HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



R.\UNDS 



Eve, daughter and heir of Sir John Clavering and 



widow of his cousin Thomas Audley, by whom he had 



two sons: Sir Peter, who died childless in 1359, and 



Sir James, the hero of Poitiers, who 



died in 1369. His heir was his first 



cousin, Margaret, wife of Ralph 



Stafford and daughter and heir of 



Hugh de Audley (grandson ot 



Ella) and Margaret de Clare.' 



The tenancy of the half fee having 



thus passed to the holders of the 



honor of Gloucester, the property 



came to be sometimes regarded as , /^ 1 /■ . 



, ° „ . Ax-'DLtx. Gultsfrettyor. 

 part of the honor. In 1428 it 



was held, as a quarter of a fee, by Thomas Bedell and 

 Thomas Saier in equal portions, probably under a lease 

 or demise for term of years, of Humphrey Stafford, - 

 afterwards Duke of Buckingham. The manor, or more 

 probably a portion of it, 'late belonging to the Earl of 

 Wiltshire' was conveyed in l 593 by William Roper and 

 William Perrj' to Robert Catlyn,^ and was probably 

 amalgamated with his other manor of Furnells (q.v.). 

 Like other manors held of the honor of Gloucester in 

 Raunds it was described at this time as Furnells, and 

 about 1635 a list of freeholders in Raunds includes the 

 Earl of Peterborough 'for parcel of the manor of 

 Furnells, formerly of the Earl of Wiltshire'.* This may 

 include the estate as well as other property of the Mor- 

 daunt family, originating in the 'manor of Raundes' 

 acquired by Henry Grene from John, Duke of Lan- 

 caster before 1363.5 This manor afterwards followed 

 the descent of Lowick (q.v.) until 1686,* after which 

 date its identity is lost. 



Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, held 6 hides and I J 

 virgates in Raunds in 1086. There were 20 acres of 

 meadow, and a mill belonged to this manor, which had 

 previously been held by Burred and seems to have 

 included both Ringstead and Cotes or Cotton. Three 

 socmen held land of the bishop: Robert, I hide; 

 Geoffrey, i hide; and Algar, li virgates. Another hide, 

 together with half a virgate, was claimed by William.' 

 After the bishop's fief had escheated to the Crown, 

 most of the lands held of him in Cotes and Raunds 

 ultimately became part of the honor of Gloucester. 

 Early in the reign of Henry I Gilbert fitz Richard held 

 4 small virgates of the fee of Denford, and Robert the 

 king's son had 2 J hides of the fee of Gloucester, in 

 Raunds.* 



Alice widow of Gilbert fitz Richard, with the con- 

 sent of his children, Gilbert, Walter, Baldwin, and 

 Rohaise, confirmed to the abbey of Thorney (co. Cam- 

 bridge) 4 virgates in Raunds, held by Turgis, which 

 Tovi had formerly granted them, with the consent of 

 Agnes widow of Tovi, and all his heirs,' and she also 

 confirmed to them the land and rent of 4-f. granted them 



by Ralf the son of Niel, and Amice his wife. In 1253 

 Richard Earl of Gloucester confirmed the charter of his 

 mother .'Vlice granting them i hide and 1 2/. rent, which 

 she had in Raunds of the gift of her son Hervey.'" 



Part of the land held by Richard de Raunds at the 

 beginning of the reign of Edward I was held 'of the fee 

 ot the .^bbot of Thorney'," which passed to the Crown 

 at the Dissolution, and may perhaps be identified with 

 the manor oi BURI'STEAD in Raunds. This was 

 held on a lease for the lives of William, Henr)-, and 

 Edward Ekins in the 17th century; by 1649 only one 

 life was in being, that of Edward Ekins, who was then 

 60, and the messuage had been sold in fee farm, after 

 the determination of the lease, to John Dolben, after- 

 wards .Archbishop of York,'^ who came into possession 

 after the Restoration, and the property was held by his 

 descendants until 1802, when Sir William Dolben was 

 lord of the manor. '^ 



% \^ 



Dolben. SabU a helmet 

 bet%oeen three pkeons ar- 

 gent each pointing to the 

 centre. 



