PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



WANSFORD 



with small oval shields and clubs (as at Castor and 

 elsewhere) ; (4) a figure with a nimbus with left hand 

 raised giving an order to a second figure who holds a 

 book ; (5) a similar subject, the nimbed figure in this 

 case lifting the right hand and stretching out the left. 



There are several ancient coiRn-lids, etc., lately 

 found, and two are laid down outside the east wall 

 of the chancel. 



The plate consists of a silver communion cup of 

 c. 1570, with a cover paten of 1569. The paten 

 fits the cup, but it is not by the same maker, being 

 of London make, while the cup is probably the work 

 of a local silversmith, whose mark, a fish in an el- 

 lipse, occurs on a number of cups in the county, all 

 of about the year 1570. 



The cup is inscribed. For the towne of Wansford — 

 and on the paten is the date 1 570. 



There is also a silver-plated alms dish, c. 1876, 

 and a pewter flagon. 



There are four bells, the treble and second by 

 Taylor, 1887, the third by Warner, 1887, and the 

 tenor, formerly a mediaeval bell, by an unidentified 

 founder, inscribed Ihs Nasarenus Rex ludeorum, was 

 recast by John Taylor in 1 897. The registers of Wans- 

 ford are entered at Thornhaugh until 1807. There 

 is one book of marriages from 1807 to i8iz, and one 

 of burials and baptisms from 1808 to 1812. There 

 are separate churchwardens' accounts for Wansford 

 from 1703 to 1768, and constables' accounts from 

 17 1 3 to 1780. 



The tithe map and award dated 1 5 February, 

 1839, "^ '" custody of the rector. 

 pzj jTiify Wansford shares with Thornhaugh in 

 Woolsey's school charity. 



WITTERING 



Witheringham (xi cent.). 



This parish covers 2,720 acres, having a subsoil of 

 upper lias and inferior oolite. The topsoil, of a light 

 and sandy character, is not favourable for the produc- 

 tion of pasture grasses, but grain and roots are 

 produced. Disused quarries and gravel pits indicate 

 past industries ; and springs exist in the western part 

 of the parish. There are 1,893 acres of arable land, 

 403^- of pasture, and 47 of woodland. 



The main road from Wansford to Stamford passes 

 through the east of the parish in a north-westerly 

 direction. The small village of Wittering is built 

 along a road branching off this to the west, and con- 

 tains a school opened about 1870, and a Wesleyan 

 chapel built in 1 89 1. The manor farm is situated 

 to the extreme west, and the church of All Saints and 

 the rectory stand at some distance to the south, though 

 there is a tradition that in former days part of the 

 village stood close to the church on the west. A 

 serious fire took place in the middle of the 17th 

 century, which burnt down the greater part of the 

 village. 



Among the place names found in the parish are 

 Bonemills Farm and Lound Wood. The population, 

 numbering 204 in 1901, is entirely agricultural. 



The vill of Wittering was confirmed to 

 MANOR the abbey of Peterborough by the spurious 

 charter of Wulfhere.' 



In Domesday Wittering is returned as having nine 

 hides of land. This estimate probably included Thorn- 

 haugh and other portions of the St. Medard fee, which 

 are not mentioned in Domesday.' There were three 

 mills, and woodland two leagues in length and one 

 in breadth. The tenant under the abbot of Peter- 

 borough was Anschitil de St. Medard,' one of the 

 largest fee holders. Wittering is mentioned as part 

 of the St. Medard fee as late as the 1 6th centarj-, but 

 it was very early held of the St. Medards by a branch 

 of the well-known Ridel family, who also held 

 estates in France and Scotland. The date and 

 manner of the passing of Wittering into the hands 



Ridel. Or three piles 

 gulet 'with a bend azure 

 over alL 



of the Ridel family cannot be exactly ascertained. 

 According to one account it was through the marriage 

 of a daughter of Hugh Ridel, great-nephew of Geoffrey 

 Ridel, the judge who was drowned in the White Ship, 

 with Peter de St. Medard.* Margaret, the daughter 

 of this union, married Hugh 

 Ridel, the grandson of Maud, 

 daughter of the Geoffrey Ridel 

 before mentioned.' This view 

 is rather confirmed by the first 

 documentar)' evidence of the 

 connexion of the Ridels with 

 Wittering, the entry in the 

 Pipe Roll of 1 1 86 that Hugh 

 Ridel paid for having 'such 

 seisin of the land of Wittering 

 as he had when Peter de St. 

 Medard died.' ^ But according 

 to a Peterborough document 



of the 13 th century Hugh Ridel was the second son 

 of Richard de St. Medard, heir of Anschitil, by 

 Mabel Ridel, and uncle of Peter de St. Medard.' In 

 any case Hugh Ridel was lord of Wittering in 1 186, 

 and the place remained in possession of his male heirs 

 until late in the 15 th century. Hugh was succeeded 

 by Richard Ridel, his son,* who in 1 192 was still 

 paying for the entrj- on Wittering at Peter de St. 

 Medard's death.' He seems to have been followed 

 by a Hugh Ridel whose widow Sibil was implicated 

 in a suit concerning land in Wittering, wherein the 

 heir of Hugh was required to warrant, but could not 

 appear because he was in the hands of the king of 

 Scotland." The heir of Hugh was apparently Richard 

 Ridel, who was holding Wittering in 1243, and who 

 may have been the brother of Hugh." Richard was 

 succeeded by his son Hugh," who was involved 

 through his Scotch estates at Cranston in the War of 

 Independence, and whose manor of Wittering was 

 taken into the king's hands for his delay in answering 

 the king's summons to leave John Balliol in 1296," 

 and bestowed on his son Geoffrey. Hugh applied in 



' Birch. Cart. Sax. No. 22. See intro- 

 duction to Soke. 



' y.CH. Northants, i, 3 1 5a. 



' For St. Medards, see Tliomhaugh. 



• Hutchinson, Hist, of Durham., iii, iv. 

 The pedigree of the Ridels given by 

 Hutchinson is not entirely to be trusted. 



' Ibid. The eldest son of Matilda took 

 the name of Ridel. 



• Pipe. R. 32 Hen. II, m. i. 



1 Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 19. 



* Liber de St. Marie de Calchou (cd. 

 Innes), pp. 14, 255, 256. 



9 Pipe R. 4 Ric. I, m. 8. 



539 



^^ Doc, relating to Scotland, p. 219, 



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

 Pat. I Hen. Ill, m. 8. 



^ Chronicon, p. 21 ; Doc. relating to Scst- 

 ianj, p. 509. 



" Anct. Pet. P.R.O. file 142, No. 

 7099. 



