PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PASTON 



Paston is not mentioned by name in Domesday, 

 but is probably included in the description of Werring- 

 ton, to which over eleven hides are assigned.' Of 

 these, three are held by four knights of the abbey, 

 perhaps one of them was the founder of the Tot 

 family, who are the first recorded holders of the 

 manor of Paston. 



About 1 125 Geoffrey 'del Tot ' held one hide on 

 Northamptonshire of the abbey of Peterborough,' and 

 in 1 146 Pope Eugenius confirmed to the monastery 

 the fee of Ralf de Tot in Paston.' In l 189 one fee 

 in Paston was held by Ellis de Tot,* whore son 

 Robert made an agreement with the abbot of Peter- 

 borough concerning the service of one knight's fee in 

 Paston, Prestgrave, Dogsthorpe, and Peterborough. 

 Robert agreed to do the ser\'ice of half a knight, and 

 to give the abbot 5/. and lod. every Easter and 

 Michaelmas.^ Robert also gave to the chapel of St. 

 Mary de Parco pertaining to the infirmary, 7 acres 

 of land in Paston,' which the abbot granted to 

 Hugh Dod.' Geoffrey, son of Robert de Tot, 

 quitclaimed to Robert,' abbot of Peterborough, 

 the ser\'ices of Everard, son of Richard, for lands 

 in Dogsthorpe.' William, the heir of Geoffrey, 

 was holding the half fee in 1243,'° he appears to 

 have been the last member of his family to hold in 

 Paston." 



Sir Geoffrey Russell, at one time seneschal of Peter- 

 borough abbey, was the next holder of this land," and 

 during his tenure it became associated with a small 

 amount of land in Milton, which a(ter%vards appears 

 to have become absorbed in Paston. This portion of 

 land in Milton was probably that held by Robert de 

 Stokes in the 12th century.'^ Some land in Milton was 

 in the hands of Geoffrey Russell by 1253," and in 

 1290 John, son of Geoffrey Russell, did homage to 

 the abbot of Peterborough for land in Paston, Milton, 

 and elsewhere.'^ Next year Geoffrey Russell, with his 

 wife and one son, took the 

 cross before the high altar at 

 Peterborough ; the same year 

 his brother. Sir Andrew Russell, 

 died, and his son John did 

 hom.ige to the abbot for land 

 in Milton and Paston." 



Shortly after this John Rus- 

 sell, who appears to have been 

 in financial difficulties, granted 

 all his lands in Milton and 

 elsewhere to Robert de Water- 

 ville," who obtained a grant of 

 free warren in Milton in I 304." 

 Robert in I 307 granted half the lands to Bartholomew 

 de Badlesmere and Margaret his wife, and also the 

 reversion of the other half, which had been assigned to 

 John de Insula for a debt, in which John Russell, 



Badlesmerk. Argetit 

 a fciie hefween Pwo gi"t- 

 mel bars gules. 



Verl. Quarterly gutd 

 and or tvitb a moiet argent 

 in the quarter. 



feoffor of Robert, was bound to him." In 131 5, 

 under this arrangement, Bartholomew was holding 

 half a fee in Milton, and John de Insula, Richard de 

 Marholm, and John de Houton half a fee in Paston 

 of Peterborough.™ Upon the disgrace and death of 

 Bartholomew de Badlesmere, for taking part in the 

 war against the king, his lands in Paston and Milton 

 were confiscated," but they were restored to his son 

 Giles, who, about 1 329, died holding 'a certain 

 manor in Milton and land in Paston,' which he had 

 let to William Casse for his life and 20 years after." 

 The heirs of Giles were his four sisters. In 1341 the 

 manor of Milton, with land in Paston, was assigned as 

 part of her share to Matilda, 

 wife of John de Vere, earl of 

 Oxford." John died in 1361, 

 seised of the ' manors of Paston 

 and Milton.' " Maud died a 

 few years later, and on her 

 death these lands were described 

 as ' the site of a manor de- 

 stroyed in Milton and land in 

 Paston.' '■' Her heir, Thom.-.s 

 earl of Oxford, granted the 

 lands in Paston and Milton 

 to William de Wynkefield and 

 Joan his wife for their lives 



at the rent of one rose.** Robert, the heir of 

 Thomas earl of Oxford, the favourite of Richard II, 

 by whom he was created Duke of Ireland, was out- 

 bwed by the Merciless Parliament in 1388, and all 

 lands confiscated." The lands in Milton and Paston 

 were granted in 1399 to the king's esquire, John de 

 Holand, for life.'^ They were later restored to the 

 de Vere family. Richard de Vere, earl of Oxford, 

 cousin of Robert, died in 14 1 7, having granted the 

 reversion of the manors of Milton and Paston, after 

 the death of John de Holand, to William Buckworth. 

 Buckworth, however, renounced his claim, and this 

 grant never came into operation." In 1428 John 

 Sutton held the half fee in Paston which had belonged 

 to the earl of Oxford,'" and in 1439 Sir Robert Vere 

 quitclaimed to Thom.is Sutton and his heirs all right 

 in the 'manors of Paston and Milton.'" This is the 

 last mention of Milton which has been found in the 

 history of this manor, except in a grant to Richard 

 duke of Gloucester of the manors of Milton and 

 Paston, among many other possessions forfeited by John 

 de Vere, earl of Oxford, for treason in 1462." This 

 grant appears to have only been that of the overlord- 

 ship of the manor, of which the Suttons were the real 

 owners. 



John de Holand and the Suttons held also another 

 manor in Paston called the manor of PETERELS, ^nd 

 in and after the 1 6th century this name appears to have 

 been given to both manors together. 



' V.C.H. Northants, i. 313*, 3151. 



^ Cbronieony p. 172. 



^ Sparkc, Scri^tores, p. 78. 



* Cart. Anticj. DD. 17. Ellis was the 

 son ot Ascelinus de Tot, who gave to the 

 sacristan of the abbey 'with the assent of 

 Hclia my son,* seven acres of land for the 

 soul of Brithine his wife (Swapham, fol, 

 219 ; Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4). 



' Feet of F. Northants, 10 Ric. I, 

 No. 76. 



* Swapham, fol. 220. ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 

 No. 38, fol. 45. 



' Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 45. 



* Robert de Lindscy, 121 1-22. 



2 



* Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 105. 



1" Ibid. No. 60, fol. 251 J Egcrton, 

 2733, fol. 125. 



^^ Amicia dc Tot appears as one party 

 in a suit concerning land in Peterborough 

 in 1284 {Cbronieon p. 71). 



" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 153. 



^ Cott. Vesp. E. xxii, fol. 99. 



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

 No. 664-5. 



'» Cott. Vesp. E. ixii, 46*. 



^* Cbronicon^ p. 147. 



'" Close, R. 32 Edw. I, m. 2, No. 23. 



'8 Chart. R. 34 Edw. I, m. 2, No. 23. 



" Close, 19 Edw. II, m. 32. 



2» Cott. Vesp. E. liii, 112. 



« Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 398. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. Ill (2nd 

 nos.), No. 54J. 



»> Fine R. I 2 Edw. Ill, m. 8. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. Ill, No. 84. 



^ Ibid. 40 Edw. Ill, No. 38. 



K Ibid. 45 Edw. Ill, No. 45. 



"" Diet. Nat. Biog. 



«s Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 5. 



»» Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. V, No. 53. 



«• Misc. Bks. Eich. K. R. iv, 235. 



" Feet of F. Northants, 17 Hen. VI, 

 No. 88. 



»^ I'.it. 2 Edw. IV. pt. i, m. 5. 



6S 



