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EDITED BY H. ARTHUR DOUBLEDAY

A HISTORY OF

THE COUNTY OF

NORTHAMPTON

VOLUME I

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

PUBLISHED FOR

THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1902

DAWSONS OF PALL MALL

FOLKESTONE & LONDON
1970

Issued by

Archibald Constable and Company Limited

in 1902

Reprinted for the University of London

Institute of Historical Research

Dawsons of Pall Mall

Cannon House

Folkestone, Kent, England

1970

ISBN o 7129 0449 2

Printed in Great Britain
by Photolithography

Unwin Brothers Limited
Woking and London

INSCRIBED

TO THE MEMORY OF

HER LATE MAJESTY

QUEEN VICTORIA

WHO IN HER LIFETIME GRACIOUSLY

GAVE THE TITLE TO

AND ACCEPTED THE

DEDICATION OF

THIS HISTORY

THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
OF THE VICTORIA HISTORY

His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, K.G. Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, K.C.B., M.A., F.S.A.,

Chancellor of the Vni-versity of Cambridge ETC.

His Grace The Duke of Rutland, K.G. '^"P'^ "f"" ''"'''•' ^"'"■'^'

His Grace The Duke of Portland, K.G. Col. Sir J. Farquharson, K.C.B.

His Grace The Duke of Argyll, K.T. ^ir Jos. Hooker, G.C.S.I., M.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.,

ETC.

The Most Hon. The Marquess of Salisbury, „, ^ iTT^i?nc

^ P Sir Archibald Geikie, LL.D., r.K.b., etc.

Chancellor of the Vm-vtTUty af Oxjord ReV. J. ChaRLES CoX, LL.D., F.S.A., ETC.

The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Rosebery, K.G., Lionel Cust, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., etc

K.T. Director of the National Portrait Gallery

The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Coventry Albert C. L. G. Gonther, M.A., M.D., Ph.D.,

President of the Royal Agricultural Society F.R.S.

The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Dillon Pretident of the Linnean Society

President of the Society of Anti<juaries Q^^ DuNCAN A. JoHNSTON

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Acton Director General of the Ordnance Survey

Regius Professor of Modern History, Cambridge ProF. E. Ray LanKESTER, M.A., F.R.S., ETC.

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Lister Director of the Nat. Hist. Museum, South Kensington

President of the Royal Society REGINALD L. PooLE, EsQ., M.A.

Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D., F.S.A., Uni-versiiy Lecturer in Diplomatic, Oxford

etc. F. York Powell, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., etc.

Corpus Professor of jurisprudence, Oxford Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford

Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, K.C.B., D.C.L., i Horace Round, Esq., M.A.

LL.D., F.S.A., ETC. ,, _ ^

Director of the British Museum WALTER RyE, tsQ.

Sir Clements R.Markham,K.C.B.,F.R.S.,F.S.A. W. H. St. John Hope, Esq., M.A.

President of the Royal Geographical Society Assistant Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries

General Editor — H. Arthur Doubleday

GENERAL ADVERTISEMENT

The Victoria History of the Counties of England is a National Survey showing
the condition of the country at the present day, and tracing the domestic history of the
English Counties back to the earliest times.

Rich as every County of England is in materials for local history, there has hitherto been
no attempt made to bring all these materials together into a coherent form. There are,
indeed, histories of English Counties ; but many of them — and these the best — are exceed-
ingly rare and costly ; others are very imperfect ; all are out of date.

The Victoria History will trace, county by county, the story of England's growth
from its prehistoric condition, through the barbarous age, the settlement of alien peoples, and
the gradual welding of many races into a nation which is now the greatest on the globe. All
the phases of ecclesiastical history ; the changes in land tenure ; the records of historic and
local families ; the history of the social life and sports of the villages and towns ; the develop-
ment of art, science, manufactures and industries — all these factors, which tell of the progress
of England from primitive beginnings to large and successful empire, will find a place in the
work and their treatment be entrusted to those who have made a special study of them.

Many archasological, historical and other Societies are assisting in the compilation of this
work, and the editor also has the advantage of the active and cordial co-operation of the
National Trust, which is doing so much for the preservation of places of historic interest and
natural beauty throughout the country.

The names of the distinguished men who have joined the Advisory Council are a

vii

guarantee that the work will represent the results of the latest discoveries in every department
of research. It will be observed that among them are representatives of science ; for the
whole trend of modern thought, as influenced by the theory of evolution, favours the intelli-
gent study of the past and of the social, institutional and political developments of national
life. As these histories are the first in which this object has been kept in view, and modern
principles applied, it is hoped that they will form a work of reference no less indispensable
to the student than welcome to the man of culture.

Family History will, both in the Histories and in the supplemental volumes of chart
pedigrees, be dealt with by genealogical experts and in the modern spirit. Every effort will be
made to secure accuracy of statement, and to avoid the insertion of those legendary pedigrees
which have in the past brought discredit on the whole subject. It has been pointed out by the
late Bishop of Oxford, a great master of historical research, that * the expansion and extension
of genealogical study is a very remarkable feature of our own times,' that 'it is an increasing
pursuit both in America and England,' and that it can render the historian useful service.

Heraldry will also in this Series occupy a prominent position, and the splendours of the
coat-armour borne in the Middle Ages will be illustrated in colours on a scale that has never
been attempted before.

The general plan of Contents, and the names of the Sectional Editors (who will
co-operate with local workers in every case) are as follows : —

Natural History. Edited by Aubyn B. R. Trevor-Battye, M.A., F.L.S., etc.

Geology. By Clement Reid, F.R.S., Horace B. Woodward, F.R.S., and otheri
Palaeontology. Edited by R. L. LvDEKKER, F.R.S., etc.

(Contributions by G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., F. O. Pickard-Cambridoe, M.A., H. N. Dixon, F.L.S.,
G. C. Druce, M.A., F.L.S., Walter Garstang, M.A., F.L.S., Herbert Goss, F.L.S., F.E.S.,
R. I. PococK, Rev. T.R. R. Stebbing, M.A., F.R.S., etc., B. B. Woodwabd, F.G.S., F.R.M.S,
etc., and other Specialists
Prehistoric Remains. Edited by W. Boyd Dawxins, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Roman Remains. Edited by F. Haverfield, M.A., F.S.A.

Anglo-Saxon Remains. Edited by C. Hercules Read, F.S.A., and Reginald A. Smith, B.A.
Ethnography. Edited by G. Laurence Gomme, F.S.A.
Dialect. Edited by Joseph Wright, M.A., Ph.D.
Place Names "|

Folklore I Contributed by Various Authorities

Physical Types J

Domesday Book and other kindred Records. Edited by J. Horace Round, M.A.

Architecture. By Various Authorities. The Sections on the Cathedrals and Monastic Remains Edited by

W. H. St. John Hope, M.A.
Ecclesiastical History. Edited by R. L. Poole, M.A.

Political History. Edited by W. H. Stevenson, M.A., J. Horace Round, M.A., Proe. T. F. Tout, M.A.,

James Tait, M.A., and C. H. Firth, M.A.
History of Schools. Edited by A. F. Leach, M.A., F.S.A.
Maritime History of Coast Counties. Edited by J. K. Laughton, M.A.
Topographical Accounts of Parishes and Manors. By Various Authorities

History of the Feudal Baronage. Edited by J. Horace Round, M.A., and Oswald Barron, F.S.A.
Family History and Heraldry. Edited by Oswald Barron, F.S.A.

Agriculture. Edited by Sir Ernest Clarke, M.A., Sec. to the Royal Agricultural Society
Forestry. Edited by John Nisbet, D.Oec.
Industries, Arts and Manufactures "j

Social and Economic History [• By Various Authorities

Persons Eminent in Art, Literature, Science j
Ancient and Modern Sport. Edited by the Duke of Beaufort

Hunting "j

Shooting y By Various Authorities

Fishing, etc. J

Cricket. Edited by Home Gordon

Football. Edited by C. W. Alcock
Bibliographies
Indexes
Names of the Subscribers

viii

With a view to securing the best advice with regard to the searching of records, the
Editor has secured the services of the following committee of experts : —

RECORDS COMMITTEE

Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, K.C.B. Wm. Page, F.S.A.

Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, K.C.B. J. Horace Round, M.A.

W. J. Hardy, F.S.A. S. R. Scargill-Bird, F.S.A.

F. Madan, M.A. W. H. Stevenson, M.A.

F. Maitland, M.A., F.S.A. G. F. Warner, M.A., F.S.A.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Among the many thousands of subjects illustrated will be castles, cathedrals and churches,
mansions and manor houses, moot halls and market halls, family portraits, etc. Particular
attention will be given to the beautiful and quaint examples of architecture which, through
decay or from other causes, are in danger of disappearing. The best examples of church
brasses, coloured glass, and monumental effigies will be depicted. The Series will also contain
1 60 pictures in photogravure, showing the characteristic scenery of the counties.

CARTOGRAPHY

Each History will contain Archaeological, Domesday, and Geological maps ; maps show-
ing the Orography, and the Parliamentary and Ecclesiastical divisions ; and the map done by
Speed in 16 10. The Series will contain about four hundred maps in all.

FAMILY HISTORY AND HERALDRY

The Histories will contain, in the Topographical Section, manorial pedigrees, and
accounts of the noble and gentle families connected with the local history ; and it is proposed
to trace, wherever possible, their descendants in the Colonies and the United States of
America. The Editor will be glad to receive information which may be of service to him
in this branch of the work. The chart family pedigrees and the arms of the families
mentioned in the Heralds' Visitations will be issued in a supplemental volume for each county.

The Rolls of Arms are being completely collated for this work, and all the feudal coats
will be given in colours. The arms of the local families will also be represented in connection
with the Topographical Section.

In order to secure the greatest possible accuracy in the descriptions of the Architecture,
ecclesiastic, military and domestic, a committee has been formed of the following students of
architectural history, who will supervise this department of the work : —

ARCHITECTURAL COMMITTEE

J. BiLsoN, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. W. H. St. John Hope, M.A.

R. Blomfield W. H. Knowles, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.

Harold Brakspear, A. R.I. B. A. J. T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A.

Prof. Baldwin Brown Roland Paul

Arthur S. Flower, F.S.A., A. R. I.E. A. J. Horace Round, M.A.

George E. Fox, M.A., F.S.A. Percy G. Stone, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.

J. A. GoTCH, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. Thackeray Turner

A special feature in connection with the Architecture will be a series of coloured ground
plans showing the architectural history of castles, cathedrals and other monastic foundations.
Plans of the most important country mansions will also be included.

The issue of this work is limited to subscribers only, whose names will be printed at the end of
each History.

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

OF THE COUNTY OF

NORTHAMPTON

EDITED BY W. RYLAND D. ADKINS B.A.
AND R. M. SERJEANTSON M.A.

VOLUME ONE

PUBLISHED FOR

THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

REPRINTED BY

DAWSONS OF PALL MALL

FOLKESTONE & LONDON

Counti? Committee for IRortbamptonsbtre

THE RT. HON. THE EARL SPENCER, K.G., P.C, LL.D., D.C.L.

Lord Lieutenant, Chairman
R. B. LODER, Esq., High Sheriff of the County

*SACKVILLE G. STOPFORD-SACKVILLE, Esq.,
Chairman of Quarter Sessions and of the County Council

Duke of

M.P.

Mar-

The Lord

His Grace The

Grafton, K.G.
The Most Hon. The

QUESS OF Exeter
The Most Hon. The Mar-
quess OF Northampton
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of

Westmorland
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of

Carysfort, K.P.
The Rt. Rev. The Lord

Bishop of Peterborough
The Rt. Hon. The Lord

Lilford
The Rt. Hon.

Erskine
The Rt. Hon

Annaly
The Rt. Hon,

Hawkesbury
The Rt. Hon. C. R. Spencer,

P.C.
The Hon. W. F. Dawnay
The Hon. E. A. Fitzroy
*SiR Herewald Wake, Bart.
SirGeorgeW. Gunning, Bart.
Sir Charles V. Knightley,

Bart.
Sir a. R. de Capell-Brooke,

Bart.
Sir James Pender, Bart.
The Rt. Rev. The Bishop of

Leicester
The Rt. Rev. Bishop Mitch-

iNSON, Master of Pem-
broke College, Oxford
The Rt. Rev. The Bishop of

Northampton
The Worshipful The Mayor

OF Northampton

The Worshipful The Mayor
OF Higham Ferrers

Chairman of The Urban Dis-
trict Council of Ketter-
ing

Chairman of The Urban Dis-
trict Council of Rush-
den

Chairman of The Urban Dis-
trict Council of Well-
ingborough

Rev. Canon Alderson, M.A.

Matthew Bigge, Esq., J. P.

R. Birdsall, Esq.

Rev. E. F. Buckton, M.A.

*F. W. Bull, Esq.

H. Butterfield, Esq., J. P.

S. S. Campion, Esq., J.P.

A. T. C. Cartwright, Esq., J.P.

T. R. B. Leslie- Melville-
Cartwright, Esq., J.P.

T. Collings, Esq.

W. D. Crick, Esq., F.G.S.

*H. N. Dixon, Esq., M.A, F.L.S.

G. C. Wentworth - Fitz-
wiLLiAM, Esq., D.L., J.P.

*T. J. George, Esq., F.G.S.

*J. A. GoTCH, Esq., F.S.A.,
J.P.

*Edward Grant, Esq., D.L.,
J.P.

Thomas Green, Esq.

David C. Guthrie, Esq., J.P.

Albert Hartshorne, Esq.,
F.S.A.

M. H. Holding, Esq.

Rev. N. T. Hughes, M.A.

Rev. Henry Isham-Longden,
M.A.

Dr. a. H. Jones

Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, M.A. •> General Editors of

W. Rvland D. Adkins, Esq., B.A. / The History of Northamptonshire

* Form the Executive Committee
xiii

H. Manfield, Esq.
♦Christopher Markham,

Esq., F.S.A.
E. p. Monckton, Esq., M.P.,

J-P.
Rev. Canon Moore, M.A.
Bruce B. Muscott, Esq.
*G. J. H. Pearson, Esq., J.P.
Rev. a. W. Pulteney, M.A.
H. E. Randall, Esq., J.P.
W. H. Barfoot-Saunt, Esq.,

J.P.
*R. G. ScRivEN, Esq.
*Rev. r. m. Serjeantson, M.A.
N. P. Sharman, Esq., J.P.
J. Shepard, Esq.
*T. Shepard, Esq.
W. B. Shoosmith, Esq.
W. Hirst Simpson, Esq.,

M.A.
Rev. H. H. Slater, M.A
Christopher Smyth, Esq.,

M.A., J.P.
Maj.-Gen. F. E. Sotheby,

F.Z.S., J.P.
Rev. Thomas Stephens, M.A.
*Rev. W. D. Sweeting, M.A.
Beeby Thompson, Esq., F.C.S.,

F.G.S.
Basil H. Thomson, Esq.
B. W. Vernon, Esq., J.P.
G. L. Watson, Esq., D.L.,

J.P.
Thomas Wetherall, Esq.
J. R. Wilkinson, Esq., J.P.
♦Charles Wise, Esq.
Chas. J. N. WooLSTON, Esq.,

J.P.
W. M. Wroughton, Esq.,

M.F.H.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE

PAGE

Dedication ............... v

The Advisory Council of the Victoria History ......... vii

General Advertisement ............. vii

The Northamptonshire County Committee ......... xiii

Contents ............... xv

List of Illustrations .............. xvi

Preface xix

Natural History

Geology ..... By Beeby Thompson, F.G.S. .... I

Palaeontology .... By Richard L. Lydzkker, B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S. . 41
Botany

Introduction .... By George Claridge Druce, M.A., F.L.S. . . 47

The Botanical Districts . . „ „ „ „ „ • • 57

Musci {Mosses). . . . By H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S 80

Hepaticae {Liveruiorts) . . „ „ „ „ .... 84

Lichenes {Lichens) . . . „ „ „ „ .... 84

Fungi , „ „ „ .... 84

Zoology

MoUusca {Snatli, etc.) . . By B. B. Woodward, F.G.S., F.R.M.S., and Lionel

E. Adams, B.A. 87

InsecU {Insects) . . . Edited by Herbert Goss, F.L.S., F.E.S. . 89

Hymenoptera {Bees, etc.) . By George B. Dixon, F.E.S. .... 89

Coleoptera {Beetles) . . By the Rev. Canon Fowler, M.A., F.L.S., assisted

by Frank Bouskell, F.E.S., and William Hull 90
Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera

{Butterflies) ... By Herbert Goss, F.L.S., F.E.S 94

Lepidoptera, Heterocera {Moths)

Nocturni, Geometrse,

Drepanulidae, Pseudo-

Bombyces, and Noc-

tuae ... By Herbert Goss, F.L.S., F.E.S., assisted by Thomas
Henry Briggs, M.A., F.E.S., and Captain J. A. W.
Vipan 97

CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE

Lepidoptera, Heterocera {Moths),

Deltoides, Pyralides,

Crambites, Tortrices,

Tinca;,and Pterophori

Crustacea {Crabs, etc.)

Pisces {Fishes)

Reptilia {Reptiles) and Batrachia

{Batrachians)
Aves {Birds)
Mammalia {Mammals)
Early Man ....
Romano-British Remains .
Anglo-Saxon Remains
Introduction to the Northamptonshire

Domesday
Text of the Northamptonshire

Domesday
The Northamptonshire Survey .
Monumental Effigies
Domesday Index

PACE

continued

By Eustace R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S.
By the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, M.A., F.
By G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S., F.Z.S.

By the Rev. H. H. Slater, M.A.
By Lionel E. Adams, B.A. .
By T. J. George, F.G.S.
By F. Haverfield, M.A., F.S.A. .
By Reginald A. Smith, B.A.

By J. Horace Round, M.A. .

By Albert Hartshorne, F.S.A.

lOO

R.S., F.L.S.

lOI

io8

• • •

III

129

'35

«S7

**3

257

301
3S7
393
4*3

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PACE

On the Nene, Peterborough. By William Hyde ....... frontispiece

Spearhead found at Weldon ........ full-page plate, facing 139

Sword Scabbard found at Hunsbury ....... „ ,, „ 145

Detail of Sword Scabbard ........ „ „ „ 147

Pottery found at Hunsbury ........ „ „ „ 1 50

Pottery found at Hunsbury . . . . . . . . „ „ ,,152

New Forest Ware . . . . . . . . . . , . .160

Plans of Houses at Silchester . . . . . . . . . . .162

Villa at Brading, Isle of Wight 163

Plan of Castor, Chesterton and neighbourhood . . . . . . . . .168

Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Plan of Bath House, Castor . . . . . . . . . . . • i?'

Mosaic Pavement found on Mill Hill, Castor ...... plate, facing 172

Buildings at Mill Hill, Castor 173

Enamelled Fibula found near Castor . . . . . . . . . .176

Inscribed Fragment from Peterborough Cathedral .... full-page plate, facing 1 76

Irchester ............... 179

Capital found at Irchester . . . . . . . . . . .181

Fragment of Sculpture found at Irchester . . . . . . . . .181

Enamelled Fibula found at Irchester. . . . . . . . . . .183

Bronze Vessels found at Irchester . . . . . . . . . . .183

Plan of Towcester . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Mosaic found at Helpstone ........ full-page plate, facing 1 89

Statues found in Bedford Purlieus . . . . . . . . . . .190

Castor Ware ........... full-page plate, facing 190

Apethorpe Villa .............. 191

Castor Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . -19*

Apethorpe Villa : Larger Mosaic ....... fill-page plate, facing 192

Mosaic found at Cotterstock ........ „ „ „ 192

Plan of Roman Villa found at Weldon ...... „ „ „ 192

Borough Hill, Daventry . . . . . . . . . . . ■ '95

Mosaic found at Nether Heyford . . . . . . . . . .196

Mosaic found at Harpole ........ fiJl-page plate, facing 197

Villa in Whittlebury Forest . . . . . . . . . . . • '99

Bath House at Chipping Warden ........... 200

Kiln at Castor .............. 207

Castor Ware with ' Engine-turning '........... »o8

Foliation and Fish Ornament on Castor Ware ......... 208

Vessels of Castor Ware ......... fill-page plate, facing 209

Glazing Furnace ........ ...... 210

xvii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Finds in Normangate Field

Castor Ware found near Water Newton

Two Views of Vase found at Oundle

Late Celtic Urn from Twywell

Brooch, Wappenham

Brooch, Ipswich

Anglo-Saxon Gold Ornaments, etc.

Anglo-Saxon Ornaments, etc.

Abbot John de Caleto

Sir David de Esseby

Sir Robert de Keynes

Sir John de Lyons .

Sir John de Wittelbury

Sir John Cressy ]

Archdeacon Sponne J

Sir John Spencer and Dame Isabel Spencer

William Lord Parr and Mary Lady Parr

William Chauncy and Joan Chauncy

Dame Elizabeth Carey

William Lord Spencer and Penelope Lady Spencer

PACK

full-page platt.

facing

212
219

• •

220

•

221
221

plate facing

*33

■

full-page plan

facing

39S

*f ty

399

» »

404

409

}> ff

411

» t>

414

»J I»

4.6

»» >»

418

»» »»

421

»» >»

422

LIST OF MAPS

*Geological Map of North Northamptonshire
* Geological Map of South Northamptonshire
t Orographical Map
t Botanical Map

Pre-Historic Remains

Roman Remains

Anglo-Saxon Remains

Domesday Map

* Not reproduced in this edition owing to technical difficulties
t Reproduced in black and white in this edition.

between

XXII, I

16, 17
3*. 33
4<5, 47
134. 135
•56, 157
222, 223
300, 301

XV111

PREFACE

THE scope of this work, as will be seen from the general
advertisement of the Victoria History, differs essentially from
that of any county history hitherto attempted. The services
of specialists both national and local have been secured for the
treatment of the subjects with which their names are identified, so that
the authority for the statements put forth and the views advanced can be
at once recognized. The subjects comprised in the present volume are
arranged in chronological order from the geology of the county down
to the Domesday Survey. From this point the general articles do not
naturally fall into any special order, and Mr. Albert Hartshorne's mono-
graph on monumental effigies therefore forms a convenient conclusion
to the volume. In the second volume will follow general articles on
ecclesiastical history, the history of ancient schools, architecture,
industries, etc., but the bulk of the remaining three volumes will be
taken up with detailed histories of the parishes and manors of the
county, and the work will conclude with a chapter that draws the
various threads together, and recounts the civil and political history
of this part of England from the Saxon period, when the county first
emerged as a distinct area, to the present.

Northamptonshire readers and others in opening this volume will
probably reflect that there are already three histories of the county of
great reputation : Morton's (17 12), Bridges's (1791), and Baker's. The
existence of these works makes the compiling of the present volumes at
once easier and yet more difficult. Easier because of the great amount
of material and information already gathered together, but more difficult
because of the necessity of sifting the evidence on which various
statements rest, and of the labour of testing and substantiating the very
large number of references. John Morton's folio Natural History of
Northamptonshire is the only one of these older histories which to any
extent covers the same ground as that traversed in the present volume,
for not only did Morton deal somewhat exhaustively with the natural
history of the county so far as such studies were then understood, but
he treated also of some of the antiquities and gave a carelessly executed
transcript of the Domesday Survey. Baker's work is, alas, only a frag-
ment, and the History of John Bridges was written at a time when many
sources of information now available were unknown, and before the
scientific conception of historic development had been applied to county
history. These two, which have more in common with the present

xuc

PREFACE

undertaking, as a whole, than Morton's work, will be referred to again
in the volumes to come.

The Editors wish to express their thanks to the members of the
Executive Committee and to many correspondents throughout the
county for the assistance which, whenever sought, has been so ungrudg-
ingly given. For permission to reproduce some of the illustrations
in this volume they are indebted to the courtesy of the Society of
Antiquaries, the British Archaeological Association, the Associated
Archsological Societies, and to Mr. W. C. Wells of Oxford Street.

A HISTORY OF
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

GEOLOGY

IN the following pages it is proposed to give, as far as possible, a
geological history of Northamptonshire as a succession of physical
events in defined time periods, and to use the composition and
natural sequence of the rocks, as well as the present configuration
of the ground, or modern scenery, chiefly in evidence.

Geological Maps

On looking at the geological map which accompanies this descrip-
tive matter, it will be observed that the county is coloured in what may
appear to be a very erratic manner. Each colour is supposed to represent
the area over which a particular rock formation outcrops, or is otherwise
exposed at the surface. The colours are of course purely conventional.

The expression ' supposed to represent ' is used advisedly, for over
a considerable part of the county is spread a mass of gravel, sand, or clay
of glacial origin, which partially or wholly obscures the particular
formation represented on the map. The term ' Glacial Drift ' or simply
' Drift ' will be used in a comprehensive sense to include the deposits of
all kinds and of relatively different ages directly or indirectly due to ice
action. In the maps of the Geological Survey, on the scale of one inch to
the mile, the chief areas covered with this confusing Drift are provisionally
indicated by lettering, and where the covering is so thick as to leave the
extent of the immediately underlying rock in doubt, dotted boundary
lines are used for the latter. In some cases there is uncertainty as to
whether the rock represented is even present.

It may be noticed on the map that the colours tend to form
bands lying approximately from north-east to south-west ; this direc-
tion of outcrop is spoken of as the ' strike ' of the beds, and along it
they preserve more uniformity of height above ordnance datum than in
any other direction.

The general ' dip ' of the beds is towards the south-east or at right
angles to the strike, so that in traversing the county from north-west to
south-east newer rocks successively occupy the surface without any
concomitant rise of the ground level, but rather the reverse. In the
direction of the county's greatest length however, which is nearly that
of the strike, a single formation, the Great Oolite for instance, may be
met with at the surface almost uninterruptedly from one extremity to
the other.

We now proceed to give in tabular form the various geological
formations to be found in the county, together with their most distinctive
characters and approximate maximum thicknesses. Further details with
regard to each will appear in succeeding pages.

TABLE OF FORMATIONS

Era
or Group

Period,
or System

Formation

Character of the strata in
Northamptonshire

Approximate

maximum

thickness

in feet

Recent

Alluvium ....

Dark carbonaceous mud or loam .

Quaternary
or

Post-
Tertiary

Recent

and (or)

Pleistocene

Fen-land ....

Valley Gravels . .

Gravels, sands, clays and peat .
Alluvial gravels and sands . . .

?
35

Pleistocene

Upper Boulder Clay .

Mid-glacial Gravels .
Lower Boulder Clay
and Sands

Clay, with much chalk and many
erratics

Coarse gravel to fine sand . . .

Gravels, sands, loams and clays ; few
erratics

100

170

Cainozoic,
or Tertiary

Pliocene, Oligocene, Eocene (absent)

Upper Cretaceous, Lower Cretaceous and Upper Oolitic (absent)

Middle Oolitic

Corallian Beds . . .
Oxford Clay . . .
Kellaways Rock & Clay

Dull slate-coloured clay and shale .
Grey shale and blue clay . .

?
10 f

Lower
Oolitic

Great
Oolite
Series

Cornbrash ....
Forest Marble Series .
Great Oolite Clay

Great Oolite Limestone
Upper Estuarine Beds

White, ruddy, or blue limestone .
Variegated clays and fissile limestones
Blue and purple clay, with ironstone

nodules

White, or yellowish limestone . .
Variegated clays, thin limestones,

oyster beds, etc

15
8

Mesozoic,

or
Secondary

Inferior

Oolite

Series

Lincolnshire Oolite .

Lower Estuarine Beds

(part of North. Sand)

Northampton Sand .

Oolitic and shelly limestones & slates
White and ruddy sands and clays,

carbonaceous

Ironstones, sandstones, calcareous beds

Liassic

Upper Lias ....
Middle Lias . . .
Lower Lias . . .

Blue clay, with cement stones and
stone beds

Grey micaceous clays, marls, cal-
careous and sandy beds . . .

Blue clays with cement stones and
limestone bands

180

520

Triassic

Rhaetic Beds . . .
Keuper

Bunter

Black shale and white limestone, etc.
Variously coloured sandstones and

marls, etc

(absent)

36
107

Permian (absent)

Palaeozoic,

Primary

Carboniferous

Coal Measures . . .
Millstone Grit . . .
Carboniferous Lime-
stone Series

(absent ?)
(absent ?)

Dolomite, limestone, sandstone,
marl, etc

190

Old Red Sandstone
and Devonian

Old Red Sandstone .

Red sandstone, grits and marls

to 105

Silurian and Cambrian (not yet found)

Azoic

Archaean

Contemporaneous volcanic rocks .

to 74

GEOLOGY

It may be seen from this table that Northamptonshire is built up
chiefly of Jurassic rocks (Lias and Oolite), upon a foundation of Upper
Palaeozoic ones. It is partially and irregularly roofed over by Quater-
nary deposits. The sculpturing of the county into hills and valleys as
we now see it, was begun before, continued with interruptions during,
and completed after the Pleistocene period.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The Mesozoic rocks of Northamptonshire rest upon an old, irregular
land surface of Palaeozoic or older rocks, which may be regarded as the
foundation of the county. This Old Land Surface has been found, and
the rocks composing it penetrated to a small depth, at a few places in
the county, by deep borings, and we propose in this section to give a
summary of the interesting information thus obtained.

Archaean. The Volcanic Period

The oldest rocks known in Britain have been named ' Archaean,'
and, since the existence of life on the earth at the time of their formation
has not been satisfactorily demonstrated, the term ' Azoic ' has been
applied to the era of their formation.

During late Archsean times Orton in Northamptonshire was the
site of a volcano, possibly one of a string of volcanoes extending from
Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, in a south-easterly direction, as far
as Cambridgeshire. The Orton volcano poured forth a lava rich in
silica, which, could it have been seen in a less altered condition than
that in which it is now found, would probably have been called a
' dacite.' As the lava gradually cooled it became devitrified, losing its
glassy nature by the development of crystals, and then, or afterwards,
was crushed, and took on the form it now has, to which the names
quartz-felsite or (perhaps more suitably) quartz-porphyry have been
given.

The above remarks embody opinions that have been expressed by
Prof. T. G. Bonney and others in various papers, and have been arrived
at from a comparison of some volcanic rocks found in a deep boring at
Orton with the volcanic rocks of Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire,
some 25 miles to the north-north-west, and of High Sharpley in particu-
lar, and also of both with the old volcanic rocks of the Wrekin and
Wales.^

The Orton boring was a trial one for coal, made in Harrington
Dale, in 1883-84, by Mr. J. Fleming of Newcastle, and although un-

* Henry John Eunson, 'The Range of the Palaeozoic Rocks beneath Northampton,'
Quart.Journ. Geol. Saf. (Aug. 1884), vol. xl. p. 492 ; 'Deep Boring at Orton, near Kettering,
Northamptonshire,' Journ. North. Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. iv. pp. S7-68 ; Hill and Bonney, 'The
Pre-carboniferous Rocks of Charnwood Forest,' Quart. 'Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxxvi. p. 342 ;
T. G. Bonney, ' On the Archaean Rocks of Great Britain,' Report of the Brit. Aisoc,
Montreal (1884), p. 537 ; 'Presidential Address to the Geological Society,' Quart. "Journ. Geol,
Soc, vol. xli., pt. 2, p. 48.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

successful in its object, the incidental information then obtained is most
interesting. An abbreviated section is given below.

Top of
Section at Orton in bed from

sea-level

Upper Lias, including soil and silt

Middle and Lower Lias

RHitTic (White Lias and Black Shales)

Keuper : Sandstone and Breccia

Old Land Surface

Volcanic Rock : Quartz-porphyrite showing an eroded surface ;
distinct cleavage at an angle of i8° with the axis of the core .

Greatest depth

Quartz-porphyrite (or dacite ?) occurred in both the Keuper breccia
and Rhastic conglomerate (White Lias), clearly indicating that after the
volcanic rock at Orton had been covered with newer deposits the same
rock was still exposed not far away ; that is to say, Orton was not the
highest part of the volcano, or not the only one.

The Cambrian and Silurian Periods

The Cambrian and Silurian periods may be passed over with the
remark that, considering the relatively small thickness of the earth's
crust at present pierced by borings in Northamptonshire, and for other
reasons, one or both of these formations may be supposed to occur below
the ascertained rocks.

The Old Red Sandstone (?)

The oldest stratified rocks that have been encountered in situ in
Northamptonshire consist of coarse red sandstones, grits and marls,
beheved by Mr. Etheridge to belong to the Old Red Sandstone period,
though, as remarked by Prof Judd, they may belong to the Carboniferous
formation ; in the absence of fossils the point must remain undecided.
Prof. Bonney says that undoubtedly the material was derived from
granitoid rocks of Archsan age.'

The rocks here referred to were encountered in the deepest boring
so far made in Northamptonshire (994 feet), at a place near to the canal
and railway between Gayton and Bugbrook, some five miles south-west of
Northampton, and two miles north-west of Blisworth station. The boring
was a trial one for water by the Northampton Waterworks Company. As
with the Orton boring, an abbreviated section is given from information
then obtained.

* Henry John Eunson, 'The Range of the Palseozoic Rocks beneath Northampton,'
Quart. 'Journ. Geol. Soc. (Aug. 1884), vol. xl. p. 492.

GEOLOGY

Section at Gayton

Top of
bed from
sea-level

Upper Lias, including soil

Middle and Lower Lias

Rh^tic : White Lias (14 feet), Black Shales (22 feet). Grey

Marls ? (6 feet)

Keuper : Sandstones and marls (53^ feet). Littoral deposits (22^ feet)

Old Land Surface

Lower Carboniferous : Limestones, sandstones, shales and marls
Old Red Sandstone ? Coarse red sandstones, grits and marls,

dipping at an angle of 45°

Greatest depth

The Carboniferous Limestone Series

There is no uncertainty with respect to the presence of rocks of
Lower Carboniferous age in Northamptonshire ; they were proved to be
190 feet thiclc at Gayton, and at Northampton a boring was stopped after
passing through 45I feet of them. It is interesting to note that in each
case they indicated, by an eroded top covered with fragmental deposits,
an Old Land Surface. Fossils were fairly abundant, and included fish
remains, cephalopods [Orthoceras) , lamellibranchs, corals, and wood.

The boring at Northampton, referred to above, was also a trial one
for water by the Northampton Waterworks Company, made in 1879, and
below we give an abbreviated section similar to the last, compiled from
information in Mr. Eunson's paper.'

Section at Kettering Road, Northampton

Thickness

feet

Top of
bed from
sea-level

Northampton Sand, mostly slipped material

Upper Lias, partly denuded

Middle and Lower Lias

Keuper : Sandstones, conglomerates, marls, and clays (Littoral

deposits)

Old Land Surface, dipping at angle of I 5°

Carboniferous : Red and white dolomite (25 feet), red and yellow

sandstones, limestones and shale (20^ feet)

Greatest depth 851

The Coal Measures

So far the Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures have not been
found in Northamptonshire. Very plausible reasons have been given
for supposing that they were never deposited over a considerable area of

' Henry John Eunson, ' The Range of the Palaeozoic Rocks beneath Northampton,'
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (Aug. 1884), vol. xl. p. 492.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

central England, owing to a broad belt of elevated land stretching across
what is now Britain, from Wales to the east coast, during the Upper
Carboniferous period. Without contesting in any way the general con-
clusion referred to above, it may be remarked that the evidence available
from deep borings tends to show that the proved absence of coal from cer-
tain parts of Northamptonshire admits of and requires another explanation,
and this may here be briefly discussed. Coal, or a near approach to it,
lignite, may be found in any of the stratified rocks of Northamptonshire,
in small pieces or larger patches, no doubt originally consisting of drift
wood. Morton records ' various diggings or borings for coal in the
county previous to 171 2 ; and an energetic attempt appears to have
been made at Kettering in 1766.' A more ambitious scheme was
formed in 1836, and a company commenced sinking a shaft at Kings-
thorpe near Northampton. This venture was made on the advice
of ' practical men,' and in opposition to the opinions of Wm. Smith
(' the father of English geology ') and Mr. Richardson (of the British
Museum).' ^30,000 was expended, and a depth of 967 feet reached
without either finding the Coal Measures or proving their absence.
An attempt was made to revive the scheme about 1854, and again in
1869, but nothing came of either.

No accurate record of the strata passed through in making the
Kingsthorpe shaft was kept, and the only available figures as to the thick-
nesses of the various formations are certainly wrong somewhere. It will
suffice here to record that after passing through the Lower Lias they
apparently met with Red Sandstone 60 feet (or 80 feet ?), Red Marl
12 feet, Conglomerate 15 feet, and stopped at 967 feet, without
reaching the Old Land Surface ; but considering that the Conglom-
erate consisted chiefly of Carboniferous Limestone pebbles in a greenish
sandy matrix, as at Gayton, there can be no reasonable doubt of its
occurrence only a little below.

The problem of finding coal in Northamptonshire involves a con-
sideration of several of the preceding sections and some of those which
follow, thus : — In the early part of the Carboniferous period the dis-
trict was mostly well under water and receiving marine deposits (cf
Gayton and Northampton), and since the whole of the Carboniferous
rocks were deposited in a gradually subsiding area, it seems more likely
than not that the Coal Measures, the uppermost division of the system,
did actually cover the whole or parts of the county, and that they, as in
the West of England and in Wales, rested directly upon Carboniferous
Limestone without the intervention of the Millstone Grit, or even in other
parts of the county upon Archsan rocks, as in certain districts of Leices-
tershire. If consideration be given to the great gap between the Car-
boniferous Limestone formation and the Keuper (see Table of Formations,

* John Morton, The Natural Hiitory of Northamptonshire (17 12).

* Northampton Mercury, Feb. 24th, 1766.

* Wm. Brown, ' The Iron Ores of Northamptonshire,' Proc. of the South Wales
Institute of Engineers, vol. ii. p. 198.

GEOLOGY

p. 2) — representing a period of time during which deposits of the aggre-
gate thickness of some 20,000 feet were formed in other localities — and
it be asked what was happening here, the answer is clearly this, that
the denudation which did not finish till late in Triassic times com-
menced a great deal later than the Lower Carboniferous period, or there
could otherwise have been none of the Carboniferous Limestone left.
In other words, there must have been a very considerable thickness of
rocks for denuding agents to act upon, over the Carboniferous Limestone
now found, and these may well have included the Coal Measures.

The Permian and Trias. The Mountainous Period

A termination to the long Carboniferous period appears to have
been brought about by extensive earth movements in the part of the
world embracing what is now England, by which great arches (anticlinal
axes) and corresponding troughs (synclinal axes) were formed, having
directions approximating more nearly to east and west than to the other
cardinal points. In the troughs the Permian rocks were deposited, and
any Coal Measures below preserved for the time being, whilst the ridges
were exposed to denudation, and the coal originally on them swept away.

At the close of the Permian period a new series of earth movements
resulted in the formation of other ridges along approximately north and
south lines.* It was this later series which completed the Pennine chain,
the great central ridge of the north of England. The two sets of inter-
secting ridges divided the coal formations into groups of depressions,
commonly called basins, and in the partially land-locked hollows so
produced the Trias beds were deposited, whilst the newly-formed ridges
were being denuded of both Permian and Coal Measures.

Northamptonshire shared in one or both of these earth movements,
and throughout the greater part of the Trias, if not also the Permian
period, was largely a land surface, subject to denudation, and during the
later stages at least, as the Carboniferous Limestone and other older rocks
got exposed, acquired an appearance comparable to that of the moun-
tainous parts of Derbyshire now. Still, it may be pointed out, the problem
of finding coal in Northamptonshire remains unsolved.

The conclusion of the Paleozoic period in geological history, and
the slightly later closing of the long land period over Northamptonshire,
left then a very uneven surface, mostly of limestone, as a foundation upon
which the main mass of the well known stratified rocks of the county were
afterwards piled almost uninterruptedly through some millions of years.

THE BUILDING UP OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

To appreciate properly the character and proportions of the Jurassic
architecture of Northamptonshire, it is necessary to take a glance at
conditions over a larger area. We have spoken of earth movements
resulting in folds of the rocks ; these were merely wrinkles in a vast

' Edw. Hull, Tht Coal Fields of Great Britain.
7

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

surface itself slowly heaving, and for a time we may forget them and
attend to the larger movements. Supposing we draw a line through
Northamptonshire in the direction of its greatest length, then, speaking
generally, to the north-west of this line the characteristic rocks of the
county gradually disappear from the surface, and the Trias and older
rocks take their place, and also attain to great thicknesses. To the south-
east of our hypothetical line we also find the characteristic rocks of
Northamptonshire disappearing, but in this direction their place is
taken by Cretaceous and newer formations. These contrary conditions
along a line lying approximately north-west to south-east can only be
explained by differential movements equivalent to alternate rising and
sinking about some more stable intermediate area. Apparently the
north-west was the sinking area up to about the Middle Lias period,
and afterwards the rising one, whereas the south-west, only finally sub-
merged in Cretaceous times, was no doubt changed from a stationary
or rising to a sinking area at about the same time.*

Northamptonshire happened to be so near to the fulcrum of the
differential movements we have been speaking of, and others acting
transversely for shorter periods in Lower Oolitic times, that when
within the sinking area it never received the full advantage of it, and
when within the rising it lost very little of what it had previously gained ;
thus qualitatively the Jurassic rocks are well represented, but quantita-
tively they are rather deficient.

The Keuper

The first effect of a gradual incursion of the sea into an area which
for a long time previously had been dry land would be to convert the
fragments of already disintegrated rock strewing its surface into pebbles.
The uneven character of the Old Land Surface in Northamptonshire
(see pp. 4, 5, 6,) necessarily implies that the pebble beds resting upon
it at different levels are not quite of the same age. Some of them
greatly resemble the Bunter, but there can be no doubt that they are all
of late Keuper to early Lower Lias age.

By tidal action then the fragments of Carboniferous limestone, quartz-
porphyrite, and other rocks constituting the Old Land Surface, were
more or less rounded ; they became imbedded in a matrix of light green
sand and carbonate of lime, and so produced a kind of concrete which
tended to level up the new sea floor.

Further levelling up of the inequalities of the floor was brought
about by deposits of variously-coloured sandstones, marls and clays.
(See sections of Orton, Gayton, Northampton and Kingsthorpe, pp.
4, 5, 6). These beds have usually been described as Trias simply, a
quite unnecessary precaution, since in two cases (Gayton and Orton) they

' Granite has been found in the Kellaways Beds at Bletchley ; quartz, quartzite, and fossils
of Jurassic age in the Lower Greensand of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire ; granite, sand-
stone, shale, quartzite, and volcanic ash in the Chalk Marl of Cambridgeshire, indicating the
late period of total submergence in or near these localities.

GEOLOGY

are immediately succeeded by Rhastic beds without any signs of uncon-
formity, and at three (Gayton, Northampton and Kingsthorpe) have
yielded salt water, rising to a great height, thus proving their connection
with the Warwickshire Keuper. It may be added that salt water was
also met with in a boring at the L. & N. W. Railway Bridge Street Station,
Northampton, in 1846. The water came from about 650 feet below the
surface, i.e. about 559 feet below sea-level, and rose to within 8 feet of
the top of the boring.

The Rh^tic Beds

For a considerable time preceding the Rhastic period, a vast regional
depression had in all probability been taking place, which masked
any differential movement that may have accompanied it ; each succeed-
ing deposit covered a larger area than its predecessor, up to the time
when no dry land was left near ; and not only so, but greater uniformity
in the character of the sediment resulted as the land supplying it receded,
and so permitted of the sorting action of deeper water. We therefore
find the Grey Marls of the Rhastic period probably represented by
some 6 feet of grey and cream-coloured marls at Gayton only, the most
westerly section to which we can appeal. The Black Shales are well
developed at Gayton (22 feet), the Avicula-contorta zone being identified
by such fossils as Avicula contorta, Cardium rhceticum and Pecten valoniensis,
and the horizon of the celebrated Bone bed by the remains of fish,
such as Acrodus, Gyrolepis and Saurichthys. At Orton these beds can only
be identified by the exact matching of some 10 feet of green shale and
sandy marl with material at Gayton. The White Lias is almost equally
well developed at Gayton and Orton, it is characterized by iron pyrites
in both places, but the only fossils recorded ' — Pectens, Ostrea and reptilian
remains — are from Gayton.

The absence of Rhstic beds at Northampton has presented difficul-
ties* but admits of a simple explanation. If we take the top of the
Middle Lias as a datum, and consider that it was deposited under very
uniform conditions as to depth over a large area (see p. 12), then,
since that time, relatively to Northampton, Orton has been raised some
219 feet, and Gayton 167 feet. Before this movement, therefore, it
would appear that the Old Land Surface at Northampton must have been
about 57 feet higher than at Gayton, and 33 feet higher than at Orton,
and not lower as at the present time, so we can understand why it never
received true Rhstic deposits.

The peculiar littoral deposits resting on the Old Land Surface at
Northampton, and other specific characters of this section can now be
better understood, for the deposits are in part contemporaneous with the
Rhstic and lowest beds of the Lower Lias of other localities. The
combined thickness of Lower and Middle Lias is less at Northampton than

* Henry John Eunson, ' The Range of the Paljeozoic Rocks beneath Northampton,'
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (Aug. 1884), vol. xl. p. 492.
^ Ibid.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

at either Gayton or Orton, as it should be according to this contention ;
also, as Mr. Eunson observes,' the lower part of the Lias clay at North-
ampton has a more sandy appearance and uneven bedding than was
observed at the other two places, indicating nearness of the material from
which it was formed and shallow water dispersal of the same.

The Lower Lias

For a long time following the Rhjetic period, as far as we can judge,
the general tranquil sinking continued over a very large area. At first the
sea was shallow, and we find evidences of proximity to land in the remains
of insects in the lowest beds of the Lias. We may consider that some
Carboniferous Limestone was left exposed for a long time in the direc-
tion of Rugby, which, by its disintegration into calcareous mud, and
admixture with argillaceous matter from a more distant source, formed
the succession of marls, also assisted by dissolved carbonate of lime in a
warm shallow sea the numerous alternating beds of argillaceous limestone
so characteristic of the Lower Lias limestone quarries around Rugby.
Higher in the formation, and therefore later in time, the Lower Lias
is a more purely argillaceous deposit, and although stone beds do occur
at intervals, they are often composed of fossils. Irregularly disposed
argillaceous nodules, or cement stones, occur throughout the formation,
but the exact origin of these has not yet been demonstrated.

The Lower Lias as a surface formation skirts the western and north-
western parts of the county from near Banbury to near Market Har-
borough (see map). It is exposed along valleys converging to Weedon,
but not so much as the map indicates. The average thickness, deduced
from the various borings, may be put at 520 feet ; this is less than is
usually quoted because the thickness of the Middle Lias has, until lately,
been much underestimated.^

It may be that every well-recognized Palaeontological zone of the
Lower Lias occurs in Northamptonshire, for they have all been found
within or near the borders ; they include xhtzontsoi Ammonites planorbis,
A. angulatus, A. bucklandi, A. semicostatus, A. tumeric A. obtusus,
A. oxynotus, A. raricostatus, A. armatus, A. jamesoni (with sub-zone
A. pettos), A. ibex, A. henleyi, A. capricornus^

We have not thought it necessary to give a very detailed account of the
Lower Lias because there are few exposures in the county. The following
particulars will give an idea as to where it may be studied. The Ibex,
Henleyi, and Capricornus zones were passed through in making Kilsby
tunnel ; the Ibex zone can be seen at Welford and Braunston ; the
Henleyi zone at Buckby Wharf; the Capricornus zone at Little Bowden,

* Henry John Eunson, * The Range of the Palxozoic Rocks beneath Northampton,'
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (Aug. 1884), vol. xl. p. 492.

* Beeby Thompson, ' Excursion to the New Railway at Catesby, Northamptonshire,'
Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xiv. pt. 10 (Nov. 1896), pp. 65-88.

' Beeby Thompson, 'Excursion to the New Railway at Catesby, Northamptonshire,'
Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xiv. pt. lo (Nov. 1896), pp. 65-88 ; 'Geology of the Great Central
Railway, Rugby to Catesby,' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. iv. (Feb. 1899).

GEOLOGY

and it was cut through at the northern end of Catesby tunnel on the
G. C. Railway.

The Middle Lias

A considerable change in the nature of the deposits, without any
striking change in the general assemblage of fossils, occurs as we pass
upwards into the Middle from the Lower Lias. It would appear that
the general depression had ceased, that the north-westerly uplift previously
referred to had commenced, and that it included or came near to western
and north-western Northamptonshire, for in these directions we find such
deposits in the Middle Lias as would be likely to result from the disturb-
ance and redistribution of the Lower Lias near at hand, such as pebble
beds containing rolled Lower Lias fossils {A. capricornus for instance),
sandstones, limestones, marls, and especially thick clay beds with a much
larger percentage of the quickly settling sand and mica than the Lower
Lias beds contain.

It is only in the western parts of the county that the Middle Lias
has been and can be fully investigated, hence the abbreviated type section
is taken from there.'
TYPICAL SECTION OF THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Name of Bed
or Zone

Description of the Beds

Approximate
thickness

Transition Bed or
' Acutus ' Zone

A. Soft grey marl, or stone, passing upwards into red sandy
clay, with Ammonites acutus

ft. in.
0 6

'Spinatus' Zone

* I. Rock-bed. A calcareous or sandy bed, often ferruginous,
many fossils. Ammonites spinatus (rare)
2. Calcareous or sandy clay, may have ferruginous nodules
and one or more beds of sandy limestone

6 0
9 0

'Margaritatus'

Zone

(upper)

3. Two beds of soft sandstone, or shale, highly fossiliferous,

separated by sandy, micaceous marl or clay ; all
containing Ammonites margaritatus

4. Sandy, micaceous and ferruginous clay ; fossils all casts

* 5. Hard mottled rock, may be largely oolitic, and green in
colour, or composed of comminuted shell ; generally
contains pebbles and water-worn fragments of fossils

12 0

12 0
2 0

' Margaritatus '
Zone (lower) or
'Nitesccns'Zone

6. Bluish-grey, sandy, highly micaceous clay, with numerous
more calcareous indurated masses and impersistent
beds, with Ammonites nitescens, etc.

56 0

Junction Bed

7. Layer of water-worn nodules, discoloured, bored, in matrix
of green sand with numerous foraminifera, oysters
and pectens, etc. Resting on ' Capricornus ' zone

0 6

98 0

* Water-bearing.
• Beeby Thompson, ' Excursion to the New Railway at Catesby, Northamptonshire,'
Proc. Geo/. Assoc, vol. xiv. pt. lO (Nov. 1896), pp. 65-88 ; The Middle Lias of Northamp-
tonshire.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Any of the hard beds may yield water, but the only ones that can
be fairly well relied upon to do so, and that give permanent springs
within the district, are those marked thus *.

The Junction bed. No. 7, is seldom to be seen ; the most interesting
exposure that has occurred was near to Welton Station.' Beds included
under 6 may be examined in the deep valleys around Catesby and
Hellidon ; beds 3 to 5 near to Staverton and Byfield, etc.

The Marlstone rock-bed, No. i, may be found over much of the
area shown as Middle Lias on the map ; it is by far the most important
bed, having been worked for ironstone in the south-western parts of the
county, near Kings Sutton, and for building stone and road metal almost
everywhere where it occurs near to the surface.

The Transition Bed

At or near the close of the Middle Lias period there appears to
have been a pause in the terrestrial movements we have chronicled in
previous pages, during which time little or no sedimentation took place,
for attrition of the rock-bed itself may have yielded the small thickness
of grey marl usually found resting upon it. The striking similarity in
character, thickness, and fossil contents of the Transition bed over a large
part of Northamptonshire and some neighbouring counties, indicates
uniformity of conditions, including depth, hence a few pages back we
took this horizon as a datum for calculating subsequent earth movements.
The time taken up by the period we are considering was no doubt a
fairly long one, for the fauna of the bed is a mixture indicating a decline
of Middle Lias forms and an influx of Upper Lias ones, hence the term
' Transition Bed ' given to it by Mr. E. A. Walford.^ Ammonites acutus
is characteristic, and several of the interesting gasteropods found in it
might be so regarded for this district.

The Upper Lias

Before the Transition period much or the whole of Northampton-
shire was embraced in the north-westerly rising area, after it in the sink-
ing (south-easterly or general ?) area. Then followed, on a smaller scale,
a remarkable repetition of Lower and Middle Lias phenomena. As the
near land disappeared, and the shore line receded, in succession were
formed paper shales with much vegetable matter, and fine-grained fish
and insect limestones, then calcareous clays with argillaceous limestones,
(but only two or three) ; next purer clays with isolated cement stones.
Towards the close (corresponding to the change from Lower to Middle
Lias, p. 11) we find a layer of water-worn nodules and rolled fossils, some
covered with ostrea or serpu/ce, followed by micaceous sandy clays
containing an entirely new fauna mixed with the old, and in certain

' W. D. Crick and C. Davies Sherborn, ' On some Liassic Foraminifera from North-
amptonshire,' Journ. North. Nat. Hist. Sac, vol. vi. p. 2o8.

* Edwin A. Walford, ' On some Middle and Upper Lias Beds in the Neighbourhood of
Banbury,' Proc. IVarw. Nat. and Arch. Field Club (1878).

GEOLOGY

places clay balls crowded with fossils, at all angles, which they had picked
up whilst rolling in a soft condition, indicating nearness of actual
denudation. Finally, in the Northampton Sand we have the representative
of the Marlstone rock-bed, by its fossils linked to the beds below, and with
wood and ironstone indicating nearness to land ; its coral reefs, slates made
of calcareous sandy mud, beds of comminuted shell, and layers of small
pebbles all pointing to shallow, warm water. An abbreviated section of
the Upper Lias is given below ; further particulars may be obtained
from other sources.^

TYPICAL SECTION OF UPPER LIAS

Zone

Name of
Bed or Zone

Description of the Beds

Approximate

maximum

thickness

in feet

'Opalinus' Zone

Northampton Sand

* Jurensis '
Zone

« Lilli ' Zone
(Buckman)

1. Layer ofnodules, some bored, some phosphatized.

2. Micaceous sandy clay, with layers of nodules,

thin oyster beds, clay balls ; many Inferior
Oolite fossils

3. Layer of water-worn nodules, bleached, some

covered with ostrea or with serpulce

Leda-ovum
Beds

4. Blue clay, with nodules, Leda-ovum, and many
ammonites ; Cerithium armatum and other
gasteropods in lower 30 ft.

'Communis'

Unfossiliferous
Beds

5. Blue clay, with large nodules, much nail-head
ipar, and few fossils

Communis
Beds

6. Argillaceous limestone passing into shale, or

even clay ; many fossils, especially ammonites

7. Somewhat calcareous clay, with oolitic concre-

tions, many small specimens of Ammonites com-
munis and other ammonites of the same group

' Serpen-

Serpentinus
Beds

8. Hard, argillo-calcareous stone, with large am-

monites of the Harpoceras group, etc.

9. Light-coloured marl, very few fossils

tinus '
Zone

Fish Beds

10. Paper shales, dark or light-coloured according

to weathering, with fish remains

11. Fish Beds, one or two, fine grained limestones,

nodular or persistent, with ammonites and fish
remains

.84

* Beeby Thompson, ' The Upper Lias of Northamptonshire,' Journ. North. Nat. Hist.
Soc, vol. iii. pp. 3, 183, 299; vol. iv. pp. 16, 27, 215 ; vol. v. p. 54 ; vol. vi. p. 96;
'Report on some Liassic Beds in Northamptonshire,' Report Brit. Assoc, 1S91, pp. 334-351-

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The Upper Lias varies very little in thickness throughout the
county, and the zones are well marked. The map will show where the
Upper Lias is exposed, and as the clays are largely used for brickmaking,
the neighbourhood of any town or large village situated on it, or on the
Northampton sand, will generally have one or more exposures.

The Lower Oolites

The Lower Oolites consist of ironstones, sandstones, clays, marls and
limestones ; and since sandy strata, and even some limestones, indicate
comparative nearness to the source of the material, they are seldom as
persistent in thickness and superficial extent as argillaceous beds. In
addition, oolitic limestones probably indicate warm, agitated, and therefore
shallow water during the time of their formation. There was so much
coquetting of the land with fresh and salt water about this period that
we can scarcely speak of the series of Lower Oolitic rocks as we did of
the Lias, but will make such references to the physical conditions then
existing as seem called for, in the appropriate place. The beds can be
usually identified without the aid of characteristic fossils.

The Inferior Oolite

Inferior is a term used to designate position only. In our small
scale map the whole series is represented under one colour.

TYPICAL SECTION OF INFERIOR OOLITE SERIES

Name of
Series

Description of the Beds

Approximate

maximum

thickness

in feet

Lincoln-
shire
Oolite

* I. Lincolnshire Limestone : Cream-coloured freestones,

shelly oolitic ragstones, and marly beds. Many fossils

* 2. CoLLYWESTON Slate : Fissile, calcareous sandstones, or

sandy limestones (or sands only)

80
5

Northamp-
ton
Sand

3. Lower Estuarine Beds : Mostly white or bluish sands

with vertical plant markings

4. Variable Beds : Calcareous and slaty with much com-

minuted shell when distinct, but may incline to 3 or 5
* 5. Ironstone Beds : Rich red ore, ruddy sandstone, green or
grey carbonate of iron, calcareous beds, and more rarely
pyritous beds

* Water-bearing beds.

The Northampton Sand

The Ironstone Beds constitute a valuable source of iron, and are
consequently worked at many places. The red ore consists largely of a
hydrated peroxide of iron (Brown Hsematite or Limonite) ; it may present

GEOLOGY

varied appearances, but the most characteristic is that of a dark brown or
red mineral, rich in iron, filUng cracics in, and coating blocks or roundish
lumps of green, grey, or brown oolitic or other lighter-coloured ferruginous
matter concentrically, thereby producing a peculiar cellular or box-
within-box-like arrangement. The red beds may however consist of
sand coated with a pellicle of iron peroxide, which gives a regular ruddy
appearance to the whole. The green ore is almost entirely an oolitic
carbonate of iron, to the colour of which either or both silicate and
phosphate of iron contribute. Low down in the series a darker bluish
green rock is often met with, which is rejected for furnace purposes
because of the phosphorus it contains. Calcareous matter is no dis-
advantage in the ore unless it replaces the iron too much. Highly
pyritous mineral occurs at a few places where the rock is deep-seated,
and water has not been able to circulate in it ; indeed everywhere the
circulation of oxygenated water appears to have been the direct cause of
peroxidation of the mineral.

The origin of the iron and the form of the ore in the Northampton
Sand cannot here be discussed, indeed it is by no means a settled question,
but those who wish to pursue the subject must consult Prof. Judd's
remarks thereon.^

The distribution of fossils in the ironstone beds is most erratic ; in
places they are exceedingly abundant as casts, or moulds ; or when the
beds are more calcareous good specimens can be secured, but miles of
ironstone cutting may be searched in vain for such. Ammonites jurensis,
A. opalinus and A. murchisona^ cephalopods which are characteristic of
distinct zones in other parts of England, appear to occur together low
down in the series.

Although 30 feet is given as the maximum thickness of the ironstone
beds, it is rare to find more than from 9 to 12 feet worth working.

The Variable Beds well deserve the name for they are most irre-
gular in character and occurrence ; they may lose their individuality in the
white sands above, in the ironstone series below, or more or less in both.
In the forms of an inferior ironstone, a red freestone, or white oolitic
flaggy beds, they have been extensively used for building purposes, and
even dug for roofing slates (New Duston) ; they have also been burnt
for lime.

Since in many places where these beds cannot be identified there is
no apparent thickening of the estuarines above or the ironstone below, we
may presume that they are absent, and where they are present, therefore,
a local origin for the material of which they are composed is to be
postulated. There is reason to believe that the purer limestones of the
series consist largely of coral mud and sand} certainly near Northampton,
in the direction of Abington, such beds partly fringe and partly cover

' John W. Judd, 'The Geology of Rutland,' etc., Memoirs of thi Geological Survey,
pp. 113-138.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

an extensive coral reef, which rises above the general surface of the
deposits now constituting the ironstone beds under part of North-
ampton.

The Lower Estuarine Beds consist, usually, of white or light
purplish sands, with some argillaceous matter, but the latter may
preponderate. A striking characteristic of these beds is the almost
universal presence in them of vertical black streaks or even carbonized
stems of plants of contemporaneous growth. Two distinct periods of
plant growth may be traced over many square miles,' and at places
[e.g. Corby), horizontally bedded carbonaceous matter may be detected
between the plant beds, indicating contemporaneous denudation in the
neighbourhood.

The sand as such is used for various purposes ; where more
indurated as a building stone (at Kingsthorpe for example), though very
little at the present day ; the clay beds for brickmaking (Dene and else-
where), and terra-cotta* manufacture (Stamford).

Notwithstanding the often very distinctive characters of these beds,
it is impossible to regard them otherwise than as the upper part of one
series, the Northampton Sand.

The Northampton Sand then embraces the three sets of beds just
described, and these may quickly pass from one into the other. For in-
stance, at Duston, two miles west of Northampton, the ironstone beds are
fully 30 feet thick ; at Berry Wood, three-quarters of a mile to the north-
west, in the entire thickness of 68 feet of Northampton Sand there is
no true ironstone, but only ferruginous rock ; in another three-quarters
of a mile in the same direction the whole exposure, some 30 feet, is
white, or only slightly ruddy sand ; at New Duston, one and a half miles
nearly north of the ironstone workings, under about 4 feet of white
sand, are 42 feet of either ruddy building stone, or calcareous rock
and slaty beds, with fossiliferous limestones near the base. In a southerly
direction the white sands rest directly upon Upper Lias Clay (Grafton
Regis and Paulerspury) ; and in a south-easterly direction the series
apparently dies out very rapidly and is not to be detected at and beyond
Preston Deanery, which latter place is only four and a half miles from
Duston. On passing the Ise brook in a north-easterly direction the
Northampton Sand maintains a much more equable facies over a con-
siderable area.

The Estuarine origin of the deposits may be pretty confidently
affirmed, judging by their rapid variations in character, both vertically
and horizontally ; beds with corals and other marine fossils alternate with

' Beeby Thompson, 'The Oolitic Rocks at Stowe-Nine-Churches,' Journ. North. Nat.
Hist. Soc, No. 48, vol. vi. p. 295 ; 'Excursion to Weldon, Dene, and Gretton,' Proc. Geo/.
Assoc, vol. xvi. p. 226 (Nov. 1899).

* John W. Judd, ' The Geology of Rutland,' etc., Memoirs of the Geological Survey,
pp. 103, 104.

GEOLOGY

brackish water forms ; plant beds occur, from which it would appear that
a kind of equisetum covered a great many square miles of the swampy
ground ; and false-bedded and ripple-marked sandstones indicate shallow
water. It is probable that the river or rivers came from the north-

west.'

The Lincolnshire Oolite

The latter part of the Inferior Oolitic period in this district was
characterized by a local depression over an area of some ninety square miles,
embracing chiefly north-east Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. The
extreme westerly (Maidwell) and southerly (Wold) limits of the Lincoln-
shire limestone now to be seen are probably not far from the boundary of
the original depression in these directions.

The main mass of the Lincolnshire Oolite consists of compact,
subcrystalline, oolitic, fossiliferous, and slightly argillaceous limestones ;
and of shelly ragstones (Barnack Rag, etc.), towards the formation of which
coral contributed much. The beds thicken in a north-easterly direction
to about 75 feet at Stamford, in which direction no doubt the deeper
water lay. Nearness to land and shallow water is indicated by wood,
plants, and rolled shells, indeed the limestone appears to have been in
places a dead-shell bank. The lower beds may be marly and soft, but a
good portion of the stone furnishes a cream-coloured freestone suitable for
ornamental work, as well as general building purposes. A hard shelly
variety takes a good polish, and is known as Weldon marble, Stamford
marble, etc., according to the place from which it comes. All forms
produce lime of good quality.

Collyweston Slates. The lower beds of the Lincolnshire Oolite
formation in those parts that may be looked upon as the margin of the
depression in its earlier stages, are either sands or sandy limestones or
both. The arenaceous limestones have been largely worked at Dene,
and between Stamford and Collyweston and elsewhere, under the name
of Collyweston Slates. At Collyweston the workable bed varies from 6
inches to 3 feet in thickness, but more or less slaty beds occasionally
encroach on the main mass of limestone to the thickness of 18 feet.
Ripple marks, worm tracks, and plant remains in the slates, as also the
sands, indicate shallow water and nearness of land."

' John W. Judd, ' The Geology of Rutland,' etc., Memoin of the Geological Survt\'t

P- 129-

^ For more detailed description of these and other beds of the Inferior Oolite consult
Sharp and Judd. John W. Judd, 'The Geology of Rutland,' etc., Mnnoirs of the Geological
Survey ; Samuel Sharp, ' The Oolites of Northamptonshire,' pt. i., Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.
(Aug. 1870), p. 354 ; pt. 2, ihid. (1873), P- 225.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

TYPICAL SECTION OF THE GREAT OOLITE SERIES

Description of the Beds

Approximate
maximum
thickness

CoRNBRASH : White, ruddy, or blue limestone, very fossiliferous, with

/Ammonites macrocephalus, A. discus, etc.
Forest Marble Series : Variegated clays, hard flaggy blue-hearted

limestones, shales, and oyster-beds, etc.
Great Oolite Clay : Blue and purple clay, with wood and car-
bonaceous matter, and ironstone
Great Oolite Limestone Series : Hard shelly limestones in courses,

with marly or oyster-bed partings. Ammonites gracilis
Upper Estuarine Series : Very variable

{a) Green, grey, or blue clay, or marl, with vertical plant-markings
and carbonaceous matter
* {b) Hard blue-hearted limestone, marl, hard shale, or oyster-bed (6 ft.)
(f) Blue, dark brown, or nearly white clay, with vertical plant-
markings, or carbonaceous matter ; or possibly an oyster-
bed. Ironstone at base

ft. in.

15 O

8 o

12 O

25 O

30 0

90 o

* Water-bearing.

The Upper Estuarine Series

The scale of the accompanying map does not permit of the
divisions of the Inferior and Great Oolite series being separately and
respectively represented on it, hence the connection between the two sets
of Estuarine beds is not seen. Speaking generally, in the valley of the
Nene the two Estuarine series come together, and in the valley of the
Welland they are separated by the Lincolnshire Oolite.

The Upper Estuarine beds are even more variable than the lower in
thickness and character over large areas. They also undergo rapid
changes in the same area. In some places from eight to ten very
distinct beds might be chronicled, but a three-fold division (see Typical
Section) answers for most purposes.

The occurrence of carbonaceous matter, large pieces of wood in
some places vertical plant markings in others, and limestones, as well as
both marine and fresh or brackish water mollusca — Modiola, Ostrea,
Cyrena and JJnio, etc. — point to such variable conditions as could be best
secured in the estuary of a large river, hence the name given to them by
Prof Judd. Probably the finest section ever exposed within the county
was at Roade Cutting, on the L. & N.-W. Railway, but a very good one
could recently be seen in one of the ironstone workings near to Finedon.
In the eastern parts of the county a nodular fossiliferous ironstone, about
one foot thick, occurs at the base ; and even in the western, midland and
other parts, where the two Estuarines come together, in almost all cases a
ferruginous band marks the junction. The commonly irregular junction,
with its ferruginous band, is supposed to indicate an unconformity

GEOLOGY

between the two estuarine series; probably it does, but absence of sediment
rather than loss of it by later denudation accounts for the missing beds/

The clays are dug for brick-making, and have been used for fire-
clay and terra-cotta manufacture ; the ironstone yields a good quality of
iron, but does not pay to work. Agriculturally these beds are probably
the worst in the county, producing cold wet lands, and the heartily
disliked oyster-bed soils, locally known as pen-earth or penny-earth.

The Upper Estuarine series represents in time the Fuller's Earth of
Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, indeed the limestone, 5^, may be a
deposit contemporary with the Fuller's Earth rock. The upper part of
5a, together with the lower part of the limestones above, probably
corresponds in time with the Stonesfield slate.

The Great Oolite Limestone

This set of beds consists of yellowish or white limestone in
various courses, much jointed, sometimes compact and blue-hearted, and
mostly bluish when deep-seated. The partings between the courses of
stone may consist either of sand, marl, dirty clay, oyster-beds, or com-
minuted shell. The limestone is seldom oolitic, and only occasionally
can be worked as a freestone like its contemporary the Bath oolite,
nevertheless it has been most extensively used in the county for
building, both of churches and houses, and for walls, often without
mortar. Some of the hard, blue, shelly and subcrystalline limestone
will take a good polish ; around Castor and Alwalton such stone
was formerly quarried and used under the name of Alwalton marble,
but it appears to be lacking in durability. The limestone is much
quarried for the production of lime, but to a still larger extent as a
flux for local ironstone.

The limestone division of the Great Oolite series retains consider-
able uniformity in character and thickness throughout the county ; this
is the more notable since not far from Banbury, in a south-westerly
direction, it gets very sandy, and has been mistaken for the Northampton
Sand ; and in Lincolnshire it almost disappears. It is distinctly a marine
formation, as shown by the abundant fauna, yet the frequent alternation
of oyster-beds, the common occurrence of plant remains, the change to
sandy conditions to the south-west and dying out to the north-east, as
well as its interposition between beds of an estuarine character, point to
shallow water conditions and nearness to land.

The Great Oolite Clay

The clay named Great Oolite Clay by Prof Judd is the same as
the Blisworth Clay of Mr. Sharp,^ and no doubt represents, in time, the

* Beeby Thompson, ' Excursion to Weldon, Dene, and Gretton,' Proc. Gcol. Assoc,
vol. xvi. p. 226 (Nov. 1899).

* Samuel Sharp, 'The Oolites of Northamptonshire,' pt. i., Quart. Journ. Gcol. Soc.
(Aug. 1870), p. 354.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Bradford Clay of south-eastern -England. In Northamptonshire it is a
variegated clay — blue, green, yellow, or purplish, and occasionally bitu-
minous (Peterborough) — containing, in irregular layers, white, green,
septarian, concretionary, calcareous, or ferruginous nodules. Ostrea sub-
rugulosa is fairly abundant, and quantitatively may be regarded as a
characteristic species of fossil in differentiating this from the beds im-
mediately above (see next section). Blisworth, Stowe-Nine-Churches,
Thrapstone, Oundle and Wansford are some of the places where it has
been well exposed.

The Forest Marble Series

This set of beds (named from its occurrence at Wychwood Forest in
Oxfordshire) is, in north-eastern Northamptonshire, inseparable from the
Great Oolite Clay, hence under the latter name is recorded a thickness
of 20 feet. South of the Nene valley, at Stowe-Nine-Churches, near
Pattishall, Roade, and Quinton, we have, over beds such as are described
in the previous section, variegated clays with thin bands of fibrous car-
bonate of lime, hard shales, flaggy limestones with abundant interbedded
plant remains, and oyster-beds. At Quinton a bed between 3 and 4
feet thick consists almost entirely of Ostrea sowerbyi, with a smaller
number of specimens of Modiola hnbricata and IJnkardium varicosum.

Both the Great Oolite Clay and the Forest Marble series, although
containing only a marine fauna, by their changeable nature, interbedded
vegetation, and other characters suggest distinctly shallow water and
estuarine conditions, though there was probably a general sinking and
consequent levelling up going on, preparatory to the deposition of the
thick argillaceous deposits commencing with the Oxford Clay.

The Cornbrash

The Cornbrash is usually a hard, blue, fossiliferous limestone when
encountered under other rocks ; at the surface it weathers to a yellowish
or ruddy colour, and forms a rubbly or brashy rock and soil, supposed to
be particularly suited to corn, hence the name. Within Northampton-
shire it mostly occurs as isolated masses (see map), but no doubt at one
time covered the whole county, for it is the most persistent of all the cal-
careous strata of the Oolitic period, being met with right across England.
It has been found in Northamptonshire as far westward as Stowe-Nine-
Churches, let down by a ' fault. '^ The average thickness is about 5
feet, but in the eastern parts of the county (Peterborough, etc.) it reaches
to 1 5 feet. The stone is not much used, though some rough walling
may be done with it also road mending ; it is also occasionally burnt
for lime.

* Beeby Thompson, ' The Oolitic Rocks of Stowe-Nine-Churches,' Journ. North. Nat,
Hist. Soc, No. 48, vol. vi. p. 295.

GEOLOGY

The Oxford Clay and Kellaways Rock

The Oxford Clay is now only represented by the lower beds within
Northamptonshire ; it forms a fringe to the east of the county, from
Yardley Chase to Peterborough ; patches of it occur as outliers at a few
places (see map) ; it underlies part of the Fenland, and probably at one
time covered the whole county. The formation, as here to be examined,
consists of a blue, slate-coloured, or brownish clay when superficial, con-
taining iron pyrites, selenite, septaria, and many fossils. The lowest
portion, a little above the Cornbrash, is shaly, and contains fissile sandy
layers almost passing into stone, with Avicula inaquivalvis, Gryphcea
bi/obata, Nucula nuda, etc., and so no doubt represents the Kellaways Clay
and Rock of other localities.

The Kimeridge Clay to the Chalk

There is some reason to believe that the Kimeridge Clay once
covered the county, for its characteristic fossils occur rather abundantly
in the Drift deposits at certain places, whereas traces of rocks of an age
between it and the chalk do not. It is still more certain that the county
was once covered with chalk, for the double reason that it could not
have remained above water during the deposit of the deep sea chalk
around, and the chalk and flint fragments of the early Drift are likely to
have had a home origin.

THE SCULPTURING OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

On emergence of land subsequent to the chalk period the sculptur-
ing of Northamptonshire began. Desiccation of the recently water-
logged rocks caused their exposed surfaces to crack in all directions, while
the gases of the atmosphere acted on them chemically. Possibly freezing
and thawing, but certainly wetting and drying, and heating and cooling
with night and day and the changes of the seasons assisted then, as they
do now, in breaking up the surface of the ground, while wind and running
water distributed the material. Assuming that denudation commenced
here at about the same time that Tertiary deposits were beginning to be
formed in the southern, south-eastern, and eastern districts of what is now
England, we may consider that the sculpturing of the county has
occupied between two and three millions of years.

The dip of the newly-exposed ground determined the general, and
inequalities on its surface the specific directions of the earliest main lines
of drainage, but the deepening and widening of these primary valleys,
and the development of lateral ones, has been chiefly the work of running
water since.

If we look at a map of the Catchment Basins of England, we shall
observe that the Wash receives water from practically every point of
the compass excepting that in which lies the open sea, which is at
least inconsistent with the general south-easterly dip of the strata we

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

have spoken of (p. i). Again; we notice that whilst the Nene and
Welland rivers, and even the Ise, Harper and Willow brooks in the
early parts of their course, flow in a north-easterly direction, the newer
tributary streams of the Nene and the later-formed channels of the older
ones take directions much more in accordance with the present dip of
the strata, being even more southward than eastward (see map). All
this points to a second uplift of the strata not in concord with the first,
which, while it modified much of the drainage, could not divert the
then well-established main lines of the rivers.

The Northampton Heights

The structure and formation of hills in general will be considered
later, but this appears to be the proper place to speak of that range of
heights bordering the county to the west and north-west, from north
of Banbury to near Market Harborough, known as the Northampton
Heights or Northampton Uplands. They form an almost uninterrupted
fence to the county nearly approaching or exceeding 500 feet in height ;
patches more than 600 feet above O.D. occur about Charwelton, Cold
Ashby, Naseby and elsewhere, and some smaller spots reach to 700 feet or
more, the highest point being Arbury Hill, 735 feet. These hills consti-
tute a part of the diagonal water-parting of lower central England, and may
be regarded as a continuation of the Cotteswolds. Now considering the
height of the hills, the exceptional and very similar dip from all points
of the compass ranging between south-west through west to north to-
wards Northampton, confirmed by the direction of flow of the two main
branches of the Nene to the same place (see map), we conclude that these
hills represent the direction of that line of uplift which appeared to be
called for by differences in direction of the earlier and later-formed
valleys of the county. A diagonal elevation or fold, running approxi-
mately from south-west to north-east, on crossing the area dipping to the
Wash, would give rise to a curving of the Mesozoic outcrop towards the
depression, just as we find it.

No evidence is available to fix the time of the probable uplift we
have been considering, but on the whole it is more likely to have
occurred during the Miocene (or early Pliocene) than any other period, a
time of great crust movements affecting a large portion of the earth, when
both the Alps and Himalayas received their last great upward thrust, and
when England acquired very closely the shape it now has, though it was
not quite severed from the continent till later.

The Pliocene Period

Great earth movements, by affecting the distribution of land and
water, would be likely to bring about changes in climate ; but whether
we accept this as sufficient, or add to it astronomical causes, there is clear
evidence that towards the close of the Tertiary — that is, in the Pliocene
period — the climate was getting colder, and ultimately ice reigned
supreme over Northamptonshire and all districts north of it.

GEOLOGY

As the southern counties of England were not glaciated when
Northamptonshire was, so at an earlier period Northamptonshire was not
when more northern counties were. Certain accumulations of sand in
old depressions (valleys) of Pre-glacial age, sometimes described as Pre-
glacial deposits,' may have been formed contemporaneously with the
Pliocene beds of the east coast, but they may have been formed later,
and since they are certainly connected with glacial conditions not far
away, they will receive attention in the next section.

The Glacial Period

Clear evidence exists of two distinct periods of refrigeration in
Northamptonshire, and of three periods of diluvial action, corresponding
with the advent, temporary recession, and final decline of glacial con-
ditions. A common-sense view of what would be likely to happen
during the advance and retirement of an ice sheet appears to afford
an adequate explanation of the extra-ordinary phenomena of the Drift
deposits.

Considering the main mass of a glacier to have passed from snow,
through neve, to compact ice, a great thickness of ice presupposes a
plentiful supply of moisture, but not necessarily great cold, indeed
a mean annual temperature not far below the freezing-point of water
would suffice for glacier formation. Northamptonshire was never far
from the southerly limit of complete glaciation, and so probably
fulfilled the above conditions.

Suppose an ice sheet advancing from the north. This would
necessarily imply, either as a cause or effect, a lowering of the mean
annual temperature, but is quite compatible with warm, if short,
summers during which the melting of local snow and ice would give rise
to great floods, and these would distribute sand and gravel derived from
local rocks along their course of flow, the old river valleys, whilst disen-
gaged blocks of ground ice and masses of frozen ground would disturb
the soft wet clays on which they impinged or grounded. Most of the
evidences of this preliminary glacial (or pre-glacial) action were necessarily
obliterated by subsequent events, but some remain.

There are certain sand beds, from 20 to 40 feet in thickness,
with a width varying up to half a mile, occupying an elongated depres-
sion, which have been traced for about eight miles on the south side oi
the Nene valley, through the parishes of Heyford, Bugbrook, Rothers-
thorpe, Milton, Collingtree, Courteenhall, and beyond towards Pid-
dington. These sands, finely laminated and apparently quite free from
erratics, are certainly to great extent derived from the Northampton
Sand. Recently these beds were cut right through at Courteenhall for
draining purposes, and it was then seen that at and towards the base
of the cutting gravel rather than sand predominated, that this gravel

* John W. Judd, ' The Geology of Rutland,' etc., Memoln of the Geological Sur-vey,
p. 240.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

rested upon an irregular surface of Upper Lias Clay, which, where rising
into hunimocky masses, was highly contorted. Again, in the stratified
gravel and sand beds above were large and small boulders of Upper
Lias Clay, some oxidized and carrying vegetable matter, showing them
to be fragments of the pre-glacial soil, and to have been carried by
fioating ice.

With continued refrigeration (fluctuations apart), we may con-
sider that each succeeding winter the ground would get frozen to a
greater depth, and each summer the proportion of snow and ice melted
less, until a sedentary ice sheet formed in situ. A glacier advancing
from more northerly parts would firstly override this, then by a process
of regelation incorporate it, and so ultimately compel movement of it.
The thickness of matter moved would at first, of course, correspond to
the depth of previously frozen ground, and the junction of this latter
with the unfrozen rock below the lowest plane of shearing. These basal
layers, highly charged with local rock constituents, would move very
slowly compared with the glacier as a whole, and so the material be
only to a small extent, and that very gradually, incorporated in the main
mass of ice, carried as englacial drift and deposited as erratics at a con-
siderable distance from its source. Hence we see why Boulder Clay or
Till is so commonly in the main composed of local rocks.

The movement of ice, like that of water, being along lines of least
resistance, such as are afforded by river valleys and low-lying ground, an
easy passage for a glacier would be afforded in eastern Northamptonshire
and the whole area around the Wash ; combine this with a slightly higher
latitude, and it is reasonable to suppose that the outfalls of the Welland,
Nene and Ouse were stopped before true glacial conditions prevailed in
more westerly parts of the county, and so the ordinary and extraordinary
drainage of a large area diverted to the west and south.

To water from outside the county in a northerly direction, seeking
to discharge southwards, the Northampton Heights and a spur of high
ground by Hillmorton and south of Rugby offered an almost complete
barrier, and so the water was largely diverted into the Avon valley ; the
evidences of this are as follows. At Hillmorton drift sand and gravel
are heaped up to the thickness of 170 feet against a highly inclined cliff
of Lower Lias Clay facing nearly north. Eastward, towards Crick, the
deposit to be seen, 50 feet in depth, passes rather rapidly into gravel ;
westward, however, towards Rugby, gravel gives place to fine false-bedded
sand, with here and there lenticular patches of gravel, or even clay ; and
then, in a kind of bay east and south of Rugby, to a contorted brown
sandy clay or loam, with a few erratics in patches, showing that a glacier
contributed both water and ice, and of this there is further evidence in
disturbed and scratched local limestone block.'

One opening into the county, and probably the only one in the

' Beeby Thompson, ' Geology of the Great Central Railway, Rugby to Catesby,' Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc.,\o\.'\v.{Ye.h. 1899) ; 'Excursion to Hillmorton and Rugby,' Proc. Geo/. Assoc,
vol. XV. pt. 10 (Nov. 1898).

GEOLOGY

western half of it that allowed water to enter from without, appears to
have existed between Kilsby and Crick, and through this gap a portion
of the glacier water poured after reaching a certain level, and in it left a
deposit of sand continuous with the Hillmorton beds. We thus have a
simple explanation of the disastrous quicksand encountered near the south
end of Kilsby tunnel when the latter was made, of the enormous volume
of water pumped from it, and the remarkable way in which the trial
holes failed to detect it.

Southward of the Kilsby tunnel gap the water appears to have been
disposed of partly to the westward, around the southern end of the Marl-
stone outlier on which Welton stands, towards Braunston, and so into
the Learn valley ; partly along the valley through which the L. & N. W.
Railway runs from Watford to Weedon (see map), and thence along the
channel previously referred to as extending from Heyford to Courteenhall,
and on into the low-lying land constituting the valley of the Ouse. This
old channel was, there is much reason for believing, a branch of the
Ouse, and not the Nene as the nearest stream to it now is. The sand
beds which we rely upon for identifying the course of flow are, between
Wilton and Daventry, about 40 feet thick under 10 feet of gravel, and
nearly the same at other places south of the Nene (see p. 23).

Lower Glacial Deposits

The sand beds (not including the overlying gravel) although formed
by water action antecedently to the period of complete glaciation of the
county, no doubt ultimately passed upwards into an earth and boulder-
laden ice, and by this ice, valleys at a higher level, and otherwise less
accessible to glacier flood water were gradually choked, and the general
surface of the ground covered. The infilling Boulder Clays, or dirty
gravels of certain pre-glacial valleys may be regarded as an imperfectly
washed residue of this first ice sheet, and are therefore Lower Glacial
deposits, but on the whole the previous presence of an extensive ice sheet
can only be inferred from the modified Drift to be considered next.

Mid-glacial Gravels. Inter-glacial Period

The first glaciation was followed by a comparatively long interval of
time during which a mild climate prevailed. The retreat of the ice, like
its advance, was accompanied by great floods, implying rather rapid
changes of climate. It would appear that subaerial melting produced
superglacial floods sufficient in intensity to carry away all the finer
argillaceous matter previously included in the ice, and ultimately left a
well-washed ground moraine of coarser material spread over much of the
county, but especially in the larger valleys, where the ice had been
thickest and the consequent floods greatest and most prolonged. These
Drift Gravels or Mid-glacial Gravels rest either upon the denuded surface
of one of the Mesozoic rocks, or unconformably upon the earlier sand or
gravel beds (as may be well seen at Hillmorton) ; they are usually well

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTOiNSHIRE

bedded, and by alternations of pebbles and sand indicate variations in the
strength of the water currents.

In the eastern half of the county gravel beds of local material are to
be met with, as might have been anticipated. At Pytchley, for instance,
a deposit of nearly pure Great Oolite limestone gravel, some 1 5 feet
thick, covers a considerable area. At Brigstock, a deposit of shelly
oolitic limestone has only recently been proved to be gravel by the find-
ing in it of land and freshwater shells in small patches of clay, and, when
carefully looked for, small quartz pebbles, etc'

In the western half of the county the gravels reach their greatest
development, the beds are thicker and cover a more extended area than
in the eastern parts, all of which is consistent with the supposition that
the area was nearer to the extreme limits reached by the ice.

The Great Chalky Boulder Clay

Again glacial conditions set in, ice once more invaded the county,
picking up and incorporating in its mass the loose material of the mid-
glacial gravels, clay and fragments of local rocks, and so producing, with
the new material it brought from a distance, a more complex mixture
than any preceding it. The permanent results were so different to those
of the former glaciation as to justify the following comparison. The
falling and rising of mean temperature was slower, advance and recession
of the ice sheet more gradual, antecedent and consequent floods less
violent, period of glaciation longer, thickness of the ice greater, advance
southwards further than in the previous period, added to which there was
a probable depression of the whole area some 150 to 200 feet.

The evidences of the last glaciation of the county are to be found in
a mass of clay resting indifferently upon any of the older formations of
the county, in which boulders of various rocks, and chalk and flint in
particular, are abundant, hence the name Chalky Boulder Clay. The
clay is mostly blue, but may be brown or yellowish in colour, and
calcareous or sandy in constitution, or even approximate to a dirty gravel,
depending upon the comparatively local ground rock which furnished the
main mass of the material. The order of relative abundance of the
argillaceous matter appears to be Oxford Clay, Kimeridge Clay, Upper
Lias, Middle Lias, Lower Lias, and this, judged by fossils found in the
Mid-glacial gravels, might well have been the relative order of abundance
of argillaceous matter in the earlier Boulder Clay. The so-called ' Gryphaa
itjcurva,' abundant in both sets of deposits, is not a Lower Lias fossil, as
was long supposed, but a Kellaways Clay or Rock fossil (Lower Oxford
Clay).

The great thickness — 100 feet or more — of unoxidized clay not far
removed from its source may be taken to indicate considerable depth of
frozen ground previous to actual incorporation in the moving glacier, as

* Beeby Thompson, ' Peculiar Occurrence of Land and Freshwater Shells in the Lincoln-
shire Oolite,' Geol. Mag., decade iv., vol. ii., No. 371, May, 1895 ; see aXso P roc. Geo/. Asioc,
vol. xiv. pt. iii. (July, 1895).

GEOLOGY

also the slow advance of the latter ; whilst a residue of much clay and
little or no real gravel, except in particular situations, must be accounted
for by a very slow melting of the ice, either from below upwards, by the
rise of earth heat when actual refrigeration ceased, or if under subaerial
melting (as it must have been very largely towards the end), by the
slight fall of the water, due to depression of the land. Chalk, flint,
and Bunter pebbles are the most abundant erratics ; granite, greenstone,
jasper, lydian stone, white quartz, mica-schist, carboniferous limestone,
gritstone, coal-measure sandstone and shale, etc., also occur, all indicat-
ing a distant origin for much of the ice. Some of the stones are striated,
but more particularly the large and moderately hard local rock fragments
generally found at or near the base.

The great thickness of the glacier and its universal extension over
the county are not in doubt, for every hill that has been carefully
examined shows traces of Drift.

Post-glacial Gravels

No marine or fresh water shells of contemporaneous age have been
found in the Drift of Northamptonshire (excepting such as admit of
another explanation, cf. Brigstock, p. 26), and speaking generally
there is no distinct bedding in the Boulder Clay ; in other words it was
not deposited in water. Much evidence is available, however, from out-
side the county, of a depression of some 140 to 170 feet during the
period of extreme glaciation, and restitution to its present level after-
wards.

We accept such a depression for Northamptonshire because it is
quite consistent with observed phenomena, and permits of a better ex-
planation of some succeeding events than could otherwise have been
given, such as post-glacial gravels only on fairly high ground, or in the
river valleys, where, as so-called river gravels, they occur at different
heights.

Development of Modern Scenery

The larger features of Northamptonshire Physiography were un-
doubtedly developed before the Pleistocene period, nevertheless consider-
able modifications were brought about by glaciation of the county ; for
instance, the hills are now specifically or relatively less high than they
were by the amount of material removed from them by ice, and much of
the lower ground probably higher than before from the Drift deposits
left on it being thicker than the rock removed.

As the last ice sheet was melting old lines of drainage tended to
resume control of the water discharge, and in this they were largely but
not completely successful. It must be remembered that when cutting
back of the ice-filled valleys recommenced, it was not from present sea-
level, because the eastern part of the county, and therefore the lower parts
of the old valleys, were submerged ; so by the time that the land had
regained about its present elevation, many new lines of drainage had been

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

developed and old ones permanently deserted. These old valleys filled in
with Boulder Clay or Glacial Gravel have, not inaptly, been called buried
valleys.

Buried Valleys

Buried valleys are by no means uncommon, but only occasionally
can they be traced for a sufficient distance to make out the original source
and particular destination of the water they carried, for they are not
noticeable till the ground is opened. A buried valley near Northampton
extends from the Wellingborough Road to the Billing Road, under
Abington Abbey, and evidently debouched into the Nene. The trough
is some 200 yards wide, depth unknown, and is filled with a jumble of
materials not greatly water-worn, none being older than the Northamp-
ton Sand. On the Wellingborough Road Great Oolite limestone largely
preponderates, on the Billing Road there is more clay, and Kimeridge
Clay fossils are rather abundant.

At Furtho, towards Stoney Stratford, an old valley of the Ouse has
in its midst Boulder Clay to a thickness of 100 feet or more, which the
small post-glacial streams have not been able to remove.' Numerous sand
and gravel deposits would probably come under this head, including the
sand beds in the parishes of Milton and Courteenhall referred on page 23.

The Nene Valley

The following remarks with respect to the Nene valley would apply,
with modifications, to the Welland or other large watercourses. If we
stand on any of the bounding hills of the Nene valley below Northampton
and look at the deep, wide excavation, and then at the thin, scarcely dis-
tinguishable stream meandering through the flat meadows, and if we fur-
ther take account of the occasional great floods, it is difficult to conceive
that the river and the floods could have produced the results observed, for
the river has little or no excavating power, and floods generally, if not
always, deposit more silt in the valley than they carry away out of it ; in
fact the river and the valley are misfits. Now since the drainage area
above any selected point was never more, and even may have been much
less than now, we have to look back for a suitable time and adequate cause
for a small river in a large valley, and both we find at the end of the first
stage of the Glacial and the beginning of the Inter-glacial periods. The
rapid melting of the first ice sheet, which left a capping of gravel over
even the flat lands of the county, produced floods immense in volume and
of great velocity in this valley, being perhaps equivalent in effect to a heavy
rainfall over the whole watershed for a very long time, at first without any
exposed porous rocks to help in its disposal by absorption, and later only
saturated ones. These floods carried away all the finer material of the glacier
ice, deepened the valley by excavating the clay bottom, widened it by
washing away the sides, in which they were aided by frequent slips of the

' Beeby Thompson, ' Pre-glacial Valleys in Northamptonshire,' Journ. North. Nat. Hist.
Soc, vol. ix. p. 47 (June, 1896).

GEOLOGY

soddened clay slopes of the bounding hills, and ultimately left, on a
cleanly-washed surface of blue Lias clay (Northampton) a deposit of
coarse gravel, to the depth of 20 feet or more, in the lower parts of the
conical bottom of the valley. This deposit is of course a Mid-glacial
gravel, and not a river gravel as commonly called. It is seldom to be
seen because charged with water and below river level, but a very large
excavation was made in it at the Northampton Gas Works some years
back, 34 feet down to the clay, and no trace of terrestrial life, such as
true river gravels yield, was found.

Valley Gravels or River Gravels

It is quite certain the melting of the second ice sheet which ter-
minated the Glacial period did not produce such violent floods as the melt-
ing of the first, but for this reason alone they must have lasted longer in
the valleys then opening up. Owing to the land at first being lower than
now (we will say 150 feet), the earliest formed valley gravels would be
high up the valley and high up the sides of it after re-elevation of the dis-
trict ; but with the rising of the land similar deposits would be formed at
what would now be called lower levels, though all may have been formed at
approximately the same level above the sea of the time, making allowance
for fall in the valley. So we have high-level gravels and loiv-leve I gravels.
The earlier formed river terraces have mostly been obliterated by more
recent slipping and denudation, but the later ones are nearly everywhere
found as a wide fringe to the present valley, occupying positions from
river level to 40 or 50 feet above it.

This river gravel consists chiefly of the contents of the previous ice-
cap, that is to say it is essentially the residue of a washed Boulder Clay ;
it contains flint and Bunter pebbles in abundance, and physically can
scarcely be distinguished from some of the Mid-glacial gravels. It is
interesting in that it contains remains of various terrestrial animals, some
of which do and others do not now inhabit England, and of others which
are extinct, together with the earliest indications of man in the shape
of rude flint implements, showing it to belong to the Paleolithic or
Older Stone age.

The remains of terrestrial animals reported from the river gravels of
this county include the mammoth [Elcphas primigenius), early elephant
(£. antiqtii/s), rhinoceros (two species), hippopotamus, reindeer, red
deer, wild hog, ox and horse. In the upper part of the Nene valley
the remains are apparently fewer than lower down, and moreover
restricted to the heavier and harder parts of animals, such as
molars and tusks, which could survive the turbulent waters that formed
the gravel ; but lower down, towards Peterborough, where the valley
was at first under, and afterwards at the edge of the sea, Estuarine con-
ditions prevailed, sand largely replaced gravel, and there is a mixture of
marine shells, such as oysters, cockles, etc., with delicate terrestrial and
freshwater molluscs, as Helix, Planorbis, Limncea, etc., and other parts
than tusks and teeth of the larger terrestrial animals cited above.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The age of the extinct or now foreign mammaHa and contempo-
raneous man is a matter of much interest and importance ; let us briefly
review the evidence. The remains cannot be admitted to be of Pre-
glacial or Lower Glacial age, nor of the age of the formation of the Mid-
glacial Gravels for various reasons, but most conclusively because none of
the deposits of these periods contain any trace of such remains. In like
manner and for like reasons we can cut out the Second Glacial period,
hence they must be of Mid-glacial or Post-glacial age. Now the river
gravels, as gravels, are of course of post-glacial age, and merge almost
imperceptibly into the slightly newer Alluvium, an excellent preservative
of animal remains, but one which contains only a present-day fauna. The
inference that man and the mammoth were contemporaries in the Inter-
glacial period thus seems incontestible. Still we have to account for the
occurrence of these animals only in the river valleys. The remains of
animals do not last long unless quickly buried in non-porous material, or
at least where air and water cannot frequently change places, and such
conditions would only prevail inland in the alluvial flats of the river
valleys. The wash-out of an interglacial alluvium from the basement
layers of a valley glacier seems to offer the only adequate explanation of
the kind, number, condition and position of the remains.

River Alluvium

The river gravel of the central portion of the Nene valley passes
upwards into sandy clays or silts containing much organic matter. This
is a deposit dropped by dirty waters coming from adjacent hills or more
distant parts of the watershed, whereas the river gravel is a residue left by
the removal of just such material from a mixed Drift and Alluvium of an
earlier period ; hence, although so nearly of the same age as gravel and
clay respectively, the difference of fauna proves a great break in time of
each as a sediment. For these reasons we have kept the nomenclature
of the two more distinct than is common. When the extra-ordinary
floods of the declining Glacial age passed into ordinary ones, each left fine
sedimentary matter behind to fill up all inequalities of surface, and convert
the valley into a dead level — the Great Flood Plane — through which the
river now takes its winding course to the sea.

The Alluvium abounds in remains of vegetation and molluscs
identical with those inhabiting the waters to-day ; human remains occur
rarely, though a skull is reported to have been found at a considerable
depth in it between Castle Station and Hunsbury Hill, Northampton.
Near to the Nun Mills, at Northampton, a long bone of an ox (?) was
found with a well-bored hole at each end, as though it had been used as
a yoke for domestic cattle. At Mr. Martin's brickyard, near Spencer
Bridge, Northampton, a bowl with handle cut out of one piece of wood
was found, and here too, although the alluvium itself was thin, several
large trees lay, apparently stranded in a bend of the old river, and ulti-
mately buried by slips of clay from a higher level. The trees were
probably all oak, but fruits of other plants were found. The following

GEOLOGY

were identified by Mr. H. N. Dixon and Mr. Clement Reid : oak,
hazel (abundant), alder, common elder, pine (two species), bird-cherry,
blackthorn, dog's mercury, knot grass (?), yellow water-lily, chickweed.
The terrestrial animals found in the Alluvium include : ox (both Bos
taurus var. primigenius and Bos taurus var. longifrons), horse, sheep, wild
hog, red deer, etc.

In the Alluvium wood is mostly quite black ; many of the bones,
smaller pieces of wood, and even stones are bright blue from the deposi-
tion on them of vivianite (phosphate of iron) ; water running from
the sandy layers leaves a red deposit. These effects may be explained
thus : The organic acids produced by decomposing vegetable matter
dissolve iron out of the ferruginous silt ; the solution of iron impreg-
nates the wood, and with the tannin there produces the deep black
colour ; the same solution reacting on the phosphates in the bones pro-
duces blue phosphate of iron ; and lastly, the soluble neutral crenates and
apocrenates of iron, on exposure to the air, turn into insoluble basic
ones, hence the red deposit from the water.

The Windings of the Nene

The windings of the Nene and other streams call for a few remarks.
A stream not perfectly straight to start with must of necessity get more
crooked, for every convex bend of one bank causes the water to impinge
on the opposite one, by which the latter is under-cut, and gradually
worked backwards into a deep curve with a vertical or even overhanging
face. One might expect the convex bank to exhibit the very opposite
characters, a very gentle long slope to the water ; so it does very
frequently ; still there are many places, more particularly in small valleys,
where, apparently without artificial aids, both banks are fairly perpendi-
cular. The reason appears to be found in a periodical expansion of the
clay soil and subsoil on absorption of water after drought, which expan-
sion causes the ground to creep in the direction of least pressure, i.e. the
stream.

Minor Valleys and Springs

What happened in the early stages of formation of the larger valleys
may now be observed in the smaller ones. It may be inferred from a
study of the map, but better still by field observation, that every valley
permanently or periodically carries a stream of water ; the valley and the
stream being (except in the older river valleys) intimately related in respect
of size. Again, in almost every case the bottom of the valley and parts of
the sides consist of impervious clay, and the higher parts of the bounding
hills of porous rock, and we will take as a typical example one where the
porous rock is Northampton Sand and the impervious one Upper Lias
Clay.

The Northampton Sand is usually very porous throughout, and
when its junction with the underlying impervious clay was first exposed
by denudation, in the early stages of valley formation, water would run

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

from it almost anywhere along that line ; but some particular places being
slightly more favourable than the average for discharging it gradually
monopolized the water from an increasingly large area up to a certain
limit determined by friction. Thus the bed, although pretty uniformly
porous, is drained by distinct widely-separated springs.

Springs that have once asserted themselves in this manner never
lose their advantage whilst the porous bed lasts, for, although slipping of
the wet clay in front may expose a new junction, it is always in the
direction in which the water had already been making for itself a trough.
So every valley has been elongated in the direction it now has by the
gradual cutting backwards of the spring now at its head.' A newly-
opened junction does not show widely-separated springs, and a valley that
is new, geologically, does not either, but instead swampy ground, or
numerous small springs only a little above the level of the stream.

Hills, Slopes, Escarpments

Whatever tends to produce a valley of course tends to leave a hill,
which may be isolated by sufficient denudation on all sides. All hills in
Northamptonshire are essentially hills of denudation, notwithstanding
what was said about the Northampton Heights. Certain features of hill
and valley formation referred to below have been very commonly over-
looked or misinterpreted.

The Northampton Sand being a water-bearing bed, and the Upper
Lias Clay on which it rests impervious, the junction between the two is
wet and slippery ; so the upper bed, especially if sandy, tends to slide
downwards on a hill-side. It is not uncommon to find Northampton
Sand covering the entire slope of a hill through a vertical range of loo
to I 20 feet, although the actual thickness of the bed in the district is
only 30 feet. Such slips, to distinguish them from others of a different
nature, may be called high-level slips. The Northampton Sand thus
commonly forms a kind of saddle to the Upper Lias hills, and springs
may be met with at various heights.^ Instead of, or in addition to the
Northampton Sand sliding over the clay slope, the clay itself may give
way at a low level, owing to saturation with water, and denudation
having produced a steeper incline than wet clay can maintain, thus great
landslips — low-level slips — occur, carrying down Lias Clay, Northampton
Sand, and even higher beds, en masse, shattered somewhat, and tilted
at a high angle to their original position. Numerous examples occur
along the Nene valley and elsewhere.

As the general dip of the strata in Northamptonshire is from north-
west to south-east, it will be obvious that slipping in general and high-
level slipping in particular will most easily take place towards the south-
east, along the dip-slope as it is called, and in this direction, or the one
most nearly approaching to it, the hill-slope is generally longer than in any
other. In the western parts of the county, where conspicuous isolated

' Beeby Thompson, 'The Junction Beds of the Upper Lias and Inferior Oolite in
Northamptonshire,' Journ. North. Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. ix. pp. 131-149. '' Ihid.

HISTORY or NOBTHAMPTOSSHIKK

OROGRAPHICAL MAP.

n. U^^ CV^.)»>U1 luSUU

Sadm^IOa

County Boundary thouin tha

THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE! COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

GEOLOGY

hills permit of its observation better, the dip-slope is from two to three
times longer, and proportionately less steep than the slope facing north-
west, or scarp-slope as it is called ; also the long slope is often hummocky
from the presence of still undenuded slipped matter, which acts as a
buttress to prevent further slipping for a time.

The steep slopes of hills facing points of the compass opposite, or ap-
proximately so, to that of the direction of dip of the beds, and therefore
exposing the edges of the constituent rocks, are called escarpments. Natu-
rally high-level slips do not readily occur on these steep slopes, because the
beds dip and the water flows the opposite way ; low-level slips however
are more likely to occur, because of the higher gradient, but since the
material of such slips is carried to a lower level at first, and there left in a
more shattered condition for denuding agents to act upon, these scarp-
slopes are generally more regular in appearance. A very irregular scarp-
slope may be taken as an indication of comparatively recent slipping.
Perhaps the roughest steep slope to be found in Northamptonshire
occurs between Rockingham and Gretton, facing the Welland valley,
and its present instability is shown by periodical damage to buildings on
it at Gretton.'

Anticlines, Synclines, Faults

Quite independently of the general dip of strata on a large scale, and
of the contour of the ground, it is common to find local folding on a
small scale. The upward curve of a fold is called an anticline and the
downward one a syncline. In some places the fluctuations are so gentle
as to suggest that they are the result of deep-seated stresses ; such have
been detected at Finedon and elsewhere.

It is at first sight most singular frequently to observe, when a good
hill is cut into, that the strata dip into it, and rise towards the adjacent
valley, that is to say hills cover synclines and valleys occur over anticlines.

If we can believe that the enormous pressure of a great thickness of
ice caused depression of the whole land in glacial times, and that the land
rose again when the pressure was taken off, then can we understand how
wet plastic clay will bulge upwards as the load above it is removed in the
cutting out of a valley, and that the adjacent hills which supply the
pressure will sink to a proportionate amount.

It is exceedingly common to find, on digging into the ground, that
a slip has occurred, so that the ends of originally continuous beds are met
with at different levels. These %o-cz\\c6. faults are far too numerous and
complicated, and often too insignificant, to have had a specific deep-
seated origin. All that have been detected are newer than the latest
regular local rock, but older than the Glacial period. On the i-inch
maps of the Geological Survey all important faults known at the time of
the survey are marked in white lines, but of course others have been
discovered since.

' John W. Judd, * The Geology of Rutland, etc.* Memoirs of the Geological Survey,
p. 261.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The most extensive fault, longitudinally, is perhaps the Great Nene
Fault, which appears to follow the river's course for some 1 1 miles,
that is from west of Weedon to east of Northampton. At Northamp-
ton the dislocation, or throw as it is called, is about 70 feet, the northern
side being the lower. This fault has had an important beneficial influence
on the deep-seated water-supply of the town. Both folds and faults are
important when considering the possible water-supply of places.

Scenery as Dependent on Rock Structure

The various denuding agents which, acting on rocks of unequal
hardness and different chemical constitution, produced hills and valleys,
left exposed to the atmosphere characteristic land surfaces, on which soils
were gradually formed varying in composition and suitability for different
forms of plant life. The soils will be treated of elsewhere in this book,
but of the land surfaces a few remarks may here be made.

The thicker clay beds of the Lower and Upper Lias and Oxford
Clay, when not capped by other formations, present very similar features
— a gently undulating country, or regular and well-rounded hills.

The Middle Lias, owing to alternations of hard and soft beds in it,
and particularly the thick rock-bed at its top, forms rather flat lands, but
the sandy micaceous clays between the hard beds, having a higher co-
efficient of friction than any other clays of the district, form steeper
slopes into intersecting valleys.

The Northampton Sand in the western and northern parts of the
county mostly forms a cap to the hills, and where it does so the hill has
a flatter top than clay alone would assume. On the scarp-slope of such
a hill the junction of the Northampton Sand with the Upper Lias Clay
below can generally be detected at a distance by a pretty sudden increase
of slope, from 1 0° or 1 2° to 1 5° has been observed at several places about
Preston Capes, Everdon, etc. Where the formation occupies an extended
area, rather flat land results, because the rainfall sinks in instead of
running over the surface.

The limestones of the Lincolnshire Oolite, Great Oolite, and Corn-
brash, where fairly thick, form on the whole wide-spreading plains, or flat
lands not much divided into hills and valleys.

The thin beds of the Great Oolite Clay, and the Upper and Lower
Estuarine series have no extended influence on the scenery, but on a slope
may produce a step-like arrangement by giving a steep dip between
harder beds, the Cornbrash and Great Oolite for instance.

Fenland

The district of the Fens deserves special notice for several reasons.
Owing to the fact that Northamptonshire does not reach the sea, there
is a comparatively small amount of fenland within its borders, some
10,000 acres only, embracing Peterborough Flag-Fen, Newborough Fen,
and Borough Fen. The land is mostly below high-water mark, and
would be covered by the sea at high spring-tides but for the various

GEOLOGY

artificial arrangements adopted to prevent it. It is also liable to inunda-
tion from fresh water flowing from the higher ground adjacent, and
water discharging from more distant sources through the river valleys.
To intercept and direct the former, catch-water drains are constructed.
One of these, the Carr Dyke, is the old boundary between High-land
and Fen-land.

The Fenland consists of a variable accumulation of gravels, sands,
silts, and clays, with intercalated layers of peat. The gravels, sands, and
clays are mostly marine deposits, and are very irregular in disposition,
but they constitute the sites of the villages. The upper peat is usually a
few feet thick, only, and where it prevails at the surface the ground is
uneven, and mostly devoid of villages or even hedges. The more
elevated spots are principally in grass, and are called ' islands ' or ' high-
lands.'

From the time when the Romans first attempted to reclaim the
Fens to the present day, a fairly constant struggle has been going on
between man and nature for the mastery of the district.

Pre-glacial and Inter-glacial Flora and Fauna

No attempt has been made to give a list of the fossil plants and
animals of the various geological formations otherwise dealt with ; only
a few leading forms have been mentioned, and these were necessarily
nearly all marine. As we approach recent times, remains of freshwater
and terrestrial life increase in interest to the historian, hence the follow-
ing notes.

Owing probably to the shorter length of time between the Pre-
glacial and Inter-glacial periods, and the more limited extension therein
of complete glaciation southwards, not much variation in the animals
and plants occurred, indeed it is doubtful whether any plant or animal
(man excepted) occurring in this district could be quoted as conclusive
evidence of the earlier or later of these two periods. Still the order of
superposition of the deposits and their mode of occurrence can be used
with considerable confidence in most cases.

In some places in the Fens two distinct beds of peat cccur, with the
lower one resting on Oxford Clay. This lower peat bed is probably a
submerged forest of Pre-glacial age ; it contains remains of oak, birch,
beech, hazel and yew, in the form of large prostrate trunks. The follow-
ing land and freshwater mollusca were found in patches of clay in some
redeposited shelly Oolitic Lincolnshire Oolite, under Boulder Clay, near
to Brigstock Mill.' Succinea putris, Cochlicopa lubrtca. Pupa muscorum, Val-
lonia pulchella. Helix nemoralis or Helicigona arbustorum, PisUium pusillum,
also comminuted shell fragments were found in the gravel. It may be ob-
served that all of these are species now living in the county, but since they

* Beeby Thompson, ' Peculiar Occurrence of Land and Freshwater Shells in the
Lincolnshire Oolite,' Geol. M<ig.,Aec?iAt iv., vol. ii. No. 371, May, 1895 ; see also Proc. Geol.
Assoc, vol. xiv. pt. iii. (July, 1895).

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

occur under the ordinary Boulder Clay of the district, in a gravel resting
on undisturbed Lincolnshire Limestone, the inference is obvious that they
were derived from a Pre-glacial land surface.

The probably abundant flora and fauna of the Inter-glacial period
has mostly been swept away, but traces of the larger animals, and man,
were preserved (see p. 29).

Post-glacial Flora

On the passing away of the last phase of the Glacial period, the recently
ice-covered ground slowly became coated with vegetation suited to it and
the climate, in an order dependent upon the facilities for seed-dispersion
possessed by the various plants. Amongst the larger plants, presumably
alder and birch would earliest find a footing, as suited to a cold climate,
but certainly oak and hazel predominated later on ; the ash, maple,
hornbeam, yew, beech and pine, etc., followed, the elm being probably a
late arrival, because so seldom propagated by seed. Thus very much of
the county became covered with forest, but not all. The higher ground
to the west and north-west of the county was never, as far as we
know, covered with forest ; the larger valleys and the fens were kept
free from forest growth by recurrent floods and incursions of the sea.
Even some parts not so situated probably never encouraged or even
permitted the growth of large trees, but rather ling, furze, broom, wild
thyme and bracken, with a thin grass ; these were the heaths now mostly
under cultivation. These heaths, in the eastern part of the county.
Wittering, Easton, Thornhaugh, etc., were mostly on the stony
arenaceous soils of the Lincolnshire Oolite ; those in more central
Northamptonshire, Harlestone, Dallington, and many others, on the
sandy beds of the Northampton Sand. Further particulars as to the
ancient forests will be found in another part of this history.

Settlement of the County

One characteristic of modern scenery is the town or village, directly
due to man, but indirectly, in its situation and architecture, to local
geological structure. When man had arrived at a state of civilization
sufficient to appreciate a fixed abode, he had also no doubt perceived
the desirability of a dry site for a dwelling, equally with the nearness of
water, which led to the selection of spots on porous soils near to springs.
This, and the possibility of getting water by means of shallow wells in
such situations, no doubt, more than anything else, ultimately fixed the
site of the little group of dwellings which afterwards grew into a village
or town. The way in which successive ridges of Northampton Sand
are occupied by towns and villages along the Nene from Northampton
to Wellingborough, and then along the Ise from Wellingborough to
Desborough (see map), is most suggestive in this connection.

Below is given a tabulated list of the number of villages in North-
amptonshire on the various geological formations, taken from the i-inch
map of the Geological Survey.

GEOLOGY

Oxford Clay

Cornbrash

Great Oolite

Upper Estuarine Beds (none on this alone r)

Lincolnshire Oolite

Northampton Sand

Upper Lias

Middle Lias

Lower Lias

Pervious

8
79

27
102

265

The significance of these figures will be better appreciated by look-
ing at the areas covered with each formation on the map. Some villages
occupy parts of two or more formations, such are classed as on pervious ;
others may be on Drift yielding water although classed as on impervious,
for they all get water somehow ; and of course different observers might
arrive at slightly different results from these causes.

Other results naturally followed the selection of dry sites on pervious
beds. These water-bearing beds furnish the only ready-made building
material in the county, and if we eliminate the newer brick buildings of
villages and towns, the districts covered by the thicker pervious rocks —
Great Oolite to Middle Lias — show the fact in their buildings.

WATER SUPPLY

As villages grow into towns the individual provision of water by
contiguous springs or local wells tends to give place to public works on
an extensive scale. The first device that suggests itself, and one that has
been carried out in a number of cases, is to tap one of the water-bearing
beds at a considerable depth by digging or boring through the superin-
cumbent rocks in the direction of dip of the beds. The water so tapped
is likely to be very pure organically, because it has passed through such
a mass of filtering material from the place where it got in, often many
miles away. For the same reason it is equable in temperature, does not
fluctuate with the seasons, and providing no more is pumped out than
gets in naturally over the catchment area by percolation, is permanent.

The water tapped in a porous bed between two impervious ones is
a transtratic springs and as it usually rises considerably in the bore-hole
or well, this is called an artesian well. Where such a method is im-
practicable, or where the yield by it is insufficient, as has occurred at
Northampton, Kettering, etc., reservoirs have been constructed to catch,
not far from their source, a number of springs draining a considerable
area, by throwing a dam across the valley where the resultant stream
seeks to discharge.

The Trias furnishes the deepest source of water so far tapped within
the county. The water is very salt, containing from 1,200 to 1,500

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

grains of solid matter per gallon, also it is very moderate in quantity,
100,000 to 200,000 gallons per day from a single well or boring. The
water rises 535 feet from a depth of 436 feet below sea-level, taking an
average of the four places where it has been encountered.

The Middle Lias may yield water from any of its hard beds, as
already pointed out. In the western parts of the county, at and around
Catesby, No. 7, typical section, yielded much water when cut through
in making Catesby tunnel of the G. C. Railway, but is the only place to
be quoted. Bed 5 is generally reliable in the western parts of the
county, and supplies numerous springs ; it yields water as far eastward as
Northampton. By far the most reliable source of water is the rock-bed.
No. I, this supplied Northampton with water, by an artesian well, for
forty years ; it has been tapped as far eastward as Kettering and Finedon,
but all deep borings into it southward and eastward of the Nene have
been failures.

The Upper Lias must be classed as impervious, though the lower
beds, 6 to 1 1 (typical section) may yield a little water, as also No. 3.

The Northampton Sand yields abundance of good water from hun-
dreds of springs and wells, but superficiality and consequent weathering of
the rock seem to be necessities for quantity and good quality. As a deep-
seated source of water it is decidedly a failure, for in easterly districts
where it has been pierced at a good depth, water is absent or small in
quantity (Peterborough), or highly sulphurous, emitting an offensive
odour of sulphuretted hydrogen (Raunds, etc.). The Lower Estuarine
Beds and Variable Beds (3 and 4 of typical section) may be regarded as
feeders of the lower bed generally, but the upper one, 3, does sometimes
appear to be an independent source (Hardwick). The Lincolnshire
Oolite may be classed as a fairly good water-bearing formation, but un-
less its junction with the less permeable beds beneath is lower than adjacent
valleys, it is liable to run itself dry like the Great Oolite Limestone.

The Great Oolite formation may yield water at three separate
horizons (see typical section, p. 9), the thick limestone bed being
the chief source, but as this is not sufficiently porous throughout to
retain the water, but only holds it in quantity in the joints and fissures,
it is most unreliable for a public supply ; great springs issue from it soon
after heavy rainfall which in the summer may cease entirely. In favour-
able situations with respect to adjacent valleys it will yield a permanent
supply. The Cornbrash yields fairly good water, but the rock is too thin
to have any extended catchment area or storage capacity.

The Drift Gravels and Sands are very porous, they absorb water
freely and discharge it freely, and so easily run dry, except in a valley or
depression in other rocks ; still many places utilize the water from these
beds.

The River Gravel holds a vast quantity of water, and but for its
usually polluted condition, partly because stagnant as an underground lake,
and partly from particular pollution from various sewage farms along the
Nene valley, would be a valuable source of water.

GEOLOGY

The rivers are of course sustained by permanent springs, but owing
to pollution from ditches, land drains, crude sewage from villages, or the
effluents of sewage farms, the water is entirely unfit for domestic use.

Reservoirs for the supply of canals are situated at Byfield, Braunston,
Daventry, Welford and Naseby ; these are fed chiefly by the Marlstone,
though Drift beds contribute. The reservoir for supplying Northampton
is situated in the valley between Ravensthorpe and Teeton, it is fed by
springs from the Northampton Sand, drains about 3,000 acres, and
covers about 400 acres when full. Kettering reservoir is situated in a
valley near to Thorpe Malsor ; it is fed chiefly by Northampton Sand
springs.

The majority of the waters are rather hard, hence so-called petrify-
ing springs are fairly numerous. Chalybeate waters occur too at a number
of places, no doubt due to the presence of ferrous sulphate as a product
of the decomposition of iron pyrites. A red deposit around a spring
may be quite local in origin (see p. 31) the main body of water
feeding the spring being practically free from dissolved iron.

MINERALS

Besides the essential minerals of the clays, sands and limestones of
the various rocks already considered, certain other minerals, or modifica-
tions of the essential ones, occur ; these are briefly referred to below.

Brown Haematite, Limonite, or Hydrated Ferric Oxide is the
chief form of iron-ore, whether from the Northampton Sand or the
Marlstone, etc.

Carbonate of Iron is the mineral constituting the green or grey
rock, or cores of some brown rock, in the Northampton Sand.

Silicate of Iron only occurs as a colouring matter to the green
and blue varieties of ironstone.

Phosphate of Iron occurs as a colouring matter in the ironstones,
and as a bright blue incrustation, vivianite, on objects in the River
Alluvium.

Specular Iron, a form of haematite, is found occasionally as dark
lustrous crystals in some Lias nodules, or even in fossils.

Iron Pyrites occurs in a variety of forms — small moss-like masses
in the Armatus zone of the Lower Lias ; small rods in the Pettos zone ;
characteristic cubes in the Middle Lias, upper part of Upper Lias, and
lower part of the Northampton Sand (Raunds) ; large irregular lumps in
the upper part of the Upper Lias (Paulerspury, Grafton Regis, etc.) ;
radiated pyrites in the Northampton Sand (Wellingborough).

Manganese Protoxide occurs to a small extent in most ironstones.

Calcium Carbonate is found in many forms — as nail-head spar
(cone-in-cone), chiefly in the middle beds of the Upper Lias, where very
large nodules occur, the entire outer part of which is this mineral ; dog-
tooth spar in cavities of limestone rock, and very commonly where coral
has been ; lenticular crystals occasionally ; Jibrous calcite (beef, so-called)

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

in long thin beds in the Estuarines and Forest Marble ; masses of radiated
spar in the Northampton Sand (Northampton) ; aragonite in the North-
ampton Sand more rarely ; and stalactitic limestone in joints and crevices
of limestone rock.

Calcium Sulphate occurs as gypsum or selenite, hydrous calcium
sulphate, in the characteristic transparent crystals, and in larger elongated
masses traversed by a central vein of dirt (twin crystals). The Upper Lias
in particular contains this mineral.

Allophane, or a mineral nearly allied to it in composition, has
been found in crevices of the Northampton Sand at Northampton.^

' Samuel Sharp, ' The Oolites of Northamptonshire,' pt. i.. Quart. "Journ. Geol. Soc.
(Aug. 1870), p. 354.

PALiEONTOLOGY

AS regards vertebrate fossils Northamptonshire occupies a some-
what anomalous position ; an enormous series of remains of extinct
reptiles and fishes having been obtained from pits worked in
^the Oxford Clay near Peterborough, which are for the most part
situated within the borders of the adjacent county of Huntingdon.
There are, however, a few pits in the same deposit worked in North-
amptonshire, from which have been collected remains of a certain
number of the animals in question ; and, if the excavations in the
Northamptonshire Oxford Clay were more extensive and collecting
were carefully conducted, there is little doubt that many more, if
not all, of the species discovered in Huntingdonshire would be found
to occur in the adjacent county. Under these circumstances it seems
advisable to make brief mention of the commoner and more important
types of these remains, with a fuller notice of those which have been
actually discovered within the limits of the county under consideration.
In this connection it may be well to observe that a fossil reptilian jaw
described under the name of Regnosaurus northamptoni might well be
presumed to be a product of the county ; but, as a matter of fact, the
specimen in question was obtained from the Wealden of Sussex, and
named in honour of the Marquis of Northampton.

In respect to mammals of prehistoric and Pleistocene age, the
county does not appear to be rich. From a clay bed in the valley of
the Nen, not far from Duston, Mr. S. Sharp ^ has recorded remains of the
aurochs or wild ox {Bos taurus primigenius) , red deer {Cervus elaphus),
wild horse {Equus caballus fossilis), and wild swine {Sus scrofa) ; and
in an underlying bed of sandy gravel molars of the mammoth [Elephas
primigenius), the straight-tusked elephant (£. antiquus), the hippopota-
mus {H. amphibius), and the woolly rhinoceros {R. antiquitatis) . The
Northamptonshire specimens in the British Museum include a humerus
and a metatarsus of the aurochs, purchased in 1846 ; teeth and a pha-
langeal bone of the horse from Oundle, presented in 1867 ; the afore-
said molars of the woolly rhinoceros collected by Mr. Sharp, together
with a single upper molar from Wellingborough ; molars of Elephas
antiquitatis from Mr. Sharp's collection, two others from Oundle, and
two vertebrae from near Peterborough ; while of the mammoth it pos-
sesses a molar from Kettering, collected by Mr. Sharp, and another from
Northampton, obtained in 1842. It may be added that at Elton, just

* Quart. Journ. Geo/. Soc, vol. xxvi. p. 376 (1870); see also Etheridge, ibid., vol.
xxxviii. Prcc, p. 61 (1882).

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

within the Huntingdon border, mammoth teeth have been collected in
considerable numbers.

Turning to the reptiles of the Oxford Clay, which is the highest
member of the Jurassic series met with in the county, these belong for
the most part to the marine fish-lizards or Ichthyopterygia, and long-
necked saurians or Sauropterygia ; but a few remains of the terrestrial
dinosaurs have been met with in Huntingdon. The fish-lizards of
the Oxford Clay are mostly referable to the genus Ophthalmosaurus,
which differs from the typical Ichthyosaurus by the presence of an
additional bone in the paddles ; and of O. icenicus remains have been
obtained within the county limits at Eye and Dogsthorpe. The
British Museum also possesses an ichthyosaurian vertebra from Scend
Hill, said to be from the Kimeridge, but more probably from the
Oxford Clay. Of the long-necked saurians, a lower jaw oi Pelomustes
philarchus — in which the two branches have a longer union than in
Pliosaurus — was obtained in the county near Peterborough. A plio-
saurian vertebra from Rode, four miles south of Northampton, is re-
corded in Phillips's Geology of Oxford ; and it is probable that Pliosaurus
evansi and P. ferox, which are common in Huntingdon, likewise occur
in Northampton. Of the true plesiosaurs, which have much longer
necks than the pliosaurs, it must suffice to say that remains of the
species known as Cryptoclidus oxoniensis, C. eurymerus, and Murceno-
saurus plicatus, which are so common in the Oxford Clay of Hunt-
ingdonshire, must almost certainly occur in the corresponding beds of
Northamptonshire. Less common in the Oxford Clay of the former
county are the remains of huge terrestrial dinosaurian reptiles known
as Stegosaurus^ durobrivensis and Pelorosaurus^ leedsi, and from their rarity
in Huntingdon it is quite probable that these gigantic reptiles may be un-
represented in the Northamptonshire Oxfordian. Crocodiles belonging
to the extinct genera Suchodus, Stetieosaurus, and Metriorhynchus (the latter
remarkable for the absence of the usual pitted external bony plates) are,
however, comparatively abundant in the Oxford Clay of Huntingdon-
shire, so that their remains may confidently be expected to occur in the
same formation across the border.

Recognizable remains of fishes appear to be rare in the Oxfordian
of the county, but those of the ganoid Eurycormus egertoni have been
recorded, as well as certain bones of the chimasroid Ischyodus egertoni.
Several other types of extinct fishes have been met with in the corre-
sponding deposits of Huntingdonshire, but these may be passed over
with the bare mention that the two respectively designated Leedsia prob-
lematica and Hypsicormus leedsi are among the most remarkable, the
former being of gigantic dimensions. Both were named in honour of
Mr. A. N. Leeds, of Eyebury, the energetic collector of the Oxford
Clay vertebrates of the Peterborough neighbourhood ; and their remains
doubtless occur within the borders of Northamptonshire.

' Synonym, Omosaurus. ' Synonym, Ornithopus.

PALiEONTOLOGY

Passing on to the consideration of reptiles from formations older
than the Oxford Clay, we find remains of the long-snouted crocodile
known as Steneosaurus brevidens occurring not uncommonly in the Great
Oolite of the county ; teeth referable to some species of the same
genus have been found in the Cornbrash near Peterborough ; while
bones and teeth assigned to S. chapmam have been recorded from the
Upper Lias of Green's Norton, near Towcester, and those of 6". latifrons
from the same formation near Northampton. These and other crocodiles
from the Oolitic deposits differ from the existing members of the group
in that both the terminal articular faces of their vertebra are concave,
instead of alternately convex and concave. From the Great Oolite of
Blisworth the British Museum possesses two caudal vertebrae of a dino-
saur which has been named Cetiosaurus oxoniensis, but whose proper title
is apparently Cardiodon oxoniensis. In the same collection are two other
caudal vertebrse from the Forest Marble of Cogenhoe which have been
assigned to C. glymptonensis. Teeth of the great carnivorous dinosaur
Megalosaurus bucklandi, now in the British Museum, were discovered by
Mr. Sharp in the Inferior Oolite of Duston. A vertebra of Ichthyosaurus
was obtained so long ago as 1837 from the Upper Lias of Blisworth,
while a humerus of the same genus is recorded from the Lias of Bug-
brook. The Lower Jurassic strata of Higham Ferrers have also yielded
a vertebra of Pliosaurus, and remains of the allied genus I'haumatosaurus
occur in the Upper Lias of Kingsthorpe and Crick, as well as in the
Marlstone, or Middle Lias, of Bugbrook ; the species from the two
last-named localities being Th. propinquus. Plesiosaurian vertebra like-
wise occur in the Cornbrash of Rushden.

Fish remains, at all events in a determinable condition, do not
appear to be very abundant in the Lower Oolites of the county. The
pavement-toothed sharks (Cestraciontida), now surviving in the form of
the Port Jackson species, are represented by palates of Asteracanthus acu-
tus and Strophodus magnus from the Cornbrash, and by the last-named
species and iS". tenuis from the Great Oolite of the county. Another
genus of ganoid fishes, the well-known Lepidotus, with spherical
button-like palatal teeth and shining rhomboidal scales, is represented
in the Middle Lias of the county by L. elvensis, and in the Great Oolite
by L. tuberculatus. A ganoid at present peculiar to the Inferior Oolite
of Northamptonshire is Ophiopsis Jiesheri, of which the type specimen
was obtained from the railway tunnel near Blisworth. The pycnodont
ganoids, which have numerous crushing teeth, frequently showing a
sculptured pattern on the palate, are represented in the county by two
species of the genus Mesodon {M. ruguhsus and M. bucklandi) from the
Great Oolite.

