A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Charles and Alice his wife his right in the manor 

 of Milton,' and a few years later, in 1333-4, the 

 then holder, William Charles, granted it to Richard 

 de la Pole, of London,' to whom free warren was 

 also granted.' During the short time of the de la 

 Pole tenure it appears that the contingent suit to 

 the abbot of Peterborough was transferred to the 

 court of the latter at Castor.* After the death of 

 Richard de la Pole, his widow Joan married Thomas 

 Chaworth, who held by courtesy.' In 1357-8 

 William de la Pole, son of Richard and Joan, and 

 Margaret his wife, granted the manor to William 

 of Thorpe." During his tenure Robert Charles, 

 kinsman of William Charles, who had transferred 

 Milton to Richard de la Pole, brought a suit against 

 John de la Warre and others,' with whom William 

 of Thorpe had levied a fine of the manor.* Robert 

 apparently failed to prove his case, as in 1391 the 

 manor formed part of a bequest made by Sir William 

 of Thorpe to his kinsman, John Wittelbury.' The 

 wife of this John Wittelbury was Agnes, who in her 

 subsequent widowhood married Thomas Gerrard, 

 and received in 1407-8 from her son, Richard 

 Wittelbury, a grant of the manor for life.'" The 

 manor remained in the hands of this family till 

 about 1502," when Robert Wittelbury and his wife 

 Anne" granted it, together with the fishing and the 

 wharfage at Gunwade on the 

 River Nene, to William Fitz- 

 william and another member 

 of the family. Robert and his 

 wife retained the manor for 

 their lives for the rent of one 

 rore, and died a few years 

 later." 



Milton now belongs to Mr. 

 George Wentworth Fitzvvilliam, 

 the hall, with the rest of the f,tzwi,.liav. Lo^f„gy 

 Northamptonshire property of argent and guUs. 

 the family, having been given 



by the late Earl Fitzwilliam in 1857, in accordance 

 with the will of his father, to his second brother, 

 George, father of the present owner. 



In the east of the parish is situated the famous 

 house of Milton, which ranks among the greatest 

 houses of the county. Milton consists of a long 

 block of buildings facing north and south, with 

 stables to the north-east set at right angles to the 

 north front of the house. The walled garden is to 

 the south-east of the house, but not at right angles 

 to it. On the north side of the house the park 

 comes up to the door, with only the gravel drive 

 between the green sward and the house, and on the 

 south side an open lawn extends from the house to 

 the old moat which divides it from the park. 



The house itself has undergone great alteration on 

 two or three occasions : the entrance front (north 

 side) is Elizabethan in character ; the garden front 

 as it now exists is of the formal character of the 

 1 8th century, and probably dates from 1720 or a 



little earlier. The Elizabethan front is of con- 

 siderable extent from east to west, and shows work 

 of two dates ; most of the mullioned windows are 

 square headed, and were built late in Elizabeth's 

 reign or in the early years of James I, but the great 

 bay window which runs through two stories h.is 

 flat-pointed lights, and dates probably from the 

 middle of the l6th century. It lighted the dais 

 end of the hall, and in common with all other 

 windows which served that function the sill was 

 kept down to aH'ord an outlook. The great window 

 at the west end of the front was that of the chapel, 

 and is similar in character and date to the great bay. 

 The porch belongs to the later of these two periods. 



A plan of the house and Lay-out dated 1643, 

 which has been preserved at Milton and which is 

 reproduced in this history, shows what the house was 

 in the time of the Stuarts. 



The north front shows the porch, opening to the 

 screens, and so to the hall on the right hand and the 

 cellar on the left. Beyond the hall are the parlour 

 and drawing-room, and beyond them the chapel, at 

 the west end of the long range of buildings. From 

 the south-west corner of the hall opens the great 

 staircase, with flights of steps round a central block 

 of masonry. It gives access to the upper rooms in 

 the main building, and also to the lord's lodgings, 

 which are in a wing running southwards at right 

 angles to the main block. 



The kitchen and pantry abut on the cellar, and 

 run southwards parallel to the lord's lodgings, having 

 the brewhouse on the south and a yard and other 

 offices on the east, the coal-house, dairy, and stable 

 being shown. 



In front of the house is a courtyard, bounded on 

 the north by a road, here called the ' way from 

 Peterburrough,' and having a line of buildings along 

 it, used as lodgings and stables, with entrances to the 

 stableyard and cartyard, which lie to the east of the 

 courtyard. The whole site (reckoned as 8 acres 

 I rood) is enclosed, except on the north side, by 

 a moat of irregular shape, with the ' pond close ' in 

 the south-east angle, and the orchard on the south- 

 west and west, while on the south front of the house, 

 and bounded on the east by the lord's lodgings, is 

 a rectangular pleasure garden enclosed by walls, with 

 gravel walks on all four sides and crossing in the 

 middle. A path bordered by trees runs along the 

 bank of the moat on the west side, and as far as the 

 pond close on the south, while the kitchen garden 

 is a narrow strip along the east arm of the moat 

 bounded by the Pond Close and Brewhouse Yard on 

 the west. 



Beyond the moat on the west is a long narrow 

 strip of land called the Longwell Close, with a line of 

 trees and ' Caster feelde ' on the west. 



A bird's-eye view of the house and lay-out, also 

 preserved at Milton, and of later date, shows the house 

 enlarged with elaborate formal gardens on the south, 

 and a formal quadrangle on the north. On this plan 



^ Close, 19 Edw. II, m. 32 d. 

 ■^ Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. l6 d. 

 8 Chart. R. 8 Edw. Ill, m. 20, No. 49. 

 * Chan. Iiiq. p. m. 19 Edw. Ill, No. 56. 

 ' Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 151. 

 <■ Feet of F. Northants, 31 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 448. 



^ De Banco R. East. I 5 Ric. II, m. 389. 

 8 Feet of F. Div. co. 7 Ric. II, No. 13. 



9 Ct. of Hustings, Cal. of Willi. 



'" Close, 9 Hen. IV, m. 27. 



** There appears to have been some 

 interruption in the descent of the manor, 

 for in 1428 John Sutton was holding 

 the fee in Milton once held by Thomas 

 Chaworth (Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. iv, 235). 

 But his connexion was only temporary, 

 for in 1461 Robert Wittelbury was 



476 



holding the manor (Cott. Nero, C. vii, 

 202 d,). The Suttons seem to have been 

 holding under false pretences ; land here 

 and at Longthorpc was recovered from 

 them by representatives of the Wittelbury 

 family in the reign of Henry VI (Papers 

 at Milton Hall). 



" Feet of F. Northants, 18 Hen. VII. 



'* Chan. Inq. p.m. (scr. 2), xx, 148. 



