HUXLOE HUNDRED 



TWYWELL 



There are a few two-story lytli- century stone 

 houses in the village ; one at the south end with a 

 mullioncd bay window on the ground floor has a 

 panel in the gable inscribed t " a 1663, and the 

 cottage now used as the post office is dated 1660. 

 Another house with thatched roof has mullioncd 

 windows and a good four-centered doorway, and west 

 of the church is a picturoscjuc, but much modernised, 

 I7tli-century farmhouse with stone-slated roof and 

 wooden dormers ; attached to it is a rectangular 

 dovecote with end gables and lantern. Another 

 dovecote of the same character stands in a field 

 farther north. 



In 1086 the abbey of Thorney held 

 M.1N0RS 3 hides, less it virgatcs, of land in 

 7U"i'li'KLL,* but a few years later their 

 holding was said to consist of 2 hides only.' The 

 abbey obtained various additional grants of land in 

 the following centuries,' and 

 held the manor of Twywcli in 

 frankalmoin of the king in chief 

 until the Dissolution of the 

 Monasteries.' Abbot Guntcr 

 (1085-1 1 1 2) granted it for life 

 to Aubrey dc V'ere, the Cham- 

 berlain, and a similar grant 

 was made to his son Robert.*" 

 In the 13th century. Abbot 

 Jakesley (1261-93) granted it 

 for life to Sir William Hay, 

 knt., in exchange for the manor 

 of Clapton ; Sir William as- 

 signed the manor to John Hay, and Abbot Odo (1293- 

 1305) gave certain lands in it to the convent, for the 

 celebration of the anniversary of John Hay, at a rent 

 of 2/. 6d. a year." Although leases of the site were 

 made, the manor seems usually to have been held in 

 demesne.^ In 1544, Henry VIII granted it to 

 William, Lord Parr of Horton, but his lands escheated 

 to the Crown*' and the manor was not alienated, 

 although various grants and leases were made and 

 certain tenements in the parish were granted out.*'* 



A second manor of TII'l'lt'ELL can be traced back 

 to an entry in Domesday Hook. In the reign of I'ldward 

 the Confessor, Earl Waltlieof 

 held it, but in 1086 his widow 

 Countess Judith had I J hides 

 of land here.*" In the follow- 

 ing century David, Earl of 

 Huntingdon, owned it,^' and 

 it was held of tlie Hono\ir of 

 Huntingdon for half a knight's 

 fec.^^ I'.irt of the land attached 

 to it seems to have been in 

 SIipton.23 



This manor seems to have 

 been a member of the manor 

 of Harrold (co. 15eds), which 

 was held by the Morin family of that part of the 

 honour of Huntingdon which fell to Hastings, 

 Earl of Pcmbroko.2-» In the middle of the 13th 

 century Ralpii Morin conveyed his interest to John 



TTTT7T 



Ekins. Argittt a bend 

 indcnicd iable bclKCen 

 Itl'O crosilcis Jilchy gules. 



Thorney Abdey. 

 Azure three crozicrs be- 

 ttveen as many crosslets 

 or. 



Grey. Barry ardent and 

 azure tvilh three roundels 

 gules in the chief. 



de Grey, and this mesne lordship continued with the 

 family of Grey de Ruthin.^^ 



The tenants in demesne were the Veres. Aubrey 

 de Vere, the chamberlain {d. 1 141), held lands here for 

 life, about which he made an agreement with the 

 abbot of Thorney. This agreement was confirmed to 

 Robert, his younger son.^* Robert married, as his 



cond wife, Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell 



After 1574, the manor seems to have been granted to sc(_ , ._ 



Sir William Cecil," later Lord Burghley, but probably of Twywell, with whom he received an addition to 



he only obtained the site of the manor and the land his property in Twywell." This manor passed with 



that had formerly been leased \\'ith it. In 1592, his 

 son Thomas sold the 'manor' to Robert Dallyson,'* 

 who in 1595 sold the site with 200 acres of land besides 

 meadow, pasture, wood, etc., to Robert Ekins.*' This 

 property was called the manor of Twywell and belonged 

 to the family of Ekins certainly until 1720.** It was 



the Vere manor in Great Addington (q.v.).'^ 



In Domesday Book, the Abbey of Peterborough held 

 no land in Twywell, but probably one virgate of its 

 holding in Slipton lay in Tw)'well,29 and in the 12th- 

 century survey of the county one great virgate in 

 Twywell is assigned to Peterborough.*' Its subse- 



probably sold to the Duke of Montagu, since in 1765 quent history is lost until the close of the 14th cen- 

 Mary, Countess of Cardigan, was lady of the manor.*» tury, when it may possibly reappear as a manor of 



• V.C.H. Northants. i, 3iqa. 



' Ibid. 365a ; Dugdjle, Mon. Angl. ii, 

 604. 



• Abhrcv. Rot. Orig. fRec. Com.), i, 141 ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no. 144 ; Cat. 

 Chan. T, 77. 



• Cal. Close, 1234-7, p. 208 ; Feud. Aids, 

 iv, 12, 29; Dugdalc, op. cit. ii, 613. 



'• Ibid. 603. 

 " Ibid. 604. 



" Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), 69 (33) ; Dug- 

 dale, op. cit. ii, 613. 



'• L. and P. Hen. nil, xix (pt. i), g. 141 



(75)- 



'« Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 13 ; 16 Elir.. pt. 8 ; 

 17 Elir. pt. 5 ; Chan. Inij. p.m. (Ser. ii), 

 dccUuz, 5S. In 1635 Francis Mulsbo died 



leised of 12} virgatcs of land in Twywell, 

 some of which had been parcel of Lord 

 Parr's manor, and all were held of the 

 king a« of the manor of East Greenwich. 



" Hist. MSS. Com. Kcp. (Salisbury 

 MSS.), ii, 42. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 34 

 Eliz. 



" Ibid. Mich. 37 & 38 Eliz. 



"Feet of F. Northants. East. 1658; 

 Recov. R. Mich. 7 Geo. I, ro. 127; 

 Bridges, //ill. Northants. ii, 262. 



" Act. of Pari. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 35. 



'■■ y.C.II. Northants. i, 351-2- 



" Ibid. 365a. 



== Dk. of Fees, i, 494 ; ii, 937' 



" Ibid. 



249 



" Farrcr, Honors and Knights' Fees, ii 

 3^7, 39<^- "' V.C.H. Beds, ii, 65. 



'« Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 603. 



" Drayton Chart, 104. 



" Bk. of Fees, ii, 937 ; Feud. Aids, 

 iv, 12 ; Abbrev. Rot. Ong. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 222 ; Cal. Inq. vi, no. 517 (^the statement 

 here made that Robert de Vere, Earl of 

 Oxford, held under John de Hastings, is 

 probably due to a confusion of names); 

 ibid. no. 612 ; ix, no. 118 ; Plac. de Quo 

 H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 569 i ^''^'^^ °' ^■ 

 Northants. Mil. 31 Hen. VIII; Com. 

 Pleas, Deeds Enr. Hil. 2 & 3 Edw. VI, 

 m. 8d. ; Pat. R. i •; Chas. I, pt. 10. 



" V.C.H. Northants. 1,314^, 3<'5'' ("-S)- 



•» Ibid. 365a. 



