POLEBROOK HUNDRED 



OUNDLE 



alleging that it was not appurtenant to Oundle, 

 as the abbot claimed, but was a member of the honour 

 of Clare.** The plea is said to have been ended by the 

 sudden death of Earl Gilbert (Dec. 1295), and the 

 abbot retained the manor.'*" 



After the dissolution of the abbey the king's 

 ministers in 1546 returned as profits of the manor 

 of Oundle the mill, the manor of Biggin, and various 

 minor profits, as the oven, fishery (at farm), the 

 custom called Tolchester ale, tolls of fair and market, 

 and pannage.** The steward was Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, 

 and the bailiff Gilbert Pickering, both appointed 

 in 1543.** This lordship was among those assigned 

 as jointure to Queen Katherine Howard in 1542,*' 

 and then in 1543 to her successor, Queen Katherine 

 Parr ;** the latter held until her death in 1548. Then 

 on 26 January 1549-50 Edward VI granted to John 

 earl of Bedford the manors of 

 Oundle and Biggin, with fairs, 

 markets, and sheriflf's tourn in 

 Oundle, with other lands, to 

 be held by the fortieth part 

 of a knight's fee, and render- 

 ing for Oundle ^^39 ip. li.** 

 He died in 1555, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Francis. 

 Two new fairs on the feasts 

 of St. Valentine (14 Feb.) and 

 St. Lawrence (10 Aug.) were 

 granted, and the survey al- 

 ready cited was made for this 

 earl in 1565. He died on 



28 July, 1585, having in 1580 settled the manors of 

 Oundle and Biggin on his wife Bridget, with re- 

 mainder to his eldest son Francis. This son having 

 died the day before his father, the succession passed 

 to his son Edward, then aged 1 3.** Edward died on 

 I May 1627, without issue, and was succeeded in the 

 title and entailed estates by his cousin Francis (son 

 of William), but the heir general was Anne, daughter 

 of John, son of Francis, the 2nd earl, and wife of 

 Henry Somerset Lord Herbert,'' who in 1628 suc- 

 ceeded his father as earl of Worcester. 



A dispute as to a court leet at Oundle, between 

 Francis earl of Bedford, as lord of the manor, and 

 Sir Edward Montagu, as lord of the hundred, about 

 1630, shows what were the customs. The former 

 argued that the grant of the manor to the first earl, 

 as it included the sheriff's tourn, proved his claim, 

 while the latter insisted on the grant of the hundred 

 to his predecessor. Sir Edward Montagu. The abbots 

 of Peterborough had kept a leet of the hundred, 

 and the residents and inhabitants of Oundle had done 

 suit and service at it. Two eminent lawyers, to whom 

 the matter was referred, agreed that the old leet 

 was of the hundred, not of the manor, and that the 

 earl's tenants in Oundle were not discharged of suit 

 to it. No new court had been created. The sum 



Russell, Earl of Bed- 

 ford. Argent a Uon 

 guUi and a chief sable 

 charged with three scal- 

 lops argent. 



tourn, belonged to the manor ; also 8;. for the view 

 of frankpledge. There might be suits for anything 

 under 40J. in the manor court, although the manor 

 was within the hundred. Goods of felons and fugi- 

 tives also pertained to the manor. As to fines and 

 amercements there was a doubt ; they probably 

 belonged to the hundred.'^ 



The story about this time is not clear. Edward 

 earl of Bedford and Lucy his wife in 1614 gave 

 the grange of Biggin, with its appurtenances in 

 Oundle, Barnwell and Southwick, to trustees,** 

 and later in the same year they demised the manor 

 house of Oundle (i.^., the Berrystead), with its dove- 

 cote, lands etc. to John Okes for 99 years,"* and 

 this term or a fresh one became vested in Sir James 

 Evington in 1632-33.*^ The manor itself, with the 

 rectory and the advowson of the vicarage, are stated 

 in a fine of 1629 to be in 

 the hands of Henry earl of 

 Worcester and Anne his wife 

 and John Somerset, son and 

 heir apparent of the earl ; *' 

 this was probably Anne's in- 

 heritance. Mention of the 

 rectory and advowson seems 

 to be a mistake. The rectory, 

 which had a manor of its 

 own, had been sold by James I 

 in 1607 to Sir Thomas Mon- 

 son and William Darwyn, but 

 the advowson of the vicarage 

 was retained by the Crown.' 



On this point, therefore, the fine of 1629 is mis- 

 leading. John Somerset died soon afterwards, 

 and in 1636 the manor of Oundle, with the 

 rectory and advowson, ten messuages, three water 

 mills, dovecote, lands, etc., in Oundle, Barnwell, and 

 Southwick was held by his brother Edward, then son 

 and heir apparent of the earl of Worcester.^ It is 

 probable that he wished to sell it, for the earl of 

 Manchester, writing to his brother, Lord Montagu, 

 says : ' The last time I spoke to my lord of Worcester 

 he told me he thought his son would sell Oundle. 

 I accepted of his offer. . . . The place is so fit for you 

 as I imagine you will strain your purse or sell some 

 other land to have this.'* The Montagus did not get 

 it, and in 1650 Henry earl of Worcester was a 

 vouchee in a recovery of the manor.* The manor 

 and part at least of the lands were held by Sir Gilbert 

 Pickering and Elizabeth his wife in 1662,' but in 

 1676 William earl of Powis, Elizabeth his wife, 

 Henry earl of Norfolk and Henry his son and heir 

 apparent held the manor of Oundle with the rectory 

 and advowson of the vicarage. Warranty was to be 

 given by the heirs of Elizabeth,* who was the younger 

 daughter of the above-named Edward (Somerset), mar- 

 quis of Worcester ; her elder sister Anne had married 

 the earl (later, duke) of Norfolk, and this accounts 



Somerset, Earl of Wor- 

 cester. France quar- 

 tered tvith England tn 

 a border gobony argent 

 and azure. 



of 6s. lod. for 20J yardlands, in respect of the sheriff's for her husband and son being named in the fine. 



" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, iii, 148 ; 

 Rolls of Parlt. i, 69. 



"•Pytchlcy's Reg. f. 138. 



" Mini, .\ccts. Hen. VIII, 2661. 



•• L. and P. Hen. VUl xviii (i), p. 545, 

 546. 



" Ibid, xvi, p. 716. 



" Ibid. lix (1), 644. 



" Pat. R. 3 Edw. VI, pt. 7, m. 43. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii), ccxi, 183. 



" Ibid, ccccxxxv, 118. 



" Bridges, Hut. Nortbants. ii, 407, 

 citing the Duke of Montagu'i evi- 

 dence!. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1 1 Jaj. I. 



•* Ibid. Trin. 12 Jas. I. 



» Ibid. Easter. 8 Chas. I ; Hilary 

 8 Chas. I. 



91 



I. 



»• Ibid. Divers Cos. Easter 5 Cha 

 ' Pat. R. 5 Jas. I, pt. 19. 



• Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1 1 Chas. I. 

 > Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. 



Rep.) i, 276. 



• Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 1650, 

 m. 21. 



' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1 4 Chai.II. 



• Ibid. HU. 27/28 Chas. II. 



