A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



At what date it was sub-infcudated is not known, 

 but in 1242-3 Thomas Wake held a quarter of a 

 knight's fee of Thomas, son of Robert, and Thomas 

 of Peterborough Abbey.*^ In 1 3 16, Hugh Wake was 

 liiC tenant,** and in 1329 Andrina Wake, possibly his 

 widow, holding for life, had apparently succeeded 

 him." Thomas son of Hugh was at this time a 

 minor in the wardship of the abbot.'* Another 

 Hugh Wake appears in 1347,*^ and he seems to have 

 been succeeded by Thomas Wake.^ -A Hugh Wake 

 of Stoke Doyle was living about 1400.'^ The manor 

 seems to have been bought either by Sir William 

 Thorpe, senior, or his brother Sir Robert Thorpe, 

 since Sir William Thorpe, junior, inherited it *"^ and 

 settled it in 1383.*^ After his death it passed with 

 the manor of Pilton (y.t'.) to the Mulshos and Tres- 

 hams." Just before his death in 1533, Richard 

 Tresham sold the manor to John Palmer,*^ and the 

 transaction was completed by his son and heir John.'"* 

 John Palmer died in 1558,"' and the manor passed to 

 his son Richard,^ who some years later purchased 

 the main manor of Stoke Doyle (ij.i'.). The manor is 

 mentioned separately in the inquisition on the lands 

 of Anthony Palmer in 1633,** but the two manors 

 afterwards became merged. 



The second knight, who held of the Abbey of Peter- 

 borough, apparently only held 3 virgates of land, and 

 his holding may be identified with the land held by 

 Ingram {d. II 14), whose fee was seized by Geoffrey de 

 Gunthorpe. The next holder was Hugh Olifard of 

 Stoke in 1 125.'* Hugh held another third part of a 

 virgate," but later documents show that some land 

 in the quarter of a knight's fee held by his successor 

 lay in Churchfield.'- His land passed in succession 

 to Ingelram, who was the tenant in 1146,''' and to 

 Vivian de Stoke, who, however, had died before 

 llSy.'-* Ive de Stoke was holding in 1 1 89, and 

 Henry his son was the tenant in 121 1,'* and he was 

 followed by another Ive de Stoke.'* By 1243 it had 

 passed to Henry Knight (Miles)," and in 1254 

 Robert Knight paid the scutage due from a quarter 

 fee.'"* In 1300 Nicholas Knight did homage for his 

 land in Stoke,'* and another Nicholas did homage in 



1322,^" but shortly afterwards he gave it to William 

 de Whatton, rector of the church of Stoke, who sold 

 it to Thomas Doyley,*^ the lord of the chief manor of 

 Stoke Doyle (y.t'.), to which this quarter fee seems to 

 have been united.*^ 



A free fishery was apparently parcel of the second 

 manor of Stoke Doyle, and is mentioned in 1537 and 

 1610.'^ 



A fulling mill is referred to in 1408." 



The church of ST. RUM BALD 

 CHURCH or ALL SAINTS stands on the east 

 side of the village, and is a plain, 

 classic structure erected in 1722-25 on the site of an 

 older building. The former church, which appears to 

 have belonged mainly to the middle of the 13th cen- 

 tury, consisted of chancel with north chapel (or 

 ' burying isle,') nave with north aisle, and west tower 

 surmounted with a broach spire. The nave was of 

 four bays, and the chancel opened to the chapel by 

 an arcade of three arches. There was a large round- 

 headed south doorway with many shafts and orna- 

 mented with dog-tooth, but no porch.*' 



In a petition to the bishop to pull down the old 

 church it was stated that the building had become 

 ' so ruinous that to repair it would be a burden too 

 heavy for the parish to bear'; the spire*' was in 

 danger of falling, and the structure was described as 

 ' very much larger than is necessary for the inhabitants 

 of so small a parish.' The building, therefore, was 

 pulled down in the spring of 1722, and the first 

 stone of the new church laid in May of that year. 

 The roof was completed in the autumn, but no joiners' 

 work was done in the interior until the summer of 

 1724,**'' when the pews, pulpit, wainscot and doors 

 were put in, the windows glazed, and the ceiling and 

 walls plastered. The tower was begun in June, 1724, 

 and finished in August, 1725, but the building was 

 not opened until the following March.*' 



The church as then completed remains unaltered. 

