HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



BOZEAT 



Dowager Duchess of Marlborough,' and in 1739 

 the duchess presented to the church. From her it 

 passed to the Spencers. The presentation to the church 

 was made in 1753 by John Spencer, esq. (in whose 

 hands the manors must have been at that date), and in 

 1795 and 1796 by Earl Spencer, who was returned 

 in the Indosure Act of 1798 as lord of the manor and 

 owner of the impropriate rectory,* which remained in 

 the possession of the Spencer family. 



The manor of MARSHES originated in land held at 

 the date of the Domesday Survey by William Peverel, 

 under whom Turstin [Mantel] was holding i J virgates 

 in Bozeat of which the soc appertained to Higham.^ 

 The 12th-century Northampton Survey records 3 small 

 virgates in Bozeaf* as of the fee of William Peverel, and 

 I J virgates which had been entered in the Domesday 

 Survey as held in Easton by William Peverel,' and were 

 waste, probably made up the difference. 



The overlordship descended with the fee of Ferrers 

 to Edmund Earl of Lancaster, and in 1298 was in- 

 cluded in the dower of his widow Blanche, as was also 

 a thirtieth of a fee in Bozeat held by Robert the Clerk.* 

 This, of which there is no further trace, may have 

 originated in a grant of land made in the time of King 

 John by William de Wenneval to 'Roger my clerk'.' 

 The Bozeat half- fee descended to Thomas Earl of Lan- 

 caster' and passed with his other property into the 

 hands of the Crown. 



Early in the 13th century Robert Bloet was in pos- 

 session of this manor and granted a messuage, vineyard, 

 garden, pigeon-house, and 5 virgates, with the services 

 of the hiondmen, to Ralph Harcng.' All this Ralph, 

 with the consent of his son Ralph, gave in 1222 to the 

 nuns of Godstow, on condition of their paying £^ 

 yearly to the abbey of St. James outside Northampton.'" 

 But immediately afterwards he and the Abbess Felice 

 rearranged the grant, so that the 

 land went to the abbey of St. 

 James, who should pay the £^ 

 yearly to Godstow;" and about 

 twenty years later Abbot Adam 

 of St. James sold the vineyard 

 back to Sir Ralph Hareng (prob- 

 ably the son) without abating the 

 rent charge.'* Geoffrey de Stokes 

 had apparently acquired the rights 

 of Robert Bloet before 1229, 

 when he made over the 5 virgates 

 to Ralph Hareng, at the same 

 time paying 4 marks to the abbey 

 of St. James for a fishpond on the property.'^ In 

 1242 Thomas d'Evrcux (de Ebraicis) was holding 

 this half-fee;'* and in 1246 he was granted land which 



Abbey of St. James, 

 Northampton. Parry 

 sable and gules a scallop 



he had assarted on the king's demesne and the cus- 

 tody of the wood of Hornwood, which he had held 

 from the king's foresters in fee before they forfeited 

 their bailiwick." This was acquired from him and 

 granted to the abbey of St. James by John de Stokes,'* 

 who in 1255 granted a lease to the abbey of St. 

 James without Northampton for fifteen years of land 

 in Bozeat and the custody of Hornwood," and in the 

 same year conveyed to Abbot Adam a wood and half 

 a knight's fee in Bozeat and Higham.'* In the assess- 

 ment in 1 3 16 of Bozeat with Easton [Maudit] and 

 half Strixton for feudal aids, the abbot of St. James 

 appears among tenants enumerated," and in the same 

 year was engaged in a dispute with Richard Shortnot, 

 a tenant of the manor of Bozeat, because the said 

 Richard had unjustly claimed that this manor was of 

 the ancient demesne of the Crown." Richard, however, 

 was discharged on that occasion owing to the abbot's 

 having exacted from him and other tenants services 

 other than those which it had been customary to render. 

