WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



DUDDINGTON 



Normandy, as he had before the constable lost his 

 lands by the war.' There is another grant next year 

 to Gerard of the land in Duddington which had been 

 held by William de Humcz, and in 1207 and the 

 following years he pays the £1 5 ferm for Duddington.' 

 In a late 13th-century statement of the title to 

 Duddington it is said to have belonged to Richard de 

 la Hay in King Richard's time, and to have descended 

 from him to his daughters, but there is no evidence 

 that this was the case.' Five and a half virgates of 

 land in Duddington with cottages and a mill were 

 held in the time of Richard I by Fulk Paynel, and 

 were seized by the king on the loss of Normandy. 

 These were given to Gerard and Nichola by King 

 John in exchange for the land in Easton held by 

 William de Humez.' On the death of Gerard de 

 Camvill about 1 21 5, Duddington, according to an 

 entry on the Pipe Roll, was granted to his widow 

 during the king's pleasure ; there is also a royal 

 command that Lady Nichola should have seisin of 

 Duddington, but it does not state her tenure.' She 

 granted the manor, about 1230, to Oliver Deyncourt, 

 who had married Nichola, either her niece or grand- 

 child.* In 1 23 i,however, the manor was taken into the 

 king's hands and granted to Ralph Brito and his heirs, 

 as land forfeited at the time of the loss of Normandy, 

 and held by Nichola only during pleasure. A suit was 

 brought by Oliver and his wife, and as they recovered 

 their seisin, apparently the family arrangement, in the 

 time of Richard I, was considered to give Gerard and 

 his wife full possession, though William de Humez 

 was entered annually as the holder.' The king 

 does not appear to have been quite satisfied, for a 

 second suit was brought against John son of Oliver 

 in the latter part of the reign, in which John was 

 considered to have proved his title.' John was not a 

 model lord : the tenants complained of his treatment 

 of them with regard to customs, and an order was sent 

 to the sheriff not to allow him to vex the men of 

 Duddington.^ In all these disputes of title during 

 the 13th century Duddington is called a manor, but 

 after the reign of Edward I it is called sometimes a 

 ' vill,' more often land and tenements only, and no 

 reference has been found in the many surveys of the 

 lands of the Deyncourts to a court at Duddington. 

 This is perhaps due to the connexion of Duddington 

 with Gretton manor, but there is no evidence to show 

 that the men of Duddington paid suit at Gretton, and 

 the connexion appears to have entirely lapsed. Dud- 

 dington was included in the tourn of the sheriff at 

 King's ClifFe twice a year.' 



John Deyncourt was succeeded by his son Edmund, 

 whose grandson William obtained tallage from his 

 tenants in Duddington in I 3 I 3.'° During this William's 

 life some change was made in the tenure of the land. 

 The j^l5 entry disappears, and William and his de- 

 scendants are said to hold land in Duddington of 





Deyncourt. Azure 

 a Jesie dancetty berwtin 

 ten billett Qr, 



the earldom of Lincoln for one sore sparrow-hawk." 

 William died in 1364, seised of the 'vill of Dudding- 

 ton ';" his estate there is described in 1379, on the 

 death of his wife MilHcent, who held Duddington in 

 dower of the inheritance of 

 her grandson William, as 1 7 vir- 

 gates of land and meadow, with 

 rents from various tenants." 

 William died in 1381, and 

 was succceeded by his two sons 

 Ralph and John successively. 

