A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



OOO 



There is a station on the Northampton and Peter- 

 borough branch of the London Midland and Scottish 

 Railway, which crosses the parish. Thrapston mill 

 is on the river Nene, to the south of the town. A 

 water mill is mentioned as parcel of the manor in 

 1336 and 1355.' The parish was inclosed by .Act of 

 Parliament in 1780.'* 



There is no mention of a pre-Conquest 

 MANORS tenant in THRAPSTON, but in 1086 

 Oger the Breton held 2j hides.* In the 

 following century 2 hides and I virgate were held by 

 his son Ralph fitz Oger of the fee of Bourne in Lin- 

 colnshire.* The honour of Bourne passed to the 

 Wakes and Baldwin Wake granted his holding to 

 Robert de \'cre, in the latter half of the 1 2th century. '" 

 The overlordship was held by 

 the Wakes, until 1350, when it 

 passed to Margaret, Countess 

 of Kent,** sister and heir of 

 Thomas Wake. On the death 

 of her son John, Earl of Kent, 

 it went to his sister Joan, the 

 wife of Sir Thomas Holand,*^ 

 but Elizabeth, the widow of 

 John, held it in dower till her 

 death in 1411.1^ In the in- 

 terval four Earls of Kent had 

 died,** and in 1424 Joan, 

 daughter of Thomas Holand 



and Joan, above mentioned, died seised of the rent of 

 50/. from half a knight's fee in Thrapston. Her 

 property was divided amongst her six sisters or their 

 descendants** and the overlordship probably disap- 

 peared after this. In 1481 Roger Wake, of Blisworth, 

 was stated to be the overlord,** and in 1493 Edward, 

 Earl of Wiltshire,*' but both statements were probably 

 due to a confusion with the tenure of other property. 



The manor of Thrapston was granted by Baldwin 

 Wake to Robert de Vere, and followed the descent 

 of Great Addington {q.v.), where the Veres lived, 

 until the iHth century, when Thrapston was sold. 

 In 1335 during Ralf de Vere's tenancy an extent 

 of the manor of Thrapston shows there was there 

 a capital messuage with two gardens, 100 acres of 

 arable land in demesne, 10 acres of meadow, 10 free 

 tenants, 10 native tenants, 10 cottages, a water mill, 

 and a market and fair.** Alice, widow of John de 

 Vere, in 1386 had her dower in Tlirapston, including 

 the profits of the market and fair, the common oven 

 and a cottage in ' le Draperie.'** Thrapston was sold 



Wake. Or two ban 

 tvitb three roundels gules 

 in the chief. 



to Humphrey Morice (d. 1731), a merchant and M.P. 

 for Grampound, or to his son of the same name 

 (d. I785).2'' It was sold by the latter in 1770 to 

 Lejnard Burton,^* and the Burton trustees were hold- 

 ing in l874.'^2 Mr. John Pashler afterwards held the 

 manor, and his widow now holds it. 



The third part of the manor, which went to 

 Etheldreda, the youngest daughter of Henry Vere, on 

 his death in I493, was still in her possession, as a 

 widow, in 1553.-^ She gave it to her son, George 

 Browne, and it passed to his son, Wystan,^* but before 

 1572 her third part seems to have been again divided 

 amongst heiresses, as transactions as to their thirds 

 of one-third of the manor were carried out by 

 Christiana Browne in 1572,-5 and Catherine Browne 

 in 1576,^* and later by Christiana, the wife of John 

 Tufton, Mary, the wife of Thomas Wilfride and 

 Catherine, the wife of William Rooper." The last 

 of these transactions was in 1 590 ; no later history of 

 this part of the manor appears, and it was probably 

 conveyed to the Mordaunts. 



In the 14th century Ralph de Vere claimed view of 

 frank-pledge, pillory and tumbrels in the manor,^ 

 and the view is mentioned in l66829 and again in 

 1770.'" 



