A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



died s.p., and Sir Thomas Wake, wlio on 20 February 

 1343 was returned as lidding this knight's fee in 

 Cransley, in right of his wife,' died in 1347.- Thomas 

 son of Sir Thomas Wake released to John Pyel, citizen 

 and merchant of London, on 29 March 1350 all his 

 right in the manor and advowson of Cransley, with a 

 mill and a plot called 'le Newemanere' and other lands 

 in Cransley and Broughton which John had previously 

 held of the grant of Elizabeth the mother and of Hugh 

 the brother of Thomas. The witnesses included Walter 

 Turk, then Mayor of London, and Adam de Bury and 

 Ralf de Lenne, sheriffs. ^ In 1355 John Pyel of Irtling- 

 borough, citizen of London, made a settlement of the 

 manor and advowson of Cransley,* which were still 

 held under Thomas Wake of Ellsworth, who was 

 returned in 1363 as holding a fee in Cransley at the 

 death of Margery, widow of William de Ros of 

 Hamlake.5 In 1 377 the manor, and the advowson of the 

 church there, were apparently in the hands of Thomas 

 de Melburn,* but on 12 January 1380 they were 

 alienated in mortmain by Simon Symeon and Peter 

 Monslee, parson of Willoughby (co. Lincoln), to the 

 dean and chapter of the new collegiate church of St. 

 Mary's, Leicester, to celebrate divine service there daily 

 for the soul of Henry, late Duke of Lancaster, and for 

 the good estate of the said Simon and Peter while living, 

 and their souls after death.' In 1428 the New College 

 of St. Mary, Leicester, paid for half a fee in Cransley 

 formerly held by Thomas Wake,^ who in the following 

 year quit-claimed lands in Cransley and the advowson 

 to the college.' These, which constituted the manor 

 later known as NEWARKS, were in their hands at the 

 Dissolution, the lands bringing them in ,^14 yearly.'" 



Certain mills and meadow land in Cransley were in 

 1528 granted by the College of St. Mary, Leicester 

 (the College of the New Work), 

 to Thomas Barnwell of Cransley 

 for 51 years at a rent of 34^.;" 

 and in 1545 Giles Poulton, 

 senior, Giles Poulton, junior, 

 and Elizabeth his wife conveyed 

 their interest in the manor to 

 Thomas Barnwell.'^ The latter 

 was still tenant of the manor in 

 1 549 when it, with a water-mill, 

 a horse-mill, a messuage called 

 the Mellholme, view of frank- 

 pledge, li-c, was granted to 

 John Hasylwood of Maidwell."^ 

 John Hasylwood died on 28 June 1550 leaving a wife 

 Catherine, and a son and heir John, aged 2 8.''* John 

 Hasylwood and Catherine his mother, who had married 

 Thomas Claughton, alienated the manor, held in chief, 

 to Thomas Barnwell in i 556.'^ 



This manor remained in the hands of the Barnwells 



± 



* 



A/y\A 



Barnwell. Varty sahlc 

 and azure a fesse dan- 

 cetty betiveen three cross- 

 lets Jitchy or. 



until 1586, in which year the manors of Cransley, 

 Newark, and Pultons were conveyed to William Cecil,'* 

 esq., and Boniface Pickering, gent., by Edward Barn- 

 well (probably the grandson of Thomas and son of 

 Edward) and by his wife Anne, by Stephen Barnwell, 

 William Allen, and Miles Barnwell," a separate con- 

 veyance of the property being made later by Roger 

 Charnock and his wife Helen,'* possibly the remarried 

 mother of Edward Barnwell." 



In 1595 Sir Thomas Cecil and his wife Dorothy with 

 their sons William and Edward were dealing with all 

 the four manors of Cransley, Newark, Marstons, and 

 Pultons, and the rectory and advowson, which they 

 conveyed to trustees-" for sale to Alice Elkin, widow. 

