IIIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED wollaston 



suit at Higham Ferrers Court, and that the earl held the 

 manor of the king, as of the honor of Chokes; though 

 this honor had been described in the previous March as 

 pertaining to Sir John de Moleyns 'by the king's charter 

 granted to him'.' 



In 1356 Henry Ear] of Lancaster granted the 

 manor to the Dean and Canons of the College of St. 

 Mary at Leicester,- and it was probably after this date 

 that it became known as BURIE MANOR, a name 

 which seems to have been given locally to ecclesiastical 

 property. The college obtained a grant of free warren 

 there as soon as they were in possession. ' The holding 

 was described in 1428 as one fee only, the other fee 

 being said to have remained in the hands of Richard 

 Chamberleyn and ultimately to have become divided 

 between John Neubon and Thomas Walton of Strixton, 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London* and the abbeys 

 of Lavendon and St. Mary Delapre by Northampton. ' 



It is probable that the possessions of the abbeys of 

 Lavendon and Delapre in Wollaston were attached to 

 the lands of St. Mary's after the Dissolution, as they are 

 not mentioned in any grant of the lands formerly be- 

 longing to these houses. 



The manor, former!)' belonging to the College of 

 St. Mary at Leicester, was retained by the Crown until 

 1606,' when James I granted 'the site of two manors in 

 Wollaston' to Thomas Marbury and Richard Cart- 

 wright in fee-farm,' but it had passed before 1635 to 

 John Earl of Bridgw'ater.* His descendants remained 

 in possession until 1709, when Jane, Dowager Countess, 

 and Scroope Earl of Bridgwater, sold the estate to 

 Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse.' His 

 son Thomas, who was created Earl of Malton in 

 1728, was co-vouchee with Mary his wife in a re- 

 covery concerning the manor and the advowson of the 

 vicarage in 1738,'° but the whole property seems to have 

 passed to .Ambrose Dickins, who presented to the 

 church in 1765." Watson William Dickins, with 

 Francis Dickins and Diana his wife, dealt with the 

 manor, rectory, and advowson by fine in 1828,'- but in 

 1844 the Dickins estate was sold, Mr. Samuel Soames 

 purchasing the manor-house and farm, which he sold 

 in 1852 to Mr. Charles Hall,'^ from whom it has 

 descended to the present owner, Mr. H. A. Hall, but 

 all manorial rights have lapsed. 



The manor belonging to the Countess Judith in 1086 

 contained land for 3 \ ploughs, and had previously been 

 held by Stric freely. Winemar de Hanslope claimed it, 

 but it was held by Corbelin of the Countess''' and after- 

 wards of King David,'* being included in the honor of 

 Huntingdon. During the l6th century it was dis- 

 tinguished from Burie by the name of the HALL 

 MANOR. 



At the end of the 1 2th century it was in the possession 

 of a family who took their name from the place; they 

 held also l virgate of Robert dc Newburgh. In i tgg 

 Richard the son of Thomas, and Christian his wife 

 quitclaimed half a virgate of land to Roland de Wollas- 



\VoLLA«TON. >>able a 

 chrveron betivetn three 

 icalhfts argent. 



ton ;'* and Simon de Wollaston is mentioned as holding 

 in the township in the following year." Sir Saer de 

 Wollaston, who occurs in 1 2 1 8," had two sons, Simon 

 and William, both of whom were witnesses to grants 

 made to St. Bartholomew's Hos- 

 pital in Smithfield. Simon had a 

 son Robert,"* whose son Reynaid 

 granted land in Wollaston to his 

 son John in 1269, paying rent of 

 100/. to Reynaid and his wife 

 Maud during their lives, with 

 contingent remainders to John's 

 brother Thomas and his issue, and 

 their sister Maud and her issue.-" 

 In 1284 another Saer de Wollas- 

 ton was lord of the manor, which 

 was then described as held as of 

 the honor of Huntingdon, but after this date the descent 

 of the manor is obscure, though it seems to have re- 

 mained in the possession of Saer's descendants. 



