A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



One moiety of the Pabenham manor in Irchester came 



to his step-sister Katharine, wife of Sir Thomas Ayls- 

 bury' who died in 1418.^ From Katherine, who was 

 still seised in 1428,^ this descended to Laurence, her son 

 by her second husband Sir John Cheyne of Fen Ditton,* 

 and from Laurence to his brother John.^ This younger 

 Sir John Cheyne was succeeded in 1489 by his son 

 Thomas* whose estates passed at his death in I 5 14 to 

 his only child Elizabeth whom he had betrothed to 

 Thomas son and heir of Sir Nicholas Vaux7 The son 

 of this marriage, William second Lord Vaux of Har- 

 rowden, his mother's heir at her death in 1556,* sold 

 Irchester in or before 1 593 to Sir Thomas Cecil,' and 

 he in 1596 sold the manor to John Wiseman,"* who 

 within two years transferred his rights here to Thomas 

 Bletsoe," a freeholder of the Duchy of Lancaster in this 

 parish in 1611.'^ A grant of his great-grandmother's 

 inheritance, which included the manor of Irchester, 

 was made to Edward, grandson and heir of the second 

 William Lord Vaux of Harrowden by James I in 1 6 1 3 .' ^ 



The other moiety of the Pabenham manor in Ir- 

 chester came on John de Pabenham's death to his 

 younger sister Eleanor, wife of John Tyringham."'' She 

 was dead in I420,'5 and in 1428 it was held by Alice 

 Chamber,'* probably daughter of Eleanor. Sir Robert 

 Fitz Simond, whose mother, Mary Chamber," was pre- 

 sumably Alice's daughter, died seised of this moiety in 

 1473 when his heir was his daughter Joan wife of 

 Robert Tymperley and subsequently wife of Henry 

 Wentworth, by whom she had a son Nicholas.'* 



Two and a half virgates in Irchester which Siward 

 had held freely belonged in 1086 to the Count of Mor- 

 tain, and in the reign of Henry I to the fee of Wahill." 

 A mesne lordship over this, or part of this fee belonged to 

 thefamily of Grey of Ruthynin the 14th and 15th cen- 

 turies and lasted until 1 49 5 when lands in Irchester were 

 held ofGeorge Earl of Kent, Lord Grey of Ru thy n.^" 



Robert, the Count of Mortain's tenant here, had 

 been succeeded in the following century by Nicholas 

 le Sauvage.^' In the 13th and 14th centuries members 

 of this family held land in Irchester,-^ part of which had 

 passed to Thomas de Pabenham before 1346.^3 jj niay 

 be identical with land held of the Earl of Kent by 

 George Ingleton at his death in I495.^'» This descended 

 through his son Robert to his grand-daughter Joan who, 

 as the widow of George Tyrrell, settled it on her son 

 George in 1550. In 1558 this George Tyrrell owned 



a manor (so called) in Irchester which he sold seven 

 years later to Richard Bletsoe who held it of the Duchy 

 of Lancaster in 1591^' and i6io.-^* In 1591 Richard 

 also owned a manor in Irchester called KNOLES 

 which he had acquired from William Pierce and his 

 wife Eleanor and John Bowes in 1589,^' but which is 

 otherwise unrecorded. 



KNUSTON 



Cnuteston (xi cent.); Knoston (xii cent.); Cnoston 

 (xiii cent.); Knuston (xviii cent.). 



One hide and 3 virgates in Knuston which Uluiet 

 held freely in King Edward's time belonged in 1086 

 to the fee of Gunfrid de Cioches.^* The overlordship 

 descended with the fee of Chokes, Robert the advocate 

 of Betun accounting in 1235 for one knight's fee in 

 Knuston and Billing of the fee of Chokes.^' This part 

 of Knuston still belonged to the honor of Chokes in 

 I2 523°and 1274,^' and in 13 30 was found to be exempt 

 from the jurisdiction of the Earl of Lancaster in 

 Higham Hundred. ^^ In 1346 and 1428, however, this 

 fee was said to be held of the honor of Clare.'' 



