A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



lord in both places in 131 3 and 13 16.' Mabel died 

 in 13 12, her son and heir Robert Grimbald, suc- 

 ceeding her by 1325,- after which date no more is 

 heard of the family here. Walter de Houby is said to 

 have acquired the Grimbald pourparty of the Kirkby 

 inheritance/ but does not appear in Brafield or Little 

 Houghton ; apparently the two moieties of the manors 

 now became united. This is borne out by the tenure 

 of 3 virgates in Brafield which Theobald de Gayton, 

 descendant of a 13th-century Simon de Houghton,'' 

 held in 1 3 1 3 as | of a knight's fee of Henry Spigurnel.' 

 His younger sister and co-heir Escholace, wife of Geof- 

 frey de Meaux,* lord of Meaux in Holderness, died 

 seised of 2 virgates in Brafield in 1354, of the gift of 

 her father John de Gayton and held of the lord of 

 the other portion of Brafield and Little Houghton, 

 the descendant of the second Houghton daughter 

 Emma.' 



Arnold de Bois II, who maried Emma younger 

 daughter of Payn de Houghton,* belonged to a family 

 connected with Bois-Arnault in 

 France and Thorpe Arnold in 

 Leicestershire. At the request of 

 Emma he gave, with his body, 

 half Little Houghton Church to 

 his father's foundation of Biddles- 

 den Abbey, Bucks., with land in 

 Great Houghton, and, before 

 1 166, their part in Little Hough- 

 ton mill.9 His son Arnold IIP" 

 was with the rebels in 12 16 but ^°'^- ^^i:^"' t-^vo icrs 

 returned to great favour." Arnold "" " 'i""'' ^'' S" "■ 

 de Bois IV'"' died seised of the manor of Brafield in 

 1277, leaving a son and heir John'-' (younger brother 

 of another Arnold'*), who held the one knight's fee 

 of William Grimbald in Little Houghton and Bra- 

 field in 1284." He died in 1295 and his brother and 

 heir William'* in 1 300 enfeoffed Milicent de Monhaut 

 of a moiety of these manors for Milicent to grant them 

 to himself for life with remainder to Maud daughter of 

 his sister Isabel by John, Lord Lovel," and her husband 

 William la Zouche of Harringworth, Milicent's son.'* 

 These tw-o moieties henceforth descend with Harring- 

 worth" (q.v.). By 1376 the Zouche family alone was 

 returned for the two vills. 



Thomas Wake of LiddeU made a fine in 1333 with 

 WiUiam la Zouche for the two manors,-" possibly a 

 quitclaim as guardian of the heir of WaterviUe.-' Ed- 

 ward, Lord Zouche, between 1604 and 161 5 sold the 

 two manors with the rectories, tithes, and advowsons to 



' Feud. Aids, iv, 26; Cal. Irtq. p.m. v, 

 + 12, p. 235. 



^ Cal. Close, 1323-7, p. 433; Cal. 

 Inq. p.m. vi, 612, p. 391. 



3 Henry of Pylchley's Bk. of Fees 

 (Northants. Rec. Soc), 133 



* 



Ward. Ermine tiuo bars 



gules charged 'with three 



martlets or. 



Farrer, op. cit. 323, 399. 



5 Cal. Inq. p.m. v, 412, p. 235, 602, 

 p. 382. 



^ See Gayton. 



' Cal, Inq. p.m. x, 185, p. 161. Her 

 son John had livery of this tenement 

 {Cal. Fine R. vi, 407 ; Ahhre-v. Rot. Orig. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 232), which probably 

 descended with the manor of Gayton. 



' Assize R. 6 1 9, m. 13 d. 



" Harl. Chart. 84 F. 40, H. 47, 48, 

 50; Harl. MS. 4714, fols. i d, 4. 



"> Harl. Chart. 84 H. 52. 



" Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, pas- 

 sim. 

 '^ Cf. Harl. MS. 4714, fol. 4 d. 



'5 Ibid. 5 d; Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, 222. 



'■* Assize R. loc. cit. 



■5 Feud. Aids, iv, 6. 



'* Nichols, Leicester, ii, 372. 



'^ G.E.C. Peerage (2nd ed.), viii, 217. 



'* Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 184; Feet 

 of F. Div. Co. Mich. 29-30 Edw. I, no. 

 61 ; Cal. Inq. p.m. iii, 539. 



