A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



1500 and Irewell Bridge in 1539' The revenues of 

 the Guild after its dissolution were vested in certain 

 feoffees and, under a Decree of Chancery, in 1595 were 

 assigned towards the upkeep of the Grammar School,^ 

 but it seems clear that the income of the Feoffees' 

 Charity was used for town purposes.' For many years 

 the school-house served also as the Town Hall,* but 

 in 1 82 1 the feoffees built a new hall out of the revenues 

 of the charity. 5 Wellingborough Bridge was practically 

 destroyed in a great flood in the 1 8th century.* In 1 669 

 the town was described as 'a borough containing a great 

 number of houses, all built of stone, and a considerable 

 population',' but in 1738 a great^re destroyed much 

 of the old town.* In 1855 a Board of Health was 

 established, but the government of the town and parish 

 is now controlled by the Urban District Council, 

 established under the Local Government Act of 1894. 



In the later 13th century Wellingborough was in- 

 cluded in the well-organized system of sheep-farming 

 developed by the abbey of Crowland.' In 1 291 the 

 profits of the flocks are specially mentioned amongst the 

 abbey revenues at Wellingborough'" and both sheep 

 and wool were sent to Crowland. The special accounts 

 of the sheep-run, however, end abruptly in 13 14," but 

 wool remained an important factor in Wellingborough 

 economy and in 1 3 19 there were 200 sheep on the 

 abbot's demesne.'^ Probably the demesne lands were 

 usually leased." In the i6th century there was still a 

 large market for wool and fells in the town.'* The mak- 

 ing of cheese, which formerly made the cheese fair on 

 St. Luke's Day celebrated,'^ can be traced back to the 

 13th century when a large number of cheeses were 

 accounted for to the abbey.'* In 1693, and again in 

 1743, Wellingborough market was the scene of some- 

 what serious corn riots." Lace-making was a thriving 

 industry until killed by the introduction of machine- 

 made lace,'* but at the present day the main industries 

 of Wellingborough are boot- and shoe-making and 

 ironworks." 



Wellingborough was famous for its waters in the 17th 

 century. Various wells are mentioned in earlier docu- 

 ments, one of them being called Our Lady's Well,-" and 

 their medicinal qualities made the town fashionable about 

 1624, when the Duchess of Buckingham came to drink 

 the waters.^' Three years later Charles I and Henrietta 

 Maria received the Mantuan ambassador there, while 

 the Queen seems to have come again in 1628.^^ 



Sir Paul Pindar, the diplomatist, was born at Well- 

 ingborough about 1565, and after gaining commercial 

 experience in Venice and Aleppo he was appointed 

 English ambassador to Turkey in 161 1. He presented 

 church plate and one of the existing church bells. ^' 

 Other Wellingborough residents were John Cole 

 (1792-1848), the historian of the town, who was a 



■ P.R.O. Min. Accts. Hen. VIII, 

 no. 2020; Cole, op. cit. 146. 



2 F.C.H. Northants. ii, 262-3. 



3 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 390, no. 

 90 j J. Cole, History and Antiquities of 

 ffellingtorougi, 1837, p. 53. 



■• F.C.H. Northants. ii, 265. 



s Cole, op. cit. 237. 



' Northants. N. & Q. i, 212-13. 



' Ibid, ii, 106. 



8 Ibid, i, 129; Cal Treas. Bis. Sf 

 Papers, 1739-41, pp. 103, 313, 331. 



' F. M. Page, 'Bidentes Hoylandie' in 

 Economic Journal, Supplement IV, Jan. 

 1929; Wellingborough Account Rolls. 

 "> Tax. Eccles. (Rec. Com.), 54. 

 " F. M. Page, op. cit. 



Abbey or Crowland. 

