A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



In the reign of Henry I, Walo of Paston held one 

 hide and one virgate in Northamptonshire ; ' this 

 land by a 1 3th-century scribe is identified as that 

 held by the Peverels.' In 1146 Pope Eugenius 

 confirmed the fee of Walo in Paston to Peterborough.' 

 In the 12th-century survey of Northamptonshire 

 ' Peverel ' is said to hold one knight's fee in Paston.* 

 In 1 189 William Peverel held one knight's fee in 

 Paston and Werrington,' and in 121 1 and 1243 

 Robert Peverel was the holder of this fee.° In 1 3 1 5 

 John Peverel held two parts of a knight's fee in Paston,' 

 and in 1348 the same or another John was holding 

 the same amount.' He seems to have been the last 

 member of the Peverel family who held this land. In 

 1396 it was in the possession of John Holand,' and 

 he was followed, as in the other manor of Paston, by 

 the Suttons." 



From the middle of the 14th century to the middle 

 of the 15 th no reference to these manors has been 

 found but they apparently remained in the possession 

 of the Sutton family, for in 1563 Andrew Byllesby of 

 Byllesby, who married Elizabeth the heiress of the 

 Suttons," sold ' the manor of Peverel ' with two water 

 mills, two wind mills, four dovecotes, a free fishery in 

 the water of Eye, common of pasture for all manner 

 of cattle, and over 2,000 acres of land to John Mount- 

 steven, registrar to the dean and chapter of Peter- 

 borough." The extent of land most probably included 

 the manors both of Paston and Peverell, no further 

 reference has been found to a manor called simply the 

 manor of Paston. Edmund Mountsteven, son of John, 

 died in 1635, leaving the manor of Peverel to be sold 

 within three years for the uses of his will. The will 

 was disputed by a member of the Digby family, 

 Mountsteven's heir-at-law, but the bill was dismissed," 

 and in 1649 the manor was in the hands of Edward 

 Palmer," and it probably remained with him till at 

 least after 1663, when he was rated for eleven hearths 

 in Paston." From Edward Palmer the manor was 

 purchased on a 500 years lease by Sir Henry 

 Massingberd, bart., who settled it on his third wife, 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Timothy Rayner, who after 

 Sir Henry's death in 1680, married William Ash.'" 



William Ash was living and in possession of the 

 manor about 1 720," and though it seems, according to 

 the provisions of Sir Henry Massingberd's wiU that 

 the manor should have reverted to his family,'* some 

 other arrangement must have been made, for it re- 

 mained with the descendants of William Ash," by 

 another wife than Lady Massingberd, and by them was 

 sold to Charles Cole and Henry Cole in 1797.'° It 

 remained with this family until 1875, when it was 

 bought by F. St. Lawrence Pratt, whose daughter, 

 Mrs. Le Maistre is the present owner." 



THITJITES OR PASTON.— This manor was 

 formed from various tenements held by the abbey of 

 Peterborough in Paston beyond the land granted out 

 to the knights, and of a messuage and land called Cath- 

 weyt, afterwards known as Thwaites, which during 

 the 1 2th and 13th centuries was part of the quarter 

 fee held of Peterborough abbey in Barnack and 

 Cathweyt, by tenants who took their name from the 

 first-named place ; but they resided at least part of 

 their time in Cathweyt, for Gilbert of Barnack was 

 granted leave by Acharius, abbot of Peterborough, to 

 have an oratory in his demesne of Cathweyt with a 

 chaplain to celebrate at his own expense." 



In '339 John, the holder at that time of the 

 quarter fee, granted the reversion of the messuage and 

 land in Cathweyt held for life by Richard of Crowland 

 and Alice his wife to the abbot of Peterborough." 

