WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



COURTEENHALL 



schoolmaster, and the usher lived in the smaller east 

 wing. The school-house occupied the whole of the 

 larger west wing, which measures internally about 

 45 ft. by 20 ft. The doorway is at the north end and 

 the fireplace in the middle of the long east wall. Oppo- 

 site are three tall square-headed two-light windows and 

 the room is further lighted from the south end, and 

 from each end of the east wall. The original fittings 

 round the walls, and the desk at the south end remain, 

 and over the doorway, outside, is this inscription: 



Hoc 



Musarum domicilium 



Juventuti ad quatuor milliaria 



circumvicinae gratis erudiendae 



SAMUELIS JONES Mllitis 



munificcntissimi literarum patroni 



sumptibus conditum dotatumq: 



HENRICVS EDMUNDS & FRANCISCVS CRANE 



Armigeri juxta Testamenti 



fidem absolverunt 



A.D. 1680. 



There is also an inscription at the north end of the east 

 wing, as follows: '.Aediculam hanc proprijs sumptibus 

 struxit ROBERTvs ASHBRiDCE primus hujus Scholae 

 Moderator a.d. 1688.' In 1923 the east wing was 

 altered for use as an elementary school, a purpose it 

 still serves, the mistress residing in the middle portion 

 of the building, while the west wing is used as a Parish 

 Institute. A Latin inscription, commemorating its 

 restoration by Sir Hereward Wake, was placed over the 

 door. In 1935 a pavilion, in the same style as the old 

 building and connected to it, was added. 



Of the manor-house, which according to Bridges was 

 in part built by Richard Ouseley in 1580,' no part 

 remains. The site is said to have been to the north ot 

 the church, between it and the present Courteenhall 

 Hall, which is a large plain rectangular stone building 

 of three stories, designed by Samuel Saxon, with 

 cornice and slated hipf)ed roofs, erected in 1790.^ The 

 entrance front is on the north, and there is a covered 

 passage to the offices on the west side. The stables, 

 about 200 yards south of the house, were built about 

 1750. 



Richard Lane, the father of Sir Richard Lane, Lord 

 Keeper of the Cjreat Seal in the reign of Charles I, lived 

 at Courteenhall, and lies buried with his wife, Eliza- 

 beth, in the parish church. 



In 1086 William Peverel had 3^ hides 

 MANOR in COURTEENHALL, with soc of another 

 I hide and \ virgate which Turstin held in 

 Courteenhall.-' Peverel, who subsequently held 7 hides 

 here and in Blisworth,* gave his land in Courteenhall, 

 except one fee held by Walter son of Winemar and the 



land of Turstin Mantel, to Lenton Priory on its founda- 

 tion at the beginning of the 1 2th century.' To the 

 same monastery Henry II gave 80 acres of cssarts in 



Courteenhall in exchange for 



some other lands.* In 1236 the 

 prior of Lenton had rights of 

 pasturage in Salcey Forest in 

 right of his manor of Courteen- 

 hall,^ which was valued at 

 ;^32 18/. id. per annum in 

 1 291.* The priory in 1330 suc- 

 cessfully claimed view of frank- 

 pledge, assize of bread and ale, 

 and other privileges in Courteen- Lenton Priory. Quar- 

 hall.» The manor seems usually '"^y "' ""' ""'"' ' 



, , , , , , Calvary cross or Jimon- 



to have been let on lease by the ^,^j /„j ,upprJ saiU. 

 priory.'" 



