WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



APETHORPE 



the exchequer. His son Sir Anthony was ambassador 

 to Paris in 1596, where his cold and ungenial manner 

 by no means agreed with the temper and wishes of 

 Henry of Navarre, but he retained the royal favour. 



Twice James I stayed at Apethorpe, in 1603 and 

 in 1614; on the latter occasion George V'illiers, 

 afterwards duke of Buckingham, was first brought to 

 his notice, and promptly became a favourite. His 

 son-in-law. Sir Francis Fane, through whose marriage 

 Apethorpe had passed to that family, was the first earl 

 of Westmorland (1623). His son the second earl 

 had a typical career during the civil war, beginning 

 with the king's side and then in 1 64 3 'coming in' to 

 the Parliament and living a retired life at Apethorpe, 

 relieved by writing lampoons on Cromwell and Fairfax 

 till the Restoration, when he became a prominent 

 cavalier. His real talent was literary, and his lines 

 ' Virtus vera nobilitas ' from the volume Otia Sacra 

 are still quoted and quotable. 



The Fanes acceded to William III, and the sixth 

 earl was in favour at the court of Queen Anne. The 

 elder line of the Fanes ended with the seventh earl 

 in 1 762, and a distant relative succeeded as the eighth. 

 With his grandson the tenth earl, who made the 

 famous Gretna Green marri.ige with the heiress of 

 Mr. Childe the banker, Apethorpe became of greater 

 consequence than it had been for more than a cen- 

 tury. This earl was a regular member of Tory 

 cabinets in the first quarter of the 19th century, con- 

 tinuously in office from the fall of Grenville's ministry 

 till Canning's premiership. The eleventh earl was a 

 distinguished soldier under Wellington in the Penin- 

 sular War, and afterwards prominent in diplomacy. 

 He was the possessor of many accomplishments, and 

 in 1823 founded the Royal Academy of Music. His 

 countess was an amateur painter of considerable ability, 

 and their fifth son Julian Fane was a litterateur and poet 

 of genuine talent. The twelfth earl served in the 

 Crimea. Apethorpe has been second to Burghley 

 alone as a great centre of political activity on the 

 Conservative side throughout the nineteenth century. 



HALE (Hala, xi. cent.). — Only li virgates of land 

 in Hale, which belonged to the abbey of Ramsey,' 

 are noted in the survey of 1086. The earliest men- 

 tion of the territory, which afterwards became known 

 as the manor of Hale, is in 1 200, when Robert 

 son of Alan of Hale rendered account of two 

 marks for having ' such seisin of his father's land 

 in Hale as his father had at his death." In 1 212 

 he is returned as holding i virgate there by service 

 of archery.' No further mention has been found of 

 the place until about 1250, when Alan de la Hale 

 died holding I virgate of land in Hale of the king 

 by the service of archery, and also 6 acres of the 

 fee of Nicholas of Hale. William, aged fourteen 

 at his father's death, was Alan's heir.' He died 

 about 1292, holding the 'vill of Hale' with a capital 

 messuage, and was followed by a son William in 

 1305, and by a grandson Robert, a minor.' No 

 court is mentioned in the full descriptions of this 



holding, but the names of several tenants are given.' 

 In an inquiry taken apparently for the proof of age 

 of Robert about 1 3 1 8 he is said to have been born 

 ' at Wodeneuton in a certain chamber in the upper 

 part of the hall of John de Holt.' ' His mother 

 Joan had married John of Eston as her second 

 husband, and enjoyed the Hale estate, or most of it, 

 until her death in 134+.' Soon after this date 

 Robert enfeoffed John Holt of this land ; the latter 

 died in 1350, leaving it to his brother, Peter Holt, 

 but the estate, held of the king by petty serjeanty, 

 was then ' of no value, because no one lives in Hale, 

 and has not since the pestilence.' ' Thus ends 

 the real history of this holding, which was never a 

 manor, but is styled so by several subsequent owners. 

 In 1 38 1 John Knyvet died holding the 'manor of 

 Hale ' jointly with his wife Eleanor by the grant of 

 Peter Holt. The house belonging to the manor is 

 said ' to be lying waste, and to be within the king's 

 forest.' '" The estate continued in the Knyvet family 

 until at least 1 442 ;" from that date no history has 

 been found for Hale until about 1492, when it was, 

 with the manor of Apethorpe, in possession of Sir 

 Guy Wolston." Henceforth it followed the descent 

 of the manor of Apethorpe, passing with it to the 

 Fane family, and in 1904 to the present owner, 

 Mr. Leonard Brassey. 



The land held by Ramsey Abbey in Hale appears 

 as 3 virgates in two undated hidages of the abbey," 

 but it is not mentioned among its possessions in either 

 the ecclesiastical valuation of 1291 or that of 1535. 



There was a church at Hale under the invocation 

 of St. Nicholas, the advowson of which belonged to 

 the owners of the estate. It is first mentioned about 

 1250, when the advowson of the chapel of Hale 

 belonged to Alan de la Hale." It appears in most of 

 the subsequent descriptions of the estate until 1388, 

 and there are several later institutions in the Lincoln 

 registers." In the ecclesiastical valuation of 1 291 the 

 church of Hale in the deanery of Oundle is valued at 

 j^l 6s. %d. The prior of Fineshade at the same time 

 is said to h.ave lands and rent in Hale to the value of 

 j^l 3/." This was probably the land owned by Robert 

 le Breton in the reign of Henry III, and given by his 

 brother Elias to the prior of Fineshade."' 



The church of St. Leonard at 

 ADVOWSO'N Apethorpe was part of the endow- 

 ment of the prebendal stall of Nas- 

 sington in Lincoln Cathedral." The prebendary, 

 therefore, had the right of appointing a curate to ser\e 

 Apethorpe, and the village was under the prebendal 

 jurisdiction. In 1 845, under the Ecclesiastical Com- 

 mission Act of 1836, the prebend of Nassington was 

 dissolved, and Apethorpe and Woodnewton formed 

 into a separate vicamge," to which the bishop of 

 Peterborough presents an incumbent. 



The church has a chancel, south chapel, 



CHURCH nave with aisles and south porch, and 



west tower, the south chapel and tower 



being of the 1 7th century, and faced with wrought 



> V. C. H. Northants, i, 318*. 



' Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4</. 



» Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), 534. 



* Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Hen. Ill, No. i. 

 On Alan's holding, sec also Tata de 

 Nfvill (Rec. Com.), 32. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. I, No. 141. 



« Ibid. 33 Edw. I, No. 274. 



7 Ibid. II Edw. II, No. 22. His 

 mother is called' Matilda' at the head of 



this inquisition, but Joan later on and on 

 every other occasion when she is men- 

 tioned in the records. 



8 Ibid. 18 Edw. II, No. 7. 



9 Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), No. 4 ; 

 Ibid. 30 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.) No. 6. 



10 Ibid. 4 Ric. II, No. 32 ; 12 Ric. II, 



" Ibid. 6 Hen. V, No. 32 ; Feet of F. 

 Northants, 20 Hen. VI, No. 107. 



547 



" Ibid. 7 Hen. VII. 



" Cart. Ram. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 211, 221. 



^* Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Hen. Ill, No. 1, 



*^ Bridges, ii, 461. 



" Pofi Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 39*, 

 55*. 



'? Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), Ii. 14. 



18 For prebend, see Nassington. 



1^ Perpetual curacy styled vicarage 

 (Act 31 & 32 Vict. cap. 117). 



