PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



the Restoration. In the i8th century the holders 

 of the manor of Peverel in Paston were also lessees of 

 this manor.' The manor was leased to Sir C. M. 

 Clarke in 1838, and was then described as containing 

 113 acres.' The Ecclesiastical Commissioners under 

 the Act of 1836 took Gunthorpe over in i860, ' and 

 since 1863 the dean and chapter have been lords of 

 Gunthorpe as an appurtenance of the manor of 

 Paston.* 



JV^LTON is included as an appurtenance of 

 Paston in the charter of king Wulfhere to Peter- 

 borough,^ and it is also mentioned in connexion 

 with Paston in the charter of Edgar ° and the story of 

 Ingulph.' There is also one probably genuine pre- 

 conquest reference to Walton : Edmund yEtheling 

 gave ' three poles in the vill called Wealton ' with 

 some land in Peakirk to the new monastery of the 

 Holy Trinity, the mother of our Lord and all saints.' 



Walton is not mentioned in Domesday Book ; it 

 was probably included in the estimate given for 

 Werrington. About 1 1 25, 2 hides and I virgate in 

 Walton of the fee of Peterborough paid geld to the king. 

 There were eight full villeins, seven half villeins, and 

 four socmen.' Later in the same return the socmen of 

 Walton are said to hold one virgate and to serve with 

 the knights.'" Walton was confirmed to the monastery 

 of Peterborough by Pope Eugenius in 1146," and by 

 Richard I " and Henry IIL" 



In a description of Walton in the 13th century 

 there is said to have been 2 hides and I carucate of 

 land there. William son of Thorold, probably the 

 holder of one of the manors in Castor, held I virgate, 

 and is called a socman. Among the other tenants 

 was Henry Puttock, a member of a family who after- 

 wards held land for many years in Werrington." In 

 1291 the manor of Walton, with the profits of court 

 and stock, was worth ^7 4_f. " By 1 3 1 5 there was 

 a capital messuage at Walton, and the value had in- 

 creased to j^i2 16/. I !(/."' The manor of Walton 

 was granted to the bishop of Peterborough in 1541 

 after the dissolution of the monaster^'." 



In 1648 the commissioners for the sale of bishops' 

 lands sold the manor of Walton to Sir William Roberts, 

 with a capital messuage which had been leased to John 

 Sawson during the lives of William, Robert and 

 Francis Underwood." This sale was rescinded at the 

 Restoration. 



The manor was vested in the Ecclesiastical Com- 

 missioners in 1 860," and was given to the dean and 

 chapter of Peterborough, the present lords, in 1863.™ 



There was a holding in Walton held by knight's 

 service of Peterborough Abbey which can be traced 



PASTON 



continuously through several centuries. In the reign 

 of Henry I, Swian was holding 3 virgates and I acre 

 in Northamptonshire which is identified as a holding 

 in Walton by a 13th-century scribe." In 1 189 half 

 a knight's fee in Walton and Woodcroft was held by 

 Herbert and Roger of Woodcroft,'^ and early in the 

 13th century, John, son of Herbert, was holding land 

 in Walton.'' In 1245 William son of John held a 

 quarter fee of Peterborough." In 1276 John of 

 Walton did homage to the abbot," he was perhaps the 

 grandson of the William holding in 1243, for shortly 

 before this time William son of William, son of John 

 of Walton, gave to the abbey a place in the marketstede 

 of Peterborough.-'' John was apparently the last of 

 his family to hold this land, for Abbot Godfrey " 

 granted it to Richard of Crowland, son of Benedict of 

 Eye,'' whose widow, Alice, held it in I348.-^ By 

 1396 it was in possession of John of Wakerle,'" 

 whose family held it to the end of the 15th centurj'." 

 This family were perhaps succeeded by a branch of 

 the Styles of Bainton who had a considerable estate 

 in Walton from the 1 6th to the i8th centur)-.'' 

 Several members of the family are buried in Paston 

 church. 



