A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



NORTHBOROUGH 



Northburg' (xii cent.), Narborow (xiv cent.). 



This parish, covering 1,205 acres, has a soil princi- 

 pally composed of alluvial deposit. There are 801} 

 acres of arable land and 320J of pasture. Cereals and 

 pulse arc the chief crops grown. The Car-dyke, said 

 to be a Roman work, runs through the parish in a 

 northerly direction towards the River Welland, and 

 there is also an ancient bridge of several arches upon 

 the road from Lincoln to Peterborough, the main road 

 through the parish. 



The village of Northborough, with its buildings of 

 grey stone, is of very attractive appearance. In the 

 centre are the church and rectory house, and there is 

 also a Primitive Methodist chapel built in 1869. At 

 the west end is a council school for boys and girls, 

 and at the point where the Peterborough road enters 

 the village stands the manor-house, probably built by 

 the de la Mare family in the 14th century, and later 

 inhabited by the Claypoles, who were lords of the 

 manor during part of the i6th and 17th centuries. 

 At the east end of Northborough, not far from the 

 place where the Car-dyke crosses the extremity of the 

 village, is the cottage once owned and inhabited by 

 John Clare,' the well-known pastoral poet, and still 

 occupied by some of his descendants. 



The North Fen, on which some of the abbot's 

 tenants of Northborough had common rights,' is 

 partly in this parish. Other place names which occur 

 are Great Clay Field, The Pingle, Sweeting Tree 

 Gap, and Paradise. The enclosure award is dated 

 20 March, 1820, and is in custody of the rector. The 

 population, which is entirely agricultural, numbered 

 198 in 1900. 



NORTHBOROUGH is not mentioned 

 Mj4N0R in Domesday' and only a very small por- 

 tion of land without the name of a tenant 

 is included in the 12th-century survey of Northamp- 

 tonshire.' It is given in 1 1 89 as part of the de la Marc 

 fee,' and probably formed part of the possessions of 

 this family at a much earlier date, for in 1 125 Ralf 

 de la Mare was holding z\ hides in Northampton- 

 shire 'and in the 13th century Geoffrey de la Mare 

 is said to be holding the same amount in Maxey, 

 Northborough, and Woodcroft.^ 



In 1295 Geoffrey de la Mare was granted free 

 ■warren in Northborough, also a weekly market on 

 Wednesday, and a yearly fair for three days from 

 14 August.' This fair Geoffrey surrendered about 

 seven years later to the abbot of Peterborough upon 

 representation of the injury done by the Northborough 

 fair to the abbot's fair at Peterborough.' 



Northborough probably passed from Geoffrey de 

 la Mare, grandson of the above Geof?'rcy, to Roger of 

 Northborough, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 

 about 1 35 1, in consequence of a debt owed by 

 Geoffrey to the bishop which he was unable to pay.'" 

 In 1389 the manor was in the hands of Hugh of 

 Northborough," possibly a connexion of the bishop, 

 lord of the manor of Etton, remaining with the 

 possessors of Etton until the beginning of the 1 6th 

 century." Roger of Northborough, bishop of Coventry 

 and Lichfield, was probably a relative of Hugh, and 

 took his name from this village.'^ 



In 1 5 14, when Richard Pulter sold the manor of 

 Etton to Sir William Fitzwilliam, a conditional 

 arrangement was made also for the sale of the manor of 

 Northborough to the same person, but the transaction 

 was not completed until some years after the death 

 of Richard in I 5 16." 



William Fitzwilliam died in I 534, seised of North- 

 borough, which he settled on his second son, Thomas." 

 In 1546 Thomas sold the manor to John Browne,'* a 

 member of the family of Browne of Walcot." John 

 Browne died in 1560, leaving as his heir his son 

 Charles," who died without children, when North- 

 borough descended to his brother John," by whom it 

 was sold, in 1563, to James Claypole of King's Cliffe, 

 yeoman.*" James died in I 598, leaving as his heir John," 

 who was knighted." John probably died without chil- 

 dren, as the property passed to his brother Adam, who 

 married Margaret, the daughter of Robert Wingfield 

 of Upton." Edmund, eldest son and heir of Adam, 

 appears to have died without heirs soon after his 

 father's death in 1630," for in 1645 the Claypole 

 property was in possession of John, his younger 

 brother, who had formerly been a member of Gray's 

 Inn, and had married Mary, daughter of William 

 Angell," member of a well-known local family.'* The 

 son of John and Mary was that John Claypole whose 

 marriage with Elizabeth Cromwell," daughter of the 

 Protector, has principally created interest in this 

 family. Claypole appears to have been far from 

 Puritan in character. Mrs. Hutchinson described 

 him as a 'debauched, ungodly cavalier.' He was 

 certainly of a quarrelsome and violent disposition ; 

 he was involved in several quarrels with the clergy 

 and people of Northborough '* and the neighbour- 

 hood, and on account of his high-handed action in 

 tearing pages out of the church registers on one of 

 these occasions was described in that volume as ' a 

 factious gentleman.' ^ He was created a baronet by 

 his father-in-law in 1657, and was also a member of 



^ For an account of Clare see Helpston, 

 his birthplace. 



^ Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 67. 



^ For earlier but probably spurious 

 references see Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 22, 

 and Fulman, Scriptoreif 56, 58, 62. 



■• f'.C.H. Norlbanis, i, 367. 



* Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



* CbronUort, p. 169. 



" Sparke, Scriptoresy 54. For descent 

 of de la Mares see Maxey. 



' Chart R. 23 Edw. I, m. 2, No. 14 

 « Cott. Vesp. E xxii, 76*. 

 ^0 Close, 24 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 6 J. j 

 Close, 25 Edw. Ill, m. i$J. 



^1 Close, 13 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 9 i/. See 

 £tton. 



^■^ See Etton. The evidence is the 

 same: the courts for the two manors are 

 recorded on the same rolls. 



" For his life see Did. Nat. Biog. 



*■* Deeds at Milton House ; Feet ofF. 

 Northants, Hil. 24 Hen. VIII. John 

 Hcydon and others acted as trustees for 

 the Pultcrs. 



^■^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), Ivii, 3. 



" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 38 

 Henry VIII. 



^' See Barnack. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), C xxvii, 

 29. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), C Ivii, 24. 



^ Close, 14 Eliz. pt. viii. 



508 



" Ch.in. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), CC kii, 



lOf. 



" Feet of F. Div. co. Mich 2 Jas. I. 



*> Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), CC Ixii, 

 10;. 



** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), D xxvii, 61. 



^ Ibid. Feet of F. Div. co. Hil. 21 

 Chas. I. 



» See Peakirk. 



^ A symbolical portrait of her is pre- 

 served in the rectory at Northborough. 

 She was her father's favourite daughter, 

 CrorniveU Letters^ No. xli. 



*• Exch. Dep. Mich. 30 Chas. II, 

 No. 5 ; Ibid. Trin. 30 Chas. II, No. 3. 



" Bridges, ii, 531. This volume of the 

 registers has now been lost. 