 In plan it is a rectangle measuring internally 61 ft. by 

 24 ft. 6 in.,** with west tower, and mortuary chapel, 

 now used as a vestry, at the east end of the north 

 wall ; it is faced with aslilar, and has a cornioe and 



"Kgcrton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135. 



'« Feud. Aids, iv, 2S. 



" De Banco R. 272, llil. 2 Edw. III. 



''' Pytchley, op cit. 61, 62. 



»»Cott. .MS. Clcop. C. i, f. i32d. 



•» Feud. Aids, iv, 48. 



" Pytchley, op cit. 128. 



" Soc .\ntiq. M j. jS, f. 112. 



•> Feet of I'. Oiv. Coj. Trin. 7 Ric. II. 



•'/■>«</. Aids, iv, 48; Ct. of Rcq. 

 bdlc. 2, no. 103. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), dcxcvi, 2 ; 

 cxix, 116. 



•• I'cet of I-'. Northants. Trin. 26 Hen. 

 VIII 1 Rccov. R. F.a»t. 26 lien. VIII, 

 ro. 141 J P.R.O. Ct. R. ptf. 195, no. 56. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cxix, 116. 



•" Ibid, civiii, 14. 



••Ibid. Hxxvii, 96. 



'" Cbron. PtiToh. (Camden Soc), p. 175 j 

 Round, Feudal En^l. 223, 224. 



'' Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 175. 



"Sparke, op. cit. p. 62. 



"Ibid. p. Si. 



'* Cat, Chan. i2 2'>-^7, p. 20. 



^^ Red Ilk. of Fx.b. (Koll. .Ser.), 15S, 

 619; Soc. Aniir|. MS. 6 ., I. i<;9(l. 



'* Pytchley, op rii. 14611, 14711. 



" Egerton MS. (ll.M.), 2733, f. 135. 



From the Rucclcuch Deeds we find refer- 

 ences to the KniglitB (Miles, le Cnit, 

 le Knyt, Knyvct) of Stoke, of Pilton, of 

 Wykingsthorp and of Polebrook in the 

 13th century. The name Robert is 

 common to all of them, but the entries 

 arc too disconnected to show whether 

 tiicy have .'iny relation to one another. 

 It is possible tlut Henry tiie knight of 

 Stoke was son of Ive dc Stoke. 



'^ Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249. 



'• Cott. MS. Vcsp. K xxii, f. 47. 



'" Ibid, xxi, f. 79b. 



"Pytchley, op. cit., 146; Cott. MS. 

 Cleop. (' i, f. 145. 'Fhomas Doyley was 

 holding in 1346. 



" F.-ud. Aids, iv, 48, 448; Cott. 

 MS. Cleop. C i, f. I32d. 



"•Feet of V. Northants. Mil. 28 

 lien. \III i Rccov. R. East. 8 Jas. I, ro. 



If)2. 



"Add. MS. (n.M.), 25288, (. 115. 



" The Ilebutldittg o( the Parish Church 

 of Slohe Doyle, from an orig)n;iI MS. by 

 Rev. John Vorkr, rector, 1721, anriol.ited 

 by Rev. J. T. Hurt, and with architectural 

 notes by Rev. \V. D. Swecliuc 1SS4. 

 This paiiiphh-t has been used in ifie 

 description that follows. An illustration 



•34 



of the old church thows five two-light 

 clear It ory wim^ows on the south side, 

 though there was no south aisle, and low- 

 pitched leaded roof to the nave. The ro(»f 

 of the chancel was of high pitch and 

 covered with tiles. The internal length 

 of chancel and nave was 92 ft., and the 

 width across nave and aisle 36 ft. 



"• Bridges pays tliat at the base of the 

 spire, facing south-east, was cut ' Oia 

 pro aninia Hawisig ' : U%H. Nortbantiy li, 



377. 



■'" ' The summer of 1723 was too little 

 to dry the walls.' 



" It was intended that the church 

 should I'c opened in the summer of 1725, 

 but Mr. Ward, the patton, at whose 

 charges it had been erected, 'happening 

 not to come into the country till the 

 lunmicr was almost over, and some 

 utensils, etc., being wantini;, the opening 

 was put off for that winter.' : Yorkc'i 

 MS. 



'" The west wall 11 in the same position 

 as (he west wall of the old na\e, but the 

 south wall is about ^ ft. in front of the 

 (lid one. The ea^t wall of (lie chancel 

 nf the old church was 30 ft. to the eabi 

 of the prc'cnt cast wall. 



