SPELHOE HUNDRED 



part of the J fee in Boughton, Spratton, and Creaton 

 held in 1242 by Simon le Sauvage and 'his partners'.' 

 In 1284 Adam Young held the lands from Ralph 

 Danvers, who held them of the Barony of Weldon,^ 

 but no further records of this estate are known. 



The de Cretons bestowed many lands upon the 

 Abbot and Convent of St. James, Henry de Creton 

 conferring on them at the beginning of the 13th cen- 

 tury 2 acres of land in Longfurlong which William 

 son of Richard de Houghton, his tenant, gave them.^ 

 Their possessions here in 1291 were valued at 6/.^ but 

 in 1535 had risen to40j.5and after the Dissolution were 

 granted in 1543 to Henry Cartwright,* who alienated 

 them to Laurence Manley,' the owner of the rectory 

 and advowson, with which they were afterwards held. 



There was a mill rendering 6s. attached to the 

 Mortain estate in 1086.* It descended with Durand's 

 part of the fee,' and on the division of the manor in 

 1506 the water-mill was also held in moieties'" and is 

 mentioned for the last time in 1 530 in conjunction with 

 a horse-mill in the possession of Richard Inguersby." 



Another mill mentioned in Domesday was appur- 

 tenant to the fee held of the honor of Huntingdon, '-but 

 although there is mention of J mill in this estate in 

 1227," it appears to have fallen into disuse. 



LITTLE CREATON. (Creptone, xi cent.) The 

 Count of Mortain had ^ hide in Little Creaton in io86 

 which was held of him by Wil- 

 liam (de Cahanes),'* his under- 

 tenant also in Spratton." These 

 two holdings coalesced to form 

 one manor called indifferently 

 Spratton or Little Creaton which, 

 at the division of the earldom of 

 Leicester in 1204,'* became a 

 fee of the honor of Leicester," 

 to which it remained attached as 

 late as 1485 when a moiety of 

 the manor escheated to the 

 Crown through attainder and continued to be held 

 of the sovereign,'' the last mention of the ovcrlordship 

 occurring in 1622." 



William, the Domesday under-tenant, was ancestor 

 of the Keynes of Dodford (q.v.). Their interest was 

 only that of intermediary lords, a position which they 

 ceased to hold in 1485 with respect to the moiety above 

 mentioned, although the overlordship of the other 

 moiety remained their prerogative as late as 1720.^" 



Holding under William in 1086 was Humphrey,^' 

 who was succeeded by Herbert, lord of Creaton in the 

 1 2th century.** The latter may have been related to 



rvwwu 



VuVuVl 



Kevnes. yjir three bars 

 gules. 



SPRATTON With 



LITTLE CREATON 



Simon de Creton, who was lord of the manor towards 

 the end of the same century,-^ and was succeeded by 

 his son Henry.-'' In 1205 Henry gave to William de 

 Montacute and Emma his wife, in exchange for lands 

 in Creaton which were her dower as the widow of 

 William de Creton, I virgate in Spratton for the life 

 of Emma with reversion to Henr)^^* but as the Mont- 

 acutes afterwards appear as lords of part of Creaton, 

 holding under the de Cretons,** they doubtless acquired 

 this land in fee. Henry's son Simon held Creaton in 

 i242,-'and was followed by his son Hugh, who in 1278 

 obtained licence from the .'\bbey of St. James to hear 

 Mass in the chapel built by his father in his court at 

 Little Creaton.^' He was succeeded by his son John, 

 who held this estate in 13 16.*' 



The first of the Montacutes who appears as lord 

 of part of Spratton and Little Creaton under the de 

 Cretons is Simon son of Simon, who in 1276 was 

 arraigned for neglecting to pay geld and do suit of 

 court. ^^ John his son occurs as lord in 1284-" and in 

 1346 another John Montacute is recorded as joint lord 

 of Little Creaton and Spratton with John de Creton 

 above mentioned.^* After this date there is a division 

 ofthefee, half being held in 1428 by a John de Creton.'' 

