ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



upon the stonework of the fireplace in the entrance- 

 hall,' but was probably renovated and perhaps en- 

 larged by Thomas Watson alias Wentworth^ after 

 his purchase of the property in 1695, his arms occurring 

 on the stone vases of the gate-piers and on metal shields 

 over the gates.^ The date 171 2 is on the spout-heads 

 of the house. In the grounds is a Roman Catholic 

 chapel, built by the last Lord Vaux. It is a copy 

 of Archbishop Chichele's School at Higham Ferrers. 

 A private cemetery adjoins the chapel. 



Harrowden Hail was at one time occupied as 

 a boarding-school for young ladies by the wife of 

 Samuel Sharp, F.S..^., the well-known geologist and 

 antiquary (1814-82), the closing years of whose life 

 were spent there.* It remained a girls' school until 

 1898, shortly before which date Lord Vaux had 

 bought the Hall from George Fitzwilliam. On the 

 death of the last Lord Vaux in 1935 the Hall passed to 

 his grandson, John H. P. Gilbey, esq., second son of 

 Grace, eldest daughter and coheir of Lord Vaux.* 



To the west of the church is the manor-house. It 

 stands on the road leading from the village to Orling- 

 bur)-, and is a two-story ironstone building with pro- 

 jecting three-story porch taken up above the roof, in 

 the gable of which is a panel with the date 1648 and 

 initials r"^a. Many of the mullioned windows have 

 been altered or removed, and the roofs are covered 

 with modern blue slates. It is in the occupation of 

 J. D. Groome, esq. Just beyond it is the vicarage, 

 a house of considerable charm. To the south of Great 

 Harrowden Hall are old stone-pits, and the Red Hill 

 Spinnies. Great Harrowden Mill lies at the north- 

 eastern end of the parish, on the Ise Brook. 



The soil is of a good fertile mixed character; sub- 

 stratum loamy, Great Oolite, limestone, sand, and iron- 

 stone: the area of the parish is 1,476 acres of land and 

 5 acres of water; the land is chiefly pasturage. 



The children attend school at Little Harrowden. 

 The school in Great Harrowden was closed about fifty 

 years ago, and is now used on Sundays only. 



Lands in HARROWDEN were entered 

 MANORS in the Domesday Survey among those held 

 by the Bishop of Coutances:* 2 hides and 

 3 virgatcs there were held of him by Wakelin, and had 

 been held before the Conquest by Edwin, evidently the 

 son of Burred, the great English landowner and thegn, 

 who held lands in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 

 as well as in this county. One and a half hides 'in 

 another Hargindone' [Little Harrowden], with land 

 for 3 ploughs, which Wakelin also held, were valued 

 with this property; and the soc of i virgate in Welling- 

 borough pertained to the bishop's manor of Harrow- 

 den. On the forfeiture of the bishop's fief this Har- 

 rowden property passed to the fee or honor of 

 Huntingdon, and it was returned in the Northamp- 

 tonshire Survey that Geoffrey held 2 hides less I bovate 

 in Harrowden of that fee.^ Two manors of Great and 

 Little Harrowden, called LEWKNORS early in the 



GRE.\T 

 HARROWDEN 



1 5th centur)',* probably originated in these estates, 

 which seem to have been held by the family of Mus- 

 champ before the end of the 1 2th centur}-.' A manor of 

 Harrowden was granted in 1 244 to Geoffrey de 

 Leuknor by Robert de Muschamp," and was clearly 

 identical with the manor of Great Harrowden and its 

 members the manors of Little Harrowden and Isham, 

 returned as so granted in the Quo Warranto pleas of 

 1329-30." 



