WYMERSLEY HUNDRED rothersthorpe 



About the end of the i ith century Simon, Earl of 

 Northampton, and Maud his wife gave the advowson 



of the church of Quinton and the 

 ADVOH'SON tithe to the priory of St. Andrew, 



Northampton.' An annual pension of 

 6/. %d. which the priory claimed from the incumbent 

 at the beginning of the 13th century- was still being 



paid in ISJ;.-* On the dissolution of the priory the 

 advowson fell to the Crown, and is now in the gift 

 of the Lord Chancellor. 



The only charity enjoyed by the parish 

 CHARITY is ^^5 yearly left for the use of the poor 

 by Sir R. H. Gunning, bart., of Horton, 

 who died in September 1 862. 



ROTHERSTHORPE 



Trop Advocati (1220); Torp (xi-xiii cent.); 

 Thorpe, Throp (xiii-xviii cent.); Thrupp (xvi-xviii 

 cent.); Troupe, Throopc (xvi cent.); Ritheres- (xiii- 

 xvi cent.); Rethres- (xiv cent.); Rothers- (xiv cent, 

 onwards); Ruddis- (xvi cent.); Ryther-, Rethes- (xvi- 

 xvii cent.); Rcresthorp (xix cent.). 



The civil parish has an area of 1,275 acres of land 

 and water. The soil is mixed, the subsoil Oxford 

 Clay, the chief crops turnips and barley. The popula- 

 tion of 240* must ha%-e been stationary since the early 

 1 8th century, when there were about 54 houses, in- 

 cluding two set apart for the poor.' 



The old-world village stands high among its poplar 

 trees and with its saddle-back church tower to the 

 south, and quaint cottages, is the delight of artists. 

 Behind the manor-house at the entrance to the village 

 is a circular stone dovecote, probably of 17th-century 

 date, with leaded roof and octagonal wooden cupola.* 

 The village is divided into two parts, one north and 

 one south of the Berry, an entrenched space of about 

 4 acres. The parish slopes upward from 214 ft. in the 

 north to 300 ft. in the south-east. It is traversed by 

 Banbury Lane going south-west and the Northampton 

 canal in the north. 



ROTHERSTHORPE lay in Colling- 

 MANORS tree Hundred in 1086. Geoffrey Alselin 

 was overlord of a J hide that had previously 

 belonged with sac and soc to the English thegn Tochi 

 son of Outi and was appurtenant to the manor of Milton 

 Malzor. In 1086 Winemar the Fleming held the soc 

 of this J hide of Geoffrey Alselin. 



The major part of the vill, 2J hides, was held in 

 demesne by the tenant-in-chief Gunfrid de Chocques 

 (Cioches).^ In the 12th century the 'Chokes' fee had 

 been increased by \ hide, and was held by .^scelin, or 

 Ansclm, de Chocques.* From him it descended to the 

 family of Bethune, hereditary advocates of the church 

 of St. Vedast of Arras;' and in 1 209 at the request of 

 William of Arras, advocate of Bethune, King John 

 granted the manor and all appurtenances to Simon de 



Andrew. Gulet a saltire 

 or voided vert. 



PateshuU and his heirs for ;^io yearly as i knight's 

 fee.'" The overlordship continued with the honor of 

 Chokes until 1428," and it was afterwards held in 

 chief.'- In 1252 its tenant owed castle-guard." .All the 

 royal lands in the parish became annexed to the honor 

 of Grafton in 1542.'* 



From Simon de Patcshull, the judge, who died in 

 about 1217," the manor passed to his eldest son Walter, 

 whose son Simon succeeded him 

 in 1232.'* It then descended 

 with their manor of Pattishall'^ 

 (q.v.) through the family of 

 Fauconberge to that of Strange- 

 ways until I 539, when Sir James 

 Strangeways and Elizabeth his 

 wife conveyed it to Edward Pure- 

 ferey and John Yate.'* James 

 and Philip Yate had licence in 

 I 541 to alienate it to Elizabeth 

 Englefield, widow, for life with 

 first remainder to her son John in fee, then to her 

 son and heir Francis in fee." On her death in 1543 

 her younger son John entered into possession.-" He 

 died seised in 1567 leaving a young son Francis,^' 

