WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



KING'S CLIFFE 



forest for the beasts of the tenants of King's ClifFe 

 was stated by the king.' 



The men of King's Cliffe were also, as tenants of 

 ancient demesne, free of toll throughout the realm.' 



The parish was enclosed in 1 8 1 3 ; the award 

 is in the custody of the clerk of the parish council. 

 Among the place-names found in this parish are 

 Constable's Holm, Westhay Field, and Baillift's Nook. 

 The population in 1901 was 983. 



KING'S CLIFFE was a royal manor, 

 Mj4N0R part of the ancient demesne of the crown. 

 It is only within the last century that it 

 has come permanently into private hands. In 1086 

 King's Cliffe was rated at one hide and two and a 

 half virgates, with a mill. Among the tenants was a 

 priest. Earl Alfgar had held the manor in King 

 Edward's time; it probably came to the crown through 

 the forfeiture of Morcar, son of that carl.' Through- 

 out the reigns of the Norman and Angevin kings the 

 manor remained in the hands of the crown, and after 

 1 1 54. appears frequently in the Pipe Rolls. From the 

 reign of Edward I until the i8th century King's 

 Clifte was frequently granted to the queen of England 

 as dower. Edward I on his accession granted it to 

 his mother. Queen Eleanor,* and after her death to his 

 second wife, Margaret of France.' In 1327 it formed 

 part of the augmentation of dower of Queen Isabella 

 for her services in the treaty with France in suppress- 

 ing the rebellion of the Despensers. The manor was 

 surrendered by her in 133 1, and re-granted at first 

 during pleasure and afterwards for life.' The manor 

 later formed part of the dower of Queens Philippa of 

 Hainault, Anne of Bohemia, and Joan of Navarre.' 

 During the reign of Henry VI it was kept in the 

 king's hands, but was again granted as dower by 

 Edward IV to his consort, Elizabeth Woodville.' Its 

 proceeds were appropriated by Henry VII to the ex- 

 penses of the king's household,' and seems to have been 

 kept for this purpose throughout the Tudor period. 



In 1 61 2 James I granted the manor for the first 

 time outside the royal family to Sir Thomas Howard, 

 later earl of Berkshire, on a sixty years' lease, with 

 right of holding court-leet and court-baron and all 

 other perquisites and privileges generally belonging 

 to the lord of the manor.'" The ferm was still the 

 old amount of j^62, ^^4.0 rent from the copyholds and 

 _^2 2 profits of demesne lands, etc. Next year the 

 tenants of the manor, which consisted at that time 

 except for one freehold entirely of copyhold land, 

 bought the lease for ^1,600 from Sir Thomas 

 Howard, and the manor was still in the tenure of the 

 township of King's Cliffe when it was taken into the 

 hands of the Commissioners for the Sale of the King's 

 Lands about 1650." 



Charles I granted the fee farm rent of the manor. 



nominally amounting to £6z, but with reprises to 

 only ;^I2, to Henry earl of Holland and other ser- 

 vants of Queen Henrietta Maria as part of her dower." 

 King's Cliffe was sold by the Commissioners for the 

 sale of the King's Lands in the Commonwealth to John 

 Menhire and Thomas Banks, but it returned to Queen 

 Henrietta Maria immediately after the Restoration," 

 and was granted after her death in 1665 as part of the 

 dower of Catherine of Portugal to certain of her servants 

 for ninety-nine years." The next lessee of the manor 

 was Brownlow earl of Exeter, and the trustees of his 

 son in 1 81 2 finally bought it from the crown for 

 the sum of ^^3,000." The Marquis of Exeter, his 

 descendant, is now lord of the manor. 



A 'house of the king' at King's Cliffe is referred 

 to as early as the reign of Henry II," and frequently 

 later until the 15th century. There were appur- 

 tenant to it fishpools, which were kept in repair by 

 the men of the manor, assisted sometimes by the 

 neighbourhood, and traces of them can still be seen 

 in the Willow brook." This house was probably of 

 the nature of a hunting-lodge, and seems from the 

 number of times wine is ordered to be carried there 

 to have been frequently visited by John and Henry III, 

 and on one occasion the pasture of the park at Clive 

 is ordered to be kept for the food of the animals to be 

 driven there against winter for the larder of the king." 



