WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



DENTON 



at his disposal;' and evidently this went, with the 

 rest of the Peverel honor, to the Earl of Ferrers. In 

 1229 William de Whiston^ impleaded Walter de 

 Preston to acquit him of services exacted by the Earl 

 of Ferrers in Denton.' Nicholas the Earl's serjeant 

 held here in 1235-6 one third of a fee* Probably he 

 was holding it at farm, as in 1242-3 it was held by 

 Gilbert de Preston.' The estates of Robert de Ferrers, 

 Earl of Derby, forfeited in 1 266, were granted to the 

 king's son Edmund of Lancaster,' of whom Laurence 

 de Preston was holding one knight's fee in Quinton 

 and Denton in 1297.' Further reference to this tenure 

 appears in 1428 when Winmer de Preston held the 

 same fee, with Ditchford mill, formerly held by 

 Thomas de Preston of the Earl of Ferrers.* This por- 

 tion of Denton may then have been absorbed into 

 Quinton (q.v.). 



The 10 virgates held of Ramsey by William de 

 Whiston in the 12th centur)' were still in the abbey's 

 hands in i 271, when John de Cave held 9 virgates and 

 Master William de Branfelde i virgate, as life tenants.' 

 In 1316a moiety of Denton was held by John de Cave 

 and Margery de Meuse,'" together with Whiston, of 

 which manor (q.v.) it apparently formed a member. 

 With Whiston it passed into the hands of the Earls of 

 Gloucester. Hugh, Earl of Stafford, grandson of 

 Margaret, daughter and heir of Hugh, Earl of Glouces- 

 ter, at the time of his death in 1387 possessed half a 

 knight's fee in Denton held by Sir Thomas Griffin," 

 and this fee, worth 100/. and held of the king as of the 

 honor of Gloucester, remained with his descendants,'^ 

 probably until the estates of Edward Stafford, Duke of 

 Buckingham, were forfeit to the Crown in 1523. The 

 mesne tenure, held by a Thomas Griffin in 1402'-' and 

 1460,'^ passed to John son of Nicholas Griffin who died 

 in 1485 leaving his son Nicholas as heir to 10 messuages 

 in Denton held of the Earl of Kent. '5 On the death 

 of Sir Thomas, son of Nicholas, in 1566, it was found 

 that he had settled in tail male his property in Denton, 

 except 4 messuages to be held by his brother Edward 

 Griffin of Dingley for life.'* An agreement about these 

 lands was made in the following year between Edward 

 Griffin and Thomas Markham of Ollerton, Notts., and 

 his wife Mary, daughter of Rice Griffin deceased, son 

 and heir of Sir Thomas." Edward Griffin died in 1 569 

 when his share in Denton was said to be worth 40J. 

 and held of Sir Henry Compton.'* 



In I284"and 1 3 1 6^° a moiety of Denton was held 

 by John de Hastings of the king in chief as part of the 

 honor of Huntingdon. By inquisitions of 1325-' and 

 1348*^ it was found that this family owned rents in 

 Denton held as of Yardley Hastings, and a half fee in 

 Denton, Brafield, and Houghton held by William la 

 Zouche of Harringworth. The half fee was held by 

 William la Zouche junior in 1376^'' and descended 



with Little Houghton (q.v.). This moiety of Denton 

 ultimately passed with other lands of the honor of 

 Huntingdon^* to the Comptons, Earls of Northampton. 



Henry, Lord Spencer, with Richard Spencer his 

 guardian was party to a recovery concerning property 

 including this manor of Denton in 1639,^' and James, 

 Earl of Northampton, was dealing with the manor 

 in 1647.-* From this date it has descended with the 

 manors of Yardley Hastings and Castle Ashby (q.v.). 