Though the distinctive terms Great and Little 

 Harrowden were in use in the first half of the 13th 

 century, the same owners held lands in both, and 

 Harrowden must frequently be interpreted as covering 

 both or either of the Harrowdens. In 1236 2 knights' 

 fees in Harrowden were entered among the gi fees held 

 by Simon 'Major' of the fee of Huntingdon,'^ while in 

 1242 among the fees which Isabel de Brus held of the 

 honor of Huntingdon was a fee in Great Harrowden 

 which Geoffrey de Leuknor held 

 of her and li fees which the same 

 Geoflfrey was holding of her in 

 Little Harrowden and Ciipston.'^ 

 Geoflrey de Leuknor and Sibyl his 

 wife granted a messuage in Great 

 Harrowden to Sulby .Abbey on 

 condition of anniversary masses 

 being said for them both.'* Geof- 

 frey was succeeded by his son 

 Ralph, '5 who in 1284 was hold- 

 ing 2 knights' fees in Great and 

 Little Harrowden of Walter de Huntercumbe, who 

 had apparently married a daughter of Robert de Mus- 

 champ.'* Ralph's son Geoffrey died s.p." and had been 

 succeeded by his brother John de Leuknor in 13 16, 

 when the said John was holding Harrowden.'* In 1 3 1 8 

 John de Leuknor and Elizabeth his wife were dealing 

 with the manors of Great and Little Harrowden." 

 John de Leuknor was called upon in 1329—30 to prove 

 his right to view of frankpledge and other franchises 

 in Great Harrowden, Little Harrowden, and Isham. 

 He stated that Robert de Muschamp and his ancestors 

 had been seised of these liberties, and had granted 

 them with the manor to Geoffrey de Leuknor his 

 grandfather. His claim to view of frankpledge was 

 allowed, but he failed in his other claims." 



In 1 34 1-2 Simon Simeon was dealing with mes- 

 suages, land, rent, and a mill in Great and Little 

 Harrowden;^' and the said Simon in 1356 was dealing 

 with the manor of Great Harrowden by fine, together 

 with the manors of Grafton, Finedon, and Nortoft." 

 Three years later the two manors of Great and Little 

 Harrowden, with messuages, land, and rent in Clipston 

 and Lowick, were conveyed by him by fine to John 

 de Leuknor and his wife Elizabeth, and by them 

 reconveyed to himself-' John de Leuknor seems to 

 have been the last Leuknor tenant of these manors, 

 though a Robert Lewknor was still described in 1 367 

 as of Harrowden.^* Simon Simeon and his wife Eliza- 



Leiknor. Asurt thret 

 che'verons argent. 



' Samuel Sharp in jliioc. Arch. Soc. 

 Rpts. XV, 32. 



' It was 'new built by Mr. Wentworth" 

 when Bridges wrote: Hiit. of Norlhanli. 

 ii, loz. > Ibid. 28. 



* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



' The eldest son, Peter Gilbey, had 

 joined the Benedictine Order at Amplc- 

 forth: ex inf. Miss Joan Wake. 



' y.C.H. Korthanli. i, 310. 



' Ibid. 383. See also ibid. 360. 



• Feet of F. Northants. 11 Hen. IV, 



325; and see advowson. 



» Farrer, Hmort and KnigAtt' Feel, ii, 

 no. 78. 



'" Feet of F. Northants. 28 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 476. " Op. cit. (Rec. Com.), 535. 



" Bk. of Feet, 501. 



" Ibid. 934.. It would seem that the 

 manor had already passed to Geoffrey 

 before the execution of the fine of 1244. 



'* Add. Ch. 22003. 



" Plac. de Quo h'arr. (Rec. Com.), 5 3 J. 



"■ Feud. Aidi, iv, 1 ; Farrer, Honori and 



Knighti' Feel, ii, 326. 



" Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 535. 



" Feud. Aidi, iv, 22. 



'» Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 1 1 Edw. II, 

 00. 147. 



'» Plac. de Quo If'arr. (Rec. Com.), 535. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 15 Edw. Ill, 

 no. 229. 



" Ibid. Div. Co. 30 Edw. Ill, no. 17. 



" Ibid. Northants. case 177, file 81, 

 not. 482-3. 



" Cal. Pat. 1367-70, p. 22. 



179 



