A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



DUDDINGTON 



Dodintone (xi cent.) ; Dudintun (xii cent.) ; Do- 

 dyngton (xv cent.). 



The parish of Duddington, bounded on the west 

 by the River Welland, covers about 1,400 acres. 

 The ground rises gradually to a height of 300 ft. to 

 the east and south of the village ; it is liable to floods 

 along the river bank. The soil, on a substratum of 

 great and inferior oolite, is excellent for agricultural 

 purposes, good hay being obtained from the river 

 meadows, while the arable land, which comprises 

 653 acres, produces wheat and barley of superior 

 quality. There are 43 3 J acres of pasture and 135 of 

 wood. There are several disused slate quarries in 

 the north and east, but the population is now entirely 

 engaged in agriculture. There were 280 persons in 

 Duddington in 190 1. 



The main road from Kettering to Stamford passes 

 through the parish, with a branch south of the village 



The Manor House, Duddington. 



towards King's ClifFe, and one to the north leading 

 to the road from Peterborough to Uppingham. 



Among the place-names found in this parish are 

 Sart Farm, a remembrance of the fact that Duddington 

 was originally reclaimed forest land, the Marcrams, 

 Spider Eye, Long Stocliings, Noses Holt, and Peter's 

 Hook. Duddington was enclosed in 1775, the award 

 is enrolled on the Common Pleas Recovery Roll at 

 the Record Office.' 



The village of Duddington is built on ground with 

 a considerable fall on the north and west towards the 

 Welland, between the main road from Kettering to 

 Stamford and the river. The manor house, with an 

 early 16th-century gable end towards the road, is 

 almost in the centre of the village, and the church 

 stands at a lower level to the north-west. A mixed 



' Com. Pleas Recov. 

 Ill, m. 14. 



R. Mich. 16 Geo. 



" y.C.H. Northants, i, 306a, 388*. 

 » Pipe R. 2-26 Hen. II ; Ca!. Doc. 



56c 



school, largely supported by private donations, stands 

 on the east side of the main road, while at the south 

 end of the village is a disused chapel built by the 

 Quakers, but now in possession of the Congrcga- 

 tionalists. The vicarage stands at some distance to 

 the north of the village at the junction of the main 

 road with the branch towards Peterborough. 



In 1086 Duddington, rated at one 

 MANOR hide, was held by the king. It is noted 

 that the land 'pertinet ad Gretone maner- 

 ium,' to which town its church was until lately a 

 chapel of ease. There was a mill rendering 4/., and 

 woodland a league in length and four furlongs in 

 breadth. There was a priest, though no church is 

 mentioned. The value of the land, ^^lo, h.id not 

 changed since King Edward's time, though ' many 

 things are wanting to it which belong to its ferm in 

 woods and other matters.' In the 12th-century 

 Northamptonshire survey, Dud- 

 dington, still apparently in the 

 hands of the crown, is simply 

 stated to contain one hide.'' 

 The first recorded holder of 

 Duddington under the crown 

 was Richard de Humez, con- 

 stable of Normandy, and a use- 

 ful friend to Henry II. From 

 I 1 55-6 onwards he appears 

 as the grantee of Duddington 

 which was reckoned as worth 

 jfi; yearly, and it is men- 

 tioned in an undated grant to 

 him which appears to belong 

 to the year 1173, but which 

 must have only been a con- 

 firmation of his possession of 

 the place.' He married Juliana, 

 daughter and coheiress of 

 Richard de la Hay, to whose 

 family Duddington afterwards 

 belonged. After the death of 

 Richard de Humez it was 

 confirmed to his son William, 

 with the constableship of Nor- 

 mandy in 1 180.* William lost 

 his English lands on the separa- 

 tion of England from Normandy in 1 204, and 

 Duddington passed to his brother-in-law, Gerard de 

 Camvill, who had married Nichola de la Hay, sister 

 of Juliana. The exact nature of this transaction is 

 not very clear. According to a case concerning the 

 title of Duddington brought in 123 i there seems to 

 have been a family arrangement in the reign of 

 Richard I by which William de Humez gave up 

 Duddington to Gerard and Nichola in exchange for 

 some lands in Normandy. It appears from the con- 

 temporary documents that the grant was not absolute, 

 but that Gerard held of his brother-in-law. 



William of Duddington is the holder until 1204, 

 but Gerard de Camvill is ordered in that year 

 ' to have such seisin of lands in Duddington and 

 Easton which he held of the fee of the constable of 



France, p. iS6 ; Red Bk. of Excb. (R0II3 

 Ser.), p. 655. 



* Cart. Antlq. DD. i. 



