PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



THORNHAUGH 



X131 16/. ^J. consols for educational purposes, and 

 also a sum of ^^22 5;. lod'. consols in respect of 

 'Poor's Money.' The profits of ;^I05 consols held 

 by the Official Trustees, except £l is. which is sent 



to the Stamford infirmar)-, is distributed to the poor 

 of Thornhaugh in money under the will of Mary 

 Ann Scotney, proved 26 May, 1876, and augmented 

 by Martha Allison. 



UFFORD 



UfFewrthe (xii cent.). 



The parish of UfFord now covers about 1,185 acres. 

 Sainton, still ecclesiastically attached to Ufford, 

 was formerly also part of the civil parish. No 

 railway passes through the parish. The station of 

 UfFord Bridge on the Great Northern, about half a 

 mile to the west of the village, is in the parish of 

 Barnack. There is only one main ro.id, along which 

 the village is built ; it strikes off from the Roman 

 King Street, a branch of the Ermine Street, in the 

 south of the parish of Helpston, and runs through 

 the parish in a north-westerly direction to Sainton. 

 A by-road runs from the middle of the village west- 

 ward to the station with a continuation to Barnack. 



The topsoil of the parish is clay; the subsoil in the 

 south, upper lias and inferior oolite, and in the north, 

 great oolite. There are 693f acres of arable land, 

 392J pasture and 138 of woodland. The principal 

 crops are wheat, barley, and roots. The population 

 (numbering 117 in 1901) is entirely engaged in 

 agriculture. 



The village of Ufford is built on the northern slope 

 of a ridge of high land, and has one main street run- 

 ning in a north-westerly direction, with the church and 

 rectory on the high ground at its south end. At the 

 foot of the slope on the west side of the street stands 

 Ufford Hall, an ashlar-faced building with a forecourt, 

 its approximate date being given by the rainwater 

 heads as 1 75 1. The internal decorations in the 

 ' Adam ' style fit that date very well. It occupies an 

 old site, being the successor of the ancient manor 

 house of Uphall, and the present owner, Mr. M. 

 Wolryche-Whitmore, has found fragments of older 

 masonry on the site. 



The site of the old manor house of Downhall, in 

 a small wood, is still to be seen, though no masonry 

 remains above ground. Extensive foundations were 

 uncovered and partly quarried for building material 

 by the late Lord Kesteven. 



The remains of the manor house of Torpel lie at 

 the south-east corner of a large wood, known as the 

 Lawn, to the south-east of the hamlet of Ashton. 

 Little beyond rubble masonry is left, but there is 

 enough to show that the building was of great 

 strength, being a square of 40 ft. inside, with walls 9 ft. 

 thick. A little ashlar facing with a vaulting-shaft 

 remains at the south-west angle inside, suggesting that 

 there was a vaulted basement. The date of the 

 remains can only be given within wide limits, but the 

 masonry seems to be of the 14th century. 



The site has been moated, and a pool still exists on 

 the east side. 



The rectory house is an interesting building, which 

 in spite of much refitting, preserves the general out- 

 lines and the hall roof of an H -shaped house of the 

 14th century. The roof has four arched principals 

 set about 1 1 ft. apart, with cusped windbraces. It is 



now cut up into bedrooms and ceiled at half height, 

 the windbraces formerly above the purlins, being fixed 

 horizontally under the ceiling-joists, while those below 

 the purlins remain in position. The hall, now divided 

 into two stories, preserves no other ancient feature 

 than the roof; in its north wall are two large pseudo- 

 Gothic windows, and a doorw.iy. 



There is one school for the children of Ufford, 

 Sainton, and Ashton. 



The hamlet of Ashton, since 1887, part of the civil 

 parish of Sainton, lies about a mile to the north of the 

 village. The manor farm in the hamlet is on the site 

 of a manor house probably belonging to the manor of 

 Torpel. 



Among the place names found in this parish are 

 Cinderells, Toungate furlong, Ashwell cross, Sherc- 

 wong, Whytepillvvong. 



The enclosure award of Ufford and Sainton, dated 

 17 September, 1799, is in the custody of the rector. 



Themanorof rO^P^LjOneofthe largest 

 MANORS in the soke of Peterborough, extended into 

 Maxey, Barnack, and Helpston, also com- 

 prising thegreaterpart of Ufford, Sainton, and Ashton.' 

 The name appears in the spurious grant of Wulfhere 

 to Peterborough in 664,' but there is no mention of 

 it in Domesday, and it seems probable that the name 

 only originated with the first holders of the manor. 

 It never seems to have been a real place name, and 

 not even a field now commemorates it. The family 

 of de Torpel, of whom a minor named Roger was the 

 representative, held in the reign of Henr)' I twelve 

 hides of Peterborough Abbey in Northamptonshire 

 for the service of six knights.^ They also held land 

 in Lincoln of Peterborough, and elsewhere of the 

 crown.' The successive lords were almost invariably 

 named Roger, and came to be distinguished by num- 

 bers, like the members of a dynasty ; thus it was 

 granted to Roger de Torpel ' quartus,' that he and 

 the men of his fee beyond Micheldike against Barnack 

 should be quit of herbage in the marsh of Peakirk in 

 return for giving up the right of taking thieves in his 

 fee.' Roger de Torpel was one of the ringleaders of 

 the knights of Peterborough who refused to perform 

 the military service due from their fees, demanded 

 by King John in the absence of the abbot. The de 

 Torpel lands were consequently temporarily granted to 

 William Blome. At the beginning of the next reign 

 Roger de Torpel at first refused to go to the siege of 

 Siham, except at the abbot's expense, but was forced 

 to go through the intervention of Peter des Roches 

 and Hubert de Burgh.' 



The fee of Roger de Torpel in Torpel, Ufford, 

 Pilton, Maxey, Cottentock, and Glapthorn was con- 

 firmed to Peterborough by Richard I' and Henry III.' 

 Elsewhere in the reign of Henry III parts of North- 

 borough, Sainton, Helpston, and Southorpe, are 

 included in the Torpel holding.' Torpel was the 



' Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. I, No. 6. 3 1, Exch. 

 Spec. Com. 1659, No. 6106. 



' Birch, Curl. Sax. No. 22 ; «ee intro- 

 duction to Soke. 



® Chronicoriy p. 69. 



* Close 13 Hen. Ill, m. 17. 



* Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 66, 



* Swapham, fol, 270, 



533 



' Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 

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

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

 Egerton MS. 2733, fol. 125. 



