and in fact one was not permitted to speak to him unless he spoke first'. Similarly, at Eydon at the end of the nineteenth century it was said of Colonel Cartwright's coachman, Henry Peck, that he 'reigned over the stables, the eight to ten horses housed therein, the groom and the stable boy with an iron hand, for (he) was far more autocratic than his master' .14 Yet if difference in status was one clear distinction between senior and junior servants, another was the greater likelihood of the latter to change jobs. In some cases, moves were probably made for the sake of variety but in others they were inspired by desire for promotion or as a result of unsatisfactory employer/servant relationships. At Lamport Hall, one kitchenmaid had to be dismissed because she was 'not quick and clean', while at Guilsborough, Mrs. Bateman, wife of the incumbent of Kibworth, dismissed her cook at short notice because she had secretly entertained a man in the kitchen. It was discovered that the man, who refused to reveal his identity, had eaten 'all his meals for fourteen Sundays' at the Bateman family's expense.15 Never­ theless, these misdoings affected only a small number of servants, and most of the changes occurred for less dramatic reasons. Between 1841 and 1856 inclusive there were, for example, seven different holders of the position of footman at Lamport Hall, as well as thirteen under housemaids and nine kitchenmaids. By contrast, the number of cook-housekeepers employed over the same sixteen-year period was five, and of butlers, three. Similarly, in the Elwes household between March, 1873 and March, 1878, there were three kitchenmaids, three scullery maids and three or four different holders of each of the two housemaids' positions. And at Apethorpe, during the years 1903 to 1911 inclusive, there were seven first footmen, seven second footmen, four hall boys, five first kitchenmaids, four second kitchenmaids, and ten third kitchenmaids-some of whom stayed less than two. months. Yet one butler remained with the family for the whole period.16 It was small wonder that with staff changes on this scale, the loyal, long-serving employee was often rewarded with a pension or a free cottage on retirement. At Lamport Hall, Thomas Cannon, who entered the !sham family's service in 1771 and retired in 1819, received a pension of £15 per annum and a house for life, for which he paid Ss. per annum in rent. He continued to receive the pension until at least 1832. And at Apethorpe in 1911 several former employees of the Brassey family received a pension of 8s. a weekY Yet, while wages and the range of duties to be carried out were two factors vitally affecting the well-being of domestic servants, other questions of importance were food and sleeping accom­ modation. Although John Walsh's bland statement that the 'maid-of-all-work (was) generally supposed to live on little more than the leavings of the table' was borne out by the experience of a number of general servants, those employed in larger households were usually more fortunate. Is Meals were adequate in quantity, if not very imaginative in quality. 'In some houses they would be given cold beef or mutton, or even hot Irish stew for breakfast, and the midday meal was always a heavy one, with suet pudding following a cut from a hot joint' .19

14 Ted. Humphris, op. cit., pp. 36-39. S. J. with a slice of bread and cheese and she used to lock Tyrrell, A Countryman's Tale (London, 1973), p. 166. ~11 the food_ up! She ~ould come back about 6 p.m. 15 Letter from Mrs. Mary Bateman, 24th Jan., m the evemng and brmg back friends and I had to 1838, at N.R.O. cook for about 6 people'. Mrs. Annie Mason, 'My 16 The relevant wages books are all at N.R.O. Life ~n Service', essay written for a competition 17 Statement of Wages &c. at Apethorpe Estate o~gamsed by the Leicestershire Local History Coun­ -October, 1911, at N.R.O. cil and preserved at Leicestershire County Record 18 Annie Mason of Guilsborough, who moved to Office. a general servant's place at Stoke Newington early in 19 Flora Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford the present century, recalled that each day her mis­ (Oxford, 1963 edn.), p. 173. tress departed for the City at 10.30 a.m., 'leaving me 272 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

But the sleeping quarters were far less satisfactory, falling well below the standard provided for the rest of the household. Many mistresses found it convenient to follow the advice of Mrs. J. E. Panton, who in her From Kitchen to Garret, recommended that as far as possible every servant should have a separate bed, but in other respects the room was to be as simply furnished as possible: 'A cupboard of some kind should be provided where they can hang up their dresses ... But if this be impossible, a few hooks must supplement the chest of drawers, washing-stand, bedchair, and toilet-table with glass, which is all that is required in the room of a maid-servant'. She declared that while she would like 'to give each maid a really pretty room', the effort was useless as no sooner was 'the room put nice than something happens to destroy the beauty; and I really believe servants only feel happy if their rooms are allowed in some measure to resemble the homes of their youth, and to be merely places where they lie down to sleep as heavily as they can'.20 In well-regulated Victorian households the time off allocated to servants was strictly limited. A Government survey of 1899 revealed that even in the most generous families, holidays were restricted to 'a fortnight in summer, one day monthly, half day every Sunday, evening out weekly'. 21 Girls who stayed out beyond the permitted time could be dismissed. 22 On Sundays, Church attendance was usually expected, to supplement the daily prayers conducted by the head of the house for both family and maids. Exclusion from family prayers was an indication of severe disapproval by a mistress for her servant; thus Mrs. Bateman, when she had discovered the misbehaviour of her cook, refused to let the other servants call her 'in that night ... for prayers', as they had been in the habit of doing on previous occasions. 23 It was quite common for maids to present themselves for inspection by their mistresses before they opened the back door to go out for their leisure time. They were expected always to be neatly and plainly dressed, while some employers, like Lady Knightley of Fawsley, near Daventry, were also anxious that they should spend their free hours as profitably as possible. Lady Knightley became an enthusiastic supporter of the Girls' Friendly Society, a Church of England organisation launched in 1874 to provide recreational and other facilities for young working women who had led 'pure and useful lives'. Within three years the Society had estab­ lished branches in Brackley, Daventry, Northampton and -Oundle, and had recruited nearly 600 members-most of them domestic servants. Regular meetings were held, excursions organised, and Bible classes and library facilities provided, while the 'respectable' status of members was ensured by the rule that 'no girl who has not borne a virtuous character' could be admitted. If that character were lost, then exclusion must follow immediately. Lady Knightley became involved with the Society from the beginning of 1876 and in her diary for Easter Sunday of that year she expressed pleasure at enlisting 'four of my own maids as members of the G.F.S .... if it does but ever so little good, I shall be thankful'. Two years later about sixty local members held their picnic at Fawsley, the tea being preceded by a religious service and 'a short address on Purity'.24 Concern for servants' morals likewise led to 'followers' being strongly discouraged by most mistresses, and, as with Mrs. Bateman's cook, immediate dismissal could follow the breaking of this restriction. Yet it did not prevent a minority of servants from straying from the path of virtue, and the anxiety of family and friends when a girl moved to employment in a town is clearly revealed in a letter written by John Spendlove of Gretton to his future wife in Leicester: 'I was

