WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



(subsequently divided into two), open from floor to 

 roof. The roof is handsome and was clearly intended 

 to be seen. It is partly supported by a stout oak prin- 

 cipal shaped into a flat-pointed arch, and the purlins 

 have curved wind-braces. On the outside of the west 

 wall are remains of a buttress where the principal rests 

 on the wall. An attic story has at some time been con- 

 trived over the room, but originally it must have been 

 a fine lofty apartment with a wide open fire-place in 

 the middle of its south wall. In the thickness of the 

 east wall is contrived a garderobe, ventilated by two 

 small quatrefoil openings. The shaft is also venti- 

 lated by a narrow slit in the angle where the corner 

 buttress joins the south wall. From the character of 

 the room the inference is that it was the solar, or lord's 

 private room, but it was not 

 usual to place the solar over 

 part of the kitchen premises 

 with its approach from the 

 screens. As a rule this cham- 

 ber was at the farther end of the 

 hall, away from the entrance 

 and forming part of a group of 

 family rooms. But the hall has 

 been entirely destroyed and 

 there are no indications of any 

 rooms at its northern end. The 

 windows of the ground floor 

 are probably of early- 14th- 

 century date, as well as one on 

 the upper floor, the other win- 

 dows being some years later, as 

 also is the chimney shaft. One 

 of the early windows has been 

 altered about 1600. It is not 

 easy to give a clear history ot 

 the various building operations 

 to account for the difference in 

 date of the windows and of the 



doorwa)s leading from the screens. Some year or two 

 ago the ivy was judiciously stripped from the walls, 

 which were put generally into a state of repair. 



This manor with its members in Grendon, 

 MANOR Whiston, Denton, Hacklcton, Horton, Wol- 

 laston, Brafield, Quinton, and Hardingstone 

 was held before the Conquest by Earl Waltheof, to 

 . whom William I married his niece Judith. In 1086, 

 as Countess of Huntingdon, she held 3 J hides in 

 yjRDLEyj Her daughter Maud married as her 

 second husband David, afterwards King of Scotland,^ 

 who in the 1 2th-century Survey is named lord of 7 

 hides less i small virgate in Yardley and Grendon.' 

 From him this passed with the honor of Huntingdon 

 successively to his son Henry, stepson Simon dc Sen- 

 lis, and grandsons Malcolm, William, and David.* In 

 1 190 Richard I renewed to Earl David, among other 

 liberties originally granted by Henry I to his grand- 

 father David, King of Scotland, full rights in his hay 

 of Yardley with venison and warren,* which were re- 

 newed tohisson John, Earl of Chester and Huntingdon, 

 by Henry III in 1233.* Earl David died at Yardley 



' y.C.H. Norlhanli. i, 351*. 



* Firrer, Itonort and Knights* Fett, ii, 

 296. ' y.C.H. thortkanli. i, 354*. 



* G.E.C. Comfltit Peerage (ind cd.), vi, 

 641-6. 



» T. Rymer, Foedera, i, 48; cf. Add. 

 MS. 33441. 



* Col. Chart. 1 300-26, p. 28 1 ; PUc. dt 



YARDLEY 

 H.ASTINGS 



in 1 2 19 but was not buried there.' In i 234 the barons 

 and knights of Earl John were forbidden to hold a 

 tournament at Yardley.* He is thought to have been 

 poisoned by his wife Helen, daughter of Llewellyn ap 

 lorwerth. Prince of North Wales, in 1237,' and after 

 his death Yardley was assigned to the pourparty of his 

 sister Ada the wife of Sir Henry de Hastings of .\shill, 

 Norfolk, the ancestress of the Lords Hastings from 

 whom it derived the name of Yardley Hastings.'" 



Sir Henry de Hastings died in 1250," when the 

 manor of Yardley was granted to Guy de Lusignan the 

 King's brother, during the minority of his son and heir 

 Henry,'^ who had livery of his lands in 1256." He was 

 wounded and uken prisoner when fighting for Simon 

 de Montfort at Evesham in 1265, and his manor of 



Yardley Hastings : The Manor House 



Yardley, worth ;^90, was committed to John de 



Warenne, but the King allowed his wife Joan, daughter 



of Sir William de Cantelou, to retain certain of his lands 



elsewhere.'* Being excepted from the 'Dictum de 



Kenilworth', he was subjected to the fine of seven years' 



value of his estates, and he submitted to Prince Edward 



in 1 267." He died in 1 269 and his son John had livery 



of his lands when he came of 



age in 1283.'* In the following 



year Sir John de Hastings was 



found to hold Yardley of the 



King in chief." He was created 



Lord Hastings in 1290 and died 



in 1 3 1 3 seised of the manor, 



which passed to John his son by 



his first wife Isabel, daughter of 



William, Earl of Pembroke.'Mn ^ ^ , 



, ,, . J . f Hastings. Or a sUevc 



1 3 14 the Kmg granted to Sir ^^,^^ 



John dc Hastings and his heirs a 

 weekly market on Wednesday in their manor of Yard- 

 ley and a yearly fair there on the vigil, feast, and morrow 

 of Holy Trinity." When Sir John died, in 1325, the 



Quo Warr. (R«. Com.), 547*. 



' G.E.C. vi, 647. 



• Cal PjI. 1232-47, pp. 63, 133. 



« G.E.C. iii, 169. 

 •"' Ibid.; Fjrrcr, ii, 398. 

 '■ G.E.C. vi, 345. 

 " Cal. Pat. 1247-58, p. 83. 

 " Close R. 40 Hen. Ill, m. 1 1. 



'< Cal. Mite. Inq. i, 256; Cal. Pat. 

 1258-66, p. 540. 



" Diet. Nat. Biag.r, G.E.C. vi, 346. 



'* Ibid.; Ca/. Clou, 1279-88, p. 212. 



" Feud, /lids, iv, 6. 



'• Cal. Inij. p.m. V, 412, p. 231 i G.E.C. 

 vi, 346. 



'« Cal. Chart. 1300-26, p. 239. 



297 



