A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Easton on the Hill, now entirely in Willybrook hundred, and Stibbington in 

 Huntingdonshire. The 12th century Northamptonshire Survey also includes 

 Stibbington and Easton in the ' two hundreds of Nass,' ^ but does not give a 

 complete list of the parishes in the hundred, as the places comprising the 

 70 hides and 3J virgates in the demesne of the abbot of Peterborough are not 

 enumerated.^ A long dispute with Crowland concerning the eastern 

 boundary of the soke began early in the 13th century. Stephen had 

 confirmed to that monastery among other possessions the marsh ' from the 

 water of Crowland, which is called Nene, to the place which is called Fynset, 

 and from that place to Greynes, and from Greynes to Foldwardstaking, and 

 thence to Southlake, where it falls into the Welland.'^ This marsh, called 

 Alderland, obviously included part of the land claimed by Peterborough as 

 lying between the Nene and the Welland as they meet at Crowland. Peter- 

 borough impleaded the neighbouring monastery, and in 1206 an agreement 

 between them was made.* Crowland acknowledged that the marsh was of the 

 fee of Peterborough, and agreed to hold it of Peterborough at a rent of four 

 stone of wax yearly, saving also to that monastery and its tenants the right of 

 common on the marsh. This agreement remained the basis for all future 

 dealings with the matter, but it was not well kept. Crowland soon com- 

 plained that Peterborough infringed it, and there were further conventions in 

 I 2 1 6 and about 1 247, and again at the end of the reign of Henry HI. ' The 

 dispute continued at intervals till 1481, when Thomas, archbishop of York, 

 w^as called in to arbitrate. He decided that Crowland should first surrender the 

 marsh, with view of frank-pledge and a court of a hundred, called Renning 

 Court, to Peterborough, who should thereupon give back to Crowland, in 

 return for other stated concessions, the marsh and all its appurtenances, and 

 cease to exact the old rent of four stone of wax, or claim the right of 

 common.* No more is heard of the dispute till 1567, when an action arose 

 between Queen Elizabeth, as lady of the manor of Crowland, and the tenants 

 of the soke of Peterborough, who claimed common on the marsh. The 

 matter was not settled until 1583, when commissioners adjudged the marsh 

 of Alderland to belong to the manor of Crowland ; but, considering that the 

 tenants of the soke had proved their right of common, took from the marsh 

 400 acres and gave it to the soke as full compensation. '' This w^as the 

 origin of the Four Hundred Acre Common which was enclosed with the 

 Borough Fen in 1822. The boundary between the soke and the manor, 

 which was fixed by the Elizabethan commissioners, is now the boundary 

 between the counties of Northampton and Lincoln ; but in a case as late as 

 1 69 1 concerning this neighbourhood, the witnesses almost unanimously 

 agreed that all the marsh called Alderland south of the Welland was in the 

 county of Northampton.' 



The abbots of Peterborough had almost as wide and full a jurisdiction 

 over the soke as it was possible for a subject to have. Edgar is said to have 



'The two hundreds were Nassaburgh and the 'hundred of the vill of Burgh.' See later under 

 the history of Peterborough. 



' F. C. H. Norlhants, i, 367^. 



^ ¥\i\min, Rerum Jng/icarum Scrijieorum relerum, p. ^^l. Fynset is a boundary stone near Singlesole ; 

 Greynes and Foldswardstaking are in the present parish of Newborough. 



* Abbrev. Pkc. (Rec. Com.), 39 ; agreement printed in Tenland N. and 0. iv, 343. 



' Ibid. ; Close, 53 Hen. Ill, m.I I d.-\z d. ' Dugdale, Mon. i, 398. 



' Exch. Spec. Com. No. 1275, 2930. ' Exch. Depos. 3 VViU. and Mary, East. No. 14. 



422 



