BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS 



wards covered practically the whole of the area lying 

 between the church and tiie Kimbolton road,^* the 

 site measuring about 380 yards from north to south, 

 and in breadth varying from 180 yards at the north 

 end to 140 yards near the church. On the east it was 

 bounded by the Bury Close. The early castle stood at 

 the north end of this area, but no trace of a motte or its 

 defending ditch having been found, it has been sur- 

 mised that the llth century stronghold was of the 

 ' keep-and-bailev ' type.'- Two arms of the ditch and 

 the corresponding ramparts still remain, the eastern 

 arm in its entirety, about 485 feet long, and the 

 southern arm in part,'* but of the keep or other build- 

 ings nothing has survived. There is reason to believe 

 that the buildings mentioned in the bailiff's account 

 of 1313-14 and in later manorial accounts of the 

 same century, were at the south end of the sitc,'^ but 

 the location of the various places named cannot be 

 determined. There is occasional mention of the draw- 

 bridge, and the House of the Drawbridge is also 

 referred to.** There were two outer gates, that on the 

 west known also as the Town gate, and that on the cast 

 as the Field gate. There is also mention of the Middle 

 gate, the Great gate under the Lord's Chamber, and 

 the small postern gate near the churchyard. The 

 chapel is referred to in 1375," and early in the ne.xt 

 century its roof was releaded and the floor repaired. 

 Extensive repairs of the buildings were going on from 

 1429 to 1432, when the ' turret at the north end of 

 the chapel ' is mentioned." One of the chapel 

 windows contained the king's and queen's arms and 

 an image of St. Edmund.** The Great Hall was 

 destroyed by fire in 1409-10, but was rebuilt a year 

 or two later." In 143 1 the stairs from the door of the 

 Hall to the chapel were repaired, and in 1433 the Town 

 gate was partly rebuilt. The Lord's Chamber, ' Lady 

 Philippa's Chamber,' the Young Lord's Chamber,*" 

 and several other places are named in 1376, and in a 

 later account ' Lord Derby's Chamber.'*' There are 

 also frequent references to the knights' chamber, 

 the friars' chamber, the steward's, receiver's, and 

 auditor's chambers, tlie treasury chamber,'^ and the 

 kitchen, larder, buttery, pantry and other offices.*' In 

 1462-3 the kitchen was re-roofed and partly rebuilt. 

 Other references are to the stables,** the great barn, 

 the granary, the hay-house, ox-house, cattle-sheds, 

 sheep-house, and kiln-house.*' During the last decade 

 of the 15th century and the early years of the l6th, the 

 castle buildings suffered from neglect and were de- 



scribed as 'all rased and in great ruin and decay' 

 in 1523, when Sir Richard W'ingfield was licensed by 

 the King to take down and carry away as much stone 

 from the site as he thought sufficient for the re- 

 building of the castle of Kimbolton.** In 1591 it was 

 reported that the manor-house, long since in decay, 

 had been in ancient times a castle standing in a place 

 called the Castle Yard.*' This appears to have been 

 the capital messuage or manor place commonly called 

 the Castle Yard which the Parliamentary Commis- 

 sioners found in the tenure of Thomas Rudd in 

 1649.** 



In the garden of the Green Dragon Inn, formerly 

 within the area of the outer ward of the castle, are the 

 remains of a rectangular dove-house.*' 



The Lordship of Higham existed 

 LORDSHIP as a territorial entity before the Con- 

 quest. We learn from the Domesday 

 Survey (1086) that Gitda had held the manor and its 

 appendages in 1066. Possibly at one time the whole 

 hundred belonged to Gitda's predecessors in title, but 

 in 1086 William Pevcrel held in Higham Ferrers 

 6 hides and as members of the manor he had in 

 Rushden 6 hides, in Chelveston and Caldecote I hide 

 and 3 virgates, in Knuston I hide and ij virgate, in 

 Irchester I hide and 3 virgates of soke [land], in 

 Farndish 3 virgates of soke [land], in Poddington (co. 

