A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



BLIS WORTH 



Blidesworde (xi cent.); Bliseworthe (xii cent.); 

 Bledesworth, Blithesworth (xiii cent.); Blysworth, 

 Bleseworth (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Blisworth covers 1,980 acres; the soil 

 varies from a strong clay to a light mixed soil and to- 

 wards the wood a black loam. The parish abounds 

 with limestone and ironstone; large quantities of the 

 latter have been removed for the ore. The land yields 

 excellent crops. The population is close on 800. A 

 railway station on the main line of the L.M.S. lies 

 about three-quarters of a mile from the village. For 

 ten years (until the branch line was constructed under 

 the act of 1 843) Blisworth was the station for Northamp- 

 ton. The Grand Union Canal runs through Blisworth 

 and passes to the neighbouring parish of Stoke Bruerne 

 through a tunnel if miles in length. This tunnel was 

 built in 1 806 and the contractor — who was known as 

 'Barnes of Banbury' — was a man who could neither 

 read nor write; he carried out all his calculations and 

 estimates by strength of memory. 



The village contains many 17th- and early-i8th- 

 century houses, mostly of mingled freestone and iron- 

 stone, with thatched or slated roofs. A barn with 

 steep-pitched roof at the east end of the village has a 

 panel in the gable inscribed '1663 G.B.' A few of the 

 houses retain their mullioned windows, but in most 

 cases the windows have been altered. 



There is a Baptist chapel in the village, built in 

 1825, a residence for the minister and a graveyard 

 being added in 1865, and a lecture hall in 1885. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 M.^7V0/J William Peverel held 3J hides in BLIS- 

 IVORTH.^ On his death in 1 1 14 the land 

 passed to his son William Peverel, who held at the time 

 of the Northamptonshire Survey.^ He forfeited his 

 lands for treason, and at Michaelmas 11 57 the king 

 granted to Robert de Peissi land in Blisworth and New- 

 bottle of the annual value of £\t,.^ In 1 181 his son 

 Robert held Blisworth,* but the next year he was suc- 

 ceeded by William son of Robert. 5 In ii8g Richard I 

 granted the overlordship of Blisworth to his brother John 

 Count of Mortain, who held the manor until 1 1 94 when 

 the king resumed possession of the honor of Peverel. 

 At that time Matthew de Clere held Newbottle and Blis- 

 worth, of the yearly value of /43.^ In 1199 the king 

 granted to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, the grand- 

 son of Margaret, heiress of William Peverel the younger, 

 the overlordship of the hundred of Higham, Blisworth, 

 and Newbottle, in return for the payment of 2,000 

 marks. ^ Isabel, widow of Robert de Peissi, sued the 

 Earl of Ferrers for these estates, but the case was dis- 

 missed as Isabel had no right in the land except by her 

 husband, who had it by grant of Henry II when the 

 honor of Peverel was in his hands.* William de 

 Ferrers died in 1247 and was succeeded by his son 

 William Earl of Derby, who died in 1254 leaving a 



' y.C.H. Northanls. i, 337. 

 ^ Ibid. 375. 



3 Farrer^HonorsandKnig/its* FeeSy'if 240. 

 t Pi;,e R.27 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc), i+. 

 s Pipe R. 2S Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc), 19. 

 <■ Pipe R. 6 Ric. I (Pipe R. Soc), 86. 

 ' Pipe R. I John (Pipe R. See), I 6. 

 ® Rot. Cur. Regis^ ii<)4—g, ii, 178. 

 •> Rot. Chart. (Rec Com.), i, pt. i, 28. 

 "" Ibid, i, pt. i, 73. 



" Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 117. 



'- Ibid. 155. " Ibid. 422. 



'♦ Close R. 1231-4, p. 227. 



■5 Ibid. p. 229. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. i, 597. 



■' Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 622. 



'8 Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8. Sir 

 Baldwin apparently granted Blisworth to 

 Sir Reynold de Evermue for his life, in 

 exchange for Kelby, Lines. : Cal. Inq. p.m. 



son Robert, who was born in 1239. He received livery 

 of his lands in 1260 but forfeited them six years later, 

 when the honor of Peverel was granted to Edmund 

 Earl of Lancaster, and became incorporated in the 

 duchy of Lancaster. 



William Earl of Derby granted the manor of Blis- 

 worth and the advowson of the church to William 

 Briwerre, to be held as half a fee, the grant being con- 

 firmed by King John in 1 199.' The next year Bri- 

 werre was given leave to assart 60 acres of woodland 

 at Blisworth.'" In 121 2 he was granted timber from the 

 forest of Leicestershire to build a cellar and chamber at 

 Blisworth," and the following year had a licence to 

 cultivate 30 acres more woodland, quit of the regard.'^ 

 In 1 220 he was granted 24 trunks for posts and squared 

 beams and 2 crooks from Salcey Forest for rebuilding 

 his houses at Blisworth.'-' On his death in 1227 the 

 manor descended to his son William, who died in 1232, 

 Blisworth being allotted to his widow Joan in dower.''* 

 The next year the manor was assigned to William de 

 Percy in the name of his daughters, the coheirs of a fifth 

 of the property of William Briwerre.'^ Joan seems to 



have retained possession of the _ 



manor, however, which descended 

 on her death in 1265'* to Sir Bald- 

 win Wake, the grandson of Isabel 

 de Briwerre, sister and coheir of 

 William and wife of Baldwin 

 Wake of Bourne. He took part 

 with the barons against Henry 

 III, for which offence the king 

 granted his manor of Blisworth 

 to Alan Plugenet, who held it in 

 1266." Sir Baldwin probably 

 redeemed it under the award of 

 Kenilworth, and held view of frankpledge and other 

 privileges there in 1276.'* 



Sir Baldwin is said to have died on 4 February 

 1282," and on 20 July the king committed the manor, 

 which was valued at ^32 8/., to Philip Burnel.^" Bald- 

 win's son and heir John by his second wife, Hawise de 

 Quincy, being a minor, the king granted the custody of 

 his lands in Northamptonshire to Edmund Earl of 

 Cornwall, on 27 October 1282.'' The next year 

 Hawise Wake brought an action against the earl claim- 

 ing that she and her husband had been seised of the 

 manor jointly, but the case was dismissed as the joint 

 conveyance had not been properly carried out.^- John 

 came of age in January 1295,^^ and before his death in 

 1300 enfeoffed his uncle Sir Hugh Wake of Deeping 

 in the half fee in Blisworth, reserving to himself the 

 advowson of the church and an annual rent of ^10 

 from the manor. ^^ On his death in 1315*^ Sir Hugh 

 Wake was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was 

 granted free warren in Blisworth on 22 February 

 1330.^* In the same year he defended his right to 



ii, 262. 



'« V.C.H. Northants. Families, p. 317; 

 Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, 439. 



^» Cal. Pat. 1281-92, p. 30. 



" Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 1 70. 



^2 Ahhre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 275. 



" Cal. Close, 1288-96, p. 436. 



^^ Cal. Inq. p.m. iii, 425. 



^5 Cal. Fine, ii, 264. 



'^ Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 159. 



Wake. Or tivo bars 



gules ivith three roundels 



gules in the chief. 



224 