Furneus. Sable a pale 

 indented argent. 



FURNELLS MANOR. In 1203 Hervey the son 

 of Geoffrey sued Roger de Furneus for a knight's fee 

 in Raunds and Ringstead as his right and inheritance, of 

 which his grandfather, Hugh de St. Lo, had died seised 

 in the time of Henry I.'* As Hugh's surname shows that 

 he came from the Norman home of the Mowbrays, it 

 seems possible that he was the heir of that Geoffrey who 

 held I hide of the Bishop of Coutances in 1086. '^ A 

 Geoffrey de Furneus was living in 1 1 30,'* and another 

 Geoffrey, the son of Alan de Furneus, succeeded his 

 father in 1 189." 



Thomas de Furneus held this fee in Raunds in 1242;" 

 he married Eleanor, daughter and co-heir of William 

 le Lord of Emberton (co. Buckingham)," and died 

 before 1284, being succeeded by Roger de Furneus, 

 presumably his son.^" Roger granted I 5 acres in the 

 fields of Raunds to John the son of his sister Alice in 

 exchange for a messuage in Raunds called Swyncroft 

 and other lands there. ^' The heir of Roger de Fur- 

 neus was another Thomas, who married Alice, sister 

 and co-heir of Miles de Hastings; she was over 30 at 

 the time of her brother's death in 1311, and had a son 

 named William. ^^ The manor in Raunds, however. 



» C.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



' Feud, /lids, iv, 46. In an undated 

 document assigned by the editors to 1330 

 (ibid, vi, 568) it is said to be held of (he 

 Duchy of Lancaster by John de Gray, but 

 there is no other trace of this tenant, and 

 the date is very doubtful. 



' Bridges, Northanti. ii, 186. 



* Finch-MattonDceds(^nfiNorthant9. 

 Rec. Soc.), 3454-. 



' Cal. Pat. 1361-64, p. 296. 



' Ibid. 1399-1401, p. ;5i ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. I Hen. V, no. 33 j 5 Hen. V, nos. 39, 

 41; 17 Hen. VI, no. 31; (Ser. 2}, xi, 4; 

 Ui, 30; Uxxii, 75; cccix, zoo; di, 64; 



Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 4 Hen. V, no. 45 ; 

 Trin. 30 Hen. VIII; Northants. Mich. 

 18 & 19 Eliz.; Hil. 14 Chas. I; Early 

 Chan. Proc. bdle. 8, no. 1 8 ; Chan. Proc. 

 (Ser. 2), bdle. 31, no. 215; Star Chamber 

 Proc. Ph. i M. bdle. 4, no. 63; Ct. of 

 Re<]. bdle. 11, no. 142; bdle. 40, no. 53; 

 Recov. R. Hil. I and 2 Jas. II, m. 62. 



' y.C.H. Northanti. i, 309A. 



• Ibid. 377. 



' Northanti. Rec. Soc. iv, 13-14; Dug- 

 dale, A/on. ii, 601, 602, 603. 



"> Ibid. 603. 



" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 10. 



■' Duchy of Lane. ParL Surv. no. 58. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 34 

 Chas. II; Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. I, 

 m. 217; Mich. 12 Geo. Ill, m. 174; 

 42 Geo. m. 



'« Cur. Reg. R. iii, 72, 228, 291. 



" y.C.II. Northanti. i, 309. 



'» Pif>r R. 31 Hen. I, 152. 



" Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, ii, 79. 



■• Bi. o/»«, ii, 933, 945. 



"> De Banco R. 452, m. Z25. 



" Feud. Aidi, iv, 14. 



" Hirl. Chart. 1 1 1 G. 29. 



" Farrer, op. cit. i, 191 ; Cal. Fini R. ii, 

 ■ 04. 



31 



