WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



WHISTON 



1347 and 1392 (by the service of a rose at midsum- 

 mer),' butafter the Dissolution it was returned in 1554 

 as held of Henry Williams alias Cromwell as of the 

 manor of Ramsey by the service of J knight's fee.- 



The under-tenant in the 13th century owed forinsec 

 service to the abbey, a knight for the king's army, two 

 suits yearly at the court of Broughton, Huntingdon- 

 shire, and, if the king's writ ran, suit at the three weeks' 

 court. ^ 



William de Whiston, living ii20,'' was under- 

 tenant of the abbey's i J virgates here.' His son Henry 

 had succeeded, by special grant of the abbot, by 1 1 30;* 

 and other sons, Thomas and Ralph, are mentioned.' 

 Sir Henry de Whiston, knight of the abbey, was suc- 

 ceeded in about 1191* by William, steward of the 

 abbey in 12 19,' who held ^ fee of the abbey in Whis- 

 ton and Denton in 1 242'° and was elected knight of the 

 abbey for Wales in 1245." Sir William de Whiston 

 was summoned to do homage at Broughton in 1253;'* 

 orders were passed for distraint in default until i26o.'3 

 Not long after this the manor was alienated to a Jew, 

 Moses, and he enfeoffed Gilbert de Clare, 'the Red', 

 Earl of Gloucester,''' who in 1284 held the viU of Ram- 

 sey Abbey as a J knight's fee." His son and heir Gilbert, 

 the last Earl of Gloucester of the house of Clare, in 

 13 1 3 granted the manor to Gilbert de St. Owen and 

 his wife Joan,'* possibly in trust." In 1316 the vill with 

 'the other half of Denton was returned as in the pos- 

 session of Margerj' de Meuse and John de Cave;'' but 

 Margaret, one of the sisters and heirs of Earl Gilbert, 

 inherited Whiston manor from him." She married 

 Hugh de Audley, created Earl of Gloucester in 1336.^° 

 His manors, including Whiston, descended to the 

 Staffords,andThomas, Earl of Stafford, in 1392 granted 

 the manor to his esquire Nicholas Bradeshawe for life.^' 

 Nicholas died in 141 5,'' and the king as guardian of 

 Humphrey, son of Earl Edmund, granted the custody 

 of the manor to Sir William Bourghchicr.'-s Humphrey 

 in 1437-8 exchanged this manor and Woodford with 

 Sir John Clinton for the castle and manor of Maxstoke, 

 Warwick.^ Between 14 54 and 1457 John, Lord Clin- 

 ton, made conveyances of this manor,^' evidently for 

 settlement on Joan his wife, who afterwards married 

 Sir Robert Wingfield.^* In 1495-6 Elizabeth daughter 

 and heir of Robert Wingfield and wife of Sir Robert 

 Brandon, quitclaimed her rights in the manor to 

 Robert Wingfield, esq.*' This was probably merely for 

 security of the title of the Catesbys, to whom the manor 

 had already passed. 



Sir John Catesby, Justice of the Common Pleas, 



disposed in his will of his manor of Whiston. He died 

 in i486 leaving an eldest son Humphrey-* whose son 

 and heir .'\nthony, called 'of Whiston' and the builder 

 (1534) of the present church," succeeded in I 503, 5° 

 and died seised of the manor in 1554, leaving a son 

 Thomas.^' He was father of another Thomas^* and of 

 many daughters. Thomas in I 591 settled the manor on 

 the marriage of his son George with Bridget Bedell, 

 and died in 1 592.^^ Bridget made a conveyance in 1602 

 of the site of the manor ;'♦ and in 1627 she and George 

 granted about 200 acres in Whiston and Denton to 

 Clifton Catesby, son and heir of George." Clifton's 

 son George in 1656 demised the manor for 50 years 

 to John Palmer of Ecton, clerk, and John Ekins of 

 Rushton; but they surrendered it in 1665 to Thomas, 

 brother and successor of George, for other property.'* 

 Thomas, the last of the line, died in 1699, leaving his 

 wife Margaret, grand-daughter of Sir Richard Sam- 

 well of Upton, in possession; in 1720 she held the 

 manor and owned the whole parish. '' All their children 

 died young except Mary, who married the Hon. Henry 

 Paget, afterwards Earl of Uxbridge, and Elizabeth, 

 who married Ralph Freeman of Aspeden, Hertford- 

 shire. '' The two daughters and Henry Paget, Mary's 

 husband, made a settlement in 1699 of manor and 

 advowson,^' evidently on Mary and Henry, whose 

 daughter married Sir Edward 

 Irby, bart., of Boston, Lincoln- 

 shire. Sir Edward was succeeded 

 in 171 8 by his son William, 

 created Baron Boston in 1761. 

