A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



the claim to the advovvson against Robert's son John de 

 Byfield, but John recovered seisin,' and presented in 

 1 346.' Nicholas Hobbeson [sic] of Moulsoe and Joan 

 his wife presented in 142 1, WiUiam CasteU of Glatton 

 and Isabel his wife in 1430;^ perhaps the wives were 

 co-heiresses. In 1459 Richard Hobbes of Moulsoe 

 conveyed half the 'manor' of Whiston with the advow- 



son to trustees;'' but his son and heir Master Thomas 

 Hobbes, S.T.P., presented in i 506. ^ This manor and 

 advowson were granted by Thomas Rowthall in con- 

 veyances 1529-32 to Anthony Catesby^ the builder of 

 the present church. The advowson has since descended 

 with the main manor' and is now in the gift of Lord 

 Boston. The living is a rectory. 



WOOTTON 



Witone (xi-xiii cent.); Wotton (xi-xviii cent.); 

 Woddon (xii cent.); Wttona (xiii cent.); Wuttone 

 (xiii-xiv cent.); Whutton (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Wootton, covering an area of 1,735 

 acres land and 5 acres water, is bounded on the south 

 and south-west by a brook running northwards to the 

 Nene. The height rises gradually from 200 ft. by the 

 brook to 360 ft. in the north. The subsoil is Great 

 Oolite, Middle and Upper Lias, the soil various, the 

 crops cereals with some pasture land. Adjoining the 

 northern boundary is the miscalled 'Danes' Camp' in 

 Hardingstone parish, and the ancient British trackway 

 leading from this Hunsbury camp forms the boundary 

 of the parish.* A hoard of Roman coins, ranging from 

 Gallienus to Numerian, was discovered in 1844.' 



The village lies on the higher, north-western part of 

 the parish, 2^ miles south-east of Northampton, with 

 its church in the centre and a green.'" In the village 

 there area fair number of 17th- and early-l8th-century 

 houses built of local ironstone, some with thatched 

 roofs; the following dates and initials occur, 1687, 

 1692, N "^ A 1695, w. R. 171 5, 1720 and 1726. Two 

 other houses though later in date (1763 and 1766) 

 retain all the character of the earlier buildings. The 

 older northern wing of the rectory house was erected 

 by Jeremiah Stephens (rector 1626-44) ^'^'^ bears a 

 tablet inscribed deo: eccl: ie: steph: pos: 1630. This 

 part of the building is of three stories with muUioned 

 windows and a gable facing east, but extensive addi- 

 tions were made to the house on the south side in 1835. 



Wootton Hall, which was about a mile to the north- 

 west of the village, was taken down in 191 1, and a new 

 house was built on a new site a little to the south. The 

 old house was a plain two-story building of late-i8th- 

 or early- 19th-century date, to which additions had 

 been made." 



The windmill, which stands near the junction of the 

 Stony Stratford road with that to the village, was 

 erected after an older mill, probably of wood, had been 

 blown down in October 1815.'^ It is of red brick with 

 dome-shaped cap. The mill was in use until 19 14, but 

 is now (1935) in a very dilapidated state. Wootton 

 Grange is a mile west of the Hall, Milton Ham Farm 

 in the extreme south. The wake followed the feast of 



St. George. '3 The population, 744 in 1921, was only 

 621 in 193 1, for the civil parish. 



Caroline Chisholm, the 'emigrants' friend', the 

 daughter of a yeoman of this parish, William Jones, 

 also noted as a philanthropist, was born here in i8o8.'^ 

 In 1086 Walter de Aincurt ('Walter 

 MANORS the Fleming') was overlord of 2§ hides in 

 WOOTTON, and i hide was soke of the 

 Countess Judith's manor of Yardley Hastings; and 

 Winemar the Fleming was under-tenant of both parts." 

 The former or M' AHULL FEE descended with 

 Pattishall (q.v.),'* and mention of this overlordship is 

 found here until 1428." The service due from the 

 under-tenant included rent for the guard of Rockingham 

 Castle. 



