A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



At the dissolution Henry VIII retained this manor, 

 and in 1542 granted it to David Vincent and Eliza- 

 beth his wife for life.' In i 544 the manor of Pilsgate, 

 with appurtenances in Pilsgate, Barnack, Bainton, 

 VValcot, Soulhorpc, and the parish of St. Martin 

 Stamford Baron, was granted in fee to David.' His 

 son Thomas, in 157S, sold it with the manor of 

 Barnack to Lord Burghlcy,' and with his family it 

 still remains. 



A mill in Pilsgate was granted by Robert, abbot of 

 Peterborough,' to Hugh son of Gilbert of Barnack 

 in exchange for certain rents,' and in 1 341 John of 

 Drayton of Barnack and Alice his wife, the successors 

 of Hugh, granted to Peterborough one water- and one 

 wind-mill in Pilsgate for fifteen years.' 



A chapel in Pilsgate was confirmed to Peterborough 

 by Richard I and Henry III,' and it was granted to 

 David Vincent with the manor in 1544." There is 

 no record of the destruction of this chapel, but 

 Bridges says that about sixty years before he wrote' 

 a tenant of Lord Exeter dug up a quantity of ' founda- 

 tion stones ' from the site, which had Iain waste for 

 many years, and planted it for an orchard.'" There 

 is still a field in Pilsgate called Chapel Close. 



SOU'J'HORPE. — Southorpe was confirmed by 

 Wulfhcrc to the monastery of Peterborough as an 

 appendage of Barnack." In 1086 Geoffrey and two 

 other knights held 4^ hides of the abbey in Southorpe. 

 There were two and a half mills." Geoffrey, generally 

 called from his lands Geoffrey of Southorpe, was 

 'nephew of the abbot,' and about 1 125 held of 

 Peterborough 8 hides of land in Northamptonshire 

 for the service of three knights." In 1146 Pope 

 Eugenius confirmed the fee of Geoffrey his son, a 

 minor, in Southorpe, Gunthorpe, and Stokes to the 

 monastery. " Geoffrey's right to his fee was chal- 

 lenged in the reign of Richard I by Waleran of 

 Helpston." He apparently did not establish his 

 claim, for in the early part of the reign of 

 Henry III Robert son of Geoffrey paid the sherifl^s 

 aid for his ice in Southorpe," and in 1243 Thomas, 

 his son, was holding two fees in Southorpe, Gunthorpe, 

 Dogsthorpe, Walcot, Paston, Helpston, Uffbrd, Upton, 

 Easton, and Cathweyt." In 1 275 Geoffrey of Sou- 

 thorpe did homage to the abbot." From this Geoffrey, 

 William of Woodford, when sacrist of the abbey, 

 acquired the manor of Southorpe, ' not without great 

 toil of body, anguish of mind, nor without much 

 expense,' and w hen he became abbot " he appro- 

 priated the manor to the sacrist's office.*' At the 



dissolution of the monastery the manor of Southorpe 

 was granted to the bishop of Peterborough." The 

 bishop was given licence to alienate it to David 

 Vincent at the end of the reign of Edward VI " 

 but the permission does not appear to have been taken 

 advantage of, for about 1577 Edmund Scamblcr, 

 bishop of Peterborough, granted to the queen the 

 manor of Southorpe, otherwise called ' Southorpchall,' 

 and a wood in Southorpe, called Tomlynson's Wood, 

 for the yearly fee farm rent of jf 6 I 3/. 4(/." Elizabeth 

 almost immediately granted it to Lord Burghley," to 

 whose descendant, the Marquis of Exeter, the manor 

 still belongs. 



There was another holding in Southorpe called a 

 manor in the i6th century,'' held partly of the manor 

 of Torpel, partly directly from Peterborough,'* which 

 always has been, and still is, in the hands of the 

 holders of the manor of Walcot.'" 



Elias de Bekingham held some land in Southorpe 

 in the 1 3th century, and in 1288 granted two water- 

 mills in Southorpe to the abbot of Peterborough " on 

 condition that the abbey should find two monks to 

 celebrate daily for the soul of Queen Eleanor, and 

 that on her anniversary they should celebrate mass at 

 Southorpe and feed 200 poor persons." A friendly 

 agreement between Geoffrey Ridel, lord of Wittering 

 and Peterborough Abbey, con- 

 cerning a mill-pond in Sou- 

 thorpe called Holdenlue, may 

 refer to one of these mills." 



