BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



in 1230.*' This Hugh joined the barons against 

 Henry HI, was taken prisoner in the siege of North- 

 ampton in 1264, and was disinherited after Evesham.^* 

 He recovered his lands from Robert de Turbervil, lord 

 of Crickhowel, for a payment of 95 marks,'*' in 1 267-70. 

 A deed of his at Northampton locates Gobion's grange 

 as being near St. Giles' churchyard.'" In 1275 his son 

 Richard succeeded," and the tnquisitio post morUm of 

 the latter in 1 301 gives a list of 49 houses and shops 

 held of him in Northampton, with the names of the 

 tenants.^'- Richard left two daughters, of whom the 

 younger, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Paynell, in- 

 herited Gobion's manor in Northampton, together 

 with Knaptoft. Her son took the name of Gobion,'^ 

 but his successors were known as Paynells. The manor 

 descended to Margaret Paynell, wife of Thomas Kcn- 

 nisman, whose daughter Elizabeth married John 

 Turpin, who died in 1493, when 13/. ^d. was still 

 payable as burgage rent to the mayor and corporation 

 of Northampton."'' From lier the manor descended 

 to George Turpin, who in 1558 sold the manor to 

 Robert Harrison for £\lo,''^ who in turn sold it to 

 the mayor and corporation of Northampton on 20 

 April 1622. 



Among the town muniments, besides the title-deeds 

 of Gobion's manor, are deeds recording the acquisition 

 of Marvell's Mill, Millholme and Foot meadow in 

 1656,^ and records of various sales of town property, 

 notably of lands near the castle to Sir R. Haselrige in 

 1680." In the 17th and l8th centuries a great deal 

 of the town property was let at a low rent on long 

 leases, the lessee having, however, to pay a heavy fine 

 for renewal.^ In the l6th century the borough held 

 on lease lands to the west of the town formerly held 

 by St. James' Abbey, known as Duston lordship, 

 where the burgesses exercised common rights as in 

 the town fields. The borough failed, however, to 

 obtain the freehold of the lordship by purchase.^' 



In 1835 the property of the borough, including 

 property whose origin was unknown, Gobion's manor, 

 the bailifT lands, land acquired more recently, the 

 profits of the butchers' stalls and the fees on the old 

 commons brought in £\,'\^^ lis. jd. per annum.*" 

 In addition to tliis the tolls were let at ^£200 a year, 

 and the trust estates and charity endowments brought 

 '° jCi>3°i odd." With the administration of 

 these charities went certain rights of patronage : the 

 corporation appointed the warden of St. Thomas' 

 Hospital,** the headmaster of the Free Grammar 

 School" and the corporation schools and the Vicar of 

 AH Saints'. The Assembly Books record various 

 resolutions with regard 10 the management of St. 

 Thomas' Hospital,** which appears to have been well 



administered. It was moved in 1834 f^o™ ^^^ °ld 

 building at the bottom of Bridge Street (destroyed in 

 1874)*^ and the charity, in a house in St. Giles' Street, 

 still supports both inmates and out pensioners.*' 

 The advowson of All Saints was sold to the mayor and 

 corporation by Sir Thomas Littleton and his wife in 

 1619 for ;{^200,*' and remained in their hands till 1835 

 when, under tlie Municipal Corporations Act, they 

 had to sell it. Appointments to the living were made 

 by trustees, being such of the corporation as lived in 

 All Saints' parish.** 



In 1275 it was alleged that the appointment of the 

 master of the hospital of St. John belonged to the 

 borough,** and an attempt was made by the mayor 

 and corporation to get control of the nomination in 

 the 17th century in vain." The bishop of Lincoln was 

 and is patron of the hospital,"- which was intended for 

 the poor of the county, as that of St. Thomas was for 

 the townspeople.'- The mayor and burgesses also had 

 the right, probably from its foundation, of presentation 

 to the chapel of St. Leonard attached to the Hospital 

 of St. Leonard without Northampton." In 1282 

 they asserted that the wardenship belonged to them of 

 the right and in the name of the lord king. Down to 

 1 294 the prior of St. Andrew's and the Vicar of Hard- 

 ingstone had to sanction the chaplain's appointment ; 