 William, the son and heir of 

 John, died in 1422, leaving as 

 heiresses his sisters Alice and 

 Margaret, who married respec- 

 tively Lord Lovell and Ralph 

 Lord Cromwell.'* On the 

 death of Margaret without 



children Alice became sole heiress." She and her 

 second husband, Ralph Boteler, granted the manor in 

 1467 to feoffees, apparently with the intention of 

 bestowing it on Magdalen College, Oxford .'' But 

 though royal licence was obtained to do so in 1475 

 the grant appears to have never taken effect, for 

 Duddington was confiscated by the crown on the 

 attainder of Francis Lovell, grandson of Alice, in 

 1485, and was granted by Henry VII to Sir Thomas 

 Brandon, uncle to Charles Brandon, who was created 

 duke of Suffolk by Henry VIII. In 15 1 5, after the 

 death of Sir Thomas, Duddington was granted to Sir 

 Edward Guildford and his heirs male." It again 

 escheated to the crown, and was granted in 1 5 3 8 to Sir 

 John Russell in tail male." It remained in his family 

 until 1 585, when Francis, earl of Bedford, descendant 

 of Sir John, sold it to William Lord Burghley and Sir 

 Thomas Cecil," with whose descendants the manor 

 remained until 1798. The manorial rights and some 

 of the estate were then sold to Thomas Jackson, 

 whose family had owned land in Duddington since 

 the beginning of the 17th century. His son sold the 

 lordship of the manor and a portion of the property to 

 John Monckton in 1843, whose son, Mr. E. P. 

 Monckton, is now lord, though the Marquis of Exeter 

 and Mr. N. Goddard Jackson have still considerable 

 property in the parish ; " the latter still holding the 

 manor-house. 



There was another holding in Duddington which 

 can be traced through the greater part of the 13 th 

 and 14th centuries. Henry III in 1229 granted to 

 Ralph Brito land in Duddington, and the rent-ser\'ice 

 of Roger de Eston, William son of Ralph of Blather- 

 wick, and of certain land held to ferm by the men 

 of Duddington." Two years later he granted to 

 William Brito 50 acres of wood next the land of his 

 brother Ralph." All this land, held of the crown by 

 the service of a pair of gilt spurs, was in the hands of 

 William at his death, about 1 26 1." He was suc- 



' Close R. 6 John, m. 21, m. 3 ; Ibid. 

 8 John m. 2 ; Pipe R. 27 Hen. II- 

 6 John ; Ibid, 9 John- 17 John ; Bracton, 

 Note Book (ed. Maitland), 503, ^6v 



2 Chan. Inq. p. m. 21 Edw. I, No. 149. 



8 Ibid. Norman R. 6 John, m. 2. 



•" Pipe. R. 2-14 Hen. Ill ; Close, 

 17 John, m. 6. After her husband's 

 death Lady Nichola was sheriff of Lin- 

 colnshire [Dui. Nat. Biog.) 



^ The word used is * ncpte.' Pipe R, 

 15 Hen. III. 



'Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 19, 13 ; 

 Bracton, 503, 565. 



? Cur. Reg. R. No. 152, m. dJ. 

 ^ Chan. Inq. p. m. 21 Edw, I, No. 149 ; 

 CIo^c, 35 Hen. Ill, m. lOi/. 

 ' Assize R. No. 632, m. 30. 

 '" Close, 6 EJw. II, m. 10. For 

 pedigree of Deyncourt see Blore, RutitinJ, 

 p. 1 50. 

 *^ Assize R. No. 632, m. 30. 

 " Ch.in. Inq.p.m. 3 8Edw. Ill, No. ii. 

 18 Ibid. 3 Ric. II, No. 18. 

 " Ibid. 5 Ric. II, No. 20 ; 3 Hen. IV, 

 No. 16; 7 Hen. IV, No. 30 ; i Hen. VI, 

 No. 22 i 25 Hen. VI, No. to. 



561 



" Ibid. 33 Hen. VI, No. 34. 



'« Feet of F. Northants, 6 Edw. IV, 

 No. 16 ; Pat. 15 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 15. 



'? L. and P. Hen. yill, ii, pt. i, p. 3 I 2 ; 

 Pat. 7 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 21. 



" Pat. 30 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 14. 



" Feet of F. Northants, Hit. 27 Eliz. 



** Deeds belonging to Mr. Monckton. 



" Close, II Hen. Ill, m. 17. 



«" Ibid. 15 Hen. Ill, m. 10; Fine R. 

 17 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Henry III, 

 No. 18. 



71 



