SPELHOE HUNDRED 



LITTLE BILLING 



him a few weeks only, the latter's son John, then only 

 33 weeks old, inherited the estate.' On the marriage of 

 John in 1493 with his first wife Elizabeth, the daughter 

 of Sir Ralph Hastings, a settlement of the manor was 

 made to their use and their lawful issue. They had one 

 child .Anne who married Drew Cheyne and by him had 

 a son John,- to whom the manor ought to have passed 

 in I 541 on his grandfather's death,^ but the latter in 

 1527* had made over Billing to his illegitimate sons 

 Thomas, Arthur, Richard, and John in tail male. 

 Thomas dying before his father in 1540,' the manor 

 was resettled on Arthur* who entered into it on his 

 father's death in 1 541 and bought out John Cheyne's 

 claim by giving up to him manors and lands to the yearly 

 value of £20, John in i 542 renouncing all right in the 

 manor of Little Billing.' Arthur died in 1557 leaving 

 a son Henry, then aged 10,* against whom, when he 

 came of age, Henry the son of John Cheyne brought an 

 action, alleging that the terms of the contract had not 

 been kept.' Henr)' Longueville lived till 1618,'" his son 

 Henry surviving him only three years, when the manor 

 passed to the latter's son Edward" who was created a 

 baronet in 1638 and died in 1661. His son and heir 

 Thomas was killed by a fall from his horse in 168 5 '-and 

 his son Edward in 1688 sold Little Billing.'^ The manor 

 was acquired by William Thursby, from whom it 

 passed, with Abington (q.v.),to John Harvey Thursby, 

 and was bought of the Thursby family in 1837 by Mr. 

 Loyd, whose grand-daughter was Lady Wantage. 



There was a mill attached to the manor worth 2/. in 

 1086,'* described as a water-mill in 1273'' and last 

 mentioned in 1361, there being no trace of a mill at the 

 present day. In 1361 the manor comprised 73 acres of 

 arable land, 60 acres of meadow, and ^^4 14/. annual 

 rent. The serfs owed £7 rent of assize and the cottars 

 6/., while six free tenants owed works in harvest every 

 three days. There were two dove-houses, two ponds, 

 and buildings within the gates, the moiety of a grange, 

 pleas and perquisites of court.'* 



Other land in Billing was held by the Count of 

 Mortain in 1086, of which 2 J virgates were socland of 

 the manor of Weston." This holding, which escheated 

 to the Crown either in the reign of William Rufus or in 

 1 106, was granted to the Avrcnches family'' and was 

 held of them by Walter fitz Winemar, lord of the 

 manor, who bestowed i virgate of this fee, together 

 with Little Billing Church and I virgate of the fee of 

 Chokes, upon St. Andrew's Priory in Northampton." 

 Sibyl de Preston daughter of Gilbert gave up her right 

 in 5 virgates of land in Billing to the priory on the con- 

 dition that her daughter Eustachia and the latter's hus- 

 band Robert son of Ralph Raye should continue to hold 

 2 virgates of the priory.^" These gifts were confirmed in 

 the reign of Henry II by Michael de Preston and by the 

 latter's son Walter and grandson Gilbert in the reign of 

 Henry III." In the reign of Edward II the priory sued 



Philip son of John of Boughton for unjustly disseising 

 them of I messuage and 3 virgates of land in Little 

 Billing,^-and in the reign of Richard II, George Longue- 

 ville, lord of the manor, contended that of the 40^'. due 

 from the whole 'vill' of Billing for ward of the Castle of 

 Northampton or that of Rockingham, 6J. ought to be 

 paid by the prior. As a defence the prior successfully 

 pleaded that the land had been given him in free alms, 

 the jury also finding that by a charter of Henry II, 

 confirmed by Edward I, the priory was acquitted from 

 shire and hundred courts.^' In 1291 the priory's pos- 

 sessions in Little Billing were valued at £6 i 5/., the 

 meadows being worth £j and their lands and dove- 

 houses ;^3 I 5/.-* By 1535 the value of the estate had 

 fallen to i6s.^^ and, having been taken into the king's 

 hand at the dissolution of the priory in 1538, it was 

 granted out by Edward VI in 1553 to Thomas Sidney 

 and Nicholas Haleswell,-* but after this date no records 

 of this holding can be found. 