 He mortgaged his lands to the .'\bbot of St. James's for 

 ;^i 32 and died without being able to redeem them, for 

 they were conveyed to trustees in I468''' and sold about 

 1484 to William Catesby,'' who was attainted and 

 beheaded the following year, when his lands were 

 confiscated by the Crown and granted in 1489 to Sir 

 David Owen.'* After David's death his son John in 

 1 548 sold the reversion of the manor after the death 

 of his mother Anne to Thomas Twigden,'^ who died in 

 I 580 and by his will left one-half of the manor to his 

 eldest son Edward and the other to his wife Anne with 

 reversion to Edward,'* but Anne gave up her right in 

 the premises to Edward for ^^120." The whole manor, 

 thus acquired by Edward, was settled by him in 1602, 

 on the marriage of his eldest daughter Elizabeth to 

 William Knighton, on himself and his wife Anne 

 for life with reversion to Elizabeth and William.''" 

 Edward and .Anne dying in 16 14,'" the manor was 

 inherited by Elizabeth, a widow since 1607, with a 

 son Thomas.''* Elizabeth married as her second hus- 

 band Giffbrd Bullock and was again a widow in 165 1 

 when, her son Thomas probably having died without 

 issue, a recovery of the manor was suffered in order 

 to break the entail.'" Elizabeth died shortly afterwards, 

 and the manor appears to have passed to John Atkins, 

 who sold it in 1665 toTheophilus Hart.'''' The manor 

 reappears in 17 1 3 when Thomas Parkyns and Dorothy 



' Bk. of Fees, 934. 



» Feud. Aids, iv, 15. Cf. Boughton, 

 above, p. 79. 



1 Cott. MSS. Tib. E. V, fol. 68. 



♦ Pope Nick. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 55. 

 ' yalcr Eccles. (Rtc. Com.), iv, 319. 



* Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 6. 

 ' Ibid. pt. xviii, m. 4.3. 



• y.C.H. Nortkanls. i, 318. 



« F«t of F. Northanu. 49 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 848. 



'<■ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), xx, 15. 



" Ibid. Iii, 69. 



" y.C.H. Sortkants. i, 354. 



" Feet of F. Northants. II Hen. Ill, 

 no. 147. 



'♦ y.C.H. Nortkanls. i, 325. 



'» Ibid, i, 328. 



'* G.E.C. Peerage, viii, 169, 



" Feud. Aids, 13, 15. 



'« Pat. 4Hen. VII, pt. i, m. 31. 



"> Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxixvii, 



35- 



'» Bridges, Northanls. i, 465. 



" y.C.H. Norlkants. i, 325. 



'^ Ibid, i, 379. 



" Cott. MSS. Tib. E. v, fol. 71 d. 



» Ibid. fol. 70. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 6 John, no. 

 183; Pipe R. Northants. 6 John, m. 11 d. 



" Feud. Aids, iv, 15. 



" Cott. MS. Tib. E. v, fol. 70; Bk. of 

 Fees, 939. 



" Cott. MS. Tib. E. v, fol. 69 d. 



2' Feud. Aids, iv, 24. 



>" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 1 3. 



" Feud. Aids, iv, 15. 



" Bridge), Northants. i, 564. 



» Feud. Aids, iv, 36. 



»♦ Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 8472. 



» Ibid. A. 8345. 



" Pat. 4 Hen. VII, pt. i, m. 31. 



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

 Edw. VI. 



" P.C.C. 37 Arundell. 



" Chan. Proc. Elii. T. 2, no. 53. Anne's 

 son Ralph persuaded her to malce a deed 

 of gift to him of ail her goods and con- 

 verted them to his own use. 



*» Com. Picas. Recov. R. HiL 43 Elii. 

 m. 2. 



♦' M.I. in Spratton Church. 



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

 35. William Knighton also held lands in 

 Little Creaton of Cornelius Wesley as of his 

 manor of Dodford. 



'•» Com. Pleas. Recov. R. Trin. 1651, 

 m. 13 d. 



" Ibid. I7Cha5. II, m. i. 



103 



