SPELHOE HUNDRED 



MOULTON 



The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) bap- 

 tisms 1565-163;,' 1 689-1 740, marriages i 566-1652, 

 1689-1739, burials 1 565-1632, 1689-1740; (ii) 

 baptisms and burials 1740-99, marriages 1740-54; 

 (iii) marriages 1 7 5 5- 1 8 1 2 ; (iv) baptisms 1 800- 1 2 ; (v) 

 burials 1800-12. The baptisms from 1565 to 1812 

 have been printed.^ The first volume contains a list of 

 briefs 1692-1730, and of unbaptizcd persons f. 1700. 

 The churchwardens' accounts begin in 1778. 



The Grimbald family were great 

 ADVOIVSON benefactors to St. Andrew's Priory and 

 the founder of the family, Grimbald, 

 who witnessed the foundation charter of the priory 

 between 1093-1100, bestowed upon it the church of 

 Moulton with 7 virgates of land and freedom from 

 suit of court:' gifts which were confirmed by his de- 

 scendants and by William Mandeville Earl of Essex.* 

 Between 1 209 and 1235a vicarage was ordained which 

 consisted in all things belonging to the church except 

 the tithes, which were appropriated by the priory;^ but 

 subsequently assignment was made to the vicar of one 

 half of the tithes.* The priory continued to hold the 

 advowson and had a pension in the vicarage of 1 3/. \d. 

 which was paid till the Dissolution,' but during the 

 French war of the reign of Edward III, the king is 

 often found presenting to Moulton church, as the 

 priory, being an alien one, was then taken into his 

 hand.' In 1535 the vicarage was worth (l\ 5,' and after 

 the dissolution of the priory was granted in 1552 to 

 John Whiting and Thomas Freeman,'" who at once 

 conveyed it to Edward Watson." The latter and his 

 wife Dorothy sold it in 1554 to John Lane of Wal- 

 grave,'^ on whose death three years later," it passed to 

 his son William, who died while still a minor in 1 56o,''' 

 when he was succeeded by his brother John, of whom 

 the advowson was purchased by John Freeman of Great 

 Billing in I576.'5 John Freeman continued in pos- 

 session until 161 5, when on his death it passed with 

 Great Billing Manor (q.v.) to his grandchild and heir 

 Katharine the wife of Sir Edward Gorges, afterwards 

 Baron Dundalk.'* By her first husband Edward Hasle- 

 wood of Maidwell, Katharine had a son. Sir Anthony 

 Haslewood,"to whom she and Sir Edward Gorges con- 

 veyed the advowson in 1628,'' and it remained vested 

 in the Haslewoods," passing on the death of .Anthony's 

 son William in 1681 to the latter's two daughters and 

 co-heirs, Elizabeth and Penelope, who afterwards 

 married Christopher Lord Hatton of Kirby and Henry 

 Portman respectively.^" Penelope gave up her right in 

 the advowson to her sister and Lord Hatton,^' to whose 

 sons William and Henry, who both died without issue 



before 1762, it passed in due course, afterwards de- 

 scending according to the terms of a settlement to 

 Edward Finch the fifth son of Anne, wife of Daniel 

 Finch, Earlof Winchilsea, and daughter of Christopher 

 Lord Hatton by his first wife Cecily.^- Edward Finch 

 assumed the additional name of Hatton in 1764 and 

 on his death in 1 77 1 left the right of presentation to his 

 son George,--' by whom it was probably sold some time 

 between 1818 and 1823, the date of his death." 

 During the rest of the 19th century it passed through 

 many hands, and is at present vested in the Church 

 Association Trust. 



In 1 301 an indulgence was granted for the chapel of 

 the Blessed Mary in the church, -5 and in 1495 Thomas 

 Stanner, glazier, bequeathed his possessions and 40J. 

 for the use of Moulton parish church, the parishioners 

 to pray for the souls of himself, his father, mother, and 

 friends.^* Moulton rectory was appropriated to St. 