 who was created a baronet in 161 1,-- made several 

 settlements,--' and died seised in 1631. His son and 

 heir Sir Francis'* alienated the manor by a convey- 

 ance in 1639 to Sir William Willmer and others,*' 

 evidently trustees for Sir William Andrew, bart., of 

 Little Doddington.'* In 1647 it was sequestered for his 

 recusancy; and Peter Stringer of Rainham, Norfolk, 

 and John Watson of St. Andrew's, Holborn, stated 

 that they had purchased it of him and begged to com- 

 pound for it.-' The manor descended, however, in the 

 Andrew or Andrews family until 1723.-* It later came 

 into the hands of Peter John Fremeaux, from whom it 

 had passed by 1773 to James Fremeaux and Margaret 

 his wife;*' and in 1798-9 it passed with the marriage 

 of Susanna Fremeaux to Thomas Reeve Thornton^" 

 to the Thorntons of Brockhall. 



' Men. J^rtgl. V, 190. 



' Ru. Hugonii de ff^elles (Cant, and 

 York Soc.), i, 9. 



' yahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 314. 



* Cmiui (193 1). 



' Bridges, Uiii. of Sorihanli. i, 385. 



' Norihanis. A', and Q. N.». vi, 55. It 

 contains about 920 nesting-places, and in 

 1926 was in use as a hen-house. There 

 was another dovecote on the other side 

 of the street, but it was taken down about 

 1914. 



' y.C.H. Kortkanti. i, 345.1, 347a. 



' Ibid. 375J. The former was assessed 

 at lOJlcarucates in 1210: Bk. of Feel, ^1^. 



' Andr^ du Chesne, Afanon de Bethune^ 

 32 ; and see under Knuston, above, p. 22. 



'» Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 184^. 

 Farrcr {Honon and Kmghtt Feel, i, 21) 

 suggests that the fee of Chokes held in 



1 1 66 by Robert son of Sewin may have 

 been here; but the evidence is inconclusive. 



" See Gayton, which became the caput 

 of the honor; also Bk. of Fees, 325, 494, 

 499; Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Hen. Ill, no. 64. 



'' Cal.Inj. Hen. y II, i, 61. 



'^ Cat. In(f. Misc. I, 149. 



'♦ L. and P. Hen. nil, xvii, 28 (22). 



" Did. Nat. Biog. 



'"" Farrer, op. cit. 93. 



" Bi. of Fees, no. 495, 939; Red Bk. of 

 Excfi. (Rolls Ser.), 727, where it is mis- 

 printed as Kitheresthorp; Feud, /lids, iv, 

 5, 27, 42, 447; Cat. Close, 1364-8, 

 pp. 307, 434; Cal. Pal. 1405-8, p. 64; 

 Cal.'iny. Hen. ril,\, 611. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 31 Hen. 

 VIII; Recov.R. Mich. 31 Hen. VIII, rot. 

 156. 



" L.andP.Hen.ylII,x\\,s. 1056(46). 



'" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), lui, 77. 



" Ibid, cxlv, 52. 



^* G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, i, 91. 



" Rccov. R. Trin. 26 Eliz. rot. 17; 

 Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 36 Elii.; ibid. 

 East. 14 Jas. I, Trin. 14 Jas. I. 



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

 63. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 15 

 Chas. I. 



^' See G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 

 146-7. 



" Cal. Com. for Comp. nos. 1740, 1S84. 



'• Add. Chart. 24157; Feet of F. 

 Northants. Hil. 6 Will. Ill; ibid. Trin. 

 9 Geo. I; Div. Co. Hil. 7 Anne. 



» Recov. R. Trin. 13 Ceo. Ill, to. 

 341-2. 



»"> Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 39 Gett 

 III; r.C.H. Norihanis. Families, 308. 