 Gules three knives argent 

 •with handles or set fesse^ 

 nvise quartered luith 

 azure three scourges or 

 erect and fesse'wise. 



schoolmaster there in 1 8 3 5,^'' and John Askham (1825- 

 94), the poet and shoemaker who was born there. He 

 was educated for a short time at the Free School and at 

 10 years old was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He 

 published five volumes of poems and was a member 

 of the earliest School Board in the town in 1871, and 

 was also librarian of the Literary Institute. ^5 



The manor of WELLINGBOROUGH 

 MANORS belonged to the abbey of Crowland in 

 Lincolnshire in the reign of Edward the 

 Confessor.^* According to the 

 12th-century tradition at the 

 abbey, it had been given to Crow- 

 land in the reign of Edred (946— 

 55) by Turketj'l, the refounder 

 of the abbey, of which he was 

 elected abbot.-' In 1086 the 

 abbey held 5I hides at Welling- 

 borough, of which the value had 

 risen from 50/. in 1066 to 6/.^* 

 In 1285 the manor was held in 

 frank-almoin of the king^' and in 

 1329 the abbot claimed to hold 

 sac, see, toll, team, and infang- 

 thief, view of frankpledge, with 

 gallows, tumbril, and pillory. He 

 further claimed that he and his men were free of 'mur- 

 drum' and suit to the county and that they were quit 

 of all tolls on their goods. 2° 



In 1 3 19 there were 7 free tenants, 12 full socmen, 

 35 toft socmen, 36 villeins, 35 molmen, 5 acremen, and 

 I cottar. The services due from the tenants are 

 enumerated in much detail and obviously show the 

 manorial custom of a much earlier date, but each in 

 1 3 19 had a money equivalent. The most interesting 

 group were the socmen, who had retained their 

 special characteristics from the nth century. Each 

 socman still held a virgate of land, for which a rent 

 of 812'. was due and the service of 'long avering' or 

 carrying had been commuted to z\ii. a year. They 

 paid a fine for entry to their tenements and were 

 admitted in the lord's court, while jointly they paid a 

 fine called 'Francwara' of 2S. ^d., but they were free 

 of the more servile fines c&c.paid by the unfree tenants. '' 

 At this time, one virgate was divided into four holdings 

 and later all 12 seem to have been subdivided, but 

 their identity was not lost. In the i6th century the 

 holdings were called sokons, one tenant being the head 

 of the sokon and when he died or alienated his holding 

 a fine of i6r. was paid, but the other tenants of his 

 sokon paid no fine, when their tenements changed 

 hands, to the lord of the manor. '^ The whole manor 

 paid a fine called aid-silver taken at the abbot's will 

 until 1385 when it was fixed at ^\ a year.'' 



" Add. MS. 5845, fol. 107. 



" Proc. Ct. of Augs. bdle. 19, no. 27; 

 Min. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 2020. 



'♦ L. and?. Hen. Fill, xx (i), 684, 756. 



^s Cole, op. cit. 241. 



'* Wellingborough Account Rolls, 1 3 1 2. 



" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1693, p. 397; Cal. 

 Treas. Bks. & Papers, 1742-5, p. 455. 



" Northants. N. & Q. ii, 246. 



" As early as 1645 Joshua Knight was 

 a shoemaker here and left his lasts to his 

 two sons : ex inf. M. C. ICnight. 



^^ Cole, op. cit. 160, 170, 174, 176; 

 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), portf. 195, nos. 94, 97. 



" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1623-5, pp. 327, 329 ; 

 1625-6, p. 1625. 



" S.P. Dom. Charles I, vol. dxl, no. 29 



(i); Cal. S.P. Dom. 1628-9, PP- -'8' ^5^- 



" Diet. Nat. Biog.j Cole, op. cit. 51-2. 



" Diet. Nat. Biog. 



25 Ibid.; Northants. N. & Q. i (n.s.), 

 14-15. 



" F.C.H. Northants. i, 319, 382. 



" F.C.H. Lincoln, ii, 105. 



=8 F.C.H. Northants. i, 319. 



2» Feud. Aids, iv, 16. 



30 Plac. de Quo fVarr. (Rec. Com.), 

 518-19. 



3> Extracts from Register of Abbey of 

 Crowland, Add. MS. 5845, fols. 107 seq. 



" Ct. R. (P.R.O.), portf. 195, nos. 94, 96. 



33 Cal. Pat. 1408-13, p. 447; A'orMi3««. 

 A', fef Q. vi, no. 857; P.R.O. Min. 

 Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 2020. 



138 