The invertebrate fossils of the Northamptonshire Oolites were
worked out in great detail about thirty years ago by Mr. S. Sharp, and
the results published in the Quarterly "Journal of the Geological Society^ for

' Vols. xxvi. p. 354, and xxix. p. 225.
43

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

1870 and 1873. Full lists of all the fossils then known from each
formation are there given ; and those desirous of taking up the subject
in earnest should refer to these papers. For the benefit of those who
have but little acquaintance with geology it may be mentioned that the
abundance of ammonites and belemnites in the Northamptonshire rocks
at once indicates that they belong to the Secondary or Mesozoic period,
while the prevalence of the bivalved mollusc Trigonia, together with
other characteristic forms, indicate that they pertain to the Oolitic or
Jurassic, rather than to the Cretaceous system.

Among the characteristic fossils of the Oxford Clay may be noted
the great hemispherical oyster known as Gryphaa dilatata, which in this
county seems to be confined to the lower and middle beds of the forma-
tion. In the same beds occurs Belemnites oiveni, which is the largest
species of its kind ; while higher up in the series this is replaced by
the smaller B. hastatus. The topmost clays abound in Ammonites cor datus
and A. ornatus ; each of which is, however, confined to a separate zone.
Their shells, when first exposed to the air, have a brilliant golden lustre,
from the presence of pyrites ; but the action of the oxygen on this
mineral causes them quickly to perish and disintegrate. A mussel-
like shell {Avicula incequivalvis), in which one valve is smaller than
the other, is very characteristic of the lowest beds of the Oxford
Clay, which are more or less sandy.

In the Cornbrash at Rushden, south of Higham Ferrers, the fossil
collector will find a ' happy hunting-ground.' The place of Gryphaa
dilatata is taken by the large furbellated Ostrea marshi, which is a true
oyster of easy recognition. More characteristic is, however, the large
bivalve Pholadomya bucardimn \ other bivalves found in this formation
being Avicula echinata, Gresslya peregrina, and Myacites securiformis and
decurtatus. Brachiopods are represented by Terebratula obovata^ T. lagen-
alis, and Rhynchonella concinna ; while the small sea-urchin known as
Echinobrissus clunicularis is a common fossil of the Cornbrash.

Fossils are rare in the clays of the Great Oolite, the most charac-
teristic being the oyster-like Placunopsis socialis. On the other hand, the
limestones of the same series are highly fossiliferous, and, as is generally
the case, contain a large proportion of gastropod molluscs, although
these are less numerous than at Minchinhampton. The gastropods
include representatives of the extinct genera Alaria, Amberleya, Nerincea,
Chemnitzia, and Trochotoma, together with species of the still existing
Natica, Phasianella, and Pleurotomaria. Cephalopods are less common,
but include Ammonites gracilis and macrocephalus. Nautilus babert, and a
belemnite. Among the more characteristic bivalves may be mentioned
a scallop, Pecten lens, the cockle Cardium stricklandi, the Area - like
Cuculcea concinna and Macrodon kirsonensis, several species of the common
Oolitic genus Pholadomya^ such as Ph. acuticostata and deltoidea, together
with Trigonia costata and moretoni. With the exception of Macrodon,
which is very close to Cuculcea, all the above-mentioned genera of
bivalves have living representatives ; but the Great Oolite of the

PALAEONTOLOGY

county likewise includes many extinct generic types of the class,
such as Cerotnya, Cypricardia, Gresslya, Homomya, and JJnicardium. The
brachiopods comprise Rhynchonella concinna, and several species of Tere-
bratula, among the latter being T'. digona and obovata. The sea-urchins
are represented, among other types, by the small Echitiobrissus cluni-
cularis, the large Clypeus muelleri and plottii, and three species of the
large-spined genus Acrosalenia. Among plant remains, mention may
be made of the fruits described as Carpolithes and Caidacarpum ooliticum.
Taken altogether the fauna of the Great Oolite presents a distinctly
sub-tropical aspect, the moUuscan genus Trigonia now surviving only in
Australian waters, while Pleurotomarla is known only by a few speci-
mens dredged now and again from the warmer seas.

The lists of fossils given by Mr. Sharp from the Lincolnshire
Limestone, Collyweston Slate, and Northampton Sand (mainly repre-
senting the Inferior Oolite, although the upper portion of the latter,
together with the overlying Upper Estuarine Group, is usually classed
with the Great Oolite) are even larger than those of the Great Oolite.
Mr. R. Etheridge, who, in his Presidential Address to the Geological
Society in 1882,' gives eleven localities in the county where the fossils
of the Lincolnshire Limestone are most common, states that ' only four
species of ammonites are known, A. murchisonce, A. subradiatus, A. blag-
deni, and an undescribed form from Duston. Nautilus is represented by
two species only, N. obesus and N. polygonalis ; the Crustacea by two
species ; the Asteroidea [star-fishes] only by Astropecten cottsiuoldia stam-
fordensis. On the other hand, the Mollusca proper, in all three groups,
show a large fauna ; the species of Gastropoda obtained from the Barnak
Rag number 66 and illustrate 17 genera; from the well-known cut-
ting at Ponton 20 genera and 64 species are recorded. The Gastropoda
through the 11 localities number 75 genera and 218 species; the
Lamellibranchiata Monomyaria [single-muscled bivalves] 63 genera and
133 species; the Dimyaria [double-muscled bivalves] 112 genera and
211 species. The Brachiopoda have little specific value; in no in-
stance have more than eight species occurred in one locality.
The slates of Collyweston succeed the Lower Estuarine Group
[Northampton Sand] ; the twelve or fourteen recognized beds hold
well-defined species, among them being Natica cincta, Unicardium
impressum, Cardium buckmani, the highly characteristic Pteroceras bentleyi,
Trigonia compta, Homomya unioniformis, and Astropecten cottsivoldia stam-
fordensis. Pecopteris polypodioides [a fern], with its fronds in fructifica-
tion, is abundant in the uppermost beds.' With such a multitude of
forms to deal with, it would be little use quoting the names of other
species from these formations, but it may be added that while the
Northampton Sand includes Ammonites murchisonce of the Lincolnshire
Limestone, it likewise contains the Upper Liassic A. bifrons.

The fossils of the Northamptonshire Lias are of a less distinctly

^Proc. Geol. Soc, 1882, p. 65.
45

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

local type than those of the formations last mentioned, being in fact
those common to the English Lias generally. Of the topmost beds of
the Upper Lias' Ammonites communis is a characteristic shell, while lower
down it is replaced by A. serpentinus, and still lower (in the transition
beds to the Marlstone) by A. acutus. The so-called ' fish and insect
bed ' at the base of the Upper Lias takes its name from the remains of
the two groups of animals which form its special feature. In the top-
most beds of the Middle Lias, or Marlstone, Ammonites acutus and A.
holandrei are characteristic fossils ; below the true rocky bed of the
Marlstone A. spinatus occurs in the softer beds ; while below these latter
the zone of A. margaritatus is reached. It has been observed that the
last-named zone is noteworthy for its numerous bivalves, while that of
A. spinatus abounds in brachiopods, the topmost transition beds contain-
ing an equally noticeable percentage of gastropod molluscs.

The Lower Lias has been divided into a number of zones, each re-
presented by distinctive species of ammonites ; but these are too numerous
to mention on the present occasion. In addition to these ammonites and
several kinds of belemnites, the Lower Lias is especially characterized
by several peculiar bivalves, such as the Lias oyster, Ostrea liassica, the
curved gryphite, Gryphcea incurva (the 'devil's toe-nail' of the quarry-
men), the great Lima gigantea, the massive Hippopodium ponderosum, the
swan's-foot mussel, Avicula cygnipes, and Cardinia listeri and other species
of the same genus. Very interesting, too, is Spirifer walcotti, the last sur-
vivor of a group of Paleozoic brachiopods. Finally, the crinoids, or
stone-lilies, are represented by Pentacrinus tuberculatus, the detached
joints of the stems of which are familiar to quarrymen as 'star-stones.'

* See B. Thompson, Midland Naturalist, vol. x. p. 121.

HISTOHT OF irORTHAMPTONSHIRE

BOTANICAL DISTRICTS.

it Umltmfi a^fi.,td..\

THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THt COUNTIES Of ENGLAND

BOTANY

THE object in the following pages is to give a general idea of
what species form the native vegetation of the county, what
species have been introduced through the agency of man or
animals, the essential differences existing between the flora
of Northamptonshire and some of the bordering counties, to describe
briefly the districts based on the river drainage, into which the county
has been divided for botanical purposes, and to make some reference to
the botanists who have worked at the county flora, and to whose exer-
tions so much of our knowledge of it is due.

The following tables show the number of species which have been
reported on good authority to have been seen growing in a wild state in
the counties surrounding Northamptonshire, as well as those compiled for
our county by myself

Northamptonshire

Warwickshire

Leicestershire

Bucks

Oxfordshire

Native plants . .765
Denizens ... 28
Colonists . • • 37

817
42
46

756
26
29

810
25
34

847
49
43

830

905

811

869

939

If we follow fairly closely the specific limitations adopted in the
ninth edition of the London Catalogue of British Plants,^ which puts
the total number of British plants at 1,958, and make allowance for the
species added since that date, we may roughly say that the British flora
contains about 2,000 plants, but of these nearly 250 are not native
species, 144 are confined to the neighbourhood of the sea, while at
least 200 are species, either of northern latitudes, or are not found so far
south as Northamptonshire except in mountainous situations ; 17 species
are confined to Ireland, about 20 to the Channel Isles, and 2 are extinct,
namely Carex Davalliana and Eriophorum alpinum.

After making these deductions about 1,350 species are left which
might occur in Northamptonshire, yet we find from the above table such
is not the case. It is true that this county is by no means com-
pletely investigated, and it is quite certain in respect of micro-species

' Geo. Bell & Sons, price dd., 1895.
47

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

such as those into which the brambles have been recently divided, that
persevering collecting would probably be rewarded by nearly twenty addi-
tions to our list ; while it is not unlikely that an additional twenty species
of plants may in the not far distant future also be added to the plants of
the county.

An advance in our knowledge of the distribution of plants through
Great Britain was marked by Mr, Hewett Cottrell Watson in his Cybele
Britannka and in his Topographical Botany^ ed. i, 1874, and ed. 2, 1883,
the latter edited by Baker and Newbould.^ For the purpose of tracing
plant distribution through Great Britain Mr. Watson divided the counties
of Britain into 112 vice-counties, of which England had 59, Wales 12,
and Scotland 41, this number being made by dividing some of the larger
counties, such as York, Devon, Lancashire, Hants and Inverness into two
or more vice-counties, but with the exception of Lincolnshire all the
counties bordering on Northamptonshire remain undivided, while Rut-
land is included by Mr. Watson with Leicestershire. If we look closely
into the distribution of the British flora we shall find that no fewer than
100 species are found in every Watsonian vice-county, that two are
known to occur in 1 1 1 vice-counties, and about 180 more in upwards of
100 vice-counties ; so that out of the 1,750 native British species over
300 are so widely distributed as to be found in 100 or upwards of these
vice-counties of Britain. Of these almost ubiquitous species all but one
have been recorded for Northamptonshire, the absentee being the marsh
violet {Viola palustris). The round-leaved sundew [Drosera rotundifolia),
that interesting carnivorous plant, is, it is to be feared, now extinct,
although there is no doubt it formerly occurred on Dallington Heath.

Of the plants which occur in no fewer than 80, or are at present
recorded for not more than 100 vice-counties, several with this wide range
of distribution have not been recorded for Northamptonshire. These
absentees include the climbing heath fumitory {Corydalis claviculata —
Capnoides claviculata, Druce), which may possibly yet be found, as it
occurs locally in Bucks, Oxford, Beds, Warwick, Lincoln and Leicester ;
the water avens (Geum rivale), which occurs in Beds, Cambridge, Lincoln,
Leicester, Warwick and Oxford, and in the latter county very near to
the Northants boundary ; the poisonous water dropwort [CEnanthe crocata),
which, although found in Oxford, Bucks, Warwick and Lincoln, is absent
from several of the eastern counties ; the blaeberry {Vaccinium Myrtillus),
which is locally abundant in Bucks and Beds, and is found also in
Leicester, Warwick, and very rarely in Oxfordshire ; the creeping for-
get-me-not {Myosotis repens), found in Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and
Warwick : the shore-grass [Littorella juncea), which is found in Oxford,
Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick on the muddy margins of ponds,
often completely submerged, is another plant we may hope to add
to our list. The following plants are also absent from Northampton-
shire : the sweet gale {Myrica Gale), recorded for Lincoln, Cambridge,
Hunts, no doubt in former times occurred in our area, but with fen

1 London : Bernard Quaritch, 1 883.
48

BOTANY

reclamation has disappeared from our county as it apparently has from
Bucks ; the buck's-horn plantain [Plantago Coronopus) has not been recently
found, but is recorded for all the bordering counties except Hunts ; the
Lancashire asphodel {Narthecium ossifragum), an inhabitant of peaty bogs,
has never been recorded for Northants, Oxford or Leicester ; the sea
club-rush {Scirpus maritimus), as its name implies, is usually found near
the coast, but it has also been found in ditches of brackish water in
Warwickshire, Hunts and Cambridge ; the deer's grass (S. caspitosus)^
a native of peaty moors, very rare in Warwick, but is recorded for Beds,
Cambridge, Lincoln and Leicester, though probably now extinct in the
latter county ; the hare's-tail cotton grass [Eriphorutn vaginatum) , a native
of boggy heathland, recorded for Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick; the
brittle bladder-fern [Cystopteris fragilis) does not appear to be native to
Northants, Oxford or Warwick, but is possibly so in Leicester ; and the
fir club-moss [Lycopodium Selago), found in Bucks, Oxford and Leicester,
but said to be extinct in Warwick.

Of the native plants of Britain other than purely maritime, which
are recorded for not fewer than sixty or more than eighty Watsonian vice-
counties, several are absent, but of the absentees only the hairy buttercup
{Ranunculus sardous), reported from Hunts, Cambridge, Lincoln, Leices-
ter and Warwick ; the pearlwort [Sagina subulatd), found in Bucks ; the
bloody cranesbill {Geranium sanguineum), a doubtful native to Beds ; the
tiny all-seed {Millegrana Radiola), found in Bucks, Warwick, Lincoln,
Leicester and Oxford ; the small trefoil {Trifolium Jiliforme), found in all
the bordering counties except Lincoln ; the golden saxifrage {Chrysosple-
nium alternifolium), recorded from Warwick, Lincoln and Leicester ; the
Alexanders {Smyrnium Olusatrum), usually an alien inland ; the marsh
hawk's-beard {Crepis pa/udosa), essentially a northern plant which does
not extend further south than Warwick and Leicester ; the cranberry
{Oxycoccos quadripetala), found in Lincoln, Warwick and Hunts, but is
extinct in Cambridgeshire ; the cowberry, a northern plant, extends into
Warwickshire ; the winter-green {Pyrola minor), recorded for all the
bordering counties except Hunts, Leicester and Cambridge ; the chaff-
weed {Centunculus minimus), not recorded for Hunts, Lincoln or Leices-
ter ; the small periwinkle {Vinca minor), not native to Northants ; the
small bladderwort {TJtricularia minor), reported from Beds, Hunts, Cam-
bridge and Warwick ; the small skull-cap {Scutellaria minor) occurs in
Oxford, Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick ; the crowberry (£ot-
petrum nigrum), formerly in Charnwood Forest, Leicester, and still in
Warwickshire ; the pondweed {Potamogeton gramineus or heterophyllus) is
recorded for Hunts, Cambridge, Lincoln and Leicester, and may reward
the searcher in some of our fen dykes ; the sedge {Carex lavigata) occurs
in Leicester and Warwick ; the grey sedge (C. canescens) recorded for
Warwick, Cambridge, Bucks and Leicester, but not recently found in the
two latter counties ; the oak fern {Phegopteris Dryopteris), found locally
in Bucks and Oxford, are the species which have been reported for the
counties which border Northamptonshire.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Of the plants found in between forty and sixty Watsonian vice-
counties, besides the maritime and mountain species which are necessarily
absent, we lack many, the most noticeable of which omissions, from their
occurrence in one or more of the bordering counties, we will now con-
sider. The white-flowered buttercup [Ranunculus Lenormandi), a peat-
loving species, occurs in Leicester and Warwick ; the Deptford pink (Dian-
thus Armeria), found in Oxford, Bucks and Warwick ; the maiden pink
(D. deltoides) occurs in Beds, Hunts, Cambs, Lincoln, Leicester and Oxford,
but possibly introduced to the latter county ; the small vetch (Vicia
lathyroides) very likely occurs, as it is recorded for all the bordering
counties ; the small gorse {JJlex Gallh), found in Warwick, commonly
about Charnwood in Leicestershire, and rarely in Oxford ; the mountain
cranesbill {Geranium syhaticum), reported formerly from Warwick ; the
long-leaved sundew {Drosera longifolia or intermedia^, known in peat bogs
in Bucks, Beds, Hunts and Lincoln, and formerly in Cambridge ; the
celery [Apium graveolens), a semi-maritime species found occasionally native
inland as in Oxford, Beds, Bucks and Cambridge ; the chamomile [Anthe-
mis nobilis) frequents moist heathy places, and is native to Bucks, Oxford
(very rarely), Warwick (very local), Leicester, Beds and Cambridge ;
the sedge (Carex diandra or teretiusculd), a native of peaty pools, recorded
as a very local plant in Warwick, Cambridge and Leicester ; the club-
moss [Lycopodium inundatum), found on black peaty places, and recorded
for all the bordering counties with the exception of Oxford ; the alpine
club-moss (L. alpinum) formerly grew near the sea-level in north Lin-
colnshire ; and Selaginella selaginoides formerly occurred in the same
county.

There are many causes which prevent the flora of Northampton-
shire from being a rich one, one of the chief of these being the great
extent of the county which is under cultivation. Probably no other
county except Middlesex, with its enormous growth of houses, has so
small an acreage of commons or waste ground. The enclosure of the
commons, those happy hunting grounds for the naturalist, is nearly com-
plete, and in almost all cases except Dallington Heath and Harleston
Firs the condition of vegetation has been very greatly changed. The
woodlands are now said to cover 25,000 acres, but this is small as com-
pared with what the great forests of Whittlebury, Salcey, Yardley Chase,
Rockingham, Brigstock, Morehay and Bedford Purlieus once were. Not
only is the acreage of these woods much diminished, but the character of
the woodland has been changed. A great portion now consists only of
blackthorn thickets, or plantations of small trees, and of larch, which
make excellent game and fox coverts, but have a singularly unvarying
lower vegetation, and it is chiefly with nettles, herb mercury or the
creeping dog rose that so much of the ground in these thickets is now
covered. It is only in the remains of the older woods, as in Whittlebury,
Bedford Purlieus, Geddington or Yardley Chase that any great variety of
woodland plants is to be found.

The absence of heaths is almost complete, and where they exist it

BOTANY

is only as patches ; in fact, one of the types of heath vegetation, the
blaeberry, or as it is called in the adjoining county of Buckingham, the
huckleberry, is entirely absent, nor is there a winter green {Pyrola) re-
corded, and the small cudweed {Filago minima) is extremely rare, while
the wood sage [Teucrium ScoroJonia), which is one of the commonest
plants over large areas of Devon and other counties, is one of our rarest
species. The heaths (Calluna Erica, Erica cinerea and E. Tetralix) are
extremely local, and indeed are absent from the greater portion of the
county. Another heath-loving species, the golden rod (Solidago Virgaurea),
which is quite a feature in many of the western counties, with us is
limited to two or three localities, and the buck's-horn plantain [Plantago
Coronopus), one of the commonest plants on the sandy heaths and road-
sides in some parts of Berks and Hants, I have not been able to find in
the county, although there is good evidence that at one time it existed
on the Billing Lings. This species is also very rare in Oxfordshire and
north Bucks. The common chamomile [Anthemis nobilis) appears to be
absent as a native plant, and the cudweeds (Filago germanica and F. spathu-
lata) have not been recorded.

Peat is now almost absent from the county, and we lack those de-
posits of it which in conjuncture with springs give sphagnum bogs,
which uliginous plants delight in, and consequently many of these, as we
have seen, are absent ; as examples we may mention the common small
skull-cap [Scutellaria minor), the chaff-weed (Centunculus minimus), the all-
seed {Millegrana Radiola), the sedges [Carex diandra or teretiuscula, C. canes-
cens or curta and C. elongata), the sundews (Drosera rotundifolia and D.
longifolia), the Lancashire asphodel {Narthecium ossifragum), the sweet gale
[Myrica Gale), the creeping willow [Salix repens), which are plants fre-
quently met with in many counties on peaty soils, while such widely
distributed and common plants as the sedges [Carex echinata and C. rostrata)
are very rare with us, and the butterwort [Pinguicula vulgaris), which
we know from the Phytologia of Wm. How, published in 1650, was
once common in the county, is now limited to a very few localities, and
the same remark may be also used to describe the occurrence of the
bog pimpernel [Anagallis tenella) and the grasses [Sieglingia decumbens and
Molinia varia). Other plants which also delight in peat are absent, or are
not recorded on satisfactory authority for the county. These include the
poisonous water dropwort [CEnanthe crocata) mentioned in Goodyer's MS,
of 1650 as being seen in the ditches near Peterborough, the water avens
[Geum rivale), the creeping water forget-me-not [Myosotis repens), and the
sedge ( Carex Jiliformis) .

Again, many lacustrine species are lacking, as we possess no large
natural piece of water such as the broads of East Anglia, the llyns of
Wales, the Scottish lochs, or the Salopian meres. It may be urged
that in the reservoirs of Daventry, Byfield and Naseby we have such
large expanses of water, but these are of recent origin, much too recent
to yield a large number of species, although doubtless in time to these
places will be brought by birds and other agencies additional plants.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Our streams too are small and sluggish, and too heavily-laden with lime
to afford any great variety of waterweeds.

The chalk-hills of Oxford, Bucks and Beds do not enter into our
county, nor is there any great extent of aboriginal turf, such as clothes
the Cotswolds, on the limestone formation of Northamptonshire, so those
typical gypsophiles or calcipetes, as species loving lime or chalk have
been termed, the chalk milkwort {Polygala calcarea), the box {Buxus
sempervirens), the large earth-nut {Carum Bu/bocastanum), the gentian
[Gentiana germanica), the musk orchis {Herminium Monorchis), the mili-
tary orchis {Orchis militaris), the monkey orchis (O. Simia), are absent, as
are the fumitories {F. parviflora, F. Vai/lantii and F. densijiord) and the
candytuft {Iberis amara), which are found in arable fields on the chalk
formations in the bordering counties.

The enclosing of the grassy borders of the roads, and the greater
attention to cutting and trimming of the hedgerows, has robbed us of
the plant which was formerly the pride of botanists of the county,
namely the prickly eryngo {Eryngium campestre), which formerly grew by
the old Watling Street near Brockhall. The perennial flax {Liniim perenne)
has met with a similar fate it is to be feared in the east of the county,
and the star-thistle {Centaurea Calcitrapa) has not recently been found.

Again we lack the presence of the older rocks, such as are to be
seen in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, where the New Red Sand-
stone and syenitic rocks come to the surface, and give a home for heath,
bog and forest plants, where a few species occur, or did until recently
occur, which are absent from our area ; these include the bell-flower
[Campanula patula), the crowberry [Empetrum nigrum), the cotton grass
[Eriophorum vaginatum), the small furze {Ulex Gallii), and the sedges
[Carex Jiliformis and C. diandra or teretiusculd) .

The inland position of the county necessarily shuts out a large num-
ber of littoral species, but it is somewhat singular that the celery {Apium
graveolens) should really be absent from our fen ditches which appear so
suitable for it, and we appear to have no brackish springs such as are
found in Warwickshire and Berkshire, which are likewise inland coun-
ties, and there give a home for Scirpus maritimus and S. 'Taberncemontani.
Perhaps these plants, with the horned pondweed [Zannichellia peduncu-
lata), may hereafter be found.

At one time the extensive quarries of stone, which in places had
become grass-covered, yielded many botanical treasures, and some of
these — notably those of Barnack and Colleyweston — are still the most
interesting localities for plants in the county. In the course of time,
however, the soil on them accumulates, and gradually from decaying
vegetation the surface soil becomes richer, and on this strong grasses,
such as Poa pratensis and Dactylis or Arrhenatherum, get introduced and
gradually push out the sheep's fescue {Festuca ovina) and Kcehleria, while
they prove most obnoxious to the orchids and other limestone-loving
species. The taller growth and richer herbage of the species alluded to
also overshadow and reduce the sun temperature which Composites such

BOTANY

as the field ragwort or mountain fleawort {Senecio campestris) and the cat's-
foot {Antemiaria dioica) require. The process appears to be complete so
far as exterminating the former is concerned, while the latter, with the
spotted cat's-ear [Hypochceris maculata), only linger in a solitary locality.
It must also be borne in mind that with the growth of the richer herb-
age of the grasses I have named, there is a greater attraction held out for
sheep and cattle to come to these once arid places. They assist the pro-
cess by trampling down to a dead uniformity both the vegetation and
the soil, while with their advent a new factor is introduced, namely the
nitrates which result from the ammonia excreted by them, which foster
the growth of the Poa and Dactylis, but are inimical to the older and
rarer species. Nor must the influence of the atmosphere be forgotten.
With the streaming rain and gentle dew a continual dissolving away and
washing down of the original rock is taking place, and brought by the
driving wind, particles of soil of a different character from the bed-rock
are deposited. Before such agents as these the reprehensible maraudings
of the too greedy botanical collector sink comparatively to nothing.
Change of this kind is slowly taking place everywhere in Britain, but
much more rapidly with us, since our rocks are all soluble, and the pro-
cess is necessarily much more rapid than it is with the igneous rocks,
which weather but slowly, and especially when the other factors of high
cultivation, and a more densely populated area also are to be found.

A similar process goes on in our small heathlands, and the introduc-
tion or the increase of rabbits largely assists in it, since they nibble off
very closely all the aboriginal vegetation, so that the annuals such as the
bird's-foot trefoil {Ornithopus), the buck's-horn plantain {Plantago coro-
nopus), the small trefoil {"Trifolium fiUforme) — the latter not yet recorded
for Northants — have a very bad time, and only such hardy species as the
ragwort {Senecio Jacobcea) appear to be able to hold their own ; while
their rapid movements tend to distribute the nettles, the seeds of which
get scattered from their furry coats. The stone quarries near Weedon,
at Cosgrove, and heathy roadsides and heathlands of Holdenby, H addon,
etc., are now much poorer than they were even in my recollection, and
the mountain fern [Lastrea Oreopteris or Dryopteris montana) has been era-
dicated. The broom {Sarothamnus scoparius) is now much scarcer, and
its interesting parasite, the broom-rape {Orobanche Rapum-genistce) is now
almost extinct.

The replacement of stone buildings with those made of brick has
caused a diminution in the number of mural plants. We read in Ray's
Itineraries that he found on the walls of Northampton several interesting
plants, and we know that the drawing of the wall pennywort or navel-
wort {Cotyledon Umbilicus) in the first edition of English Botany was made
by Sowerby from plants gathered on the walls of Peterborough Cathe-
dral, but now few plants of any kind are found on the less congenial
brick walls of Northampton, and the better state of repair in which the
walls of Peterborough Cathedral are kept yield little space for the Coty-
ledon, which it is to be feared has been quite exterminated there. Doubt-

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

less the substitution of coal for wood as a fuel has also had influence in
diminishing the number of mural plants in towns. With the destruction
of the Old Castle at Northampton disappeared in its only known locality
in the county the wall rocket [Diplotaxis tenuifolia), and with it also went
from that locality several interesting species including Galium erectum.
The Northampton racecourse which within the last fifty years had
rough banks and hollows on it, and yielded the garlic [Allium vineale),
meadow saxifrage [Saxifraga granulatd) and other plants, has but few and
those the commonest species now.

Although the changes hitherto mentioned in the character of the
vegetation of the county have been all for the worse, yet it must be
acknowledged that perhaps in the number of species the nineteenth may
compare quite favourably with the ninth century. The large extent of
country under the cultivation of corn has brought in, although doubtless
a very long time ago, a considerable number of agrestal species which
are probably not indigenous to Britain. Among these plants, which we
call colonists, are the poppies {Papaver Rhceas^ P. dubium, and P. Arge-
mone), the fumitory (Fumaria officinalis)^ the white mustard {Brassica
alba), the shepherd's needle {Scandix Pecten-veneris), the hare's ear
[Bupleurum rotundifolium), the corn marigold [Chrysanthemum segetum),
the corn buttercup {Ranunculus arvensis), the corn cockle [Lychnis Gith-
ago)y the St. Barnaby's thistle [Centaurea Solsfitialis), the blue cornflower
[Centaurea Cyanus), the Venus' looking-glass [Specularia hybrida), the
field bugloss [Anchusa arvensis), the corn gromwell [Lithospermum ar-
vense), the small toad-flax [Linaria minor or viscida), the calfs snout
[Antirrhinum Orontium), the grey speedwell [Veronica didyma or polita),
and other species ; the upright ground ivy [Stachys arvensis), the hemp
nettle [Galeopsis speciosa or versicolor), the red cut-leaved archangel
[Lamium hybridum), several of the goosefoots [Chenopodium), the corn
bindweed [Polygonum Convolvulus), the sun spurge [Euphorbia helioscopia),
the petty spurge [E. Peplus), the corn spurge [E. platyphylla), and several
species of grass such as Avena strigosa znA fatua, Bromus secalinus, and the
darnel [Lolium temulentum).

But in addition to these we have plants introduced to our cultivated
areas in more recent times ; among them the blue-flowered Veronica
Tournefortii, or as it has also been called V. Buxbaumii, which was not
known to occur in this country in the eighteenth century, but is now
very widely distributed. The clover dodder [Cuscuta trifolii) and the
hoary cress [Lepidium Draba) also were unknown in Britain before the
nineteenth century. There is more doubt as to the date of the introduc-
tion of the two hawkweeds, Crepis biennis and C taraxacifolia, and many
botanists believe them to be indigenous in the eastern counties, and that
they belong to the Germanic type of distribution. This may possibly
be a correct view, but the extraordinary manner in which they have
increased in recent years is evidence to me that in a large number of
instances these plants, especially the latter species, are colonists rather
than indigenous. Within my recollection these plants have been intro-

BOTANY

duced into Berks, Middlesex and Bucks, and are now a conspicuous
feature in the clover and corn fields, and by the roads and railways, their
feathered fruits being carried by the wind over ever-widening areas, and
thus yearly make a westerly advance into fresh country.

The hoary cress first appeared in our county on the rubbish heaps
at the sewage works. At that time some portion of the dried refuse was
sold for manure, and in this way the cress has been carried to widely
separated stations. The plant is supposed to have been introduced to
Britain with the fodder brought by the vessels which conveyed the un-
fortunate Walcheren expedition, and is now a pest to the agriculturist in
the Isle of Thanet. A semi-maritime species of grass, Glyceria or Pani-
cularia distans, was also very common about the sewage works in 1879,
but I cannot learn that it has spread to other situations. The washing
of skins in our streams by fellmongers, etc., has led to the introduction
of several foreign species. The seeds which had become entangled in
the wool of foreign animals, in the washing have been separated and sunk
into the mud. When the river Nene was dredged, the surface of the mud
scattered on the adjoining meadow showed several foreign species which
flourished for a season or so, but partly from the cold season, and I think
chiefly from the stress of the keen competition for the soil by the strong
native species of grass, these outlanders soon disappeared. About our
corn mills a few foreign casuals may be seen : these include Couringia
orientalis, Plantago arenaria, Santia {Polypogon) monspeliensis.

Another factor in the introduction of foreign casuals must receive
brief notice, as it is quite conceivable that some of the plants thus
introduced may become permanent features in our flora. I refer to
our railways. At the present time no inconsiderable acreage of North-
amptonshire is taken up with the sidings, embankments, and cuttings of
the various railway systems which traverse the county. The railway
banks often give one a better idea of the native flora than the surround-
ing ground which is under cultivation, as our competing grasses and
other strong species have not had time to exert their overcrowding pro-
perties, while the drainage and the sunny exposure often give plants
which are fond of an open situation facilities which the more uniform,
sheltered, shaded, and highly cultivated arable or pasture country no
longer affords ; hence we see the hare's-foot clover [Trifolium arvense),
the mouse-ear hawkweed [Hieracium Pilosella), the field scorpion grass
{Myosotis versicolor), doing extremely well on railway banks. Moreover
when a cutting has been made through clay, the moist surface acts as
a sticky fly-paper does, and light seeds which are borne by the wind
become attached, and in a short time the clay is covered with vegetation
which is in many instances foreign to the district round. These clay
cuttings afford us the bee orchis {Ophrys apifera), the melilot [Melilotus
officinalis), the rose bay willow herb [Epilobium angustifolium) , and the
Crepis taraxacifolia already referred to, while the abundance of coltsfoot
and thistles show what an advantage the feathery pappus-borne fruits
have over the more heavy ones which are dependent upon other means

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

for distribution. But we also owe many foreigners to the forage which
is carried along the line in trucks, from which seeds are spilled, and in
this way the small toadflax {Linaria viscidd) has come, no long distance
of railways in Britain being without it. The wall rocket {Diplotaxis
muralis) is another species which has been introduced in a similar way,
and a grass [Setaria viridis), although much less common, is also frequently
to be found along the permanent way. Between Roade and Wolverton
a very large number of foreign species occur, and the yellow chamomile
{Anthemis tinctorid) and the gold of pleasure [Camelina sativd) promise to
become permanently established. Just outside our area, in the parish of
Hanslope, two foreign species of Hieracium with Anthemis tinctoria cover
a considerable extent of the embankment for some distance.

Two species of ferns have been introduced to our county quite
recently, one the limestone polypody [Phegopteris calcarea or Robertiand)
which Mr. Dixon found on the stone banks of the Roade railway cut-
ting, and the brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragUis). Probably the
wind (a little helped possibly by the draught made by rapid trains) has
been the agent in these cases, as certainly they were not there formerly,
and the spores of the limestone polypody may have been carried by the
westerly wind from Cheddar where the plant is frequent. It also exists
in Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire. By the means of railways the Ox-
ford ragwort [Senecio squalidus), which previously to their formation was
limited in England to Bideford and Oxford, has now been conveyed from
the latter place, and especially in recent years, along the Great Western
line to Reading and Maidenhead, to Hayes in Middlesex, and to Swin-
don in Wiltshire ; and on the London and North- Western Railway to
Verney Junction in Bucks ; and it is quite probable before the next
twenty years are passed it will have extended along the main line through
our county. The striped toadflax {Linaria repens) also, which before the
advent of railways was not found north of the chalk area in Oxfordshire and
Berkshire, has been carried by trains into our county near Aynhoe, and
I have seen it also near Banbury. A great quantity of it was brought to
Oxford with railway ballast, and for some years it flourished in great
luxuriance, and formed with the yellow toadflax (L. vulgaris) an im-
mense number of most interesting hybrids.^ The seeds of the rose bay
willow herb {Epilobium angustifolium) may have been partly carried by
the wind of passing trains to several places on the sides of the railway.

The Canadian water thyme {Elodea canadensis), which was first
recorded from Foxton reservoir in Leicestershire, near Market Har-
borough, in 1847, and of which a specimen gathered in 1849 from
Northamptonshire is contained in the Edinburgh Herbarium, was
brought into our area by the Grand Junction Canal, and quickly
spread over the county, until in the seventies it was a pest, but since
that time it has become less frequent. The same thing has occurred
generally over England, waterways having been a principal means by
which this rapid spreading of the species has taken place ; but birds

' See the Fiora 0/ Berkshire, pp. 292, 293.
56

BOTANY

must in the great majority of cases have been the means of introducing
it to numerous isolated pieces of water.

Spores of ferns are also carried by water, for I have seen seedling
species of the bracken (Pteris aquilirm) which have been brought down
from Harleston, growing on the flood-mark on the brick walls of wharves
in the southern part of Northampton. The sweet flag [Acorus Calamus)
has spread by the agency of streams along the larger rivers of eastern and
southern England, but in this instance it is to portions of the creeping
rhizome being carried down by the stream to some other anchorage, that
its dispersal over a wide area is probably due. It occurs by the Ouse at
Stony Stratford on both sides of the stream, and has the appearance of
being native. The yellow monkey flower {Mimulus Langsdorffii) so fre-
quent in some of the Buckinghamshire streams, does not yet appear to
be established with us.

THE BOTANICAL DISTRICTS

Following the example which has been set by the large proportion of modern local floras,
I have based the divisions of the county for botanical purposes upon the river drainage, and by
doing so have brought the flora of Northamptonshire into harmony with that of the neigh-
bouring counties in which a similar plan has been adopted. Those botanists who are
interested in plant distribution through the smaller river districts of England, may thus have
less trouble in tracing the constituents of each river-flora than would be the case if an artificial
or geological basis of division had been followed. Unlike some counties, such as Berkshire,
which happen to be wholly in the drainage basin of one large river, Northamptonshire has a
more composite system. Owing to the great length of the county, which from Crowland to
Aynhoe is seventy miles, and from its ranges of hills, it has been the boast of the county that
we send streams to all the neighbouring counties but receive none in return, and we have the
water-parting of three different and important river systems all starting within our area, the
outlets of which into the sea are very widely separated. They are the Severn, the Thames,
and the Ouse. The first is represented by two streams, the Learn and the Avon, which are
separate and distinct in our county, but unite in Warwickshire, while the united stream, still
bearing the classic name of Avon, itself unites near Tewkesbury with the Severn, whose outfall
is into the Bristol Channel. The second consists of the Cherwell, and is an important feeder of
the Thames, which falls into the North Sea near the English Channel. The third, the Ouse,
which in our area is drained by the Ouse, the Nene and the Welland, each distinct streams, and
flowing into the Wash in the German Ocean by different outlets. As the portion of our
county drained by the Ouse is large I have thought it well to separate it into five subdivisions.

The r.ames and limitations therefore of the seven botanical districts are as follows : —

1. The Avon or Leam
This district occupies a narrow strip on the north-western side of the county, and is
bordered by the counties of Leicester and Warwick, and corresponds with District 2 of the
Flora of Leicestershire, znd with Districts 4 and 5 of Bagnall's F/ora of JFarwickshire, where the
drainage of these two streams forms two districts. It may be well hereafter when the know-
ledge of the flora of this part is more complete than it is at present to follow Mr. Bagnall's
plan of keeping the two river drainages separate. The boundary of the Avon district, from
the district of the Cherwell, Nene, and Welland is as follows ; but it must be borne in mind
that in some cases, from various causes, the boundary is not precise. From the Warwickshire
border near Marston Hill, the turnpike road from Priors Marston to Charwelton is followed.
Then the boundary line is carried northwards to Arbury Hill (734 feet), capped with North-
ampton sands, which forms the culminating point of the county, and which is therefore in two
different drainage systems. From Arbury the high ground to Staverton marks the limit, and
from Staverton the turnpike road, the highest point of which is 590 feet, to Daventry forms
the boundary as far as to Drayton Lodge, then the line is traced across country by Drayton
Grange to Ashby Grange, leaving Drayton reservoir (in the Nene district) on the east, and
Bragbrough House on the west. At this point the turnpike road to Barby marks the boundary

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

as far as to the Ridgeway road (552 feet), and then the latter is followed to Kilsby. The
area within the boundaries described is drained by the Learn, and at Kilsby begins the area
drained by the Avon, the boundary from Kilsby being the water-parting of the high ground
on the south of Crick, and a little north of West Haddon (577 feet), then to the south of
Winwick Warren (648 feet), by Cold Ashby (654 feet), to Naseby, where the elevation at
the base of the monument is 648 feet above sea-level. The boundary line is then drawn in a
northerly direction to Sibbertoft (600 feet) and thence to the Leicestershire border of the county.
The source of the Avon is in a group of springs issuing from the escarpment at the base
of the layer of Northampton sands, between Naseby and Welford ; but the chief source of the
classic river has usually been connected with a spring rising from historic Naseby, at an
elevation of 622 feet above sea-level, whence it flows in a westerly direction through Stanford
Park and then separates us from Leicestershire ; another feeder passes near Yelvertoft and by
Clay Coton to Lilbourne,

'Where ever-gliding Avon's limpid wave Thwarts the long course of dusty Watling Street.'
From the high ground overlooking the valley of the Avon very extensive and pleasing
views may be obtained over a country which it is true is singularly deficient in woodland, but
yet from its bushy hedgerows, its immemorial elms, and its extensive pastures and gently
undulating cornfields, oft'crs a charming landscape, and one especially dear to the fox-hunter.
Honey Hill, near Elkington, offers in a special degree an extensive view which includes the
spires of Coventry, and under favourable conditions the Malvern Hills.

The Learn rises from the slopes of the high ground in the vicinity of Arbury Hill and
Staverton and Marston Hill, and forms the county boundary of Warwickshire from Shuckburgh
Mill to Braunston, and then passes into that county, where it gives its name to Leamington.

This portion drained by the Leam is very pleasant country, and it contains Arbury Hill,
which is the highest portion of the county, namely 734 feet above sea-level. There is con-
siderable diversity of soil and elevation in the district, and the light sandy ground near Staver-
ton ought to yield several species not at present recorded. The high ground near Barby, and
that near West Haddon and the western side of Sibbertoft would well repay working. The
large reservoir to the west of Naseby which supplies the canal, the hills and hollows near
Elkington, the Grand Junction Canal, and the Oxford and Birmingham Canal, need further
exploration. As I have already said, the extent of woodland is extremely small, and
heathlands and bogs are practically absent. This is also the character of the Avon and
Leam districts in Warwickshire, which have a much larger acreage, but which are remarkable
for the absence of bog and heath plants. The Warwickshire districts are however much
richer in interesting species than our own, but systematic work would well repay the botanist,
as it is certainly the least explored of any of our districts, but the geological formations are
not favourable for a rich flora, for notwithstanding the presence of the Northampton sands
which cap the higher hills, a very considerable proportion consists of the Lower Lias clays,
which form uninteresting country, especially about Kilsby, Barby, Clay Coton, and the valley
of the Avon, which is sparsely inhabited, and chiefly in pasture, with a very limited range of
vegetation.

Among the species recorded for the Avon and Leam district are the following : —

Berberis vulgaris, L. Lamium Galeobdolon, Crantz.

Thlaspi arvense, L. Mentha longlfolia, Huds.

Montia fontana, L. Scleranthus annuus, L.

Spergula sativa, Boenn. Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus, L.

Cytisus scoparius, Link. Salix rubra, Huds.

Genista anglica, L. Probably extinct — Smithiana, Willd.

Melilotus officinalis, Lam. Populus alba, L.

Lathyrus montanus, Bernh. (Orobus tuberosus, Potamogeton alpinus, Balb.

L.) Triglochin palustre, L.

Rubus echinatus, Lindl. Fritillaria Meleagris, L. Not recently re-

— argentatus, P. J. Muell. corded

— diversifolius, Lindl. Sparganium neglectum, Beeby
[Sedum album, L.] Carex paniculata, L.

C. intermedia, HofFm. (Callitriche hamulata, Festuca Myurus, L.

Kuetz.) Phyllitis Scolopendrium.

Adoxa Moschatellina, L. Polystichum aculeatum, Roth.

Galium Cruciata, Scop. Ophioglossum vulgatum, L.

Chr)'santhemum segetum, L. Chara hispida, L.

Pedicularis sylvatica, L. Tolypella prolifera, Leonh.

BOTANY

2. The Cherwell District

The boundaries of this district are as follows : From Charwelton to the Warwick-
shire border near Marston Hill it is bounded by the Avon district as already described ; from
this point near Marston Hill to the Three-shire Stone, near Wormleighton reservoir, its
western limit is the county boundary of Warwickshire. At the Three Mile Stone Oxford-
shire takes the place of Warwickshire, and the county boundary limits our district on the
west as far south as Aynhoe. It then also forms our boundary on the south along a line which
may be traced across country to the Cottisford racecourse on the Brackley turnpike road,
and then follows that road to the ' Barley Mow ' Inn, where it touches the water-parting of
the Ouse. From the ' Barley Mow,' near Evenley, our separating line is drawn along the
Brackley road to Evenley, and then along the road to King Sutton as far as to Rowler Farm,
when a northerly direction is taken towards Farthinghoe, leaving Hinton-in-the-Hedges in the
Ouse district to the east, and then taking in Farthinghoe, it passes between Marston St. Lawrence
and Gretworth, the latter being in the Ouse district. As we proceed northwards the boundary
line is traced along the high ground to the east of Thorpe Mandeville, Culworth and Moreton
Pinkney to Adston, Preston Field, Preston Capes, and Charwelton. From Preston Capes to
Charwelton the Nene district forms its northern boundary.

The Cherwell issues from a spring rising in the cellar of Charwell House from an elevated
table-land of Lias capped here and there by outliers of Oolite at an altitude of over 500 feet
above the level of the sea, and from this table-land springs send their waters respectively
to the German Ocean and the Bristol Channel. At Charwelton, on the Marlstone, the
infant Cherwell is crossed by a picturesque and interesting stone horse-bridge. Then it
flows by Woodford and Edgcott and the ancient battlefield of Danesmoor, near which at
Ayles Mill it enters Oxfordshire. A few miles south of this at Chacombe the Cherwell
divides the counties of Oxford and Northampton as far south as to Aynhoe, flowing through
alluvial meadows resting on the Lower Lias clay. Above Chacombe comes in the Warwick-
shire branch of the river, and other feeders from both sides of the valley, which has hitherto
consisted of a broadly undulating tract, but now assumes a more contracted character, and the
river cuts through ridges of more unequal elevation. It passes Banbury (where the datum
mark is about 300 feet above sea-level) and the river, which has cut its way down to the
Liassic rocks, passes King Sutton and the well wooded park of the Cartwrights near Aynhoe,
where a small brook, which rises near Evenley Castle and passes by Croughton, and the
southern part of Aynhoe Park, forms the county boundary. The Cherwell now becomes
wholly an Oxfordshire stream, and at Oxford merges with the Thames at a spot where the
river is about I go feet above sea-level. The catchment basin of the whole of the Cherwell
valley is estimated as about 500 square miles. The Cherwell district has its counterpart in
Warwickshire, and Mr. Bagnall has made the portion drained by this stream District 10 of his
Flora of IVarwichhire ; the highest ground in the district in that county being a portion of
Edgehill, 766 feet above the sea-level. Mr. Bagnall complains that his district is rather poor in
interesting species, but he records a willow-herb [Epilobium roseum) which at present is not
known in this county, although very likely to be found. The Cherwell district corresponds
also to the districts called the Swere or Upper Cherwell and the Ray or Lower Cherwell of
my Flora of Oxfordihire, but these are much larger than the Northamptonshire district and con-
tain several species not recorded for our county. One of these, the water avens [Geum
rivale), so far as Oxfordshire is concerned, practically confined to the Cherwell basin, being
rather frequent by the river only a short distance from the Northamptonshire boundary,
and I do not yet despair of adding it to our county list. Among the other plants found in
Oxfordshire which we lack are Rosa agrestis {R. sfpium), R. systyla, Pulicaria vulgaris,
Juniperus communis, Anthemis nobilis, Arabis perfoliata, Viola palustris, Vicia lathyroides, and
Car ex axillaris.

Notwithstanding the absence of these species, this district is quite an interesting one, as
there is considerable variety in the geological formations from the Lower Lias clay to the
Marlstone, Upper Lias clay, Northampton sands, and the Great Oolite, and the latter is in
places covered with drift. Although there is no great extent of woodland, there are some
interesting spinneys, while a few portions of bog still remain. One of these owes its existence
to a patch of drift clay overlying the Great Oolite near Evenley. Although this piece of bog
is very small, it is remarkable how many species which are absent from the greater portion of
the district are still to be found in it. The beautiful grass of Parnassus {Parnassia palustris)
still lingers there with the marsh helleborine {Epipactis palustris), the grass Molinia varia, the

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

sedges Carex pulicaris, C.flava, C. Hornschuchianay C. binemis, the marsh thistle {Cnicus pratenui),
the marsh dropwort [CEnanthe Lachenalii), the butterwort {Pinguicula vulgarii), and Juncus
obtmiflorui. About Aynhoe the wall lettuce [Lactuca muralis) is found, and near Croughton
Ruhus mucronatus, Daphe Mezereutriy Chara hispida, Brachypodium pinnatum, and Bromus
erectus.

There are some interesting spinneys and coppices in the neighbourhood of Newbottlc,
and in one of these the dame's violet {Hesperis matronalis) is naturalized. The hedges here
have occasionally Rosa glauca and R. coriifolia, which are especially common in northern
Britain, but become rare in the south. Ruhus Radula is common in the hedgerows, and where
the Great Oolite comes to the surface in one or two places we may see the great woolly-
headed thistle {Cnicus eriophorus), and as also showing the presence of limestone the Canterbury
bell [Campanula glomerata). Venus' looking-glass [Specu/arla hybrida) is found in the corn-
fields, and Caucalis nodosa on dry banks. In grassy places Galium erectum has been gathered.
The village walls of King Sutton and Newbottle have Poa compressa and Scdum album. The
spinneys show the wild cherry {Prunus avium), and in one place the ramsons {Allium
ursinum).

The piece of artificial water at Astrop Park has the mare's-tail {Hippuris vulgaris), the
milfoil {Myriophyllum verticillatum), and the horned milfoil {Ceratophyllum). The Cherwell
and the canal between Aynhoe and Chacombe have a good many interesting plants, but space
will only allow of a few being here given ; among these however must be mentioned the rare
pondweeds Potamogeton alpinus and P. polygonifolius, which have been found in a small
stream near Banbury, and the butterwort {Pinguicula vulgaris) formerly grew near the canal
banks. Carex paniculata is to be found in luxuriant growth in several places, and the bog
lousewort {Pedicularis palustris) also occurs. One of the conspicuous species by the canal is
the butter-bur {Petasites vulgaris). The rose bay willow herb {Epilobium angustifolium) is
plentiful on the railway banks near Aston. The barberry {Berberis vulgaris) is rather
frequent about Chacombe and at Canon's Ashby, and the nzy^Xwovt. {Cotyledon Umbilicus) gwws
occasionally on old walls, and especially at the last-named place.

Four Slips Copse near Steane, which is situated on the Northampton sands, shows con-
siderable variety of soil, from light sand to dark peaty earth and clay. On the whole the flora
of this place is less interesting than one would at first sight be led to expect. It yields how-
ever among other species the hard fern {Lomaria Spicant), the lady fern {Athyrium Filix-
fcemina), the broad shield fern {Dryopteris dilatata), the grass of Parnassus {Parnassia palustris),
the bog bedstraw {Galium uliginosum), the marsh valerian {Valeriana dioica), the pennywort
{Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the cherry {Prunus Avium), the gooseberry {Ribes Grossularia), and the
brambles Rubus dasycarpus, R. Radula, etc.

The rarer plants of the Cherwell district in addition to those in the preceding pages are
as follows : —

Ranunculus hederaceus, L.

— heterophyllus, Weber
Aquilegia vulgaris, L.
[Delphinium Consolida, L.]
Diplotaxis muralis, DC.
Sisymbrium Thalianum, Gay.
Erysimum cheiranthoides, L.
Cardamine amara, L.

— flexuosa. With.

Roripa palustris, Bess. (Nasturtium)

— amphibia, Bess. (Nasturtium)
[Vogelia paniculata, Medik.]
Lepidium campestre, R. Br.
Polygala vulgaris, L.

Lychnis Githago, Scop.
Sagina apetala, Hard.
Geranium pyrenaicum, Burm. f.

— lucidum, L.
Euonymus europaus, L.
Genista tinctoria, L.
Trifolium medium, L.

— scabrum, L.

Lotus uliginosus, Schkuhr,

Spiraea Filipendula, L.

Rubus Selmeri, Lindb.

— pulcherrimus, Neum.

— foliosus, W. and N.

— Lindleianus, Lees.

Fragaria muricata. Mill. (F. elatior, Ehrh.)
Alchemilla vulgaris, L., var. filicaulis (Buser)
Poterium officinale, A. Gray. (Sanguisorba

officinale, L.)
[P. polygamum, W. and K.]
Rosa tomentosa, Sm. (R. mollissima, Willd.)
Crataegus oxyacanthoides, Thuill.
Pyrus Aucuparia, E.
Saxifraga granulata, L.
[Ribes alpinum, L.]

— rubrum, L.
Sedum Telephium, L.
[ — album, L.]
Myriophyllum spicatum, L.
Callitriche obtusangula, Le Gall.
Epilobium tetragonum, L.
Pimpinella major, Huds.

Sium latifolium, L.

BOTANY

Bupleurum rotundifolium, L.
CEnanthe fistulosa, L.

— Phellandrium, Lam.

Cerefolium Anthriscus, G. Beck. (Anthriscus

vulgaris)
Adoxa Moschatellina, L.
Sambucus Ebulus, L.
[Lonicera Caprifolium, L.]
Galium hercynicum, Weig. (G. saxatile, L.)

— tricorne, Stokes
Valerianella olitoria, Moench.

— dentata, Poll.
Dipsacus pilosus, Huds.
Erigeron acre, L.
Filago germanica, L.
Inula Conyza, DC.
Chrysanthemum segetum, L.

— Parthenium, Pers.
Artemisia Absinthium, L.
Senecio sylvaticus, L.

— squalidus, L.
Ficris Hieracioides, L.
Serratula tinctoria, L.
Lactuca virosa, L.
[Crepis setosa, Haller f.]
Hottonia palustris, L.
Lysimachia vulgaris, L.
[Vinca minor, L.]

Erythrasa ramosissima Pers. (pulchell.i).
Gentiana Amarella, L.
Menyanthes trifoliata, L.
Myosotis cespitosa, Schultz.

— collina, Hoffm.

— versicolor, Sm.
Lycopsis arvensis, L.
[Cuscuta trifolii, Bab.]
[Linaria repens. Mill.]

Calamintha arvensis. Lam. (Clinopodium

Acinos.)
Nepeta Cataria, L.
Stachys ambigua, Sm.

— arvensis, L.
Salvia Verbenaca, L.
Chenopodium polyspermum, L.

— rubrum, L.
A'riplex deltoidea, Bab.
Polygonum Hydropiper, L.

— maculatum. Trim. & Dyer. (P. tomen-
tosum, Schrank.)

Daphne Mezereum, L.

— Laureola, L.
Carpinus Betulus, L.
Quercus sessiliflora, Salisb.
Populus canescens, Sm.

— tremula, L.
Salix viridis. Fries.

— triandra, L.

— purpurea, L.

— Smithiana. Willd.
Orchis pyramidalis, L.
Habenaria chloroleuca, Ridl.

— conopsea, Benth.
Iris foetidissima, L.
Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, L.
Potamogeton compressum, L. (P. zosterifolius,

Schum.)

— Friesii, Rupr.

• — interruptus. Kit.
Fritillaria Meleagris, L.
Scirpus setaceus, L.

— sylvaticus, L.

Eriophorum angustifolium. Roth.
Carex disticha, Huds.

— divulsa, Stokes

— panicea, L.

— flava, L.

— lepidocarpa, Tauich.

— rostrata, Stokes
Agrostis nigra. With.
Calamagrostis epigeios. Roth.
Milium effusum, L.

Avena pubescens, Huds.

— pratensis, L.
Sieglingia decumbens, Bernh.
Poa compressa, L.

— nemoralis, L.
Festuca sciuroides. Roth.

— ovina, L.

Bromus commutatus, Schrad.
[ — secalinus, L.]
Asplenium Trichomanes, L.

— Adiantum-nigrum, L.
Polystichum aculeatum, Roth.
Ceterach officinarum, Willd.
Dryopteris (Lastrea) spinulosa, Kuntze.

— dilatata, A. Gray.
Chara fragilis, Desv.
Nitella opaca, Agardh.

3. The Ouse District

This area is bounded on the western side by the Cherwell district, which reaches from
near Evenley to Hinton-in-the-Hedges, by Greatworth to Preston Capes ; and on the north
by the Nene district from which it is separated by a line which is traced in an easterly direction
to the parishes of Farthingstone and Litchborough (which it leaves to the north), Cold Higham,
Tiffield Cover and Gayton Copse. Leaving Stoke Bruerne to the south, it just takes in the
villages of Roade and Hartwell, when it touches the Buckingham border between the latter village
and Hanslope. The counties are separated from Grafton Regis to Cosgrove by the Tove, which
has cut down to the Upper Lias clay, and from this point along the southern side the county
boundary of Buckingham limits the district by Cosgrove, Old Stratford, Passenham, Wicken,
Syresham and Brackley. Near this pleasant town it just touches the county boundary of Oxford
until it reaches the Evenley road. Strictly speaking this district is composed of the drainage
of two streams — one, the Tove, which rises from the high ground in the neighbourhood of
Preston Capes, passes by Maidford and Blakesley to Towcester (where it meets another branch

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

which springs from the hilly ground of Sulgrave), and on by Weston Bushes, Wappenham,
Slapton and Braddcn. Near the old Roman town of Towcester, where there are large alluvial
meadows, another feeder, which drains some portion of Whittlebury Forest, adds its store of
water ; shortly afterwards near Alderton another brook comes in which has drained the country
about Tifficld and Hulcote, while from the south still another brings in the water collected
from an area in many places covered with blue clay drift about Paulers Pury. There are
other small brooks which drain the parishes of Roade, Hartwell and Ashton, which enter the
Tove before it reaches Bozenham Mill, from which place it serves to divide the county from
that of Buckingham as far as to its junction with the Ouse. The Ouse itself rises from the
high ground near Greatworth and Farthingho at Ouse-well Close,' and passes by Steane Park
to Brackley, where a small stream comes in which has drained the parish of Evenley. From
Radston and Whistlcy Wood another stream forms the county boundary of Buckingham, from
near Biddlesden by Whitfield to Brackley. The Ouse then leaves our county for some time,
but again touches it near Wicken, and from that place separates it from Bucks all the way
to Old Stratford and Cosgrove, when it finally leaves our district on its easterly journey to the
German Ocean. This Ouse district has its counterpart, although on a smaller scale, in the
District 2 of my Flora of Oxfordshire and in the District I of my unpublished Flora of Bucking-
hamshire.

On the Ordnance Map of the Geological Survey the greater portion of the district is
coloured to show that the Great Oolite is the prevailing surface rock, but in fact a very con-
siderable part is covered with a deposit of drift, which is sufficiently thick to mask the
calcareous character of the Oolite. In some places the drift consists of gravel, in others of clay,
so that in many places calcareous-loving plants (gypsophiles or calcipetes) are absent, and plants
which like an impermeable soil predominate (pelophilcs).

Within the area drained by the Ouse and Tove we have some interesting ground. There
is much more woodland than in either of the two preceding districts, and although the once great
forest of Whittlebury, or Whittlewood, which once extended from Old Stratford to Norton,^
has been much enclosed and despoiled, there are still some considerable tracts of sylvan scenery,
which however now contain but few trees of conspicuous size. Formerly it possessed two
celebrated oaks, one which gave the name to the seat of the Duke of Grafton at Wakefield,^
' Wake's huge oak,' as the poet Bloomfield called it, which dated back to Saxon times and was
a magnificent tree within my recollection, but it was unfortunately burned by a number of
mischie\ous schoolboys about thirty years ago ; * the second fortunately survives, and although
hollow is still flourishing. It is known as the Queen's Oak,* from the tradition that Elizabeth
Woodville met Edward the Fourth under its branches to beg of him the restitution of her
children's estates, which their father, Sir John Grey, had forfeited by fighting on the Lancas-
trian side. This interview resulted in the king himself becoming a suitor for the hand of the
lady, and they were married at Grafton Regis on May 1st, 1464. The tree stands at the
back of Potter's Pury Lodge between Wakefield and Grafton Regis.

Whittlebury Forest is remarkable from the rarity or absence of the common bracken
{Pteris aquilina), but this is partly accounted for by the character of the soil, which varies from
stiff glacial clay to nearly bare limestone, with arenaceous soil practically absent. Therefore
lime-loving plants (calcipetes) are frequent, such as the woolly-headed thistle {Cnicus eriophorus),
the rock-rose [Helianthemum Chamacistiis), the clustered bell-flower {Campanula glomerata), the
traveller's joy [Clematis Fitalba), the gromwell {Lithospermum officinale), the spindle tree [Euony-
mus europaus), the columbine [Aquilegia vulgaris), the hairy violet [Fiola hirta), the dove's-foot
cranesbill [Geranium Columhinum), the spurge laurel [Daphne Laureola), and the upright brome
grass [Bromus erectus). Curiously the marjoram [Origanum vulgare) and the lady's fingers
[Anthyllis Fulneraria) are or appear to be absent, and the fellwort [Gentiana Amarella) scarce.
Clay-loving species (pelophiles) are represented by the pendulous sedge [Carex pendula), the ram-

* ' From Brackley breaking forth, through soiles most heavenly sweet.
By Buckingham makes on, and crossing Watling Street
Shee with her lesser Ouse at Newport next doth twin,
Which proud Chilterne neare, comes eas'ly ambling in.'

— Drayton, Polyolbion.
8 See Baker's History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, part ii. pp. 74-86.
s The Dukes of Grafton were formerly Hereditary Rangers or Lord Wardens of Whittlebury Forest.
* Figured in Baker's History, I.e. p. 230.

5 See Baker's Hist. I.e. pp. 179-182. A recent photograph is in the vol. i. p. 131, 1880-81, of the
Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society.

BOTANY

sons {/HUum ursinum), the small reed [Calamagrostis epigeios), the great horsetail [Equisetum
maximum), the hemlock [Conium maculatum), the teasel {Dipsacus syhestris), and the creeping
dog rose {Rosa arvensis). Heath plants are practically absent, although a few plants of the hair
grass {fiachampiia flexuosd) occur on a small gravel-covered spot on Wakefield Lawn. Orchids
are rare, but I once found a specimen of the fly orchis {Ophrys muscifera) in a coppice now
destroyed, and the true butterfly orchis [Hahenaria bifolia) with the larger species [H. chloroleuca)
and the purple hcUeborine [Epipacth violacea) occur. The herb Paris {Paris quadrifolia), the
adder's-tongue fern {Ophioglossum vulgatum), the lady's mantle {Alchemilla vulgaris, var. filicaulis),
the melic grass {Melica unifiora), the wood poa {Poa nemoralis), the upright bedstraw {Galium
erectum), the violet {yiola Reichenbachiana), the eyebright {Euphrasia nemorosa) and the great
burdock {Arctium majus) are to be found ; and the hautbois strawberry {Fragaria muricata.
Miller ; elatior, Ehrh.) is naturalized.

A coppice near Towcester, which probably at one time was a part of the forest, has the
Solomon's seal {Polygonatum midtiflorum) and the spurge laurel {Daphne Laureola). The orna-
mental water on Wakefield Lawn yields the pondweed {Potamogeton obtusifolius), the horned
pondweed {Ceraiophyllum demersum), the cyperus sedge {Carex Pseudo-cyperus), the acute sedge
(C. acuta), the horsetail {Equisetum Hmosum) and other water plants.

Near Brackley, the name of which by some authorities is supposed to ha\ e been derived
from the bracken or brake fern (P/mj ayw/V/ra), there is a small heathy tract known as Brackley
Gorse where the furze {Ulex europitus) is plentiful, but it may have been intentionally planted
for cover ; here, too, are the willows {Salix rubra, S. triandra and S. purpurea), the hybrid dock
{Rumex acutus), the small dandelion {Taraxacum lavigatum), a variety of the chickweed {Ceras-
tium viscosum, var. apetalum), the heath stitchwort {Stellaria graminea), the marsh lady's fingers
{Lotus uliginosus), the cudweed {Filago germanica), the raspberry {Rubus idaus), the scorpion grass
{Myosotis versicolor) and the hairy sedge {Carex hirta), the latter in sandy ground probably where
the Lias clay is near to the Northampton sands on which this Brackley Gorse is situated.

Whistley Wood covers a part of the Great Oolite, which is thickly obscured by clay and
gravel drift, and shows by its flora the variability of the soil, for there are the small reed
{Calamagrostis epigeios), the teasel {Dipsacus sylvestris), and other species characteristic of clay,
and the hawkweeds {Hieracium boreale and H. umbellatum), the large wood rush {Juncoidei
[Luzula] sylvaticum), the melic grass {Melica uniflora), the upright St. John's wort {Hypericum
pulchrum), and other species which are fond of gravelly soils. Here too occur the bitter-vetch
{Lathyrus montanus, formerly known as Orobus tuberosus), the cow-wheat {Melampyrum pratense),
the bird's-nest orchis {Neottia Nidus-avis), the helleborine {Epipactis latifolia), the woodruff
{Asperula odorata), the great burnet saxifrage {Pimpinella major, both as the type, as the variety
dissecta, and as the form rosea), the Canterbury bell {Campanula Trachelium), the yellow archangel
{Lamium Galeobdolon), the agrimony {Agrimonia odorata), the brambles {Rubus Lindleianus, R.
dasyphyllus, R. Radula, var. anglicanus, and one of the suberect forms not yet identified).

Near Wappenham, where the Great Oolite comes nearer to the surface, the lady's traces
{Gyrostachis [Spiranthes] autumnalis) has been found associated with the quinancy wort {Asperula
cynanchica). In the hedgerows near Tifl^eld the beautiful throatwort {Campanula latifolia) is
to be found.

Marshes and bogs are very rare, but near Cosgrove the canal margins have probably some
peat deposits, as the tufted sedge {Carex paniculata) is plentiful and the marsh stitchwort
{Stellaria palustris) is conspicuous from it glaucous foliage. In the shallow water grow the
mare's-tail {Hippuris vulgaris) and the small club-rush {Eleocharis acicularis).

The sides of the Grand Junction Canal which traverse the district give a home for some
interesting species, among them being the bitter-cress {Cardamine amara) and the graceful wood
club-rush {Scirpus sylvaticus). The pondweeds include P. compressum {zosteri/olius) P. Friesii, and
the grass Panicularia {Glyceria) pedicellaia, which is probably a hybrid of P. fiuitans, and P.
plicata, also occur.

The river Ouse near Old Stratford affords the sweet flag {Acorus Calamus), the narrow-
leaved reed mace {Typha angustifolia), both species of water lilies and abundance of the water
horst-h^ne {CEnanthefluviatilis),X.h.t latter so characteristic of all the Northamptonshire streams.
The great spearwort {Ranunculus Lingua) formerly grew near Stratford and may yet be refound.
The sedge {Carex acuta) is luxuriant and very variable, while the meadow cranesbill {Geranium
pratense) is not rare.

The arable fields, where the Oolite comes near the surface, have plenty of the shepherd's
looking-glass {Specularia [Lcgousia] hybrida), the corn gromwell {Lithospermum arvense), and occa-
sionally the pale poppy {Papaver Lecoqii). Where gravel predominates we may find fluellen

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

{Linaria spuria) associated with L. Elatina, or the blue-flowered pimpernel {Anaga/lis femina).
The hedges on the Oolite will show a luxuriant growth of traveller's joy {Clemat'n yitaiha),
the buckthorn {Rhamnus catharticus), the dog-wood or cornel {Cornus sanguinea), the maple
{_Acer campeitre\ and occasionally the glabrous-fruited form, and the spindle tree {Euonymui
europaus) will be seen ; and the banks will show thyme {Thymus Si-rpyl/uni), the rock rose {Heii-
anthemum Chatmecistus), and here and there the small cranesbill {Geronium pusillum), while the
blackberries will be represented almost exclusively by Rubus ulmifolius, although in woodland
tracts R. Ratlula will also be occasionally found.

Where clay predominates the maple and spindle tree is rare and the traveller's joy absent,
and the meadow cranesbill {Geranium pratense) instead of G. pusilhon will occur, while Rubus
corylifoHus and R. aesius will supersede but may not entirely replace R. ulmifolius. Instead of the
grasses Bromus erectus, Avena pubescens and Fatuca rigida, which are found on the limestone pas-
tures, their place on the clay is taken by the coarser Dacty/is, Alopecurus pratensis and A. gcniculatui

On the steep sides of a cutting of the London and North-VVestern Railway two ferns,
the limestone polypody and the brittle bladder fern, have been introduced probably by spores
brought with the air following passing trains, or possibly borne by the wind from the west of
England. Here we have also the milkwort {Polygala vulgaris).

The spoil banks in the vicinity afford the zigzag clover {Trifolium medium), the lady's
fingers {Anthyllis Fulneraria), which is curiously absent from a large area of the district, white-
flowered red clover {Trifolium pratense), the rough hawk's-beard {Picris Hieracioides), and on lime-
stone soil in the neighbourhood the lady's traces {Gyrostachis autumnalis) and fellwort {Gentiana
Amarella).

By the railway we have a considerable number of adventitious species which include
Camelina fcetida. Salvia verticillata, Caucalis latifolia, Melilotus arvensis, Setaria viridis, Anthemis
tinctoria, Saponaria Faccaria, Eruca sativa, Couringia orientalis, Ammi majus, Lepidium sativum,
Iberis amara, Barbarea pracox and Calendula,

On the grass-covered dibris of the Cosgrove quarries on the Great Oolite the hound's
tongue {Cynoglossum officinale) is often to be found in considerable quantity, and the henbane
Hyoscyamus niger) and vervain {Ferhena) occur erratically ; but the grasses Avena pratensis, A.
pubescens, Kxleria cristata, the cinquefoil {Potentilla reptans, var. microphylla), the Canterbury bell
flower {Campanula glomerata), the rock rose {Helianthemum Chamacistus), the knotted parsley
{Caucalis nodosa), the small cranesbill {Geranium pusillum) and other xerophilous species are
frequent.

The wild licorice vetch {Astragalus glycyphyllos) occurs on the borders of the road in the
neighbourhood.

A marsh near Maidford affords the bog-bean {Menyanthes trifoliata), and the bladder sedge
{Carex rostrata) the orpine {Sedum Telephium) and the saw wort {Serratula tinctoria) are in the
woods.

Occasionally in the brickwork of the village wells, as at Yardley Gobion, the hart's-
tongue fern {Phyllitis Scolopendrium) may be seen.

The most interesting plants of the Ouse district in addition to those already mentioned
are as follows : —

Thalictrum flavum, L., var. riparium (Jord.).
Ranunculus heterophyllus, Weber

— Drouetii, Schultz

Helleborus viridis, L., var. occidentalis, Druce

— foetidus, L.

Papaver Rhoeas, L., var. Pryorii, Druce

Erophila prascox, DC.

Cerastium semidecandruni, L.

Sagina ciliata, Fries.

Silene Cucubalus, Wibel., var. puberula (Jord.).

Arenaria serpyllifolia, L., var. scabra, Fenzl.

Hypericum quadrangulum, L.

[Linum angustifolium, Huds.]

[Geranium sanguineum, L.]

Acer campestre, L., var. leiocarpon, Wallr.

Trifolium fragiferum, L.

— pratense, L., var. leucobraceum, Asch. &

Prail.

Lathyrus sylvestris, L.
Spiraea Filipendula, L.
Poterium officinale, A. Gray
Rosa Eglanteria, L. (rubiginosa)
Potentilla procumbens, Sibth.
Crataegus oxyacanthoides, Thuill.
[Pyrus Aria, Ehrh.]
Epilobium angustifolium, L.

— obscurum, Schreb.

— palustre, L.
Sedum Telephium, L.
[ — reflexum, L.]
Myriophyllum verticillatum, L.

— spicatum, L.

Callitriche intermedia, HofFm. (C. hamulata,
Kuetz.)

— obtusangula, Le Gall.
Hydrocotyle vulgaris, L.

BOTANY

Apium inundatum, Reichb. f.

Pimpinella major, Huds., var. dissecta, Druce

CEnanthe fistulosa, L.

Caucalis daucoides, L.

Sambucus Ebulus, L.

Adoxa Moschatellina, L.

Galium tricorne, Stokes

— hercynicum, Weig.
Valeriana dioica, L.
Carlina vulgaris, L.
Centaurea Cyanus, L. Rare
Tanacetum vulgare, L.
Anthemis arvensis, L.
Petasites officinalis, Moench
Artemisia Absinthium, L.
Serratula tinctoria, L.
Erigeron acre, L.

Bidens cernua, L. Very rare
Inula Conyza, DC.
Crepis taraxacifolia, Thuill.

— foetida, L. Extinct

— biennis, L.
Campanula Trachelium, L.
Cuscuta europasa, L.

[ — trifolii, Bab.]
Myosotis cespitosa, Schultz
Pinguicula vulgaris, L. (Extinct ?)
Lysimachia nemorum, L.

— vulgaris, L.
Pedicularis sylvatica, L.
Verbena officinalis, L.
Mentha piperita, Huds.

— longifolia, Huds.
Nepeta Cataria, L.
Salvia pratensis, L.
Teucrium Scorodonia, L.
Stachys Betonica, Benth.

— ambigua, Sm.
Echium vulgare, L.
Polygonum Bistorta, L.
[Chenopodium capitatum, Asch.]

— rubrum, L.
Daphne Laureola, L.

Euphorbia platyphyllos, L. (Extinct ?)
Ulmus stricta, Lindl.

— glabra, Sm.

Polygonum maculatum. Trim. & Dyer

— Bistorta, L.
Salix viridis. Fries.

— Smithiana, Willd.
Carpinus Betulus, L.
Sparganium neglcctum, Beeby
Zannichellia palustris, L.
Orchis pyramidalis, L.
Habenaria conopsea, Benth.

— chloroleuca, Ridley

— viridis, R. Br.

— bifolia, R. Br.
Ophrys apifera, Huds.
[Narcissus major, Curtis]
Allium vineale, L.
Colchicum autumnale, L.
Juncus compressus, Jacq.
Scirpus sylvaticus, L.
Carex disticha, Huds.

— divulsa, Stokes

— leporina, L.

— remota, L.

— pallescens, L.

— Pseudo-cyperus, L.
Milium effusum, L.
Aira praecox, L.
Avena pratensis, L.

[ — strigosa, Schreb.]

— pubescens, Huds.
Catabrosa aquatica, Beauv.
Poa compressa, L.
Festuca sciuroides. Roth.
Bromus erectus, Huds.

[ — secalinus, L.]

— racemosus, L.

— commutatus, Schrad.
Arrhenatherum precatorium, Presl.
Asplenium Ruta-muraria, L.

— Trichomanes, L.
Tolypella glomerata, Leonh.

4. The VVelland District

is a narrow strip of country on the north-eastern side of the county which is bordered by
Leicestershire, Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire on the north and east, by the Avon district
already described on the west, and by the district drained by the three districts of the Nene on
the south and east. Its more precise boundaries are as follows : The VVelland rises at
Sibbertoft (for some time the residence of the veteran botanist, the Rev. Miles J. Berkeley)
from a spring near the vicarage about 600 feet above sea-level, and drains the parishes of
Marston Trussell, East Farndon and Braybrooke, and then near Lubbenham separates the
counties of Leicester and Northampton from that place to Market Harborough, Welham and
Rockingham, the strata being cut down to the Upper Lias. Near this latter place Rutland
succeeds Leicestershire, and the VVelland, with its extensive alluvial meadows, divides the two
counties from Caldecott by Harringworth, Duddington, VVakerley (where it touches the Lincoln-
shire limestone) nearly to CoUyweston, where a fault brings in the Upper Lias clay as far as
to Stamford, where the Lincolnshire limestone again borders it, and Rutland is in turn dis-
placed by the county of Lincoln, which the VVelland still separates from Northants in its
sluggish course by Market Deeping, and at Kennulph's Stone near Croyland it becomes wholly
a Lincolnshire stream. The extreme eastern border of the county to Low Borough Fen is
formed by an imaginary line. To trace a separating water-parting in the low-level of the

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

fens is well-nigh impossible, so the Buke Horn Drove from Powder Hill Farm to Peakirk is
used as the limit of the Wetland district in this direction. From Peakirk the boundary line
takes into the Welland district, Glinton, part of UflFord and Barnack parishes, Burghley Park,
Easton-on-the-Hill, the quarries of Collyweston, Fineshade, the parish and wood of Wakerley,
and the woods of Laxton, Harringworth and Gretton. Then the line passes over Rocking-
hamshire to Pipewell Lodge, and to the north of Desborough, Arthingworth and Oxendon to
the parish of Sibbertoft.

This narrow strip, drained by the Welland, contains the most interesting botanical
ground in the county.

The surface of the greater part of the district is dry, and the gentle slopes of the sides of
the valley are almost destitute of marshland. From the summit of the watershed extensive
and pleasing views can be obtained over large extents of the counties of Leicester, Rutland,
and Lincoln. The low-level of the fens is almost entirely drained, and it is only in a few
ditches of the fens that any remains of the old flora are preserved.

In the combes of Sibbertoft the yellow star of Bethlehem {Gagea fasckularis) and the
everlasting pea {Lathyrus sy/vestris) have been found.

The columbine {Aquilegia vulgaris), the wood barley {Hordeum syhaticum, Huds. Elymus
europaus, L.), which is so characteristic of calcareous soil, and the bladder sedge [Carex
vesicaria), have been gathered about Fineshade.

Wakerley woods are very rich, and yield the small-leaved lime {Tilia u/mifolia. Scop.
T. parvtfolia, Ehrh.) as a native tree, and also the crested cow-wheat {Melampyrum criitatum,
L.), the yellow cow-wheat [M. pratense), the herb Paris {Paris quadrifolia), the hound's tongue
{Cynoglossum officinale), the deadly nightshade {Atropa Belladonna), the wood vetch {Ficia
sylvatica), the caper spurge {^Euphorbia Lathyris) as a native I believe, the shepherd's rod
(Dipsacus pilosus), the yellow archangel {Lamium Galeobdolon), the wood-rufF {Asperula odorata),
the crosswort {Galium Cruciata), the Canterbury bell {Campanula Trachelium), the wood
gromwell {Lithospermum officinale, L.), the orpine {Sedum Telephium), the ploughman's spike-
nard {Inula Conyza), the wood spurge {Euphorbia amygdaloides), and the brambles Rubus
rhomhifolius and R. Bellardi.

Gretton woods, partly on the Northampton sands, also possess the lady's mantle
{Alchemilla vulgaris, var. filicaulis). In the remains of Rockingham Forest the wild service tree
{Pyrus Torminalis), the mistletoe {Viscum album), and the bear's-foot {Helleborus viridis, var.
occidentalis) have been found.

The old quarries in the Lincolnshire limestone of Barnack and Southorpe, where the
stone for the erection of Peterborough Cathedral was quarried, and those at Easton-on-the-Hill
and Collyweston, where at the base of the limestone are fissile beds which afford the well-
known Collyweston slates, now covered to a considerable extent with grass, contain many
extremely interesting species, some of which have been known to grow there since 1650.
Among these are the pasque flower {Anemone Pulsatilla), the base rocket {Reseda luted), the
least mouse-ear chickweed {Cerastium semidecandrum), the small cranesbill {Geranium pusillum),
the lady's fingers {Anthyllis Vulneraria), the quinancy wort {Asperula cynanchica), the hairy
tower mustard {Arabis hirsuta), the carline thistle {Carlina vulgaris), the cat's-foot {Antennaria
dioica), the ploughman's spikenard {Inula Conyza), the spotted cat's-ear {Hypochaeris maculata),
the marjoram {Origanum vulgare), the wild basil thyme {Calamintha arvensis), the yellow-wort
{Blackstonia perfoliata), the fellwort {Gentinna Amarella), the man orchis {Aceras anthropophora),
the pyramidal orchis (0. pyramidalis), the frog orchis {Habenaria viridis), the spider orchis
{Ophrys aranifera^ extinct ?, and the grasses Avena pubescens, A. pratensis, Bromus erectus,
Brachypodium pinnatum, and Festuca ovina.

The grassy roadsides and pastures in the neighbourhood of Barnack and Wakerley have
yielded the hairy bladder campion {Silene Cucuhalus, var. puberula), the meadow saxifrage
{Saxifrage granulata), the woolly-headed thistle {Cnicus eriophorus), the tansy {Tanacetum
vulgare), the elecampane {Inula Helenium), the upright or heath cudweed {Gnaphalium
syhaticum), the black mullein {Verbascum nigrum), the vervain {Verbena officinalis), the hawkweed
{Crepis biennis), the sulphur-clover {Trifolium ochroleucon), the round-leaved horsemint {Mentha
rotundifolia), the calamint {Calamintha montana or menthifolia), the basil thyme (C. arvensis), the
field gentian {Gentiana campestris), the blue milk-vetch {Astragalus danicus), the horse-shoe
vetch {Hippocrepis comosa), the field chickweed {Cerastium arvense), the dropwort {Spiraa
Filipendula), the knotted parsley {Caucalis nodosa), the wild licorice {Astragalus glycyphyllos), the
clustered bell-flower {Campanula glomerata), and other species.

The downy woundwort {Stachys germanica) formerly occurred in some old quarries

BOTANY

between Fineshade and Wakerley, and the Nottingham catchfly {Silene nutans) was recorded
by Morton as growing in the corn, between Wakerley and Harringworth, but it is not
unlikely that he mistook the night-flowering catchfly (5. noctiflora) for it, and he also records
the fine-leaved sandwort i^Arenaria tenuifoUd) from between Fineshade and Duddington. On
the old common of Rockingham the penny royal [Mentha Pulegium) formerly grew, and the
broom-rape [Orobanche elatior), the O. major of Linnaus according to some authors, the Rev.
M. J. Berkeley gathered at Easton-on-the-Hill.

The district is one in which porous soil is widely represented, so that few marshes are
contained in it, but at one time before the drainage of the fens, bogs and marsh occupied con-
siderable areas of what are now dry and sunny cornfields.

The arable fields have yielded the ground pine [Ajuga Chamospityi\ the night-flowering
campion [Silene noctiflora), the upright ground ivy [Stachys arvensis), the thorow-wax (Bup/eurum
rotundifoUum), the calf's snout [Antirrhinum Orontium), the fluellen [Linaria spuria), the small
toad-flax [L. viscida), the blue pimpernel {Anagallis femina or coerulea), the field chickweed
{Cerastium arveme), the lamb's lettuce {VaUrianella dentata), and the all-seed {Chenopodium
polyspermum).

Wothorp Grove has some interesting species, and its flora is very varied since it fwssesses
several kinds of soil, as dry calcareous marl, sandy loam and clay ; the ash trees are par-
ticularly fine, and some good beech are also present, while the box tree [Buxus iempervirens)
is naturalized. The small-leaved lime {Tilia parvifolia) is rather frequent. The pyramidal
orchis [Orchis pyramida/is), the viper's bugloss [Echium vulgare), the gromwell [Lithospermum
officinale), the grasses Avena pratensis, Bromus erectus and Brachypodium pinnatum, are examples
of lime-loving species. The wood poa [Poa nemoralis), the melic-grass [Melica uniflora), the
hawkweed [Hieracium boreale), are instances of sand-loving species. Clay-loving plants are
represented by the small teasel [Dipsacus pilosus), the dog couch grass [Agropyron caninum), the
meadow cranesbill [Geranium pratense), and the butterfly orchis [Habenaria chloroleuca).

Stamford racecourse is probably drained to a considerable extent by the Welland. It is
remarkable for the luxuriant growth of the dyer's weed [Genista tinctoria), the horse-shoe vetch
(Hippocrepis comosa), and the grasses Bromus erectus, Brachypodium pinnatum and Avena pratensis,
while the marjoram [Origanum vulgare), the common basil thyme [Calamintha arvensis), the
rock-rose [Helianthemum Chamcecistus), and the pyramidal orchis are also common. The blue
milk vetch [Astragalus danicus) is more luxuriant than I have seen it elsewhere.

The Welland district is represented in the flora of Leicestershire by No. 1 1 the Market
Harborough district and by No. 12 the Medbourne district.

In addition to the plants already mentioned the Welland district has the following
interesting species : —

Geranium lucidum, L.
Cerefolium Anthriscus, Beck.
Adoxa Moschatellina, L.
Caucalis nodosa. Scop.
Centaurea Cyanus, L.
Tanacetum vulgare, L.
Erigeron acre, L.
Heracium vulgatum, Fries,
Erica cinerea, L.
Solanum nigrum, L.
Hyoscyamus niger, L.
Digitalis purpurea, L.
Verbascum nigrum, L.
Mentha rotundifolia, Huds.
Symphytum tuberosum, L.,

wild
Hottonia palustris, L.

very doubtfully

Samolus Valerandi, L.

Rumex maritimus, L.

Polygonum Hydropiper, L.

Daphne Laureola, L.

Parietaria ramiflora, Moench. (P. officinalis,

auct. var. not L.)
Lemna polyrhiza, L.
Ophrys apifera, Huds.
O. muscifera, Huds.
Orchis ustulata, L.
Gyrostachis autumnalis, Dumort. (Spiranthes

autumnalis.)
Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, L.
Allium oleraceum, L.
Aira caryophyllea, L.
Festuca rigida, Kunth.
Tolypella prolifera, Leonh.

The Nene Drainage

For the sake of convenience, and in order to make the divisions of the county more
uniform, I have divided the district which is drained by the Nene into three, as from the great
length of the course of the main stream in the county it would otherwise have been very
unwieldy. The first of the three divisions is therefore called —

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

5. Nene a. or Naseby District

This is bounded on the south by the Cherwell and Ouse districts, as already described, as
far as to Hartwell, when the county boundary of Buckingham borders it to Laythick Copse.
From this point to Northampton the water-parting separates it from Nene B. district. The
parishes of Horton, Hackleton, Preston Deanery and Wootton being put into the Naseby
portion, while Hardingstone is put to Nene B., or Harper's Brook. From Northampton to
Harrington the two districts are separated by the water-parting which lies between Weston
Favell and Boughton, between Sywell and Holcot, between Pytchiey and Faxton, and
between Harrington and Kelmarsh. Near this place it touches the Avon district, which
thereafter bounds it on the north-west as far south as the Cherwell district near Hellidon.

The Naseby district is drained by two streams, one, the chief supply, rising at Naseby,
at nearly 600 feet above sea-level, called the Northern Water, which cuts its way down to
the Upper Lias clay, and flows by Cottesbrooke, Lamport, Brixworth and Kingsthorpe to
Northampton. On its course it receives near Spratton a small stream, rising from the hills
at West Haddon, which has drained part of the parishes of Guilsborough, Hollowell, Holdenby
and East Haddon, the higher portions being capped with Northamptonshire sands, while
another feeder, the Stowe brook, coming from Thornby Grange, has taken the water from the
northern side of Guilsborough and Hollowell, and the western side of Creaton and Spratton
parishes, which are extensively covered with chalk and flint drift, and then is received by the
West Haddon brook near Teeton. Near the Kingsthorpe meadows, where Gerard noticed
the autumn crocus or meadow saffron prior to 1597, another stream is added to the Naseby
brook, which has come from Brington and drained the rich oasis of Harleston Firs and Althorp
Park. Near Pitsford a small tributary joins the Naseby brook, which has drained the north-
eastern part of the district of Old Scaldwell, Holcot and Walgrave, and this area includes a
small but very rich piece of bog-land, known as Fox Hall bog, but the riches will probably
ere long be lost, as willows have been planted in it which will probably destroy the marsh
plants which made it so interesting a feature in our too well drained county.

The second branch of the Nene main stream has three heads, one rising from the
Marlstone on Arbury Hill, the highest eminence in the county, which is the water-parting of
the Avon and the Nene systems, and from the summit of which a very extensive view can be
obtained, which embraces such distant objects as Wendover Hill south of Aylesbury, Brill
Hill, in Bucks, and Coventry spires. A second branch comes from Studborough Hill (603
feet) and the third from the western slopes of West Haddon (587 feet). All these eminences
are capped with Northampton sands through which the rainfall percolates till thrown out by
the impervious layer at their base. The first passes through the picturesque park of Fawsley,
hence it is sometimes called the Fawsley water, and then passes by Everdon to Upper Weedon,
cutting through to the Lower Lias clay, which forms its bed as far east as to Kislingbury. The
second drains the eastern side of Staverton, which like Daventry is on the Marlstone, Badby
and Newnham, till near Upper Weedon it is joined by the Fawsley water. The third with
its numerous ramifications drains the country in which are situated Drayton (437 feet) and
Daventry reservoirs, Watford, Long Buckby, and Whilton, much of the country being on the
Marlstone, and joins at Weedon the brook which results from the junction of the Fawsley
water with the Badby stream. Between Weedon and Northampton the Nene, as the stream
is now known, receives several tributaries, including the Floore brook and some small ones
from the neighbourhood of Harpole from the north, and from the south a more important
feeder called the Horsestone brook, which comes from Farthingstone, passes by Bugbrooke,
which is on the Marlstone, Lower Heyford and Kislingbury to the base of Hunsbury Hill,
where it meets with a stream which in one of its branches drains Blisworth, Gayton and
Rothersthorpe, the latter being also on the Marlstone. Another drains Plain Woods and Milton,
and the third flowing in a trough of the Upper Lias clay having drained part of Salcey Forest,
Horton, Piddington, Preston Deanery and Wootton, turns in a westerly direction round
Hunsbury Hill to meet the main stream of the Nene near Upton Mill ; soon after which the
Naseby brook joins it at Northampton, where the surface of the stream is about 198 feet above
sea-level. This large area has a very considerable diversity of soil, varying from the porous
sands of Borough Hill, Staverton, Harleston, and Hollowell, to stiff clay such as is seen on the
liassic meadows about Kislingbury, and in the Nene valley for a considerable distance west-
wards.

Badby Woods, on the ferruginous layer of the Northampton sands, offer a very pleasing

BOTANY

contrast to those which are situated on drift or h'assic clay, for on the clay formation the
vegetation has a dull uniformity, while in these rather picturesque woods of Badby there is a
pleasing variety of plants, many of which are rare in other parts of the county : for instance we
have the blinks {Montia fontana), the sweet briar {Roia Eglanteria or rubiginosa), the water
purslane {Pcplis Portula), the bog chickweed [Stellaria uliginoia), the brambles Rubus Bellardi
and R. hirtus, the golden rod [Solidago Virgaurea), the foxglove {Digitalis purpurea), the ling
and heather [Calluna Erica and Erica cinerea), the wood pimpernel {Lysimachia nemoru/n), the
rampions {Campanula Rapuncu/us), the bell flower (C. Trachelium), the lousewort {Pedicu/aris
sy/vatica), the ramsons [Allium ursinum), the great wood rush {yuncoides [Luzula"] sylvaticum),
the pale sedge {Carex pallescem), the wood millet grass [Milium effiaum), the melic grass [Melica
unifiora), the floating club-rush [Scirpus fluitani), the hard fern [Lomaria Spicant), the prickly
shield ferns [Polyitichum aculeatum and P. angulare), the sweet-scented mountain fern [Dryopteris
montana or Laitrea Oreopteris), the wood horsetail [Equisetum sy/vaticum), the butterfly orchis
(Habenaria chlorohuca), the heath speedwell [Veronica officinalis), the orpine [Sedum Telephium),
the heath cudweed [Gnaphalium sylvaticum), the raspberry [Rubus idaus), the creeping and
upright St. John's worts [Hypericum humifusum and pulchrum), and many other species.

In this district we have the highest ground in the county on Arbury Hill (734 feet).
This and the neighbouring hill of Staverton, also capped with Northampton sands, are the
home of many species of brambles, including Rubus pyramidalis, R. dasyphyllus, R. thyrsoideus,
R. argentatus, R. rosaceus, R. erythrinus, and R. radula, with luxuriant specimens of the fern
Dryopteris dilatata, the hair grass [Deschampsia flexuosu), and Viola agratis.

The ancient camp of Borough Hill (655 feet above sea-level), which like the other
eminences is capped with Northampton sands, is also in this district, and its flora, though less
interesting than formerly from the encroaching hand of cultivation, has still many local species.

The sheep's bit scabious [Jasione montana), tlie English catchfly [Silene anglica), have been
gathered on it, and also the burnet rose [Rosa pimpinellifolia or R. spinosissima), the downy
rose [R. mollissima, Willd. = R. tomentosa, Sm.), the hawkweeds [Hieracium horeale and
H. umbellatum), also Rosa glauca, and var. implexa, and the brambles Rubus pyramidalis, R.
Selmeri, R. Marshalli, R. carpinifolius, R. pulchcrrimus, R. Lindleianus, R. echinatus, R. macro-
phyllus, and R. dumetorum, the golden rod [Solidago Virgaurea), the sticky heath groundsel
[Senecio sylvaticus), the corn flower [Centaurea Cyanus), the calamint [Calamintha montana or
officinalis), the field woundwort [Stachys arvensis), the small scorpion grass [Myosotis versicolor),
the corn marigold [Chrysanthemum segetum) and other species.

Farthingstone Castle Dykes, another ancient camp, has had recorded for it the orpine
[Sedum Telephium), the daffodil [Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus), the bell-flower [Campanula patula)
(but this I have not been able to discover), the St. John's wort [Hypericum pulchrum), the Dane
wort [Sambucus Ebulus), the sweet chestnut [Castanea sativa), the bramble [Rubus Bellardi), and
in a wet place the golden saxifrage [Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), the marsh penny wort [Hydro-
cotyle) and the willow herb [Epilobium obscurum). On the heathy ground between the
Dykes and Stowe Wood the heath cudweed [Gnaphalium sylvaticum), the heath speedwell
[Veronica officinalis), the St. John's worts [Hypericum humifusum and H. pulchrum), the heath
bedstraw [Galium hercynicum), the heath and marsh stitchworts [Stellaria graminea and S.
uliginosa), the lousewort [Pedicularis sylvatica), and the grasses [Deschampsia flexuosa and Agrostis
canina) have been gathered.

Stowe Wood has a very local species in the beautiful wood vetch [Vicia sylvatica), the
daffodil [Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus), the wood millet grass [Milium ejfusum), the hawkweed
[Hieracium horeale), the golden saxifrage, and in clayey places the great horsetail [Equisetum
maximum), besides some of the plants mentioned above.

Dallington Heath, with Harleston Firs, which are situated on the Northampton sands,
have a very variable soil, so that in addition to the light sand and clays we have some peaty
deposits which make it almost unique as a piece of botanizing ground in the county. Facility
in exploring it is given to students of natural history by the kindness of Earl Spencer. Among
the plants which have been found are the upright pearlwort [Cerastium quaternellum, formerly
known as Moenchia), the sandwort [Buda rubra or Arenaria rubra), the rose of Sharon
[Hypericum calycinum), the St. John's worts [Hypericum pulchrum and H. humifusum), the holly
[Ilex Aquifolium), the hemlock-leaved stork's-bill [Erodium cicutarium), the needle furze [Genista
anglica), the bird's-foot trefoil [Ornithopus perpusillus), the small furze [Ulex minor or U. nanus),
the hare's-foot trefoil [Trifolium arvense), Lotus uliginosus, the cherries [Prunus Cerasus and P.
avium), the burnet rose [Rosa spinosissima), the mountain ash [Pyrus Aucuparia), the brambles
[Rubus rbamnif alius, R. dasyphyllus, R. macrophyllus and var, amplificatus, R, echinatus, R, Radula),

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

the willow herb [Epilobium angustifo/ium), the heath bedstraw {Galium hercynicum), the penny-
wort {Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the thistle {Carduus tenuiflorus), now probably extinct, the cudweeds
{Gnaphalium germanicum and G. sy/vaticum), the blue fleabane {Erigeron acre), the heath
groundsel {Senecio sylvaticus), the woolly-headed thistle [Cnicus eriophorus), the cotton thistle
(Onopordon Acanthium), the Leontodon hirtum, the heaths {Calluna Erica, Erica cinerea and E.
Tetralix), the viper's bugloss {Echium vulgare), the scorpion grasses (Afyosotis cespitosa, M.
versicolor, and M. collina), the heath dodder {Cmcuta Epithymum), the foxglove {Digitalis purpurea),
the mulleins {Ferbascum virgatum and F. Thapsus), the speedwell [Veronica officinalis), the wood
sage {Teucrium Scorodonia), the pennyroyal [Mentha Pulegium), the bog pimpernel [Jnagallis
tenella), the birch [Betula alba), the Scotch fir [Pinus sylvestris) [planted], the rushes [Juncus
squarrosus and jf. hulbosus or "J. supinus), the sedges [Carex pilulifcra, C. leporina and C. panicea),
the grasses [Anthoxanthum aristatum var. Puelii, Agrostis pumila, A. canina, Deschampsia flexuosa,
Aira pracox, A. caryophyllea, Sieglingia decumbens, Fcstuca Myurus, F. sciuroides, F. ovina), and
the ferns [Lomaria Spicant, Athyrium Filix-foemina, Polystichum aculeatum, Dryopteris [Lastrea)
spinulosa and D. dilatata, Ophioglossum vulgatum, Phyllitis Scolopendrium, Asplenium Adiantum-
nigrum), the moon wort [Botrychium Lunaria), and the field club-moss [Lycopodium clavatum),
besides other interesting species.

Hunsbury Hill, capped with Northampton sands, although now under cultivation, affords
or has afforded the mousetail [Myosurus minimus), the Dane wort [Sambucus Ebulus), the darnel
[Lolium temulentum), and the sheep's fescue [Festuca ovina), but the ironstone quarries have
much diminished the best botanizing ground. The red mint [Mentha rubra), and the marsh
stitchwort [Stellaria palustris) have been found in wet ground at the base.

The reservoir near Drayton has the rushes [Juncus obtusiflorus and J. compressus), the
water chickweed [Cerastium aquaticum), the cress [Roripa [Nasturtium'] palustris), the marsh
bedstraw [Galium uUginosum), the pondweeds [Potamogeton natans and P. polygonifolius), and
other species.

Daventry reservoir is bordered with a local grass [Alopecurus fulvus) ; the marsh orchis
[Ophrys latifolia),tihe narrow-leaved reed mace [Typha angustifolia), the water m\\io'\\[Myriophyllum
spicatum), the pondweed [Potamogeton decipiens, and P. lucens var. acuminatus) have also been
gathered there.

Plain Woods, near Blisworth, afford the true downy rose [Rosa villosa or R. mollis), the
saw wort [Serratula tinctoria), the cow wheat [Melampyrum pratense), the columbine [Aquilegia
vulgaris) and the autumnal gentian [Gentiana Amarella), and the hedges near have Rosa glauca
Vill., R. ccEsia, Sm. [R. coriifoUa, Fries.), R. mollissima, Willd. [R. tomentosa, Sm.), with the
varieties scabriuscula (Sm.) and sylvestris (Lindl.).

Salcey Forest and the neighbourhood of Quinton and Courteenhall yield that graceful
pendulous sedge [Carex pendula), the yellow star of Bethlehem [Gagea fascicularis), the bell
flowers [Campanula Trachelium and C. glomerata), the spurge laurel [Daphne Laureola), the
leopard's bane [Doronicum Pardalianches) but not native, the fly orchis [Ophrys muscifera), the
wild tulip [Tulipa sylvestris), the cinquefoil [Potentilla sylvestris), and the great burnet saxifrage
[Pimpinella major).

A pond in a quarry near Northampton has the great spearwort [Ranunculus Lingua), and
that beautiful sedge [Carex Pseudo-cyperus), and the ditches near yield the peppermint [Mentha
piperita), and the grey sedge [Carex divulsa). The river side and meadows near Northampton
and Kingsthorpe are or were the place of growth of the snake's head [Fritillaria Meleagris), the
meadow saffron [Colchicum autumnale), the dropwort [CEnanthe fistulosa), the marsh stitchwort
[Stellaria palustris), Samolus Valerandi and Scirpus sylvaticus, and of the meadow cranesbill
[Geranium pratense), and the bur marigolds [Bidens cernua and B. tripartita).

Some of the walls near Brampton have the navel wort [Cotyledon Umbilicus), the white
stonecrop [Scdum album), and the hedge banks have the round-leaved cranesbill [Geranium
rotundifolium). The neighbourhood also affords the white-flowered helleborine [Cephalanthera
pallens), the meadow dropwort [Spiraa Filipendula), and the grass [Holcus mollis).

The ironstone quarries have several species more or less native, these include the worm-
wood [Artemisia Absinthium), the white mignonette [Reseda alba), the poppy [Papaver somni-
ferum), the parsley [Petroselinum sativum), the feverfew [Chrysanthemum Parthenium), the cotton
thistle [Onopordon Acanthium), the vervain [Ferbena officinalis), and the narrow-leaved vetch
[Ficia angustifolia).

Among the adventitious species introduced either by wool-washing or from the winnow-
ings of corn are Medicago arabica, M. denticulata, TrifoUum resupinatum, Couringia orientalis,
and Erodium moschatum.

BOTANY

The cornfields near Northampton occasionally show St. Barnaby's thistle {Centaurea
Solstitialii) and the hemp nettle {Galeopsh ipeciosa).

Fox Hall Bog, on the Upper Lias clay, has yielded the butter wort [Pingukula vulgaris),
the grass of Parnassus {Parnassia pa/ustris), the pennywort [Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the marsh
thistle {Cnicus palustris), the marsh valerian {Valeriana dioica), the bog pimpernel {Anagallis
Unella), the marsh bedstraw [Galium uliginosum), the marsh speedwell [Veronica scutellata), the
marsh lousewort [Pedicularis palustris), the marsh arrowhead grass {Triglochin palustre), the
marsh orchis {Orchis latifolia), the fragrant orchis [Hahenaria conopsea or H. Gymnadenia), the
cotton grass [Eriophorum angustifolium), the compressed club-rush [Scirpus caricis, formerly
known as Blysmus compressus), the heath rush [Juncoides [Luzula] multijlorum), the sedges [Carex
pulicaris, C. flava, C. Hornschuchiana, C. paniculata and C. ecbinata), and the grasses (Molinia
varia and Sieglingia decumbcns), while Rosa mollissima Willd. [R. tomentosa Sm.) is in the
vicinity.

Near Holdenby the marjoram [Origanum vulgare) occurs. This plant is remarkably
absent from a considerable area of the Great Oolite in the county ; probably its presence here
is determined by the occurrence of the drift which here obscures the Northampton sands.
This drift contains chalk and flints, and Origanum is especially fond of chalk or limestone soils.

Among the interesting species not previously mentioned as occurring in the district are

[Cammarum hyemale, Greene (Eranthis, Salisi.)]
Lepidium hetcrophyllum, Benth.

var. crinigerum, Gren. & Godr. A form

with yellow anthers was found by the

railway near Kingsthorpe
[Lepidium Draba, L.]
Diplotaxis tenuifolia, DC. Now extinct
Sisymbrium Sophia, L.
[Alyssum Alyssoides, Jacq.]
Cardamine amara, L.

Teesdalia nudicaulis, R. Br. Probably extinct
[Barbarea praecox, R. Br.]
Papaver Lecoqii, Lam.
? Capnoides claviculata, Druce. (Corydalis,

DC.) Not confirmed
[ — lutea, Gaertn. (Corj'dalis DC.)]
Viola sylvestris, Lam. (Reichenbachiana, Bor.)

— permixta, Jord. [F. odorata x hirta)
Drosera rotundifolia, L. Extinct

Saponaria officinalis, L. (Gerard's Gentiana

concava). Extinct
Cerastium ar\'ense, L.
Sagina ciliata. Fries.
[Claytonia perfoliata, Don.]
Geranium lucidum, L.
Medicago Falcata, L. Doubtfully wild
Trifolium medium, L.

— striatum, L.
Astragalus glycyphyllos, L.
[Trifolium agrarium, L.]
[Lathyrus latifolius, L.]
Lotus tenuis, W. & K.
Poterium officinale, A. Gray
Rubus diversifolius, Lindl.
Pyrus communis, L.

Epilobium tetragonum, L. (E. adnatum,Gmcl.)
Hippuris vulgaris, L.
Ribes rubrum, L.

— nigrum, L.

[Sedum dasyphyllum, L.]
Saxifraga granulata, L.
Petroselinum segetum, L.
Caucalis nodosa, Scop.

Adoxa Moschatellina, L.
Galium erectum, Huds.
Dipsacus pilosus, L.
Arnoseris pusilla, G.'ertn.
[Petasites fragrans, Presl.]
Hopochoeris glabra, L. Extinct
Crepis taraxacifolia, Thuill.

— biennis, L.

Antennaria dioica, Gaertn. Extinct

Tanacetum vulgare, L.

Fil.igo minima. Fries. (HoUowell, possibly

extinct)
Lactuca muralis, Fres.
[\'inca major, L.]
Menyanthes trifoliata, L.
Cuscuta europasa, L.
[ — trifolii, Bab.]
Hyoscyamus niger, L.
Linaria Elatina, Mill.

— spuria. Mill.

— viscida, Mcench.

Limosella* aquatica, L. (Extinct ?)
Mentha longifolia, Huds.

— rotundifolia, Huds.
Salvia Verbenaca, L.
Stachys ambigua, Sm.
[Lamium maculatum, L.]
Cynoglossum officinale, L.
Lithospermum officinale, L.
[Chenopodium capitatum, Asch.]
Rumex pulcher, L.
Polygonum Bistorta, L.
Euphorbia amygdaloides, L.

— platyphyllos, L. Query extinct
Ceratophyllum demersum, L.

Salix pentandra, L. Probably planted

— purpurea, L.
[Acorus Calamus, L.]
Potamogeton prslongus, Wulf.

— compresium, L.

— Friesii, Rupr.
Zannichellia palustris, L.
Aceras anthropophora, R. Br.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Habenaria viridis, R. Br.
Epipactis violacea, Bor.
Gyrostachis autumnalis, Dumort
Paris quadrifolia, L.
Polygonatum multiflorum, All.
[Ornithogalum nutans, L.]
Allium vineale, L.
Scirpus setaceus, L.

Carex pendula, Huds.
Catabrosa aquatica, Beauv.
[Bromus secalinus, L.]
Cystoptcris fragilis, Bernh. Extinct
Asplenium Trichomanes, L.
Equisetum sylvaticum, L.
Osmunda regalis, L. Extinct
Chara hispida, L.

6. Nene B. or Harpers Brook District

occupies that part of the county which is bordered on the west by the Naseby or Nene A.
district already described, from the Buckinghamshire border near Salcey Forest northwards to
the Naseby watershed, when the Avon district bounds it for a short space to Sibbertoft.
Then the Welland district limits it as far as Brampton Ash. From this point a nearly
straight line across the county to Lutton on the Huntingdonshire border, separates it from the
third division of the Nene district. This line passes by Pipewell, Great Oakley, Stanion and
Benefield, and just west of Oundle. From Lutton southwards to Hargrave the county
boundary of Huntingdon limits it, and from that place to Bozeat Wood Bedford county
boundary acts in a similar manner. From Bozeat Wood to Laythick Copse near Salcey
Forest Buckinghamshire is the boundary. Strictly speaking it is possible that some small
portion of this district drains into the Ouse.

The Nene B. district is drained by the main stream of the Nene between Northampton
and Oundle, and has a considerable extent of alluvial meadows, which are especially repre-
sented near Oundle, but the trough of the river is in the Upper Lias clay, while the
eminences such as Great Billing and Great Houghton are capped with Northampton sands.
In its course the Nene receives from the southern side some small brooks which come from
Whiston, Castle Ashby and Wollaston, Yardley Chase being on the Great Oolite, which
however in many cases has a thick deposit of drift clay with chalk. From Titchmarsh and
Barnwell Wolds come in other brooks, and the latter, which was formerly so renowned as an
entomological hunting-ground, is on the Oxford clay, which spreads out over the great part
of the neighbouring county of Huntingdon.

The drainage of the northern part of the district into the Nene is chiefly performed by
two feeders — the Ise and the Harpers Brook. The Ise flows from near Desborough, Rushton
and Geddington in a fairly straight line to that village, when it turns off at nearly right angles
to Kettering and Wellingborough, where it joins the Nene. In its course it has cut down to
the Upper Lias clay and received several small brooks from the western portion of the
district, as from Loddington, Pytchley, Orlingbury and Wilby. Wellingborough was for-
merly visited by Royalty for its ferrugineous water which rose from the Red Well. Near this
well Goodyer a celebrated botanist, a friend of Johnson, who edited the second edition of
Gerard's Herha//, discovered in 1626 Sag'ina nodosa as a British plant, which he thus describes :
^Alsine palustris foliis tenulssimis : she Sax'ifraga palustr'is alslne folia.' (See Gerard's Herball^
p. 568, 1634.)

The Harpers Brook takes its rise from some springs north of Desborough, and pursues an
easterly course nearly parallel with and not very distant from that of the Ise Brook, but the
Harpers Brook keeps north of Geddington, so as to drain the greater part of Geddington
Chase, which is on the Oxford clay, and passes by Brigstock, where Farming Woods are also
on the same formation, into the Nene near Aldwinkle.

There is a considerable extent of woodland in the district, and ' that regular and
delightful Chase of Yardley,' as Morton describes it, which contains some fine oaks, of which
Gog and Magog have been figured in the "Journal of the 'Northamptonshire Natural History
Society. Here also the hornbeam {Carpinus Bctulus) is probably native. Among the other
plants found in and about the Chase are the columbine [Jquilegia vulgaris), the dropwort
{Spiraa Filipendula), the beam tree {Pyrus Aria), the mountain ash (P. Aucuparia), the hem-
lock {Conium maculatum), the great burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella major), the Danewort
[Sambucus Ehulus), the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylostcum), the woodruff [Asperula odorata), the
shepherd's rod {Dipsacus pilosus), the tansy [Tanacetum vulgare), the Canterbury bell {Campanula
Trachelium), the yellow bird's-nest {Hypopitys Monotropa), the yellow-wort {Blackstonia or
Chlora perfoliata), the periwinkle {Vinca minor), the henbane [Hyoscyamus niger), the speedwell
{Veronica officinalis), the cow-wheat {Melampyrum pratense), the lousewort {Pedicularis sylvatica),
the white-flowered bugle {Ajuga reptans f. alba), the gromwell {Lithospermum officinale), the

BOTANY

spurge laurel [Daphne Laureola), the purple willow [Salix purpurea), the frog-bit [Hydrocharts
Morsus-rana), the lesser water plantain {Echlnodorus ranunculoidei), the snowdrop [Galanthm
nivalis), the ramsons [Allium urunum), the marsh orchis {Orchis latifolia), the fragrant orchis
[Hahenaria conopsea or H. Gymnadenia), the bird's-nest orchis {Neottia Nidus-avis), the wood
rush [Juncoides or Luzula multiflorum), the wood club-rush {Scirpus sylvaticus), the sedges
(Carex paniculata, C. pallescens, and possibly C. strigosa), the wood millet grass [Milium effiisum),
the wood small reed [Calamagrostis epigeios), the heath hair grass [Deschampsia flexuosa), the
melic grass [Melica uniflora), also Poa compressa, Agropyron caninum, the large horsetail
[Equisetum maximum), the ferns Dryopteris (or Lastrea) dilatata, D. spinulosa, and many other
species.

Geddington Chase, near which is one of the crosses erected to the memory of Queen
Eleanor, is on the Oxford clay, and has no very special plants recorded except the woolly-
headed thistle [Cnicus eriophorus), the sweet chestnut [Castanea sativa), the daffodil [Narcissus
Pseudo-narcissus), the drooping star of Bethlehem [Ornithogalum nutans), and the wood hound's-
tongue [Cynoglossum montanum).

Sywell or Seywell Wood and Gibb Wood (425 feet above sea-level), Pytchley and
Orlingbury afford the wild everlasting pea [Lathyrus sylvestris), the saw-wort [Serratula
tinctoria), the giant throat-wort [Campanula latifolia), the wood pimpernel [Lysimachia nemorum),
the pyramidal orchis [0. pyramidalis), the cotton-grass [Eriophorum angustifolium, and the
adder's-tongue fern [Ophioglossum vulgatum).

Some coppices on the borders of Buckinghamshire near Easton, Grendon and Bozeat
yield the columbine [Aquilegia vulgaris), the zigzag clover [Trifolium medium), the lady's
mantle [Alchemilla vulgaris), the brambles [Rubus dasycarpus, R. Radula and R. echinatus), the
orpine [Sedum Telephium), the great burnet saxifrage [Pimpinella major), the shepherd's rod
[Dipsacus pilosus), the heath groundsel [Senecio sylvaticus), the saw-wort [Serratula tinctoria), the
fellwort [Gentiana Amarella), the herb Paris [Paris quadrifolia), and the small reed grass
[Calamagrostis epigeios).

There are considerable woodlands in the neighbourhood of Brigstock, where the stinking
hellebore [Hellehorus fcetidus), the golden rod [Solidago Virgaurea), the wall lettuce [Lactuca
muralis), the hound's-tongue [Cynoglossum officinale), the tooth wort [Lathrea Squamaria), and
the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylosteum) have been gathered.

There is very little heathland left in the district, but a few furze commons now
enclosed retain traces of their former vegetation. Billing Lings, as its name denotes,
formerly had ling [Calluna) and heather [Erica cinerea), and traces are possibly left. The
buck's-horn plantain [Plantago Coronopus) existed till the * thirties,' and may perhaps not be
wholly extirpated. This neighbourhood with that of Overstone, which are on the North-
ampton sands, yield the field chickweed [Cerastium arvense), the rose-bay willow herb
[Epilobium angustifolium), the tuberous moschatel [Adoxa Moschatellina), the heath bedstraw
[Galium hercynicum), the small valerian [F. dioica), the hawkweed [Hieracium umbellatum), the
viper's bugloss [Echium vulgare), the birch [Betula alba), the white-flowered helleborine
[Cephalanthera pollens), the heath grass [Aira pnecox), and the lady fern [Athyrium Filix-
faemina), but the marsh fern [Dryopteris Thelypteris) is now extinct.

Kettering Links and some heathy ground near Thorpe Malsor are now greatly diminished
in extent and altered in character to what they were in the time when Morton wrote his
Natural History, when the upright pearlwort [Cerastium quaternellum), the heath cudweed
[Gnaphalium sylvaticum), the field gentian [Gentiana campestris) if that was really the plant
meant, the garlic [Allium vineale), the heath rush [jfuncus squarrosus), and the perfoliate yellow-
wort [Blackstonia perfoliata) occurred there. Some of them may still linger with the St.
John's worts [Hypericum pulchrum and H. humifusum) and the blue fleabane [Erigeron acre).
The capon's tail-grass [Festuca Myurus) has also been recorded from the vicinity.

The adventitious flora of the district is rather large, as many foreign and a few native
species are found about the sewage works and some few near the corn mills, e.g. Sisymbrium
Sophia, Lepidium Draba, Lythrum acutangulum, Ferbascum virgatum, Melilotus alba, Couringia
orientalis, Tragopogon porrifolius, Mariana lactea. Datura Stramonium, Chenopodium Fulvaria,
C. hybridum, Anthoxanthum Puelii, Santia [Polypogon) monspeliensis, Panicularia [Glyceria) distans,
Phalaris canariensis, Panicum miliaceum, Setaria viridis, S. glauca and Lepidium sativum. In
addition the Cheddar pink [Dianthus ca^sius or gratianopolitanus) is naturalized on a wall near
Rush Mills, and the evergreen alkanet [Anchusa sempervirens), the dame's violet [Hesperis
matronalis), the periwinkle [Finca minor), the snowdrop [Galanthus nivalis), the tuberous
comfrey [Symphytum tuberosum), the star of Bethlehem [Ornithogalum umbellatum), the fly

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylosteum), the daffodil {Narcissus major) and other species are planted or
semi-wild about Castle Ashby.

Rare or local plants in addition to those already mentioned which are recorded for the
District 6, Harpers Brook or Nene B.

Myosurus minimus, L.
Ranunculus Lingua, L.

— parviflorus, L.
Erophila praecox, DC.
[Camelina sativa, Cr.]
Cerastium arvense, L.
Geranium pyrenaicum, Burm. f.
Impatiens Noli-tangere, L.
Medicago Falcata, L. ? native
Melilotus officinalis, Lam.
Trifolium arvense, L.
Astragalus glycyphyllos, L.
Prunus Padus, L. Irchester.

wild
[Sedum album, L.]
[ — dasyphyllum, L.]
Hippuris vulgaris, L.
Parnassia palustris, L.
Apium inundatum, Reichb. f.
CEnanthe fistulosa, L.
[Carum Carui, L.]

— segetum, Benth. & Hook.
Cerefolium Anthriscus, G. Beck

(Anthriscus vulgaris, Pers.)
Valerianella rimosa, Bast.
Onopordon Acanthium, L.
[Doronicum plantagincum, L.]
Inula Helenium, L.
Lactuca virosa, L.

— muralis, Fresen.
Erigeron acre, L.
Artemisia Absinthium, L.
[Vinca major, L.]
Menyanthes trifoliata, L.
Echium vulgare, L.
Cuscuta Epithymum, Murr.

— europxa, L.
Solanum nigrum, L.
Veronica montana, L.
Verbascum nigrum, L.
Linaria Elatina, Mill.

— spuria, Mill.
[Scrophularia vernalis, L.]
Verbena officinalis, L.
Mentha rotundifolia, Huds.

Calamintha arvensis. Lam.

— montana, Lam. (C. menthifolia, Host.)
[Melissa officinalis, L.]

Salvia Verbenaca, L.
Marrubium vulgare, L.
Lamium hybridum, Vill.
[ — maculatum, L.]
Cynoglossum officinale, L.
Galeopsis speciosa, Miller
Rumex sanguineus, L.

— pulcher, L.
Ceratophyllum demersum, L.

Doubtfully Euphorbia Esula, L.

Salix rubra, L.

— Smithiana, Willd.
Typha angustifolia, L.
Potamogeton Friesii, Rupr.
Zannichellia palustris, L.
Ophrys apifcra, Huds.

— muscifera, Huds.

Gyrostachis autumnalis, Dum. (Spiranthes)
Epipactis palustris, Crantz.
Polygonatum multiflorum. All.
Gagea fascicularis, Salisb.
Colchicum autumnale, L.
Juncus compressus, Jacq.
Scirpus sylvaticus, L.
Carex Pseudo-cyperus, L.

— remota, L.
Koeleria cristata, Pers.
Bromus racemosus, L.
[ — secalinus, L.]

— commutatus, Schrad.

— erectus, L.

[ — arvensis, L.]

Brachypodium pinnatum, Beauv.

[Lolium temulentum, L., and var. arvense

(With.)]
Phyllitis Scolopendrium
Asplenium Trichomanes, L.

— Adiantum-nigrum, L.
Botrychium Lunaria, L.
Chara hispida, L.

— fragilis, Desv.

var. Hedwigii, H. & J. Groves

7. Nene C. or the Willow Brook District

This is bounded on the north-east by the Welland district ; on the south it is bordered
by the Nene B. or Harpers Brook district, the limits of which have already been given. From
Low Borough Fen in the north-east to Standground near Peterborough, it is bordered by the
county of Cambridge. The counties are separated for the greater part of the distance by the
Cat-water, which was formerly a branch of the Nene, and which traverses the flat expanse of
fen-land which has been reclaimed from the floods which formerly covered it for long periods.
From Peterborough to Elton the Nene separates the counties of Northampton and Huntingdon,
but from the latter village to Oundle the Nene is wholly in Northamptonshire, and an artificial
boundary is substituted to separate the counties as far west as to Lutton where the Harpers
Brook district is again touched.

BOTANY

This district of the Willow Brook is therefore drained by the main stream of the Nene
from Oundle to its leaving the county near Peterborough, and passes through wide alluvial
meadows bordered by Upper Estuarine clays and capped with cornbrash and Oxford clay.

The Willow Brook takes its rise from the old forest of Rockingham, a narrow strip of
elevated ground alone forming the watershed of this and the Harpers Brook, but the former
takes a more easterly direction and drains the woods of Corby and Gretton, and the parks of
Deene and Blatherwyck and portions of the Walks of Morehay and Sulehay. It then passes
by Kings ClifFe, Apethorpe and Wood Newton, and falls into the Nene opposite to the village
of Elton. In this almost semicircular course the Willow Brook has enclosed a portion of the
county which itself gives rise to some small tributaries of the Nene, and these drain Morehay,
Southwick, Benefield and part of Brigstock Woods. Further to the east a small brook which
originates from marshy ground near Stamford drains part of the rich woods of the Bedford
Purlieus, and becoming the White Water drains Wittering Heath and Southorpe Bog, now the
richest botanizing locality in the county, and passing through Sutton Heath joins the Nene near
Wansford Station. Shortly before being absorbed by the Nene, the Whitewater itself receives
a brook which has drained the rich woods called the Bedford Purlieus and the interesting
country about Thornhaugh. The handsome park of Milton, the seat of the Fitzwilliams, is
drained by the main stream of the Nene. East of the Great Northern Railway the fen-land
is intersected with numerous dykes in which the water movement is so slow, the level of the
country being so nearly uniform, that any further details of its drainage will be unnecessary.
Here and there some small eminence rises above the dead level of the Fens and this will be the
site of some village. But the country which was at one time either marsh or fen with its
rich sedge and reed vegetation, or of bog-land over which the cotton grass waved its plumes,
is now a vast extent of cornfields with their rippling waves of wheat, and the deposits of peat
which then accumulated have now been mingled with agrestal soil ; while the atmosphere itself
has changed, and what was once a malarious humid air is now dry and bracing.

The Willow Brook district has the woodland species excellently represented, and much
work is needed before the treasures of this part of the county can be said to be sufficiently
ascertained. I need only enumerate the names of the woods of Corby, Gretton, Laxton,
Bulwick, Harringworth, Morehay, Sulehay, Brigstock, Cotterstock, Wood Newton, Westhay,
Easton, and Bedford Purlieus to show what an extensive portion of the district is occupied by
them.

The flora of the latter wood is particularly attractive : in places it is blue with colum-
bines [Aquilegia vulgaris)^ in others it is fragrant with masses of the lily of the valley {Conval-
lar'ia majalh), and it has a most interesting and beautiful species of melic grass [McHca nutans),
which has its extreme southern limit in this situation, as it is a species which has its head-
centre in the limestone woods of northern Britain. Here too is the deadly nightshade {Atropa
Belladonna), and the small-leaved lime {Til'ia parvifoUa) is indubitably a native species. The
recorded species include the milkwort {Polygala vulgaris), the field cress {Lepidium campestre),
the wild pea {Lathyrus sylvcstris), the broom (Cytisus scoparius), the greater burnet saxifrage
{Pimpinella major), the brambles {Rubus Schlectendalii, Weihe ; R. Bellardi, W. & N.), the
•wooArwS {A sperula odorata), the crosswort (Galium Crudata), the woolly-headed thistle [Cnicus
eriophorus), the saw-wort [Serratula tinctoria), the ploughman's spikenard [Inula Conyza), the
hawkweed [Hieracium horeale), the great burdock [Arctium majus), the ling [Calluna Erica), the
small centaury [Erythreea ramosissima or pukhella), the wood pimpernel [Lysimachia nemorum),
the speedwell [Veronica montana), the cow-wheat [Mclampyrum pratense), the tooth wort
[Lathraa Squamaria), t\\am\x\\&'\ns[Verbascum Thapsus and nigrum), t\\c gromv/eW [Lithospermum
officinale), the wood spurge [Euphorbia amygdaloides), the caper spurge (£. Lathyris), the aspen
[Populus tremula), the birch [Betula alba), the pyramidal orchis (0. pyramidalis), the fragrant
orchis [Habenaria conopsea), the butterfly orchids [H. bifolia and chlorokuca), the helleborine
[Epipactis violacea), the fly orchis [Opbrys muscifera), the herb Paris [Paris quadrifolia), the ram-
sons [Allium ursinum), the great wood rush [Juncoides [Luzula^ sylvaticum), the melic grass
[Melica uniflora), the wood poa (P. nemoralis), the small wood reed [Calamagrostis epigeios),
and the hard fern [Lomaria Spicant).

The Lincolnshire Limestone and the Great Oolite are frequently only covered with a
slight layer of earth, so that on the grassy borders of the road sides especially in those bordering
on Bedford Purlieus many typical calcipetes are to be found. The grass Brach\padium pinna-
turn, so frequent on the oolitic tracts of Oxford and Berks is here also plentiful, and sometimes
is to be seen in the midst of a calcareous marsh occupying some slightly elevated and drier
position than the uliginal plants which grow around. The golden blossoms of the horseshoe

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

vetch [Hippocrepis comosa) are conspicuous by the side of the road, and very locally they may
mingle with the purple flowers of the milk vetch [Astragalus danicus). In rather bushy places,
so as to be partly sheltered, may be seen the wild licorice vetch [Astragalus glycyphyllos). Here
and there may be found the bright rosy-pink spikes of the Orchis pyramidalis and the more
purplish-pink flowers of the fragrant orchis [Habenaria conopsca). Half hidden in the short
turf the squinancy wort [Asperula cynanchica) may occasionally be found, whereas on the chalk
downs of the Chilterns it occurs in great profusion. Besides these we have the feathery
flowers of the dropwort [Spiraa FUipendula), the blue flowers of the clustered bell-flower
[Campanula glomerata), the dull purple of the autumnal gentian [G. Atnarella), and very rarely
the blue flowers of the field gentian [G. campestris), the lady's fingers [Anthyllis Fulneraria) with
its pale yellow flowers is rather frequent, while the Labiates are represented by the aromatic
marjoram [Origanum vulgare), the basil thyme [Calamintha arvensis)^ and the wild thyme
[Thymus Serpyllum). Here too are the hairy tower mustard [Arabis hirsuta), the field chickweed
[Cerastium arvense) with its pure white blossoms, the ploughman's spikenard [Inula Conyza), the
spindle tree [Euonymus europaus), the traveller's joy [Clematis Fitalba) and the dog-wood
[Cornus sanguineus).

On porous limestone soil near Wittering there was a small area of wild uncultivated
ground now almost entirely enclosed, where the field ragwort [Senecio campestris)^ the perennial
flax [Linum perenne), and the cat's-foot [Antennaria dioica) formerly occurred.

The woods and open country in the neighbourhood of King's Cliffe have also many species
which are either rare or local over the greater part of the county, but space will not allow of
all of these being enumerated, as some of them have already been mentioned. Reference
however may be made to the handsome tutsan [Hypericum Androsamum), the orpine [Sedum
Telephium), the service tree [Pyrus Torminalis), the elecampane [Inula Helenium), the dodder
[Cuscuta europaa), the wood hound's-tongue [Cynoglossum montanum), the spider orchis [Ophrys
aranifera), the small reed grass [Calamagrostis lanceolata), the latter growing in marshy
woods, the pale flowered clover [Trifolium ochroleucon), and the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera
Xylosteum).

If the Bedford Purlieus can lay claim to be considered the richest sylvan flora in the
county, Southorpe Bog on the Upper Lias clay can with equal justice assert its right to be
considered the home of more bog species than any other locality in the county.

The bog rush [Schaenus nigricans) is abundant and apparently confined to this particular
watershed, and we have no other recorded locality for the sedge [Carex dioica). Within the
area are also the local sedge [Carex elata [stricta) ) and the bay-leaved willow [Salix pentandra),
which are unknown elsewhere wild in the county. In addition there are the marsh thistle
[Cnicus pratensis), the butter-wort [Pinguicula vulgaris), the fragrant orchis [Habenaria conopsea
or H. Gymnadenia), the marsh orchises [0. incarnata and 0. latifolia), the marsh helleborine
[Epipactis palustris), the great spearwort [Ranunculus Lingua), the bog dropwort [CEnanthe Lachena-
lii), the bog-bean [Menyanthes trifoliata), the sedges [Carex pulicaris, C. echinata, C.paniculata, C.
Hava, C. Hornschuchiana, C. rostrata, and C. panicea), the alder buckthorn [Rhamnus Frangula),
the marsh willow-herb [Epitobium palustre), the mare's-tail [Hippuris vulgaris), the grass of Par-
nassus [Parnassia palustris), the water pennywort [Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the marsh bedstraw
[Galium uliginosum), the cotton grasses [Eriophorum angustifolium and E. latifolium), the marsh
valerian [Valeriana dioica), the marsh speedwell [Veronica scutellata), the marsh lousewort [Pedi-
cularis palustris), the bog pimpernel [Anagallis tenella,) the round -leaved water pimpernel
[Samolus Valerandi), the marsh arrow-grass [Triglochin palustre), the rushes [Juncus obtusiflorus
and J. hulbosus or supinus), the club-rushes [Scirpus paucifiorus and S. setaceus), the grasses
[Sieglingia decumbens, Calamagrostis lanceolata, Molinia varia, Agrostis alba var. coarctata), and
the ferns [Dryopteris dilatata and D. spinulosa).

