ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



CRANSLEY 



Charles Riche, ^^i 2 yearly to the vicarage of Cransley, 

 and ;^8 yearly to the king; but Sir Henr>' was burdened 

 with debt and, after various transactions for raising 

 money, the manor was in 1702 put in the custody of 

 his wife, Dame Susanna, after Sir Henry Robinson had 

 been found a lunatic on 8 December 1 701. An Act of 

 Parliament was obtained in 1 7 10 to vest the estate of 

 Sir Henry Robinson in Cransley in trustees to enable 

 them to make a settlement on the marriage of his son 

 John,' who, after his father's death, was holding the 

 manor, rectory, and advowson of Cransley in 1746.- 

 His son, another John Robinson, died in 179 1, when 

 he was succeeded by John Capel Rose. He died in 

 1 84 5 and his son William Somerset Rose in 1 884. The 

 latter's son William Robinson Rose was succeeded in 

 1889 by his brother Walter WoUaston Rose who sold 

 the manor and advowson in 1905 to Major Arthur 

 Hugh Thurburn, the present owner. ^ 



The lands in Cransley held of the royal manor of 

 Rothwell in 1086 seem to be represented in part by 

 P UL TONS MANOR. In 1 2 30 Thomas de Braybrook 

 granted to Philip de Kelmarsh land in Kelmarsh and 

 a mill and 2i virgates in Cransley.* Philip's son Ralph 

 married Mabel, daughter of Hugh son of Peter de 

 Cransley,' and in 1266 was holding 2\ virgates and a 

 mill in Cransley with lands in Kelmarsh, Clipston, and 

 Oienden, all held of the king in chief of the soke of 

 Geddington;* and this property in Cransley was so held 

 in I 284 by Simon de Kelmarsh,' his son, who in 1329 

 claimed view of frankpledge in Kelmarsh, Clipston, 

 and Cransley by prescription.* Simon son of Ralph de 

 Kelmarsh was returned at an inquisition held at Roth- 

 well in 1337' as having held at his death tenements in 

 Cransley held of the manor of Geddington as of the 

 ancient demesne of the king; in free marriage with 

 Mabel his wife lands in Cransley held of Thomas Wake 

 of Blisworth; and half a virgate of land, parcel of those 

 which John de Verdun, kt., held in Holcote, Walgrave, 

 and Cransley of the honor of Huntingdon as of the 

 manor of V'ardley: his heir being his son Simon. The 

 third of the properties of which he then died seised 

 evidently corresponded to the lands in Cransley held 

 of the Countess Judith in 1086, and constituted the 

 Manor of WTLE BY or IVlLLOVGHBTin Cransley 

 which in 1329 was in the hands of Simon de 

 Cransley,'" who then claimed freedom from tolls, 

 weyf, ic, from his tenants in Cransley, because these 

 liberties had always belonged to a fifth part of the vill 

 there known as Willoughby, which fifth part he held 

 of Lawrence de Preston, who held of Lawrence son of 

 John de Hastings, a minor and in ward to the King. 

 He claimed view of frankpledge because this had 

 always been held with this fifth part called Willoughby, 

 when William de Willoughby or Wyleby and Margery 

 his wife, being seised thereof in right of Marger)-, had 

 eafeofFed of the same Ivo Fitzwaryn. Ivo Fitzwaryn 

 had granted it to Peter his brother, who had then 

 enfeoffed in it Simon de Hanington, from whom it 



descended to his son and heir Ralph, by whose enfeoff- 

 ment Simon de Cransley was then holding. 



These properties descended with the manor of Kel- 

 marsh, with which they were in 1498 held by William 

 Pulton at his death, as lands and tenements with a 

 water-mill in Cransley, held of the manor of Gedding- 

 ton in burgage and worth £6 I is. \d.\ another messu- 

 age in Cransley held of the New College, Leicester, by 

 knight service and worth 20/.; and a third part of a 

 pasture with a grange called Sundurlond held of 

 Maurice Osborn by knight service, and worth 2oy. 

