ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



ORLIXGBURY 



A terrier of Beaver's Manor made in 1673 mentions 

 a windmill.' 



Owen Manning (1721-1801), the historian of Sur- 

 rey, was born in the village; his father or grandfather 

 Owen Manning is recorded as a tenant of the 'towne- 

 house' in 1673.* 



In Domesday Survey Fulchcr (Male- 

 MJNORS soures) held of Walter the Fleming 2§ 

 hides in ' Widmale'.' Walter the Fleming's 

 lands formed the barony of Odell (Wahuil), and in the 

 Sur\'ey, temp. Henry I, Fulcher Malesoures held of the 

 fee of Wahuil I hide in Orlingbury and li hides and 

 I virgate in Withmale;'* from which it would appear 

 that of the 2 J hides which Domesday allocates to With- 

 male one hide was really in Orlingbury. This hide was 

 the land which in later times was known as BEAFER'S 

 MANOR. The Malesoures, and later their successors 

 the Trussells, held it of the barony of Odell as part of 

 their manor of Lamport (q.v.), the local tenants in early 

 days being the family of de Orlingbury. 



In 1 1 30 Simon Malesoures, Gerald de Wismalua, 

 and Alvred de Orlinberga were concerned in deer- 

 stealing. s A Simon de Orlingbury was a surveyor of 

 repairs to certain royal houses in 1 1 74,* and Ralph father 

 of Robert de Orlingbury was named in the Hundred 

 Rolls for 1276.' Robert de Orlingbury held one third 

 of a fee of Richard Trusselland he of William Trussell, 

 who held it of John de Wahuil in 1284,' and was suc- 

 ceeded before 1 3 16 by Hugh de Orlingbury.' .Another 

 Robert de Orlingbury held a quarter fee in 1347,'° 

 and an Adam de Orlingbury is recorded in 1351;" 