WERRINGTON.— {Widenntone xi cent., Wyther- 

 ington xiii to xvi cent.) The vill of Werrington 

 was confirmed to Peterborough in the charters of 

 both Wulfhere and Edgar," and it is one of the 

 manors stated by Ingulph to have belonged to the 

 abbey in 10 1 3 and to have shared in the devastation 

 of the Danes.^' 



Werrington seems to have been originally the most 

 important of the collection of hamlets in the parish of 

 Paston ; it is the only one mentioned in Domesday, 

 when the abbot of Peterborough had 8 hides and I 

 virgate of land in Werrington,'^ as well as 3 hides 

 held by four of the abbot's knights.'^ This probably 

 included Paston and all its hamlets, as none except 

 Werrington are mentioned in Domesday, and perhaps 

 also some of the surrounding district, as several neigh- 

 bouring places are also not mentioned in the return. 



In the description of the possessions of Peterborough 

 in the early 12th centur)', 3 hides and I virgate 

 are assigned to Werrington. Part of the rent in kind 

 due from the manor was paid jointly with Walton. 

 Of this land I hide and half a virgate was held by 17 

 socmen who served with the knights.'" Werrington 

 and Walton and their appurtenances were confirmed 

 to Peterborough by Pope Eugenius in 1 146, and in his 

 second bull in the same year the names of two tenants 

 of Werrington are given, Aluric and Odo.'" Wer- 

 rington with a chapel, now mentioned for the first 



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

 Ill ; Massingberd, f/;jr. of Ormsby,-f, 152. 



^ Lond, Gax, 24. Feb. i860, p, 641. 



» Ibid. 



■• Ibid. 24 March, 1S63, 1,670, 



^ Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 22. 



"^ A. S. C/iroti. (Rolls Ser.), i, 220. 



'' Fu\man, Scriptoni, p. 56. 



" Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 42, 

 printed in Dugdale, see Peakirk. 



^ Chronicon, p. 165. 

 '» Ibid. p. 173. 

 1^ Sparke, Scriptores, p. 78. 

 " Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 

 " Chart. R. 11 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 19. 

 1' Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 188. 

 1° Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), p. 53. 

 '* Sparke, Scriptorcs^ p. 185. 

 >^ Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 13. 



'8 Close, 1649, pt. iii. No. 36. 



1' Lond. Ga^. 24 March, 1 860, No. 

 5410. 



-" Ibid. 24 March, 1863, No. 1670. 



2^ ChronicoTtf p. 172 and note. 



*" Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



2^ Egerton MS. 2733. 



-' Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 251. 



^^ Cbronicon, p. 22. 



*" Swapham, fol. i6ii. During the 

 abbacy of Richard of London (1272-95.) 



^' Abbot, 1299-1321. 



^ Add. MS. 2<;288, fol. 59. 



2' Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 160 d. 



s» Cott. Nero. C vii, 1 ^o. 



" Misc. Bks. Exch. K. R. iv, 235 ; 

 Bridges, ii, 536. 



M Lay Subs. R, JJJ, V/ ; Bridges ii, 

 536. 



^ Birch, Carl. Sax. No. 22 ; ^. S. Cbron. 

 (Rolls ser.), i, 220. 



** Fulman, Scriptorei, p. 56. 



»s y.C.H. Nortkant!, i, 313*. 



*" Ibid. 315a. The four knights were 

 probably the holders of the Pcvcrcl and 

 Tot fees in Fasten, the Gunthorpe fee 

 and either the holding in Walton or that 

 of the Grip family, who held principally 

 of the Tots, but are sometimes called 

 knightsof the abbey. (Swapham, fol. 221 ; 

 Chart. R. I John pt. ii, m. 30.) In an 

 agreement concerning amercement in 31 

 Edw. I it was decided that Werrington 

 should pay J, Walton J, and Paston and 

 Gunthorpe the rest (Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 

 60, fol. 1531/.) 



®* Cbronicon^ pp. 161, 173. 



'^ Sparke, Scriptorei, pp. 78, S3. 