The fen ditches often show immense quantities of the water violet [Hottonia palustris),
and the celery-leaved buttercup [Ranunculus sccleratus) is very abundant, so much so as once to
give me some disappointment, for I saw one of the dykes below Peterborough covered for many
yards with a vegetable growth which I at first hoped might be the rare little duckweed
[IVolffia Micheiti or Horkelia arrhiza), but closer examination showed that the apparent duckweed
was really nothing more than countless numbers of the fruits of this plant which had been
slowly carried along by the sluggish current to a point where a plank placed across the dyke
obstructed the surface water. In these ditches the water soldier [Stratiotes Abides) formerly
grew, but whether actually within the confines of Northamptonshire is open to considerable
doubt. Here also grow the golden dock [Rumex maritimus), besides the water horsebane
[CEnanthe Phellandrium) in plenty, and the water dropwort [CEnanthe fistulosa), the marsh willow

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herb [EpUohium tetragonum), the frog-bit {Hydrocharis Morsus-rante), the duckweeds [Lemna
trisu/ca, L. polyrhiza, L. g'bka), the opposite-leaved pondweed {Potamogeton densum) in enormous
quantities, the crisped water caltrops [P. crispum), the water buttercup [Ranunculus Drouetii),
the horned pondweed {Zannichellia pa/ustris), the cyperus sedge [Carex Pseudo-cyperus), the
marsh stitchwort [Stellaria palmtrii), the bladder-wort [Utricularia vulgaris), several species of
knot-grass namely [Polygonum mite, P. minus, P. Hydropiper, P. maculatum and P. lapathifolium),
the grass Panicularia [Glyceria) pticata, and Chara contraria and C. fragilis.

Oxney Lode has also the very local grass Alopecurus fulvus, the rare water starwort
[Callitriche vernalis, Kuetz. = C verna, L.), and the tiny club-rush [Eleocharis acicularis).

By the sides of these drains especially by the old county boundary of the Cat Water I
have gathered the willows [Salix acuminata, S. purpurea, S. Smithiana, S. fragilis, S. viminalis x
aurita and S. Hoffmaniana), the wild rose [Rosa mollissima) and the spurge laurel [Daphne
Laureola).

One of the most abundant species in the reclaimed fen district is the hemlock [Conium
maculatum) which grows in great abundance along the fen dykes, and the heath groundsel
[Senecio sylvaticus) is also very common. The knot-grass [Polygonum aviculare) occurs in vast
profusion on the grassy roads. Both species of the pale poppy [Papaver Lecoqii and P. Lamot-
tei) are common, while on sunny banks the knotted parsley [Caucalis nodosa) is very frequent.
Other conspicuous plants are the hemp nettle [Galeopsis Tetrahit) and the black poplar [Populus
nigra), but the latter and the wych elm [Ulmus campestris, L.) and the common elm [U. sativa,
Miller) have been planted. The arable fields are singularly free from weeds, and the pastures
show few species and those chiefly the commonest grasses; in many of them such plants as the
eyebright, the milkwort, the green-veined orchis, the meadow dropwort and even the yellow
rattle appear to be absent.

Milton Woods which are on the cornbrash are said to yield the juniper [Juniperus com-
munis), and the spurge laurel [Daphne Laureola), the dropwort [Spiraa Filipendula), the ramsons
[Allium ursinum), the hawthorn [Crataegus oxyacanthoides), the knotted parsley [Caucalis nodosa)
and the upright brome grass [Bromus erectus) are found either in the woods or in the adjoining
grassy country.

In the extensive alluvial meadows bordering the Nene and on its banks have been noticed
the handsome water parsnep [Sium latifolium), the yellow loosestrife [Lysimachia vulgaris), the
wood club-rush Scirpus sylvaticus with its graceful inflorescence, the white-flowered round-
leaved Samolus Valerandi, the narrow-leaved reed mace [Typha angustifolia), the great burnet
[Poterium officinale), the yellow cresses [Roripa [Nasturtium'] amphibia, R. sylvestris and R.
palustris), the grasses [Bromus commutatus, B. racemosus and B. erectus), the rush [Juncus compres-
sus), the hawkweed [Crepis biennis), the latter abundant near Wansford, the willows [Salix pur-
purea, S. triandra and 5. Smithiana), and in the water may be seen both the yellow and white
water lilies, the pondweeds [Potamogeton intcrruptus, P. Friesii, P. lucens and P. densus), the
dropworts [CEnanthe fistulosa, CE. Phellandrium and CE. fluviatilis), the horned pondweed [Zan-
nichellia palustris), the stinking Chara fragilis var. Hedwigii and C. contraria, and profusion of
the arrow-head [Sagittaria) and the flowering rush [Butomus umbellatus).

In a small marsh on the Upper Lias clay near Biggin the Rev. M. J. Berkeley found the
marsh cinquefoil [Potentilla palustris), but there is no recent record for this widely distributed
British species whose occurrence assumes the presence of peat.

The walls of Peterborough Cathedral formerly had the pennywort; indeed the figure in
Sowerby's English Botany was drawn from a plant gathered from this place. It is now extinct
but the red valerian [Centranthus ruber), the white stonecrop [Sedum album), the great snap-
dragon [Antirrhinum majus), the wall-flower [Cheiranthus Cheiri), the male fern [Dryopteris
Filix-mas), the grass [Poa compressa) and the ivy-leaved snapdragon [Linaria Cymbalaria), are
still to be found thereon.

By the railway the wall rocket [Diplotaxis muralis) is frequent.

In the vicinity of the ruins of Fotheringay Castle the local small-flowered buttercup
[Ranunculus parviforus) grows wild, and as relics probably of the Castle gardens the cotton thistle
[Onopordon Acanthium) which the village people still call Queen Mary's thistle, and the pale-
flowered jonquil [Narcissus hiforus) have been noticed. The pastures have afforded the burnt
orchis (0. ustulata), but that has been apparently limited to the area where chalk drift occurs,
and the perfoliate yellow-wort [Blackstonia perfoliata) also shows a preference for a similar soil.
In rich ground full of nitrates in the neighbourhood of Peterborough the annual mercury
[Mercurialis annua), the white-flowered nightshade [Solanum nigrum), and the oak-leaved
goosefoot [Chenopodium fcifoUum) have been found.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The Willow Brook or Nene C. district also contains among others the following interesting
plants : —

Helleborus foetidus, L.

— viridis, L., var. occidentalis, Druce
Papavcr hybridum, L.

— Rhoeas, L., var. Pryorii, Druce

Roripa amphibia, Bess., var. variifolia, Druce, and

var. indivisa, Beck
Barbarea vulgaris, Br., var. decipiens, Druce
Erysimum cheiranthoides, L.
Thlaspi arvense, L.
Lepidium campestre, L.
Reseda lutea, L.
R. Luteola, L.
Viola hirta, L.
Stellaria aquatica. Scop.
Arenaria leptoclados, Guss.
Sagina apetala. Hard.

Malva moschata, L., var. heterophylla, Lej.
Erodium moschatum, L'Her.
Geranium pratense, L.
Trifolium striatum, L.

— arvense, L.
Lathyrus Nissolia, L.

Alchemilla vulgaris, var. filicaulis (Buser)
Pyrus communis, L.

— Aria, Ehrh.

Rubus rhombifolius, Weihe
Rosa Eglanteria, L. (rubiginos.i)

— moUissima, Willd., var. subglobosa (Sm.)

Druce
Myriophyllum verticillatum, L.

— spicatum, L.
Hippuris vulgaris, L.
Callitriche stagnalis, Scop.

— intermedia, Hoffm. (C. hamulata, Kuetz.)
Ribes Grossularia, L.

Lythrum Hyssopifolia, L.
Bupleurum rotundifolium, L.
Silaus flavescens, Bess.
Cicuta virosa, L. Extinct
Caucalis daucoides, L.

— arvensis, Huds.

CEnanthe crocata, L., Beck. Extinct
Cerefolium Anthriscus, Beck
Slum erectum, Huds.
Viburnum Opulus, L.
Galium tricorne, Stokes
[Petasites fragrans, Presl.]
Chrysanthemum segetum, L.
Erigeron acre, L.
Anthemis ar\'ensis, L.
Bidens tripartita, L.
Centaurea Calcitrapa, L.
Centaurea Cyanus, L.

Cichorium Intybus, L.

Lactuca muralis, Fresen.

Leontodon hirtum, L.

Legousia (Specularia) hybrida, Del.

[Vinca minor, L.]

[ — m.ijor, L.]

Er)'thraEa Centaurium, Pers. and var. alba

Limnanthemum peltatum, Gmel. (?in Northants)

[Verbascum Blattaria, L.]

Antirrhinum Orontium, L.

Melampyrum cristatum, L.

Euphrasia nemorosa, Pers.

Orobanche majus, L. (O. elatior, Sutt.)

Verbena officinalis, L.

Calamintha montana. Lam. (menthifolia, Host.)

Nepeta Cataria, L.

Salvia Verbenaca, L.

Stachys arvensis, L.

— ambigua, Sm.
Marrubium vulgare, L.
Teucrium Scordium, L. Extinct
Hyoscyamus niger, L.
Lithospermum ar\'ense, L.
Myosotis cespitosa, Schultz.

— versicolor, Sm.

— collina, Reichb.
[Borago officinalis, L.]
Cynoglossum officinale, L.
Anagallis femina. Miller (coerulea)
Chenopodium polyspermum, L.

— rubrum, L.

— Bonus-Henricus, L.
Atriplex deltoidea, Bab.
Rumex pulcher, L.

— acutus, L.
Polygonum Bistorta, L.
Euphorbia platyphyllos, L.
Stratiotes Aloides, L. Extinct
Habenaria viridis, R. Br.
Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, L.
Allium oleraceum, L. ?

Carex vulpina, L., var. nemorosa, Rebent.

— pendula, L,

— vesicaria, L.
Festuca rigida, Kunth.

— ovina, L., var. paludosa. Gaud.

Poa pratensis, L., var. subcoerulea (Sm.).
Hordeum nodosum, L. (pratense)
Phyllitis Scolopendrium
Ceterach officinarum, Willd.
Ophioglossum vulgatum, L.
Pilularia globulifera, L. Extinct
Nitella opaca, Ag.

In this district I have recently gathered a species of grass which I had the pleasure of
discovering some years ago in Oxfordshire. It was then considered to be a variety of the
common soft brome grass {Bromus hordeaceus, or as it is more commonly called Bromus mollis),
but subsequent cultivation and more complete examination showed it to be a distinct species,
which differs from all other British grasses by having the inner palea split to the base instead
of being entire. As I have found it in many counties of Britain, including Buckinghamshire
and Lincolnshire, we well might expect it to occur in our area. The locality I found it in

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was between Marholm and Walton, but it will be doubtless found in other situations if looked
for.

Hitherto I have not seen a specimen from any other country, but from the plant occurring
almost exclusively in arable fields and especially in crops of seeds and sainfoin, we might expect
the plant to be of foreign origin ; but Professor Hackel of S. Poelton, the greatest living
authority on grasses, tells me he has not yet seen any besides English specimens. I may
add that I named the plant Bromus interruptus, and the specific name was adopted because of
the interrupted character of the inflorescence, which is very different from the panicle of the
soft brome grass to which in other characters it is allied. Notwithstanding the opinions
expressed by some of the botanists of the British Museum, Professor Hackel, C. B. Clarke the
President of the Linnean Society, and other eminent botanists agree with me in describing it
as a distinct species, differing as it does from the soft brome in several important characters,
which are retained unchanged in cultivation.

For further details see a paper by me which appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society,
vol. xxxii. pp. 426-430 (1896), and in my Flora of Berkshire, pp. 598-595-

In the same locality I also met with a variety of the wild oat {Avena fatua) which I had
previously gathered near Slough in Buckinghamshire, which is at once seen to differ from the
type in possessing only one awn. Professor Hackel tells me he has never before seen this form,
and he names it var. uniaristata, and gives this diagnosis : ' Spiculas biflorse cum rudimento
pedicelliforme floris tertii, flore inferiore aristato, superiore mutico, quam inferiore | breviore,
utroque glaberrimo vel inferiore pilis paucis obsito.'

The species which have become extinct or so scarce as to have evaded my observation in
the county include the following : —

Hairy Buttercup. Ranunculus sardous, Crantz ;
R. hirsutus, Curt. Frequently confused by
botanists with hairy forms of the common
buttercup

Wall Rocket. Dtphtaxis tenuifolia, DC. Formerly
on Northampton Castle

Cress. Teesdalia nudicaulii, R. Br.

Saponaria officinalis, L. ; var. cmcava. A monstrosity
observed by Gerard in a spinney near Litch-
borough prior to 1597

Sundew. Drosera rotundifolia, L. In Harleston
up to 1836

Nottingham Catchfly. Silene nutans, L. Recorded
by Morton from the neighbourhood of Harring-
worth, but here I think S. noctiflora was mistaken
for it

Pearl wort. Sagina subulata, Presl. Recorded prob-
ably in error from Borough Hill in Baker's
History

Marsh Cinquefoil. Potenlilla palustris. Scop. ;
Comarum palustre, L. Biggin

Field Eryngo. Eryngium campestre, L. Formerly
near Brockhall

Sweet Cicely. Myrrhis Odorata, Scop. Only of
casual occurrence

Slender-headed Thistle. Carduus pycnocephalus, L. ;
var. tenuiflorus (Curt.)

Field Ragwort. Senecio campeslris, DC. Witter-
ing Heath

Prickly-headed Knapweed or Star Thistle. Cen-
taurea Calcitrapa, L.

Swine's Succory. Amoseris pusilla, Gaertn. For-
merly near Creaton

Smooth Cat's-ear. Hypochceris glabra, L. De-
stroyed by ironstone excavations

Stinking Hawk's-beard. Crepis fixtida, L. Sup-
posed to have been gathered by Bobart near
Whittlebury Forest prior to 1712

Rampion. Campanula Rapunculus, L.

Bell-flower. Campanula rapunculoides, L.

Spreading Bell-flower. Campanula patula, L.
Possibly erroneously recorded

Fringed Water-lily. Limnanthemum peltatum, Gmel.
Formerly at Peterborough, but perhaps not
within the limits of our county

Mudwort. Limosella aquatica, L. Near Kelmarsh ;
Morton, 1 71 2

Water Germander. Teucrium Scordium, L. Ditches
in the Fen; Morton, 1 71 2

Ground Pine. Ajuga Chamapitys, Schreb.

Downy Woundwort. Stachys germanica, L. For-
merly in quarries near Fineshade
Small Bladderwort. Utricularia minor is included
in Topographical Botany, but on whose authority
I have been unable to ascertain

Buck's-horn Plantain. Plantago Coronopus, L.
Billing Lings.

Garlic. Allium oleraceum, L.

Spider Orchis. Ophrys aranifera, Huds. Southorpe,
etc.

Tall Sedge. Cladium jamaicense, Crantz ; C.
Mariscus, R. Br. Probably originally confused
with Scirpus sylvaticiu, and certainly not recently
observed

M.irsh Fern. Diyopteris Tkelypteris, A. Gray.
{Lastrea Thelypteris, Presl.)

Sweet-scented Mountain Fern. Dryopteris montana,
Kuntze. (JLastrea Oreopteris, Presl.)

Royal Fern. Osmunda regarts, L. Moulton

Pillwort. Pilukria globulifera, L. Borough Fen

Several species have been erroneously recorded by various observers, and probably the
following belong to the category ; in a few cases the plant may have been really noticed in one
of the bordering counties and not within our boundary.

A HISTORY QF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Ranunculus hirsutus. Curt., R. sarJous, already no- MyriophyUum altemifiorum, DC. Possibly correct,

ticed among the extinct species was possibly a but requires confirmation

misnomer C'uuta virosa, L. Ditches near Peterborough ;

Barbarea stikta, Andrj. B. vulgaris was mistaken never confirmed

for it by Mr. Borrer near Weedon HUraeeum tiiJentatum, Fries. Possibly a form of

Scltranthui perennis, L. Mistaken for the biennial H. rigidum

form of S. annum Herminium Monorchii, R. Br. Recorded from

Sagjna lubukta, Presl. A very doubtful record boggy ground, a very unlikely locality for this

Genista pilosd, L. Harleston gypsophilous species

Pttentilla argentta, L. The locality is probably in Arenaria verna, L. ; Stellaria nemorum, L. ; Asple-

Hunts nium marinum, Veronica hybrida, and V. spicata

and others are certainly errors

We have a few species which, though very common with us, are local in many
English counties. Among these are the buckthorn [Rhumnus catharticui), the spindle tree
{Euonymus europceus), the water horsebane {CEnanthe Jiuviatilii), the pepper saxifrage {Silaus
fiavescem), the stone parsley {Siion Amomum), the parsnep {Peucedanum sativum), the small
corn parsley {Caucalis aruensis), the knotted parsley (C. nodosa), the hemlock {Conium macu-
latum), the cornel or dogwood {Cornus sanguinea), the wayfaring tree {Viburnum Lantana),
the chicory {Cichorium Intyhm), the ragwort [Senecio erucifolius), the Venus' looking-glass {Spccu-
laria or Legousia hybrida), the good King Henry {Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus), the willow
{Salix Smithiana), the pondweed [Potamogeton Friesii), the rest harrows [Ononis campestris and
repens), the rough dandelion [Leontodon hispidus), the wild licorice {Astragalus glycyphyllos) which
is locally common, the great burnet saxifrage [Pimpinella major) which is widely spread, the
ox-tongue {Picris Echioides), the greater knapweed {Centaurea Scahiosa) and the maple {Acer
campestre).

MOSSES

The history of our knowledge of the mosses of Northamptonshire
commences with the residence in the county of the late Rev. M. J.
Berkeley, for although one or two ' mosses ' are referred to in Morton's
History, the records in each case really belong to lichens. At that time
lichens were scarcely distinguished from the true mosses, and the con-
fusion remains, in popular language, to the present day ; the so-called
Iceland moss, reindeer moss and others really belonging to classes of plants
widely differing from the true mosses.

The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, the eminent authority on fungi, and
writer of the Handbook of British Mosses, was born at Biggin, near Oundle,
in 1803, and for the greater part of an exceptionally long life resided in
the north of the county, and it could not be but that the mosses of the
district should fall under the notice of so keen-sighted a botanist. Some
of the most minute of our species were indeed recorded by him as early
as 1827, but the records he has left of Northamptonshire mosses, though
including a few highly interesting species, are not very numerous, and
there is no doubt that his devotion to fungi precluded a close investigation
of other plants. Since his time the writer of the present article has made
a study — far from complete — of the distribution of mosses in the county,
but with the exception of one or two observers (notably the late Mr.
Robert Rogers) who have added a few records to our list, this interesting
branch of botany has at present found no further adherent.

It cannot be supposed therefore that our knowledge of the mosses is
at present by any means complete ; still, they have received a fair amount
of attention in comparison with those of other counties, and the list of

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known species, though not large, is for a lowland and mostly alluvial
district a moderately good one. About 220 species have been recorded,
a number which compares favourably with most of the adjoining counties,
though as we proceed westwards, and the fertile alluvial valleys of the
eastern and midland counties give place to the more rocky streams and
harder exposed strata of the west, we find, as might be expected, a richer
flora of the lower orders of plants. The development of Cryptogamia in
a district is probably as a rule in an inverse ratio to its agricultural pro-
ductiveness. We cannot therefore expect a very rich moss-flora in a
county so highly cultivated as Northamptonshire, where there is an
entire absence of peat bogs, a total lack of any natural outcrop of hard
rock, where the rivers all run (if the term may be allowed to our sluggish
streams) through alluvial valleys, and where heaths and other waste lands
are for the most part conspicuous by their absence. Even the large tracts
of wood and forest land for which the county is remarkable, while
exuberant in fungi, do not add largely, in proportion to the area they
cover, to the richness of our moss-flora ; for being to a great extent on
clay soil, at low elevations, and with scarcely any water beyond a few
small ponds, they present but little variety of surface, and their contribu-
tion towards our moss-flora with certain exceptions lies rather in the
multiplication of individuals than in the number or rarity of their
species.

The chief interest of our moss-flora is therefore not to be looked for
in a great variety of species, or a great profusion or high development of
individuals, but rather in its somewhat special character as determined
by the nature of the soil and of the various other substrata on which
these plants are found. Perhaps the most noticeable features are the
almost entire absence of any quantity of Sphagna or peat-mosses, the
presence of a characteristic flora on the oolitic limestone, and the traces
of an earlier, richer moss-flora, now in process of extinction through
various causes, of which the development of agriculture is undoubtedly
the chief

Few counties can be so poor in Sphagna as Northamptonshire. A
real peat bog does not occur throughout the county, and each of the
four species of Sphagnum that occur is confined to a single station, and
even there is found over a space of a few square yards at the most.
Moreover of these four species two, S. acutifolium and S. intermedium, are
only found in pools in a now disused clay-pit, and can have no claim to
be considered as truly native in our county ; while the two remaining
species exist but as remnants of an older flora, and their ultimate dis-
appearance is doubtless but a question of time.

The oolitic limestone beds that appear over a great part of the
surface of Northamptonshire produce a somewhat distinct moss-flora of
their own. Characteristic mosses are found on the stone walls in the
northern districts, on the mud cappings of our walls throughout the
county, and in the calcareous bogs of the extreme north and south. No
species are known to occur that are not found in other counties, but

I 81 G

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

several that are elsewhere rare or sparingly produced may be found here
in great profusion ; among these may be mentioned Tortula pusilla, T.
lamellata, T. rigida, T. ambigua, T. aloides, the rare Ceratodon conicus,
which occurs frequently and fruits freely on our mud-capped walls, with
Tortula intermedia, Pottia intermedia and P. lanceolata, Barbula revoluta,
Orthotrichum anomalum var. saxatile, etc. In the calcareous bogs Hypnum
commutatum grows in great profusion and variety, while H. falcatum^
H. stellatum, Philonotis calcarea are other characteristic forms.

A certain number of our mosses must be considered as the lingering
remains of a time when a great part of the county was woodland or open
waste land, with a richer moss-flora, much more akin than the present
one to the moss vegetation of the hilly and sub-montane districts of
Britain. Thus we find a few scattered plants, notably in Badby Wood
and Harleston Firs, of such species as Leucobryum glaucum, Plagiothecium
undulatum, P. Borrerianum, Ditrichum homomallum, Dicranum majus, Hylo-
comium loreum, Sphagnum subsecundum, Eurhynchium myosuroides, Tetraphis
pellucida, Bartramia pomiformis and a few others. Most of these occur
in a single station only, and are with little doubt doomed to extinction
at some not far distant period.

A few notes may be added on some species that present features of
special interest. Among these is Bryum roseum, one of the most hand-
some of our mosses, which produces a rosette of large, deep green leaves
at the top of the stem, sometimes measuring as much as an inch across.
This, though a local plant and usually not found in any great abundance,
occurs in profusion in some parts of Badby Wood, where it may be found
in great beauty during the winter months, keeping its -freshness and
verdure unimpaired beneath a mantle of brown and withered oak leaves.

The very beautiful Schistostega osmundacea is found in one or two of
our sandstone quarries, where it lines the walls of fox earths and other
crevices with its luminous patches, lighting up the cavity with a lovely
golden green refulgence. This was at one time supposed to be a kind
of phosphorescent glow, whence the plant acquired the name of the
'luminous moss,' but it is now known to be due to the highly refractive
structure of the protonemal threads, and in absolute darkness its beauty
disappears.

A remarkable form of a somewhat common moss, Porotrichum (better
known as Thamnium) alopecurum, occurs in the old disused limestone
quarries at Weldon. 'On a recent visit, in the spring of 1898, the
bottoms of some low depressions under trees were carpeted with globular
masses, which were found to consist of living " balls " of this moss,
entirely detached from the soil and without rootlets, and from two to
four or five inches in diameter. The interior of the " balls " consisted of
the rigid, wiry stems proper to the species, which had branched pro-
fusely in all directions, and so produced this peculiar form. The branches
were extremely dense and numerous, many hundreds of secondary stems
going to make up a single tuft or " ball," and entirely hiding the
central stem or stems. From this, as well as from the size of the tufts,

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it was clear that they must represent the growth of many months, prob-
ably of several years, and this without connection of any kind with the
soil or other matrix, so that the nutriment must have been obtained
entirely from atmospheric moisture ; they were however perfectly fresh
and vigorous. No doubt detached stems of the moss, the ordinary form
of which was growing in close proximity, had been carried at various
times by the wind into the hollows, where the moisture of the air, to-
gether with the natural vitality, apparently a marked character of this
species, combined not only to resist decay, but even to promote growth,
resulting in the very unusual phenomenon described. . . . The Rev.
C. H. Waddell informs me that the same curious growth of P. alopecurum
here described has been observed in Ireland by the curator of the
Fernery, Botanic Park, Belfast, who called it " the rolling moss," and
described how it grew without roots and was blown about from place to
place by the wind ; he kept it as a curiosity among his ferns.' ^

In the following lists of some of the more uncommon or noteworthy
species the term ' characteristic ' must be taken with some latitude. It
is rarely that a moss is so absolutely confined to any particular matrix as
never to occur elsewhere, and it must not be assumed that this is the
case here. Hypnum revohens and H. intermedium, for example, here given
as characteristic of calcareous bogs, are indeed with us found only in the
highly calcareous bogs of north and south Northamptonshire, but this
is by no means universally the case.

MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF CALCAREOUS BOGS

Philonotis calcarea, Schimp.
Hypnum stellatum, Schreb.
— revolvens, Swartz

Hypnum intermedium, Lindb.

— falcatum, Brid.

— commutatum, Hedw.

MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF NON-CALCAREOUS BOGS OR MARSHY

GROUND

Sphagnum cymbifolium, Ehrh.

— subsecundum, var. contortum, Schimp.

— acutifolium, Ehrh.

— intermedium, HofFm.
Splachnum ampullaceum, L.

Aulacomnium palustre, SchwSgr.

Philonotis fontana, Brid.

Bryum pseudo-triquetrum, SchwSgr.

Hypnum cordifolium, Hedw.

— giganteum, Schimp.

MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE [OOLITIC] LIMESTONE

Ditrichum flexicaule, Hampe
Ceratodon conicus, Lindb.
Pottia recta. Mitt.

— bryoides, Mitt.

— lanceolata, C. Mall.

— Starkeana, C. Mali.

— intermedia, FOrnr.
Tortula pusilla, Mitt.

— lamellata, Lindb.

— ambigua, Angstr.

Tortula rigida, Schrad.

— aloides, De Not.
Barbula sinuosa, Braithw.
Weisia tenuis, C. Mall.
Trichostomum crispulum, Bruch
Encalypta streptocarpa, Hedw.
Orthotrichum anomalum, var. saxatile,

Milde

— cupulatum, Hoffm.
Ephemerum recurvifolium, Lindb.

1 Journ. o/Northanli Nat. Hist. Soe., vol. x. pp. 250, Z79.
83

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

ARBOREAL MOSSES

Tetraphis pcllucida, Hedw. Orthotrichum Schimperi, Hamm.

Cinclidotus Brebissoni, Husn. — obtusifolium, Schrad.

Ulota phyllantha, Brid. Neckera pumila, Hedw.
Orthotrichum Sprucei, Mont.

AQUATIC MOSSES
Fissidens crassipes, Wils, Cinclidotus fontinaloides, P. Beauv.

LIVERWORTS {Hepatica) AND LICHENS

The first-named group of plants is at present almost untouched in
Northamptonshire, and little of interest can be said about them, for
though the late Mr. Robert Rogers paid some attention to the subject,
the list he drew up, chiefly from the neighbourhood of Yardley Chase,
contains only the common and widely distributed species.

The lichens have received as little attention as the hepatics. No
resident botanist has studied them, and the only records of any kind, with
the exception of one or two in Morton's History, are based on a small
collection made by Mr. W. H. Wilkinson of Birmingham, in the
neighbourhood of Fawsley, upon the occasion of the visit to North-
ampton of the Midland Union of Natural History Societies in 1888 ;
a list of these appears in the Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural
History Society, vol. v. p. 149, where special reference is made to a rare
form, viz. the var. rubiginea of JJsnea barbata.

FUNGI

The long residence in Northamptonshire of the late Rev. M. J.
Berkeley, one of the greatest of British mycologists, would lead us to
expect the fungi of the county to have been extensively studied, and this
is undoubtedly the case. Owing however probably to the pressure of
more important work, he never drew up a list of local forms ; and
strangely enough, enthusiastic botanist as he was, he does not appear to
have succeeded in enlisting any other workers in this district in that
branch of botany in which he was a recognized authority. Such a list
might be drawn up — not without considerable labour — by collating the
numerous Northamptonshire records scattered throughout his collections
and writings.

A few incidental references in the course of presidential and other
addresses are all that appear in the records of the County Natural History
Society. These references however, scanty as they are, indicate the
arduous work carried out by the writer, and prove that the woods of
Northamptonshire may be made to afford a rich field to the trained eye
of the student of fungi. From these references one or two citations of
considerable intrinsic interest may be made.

' If variety of soil affords us an unusually abundant flora, the large

BOTANY

tracts of woodland, extending once from Wansford to Market Har-
borough, with many outlying enclosures, yield a never-failing source of
interest to the cryptogamic botanist in the variety of fungi, and
amongst them many of extreme rarity, of which I will only mention at
present Agaricus racemosus, which on the same stem produces two different
kinds of fruit, and Agarkus Loveianus, which is parasitic on the pileus
of one of our best edible fungi, A. nebularis. . . . The very numerous
addition: which have been made to our list of species recorded by myself
and Mr. Broome in the Annals of Natural History, amounting nearly to
two thousand, have been supplied in great measure from these districts,
and other parts of the county are daily yielding a fresh harvest."

A further reference is of still greater interest. ' I turn to a very
interesting class of fungi, and of some importance in an economical
point of view, viz. the truffles, whether belonging to the normal group
or to those which have been called false truffles — agreeing in their
hypogsous habit, but differing altogether in structure. It was once
thought that no esculent truffles were to be found in the county, except
artificially introduced ; their occurrence at Rushton in the early part of
the last century was supposed to have arisen from trees introduced in the
plantations from France, but I have seen Tuber cestivutn in the greatest
profusion at Apethorpe, and it is well known that the late Mr. Isted
collected truffles in some abundance near Northampton. We do not
possess at present the black truffle of France, but Tuber cestivutn is not to
be despised when in good condition, and indeed is almost the only kind
which appears in the London markets, principally from the chalk dis-
tricts. No one, as far as I know, has used truffle dogs systematically,
with a view to ascertain how far the search for truffles in Northampton-
shire would prove remunerative, as it does in Berkshire and Kent. I
have seen truffles at Milton, and hear of them elsewhere, as at Norman-
ton, in the neighbouring county of Rutland, and though I have myself
had no help except the diligent use of the rake, I have found many
species, and amongst them a very remarkable form abounding in a milky
fluid. Amongst them only one is of sufflcient size and of delicate flavour
enough to make it worth collecting as a culinary article ; but under the
oaks at Rockingham the large white truffle, belonging to a distinct genus,
has been found abundantly, and though not equal to the common summer
truffle, it, or a closely allied species, is collected abundantly in the north
of Africa, and Mrs. Lloyd Wynne, who has done so much for mycology,
saw it plentifully about Damascus.' "^

1 "Journ. Northants Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. i6o (1882). ' Lot. cit. pp. 160, 161.

ZOOLOGY

MOLLUSCS

Out of the 138 species occurring in the British Islands, 95 are
known in Northamptonshire. This is a fair county average ; but some
20 of these are either very local or else very rare.

None of the more typical south-western or of the Germanic forms
is present.

One species, Pomatias elegans, appears to be dying out ; on the
other hand Helicel/a cantiana is reported to be extending its range in the
county.

The Roman Snail {Helix pomatid) was probably introduced some
years ago, and quite lately a colony of the pretty little continental species,
Helicella terrestris (Penn.), has been imported by a local enthusiast.

A. GASTROPODA

I. PULMONATA
a. Stylommatophora

A
has

Limax maximus, Linn. Fairly common,
single example of a white variety
been found in Rockingham Park

— Jiavus, Linn. Northampton

— arhorum, Bouch. -Chant. Rockingham

Park ; Danes Camp
Agtiolimax agrestis (Linn.)

— lievis (Mull.)

Amalia sowerbii (F6r.). Rockingham Park

— i^i/^tei (Drap.). Examples of the var.

plumbea have been found in a garden in
Northampton ; probably imported

Vitrina pellucida (MuU.)

V'ttrea cryitaUina (MUll.)

— alliaria (Miller)

— glabra (Brit. Auct.)

— cellaria (MuU.)

— nitidula (Drap.)

— pura (Aid.). Near Northampton ; Yard-
ley Chase

— radiatula (Aid.)

— nitida (Mull.).

on the Nene ;

— fiilva (Mull.)

Island by Ringstead Mill,
Rockingham Park

Arion ater (Linn.)

— hortensh. Per.

— circumscriptus, John.

— intermedius, Norm. Common enough in

woods

— suhfuscus (Drap.). By no means a com-

mon species

Punctum pygmaum (Drap.). Castle Ashby ;
Yardley Chase ; Gayton

Pyramidula rupeitr'n (Drap.). Gayton ; Mil-
ton ; Rockingham Park

— rotundata (Mull.)
Helicella virgata (Da C.)

— itala (Linn.)

— caperata (Mont.)

— cantiana (Mont.). Common in south of

the county ; said to have spread rapidly
in recent years
Hygromia fuica (Mont.). One specimen near
Kettering

— granulata {A\A.). Brackley; Newborough ;

Eye

— hispida (Linn.)

— rufescens (Penn.)

Acanthinula aculeata (MUll.). Castle Ashby ;

Eye ; Northampton ; Oakley
Vallonia pulchella (Mull.)

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Helicigona lapictda (Linn.). Local. Castle
Ashby ; Brackley ; Rockingham ; near
Rothwell ; Weekley Hall Wood

— arbustorum (Linn.)
Helix aipena, Miill.

— poniatia, Linn. John Morton records, in

171 2, that Lord Hatton unsuccessfully
attempted to introduce this species at
Kirby. About 1850 it was reported at
Woodford, where it was said to have
been introduced by General Arbuthnot,
and it has been recently re-discovered in
that locality

— ntmortilis, Linn.

— hortensis, Mali.
BuTiminus obscun/s (Mull.)
Cochlicopa lubrica (MuU.)

Azeca tridem (Pult.). Two specimens at

Yardley Chase
Ciecilianella acicula (Mill!.). Kettering ;

Middleton ; Deenethorpe ; Sibbertoft
Pupa cylindracea (Da C.)

— muscorum (Linn.)

Sphyradium edmtulum (Drap.). Campion's
Spinney, near Northampton ; Castle
Ashby ; Oakley Wood ; Delapr6 Wood

Vertigo pygmiea (Drap.)

— pusilla, Mull. Danes Camp
Bdlta perversa (Linn.)
Clauiilia laminata (Mont.)

— hidentata (Strom.)

— rolphii^ Gray. Six specimens in Sywell

Wood
Succinea putris (Linn.)

— e/egans, Risso

b. Basommatophora
Carychium minimum, MtiU.

Ancylui fluviatilis, MuU. Rare. Wootton

Brook ; Bnrton Brook
ydletia lacustris (Linn.). Rare. River Nenc,

Northampton ; Ise Brook ; some of the

canals
Lintnaa auricularia (Linn.)

— pertger (Miill.)

— palustris (Mull.)

— truncatula (Mull.)

— itagnalis (Linn.)
riancrbii corncui (Linn.)

— albm. Mall.

— glaber, Jeff.

— nautileui (Linn.)

— carinatui, Mull.

— marginalus, Drap.

— vortex (Linn.)

— spiror/'is, Mall.

— contortui (Linn.)

— fontanui (Lightf.). Pond by Naseby reser-

voir ; Castle Ashby pond

— Uncatm (Walker). One dead specimen in

Ise Brook, near Desborough
Physa fontinalis (Linn.)

IL PROSOBRANCHIATA

Bithynia tentaculata (Linn.)

— leachii (Shepp.)
Vivipara vivipara (Linn.)

— contecta (Millett)
Valvata piscinalis (Mull.)

— cristata, Mull. Borough Fen, near

Peterborough

— elcgans (Miill.). Colony at Kettering ;

two dead shells at Loddington, one at
Brackley
Neritina fiuviatilis (Linn.)

B. PELECYPODA

Dreissemia polymorpha (Pall.)
XJnio pictorum (Linn.)

— tumidus, Retz
Anodonta cygKiea (Linn.)

Spharium rivicola (Leach). Blisworth Canal ;
River Nene, Northampton

— corneum (Linn.)

Spharium lacustre (Mllll.)
Pisidium amnicum (Miill.)

— pusil/um (Gmel.)

— fontinale (Drap.)

— milium (Held.). Castle Ashby ; Ise

Brook ; Weekley Hall Wood

INSECTS'

With the exception of the Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) the
Coleoptera (Beetles) and a few of the Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, etc.)
the insects of Northamptonshire appear to be almost entirely unknown,
and all efforts to obtain lists of the Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets,
etc.), the Neuroptera (Dragonflies, Caddis flies), the Diptera (Flies) and the
Hemiptera (Bugs) have been unsuccessful. Probably the chief reason for
the comparative neglect of Northamptonshire by entomologists ^ is that
its natural conditions are far less varied than those of some other midland
counties, or of many of the southern, eastern, western and northern
counties. An inland county without any very important range of hills
or mountains, and no extensive tracts of moor or fenland may not
produce a great variety of species. Apart from the still remaining
fragments of the ancient forests of Salcey, Whittlebury and Rockingham,
and its other numerous and extensive woods,' Northamptonshire consists
mainly of pasture and arable land, and with the exception of sylvan
species — in which the county ought to be rich — its insect-fauna (the
butterflies and moths excepted) is probably less interesting than that of
counties whose physical conditions are more varied.

Only a few species of Hymenoptera have been recorded from the
county, and the lists of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera* which have been
received are very incomplete.

HYMENOPTERA'

ACULEATA

{Bees, Wasps, etc.)

The following species have been recorded from the county by Mr.
George B. Dixon, F.E.S. : —

Gorytes mystaceus, L. Vespa germanica, Fab.

Vespa crabro, L. — rufa, L.

— vulgaris, L. Andrena albicans, Kirb.

1 The sequence of the orders here followed is that adopted by Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S., in the
Cambridge Natural History, vols, v., vi., 1895-99.

2 I desire to record my thanks for assistance received, to the Rev. Canon Fowler, M.A., F.L.S.,
Captain J. A. W. Vipan, the Hon. Charles Rothschild, F.Z.S., Messrs. Edward Saunders, F.L.S., Frank
Bouskell, F.E.S., W. Edwards, T. H. Briggs, M.A., F.E.S., Eustace Bankes, M.A., F.E.S., G. Claridge
Druce, M.A., F.L.S., Eustace F. Wallis, G. B. Dixon, F.E.S., H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S., William
Hull, F. Bostock, and W. J. Kaye, F.E.S.— H. G.

3 There are still upwards of 28,000 acres of forest and other woodlands in Northamptonshire, but
about three-fifths of the entire acreage of the county consist of permanent pasture.

* Except as to the butterflies and larger moths.

6 Mr. E. Saunders has kindly revised this list and furnished the authors' names. — H. G.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Andrena rosae, Panz.

— r. trimmerana, Kirb.

— fulva, Schr.

— varians, Rossi.

— labialis, Kirb.
Nomada alternata, Kirb.

— ruficornis, L.

— fabriciana, L.
Melecta armata, Panz.

— luctuosa, Scop.
Osmia rufa, L.

— bicolor, Schr.
Anthophora pilipes, Fab.
Psithyrus rupestris, Fab.

— vestalis, Fourc.

Psithyrus barbutellus, Kirb.

— campestris, Panz.
Bombus venustus, Sm.

— agrorum, Fab.

— latreillellus, Kirb.

— and var. distinguendus, Mor.

— hortorum, L.

— jonellus, Kirb.

— pratorum, L.

— sylvarum, L.

— derhamellus, Kirb.

— lapidarius, L.

— terrestris, L.

— and var. lucorum, Fab.
Apis mellifica, L.

COLEOPTERA

{Beetles)

The order Coleoptera is certainly largely represented in Northamp-
tonshire, and the county being thickly wooded and rich in Lepidoptera,
probably contains most of the species recorded from the neighbouring
counties and from the midland districts generally. The following list,
however, will show that the county has been very little worked for
beetles ; although several good species have occurred the great majority
recorded are of almost universal distribution. The best perhaps are
Anthribus albinus, L. and Apion astragali, Payk. The list is almost entirely
compiled from the records of two collectors, Mr. Frank Bouskell,' and
Mr. William Hull. It will be noticed that some of the groups, e.g.
the Water Beetles, are entirely, or almost entirely, unrepresented. The
species without locality affixed are either common, or have been
recorded simply from Northamptonshire.

CiCINDEUDit

Cicindela campestris, L.
Carabid^

Cychrus rostratus, L. Aihton
Carabus catenulatus, Scop.

— nemoralis, MuU.

— violaceus, L.

— granulatus, L,

monilis, F.

Notiophilus biguttatus, F.

— quadriguttatus, Dej.
Leistus spinibarbis, F.

— rufescens, F.
Nebria brevicollis, F.
Elaphrus cupreus, SuflF.

— uliginosus, F.
Loricera pilicornis, F.
Clivina fossor, L.
Dyschirius nitidus, Dej.

Carabid^ [continued')
Chljenius nigricornis, F.
Acupalpus exiguus, Dej.

— meridianus, L.
Harpalus punctatulus, Duft.

— ruficornis, F.
Zabrus gibbus, F.
Pterostichus cupreus, L.

— lepidus, F.

— madidus, F.

— niger, Schall

— vulgaris, L.

— nigrita, F.

Amara aulica, Panz. (spinipes auct.)

— familiaris, Duft.

— trivialis, Gyll.
Calathus melanocephalus, L.

— piceus, Marsh
Anchomenus angusticollis, F.

1 Mr. Bouskell has remarked that the black variety of the large Longicorn Toxotus meridianus is
scarcer than in Leicestershire, and that Liopui nebulosus and Strangalia armata both run darker than the
southern forms. — W. W. F.

INSECTS

CARABIDiT {continued)

Anchomenus dorsalis, MuU.

— albipes, F.

— marginatus, L.

— parumpunctatus, F.

— viduus, Panz.

— micans, Nic.

Bembidium quinquestriatum, Gyll.

— lampros, Herbst.

— minimum, F.

— nitidulum, Marsh

— quadriguttatum, F.

— lunatum, Duft.

— bruxellense, Wesm.

— littorale, Ol.

— flammulatum, Clair.
Trechus secalis, F.
Lebia chlorocephala, Hoff.

Demetrias unipunctatus, Germ. fVakerley

— atricapillus, L.
Dromius meridionalis, Dej.

— quadrimaculatus, L.

DYTISCIDiE

Hyphydrus ovatus, L.
Hydroporus palustris, L.
Agabus bipustulatus, L.

— nebulosus, Forst.
Platambus maculatus, L.
Ilybius fuliginosus, F.

— ater, De G.
Dytiscus marginalis, L.
Acilius sulcatus, L.

Gyrinid.€

Gyrinus natator, Scop.
Hydrophilid^

Hydrobius fuscipes, var., L.

Laccobius sinuatus, Mots.

Helophorus rugosus, Ol.

— aquaticus, L.

— arvernicus, Mots.
Sphceridium scarabseoides, F.
Cercyon unipunctatum, L.

Staphylinid^

Aleochara fuscipes, Grav.
Ocalea castanea, Er.
Astilbus canaliculatus, F.
Homalota atramentaria, Gyll.

— fungi, Grav.
Bolitochara lucida, Grav.
Conosoma littoreum, L.

— pubescens, Grav.
Tachyporus obtusus, L.

— formosus, Matth.

— chrysomelinus, L.

— hypnorum, F.
Tachinus humeralis, Grav.

— pallipes, Grav. Ashton

— rufipes, L.

— subterraneus, L.

— laticollis, Grav. Ashton

SxAPHYLiNiDiiE [continued)
Bolitobius lunulatus, L.

— trinotatus, Er.

— pygmjeus, F.

Quedius mesomelinus. Marsh.

— molochinus, Grav.
Creophilus maxillosus, L.
Leistotrophus nebulosus, F.

— murinus, L.

Staphylinus pubescens, De G. lyakerley

— erythropterus, L. Wakerley
Ocypus olens, MqII.

— ater, Grav.
Philonthus splendens, F.

— intermedius, Boisd.

— laminatus, Creutz.

— zneus, Rossi

— decorus, Grav.

— politus, F.

— marginatus, F.

— fimetarius, Grav.

— sanguinolentus, Grav.

— varians, Payk.

— quisquiliarius, Gyll.
Xantholinus fulgidus, F.

— punctulatus, Payk.

— linearis, Ol.
Leptacinus batychrus, Gyll.
Othius fulvipennis, F.

— melanocephalus, Grav.
Lathrobium fulvipenne, Grav.

— brunnipes, F.
Stenus biguttatus, L.

— bimaculatus, Gyll.
Lesteva pubescens, Mann.

SiLPHIDi?:

Agathidium nigripenne, Kug. Aihton
Liodes humeralis, Kug. JVakerley
Anisotoma punctulata, Gyll.
Necrophorus humator, Goeze

— mortuorum, F.
vestigator, Hersch.

— ruspator, Er. Aihton

— interruptus, Steph.

— vespillo, L.

Silpha quadripunctata, L.

— opaca,

Wakerley

— thoracica, L.

— rugosa, L.

— sinuata, F.

— dispar, Herbst.

— laevigata, F.

— atrata, L.

Wakerley

— v. subrotundata, Leach
Choleva nigrita, Er.

— kirbyi, Spence
Colon brunneum, Latr.

— latum, Kr.

TrICHOPTERVGIDjI

Ptinella aptera, Guer.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

. Aihton^ in fungi on elms

COCCINELLID^

Adalia obliterata, L.

— bipunctata, Paylc.
Anatis ocellata, L. Aihton
Coccinella lo-punctata, L.

— 7-punctata, L.
Halyzia 14-guttata, L.

— 22-punctata, L.
Chilocorus similis, Rossi.

— bipustulatus, III.
Exochomus quadripustulatus, L.

ENDOMYCHIDit

Dacne humeralis F. \

— rufifrons, F.
Triplax russica, L.

HlSTERID^

Hister cadaverinus, HofF.

— unicolor, L.
Saprinus jeneus, F.

NiTIDULlDi*

Epurxa aestiva, L.

— deleta, Er.
Nitidula bipustulata, L.
Soronia grisea, L.
Omosita colon, L.

— discoidea, F.
Meligethes rufipes, Gyll.

— aeneus, F.

— viridescens, F.

— difficilis, Heer.
Cychramus luteus, F.
Ips quadriguttata, F.

— quadripunctata, Herbst. Aihton

LATHRIDIIDit

Enicmus transversus, Ol.

— testaceus, Steph.
Corticaria serrata, Payk.

BYTURIDii:

Byturus sambuci, Scop.

— tormentosus, F.

CRYPTOPHAGIDi€

Atomaria umbrina, Er. Cransley

— elongatula, Er.

— berolinensis, Kr.

MyCETOPHAGIDit

Mycetophagus quadripustulatus, L.

— piceus, F. Aihton, in fungi on elms

— atomarius, F. Aihton

— multipunctatus Hellw. Aihton
Dermestid/e

Dermestes vuipinus, F.

Aihto

murinus, L.

— undulatus, Brahm.

— lardarius, L.
Attagenus peliio, L.

BvRRHIDiC

Byrrhus pilula, L.
Cytilus varius, F.

LuCANIDit

Lucanus cervus, L.

LuCANIDit {continued)

Dorcus parallelopipedus, L.
Sinodendron cylindricum, L.

SCARABi€ID^

Onthophagus coenobita, Herbst.

— erraticus, L.
Aphodius subterraneus, L.

— fosse r, L.

— haemorrhoidalis, L.

— fimetarius, L.

— ater, De G.

— granarius, L.

— rufescens, F. Aihton

— pursillus, Herbst. „

— merdarius, F.

— conspurcatus, L. Ashton

— punctato-sulcatus, Sturm.

— prodromus, Brahm.

— luridus, F.

— rufipes, L.

— depressus, Kug.
Geotrupes typhaeus, L.

— stercorarius, L.

— sylvaticus, Panz.

— vernalis, L.
Hoplia philanthus, Fuss.
Serica brunnea, L.
Rhizotrogus solstitialis, L.
Melolontha vulgaris, F.
Phyllopertha horticola, L.
Cetonia aurata, L.

BUPRESTID^

Agrilus laticornis, 111. Wakerhy

EtATERIDiT

Lacon murinus, L.

Elater balteatus, L.

Melanotus rufipes, Herbst. Naiehy

Athous haemorrhoidalis, F.

— vittatus, F.

Limonius cylindricus, Payk.

— minutus, L.
Agriotes sputator, L.

— lineatus, L.
Dolopius marginatus, L.
Corymbites pectinicornis, L. JVakerley

— cupreus, F. Aihton

— tessellatus, F. Wakerley

— quercus, Gyll. „
Campylus linearis, L.

TELEPHORIDil

Podabrus alpinus, Payk. Wakerley, Ashton
Telephorus rusticus, Full.

— lividus, L.

— var. dispar, F.

— pellucidus, F.

— nigricans. Mull.

— lituratus. Fall.

— bicolor, F.

— haemorrhoidalis, F.

— flavilabris, Fall.

INSECTS

Telephorid.^ (continued)

Telephorus thoracicus, Ol. Aihton
Rhagonycha unicolor, Curt. „

— fulva, Scop.

— testacea, L.

— pallida, F.
Malthinus punctatus, Fourc.

— balteatus, SufFr.
Malthodes marginatus, Latr.
Malachius aeneus, F.
Necrobia ruficoUis, F.

— violacea, L.

— rufipes, De G.
Corynetes coeruleus, De G.

PriNiDit

Ptinus sexpunctatus, Panz.

— fur, L.

Niptus hololeucus, Fald.
Anobiid.€

Anobium domesticum, Fourc.

ClSSID^

Cis boleti, Scop.

— villosulus, Marsh. Ashton

CERAMBYCIDiE

Callidium violaceum. Nasehy

— variabile. Ashton
Clytus arietis, L.

— mysticus. Ashton
Rhagium inquisitor, F.

— bifasciatum, F.
Toxotus meridianus, Panz,
Strangalia armata, Herbst.

— nigra, L.
melanura, L.
Grammoptera tabacicolor, De G.

— ruficornis, F.

Leiopus nebulosus, L.

Agapanthia lineatocollis, Don. IVakerL-y

Saperda carcharias, L.

— populnea, L.
Stenostola ferrea, Schrank.

BRUCHIDit

Bruchus rufimanus, Boh.

EUPODA

Donacia dentata, Hoppe. Oundle

— limbata, Panz.

— simplex, F.

— vulgaris zsch., Panz

— semicuprea „

— sericea, L. ,,
Lema lichenis, Voet.
Crioceris asparagi, L.

Camptosomata

Cryptocephalus aureolus, SufFr. IVakerhy
Timarcha tenebricosa, F.
Chrysomela staphylea, L.

— polita, L.

— orichalcia, Mull

— hyperici, Forst.

Camptosomata [continued')
Melasoma a;neum, L.

— populi, L.

Phytodecta olivacea, Forst. Ashton
Gastroidea polygoni, L.
Phaedon armoracije, L. Ashton

— cochlearias, F.
Phyllodecta vulgatissima, L.
Hydrothassa marginella, L.
Prasocuris phellandrii, L.
Lochmaea crataegi, Forst.
Galerucella nympheae, L. Oundle

— lineola, F.

— calmariensis, L.
Adimonia tanaceti, L.
Longitarsus pulex, Schrank

— melanocephalus. All.

— pusillus, Gyll.
Phyllotreta vittula, Redt.

— undulata, Kuts.

— nemorum, L.
Apteropoda globosa. 111.
Podagrica fuscicornis, L. Ashton
Crepidodera transversa. Marsh.

— chloris, Foudr.

— aurata. Marsh.
Chaetocnema subcoerulea, Kuts.

— confusa. Boh.
Psylliodes attenuata, Koch.

Cryptosomata

Cassida equestris, F. Oundle

— viridis, F.
Tenebrionid^

Blaps mucronata, Latr.

LAGRIIDii;

Lagria hirta, L.
PyTHiDit

Rhinosimus ruficollis, L.

— viridipennis, Steph.
CEdemerid.^

CEdemera nobilis. Scop. IVakerley

— lurida. Marsh „
Ischnomera ccerulea, L.

Pyrochroid.€

Pyrochroa serraticornis, Scop.

MORDELLID^

Anaspis ruficollis, F.

— maculata, Fourc.

ANTHICIDi^

Anthicus floralis, L.

MEI.OIDit

Meloe proscarabaeus, L.

— violaceus. Marsh.
Platyrrhinid^

Brachytarsus fasciatus, Forst. Northampton

— varius, F. Northampton
Macrocephalus (Anthribus) albinus, L.

IVakerley
CuRCULIONIDi*

Apoderus coryli, L. IVakerley

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

CuRCULlONiDit {continued)

Attelabus curculionoides, L. IVakerUy
Rhynchites cupreus, L. IVakerley

— xquatus, L. „

— sericeus, Herbst. ,,
DeporaOs megacephalus, Germ.

— betulae, L.
Apion malvx, F.

— miniatum, Germ.

— astragali, Payk. Neighbourhood of

Northampton (Greville)

— apricans, Herbst.

— nigritarse, Kirby
Otiorrhynchus atroapterus, De G.

— sulcatus, F.

— ovatus, L.
Strophosomus coryli, F.
Barypeithes sulcifrons, Boh.
Polydrusus micans, F.

— tereticollis, De G.

— pterygomalis, Boh.
Phyllobius oblongus, L.

— calcaratus, F.

— urtica;, De G.

— pyri, L.

CuRCULiONiD^ {continued)
Phyllobius argentatus, L.

— pomonae, Ol.

— viridixris, Laich.
Sitones regensteinensis, Herst.

— flavescens, Marsh

— iineatus, L.

— tibialis, Herbst.

— sulcifrons, Thun.
Hypera nigrirostris, F.
Curculio abietis, L.
Orchestes alni, L.
Dorytomus vorax, F.

— maculatus. Marsh
Tanysphyrus lemnae, F.
Cionus tuberculosus, Scop.

— hortulanus. Marsh
Cryptorrhynchus lapathi, L.
Coeliodes rubicundus, Herbst.
Balaninus turbatus, Gyll.

— salicivorus, Payk.

ScOLYTIDii:

Hylesinus crenatus, F. IVakerley

— fraxini, Panz. „
Trypodendron domesticum, L. IVakerley

LEPIDOPTERA

{Butterflies and Moths)

To collectors of the Lepidoptera Northamptonshire, notwithstand-
ing its insular position and the absence of any extent of moorland and
fen, or mountain ranges, is of considerable interest, and its extensive
woodlands contain certain species ' which are not met with elsewhere
in the United Kingdom except in a few localities in two or three
neighbouring counties.

Forty or fifty years ago the county was well worked for the Macro-
Lepidoptera (the Butterflies and large Moths) by the Ven. Archdeacon
Bree, the Rev. Hamlet Clark, the Rev. W. Whall, Mr. Sturgess and
the late Mr. Frederick Bond ; and during the last thirty-five years
many species belonging to the same groups have been collected and
recorded by the writer, by Mr. W. Hull, Mr. H. F. Tomalin, Mr.
T. H. Briggs, Mr. F. Bouskell, Mr. G. Claridge Druce, Mr. W. J.
Kaye, the Hon. Charles Rothschild, Mr. Eustace Wallis, and especially
by Captain J. A. W. Vipan.

The Rhopalocera (Butterflies) are well represented,* though three
local species ' have been apparently extinct in the county for some years.

• e.g. the Black Hairstreak {Thecla prunO) and the Chequered Skipper {Heiperia paniscus).

* A complete list will be found at pages 09. It is not thought necessary to enumerate in the
introductory observations all the common species which occur in every county. Fifty-three species have
occurred in the county, or three more than in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. — H. G.

' The Black-veined White {Pierit cratagi), the Mazarine Blue {Lycana acis), and the Large Blue
(I. arion). The last named still occurs not uncommonly in a few localities in Gloucestershire, Devon
and Cornwall. — H. G.

INSECTS

The Wood White ^ [Leucophasia sinapis, L.) used to occur in
abundance in Whittlebury Forest, and in Geddington Chase, Plane
Woods, Sywell Wood, and Yardley Chase ; also near Towcester and
elsewhere in the county, but it has not been observed lately.

The Black-veined White {Pieris cratcegi, L.) formerly occurred near
Peterborough, in Barnwell Wold, and also on the borders of the county
between Thurning and Gidding Magna in Huntingdonshire ; but it
seems to be now extinct, as it has been in most other English and Welsh
counties for some years past. The writer looked for it in vain between
Thurning and Gidding for many weeks nearly thirty years ago.

The Clouded Yellow {Colias edusa. Fab.) occurs occasionally and
was abundant in the county in 1878, 1892 and 1900, and in the latter
year the Pale Clouded Yellow (C. hyale, L.) also occurred.

The three large Fritillaries [Argynnis paphia, L., A. adippe, L.,
and A. aglaia^ L.) are commonly distributed throughout the woodlands,
and A. paphia is often abundant in Salcey Forest, Whittlebury Forest
and other wooded parts of the county.

The Queen of Spain Fritillary {Argynms lathonia, L.) has been
recorded from the county by Messrs. Hull and Tomalin.

The Pearl-bordered Fritillary [Argynms euphrosyne, L.) and the
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary {A. selene, SchifF.) both occur in the
county, and the former is common in most of the woods. The latter is
more local, but it has been recorded from Waddenham and Towcester.

The Greasy Fritillary [Melitcea artemis. Fab.) — always very local —
used to be found at Aldwinkle near Waddenham, near Towcester, and
near Barnwell, but no recent captures have been recorded.

The Comma Butterfly [Vanessa c.-album, L.) so abundant in
favourable seasons in certain west-midland counties and other parts of
the west and north of England, and in some Welsh counties, occurs
in this county, and the writer has taken it near Oundle. It has also been
taken near Waddenham, Towcester, Yardley Chase, Sywell Wood,
Lilford, Barnwell Wold and Northampton. Mr. W. Edwards records
it as frequent near Lilford on ivy-bloom at the end of September.

The Large Tortoiseshell [Vanessa polychloros, L.) is recorded from
Salcey Forest, Towcester and Barnwell Wold ; and also from Geddington
Chase, Weekly Hall Wood, and elsewhere near Kettering.

The very rare Camberwell Beauty [Vanessa antiopa, L.) has been
taken near Kettering, at Thurning, in Whittlebury Forest, at WeUing-
borough, and twice at Northampton.

The White Admiral [Limenitis sibylla, L.) was recorded by the late
Mr. Bond as occurring near Waddenham ; Messrs. Hull and Tomalin
mention Sywell Wood and Lilford as locaUties for it, and Mr. G. C.
Druce informs me that he saw a specimen recently near Brackley.

The Purple Emperor [Apatura iris, L.) occurs commonly in the
great oak woods in the neighbourhood of Rockingham, Kettering,

1 The present occurrence of Leucophaiia linapii and Melitea artitmis in the county seems to require
confirmation. — H. G.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Weekly Hall Wood and Geddington Chase, in Whittlebury Forest,
Salcey Forest, Yardley Chase, Sywell Wood, and elsewhere in the south
and north of the county.

The five species of the genus Thecla (the Hairstreaks) are more or
less common in Northamptonshire. The most local and interesting of
these, the Black Hairstreak {T. pruni, L.) is in some years abundant
in woods near Rockingham, Kettering and elsewhere ; but except in a
few localities in North Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, and other
neighbouring counties, it is unknown elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
I have found it in some seasons in abundance in two or three woods in
the county. It is fond of settling on the flowers of the privet [Ligustrtim
vulgare) and the wayfaring tree {Viburnum lantand). Mr. Kaye says it
is also partial to the flowers of valerian.

The White-letter Hairstreak {Thecla iv.-album, Kn.) — a local species
but much more generally distributed than the last — is not uncommon in
the county, and is occasionally abundant, as is also the Brown Hairstreak
{T. betulce, L.) which is especially common in the larval state in cer-
tain woods. The Purple Hairstreak (T. quercus, L.) is common in oak
woods, and the Green Hairstreak {T. rubi, L.) is partially distributed in
the county and is common in some localities.

The Mazarine Blue {Lyccena acts, Fb.) formerly occurred in the
county, and Sywell Wood is mentioned as a locality by Messrs. Hull and
Tomalin. No specimens have been captured for many years.

The Large Blue {Lyccena arion, L.) was formerly plentiful in rough
pastures adjoining Barnwell Wold, but disappeared therefrom nearly
forty years ago after the exceptionally wet summer of i860, and the
species is now confined to a few localities in the Cotswolds, Gloucester-
shire, and to some parts of Devon and Cornwall.

The Duke of Burgundy {Nemeobius lucina, L.) occurs near Tow-
cester and in Barnwell Wold, and I have found it commonly in many
woods in the county.

The Chequered Skipper {Hesperia paniscus. Fab.) — one of the
most local species of the Hesperiidce (the Skippers) — occurs, sometimes
abundantly, in certain woods about Rockingham and Kettering, and at
Geddington Chase, Brigstock, Whittlebury Forest, Yardley Chase, and
elsewhere in the county. This species is also found in a few woods in
Huntingdonshire, Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire, and has been reported
from one or two woods in Suffolk ; but it is probably nowhere more
plentiful than in some of the Northamptonshire woods.

To refer in detail to all the local Nocturni, Geometra, Drepanulidce,
Pseudo-Bombyces, and Nocture found in the county, would occupy too
much space, but Captain Vipan, who is better acquainted with the
Macro-Lepidoptera of Northamptonshire than any one else, now living,
in the United Kingdom, has kindly helped to compile the following
list of butterflies and moths occurring in the county.

INSECTS

RHOPALOCERA^ {Butterfies)

Leucophasia sinapis, L.
Pieris crataegi, L. (extinct)

— brassicae, L.

— rapae, L.

— napi, L.

Anthocharis cardamines, Bdv.
Gonepteryx rhamni, L.
Colias edusa, Fb.

— hyale, L.
Argynnis paphia, L.

— aglaia, L.

— adippe, L.

— lathonia, L.

— euphrosyne, L.

— selene, SchifF.
Melitaea artemis, Fb.*
Vanessa c.-album, L.

— urticae, L.

Vanessa polychloros,

— antiopa, L.

— io, L.

— atalanta, L.

— cardui, L.
Limenitis sibylla, L.
Apatura iris, L.
Arge galathea, L.
Satyrus egeria, L.

— megaera, L.

— janira, L.

— tithonus, L.

— hyperanthus, L.

— pamphilus, L.
Thecla rubi, L.

— quercus, L.

— w.-album, Kn.

— pruni, L.

Thecla betulas, L.
Polyommatus phlasas, L.
Lycaena aegon, SchifF.

— agestis, Hb.

— alexis, Hb.

— corydon, Fb.

— acis, Fb.

— alsus, Fab.

— argiolus, L.

— arion,* L. (extinct)
Nemeobius lucina, L.
Syrichthus alveolus, Hb.
Thanaos tages, L.
Hesperia paniscus, Fb.

— sylvanus, Esp.

— comma, L.

— linea, Fb.

NOCTURNl

Procris statices, L.

— geryon, Hb.
Zygasna trifolii, Esp.

— filipenduls, L.
Smerinthus ocellatus, L.

— populi, L.

— tiliae, L.
Acherontia atropos, L.
Sphinx convolvuli, L.

— ligustri, L.
Deilephila galii, Schiff.
Choerocampa celerio, L.

— porcellus, L.

— elpenor, L.
Macroglossa stellatarum, L.

— fuciformis, L.

— bombyliformis, Och.
Sesia myopiformis, Bork.

— formiciformis, Esp.

— cynipiformis, Esp.

— tipuliformis, Clerclc.

— bembeciformis, Hb.

— apiformis, Clerck.
Zeuzera aesculi, L.
Cossus ligniperda, Fb.

HETEROCERA {Moths)

Hepialus hectus, L.

— lupulinus, L.
Hepialus sylvinus, L.

— humuli, L.
Limacodes asella, SchifF.

— testudo, SchifF.
Nola cucullatella, L.
Nudaria mundana, L.
Calligenia miniata, Forst.
Lithosia mesomella, L.

— aureola, Hb.

— complanula, Bdv.

— griseola, Hb.

— and var. stramineola, Dbl.

— rubricollis, L.
Euchelia jacobeas, L.
Callimorpha dominula, L.
Chelonia plantaginis, L.

— caja, L.

— villica, L.
Arctia fuliginosa, L.

— mendica, Clerck.

— lubricipeda, Esp.

— menthastri, Esp.
Liparis chrysorrhsea, L.

— auriflua, Fb.

— salicis, L.

Liparis monacha, L.
Orgyia pudibunda, L.

— antiqua, L.

— gonostigma, Fb.
Demas coryli, L.
Trichiura crataegi, L.
Pcecilocampa populi, L.
Eriogaster lanestris, L.
Bombyx neustria, L.

— quercus, L.
Odonestis potatoria, L.
Lasiocampa quercifolia, L.
Saturnia carpini, SchifF.

GEOMETR.E

Urapteryx sambucata, L.
Epione apiciaria, SchifF.
Rumia crataegata, L.
Venilia maculata, L.
Angerona prunaria, L.
Metrocampa margaritaria, L.
Eurymene dolabraria, L.
Pericallia syringaria, L.
Selenia illunaria, Hb.

— illustraria, Hb.
Odontopera bidentata,Clerck.
Crocallis elinguaria, L.

* The list of the Lepidoptera is p.irtly Capt. Vip,in's, but several species have been added by the writer
and by Mr. Bouskell, Mr. T. H. Briggs, Mr. G. C. Druce, Mr. Eustace VVallis, Mr. W. J. Kaye and others.

* Formerly taken by Mr. F. Bond at Aldwinkle near Waddenham and by the Rev. Hamlet Clark
near Towcester. It has also been recorded from Barnwell by Mr. Eustace VVallis, and from Barnwell
and Polebrook by Messrs. Hull and Tomalin. I know of no recent captures. — H. G.

^ This beautiful species was formerly abundant in Barnwell Wold, but disappeared suddenly about
thirty-nine or forty years ago. Mr. W. Edwards attributes its disappearance to the burning of the
locality and the destruction of the food-plant, but Mr. Bostock says it was extirpated by the dealers who
caught for sale every specimen they could find. Its disappearance was probably due partly to over col-
lecting, and partly to wet summers and the destruction of the food plant. — H. G.

I 97 H

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Ennomos tiliaria, Bork.

— fuscantaria, Haw.

— erosaria, Bork.

— angularia, Bork.
Himera pennaria, L.
Phigalia pilosaria, Hb.
Nyssia hispidaria, Fb.
Biston hirtaria, Clerck.
Amphidasis prodromaria, ScfF.

— betularia, L.
Hemerophila abruptaria, Tb.
Cleora lichenaria, Hufn.
Boarmia repandata, L.

- — • rhomboidaria, Hb.

— roboraria, SchifF.

— consortaria, Fb.
Tephrosia crepuscularia, Hb.

— biundularia, Bork.

— punctularia, Hb.
Pseudoterpna cytisaria,Schiff.
Geometra papilionaria, L.
lodis vernaria, Hb.

— lactearia, L.
Phorodesma bajularia, SchifF.
Hemithea thymiaria, Gn.
Ephyra punctaria, L.

— trilinearia, Bork.

— omicronaria, Hb.

— pendularia, Clerck.
Asthena luteata, Schiff.

— candidata, SchifF.
Acidalia scutulata, Bork.

— bisetata, Hufn.

— incanaria, Hb.

— subsericeata, Haw.

— immutata, L.

— remutaria, Hb.

— imitaria, Hb.

— aversata, L.

— emarginata, L.
Timandra amataria, L.
Cabera pusaria, L.

— exanthemata, Scop.
Corycia temerata, Hb.
Macaria liturata, Clerck.
Halia wauaria, L.
Strenia clathrata, L.
Panagra petraria, Hb.
Numeria pulveraria, L.
Fidonia atomaria, L.

— piniaria, L.
Minoa euphorbiata, Fb.
Siona dealbata,' L.
Aspilates strigillaria, Hb.
Abraxas grossulariata, L.

— ulmata, Fb.

Ligdia a,dustata, SchifF.
Lomaspilis marginata, L.
Hybernia rupicapraria, Hb.

— leucophearia, SchifF.

— aurantiaria, Esp.

— progemmaria, Hb.
Hybernia defoliaria, Clerck.
Anisopteryx sescularia, SchifF.
Cheimatobia brumata, L.

— boreata, Hb.
Oporabia dilutata, Bork.
Larentia didymata, L.

— pectinitaria, Fues.
Emmelesia alchemillata, L.

— albulata, SchifF.

— decolorata, Hb.
Eupithecia veiiosata, Fb.

— consignata,^ Bork.

— centaureata, Fb.

— subfulvata, Haw.

— subumbrata, Gn.

— plumbeolata, Haw.

— isogrammaria, H.S.

— satyrata, Hb.

— pusillata, Fb.

- — castigata, Hb.

— lariciata, Frr.

— absinthiata, Clerck.

— minutata, Gn.

— vulgata, Haw.

— tenuiata, Hb.

— subciliata, Gn.

— dodoneata, Gn.

— abbreviata, Stph.

— exiguata, Hb.

— coronata, Hb.

— rectangulata, L.
Lobophora viretata, Hb.

— polycommata, Hb.
Thera variata, SchifF.

— firmata, Hb.
Hypsipetes elutata, Hb.
Melanthia rubiginata, Fb.

— ocellata, L.

— albicillata, L.
Melanippe rivata, Hb.

— subtristata, Haw.

— montanata, Bork.

— fluctuata, L.
Anticlea rubidata, Fb.

— badiata, Hb.

— derivata, Bork.
Coremia propugnata, Fb.

— ferrugata, Clerck.

— unidentaria. Haw.

— quadrifasciaria, Clerck.

Camptogramma bilineata, L.
Phibalapteryx tersata, Hb.

— lignata, Hb.

— vitalbata, Hb.
Scotosia dubitata, L.

— vetulata, SchifF.

— rhamnata, SchifF.

— certata, Hb.

— undulata, L.
Cidaria miata, L.

— corylata, Thnb.

— and var. albocrenata,Curt.

— russata, Bork.

— immanata, Haw.

— sufFumata, Hb.

— silaceata, Hb.

— testata, L.

— fulvata, Forst.

— pyraliata, Fb.
Eubolia mensuraria, SchifF.

— palumbaria, Bork.
Anaitis plagiata, L.

DREPANULIDiE

Platypteryx falcula, SchifF.

— hamula, Esp.
Cilix spinula, SchifF.

PSEUDO-BOMBYCES

Dicranura furcula, L.

— bifida, Hb.

— vinula, L.
Stauropus fagi, L.
Petasia cassinea, Hb.
Pygara bucephala, L.
Clostera reclusa, Fb.
Ptilodontis palpina, L.
Notodonta camelina, L.

— cucuUa, Esp.

— dictasa, L.

— dictaeoides, Esp.

— dromedarius, L.

— ziczac, L.

— trepida, Esp.

— chaonia, Hb.

- — dodonaea, Hb.
Diloba caeruleocephala, L.

NOCTURE

Thyatira derasa, L.

— batis, L.
Cymatophora duplaris, L.

— diluta, Fb.

— or, Fb.

— ocularis, Gn.

— flavicornis, L.

' Mr. T. H. Briggs used to take it between Thurning and CLipton. — H. G.

* Mr. Ambrose Quail records its capture at Northampton in May, 1892 : Journal of the 'Northamp-
tonshire Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. viii. p. 1 1 5 (1892-93). — H. G.

INSECTS

Cosmia trapezina, L.

— diffinis, L.

— affinis, L.

— pyralina, View.
Dianthaecia carpophaga, Brk.

— capsincola, Hb.

— cucubali, Fues.

— conspersa, Esp.
Hecatera serena, Fb.
Polia flavicincta, Fb.
Epunda lutulenta, Bork.

— viminalis, Fb.

— lichcnea, Hb.
Misclia oxyacanths, L.
Agriopis aprilina, L.
Phlogophora meticulosa, L.
Euplexia lucipara, L.
Aplecta herbida, Hb.

— occulta, L.

— nebulosa, Hufn.

— advena, Fb.
Hadena adusta, Esp.

— protea, Bork.

— dentina, Esp.

— oleracea, L.

— pisi, L.

— thalassina, Rett.

— contigua, Vill.

— genistae, Bork.
Xylocampa lithorhiza, Bork.
Calocampa vetusta, Hb.

— exoleta, L.
Xylina semibrunnea, Haw.
Cucullia verbasci, L.

— umbratica, L.
Heliothis marginata, Fb.
Anarta myrtilli, L.
Heliodes arbuti, Fb.
Erastria fuscula, Bork.
Brephos parthenias, L.

— notha, Hb.
Habrostola urtica?, Hb.
Plusia chrysitis, L.

— festucEe, L.

— iota, L.

— gamma, L.
Gonoptera libatrix, L.
Amphipyra pyramidea, L.

— tragopogonis, L.
Mania typica, L.

— maura, L.
Toxocampa pastinum, Tr.
Catocala fraxini, L.

— nupta, L.
Euclidia mi, Clerck.

— gl)phica, L.
Phytometra aenca, Hb.

I^'ole. — I have to express my special thanks to Mr. Eustace R. Bankes for kindly revising the above
list of Lepidoptera. — H. G.

Cymatophora ridens, Fb.
Byrophila perla, Fb.
Acronycta tridens, Schiff.

— psi, L.

— leporina, L.

— megacephala, Fb.

— alni, L.

— ligustri, Fb.

— rumicis, L.

— auricoma, Fb.
Leucania conigera, Fb.

— lithargyria, Esp.

— obsoleta, Hb.

— pudorina, Hb.

— littoralis. Curt.

— comma, L.

— straminea, Tr.

— phragmitidis, Hb.

— impura, Hb.

— pallens, L.
Meliana flammea. Curt.
Nonagria fulva, Hb.

— hellmanni, Evers.

— typhae, Esp.

— lutosa, Hb.
Gortyna flavago, Esp.
Hydraecia nictitans, Bork.

— micacea, Esp.
Axylia putris, L.
Xylophasia rurea, Fb.

— lithoxylea, Fb.

— polyodon, L.

— hepatica, L.

— scolopacina, Esp.
Aporophyla australis, Bdv.
Neuria saponariae, Bork.
Heiiophobus popularis, Fb.
Charasas graminis, L.
Cerigo cytherea, Fb.
Luperina testacea, Hb.
Mamestra abjecta, Hb.

— anceps, Hb.

— brassicae, L.

— persicarias, L.
Apamea basilinea. Fab.

— gemina, Hb.

— unanimis, Tr.

— oculea, Gn.
Miana strigilis, Clerck.

— fasciuncula. Haw.

— literosa. Haw.

— furuncula, Tr.

— arcuosa, Haw.
Grammcsia trilinea, Bork.
Caradrina morpheus, Hufn.

— alsines, Brahm.

— blanda, Tr.

Caradrina cubicularis, Bork.
Rusina tenebrosa, Hb.
Agrotis puta, Hb.

— sufFusa, Hb.
Agrotis saucia, Hb.

— segetum, Schiff.

— exclamationis, L.

— corticea, Hb.

— cinerea, Hb.

— nigricans, L.

— aquilina, Hb.

— ravida, Hb.
Triphsna ianthina, Esp.

— fimbria, L.

— interjecta, Hb.

— subsequa, Hb.

— orbona, Fb.

— pronuba, L.
Noctua augur, Fb.

— plecta, L.

— c-nigrum, L.

— triangulum, Hufn.

— brunnea, Fb.

— festiva, Hb.

— rubi. View.

— umbrosa, Hb.

— baja, Fb.

— xanthographa, Fb.
Trachea piniperda, Panz.
Tsniocampa gothica, L.

— rubricosa, Fb.

— instabilis, Esp.

— opima, Hb.

— populeti, Fb.

— stabilis, View.

— gracilis, Fb.

— miniosa, Fb.

— munda, Esp.

— cruda, Tr.
Orthosia ypsilon, Bork.

— lota, Clerck.

— macilenta, Hb.
Anchocelis rufina, L.

— pistacina, Fb.

— lunosa. Haw.

— litura, L.
Cerastis vaccinii, L.

— spadicea, Hb.
Scopelosoma satellitia, L.
Xanthia citrago, L.

— cerago, Fb.

— silago, Hb.

— gilvago, Esp.

— ferruginea, Esp.
Cirrhoedia xerampelina, Hb.
Tethea subtusa, Fb.
Dicycla oo, L.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

DELTOIDES, PYRALIDES, CRAMBITES, TORTRICES, TINE^E AND

PTEROPHORI

The following list of Deltoides, Pyralides, Crambites, and Micro-
Lepidoptera, observed in the neighbourhood of Northampton, has been
compiled by Mr. Eustace R. Bankes, from lists by Messrs. W. Hull
and H. F. Tomalin, published in the 'Journal of the Northamptonshire
Natural History Society and Field Club, vol. iii. pp. 24-26, 47-50 (1884),
bringing the long-obsolete classification and nomenclature employed by
these authors into accordance with those adopted for the Macro-Lepido-
ptera. It is doubtful which of our known species are referred to by
Messrs. Hull and Tomalin under the names ' Anacampsis angulifasci-
ella (Curt.)' and ' Glyphipteryx quadrisignella (Hiibn.).' — E. R. B.

DELTOIDES
Hypena proboscidalis, L.
Rivula sericealis, Scop.
Herminia tarsipennalis, Tr.

— grisealis, Hb.

— cribralis, Hb.

PYRALIDES
Pyralis farinalis, L.
Pyrausta purpuralis, L.
Herbula cespitalis, SchifF.
Cataclysta lemnalis, Schiff.
Hydrocampa nymphaealis,
Schiff.

— stagnalis, Gn.
Botys verticals, Schiff.

— urticalis, Schiff.
Ebulea sambucalis, Schiff.
Pionea margaritalis, Schiff.
Scopula lutealis, Hb.

— olivalis, Schiff.
Stenopteryx hybridalis, Hb.
Scoparia truncicolella, Sta.

— angustea, Stph.

CRAMBITES
Platytes cerussellus, Schiff.
Crambus ericellus,' Hb.

— margaritellus, Hb.

— perlellus, Scop.

— tristellus, Fb.

— inquinatellus, Schiff.

— culmellus, L.

— hortuellus, Hb.
Galleria cerella, F.

' Probably included in error,
south of Cumberland. — H. G. and

TORTRICES
Tortrix pyrastrana, Hb.

— cratsgana, Hb.

— sorbiana, Hb.

— viridana, L.

— ministrana, L.

— adjunctana, Tr.
Dichelia grotiana, Fb.
Teras caudana, Fb.
Ptycholoma lecheana, L.
Spilonota suffusana, Zell.
Cnephasia lepidana, Curt.
Sciaphila virgaureana, Tr.
Semasia woeberana, Schiff.
Carpocapsa pomonana, Schiff.
Xylopoda pariana, Clerck.
Xanthosetia hatnana, L.

TINEiE

Lemiiatophila phryganella, Hb.
Diurnea fagella, Fb.
Incurvaria capitella, Clerck.
Nemophora swammerdam-

mella, L.
Adela degeerella, L.
- — ■ viridella, L.
Nematois scabiosellus, Scop.
Hyponomeuta padellus, L.
Cerostoma horridella, Tr.
Depressaria arenella, Schiff.
Gelechia malvella, Hb.

— populella, Hb.

— terrella Hb.
'Anacampsis angulifasciella,'

Curt.
Chelaria hUbnerella, Don.

C. eikellus has not, we believe,
E. R. B.

Harpella geoffrella, L.
Dasycera suiphurella, Fb.
Glyphipteryx thrasonella,
Scop.

— equitella, Scop.
'Glyphipteryx quadrisignella,'

Hubn.
Argyresthia broheella, Hb.
Gracillaria swederella,Thnb.

— syringella, Fb.

— auroguttella, Stph.
Ornix anglicella, Sta.

— torquillella, Sta.

— guttea, Haw.
Coleophora gryphipennella,

Bch6.
Tischeria marginea, Haw.
Lithocolletis corylifoliella,

Haw.

— emberizaepennella, Bch^.
Cemiostoma spartifoliella,Hb.

— laburnella, Heyd.

— scitella, Zell.
Nepticula anomalella, GOze.

— prunetorum, Sta.

— aurella, Fb.

PTEROPHORI

Pterophorus rhododactylus,
Fb.

— trigonodactylus, Sta.

— lithodactylus, Tr.

— monodactylus, L.

— tephradactylus, Hb.

— pentadactylus, L.
Alucita polydactyia, Hb.

been taken in England anywhere

Note. — Since this article was written I have examined the collection of Mr. Hull of Northampton.
It includes, in addition to the species of Coleoptera enumerated on pp. 90-94, a few species of Or-
thoptera, and several common species of Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera. The
collection is too small and incomplete to be regarded as representative of the insect fauna of the county,
the publication of the names of the species is consequently considered useless. — H. G.

100

CRUSTACEANS

In our inland counties the rude forefathers of the hamlet were con-
tent with a classification of the animal kingdom in which crustaceans
had no share. Apart from a few birds and mammals, aquatic creatures
were conveniently grouped as fishes, frogs, and water-fleas. Hermit-
crabs that ascend mountains, robber-crabs that climb cocoa-nut palms,
river-crabs such as are known in Eastern Europe, and that mischievously
abound in Himalayan rice-fields, subtle and audacious land-crabs, like
those for which the West Indies are notorious, have no representatives in
England. Though our coasts and shores are rich in Brachyura, not a
single species either normal or abnormal has ventured to explore and
settle beyond the limits which are reached by sea-water. On the other
hand, the Macrura, or long-tailed Malacostraca, are represented by a
species of no mean interest, the river crayfish. In this, indeed, English-
men of the present generation have reason to feel a particular pride. It
was made the subject of an introduction to zoology at large by their
celebrated countryman, the late Professor Huxley. Wishing to exemplify
the general truths respecting the development of his favourite science
by the study of a special case, he selected the common crayfish as an
animal which, he says, ' taking it altogether, is better fitted for my
purpose than any other.' ' It has a further historical importance. In
the class of Crustacea there is scarcely any peculiarity more striking or
more general than that of exuviation, the sloughing of the outer coat in
its entirety. This ecdysis, or putting off of the hardened external
cuticular layer, by which the growing crustacean at intervals of its life is
enabled to expand its dimensions, has been often studied, but it was first
thoroughly investigated by Reaumur in the case of the crayfish.

Since these animals are superficially, in everything but size, un-
commonly like lobsters, it is natural to ask in what the difference consists.
Really the distinctions are rather numerous. The rostrum or beak of
the crayfish has a single tooth on each lateral margin, that of the lobster
has on each side three teeth. In both forms the tail-part or pleon has
six articulated segments and a terminal plate called the telson, but this
last piece is cut across by a transverse suture or quasi-articulation in the
crayfish, and not so in the lobster. In the lobster all the part in front of
the pleon, though representing the fourteen segments proper to the head
and trunk, is in fact consolidated, but in the crayfish the last of the four-

1 The Crajfish, an Introduction to the study of Zoology, International Scientific Series, vol. xxviii. 3rd
ed. p. 5 (1881).

lOI

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

teen segments is partly free and slightly mobile. At the base of the
outer antenna in the crayfish there is a large flat hair-fringed scale, in
place of which the lobster has only a small spike. Less obvious, but not
less important, are the differences in the branchiae or gills. Those known
as podobranchis have the stem longitudinally split in the lobster but
not in the crayfish, and of the so-called pleuro-branchix some are
rudimentary in the crayfish which in the lobster are well developed.
Further details might be added, but these are enough to show that in
natural history a hasty glance will not always safely determine genera and
species.

Around the technical name of the crayfish a certain amount of
controversy still hovers. Huxley himself begins his book by calling
our English species Astacus Jiuviatilis, but ends by calling it, though with
some reserve, Astacus torrentium} Dr. Walter Faxon, an American expert,
decides that our species should be named Astacus pallipes? But, what-
ever may be right for the second name, I personally am convinced that
the first or generic name is properly Potamobius, and practically Huxley
supports this view by placing it in the family Potamobiidce, the name of
which can only be sustained by upholding the genus Potamobius for the
English crayfish.^

The gastronomic value of the species has long been recognized.
Its educational value is now even more highly appreciated. Both this
and its claim to belong to the fauna of this county are attested by the
following quotation. Mr. Beeby Thompson, F.C.S., F.L.S., of North-
ampton, writing in December, 1886, says : —

' Several crayfish were recently required for dissection at the Science
School, and one of the students undertook to procure them. The speci-
mens were obtained from a shallow part of the river [Nene] near St.
Andrew's Mill. I know that Cray-fish or Caw-fish [.? misprint for Craw-
fish], as they are commonly called, have been found at this spot for thirty
years, but I never saw them or heard of them being found at any other
place near Northampton. Perhaps some of our members can give informa-
tion as to other localities that they inhabit. I for one should be glad to
know of such. I may say that two of the specimens caught last May have
been in my aquarium ever since, and seem now to be in good condition.
They are most interesting animals to watch ; the way in which they
seize and devour minute joints of meat shows that they are not altogether
free from the occasional human feeling of selfishness. Each of the cray-
fish has shed its skin once since it became an inhabitant of the present
restricted abode. To see one of these crustaceans shed its covering is
one of the things I am still desiring ; it seems marvellous how they can
get out of it so as to leave such a perfect case of themselves. They
appear to hide themselves under the stones much more about the time of
shedding their covering, and particularly after it, than at other times.

* The Cra^^sh, an Introduction to the study of Zoology, International Scientific Series, vol. xxviii. 3rd
ed. p. 296 (1881).

' Proceedings of the /American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. xx. p. i 54 (1884).
' Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 6, vol. xix. p. 1 20.

102

CRUSTACEANS

The larger specimen will occasionally get on a piece of floating pumice,
and sit there for a time. They are able to travel at a good rate on land,
backwards and forwards. In the water they more often go backwards
than forwards, probably that they may keep their enemies in sight.' '

It should be noted that, although the terms crayfish and crawfish
are sometimes used indiscriminately and are in origin identical, it is now
generally thought convenient to limit the use of the term crayfish to
fluviatile genera and species, reserving the name crawfish for the ' rock-
lobsters ' or Palinuridce, which are distinguished by their long and strong
second antennse, and by the comparatively feeble development of their
first legs. In a private letter, dated November 7th, 1900, Mr. Thomp-
son obligingly supplements the above extract as follows : ' The Crayfish
occurs in many places. I have known it to occur near St. Andrew's
Mill, close to the town of Northampton, for forty years. Other places
quoted by Mr. H. F. Tomalin {yourn. North. Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. iv.
p. 242) are Bazeley's Mill (below Upton Mill) ; Cosford's Mill, Heyford ;
Milton Brook ; Tecton Brook, below Holdenby Mill ; the Tove below
Castlethorpe ; and at Castlethorpe and Stoke Bruerne.'

When Huxley prefaces his wonderfully elaborate study by referring
to the subject of his treatise as ' one of the commonest and most
insignificant of animals,' his words must not be taken too literally. For
in Northamptonshire, as in other counties, there are assuredly many other
malacostracan Crustacea both commoner and much more insignificant than
crayfishes. Thus of the isopod, Asellus aquaticus (Linn.), Bate and
Westwood write, ' This is a very common animal, occurring in fresh-
water ponds and ditches throughout the kingdom.'^ It is half an inch
long or less. About the same size is its constant companion, the
amphipod, Gammarus pulex. No less certainly than these two, may the
terrestrial isopods, Oniscus asellus and Porcellio scaber, be relied on as
belonging to the fauna of the county. These, with others of their kith
and kin, vulgarly known as woodlice, slaters, sows, or pigs, though they
are true crustaceans, have only not been recorded because so com-
monly things common are accounted to be things of no account.

The freshwater entomostraca have not been so entirely neglected,
though these in the number of species on record must be very far below
the number of species in existence. The saying that ' Northampton-
shire gives water to all surrounding counties, and receives none in return'^
might suggest a reason for comparative poverty in water-fleas. But this
is not a reason on which it would be safe to rely without direct investiga-
tion, since the distribution of entomostracan Crustacea does not exclusively
depend on direct transmission by water. They are often to be found in
situations to which no existing streams could have carried them.

Among the species definitely recorded are one or two well deserving
attention. The first in systematic position belongs to a set of creatures

' Journal of the Northampton Natural History and Field Club, vol. iv. p. 1 72 (December, 1 886).
* British Sessile-eyed Crustacea, vol. ii. p. 314.
' Journ. Northampton Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. i. p. 48 (1880-81).

103

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

which have been described as ' intermittent parasites.' Their hosts, so
far as at present known, are always fishes or frogs. Upon these they
fasten and suck their juices, to the serious detriment of tender tadpole or
the smaller kinds of fish. Then, when a grateful feeling of replenish-
ment supervenes, they relinquish their hold of the now anaemic victims,
and swim about with activity in freedom to get up an appetite for
another meal. They are classed in an order called Branchiura, which
contains the single family of the Argulidce. Of this the only repre-
sentative known in England is the Argulus foliaceus (Linn.), the discovery
of which in Northamptonshire is thus notified by Mr. H. F. Tomalin : —

' Occurrence of the Argulus foliaceus upon the common " trout,"
Sal mo far 10.

'The trout was caught at Holdenby in June of this year [1883],
and thirteen of these parasites were obtained from it ; they were how-
ever near to the abdominal fins, and not fixed just under the pectoral fins
as is more common. The occurrence of this parasite upon the trout is
very unusual. Thompson, in his Natural History of Ireland, records it as
having been obtained from this fish, and it has more recently been
recorded in The Field.' After an account of the classification, Mr.
Tomalin continues : ' The fish-argulus may be found on various fresh-
water fish, the two species of sticklebacks being the more general ; they
swim gracefully, and have a strong resemblance to the seeds of plants.
The female is larger than the male, and is distinguished by the black spot
on each side of the abdomen ; the width is about two lines. They
occasionally leave the fish, but not for a long time.'^

Mr. Beeby Thompson, in a letter already quoted, alluding to Mr.
Tomalin's capture, says : ' The same species, I think, I have had on gold-
fish in my aquarium — possibly introduced by sticklebacks.' Since gold-
fish are of the carp tribe, the Argulus foliaceus, which both in England
and Germany is often called the carp-louse, would find itself at home
upon them. As measurement by lines or twelfths of an inch has gone
out of fashion, it may be well to observe that a width of two lines is
equivalent to a little over four millimetres, and that the width was
mentioned by Mr. Tomalin, rather than the length, probably because these
little greenish semi-transparent vampires are disc-like in shape, and not to
any striking extent longer than broad. A very remarkable feature in their
organization is the transmutation of their second maxillae into a pair of
circular suckers. In this respect they differ from the species of the
companion genus Dolops, in which these maxillae end in strong hooks
instead of suckers. The Argulida were at one time arranged with the
parasitic Copepoda, as in Mr. Tomalin's notice, and to some of the so-
called fish-lice of that group they show a marked superficial resemblance.
But a different classification is now accepted. Even Claus, the dis-
tinguished German zoologist lately deceased, who argued for their
removal from the Branchiopoda, does not venture to include them among
the genuine Copepoda. In regard to their habits he is not quite at one

' Jourti. Northampton Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. 292 (1882-83).

104

CRUSTACEANS

with Mr. Tomalin, for he says: ' In fact, I have observed that the well-
fed Argulus can spend many days or even weeks separated from its host
without nourishment.' '

Our next species belongs to a far more important division of the
Branchiopoda, namely, those which from their divided or biramous second
antenna are called the C/addcera, or ' branching-horns.' These include
many families, numerous genera, abundance of species, and of individuals
innumerable millions. Though this part of the population of North-
amptonshire would defy the efforts of any census, it has attracted so
little attention that I can only find a single record of a single species.
This belongs to the family Sidida, which comprises seven genera. The
genus Sida, Straus, from which the family name is derived, has indeed
only one species, Sida crystallina (O. F. Miiller). But, to make up for this
paucity, you may go from Northamptonshire to Nantes and to Norway,
you may visit Berne and Berlin, you may travel to Moscow, to Shanghai,
to Lake Superior, and at all these places, in small reservoirs, on the
margins of ponds or in large lakes, meet with this little oblong trans-
parent species, passing- through the water with ' a sort of rapid running
movement,' or afSxed to water-weeds by an adhesive apparatus at the back
of its head. Dr. Baird mentions among the places at which it has been
taken in our islands, ' Back fish-pond at Overstone Park, Northampton-
shire, July and August, 1849.'^

Among the Copepoda, as among the Cladocera, there are several
species of so general a distribution that their occurrence may be predicted
as much in one county as in another, and the notification of it in any
particular locality is almost a matter of chance. It is therefore an odd
coincidence that Dr. G. S. Brady in his British Copepoda should not
expressly record for this county any of the common and well-known
species, but on the other hand should record for it one that was, at any
rate at the date of his book, a new and rare one. In 1880 he winds up
the description of his Canthocamptus trispinosus, n. sp., with the words,
' Length one twenty-fifth of an inch (one mm.). Male unknown,' and
observes, ' the only known locality for this species is the river Nene at
Peterborough, where I took it sparingly in a little woody inlet." It
belongs to the family Harpacticidce and to the genus Canthocampus
instituted by J. O. Westwood in 1836. The name is evidently com-
pounded of two Greek words meaning a thorn and a bend, since West-
wood himself explains that the species ' have the abdomen of the females
recurved with a spine beneath at the base.' * On pretence of correction
authors have since almost invariably falsified the spelling into Cantho-
camptus, changing the second half which is not really wrong and leaving
unaltered the first half, which is evidently derived from acantha, a spine,

' Zeitichiift far tvissenschaftliche Zoolope, vol. xxv. p. 277 (1875).

^ Baird, British Entomostraca, Ray Soc, p. 109, 1850; Dr. Jules Richard, Annaks da Sciences
Nalurelles, Zoologie, ser. 7, vol. xviii. p. 336 (1895).

3 Brady, A Monograph of British Copepoda, Ray Soc, vol. ii. p. 55, pi. 45, figs, i 5-22-

* J. O. Westwood, The Entomologist's Text Book p. l 1 5 (1838); Partington's Cycloptedia, Art.
'Cyclops' (1836).

105

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

not from canthos, which means a pack-ass, the apple of an eye, or the
felloe of a wheel. The specific name of the Northamptonshire species
alludes to a character mentioned in the description of the terminal furca,
of which Dr. Brady says, ' caudal segments about as long as broad,
bearing three stout marginal spines, and two plumose apical sets.'

Among the little bivalved Ostracoda a few species have been tracked
to this county by some of our keenest masters of research, Dr. Brady,
Canon Norman, and the late David Robertson of Cumbrae. They are
as follows : Prionocypris serrata (Norman). This species, after passing
through the genera Cypris and Erpetocypris or Herpetocypris, has recently
been placed by Brady and Norman in a new genus, Prionocypris, meaning
the Cypris with a saw, so named because the extremities of the valves
are more or less denticulately serrated. Brady and Robertson are the
authorities for its capture in the river Nene at Peterborough.^

Cypridopsis mwtoni, Brady and Robertson, is also found in the river
Nene. It has a coarsely hispid surface, is dull green in colour, and
attains a length of '85 mm., that is, about a thirtieth of an inch.*

Cypridopsis variegata, Brady and Norman, from the river Nene at
Peterborough, was long left undescribed, because of its close resemblance
to the preceding species, but its valves are less uniform, its length is only
•55 mm., little over a forty-fifth of an inch, and at least in some speci-
mens the ground colour is yellowish, and it is ornamented with black
bands.'

Candonopsis kingsleii (Brady and Robertson), taken in the river Nene
at Peterborough, was transferred from Baird's genus Candona to a new
genus Candonopsis by the Bohemian writer Vavra, from whom Brady and
Norman quote the following generic characters, ' Antennae six-jointed,
with two peculiar sense organs between the fourth and fifth joints.
Mandible palp very long. Second maxills with a trisetose branchial
plate. Caudal rami slender ; seta of the dorsal margin absent.' * These
characters are taken from the male sex alone.

Candona Candida (Miiller), of the variety tumida, is mentioned by
Brady and Norman as being found in the river Nene.* This variety,
they say, ' is much shorter and stouter than the typical form,' and in
regard to distribution they observe that ' the ordinary form of C. Candida
occurs commonly in ponds and ditches ; the variety tumida is most
common in rivers and dykes subject to tidal influence.' In Candona, as
defined by Professor Sars, the second antennae are four-jointed in the
female, five-jointed in the male, with two sensory spines on the ante-
penultimate joint. The mandibular palp is not very long, and the
caudal rami have a slender dorsal seta.* Baird explains that he was
induced to separate this genus from the old comprehensive genus Cypris

1 Brady and Norman, 'A Monograph of the Marine and Freshwater Ostracoda of the North
Atlantic and of North-Western Europe,' part i., Trans. R. Dublin Soc, ser. 2, vol. iv. p. 87 (1889) ; and
part ii., in ser. 2, vol. v. p. 724 (1896).

* hoc. cit. part i. p. 90 ; part ii. p. 725. * Loc. cit. part i. p. 102 ; part ii. p. 731.

^ Loc. cit. part i. p. 91 ; part ii. p. 725. ^ Loc. cit. part i. p. 98.

^ G. O. Sars, Ostracoda Mediterranea, Arch. Naturv., vol. xii. p. 278 (1888).

106

CRUSTACEANS

of Miiller by observing certain correlated distinctions of a very
interesting kind. The species which he retained in Cypris have on the
second antennae a pencil of long hairs or plumose seta?, and the species
endowed in this way swim freely and rapidly through the water, but 'the
others are deficient in this apparatus, and, instead of swimming gaily
through the limpid element, crawl in the mud at the bottom of the pools
in which they are found, or creep along the aquatic plants which grow
there, and if dropped into a glass of water fall to the bottom without
being able to suspend themselves for the shortest time.' These, he adds,
constitute the genus Candona, which he first published in 1845.

Cando7ia fabaformis (Fischer) is reported by Brady and Robertson
from the river Nene at Peterborough. This bean-shaped Candona attains
a length of i mm. in the female, and viz^ mm. in the male, the shell of
the latter being described as thin and delicate, pellucid, with yellowish
patches ; the posterior portion of the valves marked with three or four
long crescentic lines, which correspond in position with the coils of
spermatic tubes.' ^

Darwinula stevensoni, Brady and Robertson, sole representative of the
family Darivinulidce, is recorded from the river Nene, and said to be
' perhaps the most characteristic Entomostracan of the East Anglian Fen
district, where it is widely spread, and often occurs in considerable
numbers.' ^

Metacypris cordata, Brady and Robertson, is found in the river Nene.
The specific name refers to the heart-shaped outline of the valves in the
female, when viewed from above. The colour is green, with irregular
blotches of darker green or black. The length is one-fiftieth of an inch.

Cytheridea lacustris (G. O. Sars) is reported by Brady and Robertson
from the river Nene at Peterborough.^ As might be inferred from its
name, it occurs in lakes as well as in rivers.

All the above mentioned Ostracoda belong to the section or tribe
called Podocopa. They and their companions from other groups must
be regarded as illustrative samples, not as a detailed catalogue, of the
carcinological treasures of this county.

* Brady and Norman, 'Monograph,' part i. p. 103. ^ Lo(. at. part i. p. 122.

' Loc. cit. part i. p. 1 76.

107

FISHES

Very little is known of the distribution of fishes in this county, and
the only list ever given, so far as I have been able to ascertain, is that
contained in John Morton's Natural History of Northamptonshire, published
in 171 2. I have fortunately been assisted by Mr. R. M. Serjeantson,
and by my friend Captain Vipan of Stibbington Hall, Wansford, who
has very kindly supplied me with notes on the fishes of the river Nene
about Peterborough. This, together with Morton's account, has been
my source of information in drawing up the following list.

TELEOSTEANS

ACANTHOPTERYGII

1. Perch. Perca fluviatHis, Linn.
Common. In the last ten years a fair

number of these fish have been taken up to
4 lb. in weight from various lakes in the
county. Some even larger ones have been
caught, one in the possession of the Rev. R.
A.White of St. Giles's, Northampton, weigh-
ing nearly 5 lb.

2. RuflFor Pope. Acerina cernua, Linn.
Plentiful.

3. Miller's Thumb. Cottus goblo, Linn.

Very common in all the small streams
running into the Nene.

ANACANTHINI

4. Burbot or Eel-Pout. Lota vulgaris, Cuv.
According to Morton rarely met with

above Peterborough Bridge ; below the
bridge, though rare, somewhat more frequent.

5. Flounder. Pleuronectes Jlesus, Linn.
Occasionally found as high up the Nene as

Lilford ; plentiful below Peterborough.

HEMIBRANCHII

6. Three - spined Stickleback. Gastmsteus

aculeatus, Linn.
Local and sometimes plentiful.

7. Ten-spined Stickleback. Gastrosteus pun-

gitius, Linn.
Common in small ditches and ponds.

HAPLOMI

8. Pike. Esax iucius, Linn.

Common. Fish frequently taken up to
20 lb. and more in weight from all parts of
the county.

OSTARIOPHYSI

9. Carp. Cyprinui carpio, Linn.

A few in the Nene, but very seldom caught.

I o. Crucian Carp. Cyprimu carassius, Linn.
Doubtful. The gold-fish (var. auratus,
Linn.) introduced in ponds.

11. Barbel. Barbus vulgaris, Cuv.
Captain Vipan has heard of one or two

taken, but he cannot vouch for the truth of
the statement as he has never seen one.

12. Gudgeon. Gohio Jluviatilis, Flem.
Common on every shallow.

13. Rudd. Leuciscus erythrophthalmus, Linn.
Plentiful locally, especially in Teston

reservoir.

14. Roach. Leuciscus rutilus, Linn.

Very common, but except in Nene of no
great size.

15. Chub. Leuciscus cephalus, Linn.
Common.

16. Dace. Leuciscus dobula, Linn. {L. vul-

garis, Day).
Plentiful ; mostly on shallows and in quick-
running brooks.

108

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

17. Minnow. Lfuciscus phoxinus, hinn.
Plentiful in places, but not generally dis-
tributed.

18. Tench. Tinea vulgaris, Cuv.
Common in the deeper pools and ponds, up

to 5 lb. weight.

19. Bream. Abramis brama, Linn.
Common in the Nene, but with the excep-
tion of one or two lakes practically unknown
elsewhere.

20. White Bream. Abramis blicca, Linn.
Adults occasionally taken, but scarce ;

young up to 6 inches however frequent,
and locally called ' shallow.'

2 1 . Bleak. Alhurnus lucicJus, Heck. & Kner.
Fairly common in the Nene.

22. Loach. Nemachilus barbatu/us, Linn.
Formerly very common, but now much

more scarce.

23. Spined Loach. Cobitis tariia, Linn.
One single specimen was taken by Captain

Vipan on a ford near Wansford.

MALACOPTERYGII

24. Salmon. Salmo salar, Linn.

Was rare in the Nene in Morton's time.
Captain Vipan heard of one taken some years
ago at Alwalton and given to the late Hon.
Charles Fitzwilliam.

25. Trout. Salmo trutta, Linn.

The brown trout {S. fario, Linn.) is rather
plentiful in some of the streams ; few in the
Nene. Indigenous to most small streams in the
county, but Loch Levens were introduced
into Teston reservoir, Northampton, and
Cransley reservoir, Kettering. Specimens
nearly 8 lb. weight have been taken.

26. Smelt. Osmerus eperlanus, Linn.

In the spring ascends the river as far up as
Peterborough.

APODES

27. Eel. Anguilla vulgaris, Turt.
Very common.

GANOIDS

28. Sturgeon. Acipenser sturio, Linn.

Specimens up to 8 feet long and 152 lb.
weight occasionally ascended the Nene above

Peterborough in Morton's days. Captain
Vipan remembers one some years ago at
Woodston Stanch near Peterborough.

CYCLOSTOMES

29. Sea Lamprey. Petromyzon marinus, Linn, presented by Mr. W. T. Tomalin to the

Morton records a specimen 4 feet long from Northampton Museum,

the Nene. One was taken at Elton in an eel- 30. Lampern. Petromyzon ^uviaiilis, Linn,
trap. May, 1898, weighing 2i lb., and was Plentiful in brooks running into the Nene.

109

REPTILES
AND BATRACHIANS

As in the case of the fishes, no Hst of the reptiles of this county
exists beyond that m ]o\\t\ M-ortoTi?, Natural History of Northamptonshire,
I J 12. This account is interesting as containing the first allusion, so far
as I am aware, to the viviparous nature of the common lizard' which,
as customary at that early period, was confounded with the newts or
efts. Morton spoke of the herpetological fauna as a very poor one, and
the information obtained from Mr. Lionel E. Adams of Stafford, and
from a young enthusiastic observer, Mr. J. L. Monk, who resided for
some years in Northampton, has not resulted in any additions. Only the
more common and generally distributed English reptiles and batrachians
have been met in the county and there is no authentic record of the
natterjack toad {Bufo calamita) or of the palmated newt {Molge palmata).
The ringed snake appears to be fairly common in most parts of the
county ; captures of the viper are recorded from Harleston Heath and
Castle Ashby,^ whilst the slow-worm is decidedly rare, except perhaps in
Salcey Forest.

REPTILES

LACERTILIA

1. Common Lizard. Lacerta vivlpara, Jacq.

2. Slow-worm, Anguis Jragt/is, Linn.

OPHIDIA

3. Common or Ringed Snake. Tropidonotui natrix, Linn. [Natrix torquata, Ray).

4. Common Viper or Adder. Vipera berus, Linn.

BATRACHIANS

ECAUDATA

1. Common Frog. Rana temporaria, Linn.

2. Common Toad. Bufo vulgaris, Laur.

CAUDATA

3. Great Crested Newt. Molge crhtato, Laur.

4. Common Newt. Molge vulgaris, Linn. {Triton punctatus, Latr.).

1 ' They are found with young ones formed in their Belly, and are really Viviparous^: Morton,
op. cit. p. 440.

* The wholly black viper, so rare in England, appears to have been found in Morton's time. He
says, p. 442 : 'A viper is still more uncommon, being no where found with us, unless about Sir John
Shaw's Decoy below Pekirk ; in which Place as I am told, the Viper-Catchers sometimes meet with one
all over black, amongst others of the common Colour.'

BIRDS

Northamptonshire must have been a most interesting field for an
ornithologist early in the nineteenth century. Just outside its north-
eastern border lay Whittlesea Mere, the haunt of many rare birds, in-
cluding the bittern, spotted crake, rufF and avocet, and others, which
used to wander thence up the Nene Valley. There were many wild,
unenclosed upland commons — still called ' heaths ' or ' wolds ' — where
the great bustard used at times to wander, and many interesting open-
ground birds occurred, especially at the spring and autumn migration
periods. There were large tracts remaining of what had been primeval
forest, of which Salcey Forest, Whittlebury Forest, Rockingham Forest,
the Bedford Purlieus, and Castor Hanglands, and a few more, still remain
as reduced survivals. In these the kite, buzzard, and raven used to
breed, and the hen-harrier to be found with other forest-loving species.
And an ornithologist in those days — there were not many then — was free
to pursue his investigations when and where he chose. Since then the
spread of agriculture (especially in the years following the Napoleonic
and Crimean wars, with their consequent high profits on corn growing)
has brought much of the forest, fen, and common land under the plough,
and the old haunts of many of the rarer birds are now unvisited by them,
or, if they occur, it is as rare stragglers from over the sea. However
much we may regret this as naturalists, we cannot find fault, for
naturalists, after all, are specimens of ordinary humanity, plus their
special tastes and studies, and the bulk of their individuality cannot help
seeing that all this is necessary, and even desirable in the interests of the
country. But would that the 'Yellowstone Park' idea had only occurred
to Englishmen sixty years ago ! It is a far-sighted and really patriotic
idea, and might have preserved to us restricted areas of immense scientific
interest. We are now slowly awakening to it, now that it is all but too
late, and, as in the case of Wicken Fen, are preserving the few relics of
primeval England for posterity.

There appears to be an opinion — rather a widespread one — in our
county, that, since the publication of the late Lord Lilford's Birds of
Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood, little or nothing remains to be done
in the way of ornithological research within our boundaries. But any
one reading the preface and opening paragraphs of that excellent work
will find that the author held a strong view to the contrary. The fact
is, that the work which has fallen into the hands of us of to-day is one
of a totally different character — less striking, perhaps less interesting,

III

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

more minute — than that which our predecessors had to do. It is for
us to accumulate masses of minor facts relating to the habits, movements
and economy of birds, to serve as material out of which may in time be
evolved some definite knowledge of the migration of birds — a subject we
as yet know very little about.

Of the movements, and even the relative abundance in the county,
of one class of birds — the waders, usually lumped together as ' sand-
pipers ' — we are almost entirely ignorant ; and the few, like myself, who
would gladly pay more attention to them, have next to no opportunities
for doing so. So far, as Lord Lilford has said before me, our county is
only half observed ; we want definite facts recorded every year (authenti-
cated, in the case of birds with which the observer is not personally well
acquainted, by specimens), and we want observations from every part of
the county, and especially from the larger preserved estates, from very
few of which I have at present reports sent to me.

The literature bearing on the subject of Northamptonshire birds is,
as Lord Lilford says, very meagre. Morton's Natural History of North-
amptonshire (17 1 2) entitles him to be looked upon as the Gilbert White
of our county. Baker's History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire (1822-
30) contains a few references to the subject. In addition. Lord Lilford's
Birds of Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood, published, practically, in three
editions (1880-83, 1893, and 1895, but the first two imperfect, and only
printed for private circulation), with a few papers in the Journal of the
Northamptonshire Natural History Society (those by Lord Lilford were
mostly printed in duplicate in the Zoologist) and a few scattered notices
in the Zoologist and Field, constitute the whole literature of the subject.

To Lord Lilford's work I must acknowledge my immense indebted-
ness, without the help of which, with my limited personal opportunities,
the adequate performance of the present undertaking would have been
impossible.

When a bird is hereinafter described as a ' resident,' I desire it to
be understood as defining the species to be resident, though the individuals
are probably all to some extent migratory. A ' winter visitor ' is a
bird that appears with some regularity during the autumn, and makes
a stay, only modified by the vicissitudes of weather, until some time in
the following spring.

It will be observed that I have excluded several species mentioned
by Lord Lilford, but a reference to his pages will show that they occurred
outside the boundaries of our county.

In cases where the record of a bird's occurrence is open to doubt,
or its appearance is due to artificial introduction, the entry is placed
within square brackets.

Brackets placed round the name of the original describer of a
species indicate that he did not employ the generic name which is now
adopted.

112

BIRDS

1. Missel or Mistletoe Thrush. Turdui

viscivorus, Linn.
Locally, Stormcock.
Common and resident, though to a certain
extent a migrant in spring and autumn ;
breeds as early as March, usually raising two
broods in a season. Morton (17 12) adds the
local name 'sprite,' a name I have not heard.

2. Song-Thrush. Turdui musicus, Linn.

Locally, Mavish.
Very common and resident, though the
individuals with us in winter are probably
not those which breed with us, as the bird is
only a summer visitor to Norway, and a win-
ter visitor to northern Africa, and doubtless
migratory everywhere between these points.
Breeds early, often in March, in bushes and
hedges, and is ' double-brooded.' Very use-
ful in gardens on account of its fondness for
snails, etc.

3. Redwing. Turdus iliacus, Linn.

A common winter visitor ; breeding in
colonies in low bushes, or almost on the
ground, in Iceland and arctic Europe, reach-
ing us about the end of September and stay-
ing till early April ; sometimes goes as far
south in severe weather as north Africa. No
local name that I have heard.

4. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris, Linn.

Locally, Felt or Pigeon-Felt.
A common winter visitor, bolder and
more often seen and heard than the last
species (though probably not much more
abundant), reaching us about the first week
in October and staying till mid-April, or
occasionally the beginning of May. It breeds
usually in forks of birch trees in arctic
Europe, and wanders in winter to the Medi-
terranean shores of Europe, occasionally visit-
ing north Africa. There is no proof that this
bird, or the last, has ever nested in Britain.

5. Blackbird. Turdus meru/a, Linn.
Common and resident, which does not pre-
vent its being a migratory bird, as in the case
of the thrush. Breeds rather later than that
bird, also raising two broods ; like all black
birds, is liable to albinism, and yellow-coloured
varieties are sometimes met with. As a proof
of its migratory habits in Britain, I may men-
tion a cock blackbird with a white head,
which visited for two years a wood in North-
umberland of which I had the shooting ; it
was always visible from spring to autumn,
raised two broods of young birds more or less
resembling itself, and after September van-
ished till next spring. A fine songster, but
very tiresome in the fruit season, and less use-

ful to the gardener than the thrush ; Lord
Lilford (i. 98) has never observed it cracking
snails on a stone as the thrush does, nor have I.

6. Ring-Ousel. Turdus torquatus, Linn.

A regular migrant, passing through our
county in spring and autumn on its way to
and from the moors where' it breeds (down to
Wales and Derbyshire, and even in the wilder
mountainous parts of the south-west) to the
south. I have not uncommonly seen it when
partridge-shooting, usually near high hedges ;
it is more commonly seen, as far as my ex-
perience goes, in mid-Northants (near Ir-
chester) than in the eastern part of the
county. Morton reports it to have bred near
Clipston, which Lord Lilford properly dis-
credits. Nests on the ground, breeds in
arctic regions as well as the mountainous
parts of central and even southern Europe
(Pyrenees), going southwards in winter to
Egypt and north Africa.

7. VVheatear. Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.).

A spring and autumn migrant, appearing
about the beginning of March and beginning
of September. Used to breed not uncom-
monly on our heaths, but is almost extinct
with us as a breeding bird, on account ot the
gradual cultivation of its breeding grounds. I
saw a brood of young birds, barely able to fly,
with their parents beside an old quarry near
Thornhaugh in 1893, where they had cer-
tainly bred ; but they have not bred there
since ; nests are found in a crack of a wall or
rock, a mouse-hole, or rabbit-burrow, and they
prefer open stony country.

8. Whinchat. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.).

A summer visitor, locally common, reach-
ing us in mid-April, breeding on grassy banks
and commons, especially railway embank-
ments, leaving about the beginning of Sep-
tember, though birds from further north and
west may be seen with us on passage a fort-
night later.

9. Stonechat. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.).

A resident, though partially migratory ; not
at all abundant in Northants, as it is a bird
that prefers gorse commons, and breeds under
whin bushes. Oftenest seen on migration
across country in September.

10. Redstart. Rutici//a phcenicurus (Linn.).
Locally, Firetail.

A summer visitor, appearing early in April,
breeding (often twice) in holes in walls, ivy,
or decayed trees, leaving us early in Septem-
ber. Its breeding range extends from the
North Cape to Spain, and from Britain to the
Yenesei.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

1 1 . Black Redstart. RuticUla titys (Scopoli).
The one I saw on Irchester Church on

December 2nd, 1883 (this bird is usually a
winter visitor), remains the only record for
Northants, though what Lord Lilford {op. cit.
i. 109) calls a fairly circumstantial report of
its nesting at Orlingbury was given to me by
young Mr. Watts. I am now inclined to
think that it was a common redstart, which
laid white instead of blue eggs.

12. Robin. Erithacus rubecula (Linn.).
Common and resident, though partially

migratory — numbers cross the Channel.

13. Nightingale. Daulias luscinia (Linn.).

A common and welcome summer visitor,
arriving early in April, and breeding in
thickets, on or close to the ground, leaving
early in September. Its breeding range in-
cludes all western Europe up to north
Germany.

14. Whitethroat. Sylvia c'tnerea (Bechstein).

Locally, Peggy, or Nettle-Creeper, or Nettle-
Bird.

A common summer visitor, arriving in
mid-April, breeding in thick hedgerows and
bushy places, haunting hedges (where its
scolding alarm note at every passer-by attracts
attention to it), and leaving us about the end
of August.

15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca

(Linn.).
A summer visitor, as common in North-
ants as I have seen it anywhere, though
hardly as plentiful as the common white-
throat. It arrives in mid-April, but often a
week later than the last bird, and breeds in
thick hedges or brambly thickets, leaving us in
mid-September.

16. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.).

A common summer visitor, arriving about
mid-April (though I heard and saw a male in
full song in my garden at Thornhaugh on
April 7th, 1897), breeding in thick bushes or
brambly brakes, it is often double-brooded,
and leaves us in September.

17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortensis [Bech-

stein).
A summer visitor in moderate numbers,
though locally common, arriving at the end
of April, breeding in thickets, and leaving us
about the end of September. Often very
abundant in gardens on its autumn migration.

18. Goldcrest. Regulus cristatus,K..L,.K.och.

A common resident, especially where coni-
ferous trees are plentiful, breeding about the

beginning of April on the undersides of fir or
yew branches. Enormous numbers cross the
North Sea in autumn, from which circum-
stance it happens that goldcrests are most
numerous with us in winter.

1 9. ChifFchafF. Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein).
Our earliest summer visitor, often heard

singing early in March, breeding, in some
numbers, in thick grass and low bushes (but
very seldom on the ground like the two next
species), sometimes double-brooded, leaving us
from the end of September to the beginning
of November.

20. Willow-Warbler. Phylloscopus trochilus

(Linn.).
A common summer visitor, arriving early
in April, building a domed nest, like the
preceding and following species, usually on the
ground amongst grass, and generally under
trees. It is double-brooded, and leaves about
the middle of September.

21. Wood-Warbler. Phylloscopus sibilatrix

(Bechstein).
A summer visitor, rare and local in North-
ants, only breeding in woods where there is
not a great deal of undergrowth, therefore de-
serting woods where it has bred for some
years because they have got too thick under-
neath, as it is doing about here (Thornhaugh).
It reaches us about the middle of April, builds
a domed nest, without any feathers as lining,
on the ground, very carefully hidden, and
leaves us in September. I do not think it is
double-brooded.

22. Reed-Warbler. Acrocephalus streperus

(Vieillot).
A local summer visitor, never found far
from our larger streams, where it is pretty
abundant. It reaches us at the end of April,
builds almost always in reed-beds (but occa-
sionally in bushes near water), rears, I believe,
but one brood, and leaves in September.

23. Sedge-Warbler. Acrocephalus phragmitis

(Bechstein).
A very common summer visitor, arriving
about the middle of April, breeding in thick
bushy or reedy places, usually, but not al-
ways, near water, and leaving us about the
end of September.

24. Grasshopper-Warbler. Locustella navia

(Boddaert).
A summer visitor, not common, and local
in its distribution, preferring young plantations
of coniferous trees to breed in. I have
known of five nests in one wood the same
season, but this is very exceptional in North-

BIRDS

ants. It is not every one who knows how to
find them. This bird may be heard singing
(it is not every one, either, who knows its
note to be that of a bird at ail) from April
9th (my earliest record in the county), but
usually a week later ; it builds a very carefully-
concealed nest amongst young trees and thick
grass, and leaves us early in September.

25. Hedge-Sparrow. Accentor modularis

(Linn.).

A common resident, but partially migra-
tory. Large numbers cross the North Sea
annually in autumn and return in spring.
Is double-brooded. I have known a pair
raise three broods successfully. The male of
this pair had a conspicuous mark on him.

26. Dipper. Cinc/us aquatkus, Bechstein.

A rare occasional visitor, our still streams
not being suited to the requirements of this
bird, which loves rapid rocky ' becks ' of clear
water. One example has been obtained at
Blatherwycke in 1868, and one at Kettering
in 1886 ; while an example of the Scandina-
vian form {Cinc/us melanogastcr^ Brehm) was
shot near Ringstead in 1899, for which see
Lilford (i. 87-89).

27. Bearded Reedling. Panurus biarmkus

(Linn.).

A fen bird, lingering in Norfolk and Cam-
bridgeshire. Lord Lilford once observed it
near Lilford, the only county record. Peter-
borough Museum possesses a specimen ob-
tained in the old days at Whittlesea Mere —
alas ! long drained.

28. British Long-tailed Tit. Acredula rosea

(Blyth).
Locally, Bottle-Bit or Pudding-Bag.

Common and resident, though rather local.
It builds the wonderful nest from which it
gains these names in a bush of evergreen,
thorn or gorse, sometimes suspended in bram-
bles, in April.

29. Great Tit. Parus major, Linn.

A common resident, building in holes in
walls or trees, sometimes, at all events, double-
brooded. A very useful bird in gardens, as
its feeding never extends to fruit, which is the
bad habit of the blue tit.

30. British Coal-Tit. Parus britannicus,

Sharpe and Dresser.

A resident, common in woods, nesting in a
hole in a tree, or wall, or mouse-hole in the
ground ; the nest is nearly always lined with
rabbit's or other fur. Eggs laid about April.

3 1 . British Marsh-Tit. Parus dresseri, Stein-

eger.
The least common and shyest of the tits
with us, nesting in similar places to the last,
but, as a rule, in damper localities, and it
often lines its nest with the down of the
willow-catkin.

32. Blue Tit. Parus caruleus, Linn.
Locally, Blue-Cap.

A common resident, yet numbers cross the
North Sea in autumn. Builds in holes in
trees and walls, sometimes in the oddest places,
in April ; is generally insectivorous, but has a
detestable habit of damaging large numbers of
nearly-ripe pears by pecking a hole near the
stalk.

33. Nuthatch. Sitta casta. Wolf

A resident, which cannot be called com-
mon, nor rare, as it is sometimes the one and
sometimes the other, and I cannot find any
reason for this. It may be due to the tem-
porary local abundance of some favourite in-
sect. Nests in April, usually in a hole in a
tree, sometimes in a hole in a wall, filling up
the mouth with clay to the size and shape it
fancies.

34. Wren. Troglodytes parvulus, Koch.

A common resident, but numbers cross the
North Sea in autumn. Builds in shrubs,
bushes and banks, and all manner of odd
places, in early April. It is very fastidious as
to the finish of its nest, frequently discontinu-
ing operations on a partially finished one which
does not promise to be an artistic success, or
perhaps seems too obvious to passers-by. Is
double-brooded.

35. Tree-Creeper. Certhia familiaris, Linn.
A resident, common in well-wooded dis-
tricts, placing its nest under loose bark on trees,
or in a crack of a tree or building. It is
double-brooded.

36. Pied Wagtail. Motacilla luguhris, Tem-

minck.
Locally, Dish-washer.
A common summer visitor, partially resident
in mild winters. It is known to cross to and
from the continent. Breeds early in April,
in a hole in a wall usually, but often selects
odd places. Is double-brooded.

37. White Wagtail. Motacilla alba, Linn.
A rare summer visitor, several times ob-
served by Mr. W. T. Horn at Kingsthorpe
Reservoir {Lilford, i. 156), and once, certainly,
by myself; but no Northants specimens have
been obtained, as far as I know, nor has it

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

been found breeding within our boundaries.
The common continental form with grey back
in all stages of plumage.

38. Grey Wagtail. Motacilla melanope, Pallas.

A fairly common winter visitor from the
end of September to the beginning of March,
oftenest seen near water.

39. Yellow Wagtail. Motacilla rail (Bona-

parte).
A fairly common but rather local summer
visitor, very common in the neighbourhood of
Wellingborough — of course, by water. Ar-
rives early in April, nesting on the ground
near a stream or river (the nest very carefully
concealed), leaving in mid-September, at which
times very large flocks may be seen in turnip
fields.

40. Tree-Pipit. Anthm trivialis (Linn.).

Usually, but wrongly, called in Northants
the ' titlark,' a name which belongs to the
next bird. A summer visitor, pretty com-
mon, but rather local in distribution, arriving
about the middle of April, nesting on the
ground, but always near trees, on which it
commonly perches, and leaving again before
the end of September.

41. Meadow-Pipit or Titlark. Anthui pra-

tensis (Linn.).
A resident in small numbers, much more
abundant during the winter. Breeds in two
localities only, as far as I am aware, in the
county. Is strictly a moorland bird during
the summer, and very rarely indeed perches
anywhere but on the ground.

[Richard's Pipit. Anthus richardi, Vieillot.

Lord Lilford records a doubtful occurrence
of this bird [op. cit. i. 163), but the bird was
not shot, or caught, nor examined by his lord-
ship. Considering the close resemblance be-
tween A. richardi, and the tawny pipit [A.
campestrisy Linn.), its occurrence cannot be
called an ascertained fact.]

42. Golden Oriole. Oriolus galhulc, Linn.

A rare occasional visitor. Several occur-
rences are on record [Lilford, i. 84), and more
recently one of these birds haunted my garden
at Thornhaugh for a considerable part of the
summer of 1897. It was a female, and fortu-
nately was seen by no one else.

43. Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excubitor,

Linn.
A rare occasional winter visitor ; a number
of its occurrences in the county are given by
Lord Lilford (i. 69-74).

44. Red-backed Shrike. Lanius collurio, Linn.

A summer visitor, though not common,
appearing at the beginning of May, nesting in
thorn bushes or thick hedges, and leaving us
again in August. Much commoner in some
years than others. Very fond of sitting on
telegraph wires.

45. Waxwing. Ampelis garrulus, h\nn.

A rare winter visitor from northern Europe,
which occasionally visits England in consider-
able numbers. It is recorded to have occurred
in our county a dozen times or so (see Lilford,
i. 50, etc.).

46. Pied Flycatcher. Mmcicapa atricapilla,

Linn.

A scarce and irregular summer visitor,
breeding not uncommonly in Wales and the
northern counties of England, which has four
times been shot, and once or twice been seen
besides, in Northants.

47. Spotted Flycatcher. Mmcicapa griiola,

Linn.

A common summer visitor, reaching us
about May-day ; nesting in creepers, or trees
on garden walls ; often raising two broods in
the season, and leaving us again about the
middle of September. One remained about
Thornhaugh Rectory till October 5th last
year (1899), byt this was very exceptionally
late.

48. Swallow. Hirundo rustica, Linn.

A common summer visitor, arriving early
in April, raising two (or even three) broods,
and leaving us by the middle of October,
though odd individuals may be occasionally
seen a fortnight later.

49. House-Martin. Chelidon urbica (Linn.).

A common summer visitor, reaching us
within a week of the swallow, raising two
broods, and sometimes three. The third
brood often dies in the nest, or in the neigh-
bourhood, shortly after being fledged. Is de-
creasing in numbers in a good many places
owing to persecution by the house-sparrow.

50. Sand-Martin. Cotile riparia (Linn.).

A common summer visitor, but somewhat
local, its abundance depending on the presence
of suitable breeding-places. Reaches us early
in April, occasionally at the end of March,
breeds in banks and quarries, usually raises
two broods, and departs again between mid-
August and the end of October.

116

BIRDS

51. Greenfinch. Ligurinus ch/oris (L\nn.).

A common resident, building in shrubs,
hedges and bushes, about the middle of April,
usually raising two broods, and sometimes
three. Rather tiresome in gardens.

