A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



who started the collection of the famous library at the 

 Easton Maudit manor-house, which contained many 

 state papers of his father-in-law, the diplomatist and 

 antiquary, Robert Beale, is said to have incurred the 

 royal displeasure while Attorney- 

 General for the position he took 

 up at the trial of Carr Earl of 

 Somerset, by whose influence he 

 had been made Solicitor-General, 

 and was tried before the Star 

 Chamber and House of Lords, 

 and imprisoned. Butini625he 

 was made Judge of Common 

 Pleas. After his death, on 24 

 January 1630, in London, he was Yelverton. Argent 



T • 1 . T-> . nT T. 1 _ t/iree itons and a chtej 



gules. 



In 1639 Sir Chris- 



buried at Easton Maudit, where 

 he was succeeded in the manor by 

 his son Sir Christopher Yelverton.' 

 topher, whose home at Easton Maudit had been visited 

 by King Charles in 1636,^ received a grant disafforest- 

 ing the manor of Easton Maudit and certain lands 

 (about 170 acres) in Bozeat, with free warren and 

 licence to impark 500 acres. ' In this grant the manor 

 lands and woods of Easton Maudit were estimated at 

 1,830 acres, and were described as within the bounds 

 of the forest of Salcey (Salceto). The wood called Horn- 

 wood, previously included in grants of lands in Bozeat 

 (q.v.), was also now included in it. Sir Christopher was 

 made a baronet on 30 June 164 1, in consideration of 

 his having maintained 30 foot soldiers in Ireland for 

 three years,* and lived until 1654. His son and heir 

 Henry, who then succeeded him, had married Susan, 

 daughter and heir to Charles Longueville, Lord Grey 

 de Ruthyn (Baroness Grey of Ruthyn after her father 

 fell fighting for the king at Oxford in 1643), by whom 

 he had three sons, Charles, Henry, and Christopher,^ 

 and died in 1670, when he was succeeded by his son 

 Charles. At the death s.p. of Charles, who had suc- 

 ceeded to the peerage as Lord Grey of Ruthyn, his 

 brother Henry Yelverton succeeded to the title.* In 

 1688 Henry Lord Grey of Ruthyn, whose ownership 

 of the manor is notable for his completion of the library 

 of the manor-house, suffered a recovery of the manor of 

 Easton Maudit, including 2 mills and 70 messu- 

 ages.' He was made Viscount Longueville in 1690, 

 and died in 1703. His eldest son Talbot, Viscount 

 Longueville, was created Earl of Sussex in 1 7 1 7. Lord 

 of the Bedchamber 1722-7, and the holder of many 

 public appointments and honours, he carried the 

 golden spurs in 1727 at the coronation of George II.* 

 He died at his seat, Eaton Maudit, on 27 October 

 173 1, and was succeeded by his son George Augustus, 

 Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales 

 in 1749, and to George Prince of Wales in 175 1, who 

 died unmarried on 8 January 1758, when he was buried 

 at Easton Maudit. He was succeeded in the earldom 

 and manor by his brother Henry, bearer of the golden 

 spurs at the coronation of George III in 1761, whose 

 first wife, Hester daughter of John Hull of Mansfield 

 Woodhouse, with her daughter. Lady Barbara Yelver- 

 ton, was painted by Gainsborough, and whose only son 



Talbot died while still an infant in 1757. He himself 

 died s.p.ra. in London on 22 April 1799, when the 

 earldom of Sussex and the viscounty became extinct. 



The manor then passed by purchase in 1801 from 

 the trustees of the late earl to the Earl of Northampton, 

 with whose descendants it has since that date remained. 



