PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



BARNACK 



1 23 1, and in 1243 Hugh Favel held one fee in 

 Walcot.' In 1 290 his grandson, John, son of 

 John Favel, did homage for two knights' fees in 

 Walcot, Southorpe, and Hibaldstow. He died 

 the next year and was buried in the 'church of 

 Burg.' His heir was his brother, Hugh, who also 

 died without children, and was succeeded by his 

 brother William, a minor, whose wardship the abbot 

 sold to Lady Fine, his mother.' William died, leaving 

 two sisters as his heirs, who married respectively John 

 Griffin and Richard of Wyrthorp, whose son William 

 took the name of Favel.' In 1348 John Griffin and 

 William Favel held I J fees in Walcote, Southorpe, and 

 Slipton,' and about 1 396 Richard Griffin, and Richard 

 de Sutton in right of his wife, held two knights' fees 

 in 'Walcot juxta Burg." By 1428 William Ridel 

 held both portions,' but in 1461 this holding was 

 again divided between Robert Browne and John 

 Sowle.' 



In 1506 Robert Browne, son of John Browne, 

 mayor of London in 1480, died holding the manor of 

 Walcot." He was succeeded by his son, Robert, and 

 the property remained in this family until 1634, 

 when Sir Thomas Browne, 

 bart., son of Sir Robert Browne, 

 bart., died, leaving two daugh- 

 ters, Elizabeth and Anne, both 

 minors, as his coheiresses.' 



id her \>/ MW\.\\, 



zabeth W/c bVyy 



ernard \(3^CZ/ 



1671, ^:;^^?^ 



Browne. A-zure a 

 chevron befwcen three 

 scallops and a border en- 

 grailed or. 



Anne married John, Lord Pou- 



lett, and in 1 66 1 she and 



husb.ind and sister Elizal 



sold the manor to Bei 



Walcot.'" He died in 



and after his death Walcot was 



bought by Sir Hugh Cholmon- 



deley, who built the present 



house. It passed from him to 



Sidney Wortley Montague, from 



whom it was bought by John Noel, about 1703. 



By this family Walcot was transferred to the Nevilles, 



who owned it until 1 89 1. It was bought in that 



year by Mr. J. Griffith Dearden, the present owner." 



Walcot Hall is a well-proportioned building of 

 wrought stone, of two stories, with an attic and a 

 hipped roof covered with CoUyvveston slates. In 

 plan it is a simple rectangle, with its greater axis 

 north and south, and is entered from the north end 

 through a porch of one story, which, with the balus- 

 trades and small area surrounding the building on the 

 north and west, is an 18th-century addition. The 

 date 1678 on two of the lead rainwater heads gives 

 the approximate date of the completion of the house, 

 and other heads dated 1767 may denote the time of 

 the 18th-century alterations, the garden walls and 

 terraces on the south and west being probably part of 

 the latter scheme. The pediments over the lower 

 tier of windows, the projecting angle quoins, and the 

 deep cornice give the house considerable dignity, 



which is increased by the terraces and the fall of the 

 ground on the east and south. The garden, with a 

 sheet of artificial water, lies on this side, and the 

 stables are to the east. On the west a good avenue 

 of limes leads to a now disused entrance on the 

 Great North Road, and the northern part of the 

 grounds, which adjoins the 'hills and holes,' is full of 

 traces of ancient quarrying. The stone of the house 

 is Barnack r.ig, and a very late instance of its employ- 

 ment, as there seems to be no reason to doubt that it 

 is not secondhand material, but quarried for the 

 purpose. Internally the house has a large central 

 staircase, but preserves no original fireplaces or ceil- 

 ings, and is chiefly notable for a good collection of 

 modern pictures, among them the well-known painting 

 by Frith of the court of James II. 



In the walled winter garden at the south-west is a 

 large early 14th-century coffin slab, with the busts of 

 a man and a woman under trefoiled canopies at the 

 upper end, the feet showing at the lower. It was 

 found near the stables, used as a cover to a drain, and 

 there is nothing to show its original position. 



Some land in Walcot was held directly by Peter- 

 borough. In 1320 it included a capital messuage, 

 the site of a water-mill called Ingenolsmilne, held by 

 Gilbert of Barnack, and fields called Wormwell, Hol- 

 gatewong, and Cokeiveysik." 



The advowson of the church of 

 ADVOWSON St. John the Baptist at Barnack was 

 granted between I I ; I and I I 54 by 

 Fulk Paynel, together with two-thirds of the tithe of 

 the demesnes of Ralph de Barnack, to the monastery 

 of St. Mary Newport, generally called Tickford 

 Priory." It was confirmed as part of the possessions 

 of this house by Gervase Paynel in 1 187, but it was 

 lost by the priory very soon after ; for in the reign of 

 Richard I there was a long suit between Peterborough 

 Abbey and the priory about this advowson, Peter- 

 borough claiming it on the ground of ancient right. 

 Finally, the priory quit-claimed all right in the 

 church to Peterborough, and promised never to use her 

 charters against the abbey, for the annual payment of 

 two silver marks a year." The abbey had had some 

 connexion with the church before this time, as in 

 1 146 Pope Eugenius confirmed a pension of 10/. from 

 the church of Barnack to Peterborough Abbey,'^ which 

 was paid until the dissolution,"^ when the advowson of 

 the rectory of Barnack was granted to the bishop of 

 Peterborough." In 1553 the bishop received permis- 

 sion from the crown to grant the right of patronage 

 of the rectory to David Vincent,'" and though the 

 grant appears never to have been made, this deed pro- 

 bably induced the earls of Exeter to claim the advow- 

 son. Thomas, earl of Exeter, presented in 1 6 14, and 

 the bishop of Peterborough on the next three vacan- 

 cies," the dispute being finally settled by a lawsuit 

 about 1687,"" since which time the right of presenta- 

 tion has belonged to the sec of Peterborough." 



' Swapham, fol. 199^ ; Soc. Antiq. No. 

 60, fol. 2; I. 



' Chroniconj p. 146 ; Harl. 742, fol. 

 316A, 317A. 



•Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 166. 

 Ric. of Wyrthorp is also called of Walton 

 and of Walcot. * Ibid. 



' Cott. Nero, C. vii. fol. 130. 



« Misc. Bks. (Eich. K. R.), No. 4, 

 p. 255 ; Add. MS. 25288. 



? Cott. Nero, C. vii, fol. 202 d. Robert 

 Browne was perhaps an ancestor ot the 



Brownes whose name is generally asso- 

 ciated with Walcot. 



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



* Ibid, cccclxxvi. No. 21. 



>» Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 13 

 Chai. II. 



" Fenland N.andQ. ii, I2i ; Feet of F. 

 Northants, Trin. 2 Anne. 



" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 233*. 



" Cat. of Doc. France, p. 444. 



** Swapham, fol. 194. 



1* Sparkc, ScriptoreSy p. 79. 



« ralor. Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 2S5. 



*' Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 13. 



"Add. Chart. 5366. 



" Inst. Bks. Ser. a. » BriJgcs ii, 493. 



^* Richard Fletcher, father of the drama- 

 tist, was rector of Barnack from 15S6 to 

 1590, on the presentation of Sir Thomas 

 Cecil,bcing at the same time dean of Peter- 

 borough. He preached in Fotheringhay 

 chapel before the Commissioners for the 

 trial of Mary queen of Scots, and offi- 

 ciated as chaplain at her execution. He 