'^ Cal. Inq. p.m. iii,539;ix, 118, p. 122; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Hen. V, no. 46; 

 8 Edw. IV, no. 53; ibid. (Ser. 2), xcviii, 

 415 clviii, 10; Feud. Aids, iv, 26, 43; 

 Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 457, no. 25; 504, 

 no. 355 Recov. R. Trin. 10 Eliz. rot. 152. 



'" Feet of F. Northants. 6 Edw. Ill, 

 case 177, file 74, no. 1 16. 



-' See V.C.H. Northants. iii, 157. 



-- Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 2 Jas. I ; 

 Eich. Dep. East. 1 1 Chas. I, no. 1 1 ; deeds 

 at Little Houghton House, ex inf. Mr. C. 

 Vere Davidge. 



-3 Exch. Dep. East. 11 Chas. II, no. iij 



William and Daniel Ward of Brafield.^^ WiUiam Ward, 

 elder son of John Ward of Brafield, acquired the rectory 

 of Brafield, while Daniel the younger son acquired the 

 manor and rectory of Little Houghton,'^ and possibly 

 the manor and advowson of Bra- 

 field. Daniel made a settlement 

 of the rectory in 1 6 1 8 and died at 

 Little Houghton in 1625, leaving 

 a son and heir William,^* sheriff 

 1646-7. He died in 1674,-^ 

 being in possession of both ad- 

 vowsons at least ten years earlier,-* 

 and his son Thomas was father of 

 William Ward who held both 

 manors and advowsons in about 

 1720. But by this date two thirds 

 of the manor of Little Houghton 

 had become divided up among the tenants, WiUiam 

 Ward holding one third of the manor and of aU the 

 lands.-' William's son Thomas died in 1772, when his 

 four surviving sisters, Mary, Martha, Bridget, and 

 Dorothy, sold Little Houghton House in 1773 to 

 Edward Cox of Northampton, who puUed it down. 

 Subsequently, in 1777, Dorothy Ward, the last surviv- 

 ing sister, sold the remainder of the property to Chris- 

 topher Smyth, son of the rector of Emberton, Bucks. ^* 

 Thomas Thornton of BrockhaU married in 1692 

 Elizabeth daughter and heir of WiUiam Ward of 

 Brafield. She died in 1737. Her great-grandson 

 Thomas Reeve Thornton-' and Susan hiswife conveyed 

 one fifth of the manors of Little Houghton and Bra- 

 field in 1 80 1 to Christopher Smyth. ^^ WiUiam Tyler 

 Smyth, nephew of Christopher, came to live at Little 

 Houghton, and died here in 1838. His eldest son 

 WiUiam, sheriff 1862, died childless in 1872. His 

 brother Christopher, vicar of Little Houghton, was 

 succeeded in 1897 by his son Christopher Smyth, 

 esq., D.L., J. P.,-" lord of both manors, and patron of 

 the living until his death on 8 February 1934, when he 

 was succeeded by his daughter Ursula Catharine, wife 

 of Cecil Vere Davidge, esq. 



There was a miU in Little Houghton in 1086,^^ and 

 it was shared by Maud de Houghton and her sister 

 Emma, who with her husband Arnold de Bois II gave 

 their share before 1 1 89 to Biddlesden Abbey. '^ 

 Arnold III confirmed, reserving the grinding for his 

 house, and added i \ virgates of land.^'* The other half 

 was bestowed on the abbey in 1260 by Robert Grim- 

 bald, who also reserved the grinding for his table and 

 fishery as far as the abbey court. WiUiam Grimbald 

 Quarter Sess. Rec. (Northants. Rec. Soc), 



i- 253- 



^■* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxxvi, 



119. Cf. Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 297, 



'3 



^» M.I. in Little Houghton church. 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.); Feet of F. 

 Northants. Hil. 15 and 16 Chas. II. 



-^ Bridges, op. cit. 340. A number of 

 curious fractional conveyances of such 

 amounts as 15/2326 of the joint manors 

 occur: Feet of F. Northants. East. 6 

 Geo. I; Hil. 7 Geo. I; Mich. 12 Geo. I; 

 Mich. 20 Geo. III. 



-' Ex inf. Mr. C. Vere Davidge. 



" Baker, Northants. i, 115. 



'° Feet of F. Northants. East. 41 Geo. 

 III. 



■" ^urke. Landed Gentry, 1^21, 



" F.C.H. Northants. i, 308a. 



33 See above. 



" Harl. Chart. 84 H. 4S, 52. 



268 