/r^Z-COr.— Walcot is some- 

 times called a hamlet of Bar- 

 nack, but seems never to have 

 consisted of more than one or 

 two houses. It was confirmed 

 to Peterborough as an appur- 

 tenance of Barnack in the charter 

 of Wulfhere," and it is men- 

 tioned as part of fee of Gil- 

 bert Favel in the bull of Pope 



Eugenius in II 46." Gilbert Favel held one hide 

 and l^ virgates in Northamptonshire at the begin- 

 ning of the 1 2th century; Walcot formed part 

 of this land.^' At the end of the 12th century 

 Hugh Favel was holding one knight's fee in ' Walcot 

 juxta Castor,' ^' and Richard I confirmed to Peter- 

 borough a chapel in Walcot appurtenant to the 

 church at Barnack, as well as two knights' fees 

 held by Hugh Favel in Walcot, Southorpe, and 

 Hibaldstow.*^ John Favel of Walcot is mentioned in 



Favel. Argent a 

 hcnd gules and a border 

 table bc-zanty. 



* L. and P. Hen. Vm, xviii, 693. 



' Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. viii, m. 16. 

 " Add. Chart. 9:72. 



* Robert de Lindsey, 1210-22. 



* Cott. Faust. B. iii, 25. 

 « Ibid. p. 18. 



' Cart. Antiq. DD. 17; Chart. R. 

 2 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 



« Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. viii, m. 6. 

 ^ About 1720. 



"' Bridges, Nonharts, ii, 4.96. 



*^ Birch, Carl. Sax. No. 22. 



" y. C. H. Norlhanls, I, 3 I 5J. 



^ Ckronieon, 1 69. 



^■^ Sparkc, Scri/'forei, p. 78. 



15 Pipe R. 8 Ric. I, m. 6 ; Cur. Reg. R. 

 (Rcc. Com.), ii, 193 ; ylibrct: P!ac.{Rcc. 

 Com.), p. 9. 



" Egerton MS. 2733, f°'- '48. 



'" Soc. of Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 251. 



1^ Chronicon, p. 22. 



" .^bbot from 1295 to 1299. The date 

 of these transactions is uncertain. In 1275 



Geoffrey of Southorpe and others acknow- 

 ledged that they owed to Stephen de 

 CornhuU, * draper * of London, a debt of 

 126 quarters of well-cleaned wheat and 

 60 quarters of barley, to be rendered at 

 Southorpe at Christmas, to be levied in 

 default on their lands and chattels in 

 Northants (Close R. 3 Edw. I. m. ^d). 

 Bridges [NorrhanTSf ii, 496) says that 

 Stephen answered for one knight's fee in 

 Southorpe, Walcot, etc., in 24 Edw. I. 

 Geoffrey was therefore apparently in finan- 

 cial dit^culties, and this may have led 

 to the sale of the manor. 



2« Cott. Vesp. E. xxii, 14A. 



-1 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 16. 



•'^ Add. MS. 5366. 



^' Close R. 19 Eliz. pt. xjti, m. i. 



^ Ibid. m. 13. 



2^ Chan, Inq. p. m. (ser. 2), xx, No. 80. 



^^ Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 251 ; 

 Chan. Inq. p. m. 4 Edw. Ill, No. 38, 

 m. 41 ; Egerton, 2733, fol. 125. 



466 



^ Probably the estate sometimes called 

 the manor of Booths in 17th and i8th 

 cent. 



** Inq. a.q.d. File xi. No. 21. The 

 mills are said not to be worth much on ac- 

 count of scarcity of water in summer. 



" Chart. R. 7 Edw. II, No. i. 



8" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 50. 



81 Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 22. 



8" Sparke, Scrifitores, p. i. The Favels 

 also held land of the abbey in Walcot 

 juxta Humbcr. It seems possible that 

 they gave the name of their possessions in 

 Lincoln to their land in Barnack. 



*** Chromcony p. 171. 



"" Cott. Vesp. E. xxii. 994. 



»»Cart. Antiq. DD. No. 17, Hibald- 

 stow in Lincolnshire. The only other 

 mention which has been found of the 

 chapel of Walcot is in the confirmation 

 to Peterborough of Henry III (Chart. R, 

 19 Hen. Ill, pt. i, No. 19). 



