A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



messuage and land in Woodnewton, successfully claimed 

 pasture for his beasts there.' Woodnewton was prob- 

 ably included in the vicinage of King's Cliffc, whose 

 right of common was confirmed by Henry 111.' On 

 the enclosure of the bailiwick of Clive in 1805 land- 

 owners in Woodnewton were compensated for the 

 right of common, which was thereby extinguished. 



The parish was enclosed in 1778. There is a 

 copy of the award in the Apethorpe estate office. 

 Among the field names found in this parish are 

 Stepping End, King's Ground, Prior's Hawe, the 

 Shutes and Lank hills. 



The early history of PTOODNElf'TON 

 MjINOR is wrapped in obscurity. The entry in 

 Domesday that Rainald holds of Eustace 

 three hides in Newton formerly held by Norman 

 almost certainly refers to this village, though no hun- 

 dred is given, for both the other Newtons in the 

 county are entered elsewhere, and in the 1 2th-cen- 

 tury survey, under Willybrook, Robert de Ccrveya is 

 said to hold the same amount of land of the fee of 

 Marmion in Newton.' Eustace was sheriff of Hun- 

 tingdon, his fief or much of it appears to have returned 

 to the crown at his death. He was followed in part 

 of his lands at Polebrook by Roger Marmion, and 

 possibly here also, but there is no other evidence than 

 the quotation from the survey given above.' In 

 1166-7 there is reference in the Pipe Roll to an 

 allowance to Reginald son of Urse* in connexion with 

 Newton. This probably refers to Woodnewton, for 

 it was certainly held later by the FitzUrse family 

 and this may possibly have been the date when they 

 acquired it.° The Engaines, one of whom married 

 Margaret daughter of Richard son of Reginald Fitz- 

 Urse, were mesne tenants of Woodnewton at the 

 end of the 12th century.' Margaret in 1 195-6 

 gave up her right to dower in Woodnewton to her 

 son Richard Engaine for a yearly pension.* Vitalis, 

 second son and heir of Richard, died in 1248 seised 

 of land in Woodnewton, and Bulwick held of Reginald 

 FitzUrse for the service of half a knight's fee.' 

 Henry the eldest son and heir of Vitalis bestowed the 

 manor of Woodnewton on the priory of Fineshade, 

 founded by Richard Engaine in the time of John. 

 The priory in return was to maintain thirteen poor 

 persons and two priests to celebrate for ever 

 for the souls of Henry and his relations.'" This grant 

 was confirmed by John son of John Engaine, nephew 

 of Henry." In the reign of Edward IV the priory 

 leased their ' manor ' at Woodnewton to Sir Guy 

 Wolston. Probably ' manor ' here means the house, as 

 the prior apparently retained the court.'' Sir Guy also 

 held some land in Woodnewton in chief which was 

 once of the fee of Richard Basset and afterwards 

 appurtenant to the manor of Apethorpe, and another 

 small part of the prebend of Nassington.'^ These all 

 followed the descent of the manor of Apethorpe and 

 were granted as the manor of Woodnewton to Sir 

 Walter Mildmay in 1551." The real manor of 



Woodnewton was granted after the dissolution of the 

 priory of Fineshade to Edward Lord Clinton the 

 same year." He immediately sold all his rights there 

 to Mildmay, who thus became possessed of the whole 

 lordship.'" From this date the descent of the manor 

 follows that of Apethorpe. View of frankpledge in 

 Woodnewton belonged to the crown until the i6th 

 century, when it was included in the grant to both 

 Lord Clinton and Sir Walter Mildmay. 



A mill in Woodnewton rendering 6^d. is mentioned 

 in Domesday.'' Half a mill there was part of the 

 grant of Henry Engaine to Fineshade,'"' the other 

 half was also bestowed on the priory by Richard 

 Knyvet, lord of Southwick, in 1344.'^ 



Woodnewton church in the time 

 JDyOfTSON of Henry I was made part of the 

 endowment of the prebend of Nas- 

 sington.*" From that time until the dissolution of 

 the prebend in 1845 under the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners' Act of 1836, Woodnewton was 

 accounted a member of Nassington." It is now 

 annexed to Apethorpe, and served by the same 

 incumbent, under the patronage of the bishop of 

 Peterborough. 



The church of our Lady stands on 

 CHURCH high ground at the west end of the 

 village street, the churchyard being 

 bounded by the street on the south and a narrow 

 road leading northwards to Apethorpe on the west. 

 The plan is cruciform, with chancel 25 ft. by 16 ft. 

 crossing 18 ft. by 1 6 ft., south transept 1 6 ft. 6 in. 

 square, nave 36 ft. long with south aisle 14ft. wide, 

 south porch and west tower. The crossing and 

 chancel are the oldest parts, and belong to the end 

 of the 12th century. The width of the crossing, 

 about 16 ft., probably represents that of an early 

 nave, the east wall of which was on the line of the 

 west wall of the present south transept, and its 

 chancel, narrower of course than the nave, within the 

 lines of the crossing. The side walls of the nave 

 were prolonged eastward about 1180 to i 190, the 

 old chancel pulled down, and its area thrown 

 into the nave, a new chancel, of the full width of the 

 nave, being built to the east of it, and transepts 

 added on either side of the new east end of the nave. 

 The extra thickness of the walls at this point suggests 

 that a central tower was part of the new design ; but 

 there are no traces of eastern and western tower 

 arches at present, and if the tower was ever built it 

 must have been destroyed at or before the building 

 of the present chancel arch and clearstory. About 

 1220 a south aisle was added to the nave, its south 

 wall being built on the line of that of the south transept, 

 and a south arcade set up just outside the line of the old 

 south wall of the nave. The north side of the nave 

 seems to have been treated in the same way, as 

 regards the arcade, in the first half of the 14th cen- 

 tury, but the evidence is not complete, as the north 

 transept, arcade, and aisle have been destroyed. A 



' Chan. Forest Proc. 'anc), bdle. 59, 

 No. 61. 



2 Close, 14 Hen. Ill, m. 21 d. 



3 r. C. H. Northants, i, 349*, 388(7. 

 ^ Ibid. Intro, to Dom. 



^ He returned his fief under Northants 

 in 1166, as having been held by his 

 father Richard temp. Hen. 1 (AW Bk. of 

 Exch. (Rolls Ser.), p. 334). 



6 Pipe R. 13 Hen. II, rnt. 8, m. 2. 



^ Genealogist (new ser.), vi, l . 



Ric. 



file 9, 



of Fineshade in Article on Religious 

 Houses. 



" Add. Chart. 22081. 



12 Rentals and Surv. R. 529 ; Ct. R. 

 (gen. ser. P. R. O.), bdle. 195, No. 104. 



600 



1' Esch. Accts. (ser. 2), file 6S2 ; Partic. 

 for grants, Aug. Off. No. 792. 



" Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. iii, m. 26. 



** Ibid. pt. vii. 



»5 Close, 5 Edw. VI, pt. v. No. 13. 



17 V. C. H. Nortbcwts, i, 349A. 



^^ Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. I, No. 34. 



1' Pat. 18 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 13 ; Inq. 

 a.q.d. file 274, No. i, 



2^ Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1274. 



2' Land. Cj=. Jan. 10, 1865, p. 123. 