 This lady, who, according to Bridges, quoting from 

 Robinson documents, had been 

 first married to Henry Robinson, 

 and in her second widowhood 

 married Thomas Owen, justice 

 of the Common Pleas, divided 

 the manor equally between her 

 five children by Henry Robinson, 

 two of whom, Alice Robinson 

 (married to John Washburne of 

 Knights Washburne)^' and Mar- 

 garet (married to Sir John Bretts) 

 retained their fifths, the remain- 

 ing three-fifths being ultimately 

 held by her son Sir Henry 

 Robinson. In 161 5 Sir John Bretts and his wife 

 Margaret conveyed their fifth to Robert Riche and 

 William Bretts,-^ and Sir Robert Riche, Margaret 

 Scott, widow, and Owen Scott conveyed it in 1627 to 

 Francis Downes, senr., Roger Downes, and Francis 

 Downes.-3 Alice Downes, widow (probably Alice 

 Robinson, remarried), and John Washburne in 1652 

 were dealing with the manor of Pultons,^* probably 

 representing the Washburne, and possibly also the Brett, 

 share of the Cransley estate, but no more is heard of 

 this property. Sir Henry Robinson in 1629, in which 

 year he was sheriff of the county, settled his three-fifths 

 on Martha Sherington, widow of John Sherington, 

 merchant of London, whom he married at Cransley on 

 31 August following. He died on 9 December 1637, 

 leaving no issue by Martha, and was succeeded by his 

 son by his first wife (Mary, daughter of Sir William 

 Glover) Henry, aged 12.^' 



The young lord of the manor, who espoused the 

 Royalist cause, and suffered accordingly, died in 1665. 

 His son Sir Henry Robinson married Susanna, daughter 

 of the Rt. Hon. Sir John Ernie, Under-Treasurer of 

 the Exchequer, and in 1 681 a settlement of the whole 

 of the manor and advowson in trust was made at their 

 marriage.^* The manor was then valued at ^900 yearly, 

 out of which an annuity oi (jio for life was payable to 



Robinson. Vert ackeve' 



ron bctivecn three harts 



or nvith three lozenges 



gules on the cheveron. 



62. 



Cal. Inq. p.m. viii, 339. 



y.C.H. Northants. Families^ 319. 



Cal. Close., I 349-54, pp. 212, 21 6. 



Ibid. 1354-60, p. 190. 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 37 Edw. Ill (ist nos.). 



<> Anct. D., C. 3382. 

 ' Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Ric. II, no. 121; 

 Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 245. 

 * Feud. Aids, iv, 33. 

 » Add. Ch. 10652. 

 '» Valor Feci. (Rec. Com.), iv, 170. 

 " Add. Ch. 10655. 



■^ Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 37 Hen. 

 VIII. According to Bridges in exchange 



for the parsonage of Dcsborough. 



" Pat. R. 3 Edw. VI, pt. 10. 



'■* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xci, 64. 



'5 Pat. R. 2 & 3 Ph. and M. pt. 9; ibid. 

 3 & 4 Ph. and M. pt. 4; Feet of F. 

 Northants. Hil. 3 & 4 Ph. and M. 



''■ William was eldest son of Sir Thomas 

 Cecil and subsequently 2nd Earl of Exeter. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 28 Eliz. 



'8 Ibid. Mich. 28 & 29 Eliz. 



''* The inscriptions in Cransley Church 

 given by Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 92, 

 record an Edward Barnwell, died I 557, and 

 wife Helen. Another inscription shows 

 that Edward, last Barnwell lord of these 



manors, died in 1602. Leases made by 

 Edward Barnwell of Cransley in 1585-6 

 were the subject of disputes when Sir 

 Henry Robinson was lord : Chan. Proc. 

 (Ser. 2), ccclxxv, 22. 



-0 Feet of F. Northants. East. 37 Eliz. 



■^' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcvi, 132. 



'' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1 3 Jas. I. 



" Ibid. Trin. 3 Chas. 



^* Ibid. Mich. 1652. 



-5 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxxvii, 

 186. 



^<> Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 34 Chas. 

 II ; Recov. R. Trin. 34 Chas. II, ro. 148. 



164 



