A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



thorpe had been broken into,' and in 1350 Queen 

 Isabel lodged a complaint against divers persons who 

 had broken her houses, carried away the timber there, 

 and assaulted her servants.^ On the accession of 

 Henry VII, the whole fee-farm was appropriated to the 

 maintenance of the royal household,^ and was apparently 

 retained for this purpose until 1665 when £^0 of the 

 rent was granted to Katharine of Braganza.* In 1672 

 it was sold by the trustees for the sale of fee-farm rents 

 to Sir Richard Rainsford,' whose grand-daughter and 

 eventual heiress Anne brought it in marriage to the 

 Honourable James Griffin, afterwards Lord Griffin 

 of Braybrooke. They had two daughters, Anne who 

 married William Whitwell of Oundle and Elizabeth 

 the wife of Henry Neville Grey,* who probably con- 

 veyed the fee-farm rent to Sir Joseph JekyU in 1720, 

 when they sold him the manor of DaUington,' for in 

 1820, a century later, it was in the possession of Miss 

 Ann Barbara Wrighte, descendant and eventual heiress 

 of Sir Joseph Jekyll.* Miss Wrighte died in 1830, 

 when her estates devolved on her cousin Mr. George 

 Thomas Wyndham of Cromer, Norfolk, who, dying the 

 month after, was succeeded by his infant son George 

 Thomas Wyndham, who, in the same year, obtained the 

 right of using the name of Wrighte before Wyndham.' 

 As tenants of the ancient demesne of the Crown, the 

 men of Kingsthorpe enjoyed special privileges, one of 

 which was freedom of toll throughout England, which 

 was confirmed to them at different times, in 1385, in 

 1438, and in 1650.'° They were not so successful, how- 

 ever, in resisting the encroachment of rights of warren 

 and the matter was the subject of a long controversy 

 during the i6th century. The keepers of Moulton 

 Park claimed free warren extending into the parishes of 

 Boughton and Kingsthorpe and caused holes to be made 

 in the walls of the park so that the rabbits might run out 

 into the fields. This proceeding was much resented by 

 the inhabitants of Kingsthorpe, who said that 100 acres 

 of grass and corn were destroyed, 80 acres of ground 

 lay fallow, and that if there were no conies they would 

 sow 40 more quarters of corn. They attempted to keep 

 down the rabbits but were severely punished by the 

 under-keepers, who placed them in the stocks kept in 

 Moulton Lodge, took away their guns and ferrets, even 

 beating and wounding the shepherds and killing their 

 dogs." When Sir Nicholas Vaux was keeper of the park 

 he withheld lands from the inhabitants of Kingsthorpe 

 and occupied them as warrens for rabbits. Thereupon 

 the men of Kingsthorpe 'did plough up a whole clapper 

 of conyes lying upon the flat beneath the foxholes, lying 

 next the place called Whyte HiUs' and brought a suit 

 against Lord Vaux which was decided in their favour. 

 However, on the condition that Lord Vaux 'should be 

 goode and lovying towards them for the sum of 1 3;. l^.J. 

 yearly', he was to occupy 4 'clappers' of conies in 

 Kingsthorpe Heath from year to year at the will of the 

 bailiff and inhabitants. After the death of Lord Vaux, 

 the inhabitants ploughed up the ground, meaning to 

 sow it for the 'relief of their pore chirche there', but the 



under-keeper, Henry Maye, cut the plough gears of 

 the parishioners.'^ On the other hand, a good deal of 

 poaching must have been carried on. On one occasion, 

 at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII, one John 

 Lawford and another man 'went oute of Northampton 

 towne in a darke nyght with a lantern and a candell 

 lyght in the same, into the warren between the felds of 

 Northampton and Kyngesthorp, intending to stele 

 conyes with a ferrett and purse nette'. They met the 

 under-keeper, told him they were looking for a lost 

 bullock and he bade them go their way to look for it 

 'and after they were departed from hym, they had that 

 that they dyd come for'.'^ 



In virtue of their farming the manor, the inhabitants 

 constituted a 'commune', of which the 14th-century 

 seal has been preserved. It is of latten, bearing the head 

 of a king and a fleur-de-lis, with the legend: sicillvm 

 COMMVNE DE KYNCESTHORPE. They made many ordi- 

 nances for the good government of their township, e.g. 