A capital messuage here in which John Flamstead 

 lived before his death in 1632 was settled on his 

 daughter Frances the wife of William Andrews, who 

 held it of Sir Hatton Farmer as of his hundred of 

 Wymersley.^' The Earl of Pomfret, a descendant of 

 Hatton Farmer, owned half of Denton in the early 

 1 8th century, for which suit and service was paid to 

 his court at Cotton End. A stream separated his share 

 from that of the Earl of Northampton, whose tenants 

 owed suit at Yardley Hastings.^' 



The church of ST. MJRGJRET 

 CHURCH stands on high ground in the middle of the 

 village and consists of chancel, 18 ft. 2 in. 

 by 15 ft. with vestry on the north side; nave, 40 ft. 

 square; south porch, and west tower, 7 ft. by 6 ft., 

 all these measurements being internal. The ground 

 falls rapidly from south to north. 



The building has been very much altered in modern 

 times and little ancient work remains. The nave was 

 rebuilt in its present form in 1827-8, and the chancel 

 and tower repaired: the vestry, which is only 6 ft. 

 wide and covers the chancel its full length, was probably 

 erected then or shortly after.-' There is a similar addi- 

 tion on the south side of the chancel with external 

 doorway only, used for storage. A stone with the date 

 1629 over the cast window of the chancel points to 

 some alteration or repair at that period.'" The building 

 is generally of roughly coursed mingled limestone and 

 local ironstone, with slated roofs. The nave has a 

 modern plaster cove in place of a parapet, but a portion 

 of the old parapet remains at each end on the south side 

 and is continued on the east gable. Internally all the 

 walls are plastered and the floors flagged. 



The pointed cast window of the chancel and those 

 of the nave are modern, all quite plain and of three 

 lights, with wooden frames, and uprights crossing in 

 the head. Two small lancet windows, now in the 

 north wall of the vestry, were originally in the chancel," 

 and the south doorway, which has a pointed arch of 

 two square orders on moulded imposts, may be also 

 of 1 3th-century date, together with the lower portion of 

 the tower, in which is a lancet window with hood- 

 mould. 



Bridges, writing about 1720, describes the church 

 as consisting of chancel, body, and south aisle, with a 

 north cross aisle, and small embattled tower,'^ and it so 



' Cart, iii, 49, 219. 



' In 1200 William de Whiston was 

 impleaded by Gerard do Denton for 4 vir- 

 gates in Denton mortgaged to Henry de 

 Whiston: Curia Regit R. i, 141, 197. 



* Cal. Cloie, 1227-31, p. 384. 



« 5*. (//F«j, 495, 499. 



' Ibid. 933. * Diet. Nat. Biog. 



' Cat. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 423, p. 296. 



' Vend. Atdi^ iv, 42. 



« Carl, i, 57. "> Feud. Aids, iv, 26. 

 " Chan. In<). p.m. 10 Ric. II, no. 38. 

 " Ibid. 16 Ric. II, no. 27; 18 Ric. II, 

 no. 43; 22 Ric. II, no. 46; 4 Hen. IV, 

 no. 41 i 38-9 Hcii. VI, no. 59. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41. 



'< Ibid. 38-9 Hen. VI, no. 59. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Vll, i, nos. 37, 

 664. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), cxiv, 51. 



" Ibid, cliii, 61. Cf. Bridges, AorMan/j. 

 ii, 12. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cliii, 61. 



<» Feud. Aids, iv, 6. » Ibid. 26. 



" Cal. Inij. p.m. vi, no. 612, pp. 388, 

 391. " Ibid, ix, no. 1 18, p. 123. 



" Cal. Close, i 347-77, p. 1 89. 



*♦ Cal. Inff. p.m. Hen. f-'II, i, no. 796, 

 p. 342; ibid, ii, no. 752. 



" Rcc. R. Trin. 15 Chis. I, ro. 114. 



'« Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 23 Chas. I. 



^' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxc, 152. 



" Bridges, i, 275, 291. 



" It is not, however, shown on the plan 

 attached to the faculty and may be later. 



^° A tablet in the church (sec below) 

 records the 'adornment' of the chancel 

 some time before 1619. The tenor bell 

 is dated 1629. 



31 The openings are 16 in. wide, with 

 external chamfer, but no hood-moulds. 

 The windows were on cither side, near the 

 west end. 



'' Hilt, of Korihants. i, 355 ; the chancel 

 was leaded and the cross aisle tiled. 



247 



