WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



NASSINGTON 



1637, and from 1648 to 1653 ; marriages from i;8o 

 to 1597, from 1601 to 1607, from 1614 to 1616, 

 and from 1622 to 1652 ; burials from 1560 to 16 16, 

 and from 1622 to 1651. There are gaps in all from 

 1599 to 1601, and from 1616 to 1622. At the end 

 of this book is this entry : * Richd. Forster's child 

 christened at Fotheringhay by Mr. Welby, and not 

 signed with the sign of the cross, 2 June, 1642.' 

 The second book contains marriages from 1 654 to 

 1703, baptisms from 1653 to 1703, and burials from 

 1654 to 1704. The third book has been destroyed ; 

 in the fourth there is a note of various entries 

 * brought in from the old register, which was torn in 

 1768.' These comprise marriages from 1749 to 

 175 I, and baptisms and burials from 1750 to 1768. 

 The fourth book also contains baptisms from 1768 to 

 1812, and burials from 1772 to 1812. Marriages 

 from 1754 to 18 1 2 are registered in a fifth book. 



There are two books of churchwardens' accounts, 

 the first from 1675 to 1776, the second from 1776 

 to 1 86 1. 



Nassington shares in the charity of 

 CHJRITIES Lady Grace Mildmay, the rent- 

 charge of £g and the dividends on 

 j{^II7 15/. I Of/, consols held by the official trustees 

 being yearly expended on apprenticing children in 

 this village. 



No records exist concerning the church and poor 

 land which produces about j^i2 a year and is 

 divided between education, church repairs, and poor 

 relief. 



There was also a donation of ^10 from some un- 

 known benefactor, which appears to have lapsed. 



Sarah Males by will in 1850 left £^ a year for the 

 Sunday School. The legacy is represented by 

 j^ 1 7 2 OS. I Oi/. consols held by the official trustees. 



SOUTHWICK 



The parish of Southwick, which has had an ex- 

 ceptionally uneventful histor}' and has passed through 

 fewer hands than almost any other in the county, 

 presents several local peculiarities. With the excep- 

 tion of Benefield it is the largest in the neighbour- 

 hood, covering about 4,600 acres, and its population 

 is one of the smallest (228 in 1901). This is due 

 to a large portion of its area consisting of additions, 

 made in the 19th century, of extra-parochial forest 

 land, which also accounts for the fact that the civil 

 parish of Southwick is over four times as large as the 

 ecclesiastical. 



Considerably over half the whole extent is meadow 

 and pasture, chiefly because the strong clay soil is not 

 adapted to most branches of agriculture, and the con- 

 version of arable to pasture has gone on largely in 

 recent years. There are now 574f acres of arable 

 land, 1,6 8 8 J- of pasture, and i 5 3^ of woodland. The 

 subsoil for the most part is great oolite ; the village 

 lies on a tongue of inferior oolite, and there is a belt 

 of cornbrash to the north. The surface slopes up 

 gradually from the Nene, which bounds the parish on 

 the east, to a height of 300 ft. above the ordnance 

 datum on the boundaries of Deenethorpe and Blather- 

 wycke parishes on the west. Three main roads 

 converge at the village of Southwick, running thence 

 west to Bulwick, south to Glapthorn, and north-east 

 to Woodnewton. 



On the bend of the Nene in the east of the parish 

 stands Perio mill, and about half a mile distant Perio 

 barn, the sole remains of a former village in which 

 there was a small hospital.' The site and lands of 

 this hospital were given by Queen Elizabeth to 

 William Tipper and Robert Dawe.' 



The village of Southwick lies about a mile west of 

 the Nene. Southwick Hall, the residence of the 

 Rev. G. H. Capron, the manor-house, with the 

 church of St. Mary and the church school, built 

 in 1872, are situated near one another at the eastern 

 end. There is an exceptional number of outlying 



houses in this parish; they are principally old forest 

 lodges and formerly extra-parochial. Among them 

 are Tottenhoe Lodge, Crosswayhand Lodge, Morehay 

 Lawn House, and Bulwick Lodges. Near the last a 

 Baptist chapel has been built. 



The population is entirely engaged in agricul- 

 ture. Among the place-names found are Babholm, 

 Langewelsike, Square Foxholes, Rusdales, Fetherby, 

 Censer's Coppice, Frere's Close, Crayley Wood, 

 and Assart Close. 



SOUTHWICK is not mentioned in 

 M^NOR Domesday, but may have been included in 

 the 6 hides of ancient demesne returned 

 under Tansor.' In 1 1 30 Salamon, clerk of Southwick, 

 paid to the crown twenty marks of silver for his land 

 in Southwick.* In the 12th-century survey of 

 Northamptonshire a hide of land in Southwick and 

 Yarwell was held by William de Lisurs, lord of the 

 manor of Benefield, and this land follows exactly the 

 descent of that manor. Under the heading of Tansor 

 in the same survey Salamon is said to hold two-thirds 

 of a hide of the earl ofVVarwick; this is probably the 

 land which was afterwards the manor of Southwick, 

 which was of the fee of the earl of Warwick, w-hile 

 he held as far as is known no land in Tansor itself.' 

 Between 1 1 94 and 1 199 John Knj-vet of Southwick 

 granted to Andrew, abbot of Peterborough, a meadow 

 in Southwick for rent. This grant was confirmed by 

 Richard son of John.' In 1242 Thomas Knyvet was 

 holding one fee in Southwick of the earl of Warwick 

 with Peter de Montfort as intermediar)-.' Until the 

 15th century the de Montforts are frequently men- 

 tioned as lords of Southwick between the earls of 

 Warwick and the real tenants ; their connexion then 

 seems to have lapsed, and that of the earls of Wanvick 

 soon after, though it was clearly understood in the 

 1 7th century that the manor was not held in chief 

 but of the 'Warwick lands.' ^ 



The Knyvets' made their home in Southwick for 

 many years. Thomas was succeeded by John, who 



1 See * Religious Houses * in this 

 volume. 



« Pat. 34 Eliz. pt. iv, m. 28. 



' F. C. H. Norihana, i, 307J. See 

 below. 



■• Pife R. 31 Hrn. I (Rec. Com.), 

 p. 85. 



^ K C. H. Norihana, i, 387*, 388J. 

 For descent of earldom of Waiwick see 

 G. E. C. Peerage, viii, 52. 



' Swapham, fol. 208. Sparke, Scrip- 

 tores, p. 105. 



'1 Chan. Inij. p.m. 26 Hen. Ill, 22. 



For pedigree of de Montforts see Dugdale, 

 fyarwickthire, ii, 799. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), ccclx, 1 3. 



' A pedigree has been produced for the 

 Knyvets (Berry, Berks Geneat. 52) reach- 

 ing back to the Conquest, but it appears 

 to rest on no real evidence. 