 allowing licensed begging for the impotent but sternly 

 punishing those who begged on false pretences, and 

 regulating the sale of ale.'* 



There used formerly to be a king and queen chosen 

 for May games, on Easter Day after Evensong, every 

 one refusing to officiate to pay 6s. 8</., of which half 

 went to the baiUff and half to the church; this order 

 was laid down at the court held in 1 547 but the custom 

 long ago fell into disuse. '^ 



At the entrance to the viflage from Northampton on 

 the east side stood the hospital of St. David and the 

 Holy Trinit}'.'* As tenants under the hospital were the 

 Butler family of Yelvertoft in the 14th century," and in 

 1379 the master, brethren, and sisters of the hospital 

 leased all their meadows in Kingsthorpe to EliasPecke.'* 

 In 1535 the hospital paid to the king's bailiff 34J. rent 

 for land held from the Crown in Kingsthorpe," and 

 after its dissolution the Morgan family held some of 

 the lands in lease from the Crown.^° The Morgan 

 estate in Kingsthorpe passed on the death of John, 

 the last male representative in the direct line in 1 72 1, 

 to his daughter Mary, who brought it in marriage 

 to Sir John Robinson, bart., in 

 whose descendants it has con- 

 tinued. Sir Frederick Villiers 

 Laud Robinson, of Cranford Hall, 

 near Kettering, being the present 

 proprietor.-' In 1799 Sir George 

 Robinson, the son of Sir John 

 mentioned above, purchased some 

 of the hospital's possessions in 

 Kingsthorpe and Boughton, Sec, 

 comprising the site of St. David's, 

 on which he built the house 

 known as St. David's.^- 



The Friars Minor of Northampton received licence 

 in 1278 to cover the spring of Froxwelle in the field of 

 Kingsthorpe and to bring the water to their house in 

 Northampton, -3 and in 1291 they were further allowed 

 to unite the course of the spring, called Triwell, then 



Robinson, of Cranford. 



yert a hart tripping in 



an orle of trefoils or. 



' Ca/. Pa/. 1313-17, pp. 135,410. 

 ^ Ibid. 1348-50, p. 530. 

 3 Farl. R. (Rec. Com.), vi. 301. 

 * Pat. 17 Chas. II, pt. ix, m. i. 

 5 Close 24 Chas. II, pt. x, no. 7. 

 ^ Burke, Peerage. 



' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 6 Geo. I. 

 ' Baker, Northants. i, 13 1-2; Burke's 

 Commoners^ ii, 246. 



' Ibid.; Lipscomb, Bucks, i, 151. 



'» Close R. 8 Rich. II, m. 7 and 1 1 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1436-41, p. 131; Memo. R. 

 L.T.R. Trin. 1650, m. 42. 



" From Deeds in Kingsthorpe Church 

 Chest cited by Glover in Kingsthorpiana^ 

 xii, xviii, xxiii. 



'^ Star Cham. Proc. Hen. VIII, bdle. 

 XXX, no. 80. 



*^ Glover, Kingsthorpiana, viii. 



'* Ibid. iv. 'S Ibid. 



'* V.C.H. Northants. W, 154. 



" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 275; ibid. C. 

 617. 



■« Ibid. C. 876. 



'» Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 322. 



^'' Baker, Northants. i, 40. 



-■ G.E.C. Baronetage^ iii, 53; Serjeant- 

 son, Church of St. Peter^ 188 seq. 



-- Baker, Northants. i, 40. 



^^ Inq. a.q.d. file iv, no. 18. 



84 



