NAVISFORD HUNDRED 



PILTON 



Pilchetone (xi cent.), Pilkctlion, Pilkintona, Pilkctun 

 (xiii century). 



The parish of Pilton contains 1,4c/) acres of land.' 

 The subsoil is mainly Oxford clay, with some great 

 oolite and cornbrash-. The greater part of the land 

 is laid down in permanent grass. In the north-west, 

 the land near Bearshank Wood rises to 254 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum, but near the River Nene, which 

 forms the eastern boundary, it is low-lying, about 

 100 ft. above tile ordnance datum.' A bridge over 

 the river, which is mentioned in the reign of Ed- 

 ward I,* connects the village of Pilton with Lilford 

 parish. In the early i8th century the bridge was 

 built of stone with ten arches, the three nearest to 

 Pilton being repaired by the lord of the manor.* The 

 name Bearshank, now only given to the wood, may 

 have been used for the north-western portion of the 

 parish, since Robert ' Bareschanke ' of Caistor in the 

 13th century paid separately for his land in Pilton his 

 quota for sheriff's aid and other dues to the Hundred 

 Court.' The wood is mentioned in 1540,' and in 

 1565 was appurtenant to Aldwinkle manor, but the 

 inhabitants of Pilton had common rights in it.* A 

 homestead moat lies to the north of the wood.' 

 Quarries existed in the l6th century and were used 

 in the building of Lyveden House.'' They were 

 worked in the early l8th century, but are now disused. 



The village lies near the Nene, with the church and 

 rectory to the cast. The rectory house stands 

 immediately to the south-east of the church, and is the 

 old manor house of the Treshams. It is a picturesque 

 l6th century building, with dormered gables and 

 mullioned windows, much restored and with modern 

 additions. Little of the ancient work is left inside 

 except a handsome oak staircase with turned balusters 

 and square newels with shaped tops, which goes the 

 full height of the house, and a large panelled upper 

 room with a segmental ceiling and good four-centered 

 (tone fireplace. 



PILTON or PILKETON may 

 MANORS probably be included amongst the 



pre-conquest possessions of the Abbey 

 of Peterborough, but the first mention of it seems to 

 be in Domesday Book, when the Abbey held zj hides 

 of land of the King in chief.'' The whole of this land 

 was subinfeudated, and the Abbey retained the 

 overlordship till its dissolution, the last actual mention 

 of the overlordship of the manor being in 1534.'^ 



The sub-tenant in 1086 was Roger,'* ancestor o( 

 tlic Torpel family, who held 12 hides of the Abbey in 

 Northamptonshire, for the service due from 6 knights' 

 fees.''' Later ilocumcnts show that their manor in 

 Pilton was held for the service of 1} knights' fees," 

 with castle-guard at Rockingham, li seems possible 

 that these fees also included li virgales of land, 

 wliich in Domesday Book were held by Roger in 

 Wadenhoc.'" In the 1 2th century Survey of North- 

 amptonshire, Roger Infans, his successor, held 

 2 small virgates under the heading of Wadcnhoe, but 

 the entry is confused, and it seems probable tiiat the 

 land was in Pilton, which with Wadenhoe and Stoke 

 formed one township." The Torpels held Pilton till 

 the first half of the 13th century.'* Robert de 

 Torpel, who succeeded Roger Infans, was tenant in 

 1130." He was apparently succeeded by Roger de 

 Torpel, who granted land to St. Michael's of Stam- 

 ford for the soul of his wife Mary,^'' and died about 

 1178.2' His son Roger, a minor at his father's death, 

 married Ascelina, daughter of Saher de Quinci.^^ It 

 was probably their son Roger who in 1225 brought an 

 action against his aunt Maud regarding the lands of 

 his mother.-' He died in that year, when the custody 

 of the lands of his heir, held of Peterborough, was 

 granted to the Abbot of Peterborough,^'' and the lands 

 held in chief, to Ralph Bishop of Chichester.-* The 

 last Roger died in 1 229, apparently a minor, before 

 having livery of his inheritance.^* He had married 

 in his father's lifetime, and was survived by his widow 

 Mabel.^^ The wardship and marriage of their son 

 Roger was granted in 1229 to L. Dean of St. Martin's- 

 le-Grand, later Archbishop of Dublin.-* The last- 

 named Roger probably died a minor and unmarried, 

 as Ascelina de Torpel, the wife of Ralph de Camoys,^* 

 obtained seisin of his lands between 1242 and 1251.'" 

