HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



CHELVESTON 



CUM 



CALDECOTT 



set, afterwards Earl of Worcester.' He settled it on 

 himself and his wife Eleanor, with remainder to his 

 younger son George Somerset for life; and died on 

 15 April 1526, leaving as his heir his son Henry,- to 

 whose son and heir William Earl of Worcester the 

 grant was confirmed by Edward VI on 27 March 

 1553.' The property was conveyed by William Earl 

 of Worcester, Dame Christian his wife, and Sir George 

 Somerset to the Pickerings in 1553,* and was shortly 

 afterwards bought by John Ekins. On 9 January 1557 

 Ekins settled a moiety of it on his younger son John 



lillll3I!JC(:NTURV EARLY 

 OliE'CrNTURY EARLY 



OI51UCi;vniRY 

 ^ Modern 



and for Mary's jointure; the other moiety to the use of 

 Alexander and Susan his wife for life; the remainder in 

 both being to the sons of Robert and Mary. Robert, in 

 his turn, settled a portion of his estate in March 1641 

 to the use of his younger children, Robert, Thomas, 

 Mary, Susan, and Anne; and died a few days later, 

 leaving as his heir his son, another Alexander.'" This 

 Alexander Ekins married Jane, the eldest daughter of 

 John Sawyer, and died on 15 January 1656, leaving 

 two sons, John and Alexander." John Ekins died on 

 14 July 1688," and was succeeded by his brother 



■ :.J"^':. ': 



North .Visle • 



Nave 



® ® #■ 



South Aisir ' ' 



Scale of Feet 

 10 5 o 10 20 30 



40 



Plan of Chelveston-cum-Caldecott Church 



in tail, with contingent remainders to his daughters 

 Eleanor and Elizabeth, one of the trustees for this 

 settlement being his brother Thomas Ekins.' The other 

 moiety passed on the death of the elder John Ekins, in 

 the same month, to his eldest son William, who was 2 1 . 



William Ekins died on 14 January 1561, having 

 bequeathed all his lands to his wife Prudence and her 

 expected child, who was born about the ist of May, 

 and proved to be a girl, and was named Isabel.* After 

 this date the descent of both moieties becomes for a time 

 extremely difficult to trace, but the whole estate seems 

 to have been acquired by Robert, the son of Thomas 

 Ekins, towards the end of the i6th century.' 



Alexander Ekins, the son and heir of Robert, was 

 dealing with the manor in 1 597, when he received a 

 warranty concerning a moiety from William Ley, John 

 Ekins, William Barton the elder and Elizabeth his wife, 

 and William Barton the younger, Elizabeth Cooper, 

 widow, and James Hopkyns and Eleanor his wife.* 

 The manor was settled by Alexander on 20 September 

 1623, on the marriage of his son Robert to Mary 

 Smith.' A moiety of the manor and all the premises in 

 Cheiveston, except the meadows previously assigned to 

 Alexander, were assigned to the use of Robert and Mary 



' CjI. Pat. i4g;-94, p. loo. It was 

 also granted on zz March 1487 to the 

 Lady Margaret (ibid. 155), but the pre- 

 vious grant rendered this gift of no effect. 



• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), x\v, no. 65; 

 CoU, Topog. ft Gen, V, pp. xxiv, 305. 



' Pat. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 3. 



♦ Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich, i Mary. 



» Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxv, no. 15. 



' Ibid, csxxi, 157. 



' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 25 & 26 

 Eliz., Easter 35 Eliz.; Pat. 32 Eliz. pt. 5. 



' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 39 Se 40 

 Eliz. 



< Ibid. Easter 21 Jas. I, Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (Ser. 2), dixxxviii, 78. 



Alexander,' ^ who with his wife Jane conveyed the manor 

 in 1694 to Geoffrey Barton and John Savsyer,'^ by 

 whom it was sold in 1708 to Thomas Allen. '^ 



After the death of Thomas Allen the succession to 

 the estate was for some years disputed, but the property 

 eventually came into the possession of the Disbrowe 

 family. Edward Disbrowe, who called Edward Crom- 

 well Disbrowe to warrant, was vouchee in a recovery 

 in 181 2. 



Mr. H. C. Wise was lord of the manor in 1876. 



The church of ST. JOHN THE 

 CHURCH BAPTIST stands between the two vil- 

 lages and consists of chancel, 24 ft. 6 in. 

 by 19 ft. 6 in.; clerestoried nave, 58 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in.; 

 north and south aisles, south porch, and north-east 

 tower, II ft. by 12 ft., all these measurements being 

 internal. The north aisle is 10 ft. 4 in. wide and the 

 south aisle 7 ft. 8 in., the width across nave and aisles 

 being 43 ft. 2 in. The eastern bay of each aisle is 

 separated from the rest by an arch from the outer wall 

 to the nave pier, and to the north-east chapel thus 

 formed the tower is attached on its north side. 



Substantially the building dates from c. 1220 to 

 1250, and the only subsequent alterations to the plan 



'"> Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dcxiv, 99, 

 " M.I. at Cheiveston. 

 " Recov. R. Easter I WiU. and Mary, 

 m. 80. 

 " Feet of F. Northants. HiL 6 WiU. III. 

 '< Ibid. Hil. 6 Anne. 



IV 