 An inquisition of 1318 stated that there were no lands 

 in Bozeat of the ancient demesne of the Crown.*' 



Other land in Bozeat had been acquired by Adam, 

 Abbot of St. James, to whom William de Dudinton in 

 1 262 granted a messuage and 45 acres of land there.** 

 In 1292 John de Nowers quitclaimed to Abbot Ralph 

 the wood of Stoneway in Bozeat, which had been 

 granted to the abbey by John Maudit, lord of Easton 

 (q.v.), for a rent of 2/. or one sparrow-hawk;*^ and in 

 1 3 19 Walter Mauntell received licence to alienate to 

 the abbey 2 J acres in Bozeat.** Additional land in 

 Bozeat was acquired in 1 391-2 by the abbey,*' whose 

 property there was valued at the Dissolution at ^^lo 

 }early.** The manor of Bozeat, with the rectory and 

 advowson of the vicarage, and woods called Abbots 

 Stonj'way, Bozeat Stockings, and Abbots Hornwood, 

 all part of the possessions of the late monastery, were 

 in 1 544 granted to Philip Meredith and others, mercers 

 of London,*' lands belonging to the monastery having 

 been also granted in 1543 to Laurence French of 

 Bozeat,*' and in i 546 to George Ryche and Thomas 

 Grantham of Lincoln's Inn.*' On i February 15 50 Sir 

 John Royse and others received licence to alienate the 

 manor, rectory, and advowson to John Marshe and his 

 wife Alice,'" who in 1556 sold them to John Dobbes.^' 

 The wood called Abbots Stoneye or Stonyvs'ay and the 

 rectory and advowson (q.v.) were on 20 June of the 

 same year granted by John Dobbes to Baldwin Payne, 

 merchant of the staple of Calais, and various tenements 

 belonging to the manor and late monastery were sold 

 by John Dobbes to several different owners. '* The 

 manor John Marshe evidently retained, as in 1571 he 

 settled it on his son and heir William Marshe,'' from 



' Feet of F. Northints. Mich. 15 



Geo. n. 



» Priv. Stat. 38 Geo. Ill, c. 26. 

 J y.C.ll. Norlhants. i, 338*. 



* Ibid. 377A. 



' i.e. 1 \ virgates in Easton belonging to 

 the manor of Higham. They were not 

 entered in the Northampton Survey, and 

 parts of Easton were scattered among the 

 fields of Bozeat. Ibid. 33717. 



' Cal. Inj. p.m. iii, 296. Robert the 

 Clerk was holding in 1 284. : Feud. Aids, Iv, 



'4- 

 ' Harl. Ch. 86 F. 46. 

 ' Cal. In(j. p.m. vii, 63. 



• Reg. of Godsivw Kunnery (E.E.T.S.), 

 188. 



'• Ibid. " Ibid. 189-91. 



" Ibid. 192. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 13 Hen. Ill, 

 file 23, no. 237. 



'* Bk. of Fees, 933. He held in right of 

 his wife, as in 1245 service from the 5 

 virgates was due to Thomas d'Evrcux and 

 Margery his wife: Assize R. 614, m. 8. 



■» Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 294. Cf. 

 Assize R. 614, m. 19. 



" Feet of F. Div. Co. case 283, file 14, 

 no. 88. 



" Harl. Chart. 56 F. I. 



'" Feet of F. Northanls. 40 Hen. Ill, 

 case 173, file 41, no. 699; Hund. R. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 10; Cal. Pat. 1324-7, 

 p. 192. 



" Feud. Aids, iv, 30. 



" Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 323. 



" Cal. Ini). Misc. ii, no. 371. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 46 Hen. Ill, 

 case 174, file 47, no. 827. 



" Harl. Chart. 53 C. 39. 



" Cat. Pal. 1317-21, p. 399. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Ric. II, pt. 2, no. 

 178. 



" Falor Feci, iv, 319. 



" Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 3; L. and 

 P. Hen. ^V//, »ix (2) g. 527 (30), p. 317- 



-* Ibid, xviii, p. 550. 



" L. and P. lien. yill,xx\(\) g. 504(1). 



M Pat. R. 4Edw. VI, pt. 3. 



" Ibid. 2 and 3 Ph. and M. pt. 3 ; Feet o 

 F. Northants. Trin. 2 and 3 Ph. and M. 



'* Com. Pleas, Deeds Enr. Trin. 2 and 

 3, Ph. and M. ro. 9, 10. 



" Pat. R. 1} Eliz. pt. II. 