In the Domesday Survey a virgate of land in Easton 

 was entered among the lands of the Countess Judith as 

 held of her by Dodin.' This was probably the land 

 returned in the Northampton Survey as one great vir- 

 gate in Easton and Strixton held by Payn.'" The virgate 

 in Bozeat previously mentioned as held by Winemar 

 may possibly have become united with the above great 

 virgate as part of the honor of Huntingdon, since a 

 quarter of a fee in Easton and Bozeat was subsequently 

 held of that honor. After the death of John de Hastings, 

 Lord of Bergavenny, in 1325, a quarter of a fee in 

 Easton and Bozeat was returned as held of him by 

 Roger de Grey," who was the husband of the earl's 

 sister Elizabeth and in 1329 was called upon to show 

 by what warrant he claimed view of frankpledge and 

 assize of bread and ale there. '^ He replied that he 

 claimed these rights from his tenants in Bozeat, clearly 

 the property in question, as belonging to his manor of 

 Harrold in co. Bedford,'^ that his Bozeat tenants at- 

 tended at the view there, and that that manor had been 

 purchased of one Ralph Morin by John de Grey, who 

 had enfeoffed himself, Roger, of the same. After the 

 death of Lawrence de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, this 

 quarter-fee in Easton and Bozeat was assigned to his 

 widow Agnes in dower on 12 January 1349, and was 

 still held by Roger de Grey, being then extended at 

 10/. yearly."'* Roger de Grey died in 1353, holding in 

 his demesne as of fee 1 5a'. rent from 80 acres of land 

 in Bozeat by knight service as parcel of the manor of 

 Harrold,'^ and the escheator was ordered to deliver the 

 same to Reynold his heir.'* By the succession of Rey- 

 nold's son, Reynold de Grey, Lord of Ruthyn, to the 

 Hastings estates, after the death s.p. in 1389 of John 

 de Hastings Earl of Pembroke, the interest of tenant 

 was merged in that of overlord. 



One and a half virgates in Easton, which were waste, 

 were returned in the Domesday Survey as belonging to 

 the manor of Higham, held of the king by William 

 Peverel." View of frankpledge was claimed by Henry 

 Earl of Lancaster in Easton as part of his manor of 

 Higham Ferrers (which had descended to him from 

 William Peverel) in 1329, the king's sheriff only 

 making entry at the sheriff's tourn held twice yearly in 

 the hundred.'* The wood called Hornwood, situated 

 in Easton, was held of the manor of Higham Ferrers 

 in I 544, when it was granted to Edmund Peckham, 

 cofferer of the household, by Henry VIII." It was 

 subsequently held with the manor (q.v.). 



View of frankpledge in Strixton from his tenants at 

 Easton and elsewhere was also claimed in 1329 by the 

 Prior of the Hospitalof St. John of Jerusalem.^" Acourt 

 roll of 1 550-1 for Easton Maudit, late of Dingley Pre- 

 ceptory, is in the Public Record Office.^' 



The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 

 consists of chancel, 29 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in., with north 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclx, 68. 



2 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. Earl of Den- 

 bigh's MSS. 280a. 



3 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1639-40, p. 124; Cal. 

 Pat. 15 Chas. I, pt. 10. 



* Cal S.P. Dom. 1641-3, p. 30. 



5 G.E.C. Baronetage. 



' G.E.C. Peerage (ist ed.), vii, 339. 



' Recov. R. Trin. 4 Jas. II, ro. 221. 



8 G.E.C. Peerage (ist ed.), vii, 339. 



1 y.C.H. Northants. i, 354*. 



'<> Ibid. 376A. 



I* Cal. Inq. p.m. vi, 391. 



'^ Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rcc. Com.), 499. 



" See F.C.H. Beds, iii, 64. 



■•t Cal. Close, 1340-9, p. 582. 



'5 Cal. Inq. p.m. x, no. 107. 



■* Cal. Fine R. 1347-56, p. 359. 



" F.C.H. Northants. i, 337a. 



■3 Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), 580. 



■» Harl. Chlrt. 84 C. 26. 



-» Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), 531. 



2' Court Roll (P.R.O.) 195/18. 



14 



