PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



Cromwell's House of Lords.' John died after his 

 wife and his only son Cromwell, in 1688. Before his 

 death he sold the manor of Northborough, in 1681, 

 to Lord Fitzwilliam,' the ancestor of Mr. G. C. W. 

 Fitzwilliam, the present lord of the manor. 



There was a second small holding in Northborough 

 held of the manor of Torpel. In 1243 Geoffrey of 

 Northborough held half a fee in Northborough and 

 Nunton of the heir of Torpel.' Shortly afterwards he 



TNORTHBOROVGH 



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Village 



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gave these lands, with a capital messuage, to Walter, 

 abbot of Peterborough,* whose successor, William de 

 Hotot, assigned them to the office of chamberlain of 

 the abbey.' In the i6th and 17th centuries this 

 land, with a little in the parish of Maxey, became 

 known as the manor of Northborough and Maxey, 

 and two court rolls for this manor, dated 1549 and 

 1634, exist at Peterborough. The manors of North- 

 borough and Maxey were granted to the dean and 



NORTHBOROUGH 



chapter of Peterborough in 1 541, after the dissolu- 

 tion of the monastery.' In 1650 various small 

 portions of land, said to be part of the manor of 

 Maxey and Northborough, and also the manor-house 

 or capital messuage of Northborough, with malt-houses 

 and kilns, which had been let by the dean and chapter 

 to Alexander Baker, and a messuage called Turvill's 

 Cottage, in the parish of Maxey, with one hall, one 

 little parlour, one kitchen, one buttery and four 

 chambers, were sold to various persons by the 

 commissioners for the sale of bishops' lands.' 

 This sale was rescinded at the Restoration. 



This manor was taken over in 1853 by the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who are now lords. 

 Of the manor-house only the hall and but- 

 teries are left, and of the enceinte only the 

 gatehouse, but these are sufficient to indicate 

 that it must have been a large and important 

 building, and the supposition is borne out by 

 the character of the work, of which the detail 

 is excellent, while the crocketed gables and the 

 charming chimney shaft and finial are more 

 ornate than would have been suitable for an 

 insignificant dwelling. The hall originally was 

 a lofty apartment of one story, but in the 17th 

 century an upper floor was inserted, and dormer 

 windows introduced to light the rooms thus 

 obtained. At the same time the traceried tops 

 of the old windows were filled in to accom- 

 modate the new floor. The arrangement of 

 the plan follows the usual type ; at the entrance 

 end of the hall was the passage called the 

 screens, which gave access on one side to the 

 hall itself, and on the other by three richl)- 

 ornamented doorways, which still remain, to 

 the buttery, to a passage leading to the kitchen, 

 and to the pantry. The kitchen and the offices 

 connected with it have entirely disappeared, and 

 the rooms in the buttery range are used as 

 kitchen, pantry, and parlour. Over these rooms 

 was an upper floor, 

 of which one of the 

 old narrow lights still 

 remains. At the east 

 end of the hall were 

 the rooms used by 

 the family, but these 

 have all disappeared, 

 except for a projec- 

 tion which may have 

 contained the stair- 

 case, or may have 

 been merely a pas- 

 sage connecting the 

 hall with a return 

 wing. There are indications of a door^vay on the 

 first floor in what is now an exterior wall. There 

 is also a quaint window or opening on the ground 

 floor in the shape of a cross. 



The gatehouse had neither portcullis nor draw- 

 bridge, but such as it was it was relied on, together 

 with the surrounding walls and buildings, to protect 

 the house. Bridges speaks of the ' noble gatehouse 

 with spacious stone arches and mouldings, and 



' Diet. Nat. Biog. 



" Deed at Miltoa Hall. 



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



* Walter de St. Edmund, abbot from 

 1233 to 1246. Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, 

 fol. 9+. ' Sparke, Seriptorei, 127. 



* Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 14-17. 

 7 Close, 1650, pt. xxxi. No. 31 ^ Closf, 

 1650, pt. xxviii. No. 1"^. 