In the time of Edward the Confessor, Burred held 

 freely 3 virgates of land in Thrapston.^* In 1086 



Clare. Or three cbeve- 

 rons gules. 



Stafford. Or a ibeve- 

 ron gules. 



this land was held of the Bishop of Coutances,^- but 

 after his fief escheated it was granted to the Clares, 

 this holding apparently formed part of half a knight's 

 fee held of the fee of Clare in Thrapston, Dcnford and 

 Ringstead.^^ After the death of the last Gilbert de 

 Clare at Bannockburn, this half fee passed to his 

 eldest sister, Margaret,^* and through her to the 

 Earls of Stafford.^* The last overlord mentioned 

 was Edward, Duke of Buckingham, who was attainted 

 and beheaded in 1521,^* and the half fee was presum- 

 ably held of the Crown after lliat date. 



' Hal stead, SMffiHr/Cz-wrd/ogiVi, 268, 270. 



" Private Art oj Pari. 20 Geo. lll,c. 59. 



' y.C.II. Norlbants, i, 349. 



•Ibid. 365; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxii, 

 f. 94. 



>' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 

 500; the charter it given in M.ilstead's 

 Succinet Cenealo'^jes, l''94, p. is'i- 



" /Ik. of Fees (I'.R.C), ii, p. 937; 

 Cat. Irnj. ii, no. 439 ; Cal. Close 1272-79, 

 p. 259; Tear Books (Rolli Ser.), 18-19 

 Ediv. Ill, pp. 246-264 ; Cal. Iiiij. ix, 

 not. 219, 234. 



*■ Cal. tnq. X, no. 46, 



"Cal. Close, 1349-54, p. 553; Chan. 

 In(|. p.m. 12 Hen IV, no. 35. 



'« Ibid. 20 Ric. II, no. 30; G.E.C. 

 Complete Peerage. 



"Ibid.; Chan. In.|. p.m. lien. IV, 

 file 66, no. 43. 



'• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 74, 

 no. II. 



" E\ch. In<]. p.m. Scr. ii, vol. 673, no. 2. 



" Drayton Ch. 91 ; Cal. Close, 1337-39, 

 p. 144 ; llalstcad, op. cit. 268. 



'" Dr.iyton Ch. 45. 



'» D.\.JI. ; Bridget, op. cit. ii, 3S0. 



'* Feet of I'. Northnnts. Trin. 10 Geo. 

 Ill ; Recov. R. Trin. 10 Geo. Ill, ro. 749. 



" Whcllan, I/ist. of Aorthants, p. 732. 



"Common Pleat Recov. R. Hil. 

 I Mary, ro. 415. 



" Chan. I'roc. (Ser. ii), 82 (15). 



" Common Pleat Recov. R. Eait. 

 14 Eliz. ro. io68. 



■« Ibid. Trin. 18 Eli«. ro. 1107. 



" Feel of F. Northantt. Mich. iX and 19 

 Eliz. ; ibid. Trm. 32 Flir. 



" Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 500 ; 

 Halttcad, op. cit. p. 268. 



140 



" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 10 and 21 

 Chat. II. 



" Feet of F. I^orthanls. Trin. 10 

 Geo. III. 



•' y.C.H. Northanis. i, 311 A. 



•' Cott. MS. Vcsp. Exxii, f. 94 ; I'.C.ll. 

 Northanis, \, 31 Ii'', 365(1. 



•• Colt. MS. Veip. E xxii, f. 94 ; Rot. 

 Ilund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 * ; Feud. Aids, 

 iv, 449. 



" Cal. Im;. v, no. 538 ; G.E.C. Com- 

 plete Peerage. 



»» Atsi/e Roll, no. 6)2, f. 76; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (i«t not.), no. 62; 

 ibid. 10 Ric. II, no. 3S ; ibid. 16 Ric. II, 

 pt. i, no. 27; ibid. 18 Ric. II, no. 43; 

 ibid. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1401-05, p. 349. 



•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xxx, 117 j 

 G.E.C. Comptrle Peerage. 