The church of JLL SJINTS consists 

 CHURCH of chancel, 3 1 ft. by 1 2 ft. 8 in., with north 

 aisle or chapel its full length, 14 ft. 6 in. 

 wide, nave, 43 ft. 6 in. by 26 ft. 6 in., and south porch, 

 8 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. 

 There is also a small modern bell-tower on the north 

 side, near the junction of the nave and chapel. 



The oldest parts of the church are of 14th-century 

 date but the building has been so much altered in later 

 times that it now retains very little architectural interest. 

 The north chapel was rebuilt in 1 849, and the nave and 

 chancel extensively restored in 1854. Before this time, 

 however, a north aisle had been merged into the nave 

 by the removal of the arcade, the outer walls rebuilt in 

 a 'meagre Perpendicular' style, and a wide roof erected 

 supported by posts in the middle.^' In the 1 854 restora- 

 tion the single span roof was reconstructed without its 

 supporting posts and a wooden turret at the west end 

 was done away with. The width of the original nave 

 would be about 16 ft. The chancel and its aisle are 

 under separate tiled roofs with twin east gables, and 

 the tower has a pyramidal roof. The walls are plastered 

 internally and with one exception all the windows are 

 modern. 



The exception is a low-side window in the south- 

 west corner of the chancel, which is a tall pointed 

 opening with trefoiled head and hood-mould, of early 

 14th-century date. Though now at some height above 

 the ground it is more than 2 ft. lower than the two other 

 windows in the same wall, which presumably occupy 

 the position of, if they do not actually reproduce, the 

 original two-light openings.-' There is a priest's door- 

 way between the windows. 



The chancel arch is a lofty one of two chamfered 

 orders and probably belongs to a 15th-century recon- 

 struction: the chancel screen is modern. The floor of 

 the chancel is level with that of the nave, but no ancient 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 37 Hen. VI, no. 28. 



' Chan. Proc. Eliz. C.c. 2+, no. 9. 



* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), Ixv, no. 7. 



« Memo. R. (L.T.R.), Hil. 37 Hen. 

 VIII, r. 36. 



» Ibid. 



' Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 33 Hen. 

 VIII. The manor was leased in 1538 to 

 George Fisher and subsequently to Nicho- 

 las and John Gainsford : Ct. of Requests, 

 14 (167), Ibid. 16 (86), Chan. Proc. Ser. ii, 

 bdle. 128, no. 19. 



' Com. Pleas. Deeds Enr. East. 35 

 Hen. VIII, m. 7; Chan. Proc. Elii. C.c. 



24, no. 9. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), cii, no. 6. 



» Chan. Proc. Elii. C.c. 24, no. 9. 



'<* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxx, 

 131. 



" Ibid, ccclmvi, 93. 



" G.E.C. Baronetage, ii, 437. 



i> Feet of F. Northanta. Trin. i Will, 

 and M. 



" r.C.H. Northanli. i, 347. 



*' Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. I, no. 25. 



"' Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. I, no. 120. 



" r.C.H. Norikanli.i.jii. 



'• Ibid. i. 288, 381, n. 10. 



"> Cott. MS. Vesp. E. ivii, fol. 55. 



" Ibid. fol. 57 d, 58. 



" Ibid. fol. 57. 



" Ibid. fol. 59. 



" Ibid. fols. 59-60. 



»« Pope AVfA. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 55. 



" ralor Ecclei. (Rec. Com.), iv, 313. 



" Pat. 7Edw. Vl.pt. iv. 



" Chi. ArchJ. Norik'ion, 254. 



'* The height of the sill of the low-side 

 window above the floor inside is 4 ft. 7 in. 

 and above the ground outside 5 ft. 11 in. 

 The opening is 4 ft. high : jiitoc. Areh. 

 Soe. Reports, xx\x, 383. 



IS 