In the 12th-century survey the 2-J hides of this fee 

 are entered without the name of any tenant,'* but by 

 1 1 8 1 this had come into the hands of the Biduns, pos- 

 sibly as the marriage portion of Alice sister of William 

 Mauduit, lord of Hanslope, who married John de 

 Bidun I" in about 1 1 50, she being then 1 5 years old. 

 That Halenath de Bidun, John's father, presented to the 

 church about 1 1 50 may have been owing to the tender 

 years of TUice and John. The date is fixed, because the 

 parson presented was Walter de Bidun, chancellor of 

 the King of Scotland^" round 1 1 50, a post shortly after- 

 wards held by several others and not resumed by him 

 till 1171,^' when Halenath had long been dead. 



John was the founder of Lavendon Abbey, Bucks., 

 to which he, in 1178 or later, gave the church of 

 Wootton.'- He died 1 180—1,-^ and his son John died 

 in 1 184,-'* his heirs being his five sisters. They were 

 (i) Amice wife of Henry de Chnton, (2) Amabel wife 

 of Miles de Beauchamp, (3) Sara wife of Richard de 

 Beauchamp, brother of Miles, (4) Maud wife of 

 Geoffrey fitz Geoffrey, (5) Ermingard wife of 

 Aldulf de Gatesden.-5 All appear in the history of this 

 manor, .'^mice, the eldest sister, was alive 123 5-6,^* and 

 left three daughters and co-heirs: Amabel wife of Luke 

 de Colum, Isabel wife of Ralph fitz John, and Agnes 

 wife of Warin de Brageham.^' Ralph fitz John seems 

 to have released his right here to the elder Amabel in 

 1 2 19;-* and though Agnes and Warin were living in 

 1255^' they are not mentioned in connexion with 



' Feet of F. Northants. 33 Edw. I, no. 

 4.86; De Banco R. 34.6, m. 23. 



^ Bridges, loc. cit. ^ Ibid. 



■• Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 38 Hen. 

 VI, no. 108. 5 Bridges, loc. cit. 



<■ Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 20 Hen. 

 VIII; Recov. R. Trin. 24. Hen. VIII, rot. 



iSS- 



' Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.); Chan. Proc. 

 (Ser. 2), bdle. 335, no. 15. 



* V.C.H. Northants. i, 146. 



•* Northants. N. and Q.ii,%.\\y 65, where 

 it is figured. 



*° Ibid, vi, 78. Simon atte Grene is 

 mentioned in the 13th century: Cal. Vat. 



1272-81, p. 474. 



" Northants. N. and Q. N.s. vi, 222. 



'^ A mill is shown on the site in Eyre's 

 map of 1779. 



" Bridges, loc. cit. '♦ Diet. Nat. Biog. 



'5 V.C.H. Northants. i, 341*, 354*. 

 Wootton was assessed at 25 carucates in 

 1220: Bk. of Fees, 325. 



'^ Feud. Aids, iv, 42, 447. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. vi, 612, p. 388. 



" V.C.H. Northants. i, 375a. 



'^ Rot.de Dominabus[V\^c'R.Soz.),xxxv\. 



2° Maitland, Bracton's Note-Book, 648. 



2^ Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters, 185 

 and passim; Anderson, Early Sources of 



Scottish Hist, ii, 259 n. 



" Dugdale, Mon. vi, 188; Maitland, 

 Bractons Note-Book, 648. 



" Rot. de Dominabus (Pipe R. Soc), 55. 



^* Farrer, Honors and Knights^ Fees, i, 2, 



^5 Ibid. 3 ; Rot. de Dominabus (Pipe R. 

 Soc), 43, 45; Roberts, Cal. Geneal. 62; 

 Maitland, loc. cit. Cf. under Cotes Bidun 

 in Raunds, above, p. 32. 



2^ Farrer, op. cit. 6. 



" Ibid; Roberts, loc. cit. 



^* Feet of F. Northants, case 172, file 

 IS, no. 33. 



^' Excerpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 



20Z. 



292 