 Thwaites is not mentioned in the grants to either the 

 dean and chapter or the bishop of the see of Peter- 

 borough after the dissolution of the monastery, but 

 the manor of Paston granted to the bishop in 1641 " 

 was probably formed of this land and other tenements 

 which had been held of the abbey in Paston. In 

 the commonwealth grant of the lands of the bishop 

 of Peterborough there is no mention of a manor of 

 Paston, but the manor of Thwaites with the site of a 

 manor and a dovecote was sold with Gunthorpe to 

 George Smith." The manor of Thwaites or Paston 

 during the 17th and 1 8th centuries was leased with 

 Gunthorpe."' In the beginning of the 19th century 

 the bishop's lands in this parish were known as the 

 manor of Paston with Gunthorpe and Thwaites. 

 Under the Act of 1836 the lands of the bishop in 

 Paston were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 

 in i860,'' and in 1863 the manor of Paston with 

 Gunthorpe and Thwaites formed part of the endow- 

 ment of the dean and chapter of Peterborough the 

 present lords.'' 



GUNTHORPE was confirmed to Peterborough 

 by Wulfhere ; '■' it is not mentioned in Domesday 

 probably being included, like Paston, in the return 

 for Werrington. The manor formed part of the 

 Southorpe '" fee till 1277, when Geoffrey of South- 

 orpe sold it to Richard of London," who shortly 

 afterwards assigned it to the office of almoner.'' At 

 the end of the 14th century the manor was ap- 

 purtenant to the office of treasurer," and remained so 

 until the dissolution," when it was granted, with the 

 special mention of a tithe barn, to the bishop of the 

 newly-erected see of Peterborough." In 1 63 7 it was 

 leased to Thomas Dove of Upton, and in the time of 

 the commonwealth the manor with a capital messuage 

 was sold by the commissioners for the sale of bishops' 

 lands to George Smith.'" This sale was rescinded at 



1 Chronicon, p. 171. 

 ^ Ibid. note. 



8 Sparke, Scripfores, p. 79. 

 ' Cott. Vesp. E. xxii, 99i. 

 ' Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 

 « Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), p. 61 8 ; 

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



7 Cott. Vesp. E.xxii, 112. 



8 Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 58, 162. 

 » Cott. Nero. C. vii, 130. 



" Misc. Bks. Exch. K. R. iv, 285. 



^^ A younger branch of the Suttons of 

 Dudley {Genealogist^ iii, 351.) 



" Feet of F. Northants, East. 5 Eliz. 



*^ Char. Com. Ref>. xxiv, 152. 



^* Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 24 

 Chas. I. Edward Palmer, with the bishop 

 and dean of Peterborough was one of 



Mountsteven's executors. The will is 

 printed in full in Fenland N. and Q. ii, 

 350. 



IS Lay Subs. R. '^^ 



" Proc. Com. for char, uses J§ (P.R.O.); 

 Massingberd, /f/jr. of Ormshy^ pp. 152, 398, 



''■ Bridges, ii, 532. 



13 Massingberd, Hist, of Ormshy, p. 398, 

 will quoted in full. 



" Feet of F. Northants, Hil. 4 Geo. III. 



™ Ibid. Hil. 37 Geo. III. 



^1 Mrs. le Maistre owns considerably 

 less than was comprised in the * manor of 

 Peverel' in the 1 6th and 17th centuries. 

 The manor probably became dismembered 

 by degrees. 



''^ Swapham, fol. 211. Achariua was 

 abbot from 1200-1210. 



23 Inq, aq. d. File cdv. No. 16. 



«< Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 13. 



^•s Close, 1649, pt. vii, No. 20. Sale re- 

 scinded at the Restoration. 



^ Feet of F. Northants, Hil. 37 Geo. 

 Ill ; Borough Fen Enclosure award. 



W Lond. Ga^. 24 Feb. i860, 641. 



"^ Ibid. 24 Mar. 1863, 1670. 



M Birch. Cart. Sax. No. 22. 



^^ See Southorpc in Barnack. 



8' Chronicon. p. 25, Richard of London, 

 abbot from 1274 to 1295. 



8^ Swapham, fol. 165. 



^^ Cott. Nero, C. vii, 130. 



" ralor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 282. 



8S Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 13. 



°^ Close, 1649, pt. iii. No. 30. 