 no later references to this family have been found in con- 

 nexion with Orlingbury. It was apparently this manor 

 which John Pielof Irthlingboroughand others purchased 

 in 1 377 from Henry Piel, .Archdeacon ofNorthants.,and 

 William Braybrooke, parson of the church of Cransley.'^ 

 John Picl died in 1386, when the manor, with that of 

 Irthlingborough and several others, descended to his 

 son Nicholas Piel, an annuity of 50 marks being granted 

 to his widow Joan.'^ Nicholas died in 1406 leaving a 

 son and heir John, then under age and in the custody 

 of William, Abbot of Bury.''' In 141 2 a John Beamer 

 (probably a scribe's error for Beaver) and others pur- 

 chased from Andrew Newbottill and Joan his wife a 

 third part of the manor of Orlingbury,'^ and in 1428 

 Robert le Bever was holding a quarter fee late of Robert 

 de Orlingbury.'* In 1469 Thomas Beavyr and Isabel his 

 wife sold the manor, called for the first time 'Beavyr's 

 manor', to William Tanfield of Gayton." Before 1 502 

 it had passed to William Lane of Orlingbury, who died 



seised of it in that year, together with certain lands in 

 Orlingbury called 'Blakys' and 'Monkeys'.'* His son 

 and heir Ralph, then aged 36, died without issue and 

 the manor devolved on his nephew Sir Ralph Lane of 

 Horton. Sir Ralph died in i 540 leaving a son Robert, 

 then under age, and a widow Maud, who was granted 

 an annuity of £1^0 from the estate during Robert's 

 minorit)'." In 1 572 Sir Robert Lane sold the manor to 

 William Tofte of the Middle Temple,-" who died in 

 1575.-' His son William died without issue in 1 599,-* 

 when the manor passed to his sister Elizabeth, the wife 

 of Godfrey Chibnall of Orlingbury, and of Astwood, 

 Bucks. In the following year the manor was claimed 

 by Roger Dale for his infant daughter Elizabeth, as heir 

 of his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of WiUiam Tofte 

 senior by his first wife.^^ An agreement-'' was reached 

 shortly aftenvards whereby Godfrey and Elizabeth 

 Chibnall remained in undisturbed possession, to the 

 complete exclusion of the infant Elizabeth, who was, 

 according to the considered opinion of Serjeant Pem- 

 berton given in 1680, unjustly disinherited. A settle- 

 ment of the manor took place in 1 6 1 8 ^5 on the marriage 

 of Thomas Chibnall, the son of Godfrey and Elizabeth, 

 who inherited on the death of his mother in 1631.^* At 

 the death of Thomas in 1673^' the manor passed to his 

 only son Godfrey, who died without issue in 1678, 

 having willed the manor to his widow Anne for life, 

 with remainder to his sisters Frances and Elizabeth.^* 

 They sold the manor in 1682 to John and Nathaniel 

 Bridges,^' a claim to it by another Godfrey Chibnall, 

 nephew of Thomas, being unsuccessful.^" 



Chibnall. j^xure txuo 



leopards or bctiveen two 



Jiaunchei ermine. 



Young, of Orlingbury. 



Argent a ben J sable zuith 



three griffons' heads or 



thereon. 



' Deeds in possession of Mr. Chibnall. 

 Two late Elizabethan and one early 

 Jacobean Court Rolls of Beavers Manor 

 arc preserved. Thomas Chibnall refers to 

 these when, some little time before his 

 death in 1673, he wrote an account of the 

 then tenants of his estate so that his son 

 Godfrey could hold a Court Baron. (No 

 record of such Court is preserved.) The 

 terrier is very informative, and is the only 

 known reference which shows that the 

 other manor in Orlingbury was known as 

 'Loges'. 



' Deeds in possession of Mr. Chibnall. 



' y.C.H. Horthants. i, 340. 



• Ibid. 382. 



» Pipe R. 31 Hen. I (Pipe R. Soc.), 84.. 



• Ibid. ...' Hen. II. 47. 



' Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 12. 



• Feud. Aids, iv, i . 

 « Ibid, iv, 22. 



'o Bridges, Hist, of Horthants. ii, 121. 



Brook Bridges inherited half the manor from Natha- 

 niel, and purchased the other half from John in 1685, 

 the whole manor being conveyed to Richard Young in 

 1705.^' At his death in 1751 he was succeeded by his 

 son Allen Young, who died in 1796." The estate then 

 Extents for debt, 24 Edw. Ill, 



Northants. Edw. Ill, 



IV, 



IV, 



■■ Chan 

 8/12. 



" Feet of F, 

 file 85, no. 696. 



" Close 9 Rich. II, pt. I, m. 8 d. 



'< Add. MS. 25288, f. 44 d. 



'* Feet of F. Northants. Hen. 

 file 91, no. 103. 



" Feud. Aids, Iv, 33. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Edw 

 file 96, no. 23. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xvi, 70. The 

 manor was worth ^^ yearly and was held 

 of Anne Trussell for fealty and \td. rent. 



'0 L. and P. Hen. yill, vol. xvii, g. 443 



("3). 



" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 14 Elii. 



" Parish Register. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxi, 58. 



" Chan. Proc. Elir. D. d. 10, 59. 



'♦ Deed in possession of Mr. Chibnall; 

 Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 43 Elii. ; Com. 



Pleas Rccov. R. Trin. 42 Eliz. m. 40. 



" Deed in possession of Mr. Chibnall; 

 Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 17 Jas. I; 

 Com. Pleas Rccov. R. East. 18 Jas. I, 

 m. 57. 



'*' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxcili, 104. 

 The manor was held of Sir John Isham as 

 of his manor of Lamport. 



" Letters of Administration in posses- 

 sion of Mr. Chibnall. 



'* Probate Registry Northants. Book E 

 (3rd Ser.), fol. 59. 



*' Deeds in possession of Mr. Chibnall; 

 Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 32-3 Chas. II. 



'° Serjeant Pemberton's Brief, in posses- 

 sion of Mr. Chibnall. 



" Deeds in possession of Mrs. 'Young; 

 Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 3*4 Jas. II; 

 Ibid. Trin. 3 Anne. 



" Northants. Families (A'.C.//.), 359, 

 'Young of Orlingbury'. 



105 