52. Hawfinch. Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pallas.
A resident, not uncommon, but little

noticed owing to its shyness. The young
birds, however, do not seem shy when they
have found out the green peas. Breeds in
May, building its nest at some height in an
old apple or other tree, and only raising one
brood.

53. Goldfinch. Carduelis elegcim, Stephens.
A resident, not uncommon, but much per-
secuted by bird-catchers. Fortunately for it-
self, its habit is to build its nest in tall trees,
often apple trees ; the eggs are laid about the
middle of May, and a second brood is often
reared in September. Large flocks cross the
Channel.

54. Siskin. Carduelis spinus (Linn.).
Breeds not uncommonly in northern Britain,

but with us is a winter visitor in small num-
bers, most commonly seen by stream sides
where alders are plentiful. Crosses the North
Sea in some numbers on migration.

55. House-Sparrow. Passer domcsticus [h'mn.).
A common and tiresome resident, having

now attached itself to man as a parasite, like
the rat and mouse. Its food has been ascer-
tained, by Mr. J. H. Gurney and his friends,
by careful dissections on a large scale, to
consist largely of corn (75 per cent, for the
year), and its supposed usefulness in destroy-
ing insects has been at the same time shown
to have little foundation in fact.

56. Tree-Sparrow. Passer montanus (Linn.).
A resident, fairly common, breeding in

holes of trees and hovel roofs in early April,
often raising a second or third brood. Crosses
the North Sea on migration.

57. Chaffinch. Fringilla coelebs, Linn.

A common resident, its numbers being
augmented during the winter by migration.
Builds an exquisitely beautiful nest in April,
and usually raises a second brood. A very
useful bird, on the whole, in gardens, owing
to its fondness for chickweed, groundsel and
plantain seeds.

58. Brambling. Fringilla montifringilla, Linn.
A winter visitor of irregular occurrence,

breeding in the northern parts of Europe.
Owing to its partiality for beech mast, it is
seldom seen (possibly it comes, but does not

remain) when beech masts are barren, and is
chiefly noticed in beech woods. Sometimes
very abundant.

59. Linnet. Linota cannahina {hinn.).

A common resident, breeding in April,
building its nest in hedges, bushes, and ever-
greens, and often rearing two broods ; enor-
mous flocks may be seen on stubble fields and
commons during the winter, their numbers
being augmented, no doubt, by immigration.

60. Mealy Redpoll. Linota linaria (Linn.).
A rare winter visitor of irregular occurrence.

Breeds in Iceland and arctic Europe. It has
been four times obtained in Northamptonshire,
but has, no doubt, occurred much more fre-
quently.

61. Lesser Redpoll. Linota rufescens [VieiWot).
A resident in small numbers, breeding in

most parts of the county, building its nest in
high hedges. I have seen four or five sets of
eggs taken in Northamptonshire. In the
winter it is much more abundant, by im-
migration from the northern counties, and
may sometimes be met with in comparatively
large flocks, but generally amongst alders and
willows by stream sides.

62. Twite. Linota fiavirostris (Linn.).

An irregular winter visitor from Scotland
and the north of England, where it nests on
the ground amongst heather. Usually found
with us in flocks in the more open country.

63. Bullfinch. Pyrrhula europeea, Vieillot.
A fairly common resident, haunting thickets

and shrubberies, where it breeds, nesting in
the end of April, and often raising two broods.
Often very injurious to plum, gooseberry and
currant buds (but the sparrow is just as bad in
this way, and does not always get the blame
it deserves) ; it may easily be kept away by a
miniature windmill. Otherwise the bullfinch
does good in gardens, as it is a great eater of
such seeds as those of the dock, plantain and
groundsel. A jet-black bullfinch was caught
at Old Duston in 1894.

64. Crossbill. Loxia curvirostra, Linn.

An irregular winter visitor in small numbers
from Scandinavia. A good many instances of
its occurrence in Northants may be found in
Lilford (i. 203-206), and since the publication
of that work several further occurrences (in
1898) are to be found reported in the North-
amptonshire Nat. Hist. Soc. Journ. for 1899.

65. Corn-Bunting. Emberiza miliaria, Linn.
Resident all over the county, but nowhere,

as far as I have seen, plentiful enough to be

117

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

called common, though not uncommon any-
where. I have always found it most abun-
dant in the maritime parts of Britain. It is
a late breeder, having but one brood generally,
the eggs being laid at the end of May. As
it nests in rough grass, but often in the middle
of clover or cornfields, the nest, owing to the
then state of vegetation, is not as often seen
as that of some other birds which are much
rarer. Its numbers in Britain are augmented
during the winter by immigration from the
continent.

66. Yellow Hammer. Emberiza citrinellay

Linn.
Locally, Writing-Lark.
A common resident. Its local name is de-
rived from the scribbling marks on its eggs.
It breeds during the last fortnight in April,
and again later, nesting in thick herbage under
a bush or hedge on the ground or a little
above it. Crosses the Channel on migration.

67. Cirl Bunting. Emberiza cirlus, Linn.

A resident, or irregular resident, in small
numbers, but more common, I suspect, than
is generally realized, being a good deal like
the yellow hammer in appearance and note.
Only one specimen appears to have been
actually obtained in our county, but I have
very strong reason to believe that it has bred
at Thorney, which is close to our boundaries.
A bird that wants attention throughout our
county.

68. Reed-Bunting. Emberiza schaeniclus, Linn.
Locally, Reed-Sparrow.

Usually called ' black-headed bunting,'
which name belongs to a different bird alto-
gether. A pretty common resident by water-
sides, nesting in April on the ground in thick
vegetation, and raising two, sometimes three,
broods in the season.

69. Snow-Bunting. Plectrophenax nivalis

(Linn.).
This bird, though a regular winter visitor
to our east coasts, seldom goes far inland
except in the northern counties. It only
seems to have been obtained in Northampton-
shire on two occasions {seeLilford, i. 169-172).
It breeds in small numbers in the extreme
north of Scotland, and abundantly in Iceland
and arctic Europe.

70. Starling. Sturnus vulgaris, Linn.
Locally, Starnel.

A very abundant resident, and one that
deserves every encouragement and protection,
as it does an immensity of good without any
harm whatever, unless enlarging a hole in a

thatched roof, already made by a sparrow,
counts for harm. The starling migrates to
and from the continent. Whether it is
double-brooded or not is a point on which
opinions differ ; I have no doubt that it often
rears two broods in the season.

71. Rose-coloured Starling. Pastor roseus

(Linn.).
An irregular and rare visitor to England
and western Europe, Asia being its home. It
has once been obtained in Northants, by
Colonel Cottingham, at Weedon, on Septem-
ber loth, 1888. It is usually seen in late
summer and autumn, and generally associates
with flocks of starlings.

72. Jay. Garrulus glandarius (Linn.).

A fairly common resident, but is much
persecuted by game preservers, and, I am con-
vinced, unjustly. It is seldom seen hunting
on the ground, and I have never fairly con-
victed it of touching any game-bird's eggs.
On the contrary, it is a useful check on the
wood -pigeon. It is of course confined to
wooded districts, where it breeds in tall bushes
in April, and is single-brooded, as, I believe,
all the Corvidie are. Numbers visit England
in winter from the continent.

73. Magpie. Pica rustica (Scopoli).

A resident, becoming rare owing to perse-
cution. It is undoubtedly injurious to game
eggs, but quite pays for the damage it does in
this direction by keeping the numbers of the
wood-pigeons and blackbirds down, and by the
destruction of snails and slugs as well as mice
and insects, which are its general food. The
magpie breeds early, often at the end of March,
in hedges or low trees, and is single-brooded.

74. Jackdaw. Corvus monedula, Linn.

A common resident, consorting usually with
rooks, breeding in holes in rocks or buildings,
in hollow or ivy-covered trees, in April.
Jackdaws cross the sea in autumn in large
numbers, returning in spring. I am of opinion
that the jackdaw does more harm to game
than the jay and the magpie together, especi-
ally to the young partridges. Though its
normal food consists of worms and insects, and
it is to that extent beneficial, the mischief it
does is so great that I should be inclined to
hand it over to the tender mercies of the
gamekeeper.

75. Raven. Corvus corax, Linn.

Once a fairly common resident in our
county, now, alas, a very rare occasional
visitor. Former breeding places are mentioned
in Lil/ord {i. 211-216). The famous ' Sankey'

118

BIRDS

and his companion at Lilford are the only
individuals of this species that I have been
fortunate enough to see in Northamptonshire.

76. Carrion-Crow. Corvus corone, Linn.

Neither do I hold a brief for this bird ; I
am afraid it is inexcusably bad. I would have
every bird protected but the sparrow, jackdaw,
carrion-crow, grey crow, and, on trout and
salmon streams, the heron, merganser and
cormorant. No doubt the carrion-crow feeds
to some extent on insects, but I cannot believe
that it anything like compensates thereby for
the harm it does in other ways. It is fairly
common with us in wooded districts, breeding
at the end of April, placing its nest in a high
tree, usually one with a good look-out all round.

77. Grey or Hooded Crow. Corvus cornix,

Linn.

A regular and undesirable winter visitor in
considerable numbers, breeding numerously in
north and west Scotland and crossing the sea
from northern Europe in October. It is as
predatory as the last species ; but, as it leaves
us before there are eggs or young birds, the
harm it does in our country is comparatively
little.

78. Rook. Corvus frugllegus, Linn,

This bird, which with us is commonly
spoken of as a ' crow,' is a gregarious and
common resident. Builds its nest during
March, as is well known. Numbers cross
the North Sea in the autumn ; I have seen on
the east coast a more or less constant stream
of rooks and jackdaws coming in from the sea,
which lasted all day. I am convinced that
the main and favourite food of this bird con-
sists of insects and larvae, and that, though it
cannot be denied that they feed their young
partly on half-digested corn, and that some
individuals imitate the predacious habits of the
carrion-crow with regard to game eggs, I do
not believe that the rook offends nearly so
much in this respect as his sly associate the
jackdaw, and that on the whole he is a most
useful friend to agriculture. But the numbers of
the rooks ought to be kept within bounds, and
any individuals that develop a poaching ten-
dency (they are easily to be recognized) should
be dealt with summarily.

79. Skylark. Alauda arvensis, Linn.

A common resident, migrating southwards
in autumn, and replaced by large flocks from
further north. Breeds in April, nesting on
the ground amongst vegetation, and raising
two broods in the season.

80. Woodlark. Alauda arborea, Linn.

A scarce and local resident, or summer
visitor, somewhat intermittent in its appear-
ance. It haunts clearings in woods, where it
breeds, nesting on the ground amongst grass,
from the middle of March to the end of April.

81. Swift. Cypsrlus apus {Lmn.).

A summer visitor, locally common, reaching
us about the last week in April, breeding in
holes in buildings or under eaves, raising but
one brood in the season, and leaving us about
the first week in September.

82. Nightjar. Caprimulgus europtsus, Linn.
Locally, Night-Hawk.

A local summer visitor, not uncommon in
the eastern part of Northamptonshire, which
it reaches the second week in May, breeding
on the ground in the edges or clearings of
woods, and leaving early in September.

83. Wryneck, lynx torquilla, Linn.

A not uncommon summer visitor, arriving
towards the end of March, breeding about
mid-May in a hole in a tree at low elevation,
and leaving about the middle of September. A
shy, unobtrusive bird, and one which but for
its note would be little noticed.

84. Green Woodpecker. Gecinus viridis

(Linn.).

A not uncommon resident, somewhat local
in distribution, from reasons mentioned under
species 85. I was struck, in February, 1886,
by noticing that this bird, not very abundant
about Irchester previously, suddenly seemed to
have its numbers largely increased, and became
a comparatively common bird. I ascertained
subsequently that a good deal of old wood
in the vicinity had been recently felled. In
east Northamptonshire it is not uncommon,
and I have known of several nests in most of
the years I have been here. Breeds in April,
in holes in trees, and has eggs about the middle
of the month.

85. Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Dendro-

copus major (Linn.).

A scarce resident, affected, like other tree
borers, by the limited quantity of older timber
now existing, and therefore to be seen most
commonly in old parks. The present is the
rarest in Northants of the three British species,
but it escapes notice from being to a great
extent a tree-top bird. It nests in holes in
dead branches or decaying trees, at a good
height from the ground, about the middle of
May,

119

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

86. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Dendrocopui

minor (Linn.).
An uncommon resident, decidedly local in
distribution, and one which also escapes notice
from the elevation at which it passes much of
its time. Commoner than the last, but I
should certainly not call it, as Lord Lilford
does about Lilford, the commonest Northamp-
tonshire woodpecker. In the east of the
county I should say that there are three pairs
of the green woodpecker to one of this bird.
Nests (often, but not always, at a great height)
in holes in trees, and lays its eggs early in
May.

87. Kingfisher. Alcedo iipida, Linn.

Still manages, in spite of much undeserved
persecution, to be a fairly common resident,
though I ought to modify the last word by
mentioning that in continued frost kingfishers
leave the frozen inland waters for the sea
shore. They nest as early as the middle of
March, and as late as the end of July, but it
is difficult to ascertain whether they are double-
brooded, or only irregular. The eggs are laid
in a hole in a bank, made usually by the birds
themselves, but I have known them use an
old sand-martin's hole.

88. Roller. Coraciai garrulus, Linn.

Lord Lilford records that one was seen at
Lilford in September, 1859 (^°'- '• 253).

89. Hoopoe. Upupa epopi, Linn.

An irregular occasional visitor, generally in
spring. Five times shot {Lilford, i. 248-52)
in Northants. It visits England so frequently
that, if not wantonly massacred (as it usually
is), it might become a fairly common resident.

90. Cuckoo. Cucului canorus, Linn.

A common summer visitor, reaching us
about the middle of April, and letting every-
body know it. It takes the duties of maternity
lightly, and ' farms out ' its progeny to the
care of pied wagtails, pipits, reed and sedge-
warblers, hedge-sparrows, and other birds.
(I once took an egg from a grasshopper-
warbler's nest in Northants, which is very
unusual, and no wonder, considering the art-
fulness of that bird in hiding its nest.) The
old cuckoos leave us in July, the young birds
often a month later.

91. White or Barn Owl. Strix fiammea^hxnn.

Usually called the ' screech ' or ' white ' owl.

A not uncommon resident, still, unfortu-
nately, persecuted by * gamekeepers and ignor-
ant farmers ' (Saunders) whose best friend the
poor bird is, as it does more efficient work
gratis than any ratcatcher. It breeds in April

or May in hollow trees, dovecotes (where it
does no harm whatever) and holes in buildings
or rocks, sometimes laying its eggs in three
pairs and at intervals.

92. Long-eared Owl. Asia otus (Linn.).

An uncommon resident, its numbers in
the winter being reinforced by immigration.
Breeds early in March and lays its eggs in an
old squirrel's drey, or the disused nest of a
magpie, carrion-crow, or wood-pigeon. Feeds
on rats and mice, and small birds up to the
size of a blackbird.

93. Short-eared Owl. Asia accipitrinus (Pallas).
An uncommon winter visitor (though a few

remain and breed in the fens) arriving about
the full moon in October and frequenting
open ground, not woods ; feeds on rats, mice,
and small birds, fish, and occasionally insects.

94. Tawny Owl. Symium aluco (Linn.).

A not uncommon resident, breeding in
hollow or ivy-covered trees as a rule, laying
its eggs as early as the middle of March or as
late as July, though it is not known that it is
double-brooded ; frequents woods, and feeds
on rats, mice, moles, small birds and fish.

95. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli).

A resident, originally imported and turned
out by the late Lord Lilford on his estate,
and now thoroughly established. It has been
massacred as far from Lilford as Earl's Barton.
A useful bird — as it lives largely on mice and
rats, but also eats small birds and insects — yet
many are murdered, on the senseless principle
of killing any unfamiliar visitor.

96. Scops-Owl. Scops giu (Scopoli).

A very rare visitor to Britain, of which a
doubtful occurrence at Duddington is to be
found in Lilford (i. 57).

97. Marsh-Harrier. Circus aruginosus (Linn).
The bird seen by Lord Lilford near Aid-
winkle {Lilford, i. 44) remains the only record
for Northamptonshire.

98. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.).
Of this there is only one occurrence on

record, the one shot at Collyweston, September,
1890, but others have been seen at different
times.

99. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus

(Montagu).
A summer visitor, of which also but one
Northamptonshire specimen is on record, shot
at Thorpe Waterville, August 31st, 1894.
A few pairs still make heroic efforts to breed
in a few of the eastern and southern counties,
but without much success.

120

BIRDS

100. Buzzard. Buteo vulgaris, Leach.

Formerly a res>ident, breeding not uncom-
monly in trees in the more densely-wooded
parts of the county ; now, owing to persecu-
tion, a rare occasional visitor of which half a
dozen modern occurrences in the county are
recorded by Lord Lilford (i. 35-39).

lOi. Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus
(Gmelin).
An occasional winter visitor, of which three
or four occurrences in Northants are noted
{Lilford, i. 39-40).

102. Golden Eagle. Aqulla chrysaetus {L.\nn.).

Very rare occasional visitor, usually seen in
England in winter. One Northants example
is on record [Lilford, i. 3-5) shot near Walcot,
by Barnack, in October, 1849. 'Golden'
eagles are constantly reported in the local
papers, but the birds in question are, nineteen
times out of twenty, young sea-eagles.

103. White-tailed or Sea-Eagle. Haliaetus
albicilla (Linn.).

An occasional winter visitor, haunting
sheets of water and living on fish and water-
birds, but not averse to any carrion. English
examples are usually immature, without the
white tail, which is not attained till the bird
is five or six years old. It has been four times
shot in Northants {Lilford, i. 3-7), and more
often seen. I saw one near Milton on
October 25th, 1895, and more recently still
one has passed two winters at Blatherwycke,
where it was carefully protected (an example
worthy of imitation) notwithstanding the dis-
turbance it naturally caused amongst the
feathered population.

104. Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus (Linn.).
A resident of wandering and migratory

habits, which would long since have been
exterminated but for the immigration from
abroad. I cannot say much in its defence,
for it is a bloodthirsty little rascal. Chiefly
haunting woodlands, it builds itself a nest,
usually in a tree (only occasionally adopting
an old one built by a crow or a woodpigeon),
and laying its eggs in May.

105. Kite. Mih'u; ictinus, Savigny.

Formerly a resident, brfding not uncom-
monly in the larger woodlands in Northants ;
now almost exterminated as a breeding bird
in Britain, the greater part of the few occur-
ring at intervals being wanderers from the
continent. Many records in Northants (for
which the reader is referred to Lilford (i.
30-35), but none newer than 1850.

106. Honey - Buzzard. Pernis apivorus

(Linn.).
This bird is entirely harmless to game, but
has nevertheless been freely destroyed as an
enemy by ignorant gamekeepers. It formerly
bred in the south of England, not uncom-
monly, but is now a rare wanderer on passage
in autumn, feeding chiefly on the larvs
which it scratches from wasps' nests. Some
half a dozen obituary notices may be found
in Lilford (i. 41-44).

107. Peregrine Falcon. Falco peregrinus,

Tunstall.
An occasional winter visitor, staying for
some time in woodland districts when not
persecuted. Perhaps more plentiful about
Lilford than elsewhere in our county, for the
above reason. I have seen a good many
there in the late Lord Lilford's days, and
noticed that they were very indifferent to the
proceedings of a shooting party, not having
learnt there to fear a gun. I have also there
enjoyed partridge hawking with trained pere-
grines— a magnificent sport. The presence
of wild falcons at Lilford certainly had no ill-
effect on the quantity of game, or the sport.

108. Hobby. Falco subbuteo, Linn.

A not uncommon summer visitor, appear-
ing in May, and breeding in old nests of the
crow or wood-pigeon where not persecuted.
Chiefly seen in woodland districts.

109. Merlin. Falco asalon, Tunstall.

A winter visitor of not uncommon occur-
rence, from the north, where it breeds, when
permitted, amongst heather on the moors, and
where it is, undoubtedly, somewhat destruc-
tive to young grouse. With us it does no
harm whatever (unless it takes an occasional
snipe), as it feeds entirely at that season on
small birds, e.g. larks and thrushes. The last
merlin I saw here was over our boundary
certainly, and was hanging by the legs in
Colworth Thick, having been massacred by
the keeper.

1 10. Kestrel or Wind-hover. Falco tinnun-

culus, Linn.
A fairly common resident, and would be
commoner, if people only recognized that the
bird feeds chiefly on mice (occasionally on
small birds, oftener on frogs, grasshoppers,
beetles and worms). Occasionally a kestrel
develops a vicious habit of visiting the
pheasant-coops and taking the chicks, and
these individuals ought to have a short shrift,
as we punish a vicious man. On the whole,
however, a kestrel ought to be protected as
strictly as an owl.
21

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

111. Osprey. Pandion haliattus {h'mn.).

A rare occasional visitor, in autumn chiefly.
Feeds entirely on fish. Three or four have
been shot in Northants, and more seen {Li/-
ford, i. 7-9).

112. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carho{\J\r\n!).

An occasional visitor, usually in winter,
much rarer than the following species, and
like it only found near water as a rule. Seven
specimens have been obtained in our county
[Lilford). I have seen one or two more.

113. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro-

corax gracului (Linn.).

Commoner than the last, but appearing
under similar conditions.

1 1 4. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula hassana

(Linn.).
A rare occasional visitor after storms at sea,
and usually in winter. Several occurrences
noted in Lilford (ii. 217-223).

115. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn.

Common resident, there being two con-
siderable heronries at Althorp and Milton,
whence the county is supplied. A harmless
and picturesque bird, which should never be
interfered with, except perhaps on trout
streams.

116. Night-Heron. Nycticorax griseus (L'mn.).

A rare occasional visitor, found by water.
Lord Lilford shot the only specimen obtained
hitherto in our county, and in his book, so
often referred to by me, takes blame to him-
self for killing so rare a bird. But his Lord-
ship was then making a collection of birds
obtained in the county for the public benefit,
and was anxious to add to it an example of a
bird unrepresented in the collection, and un-
verified as occurring in the county. He pro-
tected carefully the next individual he met
with.

117. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta {Lmn.).

Now a rare occasional visitor to Britain,
but there is little doubt that it used to breed
in the broads district. The only record for
Northamptonshire is one by Baker (1830),
admitted by Lord Lilford.

1 1 8. Bittern. Botaurus stellarls (Linn.).

Once common in Northants, as it bred in
Whittlesea Mere, or at all events was common
there. Now an uncommon occasional visitor,
usually butchered when met with. Many
examples have been obtained, as the bird
usually lies close.

119. White Stork. Ciconia alba, 'Bcchsttm.

A rare occasional visitor. A small flock
was seen near Courtcenhall, apparently in the
summer of 1875, by Sir Herewald Wake and
Mr. W. Tomalin.

120. Grey Lag-Goose. Anser cinereus, Meyer.

Lord Lilford (ii. 140, 141) thinks that this
species has occurred in Northants, as no doubt
it has in early days when it used to breed in
the fens. No specimen is on hand to authen-
ticate it.

121. White-fronted Goose. Anser alhifrons

(Scopoli).

The white ring round the beak and the
conspicuous black blotches on the breast {N.B.
— The last and following species have both
these marks at times, but much less developed)
make records of this bird more frequent with
us, though I have known pink-footed geese that
have had these marks called ' white-fronted.'
Lord Lilford records seven occurrences.

122. Bean-Goose. Anser segetum (Gmelin).

A scarce autumn and winter visitor, of
irregular appearance, being very often im-
perfectly distinguished from the next species.
Used to visit Northants in much greater num-
bers than it does now, but the multiplication
of guns and gunners in recent years is enough
to account for this. Several specimens have
been obtained by Lord Lilford, and a lot of
nine that I examined at close range near
Irchester on December 24th, 1890, were
certainly of this species.

123. Pink-footed Goose. Anser hrachyrhyn-

chus, Baillon.

Probably this species is much the com-
monest in Britain, but the geese are so im-
perfectly distinguished, as a rule, that it is
difficult to sift evidence. This bird has been
satisfactorily identified by Lord Lilford on
two occasions. I personally have had no
chance of handling wild geese shot in the
county.

124. Barnacle-Goose. Bernicia kucopsis {Bech-

stein).

Mr. George Hunt, whom I knew as a
careful and accurate observer, once saw six of
these birds near Achurch, but it is not on
record as having been shot with us.

125. Brent Goose. Bcrnkla brenta (Pallas).

One doubtful record in Lilford (ii. 149) of
its occurrence at Biggin.

122

BIRDS

126. Whooper. Cygnus musicus, Bechstein.

A not very uncommon visitor, but irregular,
only appearing in cold weather, when the
floods are out. There were a number in the
Nene valley in February, 1893, and I several
times saw a dozen or more. Captain Vipan
shot two about then, and Lord Lilford records
a number of other occurrences.

127. Bewick's Swan. Cygnus bewlcii, YarreW.

An occasional visitor, under similar condi-
tions to the last species. Mr. George Hunt
shot several near Lilford in 1879, and Captain
Vipan saw a flock of eleven Bewick's swans
when he shot the two whoopers mentioned
above.

128. Mute Swan. Cygnus olor (Gmelin).
Acclimatized on our waters.

129. Common Sheld-Duck. Tadorna cornuta

(S. G. Gmelin).

A marine species, which has a good many
times wandered to our county, where several
have been shot.

130. Mallard or Wild Duck. Anas boscas,

Linn.

A common winter visitor, in nothing like
the numbers, however, in which it used to
appear. The multiplication of guns, and the
consequent scarcity of quiet corners, has much
to do with this, which affects all wildfowl.
To a certain extent this bird is a resident
also, breeding on waters with us where quiet
is obtainable.

131. Gadwall. Anas strepera, hinn,

A rare winter visitor in small numbers ;
has been recognized and obtained several times
at the decoy and ponds at Lilford.

132. Shoveler. Spatula clypeata (Linn.).

A moderately common visitor at all times
of year, but chiefly in the spring, and always
in small parties. A wild drake once bred
with a pinioned duck at Lilford.

133. Pintail. Dafila acuta (Linn.).

An occasional visitor in the winter, never
in any numbers. A dozen or more records
are extant.

134. Teal. Nettion crecca (Linn.).

A scarce resident, breeding occasionally ;
many used to breed in the fens and ' washes,'
till cultivation ruined them as fowl-resorts.
Pretty plentiful in winter, arriving about the
beginning of September.

135. Garganey. Querquedula cin'ia (Linn.).

A rare spring visitor in small numbers,
which has been four times shot in the county
[Lilford, ii. 182-183).

136. Wigeon. Mareca penelope (Linn.).

A regular autumn visitor to our waters,
arriving as early as September 8th, but gener-
ally at the end of that month, and remaining
till April.

137. Pochard. Fuligula ferina (Linn.).

An uncommon winter visitor in Northants,
though it breeds in Norfolk and elsewhere in
Britain.

138. Tufted Duck. Fuligula cristata {htzzh).

A not uncommon winter visitor. It breeds
in Norfolk and abundantly in Notts, but Lord
Lilford does not record it as having done so
in Northants, except in captivity, but I have
reason to believe that it does. On April
25th, 1898, 1 saw a male swimming about on
Blatherwycke Lake, and from his conduct he
led me to believe that there was a female
sitting on eggs on an adjacent island. Only
male wild ducks were then visible from the
same reason. This is only circumstantial
evidence, but I believe it may be depended on.

139. Scaup. Fuligula marila (Linn.).

A sea-duck, and one hardly fit to eat. An
occasional winter visitor to the Nene valley,
and half a dozen have been obtained at dif-
ferent times.

140. Goldeneye. Clangula glaucion (hinn.).

A not uncommon autumn and winter
visitor to our inland waters, in small numbers,
nearly always immature birds ; old males
seldom occur ; worthless for the table.

141. Common Scoter. CEdemia nigra (Linn.).

A purely marine species, which has thrice
been recorded from our county in the early
autumn {Lilford, ii. 198).

142. Velvet Scoter. CEdemia fusca (Linn.).
Once seen near Lilford {Lilford, ii. 200).

143. Goosander. Afergus merganser, hinn.

A not uncommon winter visitor to our
waters, where a good many have been shot at
different times.

144. Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus ser-

rator, Linn.
A common bird on our coasts, but it seems
to visit our county much less frequently than
the last ; several examples, however, have
been obtained in the winter.

123

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

145. Smew. Mergus albellui, Linn.

A rare winter visitor, several times seen,
but only once shot as yet in our county.

146. Wood-Pigeon or Ring-Dove. Columba

palumbui, Linn.
A common resident, very numerous in
winter owing to immigration from abroad.
Breeds in April, and rears three or four broods
in the season.

147. Stock-Dove. Columba cenas, Linn.
This bird, which is commonly but incor-
rectly spoken of as the ' rock-dove,' is a
common summer resident, less common in
winter. Builds in holes in trees or buildings,
ivy, or rabbit-burrows, raising two or three
broods in the season. I have had young
stock-doves hatched in my garden at Thorn-
haugh on April ist, and have known them
leave the nest as late as November 29th
(1898).

148. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby.
A common summer visitor, reaching us

about May-day, breeding in hawthorn and
similar bushes, and leaving about the middle
of September. Very tiresome to crops of the
leguminous kind, especially tares.

149. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para-

doxui (Pallas).
A north-eastern Asiatic wanderer, occa-
sionally visiting Britain in numbers, as in
1863 and 1888. A good many were shot in
Northants in the latter year, after which (in
spite of the Act of Parliament hastily passed
to induce them to stay) they all ungratefully
vanished again.

150. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrlx, Linn.

A very rare occasional visitor, possibly from
Sandringham, possibly from Sherwood Forest.
Lord Lilford records an occurrence at Cran-
ford in 1849. Another was shot near Oak-
ham, outside our boundaries, in 1896 {North-
ants Nat. Hist. Soc. Journ., ix. 166). Last
year I saw one (a female, like the two already
mentioned), on the rough ground behind Wal-
cot, on my way home from Barnack. It lit on
a stone wall, where I was able to stalk it to
within 100 yards, and it is a species with
which I am familiar from boyhood.

151. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham).
A cock grouse was shot in November,

1892, near Warkworth (Northamptonshire).
I have long been familiar with the regular
migrations of the grouse in the north of
England, and the distances to which severe
weather will impel them, but this occurrence
is another thing altogether ; it is permissible,

however, to mention that freshly-caught
grouse (netted, by persons whom I must not
call poachers, on the edges of other peoples'
moors) are a regular article of trade nowadays.

152. Pheasant. Phasianus co/chicus, Linn.
This species has now been so universally

crossed with the Chinese P. torquatus and the
Japanese P. versicolor^ that it is in fact a
mongrel.

153. Partridge. Perdix cinerea, LMh:\.m.

A common resident, breeding on the ground,
laying about the end of April, and only rais-
ing one brood.

154. Red-legged or French Partridge. Cac-

cahis rufa (Linn.).
Introduced in Suffolk about 1770, the
Frenchman made its appearance in Northants
shortly after the year 1840. It is now plenti-
ful, breeding usually on the ground, and lay-
ing in the end of April. It is quite erroneous
to suppose that this bird drives away the
common partridge ; I have known a nest of
either species within a foot of one another,
and the two hens sat harmoniously, and both
hatched out.

155. Quail. Coturnix communis, ^onn2^.Qtxt.
An irregular summer visitor, perhaps not

so common as it used to be — which is not
surprising, considering what an enormous
number of quails are netted abroad on the
spring migration. Lord Lilford mentions a
good many occurrences (i. 311), and since the
publication of his work I saw a quail near
here (Thornhaugh) dusting itself by the road-
side on July 14th, 1896, and nearly a month
later some of its eggs were brought to me
which had been mowed out in a clover field.

156. Land-Rail or Corn-Crake. Crex pra-

tcnsis, Bechstein.
A common summer visitor.

157. Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetta

(Leach).
Used to breed (like the last species) in some
abundance at VVhittlesea Mere, before its
drainage ; still occurs not uncommonly, and
chiefly in autumn. It frequents reed-beds
with us, but is also a persistent skulker. I
have two county examples.

158. Water-Rail. Ra/lus aguaticus, L>\nn.

A not uncommon resident, though seldom
seen from its skulking habits. No doubt
breeds in small numbers with us, though no
eggs are extant ; an undoubtedly local egg of
this species in the Peterboro' Museum is not
unlikely to have been taken in the county.
[24

BIRDS

[Purple Gallinule. Porphyria caru/eus,
Vandelli.

Has been several times reported in the
county, where there is much more likelihood
of the occurrence of P. smarag/Jontus, which
is a common 'ornamental waterfowl.' I
doubt if the two are often distinguished from
one another. In any case the birds recorded
have undoubtedly escaped from a private
collection.]

159. Moor-Hen or Water-Hen. Gallinula

chloropm (Linn.).
A common resident, breeding on all rivers,
brooks, ponds and lakes.

160. Coot. Fulica atra, Linn.

A resident, common on all larger sheets of
water, and occasional on rivers. Moves about
a good deal in winter, like the last species.

161. Great Bustard. Otis tarda, Linn.
Morton (17 1 2) records this bird, then

common on all considerable open stretches of
land, as only a rare visitor to Northants. It
has not occurred of late years.

162. Little Bustard. Otis tetrax, Linn.

A rare winter visitor, of which only one
occurrence has been noted in our county,
which was shot near Rothwell, November
20th, 1858.

163. Stone-Curlew also Norfolk Plover or

Thick-knee. CEdicnemui icolopax (S. G.

Gmelin).
A rare wanderer to our county from Nor-
folk, where it is a pretty abundant summer
visitor to the ' breck ' country. Lord Lilford
records two occurrences {Lilford, ii. 1-2),
since which the Rev. F. M. Stopford has sent
me notice of one he saw at Tichmarsh, July
26th, 1898.

164. Dotterel. Eudromias morinellus (Linn.).
A rare visitor during the autumn and spring

migrations, of which the late Lord Lilford
received two specimens, and others have been
reported, but not obtained.

165. Ringed Plover. /Egia/itis hiaticula

(Linn.).
A rare occasional visitor, of which the only
county example is the one in the Northamp-
ton Museum, shot in 1866. Such a common
bird on the British coasts that it is rather
surprising that we have no more records.

166. Golden Plover. Charadrius pluvialis,

Linn.
A pretty common winter visitor to the
Nene valley, seen sometimes in large flocks.

I saw a trip of about fifty on April 19th,
1886, between Irchester and WoUaston,
evidently on their way north to breed, nearly
all of which had put on the black breast of
the summer plumage.

[Grey Plover. Squatarola helvetica (Linn.).

Has been reported from Northants, but
tangible evidence of its occurrence in the
county is still wanting.]

167. Lapwing or Peewit. Vanellus vulgaris,

Bechstein.
A common resident, breeding in the end of
March and throughout April on fallows and
rough grass ; decreasing in numbers as a
breeding bird, owing to the taking of the eggs
by man, crows, rooks and jackdaws.

168. Oyster-Catcher. Hamatopus ostralegus,

Linn.
A pretty common winter visitor to the
more southerly English coasts, wandering
rarely inland in England, though in Scotland
resident and breeding, often far inland {e.g. in
the heart of Perthshire). Has been once shot,
and more than once reported as seen or heard
in our county [Lilford, ii. 27, 28).

i6g. Grey Phahrope. Phalaropus fuUcarius
(Linn.).
A rare irregular winter visitor to Britain,
twice recorded as occurring in Northants {Lil-
ford, ii. 33, 34). The red-necked phalarope,
P. hyperhoreus (Linn.), has not yet been ob-
tained in our county.

170. Woodcock. Scolopax rusticula, Linn.

A regular autumn visitor, though not in the
same numbers in which it occurs in other
parts of the British Islands. Has bred occa-
sionally (see Lilford, ii. 37, 38), but I have no
recent evidence of this. I have had a good
deal of experience of woodcocks' nests in the
north, and have observed that they require
shady and undisturbed woods for daylight, and
marshy fields adjacent where they can feed at
night and teach their young to probe, carrying
them there at nightfall till they can carry
themselves. Unless there is the conjunction
of these two elements, they seldom or never
remain to breed. Now the area in Northants
of ground wet enough during the summer to be
pierced by a youthful beak and near suitable
woods is not very large, and is probably de-
creasing.

171. Great Snipe. Gallinaga major {GmeUn).
A rare autumn visitor, most of the so-called

great snipes reported being only fine specimens
of the following. One has been shot in the
county, and several more reported {Lilford, ii.

125

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

51, 52). Does not breed in this country, but
I have found the nest in Norway and Russian
Lapland.

172. Common Snipe. Gallinago caelestis

(Frenzel).
A regular autumn and spring visitor, not it
seems in as great numbers as formerly, owing
to many of its old breeding grounds being
reduced to cultivation. It breeds occasionally
by the Nene, in quiet spots, laying early in
April.

1 73. Jack Snipe. Gallinago gallinula (Linn.).

A not uncommon winter visitor, frequent-
ing similar ground to the last bird, appearing
in October. Has never been ascertained to
breed in Britain.

174. Dunlin. Tringa alpina, Linn.

An occasional visitor in autumn and spring.
Very common on the coasts, breeding on fells
in north and south-west Britain.

175. Little Stint. Tringa minuta, Leisler.

Lord Lilford had several occurrences re-
ported to him, but apparently he never saw a
county specimen, nor have 1.

176. Curlew-Sandpiper. Tringa subarquata

(Guldenstadt).

A very rare wanderer to Northants in au-
tumn. The late Mr. George Hunt shot one
at Pilton, September 9th, 1887, and one
was more recently shot at Naseby reservoir
{Northants Nat. Hist. Soc. Journ., 1899).
Both were immature.

177. Knot. Tringa canutus, hinn.

A very abundant autumn and spring
migrant on our coasts, which has thrice
wandered to our county and been recognized.

178. RufF (? Reeve). Machetes pugnax

(Linn.).
Formerly abundant and breeding in the
fens, including Whittlesea Mere ; now a
scarce occasional visitor. Only four recent
occurrences are mentioned by Lord Lilford
(ii. 78, 79), to which I am able to add a
young male obtained by me at Ditchford, near
Irchester, on September 22nd, 1890.

179. Common Sandpiper. Totanus hypoleucus

(Linn.).
This bird, also called the 'summer snipe,'
is a migrant, passing through the county in
small numbers in April, and returning in early
autumn. Has been frequently reported as
breeding at Ravensthorpe reservoir, near
Northampton ; it is much to be regretted that

the nest (which is not a difficult one to find)
has not been looked up in the interests of the
Northampton Museum.

180. Wood - Sandpiper. Totanus glareola

(Gmelin).
Much rarer than the last, but occurring
under the same circumstances. Several re-
corded occurrences {Lilford^ ii. 90).

181. Green Sandpiper. Totanus ochropus

(Linn.).
A regular visitor in small numbers on
migration in early autumn and spring, fre-
quenting brooks as well as main rivers. Easily
recognized by the conspicuous white patch
over the tail and the loud double scream on
rising.

182. Common Redshank. Totanus calidris

(Linn.).
An autumn and spring migrant, not very
uncommon. A few pairs breed here and
there in rough water-meadows. See Lilford
in loc. and Nat. Hist. Soc. Journ.y vol. x. 16.

183. Spotted or Dusky Redshank. Totanus

fuscus (Linn.).
A rare autumn and spring visitor, some-
what difficult to distinguish in winter dress
from the foregoing at anything but a very
short distance. Has been once shot in
Northants, at Canon's Ashby, August 28th,
i!

184. Greenshank. Totanus canescem (fjTa^Xxn).
A rare visitor in autumn and spring, which

has been a good many times recorded as being
seen in the county, but on one occasion only
obtained (as far as I can gather) — at Whilton,
in December, 1885.

185. Bar-tailed Godwit. Limosa lapponica

(Linn.).
A scarce occasional visitor from autumn to
spring ; the one I saw at Mr. Field's in
Kettering in December, 1885, shot near
there, remains the only record hitherto. But
the Waders, which resemble one another so
closely, and have so many changes of plumage,
want a great deal more attention from North-
amptonshire observers than they have ever yet
had, except near Lilford.

186. Curlew. N umenius arquata i^xnn!).
Also a passing migrant, seldom touching

ground in Northants. I have several times
heard them passing over at night, my atten-
tion being attracted to them by their call.
Two or three have been obtained in the
county, which would probably be tired birds

126

BIRDS

187. Whimbrel. Numenius phceopui [L'mn.).

A passing migrant, as a rule in early autumn,
seldom stopping, or alighting. Only one
example seems to have come to hand, near
Thorpe Mandeville, May i6th, 1881.

188. Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra {L\nn).

Formerly abundant, when it bred in the
then undrained fens and meres. Now an
irregular visitor to Northants, most commonly
seen on the larger sheets of water, reservoirs,
etc.

1 89. Common Tern. Sterna Jiuviatilisy Nau-

mann.
A not uncommon bird of passage in early
autumn, wandering up the rivers. The Arctic
tern has never been obtained in Northants, as
far as is known, though it is likely enough to
occur on passage.

190. Little Tern. Sterna minuta, Linn.

A rarer visitor than the last, but seen under
similar conditions. Lord Lilford gives obituary
notices of two only.

191. Brown-headed Gull. Larus ridibundus,

Linn.
This, usually but wrongly called the black-
headed gull, is much the commonest gull in
Northants, outnumbering all the other species
together. Between Peterborough and Wans-
ford the brown-headed gull seems often to
settle for the winter, as on the Serpentine. It
has then, of course, lost the sooty-brown head,
which it only wears in summer. For its
breeding in Norfolk, see Lilford, ii. 233-235.

192. Common Gull. Larus canus, Linn.

Decidedly uncommon, and only recurring
singly, or in small parties, as a casual wan-
derer ; most often in immature dress in early
autumn.

193. Herring-Gull. Larus argentatus, GmeVm.

One of the commonest gulls in Northants
(of course only a passing wanderer at best). I
have noticed it on many occasions. Lord
Lilford considers it hard to distinguish on the
wing from the next species ; I am inclined to
the opposite opinion, for it is a much slenderer
bird in outline.

194. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus,

Linn.

Not a common visitor to Northants. Lord
Lilford only records three undoubted occur-
rences, but it is oftener seen at the eastern end
of the county, where I have thrice been able
to identify it, passing over, in six years.

195. Great Black-backed Gull. Larus ma-

rinus, Linn.
Not uncommon, but usually seen at a great
height in stately flight up or down the river.
Considerably the largest of the gulls that visit
Northants.

196. Kittiwake. Rissa tridactyla (Linn.).

One of the scarcer gulls in Northants, and
only a rare accidental visitor. I have only
once identified it, and Lord Lilford, with his
much greater opportunities, only handled three
or four Northamptonshire specimens.

[Great Skua. Megakstris catarrhactes (Linn.)

A bird was reported to Lord Lilford from
the Oxfordshire border under this name, but
the reporter subsequently had reason to doubt
the correct identification, and thought it was
more likely to have been the Pomatorhine
skua, so a valuable record is thrown away.]

197. Arctic or Richardson's Skua. Stercora-

rius crepidatus (Gmelin).

A wandering pirate from autumn to spring,
which has once only been obtained in North-
ants— near Houghton Mills, Northampton,
October 14th, 1890 {Lilford).

198. Long-tailed or BufFon's Skua. Sterco-

rarius parasiticus (Linn.).

A rare wanderer, but one which has thrice
occurred in Northants {Lilford, ii. 249).

1 99. Common Guillemot. Uria troile (Linn.).
A common marine bird, breeding in rocks,

of rare occurrence inland. One was obtained
at Kislingbury on November i6th, 1864 {Lil-
ford, ii. 266).

200. Little Auk. Mergulus alle (Linn.).

A scarce winter visitor to our coasts, occa-
sionally, however, in severe winters, appearing
in vast numbers, and then driven inland by
storms, from which it happens that many more
specimens are on record of this arctic species
in our inland counties, than of such common
British breeding birds as the guillemot and
razorbill. 1841 and 1895 were great 'little
auk years,' and a good many records are men-
tioned by Lord Lilford (ii. 260-262), who also
mentions that immature puffins were generally
reported to him as ' little auks.'

201. Puffin. Fratercula arctica {Lmn.).

A marine species, which seems to appear
inland more frequently than most of its con-
geners that breed on our coasts in equal abun-
dance. Ten occurrences, mostly of immature
birds, are reported in Lilford (ii. 262-264).

127

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

202. Great Northern Diver. Colymbus glacialis,

Linn.

A rare winter visitor, usually keeping to the
sea, but occasionally coming inland to rivers
and large sheets of water. Three, at least,
have been obtained in Northants.

203. Black-throated Diver. Co/ymbus arcticus,

Linn.

An occasional winter visitor, scarcer than
the last, but of much the same habits. One
was shot on Naseby reservoir on October
25th, 1881.

204. Red-thro.ited Diver. Co/ymbus septen-

trionalis, Linn.

An occasional winter visitor under much
the same conditions as the last two species, but
decidedly more abundant than either, and
oftener seen on rivers. Obtained with us in
winter dress, it should be remembered that the
red throat is then not worn, being only a sum-
mer adornment, as are also the black throats of
the last two species.

205. Great Crested Grebe. Podicipes crhtatus

(Linn.).

A resident, wandering about, more or less,
from autumn to spring, and breeding upon
several of the larger sheets of water in the
county, e.g. at Ravensthorpe, Naseby, Blather-
wycke, Deene, Canon's Ashby, and Byfield.
It is to be feared that the pike in these places
get most of the young birds.

206. Red-necked Grebe. Podicipes griseigena

(Boddaert).

A winter visitor, uncommon, and usually
marine in its habits. I have occasionally met
with small parties on the north-east coast ; it
has once been obtained on Naseby reservoir,
on February 17th, 1876 [Lilford^ ii. 281),
and one was seen at Saddington reservoir in
March, 1899, by Mr. W. J. Horn.

207. Slavonian or Horned Grebe. Podicipes

auritus (Linn.).

An occasional winter and spring visitor,
which has half a dozen times been obtained
on ponds and reservoirs in Northants, no
doubt on its way to or from Iceland, where
it breeds abundantly (see Lilford., ii. 282, 283).

208. Eared Grebe. Podicipes nigricolUs

(Brehm).

A rare casual visitor, occurring indifferently
at any time of the year, but not known to
have bred in Britain. A pair were shot on
Daventry reservoir in 1869 [Lilford).

209. Little Grebe or Dabchick. Podicipes

fiuviatilis (Tunstall).

Common and resident. A great skulker,
therefore little seen in summer when reeds
are thick.

210. Storni-Petrel. Proce/laria pe/agica,L,'mn.

A purely marine species, except during the
breeding season ; occasionally driven inland
by severe gales, and has two or three times
occurred in Northants.

211. Leach's or Fork-tailed Petrel. Oceano-

droma leucorrhoa (Vieillot).

A much rarer species than the last, yet it
has been obtained four times in Northants
(see Lilford, ii. 255, 256).

212. Manx Shearwater. Puffinus anglorum

(Temminck).

A pelagic species occasionally driven inland
by storms. Three or four have been obtained
in Northants {Lilford, ii. 250, 251).

213. Fulmar. Fulmarus glacialis (Linn.),

A marine species occasionally driven inland
by storms, whereof one specimen is recorded
as having occurred near Bainton on April 4th,
1 88 1 {Lilford, ii. 253, 254).

128

MAMMALS

Northamptonshire from its wooded surface and the absence of coal
and iron industries has been especially suitable for the preservation of
wild animals. Though Rockingham Forest, which in the Middle Ages
extended from the north of the county nearly as far as Northampton, has
much diminished in size, yet in the large estates in the north of the
county considerable patches of the original forest remain. The roe deer
{Capreolus capreolus) and the wild cat [Felis catus) are now extinct in the
county. The harvest mouse [Mus minufus) and the pine marten [Mustela
martes) are in all probability extinct, though both species have been
recorded within the memory of living men. Whether the old white
cattle have or have not a claim to be considered indigenous, or even ever
free from the control of man,' has long been a subject of discussion ; but
it has been thought desirable to refer to their former preservation in the
county. It may also be mentioned that the black rat {Mus rattus), the
brown rat {Mus decumarms), the rabbit {Lepus cuniculus) and the fallow
deer {Cervus damd) are to be regarded as introductions within historic
times. The polecat {Putorius putorius) is now on the verge of extinction
in this county, though apparently not uncommon forty years ago. There
is no great probability of any further extension of the present list of
species, though the occurrence of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus
hippo sider US') may yet be established.

CHEIROPTERA

1. Long-eared Bat. P/e\otus auritus, Linn. Xoologht for February, 1887, the late Lord
This common species is exceedingly plenti- Lilford says : ' Although I have never been

ful in the county. It may easily be recog- able hitherto to obtain the scrotine in North-
nized by the length of its ears as it flits about, amptonshire, I feel certain that it occurs occa-
sionally near Lilford ' ; and he maintained this

2. Barbastelle Bat. Barhastella barbastellus, opinion in conversation with me. While fish-

Schreber. j,^g ^^ Castle Ashby in 1894, I watched a

Bell — Barbastdlus daubentonu. strange bat, which I concluded to be this

A rare and local species. The late Lord species.

Lilford recorded a specimen which was ^^^^^ ^^ White's Bat (Noctule). PipU-

brought al.ve to h.m from P.lton, near ^^^^^^^ „^^,„/^^ Schreber.

Oundle m 1894 ; and he also told me m Bell-S../<,//5//«. noctuh.

lOQD that he had two specimens from 1 itch- ,„, . . , . ■ j •_

^ , r-u u This IS our largest native species, and its

marsh Church. , , . ^ _ . ° , .• . » j •..

habit of flying in the daylight renders it more

3. Serotine Bat. Vespertilio serotinus, Schreber. familiar than many of the others. Lord Lil-

Bell — Scotophilus serotinus. ford recorded it as ' inhabiting cavities in old

This is also a rare and local species. In the trees.' I had a specimen brought me from

» ' The Ch.irtley White Cattle,' Proc. North Staffs Field Club (January, 1 899), by Prof. W. Boyd
Dawkins ; also The tflld fVhlle Cattle 0/ Great Britain, by John Storer.

129

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

East Haddon Church, the roof of which
forms the abode of a large colony.

5. Pipistrelle or Common Bat. Pipiitrellui

pipistrellus, Schreber.

Bell — Scotophilui pipistrcllus.
This is universally distributed, and several
specimens have been brought to me from
different parts of the county.

6. Natterer's Bat. Myotis nattereri, Kuhl.

Bell — Vespert'iiio nattereri.
The late Lord Lilford remarks in the Zoo-
logist for February, 1887, that this species is

' by no means uncommon in the neighbour-
hood of Lilford.'

7. Daubenton's Bat. Myoth daubentoni, Leis-

ler.

Bell — yespertilio daubentonit.
Bell records this from Milton Park, near
Peterborough.

8. Whiskered Bat. Myoth mystacinus, Leis-

ler.

Bell — VespertUio mystacinus.
This is a local bat, and the only records
for the county that I know of are by Jenyns *
and by Lord Lilford.*

INSECTIVORA

9. Hedgehog. Erinaceus europieus, Linn.

This is a common animal in the county,
though Morton does not mention it.

10. Mole. Talpa europita^ Linn.

Morton ' says : ' The mole too, which, as
it is claw-footed, we may admit into this
class, has been found of a snow-white in a
ditch at Finshed.' Within the last few years
orange-coloured specimens have occurred at
Billing Lings, and a piebald one near Pres-
ton Deanery.

11. Common Shrew. Sorex araneuSy Linn.

This species is as common throughout the
county as it is elsewhere, and forms the chief
food of owls.

12. Pigmy Shrew. Sorex minutus, Pallas.

Bell — Sorex pygmaus.
This is the smallest British quadruped, and,
with the exception of a still smaller shrew,
the smallest belonging to Europe. I have
never caught the little creature itself, but I
have found its skull in owls' pellets from
Weekley Hall Wood, Grendon Park and
Pipwell Abbey, which are portions of the
old Rockingham Forest.

13. Water Shrew. Neomys fodiem, Pallas.

Bell — Crossopus fodiens.
This pretty little animal is far from un-
common. I have found dead specimens in
various parts of the county, and also several
skulls in owls' pellets.

CARNIVORA

14. Wild Cat. Felii catusy Linn.

Though the wild cat has long disappeared
from this part of England, we have the fol-
lowing interesting note by Morton : ' Many
Years ago we had the Wild Cats in our North-
amptonshire Woods. These from their way
of living, which is catching Birds, on which
chiefly they feed, are here called Birders.
The Wild Cat, that however of Whittlewood
Forest, is generally of a larger Size, and has a
tail many Degrees bigger than the Tame. The
Wild Cats differ also in Colour from the com-
mon House-Cats. In their Wawling Noise, and
other Properties, they agree with them, but
their Skins seem to be tann'd, as it were, with
the Sun and Weather they are so frequently
expos'd to. I mean in respect of the Colour,
which for the main is a dusky Red or Yellow,
and that in all of them : whereas in the Tame

* Morton, The Natural History of Northampton-
shire (171 2), p. 445, par. 76.

ones it is various and uncertain. The She
Cats at Finshed, and the like Lone-Houses do
sometimes wander into the Neighbouring
Woods and are gibb'd by the Wild ones
there. 'Tis a very difficult matter to tame
the Wild Wood Cats, tho taken never so
young into the House.'

15. Fox. Vulpci vulpeSy Linn.

Bell — Vulpes vulgaris.

The abundance of foxes in the county is
too well known to require remark here, but a
note from Morton may be interesting if not
credited : ' The Fox. A Bitch-Fox that had
been brought up tame at the Worshipful Ch.
Tryon's of Bulwick, Esq., was wont to sport
and play amongst the Dogs of his Pack, who
though true Fox-hunters, treated her like one
of their own Kind ; she was lin'd by one of

* Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2 edit., p. (>■].
' Harting, Zoologist, 1888, p. 163.

130

MAMMALS

them, and her own Whelps being taken away,
she suckled a Litter of Puppies that had been
put to her. And hereunto I may fitly add,
that at Aston, in 1699, was a Bitch half a
Beagle and a great Hunter of Rabbets, who
notwithstanding suckled a Nest of young Rab-
bets together with a Puppy of her own.'

16. Pine Marten. Muitela martei, Linn.

Bell — Martes ab'ietum.
Until June of 1896 I was afraid that there
was no available record of this species in the
county ; however, my good fortune made me
acquainted with Mr. Tyrrel, an old man of
eighty, who was bailiff and keeper at Pipwell
Abbey till lately. I found him in his trim
little garden on the estate, and quite willing
to give me any information in his power.
* Yes, he knew the marten cat,' pointing to
a spinney close by, ' and he had killed one
there fifty years ago, and had sent it to Carlton
Hall.'

17. Polecat. Putorius putorius, hinn.

Bell — Mustek putorius.
This animal, if not extinct in the county,
is on the verge of becoming so. I have, how-
ever, several interesting records. Morton does
not mention it, though it must have been far
from rare in his time. The late Mr. R.
Rogers of Castle Ashby, near Northampton,
once wrote to me : ' I can remember hearing
my grandfather relate the incidents of a most
exciting chase which he and his men had after
a fitchet at Round Hay Farm, Yardley Hast-
ings. It had visited his poultry yards, killing
several chickens. As near as I can remember
the date would be about 1866-70. Some few
years later, 1870—80, another polecat was
seen near to Castle Ashby fish-ponds.' Mr.
Bazeley of Horsemarket, Northampton, says
his father told him that fifty years ago he saw
a couple of polecats and young ones playing
in a thicket at Pattishall. Mr. Tyrrel of
Pipwell told me that the last that he knew
of were two which he killed on the estate
twenty-five years ago. One was caught alive
on the Lilford estate in 1869. Mr. Tye of
Northampton has in his possession the skull
of a polecat that was given him some fifteen
years ago by a keeper from Whittlebury
Forest, but unfortunately details of exact
locality are missing. Mr. C. E. Wright of
Kettering has a record of one being killed
about 1882, at Geddington Chase, by F.
Wright, the gamekeeper. It was given to
the late Mr. W. Lewen of Geddington.
Mr. C. E. Wright also informs me that
about 1882 he saw three or more polecats
on a ' keeper's gallows ' at Boughton Park.

In the Zoologist, August, 1891, there is a
notice of a polecat having been killed at
Aynhoe. Mr. W. Tomalin of Northamp-
ton tells me that he saw a polecat at Elton,
near Warmington, and found some young
wood-pigeons killed by it in a nest in a tree.
A trap was set, but without effect. Between
1850-54 Mr. Tomalin shot two polecats
down the Houghton Brook, one of which,
now stuffed, is in the Northampton Museum.
It jumped out of an ash tree into the brook,
where his fox terrier caught it and killed it.

18. Common Stoat. Putorius ermineus, Linn.

Bell — Mustela erminea.
Abundant. Mr. C. E. Wright of Ketter-
ing has a pair of stuffed stoats all white ex-
cept the ears and tips of the tails. They were
seen hunting a water-rat at Barton Seagrave,
and eventually caught it. They did not hesi-
tate to take to the water (March 28th, 1894).
Also the same keen observer records another
couple all white, except the ears and tips of
the tails, in Weekley Hall Wood.

1 9. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn.

Bell — Mustela vulgaris.
This animal occurs plentifully in the
county. It is rightly encouraged by intel-
ligent farmers, as it does wonders in clearing
the farms of rats and mice.

20. Badger. Meles meles, Linn.

Bell — Meles ta.xus.
Badgers are known to occur in many places,
and are generally left undisturbed until ^hey
fall under the suspicion of depredations, which
should often be rather laid to the charge of
the fox. Three years ago a very large one
with two young ones was caught at Grendon.
It was charged with worrying some lambs.
At Billing Lings there used to be an ' earth.'
There are said to be three pairs in Weekley
Hall Wood and a pair in Grafton Wood.
They were found to be very effective in
destroying wasps' nests, and some of the young
were sent to Buccleugh, in Scotland, to per-
form the same office. They also occur in Har-
Icston Firs, Wootton Park, Nobottle Wood,
and probably in several other places.

21. Otter. Lutra lutra, Linn.

Bell — Lutra vulgaris.
Our rivers are so suitable for the otter, that
in all probability the animal is more plentiful
than is generally supposed. The numerous
dead fish which are discovered with the
shoulders eaten may probably be accounted
for by them. One was killed (1896) in
Brigstock Park.

131

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

RODENTIA

22. Squirrel. Sciurtis leucourus, Kerr.

Bell — Sciurus vulgaris.
The squirrel is exceedingly common in this
wooded county. In fact, in consequence of
the dry warm springs of the last few years,
more young ones have been reared than usual,
and they have increased to the extent of be-
coming a nuisance by eating the young fir
trees, and have had to be kept under at
Harleston Firs and probably other places.
The only natural enemies they have to con-
tend with are the owls, which not only take
the young ones from the dreys, but kill and
eat the old ones. I have an entire skull of a
young one from an owl's pellet, and in other
pellets I have come across quantities of the
fur. In one instance Mr. C. E. Wright
found the remains of an adult squirrel close to
an owl's nest mutilated in a similar way to
that in which they treat young rabbits, that
is, with the flesh torn off the bones, which are
usually left entire.* It is curious that there
is no mention of the squirrel by Morton.

23. Dormouse. Muscardinus avellanarius,

Linn.

Bell — Myoxus avellanarius.
The dormouse is another of those animals
which with us are found most frequently in
those woodlands which have survived from
ancient forests. In Great Oakley Wood
scores of the summer nests may be seen in the
thickets. In Yardley Chase also I found one.
These nests are often built under an old birds'
nest, and Mr. C. E. Wright tells me of a
remarkable one built on the platform of an old
ring-doves' nest. In these nests the young
are born and make their summer quarters ; in
winter they hibernate in nests of moss beneath
the surface of the ground.

24. Brown Rat. Mus decumanus, Pallas.

This species is as common in Northampton-
shire as elsewhere. I have found tails and
mangled remains of young rats beneath rooks'
nests.

25. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Linn.

I can obtain two records of the old English
rat. Mr. C. E. Wright informs me that
some were killed in a granary at Kettering in
1 88 1. He has also seen the skin of one
killed by Mr. W. Freeman at Denver, near
Thrapston, in May, 1898.

1 A rabbit eaten by a fox is generally devoured
skin and bones together, and one eaten by a cat
has the skin turned inside out.

26. House Mouse. Mus muscu/us, Linn.

This mouse we have ever with us, and its
existence is too evident to need further com-
ment.

27. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field

Mouse. Mus sylvaticusy Linn.

The long-tailed field mouse, or wood mouse,
is very plentiful in the county. Owls con-
sume a great many of them.

28. Yellow-necked Mouse. Mus Jlavicol/ls,

Melchior.
This mouse differs from the last in its
greater size, and in having a broad band of
yellow on its breast instead of a spot only of
that colour. The only recorded specimen for
this county came from Lilford, and its skin is
now in the British Museum.^

29. Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas.

This pretty little animal would seem to be
now extinct in the county, the machinery
used nowadays for cutting the corn leaving
very little shelter for it. The late Lord Lil-
ford once told me that he remembered the
characteristic nests about thirty years ago in
the neighbourhood of Lilford ; and Mr. W.
Tomalin remembers to have seen the nests
forty years ago on wheat stalks in the county.

30. Water Vole. Microtus amphihius, Linn.

Bell — Arvuola amphibius.
The water vole, so often mistaken for the
brown rat, is plentiful along our streams, and
needs no further comment.

31. Field Vole. Microtus agrestis, Linn.

Bell — Jrt'ico/a agreilis.
The field vole, or short-tailed field mouse,
is abundant in all parts of the county, and I
have frequently trapped it. According to
Morton it was first described in this country
by Ray. He says (p. 443) : ' The Mus
agrestis capite grandi brachiuros, Raij. Synop.
Quadrup., p. 218. The Short-tailed Mouse
with a great Head. The Head indeed is re-
markably large, as the Tail is Short. Mr.
Ray, of all the Zoologists, is the First that has
given us a Description of this Creature. 'Tis
found with us in Oxendon Home-Closes, and
in the Grounds at Kelmarsh, generally in the
richer Sort of Pastures ; but it is not common.
It nests under Ground, and is seldom or never
found in Houses.'

" M. de Winton, Zoologist, Dec. 1894.

132

MAMMALS

32. Bank Vole. Evotomys glareolus, Schreber.

Bell — Arvicola glareolus.

This species is also very common in the
county. It is eagerly sought for by owls as
the numbers of skulls in pellets testify. Like
the last species and the long-tailed field mouse,
it does much damage to garden bulbs.

33. Common Hare. Lepus europaus, Pallas.

Bell — Lepus limidus.
This is too well known as a common
species in the county to call for further re-
mark.

34. Rabbit. Lepui cunicu/us, Linn.
Abundant.

UNGULATA

[White Wild Cattle. Bos taurus, Linn.

In the Survey of Holdenby drawn up by
Parliamentary Commission in 1650, when the
property was broken up, mention is made of
'eleven cowes and three calves of Wylde
Catell ' which were then valued for sale.]

35. Red Deer. Cervus elaphus, Linn.

Though no longer wild in this county,
probably some of those now existing may be
the descendants of wild ones enclosed at the
time the parks were formed. Mr. J. Whit-
aker * states that there were red deer in the
time of Henry VIIL in Rockingham Park,
' but when they ceased is not known.' The
same authority gives the following list : —

containing 20 red deer
.. »oo „ „

19 3° »T »>

Deene Park .

Whittlebury Park
Blatherwycke Park .

Burghley Park , .
Althorp Park . .
Deene Park

containing

200 fallow deei

130 ,,
100 „

Whittlebury Park
Blatherwycke Park

300 »
300 „

Rockingham Park

200 „

Boughton Park

»»

250 ..

Milton Park . .

115 „

Fawsley Park .
Farming Woods Park

300 ..
215 ,,

Yardley Chase
Aynhoe Park .

150 ..
100 „

Cottesbrooke Park

200 „

Norton Park .

• >J

100 „ „

Lilford Park . .

»l

255 ..

Carlton Park .

70 ..

Canons Ashby Park
The Spinney Park
Lichborough

100 „
40 .. >.

36. Fallow Deer. Cervus dama, Linn.

In Rockingham there are a small number
of wild fallow deer, which wander from one
wood to another, jumping the fences at
pleasure. The following list of herds is given
by Mr. Whitaker : — '

* Deer Paris and Paddocks 0/ England, 1 892.

37. Roe Deer. Capreolus capreolus^ Linn.
Bell — Capreolus caprea.
Mr. T. George, curator of the North-
ampton Museum, has shown me undoubted
horns of this species dug up at Danes' Camp,
and also a very perfect horn found recently in
a brickyard near Northampton. The roe
deer was once universally distributed over the
island of Great Britain, and remains are found
in brick-earth in many places.

[A short note on the deer may be added. There is reason to think that the last red deer which
was wild [i.e. not in a park or enclosure) was shot on Sir Arthur Brooke's estate at Great Oakley some
twenty-five years ago. But there is no proof that there has been an uninterrupted succession of wild
red deer from the earliest times till within living memory. The one above-mentioned had probably
escaped from Deene or Blatherwycke, but as said above these herds are probably the descendants of the
wild red deer of Rockingham Forest. Simil.irly, with regard to the fallow deer, it is impossible to
prove, though it is unlikely, that the wild fallow deer mentioned above have not themselves or their
recent ancestors escaped from Boughton, Deene or Rockingham. There is much difference of local
opinion on this point. In Wise's book, Rockingham and the fVatsons, the author says : ' Many persons
now living remember the wholesale shooting of the deer and the sale of others and their transportation
to happier hunting grounds, and are fond of recounting how their families used to feed on venison when
those deer seemed to be no man's property and the forest laws a dead letter.' But it may be taken as
certain that the fallow deer now in Boughton, Deene, Rockingham, Blatherwycke, Carlton and Milton
parks are the old forest breed of fallow deer, and great pains have for years been taken by the owners of
some of these parks to maintain the purity of the breed.] — W. R. D. A.

133

52A

HISTORY OV NOIiTIUMI'TONSKIlIK

PRE-HISTORIC REMAINS.

THE VICTosii hJii^TnSY or THE COUNTIES Of ENGLAND

EARLY MAN

WHEN the Romans under Julius Caesar invaded Britain in
the years 55 and 54 B.C., they found the country inhabited
by an extensive population living in tribes, those nearest to
Gaul being the most civilized. Cssar, who never penetrated
far into the interior of the country, could only have gained his know^-
ledge of the inland tribes from hearsay, and not from personal observation.
He says' that it is handed down by tradition that the people of the
interior are the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants. Now during
the last half-century archeology has grown into a science under which
the numerous remains of Prehistoric man found in the British Isles have
been arranged and classified into certain ages or periods. Archsologists
tell us that after Britain became an island, it was inhabited by a race of
people belonging to what is called the Neolithic or New Stone age.
These men were a small, dark, long-headed race, whose remains have
been found in many parts of England and Wales, and in Scotland as far
north as the Orkneys. Dr. Munro writes of them: 'Their faces were
oval and rather short ; their features good, with flat cheek bones, fine
jaws and prominent chins. They were evidently dark of skin, hair and
eyes ; on the whole their expression must have been mild and humane.'
These Neolithic peoples were succeeded and conquered and probably
for the most part absorbed by a taller race of men of rounder skulls and
lighter hair, who brought new burial customs with them and who used
weapons of bronze. The descendants of this taller race, together with
the immigrants of certain Gaulish and Belgic tribes, formed the bulk of
the population of Britain at the time of Cesar's invasion. Cesar states
that 'the inhabitants of Kent did not differ much from the Gallic tribes';
and speaking of the island generally, he says that ' the Maritime
portion was inhabited by those who had passed over from the country
of the Beige for the purpose of plunder and making war.' But to
go back to a time previous to the appearance of Neolithic man,
geologists inform us that in the Pleistocene age that part of the earth
afterwards called Britain, and now called England, formed part of the
continent, and that it was inhabited by a fauna very different from that
of the succeeding Neolithic age. That man inhabited the southern
part of the country is proved by the discovery of many stone implem.ents

' De bello Galftco, book v. chap. xii.
135

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

found in the same gravels as this fauna. These implements are rudely
chipped into the form man required, and the age has been thereby
termed the Palaeolithic age.' As has been stated, all the remains of
Prehistoric men who successively inhabited this small quarter of the
world prior to the Roman invasion have been arranged, classified and
grouped into certain periods ; these, beginning with the oldest, are
termed respectively the Palveolithic or Old Stone age, the Neolithic or
New Stone age, the Bronze age and Prehistoric Iron age. In dealing
with these ages or periods of primitive man one must not draw any
hard and fast line between them, for they will be found to overlap ;
for instance, the use of stone would be likely to continue into the Bronze
age, and stone for some purposes may have been more useful than
bronze ; so in the Prehistoric Iron age on the introduction of iron
the use of bronze did not cease but was continued for ornamental
purposes, as it was more capable of receiving ornament and decoration.

The Paleolithic Age

The remains of Palaeolithic men are usually grouped in two
divisions, those of the River Drift man, so called because his weapons
are found in the drift or gravels of the old rivers, and the Cave man,
whose remains are found in the debris of caves.

That we can prove the presence of Paleolithic man in this county
is shown by the occurrence of several specimens of implements found in
gravels of the Nene valley. There are not many, it is true, but quite
sufficient to prove his appearance here, and no doubt more would turn
up if diligently sought for. Sir John Evans possesses one which he
himself picked up from a heap of gravel near King's Langley. The
gravel, he found on inquiry, came from near Oundle ; and in 1882 a
man working in a ballast pit in the parish of Fotheringhay, between
Oundle and Elton stations, brought to the writer a fine implement which
is also now in Sir John Evans' collection. Other specimens were found
in gravels of the Nene valley by the late Dowager Marchioness of
Huntley, but these came from Orton Longueville, which is on the
Huntingdonshire side of the Nene. Until the discovery in 1890 of
a Paleolithic implement from the valley of the Rea at Saltley near
Birmingham, the Nene valley was the most northern limit which had
yielded implements /// situ of this period.

The remains of Cave men who belonged to a later period of the
PalcBolithic age than the River Drift men are known from the deposits
of certain caves, such as Kent's Caves and Brixham Cave, near Torquay,
and the caves of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire, which were discovered
by Prof Boyd Dawkins and the Rev. J. M. Mello in 1875. In one
of these, the Robin Hood Cave, over one thousand pieces of stone and
bone, showing evidence of man's handiwork, were obtained. The most
remarkable relic was a smooth portion of a rib with the head and fore-

1 Yrovn falaios (iroXaios), ancient ; lithos (Xi^os), a stone.
136

EARLY MAN

part of a horse drawn upon it with a sharp pointed tool. The bones of
the animals found in the Church Hole Cave (in which 213 remains
of man were found) were those of the lion, hysna, bear, Irish elk,
woolly rhinoceros and mammoth. In Northamptonshire no remains
of Cave men are known. Professor Boyd Dawkins' conclusion as to
the Cave man is that he is represented at the present day by the
Eskimos ; and speaking of the River Drift man he says : ' We cannot
refer them to any of the human race now living. But they are as
completely extinct among the peoples of India as among those of
Europe.' '

The Neolithic Age

In due course of time the land sank, allowing the low-lying ground
which lay on the east, south and west to become covered with seas,
and what is now known as Great Britain became an island. All traces
of Paleolithic man were swept away, five of the largest animals living in
the previous age totally disappeared, while many others which lived
during the Paleolithic age departed to other climes, some to the northern
regions and some to the southern area. A different race of men now
makes its appearance, who must have crossed the seas. The implements
and weapons of these men, though still made of stone, show a great
improvement in their construction ; they are not merely chipped into
the form required, as they were in the Palasolithic age, but are ground
down to a cutting edge and are polished. The implements are not
found in such deposits as the gravels of the old rivers ; they are obtained
from the various surface deposits or from burials of this age. The barrows
which antiquaries agree in attributing to the Neolithic age are the
long barrows, where the dead were buried in a crouching or contracted
position, often accompanied by their weapons of stone. Most of the
long barrows stand east and west with one end (the eastern) higher
and wider than the other. Some of the long barrows had within them
chambered tombs, while others were of simpler construction. Long
barrows are more numerous in Wiltshire than in any other county,
as many as sixty being reckoned by Dr. Thurnam ; of these, eleven,
all in the north of Wiltshire, are chambered. Gloucestershire is another
county rich in long barrows, especially of the chambered kind.

The researches of anthropologists have shown that the Neolithic
man was of small stature, averaging about 5 feet 5 inches in height ;
his skull was of the ' dolichocephalic ' or long-headed type, with dark
hair ; in shape his face was oval. Skulls having these characteristics
have been found in many places in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland,
' under circumstances,' Professor Boyd Dawkins writes, ' which render
it impossible to doubt that the whole of the British Isles was inhabited
to the close of the Neolithic age by man in the same state of culture.'
Neolithic man possessed a knowledge of agriculture (the Neolithic
inhabitants of some of the earlier Swiss lake dwellings grew no less

* Early Man in Britain, by W. Boyd Dawkins.
137

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

than eight different kinds of cereals) ; he appears in this country accom-
panied by domestic animals, such as the dog, sheep, goat, pig and horse ;
he was acquainted with spinning, weaving and pottery-making; remains
of his mining operations for flint to make his implements and weapons
have been found at Brandon in Suffolk and at Cissbury Camp near
Worthing. Altogether, judging from his remains, we may conclude
that the advance of Neolithic man in civilization was a decidedly marked
one as compared with Palaeolithic man, who lived in the hunter stage
of existence. During the Neolithic age in Britain man was a farmer,
a manufacturer, a miner. The same kind of domestic animals they
brought with them are with us at the present, and (in spite of the
bad times) the farmer still grows the cereals introduced by Neolithic
man. Remains of the same little, long-headed people have been found
in Belgium, France and Spain, and in the peat bogs of Denmark and the
north of Germany the same type of skull occurs, showing that man
in this state of culture had spread over a wide area on the continent.
They are thought to have been the Iberians of history. Those people
which most resemble them at the present day and who are held to be
of the Iberic stock are the Basques of the Pyrenees.

In both this age and the succeeding one of Bronze, it is most
probable that the greater part of what is now Northamptonshire con-
sisted of forest and swamp, with a large tract of upland in the centre.
The north-eastern side of the county lying east of a line drawn from
about Market Harborough to Northampton, and extending to the
Fen country in the neighbourhood of Peterborough, was one vast forest
(known in later times as Rockingham Forest') lying between the two
valleys now occupied by the fertile meadows of the Nene and the
Welland, which were at this early period but marsh and morass, and
through which the rivers followed their sluggish course to the sea.
To the west of this line lay the upland district. In the southern part
of the county probably there was another large area of woodland ; part
of this is now represented by the remains of Salcey and Whittlebury
Forests, at that time conterminous. Northamptonshire then being
under those conditions, we need not wonder at the somewhat scanty
remains of this period found within the limits of the county as compared
with the richness of the remains found in some of those counties which
possess higher ground, upon the summits of which the earlier inhabitants
placed their camps and refuges, and upon whose slopes so many remains
of their habitations are still to be seen.

In the standard English work on Stone Implements^ the author
gives an index to the localities of the finds of Palaeolithic and Neolithic
weapons, etc., arranged under the counties they have been discovered in.
From this index have been taken the numbers of places in those counties

' In a per.imbul.ition dated 14th of Edward I. Rockingham Forest is described as extending from
Northampton to Stamford, and from the river Nene on the south to the Welland and Maidwell on the
north-east.

2 The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, by Sir John Evans, 2 ed. ( 1 897).

138

Spearhead found at Weldon.

To face page i 3 9.

EARLY MAN

adjoining or abutting on Northamptonshire which have yielded Neo-
lithic implements. The following eight counties, Lincolnshire, Rutland,
Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Oxon, Bucks, Beds and Hunts have alto-
gether provided about 40 localities, while in Yorkshire above i 34 spots
are enumerated, Derbyshire 57, Dorsetshire 24, Wilts over 70, Sussex
32, Kent 28, Suffolk 53 and Norfolk 48, making a total from this
second group of eight counties of nearly 450 places. This great
difference cannot be put down entirely to the greater diligence of
local collectors, though no doubt those counties which possess so many
visible evidences of early man have attracted more attention than those
less favoured. It will be seen that the last group includes counties
like Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Sussex, Kent, etc., which contain large
tracts of downs, Yorkshire with its wolds and Derbyshire with its
moorland ; all these counties have within their borders many more
ocular evidences of the early people through the presence of their
tumuli than the central parts of England, with its gentle undulating
counties, which were for the most part largely covered with woodland.
We may presume that Neolithic man's more favoured spots for his
settlements and camps were on the high and dry ground where the
subsoil was of a porous nature, such as the chalk, in preference to
those parts covered with thick forests or undrained marshes.

Northamptonshire is given in Sir John Evans' work as providing
nine places where Neolithic implements and weapons have been dis-
covered. The index at the end of this article shows a list of more than
thirty localities which have yielded Neolithic remains from the county.
These consist chiefly of isolated specimens of polished celts or axes
which have been found in various parts of Northamptonshire. Five
good specimens have been obtained from Northampton ; portions of
four celts, with one perfect one of a peculiar green slaty kind of stone,
were found between Gretton and Kirby Hall ; other specimens have come
to hand from King's Sutton, Everdon, Towcester, Courteenhall, Great
Harrowden, Weldon, Castor, and Eye near Peterborough. Flint arrow-
heads have been found at Duston and Oundle, and a finely worked spear-
head or dagger of flint was obtained at Norton by Mr. B. Botfield in
1862. This was associated with a burial in which the skeleton was
in an extended position and not in the usually contracted posture.
Sir John Evans attributed it to the latter part of the Neolithic period.
Another very beautiful specimen of this same type was found in a
field called Little Wansford, in the parish of Weldon, in 1890.
Hammer-heads of stone have been found at Singlesole in the Fens and
from the neighbourhood of Gretton. Worked flints, such as the so-
called thumb flints, have been obtained from Borough Hill, Hunsbury
Hill, Blisworth, Roade, Moulton, etc. Burials of this period have
been noted at Great Houghton and at Norton ; with the remains at
the latter place was found an earthen vessel as well as the spearhead
mentioned above. Baker describes a burial at Aynho which also might
belong to this age. With these exceptions, no other traces of Neolithic

139

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

man's burying places are known in Northamptonshire, nor have any
traces of his dwelling places been found in the county, though it is
possible that the camps at Borough Hill and Arbury Hill in Thenford
parish and Rainsborough Camp might have been constructed in
Neolithic times. All that we can say from his remains which have
been found in this county is that he wandered about probably in
somewhat scanty numbers. Judging from the positions of the finds of
his weapons, etc., may we not conjecture that he proceeded much
upon the same general lines as the exploring Englishman of to-day,
that is, skirting the edges of the forests, keeping a good deal to the
river courses, and avoiding as much as possible the colder districts .?

The Bronze Age

In this country the transition from the Stone to the Bronze age
is marked by the occupation of Britain by a fresh race of men who
invaded and conquered the Neolithic people, and who, if they did not
actually bring the knowledge of bronze with them, were soon after in
full possession of it. These men were taller than the preceding race,
averaging for the adult man 5 feet 8 inches in height ; their skulls
were rounder and their faces more angular ; they are supposed to be
of Celtic origin, the first of successive waves of Celtic immigration.
Among the objects that belong to the Bronze period are daggers, and
later the leaf-shaped swords and spearheads, sickles and celts, which
show a regular course of evolution from the oldest types to a highly
effective socketed celt, as it is probable that the earliest bronze types
were copied from the Neolithic stone celts.

The Bronze age in Britain has been divided by Sir John Evans
into three stages, the first of which is characterized by the flat or
slightly flanged celts and knife daggers often found in barrows, with
implements of stone. The second contains the heavier dagger blades
and tanged spearheads and daggers. The third stage is represented by
the presence of palstaves and socketed celts, and the leaf-shaped spear-
heads and swords. In this last group he also places the hoards of
broken bronze material which have been discovered in England, and
which denote the trade of a travelling bronze smith. Judging by the
number of these hoards and by the variety of form of the swords,
spearheads, celts and other tools, he assigns a duration of about
500 years to this stage ; and the two earlier stages, he thinks, probably
occupied an equal length, giving a total for the whole Bronze period
in this country of some ten centuries, from B.C. 1200 or 1400 to
B.C. 200-400. The pottery belonging to this age is that which is
generally connected with burials ; it was all made by hand, and is
usually grouped as follows : —

(i) Cinerary urns, for holding the ashes of the dead after cre-
mation. These vary in height from 5 inches to 30 inches, and differ
considerably in form and ornamentation. Some have an overlapping

140

EARLY MAN

rim decorated with incised lines in a herring-bone pattern ; the decor-
ation in others is formed by the indentation of a twisted thong, which
was made in the clay when it was in a soft state ; this ornamentation
is sometimes carried on below the overlapping rim. These urns are
often found with a flat stone over the mouth. In other cases the urn
has been placed upside down.

(2) Food vessels, which are supposed to be receptacles for offer-
ings of food, are of a more squat form than the cinerary urns and wider
at the mouth, but decorated in much the same way.

(3) Drinking cups. These are of superior make and are usually
more decorated, the whole of the surface being covered with patterns,
in some cases extending to the bottom of the vessel. In shape these
drinking cups are globular in the lower part, gradually contracting
towards the centre and slightly expanding at the mouth.

(4) Incense cups. This class of vessels is much smaller than any
of the three other classes. They range from i inch to about 3 inches
in height and measure from i inch to 4 inches in diameter, and are of
various shapes.

In this age we meet with a singular change in the burial customs.
In Neolithic times the dead were buried together with their implements
and weapons of stone, often in large chambered tombs ; in the Bronze
age cremation made its appearance, though it did not entirely super-
sede the older mode of inhumation. The researches of Canon Greenwell
prove that the two modes were carried on simultaneously ; the reason
of this may be due to the older practice being retained by the descend-
ants of the Neolithic people, or to the fact that cremation was practised
upon the remains of the great, while the lower classes were simply
buried. Cremation was probably then, as it is now, a more expensive
process. As one writer remarks : ' At this day we speak of the ashes
of the great and the bones of the poor.' The tumuli or barrows that
were raised over the burying places in the Bronze age were of different
shape from those which covered the Neolithic dead. The latter were
long or oval in form, while the tumuli of the Bronze age were round
or ' bowl ' shaped ; but none of the tumuli of this age contained those
structures of stone which were prevalent in the Neolithic barrows,
except in some cases in the north of Scotland.

The general life of the people of the Bronze age was more advanced
than that of the preceding period. Their pottery was superior and of
greater variety, their clothes were better, they were more efficient in
spinning and weaving, their weapons and implements show that they had
attained to a great skill in the process of casting, their personal orna-
ments were necklaces made of stone, bone, glass, jet or amber, and in
one case of gold beads. They had earrings of bronze. Their practice
of burying in barrows various articles, such as their weapons, often
accompanied by vessels supposed to be receptacles for food, is generally
considered a proof of their belief in a future life. They possessed
sickles of bronze with which they reaped their corn.

141

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

These bronze-using people, of finer physique and possessing better
weapons than their predecessors, probably came into the country from
Gaul, and drove the small, long-headed people before them to the west
and north, where at the present day the inhabitants show their descent,
though now of course in a modified form.

Northamptonshire in the Bronze age, as in the preceding one of
polished stone, was still largely covered with forest ; and here again
the remains are scanty as compared with those counties so rich in the
external evidences of early man in the shape of his burial mounds, as
Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Wiltshire, etc. The chief discovery of this
period in our county was made in some ironstone diggings near Corby
in 1890. At a spot where the two parishes of Great Weldon and
Corby join, the men came upon the site of a burial, from which remains
of six cinerary urns of the characteristic shape and ornamentation of
this age were obtained ; with them a skeleton was found in a sitting
position, and associated with this find was a bronze weapon with three
rivet holes. This kind of weapon is called by Sir John Evans a knife
dagger, and is considered by him to belong to the early part of the
Bronze age. There was no indication of any tumulus over these remains.
Those urns which were found in Weldon Lordship were on the pro-
perty of the late Lord Winchelsea, who kindly presented them to the
Northampton Museum. The knife dagger and the skeleton with the
remains of the other urns were found in Corby parish on the glebe
belonging to the rectory. The skeleton was re-interred in the church-
yard at Corby before any measurements of the skull or limbs could
be taken. The locality of this find was adjoining the valley of a small
brook which, on a plan of the Hatton property drawn for Queen
Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor in the sixteenth century, shows a clearing
in what was a part of Rockingham Forest ; and one may well imagine
this clearing to have existed in those early times, an ideal spot for
encampment or for a temporary resting-place for a few wandering
members of the Bronze age. A smaller cinerary urn devoid of any
decoration, and a vessel of the kind classed as incense cups, were found
in other workings adjoining the site of this clearing. Two cinerary
urns have been found at Brixworth ; one was a plain one, and the other
decorated with herring-bone work made by some sharp-pointed instru-
ment. Both were about 5I inches high. At Desborough in 1826 a
small urn also ornamented with a herring-bone pattern was obtained
with osseous remains, and with this were remnants of a larger urn, of
which only a fragment was preserved.

In the British Museum are two vessels found when opening a
barrow near Oundle, and a cinerary urn with zig-zag marking on the
top part found at Cransley. Near Wansford paper mills about 1836
was discovered a cist made of four upright large stones covered with
a rough slab, in which were a quantity of partially burnt bones and
an urn with some remains of bones inside. This is now in the museum
attached to the Stamford Institute. Brixworth, which has proved to

142

EARLY MAN

be so rich in early remains, has also yielded a rare specimen in the
form of a handled cup of reddish-coloured earthenware which belongs
to this age ; this cup bears diamond-shaped patterns incised upon the
body, made apparently by the impressions of a thumb nail. The only
other handled cups of this period of which the writer has been able
to obtain any information are but four in number : the first from a
barrow at Goodmanham Wold in Yorkshire, which bears a different
decoration from the others ; out of 220 barrows opened by Canon
Greenwell this was the only handled cup he obtained. One which
is called the Denzell cup and is now in the British Museum was found
in a barrow in Cornwall. The third was found in a cairn near Picker-
ing in Yorkshire by Mr. Thomas Bateman' in 1850, and the fourth
at Ely. This is apparently of superior make and ornamentation. It
is of interest to note that these last three cups, though found in such
widely separated parts of England as Cornwall, Cambridgeshire and
Yorkshire, are ornamented with a diamond-shaped design very similar
to that on our cup from Brixworth.

Of the weapons and implements of bronze our county has yielded
few in number. There is a well preserved leaf-shaped sword dug up
from land belonging to an old manor called Wolfage in Brixworth
parish about the year 1846. Remains of two rapier-shaped blades
have been discovered, one at Marston Trussel and the other at Pytchley
near Kettering. The latter was found underneath the parish church
when it was undergoing alteration, and at the same time some ' kist-
vaens ' were discovered. Palstaves of bronze have been picked up at
Aynho, Staverton, Aston-le-Walls and Thenford ; socketed celts or axes
which are supposed to have been used quite late in this period have
been obtained from near Daventry, from Dallington, Castor, Rushden,
Eye near Peterborough, and from the precincts of Peterborough itself,
Naseby, Wappenham, etc., and there is preserved at the Hall at Canon's
Ashby a fine specimen of a leaf-shaped spearhead found in the neighbour-
hood. A small but early form of a drinking cup, marked with a
herring-bone pattern which perhaps belongs to this age, was found in
the parish of Fotheringhay in the surface soil above the gravels which
yielded a Palaeolithic flint implement.

Mention may be made here of the discovery of two hoards of
bronze, though they occurred just outside the county : one at Wyming-
ton in Bedfordshire, where more than sixty socketed celts were found
on Mr. Goosey's farm in i860 ; and a few years ago Mr. Whitbread
of Roade purchased at a sale at Stantonbury in Bucks a lot of broken
bronze weapons, etc., which he has since learnt were found at Stanton-
bury. In this lot (bought at the sale for is.) were portions of seven
socketed celts, one complete palstave, a leaf-shaped sword in four pieces
and the remains of two spearheads.

To obtain a fuller knowledge of man in the Bronze age we must

* Ten fears' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills in the Counties of Derby, Staffiird end fori,
from 18+8 to 1858, by Thomas Bateman (1868).

143

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

not confine ourselves to the limits of a single county like our own.
We cannot expect to find within the borders of Northamptonshire,
which was a thinly inhabited district during the Neolithic and the
Bronze ages, a full epitome of the life of the Bronze man. We must
seek the aid of what Britain in general has yielded, the results of
which are so ably set out in the works of Sir John Evans,' Canon
Greenwell,' Professor Boyd Dawkins,' and others.

Prehistoric Iron Age

In Europe the Prehistoric Iron age contains two well defined stages
of development, viz. an earlier period which has been termed the
'Hallstadt period,' from the discoveries made at Hallstadt near Salzburg,
in Austria. At this place a large cemetery containing nearly i,ooo
graves was opened, the contents of which show that both bronze and
iron for weapons and implements were in use at the same time ; and a
later stage called the ' La Tene period,' from the finds of the numerous
remains at La Tene near Marin, in Switzerland. In this stage nearly
all the weapons and implements are made of iron, the only bronze
articles being chiefly for ornamental purposes. About fifty iron swords
were found at Marin ; some of these had sheaths (also made of iron)
ornamented. These swords are analogous in form to the iron swords
found on the site of the ancient Alesia, where a battle was fought
in B.C. 52 between the Romans under Julius Cssar and the Gauls.
It has been concluded that when the iron weapons found at Marin
were made the use of iron had been thoroughly established. Over
a large part of western and northern Europe the Christian era was
preceded by these two successive stages of culture.

In Britain the introduction of iron was not a sudden innovation,
but came as a transition in which it gradually supplanted bronze
as the material for the manufacture of weapons and implements. Iron
was probably first brought to Britain by the earlier Belgic immigrants,
or obtained by them by intercourse with the Belgic Gauls.

In treating of the remains of Prehistoric man from Northampton-
shire belonging to the two preceding periods, we have seen that they
occur in isolated instances. No remains of their dwellings or refuges
have been found in our county ; nothing to show their domestic life,
for our knowledge of which we have to study their remains from other
parts of Britain and Europe. In the period with which we are about
to deal we meet with a different state of affairs ; the conditions are
reversed, isolated specimens are rare (with the exception of some coins),
and we have instead a large collection from one particular site.

• The Ancient Bronze Implements, fVeapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland, by John
Evans, D.C.L. etc. (1881).

* British Barrovis: A Record of the Examination of Sepulchral Mounds in vanous ports of England, by
William Greenwell, F.S.A. (1877).

» Early Man in Britain, by W. Boyd Dawkins, F.S.A. etc. (1880).

144

. I ■, '

SwORn-ScAbBARD FOUND AT Hl
See page 147.

To face pagt 145>

EARLY MAN

In this period we reach a point in the condition of the early
inhabitants of Britain which is marked by the introduction of iron and
by the appearance of a high development of an art which can be traced
back to some of the oldest forms of art in the classical world. It is
during this period that Sir John Evans considers the first coinage in
Britain made its appearance. As in the case of the Stone age extending
into and overlapping the Bronze age, so we find the use of bronze
reaching into the Early Iron age. The weapons and implements that
formerly were made of bronze were in this period manufactured of
iron, but the use of bronze was retained for ornamental purposes and
was applied to many objects of personal adornment, to horse trappings,
scabbards of swords, etc. The later part of the Prehistoric Iron age
corresponds with the Late Celtic period of the late Sir A. W. Franks,
formerly keeper of British and medieval antiquities in the British
Museum. It is considered that this age was not nearly so long as the
preceding one of bronze or the Neolithic age. In the year 1863 was
published a work called Horn Ferales, or Studies in the Archaology of the
Northern Nations. This was written mainly by Mr. J. M. Kemble, a
well known archsologist, in the middle of the last century, and edited
after his death in 1857 by Dr. R. G. Latham and Sir A. W. Franks.
In this book is a series of objects described by Sir A. W. Franks under
the title of ' Antiquities of the Late Celtic Period.' These consist of
bronze shields, diadems, collars, pins, rings, horse-trappings (some
bearing traces of enamel), iron spearheads, swords and daggers with
sheaths of bronze, tyres of chariot wheels and a number of objects of
different use. On many of these is a style of decoration which, as
Sir A. W. Franks writes, ' is remarkable for its peculiar and varied
forms,' and differing from that of either the Romans, Saxons or Danes,
The chief forms of this new art are the recurrent spiral and the trumpet-
shaped pattern. ' Their Celtic origin,* he states, ' is shown by the
employment of coral, by the use of the boar as a symbol, by the presence
of enamelled decorations, by the discovery of war chariots, the length
and material of their swords and by the presence of chain mail.' He
claims no very remote antiquity for these remains. ' They are probably,'
he says, ' not more ancient than the introduction of coinage into Britain
from 200 to 100 years before Christ, and not much later than the close
of the first century after Christ,' when the Roman dominion in this
country was firmly established.

Since this work was published many other remains which can be
classed as belonging to this period have come to light, notably a burying-
place at Aylesford in Kent which was investigated by Mr. Arthur
Evans. The discovery of this ' urnfield,' as it is called by Mr. Evans,
with a description of the various objects from it, forms the subject of a
most interesting and valuable paper by him, published in Archaologia,
vol. lii. The manner in which he traces the new style of pottery found
at Aylesford back through eastern Gaul across the north of Italy to
its prototypes of bronze whose home was the Adriatic province is most

145

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

fascinating, as is also his comparison of the ornament on a bronze
bucket with that on some GauUsh coins. Another discovery of great
import was that of the marsh village found near Glastonbury by
Mr. A. Bulleid in 1892. This proves to be the remains of habitations
belonging to the Late Celtic period ; they were built upon layers of
brushwood and timber, held in position by numbers of small piles, until
they were raised clear of the water.

Prof Boyd Dawkins in his address to the Anthropological Section
of the British Association when it was held at Nottingham in 1893,
after giving a brief resume of the articles found in this marsh village,
concluded his address as follows : ' We may therefore fix with tolerable
certainty the age of these lake dwellers as being just before the time
that the Roman influence was felt directly in the west of England
and certainly before the Roman conquest. The discovery is most
important ; when fully worked out it will probably throw a flood of
light on the history of pre-Roman Britain.' The results of the ex-
cavations which have been carefully conducted by Mr. Bulleid are not
yet published.

Not the least important addition to our gradually extending know-
ledge of this period is the fine series of articles which Northamptonshire
has yielded from the excavations of Hunsbury Camp during the years
1882 to 1884, for it is to the same Late Celtic period or Prehistoric
Iron age that the whole collection of remains found in the camp
belongs. This earthwork locally known as Danes' Camp is situated
towards the end, and on the highest part of a broad ridge of elevated
ground about two miles south-west of Northampton. It occupies a strong
position, commanding on the north-eastern side the valley of the Nene
and the rising ground on the northern side of the river as far as Earl's
Barton and Ecton. From that side of the camp which faces north and
on the north-western side extensive views are obtained over the country
towards Duston, Berrywood, Upton, Weedon, Blisworth, and as far as
Roade in the southerly direction. By the side of the camp is an ancient
trackway, which for about half a mile on either side is grass grown, and
forms the boundary between the parish of Hardingstone, in which the
camp is situated, and the parish of Wootton.

This camp has been known to successive generations of antiquaries
since the days of Morton, who gave a short description of it in
his work on the Natural History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire,
published in 171 2. Morton considered it to be a summer camp of
the Danes, though he gives no very sound reason for his opinion ;
as he tells us in his quaint style : ' I attribute it to the Danes, the
rather because I see not to whom else it should belong.' Morton
apparently gave more credit to the Danes than the present school of
archaeologists does, for he attributed Rainsborough Camp also to them
as well as Borough Hill near Daventry. In bygone days both the
Devil and the Danes had a great many more things attributed to
them than they could justly claim. Near Driffield in Yorkshire, at

146

r|:#.>"' '^'-^

k)^l^

Detail of Sword-Scabbard found at HuNSBtRy.
See page 148.

To /net fage 147.

EARLY MAN

Kilham, are some 200 mounds called in the neighbourhood Danes'
Graves. Some of them being opened by Canon Greenwell and other
gentlemen in 1896 proved to be the interments of people in the
same state of culture as the occupiers of Hunsbury Camp, viz. Late
Celtic.

The fortification near Flamborough called Danes' Dyke has been
shown by the late General Pitt-Rivers not to be the work of the Danes.
The earthwork in Somersetshire called Danesborough is probably pre-
Roman, and other instances could be adduced.

Hunsbury Camp was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act
of 1882, but it was found that owing to the mineral value of the ground
it could not be brought under the Act. The excavation of it was due to
a commercial undertaking ; for underlying the soil was a bed of iron-
stone about 12 feet thick (this ironstone is the Northampton Sand of the
inferior oolite series of beds) which the Hunsbury Hill Iron Ore Co.
began to dig towards the end of 1882. No such thorough excavation
of any camp of this period has been undertaken before, or is likely to
be undertaken again except for a similar purpose, that is, commercial
enterprise. The cost of removing the soil and obtaining the ironstone
amounted to several thousand pounds, a sum which would prevent any
private digging operations. Over the whole camp, that is as far as it was
dug (for a small portion on the southern side was left on account of the
poorer quality of the ironstone), the navvies found in what they call the
' on bearing,' that is the soil above the Northampton Sand, numbers of
pits sunk in many cases to the ironstone. Most of these pits resembled
in shape long beehives turned upside down ; a few of the pits were walled
round with flat limestone of the Great Oolite. The usual measurement
of these pits was from 5 feet to 6 feet in diameter and about 6 feet in
depth. They were filled with black earth and mould, and in them were
found numerous articles all of which are claimed to belong to the Late Celtic
period. In shape the camp is a somewhat circular oval, with an area of
about 4 acres. It was fortified by a ditch or fosse from 50 feet to 60 feet
in width and about i 5 feet deep. This ditch with its sides has long been
planted with trees, as was also probably the area of the camp previously
to its being converted into an arable field. In later digging operations
outside the camp on the north side remains of a second trench were
found : this was much shallower than the fosse round the camp. In a
paper by the late Sir Henry Dryden, Bart., published in the Report of the
Northampton Architectural Society for 1885, he gives a plan and sections
of the camp showing some of the pits, and seven plates of the more
important articles obtained from them. He says : ' There is no reason to
suppose the remains at Hunsbury differ widely in date from one another,
and if so probably the occupiers were also the constructors of the camp.'
Sir Henry in his paper was inclined to attribute the camp to the
Romanized Britons, but it is only fair to state that since he wrote it
various additional evidences came to light to verify and substantiate the
opinion of those who hold that the remains are all pre-Roman. It is

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

much to be regretted that the excavations did not receive that close
supervision which so important a discovery deserved. Sir Henry himself
did not visit the camp till more than half the area was dug over, thinking,
as he said in his paper, ' that another person was looking after the
excavations and taking notes and measurements.' The thanks of archso-
logists are due to the late Pickering Phipps, Esq., chairman of the
company, for the preservation of what articles were obtained. Mr.
Phipps made all the preparations he could to keep together anything
found, and paid the men for their trouble ; and when the digging in the
camp was finished he generously placed the collection in the Northampton
Museum. The number of pits discovered was over 300. This collection
is really a valuable one, and helps us to form a very fair idea of the con-
dition of the ancient Britons in this neighbourhood before the Romans
conquered it. The collection consists of numerous iron weapons and
implements, bronze scabbards, bronze ornaments, stone and bone articles,
vessels of hand-made pottery, remains of more than 400 pots of different
form and size (most of these were plain, but there are a few fragments
which are ornamented with the characteristic spirals of the Late Celtic
period), portions of more than 100 querns or millstones for grinding their
corn, some of the corn which the occupants of the camp cultivated,
spindle whorls used for weaving purposes, bone combs for carding the wool,
bones of man, the red deer, the roe deer, the short-horned ox, the goat,
the horse, pig and dog. There were fifteen or sixteen peculiar triangular-
shaped bricks perforated at each corner with a hole. The use of these
bricks is not yet definitely known ; by some persons they are supposed to
have been used as loom weights to hold the warp tight ; Sir Henry thought
they might have been used to hobble horses or cattle with. To enumerate
these remains more fully, the iron articles comprise about twenty spear-
heads, some of which are leaf-shaped, several of which correspond in
make and shape to those found at Marin in Switzerland and figured in
Dr. Keller's work.' These are very unlike the Anglo-Saxon spearheads,
a characteristic feature of which is a longitudinal slit in the socket which
received the wooden shaft ; remains of several iron knives, some still in
their haft of deer-horn. A long sword found with the remains of a
scabbard mounted with bronze, pieces of two other sword-like weapons
though thicker than a sword resembling some found at Hod Hill, a
British camp a few miles from Blandford. Similar articles have been
found in different localities, notably at Bourton- on -the -Water in
Gloucestershire and at Meon Hill, Gloucestershire, in 1824. Five
daggers, one still in its iron sheath, which has the heart-shaped
termination peculiar to the Late Celtic period ; fragments of several
scabbards of swords, some showing traces of bronze binding ; five saws,
one remaining in its deer-horn handle. These fragments of saws very
much resemble a saw in bronze figured in Keller's Swiss Lake Dwellings ;
similar saws have been found at Glastonbury ; the teeth of the Hunsbury

1 The Lake-Dwellings of Switxerland and other parts of Europe, by Dr. Ferdinand Keller, translated by
John Edward Lee, 2 vols. (1878).

148

EARLY MAN

saws arc equilateral. Nails, adzes, sickles, a chisel, a gouge, spud-like
objects, a key similar to one found by General Pitt-Rivers in researches
at Mount Cabourn in Sussex, which is a Late Celtic camp ; rings, and a
complete and perfect pothook of twisted iron. There were also some
articles like large flat spoons with long handles ; similar ones have been
found at Castle Yard in Farthingstone parish ; and several iron articles
the use of which can only be conjectured : of these the most curious
are figured in plate 7 of Sir Henry's paper. He suggests there that
they might be brands for branding cattle ; they bear the characteristic
pattern of the period ; the shaft of one of these is moulded and
has gilt bands. In addition to the above there were portions of the
tyres of chariot wheels, and a bridle with a bronze centre bit ; three
shield bosses, one round, resembling that figured on a wooden shield
belonging to the earlier Iron age in Denmark ; the other two at first
appeared to be Anglo-Saxon, but on placing them side by side with the
shield bosses from certain Anglo-Saxon interments in Northamptonshire
the difference can at once be seen, those of the Anglo-Saxons being more
angular in shape. Several iron drills were found ; these belonged to the
lower half of the quern stone and were for the purpose of holding the
upper stone in position. Out of the whole collection of iron articles
that came to hand there are but two which cannot be said to belong to
the people who made and occupied the camp : one is a short pickaxe
of the kind used as a stock-axe for stubbing up wood ; this may have been
lost when the camp in after years was cleared of the wood with which
it had probably been planted in order to cultivate the soil (for previous
to the ironstone operations the site of the camp had for many years been
under the plough) ; the other article is a slender bridle-bit like a snaffle,
which might be Roman or much later in date. It is very different from
the British bridle-bit, nor is it at all like an Anglo-Saxon bridle-bit which
came from a burial place about a mile and a half to the east, just outside
the village of Hardingstone. The bronze articles consist of two scabbards,
four fibuls or brooches, one of which is in perfect working order at
the present time, pins, rings, several articles supposed to belong to harness
trappings, fragments of tubing which were perhaps used to strengthen
the edges or ornament the sides of iron scabbards. One of the gems of
the collection is a sword sheath 2 feet 6 inches long. It is ornamented
on the upper end or locket with a finely engraved pattern, consisting of
a double pair of circles filled with smaller circles and the peculiar trumpet-
shaped design which is a characteristic of this Late Celtic art. Most of
the smaller circles are plain, but some have a triangle with curved sides
filled with cross-hatching ; the chape or termination of this scabbard is
heart-shaped like many others of this age.*

Among other articles of this period which have been found in
the British Isles are remains of mirrors, the backs of which bear
engravings of Late Celtic designs. Five of these are known : one

' See C. H. Read, in appendix to vol. Hi. oi Arthttobffa.
149

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

obtained from a cemetery at Mount Batten' near Plymouth in 1865
is figured in Archaologia, vol. xl. plate xxx., one found at Sandy in
Bedfordshire is now in a museum at Bedford, another one in the
Gloucester Museum* was found near Birdlip Hill on the Cotswolds.
The fourth came from some graves in the parish of St. Keverne in
Cornwall, and the engraved pattern on the back of this specimen
so closely resembles that on the locket of the Hunsbury sword-sheath
that it might have been executed by the same artist. The last one
is in the Mayer collection at Liverpool ; it is not known whether it
was found in England. There are also a bronze pin, 3I inches long,
having a twist in the shank which is peculiar to this period ; a similar
shaped pin was found in the so-called Danes' Graves near Driffield, only
the ring part bore traces of enamel ; a spoon supposed to have been used
for medicinal purposes ; four rings (two of which are ornamented with
knobs) belonging to horse harness ; there are several of this kind in the
British Museum among the Polden Hill remains, and another from
Hamden Hill is figured in vol. xxi. of Archaologia ; fragments of an
article the use of which is not determined ; this is a hollow ring enclosing
a circle of 2\ inches in diameter, which was filled with a thin plate of
perforated bronze ; two whetstones, one having a hole for suspension ;
light spindle whorls of various kinds of stone ; and remains of more than
100 beehive querns or millstones, some having an iron drill fixed in
them, which held the two portions together when grinding ; and in several
pits were found remains of charred corn.

Up to the time of the excavations at Hunsbury the majority of
the ancient British pottery found in Britain was obtained from burial
places and for the most part belonged to the Bronze age. This
pottery it is usual to classify or arrange in four groups, which have
already been mentioned in dealing with the Bronze age. Now nearly
all the pottery from our camp was for domestic purposes with the
exception of two small vessels like the so-called incense cups — these
are small shallow vessels not unlike salt cellars in form ; they are both
ornamented with rude indentations — and one other vessel which also
throws back as it were to the Bronze age. This resembles in shape
some of the drinking cups figured in Jewitt's Ceramic Art : the lower
portion is globular and ornamented with an incised pattern, it is contracted
in the middle and slightly expands at the mouth ; it is of much ruder
make than those drinking cups of the Bronze age which the writer has
seen. Of the ornamented earthenware fragments some seem to have had
more care bestowed upon their manufacture than others. These are of a
finer substance coated with a glossy pigment. The material of these
bowls is not unlike that of the cinerary pots from Aylesford, though the
shapes found at Hunsbury are wholly absent at Aylesford ; only at
Glastonbury do we find anything approaching in quantity and nature or
decoration the collection of pottery from Hunsbury ; it seems to be of a

* Vol. rxx. of the Anhaologual J oumal, p. 467. » Vol. xxvi. of the Anttquarf, p. 70.

150

Pottery found at Hunsbury.

To face page 150.

EARLY MAN

purely domestic character. I have been informed by M. Dechelette,
Conservateur du Musee, Rouan, that a somewhat similar spiral decoration
is found on some Gaulish pottery at Bibracte, but here the pattern is
painted on and not incised. We have also pieces of another bowl-shaped
vessel which was ornamented with a pattern of triangles and lozenges
filled with incised lines divided by two parallel lines round the vessel.
Mr. Evans considers this a descendant of the class of pottery he obtained
from Aylesford ; the incised bands round it which enclose the triangles
and lozenges he takes as a modification of the cordons with which the
Aylesford pottery is decorated. Another plain vessel possesses loops for
suspension, and many of the fragments of the large ones are looped ; all the
plain ware is of coarser body than the ornamental fragments. The bones
have already been mentioned, and there are remains of six human skulls.
Of these three were figured, in vol. iii. of the late Gen. Pitt-Rivers' fine
work on the excavations in Dorset and Wilts. One has three holes drilled
in it, evidently after death. Can we not imagine this skull hanging out-
side the wattle hut of one of the camp dwellers .? Dr. Garson describes
it as that of an adult male ; the third one he considers to be that of a
young male with high and broad forehead and similar in type to the one
with the holes. General Pitt-Rivers says of them, ' They may no doubt
be regarded as specimens of Late Celtic crania.' For weaving purposes
there are several combs formed of sections of bone. Like combs have been
found at Glastonbury, at Mount Cabourn and at the large British camp
of Worlebury above Weston-super-Mare. There are several pieces of red
deer horn showing traces of the saw, several hollow cylinders of bone,
one of which is ornamented with a series of small circles resembling a
modern apple scoop. Of glass there are five rings and a blue glass bead
with white knobs which was lost before the collection was housed in the
museum, but since its location there another blue glass bead obtained
from the camp has been secured from a neighbouring village. This one
has white amulets engraved on it. Fragments of similar beads were found
at Glastonbury, and others of the same period have been found in several
parts of England.

What does this collection tell us ? It is evident that the occupiers
of the camp were not of the Neolithic age nor were they of the Bronze
period, as we have a series of weapons and implements of iron and not
of bronze, the only bronze articles found being for ornamental purposes.
Are they Roman or Romano-British ? No ; for if so we should surely
have found some trace of Roman influence. Adjoining the cases in
the Northampton Museum in which the remains from Hunsbury are
displayed are cases containing the Romano-British articles from the
parish of Duston, discovered within a mile and a half of Hunsbury. If
you take any article from the camp and compare it with one of a like
use from Duston, the difference will be seen at once. If any one wishes
still further to compare the shape and make of the iron tools, imple-
ments and weapons of the ancient Britons with those of the Romans,
let him go down to Glastonbury and inspect in the museum there the

151

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

iron remains from the marsh village, and then travel up to Reading while
they are fresh in the memory and compare them with the iron articles
in the museum where are displayed all the finds of the buried Roman
city of Calleva at Silchester, which has lain undisturbed for centuries
under the soil. But to return to our comparison of the articles from
Hunsbury with those from Duston, no coin has been found at the camp,
while over a thousand Roman coins ranging from Claudius to Honorius
have been found at Duston. The pottery is entirely different, the
brooches are made upon different systems, the spearheads and swords
from Hunsbury are not represented at Duston, and if we bring in other
negative evidences to help us, at Hunsbury, though there are numerous
remains of the red deer and roe deer, there is not a single fragment
of the fallow deer which was introduced into Britain by the Romans.
Are they Saxon or Danish ? No ; not a single article ; as can be at
once proved by comparison with remains of these two peoples. The
evidence goes clearly to establish the fact of its being a camp made
and occupied by a tribe of ancient Britons at a time when iron had
supplanted (for general purpose) the use of bronze, not going farther
back than 200 years B.C., and perhaps inhabited down to the time
of the Roman conquest of this part of Britain about the middle of the
first century after Christ. Dr. Munro says : ' The presence of querns
and long-handled combs in the Glastonbury lake village and in the
Hunsbury camp associated with the debris of continued occupancy, in
which no characteristic Roman remains are found, points to a pre-
Roman civilization probably due to an immigration of Belgic or Gaulish
tribes ' ; and Mr. Arthur Evans' opinion is ' that it is probable that
the bulk of the objects found in the ancient British oppidum (Huns-
bury) belong to the latest pre-Roman period, and are slightly posterior
to those of the Aylesford cemetery.' What do we learn from these
remains ? That these people were no mean agriculturists, as they grew
four kinds of corn ; and as so many querns were found, probably each
family had its own set of stones. The spindle whorls and carding
combs denote a knowledge of spinning and weaving. This would show
that they wore clothing, and did not travel about in a suit of blue paint,
as Caesar relates of the inland tribes. There is that fine series of iron
weapons and implements to show their proficiency in ironwork, and
as remains of slag have been found in the camp we may conclude that
the ironstone was smelted — that same ironstone which was not re-
discovered until about 1857. The remains of animals tell us the flesh
they consumed ; while as for their art, what can be more beautiful in
design than some of the patterns of this period ? Evidence goes to
show that the departure from the camp was sudden, or how are we
to account for the finding of all the millstones in the rubbish pits ? It
may be that the inhabitants of the camp put into force the old adage :
' He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.'

Besides the camp at Hunsbury there are other camps in the county
which may belong to this period or to an earlier one, viz. Rainsborough

152

Pottery found at Hunsbury.

To fact page 152.

EARLY MAN

Camp in the parish of Newbottle, near King's Sutton, and the earth-
work called by Morton Castle Yard. This lies a few hundred yards
to the south of the remains of the Saxon burh, now called Castle Dykes,
in Farthingstone parish. Morton mentions ' lumps of cinder ' as being
found here. Since Morton's date several hundredweight of scoriae of
iron have been found, also the iron ' socket of a spear ' and an iron
object like a flat spoon with a long handle. Both the spoon-like article
and the scoriae of iron have their analogues in the finds from Hunsbury
Camp. So far as the writer has been able to learn, no Roman remains
have been discovered at this spot. On Borough Hill near Daventry
is a very large camp, rather oval in shape. Morton considered this
a Roman camp afterwards used by the Saxons, but, like Rainsborough
Camp, it was probably pre-Roman in construction.

There is also a small camp in Thenford parish called Arbury Hill.
Like Hunsbury it lies at the side of the Banbury Lane which follows the
old British trackway, but until researches are made into these camps
the exact period to which they belong can only be conjectured. Some
very slight evidence in regard to Rainsborough is forthcoming, for in
the neighbourhood, the hamlet of Charlton, in which the camp is situ-
ated, was found in 1842 a bronze article of unknown use bearing Late
Celtic designs ; and Morton in his account of Rainsborough quotes
from some MSS. of Anthony A. Wood, preserved in Mr. Ashmole's
museum, as follows : ' Within the Memory of Man the Land within
the inward Fortification together with the inward Fortification itself
hath been plow'd up by several persons, each having his lot allow'd him,
and a certain Person of Charlton who had the middle Part allow'd him,
did not plow the middle part, but levelled the inward Fortification so
far as his share went as in here shewed. In digging down the said
Apartment or Allotment, there were discovered several Iron Pots,
Glasses, Ashes.'

It has been already stated that it was during this period that
coinage was first introduced into Britain. There are two kinds of
British coins, uninscribed and inscribed. The earliest coins found in
Britain are those called uninscribed, on account of their not bearing any
trace of letters. They were copied from the coins of the nearest Gaulish
tribes. Sir John Evans in his work on ancient British coins says that
in the reign of Philip II., King of Macedon, the father of Alexander
the Great, he acquired certain gold mines at Crenides (the Philippi of
the Bible) which yielded about >r250,ooo worth of gold per annum,
and a large number of gold staters of Philip were struck. These bore
on the obverse the head of Apollo with a laurel wreath, and on the
reverse a man driving a two-horsed chariot, with the name of Philip
underneath. At this time Marseilles was the centre of a colony of
Greeks (who were then the great traders of the Mediterranean),
among whom many of the gold staters were current. These coins of
the Greeks were copied by the Gauls in the neighbourhood of
Marseilles, or of Massilia as it was called ; these in turn were imitated

153

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

by the inland Gauls, and as they travelled further from Marseilles the
poorer the copy became, until hardly any trace of the original was
discernible ; thus it is only by reference to a whole series that we can
trace the origin of the British coins. Uninscribed coins have been
found in Northamptonshire at Chipping Warden, Duston, Earls Barton,
Farthinghoe, Kettering, Northampton.

With regard to the inscribed coins it is considered that they range
from Caesar's invasion, B.C. 54, to the time of Claudius, a.d. 41. They
have been classed according to certain districts. Northamptonshire
forms part of Sir John Evans' central district, which included Bucks,
Beds, Middlesex, Essex, part of Berks, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire.

The Britons had at this time a well established coinage in gold,
silver and copper, and the evidence which Sir John adduces from these
coins in Northamptonshire is that during the reign of Augustus and
Tiberius this portion of the country was partly under the rule of
Tasciovanus, whose capital was at Verulamium (St. Albans), and partly
under the dominion of Andocomius (a probable contemporary of Tascio-
vanus), who is thought to have reigned over what is now Oxfordshire,
Beds and Bucks, and part of Northants, for his coins have not been
found in any other county. Tasciovanus was succeeded by Cunobeline,
the father of Caractacus, whose capital was Camulodunum (Colchester).
No coins were discovered at Hunsbury, but in Northampton a gold coin
was found about i 2 feet deep in some excavations at the back of what is
now the Grand Hotel, then called the Dolphin. It is of light yellow
gold, plain on the convex side (British coins like their prototypes the
Greek coins are saucer-shaped), and having on the concave side a rude
representation of a horse. It is particularly interesting, as being of the
same type as one of the only two coins associated with the Late Celtic
remains at Aylesford. Coins of this type have been found in south-
eastern England as well as in those parts of France formerly inhabited
by the Belgic Gauls. Of the inscribed coins, gold coins of Tasciovanus
have been discovered at Thrapston and Oundle, silver coins at Gayton,
and copper coins at Chipping Warden and Irchester. A gold coin
of Andocomius was obtained from Ecton and a silver one from Duston.
Coins of Cunobeline, who reigned over the Trinobantes in Essex, the
Catyeuchlani and part of the Dobuni, have been found at Castor, Oundle,
Irchester, Duston, Wood Burcott near Towcester, Weston-by-Weedon,
Chipping Warden, Gretton and at Dingley near Market Harboro'. One
of his coins from Duston is made of copper plated with gold, showing
that counterfeit coinage is not a modern institution. A gold coin of
Antedrigus (who ruled over lands further to the west) that was found
at Brackley is considered by Sir John Evans as a stray visitant, as are
also the later silver coins of the Iceni found at Castor. A gold coin of
Addedomarus was found at Great Houghton. One of the most interesting
as well as the rarest of the British coins found within the borders of
Northamptonshire is a gold coin of the Brigantes, the largest of British
tribes, who occupied the greater part of Yorkshire and Lancashire ; it

154

EARLY MAN

was discovered near Corby. Altogether from Northamptonshire about
forty British coins have been obtained from twenty different locahties,
and they belong for the most part to the central district mentioned
above.

Prehistoric Man in Northamptonshire and the Places where his several Remains

HAVE been found

Stone Age
Palscolithic Neolithic

Late Celtic

Earthworks

Bronze Age

or Prehistoric

probably

Iron Age

Pre- Roman

River Drift man

Badby

Arthingworth (palstave)

Brixworth

Charlton (Rains-

Blisworth

Aston-le-Walls (pal- Charlton

bro' Camp)

Fotheringhay

Houghton

stave)

Cransley

Daventry (Bur-

Oundle

Brixworth

Aynho (palstave)

Duston

rough Hill)

Bugbrook

Brixworth (sword)

Farthingstone

Burton Latimer

Canon's Ashby (spear- British Coins

(Castle Yard)

Castor (fig.)

head)

have been found

Hardingstone

Courteenhall

Castor (socketed celt)

at :

(Hunsbury)

Daventry

Corby (knife dagger) ' Brackley

Thenford

Duston

Cransley (cinerary urn) Castor

(Arbury Hill)

Everdon

Dallington (socketed Chipping

Eye

celt)

Warden

Finedon

Daventry (palstave)

Corby

Gt. Houghton

Desborough (cinerary

Dingley

Gretton

urn)

Duston

Guilsborough

Edgcott (instrument of

Earls Barton

Harpole

brass)

Ecton

Harrowden

Eye (socketed celt)

Farthinghoe

Irchester

Fotheringhay (drinking Gayton

King's Sutton

cup) Gretton

Newborough

Marston Trussel Gt. Houghton

Northampton

(rapier-shaped blade) j Irchester

Norton

Naseby (socketed celt)

Kettering

Oundle

Oundle (cinerary urns) Northampton

Pytchley

Peterbro' (socketed celt) Oundle

Roade

Pytchley (rapier-shaped

Thrapston

Singlesole

blade)

Towcester

Stoke Bruerne

Rush den (socketed celt)

Weston-by-

Towcester

Staverton (palstave)

Weedon

Twywell
Upton
Wansford
Weldon

Stoke Bruerne (palstave)
Wappenham (celt)
Weldon (cinerary urns)
Wellingbro' (celt)

„ (3 socketed
celts found in 1 871)

The writer has purposely refrained from saying much about the
Celts on account of the widely divergent opinions held concerning them,
but as the term Late Celtic has been so often used in this article, and
as it is an expression which has been generally adopted by English
archaeologists, it may be well to state that the tall round-headed race of
men using bronze instruments, who conquered the small dark-haired
Neolithic people of Iberian origin, are considered to be Celts, and that
the introduction of iron was due to a later immigration of peoples of the

155

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

same Celtic race ; hence the term Late Celtic, in opposition to the
bronze-using people known as Early Celtic. This period is not so
widely known as it deserves to be. Historians who have already
embodied the results of the archeology of the Palasolithic, Neolithic and
Bronze ages in their work have not at present made use of the discoveries
belonging to this period.

We have now traced the remains of Prehistoric man in North-
amptonshire from his first appearance in the Nene valley while yet this
country formed part of the continent, having as his contemporaries the
mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, through the suc-
cessive periods of the Neolithic and Bronze ages after it had become
an island, down to the Late Celtic period (characterized by the use of
iron) during which the camp at Hunsbury was constructed and occu-
pied, as perhaps some of the other camps in the county may prove to
be. It will be seen that if Northamptonshire has not contributed much
to the general stock of knowledge relating to the Neolithic and the
Bronze ages, it has yielded its share towards our knowledge of the
Britons who occupied this part of the country prior to the Roman
occupation.

156

THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

ROMANO-BRITISH
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

I. Introductory Sketch of Roman Britain. 2. Towns of Romano-British Northamptonshire:
{a) Castor, {b) Irchester, (c) Towcester, {d) Whilton, Norton. 3. Villas and Rural
Dwellings. 4. Roads. 5. Industries : The Castor Potteries of Native Art. 6.
Military Remains : The alleged Ostorian Forts. 7. Alphabetical list of the chief
places in Northamptonshire where Roman Remains have been discovered, with map.

I. Introductory Sketch of Roman Britain

AS he approaches the Roman occupation the student of North-
amptonshire antiquities enters upon the historic period. He
ceases to depend solely and simply on archaeological evidences ;
the narratives or the allusions of ancient writers lend him their
aid and he might perhaps be expected at this point to commence a
regular history. In reality he cannot do that. Not only are his written
records most unsatisfactory — inadequate in extent, inexact in detail ;
other difficulties bar his path. Even if he possessed a whole library of
Roman literature about Roman Britain, he could not in this section
attempt to write history. Two facts which are often overlooked
would limit him to a humbler though not an easier task.

The first of these facts is the character of the Roman Empire, of
which Britain formed a province. Alike in its vast area and in its
complex organization that Empire was constituted on a scale which
dwarfs detail into insignificance. Its history — that is, its true history,
apart from court scandals and imperial crimes — is a record of great
developments slowly advancing among the peoples of three continents.
It contains none of that continuity of individual life, that rapid succession
of momentous incidents, that quick growth of tendencies which charac-
terize the cities of ancient Greece or the little nations of modern Europe.

' For the following article I have searched the literature for myself, and have visited all the chief
sites and museums. I have had to thank various helpers : Mr. R. A. Smith of the British Museum, Mr.
T. J. George of Northampton Museum, Mr. Ryland Adkins of Northampton, Mr. J. W. Bodger of
Peterborough, and others named below ; Mr. Stevenson has of course helped me in his department. I
have examined also the late Sir H. Dryden's papers, preserved in Northampton Museum, and the late
Mr. Jas. T. Irvine's sketches in the Bodleian Library. I may add that I quote the three chief histories
of the county by their authors' names, Morton, Bridges, and Baker — the latter not to be confused with
the Rev. R. S. Baker, late rector of Hargrave ; all other references will, I believe, explain themselves.

157

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Single men, local occurrences are the least important items in its annals
and the fortunes of separate provinces are merged more or less completely
in the great movement of the whole mass. We can sketch the features
of each or any province, its populousness, its degree of civilization, its
mineral or agricultural or commercial wealth. We can string together
in a rough narrative a few events connected with it. But we cannot
write a real history of it, for it had no individual existence for the
historian to trace.

A second fact imposes a more serious limitation. When the
Romans ruled our island it was not divided into its present counties or
into any districts geographically identical with them. Neither the
boundaries of the Celtic tribes nor those of the Roman administrative
areas, so far as we know, agree with our existing county boundaries.
The student of Roman remains discovered in any one county deals with
a division of land which for his purpose is accidental and arbitrary. The
phrase Roman Northamptonshire is convenient, but strictly speaking it
is a contradiction in terms. We can describe, as we shall presently do,
the Roman remains found in our county, but we do so not because it is
scientific, but because it is convenient. The topographical history and
the topographical literature of our island is grouped so largely by
counties that we can hardly treat the Roman antiquities on any other
basis. But all the while we shall be dealing with an area which for our
purpose has no meaning or unity. We can describe it ; we cannot
write its history.

These facts make it desirable to diverge a little from the plan
followed by most county historians. Hitherto it has been customary to
narrate the chief events recorded by ancient writers as occurring in
Roman Britain, and to point out which of these events took place or
might be imagined to have taken place within the county. The result
is always to leave on the reader an impression that somehow or other
the county possessed in Roman times a local individuality and a local
history. In the following pages we shall adopt a different method.
Utilizing the abundant archaeological evidence, now far better known
and understood than a hundred years ago, we shall first sketch briefly the
general character of Roman Britain and we shall then proceed to describe
in detail the actual antiquities and to point out how far they agree with
this general character, how far (in other words) the district now called
Northamptonshire was an average bit of the Roman province.

The Roman occupation was commenced by the Emperor Claudius
in A.D, 43. At first its progress was rapid. Kent and Essex were
seized in a few weeks ; then the army of invasion seems to have divided
into three divisions, the Second Legion moving south-west towards
Somerset and Devon, the Fourteenth and Twentieth Legions north-west
towards Shrewsbury and Chester, the Ninth Legion north towards
Lincoln. We have in Northamptonshire some remains which may be
faint traces of the operations of the Ninth and Twentieth Legions ; to
these we shall return below (in sec. 7). The result was that within three

158

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

or four years the Romans held all the south and midlands as far as
Exeter, Shrewsbury and Lincoln ; part was annexed, part left to ' pro-
tected ' princes — for instance, the princes of the Iceni in what is now
Norfolk and Suffolk. Then came a pause ; some thirty years were
spent by Ostorius Scapula and his successors in reducing the hill tribes
of Wales and Yorkshire, and during these years the protected princi-
palities were absorbed. About a.d. 8o the advance into Scotland
began ; about a.d. i 24 the Emperor Hadrian built his wall from Tyne
to Solway, and henceforward the Roman frontier was sometimes to the
north, never to the south of this line.

The province thus acquired fell practically, though not officially,
into two well marked divisions, which coincide roughly with the low-
lands conquered in the first years of the conquest and the hills which
were conquered later. The former was the district of settled peaceful life,
and in it we have to include the area now called Northamptonshire. The
troops appear to have been soon withdrawn from this district, and with
a few definite exceptions there probably was not a fort or fortress through-
out this part of our island after the end of the first century. It was the
Roman practice, at least in the European provinces of the Empire, to
mass the troops almost exclusively along the frontiers and to leave peace-
ful interior districts free from garrisons, and Britain was no exception.
The whole mihtary force was stationed in Wales or in the north —
that is, in the troublesome regions and on the Caledonian frontier. This
military district was purely military ; it had its fortresses, roads and
garrisons, but no towns or ' villas ' or ordinary civilian life. The army
which held it was perhaps forty thousand strong and ranked as one of
the chief among the armies of the provinces. The most important
element in Roman Britain was the military element.

With this military element, however, we are not here concerned.
For our present purpose it is enough to note its existence in order to
explain the rarity of military remains in Northamptonshire. But we
may pause to examine the features of the non-military district, within
which the area of our county lies. These features are not sensational.
Britain was a small province, remote from Rome, and by no means
wealthy. It did not reach the higher developments of city life, of
culture and of commerce which we meet abundantly in more favoured
lands, in Gaul or Spain or Africa. Nevertheless it had a character of
its own.