In 1538 the manor of Courteenhall was seized into 

 the king's hands, with the other possessions of the 

 priory," and four years later was incorporated in the 

 newly created honor of Grafton.'^ In I 5 50 it was let 

 on lease for 21 years to Reynold Conyers." On the 

 expiration of his lease in i 571, Queen Elizabeth leased 

 Courteenhall to Richard Ouseley, a clerk of the Privy 

 Seal, at a rent of £$0.'* The manor was then 'all 

 tillage, little or no pasture, and no wood', its yearly 

 value being £<)o,'^ and the tenants having hedgebote, 

 ploughbote, cartbote, and firebote. Richard Ouseley 

 grumbled constantly at the ill repair of the manor-house 

 and farm buildings,'* complaining that he had spent 

 ;^700 in repairing them and that he had the manor 

 'with so great chardges and smale benefitt as I had bin 

 happie yf 1 had never knowne it for I have spent uppon 

 it and about it in buildinge and otherwise more than 

 twise the purchase of yt in fee simple, but I never had 

 thisworldlie luck in anie thinge'." His ofl^er to purchase 

 the fee simple was apparently accepted. He died early 

 in I 599, his will being proved on 1 3 March.'* He was 

 succeeded by his son Sir John Ouseley, who married 

 Martha daughter of Bartholo- 

 mew Tate of Delaprc." In 1647 

 their eldest son Richard conveyed 

 the manor to Timothy Middle- 

 ton and Thomas Thy nne,^" from 

 whom it passed to Sir Samuel 

 Jones, the son of a London mer- 

 chant, who became a Shropshire 

 gentleman and was sheriff ot that 

 county in 1663.^' Sir Samuel 

 died without issue in 1672, leav- 

 ing his whole estate to his sister's 

 grandson, Samuel, fifth son of Sir 

 William Wake, 3rd baronet, on condition of his taking 

 the surname Jones. Samuel Wake-Jones died in 1712,^^ 



Jones. Argent a lion 



•vert -wounded gules in 



the breast. 



' llist.t,/ Noriliants.\,]^l. The initials 

 of Richard Ousdcy and his wife, with the 

 date 1 580, were on the porch, and also on 

 a Urge barn dated i 572. 



' The south elevation and plans of the 

 principal and first floors arc engraved in 

 Richardson's yitrwviut Britannicus (1802— 

 8), plates Lxvii and Lxviii. The engrav- 

 ings are dated 26 December 1801. 



> y.C.H. Nortkjnti. i, 337, 339. It 

 teems probable that the } hide held by 

 Turstin was not in Courteenhall but in 

 Somcrshale, as given in the Northampton- 

 shire Survey. The land was afterwards 

 reckoned as in Roade. 



« Ibid. 375. 



* Ait/n. Anglic. V, iii. In the charter it 



is described as 'Corthahala in Hantesyra*. 

 The grants of William Peverel to Lenton 

 Priory were confirmed by a charter of 

 Henry I (1107-13) "°* '" '^*^ Biblio- 

 theque Nationale, a facsimile of which is 

 given in Sorthants. Record Soc. Publica- 

 tions, iv (cd. by F. M. Stenton, 1930), ii, 

 I 59. Professor Stenton gives his reasons 

 for doubting the authenticity of that 

 quoted in A/on. Anglic. 



<> Cat. dart, ili, 316. 



' Cal. Close, I 234.-7, p. 286. 



• Pope Nici. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 53*. 



» Plac. de Quo tf'arr. (Rec. Com.), 576. 

 "> Cal. Pal. I 324-7, p. 56; ibid. I 340-3, 

 p. 436. 

 " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxviii, 97. 



Cf. I^.C.H. Nolls, ii, 99. 



'^ Slat, of the Realm, 33 Hen. VIII, 

 cap. 38. 



" Acts of P. C. 1550-2, p. 229. 



'•• Pat. 13 Eliz. pt. 6. 



'5 Cal. S.P. Add. 1566-79, p. 561. 



" Ibid. pp. 502, 561, 568. 



" f-'.C.H. Kurthants. Families, 326. 



■» Ibid. 



'"> Metcalfe, Fisit. Northanls. 190. 



'<> Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 22 Chas. I. 



" Bridges, Hut. Sorthants. i, 353. See 

 an article on the Berwick Almshouses, 

 founded by Sir Samuel Jones, in Shrops. 

 Arch. Soc. Publ. xli. 



'' y.C.H. Northanti. Families, 330. 



243 



