NAVISFORD HUNDRED 



WADENHOE 



In 1672, George Foule obtained licence to use 

 James Cole's house and barn at Titchmarsh as a 

 Congregational Chapel.''^ There is now a Wesleyan 

 chapel in the parish. 



The Hospital or Almshouses 

 CHARITIES founded by Dorothy Elizabeth 

 Pickering and Frances Byrd by in- 

 dentures dated I and 2 January, 1756, consist of The 

 Almshouses in Titchmarsh and a farm of 210a. ir. 6p. 

 at Molesvvorth, Huntingdonshire, let for ^^165, 

 including sporting rights. The property and the 

 following subsidiary charities are regulated by a 

 scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 6 June, 

 1882. Mrs. Francis Byrd by her will and codicil 

 gave ;^i, 500 Bank Annuities, now Consols, and produc- 

 ing ^■^-j los. yearly, for the benefit of the Hospital. 

 Thomas Knight by his will proved at York, 19 June, 

 1858, gave £900. This sum was invested in ^^839 3^.3^/. 

 India 5 per cent, now 3^ per cent. Stock producing 

 j^29 7/. 4</. yearly. Thomas Attenborough by Declar- 

 ation of Trust 1 September, 1 891, gave £1,000, which 

 was invested in ;^i,047 2s. ^d. India 3 per cent. Stock 

 producing £11 %s. yearly. The Almshouses are 

 managed by a body of trustees consisting of the rector 

 and five others. The full number of almswomen is 

 twelve and during the year ended 30 June, 1924, 

 j^l34 15^. was applied in stipends, ^{^33 os. i^d. in 

 firing, £2^ los. ^d. in clothing, £() \os. in nursing and 

 medical attendance for inmates. 



By his will dated 30 March, 1697, Edward Pickering 

 gave £300 to the poor. The money was laid out in 

 the purchase of land let for^^is yearly and 17a. 3r. I4p. 

 let in allotments and producing about £\i yearly. 

 The sporting rights arc let to Lord Lilford for j^i 10/. 

 yearly. The charity is known as The Non- 

 ecclesiastical Charity and is regulated by the scheme 

 of the Charity Commissioners regulating the Alms- 

 houses and the trustees consist of those for the 

 Almshouses, together with five trustees appointed by 

 the Parish Council. The income is applied in sub- 

 scriptions to the local coal and clothing clubs, in 

 urgent relief of poor and in subscriptions to hos- 

 pitals. 



An allotment of five acres of land was set out upon 

 the inclosure of the open fields in or about the 

 year 1 778 in lieu of land formerly appropriated to 

 the use of the church. The land is let to Mr. A. 

 Abbott for £10 yearly which is applied by the 

 churchwardens in the maintenance and upkeep of the 

 church. 



By her will proved in P.R. 23 June, 1887, Caroline 

 Powys bequeathed £s°° ^o ^^^ rector and two other 

 trustees for the benefit of the poor. The endowment 

 consists of £534 L. and N.E.R. 3 per cent. Debenture 

 Stock and the income, amounting to £16 o;. 6d., is 

 applied in doles to about 40 aged poor. 



The several sums of stock are with the Official 

 Trustees of Charitable Funds. 



WADENHOE 



Wadenho (xi cent.) ; VVadenhowe (xii cent.) ; Wad- 

 denhoo, Wandenhoe (xiii-.\vii cent.). 



The parish of Wadenhoe is bounded on the south- 

 east by the River Nene, near to which the land is low- 

 lying, being only some 80 ft. above the ordnance datum. 

 The ground rises, however, to the north-west, where it 

 reaches 258 ft. near Wadenhoe Great Wood. The 

 surface soil is clay and the subsoil is Oxford clay, 

 cornbrash and Great Oolite. The parish comprises 

 1,199 acres. It was inclosed by Act of Parliament 

 in 1793.^ 



The village stands on rising ground near to the 

 River Nene, a little way off the high road from I slip 

 and AldwinUe to Oundle. The church is in an 

 isolated position to the south-west of the village on 

 high ground overlooking the river. On the opposite 

 side of the village is the Old Rectory, sold toG. Ward 

 Hunt and occupied by Capt. W. Ward Hunt, R.N., 

 D.S.O., as the rector resides at Pilton, the living of 

 which he holds with that of Wadenhoe. Wadenhoe 

 House, the property of G. Ward Hunt, is a 17th- 

 century building with modern additions standing in 

 extensive grounds. At a farm-house in the village is a 

 circular stone dovecote with conical roof and louvrcd 

 turret. A reservoir adjoins the Oundle Road and 

 there were formerly some quarries in the parish, 

 which are now no longer worked. No railway crosses 



the parish, the nearest railway station being at 

 Thorpe on the London Midland and Scottish Railway. 



John Palsgrave, tutor to Henry Fitzroy, natural 

 son of Henry VIII, was rector here from 1545 to 1554.* 

 Samuel Parr, the educationist and political writer, 

 became rector in 1789 by exchange with Dr. Bridges, 

 but apparently never resided in the parish.' 



In the time of Edward the Confessor, 

 MANORS Burred held freely 2 hides and \ virgate 

 of land in Wadenhoe, but after the 

 Conquest they were granted to the Bishop of Cou- 

 tances, who was the overlord in 1086.* After the 

 forfeiture of the bishop's lands under William Rufus, 

 Wadenhoe must have been granted to King David 

 of Scotland, as it was included in his fee in the first 

 half of the 12th century. * A holding of 2^ hides and 

 I bovate of land, included among the lands in 

 Wadenhoe given to the Bishop, should probably 

 belong to Wold.^ 



Another holding in Wadenhoe, consisting of ij 

 virgates, was in 1086 held of the Abbey of Peter- 

 borough, by Roger,' who may be identified as the 

 ancestor of the Torpel family, since in the early 12th 

 century Roger Infans held 2 small virgates.^ Later 

 the Torpels do not appear to have held any land in 

 Wadenhoe, and it is possible that this holding after- 

 wards was accounted a part of Pilton {q.v.). 



♦• Cal. S.P. Dom. 1672, pp. 42, 198. 

 'Priv. Act of Pari. 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 



'D.N.B. 

 ixi. p. 7S3. 



L. and P. Hen. Fill, vol. 



• D.N.B. 



* y.C.H. Nortbanu. i, pp 309^, 310a. 



' Ibid. 366a. 



• Ibid. 362. In the 12th century 

 Survey (/'.C.W. Koribants. i, 366) various 

 other entrio arc given under Wadenhoe, 

 lome of which belong to Stoke Doyle 

 (y.o). 'I he fact that Wadenhoe, Pilton 

 and Stoke were reckoned ai one vill 



149 



(cf. Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155) 

 probably accounted for this confusion, 

 while the transcript of the Survey in the 

 Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, is somewhat 

 corrupt. 



' y.C.H. Xortbanls. i, 316J. 



' Ibid. 366J. 