In the first place, Britain, like all western Europe, became Roman-
ized. Perhaps its Romanization was comparatively late in date and
imperfect in extent, but in the end the Britons generally adopted the
Roman speech and civilization, and in our island, as in Gaul and Spain
and elsewhere, the difference between ' Roman ' and ' provincial '
practically vanished. When about a.d. 410 the Roman rule in Britain
ended, the so-called ' departure of the Romans ' did not mean an emigra-
tion of alien officials, soldiers and traders, such as we might see to-day if
English rule ended abruptly in India or French rule in Algiers. It was

159

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

administrative, not racial. Those who left Britain and those who stayed
equally regarded themselves as ' Romani,' and indeed it is not probable
that many did in reality depart. The fact is that the gap between the
Briton and the Roman, visible enough in the first century, had almost
become obliterated by the fourth century. The townspeople and
educated persons in Britain seem to have employed Latin, as casual
words scratched on tiles or pottery assist to prove, while on the side of
material civilization the Roman element reigned supreme. Before the
Claudian conquest there had existed in the island a Late Celtic art of
considerable merit, best known for metal-work and earthenware and
distinguished by its fantastic use of plant and animal forms, its predilec-
tion for the ' returning spiral ' ornament, and its enamelling. This art
vanished. In a few places, as for instance in some potteries of the New

Fig. I. New Forest Ware with Leaf Patterns of Native Tvpe.

Forest (fig. i) and of the Nene Valley (sec. 5), its products survived as
local manufactures, but even these were modified by Roman influences.
In general it met the fate which overtakes every picturesque but semi-
civilized art when confronted with an organized coherent culture.
Almost every important feature in Romano-British life was Roman.
The ground plans of the private houses form an exception ; they indi-
cate in all probability that the Romans, coming to our shores from
sunnier lands, accepted, as we might expect, some features of the native
types of dwellings. But the furniture of these houses is Roman. The
mosaic pavements and painted stucco and carved stone-work which
adorned them, the hypocausts which warmed them and the bathrooms
which increased their comfort were all equally borrowed from Italy.
The better objects of domestic use tell the same tale. For example, the
commonest good pottery is the red ware called Samian or Terra Sigillata.
This was copied from an Italian original and manufactured in Gaul, and
it completely superseded native manufactures as the fashionable and
indeed universal material. Nor were these foreign elements confined to
the mansions of the wealthy. Samian bowls and rudely coloured plaster
and makeshift hypocausts have been found even in outlying hamlets,

160

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

But though the Romanization was thus tolerably complete, it must
be further qualified as a Romanization on a low scale. The more elabo-
rate and splendid and wealthy features of the Italian civilization, whether
material or intellectual or administrative, were rare or even unknown in
Britain. The finest objects of continental manufacture, glass and pottery
and gold-work and the rest, came seldom to the island, and the objects of
local fabric attained but seldom a high degree of merit. The choicer
marbles and the finer statuary are still rarer and the mosaics are usually
commonplace and undistinguished. Of Romano-British literature we
have very little and that little owes its interest to other things than
literary excellence. Of organized municipal or commercial or adminis-
trative life we have but scanty traces. The civilization of Roman
Britain was Roman, but it contained few elements of splendour or
magnificence.

We may distinguish in this civilization two local forms deserving
special notice — the town and the villa. The towns of Roman Britain
are not few, but as we might expect they are for the most part small.
Many of them appear to have been originally Celtic tribal centres ;
then under Roman influence they developed into towns, like the tribal
centres in northern Gaul. Scarcely any seems to have attained any great
size or wealth, according to the standard of the Empire. The highest
form of town life known to the Roman was certainly rare in Britain :
the colonice and municipia, the privileged municipalities with the Roman
franchise and constitutions on the Italian model, were represented, so far
as we know, by only five examples, the colonice of Colchester, Lincoln,
York and Gloucester and the municipium of Verulam, and none of these
could vie with the great municipalities of other provinces. But while
lacking in size and magnificence, the towns of Roman Britain were in
their way real towns ; if a modern term be allowed, we might best describe
them as country towns. Most of them had walls, at least in the fourth
century. Many of them had a forum built on the Roman plan, pro-
viding in Roman fashion accommodation for magistrates, traders and
idlers. Not only the colonice and municipium which were ruled by pre-
scribed magistrates and town councils, but also the small places must be
regarded as having some form of municipal life.

Outside these towns the country seems to have been divided up
into estates, known as ' villas,' and in this respect, as in its towns, Britain
resembles northern Gaul. The villa was the property of a great land-
owner, who inhabited the ' great house ' if there was one, cultivated the
ground close to it by slaves, and let the rest to half-serf coloni. The
villa in fact was the predecessor of the mediaeval manor. In Gaul some
of the villas were estates of eight or ten thousand acres, and the land-
owners' houses were splendid and sumptuous. In Britain we have no
evidence to determine the size of the estates, and the houses — to which
the term ' villa ' is often especially applied — seem rarely to have been
very large. A few can vie with continental residences ; many are small
and narrow. The landowners, as in Gaul, were doubtless the Romanized

i6i

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

nobles and upper classes of the native population, with but a slight
infusion of Italian immigrants. The common assertion that they were
Roman officers or officials may be set aside as rarely, if ever, correct.
The wealth of these landowners must have been almost solely agricultural ;
their lands were probably for the most part sheep runs and corn land and
supplied the cloth and wheat which are mentioned by ancient writers as
exported from Britain during the later Imperial period. The peasantry
who worked on these estates or were otherwise occupied in the country
lived in rude hamlets formed of huts or pit dwellings with few circum-
stances of luxury or even comfort. But even their material civilization
was Roman. Here, as among the upper classes, the Late Celtic art
yielded to the strength of Italian influences.

In both town and villa a remarkable feature is presented by the
houses. While thoroughly Roman in their fittings, they were in

SI BUT

Fic. 2. Plans of Colrtyard and Corridor Houses at Silchester (scale I : 720).

(The left-hand block shows a courtyard house with a corridor house adjacent ; the right-hand figure
a small corridor house by itself.)

respect of ground plan and therefore of general arrangement by no means
Roman. They do not in the least resemble the houses of ancient Rome
and Pompeii or the country houses which have been dug up in Italy.
They belong instead to types which occur only in Britain and northern
Gaul and by no means improbably represent Celtic fashions, altered by
Roman contact but substantially native. A common type is that known
as the Corridor type (fig. 2), which shows a straight row or range of
rooms with a corridor running alongside of them and generally with
some slight enlargement at one end or the other. Another more elabo-
rate type shows three such rows set round a large unroofed rectangular
courtyard. Very similar to this last is a type in which the buildings round
the courtyard are not continuous, but stand isolated each in the middle of
one of the three sides ; in such cases the blocks may consist of corridor
houses, of barns, outhouses and farm buildings of various plans (fig. 3).
There appears to be no great difference between town and country in
the distribution of these types, but the stateliest country villas seem to

162

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

exhibit especially the second type, and the third type, if it is to be called
a separate type, occurs only in the country. In size the houses vary as
widely as houses in all ages. The corridor houses are as a rule the
smallest, some of them measuring little more than 40 x 60 feet in
length and breadth, while in the more imposing courtyard houses the
yards alone are sometimes three times that area.

One feature, not a prominent one, remains to be noticed — trade and
industry. We should perhaps place first the agricultural industry, which
produced wheat and wool. Both were exported in the fourth century,
and the export of wheat to the mouth of the Rhine is mentioned by an
ancient writer as considerable. Unfortunately the details of this agri-
culture are almost unknown : perhaps we shall be able to estimate it

« •

p m 10 >o *o

Fig. 3. \'lLLA, CONSISTING OF CoRRIDOR HoUSE AND TWO BLOCKS OF FaRM BulLDlNGS ROUND

A Rectangular Courtyard (Brading, Isle of Wight). Room vi. is the Corridor.

better when the Romano-British ' villas ' have been better explored.
Rather more traces have survived of the lead mining and iron mining
which, at least during the first two centuries of our era, was carried on
with some vigour in half a dozen districts — lead on Mendip, in Shrop-
shire, Flintshire and Derbyshire ; iron in the Weald and the Forest of
Dean, and occasionally to a less extent elsewhere, as perhaps in part
of Northamptonshire. Other minerals were less important. The gold
mentioned by Tacitus proved very scanty, and the far-famed Cornish tin
seems (according to present evidence) to have been worked comparatively
little and late in the Roman occupation. The chief commercial town
was, from the earliest times, Londinium (London). It was never, so far
as we know, raised to municipal rank, but was nevertheless a place of

X63

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

size and wealth and perhaps the residence of the chief authorities who
controlled taxes and customs dues. The usual route to the continent for
passengers and for goods was from the Kentish harbours to Gessoriacum
(Boulogne), but the discovery of a pig of Mendip lead at the mouth of
the Somme suggests occasionally longer voyages.

Finally, let us sketch the roads. We may distinguish four groups,
all commencing from one centre, London. One road ran south-east to
Canterbury and the Kentish ports. A second ran west and south-west,
first due west from London to Silchester, and thence by ramifications to
Winchester and Exeter, Bath, Gloucester and South Wales. A third,
Watling Street, ran north-west across the Midlands to Wroxeter, and
thence to the military districts of the north-west : it also gave access to
Leicester and the north. A fourth ran to Colchester and the eastern
counties, and also to Lincoln and York and the military districts of the
north-east. In Northamptonshire we shall be concerned with the third
and fourth of these routes and with branches from them. To these must
be added a long single road, the only important one which had no con-
nection with London. This is the Foss, which cuts obliquely across
from north-east to south-west, joining Lincoln, Leicester, Bath and
Exeter. These roads must be understood as being only the main roads,
divested, for the sake of clearness, of many branches and intricacies ; and,
understood as such, they may be taken to represent a reasonable supply
of internal communications for the province. After the Roman occupa-
tion had ceased, they were largely utilized by the English, but they do
not much resemble the roads of mediasval England in their grouping and
economic significance. One might better compare them to the railways
of to-day, which equally radiate from London.

Such was Roman Britain, so far as it was not military — a land of
small country towns and large rural estates ; permeated by the simpler
forms of Roman civilization, but lacking the higher developments ; not
devoid of natural resources, but not rich ; a comfortable country perhaps,
but an unimportant fraction of the Empire.

With these general features of the province, or rather of its southern
portion, we have now to compare the details of Roman Northampton-
shire. The comparison will both illustrate the preceding sketch and at
the same time show the proper significance of the Roman remains found
in the county. Let us briefly anticipate the results. Our detailed
survey will show us a district that closely resembles the larger part of
southern non-military Britain, both in the abundance and in the character
of its remains, but which does not lack one or two features of special
interest. There were, in the area which is now Northamptonshire, one
considerable town and three small ones. There were numerous villas
and rural dweUings. There were roads ; and two of these roads were
specially important in the road system of the province. There were
industries of some small local moment — probably ironstone diggings,
certainly extensive manufactures of earthenware at Castor — and the
latter, the Castor potteries, merit special notice, because they preserved in

164

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Roman days some faint traditions of the old native Celtic art. In short,
the antiquities of our county present to us, fully and freely, the features
which characterized the ordinary settled life of Roman Britain, and they
add one feature which is less usual, the survival of Celtic traditions in art.
We have before us a typical area, varying only in one small individual
trait. But to these details, which exemplify the permanent and regular
life of the district as it was through two or three centuries, we must
append one more of a different nature. We shall not be able to conclude
our survey without noticing some vestiges — partly real, partly (I fear)
imaginary — of the military operations by which Roman Britain was first
conquered. These vestiges are not characteristic of the district : their
presence in it is accidental, and their date is a special and transitory
period. Therefore we place them at the end of our survey, outside the
limits of the normal civilization which we shall first describe.

This normal civilization however was not equally developed over
all parts of Northamptonshire. The eastern end of the county differed
markedly in this respect from the centre and west. In the east we find
something like a real town, a flourishing industry, and signs of wealth
and luxury. In the centre and west the towns are hardly more than
villages, and evidences of high civilization are scanty. This is not mere
chance. The eastern part of our county belongs to the region of the
fens and the hills adjoining them ; the west and centre belong to the
midlands, and in the Roman period the civilization of the midlands was
lower than that of the surrounding districts. In the latter we meet
striking developments of Romano-British life ; for instance, a ring of
country towns, Verulam, Chesterford, Castor, Wroxeter, Gloucester,
Cirencester, Silchester, each in its degree a place of note. The midland
area contained no such elements. Except Leicester, its towns were far
too small to be matched with any of those just named ; indeed, they are
hardly towns at all, and the whole Romano-British life of the region
was simple and plain, and devoid of character and salient features. The
reason for this may perhaps be found in physical facts. The midlands,
though often described by geographers as the central plain of our island,
are not in reality a plain in the ordinary sense of that word. They form
a complex district which is especially notable for the low scale and small
size of its various physical features. Little of it is flat, but it has no
high hills or distinct ranges. Woods abound in it, but there are no
continuous tracts of forest. Many rivers rise within it, but they reach
no size till they have passed its borders ; their valleys are small and
shallow, and even their watersheds are faint and ill-defined. It is a
pleasant land, alike to those that dwell in it and those that wander
through it, but it contains very httle that might aid the growth of
large towns or of an extensive agricultural population. Its mineral
wealth attracts a dense throng of inhabitants to one part of it to-day, but
that wealth was unknown in the Roman period. Then too the woods
were perhaps thicker than now, and the little valleys less carefully
drained. It is not hard to understand why the midlands, and among

165

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

the midland districts, the west and centre of Northamptonshire, should
have possessed a less richly developed civilization than many other parts
of the Roman province.

2. Towns of Romano-British Northamptonshire

(a) castor

The most interesting and the most important of these towns is
in the east of the county, but it does not lie wholly within it. The
remains discovered at Castor on the north bank of the Nene, four miles
west from Peterborough, form only part of a larger whole which
stretches out south of the river and belongs no less to Huntingdonshire
than to Northamptonshire. Here as elsewhere the student of Roman
Britain must ignore the territorial divisions of later England. For our
present purpose it is a mere accident that the Nene at Castor separates
two English shires. The remains on its north bank cannot be sundered
from those on its south bank : the two together constitute one extensive
straggling settlement.

The Roman name of this settlement is generally and confidently
asserted to be Durobrivae. That was the view of Camden, and it has
been the dominant view, if not the universal view, ever since. Probably
it is also the true view. But the arguments adducible in its favour are
in reality very unsatisfactory and demand some examination. They rest
on two pieces of evidence, (i.) one supplied by the Antonine Itinerary
and (ii.) the other by an old English appellation of Castor.

(i.) The Itinerary mentions a route from London by way of Col-
chester and Lincoln to the north, and inserts as ' stations ' between
Colchester and Lincoln the following : Villa Faustini, Icini (or Iciani),
Camboritum, Durolipons, Durobrivae and Causennae.' The determina-
tion of these places and of the route connecting them is a well known
problem in Romano-British topography. We should expect the route
to run north-west from Colchester and then skirt the Fens by way of
Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough. But no Roman road can
be traced issuing from Colchester in the direction of Cambridge ; none
of the Roman names are otherwise known to us, and the mileage of the
Itinerary is irreconcilable with any reasonable identifications of them.
If however we start in the north we can trace a road running south
from Lincoln and passing Roman sites at Ancaster, Castor and Godman-
chester near Huntingdon. Its further course is complicated and obscure ;
but so far it may well represent the Itinerary route, and the Roman
sites along it may be the Itinerary ' stations.' That is to say, Ancaster
may be Causennae and Durobrivae may be Castor. Certainly this road

1 ///». Ant. 474, 475; Ravennas, 429, 12-7, probably names some of these stations, but with
very distorted orthography. Some of the places (e.g. Villa Faustini and Icini) may belong to a branch
route (see Victoria History ofNorfolk, i. 300). It used to be thought that the similarity of names fixed
Camboritum at Cambridge and thus gave us a definite point on the route. Mr. Skeat has however
shown that the names Cam and Cambridge are comparatively modern and for our purpose useless
{Placnama 0/ Cambridgeshire, p. 30).

166

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

runs in the required direction ; it is practically the only one that does
so, and the sites along it are the only sites suitable for our purpose. The
difficulty however remains that the Itinerary mileage is wholly irrecon-
cilable with the distances between these sites. This difficulty has induced
Gale, Reynolds and some others to seek both road and stations elsewhere.
But their remedies are worse than the disease. In the present state of
our ignorance it seems preferable to suppose, at least provisionally, that
the Itinerary numerals are wrong.' Such a conclusion however cannot
be called certain, or even approximately certain, without some external
evidence to support it.

(ii.) Such evidence it has been proposed to find in one of the old
English names for Castor. This name appears in two forms : Dorme-
ceastre mentioned by Henry of Huntingdon about 1 130 a.d., and Dor-
mundescastra mentioned two centuries later by John of Tynemouth.
Unfortunately neither of these forms can be connected philologically
with Durobrivae. The shorter of them is an abbreviation of the longer,*
and the longer is derived simply from the English masculine name
Deormund. They affiDrd no proof that Castor was called Durobrivae
in the Roman period.' If we believe that it was so called we must
rely solely on the consideration urged above — that the Itinerary route
by Durobrivae and Causennae to Lincoln seems, despite all difficulties, to
be the Roman road still traceable by Castor and Ancaster to Lincoln.

Whatever doubts may obscure the name, none affects the place.
For nearly eight centuries it has been recognized as a Romano-British
site. The twelfth century antiquary, Henry of Huntingdon, leads the
way. Native and resident in this part of England, and possibly himself
acquainted with the spot, he alludes to the ruins on the south bank of
the Nene as those of a British city penitus destructa ; further, he invents
for it a name Cair-Dorm out of the contemporary English name Dorme-
ceastre, and he inserts it thus labelled in the list of British cities which
he adapts from Nennius. Medieval writers copied him freely ; Camden
added a few details and the name Durobrivae, but the site first became
well known in the early years of the eighteenth century. Then it was
visited by Horsley and others, and notably by Stukeley, who lived close
by, and these visitors recorded numerous finds made sporadically, both
during the construction of the great turnpike road in 1739 from Water
Newton to Wansford and at other times. Eighty years later, in 1820-7,
Mr. Edmund T. Artis, F.S.A., then house steward to Lord Fitzwilliam
at Milton, made extensive though unsystematic excavations, which he

^ See p. 205. • Compare the two forms Godmanchester and Gumicastre.

' Henry of Huntingdon, i. 3, referring to the remains on the south bank of the Nene ; John of
Tynemouth in MS. Bodl. 240 (fo. dzxd) copied by Capgrave, Legenda nova Anglice (London, I 5 16, fo.
ccxiii.), referring to Castor. Camden quotes a name Dornford, but I cannot trace it, nor could Morton
two centuries ago ; it is possible that Camden invented it. The idea, due to Camden, that Norman-
gate Field at Castor is a corruption of Dormangate is of course absurd ; it deserves notice only because
it illustrates the wilfulness of sixteenth century etymologizing. A British name for the site, Cair-Dorm,
is sometimes adduced, but it is an invention of the twelfth century. I am naturally indebted to Mr.
W. H. Stevenson for guidance in dealing with these names.

167

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

illustrated in a sumptuous volume of plates and plans issued in 1828.*
Unfortunately he wrote no text to this volume, and though the plates to
some extent explain themselves and a few details have been recorded
otherwise, the absence of any coherent account has seriously lessened the
value of his work. In 1844 the discoveries recommenced. The con-
struction of the Peterborough and Northampton railway led to finds
near Sibson at the Wansford station, and Mr. Artis then made some

■fdr fl^""-"

CASTOR. CHESTERTON

AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.

RoMHN Remains. Deep Blhck.

C ■'

HiHi

WOCOCXo/T *^

M^MhOLM ^

Fig. 4.

slight further search. There is much more to be done and much that
is singularly well worth doing. The area once occupied by buildings is
wide and mostly unexplored. The foundations of the buildings are well
preserved, and their walls, according to Mr. Artis, may be found in some

* The Durobrivae of Antoninus identified and illustrated in a series of plates exhibiting the excavated
remains of that Roman station in the vicinity of Castor, by E. T. Artis. London, 1828, folio 60 plates
and plans. Artis is not the only archaeologist who has found digging with the spade easier than describ-
ing with the pen. A summary of what can be deduced from his plates was contributed by the late
Archdeacon Trollope to the Archaeological Journal, xxx. (1873), 127-40. His collection was dispersed
by sale after his death in 1 847 ; some of his finds were presented to the Peterborough Museum by
Mr. A. Sykes in 1893, and sketches of these by Jas. T. Irvine are in the Bodleian Library. A good
collection of pottery, made by Mr. Knipe, late rector of Water Newton, is in the Archaeological
Museum at Cambridge.

168

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

places standing ten or eleven feet high. The individual remains — houses
of various types, pottery works, numerous portable objects — are abun-
dant and notable. There is perhaps no other site save Verulam through-
out the non-military parts of Roman Britain which would better repay
extensive, systematic and scientific excavation. It is greatly to be hoped
that those interested in local archaeology will see that such an excavation
is soon made.

As a whole the site may be described roughly as extending four
miles from east to west and two from north to south (fig. 4). The wind-
ing Nene bisects it, the Roman high road from the south to Ancaster
and Lincoln cuts straight across it in its unswerving north-westerly
course and, as it crosses the river, throws out a branch which runs due
north into Lincolnshire. Along these roads and east of them lie those
portions of the site where the houses are thickest and the semblance of
a town most definite. The rest of the site, particularly its western part
towards Sibson, Wansford and Sutton, was less densely occupied. We
may conveniently divide our closer description into three parts : the
' town ' south of the Nene, that north of it near Castor, and the re-
mainder which we may provisionally style suburbs.

On the south side of the Nene, between the river and the modern
highroad, lie some fields known as 'the Castles,' where the visitor can yet
discern the outline of a once fortified enclosure and the traces of Roman
occupation, brick and tile and potsherds, lying on the surface. In shape
the enclosure is an irregular hexagon, more oval than round ; in area it
measures 45—50 acres ; the Roman highroad traverses it from end to
end. It has nearer been explored. Stukeley tells us that the foundations
of the south gate, constructed in hewn stone, were discovered by drainers
in 1739 ; he adds, apparently on similar evidence, that the place was
girt with a stone wall and a ditch 50 feet wide, but his observations
were hardly minute enough to do more than confirm the fact, still obvious
enough, that the enclosure had some sort of rampart and ditch around it.
In the interior were dwellings. Artis marks the sites of twenty-two
scattered up and down the area, and indicates in one of his plates that
there were hypocausts and rooms whose walls were lined with thin slabs
of local marble from Alwalton — sufficient signs of domestic comfortable
life.' Close outside the north end of the enclosure and the north gate-
way were other buildings — houses and potters' kilns, and three note-
worthy objects have also been found here. An inscribed fragment,
MARTO, was discovered, as Artis tells us, in ' removing a part of the old
wall on the north side of the fortified ground.' Unfortunately he does
not add whether this old wall was the Roman rampart or some other
structure.* A rude bas relief of Hercules, also recorded by Artis, was

* Stukeley's Letters (Surtees Society's publications), iii. 60 ; Artis, pi. xxiii, xrvi. (i) and (2).
TroUope erroneously transfers the south gateway to Castor. Alwalton marble resembles Purbcck marble,
but is more shelly in texture, lighter in colour and perhaps more durable ; it was used in the Middle
Ages, e.g. for Peterborough Cathedral.

* Artis, pi. XV. (1) ; Corf us Inscriftionum Latitiarum, vii. 79 ; Efhemer'is epigr. vii. 841.

169

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

found near it outside the enclosure. Lastly a milestone was dug up in
1785 from the ditch of the enclosure, in a field called Bridge (or Brick)
Close and in the immediate neighbourhood of the north gate. It is a
cylindrical stone of a shape usual to Roman milestones, 3 feet 4 inches
in height and from 10 to 15 inches in diameter. It is now in the
library of Trinity College, Cambridge, where I have examined it.

Impc/es

M- ANNI o

FlORI ANO

PFINVICTO

AVG

M- P- I-

' In the reign of the Emperor Marcus Annius Florianus, Pius Felix Invictus Augustus :
one mile ' (a.d. 276).

It marks the distance of one mile from some place from which mileage
was counted, and that as we shall see (pp. 177, 203) can hardly be any
other than Castor,' Several burial grounds are also recorded. Stukeley
mentions urn burials near the north gate. Artis places stone coffins
at the same spot and skeletons near the south-east corner, but the
principal cemetery was apparently to the south, near the Roman road
which led into the south gate. Here stone and lead coffins, urns, human
bones, coins of all periods in the Roman occupation and other objects
were ploughed up in great numbers when the turnpike road to Wansford
bridge was constructed in 1739.^ One stone coffin is specially recorded
as containing the bones of a mother and unborn babe. Another, dis-
covered in 1754 in digging for a foundation, contained a skeleton, three
glass ' lachrymatories,' a few jet pins, a seventeenth century seal which
must have got in by accident, some coins (one Faustina, one Gordian,
the rest illegible), and five thin bits of 'white wood ' (bone .?) with an
inscription which a correspondent of the Society of Antiquaries read
thus : —

p n Ai n rj M Ai m-rrf \£i Fi fi fi n CI (^ riJ Xa q/r/J W t .^r I rj n rj a ii n n r

The pieces apparently belong together, but they are imperfect and they
have been copied in the wrong order. We can only discern the formula
so often engraved on objects of common use, utere felix : ' use (me) and
prosper ' ; the rest of the inscription was seemingly in Greek. ^

' Note by the Rev. Mr. Tench, then rector of Chesterton, dated March 22, 1785, printed in the
Genl/eman's Magazitif, {iy()^) ii. 741, and in Kennet Gibson's Cflz/cr, p. 163; Gentleman's Magazine,
(1786) ii. 1034, (1788) i. 36, (1795) ii. 841, 916; Artis, pi. xv. (2) with wrong provenance ; Corpus
inscr. Latin, vii. 1 1 56. Editors have differed about the numeral of the mileage, giving usually L or LI,
but the actual figure is certainly I-, as I ascertained by personal inspection and by a squeeze. Hubner
actually read I- but put L' in his text, thinking he had erred. IVIPI- however, though it may sound
odd to a grammarian, is by no means without parallel and here makes good sense.

2 Stukeley's Letters, ii. 213, 222, iii. 59; Reliquia Galeana, ii. (2) 183; Kennet Gibson's Castor,
81-4 ; Minutes of the Peterborough Gentlemen's Society, printed in the Journal of the British Archao-
logfcal Association, new ser. v. 150— i.

3 Manning, Minutes of the Soc. of Antiquaries, vii. p. 122 ; Gibson's Castor, p. 84; Gough's Add. to
Camden, ii. 257 (inaccurate); Corpus inscr. Latin, vii. 1264; Stukeley's Letters, ii. 218 (reading
AXbxrct).

170

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

These remains on the south bank, of the Nene — a small town or
village inside a rampart and ditch, with graveyards and potteries round
it — are balanced by similar remains on the north bank. The Roman
road which traversed the southern settlement helped to connect the two.
It crossed the water by a bridge of stone and wood, traces of which were
found and removed in 171 5; thence, while it itself pursued its north-
westerly course towards Stamford, one or more branches diverged to the
north and north-east.* These gave access to an extensive settlement,
stretching from Normangate (or Normanton) Field by the river up to
Castor and the rising ground, the distance of nearly a mile. No trace
has yet been detected of any rampart or ditch enclosing it or any part
of it,"* but the dwelling houses in it seem tp have been numerous and
have been more fully explored than those south of the river. Morton,
Stukeley, Gibson and others have recorded frequent accidental finds of
walls, pavements, small objects, partly in Normangate Field and still
more in Castor village near the parish church.' Artis largely increased
our knowledge by excavation. In Nor-
mangate Field he found houses with
baths, tessellated floors and gaily painted
walls, placed somewhat indiscriminately
with numerous potters' kilns in the same
quarter. Nearer Castor he thought to de-
tect regular streets, and in Castor village
he dug up parts of interesting houses
scattered over an area of about twelve
acres round the church. The surviving
records of his work do not unfortunately
enable us to understand precisely the
character of all his discoveries. A cor-
respondent of the Gentleman s Magazine
(1822, i. 484), who visited the site
in 1822, mentions a house with at least
56 rooms occupying a space of 500—600
feet square, but this is probably an error.

Certainly it cannot be identified in Artis' , ,.„ . ,. ,. „-

plans. We can however realize that he j, „ „

r " 1 1 1 • 1 ^'°- 5- Bath-housb at Castor.

found many houses, and we have his plans

of one complete building and parts of

three others. The complete building is a detached bath-house (fig. 5)

situated near the Peterborough and Wansford road about a hundred yards

south of the church ; it is 93 feet long by 58 feet at its greatest breadth,

* These branches require further examination. Artis marks two running north-east to Castor.
The road due north to Lolham Bridges (p. 204) must also have diverged here.

* Stukeley alleges foundations of a town wall (Itinerarlum Curioium, p. 82), but his account is not
satisfactory. Probably he saw part of a house afterwards examined by Artis.

' Morton, p. 509; Stukeley's Leilas, ii. 213, iii. 56-9 ; Gibson's Castor, p. 86. A mosaic was
found in the churchyard in 1733, Minutes of the Peterborough Gentlemen's Society, Journal of the
British Archaoh^cal Association, new ser. v. 147.

171

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

and contains the usual furnace, hypocausts and hot rooms and cold baths
(Artis, pi. v., vi.). The partially explored buildings are : five rooms of a
house north of the church (pi. ii.,xi.) ; a structure which Artis very rashly
called a temple (xi.) east of the church ; and six rooms w^ith two hypo-
causts and a mosaic pavement of plain but graceful geometrical pattern —
interlacing lines of white, yellow, blue and red (pi. viii., iii., iv.). Two
other mosaics are figured by Artis from buildings of which he gives no
details. One is a plain pattern in straight lines of yellow, white and
dark, grey, found on the north side of the churchyard in 1827 (pi. vii.) ;
the other is a more ambitious work in white, yellow, red and grey, in
the centre a conventional flower with eight heart-shaped petals set in a
square bordered with lozerxge devices and guilloches. This was found
south-west of the church and removed to the ante-room of the dairy at
Milton (pi. xii.). Imperfect as our knowledge is, we can see that the
site of Castor village was once occupied by substantial Romano-British
dwelling-houses fitted with all the usual comforts. Lesser finds of port-
able objects have not been minutely recorded, but they are of the usual
character — coins of all dates, pottery and the like.^

We have now described the two chief sites, one on each side of
the Nene, in the area which we are discussing. It remains to describe
the more scattered habitations within the same area which we provision-
ally styled suburbs. These are dwellings or groups of dwellings which
are too near together and too near to Castor and the Castles to be classed
as separate villas in the fourth section of this chapter. We shall take
first those which are best known, referring to the map for geographical
order (fig. 4, p. 168).

(i) Mill Hill or Mill Field, about a quarter of a mile north-east
from the Castles, across the Nene. Here Morton and Stukeley recog-
nized Roman buildings, and Artis in 1822 excavated an area of 70 by
100 yards. He found four buildings, or parts of buildings, arranged
unsymmetrically (fig. 6). The easternmost of the four may have been
a house of the corridor type. A room at its north end contained an
elaborate mosaic in red, white, yellow and gray — a geometrical pattern
with a cup in the centre, framed in an octagon and that again in a
square with considerable intricacy of device. Next to it was a room
with a simpler but far more successful mosaic of rather unusual design —
circles and semicircles worked in red on a stone-coloured ground (fig. 7).
The next building to it may have been a detached bathhouse ; it
measured 25 by 67 feet and contained seven rooms, the two largest
heated by hypocausts and a third floored with plain tessellation, while
the smallest room of all, at the south corner, was approached by steps
descending to it. Of the third building discovered, too little probably
is known to justify comment; the fourth, 60 by 170 feet with a
hypocaust at the north end and two plainly tessellated floors, may

1 Roman vestiges are still visible in the village — cores of walling, built herringbone fashion, in two
or three lanes ; columns in the north wall of the chancel of the church ; tiles, etc.

172

'.'w'.'i'.'i'n'i'i'i'i'^r

wmmmi'i'mmu^mmmm mm

MOSAIC PAVEMENT, FOUND ON MILL HILL. CASTOR, IN 182a.

173

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

have been a dwelling house in which the rooms were arranged along
a corridor.*

(2) Sutton Field, in the parish of Ailsworth, on the north bank of
the Nene, close to the water and nearly half a mile east of the Roman
bridge. Here Artis found a house of some size. His plan (pi.
xxxiii., XXXV,), which represents only the north-east side (as he tells
us), shows some fifteen rooms with a corridor along them, four of them
paved with mosaic, two and the corridor tessellated plainly, four warmed
with hypocausts, and one, at the east end, fitted with a drain, as if a
bath. From the east end also a wall ran out to what Artis calls the
chief entrance. Presumably this entrance led into a courtyard, and the
house as a whole resembled the ' villa ' at Apethorpe. In plate xlix.
Artis figures some pottery found here by him. He also marks a building
further north, on Sutton Heath.

(3) Water Newton, south of the Nene and west of the Castles.
Here Artis found, in 1826-7, ^^° houses, one immediately east of
Water Newton and near the river, the other 500 yards south of it. Only
a small part of either was excavated. They contained tessellated and
mosaic floors and hypocausts and were obviously comfortable dwellings.*
Water Newton gravelpit has since yielded various remains — pillars and
other worked stones, pottery and the like.'

(4) Sibson, near the Wansford railway station and south of the
Nene. Artis in 1820-8 noted here houses and potteries which he has
not described. At the construction of the railway in 1844 building
debris, potsherds, and three mutilated statues were discovered close to
the station.* The statues, all hewn from local ' Barnack rag,' represent
Hercules, Apollo and Minerva. The first showed Hercules with his
club and lion skin ; it was destroyed by the frost shortly after its dis-
covery. The second, an undraped torso of Apollo, seems to have pos-
sessed little interest. The third, though much weathered, headless and
footless, merits a word. The goddess, nearly life size, rests on her left
leg with the right knee slightly bent. She is draped in a long tunic or
chiton and a mantle which is passed over the left shoulder and round the
legs. On her breast is a large oval ornament which may be an ignorant
copy of the Medusa's head usual to Minerva. With her left hand she
holds the top of a small round shield which originally rested on a
pedestal ; a snake is coiled round this pedestal. With her right hand
she holds a spear (now nearly all broken off), and at the hand there are
traces of her familiar bird, an owl. The statue is obviously local work.
Its general adherence to classical types illustrates the general Romaniza-

1 Morton, p. 510; Stukeley, Itinerailum, p. 83 ; Gentlemati's Magazine, (1822) i. 484 (alleges a
house of twenty-two rooms 230 by 300 feet in extent) ; Artis, pi. xvi.-xxii.

* Artis, pi. xxviii., xxx., xxxiv., li.

8 Now in the collections of Dr. Walker and Mr. Bodger in Peterborough ; sketches by Jas. T.
Irvine in the Bodleian. The Knipe collection at Cambridge comes mostly from this vicinity.

* Hence probably the leaden ' thumb-vase ' with fluted sides, colander, Samian and other
pottery, coins, etc., mentioned in the Jout-nat of the British Archeeologtcal Association, xlvii. 187,
xlviii. 167.

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

tion of Britain, while its bungled copy of Medusa's head may be due to
provincial ignorance.* A fragment of a fourth statue seems to have
been found at the same spot and about the same time — a hand, some-
what larger than natural size, holding a patera.* In consequence of
these discoveries Artis excavated further, but found no buildings or other
noteworthy objects of the kind already described. He met with some
curious potters' kilns, to which we shall return (p. 207). It may be
proper to add here that a cemetery was met with in the construction of
the high road in 1739 somewhere not far from Sibson.'

(5) Stibbington, at the crossroads near the present schoolhouse.
Here Artis marks buildings and potters' kilns in his map issued in
1828 ;* he also found kilns here in 1844.

(6) Wansford, on the south side of the Nene, between the high
roads to Oundle and Chesterton, close to their union. Here Artis marks
buildings.

(7) Yarwell, on the north (west) side of the Nene, near the water.
Here Artis marks buildings.

(8) On the south (east) side of the Nene, opposite Yarwell. Here
also Artis marks buildings.

(9) East of Wansford on the north bank of the Nene. Here Artis
marks buildings close to the village and half a mile east of it and again
half a mile east of that, all three sites being immediately north of the
Wansford and Peterborough road. The middle one seems to have been
the largest house.

(10) Alwalton, south of the Nene 'and east of the Castles. Here
remains of bricks, pottery and coins have been several times noticed and
a ' fortification ' has been conjectured. But a ' villa ' seems most prob-
able.^ The Romans, like later builders, quarried and used the Alwalton
marble.

We might extend this list by the inclusion of other dwelling houses
in the neighbourhood — in particular, a large villa in Bedford Purlieus,
two miles west of Wansford ; and a villa at Longthorpe, two miles
east of Castor. The area which we have been considering has no
definite bounds : the thickly inhabited sites at Castor and the Castles
fade imperceptibly into open country. In such a case compromise
is inevitable, and we have fixed our limits so as best to illustrate the
district.

Before we pass on to estimate the general character of that district,
we have to describe briefly various lesser finds made in it which possess

1 Now at Woburn Abbey, where, by the kindness of the Duke of Bedford, I have been able to
examine it. See Arckaologia, xxxii. 13 (the illustration on pi. iv. is not at all accurate); Pmeedings of
the Soc. of Antiquaries, ser. 1, i. 60; Mich.ielis, Ancunt Marbla in Great Britain, p. 724; A. H. Smith,
Catalogue of the Sculptures at ff'oium Abbey, No. 60, the two latter with excellent descriptions. I had
thoughts of introducing here an illustration of the statue as a specimen of provincial art ; it is however
too much weathered for the purpose.

* Proceedings of the Soc. ej Antiquaries, ser. I , i. 71.

* Stukeley, Letters, ii. 222, iii. 60.

* Artis' map is coloured by hand, and in some copies some of the following (5-9) are omitted.

* Gibson's Castor, pp. 62, 171.

175

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Fig. 8. Enamelled Fibula

FOUND NEAR CaSTOR.

no precise record of locality. These are, for the most part, the ordinary
finds made in fair-sized Romano-British towns — fragments of columns
and pedestals and other worked stone, bronze, bone and iron objects,
fibuls, beads and much pottery. Specially notable are a small bronze
statuette of Hercules, a finely enamelled blue fibula (fig. 8) and some

coin moulds, one found with a small coin of
Severus Alexander still in it, another intended
for casting ' first brass,' and therefore, in its
way, a great rarity.* Here too we must
mention the coins. A British coin of an
Icenian type was found in 1845 at Castor
when the railway was made. Coins of the
Roman Republic are not uncommon — slightly
commoner perhaps than on most Romano-
British sites.* Coins of the earliest Empire
have also been found here, and the ordinary
imperial issues from Claudius to the end of
the Roman occupation abound everywhere in
our area. Those of the first century are
naturally a little rarer than those of the second, third and fourth centuries,
but all are common, and the Castor district was obviously inhabited quite
early in the Roman period. But, so far at least as our records show, no
distinction can be drawn between various sites in the district with respect
to the dates of the coins found in them. We cannot argue that any one
part of it was occupied or abandoned before any other.'

Probably we ought also to include here some inscribed or sculp-
tured fragments found in 1884 and 1888 during the restoration of Peter-
borough Cathedral. These fragments are firstly a bit of an inscription
in large letters, 18 inches long by 15 inches wide, too scanty for com-
pletion or explanation (fig. 9) ; secondly, the lower part of an attached
half-column finely ornamented with leaf carving ; thirdly, a piece of stone
plinth ; and lastly two Roman bricks. These may with reason be attri-
buted to Castor and the Castles. The Roman remains found in Peter-
borough (p. 188) indicate an occupation of the site which must have
been far inferior to the comparative magnificence of a large inscription
and carven columns. The Peterborough monks owned the site of the
Castles and other land around, and as water carriage down the Nene was

* See the plates in Artis' volume. For the statuette of Hercules see Artis, xxxi. (5) ; for the fibula.
Journal of the British Archa-olo^cal Association, \. 327; for the coin mould with the coin of Severus
Alexander, Artis, xxxviii. ; for the ' first brass ' moulds. Proceedings of the Numismatic Society, December
21, 1854.

2 Evans, Ancient British Coins, p. 401 ; Journal of the British Archneolo^col Association, ii. 192. For
the Republican coins see Stukeley, Letters, iii. 58 (Antony, leg xvii. classicae) and Itin. Curiosum, p. 83.
(Antony, leg vi., Cohen 33 ; Pompey, Cohen I ; Babelon, Tituria 2 ; Julia 4; and Junia 18 or 19) ;
Journal of the British Archieological Association, ii. 192 (unidentified, from Stibbington). Stukeley quotes
three coins of Augustus, Cohen 43, 99 or 100, and 144.

' Details as to the coins will be found in Stukeley's Letters, iii. 58, 60, and Itin. Curiosum, p. 83 ;
Gentleman's Magazine, (1822) i. 485 ; Journal of the British Arch<eological Association, ii. 192, 265, 1. 64,
and new ser. y. 148-51. Some specimens are in Peterborough Museum.

176

-^-,

.ttSM^

;%>>'"

■«,''T

Fig. 9. InSCRIBID FRACMtNT tOUNU IN I'trtRBOROUGH CaTHEURAL.

To face page 176

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

easy they may well have brought down worked stones from our dis-
trict/

The detailed survey which the last paragraph concluded has prob-
ably made clear the character of the Romano-British life which existed
in this district. Castor has been styled by some writers a ' municipium'
and a legionary fortress ; others consider the Castles a smaller fort for
the garrison of the town. But there is no trace at either spot, or any-
where in the vicinity, of municipal institutions or of military occupa-
tion, not even of the smallest garrison. Here we may rather think that
the Roman and British civilizations meet. The Roman civilization
centred in its towns ; the Celt was a dweller in the country and learnt
town life chiefly from his conqueror. On the banks of the Nene in the
neighbourhood which we have been surveying we see the Celtic country
life condensing into a town. At two spots, at Castor and at the Castles,
the houses were dense enough for the life of a town, and at the Castles
they stood within a wall. But they were planted, many of them, in
irregular fashion, not ranged along straight streets nor all facing one
way, and they were surrounded by extensive suburbs which were very
far from resembling the arrangements of an Italian town. We do not
yet know whether in any part there were actual streets like those of
Silchester, and we cannot as yet decide what precise stage in the develop-
ment towards town life we have before us. But the general character
of the site is plain. It was an extensive straggling settlement, half town,
half country, that was no longer country and not yet perfectly town.^
But even without this interesting feature the site would be one of con-
siderable importance. The number of the buildings, the comfort of
their fittings — mosaics, painted stucco, marble wall-linings — the extent
of the potting industry to be described below, all testify to this ; and
while in a special sense we may say that Castor and the Castles do not
form a full-grown town, in more general language we may class them as
one of the more considerable town-centres in Roman Britain. Certainly
they far surpass the sites which we shall mention further on in this
article. Neither Towcester nor Norton nor even Irchester can rank
with the remains near Castor.

The evidence of coins indicates that the district was inhabited
perhaps in British and certainly in early Roman times and throughout
the Roman period, and we may safely assume that Roman influences
early affected it. Its most important part was probably Castor. A
milestone discovered outside the north gate of 'the Castles' (p. 170)
marks the end of the first mile from some caput vice, and this caput can
only be Castor, which is just a mile away. Whether the precise spot
whence the mileage started was among the buildings round Castor

* Journal of the British Archteolopcol Association, xli. 419, 1. 51 ; Assodatei Anhit. Societies' Reports,
xvli. (1884), 281 ; 'Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, iii. 179, 495. For the inscription in p.irticuLir
see Ephemeris, vii. 842 ; A rchieological Journal, xlvii. 239, xlix. 187 ; Ankaohgical Revietv, iii. 136 ; Anti-
quary, xix. 76 (inaccurate). I have seen the stone and had a squeeze from Mr. J. T. Irvine, the finder.
The material, I am told, is Barnack r.ig.

* Compare Westdeutsche Zeitschti/t, xix. 58.

177

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

church or somewhere else near them cannot be decided, and for the
moment does not matter. In any case the mileage was counted from
Castor, not ' the Castles,' and Castor must have been the chief place at
some time or other, either when the mileage was first calculated or when
the milestone was erected in a.d. 276. But the relation of Castor to
the walled enclosure on the other bank of the Nene is not at all clear,
and indeed can only be determined by excavation. At present we know
of the southern settlement that it was walled and contained dwelling
houses, but we know very little about those houses ; while of the
northern settlement we know much about the houses but we do not
know whether it was walled. Our evidence leads us however to believe
that in character of civilization the two were substantially the same.

The inhabitants of the district were ordinary civilians, strangers to
Roman official and military life. Their chief employment probably
and their chief source of wealth lay in the pottery works so often men-
tioned in the preceding paragraph.' These works were very extensive ;
they produced a remarkable ware which was in origin native or Celtic,
though in detail it shows Roman influences. Its peculiar features may
more fitly be described in a separate section (p. 207) ; here we are con-
cerned with it only as illustrating the economic character of the place.
It is interesting to note the occupation of the dwellers round this
imperfectly constituted town ; it is no less interesting to note that in a
place where Celtic and Roman systems of habitation seem to meet we
can also trace a fusion of Celtic and Roman ceramic traditions. But in
general the population was doubtless Romanized thoroughly. Mosaics
and hypocausts show the usual Italian types ; Samian pottery was freely
used ; the Roman gods were worshipped. On this Romano-British site
we can trace more native elements than on many similar sites. But the
Roman element has triumphed over them.

{b) IRCHESTER

Irchester is a village and parish two miles east-south-east from
Wellingborough on the south bank of the Nene. Here, half a mile from
the village, is a large arable field called Burrow Field, which slopes gently
northwards to the river's edge ; immediately east of it are the buildings
of Chester House. The Roman 'camp' occupies Burrow Field and a
little more, and Roman remains found outside it stretch away eastwards
past Chester House. The Roman name of the site is unknown — no
serious student has even ventured to guess at it. The English name
affords no clue ; the first half of it probably embodies an English personal

' Two other industries have been alleged, (i) Artis thought that he had discovered iron works,
especially near Wansford and beyond it towards Bedford Purlieus (p. 189), and he figures one of the
iron furnaces (pi. xxv.). But Mr. William Gowland tells me that this furnace is certainly not an iron
furnace ; it may be connected with pottery works. Until further evidence is obtained therefore Artis'
iron works must be considered doubtful, (z) Stukeley had a wild idea about a service of cornboats
down the Nene, which still finds credence with some writers. No manner of evidence for it exists
and there is no special probability in it. I doubt whether in Roman days the Nene is likely to have
had at the end of the corn harvest a sufficiency of continuously deep water for the purpose.

178

'''''^-''■'^^i^

ICO

300

Sciile of feet

400
I

500

600

179

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

name, Ira, and the second half, Chester, is merely the term used in early
times to designate Roman sites of all kinds, and sometimes even sites that
are not Roman. The place has however long been known as a Roman
site. Camden mentions it ; Morton has much to tell of it, and in his
day, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the walls were appar-
ently still standing. Discoveries made by ironstone diggers in 1873—4
called fresh attention to the spot, and in 1878—9 some excavations were
carried out by the Rev. R. S. Baker, late rector of Hargrave.^ These
excavations were unfortunately not very successful. Only a tiny fraction
of the site (just ~ part) was thoroughly uncovered ; much was merely
probed with iron bars ; buildings accidentally encountered were not
traced out ; the excavators do not appear to have understood what they
were finding, and their records of the results are not at all satisfactory.
When the work was done the farmer who rented the field was permitted
to remove some of the foundations, and the difficulties of future explorers
have thus been seriously increased. We cannot therefore in the present
state of our knowledge offer any complete or final account of the place.

The 'camp' itself forms an irregular oblong of about 20 acres (fig. 10).
It was surrounded by a stone wall 8 feet thick, of which Morton tells us
that ' the outcourses were, as usual, set flatways, while the inner part of the
wall consisted of stones pitched on end and inclining southward ' — not an
unusual feature in the town walls of Roman Britain. The angles were
apparently rounded ; but except perhaps for a puzzling circular founda-
tion 3 1 feet in diameter near the south-west corner (plan, h) we have
no indications of turrets or bastions. Foundations of the south and west
gates and traces of beaten roads leading to the south and east gates
were noted in 1879 (plan, g and d). Of the interior the northern or
lower part was thought by Mr. Baker to contain few buildings, though
roof slates were found especially towards the west gate (marked on the
plan by shading). A long trench dug between the east wall and the
eastern hedge of Burrow Field showed some pits or depressions with
flint arrowheads and scrapers — vestiges probably of occupation long ages
before the Romans. The southern or upper part of the interior con-
tained many buildings in stone. The plans which we possess of them
are confused and imperfect and permit no certain judgment, but the
indiscriminate grouping and irregular orientation show that they do not
belong to a fort, and the buildings themselves are certainly not of any
military type. Painted wall plaster found in 1879 (plan, m) and plain
brick and tile pavements, noted by both Morton and Baker, indicate
civilian dwelling houses. Possibly the building east of the letter k on
the plan may have been a shrine inside a little enclosure, and a sculptured
stone to be described in the next paragraph may have stood in it. But
it is rash to speculate further about a site which has been so little and

1 Morton, p. 517, copied by Bridges, ii. 1 8 1, and Gough, JJJitions to Camden, ii. 282. For the
later finds see R. S. ^iVtr, Reports of the Aisociated Archit. Societies, xiii. (1875) 88-118, xv. (1879),
49-59. Mr. W. Hirst Simpson of Chester House kindly lent me a large map of the excavations on
the scale of 33 feet to an inch, with notes by Mr. Baker, from which I have derived some useful details.

180

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Fig. II. Capital found at k on General Plan.

SO unsatisfactorily explored. We do not even know what roads led to
Irchester. A roadway ran east a little way (plan, d), another has been
traced issuing from the south gate and was very conjecturally laid down
on the older ordnance maps as continuing southwards, but we have no
indication of where it went. We must be content to leave these details
alone till better evidence appears. The judicious expenditure of a few
hundred pounds in excavation here would be well worth while, and
should commend itself to those in the county who care for the past.

Various discoveries made within the walls in 1879 or earlier
deserve our notice. Fragments of columns, some seen by Morton, one
capital found in 1879 and now at Chester House (plan, k, fig. 11)
indicate a building of architec-
tural pretensions. A headless,
legless, much weathered torso
of a nude male figure, not badly
executed in local stone, was
found in 1879 built into an
ancient wall, and is now at
Northampton Museum (plan,K).

Still more interesting are two fragments of sculptured stone found in
1879 and now at Chester House (plan, l, fig. 12). They may, as the

late Sir Henry Dryden sug-
gested, belong to an octagonal
monument which originally
represented in eight panels the
deities of the days of the week.
Most of the ancient European
peoples divided the lunar
month into four quarters of
seven davs each ; the Romans
preferred four quarters of eight
days. The notion of connect-
ing these days with certain
deities was familiar to the
Romans at least as early as the
first century of our era, and
representations of these deities
occur in various parts of the
empire, notably in Roman
Germany. The deities are
Saturn, Sol, Luna, Mars, Mer-
cury, Jupiter and Venus, with
Fortuna or Bonus Eventus or
the like for an eighth ; the
first seven appear to be the
real deities of the weekdays, the last is added either because the Roman
week had eight days or because eight figures can be arranged more

181

Fig. 12.

Fragment of Octagonal Sculpture found
AT L ON General Plan.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

symmetrically than seven. Representations of these deities are however
not very common in Britain, and representations in stone seem to occur
only, or almost only, in Germany. In the mutilated condition of our
Irchester fragments it may be advisable not yet to ascribe them very
confidently to this series of monuments.*

A fourth discovery, made about 1853, also possesses considerable
interest. It is a Roman tombstone found at or near the point i in the
plan, lying with the face downwards over a rough cist or sepulchre
which contained some bones and broken urns. Those who found it
thought it a Roman grave which had at some remote date been rifled
and the tombstone overturned. But a Roman grave is hardly possible
inside the walls, and it is for other reasons probable enough that the
grave is the work of later men who brought the Roman tombstone
from its original site, presumably outside the walls and near the road
marked d in the plan. The tombstone itself is a plain slab with a sunk
panel, measuring in all 42 inches in length and 20 inches in height.
It is now in the British Museum, where I have seen it. It bears in
plain large letters, which afford no clue of date, the inscription : —

D ▲ M ▲ S A

ANICIVS SAT\R/

STRAT© CoSMSF

'To the memory of Anicius Saturn(inus) or Saturu(s), strator to the
governor. . . .' The ' strator ' was a soldier selected to have the charge
of the horses of a high officer — usually the governor of a province or
the general of a legion. The sense of the last three letters msf is
uncertain. Possibly ms stands for Moesia Superior, and in that case
Anicius at some time in his life was strator to some governor of that
province ; otherwise we should suppose him strator to some governor of
Britain. What he was doing at Irchester, whether he had horses to
look after there, or died while accidentally at the place, or settled there
after his discharge from military service, are questions which it is use-
less to ask. If however he was at some time strator to the governor of
Moesia the third conjecture is not unlikely.^

Other objects found inside the walls include Samian, Castor and
other wares, glass, enamelled^ and other fibulas (fig. 13), painted wall
plaster — one piece with illegible writing on it, in Northampton Museum
— iron tools, lead weights, small objects in bronze and Kimmeridge
clay, bones of animals, tiles and bricks of various kinds, including
flue-tiles, roof-slates from the Colly Weston quarries, and, in short, all

' See Wright, Celt, Roman and Teuton, p. 322; Victoria History oj Hampshire, i. 308; F. Haug,
Westdeutsche Zeitschrift, ix. 17. A fragment of an octagonal stone showing Mars, Mercury, Juppiter and
Venus, found at Chesterford and now in the British Museum, is quoted by Wright as a parallel in stone,
and perhaps rightly, though there are one or two doubtful points about it, and it may have had only
seven figures of gods. Mr. Baker says {Arch. Assoc. Reports, xv. 57) that he found also some arms and
legs, besides the two pieces shown in fig. i z ; these seem to have disappeared.

* C. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, iii. 251, iv. pi. xiv. ; C.I.L. vii. 78. For the Stratores see
Ephemeris, iv. 406-9.

* Journal of the British Archaeological Association, iii. 251. Many of the objects mentioned in the
next few lines are now in the Northampton Museum.

182

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

that we might expect on an ordinary Romano-British site without
indications of wealth or luxury. The coins range from Claudius to
Honorius and thus cover the whole Roman period, but so far as can be
judged from sadly imperfect lists, only a
very small proportion belongs to the first
century.

The occupation of the site was not
limited to the walled enclosure. A road
of gravel and pebbles laid on limestone
rubble was traced in 1878-9 running
eastward from the walls, and about 350
yards away, on the other side of Chester
House, Mr. Baker found in 1878 what he
took to be debris of buildings, two wells, and two stone cesspools con-
nected by an underground drain with the buildings and with the river.'
Still further east, near the Midland Railway embankment, ironstone
diggers in 1873 broke into a cemetery of over 300 graves containing skele-
tons, three stone coffins and one leaden one; no evidence of date was
found in any of them. Among the graves was found also a packet of
eight bronze vessels, strainers, saucers, etc., packed one inside the other
and all into a bucket which was probably a copper pail edged and

Fig. 13. Enamelled Fibula found
AT Irchester.

Ic.-.l

- ScaJe t -

H D

107*

Fig. 14. Bronze Vessels found at Irchester in 1873.

mounted with iron (fig. 14). Both graves and vessels have been taken
to be Roman, but it seems more likely that both, except the leaden
coffin, are early English.'

Such, briefly sketched, are the Roman remains of Irchester. They
have usually been explained as the remains of a fort built about a.d. 48

' Assoc. Arch. Reports, xv. 53.

* Ibid. xiii. 88; Franks, Proceedings of the So^. of Antiquaries, vi. 476. The vessels are now at
Knuston. For the leaden coffin see C. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vii. 192, and pi. xixA.

183

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

by Ostorius Scapula, the second governor of Britain, to protect the then
frontier of the province. But we have seen that they reveal no signs of
military occupation ; we shall see below that there is no reason to ascribe
to Ostorius any forts in this part of Britain. The coins suggest that the
site was hardly inhabited till late in the first century, and the walled
enclosure, 20 acres in extent, is either too small or too large. Had it
been a legionary fortress it would have been double that area ; had it
been a fort garrisoned by auxiliaries it would have been one third or one
quarter of it. We may with more reason suppose that Irchester was a
little Romano-British country town or village, less important and less
wealthy than Castor. For the rest we must be content to be ignorant.
A Roman official, either in active service or in retirement, came there
to die. Possibly there was a small shrine there. With these two items
its history ends. When its walls were erected — whether at the time
when it grew into something like a town, or late in the Roman period
when barbarian inroads threatened — we cannot now determine. We
do not even know by what roads it was reached. Further excavations,
much to be desired, may some day tell us more.

Towcester is a small English country town situated among pleasant
meadows on the south bank of the winding Tove, close to the water ;
Watling Street runs right through it from south-east to north-west.
Here, coinciding closely with the modern town, stood a small Romano-
British town or village. The mileage of the Itineraries permit us to
identify it fairly confidently with Lactodorum, or (as perhaps it was
originally spelt) Lactodurum, and this identification, first suggested by
Horsley, is now universally accepted.'

The area of the place is not quite certain. Sixty years ago Baker
was able to trace ramparts enclosing an irregular quadrilateral of about
35 acres (fig. 15), and some vestiges of these ramparts may still be seen,
particularly in a grass field behind the police station and in gardens
south of that. It is not unreasonable to think that these ramparts
represent the Roman lines. But they have never been explored. We
have written evidence of fortification building at Towcester in 921 ; we
have at Berry Mount, on the east side of the town, a post-Roman earth-
work ; and in the present state of our knowledge we cannot fairly exclude
the possibility that the ramparts seen by Baker may also be post-Roman.*
The remains found in the place are numerous, but not specially note-
worthy. Foundations and roof-tiles have been often met with. Two
pavements, one plainly tessellated, the other brick in herringbone pattern,

' Camden made Towcester Tripontium, but, to prove his case, invented new forms, Torcester
and Torpontium. It is a characteristic example of how names were played with in his time. Neither
form has any existence in fact.

* See Baker, ii. 318 foil. He and others have called Berry Mount Roman, but that is most
improbable. It is not quite easy to make out, from the accounts of antiquaries, whether Roman
remains have been found in the soil of the mound or only at and round its base. If however they
have been found in the soil, that only proves that, as at Worcester {Victoria Hist, of IVorcestenhWe, i. 207)
and elsewhere, the mound has been heaped up from soil which already contained Roman remains.

184

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

were discovered during the restoration of the church in 1883, and others
appear to have been noticed elsewhere but not recorded. Tiles and
bricks, glass and pottery of all sorts — Samian, Castor and Other — abound.
Special note may be taken of two objects which are probably cheese

- 5

strainers, and a lamp marked with the familiar maker or seller's name,
FORTis. The coins include five Republican coins, a good many first
century coins (among them a gold Tiberius), and many of the second,
third and fourth centuries down to Honorius. Remains which may
belong to a cemetery were found outside the town in 1747, ' in digging

185

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

of stone for repairing Watling Street.' ' But no mosaic floors, no costly
ornaments, or other traces of wealth and luxury have as yet been detected,
nor have w^e any reason to believe that such will ever be discovered
there. In short, Towcester was a little Romano-British town or village,
possibly larger than Irchester, distinguished from it by its position on the
great Roman highway of Watling Street, but resembling it, and indeed
exceeding it, in the general simplicity of its remains and the absence of
objects that indicate riches and splendour.

(</) WHILTON, NORTON

The Itinerary of Antoninus mentions a place called Bannaventa as
the next station from Lactodorum, 1 2 Roman miles on the road to
Viroconium, and another place called Tripontium as 12 miles further
on.' The road in question is that which we now call Watling Street,
and these two ' stations ' ought to be found on or near that well known
way. Their exact identification has however been a matter of much
dispute. Talbot, the first Englishman to comment on the Itinerary, put
Bannaventa at Weedon Beck, and Camden, Morton, Stukeley and others
followed him. But Weedon is too near Towcester to agree with the
Itinerary mileage, and it has yielded hardly any Roman remains. Others,
attracted by the coincidence that the five letters avent occur in both
names, have placed Bannaventa at Daventry, and have tried to substantiate
their etymology by citing the remains on Borough Hill and at Burnt
Walls (p. 195). But these lie well away from Watling Street. Horsley
probably hit the truth when he suggested that Bannaventa might be
found on Watling Street itself, not far from Whilton Lodge. The
position suits the mileage of the Itinerary, and considerable remains
have been noticed here at various dates. Morton, two centuries ago,
observed that, ' in that part of Whilton Field which adjoins Watling
Street old foundations, the stones of ruined walls and the like have been
ploughed and digged up, and amongst the ruins some pieces of Roman
money.' Baker records the discovery in 181 3 of a skeleton and some
Constantinian coins in a field called Great Shawney near the footpath to
Whilton, and states that near a farm called Thrupp Grounds, in the north
of Norton parish, ' thick foundation walls and fragments of ancient
pottery ' were frequently turned up over a space of nearly 30 acres.

' Cimden, ii. 266 ; Morton, p. 508 ; Stukeley, Itin. Curksam, p. 40 (denarius of Hadrian) ;
Minutes of Soc. of Antiquaries, J.inu,iry 19-26, 1748 (graves); Bridges, i. 272; Cough's Add. to
Camden, ii. 274 ; Baker, ii. 320; Jciii-nal of the British Archaokgical Association, vii. 109, xxi. 186
(inscribed lamp) ; the late Sir Henry Dryden, Antfjuary, vii. 87 and MSS. in Northampton Museum ;
a large collection of pottery, coins, etc., made by the late Mr. Tite, now in Northampton Museum.
The 'cheese strainers ' resemble one figured (without exact provenance) in the Proceedings of the Soc. of
Antiquaries, xiv. (1892) 173, and one found at Birdosvvald in 1896 {Transactions of the Cumberland and
Westmorland Arch. Soc. xiv. 426, pi. iii.). Simil.ir objects have been found elsewhere (Bursian, Aventi-
cum, pi. xiii., etc.). A Bactrian coin of King Menander was picked up at Towcester in 1882 {North-
amptonshire Notes and Queries, i. 99) ; doubtless it h.id been dropped by some returned Anglo-Indian.

* Itin. Ant. 470, 477, 479. The MSS. of the Itinerary give several varieties of spelling, Benna-
venta, Bennavena, etc., and even Isannavantia ; but there can hardly be any doubt that all are corrup-
tions of the one form Bannaventa. The theories built on the hypothesis of two place names, one
commencing with B and the other with Is {Archecokgia, xxxv. 392, etc.) are baseless.

\9(,

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Finally, in 1837, the alteration of a road from Norton to Watling
Street revealed great quantities of Samian and other pottery, including
an amphora handle stamped acirci and a pelvis (albinvs), a fibula, and
some ' small coins of the lower empire.' ^ Evidently the locality was
definitely inhabited in the Roman period, and with the evidence of the
Itinerary to help us we may reasonably place a ' station ' here. But we
must wait for further evidence before we can decide what kind of
'station ' stood here, whether a little town or a village, or possibly some-
thing that was hardly a village.

It is possible, though it cannot be called by any means certain, that
Norton may possess a higher title to fame, as the early home and pre-
sumably the birthplace of a celebrated man in the latest Romano-British
days. The most ancient and trustworthy account of St. Patrick's life,
the ' Confessio,' which claims to have been written by himself, states
that he lived as a boy, and implies that he was born, at Bannavem
Taberniae. As it stands that name is totally unintelligible. But it is
easy to redivide it into Bannaventa berniae, and thus one recognizable
name at any rate emerges. The last three syllables unfortunately remain
as puzzling as before, and our suggested interpretation of the first four
syllables must therefore be admitted to be doubtful. But if the occur-
rence of the name Bannaventa is a mere accidental coincidence, it is a
very striking accident, and it certainly deserves a mention in this con-
text.^

The other ' station ' to which we alluded above, Tripontium, has
often been placed on the extreme edge of Northamptonshire at Dow-
bridge, where Watling Street crosses the Avon and enters Leicestershire.
No Roman remains however have been found here, and it is more
likely that the ' station ' was a mile further north, near Cave's Inn
farm.'

3. Villas and Rural Dwellings

From the country towns we pass to the country outside them.
The soil of Northamptonshire has revealed to us many ' villas ' and
vestiges of Romano-British rural life ; doubtless it still hides many
others for future archsologists to detect. Those which are known to
us, some twenty-seven in number, are distributed somewhat unevenly
over most parts of the county, except the central district north of

' Morton, p. 532 (copied by Bridges, i. 541 ; Gough, AdJ. to Camden, ii. 276) ; George Baker,
i. 423, 425 ; Archaologia, xxxv. 392 ; M. H. Bloxam, Vnceedings of the Soc. of Antiquaries, viii. (1880)
325. Mr. Radburne of Thrupp Grounds showed me some twenty coins (two Hadrian, two Pius,
mostly Constantinian and later) found on or near his farm, and told me that he had met with founda-
tions, pavements and fireplaces in the fields.

* The idea has occurred to myself (£«^yJ/A Historical Review, 1 895, p. "I i) and to others inde-
pendently, and has been accepted recently by Zimmer in his article ' Keltische Kirche in Britannien '
in the Reakncyklopddie fUr protestantische Tkeologie, x. (ed. 3, 1 901). There appear to be palaeographical
and other difficulties in the way of explaining berniae as a misre.id contraction of Britanniae, nor can it
stand for Hiierniae.

' Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiquivies, viii. 319-2; and reff. there given. See also the Index, /. v.
Lilbourne. It may be as well to add that the Brittones Triputienses, a regiment recruited in Britain
and quartered on the Rhine, have nothing to do with Tripontium. Their name refers to the place in
Germany where they were quartered.

187

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Northampton and west of Kettering. We may distinguish in particular
a group of ' villas ' near the thickly occupied town and ' villa ' district
of Castor, another small group near Thrapston, and a third between
Northampton and Watling Street, Very few of these remains have
been excavated even in part ; of many we know too little to be sure
of their exact character. But it is worth while to attempt, what has
never been attempted before, to tabulate the principal recorded finds.
Thus only can the reader form some faint idea of this vanished rural
civilization, which consisted of ' country houses,* perhaps also (as at
Peterborough and Duston) of villages, and also of insignificant
dwellings. The total number of sites is not inconsiderable when
compared with the numbers of other counties. Some of the houses
seem to have been large and luxurious, though none can match the
splendid mansions found in Gloucestershire or Hampshire and west
Sussex. Of the plans of the houses we know sadly little. Two or
three were ' courtyard ' houses, and no doubt the normal types prevailed.
One feature of some interest is presented by the mosaics. Not a few
noteworthy mosaic floors have been from time to time discovered, but
not a single one contains any figure of man or god or animal. The
scenes usual elsewhere — Orpheus with his lute, Hercules and Antseus,
Bacchus, the Four Seasons and the like — do not appear in Northampton-
shire. There the mosaic designs are purely geometrical, and even con-
ventional foliage is rarer than we might expect. Instead we meet a
somewhat unusual feature. The geometrical designs are not infrequently
outlines, sketched by thin rows of red or blue tesserae on grounds of grey
or straw colour. A different artistic tradition prevailed in our county
from that which we find on the shores of the Severn or along the
English Channel. Roman Britain was not a mere uniform land, crushed
into monotony as part of a great empire. It, like other provinces, had
its little local fashions.

(1) Peterborough. Roman remains have been found here in some
quantity during the last twenty or twenty-five years, on the north and
north-west of the town, near the Westwood and Spital bridges over the
Midland and Great Northern united railway lines. These remains
include forty or more skeletons, Samian and other pottery, coins,
brooches, rings, a curious little equestrian statuette in bronze, tiles, an
iron hinge and bolt, animals' bones, and so forth. The coins comprise
three British, a Republican denarius, a 'second brass ' of Augustus, and
many others earlier than a.d. 230 and some of later dates.' Some wells
or pits, and what may have been a ditch or earthwork, were also noted.
Coins, mostly of the fourth century, have been found in various other
parts of the town. Probably there was on the north of the town some
village or other habitation, of which the cemetery, many domestic

* Mr. Bodger has shown me also two Egyptian coins of pre-Roman date, one of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus (B.C. 285-247) and one of Ptolemy Euergetes II. (146-1 17), found in Peterborough in 1871.
Whether these were lost by a Roman collector or a modern, or reached our shores by some early trader,
is not easy to decide.

188

<!■■ ■■■(■■■■■■■■■■uiaBaaBaaaBaMaaaHnBauBnanBBaaanMuuanaiuaaiiaiuBnnniiiMnnu ■:■

"•aamVAnSSSSniniSlMaaim

Fig. i6. Mosaic found at Pail Grounds, Helpstone (Artis, pi. xxiv.).

to face page 189,

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

objects, and perhaps a faint trace or two of buildings (tiles, iron hinge),
have alone been as yet discovered.' It will be noticed that this site,
like all the neighbourhood of Castor, seems to have been early oc-
cupied.

(2) Thorpe or Longthorpe, till 1850 in the parish of St. John
Baptist, Peterborough, between that town and Castor. Here Stukeley
says that a mosaic was found in 1720 on the land of Sir Francis St. John,
and coins are attested by other writers — one Republican, some of
Augustus, Claudius ('first bronze'), Aelius Verus, etc. One could wish
that one had some further authority for the mosaic than Stukeley, but,
as he gives place and date, it may be rash to reject his testimony.^

(3) Helpstone. Here in a field called Pail Grounds, near Oxey
Wood and Wood Lane, about a mile south of the village, a mosaic,
with a geometrical design in red, white, dark blue and yellow, was
discovered in December, 1827, and copied (fig. 16) ; but the house to
which it must have belonged was not explored, or if explored no record
seems to exist. The Roman pavement in the chancel of Helpstone
church, mentioned by Bridges and therefore found probably before 1700,
may have come from this site ; but the villa in Ashton Lawn V/ood is
equally near.^

(4) Ashton, 4 miles north of Castor, on the east side of the Roman
road called King Street. Here ' the foundations of a square structure
supposed to be Roman once existed, and perhaps are still visible, in a
little wood called Ashton Lawn' in the south of the parish.^ It is im-
possible to assert confidently that these foundations belonged to a villa,
especially as a noteworthy tile of the Twentieth Legion was found a
quarter of a mile south, in Hilly Wood (p. 214). But it seems best to
include them in this list provisionally.

(5) Bedford Purlieus, 2 miles west of Wansford Bridge, in Thorn-
haugh parish and partly in a detached portion of Wansford parish.
Here traces of permanent occupation have been noted in the large covers
known as Bedford Purlieus, between the existing roads from Wansford
Bridge to Uppingham and to Kingscliffe. Artis marks on his map ' an
extensive Roman building of the second class,' some other buildings and
some ' iron works ' along the eastern edge of the wood facing Cooke's
Hole, but he gives no details except a picture of an ' iron furnace,'

' J.W. '&odigQ.r,JoHfrtiilof the Brithh Aickxological Association, xliii. 372, xlvi. 87, xlviii. 167, 1. 57 ;
Dr. W.ilker, ibid, new ser. v. 58 ; fifteen coins in Peterborough Museum from v.irious p.irts of the
town ; priv.ite collections of Dr. Walker and Mr. J. W. Bodger ; sketches by Mr. Jas. T. Irvine in the
Bodlei.in Library {Korthants, iv., vi.). The carved pill.ir, inscribed fr.igmcnt and plinth found in
the cathednd in 1888-9 probably came from Castor (p. I 76).

2 Stukeley, Itin. Cuii'isum, p. 84 (hence Gough, JJ./. to Cmn.lt-ii, ii. 287 ; Reynolds, p. 466).
For the coins see Morton, p. 515 ; S]r. of /infiju/irics' Minutes (October 24, 1722), i. 69 ; Gough, ii.
287.

3 Artis, pi. xxiv. ; Bridges, ii. 515 corrected by Gibson, Ciss.'cr, p. 62 ; Evans and Britton, p. 228.
The vicar of Etton and Helpstone, the Rev. J. Thomas, informs nie that the pavement is still there ;
when the chancel was recently repavcd the mosaic was rearranged.

* Trollope, j^ssociiiteJ j^rrMt. Soc. Reports, ix. (1868) 156. Since 1887 Ashton has been included
in Bainton parish, but I have preferred to mention the old boundaries, which arc on most of the maps
now in use.

189

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

which was certainly never intended by the Romans for iron smelting.'
More has been recorded about a find made on the other side of the
wood, in its south-west corner, called St. John's Wood, close to the
Kingscliffe road. Here, in the spring of 1841 (not 1844), were found
by accident two headless and legless torsos, the one 29 inches high, the
other 32 inches, carved in local Barnack rag, and representing two
youths in short tunics, each grasping a whip and obviously forming a
pair (fig. 17). With them was discovered a large full-bellied urn of

Fic. 17. Statues fovnd in Bedford Purlieus, 1844.

local clay, 30 inches high and twice as much in circumference, which
contained human bones, some glass, Samian ware (avitima, metti-m, rvifima)
and a characteristic piece of Castor ware ornamented with hunting scenes,
partly broken, partly perfect (fig. 18).^ The interpretation of these
remains is not easy. The pottery and ashes must however represent
a burial, and it is possible that the statues formed flanking figures to
some largish funeral monument, which was not discovered, or at least
not recognized, in 1841. What precisely they denoted, whether
charioteer servants of the dead, I do not know, nor can I discover any

' Communications to the Spalding Club, 1710-50, printed in Nichols' Bib/. Topogr. Brit. iii.
91 ; Artis, Durobrivae, map of Castor and vicinity, 1828. I assume that these two references concern
the same remains, though the earlier record is vague about the exact locality. With respect to the iron
works see p. 206.

2 Gentleman"! Magazine (1841), ii. 528 ; Proceedings of Soc. cf Antiquaries, ser. i, i. 151 ; C. Roach
Smith, Collectanea Antiqun, iv. 90 (plates of pottery) ; Architohgia, xxxii. 1-13, with plates of statues
and pottery ; A. H. Smith, Catalogue of the Sculpture at Woburn Abbey, Nos. 70, 76. The statues are
now at Woburn, where, by the kindness of the Duke of Bedford, I have examined them.

190

Fig. i8. Castor Wark focnd in BtuFORD Plrliels, detail tM.ARGKD.
[The urn to which these belong is figured below in the text on p. 192]

To face page 1 90.

ROMANO-BRITIPr NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

exact parallels. But flanking figures of various sorts are not uncommon,
and provisionally this explanation may suffice.

(6) Apethorpe, about 4 miles south-west from Wansford Bridge.
Here in 1859 a 'villa' was found in the park, situated on low ground

MOSAJC U fwOOR

PLAIN
jTESSCLATED
n-OOR .

PRINCIPAL DWELLING HOUSE

(TACINO TMt COURTYAKDJ

WESTEJIN WING
OF VILLA

DRAIN

COURTYARD

DIPPING VEUL

W'""''

ea5Te:rn

\/ING

VILLA

ENTRANCE

/ tl

'^zsMs^zszstz:^

I « '0 :•> a '1 ."i f1 r 1 ;i i.j ;, j

SCALE IN FEfT.

F"iG. 19. Apethorpe Villa.

close to the little Willow Brook, which skirted its eastern side. The
whole area covered by buildings seems to measure about 230 by 240 feet.
The general plan resembles that of the slightly larger villa of Brading,
mentioned above (p. 163, fig. 3) — a central courtyard, faced on east,

191 . '

Fic. 1 8. Castor Ware found in
Bedford Purlieus, 1844.

[For detail sec fig. opposite p. 190]

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

north and west by three detached or almost detached blocks of buildings,
furnished with a well in the middle and closed on the south by a wall,
through which was a carriage road approach (fig. 19). The principal
block of buildings was on the north, fronting the approach across the

courtyard. This contained hypocausts, two
mosaic floors of geometrical design — the
larger a somewhat unusual pattern (fig. 20)
— and a smooth plaster floor, painted with
a linear design in red, white or brown,
and doubtless other mosaics which have
perished. Here we may suppose that the
owner resided. The east and west blocks,
less intelligible in detail, may have been
servants' quarters and stores, while near the
entrance to the courtyard were the baths,
annexed to the east block, and thus, as
often, situated at some little distance from
the main dwelling rooms. Smaller finds
included part of a column in stone. Colly
Weston roofing slates, flue and other tiles,
Samian, Castor and other wares, glass, a
lead weight, animals' bones and other
small objects, such as usually occur. Two
small uninscribed ' house-altars ' are slightly less common but still well
known features of Roman life. The coins include a ' denarius ' of
Septimius Severus, but are mostly of the Constantinian period. We
may perhaps infer that the ' villa ' was occupied at least during the
first half of the fourth century.'

(7) Cotterstock, on the Nene, three-quarters of a mile north of
Oundle. Here, in the eighteenth century, traces of what was probably
a fine villa were discovered in a field called the Guild or Gilded Acre,
situate in the west of the parish, towards Hall Wood and Glapthorn,
but the remains were never seriously excavated. In July, 1736, a
mosaic pavement was found in ploughing — a panel 10 feet square, set in
the middle of a larger, plainly tessellated floor. The design shows four
small hearts — possibly conventionalized petals of a flower — set in an
intricate geometrical pattern of rectilinear character, the whole framed
in a guilloche border. At the same time more mosaic seems to have
been discovered but destroyed, or at least not copied. Potsherds, ashes,
animals' bones, bricks and tiles, hewn stones, and five or six coins of
Valentinian were also found. Sixty years later, in 1798, another mosaic
was found at the same spot — a square panel, showing a two-handled cup
crowned with leaves, with a border at top and bottom of Asiatic shields,
the colours being red, white, yellow and dark grey (or blue ?) (fig. 21).

' Trollope, Associated Archit. ^oc. Reports, v. (1859) 97-107; hence a brief note in C. Roach
Smith, Collectanea Antigua, \\. 250. There appear to have been no outbuildings seen or suspected.
Part of the remains has been roofed with a hut.

192

^•---.-.iia

Fig. 20. Apethorpe Villa : Larger Mosaic.
[Brown and a little black, on a white ground. Scale, i : 25]

To face page 192.

|-|'l'l'l'l')'t-MV^

xmmmi■i^^imm^%^

Fig. 21. Mosaic found at Cotterstock in 1798 (Artis, pi. lix.).

To Jace fiage 192.

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

With it were found coins of Agrippa (' second brass,') Vespasian and
others — nearly all fourth century — some other pavements of inferior
character, two cisterns or cesspools, and other smaller objects. The
' villa ' was obviously a comfortable one.*

(8) Great Weldon. Here was a fine ' villa,' placed on gently
rising ground to the north of the Willow Brook, in Chapelfield — not an
uncommon name for sites containing Roman or other ancient founda-
tions. It was detected and partially uncovered in the spring of 1738.
The building excavated measured 45 by 96 feet and comprised a corridor
10 feet wide, which formed the entire eastern (or rather south-eastern)
face of the building, and six rooms, which opened westwards out of the
corridor (fig. 22). The foundations of the building were of local Stanion
stone ; the walls were thought to have been constructed in wood.
Higher up the slope more foundations were noticed, and it is plain that
the excavated portion was but a fragment of a large house. Four mosaics
— all imperfectly preserved — were found and copied. They all formed
centre panels for floors of plain tessera and were all geometrical in
design. Two of them were long ornamental centre strips, each 5 feet
wide, in the corridor. One of these, at the north end of the corridor,
was a purely geometrical design in blue, white (or yellow) and grey ;
the other, at the south end, had a conventional foliated pattern outlined
in blue and red on brown and yellow grounds. A third pavement in
one of the northern rooms showed a design which was outlined in red on
the outside and in blue in the centre on a ground of grey. The fourth,
in the southernmost room, had an intricate pattern of knots, Asiatic
shields, squares and diamonds, in red, white and blue. The coins found
on the spot range from about a.d. 260-353 ; most of them are Con-
stantinian, and we may suppose that the villa was occupied, at any rate,
during the first half of the fourth century.^

(9) Ashley, 4 miles east of Market Harborough, close to the
Welland, which is the Leicestershire boundary. Here pavements,
pottery, coins and other objects were found in a field called Alderstone
when the Rugby and Stamford railway was constructed.' The site is
hardly a mile from Medbourne in Leicestershire, where mosaics and
other evidences of permanent occupation have several times been noted.
A Roman road can be traced from Leicester to Medbourne, but its
continuation into Northamptonshire is uncertain.

* For the finds of 1736 see ^Northampton Mcnui-y, March 23, 1 737 ; Daily Gazetteer, April I, 1737 ;
Gentleman's Magazine, 1737, p. 256 ; Stukeley's Letters, iii. 33, 49 and Carausius, i. 170 ; Gough, jfJJ.
to Camden, ii. 286 ; Gibson's Castor, p. 173; Vetusta Monumenta, i. pi. 48 ; Artis, pi. Ix. For the finds
of 1798 see Gibson's Castor, p. 173, with a plate topsyturvy ; Artis, pi. lix. ; Wm. Fowler's Tessellated
Pavements ; the Wollaston drawings in the South Kensington Museum. Part of the pavement found
in 1736 was taken to Dene House (Stukeley, Diaries, iii. 67).

* Stukeley, Letters, iii. 40, i9i — Relliguiir Galeance in Nichols' Bibl. Topogr. Brit. ii. 460 ; hence
Gibson's Castor, p. 172 ; Gough, Jdd. to Camden, ii. 284, etc. Apian was made by Lens and engraved
by Cole at the time of finding ; coloured copies of this are in the library of the Society of Antiquaries
and in the Bodleian (Gough Collection). It was enlarged by Lysons (i. 3, pi. vii.), but his colouring
is apparently inexact. The rather different plan given by Gibson and Gough is from a rough inaccurate
sketch by Stukeley, of which I have a MS. copy.

' F. Whellan, Hist, of Northamptonshire (cd. 2, 1874), p. 781. The site was knowrn earlier as a
Roman site (see Nichols' Leicestershire, i. p. cliv.).

193

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

(10) Weekley, near Kettering. Here foundations, tessellated pave-
ments and potsherds have been found on the north side of the village at
Castle Hedges near Boughton House, and coins have been dug up in
front of Boughton House and at the bowling green (Vespasian, Trajan,
etc.). On the south side of the village, near the Kettering boundary,
many coins, ranging from Vespasian to Valentinian, have been found in
a field called Blackmiles, and an earthwork has been traced, more or
less conjecturally, connecting the two sites.* Neither site has been
explored.

(11) Lowick, near Thrapston. A piece of tessellated pavement,
1 1 by 3 feet in size, is said to have been found in 1736 in this parish
near Drayton House.^

(12) Woodford, near Thrapston. ' On the south side of the river
Nyne (Nene) in Woodford field are manifest signs of a place possessed
by the Romans. On that called the Meadow Furlong we now find
abundance of the Roman dice-like bricks, as also many pieces of oddly
engraven tiles.' So Morton. One or two fourth century coins and an
urn have also been found here.'

(13) Raunds. Here a spot once and perhaps still called Mallows
Cotton, on slightly rising ground between the Hogdyke and the
boundary of Ringstead parish, has yielded evidences of permanent
occupation — foundations, coins, pottery. Potsherds may still be picked
up there and surface indications of buildings are visible. The site has
been described as that of a ' camp ' or fort. But nothing has ever been
found to support this view ; the alleged earthworks bear not the least
resemblance to a camp or fort, and we may most naturally suppose that
the remains belong to a ' villa.'*

(14) Stanwick. Here a mile and a quarter south of Mallows
Cotton, fragments of a tessellated pavement are said to have been found
at the further end of ' the meadow furlong.' I was told on the spot that
the site is west of the village, between it and the Nene, and near the
south end of a green lane (sometimes fancied to be a Roman road),
which runs north towards Mallows Cotton. °

(15) Brixworth. Here reused Roman bricks may be seen in the walls
of the Saxon church, and Roman pottery has been found — for instance,
in Lodge Leys field, a quarter of a mile north of the church — and Roman
coins of Pius, Carausius and others have been picked up. These evidences
seem adequate to prove the existence of some dwelling. But the often

' Morton, p. 530; Bridges, ii. 344; Stukeley, Letters, iii. 64, 72 (with a wild idea of a
camp of Ostorius) ; Charles Wise, The Compotus of the Manor of Kettering for 1292 (Kettering, 1899),

P- 82.

2 Gough, Brit. Topogr. ii. 48, referring to the Minutes of the Society of Antiquaries, which I have
searched in vain ; from Gough, Evans and Britton, p. 18 10. Gough says that the mosaic was engraved
by Vertue for Lady Germaine.

3 Morton, p. 529, hence Bridges, ii. 265, 269, and Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 282.

* Ibid, p. 516 (hence Bridges ii. 190 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 275 ; Reynolds, p. 475,
etc.) ; Whellan, p. 925. The earthwork at Mill Cotton near Ringstead Station is sometimes coupled
with this site, but it seems not Roman at all.

6 Bridges, ii. 194 ; hence Reynolds, p. 463, etc.

194

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

repeated assertion that the church is itself a Roman building is quite
wrong.'

(16) Near Daventry, at the north end of Borough Hill, a mile
east of the town. Here the remains of a Roman villa have been found
inside the great prehistoric earthworks,
and a portion has been excavated, first by
George Baker in 1823 and subsequently
by Beriah Botfield in 1852. A block
of buildings 70 feet wide by 145 feet
long has been uncovered (fig. 23). This
seems to have contained the baths of the
villa ; foundations were noticed to branch
off from it, for the most part in a westerly
direction, and it is obvious, as indeed the
character of the plan suggests, that we
have only a portion of a larger whole.
At least two of the rooms had mosaics.
One mosaic discovered and removed in
1823 from room k had a design 9 feet
square, consisting of a central circle fitted
into two interlacing squares and framed
in a larger square, the ornament in each
case being guilloche. The other, in room
J, had an outer border of Vitruvian scroll
and an inner one of guilloche ; the
centre was destroyed. The minor objects
found were of considerable interest —
painted wall plaster ; Samian, Castor and
other wares ; pewter and iron articles,
including some curious keys ; fragments
of local marble ; window glass and glass
vessels, and so forth. The coins found
were few and late.*

About a mile south of this, and just under the south end of
Borough Hill, is a spot which has borne the name of Burnt Walls for at
least six centuries. Here, along the north side of the Weedon and
Daventry road, the surface shows signs of extensive disturbance, and
Morton records the occurrence of foundations and ruined walls, while
Baker states that Roman bricks and tiles have been found south of the
road, and a building close by on the site of the now vanished Daventry
Wood. Excavations on the north side of the road, made in 1900,

Fic. 23. Borough Hill, Daventry.

A well ; B I hot baths ; c E i o T furnaces
(o unfinished) ; F I j N T hypocausts ;
) K mosaic floors ; M N E p Q R plain tessel-
lated floors ; L s opus signinum floors ;
K T painted stucco walls.

' Sir Hy. Dryden, Aisociated Anhit. Soc. Reports, xx. 345, xxii. 78 (compare xix. 40S) ; Sir Hy.
Dryden's MSB. in Northampton Museum ; fragments of pottery in the same museum : Gentleman s
Magazine (1841), i. 305 ; Murray's GuiJe to Northants, p. 181 ; for the church see Micklethwaite,
Archtrological Journal, liii. 300. A carved eagle built into the church has been called Roman (Archir-
ologia, xliii. 1 19), but is apparently of later date.

' George Baker, i. 345 ; Botfield, Archaolo^a, xxxv. 383 ; C. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua,
i. 1 1 3 (iUustr. of pavement k), iii. 208 ; remains in Northampton Museum and British Museum.

195

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

produced no result, and as no smaller objects — coins, potsherds, and the
like — seem to have been discovered anywhere in the vicinity, I am
doubtful how to class the site.'

(17) Nether Heyford. Here a villa was found in 1699 in the
Horestone or Horse-
stone meadow. The
principal discovery
was part of a mosaic
showing an elaborate
geometrical design in
red, white, blue and
yellow, in pattern not
unlike the southern-
most mosaic at Wel-
don, but fringed in
addition with a guil-
loche border (fig. 24).
Some other rooms

Fig. 24. Mosaic found at Nether Heyford in 1699 (Morton, pi. xiv.).

were observed to have white plaster floors coloured along the sides
with straight stripes of red, yellow and green ; and, as usual, roofing
slates and tiles, painted wall plaster and Samian and other potsherds

» Morton, p. 521 (hence Bridges, i. 42 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 275); B.iker, i. 339;
information from Mr. T. J. George.

196

Fig. 25. Mosaic found at Harpole.

The central octagon is mostly red and white ; the rest black or red on a straw-coloured ground.

(Scale, 1 : 48)

T« face page 1 97 .

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

abounded. In 1780 the mosaic was taken up and used to mend the
roads. In 1821 the site was re-examined with no important results.
Baker estimated the whole area of the building ' as marked by the
disturbed surface and discoloured vegetation ' at no more than 100 feet.'

(18) Harpole, south-west of the village. Here, in a field adjoin-
ing the Weedon and Northampton road on the north, near the Halfway
House (Red Lion) inn and the fourth milestone, a ' villa ' was detected
in 1846 and a small part uncovered in 1849. The principal discovery
was a mosaic floor with a geometrical design in red, white, buff and
black, which may have measured 12 by 18 feet when perfect (fig. 25).
Its central ornament, a red circle divided into eight parts by four white
diameters, has been taken to contain a Greek cross and hence to indicate
Christianity. So far however as I can judge, this central ornament, like
the whole pattern, is merely conventional and possesses no Christian or
other significance. The site was not explored beyond this mosaic, but
tessera of other pavements, tiles, bricks, potsherds were noticed and
indeed can still be seen lying around on the surface for some little
space. ^

(19) Harpole, north of the village. On the rising ground north
of the village, Whellan attests the discovery of an extensive villa and in
particular a floor of rough unornamented tessellation (p. 318).

(20) Duston, near Northampton. Numerous remains have been
found here in the south-east of the parish, a little west of the western
suburb of Northampton called St. James' End, and for the most part
south of the present Daventry road. Burials and Roman pottery were
noticed in ' Arbourfield ' in 1849 ; a vase and some coins (a 'second
brass ' of Claudius, a denarius of Severus and about thirty-five of a.d.
250-380) were found hereabouts in 1854. But the principal discoveries
were made in 1860-70 when the Duston Iron Ore Company was work-
ing the ironstone on land once the property of Lady Palmerston (since
of Lord Cowper). The remains were found to be spread over eight
acres ; the site, south of the Daventry road and near a large artificial
pond, is still strewn with potsherds. No proper observations of the
discoveries were kept, except to a limited extent by the late Mr. Samuel
Sharp, but many of the objects unearthed were preserved and presented
by him and by Lord Cowper to the Northampton Museum. The
principal finds were a large number — probably more than a hundred —
of burials, some inhumation and some incineration ; nails, probably from
coffins ; a lamp ; pottery of all sorts, Samian, Castor and the rest ; tiles ;
many ornaments, domestic utensils and implements in iron, lead and
bronze ; and coins in abundance. Special mention may be made of a
small silver bowl ; six large plain pewter dishes, a two-handled pewter

* Morton, p. 527 and pi. xlv. 3 (hence Bridges, i. 519 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 277, etc.) ;
Baker, i. 191.

* Journal of the British Jrchtrohgical Association, ii. 364, v. 375, vi. 126 with plate; Wetton's
Guidebook, p. 148. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, i. 39, accepted the mosaic as
Christian.

197

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

bowl and a pewter patera 5I inches in diameter ; a bronze head which
had once belonged to the handle of a bronze-mounted bucket ; ornaments
in Kimmeridge clay from far away Dorsetshire ; enamelled objects
{Jibula, a ' sealbox,' etc.), some with classical and some with Late Celtic
patterns ; pottery with Late Celtic affinities, and other pottery which
might be called 'black Samian ' (one piece stamped avllios). The
coins included four or five British and a fairly continuous series from
Claudius to Honorius, but the earlier coins were all much worn, and
only those of 280—400 a.d. were really common. A well excavated in
November, 1870, yielded also a crucible and a 'pint of earthen coin
moulds,' intended for casting folks (large copper) of the Emperors
Diocletian, Maximian, Chlorus and Galerius — probably to be assigned
to the opening of the fourth century. Whether any buildings were
discovered is not quite clear. Mr. Sharp, writing in 1862, records the
discovery in that year of ' numerous black and white tessera?,' and con-
cludes that ' undoubtedly near this spot stood a Roman house.' In 1870
he stated that ' no tessera or foundations of houses ' had been met with
at all. I will not presume to decide between these assertions. But
more than twenty wells were discovered on the site ; tiles were also
found (though these might have been used to cover graves), and the
number and character of the domestic objects and ornaments indicate
inhabitants at no great distance. These inhabitants may have belonged
to either or both of two dates — the commencement of the Roman
period, indicated by British coins and pottery with Late Celtic affinities,
or the fourth century, indicated by the vast majority of the coins.
Whether these inhabitants dwelt in a ' villa ' or a village our knowledge
at present does not enable us to determine. We know only their portable
objects, their graves and a few imperfectly recorded traces of their
houses. It is possible enough that there was a village on the site in
early days and a ' villa ' later. But whether ' villa ' or village the site
demands inclusion in this list.^ The singularly straight road from
Duston to the Foss near Whilton Lodge (p. 203) may be connected
with these remains.

(21) Piddington. Here, close to Preston Wood and the London
and Newport road, remains were found in 178 i — a mosaic, chiefly black
and white, said to have measured 50 feet square but destroyed as soon as
found, many large tiles, foundations, pottery, coins, a gold ring and a
skeleton. The site has not been since explored.^

(22) Gayton. On the south-east edge of Gayton parish and close
to the Blisworth boundary, traces of a building were discovered in 1840
in a field called the Warren. The foundations uncovered showed a
portico with four column bases, 66 feet long, with a wall running at

' For the finds of 1 849 see Wetton's Guidebook to Northants, p. 243 ; for those of 1 854 the Proceedings
of the Numismatic Society, November 23, 1854 ; for those of 1860-70 S. Sharp in Associated Archit. Soc.
Reports, vi. (1862) 222 {tesserie). Numismatic Chronicle, ix. 167, xi. 28 (coin moulds), and Archteologta,
xliii. 1 18-30 ; and the Sharp and Cowper Collections in Northampton Museum.

'^ Reynolds, Iter Britann. p. 458, who saw himself the black and white lessertt. The other details
are from F. Whellan, p. 277.

198

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

right angles to it on each side and other walls, not traced, running in
various directions. The smaller finds included a silver fibula, a bronze
figurine of a Cupid, much Samian and other pottery, tiles and twenty-
two coins ranging from Marcus ('first brass') to Gratian, but principally
of the fourth century. The site was not further explored,^ but in 1849
pottery was dug up 70 yards south of the foundations.

(23) Foscote. Here, about a mile and a half on the road from
Towcester to Abthorpe, close to a little delf, a sawpit and the road
itself, numerous bricks, building and roofing tiles, Samian and other
potsherds, including a pelvis stamped pertvim, and a coin of the ' Lower
Empire' were found about 1846-8. The site was not explored.^

(24) Whittlebury. Here a ' villa ' was found and partially exca-
vated in 1850 near 'the Gullet,' in Holton Coppice, three miles east
of Whittlebury village and a quarter of a mile west of Watling Street.
The plans and records of the excavations are not wholly satisfactory ;
they are not quite free
from discrepancies, and
they omit to indicate how
much of the site was ex-
cavated and how much
may contain undiscovered
buildings. It appears
however that, as often, a
square entrenchment sur-
rounded the building
area. The plan of the
buildings (fig. 26) in-
cluded a walled yard, not
rectangular, in size 150
by 195 feet, with a gate-
way in the middle of the
south-east side and an-
other opposite it in the
north-west side. On the
south side of this yard
was a block of rooms,
measuring 50 by 100 feet,
so far as explored, and
containing hypocaustsand
bathrooms. One of the
rooms had in the centre of

its floor a small panel of mosaic, 4 feet square, representing a head in a
square guilloche border. Outside the yard, and facing its northern gate
at 100 feet distance, was another block of rooms, covering, as far as

1 Anheeohgia, xxx. 125-31, with plan and illustrations ; the plan is too fragmentary to be worth
reproducing. Wetton's Guidebook, p. 167.

2 "J oumal of the British Archaolo^cal Associotion, ii. 355, iv. 396, vii. 109 ; Wetton's G««V^3m*, p. 194-

199

Fig. 26.

^cAuc or rccT

Villa in Whittlebury Forest.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

excavated, about 30 by 90 feet. Its entrance was a projecting porch or
doorway decorated with a mosaic panel 6 feet square — a pattern of red
crosses outlined between squares of red and grey, the whole enclosed in
a guilloche border of red, white, drab and grey. Another mosaic in
this block consisted of squares divided by double lines of red. If we
may assume that the excavations left a good deal of building undis-
covered, we might suppose that this block formed part of a range of
rooms facing on to a second or inner yard and adjoining the bathrooms
on the south. I have ventured to mark it in the plan, with an appended
query. Minor discoveries in one part or other of the site include a
column base, tiles, painted wall plaster, some good fragments of glass,
Samian and other potsherds, three stone weights, iron knives and imple-
ments, animals' bones, etc'

(25) Chipping Warden. Here considerable traces of buildings
exist half a mile east of the village, on the north side of the Cherwell,
on a sheltered site with a southern aspect, sloping gently to the stream.
Only one building has been actually excavated — a detached bath-house,

36 feet long by 18 feet wide
(fig. 27), found in 1849 close
to the water in a field once
known as Caldwiths (or
Caudwells). But remains of
walls have been noticed also
in the fields called Black-
grounds, which adjoin Cald-
withs on the north (away

Fic. 27. Bath House at Chipping Warden. from the river), and Samian,

A raised stonework ; b modern drain ; c furnace. CaStOr and Othcr pOtshcrds,

glass and the usual small objects have been picked up, and indeed
still abound, over a considerable area. An urn with human bones
was found in 1826 and four skeletons in 1849. Many coins have
been recorded — three British of the class which Sir John Evans calls
the Central District coins, and numerous Roman, ranging from Domi-
tian to the end of the Roman period, but belonging mostly to the later
empire (a.d. 250—390).^ The place has frequently been called the site
of a Romano-British town, and the name Brinavis has been ascribed to
it. But the remains hitherto discovered do not justify us in supposing
more than a villa, perhaps with extensive outbuildings. Fragments of
pottery have been found, it is true, over an area much greater than that

1 'Journal of the British Jrchieolopcal Association, vi. 73, vii. 107 (plan and plates) ; Arckteohgical
"Journal, vii. 172. The mosaic with red crosses has been needlessly supposed to be Christian. One of
the mosaics was given by the landowner, the Duke of Grafton, to Queen Victoria and relaid in a dairy
at Windsor.

* Morton, p. 526 (hence Bridges, i. 11 1 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 272 ; Reynolds, etc.) ;
Baker, i. 531 ; Journal of the British Archirological Association, ii. 346 (coins), v. 83, 168 (excav. of
1849) ; Beesley's Banbury, 27-9 ; Numismatic Soc. Proceedings, November 23, 1843, January 27, 1845,
February 25, 1 846 ; a few objects in Northampton Museum. I have assumed, after visiting them,
that the earthworks, Arbury Banks and Wallow Bank, west and north respectively of Chipping Warden,
are not Roman : compare Architol. Journal, ii. 82.

200

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

of a single ' villa,' but potsherds are easily diffused in the course of culti-
vation, and are not by themselves adequate evidence to prove the extent
of buildings. The name Brinavis is even more unsatisfactory. It occurs
in the lists of the Ravenna Geographer, in a context w^hich gives no clue
to its actual position ; thence it was borrowed by Bertram, when forging
the Itineraries of ' Richard of Cirencester,' and located vaguely in the
Midlands ; it rests therefore on the worst authority.'

(26) Thenford. Here there appears to have been a ' villa ' half a
mile east of the village in fields called Flaxlands and Stonegreen, on the
top of a slope which falls away steeply westwards and immediately south
of the walled garden belonging to Thenford House. The recorded
remains comprise foundations, hypocausts, tessellated pavements, tiles,
bricks and several coins — a denarius of Vespasian and copper of Tetricus
and the Constantine period. The surface of the site is still strewn with
bits of brick and pottery, and an old labourer in Thenford told me that
he had ploughed along the top of a pavement and found one or two
' fireplaces.' An urn with ashes was dug up long ago in the church-
yard, but I do not know whether it is Roman. Remains have also been
found at Seabridge, to the west of Thenford, on the edge of Middleton
Cheney parish, near the barn called Cold Harbour — skeletons, a cup, and
according to local tradition some armour ; but I see no reason for class-
ing these as Roman. ^ None of these sites have been explored.

(27) King's Sutton. Here at a spot called Blacklands, on rising
ground half a mile north of the village, a considerable patch of soil is
unusually dark in colour, and foundations, pottery, including a curious
colander, knife and other objects in iron, and coins of the second, third
and fourth centuries — the last being the commonest — have been noted
by various writers. The site has never been explored. Roman coins of
270-330 A.D. have been found also in other parts of the parish.^

4. The Roads

From our description of country towns and country we pass to the
roads which provided communications. This is the natural order of
subjects. It is not perhaps the usual order. In general English topo-
graphers have tended to emphasize the roads at the expense of the life
to which the roads subserved. The study of Roman Britain has now
and again been treated as though it were merely a study of roads and
of placenames connected therewith. The character of towns or villas

* Ravenna Ceogr. 428, 429. It is extremely prob;ib!e that this, like most of the names in the
Ravenna lists, is corruptly spelt.

^ Morton, p. ;2g (hence Bridges, i. 203, etc.) ; Baker, i. 717, who quite unnecess.irily thinks the
site too extended for a villa ; Beesley's Banbuty, pp. 31-2 ; F. Whellan, p. 498 ; a flanged tile in
Northampton Museum.

* Morton, p. 531 (coins called Blackland pence); Baker, i. 703 ; Beesley's Banbuty, p. 33;
Numhmatic Soc. PiwuJinff, 'November 23, 1843; Proceedings of the Soe. of Ani'iquarks, ser. 2, i. 323,
ii. 75 ; "Journal of the Bridsh Archtcokgual AssoAation, xvii. 70 ; Worcester Congress of Arckttological Insti-
tute, Catalogue of Museum, p. 1 1 . Mr. Dagley of King's Sutton has about fifty coins, found mostly at
Blacklands — a denarius of Domitian, another of Hadrian, and copper of the second, third and especially
fourth centuries. Fragments of Roman pottery still lie about on the surfice of the site.

201

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

on or off these roads has been treated as comparatively immaterial and
unworthy of serious discussion. This is to invert the true relation of
the two subjects. In this as in other volumes of the Victoria County
History we have preferred to describe the sites first and proceed from
them to the roads.

Our sources for determining the roads are of two kinds — written
and archjEological. The archaeological evidence is supplied by actual
remains, as when we dig up ancient metalling along a line where a
Roman road might be expected, or when we find a still existing track
which runs with persistent straightness from one Roman site to another.
The written evidence is more elaborate. Charters tell us of ' streets '
bounding estates in early days. Placenames like Stratford, if of estab-
lished antiquity, suggest ancient and usually Roman roads.* Parish and
county boundaries sometimes preserve curious information. But our
chief written evidence is the Itincrarium Antonini, a Roman roadbook
which gives the distances and ' stations ' along various routes in the
empire. Its exact age and its object are uncertain and do not now con-
cern us ; its accuracy, which matters more, is by no means unfailing,
and it is sometimes more useful in testifying that a road ran in a particu-
lar direction, as for instance from Colchester to Lincoln, than in telling
us the precise course of the road and the precise sites of the ' stations '
along it. For our present purpose two of the Itinerary routes are
important. We give the distances as given in the original in Roman
miles, thirteen of which may be reckoned as equivalent to twelve English
miles.

(i) Part of route from Carlisle through Wroxeter and London to
the Kentish ports : Venonae (High Cross, Leicestershire) to Bannaventa,

17 miles; B. to Lactodorum, 12 miles; L. to Magiovinium, 17 miles;
M. to Durocobrivae, 12 miles [Itin. Ant. 470, 471). This route recurs in
a route from London to Lincoln : Durocobrivae to Magiovinium, 1 2
miles; M. to Lactodorum, 16 miles; L. to Bannaventa (misspelt Isanna-
vantia), 12 miles; B. to Tripontium, 12 miles ; T. to Venonae, 8 miles
(///>/. Ant. 476, 477); and again in a route from York to London: Venonae
to Bannaventa, 18 miles; B. to Magiovinium, 28 miles; M. to Duroco-
brivae, 12 miles [Itin. Ant. 479). The three versions agree substantially.

(2) Part of route from London by Colchester to Lincoln and the
north: Camulodunum (Colchester) to Villa Faustini, 35 miles; to Icini,

18 miles; to Camboritum, 35 miles; to Durolipons, 25 miles; to Duro-
brivae, 35 miles; to Causennae, 30 miles; to Lindum (Lincoln), 26
miles, or according to a less well attested reading, 16 miles {Itin. Ant.
475). With this we may compare a list of names given by the Ravenna
Geographer (429-30) : Manulodulo Colonia, Durcinate, Duroviguto,
Durobrisin, Venta Cenomum, Lindum Colonia. Corrupt in spelling as
these names are, we may regard them as somewhat the same as the
Itinerary names.

' Portvv.iy must not be included among these placenames ; it does not necessarily or usually denote
a Roman road.

202

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Combining these evidences, let us attempt to sketch the Roman
roads in Northamptonshire. We shall find that they fall under two
heads, the great highway, Watling Street, which crosses the western part
of the country, and the other highway, Ermine Street, which crosses its
eastern end. We shall find a few branches, or probable branches, of
these two. But we shall not find branches joining the two main roads.
So far as we know, Roman Northamptonshire possessed no means of
communication from east to west, from end to end. Its area was not in
Roman days a unity demanding such a road.

(i) The western route, Watling Street, requires few words. Its
course is certain. Almost the whole of it is still in use : often it forms
a parish or county boundary ; its name is attested in terriers and charters
far older than the Norman Conquest.^ The Itinerary ' stations,' as we
have already seen, can be identified easily with existing remains, and the
distances between these remains agree with the mileage of the Itinerary.
If we place Magiovinium near Fenny Stratford, Lactodorum at Tow-
cester, Bannaventa near Norton, Tripontium near Cave's Inn, Catthorpe,
and Venonae at High Cross, we obtain an admirable and unusual har-
mony between our written and our archseological evidence. According
to Bridges, the road was specially notable in his day close to Watford
Gap, where the bank (if we are to believe him) was 15 feet high.^ At
the present day the best preserved bit is perhaps near to Kilsby railway
station, in two fields between the road from Crick to Rugby and the
road from Kilsby to Lutterworth.

Two minor roads seem to join Watling Street in our county area.
One may be called a certain road, though no traces of it now exist
within the county. This is a road which can be traced clearly enough
from the Roman site at Alchester, near Bicester, running north-east as
far as Stowe Park; beyond that it is now no longer visible, but it must
have joined Watling Street at or near Towcester. The other is less
certain. From the Roman site at Duston (p. 197) an existing road
running westwards past Nobottle (Newbottle) towards Norton (p. 186)
on Watling Street. It is, for a good distance, an old road and a straight
road, and may well be Roman.

(2) The roads in the east of the county require more notice. The
archsological evidence is, on the whole, adequate to our needs, but the
roads are more numerous than in the west of the county and less easy to
understand, while the written evidence relating to them (the text of the
Antonine Itinerary) is singularly puzzling.

First, there is Ermine Street, to explain which we must start out-
side the county. Two roads, which may fairly be considered to be
Roman, the one from Brayling and the south, the other from Cambridge
and the south-east, meet at Godmanchester. From thence we can trace
the Roman road, still in full use and bearing the ancient name of Ermine

• The oldest form was perhaps Wacling, not Watling (W. H. Stevenson).
2 Bridges, i. 585.

203

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Street,' to the settlement on the Nene which we have above described
in connexion with Castor (p. i66). Here it enters Northamptonshire.
In this county little of it still remains in use, but its course is certain
and has often been described. From the Nene it continues in a straight
line its previous north-westerly direction. It passes Sutton Wood and
Southorpe (where stone pits for its making or maintenance were found
or supposed in the eighteenth century), skirts the west side of Walcot
Park and crosses the parish of Barnack, where it is said to have been
furnished with a watchtower and to have been very visible two hundred
years ago. Entering Burghley Park it deflects somewhat westwards; here
its course was partly obliterated in the seventeenth century when part of
it was taken to make gravel paths. It then passes near Wothorpe Park,
where again it has been damaged : in 1732, as Stukeley records, the
overseers of the highways of St. Martin's, Stamford, dug it up 'in
sacrilegious manner, to mend their wicked ways withall.' Finally it
reaches the Welland at Nun's farm immediately west of Stamford ;
thence it runs by Great Casterton and Ancaster to Lincoln and passes
outside our scope. ^ Between Castor and Stamford it has sometimes
been styled the Forty-foot Way.

One branch, and indeed perhaps three branches, diverged from this
road near the point where it crosses the Nene. Of these the most
important and the most certain runs due north. The exact spot where
it leaves the other road is not now visible but can be approximately
fixed. Somewhere near the Nene and Normangate field it turned off;
it becomes traceable near Upton, and from a point slightly north of that
village it is still in use as a road. Here or hereabouts it was once and
perhaps is still known as Langdyke and High Street, and it forms for
some distance a parish boundary. At the south end of Ashton parish it
skirts the eastern side of Hilly Wood, where a noteworthy legionary tile
was found some years ago (p. 214). Finally it crosses the Welland near
Lolham Bridges and enters Lincolnshire ; hence under the name of King
Street it pursues its way to Bourn and, as it seems, to Sleaford and Lin-
coln— though the section from Sleaford to Lincoln is not at all well
attested.' Thus it appears to provide an alternative route from Castor
to Lincoln, east of the above described Ancaster route. The exact rela-
tion of the two routes — if two there really were — is not quite clear.
Their lengths are almost equal. The western (Ancaster) route follows

• Originally perhaps Erning or Earning Street. The oldest occurrences of it are in a charter of
A.D. 957, Earninga-straet at Conington, Hunts {Carlularium Saxonicum, iii. 203 ; Proceedings of the Soc. of
Antiquaries, %CT. 1, iv. 326); a charter dated a.d. 955 but really of later origin, Earninge Straet, at
AKvalton {Cart. Sax. iii. 71) ; and Erningestrete in Henry of Huntingdon, i. 7. It is quite possible
that the name really belongs to Huntingdonshire only ; it is now used both north and south of that
area.

' Camden, ii. 270 ; Morton, p. 502 ; Arcka-ologin, i. 61 ; Bridges, ii. 490; Stukeley, Letters, ii.
269, and It'weranum Curiosum, p. 84 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 292 ; Trollope, Associated Archit.
Soc. Reports, ix. i 56.

3 Morton, p. 502; Stukeley, Letters, ii. and Carausius, i. 172; Trollope, Associated Archit. Soc.
Reports, ix. 156. The Ordnance surveyors insert the name King Street south as well as north of the
Welland.

204

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

the higher and drier line, but the Sleaford route is no mere Fen road.
The western route in its commencement at Castor forms a straight line
with the road from Godmanchester to Castor, and therefore seems to be
the original route ; but the legionary tile at Hilly Wood may suggest
that some part, at least, of the eastern road is also of early date.

Two other roads have also been thought to branch off near Castor.
The one runs west past the south side of Bedford Purlieus (p. 189) and
is represented by the existing Castor and KingsclifFe road, much of which
is curiously straight. Beyond its straightness however this road has no
definite sign of Roman origin and it leads to no known Roman site.
The other supposed road runs eastwards to Peterborough and thence
across the Fens to the Norfolk hills at Denver near Downham Market.
No certain trace of any such road exists in Northamptonshire. One
small piece has indeed been alleged to survive between Castor village
and Milton Park, but it is small and it is badly attested. East of Peter-
borough however the vestiges of an ancient road are certain, and if this
road was Roman, we might reasonably assume that it did not stop at
Peterborough but continued to Castor.

So far we reach with our archxological evidence. Let us now
compare it with our written record in the Antonine Itinerary quoted
above. According to this document there was a route from Colchester
to Lincoln with various stations along it. This route is generally taken
to be the road which we have seen actually to run from Godman-
chester through Castor and Ancaster to Lincoln, with remains of towns
or villages at the places named. Unfortunately the distances of these
sites conflict violently with the mileage of the Itinerary. Ancaster for
instance is neither 16 nor 26 but 20 Roman miles from Lincoln;
Castor is not 30 but 35 Roman miles from Ancaster ; Godmanchester
is 20, not 35 miles from Castor. No alternative route however can be
reasonably suggested. If it be conjectured that the Fen road from
Norfolk is intended, that is, that the traveller by the Itinerary route
journeyed from Colchester to Venta (near Norwich) and thence through
Denver to Castor, the mileage is equally unsatisfactory, and suitable
stations are not to be found at all. Nor does it help to adopt the alter-
native route from Castor by Bourn and Sleaford to Lincoln, for part of
this route is uncertain and no station is known to occur along it. As
therefore we concluded in connexion with the name 'Durobrivae' (p. 167)
we shall do best on our present evidence to accept the route but ignore
the mileage.

(3) One more supposed road deserves notice here. English anti-
quaries have often laid down on their maps and in their books a ' Via
Devana ' running more or less directly from Colchester by Cambridge
and Huntingdon to Leicester and finally to Chester, the Roman fortress
of Deva (Chester). There is no evidence whatever for the existence of
this supposed ' through-route ' across Britain, and the name ' Via Devana '
is simply an invention of the modern antiquary. But parts of the route
may be accepted as independent roads of really Roman origin, and in

205

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

particular it is credible enough that a Roman road connected Leicester
and Huntingdon. It cannot however be called by any means certain. The
line of a Roman road can be traced clearly enough for fifteen miles from
Leicester along the ' Gartree Way ' to the Roman site at Medbourne, on
the limit of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, and some existing
roads and boundaries warrant the conjecture that this road ran on in the
same straight line from Medbourne eight miles towards Stanion. In the
centre of our county all traces fail, but on its eastern edge a lane which
runs due east from Titchmarsh towards the Roman road at Alconbury in
Huntingdonshire has been noted as possibly Roman. The whole is a
slender chain of evidence with a great gap in the middle and weak links
at the end. But it deserves note as a possibility.

(4) Two other Roman roads, partly coinciding, have been alleged
to cross our county. The one is said to go from Borough Hill by
Chipping Warden to the Roman site at Alchester in Oxfordshire, the
other from Dow Bridge on Watling Street by Borough Hill and Chipping
Warden to the Portway north of Oxford. Neither has the least support
in facts. They appear to have been suggested to various writers, partly
by some details in Richard of Cirencester's forged Itinerary, partly by the
belief that Borough Hill and Chipping Warden were the sites of large
towns, and partly by the idea that ' Portway ' denotes a Roman road. All
three reasons are of course worthless.

5. Industries : The Castor Potteries

We have now described the normal features of Roman Northampton-
shire, that is, the features of settled Romano-British civilization — towns,
villas, roads — which characterize this county equally with any other
ordinary part of southern, non-military Britain. There remains a feature
which obviously belongs to the settled civilization of the district but
which is somewhat peculiar to it. This feature is supplied by one or
perhaps two industries, some uncertain traces of iron workings and some
unquestionable remains of extensive potteries.

Of the iron workings there is little to tell. Ironstone lies accessible
near the surface in many parts of the county, and slag, taken to be the
refuse of iron workings, has been noted in connexion with Roman
remains near Oundle, Rockingham, Laxton, KingsclifFe, Bulwick and
Wansford.' But none of these sites has ever been seriously examined
except Wansford, and the Wansford finds are not satisfactory. Mr.
Artis thought that he there detected considerable ironworks. But he
has left no details on record except a drawing of an alleged smelting
furnace (see his plate xxv.), and this, as Mr. Gowland has pointed out to
me, has nothing to do with ironworking at all, but perhaps belongs to a
potter's apparatus. While therefore our evidence makes it not im-
probable that the Northamptonshire ironstone was worked in the Roman
period, it does not justify the confident assertions usually made to that
effect.

* See the alphabetical index at the end of this article.
206

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The potteries are far better known. They were examined by the
late Mr. E. T. Artis in the course of his excavations in 1821 and subse-
quent years, of which we have already had occasion to speak (p. 167),
and the results have been recorded, along with the other results of his
work, in a folio volume of illustrations without text, in two articles
communicated to the British Archaeological Association and in occasional
information given by him to Mr. C. Roach Smith. The record is
imperfect and in some respects unsatisfactory, but it enables us to sketch
the salient features of the industry.'

The potteries are situated near Castor, Chesterton and Wansford on
both sides of the river Nene, and therefore both in Northamptonshire
and Huntingdonshire. Here, as we have seen above (p. 177), there were
two adjacent Romano-British towns at Castor and at 'the Castles' near
Chesterton, and numerous outlying
dwellings, which indicate a compara-
tively dense population. The pottery
works lay thick in the immediate
vicinity of the towns, notably in Nor-
mangate Field and between 'the Castles '
and Water Newton : they also extended
westwards beyond Wansford and, accord-
ing to Mr. Artis, were scattered over
an area of twenty square miles. Mr.
Artis adds that, if all were in use at once,
they may have employed two thousand fig. 28. Kiln at Castor.

hands ; but this is, at the best, a rash
estimate, and it is improbable that the kilns are all of the same age.

The ordinary kilns in use at Castor are thus described by Mr. Artis
in the 'Journal of the British Archaological Association (fig. 28) —

A circular hole was dug, from 3 to 4 feet deep and 4 feet in diameter, and
walled round to the height of 2 feet. A furnace, one third of the diameter of the
kiln in length, communicated with the side of the hole. In the centre of the circular
hole so formed was an oval pedestal, the height of the sides, with the end pointing to
the furnace mouth. Upon this pedestal and the side wall the floor of the kiln rests.
It is formed of perforated angular bricks meeting at one point in the centre. The fur-
nace is arched with bricks moulded for the purpose. The side of the kiln is constructed
with curved bricks set edgeways in a thick ' slip ' or liquid of the same material, to the
height of 2 feet. [The illustration shows the mouth of the furnace, the floor of the
kiln with its perforated bricks, and the lower part of the walls of the kiln.]

The French scientific writer, M. Brongniart, a contemporary of Artis,
compared this type of kiln to one found at Heiligenberg near Strassburg

' Artis, Durobrivae of Antoninus (London, 1828, folio: plates only) and Journal of the British
Jrchtrolopcal Association, \. 1—9, ii. 164-9 ; Thos. Wnght, Cf/t, Roman anJ Saxon (ed. I 885), pp. 263-9,
and Intelkctiutl Observer, vii. 456, mostly reprinting Artis ; C. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqtus, \. 169, iv.
81. S. Birch, Hist, of Ancient Pottery (ed. 2, 1873), pp. 572 foil., has some good remarks, but his account
is confused and some of his facts and references wrong. The best collections of Castor ware which I have
seen are (i.) that in Peterborough Museum, which includes some of the actual pieces found by Mr. Artis ;
and (ii.) the Knipe collection in the Cambridge Archseological Museum, which consists of pieces found
in or near Water Newton. Specimens from the former are figured on the plate numbered fig. 32.

207

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

in Alsace,* and to others found in the Rhine valley and used for the
manufacture of some sort of ' Samian,' and conjectures that the Castor
kilns may have been used for the same object. This however, as we
shall see, is unlikely to have been their principal employment, and similar
kilns have been found elsewhere associated with other wares.

We shall judge best of the wares produced in our Castor kilns by
the pieces of pottery actually found within or near them by Mr. Artis.
These are described by him as exhibiting a great variety. Many shapes
occur — bowls, saucers, cups with and more often without handles, in-
dented ' thumb vases,' small round-bellied jars, and muUers for grinding
{rnortaria or pelves). Style and character differ equally. There is white
stoneware, sometimes painted with colour ; there are ' face-urns,' and
pieces ornamented with 'engine-turning' (fig. 29), and red imitations of

Fic. 29. Castor Ware with
' Engine-turning.'

Fig. 30. Foliation and Fish Ornament
ON Castor Ware.

' Samian,' and dark-coloured ware decorated with devices in relief or in
white paint. But despite this apparent variety — which the imperfection
of our record may have exaggerated — one ware or set of wares can be
distinguished as the commonest and the most characteristic 'Castor ware.'
This ware has a white or whitish paste, coloured outwardly a dull slate
colour, blue or coppery in tint. The vessels are usually small in size,
and are decorated in certain definite methods. Some are marked with
indentations such as might be made by the potter's thumb, and with rude
ornament on the ribs or ridges between the indents : these are usually
known as 'indented' or 'thumb vases' (fig. 30, centre piece). Others have
designs in self-colour ' slip,' laid on in relief by the method called ' bar-
botine.' These designs are commonly foliation or animals, sometimes fishes
(fig. 30), but especially dogs chasing hares or stags. More ambitious but
less frequent are designs including human figures — a huntsman spearing
a boar, or, rarer still, an incident from classical mythology, such as
Hercules rescuing Hesione from a sea monster. Others again have
decorations in white paint. Some of these are foliated patterns, more
conventional than the usual Castor style, employed to ornament vessels
which are larger than the usual Castor sizes. Others, naturally much

* Not Silesia, as Artis says. Brongniart, Traile des Arts Ceramiques, i. 426.

208

Fig. 32. Vesseu of Castor Ware found in and ni^ar Castor (Peterborough Mlseum).

See fge 210.
To face page 209,

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

rarer, are painted in artistic fashion — such as two fragments, now in
Dr. Walker's collection, on the copper-coloured surfaces of which the
potter has gracefully depicted in white and yellow a man's head with a
peaked cap, and an arm holding a small axe. But these vessels painted
in white, whatever their type, are less frequent and less characteristic
than the thumb vases and vessels decorated in self-colour slip which seem
to be the most typical Castor wares. ^

Mr. Artis has printed some interesting details as to the method by
which these wares were baked, coloured, glazed and ornamented in slip,
which it will be best to repeat in his own words. As to the baking —

The kilns (he says) were first carefully loose-packed with the articles to be fired,
up to the height of the side walls. The circumference of the bulk was then gradually
diminished, and finished in the shape of a dome. As this arrangement progressed, an
attendant seems to have followed the packer and thinly covered a layer of pots with
coarse hay or grass. He then took some thin clay, the size of his hand, and laid it
flat on the grass upon the vessels ; he then placed more grass on the edge of the clay
just laid on, and then more clay, and so on until he had completed the circle. By this
time the packer would have raised another tier of pots, the plasterer following as before,
hanging the grass over the top edge of the last layer of plasters, until he had reached
the top, in which a small aperture was left, and the clay nipt round the edge ; another
coating would be laid on as before described. Gravel or loam was then thrown up
against the side wall where the clay wrappers were commenced, probably to secure the
bricks and the clay coating. The kiln was then fired with wood. In consequence of
the care taken to place grass between the edges of the wrappers, they could be
unpacked in the same size pieces as when laid on in a plastic state, and thus the danger
in breaking the coat to obtain the contents of the kiln could be obviated.

The slate blue or copper colour on the outside of the ' Castor ware '
seems to have been produced generally by a trick in the process of
baking, and not by a varnish.

During an examinatioii of the pigments used by the Roman potters of the place,
I was led to the conclusion that the blue and slate-coloured vessels met with here in
such abundance, were coloured by suffocating the fire of the kiln, at the time when its
contents had acquired a degree of heat sufficient to insure uniformity of colour. I had
so firmly made up my mind upon the process of manufacturing and firing this peculiar
kind of earthenware, that, for some time previous to the recent discovery, I had
denominated the kilns in which it had been fired, smother kilns. . . . The mouth of
the furnace and top of the kiln were no doubt stopped ; thus we find every part of the
kiln, from the inside wall to the earth on the outside, and every part of the clay
wrappers of the dome, penetrated with colouring exhalation. As further proof that
the colour of the ware was imparted by firing, I collected the clays of the neighbour-
hood, including specimens from the immediate vicinity of the smother kilns. In
colour, some of these clays resembled the ware after firing, and some were darker. I
submitted them to a process similar to that I have described. The clays, dug near
the kilns, whitened in firing, probably from being bituminous. I also put some frag-
ments of the blue pottery into the kiln ; they came out precisely of the same colour as
the clay fired with them, which had been taken from the site of the kilns. The
experiment proved to me that the colour could not be attributed to any metallic oxide,
either existing in the clay, or applied externally ; and this conclusion is confirmed by
the appearance of the clay wrappers of the dome of the kiln. It should be remarked
that this colour is so volatile, that it is expelled by a second firing in an open kiln.

* It would be interesting, but I have not found it possible, to trace the origin of the shape called
above the ' thumb vase ' and of the ' barbotine ' method of ornamentation. Both seem to occur
occasionally in Italy and the Mediterranean lands, but neither is common enough to form a definite
precedent, such as the red Arretine ware forms for the west-European ' Samian.'

209

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

It has however been suggested that the dark colour is not due merely,
as Mr. Artis supposed, to a ' colouring exhalation ' permeating the

articles, but to a distinct chemical
action set up by the carbonaceous
vapour of which the smothered kiln
would be full. The point is one rather
for a chemist or a potter than an archae-
ologist, and I may be permitted to leave
it unsettled.^

Arrangements for glazing were also
met with (fig. 31) : —

In the course of my excavations, I
discovered a curiously-constructed furnace,
Fic. 31. Glazing Furnace. of which I have never before or since

met with an example. Over it had been
placed two circular earthen fire vessels (or cauldrons) ; that next above the furnace
was a third less than the other, which would hold about eight gallons. The fire
passed partly under both of them, the smoke escaping by a smoothly-plastered flue,
from seven to eight inches wide. The vessels were suspended by the rims fitting into
a circular groove or rabbet, formed for the purpose. The composition of the vessels
was that of a clay tempered with penny-earth. They contained some perfect vessels
and many fragments. It is probable they had covers, and I am inclined to think
were used for glazing peculiar kinds of the immense quantities of ornamented ware
made in this district. Its contiguity to one of the workshops in which the glaze
(oxide of iron) and some other pigments were found, confirms this opinion.

Mr. Artis calls the glaze an oxide of iron. The British Museum
and the Jermyn Street Museum of Geology possess cakes of vitreous
matter found by Mr. Artis at Castor which was probably used as a
glaze, and which consists principally of silicates of soda and lime.'

Finally, with respect to the ' barbotine ' ornamentation in slip : —

The vessel, after being thrown upon the wheel, would be allowed to become
somewhat firm, but only suflBciently for the purpose of the lathe. In the indented
ware the indenting would have to be performed with the vessel in as pliable a state
as it could be taken from the lathe. A thick slip of the same body would then be
procured, and the ornamenter would then proceed by dipping the thumb or a round
mounted instrument into the slip. The vessels, on which are displayed a variety of
hunting subjects, representations of fishes, scrolls and human figures were all glazed
after the figures were laid on ; where however the decorations are white the vessels
were glazed before the ornaments were added. Ornamenting with figures of animals
was effected by means of sharp and blunt skewer instruments, and a slip of suitable
consistency. These instruments seem to have been of two kinds : one thick enough
to carry sufficient slip for the nose, neck, body and front thigh ; the other of a more
delicate kind, for a thinner slip for the tongue, lower jaws, eye, fore and hind legs and
tail. There seems to have been no retouching after the slip trailed from the instru-
ment.

Such are the chief features of the typical Castor ware as we know
it from specimens found in and near the Castor kilns, and such appear
to be the general methods of its manufacture. It is not however con-

' Buckman and Newmarch, Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester, pp. 77-8.

