SPELHOE HUNDRED 



KINGSTHORPE 



which he had purchased, gave it a neighbouring due, 

 and settled £i.^ per annum upon the schoolmaster.' 

 His grand-daughter Margaret married James Fre- 

 meaux, who built the present Kingsthorpe Hall, which 

 descended with the property to his grand-daughter 

 Susannah, who married Thomas Reeve Thornton, in 

 whose family the Cooke estate has remained.^ Mr. 

 T. R. Thornton's grandson, Mr. Francis H. Thornton, 

 resides at the Hall at the present day, while the elder 

 branch of the family has its seat at Brockhall in this 

 county.^ 



The Sir Richard Lane whose daughter Bridget 

 married Francis Cooke was the son of Richard Lane of 

 Courteenhall and Elizabeth daughter of Clement Vin- 

 cent of Harpole. Richard the son settled in Kingsthorpe 

 and was Deputy Recorder of Northampton in 1615. 

 In 1634 he was made Attorney-Genera] to the Prince 

 of Wales and in 1641 conducted the defence of Straf- 

 ford, when impeached in the House of Lords, with 

 such ability that his acquittal was almost certain, and to 

 prevent this a Bill of Attainder was hurriedly substi- 

 tuted. Lane joined the king in Oxford in the spring of 

 1644 and was knighted there and also made Lord Chief 

 Baron of the Exchequer. He was one of the com- 

 missioners on the part of the king at Uxbridge in 1645, 

 and later in the year was created Lord Keeper, a patent 

 which was renewed by Charles II whom he followed 

 into exile in 1650, where he died the same year.* In 

 1649 he had compounded for delinquency and his 

 widow Margaret in 1650 took possession of the man- 

 sion house as her jointure, although it had been let by 

 the Treason Trustees to Major Edward Houseman, 

 militia commander, who wished to settle in it.' In 

 1654 this estate was discharged from sequestration* 

 and Lady Margaret Lane lived at Kingsthorpe until 

 her death there in 1669 and was buried in Kingsthorpe 

 church.' 



The parish has been inclosed under an Act passed in 

 1766.* 



At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 MANOR KINGSTHORPE belonged to the king and 

 formed part of the ancient demesne of the 

 Crown.' The ro)'al rights were never permanently 

 alienated, but the manorial privileges lapsed in the 19th 

 century. 



In 1086 'Torp' was assessed at 4 hides and 3 virgates, 

 and 1 1 hides i bovate of land at Multon and i hide at 

 Weston [Favell] were dcfJendent on it;'" in the 1 2th 

 century it comprised exactly the same amount of land." 

 It rendered £1 ^ a year to the king'^ and the inhabitants 

 themselves held their town, to which the Hundred 

 of Spelhoe was appurtenant, at farm from the Crown at 

 least as early as the reign of John.'^ The farm paid in 

 1240 waSj(^6o,'* at which figure it remained for over 



England. GuUs 

 leopardi or. 



three 



200 years. In 1373 the manor was committed to Sir 

 Hugh Calvj'lc to hold during pleasure." Again in 1450 

 it was granted to John Ale)Ti for 

 1 2 years,'* but having reverted to 

 the Crown was granted in 1484 

 to John Earl of Pembroke for 5 

 years," each grantee paying a 

 farm of (JiO, but in the reign of 

 Henry VI the inhabitants peti- 

 tioned for its reduction on account 

 of their poverty, and an inquisi- 

 tion was taken in 1439, ■' shortly 

 after which the farm was reduced 

 to jTjo for 40 years dating from 

 the death of Joan, the widow of 

 Henry IV,in 1437. This reduction was again confirmed 

 from time to time down to i 594." In 1616, at the suit 

 of the tenants, the manor was granted to trustees for the 

 township, in order to prevent the payment of increased 

 rent which had been exacted from the tenants each time 

 the lease was renewed.^" In this manner the township con- 

 tinued vested in trustees, vacancies being filled up by the 

 choice of the feoffees, and is so held at the present day.^' 