20 Mrs. J. E. Panton, From Kitchen to Garret the Royal Commission on Labour Laws, Parliamentary (London, 1888), p. 152. Papers, 1874, Vol. XXIV, Notes on Cases, pp. 83-84. 21 Report on the Money Wages of Female Domestic 23 Letter written by Mrs. Bateman, 24th Jan., Servants, Parliamentary Papers, 1899, Vol. XCII, 1838, N.R.O., ZA.1253. p. 30. 24 Julia Cartwright (ed.), The Journals of Lady 22 Indeed, in October, 1871, Emma Matten, an Knightley of Fawsley (London, 1915), pp. 288 and annually-hired farmhouse servant of Tichmarsh 289. First Report of the Girls' Friendly Society Lodge, Northamptonshire, not only lost her place (London, 1878). The Report covers the period 1875- but was also required by Thrapston Petty Sessional 1877 inclusive. See also Brian Harrison, 'For Church, Court to pay 10s. compensation to her employer Queen and Family: The Girls' Friendly Society when she stayed out beyond the time her master had 1874-1920', Past and Present, November, 1973, p. allowed to visit Oundle Statute Fair. First Report of 113. DOMESTIC SERVICE -IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1914 273

pleased to see your Mother come home this afternoon & to hear how you was, and what sort of place you have ... and to hear of the privileges you will enjoy .... My dear Ruth you know I did not like the thought of your going to Leicester but I hope and pray to God that it will be for your soul's good'. In her case at least, the fears proved groundless, and within a few years the two were safely married. 25 PAMELA HORN.

25 Letter from John Spendlove to Ruth Barrow, do~estic. servants, and of these two had illegitimate 4th Nov., 1846, N.R.O., Sp.G.354. The 1871 Census babies With them. At Northampton, with 17 domestic shows a sprinkling of domestic servants with illegit­ ~erv~~ts out o~ 106 female inmates, there was only one imate children in the county's workhouses. Thus at Illegitimate child. See Census Returns at Public Record Wellingborough, six of the 67 female inmates were Office, RG.10.1501 and R.G.10.1485, respectively.

* * * * * * * * * *

APPENDIX 1. The material on which the following tables are based is preserved at Northamptonshire Record Office.

A. WAGES PAID BY THE ISHAM FAMILY OF LAMPORT HALL-1830-1851 (See also 1841 and 1851 Census Returns at Public Record Office, H.0.107.807 and H.0.107.1742, respectively). 1830 1837 1841 1848 1851 Lady's Maid £15 £15 £18 £18 £18 Cook-Housekeeper £40 £34 £30 £36 £40 Upper Housemaid £10 £10 £11 £11 £14* Under Housemaid £9 £9 £9 £9 £9 Dairy Maid £9 £9 £11 £9 £9 Kitchenmaid £8 £8 £8 £9 £10* Laundry Maid £11 £11 £11 £11 £15* Nurse £21 Nursemaid £7 Butler £45 £60** £60** £25 £47 Footman ... £15 £18 £14*** £16 £17* Coachmant £52 £52 £52 £52 £52 Groom £20 £16! n.a. n.a. * Wage rate raised by £1 per annum to this level in October, 1851. ** Between 1837 and 1848 Dodson, the Butler, also acted as House steward; but in 1848 he reverted to being butler only. He left Lamport Hall early in 1851, and seems to have retired to a cottage on the estate. *** Footman aged only 15 in 1841-hence lower wages: t In addition to his money wages, the coachman received each year two suits of livery and two stable jackets. t The groom was aged only 15 on this occasion, and out of his £16 per annum he had to find 'his own clothes'. N.B. A downward movement in the wage rate for a particular situation is often a sign that a fresh servant has taken up an appointment, as, for example, in regard to the cook-housekeeper between 1837 and 1841, and the dairy maid between 1841 and 1848.

B. WAGES PAID BY THE ELWES FAMILY OF GREAT BILLING-1873-1877 1873 1875 1877 Lady's Maid £20 £30* Second Lady's Maid £10 Nurse £25 £30 Cook £45 £45 £45 274 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

B. Wages paid by the Elwes Family of Great Billing-1873-1877-continued 1873 1875 1877 1st Laundry Maid £20 £22 £20 2nd Laundry Maid £14 £12 £14 1st Housemaid £16 £18 £18 2nd Housemaid £12 £12 £14 3rd Housemaid £10 K.itchenmaid £16 £18 £16 Nursemaid £16 Scullery Maid £8 £10 £10 Butler £60 £65 £55 Coachman £40 £40 £40 1st Footman £28 £30 £30 2nd Footman £22 Hall boy ... £12 £8 £10 Groom £20 £20 * Jane White, the former nurse, was appointed lady's maid; in 1881 she became housekeeper. C. WAGES PAID BY MRS. MARGARET WILLOUGHBY, WIFE OF A BANK MANAGER OF DAVENTRY. A TWO-SERVANT HOUSEHOLD-1859-1911 1859 General Servant £8 Ss. 1899 General Servant £18 Os. Nursemaid £4 10s. General Servant £12 Os. 1889 General Servant £14 Os. 1911 General Servant £20 Os. General Servant £12 Os. General Servant £18 Os. 1892 General Servant £15 Os. General Servant . £14 Os. N.B. In this household deductions seem to have been made from the servants' wages for break­ ages- although the practice was not strictly legal. See, for example, an entry for 1871: 'E. Chater -Mustard Glass to .be stopped out of her wages'.

D. ANNUAL WAGES OF INDOOR STAFF EMPLOYED BY THE BRASSEY FAMILY OF APETHORPE HALL, WANSFORD-OCTOBER, 1911 Annual rate of wages Additional comments Butler (married) £90 House rent free, also coal, firing, milk, livery. 1st Footman £38 Board and lodging free; livery and clothes. 2nd Footman £34 Board and lodging free; livery and clothes. Hall Boy .. . £16 Board and lodging free; clothes. Odd Man .. . £31 4s. Board and lodging free; 1 pair boots. Odd Man .. . £65 House rent free. Valet n.a. Housekeeper £50 Board and lodging free. 1st Housemaid £30 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 2nd Housemaid £30 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 3rd Housemaid £24 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 4th Housemaid £20 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 5th Housemaid £18 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 6th Housemaid £16 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 7th Housemaid £14 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. Still room maid £26 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 1st Laundry maid £32 Board and lodging free. 2nd Laundry maid £24 Board and lodging free. 3rd Laundry maid £18 Board and lodging free. DOMESTIC SERVICE ·IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 1830-1914 275

Annual rate of wages Additional comments 4th Laundry maid £14 Board and lodging free. Cook £60 Board and lodging free. 1st Kitchenmaid ... £28 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 2nd Kitchenmaid £22 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. 3rd Kitchenmaid ... £18 Board and lodging free; 2s. 6d. for washing per week. N.B. The Lady's Maid and the nurses were omitted from the list, and the valet's wage rate was left blank. * * * * * * * * * *

APPENDIX 2. MRS. PATTINSON'S SERVANTS' REGISTRY, 23 FORD STREET, KETTERING Ladies' Fees (n.d.-later nineteenth century) Booking 2s. Fees after engagement as follows: Wages up to £14 2s. , , , £19 3s. 6d. , , , £24 5s. , , , £29 7s. , , , £34 8s. 6d. Servants' names may not be transferred.