• An analysis made by Sir Hy. de la Beche, late keeper of the Jermyn Street Museum of Practical
Geology, gives : Silica, 69-4.0 ; soda, I4'63 ; lime, 7'8l ; alumina, 2"62 ; with traces of protoxide of
iron, protoxide of manganese, magnesia, potash and carbonic acid.

210

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

fined to this locality. Pottery which is practically identical with it occurs
freely on many Romano-British sites, especially in central and eastern
England, and is said to be abundant across the sea in Holland and Belgium.'
Some of this pottery must have been made at Castor and exported thence.
Some perhaps was made elsewhere ; thus Mr. Arthur Evans has noted
unfinished specimens of Castor ware in a Roman kiln near Oxford.* In
particular the abundance of this ware found in the Low Countries has
suggested to several writers that it may have been manufactured there as
well as in Britain. We seem even to possess an indication that it was
occasionally exported thence to Britain. The well known Colchester
vase might well be of foreign fabric. In addition to its hunting scene
and bear fight and gladiators' combat, it bears an inscription which
mentions the Thirtieth Legion, and appears to imply that the games
depicted on its circumference refer to games celebrated in the canton-
ments of that legion. That legion was posted on the lower Rhine, and
the Colchester vase may have been made in Belgium.^ Such a vase is
however an exception. In general our knowledge of many details is
still far too slight to justify even a guess how extensively and on how
many sites Castor ware was produced. We must be content with saying
that it was well known both in Britain and in northern Gaul, and that
Castor was beyond question a most important centre of its manufacture.*
The Castor ware does not stand alone. In various points it ap-
proaches closely to other wares of western Europe. In Britain the dark-
coloured ' thumb vases ' made in the New Forest resemble very nearly
the ' thumb vases ' of Castor. The New Forest products are harder in
texture, more purple or maroon in external colouring and more frequently
ornamented with leaf patterns, but they have been neither infrequently nor
inexcusably confused with Castor products." On the continent we find
a parallel in a group of vases which is indeed not seldom represented
in our own island. These vases are small, black-coloured, round-bellied
little jars or cups, ornamented in white with foliate patterns and often
with Roman inscriptions connected with drinking — misce (mix the bowl),
reple (fill up), vitam tibi (your good health). These are sometimes styled
Castor ware.' But it does not appear that they have been found in or
near the kilns at Castor, and artistically they differ widely from the true
Castor ware.^ Indeed it is perhaps by a comparison with this black
inscribed ware that we may best learn the nature of our Castor products.
The black ware is not only Roman in its inscriptions. Its ornamentation

' For instance, in the Isle of Walcheren, and at Clemskerke and Breedene near Ostende : see
de But's Recutil iTantiquiUs romaines tnuvies dam la Flandre (Gand. 1 808), pi. x. xi.
^ Jrchttokgical Journal, xliv. 349.
•* C. Roach Smith, Collect. Antique, iv. pi. ixi. ; Corpus Inscript. Latinarum, vii. 1,335.

* The same problem arises concerning the ' Upchurch ware.' That was certainly made in Kent
and occurs on the opposite continent. It is not clear whether we should suppose export from Britain
only or two places of manu&cture.

* yictoria County Hist, of Hampshire, i. 326-8.

* As in Archttohpa, Ivii. 103-5.

' The vessels decorated with white paint, described above (p. 2o8), come nearest them. But these,
though made at Castor, do not appear to be true Castor ware, and even they arc less conventionally
classical than the black inscribed ware.

211

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

of leafage and foliated scrolls is classical, and indeed more than classical :
it is a formal and conventional imitation of classical models. The Castor
ware has also its classical elements : its foliated scrolls, its hunting scenes
and still more its mythological representations can all be traced more or
less directly to Mediterranean origins. But that is not the whole matter.
Other elements demand attention. The Castor treatment of classical
details is rude of course, but it is not merely rude. It shows that free-
dom which always characterizes the native handling of civilized material
according to native artistic traditions. It is no formal or conventional
imitation but a recasting. The tradition which has helped to recast it
is of course that of Late Celtic art. Those fantastic animals with curious
outstretched legs and back-turned heads, those tiny foliated scrolls scat-
tered by way of ornament above and beneath them, the rude but not
ineffective beading which serves for ornament or for dividing lines, the
suggestions of returning spirals, the evident delight of the artist in plant
and animal forms and his avoidance of human figures, the quaint freedom
of handling which pervades the whole — all these elements are Celtic
and not classical. Here we stand at the meeting of two currents. In
Britain the Late Celtic art has mostly vanished before the neat finish of
Roman patterns and the coherence of the Roman civilization. But
sometimes it has survived, not uninfluenced but still unmistakable. At
Castor and wherever else Castor ware was made we may contemplate
with something of a melancholy pleasure the survival, amidst the
finished conventional forms of Roman origin, of the rude yet genuinely
artistic spirit of an earlier age.*

If Castor ware thus embodied Late Celtic traditions we might
expect to find that its manufacture commenced at least as early as the
commencement of the Roman period. Two pieces of evidence lend
some measure of support to this view. Coins indicate that Castor and
its neighbourhood were at least inhabited at an early date (p. 176), and
Mr. Artis says that his excavations showed ' the site to have been occu-
pied by the potters previous to the formation of the old Roman road
or Forty-foot way' which led from Castor to Stamford (p. 204). Neither
of these evidences is quite conclusive, and I am not quite sure that the
second is completely proven.* However there does not appear to be
any other evidence of any sort, and the assertions sometimes made on the
subject seem to be a priori guesses.' We were compelled above to admit
that we could not determine the places where Castor ware was manu-

' Dr. Birch {Hist, of Ancient Pottery, loc. cit.) has well understood this. 'The art is apparently
Gaulish and the figures bear a striking resemblance to those on the ancient British and Gaulish coins.'
Mr. Thomas Wright on the other hand calls the ware ' entirely Roman, without the slightest trace of
Celtic or Germanic sentiment' {Intellectual Observer, vii. 456). He was, I think, misled by the scenes
from classical mythology which occur on a few Castor pieces. A good instance of the Late Celtic affini-
ties of the ware, from Chesterford in Essex, is figured in the Archtrotopcal 'Journal, vi. 19.

2 Artis (pi. xxxix. title) asserts it definitely. But I do not quite understand his plate and I cannot
quite reconcile its title with a letter of his published in the Gentleman's Magazine (1822), i. 484.

' Thus Wright {Intellectual Observer, vii. 456) thinks the ware was introduced in the latter part of
the second century as a substitute for the expensive imported Samian ; and Birch, ignoring his opinion
quoted in the last note but one, writes of ' a low and degenerate stj-le, referrible to the last days of the
waning Empire.' Such opinions do not command confidence.

212

Fig. 33. Found in a Potter's Oven in Normangate Field, 1822,

I. Blue metallic glaze, white ornament. 2. Red-brown incompletely baked 'thumb vase.' (Artis, plate 53)

- AV - ;.o .

3-^

^^/^

^^ G>.^

Fig. 3^.. Dogs Chasing DttR, from Splcimens of Castor Warl kulnd near Water Newton,

1827 (Artis, plate 28).

To face page 2 12.

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

factured. We must make the same admission with respect to the dates
when it was made. Yet even amid these uncertainties it remains a note-
worthy and interesting feature in the Romano-British civihzation of our
island.

6. Military Remains: The Ostorian Forts

In the preceding sections we have discussed those Roman remains
which may reasonably be connected with the settled and permanent lite
of our district in Roman times. Before we conclude this article we
have further to notice other Roman remains found within the county
which do not come into the foregoing category. These are scattered
objects, coins, urns and other small things which have nothing, so far as
we know, to do with settled and permanent life. Many, perhaps most
of them, are due to chance and isolated circumstances ; some, no doubt,
are so imperfectly known that we miss their true significance. Neither
kind can materially aid our conception of Roman Northamptonshire,
and they will find their proper mention in the alphabetical list with
which this article concludes.

Two groups of items however deserve a fuller notice. The one is
the series of camps or forts said to have been built by Ostorius Scapula
along the Nene valley ; the other consists of two legionary tiles found
respectively near the Foss and Ermine Street. The two are alike in
several points. Both concern a transitory period in the history of Roman
Britain and indeed the same period, that of the early conquest; they
belong, in other words, to a temporary and not a permanent aspect of
the land. Both again are abnormal features in Northamptonshire, where,
as we have said above, no Roman troops were ordinarily posted. But
they differ in a more important point. The Ostorian forts, though well
known and often discussed, are purely imaginary. The legionary tiles,
though seldom noticed, contribute, as I believe, a real addition to our
knowledge of the Roman conquest.

The legend of the Ostorian forts starts from a difficult passage in
the Annals of Tacitus (xii. 31). Ostorius, says the historian, when he
became governor of Britain in or after a.d. 47, found the land in great
unrest. He therefore at once attacked and crushed the Britons who
were actually in arms, disarmed the disloyal, and (as the one good
manuscript has it) cunctaque castris antonam et Sahrinam Jiuvtos cohibere
parat. This step, whatever it was, produced a rising of the Iceni in
Norfolk, and at the conclusion of that Ostorius commenced operations
in north Wales. The problem is to explain the words quoted in the
last sentence. As given in the manuscript they are untranslatable.
Conjectures of various sorts were proposed at very early dates. In the
sixteenth century lustus Lipsius observed that Antona might be North-
ampton— not an unnatural suggestion if one considers how the name
of the town was often spelt at that time. He added that Northampton
was a town not a river, and that he really did not know how to deal
with the text of Tacitus. Camden however took up the idea of North-

213

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

ampton ; he also suggested — quite inconsistently — that the real reading
should be Aufona (not Antona), and that, 'Avon being the general
British name of all rivers,' Aufona meant the Nene, which flows past
Northampton.^ Camden's notions are not only self-contradictory, but
arbitrary and worthless, as his suggestions about placenames too often
are. But more writers have followed him than criticized him, and a
variety of theories have grown out of his fancies. Thus Stukeley pro-
fessed to trace a long line of forts along the Nene, and beyond, but
he was more concerned to ascribe them to Carausius than to Ostorius.^
The German geographer Mannert and others read ' Avonam,' which
they explain of the Worcestershire Avon. Others, like the Rev. R. S.
Baker,' late vicar of Hargrave, took Antona to be the Nene, and
ascribed the forts to the activity of Ostorius supposed to exist along it.
The difficulties in the way of any such explanation are twofold. First,
Tacitus does not say anything about a line of forts ; he used the word
castris, if his text is rightly recorded, and castris by itself could only
mean ' a fortress ' or ' encampment ' in the singular number. Had he
desired to describe a line of forts he would have used castellis or perhaps
praesidiis. Secondly, despite confident assertions, there are no forts along
the Nene. The most commonly cited example, Irchester, is of course
Roman, but probably not a fort (p. 178). The supposed fort near Raunds
and Ringstead also seems to be Roman but not a fort (p. 194). Borough
Hill is partly Roman, partly pre-Roman ; but its Roman remains belong
to a villa (p. 195), and its position is not on the Nene. Hunsbury, Arbury,
Lilbourne, Castle-Dykes are not Roman at all. In short, the idea of a row
of Ostorian forts along the Nene valley must be wholly given up. At the
present day scholars are generally agreed on this, and the difficult words
of Tacitus are explained in one of two ways. Either, with Mommsen,
we may suppose some letters to have fallen out, and read castris ad . . .
antonam et Sabrinam Jiuvios — that is, Ostorius founded Viroconium at
the junction of the [Tern] and Severn ; in that case antonam will be the
name, or part of the name, of the Tern. Or, with Mr. Henry Bradley
and others, we may change one letter and read, cunctaque cis Trisantonam
et Sabrinam Jiuvios cohibere parat — that is, Ostorius began to coerce all
the land south of the Trent and Severn, for there is evidence that
Trisantona was the ancient name of the Trent. In either case North-
amptonshire is unconcerned, and the Northamptonshire antiquary may
pursue his way without further regard for the Ostorian legend.

The two legionary tiles give us sounder information. One of them
was found in 1867 at Hilly Wood in the parish of Ashton, immediately
on the east side of the Roman road from Castor to Lolham Bridges and
Bourn, and is now in the Peterborough Museum, where I have seen it.

' Gough's ed. of 1806, ii. 266. * Stukeley's Carausius, i. 171.

' R. S. Baker, Associated Archh. Soc. Reports, xxi. 53-64, 227-38, and A rchaolo^cal Journal, xxxv.
339. Mr. Baker's work, I fear, is extremely uncritical. He did not even realize what the best
manuscript of Tacitus reads, and based arguments on an emendation instead. Thus his own pro-
posal involved a far more violent alteration of Tacitus than the proposal of Mr. Bradley, which he
fiercely attacked as involving conjectural emendation.

214

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

It is said to have been discovered with an empty urn, but no proper
record appears to exist. It is a flanged rooftile, and bears the inscription
LEGixHisP, legio mna Hispana} The other tile was found in 1822
at Whittlebury near the churchyard on the west side with some unin-
scribed tiles and a bronze celt. Some coins are said to have been found
at the same spot then or subsequently : they included a silver drachma
of Alexander the Great, a forged coin of Metapontum, a small brass
coin of Panormus, two Republican denarii (Postumia, Cornelia), two
' second brass ' of Hadrian and a ' third brass ' of Gallienus. The tile
is now in Northampton Museum, where I have seen it ; it is broken in
two pieces, which bear the inscriptions leg and xxvv ; that is, legio vice-
sima Valeria victrix.^ These two tiles are legionary tiles ; that is, they
were made by the tile-makers of the legions named on them, and were
doubtless intended for buildings to be occupied by soldiers of those
legions. They justify us in supposing that some portion of the legions
were at some time quartered in the spots in question. That would
most naturally occur in the early years of the conquest, and other
evidence suggests that it did so occur. We know from inscriptions
that the Ninth Legion was posted at Lincoln at a fairly early period
and the Twentieth no later at Chester. It can hardly be an accident
that a tile of the Ninth Legion occurs on the road from London to
Lincoln and a tile of the Twentieth near the road from London to
Chester. Here we probably touch the strategy of the earliest Roman
conquest. The Roman forces in a.d. 43 and following years appear to
have advanced in three divisions — the Second Legion (with auxiliaries
no doubt) on the left wing along the south coast ; the Fourteenth and
Twentieth across the Midlands to Wroxeter and Chester ; the Ninth
Legion up the east coast to Lincoln. At some point, we cannot tell
precisely what, in this advance we may suppose that the two North-
amptonshire legionary tiles were made. It is much to be regretted that
no further search has ever been made to follow up these two remarkable
little discoveries.

7. INDEX

The following is an alphabetical list of the principal places where Roman remains have
been found or supposed in Northamptonshire. For the places where vestiges of f>ermanent
occupation have been found, it has seemed sufficient to refer to the preceding account. For
the rest the character of the remains is briefly indicated and the chief authorities for each named.
Alderton. — Gold coin of Antony and Octavia (probably Cohen i) and some silver Republican
coins found about the end of the eighteenth century [Welton, p. 186 ; Journal of the British
Arch^ological Association, ii. 355]. Perhaps an early hoard, buried before a.d. 4.3.
Aldwinkle. — Coin of Augustus [Morton, p. 532].

•^ TroUope, dissociated Archil. See. Reports, ix. 156 ; Archaokgical Journal, xxxi. 356, xli. 92 ;
Antiquary, January, 1884, p. 35 ; information from Mr. J. W. Bodger ; Ephem. Epigraphica, iii. 142.
The site commands a wide view north, east and west, and is otherwise not unsuited to a Roman fort or
post, if such could only be discovered.

* Baker, ii. 73 ; Ephem. Epigraphica, iii. 142 ; brief reference in the Journal of the British Archteo-
logical Association, \\\. iii. The coins are a very mixed lot, and more likely to have been lost by a
modern collector — some rector of Whittlebury at a time of spring cleaning — than left by the Romans.
Tiles, celt and coins might all have belonged to such a collection. But as the coins were apparently
found after the tiles it is possible that there is no connexion between them.

215

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Apethorpe. — Villa: seep. 191.

Arthingworth. — Silver coin of Julia Domna [George].

AsHBY St. Legers. — Silver coin of Faustina [Morton, p. 532 : hence Bridges, i. 19].

Ashley. — Villa : see p. 193.

AsHTON. — Building : see p. 189. Legionary tile : see p. 214.

AsTON-LE- Walls. — Pale buff urn, covered over with a stone (no bones or ashes), found in
1843 near the church [Journal of the Britiih Archaological Association, i. 337]. Whether
Roman, seems uncertain. There are no Roman 'walls' here and it seems doubtful
whether 'le-walls' is the true form of the name.

AsTROP. — See King's Sutton.

AsTWiCK. — See Evenley.

Barnack. — Torso of nude male figure in local stone, found at the vicarage [Associated Archit.
Soc. Reports, ix. 158 : Peterborough Museum].

Barnwell St. Andrews. — Coins of Aelius Verus, Allectus, Helena, etc. [Morton, p. 516].

Bedford Purlieus. — Villa: see p. 189. In Thornhaugh parish.

Blisworth. — Rude potsherds, etc., from wells or pits [Northampton Museum].

BoDiNGTON. — Urn found 1873 in ' Whiteleys ' field, containing about 360 'third brass'
(150 catalogued, of a.d. 253-74) [Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, iii. 151].

Borough Hill. — See Daventry.

BowDEN, Little. — Urns, coins, bits of bronze found 1757 ; glass, etc., found 1873 [Gentle-
mans Magazine (1757), p. 20 ; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vi. 256].

Brixworth. — Building: seep. 194.

Brockhall. — Coins [Baker, i. 119 ; vague]. Anciently Broclchole.

Bulwick. — Blacklands : slag of iron works, pottery, coins of lulia Augusta, Carausius, Con-
stantine, etc. [Associated Archit. Soc. Reports, v. 99, 107 ; Whelian, p. 786].

Hoard of over 100 denarii in urn, found 1878 : three were Vitellius, Vespasian,
Trajan [Numismatic Chronicle, xix. 219]. Compare Archaologia, liv. 474—94.

Burnt Walls. — See Daventry.

Cardike. — This supposed Roman drain runs through Northants near Peterborough [Morton,
p. 514-5] ; but this part of its course supplies no evidence of its age.

Castle Ashby. — Coins found 1 7 1 9 in avenue leading to Lord Northampton's house [Bridges, i.
341 ; hence Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 280, etc.].

Castle Dykes. — Earthwork at the four crossroads (south of the probably post-Roman earth-
work properly called Castle Dykes). The one or the other was called by Gale Bannaventa
and by Stukeley one of the Ostorian forts [Itinerarium, p. 114]. No Roman remains
seem to have been found here [Morton, p. 516] : the 'Roman urn' cited in Gentleman's
Magazine (1793), ii. 1 179, may be anything. No pottery is now visible lying on the
surface, nor are there any visible indications of Roman origin. See Bridges, i. 61 ;
Baker, i. 375. In Farthingstone parish.

Castor. — Town : see p. 166. Potteries : see p. 207.

Catesby Park. — Coins of Faustina, Maximian, etc. [Bridges, i. 36 ; hence Baker, i. 292, etc.].

Charlton [near King's Sutton]. — Gold coin of Titus found about 1720 ; other coins
[Bridges, i. 191 ; Baker, i. 666]. Beesley in his Banbury (p. 37) mentions a supposed
hoard of gold coins but it is probably a reminiscence of the coin of Titus.

Gough [Add. to Camden, ii. 272] mentions urns, glass, etc., found in the non-Roman
camp of Rainsborough, but it is not at all clear that they are Roman. Iron arrowheads
have been found there [Journal of the British Archaological Association, xvii. 70].

Chipping Warden. — Villa : see p. 200.

Clifford's Hill. — See Houghton.

CoGENHOE. — Urns, coins (i Faustina) [Morton, p. 529 ; Bridges, i. 347 ; Archaologia, xxxW.
1 3]. The alleged ' camp ' seems not to be Roman, if ' camp ' at all.

Colly Weston. — The slates here were quarried by the Romans. The ' camp ' noted by
Stukeley [Letters, iii. 54] seems not Roman, if 'camp' at all.

CosGROvE. — Coins found on line of Grand Junction Canal ; silver medallions of Con-
stantine I., Valentinian II., Magnus Maximus ; silver of Julian, Valens, Gratian ; ' third
brass' of Tacitus, Diocletian, Constans, Magnentius, etc. [Baker, ii. 136]. Perhaps a
hoard.

Urn with 60 denarii found in front of a private house [Gentleman's Magazine ( 1 80 1 ),
i, 76].

Cotterstock. — Villa : see p. 192.

216

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Cotton [Mill and Mallows]. — Mill Cotton seems not to be Roman ; Mallows Cotton a

villa : see p. 194. In Raunds parish.
Cranford St. John. — Coin of Constantine [Gentleman's Magaxme (1757), p. 20]. Coins

and pottery [Kelly's Director\\.
Cranslev. — Two liglit-coloured jugs and a third with Late Celtic affinities found 1892

between Cranslev Wood and Mawsley Wood [Northampton Museum]. Whether the

objects found in 1882 include Roman things is doubtful [Proceedings of the Society of jlnti-

guaries, ix. 93].
Crick. — Silver coin of Hadrian [Morton, p. 532].
Culworth. — Coin of Quintillus [Beesley's Banhury, p. 30].
Dallington. — Trench full of rude potsherds (i bit of Samian), found while making a railway

siding in 1861 ; either a rubbish pit or a rude kiln [Associated Archit. Soc. Reports, vi.

219, xiii. 125 ; Archaologia, xliii. 9 ; Northampton Museum].
Daventry. — Villa inside pre-Roman camp on Borough Hill : see p. 195.

Foundations at Burnt Walls : see p. 195.
Deene. — Bronze figurine of Minerva [Archatological Institute, 'Lincoln ' vol. p. xxix.].
Deeping (West). — Skeleton, 5 much worn 'first brass' coins of Claudius I., Vespasian

Nerva, Hadrian, Sabina, enamelled circular fibula, enamelled fibula shaped like a duck,

3 rings, 2 bronze pins; found together in February, 1880. Now in Dr. Walker's

collection in Peterborough.
Desborough. — Skeletons, bones, pottery, near railway station [Sir Hy. Dryden].
DoDFORD. — Coins of Tetricus, Constantine, etc. [Morton, p. 532 ; Bridges, i. 50].
DusTON. — Villa or village : see p. 197.
Evenley. — Coins (probably hoard), several hundred in number, of Nero, Domitian, Sev.

Alexander, Probus, Carausius, Constantine, etc., found 1826 in draining Addington's

Meadow [B.iker, i. 617].

Hoard, found 1854, '" earthenware urn : 2,448 'second brass' of Diocletian to

Constantine Land 705 'third brass' of Valerian to Diocletian, apparently all mixed

together [Numismatic Chronicle, xvii. (1854) 38, xi. (1871) 174].

Coins, including a Conbtantius, found in eighteenth century at Astwick [Bridges,

i. 168].

Potsherds, vaguely mentioned in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, sen 2, ii. 75-
Everdon. — Coin of Constantine period, mortar, ashes — ploughed up in Longsmall Field [Baker,

i. 368 ; hence Whellan, p. 415].
Farthingstone. — See Castle Dykes.
Finedon. — Plain urn [Northampton Museum].
Fineshade. — Coins, vaguely mentioned [Morton, p. 532].
Foscote (Foxcote). — Villa: see p. 199. In Towcester parish.
FoTHERiNGHAY. — Pottery (much of it Late Celtic in character), skeletons, coins of later

emperors, horns of red deer — in the gravel quarry called Elton Ballast Hole [R. F.

Whistler, History of Elton (London, 1892), pp. 63-4].
Gayton. — Villa : see p. 198.

Gretton. — Coins mentioned vaguely [Kelly's Directory].

Gritworth. — Five urns, .'' Roman [Morton, p. 530 ; Beesley's Banhury, p. 32].
Guilsborough. — Earthwork, now mostly destroyed : the plan is not Roman [Camden ;

Morton, p. 524 ; Wetton, p. no, etc.].
Haddon (West). — Urn containing ashes, covered by flat stone (? Roman). Elsewhere in

parish Roman coins [Morton, p. 530]. The notion that Ostor Hill in this parish has

anything to do with Ostorius is untenable.
Hardingstone. — Silver coins (i of Nero), perhaps hoard, found near Queen's Cross [Morton,

p. 504 ; hence Bridges, i. 359, Whellan, p. 264 ; etc.].

Three coins of Probus and Tacitus, and perhaps more, said to have been found in

an urn in Hardingstone Field, 1845 [Sir Hy. Dryden]. Perhaps a ' third brass ' hoard of

circa a.d. 250-80.

Potsherds (including Castor ware), bones of animals, found 1853 [Journal of the

British Archieological Association, x. 92].

Pottery and a well found in 1884, 800 yards east of Hunsbury Camp [Associated

Archit. Soc. Reports, xviii. 61].

Handbricks, 'third brass' coin of Claud. Gothicus, potsherds and perhaps rude kiln,

found in 1875 on north side of Hunsbury Hill [ibid. p. 61].

217

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Bits of Castor ware found in Hunsbury Camp [ibid. p. 59]. Hunsbury Camp itself

is of Late Celtic occupation, but the site and its vicinity were obviously not wholly

deserted in the Roman period.
Hargrave. — Stone coffin and skeleton found November, 1893, near Raunds : the stone is

said to be Weldon rag [Associated Archil. Soc. Reports, xxii. 83]. Uncertain if Roman.
Harlestone. — Urn [Mr. W. Hull].
Harpole. — Two villas : see p. 197.
Helpstone. — Villa: seep. 189.
Heyford. — Villa : see p. 196.
Hicham Ferrers. — A few years before 1838, what were thought to be * hot baths of Roman

construction ' were found in the castle yard near the church. No proper notice was

taken and no account kept [John Cole, History of Higham Ferrers (Wellingborough,

1838), pp. 2, 102. Hence Whellan, p. 917]. The 'baths' were never seen by any

expert, and no other Roman remains, small or large, have been noted at or near the spot,

and the thing is probably a mistake : see Irthlingborough, below.

Fragment of Roman pottery, found outside the village [Cole. p. 2].
HoLCOT. — Bronze coin of Marcus [J. Gooch].

HoRTON. — Steelyard [Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, xv. 50].
Houghton. — Gold coin of Gaius and Lucius (Cohen 42 or imitation thereof) found 17 17,

400 yards from CliflFord's Hill [Bridges, i. 373 ; Stukeley's Diaries, iii. 44]. Morton,

p. 518, and Bridges also vaguely mention coins at Clifford's Hill. The ' hill ' itself has

no Roman features.
Irch ester. — Probably small town : p. 178.

Gold coin of Eugenius (Cohen 6 ?) in Irchester village.
Irthlingborough. — Ornamented bricks, probably from a floor, found near the Tankerdyke

hedge [John Cole, History of Higham Ferrers, p. 230]. This, like the Higham Ferrers

' bath ' above-mentioned, may be an error.
IsHAM. — Coins mentioned vaguely [Archteological Journal, xxxv. 271].
Isup. — Urns and human bones found 1757 and 1878 : the find of 1878 may be jwst-Roman.

If so, the other might be the same, for Roman pottery was not accurately distinguished

in 1757 [Gentleman's Magazine (17S7), p. 20 ; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,

ix. 89]. A coin of the Early Empire found here is in Northampton Museum : this

might also quite possibly occur in a post-Roman interment.
Kettering. — Coins of Antonia, Claudius, Trajan, Marcus, Faustina, Carausius, Allectus,

Constantine, Maximian, and a 'second brass' of Caligula (? Cohen 4) [Society of Anti-
quaries, MS. minutes, 1726 ; Gough's Add. to Camden, ii. 281].
Kingscliffe. — Iron slag and coins ; in churchyard, at Lordley Well and at Redford [Associated

Archit. Soc. Reports, v. 99 ; Archaeological "Journal, xxxv. 271 ; Archaologia, xliii. 118].
Kings Sutton. — Villa : see p. 201.

Iron knife and chopper and denarius of Vespasian at Astrop [Journal of the British

Archieological Association, xvii. 70]. See also Charlton.
KiNGSTHORPE. — Three or four silver coins of Sev. Alexander and some later ' third brass '

[Northampton Museum].
Laxton. — Iron slag, vaguely mentioned in Archteologia, xxxv. 269.
LiLBOURNE. — The Roman ' station ' on Watling Street placed here by Morton [p. 508 :

hence Bridges, i. 571] and the hotontinus imagined by Camden [ii. 271] seem wholly

imaginary. There are non-Roman earthworks here.
LoNGTHORPE. — Villa: see p. 189.
LowiCK. — Villa: see p. 194.
Marston St. Lawrence. — Urns, 2 coins (i Carausius), skeleton [Gentleman's Magazine

(1843), i. 338]. But probably Saxon burial, with Roman coins in it, as often : see

Archeeologia, xlviii. 327.
Maxey. — Silver coin of Maximian [Morton, p. 532 ; Gibson's Castor, ed. 2, p. 63].
Mears Ashby. — Kiln, 'wasters' of light grey ware, found 1899 [Northampton Museum].
Middleton Cheney. — Remains of doubtful age in Seabridge Close and a Cold Harbour

there : see p. 201.
Naseby. — Earthenware urn with 38 silver coins (2 Vespasian, I Nerva, 12 Trajan, 9 Hadrian,

I Matidia, 6 Pius, 2 Faustina senior, 5 Marcus) found 1874 [Archaeological Journal,

xxxii. 112].
Newbottle. — Pottery, plate of pewter or lead, in Hill Spinney [Northampton Museum].

218

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Norton. — Village: see p. i86.

Northampton. — At the Castle : bone objects, rude pottery, 2 Samian spindlewhorls, animals'
bones, bronze trifles, coins of circa 260—330 a.d. [Associated Architectural Soc. xvi. 244 ;
Northampton Museum]. The masonry alleged in Gentleman's Magazine (1800), ii.
1,095, can hardly be Roman. In Woolmonger Street : stylus and scraper [Proceedings
of the Society of Antiquaries, xvii. 165]. In Upper Thrift Street : urn [Mr. Wells]. In
Harding Street : coin of Hadrian [Journal of the British Archieological Association, viii. 67,
X. 94]. Also a silver coin of Claudius I. [Stukeley's Letters, iii. 41]. I doubt whether
the bronze pail found in 1858 and now in Peterborough Museum is Roman, but there
are 8 Kov[\a.n f hula there from Northampton.

Camden originally put Bannaventa here, but later changed his mind. Baxter, Mor-
ton and others have found here the Eltanori of the Ravennas, without any evidence.
The site was obviously not uninhabited in Roman times, but there was no settlement of
any importance.

Orlingburv. — Two black urns [Northampton Museum].

OuNDLE. — Handbrick, pottery [Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, ser. I, iv. 246 ;
Archieological Journal, xi. 27].

Coins, iron slag, in Oundle Wood [Archaeological Journal, xxxv. 269].
Urn of light red clay, glazed with thin reddish brown varnish, less compact than
ordinary Samian, but like it and artistically good in itself: see fig. 35 [C. R. Smith,

Fic. 35. Two Views of Vase found at Ol'ndle (C. R. Smith).

Collectanea Antiqua, iv. 63, from which work the illustration has been reproduced.
Fig. I shows the form and actual size ; fig. 2 the rest of the design in the flat. I have
in vain inquired where this interesting piece is now preserved. It was once in the
possession of Mr. Thos. Beal of Oundle].

Pottery, skeletons, 3 bronze pins, coins — 2 of Claudius, i Trajan, 2 Faustina, i
Constans [Proceedings of the Numismatic Society].
OxENDON. — Coin of Marcus, found 17 19 on north side of church [Bridges, ii. 56].
Paulerspury. — Hoard of coins (Constantine i., Maximian, etc.) found in urn [Morton,

p. 531 ; Bridges, i. 314 ; hence Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 274, etc.].
Peterborough. — Dwellings: see p. 188.

Inscription and ornamented half column, found in restoring the Cathedral ; probably
from Castor : see p. 176.

Villa at Longthorpe : see Longthorpe.
PiDDiNGTON. — Villa : see p. 198.
PiLTON. — Coin of Hadrian [Northampton Museum].

Polebrook. — Urn and burnt bones [Stukeley's Diaries, iii. 58, 64; Carausius, i. 170].
Doubtful if Roman.

219

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

PoTTERSPURY. — At Moorend Castle, rectangular building with corner towers, stone founda-
tions, 'many Roman tiles' [journal of the British Archaeological Association, vii. iii].
But see Baker, ii. 229. I do not think the evidence adequate to call these Roman.

Pytchley. — Various coins [Archaological yournal, iii. 113].

Radstone. — Coins in urn ; the urn is in Northampton Museum. There is a Cold Harbour
Farm here, but no trace of any Roman building.

Raunds. — At Mallows Cotton, villa : see p. 1 94. The alleged Ostorian fort here seems imagi-
nary. The earthwork at Mill Cotton [Morton, p. 516] is not Roman. These remains
are sometimes classed under Ringstead.

RiNGSTEAD. — See Raunds.

RoADE. — Pottery and coins [Mr. Whitbread].

Rockingham. — Iron slag, vaguely noted [^Archaologia, xliii. 118; Archaological 'Journal,
XXXV. 269].

Sewardsley (Shoseley). — Jug of red ware found 1889 in making Towcester and Olney
railway [Sir Hy. Dryden]. Doubtful if Roman.

SouTHORPE. — Pits on each side of Ermine Street (Forty-foot way), dug (according to some) to
provide stone for the road. In the pits west of the road coins of circa 150-350 a.d.,
urns, fibula, glass, burnt bones, wood were found in 1733 and 1753 [Arch^ologia, i. 61
(hence Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 292, and later writers) ; Gough, British Topography,
ii. 47 ; drawings in Library of Society of Antiquaries ; Stukeley, Itinerarium, p. 83].

At Walcot Park, coins [Morton, p. 532]. Stukeley [Itinerarium, p. 83] incident-
ally alludes to a villa here, but I find no other trace of it, and the mention may be an
error.

Spratton. — Coin of Marcus [Mr. George].

Fig. 36. Late Celtic Urn of Lu.hi Ur./.vn Colour from Twywell (full size).

Stanion. — Many coins [Morton, p. 532 ; Stukeley's Diaries, iii. 67]. Stanion slone was

used in the Weldon villa.
Stanwick. — Villa: see p. 194.

Stoke Bruerne. — Light-coloured urn [Mr. Coy]. Doubtful if Roman.
Stratford (Old). — A few coins found in tlic fields near the bridge by which Watling Street

crosses the Ouse to Stony Stratford. Hence Morton, p. 504, and Bridges, i. 304, put

Lactodurum here ; Baker, ii. 138, rightly rejects the idea.
Sutton. — Suburb of Castor : see p. 174.
Tansor. — Urns, coins [Stukeley's Carausius, i. 170].
Thenford. — Villa : see p. 201.

Thornhaugh. — Villa in Bedford Purlieus: see p. 189.
Statues elsewhere in the same : see p. 190.
Gold coin at Sakerwell (Sacrewell), half a mile east of village [Morton, p. 532 ;

hence Gibson's Castor, ed. 2, p. 63].

220

ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Thorpe. — See Longthorpe.

Thorpe Achurch. — Coin of Antonia [Morton, p. 532].

Thrapston. — Gold coin of Valentinian [Morton, p. 532 ; Bridges, ii. 269].

Titchmarsh. — Samian and other potsherds, burnt bones, coins; found 1756 [Gentleman's
Magazine, 1756, p. 20 ; Morton, p. 532, vaguely mentions coins].

TowcESTER. — Small town : see p. 184.
Villa at Foscote : see p. 199.

TwYWELL. — Fragment of Samian strainer, like that mentioned p. 186 ; urns of Late Celtic
affinity (fig. 36 ; in part pre-Roman) [Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, ix. 91 ;
xiv. 172]. Whether certain rubbish holes mentioned in the Gentleman's Magazine,
'757> P- 21, are Roman is uncertain.

Upton (i). — Silver coin of Sev. Alexander [Northampton Museum]. Near Northampton.

Upton (2). — Coin of Constantine I. ; ironworkings of uncertain age [Gibson's Castor, ed. 2,
pp. 62, 63]. Near Castor.

Wadenhoe. — Coins (i silver Nero) [Morton, p. 532]. The alleged Ostorian fort here
seems a pure fiction.

Walcot. — See Barnack.

Wappenham. — Rough kiln, 20 broken urns in it and charcoal, iron slag (?) ; also a silver
bone and bronze brooch (fig. 37) ; found in a gravel pit, in the south-east end of the
Home Field, about a quarter of a mile south-east of the church and rectory, by Mr.
H. C. Maiden in 1874 [Sir Hy. Dryden's MSS. ; information from Mr. Maiden, who
lent me the brooch to be figured].

The brooch is of bronze, faced with base silver (or tin ?) ; the studs are bone, with
bronze pins rising through them. A similar brooch was found in St. Matthew's, Ipswich
[C. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, iii. 253, plate xxxvi. fig. i]. A third, made of bronze
tinned on the face, with six bone studs and in other respects similar to the other two, was
found somewhere in France or Germany, and is now in the British Museum [Bronze
Catalogue, No. 2 1 78]. Otherwise I know no instances of this type. The alternation
of circular studs and triangles occurs on some '^■i.xon fihulte in a rather different way.

Wapplnham. Ipswich.

Fig. 37. Brooches.

Warkton. — Coin of Nerva [Bridges, ii. 265]. See Weekley.

Warkworth. — Silver coins of Gaius and Lucius Caesar and of Nero, ' first brass ' of Lucilla
and other coins found sporadically [Beesley's Banbury, pp. 23, 32]. A farm. Black Pits,
between the Great Western and London and North-Western railway lines, has a signi-
ficant name, but I can learn of no discoveries there, and there are no potsherds or other
traces now visible on the surface.

Warmington. — Coins mentioned vaguely by Morton, p. 516.

Weedon Beck. — Coins, earthwork, foundations, mentioned by Stukeley [Itinerarium, p. 114]
and Reynolds [p. 470], but the earthwork and foundations seem to 1 ave no claim to be
called Roman. Talbot, Camden [ii. 267] and Morton put Bannaventa here : see p. 186.

Weekley. — Villa: see p. 194.

Weldon. — Villa : see p. 193.

Wellingborough. — Coin at Ladyswell, other coins, pottery [Mr. George, from John Cole's
MS. History of Woodford].

Welton. — Coins found in churchyard ; one a silver coin of Barbiana [Morton, p. 532 ;
Baker i. 466 ; hence Whellan, p. 441, etc.]. Roman coins in Saxon burials half-a-
mile from the church [Archaologia, xlviii. 337].

7?.\

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Weston (by Weedon). — Asiatic Greek coin of Sala [Baker, ii. 115]. Probably lost by some

modern collector.
Weston Favell. — Key [Catalogue of Northampton Museum ; Mr. George].
Whilton. — Village : see p. 186.
Whittlebury. — Villa in Holton Copse found 1850 ; see p. 199.

Legionary tile, etc., near church, found 1822 : see p. 215.
WoLLASTON. — Outlook post alleged by Bridges, ii. 119, and others copying him, but on no

good evidence.
WooDCROFT. — The legionary tile said by W. Th. Watkin to have been found here was found

in Ashton parish : see p. 214.
Woodford. — Villa : see p. 194.
WooTTON. — Hoard of 'third brass' found in urn in 1844; 615 examined range from

Gallienus to Numerian [Archao/ogical "Journal, i. 67].
Yarwell. — Buildings, according to the map of Artis : see p. 175.

APPENDIX

At the end of this index I may mention a small inscribed object found in Northampton-
shire— it is not known precisely where — and often described as Roman. It is a little round

counter, almost one inch in diameter, made of red burnt clay, and inscribed ~\.. It has been

accepted as Roman by Mr. W. T. Watkin {Archaologkal Journaly vi. 7 1 ; xxxvi. 94) and
Professor Hiibner [Ephemeris, iv. 201) ; probably however it is much more modern. Similar
roundels with various letters and figures have been found in many places — Elmham in Norfolk
{^Fictoria County History of Norfo/i, i. 317), ShefFord in Bedfordshire, Finsbury in London and
so forth. So far as I can judge from specimens which I have seen and from illustrations of
others, the letters on them are not at all Roman in character and the objects themselves seem
modern. In the MS. Minutes of the Society of Antiquaries, i. 171 (Septembef 29, 1725)
an old marginal note is appended to a record of the Elmham specimen, to the eSect that it is a
turnpike ticket.

222

HISTORY OF N()HTllAMPT()KSHll(t:

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

THE VICTORIA- HISTORY Or THt COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

ANGLO-SAXON
REMAINS

THE meagre entries of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that describe
the over-running of Britain by the EngHsh afford no clue to the
early history of Northamptonshire ; and as in the case of most
other counties, recourse must be had to the actual remains
recovered from the soil in order to determine the condition of the district
and its inhabitants in the years when Roman Britain was passing gradually
into a Christian England. The lack of record or tradition may be
remedied to some extent by a careful analysis of place-names, by a classi-
fication of the dialects still to be met with in the county, and by
observing the physical characteristics of the population. Each of these
three methods of inquiry is however open to the objection that changes
from within and without during many centuries must have done much
to obscure or obliterate the traces of the earliest Teutonic settlers ; while
the investigation of their graves furnishes a certain amount of infor-
mation, slight it may be but direct, regarding the pagan peoples who
mastered this outlying province of the Roman Empire.

It must be admitted at the outset that such deductions rest upon
a series of accidents, and that any day may bring fresh and conflicting
evidence to light. But the value of every fresh discovery has a direct
relation to the amount and nature of pre-existing material ; and in this
way a collection and classification of archaeological details may be of
service not only to the excavator, but to the professed historian. Much
has undoubtedly been lost in the past through lack of interest or super-
vision, but there is no reason to suppose that all the early Anglo-Saxon
sites have been discovered or that those already known have been
exhaustively examined ; and it is likely that the spread of local archaeo-
logical societies will do something to prevent the destruction of objects
that may demonstrate in course of time the character and nationality of
the folk whose property these objects were some thirteen hundred years
ago.

A sketch of the condition of the county may be found in the
chapter of the Making of England which deals with the conquests of the
English. From what is there stated, it would be easy to conclude that
the territory comprised in the present county was largely covered with
forest, and on that account formed an impenetrable barrier against the
various tribes that advanced from all directions to its borders. This

223

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

view would be perhaps supported by a glance at the map of England at
the present day. Rutland must for the present purpose be excluded, for
its existence as a county only dates from the twelfth century ; but even
with this proviso, as many as eight counties are found abutting on the
district in question, which seems to run from the Wash and fenland as a
great dividing wedge into the heart of the country.

That this aspect of Northamptonshire is in some respects fanciful is
shown by the undoubted existence of at least three important Roman roads
through the county, one of them crossing the huge woodland of Rocking-
ham itself, which ' even as late as the Middle Ages was still one of the largest
forests of the island.' ' The county therefore presented no impassable
barrier in the direction of its length, but there are some indications that
the present western border represents a dividing line of very old standing.
In pre-Saxon times a line of strongholds seems to have existed between
Kirtlington in Oxfordshire and Aston-le-Walls, perhaps reaching a point
still further northwards in the county.^ Traces of several of these earth-
works are to be seen to-day, not on the spurs thrown out by the high
ground forming the watershed of west Northamptonshire, but at the
head of the valleys leading to the upper Cherwell ; and all were evidently
intended to prevent a hostile advance from the south-west. But though
these fastnesses may have occasionally served the same purpose in Saxon
times, they belong as a class to an earlier period ; and reasons will
presently be given for supposing that a line of cleavage in the sixth
century roughly coincided with the Watling Street, though it may have
struck a little north-east from Towcester and thus included the Tove
valley in the southern district.

In striking contrast to the entries concerning the mythical heroes of
Wessex, there occurs in the Chronicle under the year 571 the record of
an all-important battle, about the site of which there can be little doubt.
The victory of Ceawlin's lieutenant at Bedford seems to have at once
resulted in the acquisition of much territory to the south-east of
Northamptonshire, and it may here be suggested that the semicircular
indentation of the extreme southern boundary of the county indicates the
area over which Buckingham, the town lying at its centre, originally
exercised control. Ceolwulf, king of Wessex, is twenty-six years later
described as continually fighting against either the Angles or the Welsh or
the Picts or the Scots. This particular entry does not inspire confidence,
but it is conceivable that by this date Wessex had expanded far enough
to the north to come into conflict with Anglian tribes advancing from
the Trent valley or elsewhere. That the conflict or conflicts took place
within the borders of the present county is entirely problematical. It
will be found from an examination of the geological map that Northamp-
tonshire lies between two broad bands of clay, which during the period
now under consideration must have been densely wooded marshland,
presenting an obstacle much more formidable than the forests on the
inferior oolite to invaders either from the north-west or the south-

> J. R. Green, Making of England, i. 94. ^ Beesley, History of Banbury, p. 14.

224

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

east. Flanking the county on the north-west stretches an expanse of lias
formation with an average breadth of twenty miles, parting the oolite on
the south from the new red sandstone on the north ; while Huntingdon-
shire and north Bedfordshire form a similar band of Oxford clay between
the Nene valley and the chalk range of the Chilterns. With its chain
of earthworks commanding all approaches from the Cherwell valley, and
with its eastern extremity protected by the Fens, Northamptonshire
would thus be materially cut off from its neighbours. But Teutonic
enterprise would only be temporarily checked by such impediments
as these, and the Roman roads would ere long bring into conflict settlers
from north and south, Anglians and Saxons, on the debatable land
between the Welland and the Nene. At least in the southern part of the
county the relics from the cemeteries show a certain mingling of races
which is quite in accordance with history.

It was in the year 1889 that Grimsbury, a hamlet of Banbury, was
severed from Northamptonshire, but its name and situation suggest an
earlier political connection with the upper valley of the Cherwell, now
included in Oxfordshire. Whatever the derivation may be, the root-
word is to be found under various forms such as Grimes Ditch, Grim's
Dike and Graham's Ditch in many parts of Britain. Several of these
landmarks date from a very early period, and some occur precisely on
the line of county boundaries ; but perhaps the most instructive parallel
is on the border of Hampshire at the north-west angle of the New
Forest, where there is reason to think that the Romano-British inhabi-
tants of Wiltshire were able for a considerable period to stem the tide of
barbarian invasion along the valley of the Salisbury Avon.

The name of Grimsbury can only have been bestowed by a Teutonic
people, and there seems little against the theory that the hamlet marks
an ancient boundary between the West Saxons of Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire on the one hand, and on the other the Romanized
Britons, who must have inhabited parts of Northamptonshire in consider-
able numbers during and after the Roman period.

If then Grimsbury may be regarded as an outpost of the tribe or
tribes who occupied most of the country between the Cotswolds and the
Chilterns in the sixth century, the question arises whether it is possible
to fix the period at which that stronghold ceased to mark a boundary.
Once the general accuracy of the entry under 571 is conceded, it is possi-
ble to connect the foundation of Grimsbury with the victory at Bedford;
but a consideration of the remains in the neighbouring parts of North-
amptonshire renders it probable that within a century from that date
West- Saxon adventurers had not only penetrated to the Watling Street
and perhaps ascended the Tove valley from the south-east, but had been
joined and perhaps in their turn overwhelmed by a rival Anglian tribe
either from the north or east. Due allowance must indeed be made for
the distribution of characteristic objects in the course of trade, but in the
general decay that set in on the withdrawal of the legions, commerce
fared no better than government or education. It is consequently not

225

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

an unsafe method to determine the conquering tribe by the character of
relics found in the graves.

To apply this method to a particular case, reasons will presently
be given for supposing that West-Saxon influence ceased for some time
to be felt in the south-west of the county after the middle of the seventh
century ; and the interval of seventy or eighty years does not perhaps
allow sufficient time for the recognition of Grimsbury as a frontier town,
as well as the subsequent invasion and settlement of a large tract of British
territory. On the other hand if, as is likely, the Saxons advanced up the
Thames and struck off along the tributary streams, the occupation of the
site of Banbury would no doubt have occurred some years before the battle
of Bedford ; and Grimsbury may on this supposition have ceased to mark
the frontier at that very date. This alternative seems on the whole more
probable than that the stronghold separated the Saxon from the Anglian,
or the Dane from either, for in both of these cases the dividing line was
further to the east.

From such a centre as Bicester progress along the Roman road
running north-east would have been an easy matter, as that station stood
on the northern edge of the Oxford clay. Beyond this however the
poverty of a soil on which to this day large tracts of woodland have been
allowed to remain may well account for the rarity of Saxon remains
in the county between Towcester, Brackley, Buckingham and Stony
Stratford. Access to more productive localities was however afforded
by the Tove valley and two ancient British trackways, Banbury Lane
leading to Hunsbury camp, and the Portway, that ran from Kirtlington
along the line of Abes Ditch and due north by Rainsborough camp
and Chipping Warden to the neighbourhood of Daventry. And it is
no doubt in connection with these tracks that the settlements originated
of which the remains can now be traced in the Anglo-Saxon ceme-
teries of Marston St. Lawrence, Badby, Newnham and Norton.

A comparison of the archsological and geological maps of the
county throws a good deal of light on the colonising methods of our
Teutonic ancestors, at least in Northamptonshire.

Among the numerous sites in the county where settlements existed
in Anglo-Saxon times, there is a remarkable uniformity as regards
physical conditions. About two-thirds of the total number of such sites
are at the junction of the Northampton sand with the upper lias clay
which is exposed by the action of running water in the valleys south
of the ' Nene fault.' As pointed out in the chapter on the geology
of the county, the desirability of a dry site for a dwelling led to the
selection of spots on porous soil in the neighbourhood of springs ;
and where water could be got by means of shallow wells, groups
of dwellings would spring up to develop later into villages and towns.
Successive ridges of Northampton sand, from which an abundance of
good water is procurable, were thus early occupied along the Nene and
Ise, and in many cases the Anglo-Saxon sites adjoin the headwaters
of the tributary streams. Such for instance are Brixworth and Pitsford,

226

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

Cransley and Finedon, Twywell and Cranford ; but these are only-
special cases of what seems to have been the common practice in North-
amptonshire, for the vast majority of early Anglo-Saxon settlements were
made on the sand in the immediate vicinity of a clay formation, which
would provide timber for fuel and forest-pasture for the herds of swine.

A smaller but equally instructive group occurs in the north-west
corner of the county, where the favourite situation for settlements
appears to have been on the narrow water-bearing outcrop of marlstone,
with plenty of marshy woodland on the adjoining lower lias. The
claims of agriculture were also considered in the choice of a home ; and
the Northampton sand, though inferior to the marlstone in point of
fertility, is a good arable soil, while the neighbouring limestone tracts are
comparatively barren, and the Oxford clay to the south very difficult of
cultivation.

Perhaps half a dozen sites remain that are not included in the
two groups already noticed ; and of these six, two apparently were
occupied in consequence of their proximity to the Nene, which was
at that period the principal route to the interior of the county, from the
direction of the Ermine Street and the Fens.

There are no records to help in fixing the period during which
these sites were occupied by Teutonic colonists to the exclusion of
the Romanized Britons, who, though more thickly settled in the lower
Nene valley, have yet left numerous traces in the neighbourhood of the
Watling Street. It is generally allowed by historians that in the more
secluded parts of the country the political fusion of Briton and Teuton
was a tedious process ; and besides incidental remarks in the ancient
records, ' the comparative scarcity of villages bearing the English clan
names throughout the basins of the Welland, the Nene and the Great
Ouse, suggests the probability that Mercia, middle England and the Fen
country were not by any means so densely colonized as the coast districts.'*
For instance, the territory of the North and South Gyrwa must have been
very thinly populated, for it is estimated in the Numcrus Hydarum^ to con-
tain only 1,200 hides ; and the legend of St. Guthlac, who was startled by
strange noises in his cell near Croyland about the year 700, suggests that
' Welshmen ' were not uncommon in his neighbourhood.^ The results
of anthropological research are here in accord with tradition. It is reason-
able to suppose, says Dr. Beddoe, that the British or pre-Saxon element
would remain between Banbury and Peterborough and between the Lea
and the Warwickshire Avon in larger proportion than in most parts
of England. He has personally noticed a high index of nigrescence
at several points in that area, including a group of villages between
Weedon and Northampton ; while a tendency to light hair and eyes is
generally very noticeable in districts that are known to have come under
Anglian or Saxon control during the pagan period.

* Grant Allen, Jnglo-Saxon Britiiln, p. 49.

* Birch, Cartulaiium Saxonicum, vol. i. p. 414 ; M.iitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 506-9.

* Beddoe, Races of Britain, pp. 53, 54, 254.

227

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

As already pointed out, Northamptonshire lies between two broad
bands of clay formation, and the north-east opening was in the early
days guarded by a vast acreage of fenland, which besides harbouring
British fugitives, supported the tribes known to Bede in the eighth century
as the North and South Gyrwa, who seem to have confined themselves
in the main to the immediate vicinity of the Fens both of Lincolnshire
and Cambridgeshire. In the Making of England they are represented as
an Anglian tribe' attempting to advance through the woodlands of
Rockingham to the uplands beyond, but the spread of the Angles over the
county seems to be due as much to their fellow invaders from the Soar
valley. The exploits of the Gyrwa have never been recorded, but with-
out traversing Rockingham Forest, parties of settlers would and probably
did find an agreeable home in the valley of the Nene. The finds near
Peterborough will be noticed later, but it is possible that the settlements
at Islip, Woodford and Addington owed their origin to the Fenmen.
In the opinion of Dr. Stubbs, the political affinities of the tribe were,
like the physical affinities of their country, rather with East Anglia than
with Mercia, as is seen by a comparison of the descent of the two
kingdoms.* Possibly too their independence lasted longer than that
of the other tribes that contributed to the late formation of the Mercian
kingdom. This is no more than a guess from the little that is known
of their history, but the guess gains some probability from a glance
at their early ecclesiastical organization.

Their connection with East Anglia probably accounts for their
being Christianized much earlier than their Mercian neighbours ; and as
' a line drawn from the south point of Nottinghamshire to the Cam
would probably represent the western border of the Gyrwa,' it is possible
that traces of their settlement may be seen in the remains at Desborough.
These certainly exhibit some evidence of Christianity, and suggest that
the artistic traditions of Rome had not quite died out even in the seventh
century.

The generally accepted view of the Teutonic conquest is that on the
whole the Anglian settlements were later than the Saxon, and besides the
negative evidence of the Chronicle, geographical considerations point in
the same direction so far as Northamptonshire is concerned. When
therefore a mixture of Saxon and Anglian elements appears in the relics
of the graves, the recognition of this sequence may serve as a guiding
principle.

The burial ground at Marston St. Lawrence ' is five and a half
miles east-north-east of Banbury, a little over a quarter of a mile north of
Marston Hill Farm, and two or three hundred yards west of the Moreton
road. The field was formerly called Bar-furlong or Barrow-furlong, and
is situated on a high ridge overlooking the Cherwell valley to the south,
being only a quarter of a mile east of Arbury Camp on Thenford Hill,

* Reasons for regarding them as British are given by Rev. Edw. Conybeare, Popular History oj
Cambridgeshire, p. 42.

* Journal of j^rchceolopcal Institute, vol. xviii. p. 195.

' The account given in Archaolo^a, vol. xlviii. is here abridged.

228

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

which is the western extremity of the same ridge. The site has been
under the plough for many years, and the soil is from one to two feet
deep on the top of limestone rock.

The first skeleton was discovered in November, 1 842, and ex-
cavations were carried on in the early part of the following year. Many
of the bodies were in pairs, and all were found to lie in graves which
may have been marked by small hillocks such as are to be seen in church-
yards at the present day. In the excavated space which was about i 50
feet by 100, there were found in all thirty-two human skeletons, all lying
nearly in the same direction with the feet to the north-east. Most of
them lay about eighteen inches below the surface face upwards, and the
graves were in great part filled with the fine mould which is frequently
found in such interments. There were discovered twenty-five skeletons
without weapons, seven with weapons, one skeleton of a horse, and
three or four urns containing burnt human bones. It will be observed
on the plan of the cemetery that accompanies the account, that three of
the bodies were deposited with the knees doubled up, a circumstance
that has been commented on by the Abbe Cochet,' who met with
similar cases in Normandy ; while it was the general rule in a cemetery
at Sleaford, Lines. ^

A detailed list of the contents of the thirty-seven graves is given by
Sir Henry Dryden, whose accuracy has made this find an important addi-
tion to archsEology, and furnished a model on which such excavations as
these should be conducted and put on permanent record. A glance at
plate xxii. accompanying his account will at once prove that the position
of the bodies was not accidental, but was dictated by the funeral customs
of the group of settlers who used the cemetery. This uniformity not
only indicates that the burials belong to a definite period during which
the rites of burial were not interfered with to any extent, but also
warrants the conclusion that the cemetery ceased to be used before the
introduction of Christianity into this part of England had caused the
dead to be buried with the head to the west. It was apparently in the
middle of the eighth century that burial-grounds within the walls of
towns became general in England, and it seems reasonable to refer to the
intervening century, from about 650 to 750, the east-and-west burials in
the open country which are sometimes found in cemeteries that also
contain pagan interments. The funeral rites of the pre-Christian period
would not be stamped out at once by the missionaries of the Gospel, and
the compromise here indicated seems to have been generally accepted
during the first century of Christian England.

Though the burials of the Marston cemetery are all in the same
direction and generally belong to the same period, there is an instructive
combination of elements in the objects recovered from the graves. The
contrast of two characteristic groups of ornaments is shown by plates
xxiii. and xxiv. illustrating the report, the former for the most part

* Normandie Soulerralne, p. 218 (2nd ed.).

* Archttologia, vol. 50, p. 385.

229

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

exhibiting the circular brooches which predominate in the cemeteries of
the southern midlands, and the latter some of the ordinary types of
brooches to be met with in the Anglian districts.

Speculation as to this apparent blending of two races in so restricted
an area may lead to a better understanding of early English history, but
more ample material from other parts of the kingdom is necessary before
any final conclusions can be drawn from the contents and situation
of pagan burials. A working hypothesis may however do something by
way of stimulating research and indicating the essential points to be
noticed in any future investigations of the kind.

The results of the Marston find are summarized by Sir Henry
Dryden in his list of relics. It appears that about two-thirds of the
total number of beads found in the graves were of amber, mostly in the
rough state. The description of the horse's bit, supplemented as it is
by a careful drawing to scale, is interesting, as a similar specimen not
so well preserved was discovered with two spearheads at Hardingstone in
the year i860 and is now at Northampton. A bronze clasp, one of a
pair found in grave No. 3 on the arms of a female skeleton, closely
resembles some from Sleaford, Lines, and a similar clasp was recently
found with some cruciform brooches of a recognized Anglian type
at Holdenby (see below, p. 246). The discovery of these clasps in
position is important as defining their use, and that they were originally
attached by rivets to broad leather straps is demonstrated by the discovery
of some imbedded in that material at Sleaford.'

The brooches are generally the most numerous class of objects
recovered, and warrant the attribution of the burials to a tribe or group
of tribes who occupied particular parts of the country in the early
Teutonic period. In this cemetery were found in all ten pairs of
brooches, and a single large specimen of copper partially gilt which
closely resembles one in the British Museum from Hornton in the northern
angle of Oxfordshire, five miles north-west of Banbury, and only about
nine miles west of the Marston cemetery. This coincidence may have
been due to the operations of commerce or the fortunes of war ; and
considered alone might indicate the occupation of both localities by a
Saxon or an Anglian tribe. However near the two sites are to each
other, it is to be noticed that a border which is no doubt older than the
county crosses about half-way between them, and it is a just conclusion
that at the date of the burials no hard and fast line was maintained be-
tween the inhabitants on either side. It is possible therefore that the
Romanized Britons had by that time retired from the south-west of what
is now Northamptonshire before the advancing wave of Saxon immi-
gration. Two brooches of the same form have been found on or near
the borders of what seems to have been the home of the West Saxons ;
one at Linton Heath, Cambs,^ to the east, and the other at Fairford,
Gloucestershire,' to the west. The latter is of much ruder work than

1 Archaolopa, vol. 50, p. 387. * Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxxvii.

3 Wylie, Fairford Graves, pi. iii. fig. 2 ; Archcrolo^a, vol. xxxiv. pi. x. fig. 2.

230

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

the others, while that discovered by the Hon. R. C. Neville shows the
original form of the square plate from which projected a number of
characteristic heads of animals and birds, the latter being at the angles,
with stout curved beaks. It so happens that the more perfect specimen
was found at a spot fairly accessible from the continent, while the
debased copies were found far inland, in the north and west of Wessex.
Till further examples of these large gilt brooches with their square
crenellated heads and rude but striking decoration are forthcom-
ing, it would be rash to assign their manufacture and use exclusively
to any one tribe ; but the objects found with the Hornton specimen
closely resemble a large number found in the Thames valley, and the
likeness encourages the belief that in the finds at Marston Hill there is
an appreciable Saxon element.

Attention must also be drawn to a circumstance which is not
emphasized in the original account of the discovery. The West-Saxon
character of at least the two circular concave or saucer-shaped brooches
found in grave No 1 3 is hardly open to question, and it is from the
adjoining grave (No. 14) about two feet distant that the remarkable gilt
brooch already mentioned was taken. Though it is impossible to prove
that these two graves contained a West-Saxon warrior and his wife — and
the presence of weapons in the one case favours the suggestion — it is
equally open to question whether these are the only two graves in the
cemetery which could possibly be attributed to that branch of the
Teutonic family. It is true that the area excavated yielded twenty-one
brooches, of which three at least may be so assigned ; but this does not
necessarily fix the proportion between Angle and Saxon. In the first
place the cemetery has in all probability not been entirely excavated, for
operations were discontinued when the limits of the unsown ground were
reached. Secondly, of the thirty-two graves containing skeletons, only
eight yielded brooches of any description ; and two of this number were
the pair referred to above. These last, again, did not contain anything
characteristically Anglian, and should not therefore be regarded as the
graves of two Anglians who had borne to the grave ornaments they had
looted or bartered from a neighbouring Saxon tribe. Finally, in con-
sidering the excavations as a whole, it must be noted that very few of
the graves on this site exhibit any signs of wealth, and the fact that only
one sword in the district has been found may be taken to indicate the
humble, perhaps peaceful, circumstances of the community.* In most
cases the ornaments consisted of a string of beads, with perhaps a buckle
for the belt and the usual knife worn at the side. Here are no bronze-
mounted buckets, inlaid sword-handles or jewelled brooches such as have
been collected in districts enriched by trade or natural resources. Nor
is it surprising to find on what was probably the limit of the West-Saxon
territory till the expansion of Merciain the middle of the seventh century,
the remains of a humble settlement evidently isolated from the main

1 It is conceivable that the paucity of relics and of cinerary urns may be due to the influence of
Christianity.

231

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

centres of activity. The supply of such perishable objects as personal
ornaments would soon run short, and there appear to have been in the
western half of the county several rude attempts to imitate the brooches
which form such a conspicuous feature in West-Saxon interments.
These home-made articles found on the outskirts of a tribal district point
not only to an absence of facilities for trading, but to the stagnation and
poverty which must have become fairly general after the retirement of
the legions from the shores of Britain.

Of the seven interments in which weapons were discovered with
the skeleton, two deserve special notice, as examples of a practice which
may hereafter be found characteristic of a particular rank, tribe or period.
There was a close resemblance between graves Nos. 29 and 30, which
were about fourteen feet apart and may have been covered by large
mounds of earth. Each contained a skeleton face upwards, with a shield
placed flat on the floor of the grave ; the body was stretched out in such
a manner that part of the remnants of the shield-handle were found
under the hip-bones, and the boss with the point upwards was just
between the thigh-bones. Two spearheads were found close together
on the right side of the head parallel to the body, and in one case an
arrowhead lay at the feet. The iron shield-boss was half full of burnt
vegetable matter resembling heath or fern-stems ; and the handle of the
shield found in grave No. 30 had had a wooden grip riveted to the
curved part of the centre, and itself extended right across the shield, being
riveted at both ends to the wooden or leather disc which was about five-
sixteenths of an inch thick. The spearheads which were attached to
staves of a man's height are of common types, with the exception of one
the blades of which are in different planes ' to give a spinning motion.*

Of the three undoubted instances of cremation in the cemetery^ it is
difficult to speak, as the distribution of urn-burials in this country has
not been thoroughly investigated, though attention has in recent years
been called to the practice by Kemble, Rolleston and Wylie. Urns
containing burnt human bones are however mainly confined to Anglian
districts, and skeletons to Saxon and Jutish cemeteries, though there are
several localities where both rites were practised. The view taken by
that zealous antiquary, Charles Roach Smith, was that in cases where
cremated remains and skeletons were found in the same cemetery, the
urns belonged to prior interments which were disturbed when the graves
were dug and afterwards carefully replaced. ' This explanation,' he says,
' will not be at variance with the belief that when cremation had ceased
as a general custom, it may in exceptional instances have been used over
a considerable period of time. Wherever found, these mortuary urns
must be ascribed to the earliest Teutonic tribes which settled in Britain ;
for the urns resemble Roman forms and may (in some cases) be of
Roman fabric.'* There is no reason to suppose however that urn-

* Anhtrohgia, vol. xlviii. pi. xxv. grave 1 6.

2 Comp.-ire Baron de Baye's Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons, p. 22, pi. i, figs. 4, 6, from
Harnham Hill, Wilts.

3 Archtcologta, vol. xxxvii. p. 471. * Collectanea Antijua, vol. v. p. 119.

232

€^

scal e: /^ i,.NLAa

ANGLO-SAXON REM A I N S . NO KTH A NTS

C JPR/e.TOBiuS F s*

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

burial was in all cases earlier than the burial of the entire body ; and
the fact that no weapons but only tweezers, combs, beads and other
small objects are found with the cremated burials may very well point to
differences of race as well as of period. Thus combs associated with
urn-burials have been found at Finedon, Pitsford and Northampton '
(see fig. 1 6). These with other cases of cremation occur generally in
the central part of the county ; and where the cemeteries contain mixed
burials, the bodies are found lying east and west. A plausible inference
is that this part of Northamptonshire was occupied not by West-Saxons
but by another tribe who before their conversion to Christianity burned
their dead, and afterwards adopted the east-and-west position.

Sir Henry Dryden's second and fuller paper on the Marston Hill
finds was read to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1882, and it
is no slight on his memory to revise the conclusions he drew from what
was there brought to light. There is at the present day no necessity to
contrast such remains with Celtic, British or pure Roman in order to
establish their Saxon origin. Instead of the eighty years which he
allowed for interments of the pagan Saxons, it is now permissible to
spread them over a period of about two centuries, and to allow another
century for a considerable number of burials which show by their
orientation the influence of Christian teaching, but at the same time
illustrate the pagan custom of burying their ornaments and weapons with
the dead.

The similarity declared to exist between the burials at Marston
Hill and others at Cestersover in Warwickshire, and Breach and Chatham
Downs in Kent, must therefore be taken in that general sense, in which
most pagan burials of the Saxon period in England may be said to
resemble one another. There is however no reason to doubt that the
interments at Newnham^ were 'precisely similar' to those at Marston
Hill, from which the distance is only about twelve miles. About a
mile and a half south of Daventry and the British and Roman site of
Borough Hill, Newnham lies just north of the river Nene on the geolo-
gical formation which seems to have specially recommended itself to
the Teutonic settlers in this neighbourhood. Notice has already been
taken of its proximity to the line of the Portway, and it may be described
as the counterpart of Marston Hill as regards the objects discovered in
the graves. About twenty bodies were found in 1829, and the relics
passed into the possession of Sir Henry Dryden, by whom they were
transferred to the municipal museum at Northampton. The skeletons
lay in the same direction as at Marston, with the faces upwards, and also
like them interred in small graves. In spite of defective supervision a
few bead necklaces were preserved, and among these were some triplet
specimens of glass exactly resembling some from Marston. Two large
gilt brooches (figs. 3, 4), now preserved at Northampton, are com-
pared with the large one from Marston, but the exact similarity of

1 Society of Antiquaries, Proceedings, vol. xvii. pp. 165, 167.
* Archaologia, vol. xlviii. p. 336.

233

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

the complete specimen to one found at Castor near Peterborough with
purely Roman remains cannot be verified ; while the other, which is
broken at the bow, is almost identical with one found at Woodstone,
Hunts, near Peterborough.' Bosses of shields and spearheads also occur
at Newnham, and a circular bronze brooch with hollow centre. The
space dug over in this case measured about fifty-three yards by forty-six;
and the bodies were distributed in about the same proportion to the
ground as at Marston Hill, while the skeletons with weapons were again
less numerous than those without, which seem to have been the remains
of women and children. The site was excavated in 1829 and two
saucer-shaped brooches suggesting contact with Wessex are to be seen in
the Northampton Museum.

To the same group of Saxon sites in the county, though possibly of
a somewhat later date, belong two others, at Badby and Norton, the
former nearly a mile and a half to the south-west, and the latter about
four miles north of Newnham.

About the year 1836, four brooches were discovered at Badby
where there appears to have been a cemetery of the Saxon period.'
Diggings for stone had been carried on for a number of years on a farm
in the parish, and from time to time many skeletons had been disin-
terred, disposed north and south, with spears, swords, shield-bosses,
knives, beads and other articles in close proximity. An unusual quantity
of relics were met with about 1834, but nearly all were dispersed as
well as another find two years later of the same description. When-
ever fresh soil was opened at the stone-pit, bones and entire skeletons
were met with, at about eighteen inches below the surface. The square-
headed brooch is clearly of the same type as one from Norton, though
shorter by an inch, while the three others figured belong to ordinary
Anglian varieties.

Some objects found in the parish of Norton, near Daventry, were
presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London in the year 1863. It
is unfortunate that no contemporary account of the discovery exists, but
the information ' supplied by Dr. Thurnam and others four years later is
precise enough to fix the character of the interments. A plan was also
prepared to indicate the position of the oblong mound from which
five or six skeletons were exhumed. This mound seems to have been
about forty or fifty yards long, two or three yards wide and about a yard
high, lying along the hedge to the east of the Watling Street. The
graves discovered in 1855 or 1856 were in a single line and contained
besides the skeletons which it is believed lay with the heads to the south,
some formless pieces of metal and one rude bead of amber. The level at
which the bodies had been deposited was about six feet below the crown
of the Roman road, and about twenty-five feet from its centre, just out-

' Figured in Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1887-88, p. 264.
2 Journal of British Archaohgtcal Association, vol. i. p. 61 ; Society of Antiquaries, Proceedings, ist
ser. vol. i. p. 74.

' Archaologia, vol. xli. p. 479.

234

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

side the original embankment. Eight years later the bank was levelled
to alter the course of the road, and at least one other grave was exposed.

It was on this occasion that some interesting relics were discovered,
of which only a bare list is given, with the exception of a full-size
engraving of a fine square-headed brooch * now in the possession of the
Society of Antiquaries. Besides this were found a dish-shaped and a
disc-shaped brooch, two rings of bronze, three hooks of iron, perhaps
keys, an iron knife and a bone spindle-whorl. The skulls were pro-
nounced of the long variety characteristic of the Teutonic peoples, but
there is little evidence to determine the particular tribe to which they
belonged. Nor is there satisfactory proof that ' the Anglo-Saxon grave-
mound of Norton presents no resemblance to the considerable cemetery
at Marston St. Lawrence in the same county.' A comparison is made
with some graves discovered in 1824, twenty miles further north in the
very centre of the Watling Street near Bensford Bridge. The large
square-headed brooch certainly points to Anglian influence but the same
may also be said of Marston and Newnham.

In the four localities already mentioned, the dead were with few
exceptions buried entire, and the relics from some of the graves point to
a connection with a well-defined district to the south-west beyond the
present county border. The period of the interments here is very
roughly determined by the fact that the bodies were laid in the earth
with the head to the south-west ; and we cannot be far wrong in assign-
ing them all to the last half of the sixth and the first half of the seventh
century. The geography of western Northamptonshire renders it an
open question whether these pagan burials may not in some cases belong
to a still earlier period, but ecclesiastical history forbids us to put them
much later than the introduction of Christianity. With this event the
foundation of Medeshamstede, the later Peterborough, almost coincides,
and from that active missionary centre the Gospel must soon have spread
to the neighbourhood of the Watling Street. In fact many monasteries
had been established in the county before the close of the century, and
some authorities^ assign the earliest part of Brixworth Church to this
period.

The earlier notices of Anglo-Saxon sites are lamentably deficient
in details on which their classification mainly depends ; and little can
be said as to the date of burials at Welton, Passenham and Great
Addington except that they all probably belong to the pagan period.
Welton lies four miles north of Newnham, and two miles north-west of
Norton, all three places having the same geological formation and simi-
larly situated with regard to the great Roman road. In 1778 there
were found two skeletons, with two small bronze brooches of the square-
headed pattern, and beads of glass and amber about their necks and
wrists. Between the two skeletons was a small urn of pottery, not
four inches high, which can never have been intended to hold the ashes

' Figured in Jnhctologia, vol. xli. pi. xxii.

- See for tymmfi^ Journal of Jrcha-olo^cal Institute, vol. xxxvii. p. 365 ; The BuilJet; Nov. 3, 1900.

235

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

of the dead, and there were also found coins of Constantine and Flavia
perforated for use as pendent ornaments. The site is half a mile from
Welton church, and the historian of Northamptonshire states' that many
skeletons have probably been found there, though of such there is no
detailed account. The occurrence of coins of the first half of the fourth
century does not fix the date of the interment, for they were in common
use among the Romanized Britons during the fifth and sixth centuries,
if not till a later date, and the excellent condition of some gold speci-
mens so mounted is not surprising, as it is unnecessary to assume that
these were in constant circulation. No mention is made of the direction
in which the bodies had been laid, but in view of the close corre-
spondence of the three sites, the conjecture is allowable that here, as at
Newnham and Norton, the Christian orientation was not observed.
The few particulars of the find point to contact with Mercia or East
Anglia rather than with Wessex, but the sites west of Watling Street are
here grouped together as contrasting with the mixed burials further to
the east and north-east.

The discovery of a large number of skeletons at Passenham on the
same Roman road, but on the southern boundary of the county, must be
passed over, as the account ^ gives only a slight presumption that they
were of the Saxon period. The third locality in which the position of
the graves is not specified is on the banks of the Nene much lower
down, and in all probability belongs to a group including Ecton, Islip
and Desborough, in which the east-and-west position was adopted. It
will be noticed that the last three sites are about twelve miles from one
another and form a triangle near the centre of the county, where urn-
burial seems to have been prevalent till the advent of Christianity. It
was about the year 655 that the new faith was officially recognized in
this part of the country, but a century was probably needed to render it
universal among the common people. To this century of compromise
then may be attributed the burials in which Christian orientation had
become the rule, though certain pagan rites connected with burial had
still to be suppressed.

In the gardens of Ecton House, about 200 yards north-east of the
church, workmen were levelling some ground in 1762 when they dis-
covered several bones and skulls lying in order from west to east.'
Among them were found two silver Saxon coins, which are described
as of the size of a silver threepenny piece, but the full-size wood-cut
which accompanies the original account shows them to have been rather
of the size of a shilling ; and there is no difficulty in identifying them
as silver pennies of ^Ethelred II., king of England from 978 to 10 16.
This discovery, however, does not prove the burials to be of that period,
for stray coins of the earlier and later Saxon periods have been found in
several places in the county remote from any interment.

• Baker, History, vo\. i. p. 466; cf. Archaologia, vol. xlviii. p. 337; Akerman, Pagan Saxondom, p. xxviii.
The objects are in Northampton Museum.

^ Whellan's Gazetteer o/Northants (1874), V- 573-

' John Cole, History and jintijuities of Ecton (1825), pp. 42, 43.

236

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

As long ago as 1757 relics of the Saxon period were brought to
light at Desborough.' In a gravel-pit on the north side of the parish at
a depth of about two feet were discovered several entire human skeletons,
with a number of amber and glass beads lying near the breast-bones of
one of them. Also, an iron ring with several ' brass clasps,' which were
supposed to have connected the garments in which the deceased was
buried. In the same pit were found tv/o urns containing bones and
ashes, and Desborough must therefore be classed with Brixworth,
Holdenby, Clipstone and Northampton, as exhibiting traces of both
methods of burial in vogue among the Teutonic invaders of this part of
the country.

Many interments were discovered in another part of the same
village in 1865, accompanied by articles of bronze, but the relics were
dispersed and no adequate description published. By far the most impor-
tant discovery was made about the year 1876 in a grass field close to the
village, about 300 yards east of the parish church, and within an area
which appears to have been an ancient encampment.* A parallelogram
of about four acres could at that time be distinctly traced by the fosses
faintly indicated in the pasture, where left undisturbed by the diggers
for ironstone. Within the enclosure a number of ancient interments
were found, the bodies not having been buried in coffins, but simply laid
in pits sunk in the baring or top-soil. The position of the graves was well
marked, as they were filled up with black earth, contrasting with the tawny-
coloured mass. At the bottom of these dark patches the skeletons were
usually found very decayed and friable, and many of the graves were empty
or contained nothing but a few fragments of bone, with occasional pieces
of coarse pottery and burnt stones mixed with the earth. The sepulchral
trenches, of which a plan is given in the original account, were roughly
made, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, invariably running to
the east and the south-west. Where there were skeletons, the feet were
to the east, but in all the pits appeared traces of fire in the shape of
pieces of stone burnt red, either ironstone or a kind of freestone not
found in the village. In one instance a pit, found to be empty, was
lined with clay at the bottom, and in this were embedded stones set
edgewise and presenting traces of fire. In all about sixty interments
were found in the enclosure, and in two of them were discovered some
very remarkable objects now preserved in the national collection. Of
these the finest and most interesting is a gold necklace (fig. 2), which
lay disconnected near the head of a skeleton. It consists of thirty-
seven pieces, viz., seventeen barrel-shaped or doubly conical beads,
slightly varying in size, and made of spirally coiled gold wire ; two
cylindrical beads of similar make, which have been connected with the
clasps ; nine circular pendants of gold, convex on one face and flat on
the other, some with beaded edges and all provided with hoops by
which they are strung ; eight gold pendants of various shapes and sizes,
set with garnets and suspended by loops of delicate work, all the edges

1 Gentleman's Magazine, 1757, p. 21. * Archaologia, vol. xlv. p. 466.

237

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

being beaded and the backs plain ; and lastly a gold cross, which formed
no doubt the central ornament of the necklace. The body of the
cross is formed of two cylinders of gold, and at the intersection is set a
small garnet in bead-work, the back having had a similar ornament
which is now missing.

Gold-mounted garnets in the form of pendants have often been dis-
covered in Kent,^ where the graves contain jewellery in such profusion ;
but elsewhere they are rare, and it is interesting to notice that while
single pendants are not unknown in other parts of England, three of
these rare necklaces have been discovered in districts which on
geographical or historical grounds may be considered as Romano-
British rather than Anglo-Saxon during the pagan period. One found
on Roundway Down, near Devizes, is figured in Akerman's Pagan
Saxondom ; another from Derbyshire formed one of the chief orna-
ments of the Bateman collection ; and the Desborough specimen is
figured in Rev. R. S. Baker's account in Archaologia. At the same
time it is unwise to call these trinkets late Roman, as some well-
informed antiquaries have done, for at present they seem to be gener-
ally associated with Anglo-Saxon remains in the graves, and a wiser
course is to consider them as Teutonic reproductions of the paste-
settings so characteristic of late Roman jewellery. The cross on the
Desborough necklace is presumptive evidence that the original owner
had adopted the Christian faith, and unless we allow that Christianity
has persisted in the county from the days of the Emperor Constantine,
remains of this character must be referred to some date before the end of
the fifth century or after the middle of the seventh. The presence of
Anglo-Saxon glass and other objects is generally held to fix the latter as
the period of this and similar interments.

In the other grave, which also contained a skeleton and was near
the last, a number of objects were found, which are thus described by
the excavator. A saucepan-shaped vessel of very thin metal, with
rounded bottom and a broad flat handle which expands towards the end
into a circle. The edge of the handle is flanged or strengthened by a
projecting ridge, and at the back of the handle has been a small
loop or ring by which the vessel could be suspended. It is 3 inches
in depth, and the diameter of the bowl 10 inches, the entire length
including the handle being 16 inches. Besides this, a delicate pair
of scales, of which only fragments remain, the pans being of very
thin bronze, and measuring i| inches in diameter. A spoon of
base silver or white metal, just over 6 inches long has both extremities
imperfect ; and the lower part of the stem where it meets the bowl
has a singular expansion, suggested perhaps by the form of the late
Roman spoons, although the somewhat meagre ornament in the upper
end shows no mark of classical design.^ A hinge or clasp, also of white
metal, with engraved ornament of Teutonic character, each portion
having three prominent rivets, and the whole measuring 2| inches.

> Several are figured in Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi. iv. ' Anhaolo^a, vol. liii. p. 117.

238

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

Lastly, two well-preserved glass drinking cups of an amber colour, one
being 4I inches in depth and 7^ inches in diameter, while the other
(fig. 1 1) was 2| inches deep with a diameter of 4;^- inches. Both have the
peculiarity so often observed in Anglo-Saxon drinking glasses, that from
the form of the base they cannot stand upright, a circumstance which
has been assumed to indicate habits of intemperance.

Some remarks in illustration are appended by Mr. Baker to his
account of the excavations, and references given to similar objects found
elsewhere. Weights and scales have been more than once found in
graves of this period, and to the Kentish specimens there mentioned may
be added a very similar pair of scales found in a Merovingian cemetery
in the Department of the Aisne, France. The pattern on the clasp is
not derived from interlacing ribands, but from the disjointed limbs of the
quadruped which figures so often and in such various forms on Teutonic
antiquities. Spoons of the pattern already described are indeed rare in
Anglo-Saxon graves, though somewhat similar specimens have been
recovered from refuse-pits at Southampton, likewise associated with
glass drinking cups. The spoons occasionally found with crystal spheres
in Kent, the Isle of Wight and elsewhere are of a distinct character, and
throw very little light on the Desborough specimen, which seems a
direct descendant of the Roman model. The connection with Roman
civilization is, however, rather overstated by Mr. Baker when he classes
the bronze bowl described above with others found at Irchester' as being
late Roman. This latter find consisted of eight bronze vessels in such
a good state of preservation that the burnish remained on some of them,
giving almost an appearance of gilding to the interior. They were
found packed together, one inside the other, and all enclosed in a large
iron-bound copper bucket. Some of the vessels are like colanders, of
fine Roman workmanship, but others, as figs. 2, 4, 5, 6 on the plate
accompanying the account, are of a pattern that seems to be essentially
Anglo-Saxon ; one such was certainly found with Anglian objects in a
cemetery at Sleaford, Lincs,^ and several of the same pattern are in the
national collection from sites presumably of the same period. The four
circular bowls from Irchester were between 10 and 12 inches in diameter,
and 4 to 5 inches high ; and, curving in underneath, had a slight ' kick '
at the base so as to stand firm. The rim is narrow and turned in at an
angle, no doubt to prevent spilling the contents ; and in some cases the
plates for attaching rings and chains for suspension remain riveted to
the brim. Their use is not determined, but that they were, like the
Roman vessels found with them, ceremonial rather than domestic, is
suggested by their delicate structure and the care taken to repair them.

A very similar discovery was made in the year 1807 at Sturmere,
Essex, by the side of a Roman road, and about 500 yards from a Roman
station. ' Nine thin culinary vessels of copper were found closely packed
within each other and covered with a large flat vessel, three feet below

> JssMiated Jnkitectural Societies (1875), Vlortkanti, p. 90.
* Anhirolopa, vol. 50, p. 395.

239

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

the surface.' Some of the bowls are engraved in Archceologia^ and do not
differ essentially in shape from some of the Irchester specimens, while
the discoveries were made in similar circumstances, which point to some
connection with Roman civilization.

The general appearance of some of these bowls which are skilfully
made of thin metal, suggests British workmanship of the pre-Roman
period, but in the opinion of the late Sir Wollaston Franks, the set
from Irchester belonged rather to the Saxon period, and differed essen-
tially from the Roman ; " and though it is true that the burial in
trenches is unfamiliar, and may well be the survival of the Roman
custom, the character of the objects accompanying the Desborough
bowl warrants the attribution of the cemetery to the Christian-Saxon
period. It must however be admitted that some of the graves in
which skeletons have been found placed east and west,^ with signs
of fire in the vicinity, but without any characteristic weapons or
ornaments, may be those of Romanized Britons, and date from the
fourth century, when the practice of cremation had given way to simple
burial in coffins, or cists composed of stone slabs such as occurred at
Desborough.

The closest of parallels is to be found in Northamptonshire itself.
At Cransley, about four miles from Desborough, several finds were made
by the ironstone diggers between 1879 and 1882, and put on record by
the local secretary of the Society of Antiquaries.* In one place human
remains were found, but were too much decayed to afford any indication
of the direction in which the burials had been made. With these was
an iron sword-blade, fairly well preserved, 2 feet 3 inches in length and
1 1 inches in breadth at the widest part, having at the hilt a cross-piece
which broke away. Besides two circular bronze brooches, a spearhead
and minor relics, a curious urn about 5I inches in height came to light. ^
It has lugs or rudimentary handles at intervals round the widest part and
tapers towards the mouth, while the base is rounded with little precision.
A small cylindrical bronze case or canister apparently belongs to a class of
which examples have been found in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Derby-
shire and in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire. This specimen was
found in a decayed and fragmentary state, but it was furnished with a lid,
and the bottom had a punctured design in the form of a cross, the sides
being also slightly ornamented in the same way. It was 2^ inches high,
with a diameter of 2 inches ; and the use of this class of objects is now
fairly ascertained, as more than one specimen' has been found with traces
of thread and even needles inside, so that they may be regarded as the
thread-boxes of Anglo-Saxon women. The occurrence of the cross as

1 Vol. xvi. p. 364, pi. Ixix. * Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries, vol. vi. p. 476.

' Cf. Associated Architectural Zockties (1875), Northants, p. 113.

* Proceedings, vol. ix. pp. 93, 94.

* Figured in Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries, vol. ix. p. 92, where it is incorrectly said to be
from Twywell.

* Inienlorium Sepukhrale, p. 81, pi. xiii. ; Jewitt, Grave-Mounds and their Contents, p. 285, fig. 466 ;
Catalogue of Mortimer Museum at Driffield (1900), p. 21.

240

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

an ornament does not of itself prove the original owner a Christian, but
without indulging too freely in speculation there seems enough evidence
for the inclusion of the Cransley burials among those with the Christian
orientation. Perhaps the most interesting relic from this site is a bronze
bowl, the description of which of itself suggests a close connection be-
tween the settlements at Cransley and Desborough. The bowl had a flat
turn-over lip or rim, and was of thin metal, much corroded and broken ;
there were traces of gilding in the interior, and a handle with a thickened
flange projected horizontally from the rim. A comparison was instituted
between this bowl and those found in the Roman cemetery at Irchester;
but a closer parallel, apparently overlooked at the time, is the Desborough
bowl which had been described by the same writer six years previously.
This has been already referred to, and a comparison of the dimensions
shows that the two vessels had the same proportions, and as they were
found under similar circumstances the probability is that they were used
by the same people for the same purposes. The form seems to be a
reminiscence of a Roman pattern, but this is not surprising, as other
indications^ point to a marked survival of Roman civilization in the
county when other parts of Britain, more exposed to the sea or with
more fertile soil, were being overrun by the invading Teuton.

To the same group certainly belongs Islip, which has yielded a few
interesting objects of the Anglo-Saxon period. In the autumn of 1 878
excavations for ironstone revealed three or four human skeletons about a
yard below the surface, the graves penetrating the limestone rock to the
depth of one foot, and pointing east and west. A portion of one of the
skulls was found adhering to the inner side of the boss of a shield, on
which the warrior's head had been laid. With a supposed female skeleton
were found beads of glass, amber and terra-cotta ; and a number of
brooches, clasps and buckles were recovered in very good preservation.
The brooches were of various designs and sizes, some ' longitudinal ' and
others circular, of well-known Anglo-Saxon or rather Anglian types.
One of the circular specimens had a fylfot design in open-work ; ^ and
two, which must be rather Romano-British, are described as of the true
' safety-pin ' type.

This batch of finds was not described as fully as could be desired,
but attention was very properly drawn at the time to the opportunities
afforded by the ironstone digging in many parts of the county for
securing archaeological remains. The nature of the work renders im-
perative a careful supervision if such remains are not to be lost to science.

The discoveries at Great Addington too have not been recorded
with sufficient precision to be of much evidential value ; but the inter-
ments appear to belong to two periods separated by a considerable
interval. ' Near the south end of the village is an elevation called
Shooter's Hill, which seems to have been used as a place of burial by the
ancient Britons and Romans, several human skeletons and ancient relics

' Journal of British Archeeological Association, 1899, p. 295.
^ Figured in Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries, vol. ix. p. 90.

241

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

having been found here at various periods, but especially in the spring
of 1847. . . . Many perfect skeletons had apparently been interred
with great regularity, and nine or ten were thus disclosed, but scores
were noticed. There was no appearance of heaped earth. In some
cases the face was placed downwards, others on the side, and three were
headless, these last having stones in place of the head ; and at the foot of
one was a Druidical drinking cup. Spearheads, daggers and portions of
other warlike implements, necklaces and ornaments were found near
some of the skeletons.'' In 1866 while gravel was being dug on the
same site six complete skeletons and an iron dagger were found, also
two stone coffins which were preserved in the church and church-
yard. The direction in which the graves were cut is nowhere stated ;
but as in Anglo-Saxon burials the skeletons usually lie face upwards,
those placed otherwise may perhaps on this site be considered the
remains of Britons of a much earlier date ; the ' Druidical ' cup, probably
the ' drinking cup ' commonly found in barrows, lending some support
to this view. From the regularity of some of the burials however, and
the relics discovered, it is permissible to infer an early Anglo-Saxon
occupation of the site, and its proximity to Ecton, Islip and Cransley
may be held to justify the inclusion of this cemetery among those
in which the Christian orientation is observed. The same may per-
haps be said of Twywell, only two miles distant from both Islip and
Great Addington. In the middle of the eighteenth century an entire
human skeleton was found on the north side of the road from Thrapston
to Market Harborough, with a spear and what is described as an iron
helmet.^ This was no doubt the boss of the shield which had been
placed on the head of the deceased warrior as at Holdenby ; but nothing
is said of the direction of the grave, and the inclusion of this site in the
group now under consideration is therefore conjectural.

A remarkable jug-shaped urn* in which cremated remains had been
deposited, may here be noticed. It was found in 1883 near the road
from Ringstead to Great Addington, 6 feet deep in blue lias clay, on a
hill overlooking the Nene, and differs from the usual cinerary urns of the
pagan period in form, decoration and fabric. Comparison with certain
continental specimens shows it to be a relic of the early time when
the great migrations of the Teutonic peoples were still in progress, and
the English kingdoms had not yet taken shape. It is possible that this
form was adopted by one only of the many tribes that left the Baltic for
our eastern shores, as it certainly is not one that would readily occur to
the potter ; and it is interesting to find that the Kabyle population of
Algeria, who are said to preserve the Mykensan tradition, still have
vessels exhibiting the same peculiarity, namely, a perforated handle,
serving also as a spout. The Addington specimen is 7I inches high
with an extreme diameter of 7 inches, and most closely resembles one *

> Whellan's Gazetteer of Northants (1874), p. 741. * Gentleman's Magazine, 1757, p. 20.

3 Figured in Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries, vol. ix. p. 322.

* J. H. Muller, A'or- und friihgeschichtliche Altertumer der frovinz Hannover, pi. xxl. fig. 200.

242

C-PR txow loS P*5 •i-

AnGLO-SaXON RfcMAlNS, NoRTHANTS.

243

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

found in the neighbourhood of Stade, near the mouth of the Elbe.
Another with a somewhat longer neck* came from the Stavanger district
in the south-west of Norway ; and a third/ of the same shape but about
half the size of the others, came to light in the Danish island of Funen.
Dr. Rygh states that only six specimens are known, and Dr. Sophus
Miiller assigns the Danish example to the earliest years of the post-
Roman period, not later than the fifth century. There need be therefore
little hesitation in regarding the Addington urn, which was presented to
the British Museum by Mr. H. Walters, as one of the earliest Teutonic
relics in the country.

Besides the urns already mentioned as having been found in the
cemetery at Marston Hill where cremation was certainly not the usual
practice, there are Anglo-Saxon sites in Northamptonshire where there
are no traces of any other manner of disposing of the dead than by
cremation.

In addition to the comb already referred to, fragments of a vase of
green glass were found at Pitsford in 1882, along with fourteen pottery
vases of various sizes, some of them containing small and apparently burnt
bones. The comb is characteristic of this mode of burial, but other
objects are unusual ; and a sketch by Sir Henry Dryden of the glass
fragment, which is in the form of a hollow claw, is sufficient to show
that the vase belonged to a well-known class frequently met with in
Kentish graves of this period and more rarely in some other English
counties and on the continent. These delicate vases' are mostly of
olive-green or amber coloured glass, and generally contract slightly at
the neck and foot ; from the centre project two or three bands of hollow
claws pointing downwards, while thin threads are applied above and
below in spirals, and sometimes vertically on the claws. The result is
an elaborate drinking cup which, to judge by the number preserved,
must have been a common object in the pagan period.

At Kettering have been found fragments of cinerary urns, and part
of a circular brooch of a kind well represented in the remains from
Kempston, Long Wittenham, etc., with a thin embossed gilt disc attached
to the circular bronze base. In the centre is a hole that was no doubt
originally filled with a slab of garnet.

Two miles to the south-east, several cinerary and other urns have
been found at Barton Seagrave, which with an iron shield-boss orna-
mented with a disc (fig. 9) of bronze-gilt, a string of glass beads, three
small cruciform brooches (fig. 8) and minor objects are now preserved
in the national collection. The circumstances of the discovery are not
recorded, but the remains correspond with other finds of the period in
this central district of the county, and include a typical series of sepul-
chral pottery, illustrating the variety in shape and ornamentation of the

1 This also contained burnt bones, and is figured in Rygh's Norike Oldsager, fig. 357, French
edition, p. 60.

2 Sophus Mailer, NorJische Altertiimer, vol. ii. p. 107, fig. 78.

3 Typical specimens are figured in de Baye's Industrial Arts, p. 109, pi. xv., and references given.

244

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

wide-mouthed vessels of dark-brown or black ware which were but
clumsy imitations of the Roman potter's wheel-made productions.

The evidence for cremation at Woodford is the sketch of an urn in
Cole's manuscript History of Ecton, the original copy of which is in the
public library at Northampton ; but in the neighbourhood of Peter-
borough traces of the practice have come to light from time to time.
It may be an accident that the Anglo-Saxon burials have nearly always
occurred on the Huntingdonshire side of the Nene/ for the Romans
certainly had important stations on both sides of the river and there was
a Roman road running due east through Peterborough across the Fens to
Denver in Norfolk.'^ The facilities of communication afforded by this
highway to a large extent explain several indications of intercourse
between the inhabitants of the eastern portion of the county and the
men of Kent and East Anglia.

It has recently been pointed out that all the tracks across and along
the Fens converged at Peterborough, and it is not surprising to find in
this locality types of relics which are generally confined to other parts of
the country. Here too are found traces of both methods of burial, but
where the body was unburnt the direction of the graves was not
uniform in this locality, so that little can as yet be said as to the racial
connections of its early settlers. It is unfortunate that Mr. Artis' work
on Castor ' contains little else but plates, for a full description of the
discovery of a fine series of Anglian brooches would probably have
thrown much light on this subject. These consist of five cruciform
specimens with different ornamentation, one of the square-headed type,
and two bracelet-clasps, all found with human skeletons on the north side
of the road between Orton Longueville and Woodstone near Peterborough.

From a cemetery at Peterborough, the exact site being unknown,
came also a small plain urn, which was found with an iron knife and is
now preserved in the British Museum. The nature of the cemetery is
uncertain, but the urn is smaller than the usual receptacles for the ashes
of the dead.

Other objects from Peterborough, perhaps from the same cemetery,
are in the same collection, consisting of a cinerary urn, two spearheads,
three small square-headed brooches and the bronze-mounts of a bucket,*
perhaps the only specimen yet found in the county. These vessels were
placed either at the head or feet of the skeleton and are supposed to have
contained food as an offering to the dead. The presumption therefore is
that here, as at Desborough, both methods of interment were in vogue
either together or successively, and there are other localities in central
Northamptonshire in which urns containing burnt bones have certainly
been found in association with skeletons buried entire.

Two mixed places of burial have been discovered at Brixworth,
but inquiries as to the direction of the graves have met with no suc-

' For Castor and Chesterton, see Isaac Taylor's Words and Places, p. 173.

2 Journal of British A rchaological Association, 1899, pp. 52, 54. ^ Durobrifer, pi. Iv.

* Figured in jewitl'i Grave-Mounds and their Contents, "p. 28l,(ig.46o ; and a brooch, p. 272,fig.45i.

245

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

cess. One, about half a mile north of the church, contained cinerary
urns, spearheads, shield-bosses, knives and brooches, as well as several
skeletons. Another, a quarter of a mile north-west of the church, gave
similar results ; and remains from both sites are now in Northampton
Museum. A small rough vase in the national collection is almost
spherical, and has the rounded base marked with a cross, like several
found at Stade, on the Elbe.^ This may be the impression of the stand
on which it rested while being fired ; or if intended as an ornament
may be compared with several examples of the prehistoric period, figured
in a paper by Dr. Thurnam.'^ There is consequently no necessity to
recognize the mark on the Brixworth urn as the Christian symbol,
though the orientation might have shown both cemeteries to belong
to the transition period.

In February, 1864, some men who were employed in digging for
stone on the side of a hill in Coneybury Hill Field at Holdenby
came upon some fragments of pottery, some bones, a horse-shoe and two
bronze brooches.' The vessels have since been restored, one of them
being of rough clay with projections like rudimentary handles for
suspension, the second having S-shaped and other impressed ornaments in
a deep band above the shoulder. This latter was evidently a cinerary
urn ; but in the following year the hill was again cut into and six distinct
skeletons were found, one of which was in a perfect condition, and
appeared to be that of a warrior. He lay as if he had been doubled
up, his knees nearly touching his chin. Attached by rust to his head
was the boss of a shield much decayed. The bodies did not lie in the
east-and-west direction, but seemed to have been buried regardless of
position. In all cases the bones were not more than a foot below the
surface.

Again in 1899 thirteen interments were uncovered within a com-
paratively small area in the same locality.'' One of these was a crushed
cinerary urn, with several fragments of burnt bone and a broken bronze
hair-pin, but the rest were extended interments. It was again noticed
that the bodies were not interred in any special direction, and in one case
a female lay face downwards and rested on an earlier burial in another
direction. By the side of two male skeletons were found spearheads of
iron, and over the skull of one the large sharp-pointed boss of a shield
with the iron handle beneath it, recalling the similar discovery in 1864.
The nine female interments were rich in bead necklaces, mostly composed
of glass and amber, and here, as in many Anglo-Saxon burials, was tound
the melon-shaped bead of green glass-paste characteristic of the Roman
period. The bronze brooches (figs. 6, 10, 12) were interesting as pre-
senting more than one design not hitherto noted. In two or three
instances they were three in number, one in the centre of the breast
and the other two on the shoulders. A pair of ring brooches were

1 Journal of Arcba-ohgical Institute, vol. xii. p. 315. ^ Archaologia, vol. xliii.

' Figured in Miss Hartshorne's Memorlnh of HoUcnby, p. 6.
* Described in Athenaum, Nov. U, 1899.

246

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

found resembling those from Marston Hill ; and several circular speci-
mens, including a pair with applied plates (fig. 14) bearing an embossed
design like one from Kettering already described. An object generally
known as a girdle-hanger was among the finds, and had probably served
as a framework at the mouth of a reticule attached to the waist of
Anglian women. The exact use of these bronze attachments has always
been rather uncertain, but the question was virtually settled by the
discovery of a specimen at Sporle, Norfolk, to which some textile had
evidently been attached by metal rings.' The small clasps (figs. 13, 15)
mentioned in the account of the Holdenby excavations resemble some
already noticed from Marston and were no doubt used like them to
fasten the bracelet. Several of the brooches were silvered, and one had
traces of gilding. Some iron rings of various sizes were found with the
female skeletons, and in one grave were found a number of broken pieces
of ivory, apparently the remains of a bracelet. Ivory is very exceptional
in such finds, but there are in the British Museum similar bracelets from
Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and Long Wittenham in Berkshire, and also a
large brooch of ivory and bronze from Kempston near Bedford.

All the interments discovered on this occasion were as before near
the surface, in no case at a greater depth than twenty inches ; and many
have doubtless been disturbed and destroyed in the past on this account.

In digging for the foundations of the Lunatic Asylum (St.
Andrew's Hospital) at Northampton in 1836, several skeletons were
found. The accompanying brooches, including one large specimen
with the hollow parts gilt, resembled those from the Marston cemetery,
but the find was not fully recorded.^ Cinerary urns of various sizes
have also been found in the town, associated with coins of the Lower
Empire, while in 1837 on the same site signs of cremation were met
with, also portions of two large square-headed brooches which are
peculiar in having raised ornaments at the top corners as though in
imitation of the garnet settings sometimes found on the better speci-
mens of this class. They resemble in this respect specimens from
Kenninghall, Norfolk, now in the British Museum, and others from
Cambridgeshire.^ One has also studs projecting from the wings of the
stem, and a similar stud occurs in the centre of a saucer-shaped brooch
from the same site.

Seven years later in a tumulus now partly levelled but still to be
recognized in Cow Meadow were discovered two small urns evidently not
intended to hold ashes, with a pierced circular brooch having a fylfot in
the centre and belonging to a type common in this county and in East
Anglia.

Different opinions have been expressed as to the date of the earthwork
at Northampton Castle, the difficulty being to decide how much earlier
the mound was than the Norman structure.* During some excavations

' C. R. Smith, Collectanea Antique, vol. ii. p. 235 ; cf. Archteologia, vol. 50, p. 387.

* Archrsologia, vol. xlviii. p. 337. ' Neville, Saxon Obsequies, pll. I, 5, 6.

* Associated Architectural Societies (i88i), Northants, p. 71 : 1880, p. 204, and 1882, p. 246.

247

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

in 1880 a few articles of bone were discovered in the earth between the
layers of stone, resembling others from the original surface of the soil.
They were pronounced at the time to be of Saxon or even earlier date. In
a small mound at the top of the embankment there was found at the side
of a human skeleton a weapon or part of one, which was recognized as
belonging to a type rarely met with in England but common on the
continent. It is in the form of a single-edged knife, the edge of which is
quite straight and ends in a sharp point ; the back to within a short
distance of the point being strong and thick and terminating at the other
end in a tang to fasten into the wooden handle, which was also found,
but soon fell to pieces on exposure to the air. Another ' scramasax ' was
found at Clipstone with a spearhead and knife, and is now in the
Northampton Museum.

Future discoveries of burial-grounds may correct any conclusions
which may be drawn from the material now collected ; but, with
this preliminary caution, it may be laid down as a general rule that
instances of cremation are met with north of the Watling Street and
of the Tove valley, while extended burials of pagans are characteristic
of the southern half of the county. Had the older records of dis-
coveries given any hint of the orientation of the graves or even given
the dimensions of the urns, the dividing line, if such existed, could
have been more easily traced. But this grouping of the localities seems
to afford a clue that in the present state of knowledge should not be
neglected. Assuming for the moment that the north-and-south position
marks an earlier period than the east-and-west, we find the earliest
Teutonic inhumations at Marston Hill, Badby, Newnham, Norton and
probably Welton, these being all south-west of the dividing line, while
instances exhibiting a Christian influence are met with at Desborough
north of this line, and at Ecton, Islip, and probably Great Addington,
all in the lower Nene valley. Cremation not associated with interments
of the entire skeleton can on the other hand be traced at Kettering,
Woodford, Cransley, Cranford and Peterborough to the north, and at
Pitsford and Northampton itself on the limit of the district. The three
cinerary urns from Marston perhaps held the remains of Mercians who
had come south under Penda, and had met their death before the Gospel
had been preached in these parts : these may provisionally be assigned
to the second quarter of the seventh century. But apart from these,
the discovery of urns and skeletons together in the centre of the county
at Brixworth, Holdenby and Desborough, though the cases are not
all uniform, suggests that a tribe presumably Anglian barely penetrated
into the uplands between Rugby and Naseby before the spread of
Christianity ; for urns do not seem to occur as a rule in Northampton-
shire with skeletons placed with the head to the south or the south-west
in the pre-Christian manner. The excavator of the Desborough ceme-
tery regarded these mixed burials as a sign of transition from cremation
to inhumation.' This may be true where urns are found with bodies

' Archaok^a, vol. xlv. p. 467.
248

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

placed with the head to the west, but it does not account for the presence
of" cinerary urns in cemeteries where the direction of the graves was
fixed by pagan custom. It should be noticed in this connection that there
is no mention of ordinary urns at Addington, Islip and Ecton, though
some were discovered at Woodford. This may be due to accident or to
defective observation, for all these localities were probably occupied by
settlers of the same tribe. And it would be as idle to deny the presence
of Angles in the upper Nene valley during the pagan period as to assign
the graves at Ecton to the tenth century on the ground that coins of
i^thelred were found during the excavations. The burials in this part
of the county may be roughly attributed to an Anglian people of the
century following the arrival of Christian missionaries in the midlands.

It is however clear that even on the line of the Portway, where
Saxon influence would be felt more than anywhere else in the county,
there is a predominance of Anglian ornaments in the graves, and written
history furnishes the clue to a rational explanation. The Angles are
generally allowed to have been the most numerous among the Teutonic
tribes that overran Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries, and the
present name of the country testifies to the eventual recognition of
the Anglians as the main factor in the population. This is not the
place to discuss the boundaries of the Saxon dominion in the pagan
period, but there can be little question that Wessex, to which we owe
our ruling line, did not extend farther north than about a line drawn
from Daventry to Warwick even in its palmiest days before the rise
of Northumbria in the seventh century. It was not till about the year
650, when the Mercian dominion had been for a quarter of a century
gradually spreading southwards under Penda, the champion of paganism,
that the exertions of Oswiu resulted in the conversion of the midland
peoples to the new faith. Penda may have penetrated into the district
between Daventry and Brackley along the Watling Street, which afforded
easy access from his probable headquarters at Tamworth, and although it
is unnecessary to assume that any violent occupation of this territory
occurred during that period, the growth of Mercia and contact estab-
lished with the neighbouring tribes to the north would account for the
occurrence of Anglian elements in purely pagan burials within Northamp-
tonshire. It is possible that Penda's folk also advanced south-east from
the centre of Middle Anglia at Leicester along the Roman road ' to
the Nene valley ; but though his successor is traditionally said to have
been a party to the foundation of Medeshamstede, there are reasons for
supposing that the Anglians advanced from East Anglia as well as from
the middle or western kingdom. The view taken in the Making of
England is that Penda retained but a weak hold on the South Mercians,
who may have been the same as the Middle Anglians ; and that ' the
removal of Peada from his sovereignty over the Middle Anglians of
Leicester shows that these too, probably with their neighbours the South

1 This highway crossed the county on its way to Godmanchester and Colchester, and is generally
called the Via Devana ; but the term is not adopted here for reasons given above (p. 205).

249

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Anglians of Northampton, were freed from the supremacy of Mercia.'
The death of Penda was the signal for the disintegration of Mercia, and
though the revival was not long delayed, it was under a Christian prince
that the kingdom of Mercia, which as early as 628 had apparently
extended as far south as Cirencester, recovered prestige that was to reach
a climax under Offa at the close of the succeeding century. The altered
circumstances in which Mercia emerged from her eclipse are reflected in
the domain of archeology, where the new religion left its mark in the
gradual abolition of the funeral rites of paganism. There is some
historical warrant therefore for assigning those cemeteries in Northamp-
tonshire where urn-burial occurs side by side with inhumation to the
period of Mercian supremacy. It is interesting to notice that, so far as
information is available, the skeletons that are found in the neighbourhood
of urn-burials are, in this county at least, oriented in the Christian
manner ; and the three instances of cremation at Marston Hill are not
sufficient to invalidate the rule that in the cemeteries of the south the
skeletons were deposited in the earth unburnt. Anglian influence in
these sites is plainly discernible, and many of the relics point to a
connection with Warwickshire and Leicestershire, which were no doubt
colonized from the Trent valley. It is hazardous to draw a distinction
within such narrow limits of space and time, but there are grounds for
believing the region north of the lower Nene to have passed into Anglian
hands at a somewhat later date than the west, seeing that the district
in question, known to this day as Rockingham Forest, was not sufficiently
fertile to encourage cultivation. That the Romanized Britons found
here seclusion from the Teutonic intruders is more than probable ; and
geographical considerations rather countenance the hypothesis that the
Rockingham area was eventually entered by Anglians from the fen
country bordering on the Wash. It has already been noticed that the
Teutonic settlers eastward of Northampton seem to have practised crema-
tion exclusively till the introduction of Christian burial ; and it is in East
Anglia that cremation seems to have been most uniformly in vogue.
Between Norfolk and Peterborough however was the territory of the some-
what mysterious people called Gyrvii or Gyrwa. They were recognized as
a political unit, if not as a distinct race, as late as the time of Bede, who
mentions them more than once in his Ecclesiastical History, but very little
is known of their affinities. There is no reason to doubt his explicit state-
ment ' that Peterborough was included in their country, nor is it likely that
their attachment to the Fens would keep them from following the line
of the Nene, which at that period can have been little better than a
swamp, but gave access to a strip of valley that must have been thickly
populated in the Roman period. Along this waterway there would be
no natural obstacle to an advance, and it will be noticed that the Anglo-
Saxon sites in Northamptonshire where urn-burial has been traced are all
similarly situated on the banks of the Nene or its tributaries, where the
upper-lias clay exposed by the action of the stream is surrounded at

* Bk. iv. chap. vi.
250

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

the surface by the characteristic sand of the county. The geological
aspect of the various localities in which Anglo-Saxon remains have been
discovered is considered above, and is now referred to in order to empha-
size the uniformity in more than one respect of the settlements north of
the presumed line of the Tove valley and Watling Street. It is an
easy step to the conclusion that these settlements were made by men of
one race, with similar traditions and similar aspirations, and as conservative
in their disposal of the dead as in their choice of a home for the living.
That these men were Gyrwa is a conjecture that is not unreasonable in
itself and would explain the apparent connection with East Anglia.

It will thus be seen that there is some archasological warrant for
dividing the county into three sections : the southern portion being
characterized by burials of the entire body, with traces of West-Saxon
influence ; a central area marked by cemeteries where the dead were
buried entire or their cremated remains deposited in urns ; and the
north-eastern extremity in the neighbourhood of the Ermine Street,
where the few burials that have come to light present a want of
uniformity that contrasts with the regular interments beyond Watling
Street. It is a remarkable and perhaps a far-reaching coincidence that
these divisions correspond closely with the areas of dialectical varieties
within the county. This can be clearly seen by a reference to the map
of English dialects prefixed to the standard work on this subject by a
former president of the Philological Society.'

Northamptonshire is divided between two main districts, the
southern and the eastern, the dividing line roughly coinciding with
the Watling Street in its passage through the county. Along the
northern boundary of both Northamptonshire and Rutland runs the
line between the eastern and the midland linguistic areas ; and run-
ning parallel to this till it strikes across Huntingdonshire and
Cambridgeshire to the Wash, is the line south of which the peculiar
northern pronunciation of a test-word does not occur. The greater part
of the county is therefore included in the debatable area in which the
pronunciation of the test-word is variable ; and it is reasonable to suppose
that this mingling of dialects is due to the absorption of West-Saxon
districts north of the Thames by the Mercians during the seventh and
eighth centuries. The area includes in any case east Gloucestershire, east
Worcestershire and north Oxfordshire, all districts in which character-
istic West-Saxon and Anglian remains have been met with in the
cemeteries. And enough has already been said with regard to the
apparent coalition of races in the western part of Northamptonshire,
where the mingling of midland and southern dialects affords an exact
parallel. All east of Watling Street, about three-quarters of the county,
is included in the eastern dialect area, and a sub-dividing line from
Rockingham to Fotheringhay separates the neighbourhood of Peter-
borough from the central portion of the county, where cemeteries have
been found exhibiting both methods of interment and suggesting a mixed

' English Dialects : their SouaJt and Hornet, by Dr. A. J. Ellis, 1890 (English Dialect Society).

251

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

population. The Peterborough district and the whole of Rutland are
connected by dialect with Cambridgeshire ; while the lower Nene
valley, forming the centre of the county, is grouped with Huntingdon-
shire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.

The line joining the two historic castles of the Welland and Nene
valleys is only an approximate frontier, and an equally convenient and
perhaps a more logical one is to be found here, as further westward, in a
Roman highway. The Leicester road fairly parts the mixed cemeteries
of the centre from the north-east of the county, and is virtually the same
as the linguistic boundary on the dialect map.

In the light of these two instances it may not be out of place to
suggest that Roman roads may have played an important part as
boundaries in the early days of the Anglo-Saxon conquest. Conditions
had no doubt changed by the time that the midlands came to be
parcelled out and stretches of Roman highway used as the border of
kingdoms and counties ; but even during the pagan period these monu-
ments of Roman civilization may have exercised considerable influence.
It has often been remarked that the Romanized Britons took to the
towns or chose sites within easy reach of the highways that connected
the larger towns. After the withdrawal of the legions the Teutonic
immigrants, who studiously avoided such localities, spread far and wide
over the country ; and it is just possible that for a period long enough
to leave its mark in varieties of dialect, the Romano-Britons along these
lines served to isolate one group of settlers from another till a social
amalgamation was finally completed under the influence of Christianity.

Whether the coincidences above mentioned between linguistic and
archaeological areas are more than accidental may in the present state of
knowledge be doubted, but should not be overlooked as a possible
explanation of the diverse burial customs noticed within the county.
Archaeological discoveries are but seldom recorded in detail, but the
objects to some extent speak for themselves ; and the presence of radiated
brooches, for instance, in the north of Huntingdonshire,^ in Cambridge-
shire,^ in Essex and Lincolnshire^ would be easily accounted for by
supposing that the kindred inhabitants of these counties, through which
runs the Ermine Street, kept up some connection with the southern
shore of the Thames estuary ; for there is little doubt that the brooch in
question belongs to a continental type, numbers of which were imported
into Kent.

Further, without asserting that the dialect noticed in the strip of
country between Wisbeach and Oakham is directly descended from the
tongue of the Fenmen, it is more than probable that this area with
Cambridgeshire formed a considerable portion of the territory in which
the isolated Gyrwa so long maintained their independence and no doubt
their peculiarities of language.

Among the miscellaneous discoveries of which the accounts are

' Journal of British Archteolo^cal Auociatm, 1899, p. 346.
* Neville, Saxon Obsejuies, pi. 8. ^ Both in British Museum.

252

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

incomplete or altogether wanting, some have a special interest apart from
their connection with burials of one kind or another. The foremost
place must be given to a massive finger-ring (fig. 5) ' of pure gold found
in the river Nene near Peterborough, in spearing for eels, immediately
under the Great Northern Railway viaduct, about 300 yards above the
site of the ancient bridge. This remarkable relic has a cylindrical hoop,
on which are two opposite bezels, with sets of three large pellets on both
sides of them. On one of these circular plates is engraved a geometrical
rosette with a cross in the centre (fig. 5a) ; and on the other, three tri-
angles interlaced (fig. 5b), while the edges are ornamented with zigzags,
and the loop with two open knots. All the designs are filled with niello,
but their signification is uncertain. The triangular device which occurs
on a piece of elk-horn from an island in the Lake of Malar, Sweden,^
and seems connected with the worship of Frey, has also been considered
an emblem of the Trinity, and has certainly survived to the present day
as a Masonic symbol. The prominent pellets at once present an analogy
to a type of Merovingian rings found in considerable numbers on the
continent ; ' but the bezel generally bears a monogram or a bust with
inscription. On the other hand, though niello is often found on Roman
jewellery, the knotwork certainly points to a later date, and perhaps the
safest course is to assign this Peterborough ring to the early Carlovingian
period, about the year 800, by which time the interlacing riband
patterns, which are to be seen at their best in the early Irish manu-
scripts dating from the eighth century, were spreading over the north-
west of Europe, and the arts of Rome were reviving under the patronage
of Charlemagne.

Next in importance comes the richly ornamented jewel* (fig. i)
found in a cemetery at Hardingstone in the year i860, and now in the
museum formed by the late General Pitt-Rivers at Rushmore.^ It was
described in the sale catalogue of the Bateman collection as an Anglo-
Saxon brooch (which it is not) in circular form, of bronze wdth a gold
front, decorated with a centre setting and a cross band formed of four
fishes extending to the border. In each angle is a wedge-shaped orna-
ment set with a garnet on a diapered gold ground, and having at each
extremity a circular setting originally filled with a garnet. The remaining
portion of gold-work is chased with a delicate interlacing pattern, which
is made up of animals with riband bodies, the convolutions of which can
be traced throughout, though the legs are detached in the more usual
manner of the time in this country. At the back are five projections,
four of which are pierced evidently for fixing the ornament to leather-
straps, the marks of which at right angles to one another may be seen on
the back of a set of very similar ornaments from Faversham, Kent, in the
Gibbs collection at the British Museum. Comparison with these further

1 Figured in Journal of Archteolopcal Institute, vol. xiii. p. 87 and vol. xix. p. 336.

8 Mr. Romilly Allen refers to Compte rendu of Prehistoric Congress at Stockholm, 1874, p. 634.

s Deloche, Anneaux Sigi/laires.

* Figured in the IlluitrateJ Archaohpst, vol. i. p. 128.

5 The present drawing has been made by kind permission of Mr. A. Pitt-Rivers.

253

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

suggests that four tongues were fixed to the hinges which were originally
four in number round the edge. It will be noticed that the leading motive
of the design is a Greek cross, on the arms of which are represented four
fishes. Comparison with continental specimens' shows clearly that both
the cross and the fish are here symbolic of the Christian faith ; the former
taking the place of the earlier Chi-Rho monogram, and the latter long
surviving the period of persecution in which it had its origin.

Another highly decorated jewel was figured and described in the
Gentleman s Magazine^ just a century ago. It had been found five or six
years previously, but the locality is uncertain. The original account
says it was associated with some human bones at a spot somewhere
between Husband's Bosworth in Leicestershire and Welford which stands
on the border of Northamptonshire. Whether this brooch was found
within the limits of the county is therefore open to question, but the
late Sir Henry Dryden made a drawing' of it now among his papers at
Northampton and called it ' the Naseby brooch.' The site in that case
would still be on the road leading to Bosworth, and would justify the
inclusion of the object among the antiquities of Northamptonshire, but
no particulars of the discovery are given in the sale catalogue of the
Baker collection (1842) to which he refers, and it may be a simple error,
as Naseby occurs on the line above. The brooch is in the form of a flat
ring, the hollow centre being spanned by the pin. The front is of gold,
half an inch in width, with gold filigree and four pearls, each set with
a slab of garnet, and is fastened by gold wire to a thin plate of silver
which forms the base. But better than any description is the coloured
drawing in Akerman's Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxxii. fig. 2,

Other minor discoveries in the county are a small urn and iron
knife from Thenford, not far from Marston St. Lawrence ; the objects
being figured and described as of the Roman period in Beesley's History of
Banbury (p. 31), and now preserved at Northampton with one of three
similar urns from Cranford.

An interesting relic of the late Saxon period is a book-clasp (fig. 7)
found on the site of the Cathedral singing-schools at Peterborough
and now in the British Museum. It is of triangular form, with a
convex surface on which is a raised design of intertwined animals, which
constituted the leading ornamental motive in the art of north-western
Europe after the combination of Irish interlacing with the animal forms
of the Carlovingian Renaissance.

A century and a half ago some remains, apparently Saxon, came
to light not far from Market Harborough, and are thus insufficiently
described in the Gentleman's Magazine : * ' In a gravel pit on the north-
east side of Little Bowden field near the river Welland were found several

' Baudot, Sepultures Merovingiennes de la Bourgogne, pll. xii., xiii. and pp. 47, 92.

* 1800, p. 121, pi. iii. fig. I, and 1815, p. 209 ; another drawing is given by de Baye, Industrial
Arts, pi. ix. fig. 5.

** Communicated by the Curator of the Northampton Museum, whose Archaologual Survey of
Northants has been of much service.

* 1757. P- 21.

254

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS

fragments of urns with four or five pieces of copper coin not legible ; as
also some little bits of brass of an uncommon form, probably used about
the garments of the deceased.' A remarkably well-preserved spearhead
now at Northampton was unearthed with a shield-boss in 1867 at
Brackley from a depth of eight feet, about one foot below what appeared
to be the bottom of an old pond. And from Borough Hill, a British
and Roman site which has yielded but little of Anglo-Saxon date, the
county museum has a small square-headed brooch like some from Peter-
borough, a bronze buckle and pin, glass beads and two coins of the
Constantine family pierced for use as pendent ornaments like those already
mentioned from Welton. At what period such pieces ceased to be
current is uncertain, but Anglo-Saxon coins are practically confined to
the Christian period.

Though large quantities of our earliest English money have
survived to our day, it is seldom that the site of such discoveries is
recorded, and rarer still are the occasions when other objects are found
associated with coins, and can thus be approximately dated. Of the
earliest common type of Anglo-Saxon coins, the small thick silver pieces
known as sceattas, single specimens have been found at Brackley,
Dingley and Chipping Warden. After the introduction of the penny
towards the end of the eighth century, the sceatta was no longer coined ;
and the currency now took a more imposing form, bearing in each king-
dom the name and image of king or archbishop. A silver penny of
Offa, the first to coin them in England, has come to light at Newton
Bromshold ; others of Edward the Elder (901-924) and i^thelward.
Archbishop of Canterbury (798-805) at Brixworth ; of T^thelstan
(925-940) at Bulwick ; of Ethelred II. (978-1016) at Weldon and
Ecton ; and of Edward the Confessor (i 042-1 066) at Wellingborough.
During excavations at Northampton Castle ' others were found of Edward
the Elder, Eadgar (959-975), three St. Edmund pieces of the tenth cen-
tury, and one of Edward the Confessor. The value of these finds is slight
enough, but a coin of Cuthred, king of Kent (798-806) was found
about 1877 in ironstone workings near Brixworth, with a ring-headed
pin of iron, about 6 inches long, with remains of silver-plating upon it.
On one side of the disc is an interlaced ornament terminating in birds'
heads ; the other was originally set with a stone, probably a garnet, and
has the head of a quadruped engraved upon it. This somewhat un-
common relic is preserved at Northampton, and has been figured with
the coin in the Antiquary, vol. xxx. p. 104.

It was not till 972 in the reign of Eadgar that a mint * was established
in the county. Stamford had been included in the Danelagh, and known
as one of the five burghs that figure so largely in the troubled times of
the tenth century. The main part of the town always belonged to Lincoln-
shire, but the Anglo-Saxon moneyers worked in the Northamptonshire

1 Associated Architectural ^octettes (1882), Northants, p. 246, gives numismatic details.
* Described by Mr. Samuel Sharp in Numismatic Chronicle, new series, vol. ix. p. 327 ; "Journal oj
Archirologual Institute, vol. xxxv. p. 272.

255

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

part known as Stamford Baron or St. Martin's, on the south side of the
Welland ; and it is interesting to find that coins of Stamford mintage are
specially common in Scandinavian finds.

Of the later Anglo-Saxon or Danish period there are many sculp-
tured stones,' as is only natural in a county so rich in pre-Norman archi-
tecture, but these do not fall to be treated here.

There is little doubt that some of the earthworks* known as burhs
or motes date from this period, and many interesting examples occur in
Northamptonshire. Mr. Geo. T. Clark made the subject his own, and
prepared a list,^ perhaps incomplete, including Earl's Barton, East Farn-
don, Lilbourne, Rockingham, Sibbertoft ■* and Towcester." In his well
known work on medisval military architecture and in separate papers* he
treated some of these in detail, convincing himself and many others that all
of this type, a truncated cone of earth with base court all within trenches,
are earlier than the Norman period. The question can only be finally
settled by the spade, and it may here be mentioned that a Leicester-
shire earthwork'' very similar to Lilbourne showed traces of British,
Roman, Saxon and later occupations. Whether the mound near Tow-
cester church was the work wrought by Edward the Elder in April,
921, is open to question. The name itself as well as coins and pottery *
found on the site show Roman occupation, but do not date the actual
mound ; and some recent writers * are inclined to attribute many of the
motes to the early Norman period. At Earl's Barton however the existence
of an undoubtedly Saxon church tower within the stronghold is against this
view, though Prof. Baldwin Brown says'" that the mound in the church-
yard is probably not pre-Norman. Clifford's Hill overlooking the Nene
opposite Billing is more likely to have been a mote than a Roman specula
or observation hill ; and finally the earthwork at Castle Dykes '' with its
well preserved mound and lunette enclosures faces a camp of Roman or
still earlier date on the other side of a small valley, which may thus have
been the scene of military operations in the opening as well as in the
closing years of the Anglo-Saxon period.

I A very imperfect list is given in Journal of British Anhaohgical Association, vol. xli. pp. 356, 357,
418 (at Moulton).

^ A map with several marked is given in Arch<fologia, vol. xxxv. pi. xvi.

' Journal of Archa-ohgual Institute, vol. xlvi. p. 209.

* Figured in Gentleman'' s Magazine (1801), pt. z, p. 689.
5 Whellan's Gazetteer (1874), p. 547.

* Journal of Architological Institute, vol. xxxv, pp. 210, 211 (Rockingham), and p. 112 (Earl's
Barton and Lilbourne), for which see also Whellan's Gazetteer (1874), p. 356.

7 Castle Hill, Hallaton : Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries, vol. vii. p. 321.

8 Whellan's Gazetteer of 'Northants (1874), P- 5 + 7-

'J Especially Mr. J. H. Round, who has kindly supplied several useful references. Quarterly Review,
July, 1894, p. 43 ; Scottish Rez'ieu; Oct. 1898, p. 209 ; Mrs. E. S. Armitage's Key to English Antiquities,
p. 52 ; and Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings, I 899-1 900, p. 260.

1" The Builder, Nov. 3, 1900.

II A plan is given in Baker's History, vol. i. p. 376.

256

DOMESDAY SURVEY

FOR the study and illustration of the Northamptonshire portion
of the Conqueror's great survey, we possess some peculiar advan-
tages. A Peterborough Abbey manuscript in the possession of
the Society of Antiquaries contains a list of the county Hun-
dreds, with the number of hides in each, these being severally classified.
In a paper devoted to this document, which, so far as is at present
known, is absolutely unique, I showed that it was really a ' geld '-roll
older than the Domesday Survey, drawn up in connection with that
land-tax commonly known as the Danegeld, but in Domesday almost in-
variably styled ' geld ' simply.^ To the same manuscript we are in-
debted for a list of the knights of Peterborough, that is, of the abbey's
tenants who held by knight-service, together with the lands they held.
This ' descriptio ' is of much service for the illustration of Domesday.^
Lastly, in what I have styled ' the Northamptonshire Survey,' we have a
corrupt, but important document, which gives us the tenure of estates in
the county about the middle of the twelfth century, and, being drawn
up Hundred by Hundred, enables us to trace clearly enough the Hun-
dreds existing at the time of the Conquest, which we could not have
done without it, as the names of the Hundreds in Domesday are, for the
Northamptonshire portion, untrustworthy and misleading. Although
the object of this survey was, doubtless, the right assessment of the
' geld,' its entries throw a welcome light on the descent of the local fiefs
in a period of peculiar darkness.'

