A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



In the reign of Henry III and in 1291 the church 

 was valued at 12 marks,' while by 1535 its value had 

 risen to ;^l 3 6s. iJ.^ 



Edward Stratford by his will dated 

 CHARITIES 22 January 17 14 charged his manor 

 of Overstone with a yearly payment of 

 20s. to the poor. This charge is paid by the owner of 

 Overstone Farm and is distributed in cash to poor 

 widows, as is a rent-charge of 10;. formerly given by 



a Dr. Bentham, also paid by the owner of Overstone 

 Farm. 



John Kipling by his will proved 23 September 1 83 1 

 gave to the rector and churchwardens a sum of ;^2oo 

 Consols, now with the Official Trustees of Charitable 

 Funds, the interest to be applied for the benefit of such 

 poor women who shall have the care of the church. 

 The dividends, amounting to £^ yearly, are paid to the 

 sexton. 



PITSFORD 



Pitesford, Pidesford (xi-xii cents.); Pisseford (xiii- 

 xiv cents.). 



The parish of Pitsford has an area of 1,413 acres. 

 The soil is marl and clay with a subsoil of stone, pro- 

 ducing crops of wheat and barley, and the parish is 

 well watered, for there are innumerable little springs 

 scattered over the fields, while a branch of the River 

 Nene forms the western boundary. The village lies to 

 the north of the parish and on the east of the high road 

 from Northampton to Market Harborough and has a 

 fairly elevated position, the church standing at a height 

 of 3 1 7 ft. Several roads pass through the village which 

 lies for the most part round their juncture and has a 

 neat and compact appearance, Pitsford Hall standing 

 in its own grounds to the south. The Northampton and 

 Market Harborough branch of the L.M.S. railway 

 passes through the parish, following the course of the 

 river, and there is a station 2 miles south-west of 

 Pitsford with which it is connected by a long lane 

 which crosses the Market Harborough road and rises 

 from 229ft. to 371. On different sides of the road lead- 

 ing out of the Market Harborough road into the 

 village are two small earth-works, known as Layman's 

 HiU and Barrow Dyke. In Morton's time, the former 

 was about 10 yards wide and of an oblong shape, but 

 it has since been planted. Barrow Dyke is described 

 by Morton as a square figure, with 'two of the sides 

 still remaining; one of them above 80 yards in length',^ 

 but by 1820 nearly all trace of the original form had 

 been destroyed by repeated 

 ploughing.'' 



The parish has been inclosed 

 under an Act passed in 1756.' 



In 1086 the over- 

 MJNORS lord of the principal 

 manor of PITS- 

 FORD was Simon the Fleming,* 

 the ancestor of the Barons of 

 Wahull, in whom the overlord- 

 ship remained vested.'' The 

 chief seat of the Wahull barony 

 in this county was at Pattishall 

 (q.v.). As intermediaries between the overlord and 

 the lord of the fee stood the family of Walgrave.^ 



The manor at Domesday was in the possession of 



' Cott. MS. Nero. D. x, fol. 175 d.; 

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



^ falor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 325. 



3 Morton, Northants. 548. 



■• Baker, Northants. i, 65. 



5 Priv. Act, 29 Geo. II, cap. 9. 



' V.C.H. Northants. i, 34.0. 



' Bk. of Fees, 500; Feud. Aids, iv, 15; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no. 45; ibid. 

 15 Rich. II, pt. I, no. 24. 



^ Feud. Aids, iv, 15; Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 

 Edw. I, no. 45 J ibid. 45 Edw. Ill, no. 57 ; 



BO 



Wahull. Or three cre- 

 scents gules. 



ibid. 5 Hen. V, no. 39 

 no. 20. 



» V.C.H. Northants. \, 340. 



'» Ibid. 1,381. 



" Baker, op. cit. i, 61. 



'- Pipe R. 5 Hen. Ill, m. 1 3 ; Feet of F. 

 Northants. 11 Hen. Ill, no. 129; ibid. 13 

 Edw. I, no. 181. 



" Ibid. i2Hen. Ill, no. 226. 



'♦ Feud. Aids, iv, 23. 



■s Bridges, Northants. i, 46. 



■' Feud. Aids, iv, 37. 



Fulcher,' the ancestor of the Malsors, Henry Malsors 

 being lord of Pitsford in the 1 2th century.'" Geoffrey 

 Malsors, his successor, rebelled against King John, 

 who confiscated his estates in 121 5 and bestowed them 

 upon Godescall de Maghelines, but Henry III restored 

 them to Geoffrey, on the latter returning to his fealty 

 in the following year." In 1227 Geoffrey enfeoffed 

 Robert de Leicester and Lettice his wife, who was 

 probably the daughter of William Malsors, senior, of 

 Milton Malzor, of 2 fees in Pitsford, of which they 

 were to hold one in demesne and one in service,'^ and 

 the next year Walter Malsors gave up to Geoffrey all 

 his right in a fee in Walgrave and Pitsford." Robert 

 Leicester and Lettice appear to have been followed by 

 Robert de Hauton who was holding a fee in Pitsford 

 in 1316''' and 1346.'' By 1428 it was in the hands of 

 Nicholas Horncastle,'^ possibly tenant only for a term 

 of years, as it descended to John Hauton who died 

 somewhere about the end of the 1 5th century, leaving 

 3 daughters and co-heirs, of whom the second died 

 without issue. '^ In 1552 William Chauncey, a de- 

 scendant of the eldest daughter, and Joan his wife 

 gave up their right in the manor to John Shuckburgh, 

 the son of the youngest daughter.'^ John's son George 

 died in 1572 leaving a son John aged 3 whom he en- 

 trusted to the care of his brother John," and a widow 

 Cassandra who married as her second husband Richard 

 Wightman. John who came of age in 1 589-" married 

 Anne, with whom he was holding the estate in 1593,^' 

 but after this date it was appar- 

 ently alienated in portions and 

 all manorial rights lost.-^ 



Holding jointly with Henry 

 Malsors in the 12th century was 

 Philip de Pitsford^^ and in 1242 

 Robert le Jeofne and William de 

 Insula with Mabel his wife are 

 mentioned as holding the 2 fees 

 in Pitsford, -•♦ perhaps through 

 marriage with widows of a Mal- 

 sors and Pitsford respectively. 

 By 1227, however, the Malsors 

 had subinfeudated the Pitsfords, the heirs of Ascelin son 

 of Philip holding of them at that date,'' and the Pits- 

 fords continued to hold of the Malsors, Thomas son of 

 ibid. 1 2 Hen. VI, 



k'K ^^''A 



Pitsford. Gules three 



bends 'vair and a label of 



fi've points or. 



" MetcAie, Northants. Fis. 13,47. 



'8 Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Edw. 

 VI. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxv, 130. 



20 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 230, 50. 



^' Add. Chart. 25174. 



22 Baker, op. cit. i, 62. 



" F.C.H. Northants. i, 38 1. 



^* Bk.ofFees,i)^o. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 1 1 Hen. Ill, no. 

 129. 



98 