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KING'S SCHOOL, PETERBOROUGH

SCHOOL photographs are largely, perhaps, the sort of thing likely to appeal only to those who happen to be depicted in them, or to their descendants. However, the two shown here are not without interest if only because of their considerable age and illustration of fashions (sporting and otherwise) long since passed away-except that beards and moustaches appear to be on their way back to some extent! Both are sepia-tints and show staff and pupils of King's School, Peterborough, most of whom, presumably, are long since dead. Mr. W. D. Larrett, the school's historian and a former senior master, tells me he believes the bearded cleric standing at the back of the less populated photo (labelled "H. Marriott. Cathedral Studio, Peterboro") to be the Rev. E. J. Cunningham, headmaster from 1882 to 1897, and the clean-shaven cleric in the other (which bears the pencilled caption "Eastward (?) Studio, Peterborough") the Rev. E. J. Bidwell, headmaster from 1897 to 1903. This is confirmed by Mr. Percy C. Day, who was at King's from autumn term 1899 to summer 1902, and must therefore be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) surviving old boys. Although unable to provide any information about the earlier photo, Mr. Day tells me that the man on Rev. Bidwell's right is Mr. Badger, senior master, while on Bidwell's left (smaller moustache) is Mr. A. J. Robertson, a popular flat runner in those days. He goes on to say that the tallest figure at the back (clean shaven) is Mr. Robertson's brother, a racing cyclist popularly known as "Dubby"; and also that the man at the end of the second row with his hair parted in the middle is Mr. Harry Wilson, a tenor singer in the amateur operatic society. Mr. Larrett adds that the Rev. Bidwell helped the historian T. M. Leach in preparing his article on King's School for The Victoria County History of Northamptonshire (1900), some of which information Mr. Larrett used as the basis for his own History of the King's School, published several years ago. Both of these photos, incidentally, came into my possession at the death of a neighbour, Mr. W. E. Hance, a jobbing gardener who, so far as I know, had no connexion with the school, except possibly indirectly. I am aware that Mr. Ranee worked, as gardener, for several quite eminent people in the past, notably Canon Victor Whitechurch (the novelist) and Lord Leith. Is there any link-up here? Any further information that readers may be able to give about the people depicted in the photos would be most appreciated.

ANTHONY WOOTTON KING'S SCHOOL, PETERBOROUGH 277

H. MARRIOTT CATHEDRAL STUDIO, PETERBOROUGH

EASTWARD STUDIO, PETERBOROUGH 278 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT

}OHN DRYDEN'S TITCHMARSH HOME

JOHN DRYDEN's parents made Titchmarsh their family home. Both were members of important Northamptonshire families. His father, Erasmus, third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden of Canon's Ash by married Mary Pickering, a granddaughter of Sir John Pickering, lord of the manor of Titchmarsh. Titchmarsh parish registers record the baptism of most of the fourteen children of the marriage, and of the burial of Erasmus in 1654 and Mary in 1676. 1 The discovery that Mary Dryden is recorded on the Hearth Tax list for Titchmarsh, 1670, as paying for five hearths2 stimulated the desire to fin_d whether the house was still standing and if so which it was of the several likely good stone village houses. It had to be large enough to accommodate the family and some servants and was likely to be dignified in design as befitting the well born couple. I could find no further clue in documentary records, but a tall well-built house, Brookside Farm, on the eastern edge of the village looked worth investigation. One day in 1972 the owner of it, Mr. E. Abbott, led me round the house and showed me the date, 16283 clearly visible above the gable end on the garden side. Mary and John were married in 1630. What more likely than that the house had been built for them? A visit of inspection by Mr. Anthony Fleming, expert in vernacular architecture, confirmed the possibility of the hypothesis. Basically the house consists of four large well pro­ portioned rooms topped by a spacious attic, with rather rambling back premises which include kitchen and service rooms. The four large rooms and the kitchen account for the five hearths, leaving some of the children and the domestics to shiver in attic or back bedrooms. The house, as Mr. Fleming remarked, is of civilised design. Parents, fourteen children and staff would have filled it to capacity, but the fourteen children would rarely if ever have been at home together. For John Dryden was twenty-three and had been away at school and college for at least eight years when the youngest child Elizabeth was baptized in the year that her father died, and by then some of her elder sisters could have been married. There is some satisfaction to the local enthusiast in being able to associate a specific house in the village with our poet laureate, for as his cousin Elizabeth Creed, born Pickering, wrote on the Dryden memorial in Titchmarsh church "we boast that he was bred and had his first learning here". HELEN BELGION. Titchmarsh 1974.

1 John Dryden was born at Aldwincle All Saints 2 Hearth TaxP.R.O. E179/157/446 Membrane 48. Rectory, the home of his maternal grandparents. (microfilm at Delapre). According to Sir Gyles !sham a daughter frequently 3 Brookside was bought in 1906 by Mr. A. Abbott, returned to her parents' home for the birth of her uncle of the present owner from a family named first child. King who had owned it since 1869. There exist no earlier records. JOHN DRYDEN'S TITCHMARSH HOME 279

BROOKSIDE FARM, TITCHMARSH

ATTIC WINDOW, BROOKSIDE FARM 280

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BooK REviEWS

BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND. NoRTHAMPTONSHIRE by NIKOLAUS PEVSNER 2nd edn. revised by Bridget Cherry (Penguin Books. 518 pp. 1973. £4.00)

