NAVISFORD HUNDRED thorpe achurch 



Margaret, the wife of Henry de Titclim.irsli,^' 

 Reginald appears, however, to have sold Thorpe and 

 Achurch to Simon dc Eylesworth (Ailsworth), rector 

 of Thrapston,** who did homage and fealty to the 

 abbot of Peterborough for the manor of Thorpe 

 VN'aterville in 1291.^' Simon conveyed the manors 

 to William de Louth, bishop of Ely (l 290-8), and 

 he to William Tuchet, his kinsman. Tuchet conveyed 

 the manors to Walter de Langton, bishop of Coventrv, 

 in exchange for lands in Leicestershire on condition 

 that if Tuchet were impleaded concerning the Leices- 

 tershire lands he might re-enter upon these manors.^- 

 Walter de Langton seems to have obtained a con- 

 tirniation of title in 1300 from Robert de Vere and 

 Robert dc Wykham.'''' He did homage to the Abbot 

 in 1303. '^ After his fall in 1307, Edward II seized 

 his lands and granted them before 1313 to Aymer de 

 \'alence. Earl of Pembroke, for life, but the terms of the 

 condition as to the Leicestershire land having come 

 into operation, his possession was disputed by William 

 Tuchet, who forced an entry by means of ladders and 

 seized the castle of Thorpe Waterville.*' John de 

 Hotot also made claim to the manors.'* In 13 14, 

 the Earl, at the request of the King, granted them to 

 Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, receiving other lands in 

 exchange." In 1316, the Earl of Lancaster obtained 

 quit-claims of their rights to the manors from the 

 Bishop, William Tuchet and John de Hotot.'* In 

 1 3 19 the Earl granted them to his secretary, Robert 

 de Holand.** After Lancaster's rebellion and defeat 

 in 1322, Holand surrendered his manors to the King, 

 who granted them in fee tail to Aymer dc Valence 

 Earl of Pembroke and Mary his wife.'"' The latter, 

 after her husband's death in 1 324, granted Thorpe 

 Waterville and Achurch in 1329 to Maud, widow of 

 Robert de Holand.'" Her son and heir, Robert de 

 Holand, renewed a settlement 

 made by his father in 1322, by 

 which various remainders were 

 created in tail male, but the 

 final remainder was to the 

 right heirs of Robert de 

 Holand.''^ Robert de Holand 

 died in 1373 leaving a grand- 

 daughter, Maud, the wife of 

 John Lord Lovel, daughter of 

 his son Robert.*' The manors 

 of Achurch and Thorpe Water- 

 ville, being settled on the heir 

 male of Robert the father, 



passed to his nephew John Holand Duke of Exeter, 

 who was beheaded in 1400. The Duke's lands were 



Holand. Azure pow- 

 dered tvttb Jleurs de Us 

 and a lion argent. 



restored in 141 7 to John his son, who was created 

 Duke of Exeter in 1 444. lie died in 1446, leaving a 

 son Henry, Duke of Exeter, who was attainted and 

 beheaded in 1461.*'' Edward IV granted the manors 

 of Acluirch and Thorpe Waterville in the same year to 

 his sister Anne, the wife of the last Duke, first for 

 life, and then with remainder to the heirs of her body.** 

 The manors were held in trust on her behalf''" and in 

 1477 the trustees granted them to Thomas, Marquis 

 of Dorset, the King's stepson, and he granted them 

 to his brother Richard Grey.'" The latter died 

 without heirs of his body and on the accession of 

 Richard III, they seem to have reverted to the Crown. 

 Erancis, Viscount Lovel, however, claimed them under 

 the Holand settlements of 1322 and 1331, as the right 

 heir of the second Robert de Holand, whose daughter 

 and heir married John Lovel.''* In 1485, Lovel's 

 lands were forfeited and Henry VII granted Thorpe 

 Waterville and Achurcii to his mother. Lady Margaret 

 Beaufort, for life.''* On her death, they remained in 

 the King's hands until 1525, when Henry VIII granted 

 them to his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, Duke 

 of Richmond and Somerset.^" The Duke died in 

 1536^' and the next year Thorpe Waterville and 

 Achurch manors were granted to Sir William Fitz- 

 William and his heirs male.*^ This grant must for 

 some reason have been revoked, since in 1544, they 

 were granted to Queen Katherine for life.^' After 

 her death, Edward VI granted them to Sir William 

 Cecil, later Lord Burghley,** and they remained in 



Cecil, Earl of Kxctcr. 

 Barry of ten pieces 

 argent and azure six 

 scutcheons sable with a 

 lion argent in each. 



Powvs, Lord Lilford. 

 Or a UfirCs paw razed 

 and bend-wise between 

 two crosslcts /itchy gules. 



the possession of his descendants the Earls of Exeter, 

 till 1773,°^ when they were sold to Thomas Powys of 

 Lilford.^' His descendant. Lord Lilford, is the lord 

 of the manor at the present day. 



Richard de Waterville had a grant of free warren 



"Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, f. 141; 

 Plae. de Quo li'arr. (Rec. Com.), 570. 



" Pytchlcjr, if*, of Fees (Northanti 

 Rec. Soc), 41. 

 ■ " Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), p. 149. 



" Pytchlcjr, op. cit. 41. 



•• Feet ot F. Northants. Trin. 29 

 F.dw. I, no. 58 ; ibid. Div. Cos. 29 Edw. I, 

 no. 258 ; Jchn de V'cre, son of Robert de 

 Vere, was holding lands in Achurch 

 (Drayton Ch. no. 47). 



" Cott. MS. Vesp. E «ii, f. 49d. 



•• Pytchley, op. cit. 42. 



•• Col. Pat. 1313-17, pp. 44, 7». Ui- 



•' Cal. Chart, iii, 242 ; Feud. Aids, 

 ir, 18. 



•• Mins. Aces. (Duchy of Lanes.) 



(P.R.O.), bdle. I, no. 3 ; Feet of Fines, 

 Northants, East. 9 Ed. II ; ibid. Hil. 

 9 Edw. II. 



••Ibid. Hil. 12 Edw. II; Cal. Pat. 

 1317-21, p. 431. 



" Cal. Pal. 1321-24, pp. 87, S8. 



"Cal. Close 1327-30, pp. 281, 581; 

 Pot. Pari, ii, 27b. 



" Feet of Fines, Northants. Hil. 

 4 Edw. III. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (lit 

 DOS.), no, 19. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist 

 nos.), no. 19; Fend. /Jii^, iv, 48, 51. 



" Cal. Pat. 1461-67, pp. 7, 104. 



"Ibid. 533; Rot. Pari. (Rcc. Cor.), 

 V, 602a ; vi, 75a. 



•' Cal. Pat. 1467-77, pp. 147, 582; 

 Pot. Pari. (Rcc. Com.), vi, 217a and b. 



" Ibid. 244a, 254b-255b. 



"Cal. Pat. 1485-94, pp. 154-7. 



"L. and P. Hen. VIll, iv, no. 1500. 



•' G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



•' Pat. R. 29 Hen. VIII, no. 873. 



" Ibid. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 17. 



"Ibid. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7. 



" Cal. S. P. r>om. 1541-80, pp. 84, 88 ; 

 Feet of Fines Div. Cos. Mich. 1649; 

 East. 22 Chas. II; Hil. 8 Will. Ill; 

 Recov. R. Hil. 7 Will, and Mary, 

 ro. 76 ; ibid. Trin. 10 Geo. I, ro. 51. 



••Close R. 6369, no. 7; Recov. R. 

 Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ; G.E.C. 

 Complete Peerage. 



137 