 The fee-farm, which in the 12th and 13th centuries 

 was often paid as castleward to the Castle of Northamp- 

 ton,^^ and which in 1252 was given for works at 

 Northampton,^^ was afterwards frequently bestowed as 

 dower upon the queens of England. It was granted by 

 Henry III in 1270 to Eleanor wife of his son Edward,-* 

 and after her death it was bestowed in 1 30; upon Mar- 

 garet of France, the second wife of Edward I, in 

 augmentation of her dower,^' a grant which was con- 

 firmed by Edward II in 1 3 10. After Queen Margaret's 

 death it was given by Edward II to his wife Isabel in 

 1318.^* In 1382 it was granted by Richard to his queen, 

 Anne of Bohemia,^' and although ^40 of the farm was 

 granted in 1400 to the Mayor of Northampton for 6 

 years to repair the walls of the town,^' the grant was 

 resolved in 1403, as the ^^40 was granted to Queen Joan 

 of Navarre,-' the mayor and burghers being com- 

 pensated with 40 marks from the fee-farm of Northamp- 

 ton. 3" ,'^fter Joan's death the abbot of St. James, 

 Northampton, and the other executors of the will of 

 Thomas Woodville received in I439agrant of ^4oout 

 of the fee-farm until the same amounted to ^{^619, due 

 to Thomas Woodville for keeping the lords of Stoute- 

 vill and Gaucourte.^' In 1454, at the expiration of this 

 term, the £\o was bestowed upon Queen Margaret of 

 Anjou but rescinded in 1464,-'* and in the following 

 year Queen Elizabeth, the consort of Edward IV, re- 

 ceived the ;^4o in part support of the expenses of her 

 chamber. ^■' A few of these dowry grants must have in- 

 cluded more than the mere fee-farm rent, as in 1 3 14 

 Queen Margaret complained that her closes at Kings- 



' Scrjeintion, Church of St. Ptter. 



' Ibid. 



^ Burke, Landed Gentry. 



* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



' Cat. of Com. for Compounding, 2 1 04. 



» Ibid. 



^ From tombstone in church. 



» Priv. Act 6 Geo. Ill, cap. 80. 



• y.C.H. Norlhanti. i, 306. 

 'o Ibid. 



" Ibid, i, 381. 



" Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.), Hen. II, Rich. 

 I, John. 

 " Rot. Lit. Chui. (Rcc. Com.), i, 609, 



633- 

 '♦ Great Jt. of the Pipe for 26 Hen. Ill 



(ed. Cannon), 319. 



" Fine R. 47 Edw. Ill, m. ig. 



>» Ibid. 29 Hen. VI. 



" Ibid. 33 Hen. VI. 



" Cal. Pal. 1 4 36-4 1, p. 313; Chan. Inq. 

 Misc. cccviii, 42. 



'• Cal. Pal. 1467-77, p. 531 ; Confirm. 

 R. 5 Hen. VII, no. 21; Pari. R. (Rec. 

 Com.), vi, 501; Orig. R. L.T.R. 11 Hen. 

 VIII, no. 14; Star Chamb. Proc. Hen. 

 VIII. bdle. XXX, no. go; Pat. 36 Elii. 

 pt. liv. 



" Pat. 14 Jas. I, pt. i; Cal. S.P. Dom. 

 161 1-18, p. 359. 



*' Information supplied by the Rev. 

 R. M. Serjcaotton. 



83 



" Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.), Hen. II, Rich. 

 I, John. 

 " Close 36 Hen. Ill, m. 7. 

 '♦ Cal. Chart. 1257-1300, p. 143. 

 " Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 369 J ibid. 1307- 



I3.PI'7- 



'* Ca/. C/o«, 1 3 1 3- 1 8 , p. 5 3 8 i Cd/. P J/. 

 1330-4, p. 195; ibid. p. 530. 



" Cal. Pat. 1381-5, p. 126. 



" Ibid. I 399-1401, p. 322. 



" Ibid. 1401-5, p. 234. 



'" Ibid. 1401-5. p. 333. 



" Ibid. 1436-41, p. 387. 



" Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), v, 262, 518. 



" Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 430. 