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner has in the last year brought his magnificent project of recording the buildings of England to a triumphant conclusion. England's buildings are now recorded more systematically and in greater detail than any other country in ~e world, thanks to the indefatigable labours of Sir Nikolaus and his helpers. When he was speaking recently to the Kettering Three Arts Club at the Grammar School, we heard about the methods he has used in assembling this v~st c?llection of material. A r_ese~rch team goes into the co~nty and, pr?vided ~ith their report S1r N1kolaus, chauffeured by h1s w1fe, goes over the ground htmself checkmg, addmg, and provid­ ing every so often inimitable aesthetic judgements var~g from sensitive, lively and perceptive comparisons to slightly astring~nt and o~casi?nally d~mg ~o~ments on buildings (frequently modern) which he finds objectiOnable. S1r N1kolaus, m descnbmg the sculpture on the Eleanor Cross at Geddington, for instance, points out that "the naturalistic leaf is replaced by a more generally undulating bossy or nobbly leaf, comparable (accidentally) with some kinds of seaweed". (p. 36). Again, on p. 40, discussing lucarnes, he states that they are not without aesthetic draw­ backs; "for unless detailed very sensitively, they tend to come out of the smooth and sleek outlines of a spire almost like pimples or warts". Such telling phrases make the book so much more readable than a dull catalogue of architectural details. Every so often Sir Nikolaus draws on his vast repertoire of continental comparisons to ~ake so?le illuminating parallel. He pro1_1ounces majestic jud_gem~~ts "":hich put the buildings m to their European context. Such are hts remarks on Burle1gh: In s1ze and swagger it can compete with any contemporary palace this side of the Alps" (p. 51); of the Peterborough ceiling "one of the most precious in Europe" (p. 33); of B~ixworth "~he largest ~nd most orderly surviving building north of the Alps" (p. 27); "Stoke Park IS the earliest house m England on the plan of Palladio's villas" (p. 415). The decision to bring out a new edition is to be welcomed, especially as there is ample evidence that thorough revision and at times comp!ete re~riting has taken place. Bridget Cherry has masterminded the operation and she has sensibly rehed largely on the labours of the local experts whom she has recruited to provide the new and up to date information. Of the main changes in the text there are valuable expanded entries on the main towns . in particular the section on Northampton is enlarged from 27 to 43 pages. The medieval tow~ plan is mentioned, albeit in a footnote, also the attribution of All Saints to the architect Henry Bell is discussed. The magnificent Victorian town_ hall n_ot only gets a full page plate but its architecture, which was designed by Edward Godwm and mfiuenced strongly by Ruskin's Stones of Venice, is rightly given prominence. The itinerary throug~ Yictorian Northampton studded with references to Victor Hatley is much more detatled and It 1s also noteworthy that the dis­ couraging remark in the first edition "No-one is likely to perambulate outer Northampton. The mileage covered would not be justified by results" has been left out, and indeed there is a helpful m_ap added of outer Northampton (p. 337). The ravaging of Northa~~ton. which began c. 1960 ~1th the demolition of the late _I7_th centur:y Peac?ck Hotel, a ~~y building m the market square, IS deplored and a list of fine bmldmgs mentiOned m the first ed1t10n and now demolished is given (p. 13). The other towns have had similar losses. Wellingborough now resembles one of the Rum: 282 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT towns after the war, with acres of flattened and blitzed buildings. It is, however, covered more fully (six pages instead of four). Daventry has lost a worthwhile 17th century building in the High Street and the 19th century Police Station. Kettering has lost a Victorian Grammar School in a commanding position in Gold Street, a Queen Anne house (Beech House) and is likely to lose a fine facade of Victorian shops (Post Office buildings). Its fuller description (six pages compared with three and a half) is a witness to the increased appreciation of the town's buildings, owing to the work of the thriving Civic Society. Mr. John Stedman's work in designing residential units at Corby New Town is warmly appreciated, but the book is rarely enthusiastic about the modern replacements. The Peacock Hotel "has been replaced by a sadly nondescript block with shops, depressing evidence of this century's aesthetic standards compared with the efforts made in the town after the 1675 fire" (p. 328) and Barclaycard House "the first really large development in the town to date, but one that heralds the scale of the transformation that is beginning to overtake much of the town centre" (p. 335). The book shows that the country has suffered fewer losses than the towns. One or two great houses such as Fineshade Abbey (18th century) and Watford Court (17th century) have gone, or are beyond repair. The interior fittings of Watford mentioned on p. 447 have in fact been ripped out and only the Commonwealth period external shell remains. Similarly, Clay Coton church is in a worse state than the book describes, having been gutted by vandals. Aldwinkle All Saints, a fine Perpendicular building, is now green with water leaking in, but Newton-le­ Willows, another redundant church, has a more hopeful future as a field study centre. The fittings, incidentally, have been removed to Geddington church. The previous volume covered the county and the Soke of Peterborough. The Soke belongs to the county historically: for a thousand years it was an integral part of the shire; Peterborough Abbey was one of the main landowners in the county until the Dissolution; the rivers Nene and Welland which encompass the Soke to the South and North were main routeways into the county from the sixth century to the nineteenth. Is it surprising that the new edition when it tries to exclude the Soke in its survey of the architecture (and archaeology) gets into difficulties? For instance, the sections of text dealing with the Roman Nene valley potteries have been left out, and yet its products are found at practically every Roman site in the county. Since it is perhaps realised that any account of Norman architecture within the county doesn't make sense without discussing the contribution of Peterborough cathedral, the entry in the introduction on this has been retained (p. 29). Perhaps more inconsistently the long passage on Burleigh is still there (p. 51). The emphasis in the new edition is still firmly on churches and the great houses and mirrors the extent to which interests of squires and clergy have continued to dominate the study of English buildings. This has been at the expense of the humbler domestic architecture. R. B. Wood Jones' valuable work "Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region" is missing from the book list. Some attempt, however, has been made to take into consideration the evidence of vanished buildings whose foundations lay beneath the ground. The Plan of the Greyfriars recently partly recovered by archaeological excavation (p. 329 fn), the excavations at Grafton Regis medieval manor (p. 227), the medieval moated grange at Badby (p. lOO) and the Roman bridge at Aldwinkle (p. 25). Nothing, however, is said of the recent archaeological work at Newton or Rushden churches which has thrown light on the earlier plans of these buildings; nor is the work on Quinton medieval manor mentioned. The illustrations have been greatly improved in the new edition. They are the same in number (64 pages) but are larger. Many are bled to the edge without wasteful margins which spoiled those in the first edition. They have also been helpfully numbered and, best of all, they have been turned up the right way so one no longer has to twist the book sideways to refer to them. Since the loss of the Soke it has been possible to include a number of new ones-such as Spratton church tower, Northampton market place, the fonts at Little Billing and West Haddon. The picture of Higham Ferrers west doorway with its roundels of 13th century sculpture is greatly improved, as are the enlarged views of church spires. There are only two bad pictures, black and obscure: those of the interiors of churches of Rothwell and Holy Sepulchre, North­ ampton. The plans call for comment. There is no list of them. In subject they are confined to the - BOOK REVIEWS 283