 As the Torpel fees were still apparently held in ward- 

 ship, at the earlier date, Ascelina must have been the 

 sister of the last Roger de Torpel. Her husband is 

 said to have been that Ralph de Camoys who died in 

 1259, but none of the Torpel fees is mentioned in the 

 inquisition taken after his death,*"" and it seems im- 

 possible that Ascelina could have been the mother of 

 his son and heir Ralph, who was over 40 years old at 

 his father's death.*' It seems clear that she was the 

 wife of the younger Ralph, who died seised of the 6 fees 

 of the Torpel inheritance in 1277.*^ His son and heir 

 John was then over 25 and of a suitable age to be 



• Ordnance Survey. 



• V.C.H. Sonbanu. i, Geological Map. 



• Ordnance Survey. 



• Cal. And. D., B. 2,R90. 



^ Bridges, //»/. Noribanu. ii, 374. 

 •Egcrton MS. (B.M.), 2731, f. 15;. 

 ^ L. &■ P. I/en. Vlll, XV, g. 831 (50). 



• Bridget, Idc. cit. 



• y.C.H. Ncribanti. ii, \lt. 



"Hill. MSS. Com. Pep. (Var. Coll.) 

 iii, pp. li, liii. 



"y.C.H. Noribanls. i, p. 316a. 



" Cbron. Peirob. {Camden Soc), p. 170; 

 Red Book of Excbej. (Rolls St.), p. 618 ; 

 Egerton MS. 2733 (B.M.), ff. 135b, 

 IJ7; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxi, f. 81; 

 FeuJ. Aids, IT, pp. 48, 448 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. (Str. ii), dcxcvi, 2. 



"V.C.H. Norlhants. i, 316a. 



** Cbron. Petroh. (Camden Soc.), pp. 

 169, 170; Pilton followed the same de- 

 scent as the manor of Torpel until 1280; 

 cf. y.C.H. Nortbanls. ii, p. 466. 



" Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135b ; 

 Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, «. 136-7. 



^' y.C.H. Noribanls. i, 316. The ser- 

 vice of 1} knights' fees was very heavy, 

 according to the custom of the Abbey, to 

 be due from 2 hides .ind 1 virgate of l;ind. 



" Ibid. 366 ; Egerton MS. (B.M.), 



^733, f- I54<i- 



" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, pp. 54, 

 So, 83; Cal. Cbari. 1226-57, p. 20; 

 Gunton, Hist. Cb. 0/ Pelerborougb, 296 ; 

 Rot. Litl. Claus. (Ret. Com.), i, p. 237b ; 

 Cott. MS. Cleop. Ci, f. 136. 



129 



'0 Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northanti 

 Rec. Soc), 34«. 



"Ibid. 33. "Ibid. 34«. "Ibid. 



" Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. iii, no. 

 1045. 



" Excerpt, c Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 133 ; Rol. Lilt. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 50. 



«' Excerpt, e Rol. Fin. (Rec. Com), i, 187. 



" Cal. Close, 1227-31, pp. 145, 197. 



"Ibid. "Ibid. 198, 330. 



" Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York 

 Soc), 244. 



" Ibid. ; Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, 

 f.137. 



'"' Complete Peerage (new ed.) ; Cal. 

 Iriq. i, no. 443. 



"Ibid. 



" Cal. Inq. ii, no. 212. 