 Andrew's Priory before the Dissolution, and descended 

 with the advowson until the first quarter of the 19th 

 century. It was assessed at;^8 in the reign of Henry IIP' 

 and in 1291,-* but by 1535 had risen to twice that value 

 and had been leased to Edward Watson for a term of 

 years, of which four then remained.^' It passed with the 

 advowson to the Haslewoods; and in 1649, when Sir 

 Anthony Haslewood compounded for delinquency, the 

 impropriate rectory of Moulton, worth ^^i i 5 a year, 

 was accepted in part payment of the fine, and j^55 a 

 year was to be settled on Moulton church, ^35 in 

 augmentation of the minister's salary.'" The Lane 

 family laid claim to the rectory as well as to the advow- 

 son," and the dispute was not settled until 1662, when 

 Montague the son of Robert Lane gave up all his 

 claims to William Haslewood.'^ In 1772, when the 

 parish was inclosed, the great tithes were commuted for 

 396 acres 17 poles of land," and the estate was sold in 

 1 8 18 by Colonel George Finch Hatton, the impro- 

 priator, to William Abbot, who was sheriff for North- 

 amptonshire in 1824 and resided in the house built on 

 this road known as Moulton Grange.'* Between this 

 date and 1835, this rectorial estate was sold to John 

 Nethercote," whose ancestors Edward and his wife 

 Susanna held land in Moulton in 161 1.'* 



The Engaines of Blatherwycke apparently settled 

 two-thirds of the great tithes of certain lands in Moulton 

 on the rector of Blatherw)'cke. These two-thirds were 

 represented in 1 29 1 by a pension of 1 3/. \d. in Moulton 

 rectory," paid in 1600 from land called the 'Wenge' 

 containing 9^ yardlands.'* At the inclosure of the parish 

 in 1772, some 32 acres were alloted to the rector of 

 Blatherwycke in lieu of two-thirds of the great tithes 



' With gaps 1567-73, 1628-33. 



' Par. Reg. So<. ilvii (1903), with 

 Calendar of Moulton Parish documents, 

 ed. by Sidney J. Madge. 



' Cott. MS. Vesp. E.xvii,fols. id. ,43 d. 



* Ibid. fols. 49, 47 d. 



' A. Gibbons, L/irr jlnii^uui, Hugh of 

 ffells, p. 39. 



* Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fol. 49. 



' Ibid. Nero D. x, fol. 187; Pupe Nich. 

 Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40; A'a/cr Ecclti. (Rec. 

 Com.), iv. 314. 



' Cal. Pat. 1334-8, p. 516; ibid. 1343- 

 5, p. 43 3 ; ibid. I 348-50, p. 102. 



» ralor EccUi. (Rec. Com.), iv, 324. 



"> Pat. 6 Edw. VI, pt. iii, m. 19. 



" Com. Pleas. D. Enr. Hil. 6 and 7 



dw. VI. m. 7 d. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. i & 2 

 Ph. and M. 



" Excheq. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dccx, 12. 



'♦ lbid.(Ser. 2),cixvii. 27. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 18 Eliz. 

 Chan. Proc. Eliz. F. f. 7, no. 32 ; Feet of F. 

 Northants. Easter 24 Eliz.; Chan. Proc. 

 Eliz. L. 1. 10, no. 80. 



"■ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxlix, 157. 



" Harl. Su. Publ. viii, 226. 



" Feet of F. Northants. East. 3 Chas. I. 



■» Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.); Recov. R. East. 

 16 Chas. II, m. 56. 



" Harl. Soc. Publ. viii, 226; Feet of F. 

 Div. Co. Trin. i Will, and M.; Inst. Bks. 

 (P.R.O.). 



" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 2 Will, and 

 M.; Recov. R. Hil. 2 Will, and M. m. 



-7- 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.); Recov. R. Hil. 3 

 Ceo. Ill, m. 345; G.E.C. Pitragt, viii, 

 181-2. 



193. 



40. 

 26 



11 



II. 

 ji 



34 

 IS 



J6 



Ibid.; Recov. R. Trin. 52 Geo. Ill, m. 



Baker, Northants. i, 49. 



Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Oalderby, fol. 



Add. Chart. 24710. 



Cott. MS. Nero. D. x, fol. 187. 



Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40. 



Falor Ecclti. (Rec. Com.), iv. 314. 



Cal. of Com. for Compounding^ 1862. 



Ibid. 1808. 



Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 14 Chas. 



Priv. Act. 12 Ceo. Ill, cap. 139. 



Baker, Northantt. i, 49. 



Burke, Commoners, ii. 93. 



Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 9 Jas. I. 



Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40. 



Exche<). Dep. 32 Chas. II, Trin. no. 2. 



93 