The features of interest in the Domesday Survey differ widely
according to the county. In Northamptonshire there is a marked
absence of those incidental entries bearing on personal, political, or legal
history, in which some portions of the great survey are comparatively
rich. On the other hand, thanks to the auxiliary information afforded
by the sources mentioned above, it is possible to obtain important results
from the Domesday assessments of the manors, and to identify the
tenants and undertenants named in the famous record in more cases and
with more precision than is feasible in some counties. There is much

' See * The Northamptonshire Geld-roU ' {Feudal England, pp. 147-156).

^ See 'The Knights of Peterborough' {Ibid., pp. 156-168).

' 'The Northamptonshire Survey' {Ibid., pp. 215-224), and pp. 357-389 below).

257

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

to be said on both subjects which is not to be found in the exist-
ing histories, valuable though they are, of Bridges and Baker. And
more especially is this the case with the study of the county assess-
ments.

It is only very recently that we have begun to realise how ancient
and how important is the history which underlies the local assessments
entered in Domesday Book. In the southern half of England the
Domesday unit of assessment was that mysterious ' hide ' of which the
meaning has been long disputed, and of which the derivation is even now
obscure. Northamptonshire, like other counties to its south, and like,
also, Warwickshire on its western, and Huntingdonshire on its eastern
border, was assessed in ' hides ' and ' virgates,' the ' virgate ' being merely
the quarter of a ' hide.' But Leicestershire to its north, like Lincoln-
shire, belonged to that Danish district of England which was assessed,
not in hides, but in carucates and bovates, the bovate representing the
eighth part of a carucate. This position of Northamptonshire on the
border of the two districts has to be borne in mind.

Until explained and reduced to order, the number of the hides and
of the ploughlands assigned to each manor in Domesday are, at first
sight, meaningless enough. But they represent the disjecta membra, the
surviving fragments of a system. To reconstruct that system is the func-
tion of the Domesday student. In his Domesday Book and Beyond
Professor Maitland has shown that in what he terms ' The county
hidage ' — a document which he deems older than the Conquest — North-
amptonshire is assigned 3,200 hides. The next document in order of
date is what I have styled ' the Northamptonshire geld-roll,' and which
I assign to the reign of the Conqueror, although it cannot, I hold, be
later than 1075, for it mentions Edward's widow (who died in that year)
as ' the lady, the king's wife.' ' Professor Maitland, who accepts my
view of this document and its nature, points out that it implies the
existence of thirty-two ' hundreds ' of hides, although it only actually
accounts for 2,663!^. But it is when we come to Domesday Book
(1086) and to the Pipe Roll of 11 30 that we find an extraordinary re-
duction on either of the above totals. The latter record debits North-
amptonshire with no more than 1,1 92f hides. It is the view of
Professor Maitland that this great change is accounted for by a sweeping,
though unrecorded, reduction of assessment under William I.''

At this point it may be desirable to give an analysis of the ' geld-
roll,' the only document of this character known to exist in England,
and one for which I have claimed the status of ' our earliest financial
record." The successive columns represent : (i) the land which had
paid the tax ; (2) the ' inland ' which was exempt ; (3) the king's land ;
(4) the land on which the tax had not yet been paid ; (5) the land which

1 Feudal Englandy p. 154.
* Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 457, 469.
" Feudal England, p. 156.
258

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

was ' waste ' ; (6) the total accounted for ; (7) the nominal total on the
roll.'

Hundred

' Gewered '

'Inland'

King's

Not

Waste

Accounted

Nominal

land

paid

for

total

Sutton

215

28i

100

Warden

i7f

4ii

100

Cleyley .

100

* Gravesende ' .

i8i

41^

100

* Eadboldes stowe

23i

26i

100

' Ethelweardesle '

1 61

100

Foxley .

100

Towcester .

19'

100

1 00

Huxlow

WiUybrook .

'3,

' Uptune grene '

291"

109

Navereslund .

-a

I2i

160

Navisford .

Polebrook .

6/J

Newbottlegrove

44|

3
0

33i

150

Gilsborough

150

Spelho . .

20|

[25]

281

' Hwicceslea west '

' Hwicceslea east '

' Stotfalde ' . . .

5oi

99i

100

Stoke . . .

i8i

Higham

49^

i49i

150

'Malesle' . .

Corby . . .

I2i

[U]

lOf

Rothwell . .

Andverdesho * .

[26?]

Orlingbury

29!

24i

Wymersley

150

It is probable that this most important record was compiled in con-
sequence of the changes of assessment which in turn, probably, were due
to the large extent of land lying waste in the county at the time. The
total of the land returned as 'waste' is represented by 886 hides (which
should perhaps be 901), that is, one-third of the county. But how did
the assessment of the county stand at the time when this roll was com-
piled .? It is the view of Professor Maitland that at the time of this roll,
which belongs to the earlier half of the Conqueror's reign, the assessment
was still as high as 2,664 hides, but that 'between 1075 and 1086 the

* The whole document is printed in Ellis, Introduction to Domesday, I. 1 84-1 87. This
text was collated by me (for Feudal England) with the original MS., which, however, is itself
corrupt in places.

^ Wrongly given by Ellis as 'xviii.'

' Wrongly given by Ellis as 'viii. and xx.'

* The text here is evidently corrupt.

* There are clearly some words omitted here in the Peterborough transcript. We
must read : 'and thereof is "gewered" [? 26 hide and] five and twenty hides inland,'

2.59

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

[a] county was relieved of about half of its hides.' ' After long and care-
ful consideration of the subject, I am of opinion that the roll, on the
contrary, records a vast reduction of assessment previous to its compila-
tion. We should indeed naturally expect that such reduction would
follow promptly on the impoverishment of the district by 'waste' (if
such was its cause), and not be granted later on when the county was
recovering from its effects. But we need evidence to that effect. Such
evidence, I think, is found in the second column. It must be remem-
bered that the document itself, when it gives the nominal assessment of
a Hundred, uniformly adds to that total the words : ' So it was in King
Edward's day.' This assessment, therefore, is only given as that which
was in force before the Conquest. If we now turn to the second
column, we find it headed ' Inland.' Discussing the meaning of this
term, I defined it as that by which ' Domesday describes land not liable
to geld ' ; in Oxfordshire it meant land not subject to geld at the time
when it was so described. In short, ' the true meaning of " inland " is
land free from liability to geld (" qua; est sine geldo regis ").' *

Now on looking carefully at the ' Inland ' column, it will be ob-
served that the amount is the same for the first three Hundreds on the
list, and that, in all, seven Hundreds have exactly 40 hides — neither
more nor less — ' Inland ' each. Moreover, two have 30 hides, and two
others 20 hides, and one 60 hides.' These, from their regularity,
must be arbitrary sums. The conclusion, therefore, at which I arrive,
is that these 'hides' of 'Inland' represented the reduction of assessment
granted by the Crown on each Hundred since the Confessor's death.
The grand total of these deductions seems to have amounted, at the time
of the Roll, to 935I hides on the 2,664 of the assessment under Edward.
It would perhaps be slightly larger if the text were not corrupt, but in
any case it was considerably increased before the Pipe Roll of 1 130.

The probable cause of this reduction is an interesting subject for
enquiry. Professor Maitland seems to have considered that Northamp-
tonshire was relieved because the old assessment was far too high. My
own suggestion was that the appalling proportion of the county which
was returned as ' waste ' in the ' geld-roll ' pointed to some terrible de-
vastation, such as is actually recorded in the English Chronicle under
1065.* It is thus described by Mr. Freeman, paraphrasing the words of
the Chronicle : —

Morkere's Northern followers dealt with the country about Northampton as if
it had been the country of an enemy. They slew men, burned corn and houses,
carried off cattle, and at last led captive several hundred prisoners, seemingly as
slaves. The blow was so severe that it was remembered even when one would have
thought that that and all other lesser wrongs would have been forgotten in the general

* Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 457.

^ See, for the above quotations, Domesday Studies (1888), pp. IO7-IIO.
' Four other ' Inland ' totals are multiples of five, and others approximate closely to such
multiples.

* Feudal England, p. 149.

260

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

overthrow of England. Northamptonshire and the shires near it were for many
winters the worse.

It would seem to confirm the view I have advanced that a careful
study of the manorial valuations entered in Domesday reveals a general
recovery in values between 1066 and 1086. On the great fief of the
Count of Mortain they had risen from ^Tji lis. to £i2C) lbs. ;
on that of William Peverel, from £\j 12s. %d. to ^74 lbs. 8^. ; on
that of Hugh de Grentmesnil from ^18 1 3/. to £^t^o los. The in-
ference I draw from these figures is that the devastated manors had
gradually been stocked afresh.

The above considerations invest with peculiar importance the
Domesday valuation of the county. If we examine first that of its neigh-
bours, we find that Mr. Pearson, who devoted special attention to the
subject, reckoned that, on the east, Bedfordshire showed, between 1066
and 1086, a decrease in values from ;(^i,474 lis, ^d.to £i,0()6 izs. 2d.,
and Huntingdonshire a decrease from >C899 ^S^- 4^^- *° £'^^\ '^S^- 4^-
Buckinghamshire, on the other hand, shows an increase from £i,J^S
6s. 2d. to >(^i,8i3 7J. gd., and Oxfordshire a much larger one — £2,ySg
15J. ^d. to ^3,242 2J-. lid. Lastly, on the north, Leicestershire dis-
plays an amazing increase — >C49i 4-^- 4^- t° jCzS^ 3-f-^ For Northamp-
tonshire itself Mr. Pearson's figures are these : —

1066

1086

King's land

Church lands

Tenants in chief

£ -
581 16

149 6
676 0

d.
I

4
II

616 12
296 12
929 15

d.
8
2
7

1407 3

1843 °

This shows a substantial increase of over 30 per cent. But the
special feature of these figures is the great rise in the Church lands,
which had all but doubled their value. And this rise is the more
remarkable when reference to Domesday shows us that it is mainly due
to the startling changes in the values of the many manors held by
Peterborough Abbey. Now a still closer investigation reveals, I think,
the fact that this was not so much a rise as a sharp recovery in value.
Peterborough itself, for instance, which was worth only £1 in 1066, is
entered as worth jTio in 1086. Werrington, to its north, had risen from
j^i to £i\., and Clinton, on the road to Market Deeping, from £2 to
^Tio. Two manors, Tinwell and Easton, facing one another on the
Welland, just above Stamford, had increased their value from i os. to
£j, and from 2s. to 30J. respectively. Warmington, one of its manors
lying to the north-west, had risen from ^s. to ;(^ii, other portions of

* Pearson's England in the Middle Ages, I. 668.
261

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

that manor improving from 2s. to 30J. and from 5/. to 40J-. respectively.
What can be the meaning of these figures ? It is my belief that they
point to these and similar manors having lain 'waste,' as it was termed, in
1066. That a manor could be worth a nominal sum, even when lying
' waste,' is shown by the cases of Charlton and Foxley, which are
entered together in Domesday (fo. 2231^.). In both these cases we read :
* It is waste ; yet it is worth five shillings.'

If, then, these entries point to some devastation, we ought to examine
them throughout the county, and see if their distribution can be made
to enlighten us on the subject. With this object I have constructed
tables containing every manor which had doubled, or more, in value
within the twenty years, and then I have selected out of these the com-
paratively small number of which the value had increased five-fold or
more. The locality in which are found most of the latter class is one
that is full of significance ; it is the valley of the Nen between
Warmington and Northampton. With Warmington itself we have
already dealt. Distributed round it in a quarter circle are Polebrook (5^.
to £2 and 2s. to £1), Oundle (5/. to £1 1), and Cotterstock (5/. to ^^3).
Just beyond, up the Nen, are Stoke Doyley {los. to £^ 10s.) and Pilton
(5J. to £2 lOJ.). Luddington, also, had risen in value from lox. to 30^.
There is no questioning the evidence of figures so decisive as these ;
including Warmington the whole group had risen, we see, in value from
£2 14.S. to £^i los. Following up the valley of the Nen, we have
notable rises at Titchmarsh (^4 to £g 15^.), Woodford (^i 10s. to
^4 lox.),^ Addington Magna (loj. to £2), and Irthlingborough {£1 to
^5). Further up, Irchester had risen from £1 to £S, and Knuston,
adjoining it, from 5^. to 20s.

Apart from the above district there are others in which may be traced
a recovery from some devastation. In the north-eastern extremity of
the county, Barnack, with Burghley and Pilsgate adjoining it, had all
quadrupled in value ; Glinton, Warrington, and Castor (with Milton
and Ailsworth) had all more than doubled ; Wittering had nearly quad-
rupled, while Southorpe, adjoining it, had increased three-fold. All
this evidence points to one conclusion. When, in 1065, Morcar
marched south with the Northumbrian host, he would have entered
the county at Stamford, advancing from Doncaster and Grant-
ham. It is possible that the men of Lincolnshire who, according
to the Chronicle, joined him, crossed the Welland at Market
Deeping, but, in any case, his host must have ravaged Peterborough,
and the district lying to its north-west, before marching up
the valley of the Nen to Northampton. The men of Derbyshire
and Notts, who are similarly stated to have joined him, would have
crossed the river at Market Harborough. Little Bowden, the spot at
which they would have entered the county, shows an increase from
5/. 4^'. to £1 lOJ., which implies that it had been devastated. If

* Besides a small manor worth IOj. (in 1086) which had been * wholly waste.'

262

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

they marched south on Northampton they would next pass by Little
Oxendon, where we have a rise in value from is. to ioj-., and would
also traverse Kelmarsh, of which the value had recovered from 5J. to 40J.

Meanwhile Eadwine was coming to his brother's help, and must,
with his Mercian and Welsh host, have marched down the Watling
Street. He would enter the county, therefore, at Lilbourne, where we
find a recovery in value from is. to ioj., and have passed on through
Crick (jTi lox. to ^^4 ioj.) and Watford (ioj. to £2), striking off
through Whilton (ioj. to ^^3), Brington (5J. to ^^i), Althorpe (5J. to
£1), and Harleston (5J. to ^i ioj.), and passing between Dallington
{£2 to £^), and Duston {£2 to £^) to join his brother at Northampton.

Bearing in mind how small, comparatively, was the average rise
throughout the county — an average itself largely due to these excep-
tional manors — we cannot really doubt that their striking figures have a
meaning, and that the explanation must be sought in the devastating
march of the earls' hosts in 1065, the results of which must have
specially impressed a Peterborough Abbey chronicler. I have elsewhere
shown that Sussex presents a similar phenomenon in its record of manors
which, although 'wasted' by the presence of the warring hosts in 1066,
had recovered, in the main, their value by 1086.*

It is one of the advantages presented by this series of county histories
that they are enabling the study of Domesday to be carried out in
greater detail and on a more uniform system than has ever yet been
possible. Writing, for instance, on Domesday as a whole. Professor
Maitland could only suggest that Northamptonshire had its assessment
reduced by about fifty per cent. But when we examine more closely
the survey of this particular county, we are led to an interesting
discovery. For, we shall find, it is practically certain that the reduction
of assessment was not uniform, but varied, as I have shown it did in
Cambridgeshire,^ in different portions of the county.

A very peculiar and distinct phenomenon is presented by the
Domesday assessment of south-west Northamptonshire. In the modern
Hundreds of Fawsley, Warden, Sutton, Norton, Towcester, and Cleyley,
in short throughout that portion of the shire which lies south of the
Nen — except the Hundred of Wimersley, on the east — we find that the
ratio of ' hides ' to ploughlands is constant, and that this ratio is 2 to 5.
To use less technical language, if a manor, in 1086, was assessed at two
' hides,' it was normally entered as containing land for five ploughs ; if
it was assessed at four hides, its land was said to be for ten ploughs, and
so on in proportion. The extreme artificiality of this whole arrange-
ment is accentuated by the fact that we sometimes find more ploughs
employed on a manor than it is said to have land for. Moreover,
though the Domesday assessment in ' hides ' is, in normal counties,
conventional, the number of ploughlands usually is not. The figures,

• Feudal England, pp. 150-152.
» Ibid., pp. 50-53.
263

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

therefore, for this district are altogether abnormal. There are, for
instance, forty entries relating to the modern Hundred of Sutton ; in
twenty-eight of these the hides stand to the ploughlands in the exact
ratio of 2 to 5 ; in four others it is almost exact ; and the eight remain-
ing ones do not differ from it widely enough to prevent the ratio for the
whole Hundred being 2 to 5.*

It is obvious that something must be hidden behind this artificial
arrangement ; and it is the more obvious when we see, as the Domesday
expert does, how peculiarly inconvenient its figures were, in practice, for
the payment of the 'geld.' The point is too technical for full discussion
here, but its essence is that a tax which was reckoned in shillings on the
' hide ' could not be paid with exactitude on one or more ' fifths ' of a
hide, which were the fractions resulting from this peculiar assessment.
To obviate this difficulty, the awkward fractions, we find, were in some
cases ingeniously adjusted so as to preserve the assessment on the whole
vill intact, and yet to enable its constituent portions to pay, each of
them, an even number of pence. Of this, we have beautiful examples in
Silverstone and Blakesley.

SiLVERSTONE

Blakesley

Hides

Ploughlands

Hides

Ploughlands

3
I

3i
5

Here, the superficial inquirer might say, there is but one out of
six entries in which the ratio is 2 to 5. And yet, when we group the
entries under their respective vills, the ratio is seen to hold good, while
the actual fractions are so adjusted that their liability under a tax of one
or more shillings on the hide presented no difficulty. It was only, of
course, in the case of fractions that such adjustment was needed."

Now for this peculiar ratio I have advanced the explanation that
it really represents the result of a great reduction of assessment, a
uniform reduction of sixty per cent. My theory is that the so-called
ploughlands of the Northamptonshire Domesday are not ploughlands at
all, but represent the old assessment before this great reduction. That
is to say, that when a vill is entered as assessed at four ' hides ' and as
containing ten ploughlands, the combination really means that its assess-
ment has been reduced from ten units to four. This theory is so novel,

' See, for the details, my paper on 'The Hidation of Northamptonshire,' in English
Historical Review^ January, 1900.

' The whole subject is worked out in my above paper.

264

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

so contrary to accepted views, that one would not venture to advance it
without adducing strong and concurrent evidence in its favour. In the
first place, a great reduction is insisted on, we have seen, by Professor
Maitland, and the figures available point to that reduction having even
exceeded the fifty per cent, which he thought probable. In the second
place, if my theory be right, it at once brings this district into line with
the other hidated counties, lying to its south and east, by assigning its
vills for their old assessment arbitrary sums of five and ten ; for the law
of ' the five-hide unit,' enunciated in my Feudal 'England, has received
general acceptance. Thirdly, we shall find reason to believe that in
other parts of the county also the so-called ploughlands of Domesday
had once been units of assessment.

On crossing the Nen we enter a fresh belt of Hundreds — Guils-
borough, Newbottle, Spelho, and Hamfordshoe. Here we can no
longer trace so clear a ratio ; but there is a typical assessment, of which
I will give some instances.

GuiLSBOROUCH

Newbottlegrove

Hides

Ploughlands

Hides

Ploughlands

Cold Ashl
Creek .
Thornby
' Nortot •
Watford
Welford

3l
I

2
2

8
8

4
4
8

Church Bram
Dallington
Duston
East Haddon
Teton .
Whitton .

pto

4'
4
4
3

8
8
8
6

Spelho

Hamfordshoe

Hides

Ploughlands ,

Hides

Ploughlands

Abington
Billing Magna .
Billing Parva
Pisford . . .
Spratton .

8 i

Ashby Mares . . .
Earls Barton .
Dodington

Ecton

Wilby

4
4
4

7
8
8
8
7

Here, I think, we may similarly detect a reduction, not indeed of
sixty, but of fifty per cent.^ In Guilsborough Hundred, indeed, two-
thirds of the entries in which we can be sure of our figures show us the
hides standing to the ploughlands in a ratio of exactly i to 2. A
further question, however, arises : Why was the typical number of
ploughlands in this district eight, while south of the Nen it was ten .?

* Less 5 acres.

^ It is very noteworthy that in the 'geld-roll' the Rutland portion of the county
{* Wicceslea ') is reckoned at the nominal amount of i6o hides. On the 1130 Pipe Roll it is
reckoned at 80 hides (i6o shillings), a reduction of exactly fifty per cent.

265

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

One is tempted to suggest that, as the typical number was as arbitrary
in the one as in the other, the eight units had originally been ten, and
thus represented a previous reduction of twenty per cent, on the old
total.'

It is very difficult to detect the principle of assessment at work in
the rest of the county till we reach its north-eastern portion. Here we
observe a most suggestive contrast to the typical figures in the south-
west. The vills of five or of ten ploughlands have entirely disappeared,
and, in their place, are distinct traces of that duodecimal system which
prevailed in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. Here are some examples
taken from those Hundreds of Nassaburgh and Willibrook which occupy
the north-eastern regions of the county.

Nassaburgh

Willibrook

Hides

Ploughlands

Hides

Ploughlands

Pilesgate .

Southorp .

Castor

Ailesworth

Milton

Werrington

Glinton .

3
6

6
6

12
12

Colly Weston . .
Cotterstock .
Easton ....
Fotheringay . . .
Tansor ....

3
6

6
6
6

We are justified, I think, by these figures in holding that this district
had been under the same Scandinavian influence as the adjacent region
to its north. For when we turn to the entries on that region, we find
Tallington, Lincolnshire, just across the Welland, assessed at 12 [5 + 7]
' carucates of land,' and Easton, Leicestershire, which similarly lay at
the nearest angle of that county, assessed at 12 'carucates of land.'
Between Leicestershire and Lincolnshire lay what is now Rutland, of
which the south-eastern portion was then part of Northamptonshire, and
though termed a ' wapentake,' ^ was similarly assessed in hides. This is
not the place in which to discuss the assessment of Rutland as a whole ;
but its close connection with that of the adjacent district of North-
amptonshire requires some mention of it. The Domesday Rutland
consisted of two wapentakes (the third being then in Northamptonshire),
and, like Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, was intensely duodecimal. One
wapentake consisted of two ' hundreds,' ^ with i 2 ' geld ' carucates and 24

' This suggestion would bring us appreciably nearer to the 3,200 hides of ' the County
Hidage,' which Prof. Maitland believes to have been the original assessment of the shire, and
would also re-establish the original prevalence of the normal unit of five hides in the district
affected.

^ See p. 268 below.

' These Scandinavian 'hundreds,' consisting of twelve 'geld' carucates each, must be
carefully distinguished from the Hundreds of the counties to their south, with which they had
nothing to do.

266

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

(sic) ploughlands in each ; in the other there was only one ' hundred,'
consisting of 12 'geld' carucates, but this 'hundred' contained 48
ploughlands. These ploughlands were divided thus [D.B. fo. 293;^) : —

' Geld ' carucates

Ploughlands

Oakham

Hambledon

Ridlington

4
4
4

16
16
16

It is, I think, no mere coincidence that not only Lyddington, Rutland
(then in Northamptonshire), but Peterborough itself, Wittering, Nassing-
ton, and Harringworth,' all in Northamptonshire, had 16 ploughlands
each, as had the Peterborough manor of Great Easton, Leicestershire, in
the angle formed by Northamptonshire and the modern Rutland.*

The above wapentake, with its simple distribution, shows us how
the figure 16 might really form part of a rigidly duodecimal system.
When we turn to the other wapentake (Alfnodestou), with its 24 'geld'
carucates and its (alleged) 48 ploughlands, we find figures very helpful
for explaining those of Northamptonshire, because, at first sight, they do
not suggest either a fixed ratio or a strictly duodecimal basis. Here are
the names in their order [D.B. 293/^) : —

Ploughlands

Greetham ....
Cottesmore
Overton and Stretton
Thistleton

Teigh

Whissendine .

Exton

Whitwell ....
' Alestanestorp ' .

Burley

Ashwell ....

8
12

5
12

3
5

As a matter of fact, these figures, when they are added up, give us 24
carucates and 84 ploughlands (not 48). Their extreme value for the
study of the figures in northern Northamptonshire consists in the
demonstration they afford that a rigidly duodecimal arrangement may
underlie figures which do not, at first sight, imply it. In the Hundred
of Nassaburgh, for instance, we have similarly four manors with 12
ploughlands, and two with 6 ; but we have also one of 5, one of 3,

' Three miles from Lyddington and six from Ridlington.

* ' Ipsa abbatia tenet in Estone xii. carucatas terrae. Terra est xvi. carucis ' {D.B. fo. 231).

267

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

and two of 2 each, which would not seem to fit a duodecimal system.
Yet the Rutland evidence, thanks to Domesday's introductory note
(fo. 293/^), enables us to see how such figures could be, and were, com-
bined in twelves.

In the Hundred of Corby, which bordered on Leicestershire, we
may trace the same influence as in those of Nassaburgh and Willibrook.
Blatherwick, for instance, had 6 ploughlands ; Carlton, 18 ; Corby, 9 ;
Dingley, 9 ; Stoke Albany, 6 ; Wakerley, 6 ; and Weekley, 6. Nor
should we forget that in that portion of Rutland which was then in
Northamptonshire, North and South LufFenham together are assigned
24 ploughlands. Enough has now been said to prove that in the north-
east of our county the ploughlands show traces of a reckoning as
artificial as in its south-west, and that this arrangement was duodecimal
in the former district and decimal in the latter. Tedious as may have
seemed the process by which we reach this conclusion, the result is well
worth it ; for we learn from these figures that the Danish element from
the north must have established a strong footing in a good part of
Northamptonshire, although, as the Domesday assessment shows, it was
so far driven back that not only the whole county, but one of the Rut-
land ' wapentakes ' — a name which implies a Danish district, — was
eventually assessed in hides, like the counties to the south.* It is, how-
ever, worth noting that a ' bovate ' (which was alien to the ' hide '
system) does occasionally appear, as if a stray survival. We may, there-
fore, compare this evidence, afforded by the local assessments, with that
derived from the county place-names, in its bearing on the character and
limits of Scandinavian settlement within the borders of the shire. '^

The Hundred of Nassaburgh itself is said to derive its name, ' the
Nass or Ness of Burgh', from its situation, stretching out in the form of
a promontory between the Welland and the Nene ;' and within it we
find such significant names as Northolm, Gunthorp, Worthorp, Dosthorp,
and Southorp. It is, moreover, very remarkable that, in the Peterborough
Survey, we find an entry (under Henry I.) that ' Gilbert owes 45 shil-
lings from the two Hundreds " de Wapentach [sic) de Burch." ' * This
was the double 'Hundred' of Nassaburgh. Thus, although described
as a ' Hundred' in Domesday, the Scandinavian name here survived, just
as in Rutland, to its north-west, ' Wiceslea ' — the Northamptonshire
portion — is styled a ' Hundred ' three times,* and a ' Wapentake ' five

' It is possible that the even numbers of the hides in the local Hundreds, as shown in the
Northamptonshire geld-roll, may be due to the comparatively late date of this assessment.

^ On the duodecimal system of the ' Danish ' districts see my Feudal England, pp. 69-82,
86-90, 196, 573. It is only right, however, to add that my theory of ' the six-carucate unit,'
while it has not been challenged, has not been endorsed, so far as I know, by historians. As
yet, therefore, it represents my own view alone.

^ Bridges' Northamptonshire, II. 483. This suggestion is confirmed by the fact that the
adjacent (south-western) angle of Lincolnshire was called ' Nesse ' wapentake (D. B., fo.

376A).

* Chronicon Petroburgeme, p. 167.

* In one of these cases ' Wap ' is written in the margin.

268

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

times in Domesday. Further illustration of the survival in 'Nassaburgh'
of the system prevailing to its north-east, beyond the Welland, is found
in the very singular formula employed at Werrington, Wittering, and
Clinton : ' There were, in king Edward's time, thirty ploughs ' (fos.
22 1, 22 1^). For this is a Leicestershire formula.'

Before we pass from this subject it may be desirable to recapitulate
the chief conclusions at which we have arrived. It has been shown that
the assessment of the shire originally stood in all probability at 3,200
' hides.' But, ' in the day of Edward the King,' the assessment stood
no higher than 2,664. The ' geld-roll ' figures lead us to believe that
the difference is accounted for by reductions in assessment, varying in
amount on certain Hundreds, some of the Hundreds being still rated
at 100 'hides,' while others fall short, more or less, of that amount.*
From this total of 2,664 ^ further subtraction was made, after the Nor-
man Conquest, but before the date of the ' geld-roll,' by striking off so
many ' hides ' from the assessment of each Hundred as ' Inland ' (exempt
from geld). Lastly, a further reduction was granted even before Domes-
day, the final result being that the south-western Hundreds had 60 hides
struck off their original assessment (instead of 40 as in the 'geld-roll'),
while in 11 30 the assessment of the whole shire had sunk to 1193!
' hides.'

We have further seen reason to believe that the 'ploughlands' in the
south of the county represent an artificial decimal arrangement, while
those in the north show traces of a no less artificial duodecimal arrange-
ment, similar to that prevailing in the counties on which they border.

One of the special difficulties presented by the Domesday portion
of Northamptonshire is that which is caused by its inclusion of manors
in other counties. This is a disturbing element in more ways than
one, for these intruding manors present features of assessment at variance
with those prevailing in the shire. As an instance of this peculiarity,
and of the confusion it may cause, the Northamptonshire fief of William
Fitz Ansculf comprises four manors, of which one is in Rutland, one in
Northamptonshire, one in Staffordshire, and one in Warwickshire !
Nearly two centuries ago, Morton, an early student of the record, who
had printed its text for Northamptonshire (171 2), drew attention, in his
MS. Notes, to this peculiarity.' It is, however, only now that we can

' See Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 421, 469. Mr. Maitland, who seems
to have been unaware of these Northamptonshire cases, points out that 'on no single
occasion,' in Leicestershire, where this formula is used, is the number of ploughlands men-
tioned. But in the three Northamptonshire manors above, the number of ploughlands is
given.

^ This applies pro rata to the 'double' Hundreds and to those of (originally) 150 hides.
It is probable that the curious sum of 62 hides, at which stand the Hundreds of Huxlow,
Willibrook, Navisford, and Polebrook, is accounted for by a block reduction of 150 hides on
the 400 hides of these adjacent Hundreds. This would reduce them severally to 62^, or,
excluding the fraction, 62.

' Additional MS. (Brit. Mus.), 3560, fo. 159.

269

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

make a really complete list of these extraneous manors. In Rutland
alone there are more than twenty,* but these, it must be remembered,
were included at that time in Northamptonshire. Staffordshire, though
it did not touch the county, contributes three intruding manors, Marston,
Lapley, and West Bromwich. In Warwickshire are Sawbridge in
Wolfhamcote (just over the border), Berkswell and Whitacre (in the
heart of the county). Over (on the Leicestershire border), and Which-
ford (in the south of the county).* Portions of the neighbouring
Bedfordshire parishes of Farndish and Puddington are entered under
Northamptonshire (fo. 225^), on the border of which they lie. In
Huntingdonshire, but on the border of Northamptonshire, are Stibbing-
ton, Elton, Thurning, and Catworth ; portions of all four are surveyed
under the latter county. It is to Oxfordshire, however, that the greater
part of the interpolated manors belong. As it was quaintly observed by
Mr. Morton, they are found chiefly in ' two companies,' ^ one of them
at the end of the fief held by the bishop of Coutances (fo. 221), the
other at the end of that of Hugh de Grentmaisnil (fo. 224^). The
former consists of a group of vills in north-east Oxfordshire, Finmere,
' Hedham ' (? Hethe) and Shelswell,* with Glympton in the heart of
the county, ' Oitone ' (? Wootton), ' Hortone ' (.? Worton), and ' Eg-
forde ' (? Upper Heyford).' The other ' company ' consists of Cottisford,
Charlton-on-Otmoor,' ' Scipford '(Sibford Gower), and ' Sciptune' ' (Ship-
ton-on-Charwell) .

The remaining Oxfordshire locality is Mollington, which appears
on fo. 226 as ' Molitone.' Mr. Stuart Moore identifies it as " Milton
or Middleton Malsor," Northants, but the Domesday form of this place

* Ketton, Tixover, Barrowden, Seaton, Thorp, Morcot, Bisbrooke, Glaston, North
Luffenham, South Luffenham, Great Casterton, Little Casterton, Horn, Lyddington, Essen-
dine, Tinwell, Empingham, Tolthorp, Ryhall, Belmesthorp, and Tickencote.

^ See text for proof of these identifications.
' Additional MS., 3560, fo. 159.

* These three vills formed part later of the Gloucester fief {Testa de Nevil/, p. 104).

* If I am right in these suggested identifications, we have here the survey of Wootton,
Oxfordshire, hitherto supposed to be wanting. 'Egforde' is left by Mr. Stuart Moore and by
the author of the valuable Notes on the Oxfordshire Domesday (1892), as an unknown
Oxfordshire manor ; but, as Upper Heyford, is assigned 5 hides, as ' Hegford,' under Oxford-
shire, it can hardly be doubted that the 5 hides of 'Egforde' represent its other half,
especially as its neighbour. Lower Heyford (* Haiforde '), was assessed at 10 hides. 'Hortone'
is similarly unidentified by the above writers, but as the latter assigns the two ' Hortone '
manors, surveyed under Oxfordshire, to Worton, this is probably the place. There is, how-
ever, a Horton, by Otmoor, on the Bucks border, with which Mr. Morton identified it.

^ Mr. Stuart Moore identifies this considerable manor as Carlton, Northamptonshire,
which, however, duly appears, under 'Stoche' Hundred, as ' Carlintone ' (fo. 223). There
can be no doubt that the Notes on the Oxfordshire Domesday (p. 20) is right in assigning it to
that county, like the manors which precede and follow it. Indeed, its identity with Charlton-
on-Otmoor is proved by Testa de Nevi//, p. 108.

'' These two manors are left unidentified in the Notes on the Oxfordshire Domesday (p. 2o),
but they appear together in the Testa de Nevi// {pp. 100, 112), under the forms ' Sibbeford '
and ' Shipton ' (or 'Scipton'), as held of the earl of Winchester, an heir of Hugh de Grent-
maisnil ; and their entry there on pp. 103, 1 04 proves them to have been Sibford Gower
(near SwalclifFe) and Shipton-on-Charwell respectively.

270

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

is ' Mideltone ' (fo. 227). Mollington lies in the extreme north of
Oxfordshire, in an angle formed by Warwickshire and Northampton-
shire, and is surveyed partly in Warwickshire as ' Mollitone,' partly in
Oxfordshire as ' Mollitone,' and partly in Northamptonshire as ' Moli-
tone.' '

From such peculiarities as these in this and adjoining counties,
Mr. Eyton argued not only that Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, and Staf-
fordshire must have been surveyed by the same group of Domesday
commissioners, but also that ' Northamptonshire belonged to the same
Domesday circuit.' ^ This suggestion might account for much of the
above confusion ; but all conclusions on Domesday circuits have to be
accepted with great caution.

In addition to the difficulty caused, as we have seen, by the entry,
under Northamptonshire, of manors lying in other counties, questions
have arisen as to the identity of manors in Northamptonshire itself.
' Haselbeech,' for instance, has been strangely confused with Cold Ashby,
and Addington with Elton, as I have explained in the notes to the text
(fos. 221, 223). It was most natural that confusion should arise between
Luddington and Lutton on the eastern border of the county. ' Lidin-
tone ' and ' LuUintone ' are found close together among the Peterborough
manors in Domesday (fo. 221b) ; and Mr. Stuart Moore notes that
' there appears to be some doubt as to the proper identification of these
two places.' Not only did they both belong to Peterborough Abbey ;
their bounds actually touched. We can, however, clearly discern
that one of them had ' Lullington ' for its medieval form. Now a
perambulation of the Huntingdonshire border, executed in 1244, and
entered in the Ramsey Cartulary, shows that the vills of Winwick,
Thurning, ' Lullington,' ' Lodington^ and Elton, follow one another in this
position.^ This decisively identifies ' Lullington ' as Luddington (' in
the brook '), and ' Lodington ' as Lutton. This conclusion, moreover,
is confirmed by the ' Northamptonshire Survey,' which places ' Lil-
lington ' in Polebrook Hundred, in which Luddington is situate, while
it assigns ' Lodington ' to Willibrook Hundred, in which still is Lutton.
So unlikely, however, might this seem, that Mr. Stuart Moore adopted
the opposite identification in his edition of the local Domesday. Bridges,
however, had rightly identified the ' LuUintone ' of Domesday (the
mediaeval Lullington) with Luddington,* and its ' Lidintone ' or ' Ludi-
tone ' with Lutton.^

' See "Notei on the Oxfordshire Domesday, pp. 14, 20, where it is acutely pointed out that
the I hide, under Northants, makes, with the 4 hides in Oxfordshire, the normal 5 hides,
which group therefore must be older than the county boundary. The 5 hides entered under
Warwickshire raise the total to 10 hides.

* Domesday Studies, Staffordshire, pp. 1—6.

' Cartularium de Rameseia (Rolls Series), II. 40. Oddly enough, Mr. Kirk, in the
index, identifies both as Luddington.

^ History of Northamptonshire, II. 402.

* Ibid., p. 462. ' Luditone ' (fo. 222) was the portion of Lutton which Peterborough
Abbey had made over to Ramsey Abbey, which held the rest of the vill, as ' Lodintune,' in

271

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

This latter identification can be proved by the manorial descent. For
though Bridges could not actually connect the ' Luddington,' which the
Cromwells and Fitz Hughs shared under Henry IV. with the later
' Lutton,' it is clear that Gregory Lord Dacre, who sold his moiety of
' Lutton ' under Elizabeth, was senior co-heir of the Fitz-Hughs, while
Tateshall College, which the Cromwells endowed from their moiety
under Henry VI., is found holding lands in ' Lutton ' under Henry VIIL

As Luddington and Lutton have been confused, so have Duddington
and Denton. ' Dodintone ' is entered five times in the county Domes-
day, and two of these entries undoubtedly refer to Duddington (or
Doddington), on the Welland, in the extreme north of the county.
Bridges referred the other three to Denton, in Wymersley Hundred,
near Northampton ; and he was clearly right. For the first (fo. 222)
places it, with Whiston and Brayfield, in Wymersley Hundred ; the
second (fo. 228/^) places it in that Hundred, next to Grendon and
Whiston ; while the third (fo. 229), though the Hundred heading is
wrong, places it between Bozeat and Brayfield. Mr. Stuart Moore,
however, assigns all five entries to ' Doddington,' and, stranger still, Mr.
Kirk in his index to the Ramsey Cartulary ' identifies Denton (where
Ramsey had a manor) as Doddington, although that Cartulary actually
includes it in an 'extent' of Whiston. Lastly, one has to allow for
amazing eccentricities of spelling on the part of the Domesday scribe.
Little Billing is found, in entries close together, as ' Belinge ' and as
' Bellica ' (fo. 223), Blakesley as ' Blacheslewe,' and as ' Baculveslea,'
Braybrook as ' Bradebroc ' and ' Baiebroc,' Croughton as ' Creveltone '
and ' Cliwetone,' and so forth. Stranger still, he sometimes gave the
wrong initial letter. Draughton, for instance, occurs both as ' Drac-
tone ' and ' Bracstone ' ; Clopton as ' Clotone ' and as ' Dotone.^ There
is a parallel to this last mistake in the Domesday of Sussex, where the
scribe has similarly confused ' cl ' and ' d ' in the MS. from which he
copied. When we add to these peculiarities the fact that the 'Hundred'
headings cannot be relied upon in Northamptonshire, unless they im-
mediately precede an entry, it may be understood how difficult, and
how, at times, uncertain is the process of identifying the places to which
the Domesday entries refer.

The chief object of the Domesday Survey, that of securing an exact
record of the liability to ' geld,' better knov/n as Danegeld, has been
dealt with above, at some length, in the section devoted to assessment.

There was, however, another subject on which the king needed
information, namely, the dues payable to the Crown in what may be
termed its seigneurial capacity as distinct from the special tax styled the
' geld.' This revenue was of two kinds : there were rents to be re-
Huntingdonshire. This proves Mr. Kirk's identification of the Ramsey Abbey manor to be
erroneous.

1 Cartularium de Rameseia (Rolls Series), vol. III. (1893), p. 397.
- Both these errors were detected by Bridges (II. 28, 421).

272

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

ceived from the royal manors, whether of' ancient demesne' or acquired
since the Conquest ; and there were certain payments, more or less
archaic, often representing money commutations of some contribution
due in kind.

The most striking feature, perhaps, presented by the local manors
of ' ancient demesne ' (that is, those which had been held by the Crown
before the Conquest) is the roundness of the sums received from them.
Hardingstone, Rothwell, and Brixworth were valued at £2^ ^ Y^^^
apiece, Gretton, Tansor, and Finedon at jC^o. Fawsley, Brigstock,
Faxton, Kingsthorpj and Upton at £1^- Even in the very few cases
where the sums seem to be odd, the same system can be traced. Thus,
for instance, the adjoining manors of Nassington (>C26 1 3J.) and
Apthorpe {£1^ 7^-) constitute a joint whole paying ^(^40. From this
we may infer that Barnwell {£12 6/. 6<J.) must have had some cor-
relative, the payment from which would have similarly made its value
even money. This valuation in round sums of the old royal manors is
found in other parts of the country, and points to a primitive financial
system.^ The old rents, clearly, were revised at the time of the Domes-
day Survey, but with no definite results. Some were raised considerably,
a few lowered, and a fair number remained unchanged. In addition to
these ancient manors the forfeiture of earl Morcar had brought to the
Crown Casterton (now in Rutland), together, doubtless, with King's ClifFe
and Weekley, which had been held by his father iElfgar. The death
of Edith, Edward's queen, had increased the demesne of the king, as
her heir, by the rich manor of Finedon, and by a group of manors in
the Rutland portion of the country, which were farmed, en 6/oc, in
accordance with a practice common at the time, by a great tenant-in-
chief (in Hampshire), Hugh de Fort.^ The rental of all queen Edith's
manors had been at least doubled since king Edward's time.

Northamptonshire is one of a group of counties which present in
common a feature as yet imperfectly realised. This is the payment of
certain sums for special purposes connected with the king. At the head
of the survey of the shire we find this entry : —

Northantone scire reddit firmam trium noctium xxx. libras ad pondus. Ad
canes xlii. libras albas de xx. in ora. De dono reginae et de feno x. libras et v. oras.
De accipitre x. libras. De summario xx. solidos. De elemosina xx. solidos. De
equo venatoris xx. solidos.^

On turning to Oxfordshire, adjoining it on the south, we find a very
similar entry, beginning : ' Comitatus Oxeneford reddit firmam trium
noctium' (fo. i54<^). Each county has to pay twenty shillings for a
sumpter horse, and ^Tio for a hawk ; and each has to make a con-
tribution towards the king's hounds, though that of Oxfordshire is £2^,

' See the Commune of London and other studies, pp. 70-72 ; Feudal England, pp. 1 10— 1 15.
* Earl Morcar's manor of Casterton was similarly farmed by Hugh Fitz Baldric, a
Yorkshire tenant-in-chief.

' See Domesday text for translation and further comments.

273

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

as against £^\z from Northamptonshire. To the west of the latter
county is Warwickshire, where again we find, at the head of its survey
(fo. 238), a note of similar payments : twenty shillings for a sumpter
horse, >rio for a hawk, and ^(^23 for the hounds. It may perhaps
explain the absence of attention hitherto given to these entries that the
Index to Domesday Book is so deplorably imperfect (and, in consequence,
misleading) as to give only two references to contributions to the hounds,
although they are found in Gloucestershire and Bedfordshire, as well as
in the three above counties. In the latter, which adjoined Northamp-
tonshire on the east, three royal manors between them contributed £^\2
5J, to the hounds (fos. 209, 2091^) ; in Gloucestershire, Cheltenham and
three other of the king's manors had to supply bread for his hounds.
But hawks, as well as hounds, were needed by the king. When a thegn
died in Berkshire the hawks and hounds that had been his had to be
offered to the king ; and entries relating to these precious birds, their
nests, their eyries, and their keepers, are plentiful enough in Domesday.*
Ten pounds for a hawk, in the money of William's days, may seem an
enormous sum ; but under Worcestershire (fo. 172) we find similar pay-
ments from the shire, namely, twenty shillings for a sumpter-horse, and
^10 in cash ' or a Norway \norresc) hawk.' In the reign of Henry II.
the sheriff of Worcestershire had still to pay at the Exchequer yearly
>^I3 'for hawk and sumpter-horse.' It will be observed that Northamp-
tonshire had also to provide a huntsman's horse — or rather, its money
equivalent — and a commutation for hay. The sumpter-horse was of
great importance for a court which was ever on the move ; some half a
century after Domesday, the quaint document on the king's household
proves that even the royal ' chapel ' was packed upon his patient back.
An entry (fo. 219/^) relating to a doubtful locality, shows us an estate
which paid ten shillings a year for the rugs {feltrce) that covered them.
A great and as yet insoluble difficulty is presented by the fact
that while Northamptonshire was liable, as above, to pay annually
' three nights' ferm (that is) jCs^/ Oxfordshire paid ' three nights ferm,
that is jri5o.' It seems impossible at present to account for the
great variations in the sums representing the night's (or day's) ' ferm.'
Great groups of manors in Hampshire and the south-west paid, under
this head, over ^100 ;' on the other hand, the same due was paid by
single manors, worth, in Sussex, no more than jTao or ;C3°' while, in
Cambridgeshire, a manor could commute its liability to provide ' three
days' ferm' for ^13 Sj. \d. It is interesting however, to learn, at least,
the essential constituents of this ' ferm.' In Gloucestershire and in Cam-
bridgeshire alike they were wheat, honey, and malt (fos. i62(^, 189,
189^). Only wheat and honey are mentioned on the royal manors of
Bedfordshire (fos. 209, 20()b), but the malt, doubtless was included in

* In the famous Dialogue on the Exchequer, under Henry II., they are termed * royal birds,*
and the practice of offering them in lieu of cash is mentioned.

* The details will be found in the Introduction to the Hampshire Domesday^ in the ' Vic-
toria ' history of that county.

274

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

their ' other things appertaining to the ferm ' ; for Professor Maitland
shrinks from ' attempts to measure the flood of beer ' that our ancestors
then consumed.' In addition to these payments in kind (or their money
commutations), Northamptonshire was bound to make a yearly gift to
the queen of (apparently) £^.^ Those of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire,
and Worcestershire were ^5 each. In Bedfordshire a different system
prevailed ; from three royal manors the queen received in all eight
' ounces of gold ' (nearly jCs)- To the interesting subject of ' the queen's
gold ' a chapter is devoted by the author of the Dialogue on the Ex-
chequer, but when he wrote (under Henry II.) the amount that she could
claim on payments to the King was still under discussion.

It must be remembered that not only the queen, but the king also
received money from these counties, as well as his wheat and honey and
other payments in kind. As it is now the fashion to detect archaic
survivals in nursery rhymes, one may perhaps be permitted to suggest
that we obtain a glimpse of that royal household to which these Domes-
day entries relate in those venerable and familiar lines : —

The king was in the parlour,

Counting out his money ;
The queen was in her closet.

Eating bread and honey. '

What the money was which the king (or his agents) counted is by
no means a simple question. The payments were made in silver pennies
{denarii) ; but these might be reckoned ' by tale ' simply, or might be
due on the basis of twenty pence to the ounce, or again, as with the
sum due from the county at large, might be payable in ' assayed {blancas)
pounds of twenty pence to the ounce,' or, lastly, as at Finedon, ' weighed
pounds of twenty pence to the ounce.' The chaos of systems prevaihng
at the Treasury was simplified under Henry I., and it may not, even
under William, have been as bad as it seems, for the Domesday scribes
had a habit, most misleading to the student, not only of using alternative
phrases, but also of omitting at times as surplusage the qualifying phrases
they added at others.

The revenue derived by the Crown from Northamptonshire was
swelled by sundry items. Prominent among these were the profits of
jurisdiction, or, as it was termed, ' soc ' {socd). Both ' soc ' and ' soch-
men ' are of frequent occurrence in the Domesday Survey of the shire,
but the meaning of these terms is too vague, and the whole subject too
technical for discussion here. The latest and most authoritative study is
that of Professor Maitland, to which the reader is referred.* It is, how-
ever, of great importance and of much local interest to observe that
Northamptonshire, in Domesday, is distinguished from the counties

' Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 438, 441.

» Domesday combines this ' gift ' with the payment due for hay, but the latter is entered
separately under Wiltshire (fo. 64A), and its deduction would leave £S-

' Mr. Stevenson, however, thinks that the honey may have been used for makmg mead.
* Domisday Book and Beyond, pp. 66-79 ('The sokemen '), 80-107 ('Sake and Soke').

275

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

round it (Leicestershire excepted) by the large number of its sochmanni.
This fact is best brought out in Mr. Seebohm's work, The English Village
Community} It is there seen that, while in Northamptonshire the pro-
portion of ' sochmanni ' was 1 3 per cent, of the population, it was only
I per cent, in Huntingdonshire, 3 per cent, in Bedfordshire, and ^ per
cent, in Bucks. In Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, where free men
(' liberi homines ') are found instead of ' sochmanni,' the proportion is
only ^ and ^ per cent. There remains the intensely ' Danish ' Leicester-
shire, where the proportion is more than twice as high as in Northants,
namely 28 per cent. It is clearly seen, in Mr. Seebohm's maps, that
these ' sochmanni ' were, as he asserts, the class characteristic of the
' Danish ' district of England, so that we have here further evidence of
that ' Danish ' settlement and influence in the shire of which I claimed
to find traces in the assessment of its northern portion.* Although
certain dues, which varied in amount and in character, were derived from
these ' sochmanni ' by those who had rights over them, they admittedly
held a higher and a freer position than the ' villeins.'

The consideration of ' soc ' and ' sochmen ' has somewhat drawn us
away from the subject of the Crown and its revenue. We have yet to
deal with Northampton itself and the rights which the king had there.
So far as the ' geld,' or land tax was concerned, I have argued, on the
evidence of the local ' geld-roU,* that the borough was assessed, in the
Hundred of Spelho, at 25 'hides,'^ as were Bath and Shaftesbury at 20,
Chester and Huntingdon at 50.* But the king drew from the boroughs
a revenue, as distinct from the tax. This revenue was derived partly
from dues, such as the profits of jurisdiction, and tolls, partly from those
houses which lay in his ' demesne ' ; for a borough, like a rural manor,
consisted of two portions — the demesne, here in the king's lands, and the
houses held by private persons, mainly tenants-in-chief. At Northamp-
ton, the sixty burgesses' houses which king Edward had held in his
demesne had suffered some diminution by ' waste,' but a ' new borough,'
such as arose in several towns under the Conqueror, already contained
forty burgesses as an addition to the king's ' demesne.' The three great
tenants-in-chief of the county held between them ninety-two houses, a
hint, surely, that these houses were appurtenant, as was so often the case,
to their rural manors. This conclusion is confirmed by a study of the
other names of those who held houses in the town, most of whom will
be recognised as holders of manors in the shire. The number of houses
entered, in all, seems to be about 316. This total is rather smaller, it
seems, than that of the houses at Leicester, but exceeds the total at War-
wick. In annual value, the houses varied from threepence to sixteen-
pence ; but a shilling was about the typical value. The actual letting
value, however, may have been greater. The disproportion between
the nominal values, then and now, of property is greater perhaps

* See pp. 86-89, ^"'^ ^^^ maps there given by Mr. Seebohm.

* See p. 268 above.

' *Fif and xx. hida byrigland.' * Feudal England, p. 156.

276

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

in the case of houses than in that of rural manors ; but the primitive
simplicity of the former at the time has to be borne in mind. In the
case of one holding we can make an interesting comparison. Domesday
assigns to the abbot of Peterborough, in 1086, 15 houses, worth 14J. 8^.
a year, besides two which were 'waste.' Forty years later (i 1 25-1 128),
the Peterborough Liber Niger gives the details of this holding. The
abbot, it says, has in Northampton fourteen tenants, besides two houses
which are empty. Twelve of these tenants pay him sixteenpence yearly
(a sum of frequent occurrence), one eightpence only, because he acts as
' beadle to the others,' and the remaining tenant, Warin Mansel, 32 pence.'
The total rental then, therefore, was i ()s. \d., an increase since Domesday.
Professor Maitland attaches some importance to the fact that ' (the)
burgesses of Northampton ' are entered as paying ^^o \os. a year to the
sheriff, which sum 'belonged to his ferm ' {Jirmam). For it bears on
the question of collective liability, which implies some kind of com-
munal action : —

' It certainly seems to tell us of a composition, not indeed between the burgesses
and the king, but between the burgesses and the sheriflF. . . . We may believe
that " the burgesses " who pay this sum have a chance of making a profit. If so " the
burgesses" are already beginning to farm the borough.' . . . ' If the burgesses make
profit out of tolls and fines, . . . they may divide the surplus every year, or we
may suspect them of drinking the profits as soon as they are made.' *

Northampton had to wait a century longer before it was allowed to
' farm ' the borough direct from the Crown, instead of through the
sheriff; and it only obtained the privilege then (1185) by paying for
it 200 marcs (>Ci33 6j. 8d'.), and by submitting to have its annual ren-
der raised from >Ci°o to X^i20. Other boroughs had a similar experi-
ence. The Domesday payment of ^31 10/. had been raised to >C^°*^
even in the days of Henry I. It is taken for granted by Professor Mait-
land that the sheriff, in 1086, was already 'liable to the king for a round
sum as the farm of the shire,' which was tht Jirma spoken of in the
above Northampton entry. This, no doubt, is the natural inference, but
the fact that counties were farmed as a whole even at the time of the
survey must not be taken for granted, although it is is highly probable.'

One of the most difficult questions raised by the Domesday Survey
of the shire is the nature and locality of that ' Portland ' which is entered
immediately after Casterton on fo. 219*^. It appears to have baffled
previous students, although they assumed that the entry must refer to
Northamptonshire.* It speaks of ' the other issues of the borough,' and

' See Chronicon Petroburgeme (Camden Soc.), p. 166.

* Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 204, 2o8.

' See my Commune of London and other studies, pp. 72—3.

* Sir Henry Ellis placed * Portland in Northamptonshire ' {Introduction to Domesday, I.
263). Mr. Stuart Moore wrote : ' The king's demesne of Portland I can nowhere trace, but
from the reference to the churches of St. Peter's and All Saints, it is possible that it had some
connection with the town of Northampton, and was probably attached to the castle. This,
however, is mere conjecture ' (p. vii.). In The Records of the Borough of Northampton (1898)

277

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

yet that borough can hardly be Northampton, of which the survey is
separate and complete (fo. 219). If the 'port,' from which 'Portland'
was named,' had indeed been Northampton, the entry should clearly
have been found in the survey of that town. So far back, I discovered,
as the beginning of the last century, this difficulty had been felt by Mr.
Morton, who first printed the Northamptonshire Domesday. In his un-
published notes thereon * he ingeniously suggested that, as following
Casterton, this entry might refer, not to Northampton, but to Stamford ;
and he induced Peck, in his Annals of Stamford to adopt this view.
Unfortunately, neither of these writers tried to identify at Stamford any
locality of the name ; and, by ill luck, the churches named (All Saints'
and St. Peter's) are found both at Stamford and at Northampton. It seems
to be clear that no ' portland ' has been met with hitherto at Northamp-
ton, but I have also searched the histories of Stamford in vain for such a
name.^ The difficulty is greatly increased by the fact that Stamford
stood in three counties, and that its Rutland portion was then in North-
amptonshire. We shall see below that its own survey includes a piece
of Northamptonshire supposed to have been unsurveyed.*

The only suggestion one can offer is that, as this ' Portland ' is
measured in ' carucates ' {carucatas), it would probably be found in that
' Danish ' district where land was so measured. Now when we turn to
the survey of the Lincolnshire boroughs in Domesday (fos. 336—7), we
find ' carucates ' of land mentioned under Lincoln, Stamford, and Tork-
sey. Moreover, under Lincoln we actually find one carucate belonging
to a church of All Saints and half a carucate to St. Mary's (now the
cathedral) in like fashion as with ' Portland.' ° It would seem, there-
fore, most probable that the ' Portland ' of which we are in search was
not connected with Northampton, but was a portion of Stamford field
appurtenant to the king's manor of Casterton, and carrying with it cer-
tain dues from Stamford town.

Leaving now the Crown revenues and the survey of Northampton
itself, let us turn to the rural districts, with their primitive agriculture,
their struggling industries, and their great tracts of woodland.

As we might expect, the proportion of ' serfs,' ^ which is highest in
the west and south-west of England, is lower in Northamptonshire (ten
per cent.) than in the counties to its west and south, where it ranges
from thirteen to fifteen per cent., though it is substantially higher than

we read that ' It is not known where the demenses of Portland were situated, but they were
probably part of the adjoining meadows' (I. 7). Dr. Cox, who edited Vol. II., succeeded in
identifying a 'Port meadow' (pp. 164, 166) and has shown its position on his map.

* Port-reeve, Port-way, Port-soken, and the well-known Port-meadow at Oxford were
similarly derived from ' port,' a market-town.

2 Add. MS. 3560 (Brit. Mus.) fos. 159-165.

^ Blore's Rutland, under Casterton, gives no assistance ; nor can I find this ' portland '
mentioned either in the Hundred Rolls or in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II.

* See p. 285.

^ ' Quarta carucata adjacuit in zecclesia omnium sanctorum. . . . Residuam dimi-
diam carucatam terrae habuit et habet Sancta Maria de LLncolia.*

* See Mr. Seebohm's English Village Community.

278

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

in Leicestershire, where it is only six per cent., and here again we are
reminded that our shire occupies a border position on the edge of the
' Danish ' district. It is, however, of more importance, perhaps, to
observe that Domesday, in this county, associates the serfs closely, in its
entries, with the lord's demesne, giving us thereby a clear hint as to their
sphere of labour. It was pointed out by Ellis as a peculiarity of North-
amptonshire that its survey ' appears to class the priest with the villeins
and bordarii ' (the class below the villeins) ; but to this I do not attach
much importance. Some light is thrown on the rural economy of the
shire and on its agricultural classes by the valuable ' Liber Niger ' of
Peterborough, which is about forty years later than the Domesday Survey.^
Prominent in that record are the ' full ' villeins holding a ' virgate ' (or
yardland) each, and the ' half villeins with half a virgate. These tenants
were bound to perform certain work on the lord's demesne in addition to
the payments due from them in money or in kind. It is notable that
at South Luifenham and Kelthorpe, in the Rutland portion of the shire,
Domesday specifies that this labour was not limited, but was to be such
as the reeve commanded.*

Ironworks or forges are mentioned at Gretton and Corby, and
' smiths ' at Towcester and Green's Norton. For these the forests of the
shire would provide abundant fuel. Markets are mentioned at Oundle
and at Higham (Ferrers), the former being valued at twenty-five shillings
a year, and the latter at twenty. The ' forum ' also at King's Sutton,
entered as worth twenty shillings, was doubtless a market. The ' money-
changers ' of the market at Oundle and the payments due from them to the
abbot are mentioned some forty years later in the Peterborough ' Liber
Niger.' Quarries, which are mentioned in Sussex and Surrey, are not
spoken of in Northamptonshire ; but this is no proof that they did not
then exist there.

In addition to their value for fuel, for fences, and for building pur-
poses, the forests contributed so largely to the wealth of the rural district
by the sustenance their ' pannage ' afforded to great herds of swine, that
their extent, in some counties, was reckoned on the basis of their swine.

Apart from the forests of Rockingham and Whittlebury — the influ-
ence of which on the settlement of the shire is suggested by the Domes-
day map — Northamptonshire was rich in woodland. Although on those
manors where the woodland was of small extent we find it measured in
' acres,' its usual mensuration is of a complicated character. Mr. Eyton,
in his essay on the Dorset Domesday, discussed the peculiar measures
employed for the purpose by the survey in Dorset as in Northampton-
shire.' In the latter county woodland was measured by perches, furlongs
{quarentena), and leagues {leucce). It is of some importance to determine
the meaning of these words, in order to form an approximate conception
of the extent of woodland existing in 1086. Perches and furlongs speak

' It was printed by the Camden Society as an appendix to the Chronicon Petrohurgense.
' ' Homines operantur opera Regis quas praepositus jusserit' {D. B., fo. 219).
' The Dorset Survey (1878), pp. 24-35, 57 et seq.

279

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

for themselves, the latter being (as their name implies) forty times as
long as the former ; but the 'leagues' present difficulty. Mr. Eyton/
who evidently wrote under the influence of Ellis/ relied on a statement
in the 'Ingulf forgery, which the latter had accepted as 'good
authority,' and arrived at the conclusion that the ' leuca ' was a mile and a
half, that is, twelve ' quarentens,' or 2,640 yards. The ultimate authority
for this reckoning seems to be a Battle Abbey Register, where it is
stated that the leuca contains 12 quarentines, and the quarentine 40
perches.' Mr. Stuart Moore, however, has cited another record in
which the proportions are the same.^

When we come to apply this reckoning in practice to Northampton-
shire, certain questions present themselves. If a wood is said to measure
so many perches, or even furlongs, in length, and so many more in
width, we may look on the figures as possibly and even probably correct.
But what are we to say to such figures as these for the Peterborough
manors of Werrington and Oundle (fo. 221) .? The woodland of the
former manor measures two ' leagues ' by one ; of the latter, three
'leagues 'by two! This would give, on Mr. Eyton's system, 2,880
acres of woodland to Werrington, and 8,640 acres to Oundle. But in
1535 the abbey had only 15^ acres and 208 acres of woodland in these
two manors respectively.' Allowing even for the clearances of four
and a half centuries, these figures make one sceptical. The two royal
manors of Gretton and Corby, which are entered together in the survey
(fo. 219^) are, of course, in a forest district, and there is nothing in-
herently suspicious in the measurements of their woodland. At Gretton
they are one ' league ' by half a ' league,' and at Corby eighteen fur-
longs by four, figures which according to Mr. Eyton would represent
720 acres in both cases. But is it not obvious that measurements in
which a ' league ' is a unit are of the crudest character t They cannot,
in fact, represent actual measurements at all. When, on the other hand,
we meet with such measurements as these, we must almost infer that a
rod was used.

furlongs.

perches.

Horn (fo. 220) .

Potterspury (fo. 225) .

Barby (fo. 226)

Paulerspury (fo. 226) .

In Cleyley Hund. (fo.

226^)

Astwell (fo. 227)

Empingham (fo. 227^)

Newton (fo. 227*)

Roade (fo. 22 7*)

furlongs.

perches,
17

)»

But even in these cases the figures on the whole suggest that the

* The Dorset Survey, pp. 25-26. * Introduction to Domesday, I. 159-160.
' Monasticon AngUcanum, III. 241.

* MS. Lansdown 761, fo. 69A. Document relating to * Herleston' (see his Northamptonshire
Domesday, p. 89).

* Bridges' Northamptonshire, II. 405, 537.

280

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

eye rather than the hand had measured them. Where, as at Braunstone
(fo. 226) we read of 'one acre' of wood, we may suppose that it was
kept up for the requirements of the manor. It is very singular that, in
this instance, we find the manor, when held by the Ros family, more
than four centuries after Domesday, similarly returned as containing ' one
acre of wood.' '

Another point which has to be considered is the size of the perch
employed. As Ellis observed, ' a larger perch than that fixed by the
Statute of Measures is still in use for woodland ' ; ' and there is some
evidence to show that this perch, in mediaeval England, was twenty feet
in length. Such a perch, for instance, is mentioned in a grant to
Grosmont Priory, temp. John, in Eskdale forest, Yorkshire,' and again
in an Ivichurch charter, temp. Edward II. in Clarendon forest,* as also
in a grant to Brinkburne Priory of land in ' Evenewode.' * Agard too
speaks of this perch of twenty feet. Therefore, when king John, in
1203, granted, in Northamptonshire, to the monks of Bee forty-eight
acres ' of the new clearing according to his perch ' {ad perticam nostrum) '
quit of essarts, he probably referred to a standard perch as distinct from
that in use for woodland.

But, apart from that increase of twenty per cent, in the Domesday
measurements which would be involved by the use of a twenty foot
perch, it is surely out of the question to assume that, at the time of
Domesday, the woodland was either in rectangular blocks or was re-
duced, on paper, by elaborate calculations, to their equivalent ; yet this
assumption, it will be found, is involved in Mr. Eyton's calculations.
In Lincolnshire we find similar measurements, even where the woodland
is distinctly stated to be scattered (fier loco) over the estate. We must
therefore conclude that, in those cases where the Domesday measurements
are large, it is not possible to reduce them to any definite number of
acres ; but, broadly speaking, there was a marked difference in 1086, as
there is at the present time, in the distribution of forest land in the
county. And although in such a case as that of Oundle we must not
accept literally the Domesday measures, we may fairly infer that the
process of clearing — or as it was termed ' essarting ' — was carried on
extensively during the Middle Ages.'

After surveying the manors held, at the time of its compilation,
by the Crown, Domesday gives us, in their order, the tenants-in-chief
(that is to say those who held directly from the Crown) with the lands
they severally held. First come the church dignitaries, bishops and so
forth, whether holding in their private capacity or as the official tenants
of church lands. These are followed by the lay holders, headed by the

* Bridges' Northamptonshire., I. 29. ' Introduction to Domesday, I. 159.

» Monasticon AngUcanum, VI. 1025. * Ibid., VI. 417. * Ihid., VI. 332.

* loth Report Historical Report MSS. Commission, I. 352.

'' It might, of course, be urged that so great a tract of woodland as Domesday here
suggests was largely or partially detached and at a distance from the manor. But although,
in some counties, there are traces of such a system, I do not find it in Northamptonshire.

281

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

earls. Last of all, in most cases, we find the small folk, divided into
Normans who held by serjeanty and Englishmen styled ' the King's
thegns.' In Northamptonshire these last classes are not specially dis-
tinguished, being, we shall find, very limited.

The lands in the hands of churchmen may at once be broadly
divided into two great classes. There were the old endowments of the
religious houses which, in theory at least, they continued to hold as
before the Conquest ; and there were the lands which, under the Con-
fessor, had been held by English laymen, but which the Conqueror had
bestowed on churchmen, such as his half-brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux,
or his follower and trusted officer Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, or had
given to religious houses, English or Norman. In Northamptonshire
the second of these classes was very largely represented. Of parochial
endowments in this county there is a singular absence of mention.

Of the ancient possessions of the church, the bulk belonged to
Peterborough abbey ; indeed, the rest were insignificant as compared
with the lands of ' the Golden Borough.' But their condition, as
revealed in Domesday Book, raises questions of some importance in the
history of the Norman Conquest. The manors which in this county
the abbey retained in demesne had risen, in 1086, to the total value of
j(^io4 1 3J. 4^'., their value at some previous period, which must be
assumed to be the eve of the Conquest, being reckoned as only ^(^30 ijs.
But the rise in value was very unequal ; for, while Kettering had only
risen from £\o to £11, Oundle and Warmington had both risen to >ri i
from five shillings.

From the figures given it is clear, at least, that some of the abbey's
manors had been absolutely laid waste at the earlier period spoken of.
Assuming this to be the close of Edward the Confessor's reign, I have
connected the devastation of which the traces are thus preserved with
the ravages in this county described by the English Chronicle in 1065.*
And this conclusion seems to be supported by the fact that in other
counties such as Huntingdonshire, the value of the abbey's lands changed
little if at all, while in Lincolnshire their tendency on the whole was, it
seems, to a decrease. For, if the abbey's manors had been ' wasted ' under
the Conqueror, we should expect to find the process more general.
Otherwise it might have been supposed that, in this devastation of its
lands, the abbey had paid the penalty of its guilt in William's eyes, a
guilt incurred since Edward's death in more ways than one. Leofric, its
patriotic abbot, had fallen at the battle of Hastings, and when Brand, his
elected successor, accepted investiture at the hands of the English /Ethe-
ling Eadgar, ' King William,' says the Chronicle, ' was very wroth, and
said that the abbot had done despite to him. But " gode men " went

' See p. 263 above. It must be remembered that the Peterborough Chronicle, being
composed locally, might be influenced by the losses of its own abbey in its highly-coloured
account of these ravages, as (I have suggested in my Geoffrey de MandevilW) may have been
the case with its picture of the anarchy under Stephen. The other version, however, of the
Chronicle also records the ravages of 1065.

282

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

between them, and reconciled them, because that the abbot was a good
man ; and then he gave the king forty marcs of gold [>r24o] for recon-
ciliation.' Mr. Freeman assigned this event to the very beginning
of William's reign, and his charter confirming the abbey in its
possessions ' at the request of abbot Brand,' which I have been for-
tunate enough to identify, confirms, by the names of its wit-
nesses, Mr. Freeman's conclusion.^ Since then much had happened.
In 1069 abbot Brand died, and William seized the opportunity of ap-
pointing a warrior monk from Fecamp, Turold by name, to guard the
abbey from a threatened attack by Hereward and his outlaws in the fens.
' By the splendour of God,' the king exclaimed, ' as he is more of a
soldier than a monk, I shall place him where he will find his match ;
he can there prove his valour in the fight.' Turold hastened to ' the
Golden Borough ' with ' ealle his Frencisce menn.' His arrival at
Stamford was the signal for a dash by Hereward ' and his gang.' The
bewildered monks were scattered to the winds, and the English outlaws,
with their Danish allies, looted and wrecked the minster, and hurried
back with priceless treasure of sacred objects and 'red gold.'*

With a hundred and sixty ' French ' warriors, Turold reached his
abbey, only to find it a blackened ruin, silent and abandoned. Its in-
mates, of course, had to be recalled, its buildings replaced, its services
restored ; but, over and above all this, the ' Frencisce menn ' had to be
provided for ; the knights who had come with abbot Turold had come
to stay. When the Conqueror fixed the military quotas to be provided
by the bishops and abbots, he made Peterborough Abbey liable to find
sixty knights, a total equalled only by those of three bishop's sees and
exceeded by none.' In this, I think, we see that his hand lay heavy on
the house. Even Turold, though glad to provide for his own friends and
followers, would have no wish to impoverish his abbey by quartering on
its lands the king's knights.

The enfeoffment of military tenants on the lands of the religious
houses was a constant grievance with the latter in the days of the Nor-
man Conquest. In Northamptonshire we find it well illustrated on the
manors of Peterborough Abbey. The whole of those on which knights
had been enfeoffed, to discharge the military service of the house, are
entered together in Domesday under a separate heading (fo. 2211^) ; and
Peterborough records enable us to identify their holders and the service
they performed. Anschitil de St. Medard, for instance, had received a
fee which, although entered as ' Witheringham ' (Wittering) only in
Domesday, extended right across the neck of the county, from Easton,
on the Welland, to Wansford, on the Nene, with an outlying portion

' See my Commune of London and other studies, pp. 29-30.

* See further, for all this, Freeman's Norman Conquest, IV. (1871), 56, 335, 457-461.

' See my Feudal England, p. 278. According to the abbot's carta in 1 166, no fewer
than 63I knight's fees had been carved out of the abbey's estates by 1135 (for these were
all of ' the old feoffment ').

283

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

at Elton. For this he owed the abbey the service of four knights/
King William, to oblige his dapifer Eudes, son of Hubert de Ryes, sent
over a writ from Normandy, commanding that Eudes should be given
the Easton portion of this fief, and that the abbot should assign to
Anschitil an equivalent estate somewhere else." This the abbot declined
to do ; but Eudes secured the Easton property, which is entered in
Domesday under his fief, though with the note that ' the land belongs
to Peterborough Abbey ' (fo. 227). Another instance of arbitrary action,
on king William's part, is afforded by the entry under Aldwincle St.
Peter's, that ' this land in king Edward's time belonged to the suste-
nance of the monks ; Perron holds it, by the king's command, against
the will of the abbot' (fo. 222). In Wiltshire, similarly, a tenant on
the episcopal manor of Potterne ' is a knight by the king's command '
(fo. 66) ; and in Cambridgeshire, Picot is found holding land of the
abbot of Ely 'by the king's command' (fos. 191, 200). In North-
amptonshire again, Pytchley, which under Edward had been assigned
to the sustenance of the monks, was held of the abbot by Azo (fo. 222).
Thirty years later, however, both manors were held once more by Peter-
borough Abbey in demesne ; ' Pytchley had been regained on the death
of Geoffrey Ridel (i 120),* but the early history of Aldwincle St. Peter's
seems to be obscure, as the Watervilles, who held so much from the
abbey, are found in possession of the manor.'

The case of Isham is of another kind. It is the first manor entered
(fo. 228) on the fief of Eustace (sheriff of Huntingdonshire) ; but the
entry ends with the note that Eustace has seized it by force from Ramsey
Abbey. Within nine years of Domesday we find a writ from William
Rufus' directing William de Cahagnes — clearly as being the sheriff — to
convene the county (court) of Northamptonshire and take its decision
whether ' the land of Hisham ' had ' rendered ferm ' to Ramsey Abbey
in the days of the Conqueror, in which case it was to be (again placed)
in the abbot's demesne.' But if it was pronounced to have been then
' teinland,' its holder was to hold it of the abbot.® Should he decline
to do so, the abbot was to have it in demesne. This writ should be
compared with one of the Conqueror himself in favour of Ely Abbey,*"
similarly directing that county courts should decide the question, — was
it 'demesne or teinland ' in 1066 ? The effect of that decision was to
be the same as in the Isham case above. ' Teinland ' was that portion of
an abbey's possessions which was not in demesne, but was held of it by
thegns, or, in Norman times, by knights.

* And two more for Osgodby, which he held of it in Lincolnshire.

2 Chronkon Petroburgeme, p. 1 68. ^ Ibid., pp. 1 6 1, 1 66.

* Bridges' Northamptonshire, II. 1 2 1-2. * Ibid., p. 209.
^ Ramsey Cartulary (Rolls Series), I. 223-4.

' As, we have seen, was Pytchley in that of Peterborough Abbey.

* Which he is not entered as doing in Domesday.

^ The editor has read ' voluerit ' in error for ' noluerit.'
*" Inquisitio comitatus Cantabrigiensis, p. xviii.

284

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

It was the custom to provide quarters close to a religious house for
the knights who owed it service. Such quarters are mentioned in Domes-
day at Westminster and at Bury St. Edmund's.' At Evesham, also, the
knight's quarters were so close to the abbey as to cramp it. Although
we do not find them till some forty years later at Peterborough,* it is
probable that some already existed even at the time of Domesday.

It was alleged by Bridges, of Stamford ' Baron ' (or ' St. Martin's '),
that 'There is no mention of Stamford in Domesday Book." But this
was an error. That interesting possession of Peterborough Abbey is
entered under Stamford (Lincolnshire). We there read that, of its six
wards, the sixth lay in Northamptonshire [Hantunescyre), and the abbot
of Peterborough ' had and has ' its gafol and toll (fo. 3361^). Forty years
later the abbot had on this land fifty-nine tenants and fifteen ' Undersetes,'
distinct, as in Domesday, from his tenants in the Lincolnshire portion of
Stamford.* And sixty years after Domesday, Pope Eugenius confirmed
to him the dwellings of these fifty-nine tenants, with the toll and the
other appurtenances.

Of the other religious houses holding land in the shire, Westminster
Abbey retained its two small estates, while that of Bury St. Edmund's
had increased its possessions. Warkton, which had belonged to /Elfgifu,
wife of earl iElfgar and mother of earl Morcar, had been given to the
abbey by queen Matilda, after whose death king William had added earl
./Elfgar's lands in Scaldwell. Possessions of the earl at Boughton and
East Farndon had also been acquired by the abbey.

The most difficult question connected with the lands of the religious
houses is that raised by the entry of Badby among the manors of Crow-
land Abbey. Unaware, at the time they wrote, that the chronicle assigned
to ' Ingulph ' (abbot of Crowland) was a forgery, the historians of North-
amptonshire accepted, and repeated without question, its statements con-
cerning this manor, which, it alleged, had been given to Crowland so far
back as the year 833.^ The manor, however, is subsequently found in
the hands of Evesham Abbey, and this had to be accounted for. Ingulfs
story, is that about 1006 a lease of the manor of Badby for 100 years
was given to Norman, brother to earl Leofric, at a peppercorn rent, to
secure his protection. On his death, the manor, it was alleged, passed
to his brother the earl [temp. Canute), and by the earl, at the prayer of
his confessor Avicius, prior of Evesham, it was bestowed on Evesham
Abbey, which declined to give it up. In Domesday, however, as the
writer insists, the manor was entered as belonging to Crowland, apparently
(according to his own story) in consequence of his proving its right to
it before the king.' His so-called continuator, ' Peter of Blois,' has a
long story about the manor, in which he makes the holy hermit Wulfsige

' xxxiiii. milites inter francos et anglicos ' (II. 372).

' Milites Abbatis habent xviii. hospicia in burgo ' (Peterborough, Liber Niger).
' History of Northamptonshire, II. 578. * Chronicon Petrohurgtrise, pp. 165—6.

Bridges' Northamptonshire, I. 19-20 ; Baker's Northamptonshire, I. 253-255.
Ed. Gale, pp. 57, 85.

285

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

give Badby at his death to Evesham, he having inherited the remainder
of the lease. On the expiry of the lease, he tells us, the abbot of Crow-
land (i 1 09- 1 124) claimed the manor from Evesham, and urged the
Domesday entry in support of his suit. But, continues the writer, the
abbot of Evesham, Reginald, was a nephew of Milo, earl of Hereford,
who gave him his support. Abbot Reginald insisted that his house had
been given the manor by Avicius the prior and by ' Wulsi ' the hermit,
whose patrimony it had long been. The support of so powerful a man
as earl Milo of Hereford made resistance useless, and the abbot of Crow-
land returned to his house unsuccessful in his claim.'

Unluckily for this story, there were only twenty years of the lease
to run in 1086, according to ' Ingulph,' and abbot Reginald was not
appointed till i 122 ; ^ while earl Miles of Hereford, his ' uncle,' did not
obtain that dignity till 1141. On the other hand, the Evesham story
was that Badby was given to the abbey by Canute in 1018, and after-
wards ' restored ' by prior Avitius and ' the blessed Wlsi ' as of their
inheritance.' This ' Wlsi ' appears to have died under William Rufus.*
Canute's charter was printed by Kemble, who did not throw any doubt
on its authenticity. ** But this charter dates itself as granted in 1020, and
it does not profess to give, but only to ' concede ' the manor." Its con-
tents certainly are more consistent with a confirmation by Canute of a
gift by ' Avicius ' than with the subsequent detention and final restora-
tion of the manor by Avicius. Evesham documents themselves are not
above suspicion, and in the absence of any real evidence, one can only
conjecture that the Domesday entry may have been due to Wulfsige
being connected with Crowland in 1086.

No Norman religious house is found, in Northamptonshire, ' hold-
ing in chief,' save that abbey of Grestain on which the count of Mortain
had bestowed endowments in several counties. As he held here so many
manors, it is probable that in this county also the abbey owed its posses-
sions to his favour. Indeed, as I have elsewhere shown, it obtained
Harrington, at least, from his wife Maud, to whom it had been given
by her father, earl Roger de Montgomery.' The countess Judith had
given to the Norman abbey of St. Wandrille, which enjoyed the duke's
favour, an estate at Boughton 'by the king's leave' (fo. 229) ; but the
abbey is not entered as a tenant in chief. On the Norman abbey of St.

* Ed. Gale, pp. 123-125. ^ Chron. Evesham, p. g8. It may even have been as late as 1 130.
^ ' Iste prior quasi ex paterna hereditate duas villas Baddebi et Neueham huic sanctse

ecclesiae reddidit. Hoc idem fecit postea beatus Wlsius quum parentes sui easdem villas
iterum injuste occupassent ; de una enim erant parentela. — Ihid., p. 83.

* Il>'d., p. 394.

* Codex Diplomaticus, VI. 178, from Harl. MS., 3763 (in which I have verified the
readings). Mr. Stevenson tells me that he thinks it is forged on the basis of the genuine
charter in Cod. Dip., IV. i8 (Brit. Mus. Facsimiles, IV. 16), granting to 'j^uic' five hides
at ' Niweham.'

'' ' Ob beneficium et reverentiam nostri dilectissimi monachi nomine Euich, aecclesiae
in Eovesham iiii."'' mansas in Badebi et in Newaeham in aeterna concedimus
hxreditate.' Euich (Evich) is Avicius. ' Feudal England, p. 104.

386

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

Pierre-sur-Dive, Gilbert of Ghent had similarly bestowed a small estate
at Easton ; but this also was entered under his own fief.

In the absence of other foreign monasteries, we may note the appear-
ance of a foreign monk, Benedict, formerly of Auxerre, who, as abbot
of the newly-founded Benedictine abbey of Selby, is entered in Domes-
day as holding two houses in Northampton and land at Stanford.

Stanford (on Avon) supplies an example of a lordship formed before
the Conquest passing down for centuries. Leofric had ' held freely,'
in the days of Edward the Confessor, not only Stanford in Northamp-
tonshire (fo. 226b), but two manors in Leicestershire, which 'belonged
to Stanford ' (fo. 235). From Guy de Renbudcurt, his Norman successor,
Benedict abbot of Selby acquired all three ; and with Selby Abbey these
manors remained till the Dissolution, after which they were held, still
together, by the family of Cave. It is particularly interesting to note
that Benedict, according to Domesday, ' bought ' Stanford of Guy,
though the charters represent Guy as ' giving ' the manor to the abbey.'
There is reason to believe that there were other cases of the same kind.

None of the bishops mentioned in Northamptonshire was holding
land derived from his predecessors, a fact which emphasises the small
proportion of the land in this county that was held by churchmen before
the Conquest. Of these prelates, who were all Normans, the bishop of
the diocese, Remi of Lincoln, had been given the lands of a Lincoln-
shire thegn, Bardi, whose chief holding was at Sleaford (fo. 344*^), but
who also held a manor in Leicestershire (fo. 231) and land in North-
amptonshire and Rutland (fo. 221). Hollowell, which the bishop of
Lincoln thus obtained in our county, passed to his successors in the see.

Intermediate between the church lands and those of the lay tenants
in chief are the fiefs held in their personal capacity by Odo, bishop of
Bayeux, and Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances.

The great fief of the latter prelate, a trusted officer of the king,
enables us to catch glimpses of an English landowner and his son. A
namesake of the last king of Mercia, he appears in Domesday as Borgeret,
Borgret, Borred, Borret, Burgret, Burred, or Burret, holding lands not only
in Northamptonshire, but in Bedfordshire and Bucks as well. In one place
(fo. 210) he is styled ' a thegn of King Edward,' but he himself is entered,
in Bucks, as having ' thegns ' under him. Eadwine, his son, who also
(fo. 145) is styled ' a thegn of King Edward,' had held some Oxfordshire
manors, which are entered under Northamptonshire (fo. 221), and is also
doubtless the ' Edwinus ' who had held Harrowden Magna in the latter
county (fo. 220b). All the lands of the father and the son had passed to
the bishop of Coutances, who accordingly claimed, as Burred's successor,
the ' homage ' of William Peverel's sochmen at Rushden, Irchester, and
Raunds (fo. 225^^), together with some land at Piddington which had
been held by * two "men" of Burred' (fo. 229). As the bishop had

* See Monasticon, III. 499, and the royal charters of confirmation in Coucher Book of Selby

Abbev, vol. I.

287

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

received his great possessions in this and other counties, not in his epis-
copal, but in his personal capacity, they passed, it seems, to his brother's
son, Robert de Mowbray, as his secular heir. In any case they escheated
to the Crown under William Rufus, whether on the forfeiture of the uncle
or of the nephew for rebellion. As some of them afterwards formed part
of the great ' Honour of Gloucester,' it has been presumed that William
Rufus bestowed them on Robert Fitz Hamon, who stood high in his
favour, and whose daughter and heir married Robert first earl of
Gloucester.

Of the lay fiefs the greatest by far was that of the count of Mortain,
whose widespread lands will be found marked on the Domesday map.
It is a peculiarity of the vast estates held by this half-brother of the
Conqueror that — as with those of the bishop of Bayeux, William's other
half-brother — Domesday has a tendency to group them, in each county,
under the names of the under-tenants, who were themselves as richly
endowed as many an ordinary tenant in chief. Thus, for instance,
William ' de Cahainges,' who held only a single hide in this county as
tenant-in-chief (fo. 2251^), is found as a tenant of the count of Mortain
in no fewer than twenty-five consecutive entries (fo. 223*^), although
only his Christian name is there given. His surname was derived from
Cahagnes, now in the arrondissement of Vire (Calvados). This family
was a great one in Northamptonshire, where it flourished in the male line
for some three centuries. William's holdings are followed by those of
'Alured,' nine in number. This'Alured' was the count's 'butler,' whose
office, in feudal times, was one of honour. He was succeeded in his
holdings, in this and other counties, by his son William. The action of
count Robert in joining the rebellion against William Rufus led to the
forfeiture of his vast fief, but it was restored, wholly or in part, to his
son, count William. The latter lost it finally in iiod, having taken
sides against Henry I., who thus obtained ample means for rewarding
his friends and supporters. His trusted minister, the count of Meulan,
obtained a good share, while lands which were held of count Robert,
in 1086, by 'Alan,' were bestowed on Roger de Mowbray {ne de
'Albini ') or his father.

Like his brother the count of Mortain, Odo, bishop of Bayeux,
had a great under-tenant, no less a man than William Peverel, who held
of him all his Northamptonshire lands, except Charlton, of which the
tenant, 'Adam,' I think, was a brother of ' Eudo Dapifer ' (No. xlii.),
son of Hubert de Ryes.^

William Peverel, whose name is familiar from Scott's novel, Peveril
of the Peak, was the founder of the line subsequently known, for distinc-
tion, as Peverel ' of Nottingham.' His Northamptonshire estates cover
more than a page of Domesday, besides which in Northampton itself he
held no fewer than thirty-two houses. The bulk of his lands in this
county, including their chief manor Higham (Ferrars), had been held,

• Compare p. 284 above.
288

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

before the Conquest, by a certain ' Gitda,' whom Ellis did not attempt to
identify. We obtain, I think, a clue to her identity under William
Peverel's fief in the adjacent county of Bucks (fo. 148). For he there
held one manor which is entered as having belonged to ' Gethe wife of
earl Ralf,' and two which had been held by ' the countess Gueth.'
Again, his one Berkshire manor had been held by 'earl Ralf himself
(fo. 61). This was earl Ralf of Hereford, nephew of Edward the Con-
fessor, who had married a namesake of ' Ghida,' ' Gida,' or ' Gueda ' (for
such are her Domesday names), wife of earl Godwine. Not only did
these two countesses bear the same uncommon name, but each of them
was the mother of a son Harold. There has, I suspect, been more con-
fusion between the two in Domesday than has ever been imagined.

Dugdale, in his Baronage, asserted, on the strength of Glover the
herald's ' collections,' that William Peverel was a natural son of the
Conqueror himself This story has been steadily repeated by local and
other antiquaries,' but was dismissed by Mr. Freeman as 'an utterly un-
certified and almost impossible scandal." He was the founder of St.
James', Northampton, and of the Cluniac house of Lenton, Nottingham-
shire, endowing the latter from his Domesday holding at Courteenhall,
Northants. The tragic fall of William's heir, in the opening days of
Henry II. 's reign, placed his extensive fief at the disposition of the
Crown.

This catastrophe may be said to close that long series of forfeitures
by which so much of the land granted out at the Conquest returned into
the hands of the Norman kings, and enabled them to endow fresh favourites
and reward useful ministers. In Northamptonshire this had begun even
before Domesday, as is seen in the case of ' Earl Aubrey,' whose fief had
already reverted to the king (fo. 224).' Of the vast estates of the bishops
of Coutances and of Bayeux and of the count of Mortain I have already
spoken ; and when we add to these the fief of William Peverel, and the
smaller ones of Robert de Buci, Drogo de Bevrere, and Eudo, with those
also, possibly, of Winemar and of Eustace (of Huntingdon), we see how
much of the land was destined to pass away to fresh grantees.

It is interesting to note that the Fleming element was well repre-
sented in Northamptonshire among the tenants-in-chief In addition to
Walter the Fleming, Gilbert of Ghent, and Dru (Drogo) de Bevrere —
of whom the last derived his name from La Beuvriere (or possibly Beuvry)
near Bethune, — Gunfrei and Sigar ' de Cioches,' came from Chocques, an
ancient seigneurie also in the neighbourhood of Bethune. ' Winemar,' too,
is styled in Bucks Winemar the Fleming (fo. 152). Of those specially

' As, for instance, by Ellis, in liis Introduction to Doimsday (I. 467).

« The Norman Conqueit, III. (1875), pp. 80, 662 ; IV. (187 1), 200. Mr. Freeman
added, with grim force, ' The uncorroborated assertions of a herald are not materials for history.'

' There can be little doubt that this was the Aubrey who had acted as earl of the
Northumbrians a few years previously. Mr. A. S. Ellis has ingeniously urged his identity with
' Albericus de Coci,' who is found among the Yorkshire tenants-in-chief in 1086, and with
the progenitor of the famous Sires de Coucy.

289

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

connected with the county, the Chocques family will be dealt with under
the ' Feudal Baronage,' as the caput of its barony was within the shire.
Walter the Fleming had his at ' Wadehelle ' (now Odell), Beds., whence
the great barony of his heirs was known as that of Wahull. He had
succeeded there, as in all his Northamptonshire manors, a thegn of king
Edward, Leofnoth by name.* It appears to me highly probable that this
unfortunate man was he who was allowed to retain, of all his wide estates,
a single hide at Plumpton, as an under-tenant of Walter. Such cases were
not uncommon, as we are painfully reminded at Stanion (fo. 220*^), where
the wealthy thegn Eadwine, whom the bishop of Coutances had suc-
ceeded,* retained, as his under-tenant, an insignificant estate. The fief
of ' Winemar ' must be dealt with here, because it raises some difficult
questions. He is twice termed, in the Domesday Survey (fo. 229),
Winemar de Hamslape ('Anslepe,' ' Hanslepe '), from his Bucks manor
of that name — adjoining his Northamptonshire manor of Cosgrave — the
only part of his fief that was outside our shire, in which, in addition to
six estates, he had twelve houses in the county town. Moreover, he was
also under-tenant to five Northamptonshire tenants-in-chief, so that, in one
capacity or the other, he held a considerable amount of land. It has
been alleged that Michael ' de Hamslape,' in whose hands his fief (or
most of it) was found in the days of Henry I., was his ' immediate
descendant ' ; ' and indeed Lipscomb, in his History of Buckinghamshire,
asserted that ' Michael de Hanslape was undoubtedly a son of Winemar,
and inherited his father's property in this county, as did Walter Fitz
Winemar the portion which was in Northamptonshire.' * Baker also,
without hesitation, made Michael the elder son of Winemar, and Walter
the younger.* It is quite possible that this was so, but, though I have
gone through the evidence on Michael in the Beauchamp cartulary, which
was unknown to Lipscomb and Baker, I have found no actual proof of the
fact. The difficulty is that Michael and his heirs ought, in that case, to
have succeeded also to Winemar's under-tenancies, and that, on the con-
trary, those lands at least which Winemar held of countess Judith passed,
not to Michael, but to Walter and his heirs. This Walter, thus becom-
ing a tenant of the earl's by knight-service, witnessed the foundation charter
of St. Andrew's Priory,* and bestowed on it the church of Little Billing,
which manor he seems to have obtained with his wife.' The most in-
teresting point about him is that I have found his name in that important
document known as the Glasgow Inquisition.* For this is a clear instance
of that process by which the tenants of the Scottish kings, in their capacity

' A few scraps of his estates had been secured by others, the count of Mortain, for
instance, picking up a ploughland at Croughtotn, and Evesham Abbey, apparently, succeeding
him at Lichborough.

* See p. 287 above.

^ See Mr. Stuart Moore's edition of the Northamptonshire Domesday.

* Vol. IV. p. 165. ' History of Northamptonshire, II. 129.
« Vesp. E. XVIII. (fo. id). ' Ibid., fo. 57.

* Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis (Bannatyne Club), p. 5 ; and compare my Calendar
of Documents preserved in France, p. 506.

290

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

of earls of Northampton, followed their lords to Scotland. The most
striking case, perhaps, is that of the house of Oliphant, the ancestor of
which must have owed his connection with the Scottish realm to his
holding Lilford of the earls of Northampton/ The name can be carried
far back, for Roger ' Olifard,' like Walter Fitz Winemar, witnessed the
foundation charter of St. Andrew's Priory. As for Walter's own descend-
ants. Baker seems to have shown clearly that they were the Prestons of
Preston ' Deanery,' whose lands there had been held by Winemar, as an
under-tenant, in Domesday. Suddenly, under Henry VI., they revived
the name of their Domesday ancestor ; but a Winemar was the last, as he
was the first, who held the lands of Preston. Parting with these and his
other lands, he disappears from view.

Next to Flanders lay Picardy, whence there came the founder of a
race of Northamptonshire barons. The Vidames de Picquigny were among
the magnates of medieval France ; hereditary officers of the bishops of
Amiens, their house in that city is still called le Vidame? Two members,
it is clear, of their house followed the Conqueror to England. These
were Ansculf de ' Pinchengi,' as the Bucks Domesday styles him (fo.
\\'ib)^ and Ghilo, his brother. The former, who received what was
afterwards the great barony of Dudley, had died before Domesday, leaving
a son and heir, William, who succeeded to his only Northamptonshire
manor, that of Barnack.* Ghilo obtained a barony of which the caput
was at Weedon, which heads, in the Domesday Survey, the list of his
manors in the shire, and which took from his descendants its name of
Weedon 'Pinkeney.'" This barony, which was held of the Crown by
the service of fifteen knights,' comprised lands also in Berks, Bucks, and
Oxon, some of which, as in Northamptonshire, had been previously held
by ' Siward.' At Weedon Ghilo founded a priory as a cell to St. Lucien
of Beauvais, his choice of that house being clearly due to the fact that
its monks had a small priory (' Notre Dame de Mont ') near Picquigny
(in the direction of Ailly).' This confirms my view that Pinkeney is
simply Picquigny, though the fact, owing to the change of form, has
eluded the historians of the shire.

Picquigny, it is interesting to learn, was a test-word for the English,
who were never able to pronounce it. It was used as such for their
recognition when they were expelled from Ponthieu, and, in 1489, a
Frenchman, employed in London, could still use it as a test : —

* Feudal England, pp. 223-4.

* ' Les seigneurs barons de Picquigny itaient vidames de I'^veque d'Amiens et avou6s
de I'abbaye de Corbie' (Darsy's Picquigny et ses seigneurs [i860], p. 9). Fidame represented
Vicedominus (Ibid.).

^ Baker, misreading this passage, declares that it 'establishes Ansculf's connection with,
or residence in, England prior to the Conquest' {History of Northamptonshire, II. 105).
But this is not so.

* Compare p. 269 above.

* As did Morton ' Pinkeney,' close by.

* Feudal England, p. 255.
' Darsy, p. loi.

291

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Jamais Fran9ois bien ne saura
Jurer higod ne brelare
By my troit n'y pourfitera
Ne maiitre milord, ne sere ;
Anglois aussi tant soit cure,
Ne formcra bicn Pinqueny. '

Another tenant-in-chief who had a large holding in the shire was
Guy de ' Reinbuedcurt,' * whose whole barony was held, in the hands of
his heirs the Foliots, by the service of fifteen knights. Although there
is in France more than one place from which his name might be derived,
Raimbeaucurt in the ' Nord,' near Douai, seems to me the most likely.
In that case we must add him to the Flemings.

It is a far cry from Flanders to Brittany, but their combination may
help to remind us that the ' Norman ' Conquest was the work of more
than William's subjects. In the list of Northamptonshire tenants-in-
chief we note at once Oger ' the Breton ' and Maino ' the Breton,' of
whom the former was lord of Bourne in Lincolnshire,' while the latter
had his chief seat at Wolverton in Bucks. To these we must add
Geoffrey ' de Wirce,' who, as Mr. Ellis has ably shown, derived his
name from La Guerche, a town near Rennes on the borders of Brittany.*

Of the other tenants calling for mention under this county Geoffrey
' Alselin ' had obtained, as Mr. Ellis has shown,* the great estates of an
English thegn, Tochi son of Outi, in the counties of Lincoln, North-
ampton, Notts, Leicester, Derby, and Yorks, together with his ' hall '
in Lincoln itself ' Eustace,' who held, as a tenant-in-chief at half a
dozen places in the county is styled in the schedule of landholders
Eustace ' de Huntedune,' as he also is in Cambridgeshire (fo. K^gb)
and under Stamford (fo. 336*^). This is an interesting illustration of the
practice by which a sheriff took his name from the chief town of his
county. For he was no other than ' Eustace the sheriff,' as he is styled
in Huntingdonshire (fos. 203, 206, 208), over which county he presided.
Like some other Norman sheriffs, he was a shocking oppressor, robbing,
as the pages of Domesday reveal, abbeys, churches, and private persons.
He was the ' Eustace ' who held in Northamptonshire, as an under-
tenant of Peterborough Abbey, at Polebrook, Winwick, Clapton, and
Catworth.* Let us pass from the grasping Norman sheriff to the dis-
possessed Englishman. The ' Suain ' who held Stoke Bruern, as a
tenant-in-chief, in Domesday is luckily identified for us by the entry,
under Northampton, that ' Suain son of Azur,' held there twenty-one
houses ' belonging to Stoches.' Following this clue we find that
Gunfrei de ' Cioches ' had succeeded an ' Azur ' in two of his estates
and a 'Suain' in most of the others (fo. 227). Glancing outside the

* Robert Gaguin's La Royne de hon repos.

* In auxiliary documents relating to Cambridgeshire his surname is found as Raimbecurt,
Rainbucurt, Rainbudcurt, Rainbuedcurt, Ramburtcurt, Rambutcurt, etc., etc.

^ Feudal England, p. 220.

* Mr. Ellis' ' Landholders of Yorkshire ' [Torkihire Jrchaologkal Journal).
' Ibid. • Feudal England, pp. 167, 222-3.

292

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

county we find him succeeding ' Azor ' in an estate at Stamford (fo.
336^) and a Lincolnshire manor (fo. 366), while ' Suen, a thegn of
King Edward,' had preceded him in a Bucks manor (fo. 152^). Put-
ting this evidence together we may safely infer that ^ Suain ' who, in
1086, held Stoke Bruern and the houses in Northampton, was the pre-
decessor, together with his father Azor, of Gunfrei de ' Cioches ' in
many manors.' This conclusion is of some importance, because, if it
had not been for the entry under Northampton, we should have supposed
Gunfrei's predecessors to be two contemporary and unconnected English-
men. But we saw above (p. 287) that Burred and Eadwine his son
were similarly spoken of as independent predecessors of Geoffrey, bishop
of Coutances ; and, in the greatest instance of all, Harold and his father,
earl Godwine, are both spoken of in Domesday as independent pre-
decessors, though the latter, we know, died before Edward the Con-
fessor. Here then we extend our knowledge of the system of the great
survey.

I have kept, as does Domesday, to the last, the fief of ' Countess
Judith,' widow of earl Waltheof. Apart from its extent, this fief is of
special historic interest as that which descended to the local earls of the
houses of Senlis and of Scotland. As was justly observed by Professor
Freeman, the Domesday estates of the countess ' had partly belonged to
her husband, partly to other English owners,' which ' gives the im-
pression that most of the lands were personal grants to herself;" for
the king was her uncle. That these estates were held by her in 1086 is
a fact which has a most important bearing on the acquisition of the
earldom, with her daughter, by Simon de Senlis. The accepted date
for the foundation of St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton, is 1084,' but
Simon, in the foundation charter, deals with the estates of the earldom
as then in his own possession. His charter, therefore, must at least be
later than the Domesday survey. I believe that we can go further and
assign this important foundation to the years 109 3-1 100. For I have
found one of these terse documents characteristic of William Rufus, in
which, without mentioning St. Andrew's, he confirms the gift of earl
Simon to Ste. Marie de la Charite* and its monks.

The names of the under-tenants on the countess Judith's fief de-
serve careful study, for they and their descendants, as might be expected,
occur in connection with the earls and with St. Andrew's Priory. Grim-
bald, for instance, who held of the countess at two places in Leicester-
shire (fo. 236/^) as well as in Northants and Rutland (fo. 228/^),
witnessed the foundation charter of St. Andrew's and gave it the church

* See, further, the note on ' Suain ' on p. ' 43 ' below.

* History of the Norman Conquest (1871), IV. 603-4.

' Bridges took this to be a 'restoration,' because 'Ingulphus acquaints us' that, in
1076, he found at Crowland two monks who had bee- 'professed' at St. Andrew's.
There is an allusion also to this statement in the Records of the Borough of Northampton (Vol. I.),
but ' Ingulphus ' has now long been known to be a forgery.

* MS. Vesp. E. xviii., fo. i^d (pencil). This document, which seems to have been
hitherto overlooked, is addressed to Bishop Robert (of Lincoln), appointed in 1093.

293

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

of Moulton and seven virgates of land there.' His descendants can be
traced for several generations, and one of them was sheriff of the county in
11^5,* The relations of this family with the earls were close. Of Wine-
mar, another tenant of the countess, I have already spoken above(p. 290).

At the close of the survey of the shire are a few small fiefs, of
which the most interesting by far are those of Richard and William
Engayne ('Inganie'). The surname of these tenants is not given in
the text or in the schedule of landholders, but we find it under North-
ampton itself, where Richard held four houses and William one as an
under-tenant. They are also found, as ' Richard ' and ' William,'
holding their lands in Spelho Hundred, even before Domesday, in the
Northamptonshire geld-roll.' The special interest of their fiefs is found
in Domesday's statement that they had belonged to JE\[v/ine ' the hunts-
man ; ' for one of the two manors held in chief by William was that
of Pytchley, the connection of which with hunting is thus carried back
even beyond the Conquest. Moreover the Engaynes are found hold-
ing it, in later days, by huntsman service, so that we may assume it to
have been among the tenures in serjeanty even in 1086,* William, in
addition to Pytchley and Laxton, held Moulton and some other lands
of Robert de Buci as an under-tenant (fo. 225*^), while in Hunts he
held one manor in chief of the Crown. It should be observed that
Richard's heir returned himself, in 11 66, as the king's forester in fee ;
for Richard is found in Domesday claiming some land in Hunts as
belonging to the forest (fo. 208), while in Oxon, where (as in Bucks)
he held a single manor, his name heads the list of ' the king's officers '
(fo. 160 ^). Under William Rufus we find him at Brigstock, witness-
ing the charter by which the king granted to Peterborough Abbey a
tithe of his proceeds of the chace.^ Of the three small holders with which
the survey closes, Dodin was a foreigner who held also as an under-
tenant in the county ; he was doubtless the father of that Walter Dodin
whose widow is mentioned in 1 130.* Olaf and Oslac would be natives.
As the latter's holding was at East Farndon, we may safely infer that
he was also the dispossessed holder of lands at Marston Trussell and
Thorp Lubenham adjoining it (fo. 224^^), and therefore also at Lubenham
itself across the border (fo. 230 <J), and, perhaps, at Swinford and Walcote
(fo. 234).

It is possible, I think, that Professor Freeman attached too much
importance to the absence or presence of ' king's thegns ' in any given
county.' They were not, it must be remembered, recognised as on an

' MS. Vesp. E. xviii., fos. id, 43;/. He styles himself in the charter Grimbald 'de
Houghton.'

* Ossulston (Owston) Abbey, Leicestershire, was founded by Robert Grimbald, his
descendant, on one of the manors he held of the countess in 1086. Baker's account of the
descent, under Moulton (I. 46), appears to me unsatisfactory.

' See Feudal England, pp. 154—6.

* Ibid. It should be observed that Domesday classes him with the thegns (taint).
' Gunton's Peterborough, p. 143. ^ Pipe Roll, 3 1 Hen. I., p. 82.

' History of the Norman Conquest, IV. (1871), 38-43.

294

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

equal footing with the military tenants-in-chief; Domesday ranks them,
where they are numerous, even after the Serjeants. There may not,
therefore, in practice have existed much difference between the thegns
who held of the king and those who held of great qobles, such as his
half-brother. In Northamptonshire we find a group of thegns holding
of the count of Mortain and ranked, like those who held of the king,
after his Norman tenants. Five at least of these were holding lands
they had held before. A similar group is found on the fief of the
countess Judith, and here again four at least were still holding lands
they had held under the Confessor. Even with such additions as these
the Englishmen here who weathered the Conquest were few and their
holdings small. But the virtual absence of king's thegns must not lead
us to infer that all the English holders had lost their lands.

No discussion of the settlement of the county under William the
Conqueror would be complete without some reference to the system of
castle-guard. For although it is not even alluded to in the Domesday
survey of Northamptonshire, this marked feature of the feudal system
must have been already introduced.^ An important entry under Rock-
ingham (fo. 220) tells us of the castle being there constructed by com-
mand of king William ; and its garrison, we subsequently find, was
provided by making it a charge on the barony of Warden, held in 1086
by Guy de ' Reinbuedcurt.' Its fifteen knights had to serve at the castle,
a service commuted, it would seem, within a century of the Conquest
for a payment of five shillings from each knight's fee.' Northampton
castle was garrisoned by the knights of another local barony, that of
Gunfrei de ' Cioches,' the fifteen fees of which are afterwards found
liable to an annual payment of ten shillings each in commutation. Yet
another local barony, that of the Pinkeneys, was liable to provide
knights for castle-guard at Windsor, each of its fifteen fees being charged,
at a later time, with a pound a year for the purpose. One Northampton-
shire manor, that of Hartwell, owed the ward of two knights to the
distant castle of Dover. So improbable might this seem that, in the
lists of manors owing such service, which are found in The Red Book of
the Exchequer^ ' Hertwelle ' has been officially supposed to be some place
in Kent.' Its liability is accounted for by the fact that it was obtained,
in the Norman period, by Walchelin Maminot, whose barony was
charged with a quota of guard at that important fortress. The two
knights due from Hartwell had to serve, every year, fifteen days each, so
that the subsequent commutation of a pound a year for the two repre-
sented eightpence a day, which, as I have shown,* was a knight's pay
under Henry II.

* A valuable hint to this effect is given by the incidental mention, under a Bucks manor,
of a liability to provide knights for castle-guard at Windsor (fo. 15'^)-

* See the interesting return (probably of 11 70) printed in The Red Book of the Exchequer,
p. cclxxxi. Peterborough Abbey knights also went on guard there.

' The Red Book of the Exchequer, ed. Hubert Hall (Rolls Series), p. 1205.

* Feudal England, pp. 271, 272.

295

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

There is little to be said, in the case of Northamptonshire, on the
actual manuscript itself. The survey of the county occupies twenty-one
pages (ten and a half folios) of Domesday Book, and its chief peculiarity is
the discrepancy, at times, between the order in which the fiefs are entered
and the list of the tenants-in-chief at the head of the survey of the shire.
That of Hugh de Grentmaisnil was entered by inadvertence before that
of earl Hugh of Chester. The numbers prefixed to their names in the
text are, therefore, in reverse order. William Peverel's fief also is
wrongly numbered in the text, as are the others on its own and the
preceding pages. The bishop of Durham, it is clear, had been over-
looked by the scribe, for his holding has been huddled in at the foot of
a column. This was also the case with the tiny fief of Hugh Luri, and
possibly with that of William de ' Cahainges.' It seems probable, from
these circumstances, that the numbers were prefixed to the names in the
text after the scribe had written it, and that the schedule of tenants-in-
chief was added last of all. But our knowledge of the actual system on
which Domesday Book was compiled is as yet so imperfect that on this
and other points one can only speak with caution.

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HUNDREDS

We have in Northamptonshire exceptional facilities for tracing'the
changes in the boundaries and names of those venerable divisions of the
land, the Hundreds. Our earliest list is found in what I term the
Northamptonshire geld-roll, which is of the reign of William I., and
some years earlier than Domesday Book. This list gives us the names of
28 Hundreds, two of which (' Navereslund ' and ' Uptune ') are styled
double Hundreds, while four more (' Neoubotle grave,' ' Gildesburh,'
* Hehham ' and ' Wimereslea ') are styled, each, a Hundred and a half.*
In Domesday Book the number is unchanged, but on the one hand the
Hundreds of East and West ' Hwicceslea' (the Rutland portion of the shire)
appear there as one only, while on the other, an interesting Hundred
makes its appearance, as it would seem, there only. This is the Hun-
dred of Collingtree (' Colentreu ' ' Colestreu '), to which are assigned the
adjoining vills of Collingtree, Milton (' Midleton Malsor '), Rothersthorp,
Blisworth, and Courteenhall, on the west of Wymersley Hundred.* In
the Northamptonshire Survey (12th cent.) this Hundred disappears, as
does also ' Wicesle,' which was now part of Rutland. On the other hand
the ' double ' Hundred of ' Navereslund,' as the geld-roll styles it, is here
surveyed, as two Hundreds, ' Suthnaveslunt ' and ' Northnaveslunt.' In
this survey, also, Foxley has become ' Norton,' and Gravesend has already
added that ' Fawsley' which is its later designation. ' Optone,' moreover,

' Compare p. 259 above.

^ A Hundred of ' Geritone ' is alluded to once (fo. 220), but nothing seems to be known
of it.

296

THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

Nortbant*
geld-roU,

Domesdij Book, 1086

Northantf
Sunrcy,

Nomina Villarum,
,3.6

Population
Abstract,

fbctore 1076)

IJth cent

184.

Suttunes . .

Sutone, Sudtone

Sutton . . .

Sutton ....

King's Sutton

Werdunes .

Warden e.Wardune,
Waradone, Waredone

Warden. . .

Warden ....

Chipping-warden

Klegele. . .

Clailei, Claislea, Claves-
lei, Claislund, Cailae,
Claiesle, Clailea

Cleyle . . .

Cleyle

Cleley

Gravesende

Gravesende ....

Graveshende
Falwesle

Falewesle. . .

Fawsley

Eadboldestowe

Alboldestou.Elboldestou,
Holeboldestou, Od-
boldbestou, Otboldes-
tou, Edboldestou

Abbodestowe .

(now in Sutton)

Egelweardesle'

Alwardeslea, Aluratleu

Aylwoldesle .

(new in Fawsley)

Voxle .

Foxle, Foxele, Foxleu,
Foxlay, Foxeslau,Fox-
hela

Norton .

Norton ....

Green's Norton

Vyceste . .

Tovecestre ....

Tovecester . .

Toucestre . .

Towcester

Hoches hla«a .

Hocheslau ....

Hokeslawe .

Hokeslowe . .

Huxloe

Wilebroce . .

Wilebroc, Wilibroc . .

Wylebroke . .

Welybrok' . . .

Willybrook

Uptune (2

Optone, Optonegrene,

Duo hundreda

(in Nassaburgh) . .

The two Hun-

Hundreds)

Optonegrave, Opton-
gren

de Nasso

dreds of Nassa-
burgh

Navereslund(2
Hundreds)

Neveslund . . . ■
I

Suthnaveslunt
Northnaveslunt

Know in Huxloe)

Neresforda

Naresford, Narresford .

Navesford .

Navesford

Navisford

Pocabroc .

Pochebroc

Pokebroc .

Polebroke

Polebrook

Neoubotle

Neubotlagrave, Niue-

Neubotlegrave

Newbotlegrave .

Nobottle-Grove

grave (ii

botlegrave, Nivebote,

Hundreds)

Niwebotle

Gildesburh (i|

Gisleburg (i ^ Hundreds)

Gildesboru . .

Gildesburgh . . .

Guilsborough

Hundreds

Spelhoh

Spelho, Spelehou, Spele-
hot, Sperehou, Spere-
holt

Speleho . . .

Spelho ....

Spelhoe

Hwicceslea west

Wicesle, Wicelea,
(Wapentake) ;

(now in Rutland)

Hwiccesleaeast

Stotfalde . .

Stodfalde, Stotfald, Sto-

falde

Stotfolde . .

(western part of Roth-
well Hundred)

Stoce .

Stoche, Stoc ....

Stokes . . .

(now in Corby) .

Hehham (i|

Hecham

Hecham . .

Hegham ....

Higham-Ferrers

Hundreds)

Males le . .

Malesle, Maleslea .

Malleslea . .

(now in Orlingbury)

Corebi .

Corbi, Corbie, Corbel .

Coreby .

Corby ....

Corby

Rothewelle

Rodewelle, Rodewel

Rowell . . .

Rothewell . . .

RothweU

Andverdesho .

Andferdesho, Anves-
desou, Handvordesho

Andferdesho

Aunfordeshoe

Hamfordshoe

Ordlingba:re .

Ordinbare, Ordibaro

Orlingberge

Orlyngb[eri]e . .

Orlingbury

Wimereslea (ij

Wimareslea, Wimerleu,

Wymeresle .

Wymersley

Hundreds)

Wimerslea, Wimersle,
Winemerslea.
Colentreu, Colestreu

(now in Wymersley)

* The ' g ' is clearly an error for ' th ' as so often happened.

297

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

which here appears as the double Hundred of ' Nassus,' is on its way to
become Nassaburgh. By 1316 there had been further changes ; ' Ed-
boldestou ' is now included in Sutton, ' Alwardeslea ' in Fawsley,
' Malesle ' in Orlingbury, ' Stotfalde ' in Rothwell, ' Stoche ' in Corby,
and the double Hundred of ' Naveslund ' in Huxloe. The accompany-
ing table (page 297) will show that since that date there have been vir-
tually no changes.

It may be observed that those Hundreds the names of which have
been abandoned suggest an early derivation and an open-air assembly.
Mawesley, ' a hamlet of one or two cottages and a wood,' ' gave name to
Malesle. Gravesend, Alwardslea, and Edboldestou appear to be lost names.
The general impression conveyed by the names of the Hundreds as a
whole is that they point to primitive meeting-places, which were gradually
superseded by villages and towns, as the Hundred courts came to repre-
sent the jurisdiction of a lord. Baker, indeed, gives (I. 238) an actual,
though late instance in the case of the Hundred Court of Fawsley, which
' was formerly held in Fawsley park beneath the spreading branches of
an enormous beech-tree,' but ' was removed about the beginning of the
last century to Everdon.'

One of the most curious features in the names of these Hundreds is
the great variety of form which is found, for some of them, in Domes-
day. As Domesday Book was compiled from returns which were made
Hundred by Hundred, it is difficult to see how the scribe could have
before him more than one form of the Hundred's name. But indeed
this same remark applies to the case of the vills ; for each Hundred was
surveyed vill by vill, so that it is not easy to account for the startling
variations in their names, the scribe, presumably, having before him but
one form of the name, which would stand at the head of the survey of
the vill.

» Bridges, II. 96.

298

NOTE

The following translation agrees in the main with
that of Mr. Stuart Moore, my predecessor in this
field ; but I have been compelled in certain cases, as
for instance on p. 327,. to differ from him in identi-
fying places, a matter of the utmost importance. For
the original identification of the places named in
Domesday one is, of course, indebted to the labours
of Bridges and of Baker. The reader should bear
in mind throughout that the date of the Domesday
Survey is 1086 ; that King Edward, to whose time
it refers, died January 5, 1066; that the 'hide' was
the unit of assessment on which the (Dane)geld was
paid, and that the ' virgate ' was its quarter. Par-
allel with the ' hide ' was the ' carucate ' of the
region to the north of Northamptonshire, the 'borate'
representing an eighth of it. The essential portion
of the plough ('caruca') was its team of oxen,
eight in number. The ' demesne ' was the lord's
portion of the manor, the peasantry holding the rest of
it under him. ' Farm ' or ' ferm,' x.\\s. firma of Domes-
day, was virtually the rent for which the ' farmer '
(^firmarms) of a manor or group of manors was liable.
The woodland measures are discussed in the introduction,
and the modern names of the Hundreds will be found
on pp. 296-298 above.

300

es
^g

;e,

14
16

•g

e.
to

'P
rs

8
•e

HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

DOMESDAY MAP

NOTES TO DOMESDAY MAP

(Compiled by J. HORACE ROUND. M.A.t

In this Map those manors in which the
King had an interest have a scarlet line undei
them ; a blue line is under those in which the
chief ecclesiastical tenant, namely, Peterborough
Abbey, held land ; a green line denotes those
in which land was held by the greatest lay
tenant, Robert, Count of Morlam, half-brother
to the Conqueror.

The Hundreds existing at the time of
Domesday have been reconstructed, so far
as possible, with the help of " The North-
amptonshire Survey"of the i2th century. In
Domesday itself the rubrication (indicating
the names of the Hundreds to which the
manors belong) is loo imperfect for the purpose.

It should be remembered that the Domes-
day names, both of Hundreds and of manors
vary much, and that only one variant can be
given in each instance on the map,

It should also be observed that the bound-
aries of the county are, for uniformity and
convenience of reference, depicted as they now
stand. But, in 1086, "Northamptonshire"
comprised the south-eastern portion of what
is now Rutland, and the Domesday survey of
that portion is scattered accordingly throughout
the survey of Northamptonshire. The modern
names of the rivers are given for the same
reason as above ; they are not mentioned in
Domesday.

The influence of the forests and the fen
district on the density of the place-names and
the size of the Hundreds is seen, to a certain
extent, on the map.

RKyBRBNOB TO COLOUftINO
Kltiff'a Miuior* Uiiu — <

Patsrboroueh Abboy's Uanon ., I

OouDt Robert of Hon«Ui'B Manors ,,

THE. VICTORIA HISTORY OT THE. COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

•^

[NORTHANTONESCIRE]

fo.3i9 jjj j^jjjQ Edward's time there were in Northantone (Northamp-
ton), in the King's demesne, 60 burgesses, having as many dwellings
{mansiones). Of these (dwellings), 1 4 are now waste ; 47 are left. Besides
these, there are now in the new borough {burgus) 40 burgesses in king
William's demesne.

In the same borough the bishop of Coutances has 23 houses, ren-
dering ide) 29 shillings and 4 pence.

The abbot of S. Edmund (St. Edmund's, Bury) (has) i house,
rendering {de) 16 pence.

The abbot of Burg (Peterborough), 15 houses, rendering {de) 14
shillings and 8 pence. Two are waste.

The abbot of Ramesyg (Ramsey), i house, rendering [de) 16
pence.

The abbot of Couentreu (Coventry), 4 houses, rendering [de) 12
pence. Three are waste.

The abbot of Evesham i house (lying) waste.

The abbot of Salebi (Selby), 2 houses, rendering {de) 32 pence.

The count of Moriton (Mortain), 37 (houses), rendering {de) 45
shillings and 8 pence. Two are waste. Of 9 of these houses the King
has the soc.

Earl Hugh [of Chester], i house, rendering {de) 4 pence.

The Countess Judith, 16 houses, rendering {de) 12 shillings. One
is waste.

Robert de Todeni, 4 houses, rendering {de) 4 shillings. One is
waste.

Henry de Fereires, 8 houses, rendering {de) 9 shillings and 4 pence.

Ansger, the King's chaplain, i house, of which the King ought to
have the soc.

William Peurel (Peverel), 32 houses, rendering {de) 28 shillings
and 8 pence. Three of these are waste.

William, the son of Boselin, 2 (houses), of the fee of the bishop
of Bayeux and of the Countess Judith, rendering {de) 16 pence.

William Inganie (holds) i house of Robert de Boci, and renders
nothing.

Guy de Rainbudcurt, 4 houses, rendering {de) 64 pence.

Walter Flandrensis (the Fleming), 10 houses, rendering {de) 8
shillings. One is waste.

Wincmar, 12 houses, rendering {de) 3 shillings. Of these, 4 are
waste.

Richard Inganie, 4 houses, rendering {de) 4 shillings.

301

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Robert de Aluers, i house, rendering {de) 12 pence.

Roger de Boscnorman, i house, rendering {de) 16 pence,

Geoffrey de Wirce, 4 houses, rendering {de) 4 shillings.

Geoffrey Alselin and his nephew Ralph, 2 houses, rendering {de) 2
shillings.

Gilo, the brother of Ansculf, 3 houses, rendering {de) 32 pence.

Gunfrid de Cioches, i house, rendering {de) 8 shillings. Three
are waste.

Suain, the son of Azur,* 21 houses, rendering {de) 10 shillings, per-
taining to Stoches (Stoke Bruern).

Ansfrid de Valbadon, 2 houses, rendering {de) 2 shillings, of the fee
of the bishop of Bayeux.

Baldwin, the moiety of a waste dwelling {mansio). Lefstan, i house,
rendering {de) 4 pence.

Osbern Gifard, i house, rendering {de) 4 pence. Godwin the
priest, I house, rendering {de) i 2 pence.

Durand the reeve, i house, rendering {de) 16 pence, of the fee of
Robert Todeni.

Dodin, 2 houses, rendering {de) 20 pence. One is (held) of the
Countess Judith, the other of Winemar.

Hugh de Widville* 2 houses, rendering {de) 32 pence.

NoRTHANTONESCiRE renders 3 nights ferm {Jirmam) ' (that is) 30
pounds by weight. For dogs, 40 assayed {blancas) pounds of 20 (pence)
to the ounce. For a gift to the queen, and for hay, 10 pounds and 5
(ounces of silver).* For a hawk, 10 pounds. For a sumpter horse, 20
shillings. For alms, 20 shillings. For the huntsman's horse, 20
shillings. For queen Edith's manors, 40 pounds. For Clive [King's
Cliff], 10 pounds.

The burgesses of Hantone (Northampton) render to the sheriff
yearly 30 pounds and 10 shillings. This belongs to his ferm {Jirmam)!'

The Countess Judith has 7 pounds of the issues of the same
borough.

* This can hardly be other than the ' Swegen filius Azor,' who is among the tenants
of the see of Worcester called upon to pay relief nine years later (1095). See Feudal
England^ p. 309.

* It was of this family, which is found at Grafton 120 years later, that sprang the queen
of Edward IV. Hugh also held, as ' Hugo de Witvile,' 5 houses in Leicester of Hugo de
Grentmesnil.

* Originally provision for the King and his household in kind.

* Comparison with the Wiltshire payment on fo. 64b shows that the Queen's share of
this was five pounds.

* i.e. to the sum for which he is liable to the king as sheriff.

302

HERE ARE ENTERED

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

IN NORTHANTONESCIRE

King William

The bishop of Bayeux

III

The bishop of Durham

nil

The bishop of Coutances

The bishop of Lincoln

VI
VII

The abbey of Peterborough
The abbey of Westminster

VIII

The abbey of St. Edmund

The abbey of Ramsey
The abbey of Thorney
The abbey of Crowland

XII

XIII

The abbey of Coventry
The abbey of Evesham

XIIII
XV

The abbey of Grestain
The church of S. Remigius

of Rheims

XVI
XVII

Ansger the chaplain

Lewin the priest, and other

clerks

XVIII The count of Moriton
(Mortain)
XIX The count of Mellent

(Meulan)
XX Count Alan (of Richmond)
XXI Earl Aubrey
XXII Earl Hugh (of Chester)
XXIII Hugh de Grentemaisnil
xxiiii Hugh de Juri (Ivry)
XXV Henry de Ferieres
XXVI Robert de Todeni
XXVII Robert de Statford
XXVIII Robert de Oilgi
XXIX Robert de Veci
XXX Robert de Buci

XXXI Ralf Pagenel
XXXII RalfdeLimesi
XXXIII Robert Albus
xxxiiii William de Cahainges
XXXV William Pevrel
xxxvi William the son of Ansculf
XXXVII William Loueth
xxxviii Walter de Aincurth
XXXIX Walter Flandrensis (the
Fleming)
XL Winemar
XLi Guy de Renbodcurth
xLii Eudo the son of Hubert
XLiii Ghilo the brother of Ans-
culf
XLiiii Geoffrey Alselin
XLV Geoffrey de Mannevile
XLVi Gilbert de Gand
xLvii Geoffrey de Wirce
XLviii Gunfrid de Cioches
xLix Sigar de Cioches

L Suain (the son of Azur)
LI Sibold

Lii Oger the Breton
Liii Drogo de Beurere
Liiii Maino the Breton
Lv Eustace de Huntedune
Lvi The Countess Judith
Lvii Gilbert the cook
Lviii David
Lix Richard (Inganie)
Lx William (Inganie) and
other thegns

303

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

THE KING'S LAND
In Wiceslea Wapentake*

The King holds Chetene [Ketton].* There
are 7 hides. There is land for 13 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) and 3 serfs ;
and (there are) 12 sochmen and 24 villeins
and 5 bordars, with the priest, having 1 1
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering 6
shillings and 8 pence, and 40 acres of meadow.
Of underwood {si/vte vi/is) there are 16
acres.

To this manor pertains Tichesovre
[Tixover]. There are 2 hides. There is
land for 8 ploughs. There 16 sochmen,
with 3 bordars, have 6 ploughs. There (is)
a mill rendering {dfj 5 shillings, and 8 acres
of meadow, and 3 acres of spinney {sp'tnetum).
The whole in king Edward's time was
worth 100 shillings (and is) now (worth)
10 pounds.

The King holds Berchedone [Barrowden].
There are 4 hides, less i virgate. There is
land for 10 ploughs. There are 9 villeins
and 10 sochmen with 3 bordars, having 6
ploughs and a half. There (are) 16 acres
of meadow and 6 acres of spinney [spinetum).
To this manor pertain these members : —
In Seieton [Seaton], i^ hides and i bovate
of land. There is land for 6 ploughs, and
(there are) 4 acres of meadow. In Torp
[Thorp], I hide and i virgate of land. There
is land for 4 ploughs, and (there are) 3 acres
of meadow. In Morcote [Morcot], 4 hides.
There is land for 8 ploughs, and 6 acres of
meadow. In Bitlesbroch [Bisbrooke], and
Gladestone [Glaston], i^ hides. There is
land for 4 ploughs, and 8 acres of meadow.
In LuFENHAM [North Luffenham], 4 hides.
There is land for 10 ploughs, and 16 acres
of meadow. In these lands there are 1 5
sochmen and 33 villeins and 23 bordars, with
the priest, having 19 ploughs. In Seitone
[Seaton] there is a mill rendering [de) 36
pence. Wood(land) i furlong in length and i
in breadth. Spinney (spinetum) 6 furlongs
in length and 2 furlongs in breadth. The
whole in king Edward's time was worth 3
pounds ; now (it is worth) 7 pounds.

The King holds Lufenham [South Luffen-
ham] and ScuLETORP [Kelthorpej. There
are 7 hides and i virgate of land. There is

' For the modern names of the hundreds,
see p. 297.

* This and the following eleven places are
in Rutland.

land for 14 ploughs. There are 12 sochmen
and 16 bordars with the priest, having 12
ploughs. There are 2 mills rendering [de) 40
pence, and 10 acres of meadow. In king
Edward's time it was worth 30 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings. The men
labour at the king's work [opera], which the
reeve shall command. Queen Edith held
these lands. Hugh de Forth ' now holds
(them) of the King at farm.

fo. aiQb

The King holds Castretone [Casterton].
Earl Morcar held it. There are 3^ hides.
There is land for 9 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough) ; and 24 villeins and 2
sochmen and 2 bordars, with the priest, and 2
serfs have 7 ploughs. There is a mill render-
ing {de) 16 shillings, and 16 acres of meadow.
Spinney {spinetum) 3 furlongs in length and 2
furlongs in breadth. It was worth 6 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 10 pounds. Hugh, son of
Baldric,* holds (it) of the king at farm.

The King has in demesne of Portland * 2
carucates and 2 thirds {partes) of a third caru-
cate and 1 2 acres of meadow, i carucate of
land belongs to the church of S. Peter, and
half a carucate to the church of All Saints.
Portland, with the meadow, in king Edward's
time used to render 48 shillings, and lO shil-
lings for the rugs {feltris) of the king's sumpter
horses. Besides this the King ought to have
9 pounds and 12 shillings for other issues of
the town.

