A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



CHELVESTON-CUM-CALDECOTT 



Celuestone and Caldecote (xi cent.); Chestone and 

 Calcote (xv cent.); Chelston and Caldecote (xviii cent.). 



Chelveston-cum-Caldecott is a small parish lying 

 on the east bank of the River Nene, which forms its 

 western boundary, the village of Chelveston being 

 about 2 J miles north-east of Higham Ferrers. The 

 church of St. John the Baptist stands midway between 

 the two villages. Some of the inhabitants are employed 

 in boot-making, but the establishment of this industry 

 has not yet led to an increase of population, the number 

 of inhabitants having declined from 401 in 1891 to 

 354 in 1931. The chief occupation is still agriculture, 

 and most of the land is now permanent grass. The soil 

 is alluvial along the bank of the river; the subsoils are 

 Oxford Clay, red marls, and Great Oolite. The common 

 fields were inclosed by a private Ac t in 1 8 o i . ' 



At the time of the Domesdav Survey 

 MANOR CHELFESTON v.-kh CJLDECOTTwas 

 a member of the manor of Higham Fer- 

 rers, which belonged to William Peverel; it was 

 assessed for i hide and 3 virgates.^ This land subse- 

 quently passed, with the rest of the honor of Peverel, 

 to William de Ferrers, who in 1224 granted 2 tofts in 

 Chelveston and 14 virgates and 5 cottages in Caldecott 

 to Hubert de Burgh and Margaret his wife, to hold for 

 one knight's fee.^ It was taken into the king's hands at 

 the time of Hubert's disgrace, but was restored to him 

 in November 1232,'' and was presumably still in his 

 possession in 1248, when William de Ferrers, Earl of 

 Derby, received a grant of free warren in his demesne 

 lands of Chelveston only;^ but it is not included among 

 the Northamptonshire lands of which John de Burgh, 

 Hubert's son and heir, died seised in 1274.* 



m 



'W^ 



Ferrers. Vairy or and 

 gules. 



St. Philibert. Bendy 

 argent and azure. 



In 1242 Payn de St. Philibert held half a fee in 

 Caldecott and Chelveston of William de Ferrers;' this 

 passed on his death to his son Hugh, who in 1269 

 obtained a quitclaim of the dower of Iseult, formerly 

 the wife of Payn and then the wife of Walter de Nevill, 

 in exchange for a rent of 26i marks, to be paid during 

 the life of Iseult.* Hugh de St. Philibert lived until 

 1300, when he left his son Hugh as his heir,' but the 

 freehold in Chelveston had been acquired before 1284 

 by Richard Siward, who held a tenth of a fee in this 

 parish."* All his lands, here and in Hampshire and 



' 41 Geo. Ill, c. 122. 



^ F.C.H. Northants. i, 336. 



' Feet of F. Northants. file 1 8, no. 108. 

 The grant was inrolled on 14 September 

 1227 {Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 60). 



■♦ Close 17 Hen. Ill, m. 17. 



5 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 33-- 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 1 1, no. 2. 



' Bk. of FeeSy ii, 933. 



* Feet of F. Northants. file 49, no. 877. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 1 7, no. 14. 



"• Feud. Aids, iv. 14. 



" Cal. Fine R. i, 371. 



■^ Ibid. 389. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81 ; Cal. 

 Inq. ii, no. 423, p. 296. 



'■• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 22, 

 no. 5. 



■5 Ibid.; Feud. Aids, vi, 369 ; Cal. Fine R. 

 V, 182. 



Wiltshire, were taken into the king's hand on 15 April 

 1296 on account of his rebellion." He was released 

 next year on condition that he should 'forthwith cross 

 with the King to foreign parts and serve faithfully 

 against the King of France, the King's enemy, and 

 others, and that he will deliver John his son as a hostage 

 until he find such security as the King will demand'.'^ 

 He recovered his lands before the end of the following 

 September,'^ and his son John, having 'no heir within 

 the realm of England', granted the manor to Thomas 

 Earl of Lancaster and his heirs. Lancaster returned it 

 to him to hold for his life, and afterwards granted the 

 reversion to Robert de Holand and his heirs. When 

 John Siward died in the spring of 1330, Robert, the 

 son and heir of Robert de Holand, was a minor in the 

 king's wardship.'* The custody of the manor, which 

 contained 301-^ acres of arable (of which half might be 

 sown yearly), 8 acres of meadow along the bank of the 

 Nene, a mill, a dovecote, and a capital messuage, with 

 a garden worth 6s. Sd. yearly in fruit and herbs, was 

 committed on 18 June 1330 to the king's kinsman, 

 Henry Earl of Lancaster,'^ but on 10 August the issues 

 were granted by Edward III to Robert de Holand for 

 his good service in the war against Scotland.'* 



This Robert de Holand in 1 3 3 1 settled Chelveston 

 with other lands on himself for life and after his 

 death on his son Robert and his sons, with contingent 

 remainder to Thomas and Alan, brothers of the younger 

 Robert." On the death of Sir Robert de Holand in 

 1373 it was stated that he held the Chelveston and 

 other manors, 'to him and the heirs male of his body, 

 and that John his son is his next heir male and of full 

 age'.'* The existing inquest, however, states that the 

 manor was settled on Sir Robert, his wife Maud and 

 son Robert; that Robert Holand the son had died seised 

 on 16 March 1373, and that Maud his daughter, the 

 wife of Sir John Lovel, was his heir." Maud accord- 

 ingly obtained seisin of the manor, which followed the 

 descent of the Lovel barony. John Lord Lovel, the 

 great-grandson of Maud de Holand, forfeited the estate 

 for his fidelity to the Lancastrian cause; it was granted 

 to Anne Duchess of Exeter, sister of Edward IV, in 

 1461, for life." A further grant was made, on 22 

 December 1462, to her and the heirs of her body by 

 Henry Duke of Exeter;^' but on 16 March 1477 a fresh 

 grant was made to Thomas Marquess of Dorset, son of 

 the king's consort Elizabeth Woodville,^^ but the 

 property was afterwards in the hands of Francis Lord 

 Lovel. He had been a child at the time of his father's 

 death in 1465, and having distinguished himself under 

 Richard Duke of Gloucester in the expedition of 1480 

 against the Scots, was created Viscount Lovel on 

 4 January 1483. After fighting for Richard III at 

 Bosworth Field he was attainted, whereby his lands and 

 honours became forfeit.^-* 



The manor of Chelveston with Caldecott was granted 

 by Henry VII on 9 March i486 to Sir Charles Somer- 



'* Cal. Pat. 1330-4, p. 459. 



■' Feet of F. Northants. file 73, no. 87. 



'8 Close 47 Edw. Ill, m. 32. 



"> Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (istnos.), 

 no. 19. 



" Cal. Pat. 1 46 1 -7, p. 7. 



" Ibid. p. 104. 



2^ Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 582. 



" Diet. Nat. Biog.; G.E.C. Complete 

 Peerage. 



8 



