A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



that manor improving from 2s. to 30J. and from 5/. to 40J-. respectively. 

 What can be the meaning of these figures ? It is my belief that they 

 point to these and similar manors having lain 'waste,' as it was termed, in 

 1066. That a manor could be worth a nominal sum, even when lying 

 ' waste,' is shown by the cases of Charlton and Foxley, which are 

 entered together in Domesday (fo. 2231^.). In both these cases we read : 

 * It is waste ; yet it is worth five shillings.' 



If, then, these entries point to some devastation, we ought to examine 

 them throughout the county, and see if their distribution can be made 

 to enlighten us on the subject. With this object I have constructed 

 tables containing every manor which had doubled, or more, in value 

 within the twenty years, and then I have selected out of these the com- 

 paratively small number of which the value had increased five-fold or 

 more. The locality in which are found most of the latter class is one 

 that is full of significance ; it is the valley of the Nen between 

 Warmington and Northampton. With Warmington itself we have 

 already dealt. Distributed round it in a quarter circle are Polebrook (5^. 

 to £2 and 2s. to £1), Oundle (5/. to £1 1), and Cotterstock (5/. to ^^3). 

 Just beyond, up the Nen, are Stoke Doyley {los. to £^ 10s.) and Pilton 

 (5J. to £2 lOJ.). Luddington, also, had risen in value from lox. to 30^. 

 There is no questioning the evidence of figures so decisive as these ; 

 including Warmington the whole group had risen, we see, in value from 

 £2 14.S. to £^i los. Following up the valley of the Nen, we have 

 notable rises at Titchmarsh (^4 to £g 15^.), Woodford (^i 10s. to 

 ^4 lox.),^ Addington Magna (loj. to £2), and Irthlingborough {£1 to 

 ^5). Further up, Irchester had risen from £1 to £S, and Knuston, 

 adjoining it, from 5^. to 20s. 



Apart from the above district there are others in which may be traced 

 a recovery from some devastation. In the north-eastern extremity of 

 the county, Barnack, with Burghley and Pilsgate adjoining it, had all 

 quadrupled in value ; Glinton, Warrington, and Castor (with Milton 

 and Ailsworth) had all more than doubled ; Wittering had nearly quad- 

 rupled, while Southorpe, adjoining it, had increased three-fold. All 

 this evidence points to one conclusion. When, in 1065, Morcar 

 marched south with the Northumbrian host, he would have entered 

 the county at Stamford, advancing from Doncaster and Grant- 

 ham. It is possible that the men of Lincolnshire who, according 

 to the Chronicle, joined him, crossed the Welland at Market 

 Deeping, but, in any case, his host must have ravaged Peterborough, 

 and the district lying to its north-west, before marching up 

 the valley of the Nen to Northampton. The men of Derbyshire 

 and Notts, who are similarly stated to have joined him, would have 

 crossed the river at Market Harborough. Little Bowden, the spot at 

 which they would have entered the county, shows an increase from 

 5/. 4^'. to £1 lOJ., which implies that it had been devastated. If 



* Besides a small manor worth IOj. (in 1086) which had been * wholly waste.' 



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