A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Robert Wright, by will of 3 March, 

 CH/iRITlES 1734, left a rent-charge of X^ i^'- 

 per annum upon real estate in Nor- 

 folk for a weekly dole of bread for the poor of 

 Castor and Ailsworth. 



In 183 1 this charity had lapsed for s imc years, 

 but by 1873 the rent-charge was again paid, and 

 with the income from j^53 19/. stock amounted to 

 £\ \j. 4(/., which was expended in bread for the 

 poor of Castor and Ailsworth. 



Mary Ann Northey, by will proved 3 April, 

 1900, bequeathed ^^300 to the rector and church- 

 wardens of Castor upon trust to be invested 

 and income applied in the distribution of flannel 

 and coal at each new year. The legacy is re- 



presented by £i(>i 12J. "jd. he'd by the official 

 trustees. 



The profits of the Town land in Sutton, of which 

 the origin is unknown, now amount to [j 6/. \d., 

 and are applied in aid of the poor-rate. 



Mary Eliz.ibeth Tobin, by will, proved 21 July, 

 1897, bequeathed £^0 consols to the incumbent 

 and churchwardens of the chapelry of Sutton, divi- 

 dends — subject to the repair of certain monuments — 

 to be applied for the benefit of the poor. The 

 stock is held by the official trustees. 



By deed of 11 March, 1904, the Rev. William 

 Hopkinson settled a sum of £z\'] 12/. dd., India 

 [^z \os. per cent, stock, transferred to the official 

 trustees, in trust for the poor of Sutton. 



ETTON 



Ettune (xii cent.). 



This parish contains about 1,3 1 3 acres of good loam 

 upon alluvium producing various crops and pasture 

 grasses. Arable land covers 5 99 J acres, and pasture 

 42 8 J. The surface is everywhere level, being on 





Old House to East op Church, Etton. 



the border of the great fen district, which stretches 

 north and east to Lincolnshire and the Bedford 

 Level. The parish was enclosed in 1820; the award 

 is in custody of the clerk of the peace. Among 

 the field-nnmes found in the parish are Claywong, 

 Sindrehilles, and Chircheheges. The main road 

 runs north from Marholm to Maxey and Deeping 

 Gate, and is crossed south of Etton village by a 

 ro.ad connecting Helpston and Glinton. The Mid- 

 land and Great Northern railways pass transversely 

 through the parish in a north-westerly direction. The 

 vill.ige is small, lying to the south of the church, the 

 houses mostly thatched instead of slated as is usual in 

 the county. East of the church is a picturesque 

 house with a projecting two-story porch, but there is 

 no other domestic building of note in the parish, 



except Woodcroft House, two miles to the south of 

 the village. The inhabitants, numbering 115 in 

 1901, are engaged in agriculture. 



The family of Daniel Defoe came from Etton, 

 the form of the name here found being Foe. 

 Daniel Foe and Ellen King were married 

 at Etton on 20 November, 1643, and 

 Daniel Foe was buried there I 3 Septem- 

 ber, 1647.1 The name was common in 

 this part of the country, occurring at 

 Peakirk, Glinton, and Northborough 

 in the 1 7th century.' 



ETTON does not appear 

 MANORS in Domesday Book,' and in 

 the early 1 2th-century sur- 

 vey of Northamptonshire only a small 

 amount of land in Etton is mentioned, 

 of which the ownership is not clearly 

 indicated.* In 1 146 the three fees of 

 Anschitil de St. Medard in Thornhaugh, 

 Wittering, Siberton, and Etton, were 

 confirmed to Peterborough Abbey,' and 

 Richard I confirmed Etton to the abbey 

 as part of the St. Medard fee.' During 

 the 1 2th century Robert de Stokes was 

 holding half a knight's fee in Etton,' 

 probably of the St. Medards, as his 

 family are later stated to be their tenant, and Stephen 

 de Stokes was holding land in Etton of Geoffrey de 

 St. Medard about 1242.* 



In 1252-3 Stephen de Stokes and Isabel his wife 

 granted to their son Stephen a piece of land in Etton' 

 and the advowson of the church there. Their land 

 apparently passed soon afterwards to a family named 

 Russell, for about i 300 John Russell, son of Sir Andrew 

 Russell, settled the reversion of the manor of Etton, 

 which was held by his mother Alice in dower, on himself 

 and his wife Mabel,'" and in I 3 20 granted the manor 

 to his brother Peter, parson of the church of Etton." 

 Subsequently, through the agency of Nicholas de St. 

 Medard, it was agreed that the manor should be held 

 by Peter for life, with reversion to Roger of North- 

 borough, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, Hugh of 



» Etton Par. Reg. 



■> Lay Subs. R. J«J and J§|. 



8 Earlier references are of doubtful 

 authority. See Birch, Cart. Sax, i, 22, 

 and Fulman, Scriptoresy 56. 



* V.C.H.Northantz, i, 367A. 



* Sparke, Scriptores, 78. For the 

 St. Medards see Thornhaugh. 



« Cart. Antiq, DD. 17. 



? Cott. Vesp. E, xxii, 99A et seq. 



® See. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 251. 



9 Feet of F. Northants, 37 Hen. Ill, 

 No. 644. 



486 



'» Feet of F. Northants, 29 Edw. I, 

 No. 407 ; 34 Edw. I, No. 504. John de 

 Insula appears probably as a trustee. 



^ Feet of F. Northants, 14 Edw, 

 II, No. 407 ; Close, 4 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 26. 