great country houses. They are simply blocked in and no attempt is made to produce an historical plan in which the building of various periods is demonstrated, as is done with such success by the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments. There are a number of revised and extended entries on individual buildings. Here the researches of Bruce Bailey and Sir Gyles !sham are to the fore. The entries on Deene House and Rockingham Castle have been rewritten in the light of new knowledge. Harrow den Hall (p. 234) and East Haddon Hall (pp. 198-9) both have revised and enlarged descriptions. Easton Neston Hall is shown to have been influenced by Wren as much as by Hawksmoor. The Anglo-Saxon church at Brigstock has been more carefully dissected. It is a pity that more is not said about the settings of these buildings. Mr. John Cornforth recently wrote an article on the landscape of Boughton Park (Country Life 11th March 1971). This is dealt with in three sentences by Pevsner. Aynhoe park gets one line. The gardens at Lyveden (Arch.J. vol. 129, 1972 pp. 154-160) again are dismissed summarily as "remains of terracing and a regular arrangement of ponds and mounts between the two". The economic and social background of all this building is also strangely ignored. We learn much of aesthetic and architectural considerations but little of the economics behind them. This is again a reminder that until recently architectural subjects were written upon in the studies of the gentry and the rectories of the clergy. For instance, in discussing the fact that there are about 80 spires "of these more than three-quarters are in or near the Nene district", it is ignored that they are near the waterways of the Nene and the Welland and connected by them to the quarries of W eldon, Ketton and Stamford which provided the frees tone for the intricate masonry required in spire building. Although intellectual influences are mentioned, nothing is said about the way buildings were paid for-or that the economic prosperity or decline of the county at various periods is reflected in its buildings. The phenomenon of deserted villages, for instance, which accounts for a number of isolated churches, such as Fawsley or Lower Charwelton, is unnoticed. Canalscape is given more of a write-up (p. 147) but the changes in buildings wrought by the industrial revolution receive little adequate mention. Finally, the factual errors are few. Some of the changes owing to the deterioration of buildings have been noticed. The bearded sculptured figure at Whiston (p. 459) is no woolcomber; he has a pair of scissors. The datestones in Althorp Park date from 1567-8, not 1576-8, (p. 83). The main concentration of Roman remains at Kettering lie between North Park Drive and Blandford Avenue, which is hardly "East of hospital" (p. 274). The attributions of various build­ ings to Inigo }ones have been demolished by Sir Gyles Isham in a recent article (N. P. & P. 1974/5, V, 2, pp. 95-100) but Pevsner still flirts with them. Brick is first mentioned as coming to Northamptonshire in the early 16th century dower house at Fawsley (p. 46). It has in fact been found recently at the deserted village site at Lyveden dating from c. 1480. It should be apparent from this that the volume is well worth acquiring despite its huge increase in price (15/- was the price for the paper back version of the first edition; the new hard back is £4.00). Sir Nikolaus and his capable reviser, Bridget Cherry, are to be congratulated on the effectiveness of the revised edition of Buildings of England, Northamptonshire. J. M. STEANE.

1873-1973, MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL, NORTHAMPTON: HISTORY by C. W. WILSON (1973. Unpriced)

This booklet is really a continuation of The Story of the First Eighty Years of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church (sic), Northampton, 1873-1953, written by the late Ralph Thompson just over twenty years ago. Although primarily concerned with the period since 1953, it contains in Chapter 1 a useful condensed account of Mount Pleasant during the period covered by Mr. Thompson's book. Mount Pleasant Baptist Chapel was strategically placed to serve a suburban neighbourhood 284 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT which came into existence during the 1870s and 1880s. Fortunate in attracting a succession of able ministers, it has flourished over the past hundred years, and one sign of its continued vigour is the fact that its story is now written right up to date. My only complaint about Mr. Wilson's narrative is that I should like to have been told more about the hiatus in the ministry which occurred in 1958-60; but I am well aware that when writing about very recent times, the historian of a locality or institution must know how to use a tactful pen! The author is to be congratulated on making a useful addition to the printed material which exists on the history of Northampton nonconformity, and which is essential reading for anybody who is trying to understand the development of the town during the past three hundred years. VICTOR A. HATLEY.

CLASS STRUGGLE AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EARLY INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM IN THREE ENGLISH TOWNS by JoHN FosTER (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 346 pp. 1974. £6.00)

The blurb to Dr. Foster's book states that "This is a study of the forces underlying the development and subsequent decline of working-class consciousness in nineteenth century England, as revealed by the study of three English towns-Oldham, Northampton and South Shields". Most of the book, however, is devoted to a close study of Oldham, with Northampton and South Shields used for purposes of comparison and treated in much less detail. A foretaste of Dr. Foster's research was published in The Study of Urban History (ed. H. J. Dyos, 1968). Dr. Foster has worked skilfully and tenaciously on his sources and, in addition to the text, has provided his readers with an impressive array of notes and figures. (Some of the figures are not easy to understand, and 13b and 14 do not seem to accord with statements made in the text). At the same time he does not conceal the Marxist bias of his thinking. Thus he is prepared to state categorically that the basic task of mid-nineteenth century Northampton working-class radicals should have been: "to give overall political expres_sion to the lessons of local industrial conflict". Non-Marxists may be excused for wondering whether this really means: "to use Northampton shoemakers as pawns in a power-struggle". · Class Struggle will stand or fall as a major contribution to urban history by what Dr. Foster writes about Oldham; however, so far as Northampton is concerned, I find that the validity of some of his statements is dubious. For example, to say that "Northampton only became an industrial town as a result of the crisis of rural depopulation in the 1820s and 1830s" is grotesque, unless "depopulation" has meanings other than those found in the O.E.D. Nor does it explain why Wellingborough, Kettering and Daventry, in each of which shoe manufacturing was well­ established by the 1810s, completely failed to match the growth-rate of the county town after 1821. Using Sir Frederick Eden as his authority Dr. Foster puts the weekly earnings of what he calls the "cheap shoemaker" at Northampton during the 1790s at 10s. to 15s., and then goes on to say that no observer during the 1830s and 1840s put them "much above 10s.", an implied fall in living standards over fifty years. But Donaldson in 1794 put weekly earnings at 7s. to 14s. with a "general average" of 9s. to 10s., a Poor Law Inspector in 1834 at 18s. to 30s., and the North­ ampton Society of Operative Shoemakers in 1838, a slump year, at 12s. to 15s. Earnings for shoemakers at depressed Kettering were stated in 1834 to be 10s. to 15s., and at Wellingborough, a town from which many shoemakers had migrated to Northampton, at 12s. Again, Dr. Foster tells us that between about 1835 and 1850 the Northampton shoe manufacturers, in order to cut labour costs and maintain profitability, created a novel division of labour in the production process by directly employing women and children to close (i.e. stitch together) the component parts of shoe uppers. This brought about "a mass influx of rural immi­ grants" into Northampton because "where previously shoemaking families had been able to work without difficulty in quite distant villages, they now had to be within daily reach of the town - BOOK REVIEWS 285

closing shops". Indeed? Closing had developed as a separate branch of shoe production at North­ ampton by 1831 at the latest, the borough pollbook of that year listing the names of 31 voters as "closers". Women and children had been employed at closing for many years before the 1830s; as early as 1817 the managers of the Northampton Lancasterian School were lamenting that their part-time senior girls worked either in lace-making (a declining industry) or shoe-closing. Few manufacturers at Northampton before about 1890 undertook their own closing, but relied on a host of small firms which specialised in the job. Much of the very big increase in the numbers of female and juvenile shoemakers recorded at Northampton between 1841 and 1851 was due to the census enumerators in 1841 not entering on their schedules the occupations of other than adult males. Finally, rural shoemaking for the wholesale market never depended on being within daily reach of facilities for closing, and in almost every shoemaking village in Northamptonshire the number of shoemakers increased between 1841 and 1851 and again between 1851 and 1861 often dramatically so after 1851 (e.g. Abthorpe and Yardley Hastings). ' Read with discernment Class Struggle is an interesting and often stimulating book; but students of Northampton's nineteenth century history will do well to examine for themselves the relevant source material before accepting Dr. Foster's version of events at its Marxist face-value. VICTOR A. HATLEY.