 William Pulton's heir was his son Giles, upon whom 

 and his wife Katharine settlement had been made in 

 1493 by William and his wife Emma." 



A manor of MARSTONS, later known as D ALI- 

 SONS, occurs in the 15th century. In 1474 Robert 

 Tanfield of Gavton granted the manor of Merston 

 or Marston in Cransley, held of the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham, to William Tanfield, who bequeathed it to his 

 wife Anne for life, and died on 26 November 1487, 

 his heir being his kinsman Robert son of Robert Tan- 

 field, late of Everton (Hunts.).'- In 1489 Anthony 

 Tanfield, son of Robert, released to Edward Goldes- 

 borough, baron of the Exchequer, and others, all his 

 right in the lands in Cransley which he lately had by 

 bequest from William Tanfield, his uncle, for life." 

 This manor next appears in the hands of George Dalison, 

 who in I 5 14 settled it on his son Edward and his wife 

 Elizabeth, and died on 28 June 1524, seised of the 

 manor, which then passed to his grandson Thomas, 

 Edward and Elizabeth being already dead.'* Thomas 

 Dalison and Joan his wife in I 540 conveyed it to John 

 Lane and William Hypwell,'' but in 1585 it was still 

 in the hands of the Dalison family, and was conveyed 

 to Sir Thomas Cecil by Edward Dalison and his wife 

 Anne, and Robert Dalison, brother and heir of Edward 

 Dalison.'* After this date it descended with the other 

 Cransley manors. 



Tenements in Cransley held of the queen in chief by 

 knight service and in the occupation of John Dexter 

 and afterwards of Edward Longton, were held by 

 Richard Warner at his death in 1 570." 



The church oiST. AN DRE IV coniku 

 CHURCH of chancel, 31 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in.; 

 clerestoried nave, 52 ft. by 16 ft.; north 

 aisle, 1 1 ft. wide; south aisle, 1 5 ft. wide; south porch, 

 and west tower and spire, 10 ft. 6 in. square, all these 

 measurements being internal. There was formerly a 

 porch on the north side also." The west end of the 

 north aisle is screened off as a vestry and the organ is at 

 the east end. 



The first church on the site seems to have been a 

 12th-century aisleless building of which only the north- 

 west angle remains on the north side of the tower, but 

 this early structure was entirely rebuilt towards the end 

 of the 1 3th century, beginning with the chancel c. 1 290. 

 The work was probably continued over a period of 

 some years, but completed early in the 14th century. 



' Priv. Stat. 9 Anne, cap. 28. 



> Recov. R. Trin. ig & 19 Geo. II, 

 ro. 284. 



' Information from Major A. H. Thur- 

 burn. In 18 1 2 John George Ogilvie and 

 his wife Lctitia (presumably a Robinson 

 co-heiress) dealt with a moiety of the 

 manor: Recov. R. East. 52 Geo. Ill, ro. 



< Feet of F. Northants. 15 Hen. III. 



> Assize R. 619, m. 24. 



' Cat. Inij. p.m. i, 652. 



' Feud. AiJs, iv, 2. 



• Plac. de Quo tVarr. (Rec. Com.), 



541-3- 



" Cal. Inq.f.m. viii, 135. 



'» Ph<. de Quo fTarr. (Rec. Com.), 532. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. ^11^ ii, no. 296. 



" Ibid, i, 429. The manor of Rothwell 

 was held by the Duke of Buckingham, 

 and the overlordship was probably ascribed 

 to that manor. 



" Anct. D., C. 3242. 



'< Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xliv, 109. 



's Recov. R. East. 31 Hen. VIII, ro. 

 loi; Feet of F. Northants. East. 31 

 Hen. VIII. 



" Ibid. Trin. 37 Elii. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxiv, 206. 



" Brandon in 1 848 stated that the north 

 porch was destroyed "about fifty years ago' 

 and with it probably one of the windows: 

 Ptirit/i Cfturchel, Korthantt. 



165 



