HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



RUSHDEN 



ing gabled ends, mullioned and transomed windows, 

 and a central two-story porch with battlemented para, 

 pet. The hall is wainscoted with black oak linenfold 

 panelling and has a good four-centred arched fireplace. 

 The east, or terrace front has also projecting ends with 

 curved gables and two-story semicircular mullioned bay 

 windows, and a similar one in the centre, all with battle- 

 mented parapets and ball ornaments.' It is now the 

 property of the Urban District Council and the well- 

 wooded grounds are a public park. 



The soil varies from a stiff clay to a light sand; the 

 subsoils are Oxford Clay, red marls, and Great Oolite, 

 with belts of alluvium and Upper Lias along the course 

 of the Nene, and a patch of inferior Oolite to the north of 

 Rushden Hall. The chief crops are wheat, barley, and 

 beans. 



There was land for 12 ploughs, 30 acres 

 MANOR of meadow, and a mill in RUSHDEN in 

 1086, and the manor was assessed at 6 hides 

 in the Domesday Survey. It was one of the members 

 of Higham Ferrers, though the Bishop of Coutances 

 claimed the homage of the 19 socmen who held the 

 land, on the ground that they had been Burred's men.^ 

 The manor afterwards followed the descent of Higham 

 Ferrers (q.v.);^ but various leases of the demesne were 

 granted by the Crown during the i6th and 17th cen- 

 turies,^ and there are traces of corporate action among 

 the tenants for the protection of their own interests. 

 Several pleas were brought against the king's auditors in 

 connexion with claims to exemption from suit at court 

 and abatement of rent by the tenants jointly during the 

 reign of Henry VII;' and in 1551 John Purevey, who 

 had obtained a lease of the demesne lands in the previous 

 year, assigned 'all his estate, title, and interest in the 

 manor' to trustees to the use of all the inhabitants of 

 Rushden.* One of the trustees, Robert Pemberton, was 

 afterwards accused by John Maggetts and William 

 Mayes of procuring a new lease under the seal of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster in order to fx:rvert the trust to his 

 own use of all the meadows in Rushden which were 

 parcel of the demesne. Pemberton in his answer ad- 

 mitted that John Purevey . . . 'by deed of 4 February 

 5 Edw. VI, in consideration of ^^lo paid to him by 

 divers of the inhabitants, parcel of a common stock 

 within the said town, and by special means of Sir 

 Robert Tyrwhitt, did assure to the defendant and other 

 persons all his estate ... to the use of all the inhabitants'. 

 He declared, however, that 'the said Inhabitants have 

 ever sythens been quietly possessed and injoyed the use 

 of the demesnes'. The matter was presumably decided 

 in favour of Pemberton, for he seems to have continued 

 as trustee in a fresh lease made by Queen Elizabeth on 

 8 February 1582 for 41 years. On 23 December 1606 

 King James 1 let the demesne to Sir Peter Young for 

 31 years after the expiration of the lease to Pemberton 

 and his co-trustccs, but Young also demised his interest 

 to the inhabitants, and it was only when this lease came 

 loan end in 1654 that the property could be enjoyed by 

 Robert Sanderson and Francis Gray who had bought it 

 in fee before the survey of 1649.' 



This survey contains an interesting memorandum 

 about the customs of Rushden, and the composition 



' Norihanit. A'. S' Q. ii (n.s.), 49-5+ : at Pari. Survey, no. 56. 



p. 53 is a view of houjc from the south-cast. * Ducky of Lane, 



' y.C.U. NoriManii. i, 287-8, 336. 117, 121. 



' Bridges, Sorihanii. ii, 190. ' Chan. Proc. (Ser. 



* Chan. I'roc. (Scr. 2), bdlc. 22, no. ' Duchy of Lane. 



19; Pat. 4 Chas. I, pt. xxiiv; 5 Chas. I, * Ibid. 



pt. IV i 24 Chas. II, pt. ix i Duchy of Lane. ' Bridges, Uiit. of 



regarding the copyholders' fines made by the tenants 

 with King James I: 



'The inhabitants on 28 November 1618 did compound 

 with King James for £216^ 19/. lod. ... to make their 

 fines upon Alienation or Descent certain, to uphold their 

 ancient Customs, with liberty to inclose, with divers other 

 privileges and freedoms as is at large expressed in the afore- 

 said decree. There are two Courts Lects ever)' year at 

 Michaelmas and at Lady day. The Court Baron is to be 

 kept once every three weeks. . . . There is a certain parcel! 

 of meadow within the parish of Arkellborow beyond 

 Neene, which the bailitf is allowed for his labour to gather 

 up; the lord's rent is valued at 23;. ^d. . . . The Rcgalitic 

 of the river Neene as far as the manor extendeth, namely 

 from the lower end of the meadow called Symede to 

 Ditchford Bridge, is leased out for this year at los.'* 



The socage tenants, according to the custom, paid 

 their rent at Michaelmas only; the customers and copy- 

 holders at Michaelmas and Lady Day. The distinction 

 between the tenures was still observed when Bridges's 

 History of Northamptonshire was written ; the 'bornhold' 

 or 'bondhold' land paying double rent and double fine 

 to the Crown.' The copyhold land, which in the 1 8th 

 century was 'near ^ of the lordship', descended accord- 

 ing to the custom of gavelkind.'" 



The sale of the manor in fee to Robert Sanderson and 

 Francis Gray, recognized in the Parliamentary Survey, 

 does not appear to have taken effect, though as Gray 

 seems to have been an ardent royalist" it might have 

 been expected that his right at least would be recog- 

 nized at the Restoration. The manor, however, was 

 resumed by the Crown, and still forms part of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster. 



LENTON LANDS. One virgateofland was granted 

 to the prior and convent of Lenton in Nottinghamshire, 



founded by William Peverel, 



with the advowson of the 

 church, '-and another half virgate 

 was acquired by them in 1199 

 from Abel of Rushden.'^ After 

 the Dissolution the Lenton lands 

 in Rushden seem to have re- 

 mained with the Crown until 

 1609, when James I granted 

 them with the parsonage to 

 Robert Pemberton, who had 

 already obtained the site of the 

 manor.'* He was succeeded in 

 the same year by his son Sir 

 Lewis Pemberton, who was 

 sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1621. The holding is 

 described at this time as including the Parsonage with 

 glebelands belonging to it of 21 acres, and one close 

 called Monkes Close and 'halfc a Close over the back- 

 wall of the Vicarage, besides hay';" but the survey 

 which was made for the purpose of a sale did not take in 

 Sir Lewis Pemberton's 'Cheife house Called the Hall', 

 said to be held of the Crown in socage.'* 



Although Rushden Hall was not among the lands 

 thus put up for sale, both it and the parsonage were 

 held by John Ekins during the Interregnum. He was 

 the second son of Thomas Ekins of Irchcster," and had 



'<> Ibid. " Sec below. 



Cal. to PlfjJingi, i, " Cal. Chjri. 1300-26, p. 316. 



" Feet of F. case 171, file 4, no. 3. 



. 2), bdle. l2 2,no. 19. '* Pat. 6 Jas. I. 



Pari. Survey, no. 56. '» S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccccviii, 140. 



"> Ibid. 



Norikanii. ii, 190. " M.I. i" Rn-bl'" church. 



Priory or Linton. 

 Quarterly or and azure 

 •with a cross Calvary or 

 over all fimbriated and 

 stepped sable. 



45 



