A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Camoys son of Thomas Camoys, no doubt her cousin, 

 a release of all right he might have in the manor of 

 Tansor.' 



For the next sixty years no reference has been found 

 to this manor. About 1490 it was in possession of 

 Sir Guy Wolston and Margaret his wife,' and from 

 that time this portion of Tansor follows the descent 

 of the manor of Apethorpe. Mr. Leonard Brasscy of 

 Apethorpe, who bought the manor from the Earl of 

 Westmorland in 1904, is the present lord. 



The history of the moiety of Tansor held in the 

 reign of Henry III by Roald son of Alan is more 

 complicated. It appears to have been divided at the 

 end of that reign between the Tyndale and Giff'ard 

 families. The Giffards' portion was the most impor- 

 tant ; it was known in the I 5th century as the manor 

 called Giftard's Thing in Tansor. The Giftards had 

 some connexion with the Camoys. The first men- 

 tion of the family in connexion with Tansor is in 

 1247 when Osbert GifFard and Alice Murdac, in 

 addition to extensive estates in other counties, held 

 one carucate of land in Tansor of Ralph Camoys.' 

 Osbert was succeeded by a son Osbert, who was fol- 

 lowed by a John, described as of Twyford,* in about 

 1276.' This is probably the John Giftard to whom 

 Ralph Camoys was obliged to pay 20s. from his fee. 

 John GifFard was one of the lords of Tansor in 1314 

 and 1 3 1 5,' and the service due to Ralph Camoys from 

 the Tansor fee of John GifFard le Boef of Twyford is 

 referred to in a settlement of the Camoys' portion of 

 the manor about 1338.' In 1383 Sir Thomas GifFard, 

 son of John GifFard ofHellidon and Twyford, sold to 

 John Holt the manor of Tansor, which William de 

 Themelby and Alice his wife held for the life of Alice, 

 formerly the wife of John GifFard.* John Holt, who 

 owned considerable property in Northamptonshire, 

 became a justice of Common Pleas in 1383 and was 

 knighted the following year. In I 387 he united with 

 the rest of his colleagues in declaring the proceedings 

 of the last Parliament illegal ; for this he was arrested 

 and only escaped the death penalty through the inter- 

 cession of the prelates.' Some of his lands, among 

 them Tansor, were restored to his son John in 1 390,'° 

 and the sentence against him reversed in 1398. His 

 son John appears to have died without heirs, for Sir 

 John was succeeded by another son, Hugh, on his death 

 in 1418." 



From this date until the end of the 1 6th century 

 the manor of GifFard's Thing in Tansor follows the 

 same descent as Holt's manor in Cotterstock. Charles 

 Norwich in the reign of Elizabeth sold that manor, 

 but the Norwich family retained the land in Tansor 

 until at least the middle of the 17th century." 



Another part of the half fee in Tansor held by 

 Roald son of Alan passed with his interest in the ad- 

 vowson of the church to the Tyndale family. It was 



apparently held by them at first for rent to Roald,'' 

 but in 1315 Elias Tyndale appears as lord of Tansor 

 with Ralph Camoys and John GilFard." This small 

 portion of land was further subdivided in the 14th cen- 

 tury between two grand-daughters of Elias ; " in a 

 settlement about 1409 one of these portions is de- 

 scribed as ' half the manor of Tansor called Hallestede.'"' 

 This land was probably that afterwards held by the 

 Agards and Aprices. The Agards' land passed to the 

 Nortons of Cotterstock ; " the Aprices are found in 

 Tansor from the i6th to the end of the 17th century, 

 and their land is occasionally called a manor." 



View of frankpledge in Tansor followed the same 

 descent as that of Cotterstock until about 1575, when 

 it was sold by Sir Thomas Brudcnell to Sir Walter 

 Mildmay, and it passed with the rest of the Mildmay 

 possessions to the earls of Westmorland." 



