A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



alleged in the title to properties, and It is in con- 

 nexion with such information that a grant was made in 

 1 591 to one Willi^im Tipper and others of various 

 estates, aniong which was the manor of Upton.' 

 This matter was not settled until 161 3-14, when 

 Robert Wingfield made payment to James I for a fresh 

 grant of the manor.' In 1625 it was sold with view 

 of frankpledge by Sir Robert 

 Wingfield to SirVVilliam Dove,' 

 son of that Bishop Dove of 

 Peterborough whom Queen 

 Elizabeth admiringly called 

 her ' silver Dove.' 



The Doves continued to 

 hold this manor till the iSth 

 century; in 1750 it was 

 bought by Lord Fitzwilliam,* 

 and is now in possession of 

 the owner of Milton. 



There was a second holding 

 in Upton which was called 



a manor in the 1 6th century, though there is 

 no record that a court was ever held. In 1243 

 ' Pricitemcre ' was holding a J of a fee in Upton of 

 the manor of Southorpe,' and about the same time 



Dove. Azure a cross 

 for my argent between four 

 doves. 



Manor House, Upton. 



Geoffrey of Upton also had some land here.^ In 

 1288 William de la Planche did homage for tene- 

 ments which he held of the manor in Upton,' and 

 this land is identified later as that held by Geoffrey of 

 Upton.' Both these holdings subsequently passed 

 into the hands of the Ridels of Wittering,' and by 

 their successor, Robert Halley, was called the manor 

 of Upton.'" Under this name it was sold by John 

 Stidolf, who married the heiress of the Halleys to 

 Robert Wingfield in 1562," thus becoming united 

 with the main manor in Upton. 



\'cry Utile i,< left of the large and h.inJsome m.inor 

 house of the Wingfields, concerning which Bridges 

 says : ' In the hall are the Wingfield's and other 

 escutcheons of arms. At the end are bow windows 

 projecting very high, with balconies and stonework 

 over them ; and to the west is an embattled turret 

 with small windows ' There now remains only a 

 short length of the house with mullioned windows, 

 those on the ground floor being flat-pointed, those on 

 the upper floor square-headed. There is nothing 

 ancient of interest inside ; nor are there any traces of 

 the bow windows or turret. In A Comment upon part 

 of the Fifth Journey of Antoninus through Britain, pub- 

 lished in 1 8 19, Richard Gough gives an account of 

 Upton, among other places. Already in his days the 

 house had been pulled down many years, ' except the 

 meaner offices, which now serve for a farmhouse.' 

 He quotes from Mr. Smyth, of Woodston, a list of 

 the arms in the wmdows, taken in 1 744, which 

 accounts for seventeen escutcheons, among which may 

 be mentioned Montagu, Wingfield, Warren, and the 

 royal arms. He also gives a drawing of a quaint old 

 armchair, mentioned by Bridges, which is said to 

 have been bought fi-om the last abbot of Crowland 

 and brought to Upton by Bishop Dove, who pur- 

 chased the manor from 

 the Wingfields, but he 

 adds ' what is now 

 become of it no one 

 can tell.' He also 

 gives some very good 

 drawings of an ex- 

 tremely curious and 

 unusual kind of sun- 

 dial, which happily is 

 still preserved in the 

 orchard. The draw- 

 ings and a descrip- 

 tion were supplied 

 by Mr. John Carter, 

 F.S.A., but they do 

 not clearly explain its 

 manner of use. He 

 rightly conjectures its 

 date as being about 

 the middle of the 

 1 7th century. There 

 are indications of ter- 

 races in the orchard, 

 and these, together 

 with the fragment of 

 the old house, the 

 sundial, and some large trees which stand in the 

 adjacent field, convey the impression that a fine and 

 even stately home must once have stood here. 



The chapel of Upton in connexion 

 ADVOtVSON with the church of Castor was con- 

 firmed to Peterborough Monastery by 

 Richard I and Henry III," but the lords of the 

 manor appear to have had the chief right over it. 

 Maud de Dive brought a successful suit against 

 Asceline de Waterville for half the advowson of the 

 chapel of Upton." Later both sisters granted their 



1 Pat. 34 Eliz. pt. vi , m. i. 



' Ibid. 11 Jas. I, pt xiix; Feet of F. 

 Northants, Trin. 12 Jns I. 



' Feet of F. Northants, East. 1 Chas. I. 



* Deed in possession of Mr. G. C. 

 Wentworth at Milton House. 



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

 " Egerton MS. 2733, fol. 148. 

 ' Chronicon, 42, 

 ' Cott. Nero, C. vii, 202 d. 

 ' Soc. Antiq. No. 38, fol. 158 ; Cott. 

 Nero, C. vii, 130. 



484 



1° Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), xvii, 17. 

 For Ridels see Wittering. 



" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 4 and 5 

 Eliz. 



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

 11 Hen. HI, pt. i, m. 19. 



" Ahbrc'v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 19. 



