THE MANORS OF KIRK LANGLEY AND MEYNELL LANGLEY. 53 



church, the rectory being valued by the jury at twenty marks per 

 annum. Names at this period were changed with much caprice, 

 according to the residence of the individual. It has generally 

 been supposed that a Fitz-Nicholas sold this manor to a Pipard, 

 but the inquisition that we have just quoted shows that Ralph, 

 son of Ralph, and nephew of Robert Fitz-Nicholas, inherited it by 

 descent. It would seem that he had assumed the name of Pipard 

 from having resided, previously to his becoming heir to his uncle, 

 at Rotherfield-Pipard, in Oxfordshire ; or possibly from having 

 married an heiress of the Pipards, who gave their name to that 

 place, for the Pipards are said to have originally sprung from a 

 hamlet of that name in Somersetshire. Robert Fitz-Nicholas had 

 also owned the manor of Twyford, in Buckinghamshire, which his 

 nephew, Ralph Pipard, also inherited, and of which he was seized 

 at the time of his death, in 1310. Twyford, Bucks, was one of 

 the most important of their manors, and hence the heir of Ralph 

 assumed that name in preference to Pipard, and was known as 

 John de Twyford. 



" The manor of Kirk Langley, together with the advowson of 

 the rectory, remained in the hands of the Twyford, or de Twyford, 

 family until the time of Henry VIII., when Henry Pole, of 

 Chesterfield, son of Peter Pole, of Heage, married Ursula, the 

 daughter and heiress of Thomas Twyford, who died in 1522. 

 Henry Pole was succeeded by his son, of the same name, who 

 died in 1558. He died without issue, and was succeeded by his 

 brother Augustine, whose son, German Pole, sold the manor of 

 Kirk Langley to Bassets, of Blore, then also lords of Meynell 

 Langley, and the two manors were for the most part subsequently 

 held together. William Basset married Judith, daughter of Thomas 

 Austen, and widow of William Boothby. On the death of her 

 second husband she was married to Sir Richard Corbett, of Morton 

 Corbett, Shropshire. We find Lady Corbett presenting to the 

 rectory of Kirk Langley both in 16 19 and in 162 1. By her 

 second husband, William Basset, she had one daughter, first 

 married to Henry Howard, son of the Earl of Suffolk (by whom 

 she had a daughter, married to Sir John Harpur, of Swarkeston), 