The advowson of the church has a 

 JDFOIVSON rather complicated history. It was 

 granted or confirmed by Henry I as 

 part of the endowment of the prebend of Nassington 

 in the church of Lincoln, to be held as fully and 

 honourably as formerly by Levingus, the scribe of the 

 king.™ There is also a record among the documents 

 at Lincoln of a grant by Simon earl of Northampton 

 and Huntingdon of the church of Tansor as a per- 

 petual benefaction to the prebend of Nassington.*' 

 This possibly points to a grant of Tansor by the king 

 to Simon de St. Liz earlier than that to Hasculf de 

 St. Hilary ; the gift may have been resumed by the 

 crown on the death of Simon about 1 109.'" The royal 

 grant or confirmation to the prebend did not go un- 

 challenged, for about 1 21 2 a suit was heard between 

 William of Lincoln, Roald, constable of Richmond, 

 and Ralph Camoys. William said he claimed nothing 

 in the advowson, but he was parson there, as preben- 

 dary of Nassington by the gift of King Henry. Roald 

 maintained that his ancestors had presented three 

 parsons after that grant and that his father had pre- 

 sented the last parson. Ralph declared that Roger 

 earl of Clare had given to his grandfather half the vill 

 of Tansor and the lordship of the church and that 

 Roger had presented the last parson. Judgement was 

 given in favour of Roald." After this date the claim of 

 the Nassington prebendary to present lapses ; probably 

 some composition was made, for 2J marks were paid 

 to the prebendary on a presentation to half the church 

 in 12 16 and 5 marks were still paid to the prebend of 

 Nassington from Tansor in 1535."' Roald son of Alan 

 and his successors, the Tyndales, continued to present 

 to half the church of Tansor until about 1324, when 

 this half came into the possession of the dean and 

 chapter of Lincoln.'' The latter had presented in 

 1299 to half the church, perhaps the half to which 

 Ralph Camoys presented in 1268.^* Soon after both 

 parts of the church came into the hands of the dean 



1 Add. Chart. 2005. 



» Feet of F. Northants, 7 Hen. VII. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 31 Hen. Ill, file 6, 

 No. 1 1. 



■* In Bucks. The same family owned 

 land in Hellidon, Northants. 



* Feet of F. Div. Co. 4 Edw. I, No. 40. 



8 Close, 8 Edw. Ill, m. 24 ; Pari. fTrits 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, Div. iii, 391. 



' Feet of F. Northants, 11 Edw. Ill, 

 No. 161. 



8 Ibid. 7 Ric. II, No. 55 ; De Banc. R. 

 No. 491, m. 52Z. 



9 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



1" Pat. 14 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 35. 



^^ Chan. Inq. p. m, 6 Hen. V, No. 43. 



" Com. Pleas Rec. R. 165S, rot. 219. 



1" Coram Rege R. 50 Hen. Ill, No. 176, 

 m. 14. J. 



" Pari, fp'rits (Rec. Com.), vol. ii, Div. 

 iii, 391. 



" De Banc. R. No. 533, m. 3 86. 



l« Feet of F. Northants, 10 Hen. IV, 

 No. 70. 



17 Com. Pleas, D. Enr. Trin. 17 Edw. VI, 

 m. 4 </. ; Chan. Inq. p. m. (ser. 2), dxxx, 

 162. 



18 Lay Subs. R. J§| ; Feet of F. North- 



596 



ants, Mich. 19 Chas. II ; ibid. Hil. 33-4. 

 Chas. II. 



'y Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 16 and 17 

 Eli/. See Apethorpe and Cotterstock. 



^ Dugdale, Moti. vi, 1274. 



^ GoTdor)yNassingfoti-cum-Tar'WfI/jp. 16. 



** G. E. C. Pfemgey vi, 67. 



28 Abhre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 82, 91. 



« Harl. 6950, p. 25^.5 Valor. Eccl. 

 (Rec. Com.), iv. 290. 



2* Bridges, ii, 476 5 Harl. 6951, p. 13 5 

 Inq. a. q. d. file 170, No. 6. 



2« Harl. 6951, p. 34; Harl. 6950, 

 p. 100^. 



