A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Schools. The legacy is represented by ^5^9 3'- ^°'^- 

 consols, held by the officud trustees. The ch.irity is 

 regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, 

 dated 7 November, 1893. 



Elizabeth Barbara Seeker by her will, proved at 

 London, 23 May, 1 893, bequeathed to her trustees 

 j^i.ooo upon trust to be invested and the income 

 thereof, paid to her sister for life, and after her death 

 the trust fund to be paid to the Peterborough 

 Diocesan Trustees upon trust to apply one moiety 

 of the income towards the repair of the parish 

 church of King's Cliffe, and the other moiety 



towards the repair of the parish church of St. Mary, 

 Bozeat. 



Mrs. Catherine Cornforth, a native of King's Cliffe, 

 in 1 89 1 built and endowed six almshouses, three for 

 men and three for women, called the Cornforth 

 Homes, for the benefit of old people who have lived 

 continuously in the village for not less than severe 

 years, preference being given to natives. The charity 

 is under the sole management and control of a com- 

 mittee which always includes the rector, if resident, 

 if not the curate-in-charge, and the guardians and 

 overseers of the poor. 



LUTTON 



Lidintone (xi cent.) ; Lodington, Ludinton (xii 

 cent.) ; Luddington or Ludington (until beginning 

 of XV cent., when Lutton begins to be used occa- 

 sionally). 



The parish of Lutton is cut off from the rest of the 

 hundred of Willybrook, only just touching Tansor at 

 its extreme northern point, and being otherwise sur- 

 rounded by parishes in Polebrook hundred, except on 

 the east, where it borders Huntingdonshire. Wash- 

 ingly, part of the ecclesiastical parish of Lutton, is 

 situated in this county, though the whole of the civil 

 parish of Lutton is now in Northamptonshire. The 

 parish lies higher than most of the hundred on the 

 northern end of a ridge bordering the eastern side of 

 the valley of the Nene. The comparatively lofty 

 position, which, however, is only on an average about 

 200 ft. above the ordnance datum, helped to give 

 rise to the couplet : 



Lutton Hill, Yaxley Stone Mill, and Whittlesey Mere, 



Arc the three wonders of Huntingdonshire, 



written apparently when Lutton was considered to be 

 as much in one county as the other, though the 

 most part of it has from the earliest times been in- 

 cluded in Northamptonshire. The civil parish covers 

 about 1,4.90 acres, of which 646^ are arable and 

 711^ pasture ; it is on a subsoil of Oxford cl.iy, with 

 a strong clay surface soil of poor quality, which pro- 

 duces chiefly wheat, beans, and barley. It is en- 

 tirely destitute of woodland. The population, num- 

 bering about 170 in 1 90 1, is entirely engaged in 

 agriculture. 



The chief road passing through the parish is that 

 running from Warmington to Yaxley, which here 

 takes a decided curve to the south. At the village of 

 Lutton roads branch off south-west and south-east 

 towards Polebrook and Gl.itton. 



The village is built irregularly along the road from 

 Warmington to Yaxley, the principal buildings, the 

 church, the school, built in 1S75, and the ancient 

 manor-house being grouped together at the eastern 

 end of the village. The manor-house, now used 

 as a farm-house, is carefully looked after and kept 

 in good repair. North-east of the church is a Wes- 

 leyan chapel, built in 1872. The parish was en- 

 closed in 1867, the award is in custody of the rector. 



ZL/rrOA', which in 10S6 was held by 

 MANOR William of the abbot of Peterborough as 

 2^ hides.' In the reign of Henry I 

 this land was held by William son of Ralph ; Lutton 

 and Messingham were also confirmed to Peterborough 

 as the fee of William son of Ralph by Pope 

 Eugenius in 1 146.' In the list of fees of Peter- 

 borough belonging to the reigns of Henry I to Henry 

 II, two hides and a half in Lutton were held of 

 Peterborough by Ralph son of William.' Soon after 

 this time Lutton came into the hands of the im- 

 portant family of De Dovre, owners since the Con- 

 quest of the honour of Chilham in Kent.* In 1191 

 John de Dovre, under the heading of the debts 

 of Aaron, Jew of Lincoln, owedj^47 los. on Lutton.' 

 John was succeeded about 1 199 by his son Fulbert,* 

 who left an only daughter and heir. Rose.' She in 

 1 248 granted to William, son of Robert Marmion, 

 and his wife Loretta, daughter of Rose, the manor of 

 Lutton.* William was succeeded about 1276 by his 

 son, John Marmion, who released to Peterborough 

 Abbey all his right in the manor of Lullington (now 

 Luddington in the Brook), formerly a member of 

 Lutton manor.' He was granted by Edward I free 

 warren in Lutton in 1292,'° and dying in 1322 

 was succeeded by his son John." In 1338 the 

 manor was settled on Robert son of John and Maud 

 his wife." Robert died without heirs, and after his 

 death two parts of the manor were held for life by 

 George Coleville and Maud his wife, with reversion 

 in turn to Maud widow of John Marmion, Joan 

 wife of John Bernak, and Avice wife of John de Grey 

 of Rotherfield, Joan and Avice being daughters and 

 co-heirs of John Marmion." The manor of Lutton 

 was divided between the families of these two, the 

 portion belonging to Joan and John Bernak de- 

 scending to Maud their daughter, the wife of Ralph 

 Cromwell." Her grandson Ralph was the founder of 

 the college of Tattershall in Lincolnshire,'^ and his 

 half of Lutton presumably formed part of his endow- 

 ment, for there is no further history of it until it is 

 found among the possessions of the college in the 

 reign of Henry VIII.'* The other half of Lutton 

 passed through Elizabeth, heiress of the Greys, to 

 the FitzHugh family," and thence through another 



» r. C. H. Nortbanls, i, 31 5*. 



2 Chronicon, p. 169 ; Sparke, ScriptoreSj 

 . 79. « y. C. H. Ncnhanti, i, 387A. 



■• Surtces, Durham, iv, 6 1. 



• Pipe R. 3 Ric. I, m. i. 



• Ibid. ! John, m. 5 d. 



• G. E. C. Pierage, i, 181. 



' Cott. Vesp. E. xxii, 35. 



' Chronicon, p. 24 ; Cott. Ch. XV, I 8. 



1" Chart. R. 20 Edw. I, m. 5, No. 3. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Edw. II, No. 

 40. 



" Feet of F. Div. Co. 12 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 224. 



584 



" Feet of F. Northants, 16 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 249. 



1* Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Hen. V, No. 72, 



" G. E. C. Peerage, ii, 4-!0. 



** P'ahr EccL (Rec. Com.), iv, 42, 43. 



" Coram Rege R. East. 7 Hen. VI, 

 m. 48. 