THEATRE UNROYAL by LOU WARWICK (Garden City Press Ltd., Letchworth. £3.50)

Most people in Northampton probably think that theatrical history in the town began in 1884 with the opening of the Northampton Theatre Royal and Opera House in Guildhall Road (now the home of the Northampton Repertory Company). Mr. Lou Warwick, to whom we are already indebted for an account of the New Theatre, has discovered that the Professional Theatres' history in Northampton goes much further back. From the lucky circumstance that the North­ ampton Mercury began publication in 1721, he has been able to establish that a theatrical company visited the Hind Inn and performed "The Spanish Fryar" and "Hamlet" in 1723. How appropriate that the first recorded play performed in Northampton should have been one by Northampton­ shire's own John Dryden. By a careful reading of the past numbers of the Mercury, Mr. Warwick has. be~~ able to. te!l us ~omething of. the vi~iting C_?mpanies o~ strolling pla:yers,. who, timing thetr vtstts to comctde wtth race meetmgs, fatrs, asstzes, entertamed the pubhc wtth occasional plays. In 1735, there is a mention of a "New Playhouse in Abington St." but as Mr. Warwick says it was "probably only an Inn Room with verbal garnish". The first playhouse proper was a riding house between Abington Street and St. Giles Street where "it may be imagined that all would not be sweetness in the atmosphere of equestrian odours mingled with the smoke of the candles which serv'd for illumination". Mr. Warwick, however, has rightly devoted most of his space to the new theatre erected by Robert Abbey "on the lines of London's Haymarket Theatre" in Marefair with its frontage on Horseshoe Lane. It stood next to the Shakespeare Inn, and the remains of the building were removed in 1922 when Horseshoe Lane was widened. "Northampton's new theatre must have been just about the plai~es! iJ?- the country, skimped for cheapness. No pictures of it survive in use as a theatre, only of 1t m Its latter days as shop premises". Anyway the Marefair theatre lasted until the opening of the Theatre Royal in Guildhall Road. _ ' There were some unexpectedly distinguished players. The great Edmund Kean in 1820 appeared as Richard Ill and Shylock on successive nights. In those days, productions were-as opera performances were until quite rece~tly-stereotyped, so that the star could with a single run-through, fit into a stock company. It ts related of Kean on one occasion that when visiting Hastings, there was not even time for a proper rehearsal, and Kean gave this advice to the resident company "Keep six feet away from me and do your damndest". Mr. Warwick relates the sad story of G. V. Brooke's visit to the theatre in 1863. There is a 286 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT portrait of Brooke as Shylock at the Garrick Club, but it was as. Othello that he took London by storm at the Olympic Theatre in January 1848, and it was in this part that he came to North­ ampton. Sadly, under the influence of excessive drinking, the ruin of many of the old players, Brooke was no longer the fine actor he once was, and at Northampton, although he tried to play the part, his memory failed him, and he finally broke down, and bidding the audience "Good night" left the stage. The manager, Charles Wilstone, apologised to the audience, and prefacing the remainder of "Othello" by the farce, "Good for Nothing", substituted the actor playing !ago for Othello, and himself read !ago. Another famous performer was Charles Matthews, who did not suffer from Brooke's vice. It is a measure of Mr. Warwick's honesty that he confesses that he had never heard of Matthews when he began his researches into the Marefair Theatre. Matthews had a remarkable gift of mimicry, and he seemed (the words are Byron's) "to have continuous cords in his mind that vibrated to the minds of others, as he gives not only the tones, look and manners of the persons he personifies, but the very train of thinking and the expressions they indulge in". Matthews was an old school fellow and friend of the Rev. Thomas Speidel, Rector of Crick, with whom he stayed, and was also a guest of Sir Charles Knightley at Fawsley. Especially in its earlier days, the theatre was anxious to enlist the support of the "nobility and gentry", and on occasions there would be "patronage nights". In 1833 there was such a performance for George Payne of Sulby, the spendthrift Master of the Pytchley Hunt, when a special backdrop of Sulby was painted for the popular comedy "Speed the Plough". The Spencers of Althorp "were prominent over the years among those who patronized the theatre or bespoke performances". Special programmes were printed on satin on these occasions, as happened, of course, at Covent Garden until fairly recently on "royal occasions". I remember once appearing at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in 1927, when Tim Healy as Governor General of the Irish Free State attended, and there were satin programmes ! Mr. Warwick's book is the product of enormous industry, and he has provided a feast of good things. He does not (happily) stick too closely to his theme, and there is a great deal of social history to be learnt from his pages, apart from its theatrical interest. It is to be hoped that he will be ·sufficiently encouraged by the success of "Theatre Unroyal" to continue his researches, and to tell us more about Northampton and its theatres. G.I.

NORTHANTS MILITIA LISTS 1777 V. A. HATLEY, ed. (Northants Record Series, XXV, 1973)

Mr. Hatley has given us an excellent edition of the Northants Militia Lists of 1777. This is the best surviving of several series, which were drawn up in various years between 1762 and 1786, and it lacks only the records of Nassaburgh Hundred (the Soke of Peterborough). The militia was a force raised in the counties for the defence of England, and as such was not liable for service overseas. It was first regulated by act in 1662, but a major reorganisation occurred in 1757, when responsibility was placed upon the parish to find men to meet the county quota. Able-bodied men between 18 and 45 years, with certain specified exceptions, were liable for service, and were chosen by ballot to represent the parish (although a good many preferred to pay for a substitute to serve). The arrangements made in the 1757 Act, and in adjustments made subsequently, indicate also that problems of increasing pauperism and the burdens which it placed upon the parish were held clearly in mind at both national and county level. What survives in these records is a register of able-bodied men who would stand in at the ballot, but sometimes including those exempted through poverty or having served before. The object in reproducing the Militia Lists is chiefly to provide the historian with a specialized instrument of research, but since it is very likely that the majority of surnames found BOOK REVIEWS 287 in particular parishes were represented in these lists, the 1777 returns will serve equally the needs of the genealogist, offering many a short-cut to the family-hunter benighted in the thickets of eighteenth-century registers. Listings of inhabitants from the pre-censal period have of late become popular with historians seeking to discover demographic trends and the social structure of early modern communities. Militia Lists need to be treated with caution in this field of research, but they are of some use nevertheless. Mr. Hatley has counted 13,741 men in the lists, which perhaps represented 70 o/0 of the population in the age-group in the county at the time. Unfor­ tunately, the constables who compiled the records varied greatly in their diligence. Beside a few parishes (notably Crick, pp. 65-67, and Welford, pp. 73-74), in which a large list (perhaps not complete) of exempted persons were included, there were many others in which only the bare minimum of liable men were returned. Despite these limitations, the lists provide a guide to the occupational structure of the county, not paralleled until 1841. 87 o/0 of the men were described by occupation or status (p. xiv). Of these 11.1 o/0 were occupying farmers, 9.7°/0 were engaged in weaving and knitting, and 5.9% in shoe-making. No less than 19.2o/0 were labourers and 20.8% servants, most of them "farm servants" (p. xv). Now, since the largest number of exceptions were of poor men with large families, these data of labouring men were very much of a minimum figure. The implications of these figures are interesting and many prove to be important. Mr. Hatley is to be congratulated not only upon his statistical research, so proficiently laid out in his intro­ duction, but for his analysis of the occupational structure of each Hundred in the body of the text. Published lists of militia ehrolments for other counties are still too few for any comparative work to be undertaken. Mr. Hatley has set a standard which the editors of other county Record Series should be encouraged to emulate.