The expenses of celebrating divine service in the 

 chapel of King's Cliffe are accounted for in the 

 reign of Henry III." A survey of the manor was 

 taken for the king in 1272, when the buildings 

 were in good condition, only a few windows and 

 doors needing repair, and there was plenty of fish in 

 the fish-pools.'° Queen Margaret was granted in i 305 

 timber for repair of her manor at King's Cliffe, and 

 firewood for the use of her household there, and game 

 as much and as often as she liked." Edward I and III 

 both made occasional visits to the house.'' In the 

 I 5th century it ceased to be used as a royal residence, 

 and is described as a waste site about 1450,"' and as 

 ashes have been found in the foundations on the site 

 to the east of the church its remains were probably 

 burnt down in the great fire of 1462. 



The park of ClifFe was first mentioned in 

 PARK the reign of Henry III, when deer was fre- 

 quently granted out of it to various lords." 

 About 1339 two parts of the park of King's ClifFe 

 were enclosed by the tenants of King's ClifFe and 

 Woodnewton, who petitioned next year that this 

 action might not be taken as a precedent." Never- 

 theless, in the next reign carpenters and other work- 

 men were ' arrested ' to fence Queen Anne's park at 

 ClifFe.'' The park was not thrown open for some 

 time after the disappearance of the king's house, for 

 in Leiand's day ' Cliff'e Park was partly waullid -.vith 



1 Pat. 2 Edw. VI, pt. ii, m. 14. 

 Right extinguished by enclosures of the 

 Bailiwick of Clive in the forest of Rock- 

 ingham, sometimes called the forest of 

 Clive in 180^. (Award in custody of 

 the clerk of the peace.) 



> Close, I Ric. II, m. 9. 



* y. C. H. Norlhants, i, 307U. 



* Pat. I Edw. I, m. 5. There is a 

 grant to Eleanor of a * manor of Clive ' in 



1243 (ibid. 27 Hen. Ill, m. 3), but it is 

 not certain that this was the Northamp- 

 tonshire manor. 



^ Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 19. 



* Ibid. 1 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 2 } ibid. 5 

 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 30, 2. 



' Ibid, 33 Edw. Ill, pt, ii, m. 23 ; ilid. 



5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 6 j ibid. 4 Hen. IV, 

 pt. ii, m. 1. 



8 Ibid. 5 Edw. IV, pt. i, m, 18 ; ibid, 

 pt. ii, m. 7, 8. 



« Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 302. 



'" Pat. 10 Jas. I, pt. xxvii, m. 5. 



" Exch, Dep. East. 12 Chas. I, No. 

 37 ; Aug. OtT. Pari. Surv. No. 38 ; Exch. 

 Ucp. East. 12 Chas. 1, No. 37. In this 

 document a town cross is mentioned, 

 probably the one whose base still remains 

 in the rectory garden. 



" Pat. 5 Chas. I, pt. xv, m. 9. 



" Close, i6;i,pt, Ixiv, No. 19, Doc. at 

 Burghley House. 



" Pat. 17 Chas. II, pt, ix, No. i ; ibid. 

 24 Chas. II, pt, ix. 



581 



1^ Doc. at Burghlev House. 



" Pipe R. 22 Hen. II. 



'^ Ibid. 9 Hen, II, rot, 4, m. i ; Close, 

 17 John, m. 9. 



1* Ibid. 6 John, m. I 2 ; 7 John, m. 22 ; 

 9 John, m. 13 ; 9 Hen. Ill, m. 19 ; 10 

 Hen. Ill, m. 13 ; 13 Hen. Ill, m. lod. 



" Pipe R. 30 Hen. III. 



S" Chan. Inq. p.m. i Edw, 1, No. 42. 



2' Pat. 33 Edw. I, m. 19. 



" L. Close and Pat. dated there. 



*• Chan. Inq. p.m. iS Hen. VI, No. 42. 



"' Close 15 Hen. Ill, m. 17, 13. 



^ Pat. 32 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 13 ; 

 34 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 32. 



« Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. iS. 