 after that the mayor and burgesses were the sole patrons 

 and the mayor was (x officio master of the hospital. In 

 1473 he and the Twenty Four calmly reduced the 

 number of beneficiaries to one, and leased the hospital 

 with all its lands and appurtenances to John Peck of 

 Kingsthorpe for life, on the condition that he should 

 provide the_ chaplain's board and lodging, keep the 

 buildings in repair, and maintain one man or woman 

 leper in place of the brothers and sisters of former 

 times.''' When the lessee died in 1505 the assembly 

 resolved to keep the management of the hospital in 

 their own hands, and each mayor had to take an oath 

 to govern the hospital truly.'* Two of the aldermen 

 were to act as wardens, with a bailiff under them to 

 le'vy the rents, and they were to render accounts annu- 

 ally. In 1546 St. Leonard's Hospital was said to have 

 lands worth /^lo 15/. <)d. a year, and to be held by the 

 mayor and Twenty Four in free alms, for the keeping 

 of one leper ;'* and in 1 547 it was taken into the king's 

 hands, and granted out again to F. Samwell, together 

 with the chapel of Sc. Katharine, in 1549." The 

 mayor and corporation protested vigorously, asserting 

 in a petition to the Chancellor of the Court of Aug- 

 mentations'* that for four hundred years and more 

 they had been lawfully seised of the hospital and chapel 

 of St. Leonard's. In response to this an inquiry was 

 held which -vindicated the claims of the corporation," 



" Fine R. 15 Hen. HI, m. 7, 



" Annal. ."if on. (Rolli Scr.), iil, 229-30. 



•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. 15; 

 cf. Cal. Mi»c. Inq. I, 122. 



" Ibid. C 17. 



•' Cal. Iru}. ii, 78. 



•' Chan. Inq. Ed. I, ptf. loi, no. 2. 



'• Northampt. (Roll» Sec.) Corp. Deeds, 

 C. i; ; cf. Cal. Miic. Inq. I, 122. 



" Inq. p.m.. Hen. VII, Ser. ii, vol. 9, 

 no. 42. 



•* Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 61, 63, 

 64. The manor then included 3 messuages 

 with orchards, etc., 600 acres of arable, 

 200 of meadow, 30 of pasture, 200 of 

 heath or moor and 10 acres of woodland. 



•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 106. 



" Ibid. C 109. 



•• Boro. Rec. ii, 166. 



•• Ibid, ii, 229. 



'• Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv p. 

 1971. 



•' Ibid. pp. 1971-5. 



•■ See V.C.H. Northants. ii, 161. 



•• Ibid, ii, 235-241. 



" Boro. Rcc. ii, 3^r. 



•• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Reps. x\i, 226. 



" R. M. Serjeantson, The Hospital oj 

 St. Thomas, p. 7. 



•' Feet of F. Trin. 17 Jas. I ; R. M. 

 Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints, 

 i^ortbampt. p. 185. 



•• Lee, Coll. p. 129. 



•• Rot. Hund. ii, 3. 



21 



"> Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. and Field 

 Club, xvi, 229. 



" Ibid, xvii, 12-18. 



" Lee, Coll. p. 96. 



" R. M. Serjeantson, The Leper Hos- 

 pitals of Northampt. reprinted from 

 Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. xviii, March 

 1915, supplements the account in V.C.H. 

 Northants. ii, 159-161. 



'* Boro. Rec. i, 402-5. 



" Add. MS. 34308, fo. 21 ; V.C.H. 

 Northanu. ii, 160. 



" Chantry Certificates for Northants. 

 1546, R. 36, no. 37. 



" Pat. 2 Ed. VI, Pt. 2, m. 25. 



" Aug. Off. Proc. bdle. 27, no. 4. 



'• Ibid. Misc. Bks. 132, fo. 136. 