School of Social Studies, University of East Anglia. B. A. HoLDERNEss.

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE LANDSCAPE : NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AND THE SOKE OF PETERBOROUGH by JOHN M. STEANE (The Making of the English Landscape Series: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1974; 320 pp. £3.95 in U.K.) Those of us who were born and bred in Northamptonshire, who have Northamptonshire in the very marrow of our bones, respond with a thrill of recognition to the words of H. E. Bates: "I spent a childhood unconsciously entranced by it, magnifying dribbling little brooks to the brave beauty of torrents, tiny nightingale copses to the deep luxuriance of woods. I grew up to know the ash and the elm and the willow better than any other tree because they were the staple trees of the landscape, and to know hardly any other type of field than pasture and the massive ploughed parallels of steel clay that would later be roots and corn". And something stirs deep down in us when he says: "This plain homely pattern of elm and grass and hedges is the basis on which the entire English countryside is built. It is the very thing that makes the English country what it is: something different from any other country in the world" and when after admiring the wonder and variety of the United States he remarks that "the country they cannot repeat and for which all Englishmen are deeply and honestly envied is the country about which I am writing" .1 And now at last we have a book which shows in detail and with expertly controlled imagin­ ation how this landscape grew to be what it is. Mr. Steane makes no secret of the fact that he is a fairly recent resident in Northamptonshire: "I remember stepping out of the train on my first visit to Kettering in 1964: I raised my eyes from the soot-blackened Derbyshire sandstone and red brick of the Midland railway Station to the astonishing spire rocketing out of a tall tower - crocketed up the edges like a swordfish, brilliantly yellow as it caught the afternoon sun against

1 H. E. Bates in The English Countryside by various writers (London, Batsford, 1939), pp. 38-41. 288 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST AND PRESENT a lowering storm cloud". 2 Yet in the few years since then he has personally covered a truly aston­ ishing amount of ground from Arbury Hill to the fens, has read all the technical literature on the subject and himself written some of it; and I am sure that he has become one of the county's true sons by adoption. The doyen of all workers in what one might call the science of the English landscape is of course W. G. Hoskins, much of whose pioneer work was done in the villages of high Leicester­ shire, notably Tugby, Gaulby and Skeffington. Mr. Steane proves himself a worthy pupil of Dr. Hoskins, not least in the persistence with which he must have tramped over the ground so that he might write of it at first hand. His main interest is in the Middle Ages, and I think that the landscape of the county has a mediaeval atmosphere; but from the Stone Age onward he has not only given us the evidence but brought it to life by his imagination. Who can forget his recon­ struction of the "arctic tundra-like conditions with an annual temperature below 0° Centigrade" revealed in excavations at Billing, or his description of the burial mounds at Maxey where "The wind ripples the barley over the huge, unfenced fields lined with the long, grey, squalid sheds of poultry battery farms where 4,000 years ago there echoed the cries of Bronze Age mourners"?3 Northamptonshire has always lain athwart the great transport routes from London to the north, and along the primitive tracks from the south-west to the Wash, and Mr. Steane retraces the so-called "Jurassic Way" by which travellers thousands of years ago made their way from the low ground by Stamford to Rockingham, Northampton and Banbury. The extent and com­ plexity of the Roman occupation of the county is dealt with in masterly fashion, with analyses ranging from the engineering of parts of the modern AS road to the effect of Roman legions on local farmers and horse-breeders (one thing Mr. Steane does not tell us-why was the Roman road from Cambridge through the county to Leicester called 'Via Devana'?-did it carry on to Chester?). In common with many modern archaeologists Mr. Steane challenges the traditional theory that the Anglo-Saxons made the river Nene their chief highway into the county, and brings strong evidence in favour of their having travelled by such tracks as the Jurassic Way, and also of there having been much more land under cultivation than we are apt to assume. Indeed, this is one of the strongest impressions left by a study of this book-that of a teeming life that has completely vanished. The comparison of the English countryside to a palimpsest is a hackneyed metaphor, but the only really adequate one. The many first-rate aerial photographs in the book enhance this impression, as one looks down as if from a great height and sees the actual patterns of long-forgotten villages and camps and forts and parks and ponds there in the ground. From the Middle Ages onwards it needs a real expert at selection to master and present the multifarious evidence. The Middle Ages saw drastic and surprising changes in our landscape: wholesale evictions and deserted villages as land was changed from arable to pasture (82 deserted villages are known in Northamptonshire alone); disafforestation; the extension and maintenance of Roman roads and Saxon trackways; the rise of towns, their shapes and the castles which dominated the countryside; the hunting and poaching that took place in the forests. This period of history is revealed only to the patient investigator in ancient charters and chronicles and to the patient digger on ancient sites; but Mr. Steane never leaves his main thesis and when he comes to a record in dog Latin or a dry statement in an early charter he always asks, What is the -effect or meaning of this in terms of the landscape? He has a very quick eye for literary evidence, too, as when he spots a sentence in Thomas !sham's diary of 1671, "Father and I went into the fields to determine where ditches should be dug and hedges planted", and relates it to the newly-acquired property of Hanging Houghton, the survey of which is still in existence. 4 The importance and enclosure of the great parks in Tudor and Stuart times are stressed and illustrated by photographs of estate maps; and when we reach the eighteenth century there are topographical drawings made by Thomas Eayre of Kettering in 1721 to illustrate Bridges' history of Northamptonshire; several of these are reproduced. The tale is carried on through the age of canals and railways, with the huge cutting at

2 The Northamptonshire Landscape, p. 128. 4 op. cit., p. 186. 3 op. cit. pp. 30, 33. BOOK REVIEWS 289

Roade on the London and Birmingham Railway and the long high embankments made on the Great Central to keep its ruling gradients down to 1 in 176; to the drag-lines that remove 1,600 tons of oversoil in an hour; to the new town of Corby contrasted with the 19th-century railway town at New England, Peterborough; and to the eerie loneliness of deserted airfields and the smooth undulations of the motorways where, for example, 384 species of plants are colonising the slopes and verges of the M1 and even foxes and badgers are establishing themselves on its embankments. These are but a few of the fascinating things of which this book is full. Its conclusions are firmly based on the very latest research, of which Mr. Steane has a commanding knowledge and to which he constantly refers the reader. Any book of this scope is bound to suffer from occasional errors but I have noted only one mistake and that is on page 267, where Mr. Steane refers to the "Great Northern line over the river Ouse at Brackley" when he should have written Great Central. There is an excellent series of photographs ranging from the Roman bridge at Aldwinckle to Wallis & Linnell's factory at Brigstock, and a number of diagrams and plans in the text. Altogether this book is a unique and fascinating addition to the literature of Northamptonshire and I imagine that no reader of this journal would willingly be without it.

Department of Latin, NORMAN MARLOW. University of Manchester.