 He was a 'King's Friend' and 

 ancestor of a line of Tory poli- 

 ticians. His wife was buried at 

 Whiston in 1769, he in 1775; 

 but he had purchased the estate 

 of Hedsor, Bucks., and there his 

 son Frederick built the present 

 family seat. He was succeeded 

 in 1825 by his son George and he in 1856 by his son 

 George Ives, the fourth baron. He died in 1869, and 

 his son Florance George Henry in 1877, when the 

 latter's son, George Florance, the present Lord Boston, 

 succeeded.*** 



The church of ST. MART THE 

 CHURCH FIRGIN stands on Combe Hill, above 

 the village on its east side, and consists 

 of chancel, 16 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in.; nave, 61 ft. 6 in. by 

 15 ft. 6 in.; north and south aisles, each 10 ft. 9 in. 

 wide; small south porch, and west tower, 1 1 ft. square. 



Irby. Argent jrettyiabU 



a quarttr gules charged 



^vitk a Vfreatk or. 



' Cal. Clou, 1 346-9, p. 347 ; Cal. Pal. 

 1391-6, p. 205. 



* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), ci, 93. 



' Cartul. Ahn. de Ramei. (Rolls Scr.), 

 2 80. 



♦ Chron. de Ranui. (Rolls Scr.), 254.. 

 » y.C.H. Northanls. i, 376a. 



* Chron. de Ramei. (Rolls Scr.), 244. 

 ' Ibid. 262. 



• Cariul. Mon. de Ramti. (Rolls Scr.), 

 i, 154, ill, 49 i Pipe R. 3 Ric. I (Pipe R. 

 Soc.(n.s.]), 157. 



» Cartul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Scr.), 

 ii, 356. 



'o Bit. of Feet, ^-je. 



" Cartul. Mon. de Ramet. (Rolls Scr.), 

 iii, 52. 



" Ibid. 56. 



" AuH, Court Rolls of jliiey of Ramiey, 

 passim. 



'* Plac. de Qua H'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 



571-2. 



'* Feud. Aids, iv, 5. 



■» Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 6 Edw. II, 

 no. 78. Gilbert may have been connected 

 with the family of Clare, as he used arms — 

 Gules 3 chevcrons or. He was dead in 

 1315: Knights of Ediv. I (Harl. Soc.), 192. 



" Cf. Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 526. 



" Feud. Aids, iv, 26. 



'» Plac. de Quo ffarr. (Rcc. Com.), 572. 



" G.E.C. loc. cit. 



" Cal. Pal. 1391-6, pp. 192, 205. 



** Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Hen. V, no. 6. 



" Cal. Pal. 1413-16, p. 380. 



** Bridges, op. cit. 389; Dugdalc, 

 Baronage, i, 532. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 33 Hen. VI, 

 no. 137; 35 Hen. VI, no. 145. 



" Wingfield, Some Records of the ffing- 

 field Family, 38. 



" Feet of F. Northants. 11 Hen. VII. 



" Nicolas, Test, yetusl. jig; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



^» Metcalfe, yisii. Northants. 174; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, 335. 



'» Cal. Inq. Hen. ril, ii, 925. 



^^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), ci, 93. 



" Metcalfe, loc. cit. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), ccxxxii, 73, 

 cclxiiii, 27; Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 34 

 Eliz. 



'* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 44 and 

 45 Eliz. 



» Add. Chart. 47088. 



1' Northants. N. Sf Q. v, 172. 



^7 Bridges, loc. cit. 



" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1 1 

 Will. III. 



^* G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iv, 

 190-1. 



« G.E.C. Complete Peerage (2nd ed.), 

 i, 227-8. 



289 



Pp 



