HAMFORDSHOE HUNDRED 



GREAT DODDINGTON 



Dodintone, Great Dudyngton (xi-xvi cent.). 



Great Doddington covers about i,6oo acres. The 

 River Nene forms the south-eastern boundary between 

 Great Doddington and Wollaston. The greatest height 

 in the piarish is 371 ft. in the west; from there the land 

 slopes gradually down to the Swan's Pool Brook on the 

 northern boundary and to the Nene on the south-east, 

 where the lowest point is 144 ft. The land near the 

 river is liable to floods and in some parts is covered 

 with marsh. 



The main road connects Earls Barton and Dodding- 

 ton villages with Wellingborough; from this a road 

 branches off near the village of Doddington in a north- 

 westerly direction to Wilby. Great Doddington village 

 lies ij miles south-west of Wellingborough station. 

 Owing to its retired situation the village is less spoiled 

 than others in this part of the county, and retains many 

 picturesque 17th-century stone houses with thatched 

 or red-tiled roofs; the dates 1675, 1676, and 1679 

 occur on individual houses, whilst the Stag's Head Inn, 

 a two-story thatched building with end gable, has a 

 panel inscribed 'i.e. 1686'. A large farm-house in the 

 principal street, with a panel dated 'mdcclxiv', has a 

 bit of I4th<entury tracery built into the end of the 

 main wing, and at the west end of the village is a house 

 dated 1703. The vicarage house, said to have been 

 originally the manor-house, to the south-east of the 

 church, is a large 1 7th-century building with mullioned 

 windows under parallel gabled roofs. There are two 

 chapels in the village, one Baptist and the other 

 Methodist; the National School was built in 1833. 

 The population is employed chiefly in agriculture and 

 the manufacture of boots and shoes. The soil is red 

 loam with an ironstone subsoil and the crops are the 

 usual cereals. 



The parish of Great Doddington was inclosed in 

 1766.' 



In 1086 the Countess Judith of Hunting- 

 MANORS don held 4 hides in GREAT DODDING- 

 TON of ihe king; Bondi had held it in the 

 time of Edward the Confessor.^ The ovcrlordship 

 descended to the family of Hastings with the honor of 

 Huntingdon as Yardley Hastings (q.v.). The over- 

 lordship is last mentioned in connexion with Green's 

 Manor in 1391,-' and in connexion with Barnard's 

 Manor in 1480.* 



By the 13th century two manors arc found in 

 Doddington held of this lordship. That afterwards 

 called GREEN'S MANOR appears in 1285 when 

 Juliana Tregoz, widow, held half a knight's fee.' Her 

 son John Tregoz* in 1285 obtained a grant of free 

 warren in his demesne lands there.' This John Tregoz 

 granted Doddington manor to Pino Bernardin, a 



Florentine merchant of London,' at a rent of ;^20.' 

 John died in 1299 and in 1 301 his co-heirs, his grandson 

 John la Warre and his daughter Sybil wife of William 

 Grandison, were each assigned £10 rent in the manor.'" 

 In 1 309 the rentcharge on the manor was reduced to 

 ;^io," and in 1329 may have been commuted for a 

 lump sum, for in that year Peregrin Bernard, who had 

 succeeded his father Pino'- by 1324, when he held a 

 quarter fee here,'^ acknowledged a debt of ^^loo to 

 William Grandison and Sybil his wife.'* The history 

 of the manor for some time after this date is obscure. 

 In 1348 William de Harwedon held the quarter of a 

 knight's fce'5 and before 1 369 it was in the possession 

 of the Green family. In that year Sir Henry Green 

 died seised of it and was succeeded by his son Thomas.'* 

 It then descended as Green's Norton (q.v.) through 

 five successive Thomas Greens." The last of these died 

 in 1506 and left his estates to his two daughters and 

 heiresses Anne and Maud.'* The manor of Doddington 

 was settled on Anne on her marriage with Sir Nicholas 

 Vaux. Sir Nicholas died in 1525 and was succeeded by 

 his son Thomas, who at the age of 14 married Eliza- 

 beth Cheyne." Thomas Vaux died about 1556 and 

 was succeeded by his son and heir William.^" From 

 William, who was holding in 1559,^' the manor ap- 

 parently passed to the Spencer family, as Henry Lord 

 Spencer was lord of the manor in 1639.^- Between this 

 date and 1667 the manor again changed hands; at the 

 latter date James Earl of Northampton held it,-^ and his 

 descendant the present Marquess is now lord of the 

 manor. 



A second manor, later called BARNARD'S MANOR, 

 was held of the honor of Hunting- 

 don in Great Doddington. In 

 1 242 William de Champaync 

 (Campania) held the sixth part 

 of a knight's fee in Doddington.--' 

 This passed to Nicholas son of 

 Robert de Champayne,^' who 

 opposed the king in the Barons' 

 War and forfeited this manor but 

 was allowed to buy it back from 

 Eudes de la Zouche.^* In 1285 

 Nicholas's son Robert de Cham- 

 payne held one knight's fee in 

 Great Doddington^' and in 1 306 John de Champayne 

 conceded the manor, probably by way of settlement, to 

 Robert de Champayne and his wife .Ada.-* Robert still 

 held it in 1 3 1 2, as a quarter of a knight's fee,-' and in 

 1 3 1 3 he conveyed it to his son Robert,^" who held it as 

 a sixth of a fee in 1 324.^' He was still in possession in 

 1 3 29,^^ but in 1 3 5 3 his widow Margaret^' died and their 

 son and heir William obtained the manor.^* From him 



Champayne. Argent 

 three ban xvaty gules. 



' Acts Priv. & Loc. 6 Ceo. III.cip. i. 



* y.C.H. Sttrthanti. i, 351. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Ric. II, pt. 1, 24. 



* Ibid. 20 Edw. IV, 17. 



* Feud. Aidt., iv, 1 6. 



* Viae, de Quo M'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 580. 

 ' Cut. Chart. R. ii, 319. 



» Cat. Pat. 1281-92, p. 326. 



' Clun. Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. I, no. 43. 

 '<> Cal. Chit, 1296-1302, p. 477. 

 " Add. Chart. 21701. 

 " Assize R. 633, m. 7; Plac. de Quo 

 H'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 580. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, no. 83. 



'* Cal. Close, 1327-30, p. 589. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. \x, 123. 



"' Chan. Inq. p.m. 43 Edw. Ill, pt. 1,48. 



" Bridges, Hist, of Northants. i, 240. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), xi, 74. 



'• Ibid. jli, 60. 



" G.E.C. Complete Peerage (ist cd.), 

 viii, 19. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1 &2Eliz. 



" Recov. R. Trin. 1 5 Chas. I. 



" Ibid. Mich. 19 Chas. II. 



>•• 5*. o/f«i, 938. 



" Plac. de Quo U'arr. (Rec. Com.), 563. 



" Assize R. 618, m. 2d. 



" Feud. Aids, iv, 16. 



" F'eet of F. Northants. 34 Edw. I, no. 

 495. '' Cal. Inj. p.m. v, p. 234. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 7 Edw. II, 147. 



" Cal. Inj. p.m. vi, p. 391. 



» Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 563. 



'^ It seems possible that she had married 

 John de Charnels, or Carnailc, w-ho held 

 this sixth of a fee in 1346 and 1348: 

 Feud. Aids, iv, 447; Cal. Infj. p.m. ix, 1 22. 



>♦ Cal. Inj. p.m. X, 96. 



113 