OBITUARY

Mrs. Philippa Mary Mendes-Da Costa whom he had nursed for years with a great and selfless care in spite of his own illness, made it We regret to record the death in London on doubly tragic. August 25th of Mrs. Philippa Mary Mendes­ Da Costa (nee Brudenell). She had been a All who knew him came to admire his member of the Society since 1953, and served immense devotion and to feel equally grateful for some years on the Council. She was a close that he always had time to spare with kindly friend of the late Miss J oan Wake. help and advice, and with great generosity, those he felt were also in need. During all these years, and indeed, up to the time of his death, as a member of the Society Mr. John Waters Co~ncil and at committee meetings, his quick smde and shrewd comments which went The very sudden death in April of John straight to the heart of the matter, made him Waters, a member of the Council, and who had invaluable. been the Honorary Auditor to the Society from The Society members, and indeed all of us 1941-1965, has caused great sadness to all his who were privileged to be his friends would friends in the Society and to a wide circle of wish to offer their warmest sympathy to his friends throughout the County. daughter and her family. Coming so soon after the death of his wife, R. J. KITCHIN. 290

A SUNDAY OUTING

As night was falling last December we moved further in but were pushed back the saffron sky turned aniline grey by giant forms filling nave and aisle. the field grasses faded sepias Our groping fingers felt cool marble, melted into vandyke brown shadows silken as water, taking shape now, as night was closing round that Sunday as white figures crowded emptiness pulling the yew trees nearer the church. hundreds of men, women and children. We moved, one fragmented animal, Here a weeping girl held a pillar, legs and arms, bobbing heads and bodies her long marble drapes sweeping the flags . drawing together in unity Here a man and woman stretched their hands against the vast landscape around us, in hopeless never touching longing. our bright clothes washed grey by failing sun, Here a child held out a stone basket, darkening in the shadowed yew trees. here a baby lay in swaddling clothes. We pushed through their scurf scaled arms Our fingers felt along the cold walls. rough ring, We found the brass nipple, switched the light, ignored their small red succulent dots to flood the curious scene clearly. dwindled warning stops before the porch. No light came. Only the flapping bat, We came in from wide fields with clayed boots, the squeaking mouse, grasses sighed between had tramped far crests of woodland, the windy flags as draughts blew in. broken hedges, jumped ditches to come. A stain glass piece fell to a black smash. We had left behind the tarmacked road, The white figures dimly stretched as far the hushing sound as distant cars passed. as the altar steps. Filled the whole church. We were in an empty wilderness. No room for living worshippers .here. Ploughmen and cow herds were back home The church crumbled round the sightless eyes now; of those who'd loved and paid to stay here. distant rattle of pails ; milking time; night closing down the great blinds of clouds. We left reluctantly in silence The bell hung in the rotting belfry At first on opening the oak door, its tongue still as ours. Rain spattered us. past the open wire bird barrier, Spurred us back to safe warm smelling cars we trod on owls' droppings, straw nest falls. Through warm wide open fields to home to We saw nothing in the sudden dark, 'Songs of praise' with television teas. only smelled the cold oolitic air bearing memories of ancient seas. The oceanic darkness washed us, familiarity cleared our eyes, we saw the windows first: lighter shades; ogeed greys on black, rose traceries; colours dimly brown and indigo NINA STEANE. Dec. 3, 1972. hinting at once brilliant mozaics. broadcast Poetry Now Aprill973. 291

MISS JOAN WAKE

It should be explained that in this very informal tribute of respect and affection most of the quotations have~ perforce~ to be from memory.

I first met Miss Wake when she was well over sixty, and I never saw her at Courteenhall, so that my knowledge of her was partial and inadequate. None the less, she was a personality so remarkable as to enter into legend in her lifetime, and certain characteristics of her personality, and of the legend, I was privileged to witness over more than twenty years of friendship. The legend was sedulously and delightfully cultivated. She made one believe that she was a brigand-how could one descended from so many Hereward Wakes be otherwise?-a schemer, even something of a witch: 'I'm off on my broomstick to Rhodesia' she wrote to me not so many years ago. She hid her own fund of kindness on occasions. I once witnessed a meeting between her and the late Helen Cam, who explained that she had succeeded in escaping from her garden to hear a historical lecture. 'You haven't tak.en to garde~ing !-That's almost as bad as taking to good works', as if she herself had not comnutted that misdemeanour many years before. Yet she had all the qualities of the legend in some measure, and many more. In my early meetings with her she was the General Editor, I the contributor to her series, to be charmed, cajoled, and bullied for the task in hand; and I quickly learned appreciation, delight and awe for the artillery she commanded, nor did I fail to learn from service in her regiment much that has been useful to me since I myself became a general editor. Her quality as editor, by the time I knew her, depended in considerable measure on her quality as scholar. Naturally her hist~ric~l in~erests had,v_ery deep roots in the soil of Northamp­ tonshire-when she used the phrase foreign mtellectual It meant anyone who had the misfortune to be born a few miles the wrong side of .the county b~undary. She was quick to forgive the ignorance of one born as far away as Cambndge. I one~ mispronounced Pytchley in her presence, and ~he I?opped her brow; the~ tol~ m~ a tale of Sir Frank and La.dy Stenton in their early marned hfe; of how they were bicycling m the county and came to a signpost-'That is the way to Pitchley' said she-'You mustn't calli~ th~t!' he replied, 'If Miss Wake heard you call it that, she would vomit'. I tried to rally by askmg If the Pytchley had been her hunt. 'No', said Miss Wake, 'the Grafton was my hunt. The two most exciting things I've done in my life are finding twelfth century charters and hunting. I don't know which was the more exciting. Hunting, I think'. The volume of facsimiles which revealed the charters she had hunted to the kill owed much of course, to Sir Frank Stenton's editorial skill; yet the volume, and the whole series is also ~ monument to Joan Wake, not only to her drive and enthusiasm, but to her gifts as a scholar. For she was a true local historian, in that she not only understood her own fields and hedges, but saw their relevance and interest in a wider vista; and so her own work shows how a local study can grow into a major contribution to social history. This is true especially perhaps of her book on the Brudenells, but also in its way of her last book, Dan: Ea ton's letters-published in her late eighties amid many difficulties (partly of her own making) triumphantly surmounted with the help of many friends who loyally joined her flag for the last campaign. When she retired from her position as Honorary Secretary of the Record Society in 1963, she wrote characteristically, 'Of course NRS has been enormous fun from start to finish-but what gives me real solid satisfaction is the thought that it may have really been of some use to English history ...'. That satisfaction, and much ~?re, she had certainly earned; for not only are the Society, and the Record Office, and Delapre, m great measure monuments to her inspir­ ation, initiative and hard work, but she deeply influenced local history and the movement to preserve local records far beyond the boundaries of Northamptonshire.

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NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PAST & PRESENT JoURNAL Of. TIIE NORTIIAMPTONSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY, DELAPRE ABBEY, NORTHAMPTON, ENGI.ANO VoL. V 1975 No. 3