 Beds.) i hide of soke [land], in Easton Mauduit ij- 

 virgate and in Raunds 7J hides and J virgate of soke 

 [land].'" There were also in Bozeat ij virgate and 

 in Hargrave J hide, the soke of which belonged to 

 Higham Ferrers.'* Fractions of knights' fees were 

 held of the manor of Higham Ferrers in the following 

 places: Bozeat, Irchester, Raunds, Blisworth, Rush- 

 den, Quinton, Denton, Ditchford, Caldecote and 

 Chelveston, Ringstead, Stanwick, Chester near 

 Irchester, Hargrave, and Farndish.'* 



Higham Ferrers was held in the time 

 MANOR of Edward the Confessor by Gitda or 

 Githa, whom Mr. Round has identified 

 as the wife of Earl Ralf of Hereford, a nephew of 

 Edward the Confessor. It passed after the Conquest 

 to William Peverel," said, but with little authority, 

 to have been an illegitimate son of the Conqueror. He 

 was a baron of the Cotentin and a famous general and 

 trusted minister of King William. In 1086 Peverel 

 had in Higham Ferrers 6 hides, whereof two were in 

 demesne, a market, a mill and a considerable quantity 

 of woodland. There was then a priest, indicative of a 



" Rev. W. J. B. Kerr, Higbam Ferren 

 and III Ducal and Royal Caslle and Park 

 (1925), 100. 



"Ibid. 102. Mr. Kerr wa> of opinion 

 that the lile of the keep was where there 

 ii now ' a deep annular depretsion,' 

 about 60 ft. in diameter, the appearance 

 of which luggeitcd to him that it was 

 ' caused by the removal of the foundations 

 of a massive round tower ' : ibid. 115. 



" Ibid. 102. A length of about 340 ft. 

 remains open : the original length cannot 

 have been more than 420 ft. The width 

 of the east arm at mean w-inter water 

 level is about 42 ft., and at the surface 

 level of the counterscarp 72 ft. The 

 height of the rampart above the natural 

 surface level does not exceed 10 ft., but 

 it has been flattened out into a broad 

 terrace or platform. 



" Ibid. 103. 



•' ' The new tower beside the draw- 



bridge ' is mentioned in an early account 

 of the reign of Edward IV : ibid. 104. 



*• The windows, which had been broken 

 by a great wind, were then repaired : 

 ibid. 107. 



" Ibid. 108. 



" Ibid. 



" The auditor's accounts show that 

 a sum of ,^204 IIS. 3d. was expended on 

 the rebuilding of the Hall in 1410, ,^56 

 in 141 1, and ^65 15*. \d. in 1412. A stone 

 tower was erected over the great gate 

 of the Hall : ibid. 108-9 ; ^a/. Pat. 

 1408-13, p. 108. 



•° After the passing of the Duchy of 

 Lancaster to the Crown the Lord's 

 Great Chamber and the Lady's Chamber 

 became respectively the King's and 

 Queen's Chambers : ibid. III. 



•' Ibid. no. 



" Probably identical with the ' checour- 

 hous ' mentioned in 1416 : ibid. 112. 



" Scullery, sauccry, chaunderye, ewery, 

 cellar, wine-cellar, storehouse, and bake- 

 house : ibid. 112. 



" The steed stable, the long stable 

 beside the east gate, the long stable near 

 the town, the steward's stable, the 

 receiver's stable, the auditor's stable, and 

 the friars' stable: ibid. 118. 



"Ibid. 119. 



" Ibid. 122 ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. 

 Bks. 22, fol. 62b. 



•' Ibid. 117, fol. 190. 



•' Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 32. 



•• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep!, xxxiii, 369. 

 The internal dimensions are 36 ft. by 

 16 ft. 10 in. : the west and two end walls 

 stand about 1 1 ft. high. 



'• y.C.H. Northanti. i, 336-7. 



" Ibid. 338. 



" See Farrer, Honors and Knigbis' Fees, 

 i, 201-6. 



'» y.C.H. Northants. i, 289, 336A. 



267 