The tenant of the Chokes fee in Knuston in 1086 

 was Winemar,'* and the mesne lordship descended as 

 Preston Deanery (q.v.), but two-thirds of a fee were 

 held here in 1242 by Walter de Knoston. 's In 1232 

 land in this hamlet passed from Margery, widow of 

 Nicholas de Normanvill, to John de Hulcote'* who was 

 sub-tenant of Gilbert de Preston in Holcot, Knuston, 

 and Haddon in 1274," in which year the service of 

 Ralph de Normanville for a fee in Knuston was assigned 

 to Alice, widow of Gilbert de Preston, in dower.'* 



The first mention of Knuston as a manor is in 1325 

 when Ralph de Normanvill settled it on his son Ralph 

 and his wife Sarra," and Ralph was seised in 1329.^° 

 John de Normanvill in 1392 and 1394 settled Knuston 

 in trust on his brother John Wolf"" By 1428 the half- 

 fee, 'formerly of Hugh Croft' ,''^ was held in equal por- 

 tions by the Lady Elizabeth Kingsman, John Bedell, 

 Henry Alcote, John Sweetbone, senior, John Sweet- 

 bone, junior, William Archbold,'" and Simon South- 

 end.'** A settlement of the manorofKnuston on William 

 Sweetbone and his wife Joan was made in 1498, ''5 but 

 it came afterwards into the possession of Sir Robert 

 Brudenell who died seised in 1531. His younger son 

 Anthony, to whom he had left Knuston,''* parted with 

 his interest here in the following year,'" and in 1 542 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 59, 

 no. 61. 



^ Ibid. Hen. V, file 33, no. 35. 

 3 Feud. Aids^ iv. 45. 

 ■• Viut. of Cambs. (Harl. Sec), 1 1 8. 

 5 Add. Chart. 7569. 

 ' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), v, 122. 

 ' Ibid, xxix, 22. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cvii, 55. 

 » P.C.C. Drake, 86. 

 ■» Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 38 Eliz. 

 " Ibid. East. 40 Eliz. 

 '2 Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), portf. 1 3, 

 no. 34. 

 " Pat. 10 Jas. I, pt. 15; 1 1 Jas. I, pt. 6. 

 '•t Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 59, no. 

 61. '5 Ibid. Hen. V, file 57, no. 37. 



" Feud. Aids, iv. 45. 

 " Morant, Essex, i. 302-3. 

 '8 Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 45, 

 no. 33. 



'« F.C.H. Northants. \,-i,z%a,T,yya.'They 

 were probably amongst the nineteen vir- 

 gates in Irchester, declared in 13 18 to be 

 part of the ancient demesne of the Crown: 



Chan. Inq. Misc. file 8, no. 9. 



20 Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 78, 

 no. 1 (Ser. 2), x. 



2' F.C.H. Northants. i, 328, 377<z. 



" Feet of F. Northants., file 2 1 , no. 1 8 1 ; 

 Bractons Note-Book, 483 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 Edw. Ill, file 78, no. i ; Ct. R. (Duchy of 

 Lane), bdle. 105, nos. 1497, 1498. 



23 Cal. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 598. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), x. i. 



25 Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane), 117, 

 fo. 137. 



2' Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), portf. 13, 

 no. 34. 



2' Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane), 117, 

 fo. 137. 28 y.C.U. Northants. \, 348a. 



29 Bk. of Fees, \. 499. 



30 Chan. Inq. Misc. file 7, no. 3. 



3' Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 5, no. 9. 



32 Plac. de Qm IVarr. (Rec. Com.), 580. 



33 Bridges, Northants. ii, 182; Feud. 

 Aids, iv, 45. 



3* y.C.H. Northants. i, 348^. 

 35 Bk. of Fees, 939. Possibly Walter 

 held by lease from Gilbert de Preston, who 



had leased his manor of Little Billing in 

 1235: Cal. Pat. R. 1232-47, p. 147. 

 3^ Feet of F. Northants., file 23, no. 246. 



37 Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 5, no. 9. 



38 Cal. Close, 1272-9, p. 222. 



39 In 1328 Sir Ralph de Normanvill 

 with his sons Ralph and Geoffrey amongst 

 others, broke into Sir William Level's 

 close at Irchester: Cal. Pat. 1327-30, 

 pp. 294-5. 



■to Feet of F. Div. Co. 6, file 3 3, no. 26 1 . 



■" Close, 15 Ric. II,m. i6di i8Ric.II, 

 m. 32 d. 



*2 He is said to have held in 1 346 of 

 Laurence de Preston : Bridges, Northants. 

 ii, 182. 



43 Nicholas Archbold was one of John de 

 NormanviU's trustees: Cal. Close, 1389— 



9-'P- 537- 



** Feud. Aids, iv, 45. 



45 Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file 98, 

 no. 51. 



'•' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), lii, 64. 



■" Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 24 Hen. 

 VIII. 



22 