William de Wollaston had view of frankpledge here 

 in 1330,-' and in 1335 William de Wollaston 'the elder' 

 was in possession of the manor of Wollaston, of which 

 he was said to have disseised William de Brampton, 

 parson of Easton, and Reynaid de Eston, vicar of 

 Wollaston. This was probably a fictitious suit, as 

 William de Brampton and Reynaid released their 

 damages to William de Wollaston in the same court ;^^ 

 but the nature of the settlement does not appear. In 

 1428 another William de Wollaston held land de- 

 scribed as having belonged formerly to John Wollaston, 

 but it is said to have been a quarter of a fee only, the 

 other three-quarters having been divided into six equal 

 portions between William Branspath of Irthlingburgh, 

 William de Haldenby of Isham, William Kyngs- 

 man, John and Thomas Bedell of Wollaston, and John 

 Herriot.^^ In 1442 John Rous, of Little Dorrington in 

 Warwickshire, quitclaimed his right in the manor to 

 William Wolston and John his son,-'' but which of the 

 portions had come into his hands does not appear. 

 Elizabeth, the widow of William Kyngsman, died 

 seised of his portion in 1449, but her heir is not named ;^5 

 and .'Audrey, the daughter of Sir Guy Wolston and wife 

 of Thomas Empson, is said to have released the manor 

 in I 5 1 5 to Richard Fitzwilliam of Milton, who pre- 

 sumably conveyed it to the canons of St. Mary at 

 Leicester almost on the eve of the Dissolution. They 

 had received a licence to acquire fresh lands in mort- 

 main on 6 February 1480, and had obtained 6 mes- 

 suages, 7 virgates of land, 1 2 acres of meadow, and 8 

 acres of pasture, in Wollaston, in part satisfaction of 

 this grant, as late as 12 February i 506.-* By 1533 they 

 were in possession of 'the scite of the two Manors in 

 Wollaston, Burie manor and the Hall Manor with all 

 houses and demeasne lands to them belonging'.-' Both 

 manors were apparently included in the grant to John 

 Earl of Bridgwater and became amalgamated. 



BARTH/LMEIf'S FEE. Robert de Newburgh 



' Cal. Inr^. p.m. viii, 630. 



' Close, 30 Edw. Ill, tn. II, 12. 



3 Ibid, m, 10. 



' Charirrs printed in Norman Moore's 

 Hitforjy of St. BarthfJomevf't Itotpitati 

 Harl. Chart. 54, D. 14; Chan. R. 2 Edw. 

 Ill, m. 15, no. 47. 



» FruJ. /iids, iv, 45. 



' Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bk?. no. 1 15. 



' Pat. 4 Ja». I, pt. 2 1 , m. 1 7 i CjI. S.P. 

 Dom. 1603-10, p. 320. 



> Rccov. R. Hil. 10 Chas. 1, m. 2. 



» Ibid. Trin. 8 .\nnc, m. 6. 

 "> Ibid. East. II Geo. II, m. 198. 

 " Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 

 '^ Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 9 Geo. IV. 

 " Whichello, /Jnnj/« 0/ WV/jj/cn, 12. 

 '* y.C.II. Sijrikdntl. i, 354. 

 '» Ibid, i, 376. 



'» Feel <jf F. (Pipe R. Soc.). no. 208, p. 

 I 39; Feet of F. Northants., Ale 2, no. 45. 

 " Cur. Reg. R. i, 174. 



" N. Moore, Ilitl. of St. Bartiolamev/'t, 



. 37'- 

 >■> Ibid. 



"> Feet of F. Northants., file 49, no. 884. 

 " Phc. de Quo H'ar. (Rcc. Com.), 501. 

 " .Assiie R. 1400, m. 101. 

 " Feud, .iidi, iv, 41;, 52. 

 ** Close 20 Hen. VI, m. 12. 

 " Chan. Ini). p.m. 27 Hen. VI, no. 17. 

 '* CjI. Pal. 1494-1509, p. 47S. 

 " Uuchy of Lane. Misc. Uk>. fol. 5. 



59 



