A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Shirley. Paly or and 

 azure with a quarter 

 ermine. 



to be the mesne lords,-* but in 1 363 their fee was 

 again in the king's hands, and their rights seem to 

 have disappeared before 1408.^' 



The Ferrers' land in Titchmarsh mav be identified 

 with the manor of TITCHMARSH, alias LOVELLS, 

 alias SOMERSETS. The first tenant in demesne of the 

 manor recorded was Ascelin 

 d° Sidenham,** who in 1224 

 hjd a law suit with the Abbot 

 of Peterborough as to suit of 

 court due from his tenants to 

 the courts of the Hundred of 

 Navisford.^i He was succeeded 

 by William de Sidenham, 

 who had died before 1233.^'^ 

 William's heir was a minor, 

 and the wardship of his fees in 

 Titchmarsh was granted by 

 Sewal, son of Henry, to Sir 

 John de Plesseys,^^ who mar- 

 ried William's widow'* and held there in 1243.^5 

 Maud de Sidenham is said to have been William's 

 daughter and heir and to have married John Lovel 

 of Minster Lovel, but contemporary evidence of 

 this does not appear.^ John Lovel was undoubtedly 

 the tenant of the manor in 

 1268,^' and died seised of it in 

 1287.^ His son Sir John Lovel 

 was summoned to Parliament 

 as Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh 

 in 1299 and his descendants'* 

 held the manor until the for- 

 feiture of the lands of Francis, 

 Lord Lovel, in 1485.40 The 

 following year the King 

 granted Lovel's manor to 

 Charles Somerset, afterwards 

 Earl of Worcester.*^ His 

 grandson, William Earl of 



Worcester, obtained a new grant of the manor in 

 1553,42 and in the same year sold it to Gilbert 

 Pickering.''^" Gilbert's son John (d. 1591) had a son 

 Gilbert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of . . .Hogard 

 of Bourn, in Cambridgeshire. He was succeeded in 

 1613 by his son John, who in 1609 had married 

 Susannah, daughter of Sir Erasmus Dryden.'"^ Their 

 son, Sir Gilbert Pickering, was created a baronet in 



ruwi 

 njvu\ 



Lovel of Titchmarsh. 

 Barry tvavy or and 

 gules. 



Pickering. Ermine a 

 lion azure crowned or. 



1638, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Sidney 

 Montagu.'*'* He was an ardent Parliamentarian and 

 chamberlain to both protectors. He was one of the 

 regicide judges, but did not sign the death warrant 

 of Charles I, and obtained a pardon after the Restora- 

 tion.44* His great grandson, Sir Edward Pickering, 

 M.P., the fourth baronet, died unmarried in 1749,*° 

 and his estates passed to his two sisters, Elizabeth, 

 who died unmarried in 1766, and Frances, afterwards 

 the wife of Thomas Byrd. 

 She also died childless and a 

 widow in 1765, and by their 

 wills the sisters directed that 

 the Titchmarsh estate was to 

 be sold.'*' It seems, however, 

 to have been vested in trustees 

 before their deaths, as Frances 

 Byrd conveyed her moiety of 

 the manor and advowson in 

 1764 to Edward Dickenson,'*' 

 while Elizabeth's moiety ap- 

 parently was transferred to 

 Anne Pye.'** Before 1778 it 

 was acquired by Thomas Powys,** whose descendant, 

 Lord Lilford, is now lord of the manor. 



In the early 13th century, the geld payable by 

 Titchmarsh was divided amongst the three holders of 

 fees there, Ascelin de Sidenham, Ralph, son of Ralph, 

 and Robert, son of Thomas.^" The holding of Ralph, 

 son of Ralph, may probably be identified with the 

 knight's fee held of John de Plesseys in 1242 by Ralph 

 de Titchmarsh, Robert le Her and William de 

 Suthburc.** Sir Ralph de Titchmarsh witnessed a deed 

 as to lands in Hemington in 1264^- and Robert 

 witnessed charters of a few years later.*' Ralph de 

 Titchmarsh whose heirs held a several fishery in the 

 Nene in 1348 may have followed in the descent.''* 

 Possibly the fee had been divided before this, since 

 Sir John Lovel's lands had been considerably sub- 

 infcudated ; one quarter of a fee was held by Richard, 

 son of Guy and his wife Joan, another quarter by 

 William de Clavbrook and his wife Elizabeth, a third 

 quarter by Isabel Drayton and two eighth parts 

 respectively by John de Seymour and the successors 

 of Simon ISIullesworth. It seems possible that these 

 tenants represented the heirs of Ralph de Titch- 

 marsh.'" •" 



" Feud, /lids, ii, 569 ; Cat. Inq. ix, 

 no. 44. 



»» Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 36 F.dw. Ill, file 14, 

 no. 326 ; ibid. 9 Men. IV, no. 29. 



"" Egcrton MS. (l).M.), 2733, f. 155. 



" Curia Regis R. 85, m. 2. lie is de- 

 scribed 38 Ascelin dc 'ritchm.irsh of 

 Titchmarsh, but this is probably a 

 mistake. Although two families n.imed 

 Titchmarsh held p.irts of the parish, there 

 docs not seem to have been an Ascelin nt 

 this time and the defendant of the law- 

 suit seems to have been a man of more 

 importance than the Titchmaishes. 



" Cal. I'al. 1231- 34, p. 354 ; Anct. D. 

 D. 236. 



" Anct. Deeds, D. 286. 



'• G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



»' Egerion MS. (n.M.), 1733, f. 141 ; 

 nk. of /■'(■«, ii, 937. 



•• Aihmole MS. (Rodley's Lib.) 804, 

 fl. 31, 42 (evidences of the l.ovel family). 



" Hunter, Rot. Select. (Rec. Com.), 197. 



■* Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 47, no. 2. 



"Cal. Pat. 1 292- 1 3c I, pp. 44, 45; 

 1301-7, p. 145 i 1396-99, P- .=;4'- 



*» Chan. In<|. p.m. Edw. II, file 20, 

 no. 14 ; file 37, no. 3 ; Edw. Ill, file 84, 

 no. 15 ; Hen. V, file S, no. 30 ; Hen. VI, 

 file 158, no. I ; Cal. Anct. D., A. 4790. 



*' Cat. Pat. 14S5-94, p. 100; I'eet of 

 F. Div. Cos. East. 4 and 5 Hen. VIII ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlv, 63 ; G.E.C. 

 Complete Peerage. 



•" Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 3. 



*'» Recov. R. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516 ; 

 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 1 Mary. 



*• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120. 

 Bridges, llilt. Sorthant). ii, 3S3, 384. 



*•* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccxlii, 94. 



** Rridges, loc. cit. 



"»CE.C. ComplcleBaronetage,\\,a2-i. 



" Ibid. He was son of Gilbert (rf. 173ft), 

 son of John (d. 1703), son of Gilbert 

 (d. f6fi8). 



" Ibid. ; J. Nichols, Nitl. and Aniii]. of 

 I.eici. i, 615; ii, 664; cf. Instit. Bks. 

 (I'.R.O.), 17SI- 



144 



'■ Recov. R. East. 4 Geo. Ill, ro. 278. 



" Cf. Instit. liks. fl'.R.U.), 1770. 



" Pr,v. .let of Pari 18 Geo. Ill, cap. 8. 



"» I-gerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155; 

 n R.ilph df Titchni.irsh was li\ing in 1 199. 

 Rot. Cur. Rrz. (Rcc. Com.), 389. 



*' Bk. of I-'ns, ii, 937. Robert le Her 

 was probably Robert son of Ralph llcrcde 

 of Wiulenhoe (Hncclcuch MS. 71). 



6' UiKcleuch Deeds, G. 8. 



^> Ibid. ]l. 19, 28 ; Bwccleuch MS. 73. 



" Ch.in. In.), p.m. Kdw. HI, file S4, 

 no. 11;. Sir Rich.ird dc 'iiicbni.irsh 

 witnessed deeds .is to lands at Kingstliorp 

 in 1264 and Linda at Barnwell c. 1270 

 (Rncclcuch I>rcds, A. 40, M. 21). C'»cnffrcy 

 {\c ritchm.irsh witnessed a deed as tol.inds 

 iit IN-min^ton in n4(; (ibid. A. 71;) and 

 Sir Richard W.itrrvilie, R.dph de Titch- 

 marsh, (Icoffrey si>n of Rr>gcr dc Titch- 

 marsh, and I'ulk de Tilchnuirsh witnessed 

 n ijlh century charter as to Unds at 

 l.iHurd (Uuctlcuch MS. 20). 



•* Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393. 