The King holds Nortone [Greens Nor-
ton]. King Edward held it. There, with
2 members, Blachesleuue [Blakesley] and
Atenestone [Adstone], are 7 hides and i vir-
gate of land. There is land for *
In demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 3 serfs
and 2 bondwomen ; and (there are) 19
villeins and 15 sochmen and 5 bordars, having
21 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills rendering
{de) 1 5 shillings. Wood 4 leagues in length
and 3 leagues in breadth. When stocked
{oneratur) it is worth 60 shillings, and (the)
honey 4 shillings. The sochmen render 30
shillings. It was worth 12 pounds; now (it
is worth) 20 pounds. The smiths used to
render 7 pounds'' in king Edward's time.

' See the Victoria History of Hampshire
for this great tenant-in-chief in that county.

* See the Victoria History of Yorkshire
for this great tenant-in-chief in that county.

* See Introduction for this locality.

* Blank in the original.

' From the large amount of these pay-
ments, it may be conjectured that the ' fabri '

304

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

The King holds Tovecestre [Towcester].
There are 7^ hides. There is land for 22
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs,
and (there are) 15 villeins with lO ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering (de) 13 shillings
and 4 pence, and 1 2 acres of meadow. Wood
2 leagues in length and 1 in breadth. The
smiths used to render 100 shillings,* but
now they render nothing. There one soch-
man renders 5 shillings, having half a hide
and the 5th part of half a hide. In king
Edward's time it was worth 12 pounds ; now
(it is worth) 25 pounds.

The King holds Sudtone [King's Sutton].
There are 3 hides. There is land for 6
ploughs. Tn demesne there are 2 (ploughs)
with one serf; and (there are) 7 villeins and
10 bordars with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 10 shillings and 8 pence. From
the meadows (come) 20 shillings. From the
market {forum) (comes) 20 shillings. In
other -land of the same manor are 4 villeins
with 2 ploughs.

To this manor belongs Witefelle [Whit-
field]. There are 2 hides and inland* for 2
ploughs, and for the men land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) with I serf ;
and (there are) 8 villeins and 3 bordars with
3^ ploughs. Wood(land) i league in length
and 7 furlongs in breadth. The whole in
king Edward's time was worth 19 pounds;
now (it is -worth) 32 pounds of 20 (pence)
to the ounce.

In Gravesende Hundret

The King holds Falelav [Fawsley].
There are i^ hides and the 5th part of a hide.
(There) is inland ^ for 4 ploughs. There are
2 ploughs ; and 6 bordars have 4 ploughs.
In the other land without the demesne there
are 6 villeins, with a reeve having 4 ploughs.
From the meadow come [exeunt] 2 shillings.
In king Edward's time it was worth 1 5
pounds. Now it renders as many pounds of
20 (pence) to the ounce. To this manor
pertains the soc of I hide less I bovate ; it
renders 4 shillings.

In Coltrewestan Hundret

The King holds Hardingestorp [Harding-
stone]. There are 5 hides, besides the in-

were ironworkers, not smiths. (Mr. Stuart
Moore's note). * See preceding note.

^ The difficult term ' inland ' seems to
mean here, as in some other cases, land not
assessed for the ' geld ' (see my observations in
Domesday Studies, pp. 1 07— 1 09).

land (where there) ^ is land for 4 ploughs.
There are 2 ploughs, and 4 villeins and 10
bordars with 4 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills
rendering 50 siiillings. From the meadows
and pastures (come) 66 pence. In king
Edward's time it was worth 30 pounds ; now
(it is worth) 12 pounds. William Pevrel and
Gunfrid de Cioches have there 2 hides and
60 acres of meadow, by the king's gift, as
they say.

In Corbei Hundret '

The King holds Gretone [Gretton].
There are 3 hides and 3 virgates of land.
There is land for 14 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and i bondwoman ; and
15 villeins and 5 bordars, with the priest,
have 6 ploughs. There is a mill rendering
(de) 3 shillings, and 20 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) I league in length and half a
league in breadth. It was and is worth 20
pounds. Very many things are wanting to
this manor which in king Edward's time
were appendant to it [ihi) as well in wood and
ironworks {ferrariis),zs in other returns (rf(A//-

ribus).

The King holds Corbei [Corby]. There
are li hides. There is land for 9 ploughs.
In demesne there is i (plough) ; and 7 vil-
leins, with the priest and 3 bordars, have 4
ploughs. Wood(!and) 18 furlongs in length
and 4 furlongs in breadth. In king Edward's
time and now it (was and) is worth 10
pounds. Many things are wanting to this
manor which in king Edward's time belonged
to it in wood and ironworks {Jerrariis) and
other matters [causis).

The King holds Bricstoc [Brigstock].
There are 3^ hides. There is land for 9
ploughs. In demesne are 3 ploughs and 6
serfs; and 16 villeins, with the priest and
4 bordars, have 5 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering [de] 5 shillings, and 7 acres of
meadow. • Wood I 5 furlongs in length and I
league in breath.

To this manor belong these members : —
Slepe [Islip]. There is i hide and 3 virgates
of land ; in Geitentone [Geddington], i
hide ; in Stanere [Stanion], i| virgates of
land. There is land for 8 ploughs. There
are 4 sochmen and 9 villeins and 7 bordars.
Among (them) all they have 7 ploughs. In
Slepe [Islip] there are 4 acres of meadow.

The whole manor, with its appendages, in

^ 'I'lie meaning here is doubtful.

305

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

king Edward's time was worth 15 pounds;
now (it is worth) 20 pounds.

In Wilebroc Hundret

The King holds Dodintone [Duddington].
There is i hide. There is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough) ; and 10
villeins with the priest and 2 bordars, have 3
ploughs. There (are) 10 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) I league in length and 6 furlongs
in breadth. There (is) a mill rendering [de) 4
shillings. This land belongs to Gretone
[Gretton] Manor aforesaid. In king Edward's
time it was worth 10 pounds, and now the
same [simi/itir). Many things are wanting
to it which belong to (the sources of its) ferm
ijirmam),^ in woods and other matters [caush).

In Rodewelle Hundret

The King holds Rodewelle [Rothwell]
and Overtone [Orton]. There are 8 hides
and 2 thirds of i hide. There is land for 40
ploughs. In demesne there are 4 ploughs ;
and 19 villeins and 45 bordars have io|^
ploughs. There (are) 2 mills rendering {de)
9 shillings and 4 pence, and 8 acres of mea-
dow.

To this manor belong these members : —
Lodintone [Loddington], with [de) i hide
and the 3rd part of I hide; Clendone [Clen-
don], with {de) half a hide and the 3rd part
of I hide ; Dractone [Draughton], with {de)
I hide and half a virgate of land ; Arning-
VORDE [Arthingworth], with {de) a half virgate
of land ; Dereburg [Desborough], half a
virgate of land ; Keilmerse [Kelmarsh], with
(de) 2 hides and the 3rd part of i virgate ;
Oxendone [Oxendon], with {de) i hide and
I virgate of land ; Clipestone [Clipston],
with {de) i^ virgates ; Cranesleg [Cransley],
with {de) 2 hides and i virgate of land ;
Burtone [Broughton], with {de) half a hide.
There is land for 19 ploughs in all. There
are 47 sochmen, having 18 ploughs.

This manor of Rodewelle [Rothwell],
with its appendages, in king Edward's time
was worth 30 pounds : now (it is worth) 50
pounds.

In Maleslea Hundret

The
worth],
for 35

King holds Briclesworde [Brix-
There are 9^ hides. There is land

ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and (there are) 14 villeins, with the
priest and 15 bordars, having 15 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering {de) 33 shillings

i.e. the rent paid for it as a whole.

and 4 pence, and 8 acres of meadow. To
this manor pertains a wood which used to
render yearly 1 00 shillings. This is now in
the king's forest.

To this manor belongs Holecote [Holcot].
There are 2 hides and 2i virgates of land.
There is land for 10 ploughs. There are 11
sochmen with 4 ploughs. The whole in
king Edward's time rendered 30 pounds ;
now (it renders) 36 pounds.

The King holds Fextone [Faxton]. There
are 2 hides. There is land for 12 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs and 6 serfs ;
and (there are) 6 villeins and 9 bordars with 3
ploughs. There are 16 acres of meadow.

To this manor belong Walda [Wold]
and Waldgrave [Walgrave].' There are 2
hides and 3^ virgates of land. There is land
for 7 ploughs. There are 14 sochmen with
6 ploughs. There are i 2 acres of meadow.
The whole in king Edward's time rendered
15 pounds ; now (it renders) 16 pounds.

The King holds Torp [Kingsthorpe].'
There are 4 hides and 3 virgates of land.
There is land for 20 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 ploughs ; and (there are) 16 vil-
leins and 8 bordars with 3 ploughs. There
are 3 mills rendering {de) 43 shillings and 4
pence, and 5 acres of meadow.

To this manor belongs Multone [MouI-
ton]. There are i^ hides and I bovate of
land. And Westone [Weston], with I hide,
similarly belongs to it. There is land for 5
ploughs in all. There are 10 sochmen with 3
ploughs, and 3 acres of meadow.

The whole in king Edward's time ren-
dered 15 pounds ; now (it renders) as much.

The King holds Optone [Upton]. There
are 2 hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough) ; and 10 villeins
and 10 bordars have 5 ploughs. There is a
mill rendering {de) 12 shillings and 8 pence,
and 6 acres of meadow.

To this manor pertains Erlestone [Harles-
ton]. There is half a hide. There is land
for 2 ploughs. There are 2 sochmen with I
plough. The whole in king Edward's time
was worth 1 5 pounds ; now (it is worth) as
much.

^ The letters a and b placed above these
names in the original denote transposition.
(Mr. Stuart Moore's note).

' In Spelho Hundred,

306

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

The King holds Nassintone [Nassington].
There are 6 hides. There is land for i6
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;
and 24 villeins, with the priest and 2 bordars,
have 14 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills ren-
dering (de) 30 shillings and 8 pence, and 40
acres of meadow. Wood(land) i league in
length and half a league in breadth. In king
Edward's time it rendered 26 pounds and 13
shillings by tale ; now (it renders) 30 pounds.

fo. 320

In Hereford [Barford] ' is i hide. Oslac
the White {J/hus) held this with 2 sochmen,
of whom he himself had the soc. There is
land for 2 ploughs. There are 4 villeins and
3 bordars with 2 ploughs, and a mill rendering
[de) 32 pence. This land king William
granted to Godwin.

In RicsDONE [Rushton] is half a virgate of
land. The soc pertains to Bereford [Barford].
There is i sochman having 2 oxen.* It is
worth 10 shillings.

In Patorp [Apthorp] are 2 hides pertaining
to Nassintone [Nassington]. There is land
for 12 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs) ; and (there are) 16 villeins and 4
bordars with 10 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 6 shillings, and 6 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) i league in length and
as much in breadth. In king Edward's time
it rendered 13 pounds and 7 shillings.

The King holds Tanesovre [Tansor].
There are 6 hides. There is land for 18
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs ;
and (there are) 15 villeins and 4 bordars with
14 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering [de)
10 shillings, and 12 acres of meadow. Wood-
(land) I league in length, and half a league in
breadth. In king Edward's time it rendered
20 pounds by tale.

The King holds Bernewelle [Barnwell
All Saints]. There are 6 hides, and i virgate
of land. There is land for 6 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ; and (there are)
12 villeins and 2 bordars with 4 ploughs.
There are 24 acres of meadow. In king
Edward's time it rendered 13 pounds and 6
shillings and 6 pence by tale ; now (it renders)
30 pounds together with Tanesovre [Tan-
sor].

The King holds Clive [King's CliflF].

* A decayed hamlet in Rushton parish.

* i.e. a quarter of a plough-team.

There is 1 hide, and 2^ virgates. Earl jElfgar
held (it). There is land for 14 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 ploughs with I serf;
and (there are) 7 villeins with the priest, and
6 bordars having 5 ploughs. There (is) a
mill rendering {de) 12 pence, and 4 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) i league in length,
and half a league in breadth. In king Ed-
ward's time it rendered 7 pounds ; now (it
renders) 10 pounds.

The King holds Rochingeham [Rocking-
ham]. There is i hide. There is land for
3 ploughs. There are 5 villeins, and 6 bor-
dars with 3 ploughs. Boui held this land
with sac and soc in king Edward's time. It
was waste when king William ordered a castle
to be made {fieri) there. It is now worth
26 shillings.

In Stoche [Stoke Albany] is i hide of the
soc (land) of Corbi [Corby], the king's
manor. There is land for 2 ploughs. These
are there with 5 sochmen, who render 64
pence to CoRBi [Corby].

In Wilbertestone [Wilbarston] are 3 vir-
gates of land. There is land for 2 ploughs.
There are 5 sochmen with 3 bordars having
l^ ploughs. It was and is worth 4 shillings.

The King hold Passonham [Passenham].'
There is i hide. There is land for 12
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough)
with I serf; and (there are) 8 villeins and 6
bordars, with I free man, having 5 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 13 shillings
and 4 pence, and 30 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) I league in length, and as much
in breadth.

To this manor pertains Pocheslei [Pokesle].
There is half a hide. There is land for i
plough. There is i sochman, having half a
plough, and he renders 5 shillings.

The whole, in king Edward's time, ren-
dered 8 pounds by tale ; now (it renders) 10
pounds.

In Corbi Hundret

The King holds Wiclei (Weekley). Earl
iElfgar held (it). There are 2^ hides. There
is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 (ploughs) and 4 serft ; and (there are) 1 2
villeins and 6 bordars with 4 ploughs. There
is a mill rendering {de) 64 pence. It was
worth 3 pounds ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds.

' Passenham and Pokesle, or Puckesley, are
in Cleyley Hundred,

307

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Neveslund Hundret

The King holds Tingdene [Finedon].
Queen Edith held (it). There are, with its
appendages, 27' hides. There is land for 54
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 hides, and
there (are) 4 ploughs and 7 serfs ; and (there
are) 30 villeins and 15 bordars with 1 1
ploughs, and 50 sochmen with 24 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills, rendering (^^) 18 shillings,
and a third rendering [de) 16 shillings. There
(are) 50 acres of meadow. Wood(land) I
league in length and half a league in breadth.
In king Edward's time it rendered 20 pounds
by tale ; now (it renders) 40 pounds by
weight of 20 (pence) to the ounce. The 50
sochmen render yearly for the soc {de soca) 8
pounds and 10 pence. The land of this
manor lies thus : In Hecham [Higham]
Hundred, 10^ hides ; In Hocheslau [Hux-
low] Hundred, i^ hides; In Geritone Hun-
dred,* 1 hide ; In Rodeuuel [Rothwell]
Hundred, 3 quarters of I hide ; In Ordinbaro
[Orlingbury] Hundred, 3 hides and I virgate
of land ; In Neueslund ' Hundred, 9^ hides.

II. THE LAND OF THE BISHOP
OF BAYEUX

The bishop of Bayeux holds of the King,
and William Peurel [Peverel] of him, half a
hide in Halecote [Holcote]. There is land
for I plough. This is in demesne with 4
bordars. There (is) a mill rendering [de) 8
pence, and 6 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
I furlong in length and half a furlong in
breadth. It was worth 8 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 10 shillings. Almar held (it) with
sac and soc.

Of the Bishop's fee* William holds i^ vir-
gates of land in Hohtone [Houghton Parva].
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough) and 2 serfs ; and (there
are) 9 villeins and 6 bordars with 3 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 8 pence, and 20
acres of meadow. Wood(land) i furlong in
length and half a furlong in breadth. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40

' ' Require hidarum numerum ' is added
in the margin.

^ We have no other mention of this
Hundred in Domesday.

' Contained in the present Hundred of
Huxlow.

■* This technical phrase should be noted.
The Bishop had forfeited his land at the time.

shillings. Ulf, son of Azor, held (it) with sac
and soc. The Countess Judith claims (it).

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee William
holds 3 virgates of land in Brachesfeld [Bray-
field]. There is land for 2 ploughs. These
(ploughs) 5 villeins with 2 bordars have there.
There (are) 5 acres of meadow. It was and
is worth 20 shillings. Nigel claims (it) to
the use of the Countess Judith. Ulf, son of
Azor, held (it) in king Edward's time.

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds 2 hides in Grentevorde [Greatworth].
There is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne is
I (plough) and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 10
villeins and 5 bordars with 3 ploughs. It was
worth 4 pounds ; now (it is worth) 3 pounds.
Saulf held (it) freely in king Edward's time.

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds I virgate of land in Brandestone
[Braunston]. The soc of this lies in Faleu-
uesle [Fawsley]. There is land for i plough.
This is there with 2 villeins and 3 bordars.
It was and is worth 20 shillings. Sawin held
(it) in king Edward's time.

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds I virgate of land and the 5th part of
I virgate in Waltone [Walton].* The
soc of this lies in Sutone [Sutton]. There
is land for i plough. This is there with i
serf and 2 villeins. There (is) a mill render-
ing .4 shillings. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 15 shillings. Ulfric held
(it) of Alnod of Canterbury.*'

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, the same
William holds 4^ hides and the 5th part of
a half a hide in Hertewelle [Hartwell].
There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne
(there are) 2 (ploughs) and 5 serfs ; and 1 1
villeins and 9 bordars with the priest, have
4^ ploughs. There (are) 12 acres of meadow,
and a mill rendering {de) 17 shillings and 4
pence. Wood(land) 8 furlongs in length and
3 in breadth. It was worth 4 pounds ; now
(it is worth) 70 shillings. Edmar held (it)
freely.

In Clailei Hundret

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds half a hide less the 5th part of half a
hide in Pocheslai [Pokesle]. There is land

* In Sutton Hundred.
^ j^^thelnoth ' cild,' a Kentish noble and
great landowner.

308

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

for I plough. There is i villein with I

bordar having half a plough. It is worth 4

shillings. Almar held (it) in king Edward's
time.

In Rode [Roade] Stefan holds of the
Bishop 1 hide. It is waste. It is in the
king's hand.'

In Gravesend Hundret

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds half a hide in Everdone [Everdon].
The soc of this land lies in Felesleuue
[Fawsley]. There is land for i plough. This
is there with 2 villeins and 2 bordars, and
(there are) 6 acres of meadow. It was worth
5 shillings; now (it is worth) 10 shillings.
Bern held (it) in king Edward's time.

In Sutone Hundret

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, Adam holds
in Cerlintone [Charleton], 3 virgates of land
and the 5th part of I virgate. The soc lies
in Sutone [Sutton]. There is land for 2
ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough) with
2 bordars. It was and is worth ten shillings.

In Niwebote Hundret

Of the bishop of Bayeux's fee, William
holds 2 hides and i^ virgates of land in Hei-
forde [Nether Hey ford]. There is land for
4 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs
and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 7 villeins and 2
bordars with i plough. There are 10 acres
of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 20 shillings. Biscop and Ailet
held (it) freely in king Edward's time.

III. THE LAND OF THE BISHOP
OF DURHAM

In Wiceslea Wapent[ake]

The bishop of Durham holds 2 hides of
the King in Horne [Horn].^ There is land
for 4 ploughs. (There is) now in demesne
I plough ; and 12 villeins with the priest and
I sochman and 7 bordars and I serf, have 4
ploughs. There (are) 3 mills rendering {de)
20 shillings. Wood(land) i furlong and 12
perches in length and 17 perches in breadth.
It was and is worth 4 pounds. Langfer held
(it) of king Edward with sac and soc.

fO. 330b

IV. THE LAND OF THE BISHOP
OF COUTANCES

The bishop of Coutances holds of the King
Rande [Raunds]. There are 6 hides and i^
virgates. There is land for .'

In demesne there are 2 ploughs, and 4
serfs ; and (there are) 4 villeins and 6 bordars
with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
{de) 34 shillings and 8 pence and 1 00 eels.
There (are) 20 acres of meadow. Of this
land, 3 sochmen hold 2 hides; Robert, I hide ;
Goisfrid, I hide; Algar, i^ virgates. There
are in demesne 6^ ploughs and (there are) 7
villeins and 4 bordars, with 2 serfs having 2
ploughs, and a mill rendering 12 pence. It
was worth 60 shillings ; now (it is worth)
100 shillings. Of this land, William * claims
against the Bishop I hide and half a virgate of
land. Burred held this manor with sac and soc.

The same Bishop holds Deneforde [Den-
ford]. There are 5 hides. There is land for
.* In demesne there are 4^ ploughs
and 3 serfs; and (there are) 12 villeins and
18 bordars and 4 sochmen with 12 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering {de) 50 shillings,
and 8 pence, and 250 eels. Burred held this
manor freely. It was worth 100 shillings;
now (it is worth) 8 pounds.

In Narresford Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Aubrey^ holds 24 hides
and I bovate in Wadenho [Wadenhoe].
There is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne
there are 3 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and 3
villeins and 14 bordars, with the priest, have
2 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering (de)
1 2 pence, and 1 1 acres of meadow. It was
worth 3 pounds ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.
To this land pertain 3 virgates of land in
Scaldewelle [Scald well]. There is land for

1 plough. That is there with 2 villeins and

2 bordars. The soc is the king's.

Of the same Bishop, the same Aubrey
holds 2 hides and half a virgate of land in
Wadenho [Wadenhoe]. There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs and
4 serfs ; and 9 villeins and 3 bordars with i
sochman have 2i ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering [de) 13 shillings and 4 pence, and
65 eels. There are 16 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length and i league

' This is entered in the margin.
* In Rutland.

* A blank is left in the original.

* Apparently William Pevrel (see p. 337,
col. i). * Blank in original.

« Aubrey de Vere (see p. 362 below).

309

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

in breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 60 shillings. Burred held (it)
freely in king Edward's time.

In Ordinbaro Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds 2
hides and 3 virgates of land in Hargindone
[Harrowden Magna]. There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and (there are) 12 villeins and 13 bordars with
i^ ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering {de)
8 shillings. Of this land, I knight holds 3
virgates of land, and has there i plough with
2 villeins and i bordar. It was worth 60
shillings; now (it is worth) 100 shillings.
Edwin held (it) freely.

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds i
hide, and a half in another Hargindone [Har-
rowden Parva]. There is land for 3 ploughs,
and those are there in demesne. This land
is valued with that above.

Of the same Bishop's fee,* Hardwin, a man
of Walchelin's, holds 1 hide and I virgate of
land in the same vill. There is land for 2
ploughs, and they are in demesne with i serf ;
and 4 villeins with I bordar have half a plough.
There (are) 5 acres of meadow. It was worth
20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.
Siuerd held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds 3
virgates of land in Hisham [Isham]. There
is land for i plough, and that is in demesne
with 4 bordars who have half a plough. It
was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings. Burred held (it) with sac and soc.

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds 2
hides and 3 virgates of land in Burtone
[Burton Latimer ?]. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
with I serf and 1 bondwoman. There 9
villeins and 5 bordars have 3^ ploughs.
There are 15 acres of meadow. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. Burred held (it) with sac and soc.

In Stodfalde Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds half
a hide and 3 quarters of I virgate in Clipes-
TONE [Clipston]. There is land for 3 ploughs.
In demesne there is i (plough) ; and 4
villeins and 2 bordars have i^ ploughs. To
this land belongs i virgate of land and 2
thirds of 1 virgate. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

In Wardone Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Walchelin holds 2
hides in Hocecote [Edgcott]. There is land
for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), with 2 serfs ; and 21 villeins, and
2 bordars have 3 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) \o shillings, and 6 acres of
meadow. It was and is worth 4 pounds.
Burred held (it) with sac and soc, and likewise
the above-mentioned (lands).

In Neveslund Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Richard holds i^ hides
in Burtone [Burton Latimer]. There is
land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there is
I (plough) with I serf ; and 3 villeins with i
bordar have i plough. There (are) 6 acres
of meadow. It was and is worth 10 shil-
lings.

Of the same Bishop, Richard holds half a
hide in Tingdene [Finedon]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough)
with 3 bordars. There (is) a mill rendering
{de) 5 shillings, and 3 acres of meadow. It
was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings. Burred held both.*

Of the same Bishop, Geoffrey holds i hide
and half a virgate of land in Hantone.*
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs ; and (there
are) 4 villeins and 2 bordars with 2 ploughs.
There (are) 4 acres of meadow. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shil-
lings. Alwin Cuboid held (it).

In Wimeresle Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Winemar holds half
a hide in Hachelintone [Hackleton]. There
is land for i plough, and that is there with i
serf and 3 bordars. It was worth 1 6 pence ;
now (it is worth) lO shillings. Burred held
(it).

Of the same Bishop, Winemar holds i
hide in Preston [Preston Deanery], and it
was assessed at i hide in king Edward's time.
There is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), and 2 serfs ; and 4
villeins with 1 plough. There (are) 6 acres
of meadow. It was worth 2 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 20 shillings. Wlwara, the
widow, held (it) in king Edward's time.

* Feudo ' is interlined above 'ipso.'

310

* i.e. this and the preceding estate.
' The name is now lost.

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

Of the same Bishop, Robert holds Bertone
[Barton Segrave]. There are 4^ hides.
There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne
there are 4 ploughs and 7 serfs, and I bond-
woman ; and 23 villeins with 3 bordars have
6 ploughs. There are 2 mills rendering
10 shillings, and 40 acres of meadow, and 8
acres of wood. It was worth 40 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 100 shillings. Burred held
it.

In Neveslund Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Robert holds i virgate
of land in Craneford [Cranford]. There is
land for i plough. There are 5 villeins and

1 sochman with 2 bordars ; they have 2
ploughs. It is worth 10 shillings. It was
waste.

In Hanverdesho Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Norgot holds i virgate
of land in Wendlesberie [Wellingborough].
There is land for half a plough. There are

2 sochmen with that (half a plough). It is
worth 2 shillings. The soc pertains to the
bishop's manor of Hargintone [Harrowden].

Of the same Bishop, William holds 2 hides,
less half a virgate, in Niwetone [Newton
Bromswold]. There is land for 2 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 ploughs, and (there
are) 8 villeins and 6 bordars with 2 ploughs.
Wood(land) there 2 furlongs in length, and i
furlong in breadth. It was worth 20 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Azor
held (it) in king Edward's time.

In Neveslund Hundret

Of the Bishop's fee, Hugh holds i| hides
in Epintone [Adington Magna]. There is
land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough) ; and 6 villeins with I bordar have

3 ploughs. There is a mill rendering (dr)
16 pence, and 4 acres of meadow. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings.

Of the Bishop's fee, Osmund holds i hide
and I virgate of land in another Edintone
[Adington Parva]. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is i plough ; and

4 villeins have 2 ploughs. There (are) 2
acres of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Azor held (it)
of king Edward.

I virgate of land in Wodekord [Woodford],'
There is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 ploughs ; and I villein with the
priest and 5 bordars have i| ploughs. There
(are) 6 acres of meadow, and I acre of
wood. It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 30 shillings. Burred held (it), but
the soc pertained to Burg [Peterborough].

Of the same Bishop, Odelin holds 3 virgates
of land in Trapestone [Thrapston]. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough) and 2 serfs ; and I villein with 4
bordars have I plough. It was worth 12
pence ; now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Burred
held (it) freely.

Of the same Bishop, Edwin holds i^ vir-
gates of land in Stanere [Stanion]. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is
I (plough) and 3 bordars have I plough.
There (is) a mill rendering (de) 32 pence.
Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length and 2 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 2 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings. The same
(Edwin) held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

In Hocheslau Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Edwin and Algar
hold 2 hides less I virgate in Luhwic [Lowick].
There is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne
there is I plough and i bondwoman ; and
(there are) 7 villeins and 2 bordars with 2
ploughs. There is a mill rendering {de) 64
pence. Wood(land) 5 furlongs in length and
3 furlongs in breadth. It was worth lO shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 25 shillings.

Of the same Bishop, Algar holds i hide
and I virgate of land in Islep [Islip]. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is

1 (plough), and 2 serfs ; and 5 villeins with

2 bordars have i plough.

fo. »I

Of the same Bishop, Turbern holds 3 vir-
gates of land in Hortone [Horton]. There
is land for I plough. That (plough) is there,
with 2 villeins and 2 bordars. It was worth
6 shillings; now (it is worth) lO shillings.
Frano held (it) in king Edward's time.

In Sudtone Hundret

Of the Bishop, Alvric holds in Crevel-
tone [Croughton] four-fifths of half a hide.
There is land for half a plough. There are

Of the same Bishop, Ralf holds i hide and

' In Huxlow Hundred.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

3 bordars with i plough. It is worth lo Hortone [Horton].^ There is land for half

shillings. The same (Alvric) held (it) of the a plough. There (are) 6 acres of meadow,

son of Burred, and could not leave {diice- It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)

dere).'^ 10 shillings. Leviget held (it) freely.

Of the Bishop, Robert holds Finemere
[Finmere].* There are 8 hides. There is
land for 9 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 ploughs, and 4 serfs; and (there are) 10
villeins and 5 bordars with 6 ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering [de) 14 shillings, and
100 acres of pasture. Wood(land) I furlong
in length and I in breadth. It was and is
worth 8 pounds. Ulward held (it) freely in
king Edward's time.

Of the Bishop, Roger holds Hedham
[? Hethe].^ There are 8 hides. There is
land for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 (ploughs) with I serf; and (there are) 8
villeins and 5 bordars with I plough. There
are 20 acres of pasture. It was and is worth
8 pounds. Uluuard held (it) freely.

Of the Bishop, Herlwin holds Scildeswelle
[Shelswell].' There are 10 hides. There is
land for 7 ploughs. In demesne there are

3 ploughs, and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 7
villeins and 7 bordars with 4 ploughs. It
was worth 100 shillings; now (it is worth)
10 pounds. Edwin, son of Burred, held (it).

Of the Bishop, William holds Glintone
[Glympton].' There are lo hides. There
is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are
6 ploughs and 6 serfs ; and (there are) 1 5
villeins and 5 bordars with 5 ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering {de) 5 shillings, and 18
acres of meadow. Wood(Iand) 6 furlongs in
length and as much in breadth. It was worth
6 pounds ; now (it is worth) 8 pounds.
Ulward held (it) freely of king Edward.

Of the Bishop, William and Ilger hold
OiTONE [Etton].' There are 5 hides.
There is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ; and (there
are) 14 villeins and 2 bordars with 5 ploughs.
There (are) 30 acres of meadow, and 13
acres of pasture. It was worth 4 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 100 shillings. Uluuard
held (it) freely.

Of the Bishop, Turstin holds half a hide in

Of the Bishop, Robert holds 5 hides in
Egforde [Heyford r].' There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 5 serfs ; and (there are) 5 villeins and 7
bordars with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 20 shillings, and 30 acres of
meadow. It was and is worth 6 pounds.
Edwin, son of Burred, held (it) freely.

V. THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN'S
LAND

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

The Bishop of Lincoln holds of the King
Holewelle [Hollowell]. There is i hide
and two-thirds of half a hide. There is land
for 3 ploughs. There are 4 villeins, with
I bordar having i plough. It was and is
worth 10 shillings. Bardi held (it) freely.

Of the same Bishop, Walter holds 2 hides
in Lidentone [Lyddington].

There pertains (to it) Stoche [Dry Stoke],
Smelistone [Snelston],^ Caldecote [Caldecote].
There is land for 16 ploughs in all. In
demesne there are 6 ploughs, and 4 serfs ;
and 26 villeins and 24 bordars having 9
ploughs. There (are) 2 mills rendering {de)
8 shillings, and 28 acres of meadow. Wood
3 furlongs in length and 2 furlongs in breadth.
The whole is worth 8 pounds. Bardi held
(it) with sac and soc.

Of the same Bishop, Walter holds I hide
in EsiNDONE [Essendine].* There is land for
6 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs,
with I serf; and (there are) 16 villeins and
5 bordars with 4 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 16 shillings, and 3 acres of
meadow. Wood 6 furlongs in length, and 4
furlongs in breadth. It was worth 4 pounds ;
now (is is worth) 100 shillings. Bardi held
(it) with sac and soc.

In Elboldeston Hundret

Of the same Bishop, Godfrey holds 4 hides
in Cewecumbe [Chalcombe]. There is land
for ID ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 20

* i.e. hold it of another lord. * Formerly a village about i^ miles south-

* In Oxfordshire, the adjoining village to west of Dry Stoke, no traces of which at
Shelswell. present remain. (Mr. Moore's note.)

^ In Oxfordshire. 5 j„ Rutland.

312

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

villeins and 9 bordars with 8 ploughs. There
(are) 3 mills rendering {de) 16 shillings, and

9 acres of meadow. It was worth 10 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 7 pounds. Bardi held (it)
freely.

VI. THE LAND OF ST. PETER OF
BURG

In Stoche Hundret

The Abbey of St. Peter of Burg [Peter-
borough] holds the vill which is called Burg
[Peterborough]. There are 8 hides. There
is land for 16 ploughs. In demesne there are
5 (ploughs), and 7 serfs ; and (there are) 37
villeins and 8 bordars with 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill [de) rendering 5 shillings ;
and 40 acres of meadow. Wood(land) i
league in length and 4 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)

10 pounds.

In Stoch Hundret

The same Church holds Cotingeham
[Cottingham]. There are 7 hides. There
is land for 14 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 29
villeins and 10 bordars with 10 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 40 pence, and
12 acres of meadow. Wood(land) I league
in length and half a league in breadth. It
was worth lo shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings.

The same Church holds Torp [Long
Thorp]. There are 2 hides. There is land
for 4 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 12
villeins and 2 bordars with 2 ploughs. There
is meadow(land) 3 furlongs in length and I
furlong in breadth. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in
length and 4 furlongs in breadth. There are

3 sochmen with 2 ploughs. It was worth 40
shillings ; now (it is worth) 50 shillings.

The same Church holds Castre [Castor].
There are 3 hides. There is land for 12
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs)
with I serf; and (there are) 13 villeins and
2 bordars with 3^ ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 8 shillings, and 15 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length
and 4 furlongs in breadth. It was worth
20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 50 shillings.

The same Church holds Eglesworde
[Aylesworth]. There are 6 hides. There is
land for 1 2 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
ploughs; and (there are) 17 villeins and 2

bordars and 8 sochmen with 12 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering {de) 12 shillings,
and 15 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3
furlongs in length and 2 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
70 shillings.

The same Church holds 6 hides in Pil-
lesgete [Pillesgate]. There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough)
with I serf; and 9 villeins and 2 bordars and
26 sochmen have 1 1 ploughs. There (is) a
mill rendering {de) 10 shillings, and 40 acres
of meadow, and 5 acres of wood. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds.

The same Church holds 3 hides in Glin-
tone [Glinton]. In this (place) with its
appendages there were, in king Edward's
time, 30 ploughs. There is land for 12
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 2 bondwomen ; and (there are) 10 vil-
leins and 6 bordars and 8 sochmen with 5
ploughs. There are 100 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 10 furlongs in length and 9 fur-
longs in breadth. It was and is worth 60
shillings.

The same Church holds 8 hides and i
virgateof land in Widerintone [Werrington].
There, with the appendages, were 30 ploughs
in king Edward's time.* There is land for
12 ploughs. In demesne there are 5 ploughs,
and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 30 villeins and 4
bordars and 19 sochmen having 19 ploughs.
Wood(land) 2 leagues in length and I league
in breadth. It was worth 4 pounds ; now (it
is worth) 7 pounds.

The same Church holds in Adelintone
[Elton]^ li hides. There is land for 3
ploughs. There are 6 sochmen with 3
ploughs ; and 8 acres of meadow. It was
worth 2 shillings; now (it is worth) lO shil-
lings.

The same Church holds 6 hides in Undele
[Oundle]. There is land for 9 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 3 serfs ; and
(there are) 23 villeins and 10 bordars with 9
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering {de) 20
shillings, and 250 eels; and there (are) 50

' See Introduction.

* In Huntingdonshire. Mr. Stuart Moore
(following Bridges) identifies this as ' Adington
Magna ' (Northants), but it seems to me to be
clearly Elton, as on fo. 222 (p. 318 below).

313

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3 leagues in
length and 2 leagues in breadth. When
stocked {oneratur) it is worth 20 shillings.
From the market (come) 25 shillings. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 1 1
pounds.

To this manor belongs half a hide in Ter-
NINGE [Thurning].* There island for half a
plough. There is l villein. It was worth 2
shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 pence.

In Wicesle * Hundret

To the same manor pertain 2 hides and i
virgate of land in Stoche [Stoke Doily].
There is land for 8 ploughs.

fo. 33lb

In demesne is I plough, and (there are)
10 villeins, and 2 bordars with 2\ ploughs.
There are 10 acres of meadow. Wood(land)

1 league in length and 5 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
1 10 shillings.

The same Church holds 7^ hides in
Wermintone [Warmington].' There is land
tor 16 ploughs. In demesne there are 4
ploughs, and 3 serfs ; and (there are) 32
villeins with 8 ploughs. There is a mill
rendering 40 shillings, and 325 eels, and
(there are) 40 acres of meadow, and i acre
of wood. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 1 1 pounds.

The same Church holds 4^ hides in
AscETONE [Ashton].' There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs
with I serf; and (there are) 11 villeins and

2 bordars with 6 ploughs. There are 2 mills
rendering {de) 40 shillings, and 325 eels, and
16 acres of meadow, and 4 acres of wood.
It was worth 8 shillings ; now (it is worth)
7 pounds.

In Wicesle Hundred

The same Church holds Tedinwelle
[Tinwell].* There are 5 hides and I virgate
of land. There is land for 8 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ; and (there
are) 24 villeins and 1 1 bordars with 7
ploughs. There are 2 mills, rendering [de)
24 shillings, and 20 acres of meadow. It
was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
7 pounds.

* In Huntingdonshire. * An error }
' In Polebrook Hundred.

* In Rutland.

The same Church holds 1 hide and i vir-
gate of land in Sliptone [Slipton]. There
is land for 2 ploughs, and these are there
with 6 sochmen. There are 4 acres of
wood. It is worth 5 shillings.

The same Church holds 5 hides and i vir-
gate of land in Erdibl'Rne [Irthlingborough].
There is land for 1 5 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ; and (there
are) 9 villeins and 8 bordars and 4 sochmen,
with 5 ploughs among (them) all. There is
a mill rendering [de) 18 shillings. It was
worth 3 pounds ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds.

The same Church holds i hide and I vir-
gate of land in Stanwige [Stanwick]. There
is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 ploughs with I serf; and (there are) 8
villeins and 4 bordars with i plough and 2
oxen.* There is a mill rendering [de) 20
shillings, and 8 acres of meadow. It was
worth 40 shillings; now (it is worth) 100
shillings.

The same Church holds 10 hides in
Cateringe [Kettering]. There is land for
16 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough),
and I bondwoman ; and (there are) 31 vil-
leins with 10 ploughs. There are 2 mills,
rendering [de) 20 shillings, and 107 acres of
meadow, and 3 acres of wood. It was worth

1 o pounds ; now (it is worth) 1 1 pounds.

THE LAND OF THE MEN OF
THE SAME CHURCH

In Castre [Castor] 5 knights hold 3 hides
of the Abbot, and have there 5 ploughs in
demesne ; and (there are) 9 villeins and 5
bordars and 3 serfs with 2^ ploughs. It was
worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth) 40
shillings.

Roger holds of the Abbot Meletone
[Milton].* There are 2 hides. There is
land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 (ploughs), with I serf; and (there are) 5
villeins and 6 sochmen with 2 ploughs.
Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length and I in
breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 40 shillings.

In Eglesworde [Aylesworth] 3 of the
Abbot's knights hold 3 hides, and have there

3 ploughs. It is worth 3 pounds.

* i.e. a quarter of a plough (team).

* In Nassaburgh Hundred.

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

Anschitill * holds of the Abbot Withering-
ham [Wittering].^ There are 9 hides.
There is land for 16 ploughs. In king
Edward's time 30 (ploughs) were there. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs and 5 serfs ;
and (there are) 12 villeins and 7 bordars, and
20 sochmen with 12 ploughs among (them)
all. There are 3 mills rendering {tie) 19
shillings. Wood(land) 2 leagues in length
and I in breadth. It was worth 3 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 1 1 pounds.

In BoRGLEA [Burleigh] Geoffrey holds 3
virgates of land of the Abbot. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough)
and 3 serfs ; and 7 villeins with i bordar
have I plough. There (are) 6 acres of
meadow, and 3 acres of wood. It was worth
10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.

In SuDTORP [Southorpe] Geoffrey ^ and 2
other knights hold 4^ hides of the Abbot.
There is land for 6 ploughs. In king
Edward's time there were 12. In demesne
there are 3 ploughs ; and (there are) 4 villeins
and 2 bordars and 18 sochmen with 7 ploughs.
There are 2^ mills, rendering {df) 3 shillings,
and 20 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 2
furlongs in length and I in breadth. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 6
pounds.

In Glintone [Glinton] 3 of the Abbot's
knights hold 10 hides and i virgate of land.
They have there 6 ploughs in demesne, and
(there are) 33 sochmen with 9^ ploughs.
There are 2 mills rendering 1 1 shillings and
4 pence. It was worth 40 shillings ; now it
is worth 10 pounds.

In WiDERiNTONE [Werrington] 4 of the
Abbot's knights hold 3 hides ; and they have
there 4 ploughs, and 1 2 acres of meadow. It
was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds.

In Writorp [Worthorpe] Alwin holds of
the Abbot 3 virgates of land which belong to
Witeringham [Wittering]. There he has
[habent) 3 sochmen with i^ ploughs, and 4
acres of meadow. It is worth eight shillings.

' de St. Medard.

* Including Thornhaugh (with Sibcrton
and part of Walmesford and Elton), which
are not mentioned in Domesday.

' This was Geoffrey, ' nephew of the
abbot.'

In CoDESTOCHE [Cotherstock] 2 knights
hold of the Abbot 3 hides. There is land for
6 ploughs. In demesne there are 3 (ploughs) ;
and (there are) 10 villeins and 4 bordars with
6^ ploughs. There are 24 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length and 4 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

In LiDlNTONE [Lutton] William holds of
the Abbot 2| hides. There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough) with

1 serf ; and (there are) 8 villeins and 2 bor-
dars with 2 ploughs, and 6 sochmen with 2
ploughs, and (there are) 1 2 acres of meadow.
The soc of this land pertains to Undel [Oun-
dle]. It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 40 shillings.

In Warmintone [Warmington] 2 knights
hold of the Abbot i hide, which belongs to
[jacet ad) Walebroc [Willibrook *]. There
is land for 2 ploughs. Those are there with

2 villeins and 3 sochmen. It was worth 2
shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings.

In PocHEBROc [Polebrook] Eustace * holds
of the Abbot 4 hides, less i virgate. There
is land for 8 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough), with I serf; and 5 villeins, and 2
bordars and 3 sochmen with 8 villeins have
4^ ploughs among (them) all. There are 5
acres of meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Of this land
Geoffrey holds i virgate of land.

In Mermeston [Armston] and Chinges-
TORP [Kingsthorpe] * 5 knights hold of the
Abbot 5 hides of soc(land). There is land
for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 5
(ploughs), and (there are) 9 villeins and 3 bor-
dars and 6 sochmen with 3 ploughs among
(them) all. There are 3 acres of meadow.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings.

In Hinintone [Hemington] 3 knighf« hold
of the Abbot 2^ hides, and the soc belongs to
{est Soca de) Undel [Oundle]. There is land
for 4 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
ploughs, and (there are) 5 villeins with 2
ploughs. There are 10 acres of meadow.

* Warmington is in Polebrook Hundred ;
but the hamlet of Warmington is locally situate
in Willibrook Hundred (see p. 387 below).

^ Eustace, sheriff of Huntingdonshire (see
Introduction).

^ In Polebrook Hundred.

315

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

It was worth lO shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings.

In LuLUNTONE ' [Luddington] Walter
holds of the Abbot i^ hides, which pertains
to Undel [Oundle]. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough), and
(there are) 7 villeins with 1^ ploughs. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30
shillings.

In WiNEWiCHE [Winwick] Eustace holds
of the Abbot half a hide. The see belongs to
{est de) is of Undel [Oundle]. There 2 soch-
men with 2 villeins have 2 ploughs. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 10
shillings.

Isenbard and Rozelin hold i^ hides of the
Abbot, and it pertains to Wermintone
[Warmington]. There, with 3 villeins, they
have 2 ploughs. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings.

Two knights and 2 Serjeants \servientef\,
with I sochman, hold 2 hides and 3 virgates of
land, which pertain to Stoche [Stoke Doily].
There they have 2^ ploughs and 8 villeins
and 4 bordarswith 3 ploughs. There are 10
acres of meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 50 shillings.

In PiLCHETONE [Pilton] Roger * holds of
the Abbot 2^ hides. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and (there are) 6 villeins and 2 bordars and 2
sochmen with 4 ploughs. There (are) 8
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 14 furlongs in
length and 4 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shil-
lings.

In Wadenho [Wadenhoe] Roger holds of
the Abbot i^ virgates of land, and he has
there half a plough with i bordar. There are
2 acres of meadow. It is worth 5 shillings.

In AsECHiRCE [Achurch] Azelin ^ and 2
Englishmen hold of the Abbot 6i hides.
There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne
there are 3 ploughs, and 3 serfs ; and (there
are) 10 villeins and 1 1 bordars with 5 ploughs.
There are 20 acres of meadow, and 6 acres
of wood. It was worth 60 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 100 shillings.

' ' Lidintone ' (on preceding page) and
' LuUintone.' See Introduction for my rea-
sons for identifying these places as above.
* This was Roger ' Infans.'
' This was Azelin de ' Waltervilla.'

fo. 33a

In TiRCEMESSE [Tichmarsh] Azelin holds
of the Abbot 3 hides and i virgate of land.
There is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs ; and (there
are) 7 villeins and 3 bordars with 2 ploughs ;
and 3 sochmen with i plough. There are

10 acres of meadow. It was worth 20 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 55 shillings.

In Clotone [Clapton] Eustace* holds of
the Abbot 3 hides and 3 virgates of land, and
the third part of half a hide. There is land for
5 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and (there are) i knight and 9 villeins and 12
bordars and 3 sochmen with 4 ploughs. It
was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings.

In the same vill Elmar holds of the Abbot
half a hide, and has there i plough ; and (there
are) 2 villeins and 3 bordars with half a plough.
In the whole vill there are 26 acres of mea-
dow. This part of Elmar's is worth 10 shil-
lings.

In PiHTESLEA [Pytchley] Azo holds of the
Abbot 5 hides and i virgate of land. There
is land for 13 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 5
villeins and as many bordars with 3 ploughs.
There is a mill rendering [de) 8 shillings, and

1 1 acres of meadow. There also Azo has i^
hides, and there are 4 sochmen with i plough.
The whole, when he received it, was worth

8 pounds ; now (it is worth) 100 shillings.
This Manor belonged to the monks' farm
{ftrmam),^ and there was a demesne building
[dominicum adificium).

In Cateworde [Catworth] ® Eustace holds
i^ hides. There is land for 3 ploughs.
There are 4 sochmen with i plough. It was
worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth) 5 shil-
lings.

In Eldewincle [Aldwinkle St. Peter's] are

3 hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough) ; and (there are)

9 villeins and 2 bordars and 2 sochmen with
4^ ploughs. There (are) 20 acres of meadow.
W'ood(land) 2 leagues in length and i in
breadth; it is worth 15 shillings when it
is charged {pneratur). It was worth 20 shil-

* This was Eustace, sheriff of Hunts.

* i.e. the estates which provided sustenance
of the monks.

" Catworth is locally situate in Hunting-
donshire, but 8 small portions of it belong to
Northamptonshire. (Mr. Moore's note.)

316

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

lings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings. If it
were well worked [exerceretur) it would be
worth 100 shillings. This land in king
Edward's time belonged to the sustenance
of the monks. Ferron holds (it) by the
king's command against the will of the
Abbot.

In WoDEFORD [Woodford '] Roger ^ holds
of the Abbot 7 hides. There is land for 12
ploughs. In demesne there are 2^ ploughs,
and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 12 villeins and 3
bordars and 12 sochmen with 9^ ploughs.
There is a mill rendering 2 shillings, and 20
acres of meadow. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

In the same vill, Roger, Hugh, and Siward
hold 3 virgates of land of the Abbot, and have
there I plough ; and it is worth 10 shillings.
The whole manor was waste when they
received (it).

In Edintone [Addington Parva] Hugh
holds of the Abbot 3 hides. There is land
for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs) with I serf ; and (there are) 8 vil-
leins and 4 bordars and i sochman with 4
ploughs. There is a mill rendering [de) 12
pence and 200 eels ; and (there are) 8 acres
of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 40 shillings.

In Erdinburne [Irthlingborough] 4 knights
hold of the Abbot 5 hides, less I virgate.
There they have 6 ploughs in demesne ; and
(there are) 8 villeins and 2 bordars with 2
ploughs. There is a mill rendering [de) 5
shillings. It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 100 shillings. The soc belongs to
[jacet in) Burg [Peterborough].

In Craneford [Cranford] Robert holds of
the Abbot 3 hides, and i knight (holds) of
him. There is land for 6 ploughs. There
are 15 sochmen having 6 ploughs. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shil-
lings.

In Craneford [Cranford] are \\ hides.
Godric holds (it) of the King.^ There island
for 3 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough),

' In Huxlow Hundred.
* This was Roger ' Maufe ' or ' Malfed.'
' A space is left here in the original.
This is a difficult passage. Mr. Stuart Moore
reads it as above, but in Domesday the word
is ' /(•«,' which may stand for tenet or for
tenuit.

and 4 bordars have another plough. There
is a mill rendering (de) 2 shillings, and 4 acres
of meadow, and as many of wood. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shil-
lings.

In Dailintone [Dallington] Richard *
holds of the Abbot 4 hides. There is land
for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 3 serfs; and 18 villeins, with
the priest and 4 bordars, have 6 ploughs.
There is a mill rendering {de) 20 shillings,
and 5 acres of meadow. It was worth 20
shillings; now (it is worth) 100 shillings.

In AscETONE [Ashton]* Ivo holds of the
Abbot half a hide. It is worth 4 shillings.

VII. THE LAND OF ST. PETER
OF WESTMINSTER

In Corbie Hundret

The Abbey of St. Peter of West-
minster [Jl^estmon[aiterium]) holds Dene
[Dene]. There are 2^ hides. There is land
for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs) ; and 17 villeins, with the priest
and 6 bordars, have 6 ploughs ; and 2 smiths
render 32 shillings. There is a mill render-
ing [de) 3 shillings. Wood(land) i league in
length, and 8 furlongs in breadth. It was,
and is, worth 6 pounds. The Church always
held (it).

In Hocheslau Hundret

The same Church holds 3 hides in SfTBL'RG
[Sudborough]. There is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne there is i (plough) ; and 12 vil-
leins and 5 sochmen, with 2 bordars, have 6
ploughs. There is a mill rendering [de) 6
shillings. Wood(land) 7 furlongs in length,
and 6 in breadth. It was and is worth 100
shillings.

VIII. THE LAND OF ST. EDMUND
In RoDEWEtLE Hundret

The Abbev of S. Edmund ^ holds of the
King I hide of soc(land) in Boctone [Bough-
ton].'' There is land for 2 ploughs. There
are 6 villeins and 2 bordars with 2 ploughs.

He was succeeded here by his son Robert.

In Polebrook Hundred.
Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
In Corby Hundred.

317

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

There is a mill rendering (de) 12 pence.
Wood(land) I furlong in length and I in
breadth. It was worth 64 pence ; now (it
is worth) 12 shillings. Earl Algar held (it).

In Gadintone [Geddington] the Abbey
holds 1 hide and I virgate of land of soc(land).
There is land for 2 ploughs. These are there
with 5 sochmen and 4 bordars. It was and
is worth 6 shillings.

In Erniwade [Arthingworth] the Abbey
holds half a virgate of soc(land). There is i
villein with 2 bordars, having half a plough.
It was and is worth 3 shillings.

In SCADEWELLE [Scaldwell] the Abbey
holds I hide and 3 virgates of land. There
is land for 3 ploughs. These are there with
9 sochmen and 9 bordars. It was and is
worth 16 shillings. Earl Algar held (it).
King William gave it to St. Edmund for the
soul of queen Matilda.

In HoHTONE [Hanging Houghton] the
Abbey holds I hide and half a virgate of land.
There is land for 2 ploughs. These (ploughs)
3 sochmen and 12 bordars have there. It
was and is worth 12 shillings.

In Langeport [Lamport] the Abbey holds
I virgate of land and i bovate. There is land
for I plough. This 3 sochmen have there.
It was and is worth 40 pence.

In Badebroc [Braybrook] the Abbey holds
half a virgate of soc(land). There is land for
half a plough. This I sochman has there.
It was and is worth 3 shillings.

In Stodfald Hundret

In Ferendone [East Farndon] the Abbey
holds of soc(land) half a hide and the third part
of I virgate. There is land for I plough.
There are 1 -r ploughs with 3 sochmen. It was
and is worth 10 shillings. Earl Algar held
(it).

In Udetorp [Hothorp] the Abbey holds
3i virgates of soc(land). There is land for I
plough. There is I sochman with half a
plough. It was and is worth 2 shillings.

In Clipestone [Clipston] the Abbey holds
2^ virgates of land. There is land for i
plough. There are 5 sochmen with
ploughs. It was and is worth 10 shillings

In Calme [Comb] ' the Abbey holds half a
hide of soc(land). There is land for half a
plough. There 5 sochmen have i plough.
It was, and is, worth 6 shillings.

In Medewelle [Maidwell] the Abbey holds
the third part of I virgate. There is 1 soch-
man. It was and is worth 6 pence.

In Neveslund Hundret

The Abbot himself holds of the King
Werchintone [Warkton]. There are 3^
hides. There is land for 9 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 ploughs, and (there are)
16 villeins and 8 bordars with 7 ploughs ; and
(there are) 3 serfs. There is a mill rendering
(de) 12 shillings, and 20 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length and 2 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 7 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 8 pounds. iElveva, the
mother of Morcar, held (it).

IX. THE LAND OF ST. BENEDICT
OF RAMSEY

In Wilibroc Hundret

The Abbey of Ramsey [Ramesyg) holds
'2 virgates of land in Hala [Hale]. There
is land for I plough. This is there in de-
mesne ; and I villein and 2 bordars have half
a plough. It was and is worth 5 shillings.

In LuDiTONE [Lutton] * the Abbey holds
half a hide. There is land for half a plough.
This I villein has there. It was and is
worth 2 shillings.

In Adeli.n TONE [Elton] ^ the Abbey holds
half a hide. There is land for half a plough.
Nevertheless, 2 villeins have there i plough
and 6 acres of meadow. It was worth 3
shillings. It is worth 5 shillings.

In Pochebroc Hundret

In Hemintone [Hemington] the Abbey
holds 2i hides. There is land for 4 ploughs.
In demesne there is i (plough) ; and 8 villeins
with I bordar have 3 ploughs. There are
10 acres of meadow. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

' Part of Clipston Lordship. (Bridges, II.
17.) * See p. 316, note I.

' Part of Elton, about 70 acres, is in
Northamptonshire ; the rest is in Hunting-
donshire. Compare p. 313, note 2.
8

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

In Hocheslau Hundret

In Bernewelle [Barnwell St. Andrew]
the Abbey holds 6 hides. There is land for
8 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs
and 3 serfs ; and 15 villeins, with the priest
and 6 bordars, have 6 ploughs. There are 2
mills rendering 24 shillings, and 40 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length
and 3^ furlongs in breadth. It was worth
30 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.

In Wimerleu Hundret

In WiCETONE [Whiston] and Dodintone
[Denton]' the Abbey holds 3 hides. There
is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 (ploughs) and 3 serfs ; and (there are) 20
villeins and 8 bordars and 3 sochmen with 5
ploughs.

fo. a32b

There is a mill rendering {de) 20 shillings,
and 20 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
without pannage {non pasti/is), 1 furlong in
length and I in breadth. It was worth 30
shillings ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.

In Brachefeld [Brayfield] is i house pertain-
ing to WiCETONE [Whiston], with 5 acres of
land. Of half an acre the Countess Judith
has the soc.

X. THE LAND OF THE CHURCH
OF THORNEY

In Hocheslau Hundret

The Abbev of Thornyg {Thorney) holds
in TuiwELLA [Twywcll] 3 hides, less i^ vir-
gates. There is land for 7 ploughs. In de-
mesne there are 2 (ploughs) ; and (there are)
9 villeins and 5 bordars with 5 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering [de) 7 shillings
and 4 pence, and 2 acres of wood. It was
worth ID shillings; now (it is worth) 40
shillings.

In Gravesend Hundret

The same Abbey holds half a hide in Cer-
WELTONE [Charwelton], and Baldwin (holds)
of it. There is land for i plough. In de-
mesne there is half (a plough) ; and i villein
with I bordar has half a plough. It was
worth 12 pence ; now (it is worth) 5 shillings.

In Salwebrige [Sawbridge]* Turchil holds
of the Abbot 5 hides. There is land for 5

' See Introduction for this identification.
- In Warwickshire. See Introduction.

ploughs. There are 12 villeins and 5 bordars,
with 4 ploughs, and (there are) 8 acres of
meadow. It was worth 50 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 60 shillings.

XI. THE LAND OF THE CHURCH
OF CROWLAND

In Optongren Hundret

The Abbey of Cruiland [Crowland) holds
in Wridtorp [Worthorpe] \\ hides. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough) ; and (there are) 1 1 villeins and 2
bordars with 2 ploughs. There are 6 acres
of meadow, and a mill rendering {de) 5 shil-
lings. It is worth 40 shillings.

In Elmintone [Elmington] the Abbey
holds I hide. There is land for I plough.
This is there in demesne ; and (there are) 2
villeins and 2 bordars with I plough, and 6
acres of meadow. It was worth 8 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 16 shillings.

In Elmintone [Elmington] the Abbey
holds 2 hides. There is land for 3 ploughs.
There are 5 villeins and 4 bordars with 3
ploughs. There (are) 12 acres of meadow.
It was worth 12 shillings ; now (it is worth)
20 shillings.

In Neveslund Hundret

In Edintone [Addington Magna] the
Abbey holds 2 hides. There is land for 4
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) and
2 serfs ; and 6 villeins and 3 bordars with i
sochman ha\'e 3 ploughs. There are 6 acres
of meadow, and a mill rendering {de) 13 shil-
lings and 4 pence. It was worth 15 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.

In Wendleberie [Wellingborough] the
Abbey holds 5^ hides. There is land for 12
ploughs. In demesne there is I plough, with
I serf; and 21 villeins with the priest and 7
bordars and 1 1 sochmen have 1 1 ploughs.
There are 2 mills rendering {de) 16 shillings,
and 30 acres of meadow. It was worth 50
shillings, and afterwards 40 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 6 pounds.

In Gravesend Hundret

In Badebi [Badby] the Abbey holds 4 hides.
There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne
there are 4 ploughs and 8 serfs, and 5 bond-
women ; and (there are) 12 villeins and 8
bordars with 6 ploughs. There is a mill
rendering [de) 2 shillings, and 28 acres of

319

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

meadow. Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length
and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was and is
worth 8 pounds.

XII. THE LAND OF THE CHURCH

OF COVENTRY

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

The Abbey of Coventreu {Coventry)
holds 3 hides and I virgate of land in Wine-
wiche [Win wick]. There is land for 6^
ploughs. There are in demesne 3 ploughs ;
and 16 villeins, with the priest and 5 bordars,
have 3 ploughs. It is worth 50 shillings.

In EssEBi [Cold Ashby] the Abbey holds 2^
hides, and they belong to Wineuuiche [Win-
wick]. There is land for 5 ploughs. There
are 4 villeins and 5 bordars with 2 ploughs.
It is worth 10 shillings.

In Alvratleu Hundret *

In Chidesbi [Kilsby] the Abbey holds 2
hides. There is land for 5 ploughs. In de-
mesne there are 2 (ploughs) and 3 serfs ; and
(there are) 10 villeins and 8 bordars with 3
ploughs. There are 8 acres of meadow. It
is worth 50 shillings.

In Eddone [West Haddon] the Abbey
holds 2 hides. There is land for 4 ploughs.
There are 4 villeins with 2 bordars and 4
sochmen having 4 ploughs. It is worth 20
shillings. One of these hides renders soc in
Wineuuiche [Winwick].

XIII. THE LAND OF THE CHURCH

OF EVESHAM

In Gravesend Hundret
The Abbey of Evesham holds 4 hides in
LiCEBERGE [Lichborow]. There is land for
10 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;
and (there are) 8 villeins and 6 bordars with 5
ploughs. It was and is worth 40 shillings.
Levenot held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

XIV. THE LAND OF THE CHURCH

OF GRESTAIN

The Abbey of St. Mary of Grestain ^
holds of the King in almoin Neubote [New-

* This is the same Hundred as ' Alward-
eslea,' the ' A}lwoldesle ' of the ' North-
amptonshire Sur\e)'.'

^ A little to the east of Honfleur, near the
mouth of the Seine.

bottle].^ There are two thirds {f>artes) of I
hide. There is land for i^ ploughs. In de-
mesne there is I (plough), and 3 villeins with
I bordar have half a plough. There is a mill
rendering (de) 2 shillings. It was and is
worth 6 shillings.

In Baiebroc [Braybrooke] the same Church
holds 2 hides. There is land for 4 ploughs.
In demesne there is I plough with I serf;
and (there are) 4 villeins and 4 bordars with

3 ploughs. It was worth 6 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Ulchet held these
lands.

In Clenedone [Clendon] the same Church
holds half a hide and the third part of i hide.
There is land for 2 ploughs. There are 4
villeins and 4 bordars with I serf having i
plough. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) ID shillings. Ulf held (it) freely.

In RisTONE [Rushton] the same Church
holds half a virgate of land. There is land
for half a plough. There are 2 bordars. It
is worth 16 pence.

In Rodewelle Hundret

The same Church holds Arintone [Har-
rington]. There are 5 hides and the third
part of I hide. There is land for 10 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs ; and (there
are) 12 villeins and 13 bordars with 5 ploughs,
and 4 sochmen with 2 ploughs. There are

4 mills rendering 2 shillings. It was worth
30 shillings ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds.
Ulf held (it).

In Westone the same Church holds li
hides. There is land for 3 ploughs. In de-
mesne there are i ^ (ploughs), and 2 serfs ;
and (there are) 4 villeins and 2 bordars with
half a plough. There are 5 acres of meadow.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings. Ulf held (it) in king Edward's
time.

XV. THE LAND OF ANSGER THE
CHAPLAIN

In Stotfald Hundret

Ansger the clerk holds of the King I
hide and 3 virgates of land in Medewelle
[Maidwell], and has there 2 ploughs, and 2
serfs ; and (there are) 5 villeins and 2 bordars
with 2 ploughs. It is worth 20 shillings.
Godric held it in king Edward's time.

' In Rothwell Hundred.

,•^20

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

XVI. THE LAND OF ST. REMY AT
RHEIMS

In Codwestan' Hundret

The Church of St. Remy [Remigius) holds
of the King Lepelie [Lapley].^ It held it
similarly in king Edward's time. There are,
with the appendages, 3 hides. There is land
for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are 3
ploughs, and 5 serfs; and (there are) 18 vil-
leins and 9 bordars with 8 ploughs. There
are 16 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3
furlongs in length and as many in breadth.
It is worth 50 shillings.

In Mersetone [Marston] ^ 2 men of St.
Rcmy hold i hide. There is land for I
plough. It is worth 5 shillings. Godwin
held (it) with soc and sac.

XVII. THE LAND OF THE KING'S

ALMSMEN 3

In Foxle Hundret

Lewin, the priest, holds of the King i vir-

gate of land in Etenestone [Adstone]. Half

a plough can be (employed) there. It is
worth 6 shillings.

In Gravesende Hundret

Godwin, the priest, holds of the King 4
fifths of half a hide in Felveslea [Fawsley].
There is land for I plough, and it is there
with 4 bordars. It is worth 10 shillings.

Godwin, the priest, and Ulwin hold of the
King 3 virgates of land and the fifth part of
I virgate in Sutone [King's Sutton]. There
is land for 2 ploughs, and they are there with
9 bordars. There is a mill rendering {de) 32
pence. L is worth 15 shillings.

In Clailea Hundret

Rainald holds of the King half a hide in
Passeham [Passenham], and has there I
plough with 4 bordars. It is worth 10 shil-
lings.

In Spelehou Hundret

Godwin, the priest, holds of the King li
virgates of land in Buchetone [Boughton],
and has there half a plough. It is worth 5
shillings.

' Cuttlestone (Staffordshire).
' These two places lie in Staffordshire.
See Introduction.

^ Elemoiinar' in the text.

fo. 223

XVIII. THE LAND OF THE COUNT
OF MORTAIN

In Anvesdesov Hundret

The count of Mortain holds 4 hides in
Snewelle [Sywell]. There is land for 10
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs
and 6 serfs; and (there arc) 18 villeins and
2 bordars with 3 ploughs. There (are) 20
acres of meadow. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 6 pounds. Osmund, son
of Leuric, held (it) with soc and sac. 2
hides of this land are in demesne. The
Countess Judith claims the soc of i^ virgates.

In Belinge [Billing Parva] the Count holds
half a hide and half a virgate of land. There
is land for i plough. There are 3 villeins
with 2 oxen, and (there are) 20 acres of
meadow. It was worth 2 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Osmund held (it)
freely.

In Niuebot Hundret

In BucHEBROC [Bugbrooke] the Count
holds 4 ipides. There is land for 10 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 4 serfs ;
and (there are) 30 villeins and 14 bordars
with 10 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills render-
ing [de) 40 shillings, and 30 acres of meadow,
and 4 acres of wood.

In Spelho Hundret

In Westone [Weston Favel] the Count
holds 2\ hides. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ;
and (there are) 12 villeins and 2 bordars, with
3^ ploughs. There (are) 10 acres of meadow.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings. Leuric held (it) freely.

In Bellica [Billing Parva] is soc(land)
of this manor, 2^ virgates of land. There is
land for I plough. There are 2 villeins with
I bordar, and 7 acres of meadow. It was
and is worth 10 shillings.

In Niwebotle Hundret

In Eddone [East Haddon] the Count holds
2| hides. Of these i is in demesne. There
is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are
3 ploughs and 9 serfs ; and 7 villeins, with
the priest and 7 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 10 shillings, and
8 acres of meadow, and 10 acres of under-
wood [niinutte si/vee). It was worth 40 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.

321

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Ravenestorp [Ravensthorpe] the Count
holds half a hide. There is land for 2
ploughs. There is i villein with 2 bordars.
It was, and is, worth 5 shillings. Edmar held
both these lands freely.

In Brantone [Brampton] the Count holds
4 hides less 5 acres. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there is I hide, and
there are 2 ploughs and 2 serfs ; and (there
are) 3 villeins and 5 bordars and 12 soclimen
with 3^ ploughs among (them) all. There
(is) a mill rendering {de) 28 shillings, and 10
acres of meadow, and 5 acres of underwood
[rninutie si/va). It was worth 60 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 100 shillings. Ulmar held
half a hide of this land in king Edward's
time. All the rest lies and lay in (jacet et
jacu'it in) Cretone [Creaton] and Eddone
[East Haddon].

In the other Haiford [Upper Heyford] the
Count holds the third part of i virgate, which
is valued with the chief manor.

In Cailx Hundret

In Aldritone [Alderton] the Count holds
2 hides and half a virgate of land. There is
land for 8 ploughs. In demesne are 2 hides
and half a virgate, and there are 3 ploughs
with I serf; and (there are) 3 villeins and 3
bordars with 2 ploughs. There are 12 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length
and as much in breadth. It was worth 40
shillings ; now (it is worth) 50 shillings.
Edmar and Edwin held (it) freely.

In Elboldestou Hundret

In Elmedene [Helmedon] the Count holds
4 hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne are 2 hides ; and there are 5 ploughs
and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 7 villeins and
2 bordars with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering [de) 1 2 pence. It was and is worth
6 pounds. Alwin and Godwin held (it)
freely.

In Gravesend Hundret

In Celverdescote * the Count holds 4
hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne are 2 hides of this land, and there is

' No traces of this place at present remain.
(See Baker i. 238.) I am as completely baffled
as was Baker by this ' Celverdescote.' Its
position in the ' Northamptonshire Survey '
suggests that it must have been somewhere
near Everdon Magna. It should be noted
that to the south-west, and still more to the

I serf; and 9 villeins and 3 bordars, with I
priest, have 4^ ploughs. There are 6 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 2 furlongs in length
and li furlongs in breadth. It was worth
40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shillings.
Turbern and Alii held (it) freely.

In Clailea Hundret

In CovESGRAVE [Cosgrave] (the Count)
holds four fifths of half a hide. There is
land for I plough, which is there with 3
villeins. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 4 shillings. Godwin held (it freely).

In Stoche Hundret

HuMFREY holds of the count of Mortain
3 virgates of land in Carlintone [Carlton].
There is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 7 sochmen, with
6 bordars, have 4 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering 16 pence, and 8 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 2 furlongs in length and half a
furlong in breadth. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Leuric
held (it) freely.

The same (Humfrey) holds I hide and the
third part of I hide, and i^ bovate in Dinglei
[Dingley]. There is land for 3 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 5 villeins
have another. There (are) 4 acres of meadow,
and 5 acres of wood. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
Edwin held (it) freely.

The same (Humfrey) holds 2 hides and 1
virgate of land, and two thirds of i virgate, in
Arniworde [Arthingworth]. There is land
for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
ploughs, with I serf; and (there are) 9 vil-
leins, with I bordar and 8 sochmen, with 3
ploughs. It was, and is, worth 20 shillings.
Ulf and Fardein held (it).

In PiPEWELLE [Pipewell] the same Humfrey
holds the third part of I hide. There is land

south-east of Everdon, there are still a number
of places of which the names end in ' cote.'
'Aviescote,' 'Edwinscote,' and ' Derlescote '
are now represented by Ascote, Escote, and
Dalscote, lying close together. ' Celverdes-
cote,' therefore, may be represented by some
' cote ' which has changed its prefix.

322

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

for 1 plough, which (plough) 3 bordars have
there. It was worth 3 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 5 shillings. Ulchetel held (it) freely.

In Stotfald Hundret

The same (Humfrey) holds in Sibertod
[Sibertoft] 3 hides less I virgate. There is
land for 9 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 4 serfs and 5 bondwomen ; and
8 villeins with the priest, have 2 ploughs.
There (are) 20 acres of meadow. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shil-
lings.

The same (Humfrey) holds 3 virgates of
land and the third part of I virgate in Fare-
done [East Farndon]. There is land for 2
ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough), and
3 villeins have another. It was worth 2
shillings ; now (it is worth) 5 shillings.
Fregis and Brumage held (it).

The same (Humfrey) holds 2 hides and i
virgate of land, and the third part of I virgate
in BuGEDONE [Bowdon Parva]. There is
land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough) with 1 serf; and 11 villeins with
I bordar have 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering (a'c) 16 pence, and 8 acres of meadow,
and (there are) 3 sochmen with 2 ploughs.
It was worth 64 pence ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings. Godwin and Wlsin held (it).

The same (Humfrey) holds I hide and the
third part of i virgate in Oxedone [Oxendon
Parva]. There is land for 2 ploughs. In
demesne there is i plough. (There is) no-
thing more. It was worth 12 pence ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Fregis held (it).

The same (Humfrey) holds 3 hides in
EsBECE [Haselbeech].' There is land for 9
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;
and 9 villeins and 10 bordars have 7 ploughs.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. jElmar and Norman held (it)
in king Edward's time.

' lam quite unable to see on what grounds
Mr. Stuart Moore makes ' Esbece ' to be
' Cold Ashby,' which is in Guilsborough
Hundred, which is named 'Essebi' in
Domesday, and the manorial descent of
which is quite distinct. Bridges identified
'Esbece' as Haselbeech (ii. 35), which is duly
found in the ' Northamptonshire Survey ' as
'Haselbeche' in 'Stotfolde' Hundred, and
which is there entered as of 3 hides,
formerly held (as in Domesday above) by
the count of Mortain.

The same (Humfrey) holds half a bovate

of land in Herolvestone [Harleston]. There

is land for 2 oxen.* Edric held (it) freely.
It is waste.

The same (Humfrey) holds two thirds of i
hide in Olletorp [Althorpe). There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne he has i (plough)
with 3 serfs ; and I knight has another with
3 bordars. There are 8 acres of meadow and
2 acres of spinney {ipinetum). It was worth
5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
Tosti and Snoterman held (it) freely.

In Claveslea Hundret
The same (Humfrey) holds 5 sixths of i
hide in Covesgrave [Cosgrave]. The soc
belongs to [jacet in) Paseham [Passenham].
There is land for i^ ploughs; and so many
are there with 4 bordars. There (are) 10
acres of meadow, and 2 * quarentenes ' of
underwood {iilva minuta). It was and is
worth 20 shillings. Ailric held (it) freely.

In Spelho Hundret
The same (Humfrey) holds 1 virgate of
land in Pidesford [Pitsford]. There is land
for half a plough, and it is there with 1
bordar. A mill rendering {de) 2 shillings is
there. It was worth 3 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 10 shillings. Osmund held (it) freely.

Alan holds of the Count i virgate of land
in Desburg [Desborough]. There is land
for I plough. There is half a plough with 2
bordars. It was worth 3 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 5 shillings. Fregis held (it).

The same (Alan) holds i hide in Woltone
[Whilton]. There is land for 2 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough), and 2 serfs ; and
2 villeins, with a priest and 6 bordars, have
another plough. There (are) 5 acres of
meadow, and a mill rendering {de) 40 pence.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings. Boui held (it) freely.

The same (Alan) holds 2 hides and 4
fifths of half a hide in Hecham [Cold
Higham]. There is land for 6 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough) ; and 4 villeins,
with the priest and 3 bordars, have i plough.
There (are) 10 acres of meadow. It was

i.e. a quarter of a ploughland,

32.3

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shil-
lings. Leuric held (it) freely.

The same (Alan) holds half a hide in
Wedone [Weedon Bee]. There is land for
i^ ploughs. There is i plough, with i vil-
lein and 4 bordars ; and (there are) 6 acres of
meadow, and 2 acres of underwood {silva
minutie), and a mill rendering {de) 40 pence.
It was worth 40 pence ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings. Estan held (it) freely.

The same (Alan) holds 3 hides in Staver-
TONE [Staverton]. The soc of i^ hides be-
longs to {jacet in) Faleweslei [Fawsley].
There is land for 8^ ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and (there are) 6 vil-
leins and 12 bordars with 4 ploughs. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60
shillings. Saulf, Edric, and Alwin held (it)
freely.

shillings.
freely.

Godeman and Godcva held (it)

Ralf holds of the Count 2 hides less
I virgate in Hohtone [Hanging Houghton].
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there are li (ploughs), and 3 villeins with 2
bordars have the same. It was worth 3
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
Fredgis held (it) freely in king Edward's
time. The Abbot of S. Edmund's claims the
soc of 2^ virgates of land.

In Wardune Hundret
The same (Ralf) holds i^ hides, and i
bovate of land in Ferendone [West Farndon].
There is land for 2 ploughs. There is i
(plough) with 2 bordars. It was worth 5
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
Ordric held (it) of archbishop Stigand.

The same (Ralf) holds i^ hides, and the
fifth part of I hide in Tifelde [Tiffield].
There is land for 4 ploughs. There is 1
plough with I villein. It was worth 5 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Biscop
and Leuing held (it) freely.

In Clailea Hundret

The same (Ralf) holds 2 hides in Forho
[Furtho]. There is land for 6 ploughs. In
demesne is i (plough) and 4 serfs ; and (there

fo. 233b

are) 2 villeins and 3 bordars with i plough.
There (are) 8 acres of meadow. It was
worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth) 30

The same (Ralf) holds of the Earl half a
hide and i bovate in Waletone [Walton].'
There is land for i plough, which (plough)
is there, with 3 bordars, and I acre of
meadow. It was worth 3 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 10 shillings. Alwin held (it) freely.

The same (Ralf) holds 2 hides and 4 fifths
of half a hide in Cerveltone [Charwelton].
There is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs) with i serf ; and (there
are) 7 villeins with 3 ploughs. There (is) a
mill rendering {tie) 2 shillings. It was worth
6 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

In St'DTONE Hundret

The same (Ralf") holds 2 hides in Midel-
TONE [Middleton Chenduit). There is land
for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs) with I serf ; and (there are) 7
villeins and 6 bordars with i plough. There
are 4 acres of meadow. It was worth 50
shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shillings.
Almar and Saulf held (it). The soc of the
fifth part of this land belongs to [jacet in)
Sutone [Sutton].

The same (Ralf) holds i^ hides in Cerlin-
TONE [Charlton]. There is land for 3^
ploughs. It is waste. Nevertheless it is and
was worth 5 shillings. Four thegns held (it)
freel}'.

In Tovecestre Hundret

The same (Ralf) holds 4 fifths of half a
hide in Foxeslea [Foxley]. There is land
for I plough. It is waste. Nevertheless it
is worth 5 shillings. Merefin held (it) freely.

The same (Ralf) holds half a hide in
SiGRESHAM [Syresham]. There is land for
10 oxen.^ There is i villein. Wood(land)
I furlong in length and half (a furlong) in
breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 5 shillings. Levenot held (it).

The same (Ralf) holds I virgate of land
and 2 parts of i virgate in Heiford [Nether
Heyford]. The soc belongs to [jacet in)
Buchebroc [Bugbrooke]. There is land for I
plough, and that (plough) is there, and I acre
of meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Ulstan held (it).

' In Sutton Hundred.

* i.e. a ploughland and a quarter.

324

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

In Ordinbaro Hundret

William ' holds of the Count half a hide
in Hanitone [Hannington]. There is land
for I plough, and that (plough) is there, with
I villein and 2 bordars, and i acre of
meadow. It was worth 12 pence; now (it
is worth) 5 shillings. Edwin held (it) freely.

In Niwebold Hi;ndret

The same (William) holds i^ hides in
Herolvestune [Harleston]. There is land for
3 ploughs. These (ploughs) 2 villeins and 3
bordars have there. There (is) a mill rendering
2 shillings, and 3 acres of meadow. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shil-
lings. Leuric and Orgar held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Brintone [Brington]. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is I plough, and 2
serfs ; and (there are) 3 villeins and 3 bordars
with 2 ploughs. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Alvric held
freely I virgate of this land. The soc of the
other virgate belongs to {jacet in) Edone [East
Haddon], the Count's manor.

The same (William) holds 3 virgates of
land in Brocole [Brockhall], and Misecote
[Muscote]. There is land for 2 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough), and 6 bordars
have another. There are 6 acres of meadow.
It was, and is, worth 40 shillings. Leuric
and Lewin held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Cifelingeberie [Kislingbury]. There is land
for i^ ploughs. One (plough) is there, with

1 villein and 2 bordars and 2 serfs, and (there
are) 2 acies of meadow. It was worth 10
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
Leuric held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds 3 virgates of
land in Flora [Floore]. There is land for

2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 4 serfs ; and 2 villeins and 5 bordars have
another. There (are) 4 acres of meadow,
and a mill rendering 10 shillings. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. Leuric held (it) freely, as well as
that which follows.

The same (William) holds 3 virgates of
land in Clachestorp [Clasthorp], and half a

* This was William de Cahagnes (see
No. xxxiii. below).

hide in the same vill. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 3 serfs, and (there are) I villein and I
bordar. It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 40 shillings. Leuric and Turbern
held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds 3 virgates of
land in Celvrecot [Yelvertoft]. There is
land for 1^ ploughs, and they {tantum) are
there, with i villein and 4 bordars. There
(are) 2 acres of meadow. It was and is
worth 10 shillings. Tored held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds half a hide in
EssEBi [Cold Ashby]. There is land for I
plough. There is half a plough, with 3 vil-
leins and I bordar. It was and is worth

5 shillings.

The same (William) holds l^ hides in the
same vill. There is land for 3 ploughs.
There are 4 villeins with 2 ploughs, and 4
acres of meadow. It was worth 2 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Aileva, the
widow, held these two lands.

In Foxele Hundret

The same (William) holds I hide in SiLVE-
stone [Silverstone]. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
with I serf. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Leuric held
(it) freely.

In Gisleburg Hundret

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Creptone [Creaton Parva], and Humfrey
(holds it) of him. There is land for i plough,
which (plough) is there, with 2 serfs and 2
bordars, and (there are) 10 acres of wood.
It was worth 16 pence ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings.

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Tifelde [Tiffield] and the fifth part of 1
hide. There is land for i^ ploughs. i
plough is there with I villein, and (there are)
7 acres of wood. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Lewin held
(it) freely. The soc of this land pertains to
Touecestre [Towcester].

The same (William) holds half a hide and
4 fifths of half a hide in Forho [Furtho].
There is land for 3^ ploughs. In demesne
there is i plough ; and 2 bordars have half a
plough. There are 6 acres of meadow. It
was worth lo shillings; now (it is worth)

325

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

30 shillings. Alwin and Osulf held (it)
freely.

The same (William) holds 9 tenths of I
hide in the same vill. There is land for 2
ploughs. There is I (plough) with i villein
and 3 bordars. There are 8 acres of meadow.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings. Godwin held (it) freely.

The same (William) holds 3 hides and i
virgate of land in Fordinestone [Farthing-
stone]. There is land for 8 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough) with 2 serfs.
There i knight holds i^ hides, and has 2
ploughs, with 2 serfs ; and (there are) 6 vil-
leins and 3 bordars with 2 ploughs. There
are 16 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 4 fur-
longs in length and 3 in breadth. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds. Ulvric held freely i^ hides of this
land. Orgar, Tedgar and Godric held the rest.
The soc pertains to Falewesleie [Fawsley].

The same (William) holds 3 hides in Do-
DEFORDE [Dodford]. There is land for 7
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 4 serfs ; and 1 1 villeins, with the priest
and 6 bordars, have 5 ploughs. There are
2 mills rendering {de) lO shillings, and 12
acres of meadow. It was worth 40 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 4 pounds. Turbern held
freely 1^ hides of this land. Orgar, Aluric
and Leuric held the rest of the land. The
soc belongs to [jacet ad) Faleweslei [Fawsley].

The same (William) holds i hide and 2^
virgates of land in Estanestone [Easton
Neston]. There is land for 6 ploughs. In
demesne there are i^ (ploughs), and 2 serfs;
and (there are) 6 villeins with i^ ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering [de) 10 shillings,
and 3 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3^ fur-
longs in length, and 2^ furlongs in breadth.
It was and is worth 30 shillings.

In Gravesend Hundret

The same (William) holds i^ virgates of
land in Snochescumbe [Snoscomb]. There
is land for I plough, which is there with i
serf and i villein ; and (there are) 2 acres
of underwood [iilva minuta). It was and is
worth 10 shillings. Turbern held these 2
lands {i.e. this and the preceding) freely.

In Suton Hundret

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Prestetone [Purston]. There is land for i
plough, which is there with i bordar ; and

(there are) 2 acres of meadow. It was and
is worth 10 shillings. The soc belongs to
{jacet ad) Sutone [Sutton]. Alric held (it)
freely.

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Waltone [Walton]. There is land for 1
plough, which is there, with 2 serfs and 2
bordars. It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 20 shillings. The soc belongs to
{jacet in) Sutone [Sutton]. 5 thegns held it,
and could betake themselves {ire) where they
pleased.

The same (William) holds the fifth part of

1 hide in SuTONE [King's Sutton]. There
is land for half a plough. There is i villein.
It was and is worth 3 shillings. Alric held
(it) freely.

The same (William) holds 4 parts of half a
hide in Criweltone [Croughton]. There is
land for i plough. There is i bordar only.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)

2 shillings. Levenot held (it) freely. It
was a dependance of {Bereuiicha in) Evelaia
[Evenley].

In Holeboldest[ou] Hundret

The same (William) holds i hide in Avelai
[Evenley]. There is land for 2^ ploughs.
In demesne there is i (plough) ; and (there
are) i villein and 7 bordars with half a {de)
plough. There is a mill rendering {de) 12
pence. It was worth 60 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 30 shillings. Lefstan held (it) freely.

In Gravesende Hundret

The same (William) holds half a hide in
Celvertone [Charwelton]. There is land
for I plough, which (plough) 4 villeins and 2
bordars have there. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) twenty shillings.
Ulvric held (it) freely.

Alvred * holds of the Count 2 parts of i
hide in Torp [Thorp]. ^ There is land for
2 ploughs, which are there, with 5 villeins
and 3 bordars. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Azor, son of
Lefsi, held (it) freely.

* The count's butler {pincerna).

* In Fawsley Hundred.

326

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

The same (Alvred) holds i virgate of land
in CiLDECOTE (Chilcote).' There is land for
half a plough, which is there with 2 bordars.
It is worth 2 shillings. Turbern held (it).

The same (Alvred) holds i hide and 3
virgates of land in Eltetone [Elkington].^
There is land for 3^ ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs) and 3 serfs ; and (there
are) 10 villeins with i| ploughs. It was and
is worth 40 shillings. Turbern held it freely.

The same (Alvred) holds i virgate of land
in LiNEBURNE [Lilbourne]. There is land
for 2^ ploughs, and as many are there, with
7 villeins and I bordar, and (there are) 3
acres of meadow. It was worth 12 pence ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Turbern held
(it).

The same (Alvred) holds 3 virgates of land
in Gelvrecote (Yelvertoft). There is land
for I plough. There are i^ ploughs, with I
serf, and 4 villeins, and (there are) 2 acres of
meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 10 shillings.

fo. 224

The same Alvred holds 3 virgates of land
in Buchebi [Buckby]. There is land for
i^ ploughs ; and these {tantundem) are there
with 6 villeins and 2 bordars. There (are)
4 acres of meadow. It was and is worth 30
shillings. Turbern and Alric held (it) freely.

The same (Alvred) holds I virgate of land
and the fifth part of I virgate in Etenestone
[Adstone].' There is land for I plough,
which is there, and (there are) 3 acres of
meadow. It was worth 4 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 6 shillings.

' Formerly a place near to Cold Ashby.
The name is preserved at the present day as
Chilcote's Cover. (Mr. Stuart Moore's note.)

* Mr. Stuart Moore distinguishes, in his
translation and his index, Eltington, the
' Eltetone' of Domesday, from Elkington, ' its
Etendone ' (see p. 347 below). But all three
entries refer, as Bridges made them do, to
Eltington (now corruptly Elkington).

^ Mr. Stuart Moore makes this to be
' Easton Neston ' (* Estanestone ' in Domes-
day), but on fo. 222 b. above, he renders
' Etenestone ' (in ' Foxle ' Hundred) as Ad-
stone, which place also seems to be represented
by the ' Etenestone ' on this page, for Adstone
lay just south of Wood Preston and Farthing-
stone.

The same (Alvred) holds i^ virgates of
land in Prestetone [Wood Preston].* There
is land for I plough. It is waste.

The same (Alvred) holds 3 virgates of land
in FoRDiNESTONE [Farthingstone]. There is
land for I plough, which is there in demesne,
and (there are) 2 serfs. It was worth 10
shillings ; now (it is worth) 15 shillings.
Ingelran holds (it) of him (Alvred). Leuric
held (it) in king Edward's time. The soc of
this land belongs to {jacet ad) Felewesleie
[Fawsley].

FuLCHER holds of the Count i hide and
the third part of I hide in Alidetorp [Thorpe
Malsor].* There is land for 3 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ; and
10 villeins, and 8 bordars have 2 ploughs.
It was and is worth 30 shillings. Edwin
held (it) freely.

The same (Fulcher) holds 3 virgates of land

in PiCTESLEi [Pytchley]. There is land for
i^ ploughs. Two ploughs are there with I
sochman and 2 bordars, and i acre of meadow.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings. Edwin held this also fceely.

The same (Fulcher) holds 3 virgates of
land in Ordinbaro [Orlingbur)-]. There is
land for i\ ploughs, and they {tantundem) are
there, with I villein and 2 bordars. There
(are) 2 acres of meadow. Wood(land) I fur-
long in length and half a furlong in breadth.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings.

Robert holds of the Count half a hide in

* Or Preston Parva.

* Mr. Stuart Moore makes this to be
Althorpe (which was ' Olletorp '), but I am
certain it is Thorpe Malsor. Bridges says of
this latter place that ' there appeareth to be
no mention ' of it ' in Domesday Book,' but
it will be found that ' Fulcherius Malesoueres '
held in the ' Northamptonshire Survey ' at
Thorpe Malsor and at Orlingbury. His
holding at the former (given wrongly by
Bridges) was i J hides, the exact amount given
under 'Alidethorp' above (see p. 385 below).
Moreover, under Edward I., Thorpe Malsor
was held of the fee of Mortain.

327

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

WoLDEGRAVE [Walgiave]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. There is i (plough), with
I serf, and I bordar ; and (there are) 3 acres
of meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Martin held (it)
freely.

The same (Robert) holds 2 hides in Nortot
[Nortoft], There is land for 4 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), with i serf ; and
(there are) 4 villeins and 3 bordars with I
plough. There (are) 8 acres of meadow, and
a mill rendering 8 pence. It was worth
3 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings.
A church pertains to this land with I virgate
of land in Gisleburg [Guilsborough], and the
site of a mill, with the third part of I virgate
in HoLEWELLE [Hollowell]. These are waste.
Lewin held (it) freely.

Tlie same (Robert) holds 2^ virgates of
land in Hirecestre [Irchester]. There is
land for half a plough. There is I villein,
and 3^ acres of meadow. It was worth 12
pence ; now (it is worth) 8 shillings. Siward
held (it) freely.

Walter holds of the Count 3 hides in
Westone [Weston Favel]. There is land
for 6 ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough) ; and 14 villeins and 4 bordars have
5 ploughs. There (arc) 15 acres of meadow.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
70 shillings. Lochi Scotel and Stanchil and

2 sochmen held (it) in king Edward's time.

In Nu'EBOtlegrave Hundret

The same (Walter) holds i virgate of land
and 3 parts of i virgate in Haiford [Upper
Heyford]. There is land for i plough,
which is there, with 2 serfs ; and (there is)
a mill rendering 16 shillings, and 4 acres of
meadow. It was worth 10 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 30 shillings. Biscop held (it).
The soc belongs to [jacet in) Buchebroch
[Bugbrooke].

Ralf holds of the Count i virgate of land
and 2 thirds of i virgate in Haiford [Nether
Heyford]. The soc belongs to {jncet in)
Buchebroc [Bugbrooke]. There is land for i
plough. There are i^ (ploughs) with i villein.
There (are) 3 acres of meadow. It was worth
5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 10 shillings.

The same (Ralf) holds 4 fifths of i hide
in Prestetone [Preston Capes]. There is
land for 3 ploughs, and they are there, with

3 serfs and 4 villeins and 2 bordars. In

demesne there is the moiety of a plough
{ciinic'). It was worth 10 shillings; now
(it is worth) 40 shillings. Sawata held (it).

Ralf holds 2 hides and i virgate of land in
Aldenesbi [Holdenby]. The soc belongs to
[jacet in) Edone [East Haddon]. There is
land for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and (there are) i villein
and 9 sochmen with 2 ploughs. There are
3 acres of meadow, and 3 acres of wood. It
was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. Siward with 9 sochmen held (it)
freely.

Ralf holds half a hide in Hadone [East
Haddon]. There is land for I plough. This
(plough) 2 villeins and 4 bordars have there.
It was worth 12 pence ; now (it is worth)
5 shillings.

William and Durand hold 3 hides, less I
virgate, in Spretone [Spratton]. There is
land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are 1^
(ploughs) with I serf; and (there are) 6 vil-
leins and 6 bordars with 3^ ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering [de) 6 shillings, and 6
acres of meadow. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings. Osmund held
(it) freely.

In Clailea Hundret

William holds 4 fifths of i hide in
Grastone [Grafton Regis]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough)
with I bordar. There (are) 11 acres of
meadow, and 20 acres of wood. It was
worth 3 shillings ; now (it is worth) 26
shillings. Godwin held (it) freely.

Nigel holds of the Count i hide and half
a virgate of land in Prestetone [Wood Pres-
ton]. There is land for 3 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ;
and the priest, with 3 villeins, has I plough.
There is i acre of wood. It was worth 6
shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.
Fregis held (it).

In Aldritone [Alderton] one thegn holds
of the Count i hide. There is land for 2
ploughs. There is I plough. It is worth
ID shillings. He himself held it.

In Aldenestone [Holdenby ?] * Ormar

' ' This is probably part of Holdenby, which
was called " Aldenesbi " at the time of the
Survey, and was also held by Siward in the

328

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

holds I hide and 3 virgates of land. There
is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs ; and (there are) 6
villeins and 5 bordars, with 2 ploughs. There
is a mill rendering (tie) 8 shillings, and 3
acres of meadow, and 3 acres of underwood.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. Siward held (it) freely.

In Edone [East Haddon] Alric holds i^
hides of the Count. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 5 serfs ; and (there are) 4 villeins and 7
bordars, with 2 ploughs. There are 6 acres
of meadow, and 4 acres of underwood {iikuc
minute). It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 40 shillings.

The same (Alric) holds the third part of

1 virgate in Holewelle [HoUowell]. It is
waste.

In Blaculveslei [Blakesley] Sagrim holds
of the Count li hides. The soc is the
King's in Nortone [Green's Norton]. There
is land for 3^ ploughs. One plough only is
there, with 2 villeins, and 2 serfs, and (there
are) 2 acres of meadow. It was worth 10
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.
He himself held it in king Edward's time.

In BoTENDONE [Boddington] Lewin holds

2 hides of the Count. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 4 serfs ; and (there are) 1 1 villeins and
5 bordars, with 3^ ploughs. There (are) 10
acres of meadow. It was worth 100 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 4 pounds. Turi held it
freely.

In Snochescumbe [Snoscombe] Alric holds
half a virgate of land of the Count. There
is land for i plough, which is there with I
serf, and i villein, and I acre of underwood
{si/vte minute). It is worth 5 shillings. He
himself held (it).

In Waletone [Welton] Ulmar holds of
the Count half a virgate of land, less 5 acres.
There is land for half a plough, and that much
is there with i bordar, and i acre of meadow.
It is worth 5 shillings. He himself held (it)
freely.

Confessor's reign. Baker (i. L94), however,
docs not mention it.' (Mr. Stuart Moore's
note.) I can throw no light on the identi-
fication of this 'Aldenestone.'

In Brantone [Church Brampton] Ulmar
holds of the Count half a hide. There is
land for I plough. This is there. It is
worth 20 shillings. He himself held (it).

XIX. THE LAND OF THE COUNT
OF MELLEND

In Gravesende Hundret

The COUNT OF Meulan {Mellend) holds
of the King in Nortone [Norton] ' 2^
hides, and the fifth part of half a hide.
There is land for 7 ploughs. There are
now in demesne 2 (ploughs), and i hide of
land. There 23 villeins, with the priest and
9 bordars and I serf, have 6 ploughs. There
is a mill rendering [de) 10 shillings, and 25
acres of meadow. It was worth 6 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 8 pounds. Agemund held
(it) freely.

The same count of Mellend holds Berche-
WELLE [Berkswell] ^ in demesne. There are
4 hides. Of these he has 3 hides in demesne.
There is land for 8 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), and 4 serfs ; and 7
villeins, with 3 bordars, have i plough.
There (are) 5 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
I league in length and i league in breadth.
It is worth 40 shillings.

The same Count holds in Witacre [Whit-
acre] ^ half a hide (which is) waste, and it is
worth 12 pence. Levenot held these lands
freely in king Edward's time.^ 1

XX. THE LAND OF COUNT ALAN ^

In Clailea Hundret

CouNi- Alan holds of the King 4 fifths
of half a hide in Wacafeld [Wakefield], and
Ralph Dapifer (holds) of him. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 3 villeins, with I bordar, have another
plough. There (is) I acre of meadow. Wood-
(land) 5| furlongs in length, and 3 furlongs in
breadth. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 10 shillings.

* In Fawsley Hundred.

* These two places lie in Warwickshire
(see Introduction.)

^ These two entries are added at the foot
of the page.

* Of Brittany.

329

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

XXI. THE LAND OF EARL
AUBREY*

In Odboldestou Hundret

Earl Aubrey held of the King 2 hides
in Hasou [Hawes], and 2 hides in Sigresham
[Syresham], and i hide in Brachelai [Brack-
ley], with a church and a mill rendering (c/f)
10 shillings. In these 5 hides there is land
for 12^ ploughs. In (the) demesne there are

2 (ploughs), and 6 serfs ; and 20 villeins,
with the priest and 10 bordars, have 6
ploughs. There are 20 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 2i furlongs in length, and i^
furlongs in breadth.

There Osmund holds the third part of 2
hides in Sigreham [Syresham].

The whole was worth 12 pounds when he
{i.e. the Earl) received it ; now (it is worth)
9 pounds. Azor held (it) freely.

In Brachelai [Brackley] there are 2
hides. There is land for 5 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 6 serfs ;
and (there are) 10 villeins and 8 bordars, with

3 ploughs. There are 10 acres of meadow.
It was worth 100 shillings when he received
it ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.

In LiLLEBURNE [Lilbourne] there are 2
hides and half a virgate of land. There is
land for 4 ploughs and 2 oxen.^ In demesne
there is i (plough) ; and 8 villeins and 6
bordars and 3 sochmen have 3 ploughs.
There are 12 acres of meadow. It was
worth 2 shillings ; now it is (worth) 30
shillings.

In the same vill there are i^ virgates of
land. Ralf holds it of the King. There is
land for 6 oxen.^ There is i villein and 2
bordars, and 4 acres of meadow. It is worth

4 shillings.

In Sutone Hundret

In Evelai [Evenley] there are 3 virgates
of land. Gilbert holds (them). There is
land for 2 ploughs. There is I bordar with
1 serf. It was worth 10 shillings; now (it
is worth) 4 shillings.

' Late of Northumbria (see Introduction).
As the land had reverted to the king, the
the earls only ' held ' it.

^ i.e. a quarter of a plough (team).

' It should be observed that this addition
makes up the total to 2i hides and to 5
ploughlands.

In Ferningeho [Farningho] there are 4
hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 10 serfs ;
and 15 villeins, with the priest and 8 bor-
dars, have 5 ploughs. There are 20 acres of
meadow. It was worth 10 pounds when (the
Earl) received it ; now (it is worth) 7
pounds.

These Lands belonged to Earl Aubrey ;
(but) are now in the King's Hand.

(o. 324b

XXIII. THE LAND OF HUGH DE
GRENTEMAISNIL

Hugh de Grentemaisnil holds i^ virgates
of land in Ferendon [Farndon].* There is
land for i plough. This 2 villeins have
there. It was and is worth 5 shillings.

In Stotfald Hundret

In Mersitone [Marston Trussell] and in
ToRP [Thorp Lubbenham] Hugh holds of
Hugh 2 hides and i virgate of land and the
third part of 1 virgate. There is land for
4i ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 2 serfs; and 23 villeins and 17 bordars
have 7 ploughs. There are 10 acres of
meadow. It was worth 15 shillings; now
(it is worth) 60 shillings. Oslac held (it)
freely.

In Gravesende Hundret

The same (Hugh) holds 3^ hides in We-
DONE [Weedon Bee] in exchange for {pro
excamhio de) Wadford [Watford ?]. There
is land for 8i ploughs. In demesne there are
i^ (ploughs) ; and 2 villeins, with a priest and
3 bordars, have half a plough. There 3
knights, with 6 villeins and 3 bordars, have
4^ ploughs. There (are) I 7 acres of meadow,
and 12 acres of wood, and a mill rendering
{de) 40 pence. It was worth 40 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 50 shillings.

The same (Hugh) holds 4 hides in Ascebi
[Ashby Ledgers]. There is land for ID
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs
and 6 serfs; and (there are) 15 villeins and
3 bordars with 5 ploughs. There (are) 8
acres of meadow. It was worth 40 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

Osbern holds of Hugh 3 hides less I vir-
gate in VVelintone [VVelton]. There is
land for 7 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 3 serfs ; and 5 villeins with 4

* In Wardon Hundred.

330

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

ploughs. There is a mill rendering {de) 1 2
pence, and 8 acres of meadow. It was worth
20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.
Baldwin held (it) freely.

The same (Osbern) holds I hide in Staver-
TONE [Staverton]. There is land for 2|
ploughs. There are 2 ploughs, with I villein
and 5 bordars. It was worth 1 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Leuric held
(it) of Baldwin.

The same (Osbern) holds 4 fifths of half a
hide in Torp (Thorpe).' There is land for
I plough. This is there in demesne with I
bordar, and (there are) 2 acres of meadow.
It was worth 12 pence ; now (it is worth) 10
shillings. Alwin held (it) of Baldwin.

In Foxelea Hundret

Hugh holds of Hugh in Merdeford
[Maidford] 2 hides and the fifth part of I
hide. There is land for 5 ploughs. In de-
mesne there is i (plough), and 4 serfs ; and 9
villeins, with the priest and 4 bordars, have
3 ploughs. There (is) wood(land) 4 furlongs
in length and i furlong in breadth. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 50
shillings. Willa held it freely.

In Sutone Hundret

Ivo holds of Hugh in Niwebotle [New-
bottle] with its appendages {cum append'icm suis)
6 hides. There is land for 15 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3^ ploughs, and 8 serfs.
There i knight and 12 villeins, and 4 bor-
dars, have 4 ploughs. There (are) 7 bond-
women, and 7 acres of meadow. It was
worth 4 pounds ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds.
Baldwin held it with soc and sac.

Hugh holds of Hugh in Mideltone [Mid-
dlcton Chenduit] 2 hides. There is land for
5 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 9 villeins, with the priest, have 3 ploughs.
There (are) 12 acres of meadow. It was
and is worth 40 shillings. Godric held it
freely.

Hugh holds of Hugh in Sutone [King's
Sutton] ji hides and the tenth part of I hide.
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), and 2 serfs ; and 2 bordars
have half a plough. There is a mill rendering
{fie) 2 shillings. It was worth 10 shillings;
now (it is worth) 30 shillings. Willa and
Turbern held (it).

* Near Green's Norton.

In Waradone Hundret

Ivo holds of Hugh in Bivelde [Byfield]
2 hides. There is land for 5 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough), with i villein
and I bordar. It was worth 2 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 10 shillings. Three thegns held
(it) freely.

Richard holds of Hugh in Wodeford
[Woodford] 2 hides. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 4 serfs, and i bondwoman ; and 1 1 vil-
leins have 3 ploughs. There are 2 acres of
meadow, and a mill rendering {de) 8 shillings.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings. Baldwin held (it) freely.

Hugh holds of Hugh in Egedone [Eydon]
2 hides. There is land for 5 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ;
and (there are) 12 villeins with 3 ploughs.
There is a mill rendering {de) 2 shillings, and

2 acres of meadow. It was worth 40 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 50 shillings.

Walter holds of Hugh i vi)-gate of land in
Cerveltone [Charwelton]. There is land
for half a plough. It was and is worth 5
shillings. Alwin held (it) freely.

Roger de Luri holds of Hugh Cotesforde
[Cottisford].^ There are 6 hides. There is
land for 10 ploughs. In demesne there are

3 (ploughs), and there might be a fourth.
There are 10 villeins and 5 bordars, and 40
acres of pasture. It was worth 1 00 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 8 pounds.

The same Roger holds of Hugh Cerlen-
tone [Charlton-on-Otmoor]. There are 10
hides. There is land for 15 ploughs. In
demesne there aie 4 ploughs, and 6 serfs ;
and 15 villeins and 11 bordars have 11
ploughs. Meadow 4 furlongs in length and
2 furlongs in breadth. Pastures 3 furlongs in
length and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 8 pounds ; now (it is worth) 10 pounds.
Baldwin held (it) freely. 4 hides of this land
are in demesne.

Hugh holds 2^ hides in Sciptune [Shipton-
on-Cherwell]. There is land for 4 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ;
and 2 villeins and 3 bordars have 1 plough.
There is a mill rendering {de) 1 1 shillings, and

4 acres of meadow, and 3 • quarentenes ' of

* This and the three manors following are
in Oxfordshire (see Introduction.)

331

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

pasture. It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 4 pounds and 10 shillings. Alvric
held (it) freely.

In SciPFORD [Sibford Gower] Aba holds
1 1 hides of Hugh. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 4 acres of meadow, and a mill renders
32 pence, and (there are) 13 ' quarentenes '
of pasture. It was and is worth 4 pounds
and 10 shillings. Baldwin held (it).

XXII. THE LAND OF EARL HUGH'

In Waredon Hundret

Earl Hugh holds of the King in Bifelde
[Byfield] 8 hides, and Robert ^ (holds it) of
him. There is land for 20 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 5 serfs ;
and 8 villeins and 3 bordars have 3 ploughs.
There 1 knight, with 2 villeins, has i plough,
and 2 free men dwell there. Meadow i
league {Inva) in length and 7 furlongs in
breadth. It was and is worth 8 pounds.
Aschil held (it) freely.

The same Robert holds of the Earl i hide
in BoTENDONE [Boddiiigton]. There is land
for 2^ ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough) ; and 6 villeins, with the priest and
4 bordars, have i plough ; and I knight
has half a plough. There (are) 5 acres of
meadow. It was worth 30 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 40 shillings. Aschil held (it) freely.

In [sic)

The same (Robert) holds of the Earl I hide
and I virgate of land in Trapeford [Traf-
ford]. There is land for 2^ ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough), and 3 serfs ; and
(there are) 3 villeins with i plough. There
is a mill rendering [de) 6 shillings and 8
pence, and 3 acres of meadow. It was and
is worth 30 shillings.

In Edboldestou Hundret

The same (Robert) holds 4 hides in Mere-
stone [Marston St. Lawrence]. There is
land for lO ploughs. In demesne there are
4 (ploughs), and 9 serfs ; and (there are) 26
villeins and 10 bordars with 6 ploughs. There
is a mill rendering [de) 8 shillings, and 24
acres of meadow. It was and is worth 10
pounds.

' Of Chester.

^ Robert of Rhuddlan.

The same (Robert) holds 2 hides in Rode-
STONE [Radstone]. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 6 serfs ; and (there are) 10 villeins and
5 bordars with 3 ploughs. There (are) 12
acres of meadow, and 6 acres of wood. It
was, and is, worth 100 shillings.

In Sutone Hundret

The same (Robert) holds in Mideltone
[Middleton Chenduit] 4 fifths of 2 hides.
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 8 villeins have I
plough. There are 8 acres of meadow. It
was and is worth 3 pounds. The soc per-
tains to Sutone [Sutton].

In Foxhela Hundret

The same (Robert) holds half a hide in
Blaculveslea [Blakesley]. There is land
for 1^ ploughs. There 2 villeins have half a
plough. It was and is worth 8 shillings.
Ketel held (it). The soc pertains to Nortone
[Green's Norton].

In Gisleburg Hundret and a Half

The same (Robert) holds 2 hides and 1
virgate of land in Givertost [Yelvertoft].
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there is half a plough ; and 8 villeins, with
the priest and 9 bordars and 2 sochmen, have
i\ ploughs. There are 8 acres of meadow.
It was and is worth 20 shillings. Godric
held (it) freely.

In Foxeslau Hundret

Gozelin holds of the Earl 4 hides in Slap-
tone [Slapton]. There island for 10 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs ;
and 6 villeins with I bordar have 2 ploughs.
There are 8 acres of meadow. It was and
is worth 3 pounds.

Aschil held these lands with sac and soc.
Earl Hugh's men hold (them) now.

In Corbei Hundret

XXIII. Hugh Luri holds of the King
half a hide in little Weledone [Weldon
Parva]. There is land for 3 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough) with i serf; and
1 1 villeins have 2 ploughs. Wood(land)
there 6 furlongs in length and 2 in breadth.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
20 shillings. Ulvric held (it) freely.'

' This entry is added at the foot of the
page.

33^

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

XXV. THE LAND OF HENRY DE
FERIERES

fo. 225

In Clailea Hundret

Henry de Fereires holds 3 hides and the
fifth part of I hide in Perie [Potterspury].
There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne
there are 3 ploughs, and 3 serfs ; and 20 vil-
leins and 7 bordars, with the priest, have 7
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering [i-if) 18
shillings and 4 pence, and 16 acres of mea-
dow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs and 14 perches
in length, and 2^ furlongs in breadth. It
was and is worth 6 pounds. Earl Tosti(g)
held it.

In Narresford Hundret

Saswalo holds of Henry in Ticemerse '
[Titchmarsh] 10 hides and 2 thirds of half a
hide less i virgate. There is land for 15
ploughs. In demesne there are 4 ploughs,
and 8 serfs ; and 16 villeins and 5 bordars
have 65 ploughs, and (there are) 7 sochmen
with 4^ ploughs. There (is) a mill render-
ing 21 shillings and 4 pence, and 30 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length
and I in breadth. It was worth 3 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 7 pounds. Bundi held (it)
freely.

In Andferdesho Hundret

Ralf holds of Henry in Echentone [Ecton]

4 hides. There is land for 8 ploughs. In
demesne there are i| hides of this land, and
there are 2 ploughs, and 4 serfs ; and 8 vil-
leins and 9 bordars and 12 sochmen, with 8
bordars, have 6 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills
rendering (fie) 14 shillings, and 32 acres of
meadow. It was worth 3 pounds ; now (it
is worth) 100 shillings. Bundi held (it).

XXVI. THE LAND OF ROBERT
DE TODENI

Robert de Todeni (holds) 3 hides in
Stoche [Stoke Albany]. There is land for 6
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 3 serfs ; and 9 villeins and 2 bordars,
with I sochman, have 3 ploughs. There (is)
a mill rendering («'<■) 12 pence. Wood(land)

5 furlongs in length and 3 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 60 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. Osulf held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

ston]. There is land for 6 ploughs. Of
this land i hide is in demesne, and there (are)
2 ploughs with I serf; and 12 villeins and 7
bordars have 3 ploughs. Wood(land) 9 fur-
longs in length and 5 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings.

In VViceslea Wapent[ake]

The same (Robert) holds i hide and i bo-
vate of land in Segentone [Seaton].^ There
is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs ; and 8 villeins and 2
bordars, with the priest, have i^ ploughs.
There (are) 3 acres of meadow. Wood(land)

1 furlong in length and another in breadth.
Robert has only the third part of the wood-
(land) and the arable land likewise.

To this land pertains I virgate of land in
Berchedone [Barrowden].^ There are 4
villeins with half a plough. It was worth 40
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

In Foxeslea Hundret

The same (Robert) holds 3 hides in Sewelle
[Sewelle], and 4 fifths of i virgate. There
is land for 7 ploughs. In demesne there are
li (ploughs) and 2 serfs; and 8 villeins and

3 bordars have 3^ ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 1 2 pence, and 7 acres of mea-
dow. Wood(land) 2^ furlongs in length, and

2 furlongs in breadth. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

In Rodewelle Hundret

Hugh holds of Robert i4 hides in Ristone
[Rushton]. There is land for 4 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ; and
(there are) 4 villeins and 3 bordars, and 3
sochmen, with 2^ ploughs among (them) all.
There (are) four acres of meadow, and 15
acres of wood. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 30 shillings. The soc per-
tains to Walesdone [VVeldon r] Edwin held
(it).

The same (Hugh ?) holds in Deisburg
[Desborough] half a hide. There is land for
2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 2 serfs, and 3 bordars. There (is) half
an acre of wood. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Osulf held
(it) freely.

The same (Robert) holds 3 hides and i Roger holds half a hide of Robert in

virgate of land in Wilberdestone [Wilbar- Pipewelle [Pipwell]. There is land for 2

' ' In Ticemerse ' added in margin.

' In Rutl.-ind.

333

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

ploughs. There are I J ploughs, with 4 bor-
dars, and 5 acres of wood. It was worth 5
shillings ; now (it is worth) 6 shillings. Ed-
win held (it) freely.

Ildvin holds of Robert 2 hides in Bran-
tone [Brampton].' There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 6 serfs ; and (there are) 5 villeins and 4
bordars, with 2^ ploughs. There (are) 22
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 5 furlongs in
length and 3 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. Osulf held it.

Ildvin holds of Robert I hide less l| bo-
vates in Dingle [Dingley]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough)
and a half; and (there are) 2 villeins and 5
bordars with half a plough. There (are) 3
acres of meadow, and 3 acres of wood. It
was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings.

Gunfrid' and Walchelin hold of Robert 3
hides in Ascele [Ashley]. There is land for
6 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;
and 7 villeins and 9 bordars have 3 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 32 pence, and
9 acres of meadow, and 2 acres of spinney
(spineium). Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length
and 8 perches in breadth ; and in another
place (there are) 4 acres of wood pertaining to
this land. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 30 shillings. Frano and Algar
held (it) freely.

Wibert holds of Robert the third part of
I hide in the same vill. There is land for I
plough, which is there with 2 bordars and I
serf. It was worth 16 pence ; now (it is
worth) 5 shillings. Algar held (it) freely.

XXVII. THE LAND OF ROBERT
DE STADFORD

In Waredone Hundret

Robert de Statford holds in Stantone
[Stoneton] 3 virgates of land, and Hugh
(holds them) of him. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 3 serfs ; and (there are) 6 villeins and 5
bordars with 2 ploughs. There (are) 3 acres
of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 30 shillings, ^ileva held (it)
freely in king Edward's time.

' Then in ' Stoche,' now in Corby Hun-
dred.

XXVIII. THE LAND OF ROBERT
DE OILGI

In Clailea Hundret

Robert de Oilgi (holds) i hide and i vir-
gate of land in Wicha [Wicken], and Roger
(holds it) of him. There is land for 10
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 7 serfs ; and (there are) 7 villeins and 3
bordars with 4 ploughs. There (are) 10
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 1 1 furlongs in
length and 6 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 100
shillings. Azor held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

In Sutone Hundret

The same (Roger) holds of Robert i hide
in Teworde [Thenford]. There is land for
3^ ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough),
and 2 serfs ; and 7 villeins have 2^ ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 30 pence. It
was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings.

The same (Robert) holds half a hide and
the fifth part of i hide in Prestone [Purston].
There is land for i^ ploughs, and these {tan-
tum) are there, with 4 villeins and 2 bordars.
There (are) 8 acres of meadow. It was worth
10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 12 shillings.
Lewin held (it), and could betake himself [ire)
where he pleased. But the king used to
have the soc thereof.

XXIX. THE LAND OF ROBERT

DE VECI

In Rodewelle Hundret

Robert de Veci holds i hide in Badebroc
[Braybrook]. There is land for 2 ploughs.
I (plough) is in demesne, and 4 bordars
have another plough. It was worth 5 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Ailric
held (it) freely in king Edward's time.

XXX. THE LAND OF ROBERT

DE BUCI

In Stoch Hundret

Robert de Buci holds 2 thirds of i hide in
Asce [Ashley]. There is land for i plough.
This (plough) 6 sochmen have there. It was
and is worth 10 shillings and 8 pence.

The same (Robert) holds 2 hides and 2

334

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

thirds of I hide in Westone [Weston-by-
Welland]. There is land for 6 ploughs.
There lo sochmen have 3^ ploughs. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 42
shillings and 8 pence.

The same (Robert) holds i hide and 2
thirds of half a hide in Sutone [Sutton Bas-
set]. There is land for 2| ploughs. These
(ploughs) 8 sochmen have there. It was
worth 5 shillings; now (it is worth) 21
shillings and 4 pence.

The same (Robert) holds in Dinglei
[Dingley] 2 thirds of I hide and 2 thirds of
2 thirds of I hide. There is land for 4
ploughs. There 1 1 sochmen have 2^ ploughs.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
13 shillings and 4 pence.

The same (Robert) holds 2 hides in Bran-
tone [Brampton].^ There is land for 4
ploughs. There 8 sochmen have 3 ploughs.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
8 pence more.

In Corbei Hundret

The same (Robert) holds i hide and 3 vir-
gatesof land in Weledene [VVeldon]. There
is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are
two ploughs ; and 8 villeins and 4 bordars,
with I sochman, have 4 ploughs. Wood(land)
I league in length and 3 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings. Norman held these lands, and
could go where he pleased.

The same (Robert) holds i virgate of land
in Weledene [Weldon]. The King claims it.

In Stoch Hundret

Walter holds of Robert in Ascelei [Ashley]
the third part of i hide. The soc belongs to
{est de) Weledene [Weldon]. There is land
for half a plough. There 2 sochmen have

1 plough, and 2 acres of meadow. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 3
shillings. Norman held (it).

Hugh holds of Robert i hide in Brantone
[Brampton].^ There is land for 1 plough.
Nevertheless there are in demesne 2 ploughs,
and 2 serfs, with I bordar. It was worth

2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

fo. 225b

Norman holds of Robert 2 hides in Blare-
WICHe [Blathcrwick]. There is land for 6
ploughs. Hugh and William hold of him.
In demesne there are 2 ploughs ; and 12
villeins and 5 bordars have 4 ploughs. There
is a mill rendering {de) 30 pence, and 6 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) i league in length
and 3 furlongs in breadth. It is worth 18
shillings.

In Rodewel Hundret

Hugh holds of Robert half a hide in
Badebroc [Braybrook]. There is land for
I plough. It was and is worth 16 pence.
Norman held (it).

The same Hugh holds of Robert the third
part of I hide in the same vill. There is
land for half a plough. Nevertheless i plough
is there, with i bordar. It was worth 12
pence ; now (it is worth) 3 shillings. Ulchet
held (it).

William * holds of Robert half a hide in
RisTONE [Rushton]. There is land for i
plough. Nevertheless i| ploughs are there,
with 4 villeins and 2 bordars. There (is)
half a mill rendering {de) 12 shillings, and 6
acres of wood. Ulchet held (it). It was
worth 12 pence ; now (it is worth) 6 shil-
lings. The soc belongs to {est in) Waledone
[Weldon ?]. In the same vill he has half a
virgate of land waste.

In Sperehou ' Hundret

The same William * holds of Robert 2
hides and i| virgates of land in Moltone
[Moulton]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs, with I serf ;
and 7 villeins and 4 bordars have 2 ploughs.
There is a mill {de) rendering 8 pence. It
was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 50
shillings. Thori held (it).

Robert holds of Robert 3 virgates of land,
less 1 bovate, in Bochetone [Boughton].
There is land for i^ ploughs. 4 bordars,
with I villein and I serf, have i (plough)*
there, and (there are) 4 acres of meadow. It
was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) lO
shillings.

' Sic.

^ Now in Corby Hundred.

^ Spelho.

*• This was William Engayne (* Inganic ').

* The variant reading written above the
line in the original is, ' i (plough) is there
with 4 bordars,' etc.

335

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Ralf holds of Robert i virgatc and I bovatc
of land in Spretone [Spratton]. There is
land for half a plough. Nevertheless I
(plough) is there with 6 bordars. It was and
is worth 5 shillings. Ulmar held (it) freely.

In Foxleu Hundret

William holds of Robert I hide and 4
parts of half a hide in Bradene [Braden].
There is land for 3i ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 4 villeins have 1
plough. There (is) i acre of meadow. It
was worth 60 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings.

In Gisleburg Hundret and a Half

Robert holds of Robert 1 virgate of land in
Cretone [Creaton]. There is land for 2
oxen.' There is I Frenchman (Francigena)
with 2 oxen. It is worth 2 shillings.
Ulmar held (it) freely. [Chenric held
Bradene [Braden] of king Edward]. **

XXX. THE LAND OF RALF
PAGENEL

In Stoc Hundret

Ralf Pagenel holds of the King 2 hides,'
and Roger (holds) of him. There is land for
4 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 4 villeins and 3 bordars have i^ ploughs.
There (are) 2 serfs. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings. Turchil held
(it) freely.

XXXI. THE LAND OF RALF
DE LIMESI

In WiLEBRoc Hundret

Ralf de Limesi holds of the King 2 hides
in Westone [Colly Weston], and Herlwin
(holds) of him. There is land for 6 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs ;
and 16 villeins and 3 bordars have 5 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 20 shillings, and
12 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs
in length and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 100 shillings; now (it is worth) 6
pounds. Earl Morcar held (it).

' i.e. a quarter of a ploughland.

* This is entered here out of place.

' The descent of Ralf Paynel's barony,
which was large and scattered over several
counties, is well known, but I have not been
able to trace or identify these two hides.

XXXII. THE LAND OF ROBERT
ALBUS

In Neveslund Hundret

Robert le Blond [Albui) holds of the
King 3 hides in Grastone [Grafton Under-
wood], and Roger (holds) of him. There is
land for 8 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough), with I serf; and 12 villeins, with
the priest and 6 bordars, have 5 ploughs.
There (are) 2 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
I league in length and 4 furlongs in breadth.
It was, and is, worth 40 shillings. Achi held
(it) freely in king Edward's time.

XXXIII. THE LAND OF WILLIAM
DE CAHAINGES

William de Cahainges holds of the King
I hide in Flora [Floore], There is land
for 3 ploughs. In demesne there is I plough,
and 2 serfs ; and 4 villeins and 3 bordars
have I plough. There (is) a mill rendering
[d() 5 shillings, and 4 acres of meadow. It
is worth 20 shillings. Ernui held (it) freely
in king Edward's time.

XXXIII. THE LAND OF WILLIAM
PEVREL

William Pevrel holds of the King
Hecham [Higham Ferrars]. There are 6
hides. There is land for 12^ ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 hides of this land, and
there (are) 4 ploughs, and 4 serfs ; and 16
villeins, and 9 bordars, with the priest, have
8^ ploughs. There is a market rendering
20 shillings yearly, and a mill rendering [de)
20 shillings, and 10 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) I furlong in length and another
in breadth.

To this Manor pertain these members : —

In Risdene [Rusliden] 6 hides. There is
land for 12 ploughs. 19 sochmen have these
there, and (there is) a mill rendering [de) 10
shillings, and 30 acres of meadow.

In Celuestone [Chelveston] and Calde-
COTE [Caldecote] i hide and 3 virgates of
land. There is land for 3 ploughs. 6 soch-
men have these there, and 3 acres of meadow.

In Cnutestone [Knuston] i hide and i^
virgates of land. There is land for 2
ploughs. 5 sochmen have these there ; and
(there is) a mill rendering {de) 20 shillings,
and 6 acres of meadow.

In Irencestre [Irchester] I hide and 3
virgates of soc(land). There is land for 2

336

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

ploughs. Three sochmen have these there,
and 10 acres of meadow. There is one
Frenchman (Francigena) with I plough ; and
(there is) a mill there, rendering {de) i6 shil-
lings, in dispute [calumnioium) between the
King and William (Peverel).

In Farnedis [Farndish] 3 virgates of soc-
(land). There is land for i plough. 2 soch-
men have this (plough) there.

In PoTiNTONE [Poddington] * half a hide of
socland. There are 4 villeins, with I plough.

In EsTONE [Easton Mauduit] i^ virgates
of land. It is waste.

In Rande [Raunds] 7^ hides and half a
virgate of soc(land), with (its) appendages.
There is land for 14 ploughs. There are 20
villeins with 15 ploughs, and (there are) 20
acres of meadow.

The whole manor, with (its) appendages,
was worth 1 0 pounds when he received it ;
now (it is worth) 18 pounds. Gitda held it
with sac and soc.

The sochmen of Risdene [Rushden], Iren-
cestre [Irchester], and Rande [Raunds] were
Burred's men, and therefore G[eofFrey] the
bishop (of Coutances) claims their homage
{hominationem).'^

The same William holds 3^^ hides, and the
fourth part of I virgate in Clipestune [Clip-
ston] of the soc of Navesberie [Naseby].
There is land for 7 ploughs. There (is) I
knight with I plough ; and 19 sochmen,
with 7 villeins and 3 bordars, have 6
ploughs. It was worth 40 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 20 shillings.

The same (William) holds Neubote [New-
bottle].^ There (is) i hide and half a virgate
of land. There is land for 3 ploughs. These
he has in demesne with I serf; and 4 villeins
and 4 bordars have I plough. There (is) a
mill rendering {de) 7 shillings, and 6 acres of
wood.

In Olletorp [Althorp] the same William
has the third part of I hide, and half a virgate.
The soc pertains to Neubote [Newbottle].
There is land for i plough. 3 sochmen
have this there.

In Brinintone [Brington] the same
William has i^ hides. There is land for
2 ploughs. Six sochmen, with the priest,
who hold half a hide of the same land, have
these there.

In Herolvestone [Harleston] are i^ hides.

* In Bedfordshire.

* See above, p. 309.

* In Newbottle Hundred.

There is land for 3 ploughs. Three soch-
men, with the priest, have these there.

In Clachestorp [Glasthorp] is half a hide.
There is land for I plough. One sochman
has this there.

In Flore [Floore] is half a hide. There
is land for i plough. Three sochmen have
this there.

When William received these lands they
were worth 4 pounds ; now (they are worth)
7 pounds. Gitda held (them) freely.

The same William holds 4 hides in Dus-
TONE [Duston]. There is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 2
serfs ; and 13 villeins and 3 bordars, with
3 sochmen, have 6 ploughs. There (is) a
mill rendering 20 shillings, and (there are)
30 acres of meadow, and 1 1 acres of wood.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
100 shillings.

The same William holds 7 hides in
Navesberie [Naseby]. There is land for
14 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs) ; and 8 villeins, with the priest,
and 2 sochmen and 1 1 bordars, have 3
ploughs. There (are) 8 acres of meadow.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings.

In Colestreu* Hundret

The same William holds 3^ hides in
Cortenhale [Courteenhall]. Of this land
2 hides, less i virgate, are in demesne.
There is land for 9 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 ploughs, with i serf; and 12
villeins, with i bordar and the priest, have
7 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering [de)
1 2 pence, and 4 acres of meadow. Wood-
(land) 2 furlongs in length, and 2 furlongs in
breadth. It was worth 4 pounds ; now (it
is worth) 5 pounds.

The same William holds 3^ hides in
Blidesworde [Blisworth]. There is land
for 9 ploughs. Of this land 2 hides, less

1 virgate, are in demesne, and there are 2
ploughs; and 12 villeins, and 6 bordars,
have 7 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering

2 shillings, and 4 acres of meadow. Wood-
(land) 12 furlongs in length, and 8 furlongs in
breadth. It was worth 3 pounds ; now (it
is worth) 4 pounds.

* This seems to represent CoUingtree, the
' Colentreu ' of Domesday, which adjoins
Blisworth and Courtenhall (see p. 345
below).

337

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Gitda held all these lands in king Edward's
time, with sac and soc.
fo. ia6

In Alwardslea Hundret

Pagen holds of William 2 hides in Ber-
CHEBi [Barby]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), with I
serf; and (there are) 10 villeins and 8
bordars with 3 ploughs. There are 6 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 6 perches in length
and 4 in breadth. It was worth 30 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

In Wiceslea Hundret '

Sasfrid holds of William 2^ hides in
Epingeham [Empingham].^ There is land
for 4 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough)
with I serf ; and 8 villeins and 4 bordars,
with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill and a half
rendering (de) 12 shillings, and 4 acres of
meadow, and 6 acres of wood. It was and
is worth 20 shillings. Edward and Fredgis
held it with sac and soc.

In Gravesend Hundret

The same (Sasfrid) holds 4 hides in Catesbi
[Catesby]. There is land for 8 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 2 serfs,
and I bondwoman ; and 17 villeins, with
the priest and 4 bordars, have 6 ploughs.
There are 2 mills rendering 16 pence, and
4 acres of meadow. i knight holds i
hide of this land, and has 2 ploughs. The
whole was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 4 pounds. Gitda held (it) freely.

In Claislea Hundret

The same (Sasfrid) holds half a hide less the
fifth part in Aceshille.* It is waste.

In Rodewelle Hundret

Ambrose* holds of William i hide and i
virgate of land in Deisburg [Desborough].
There is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there
are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs, and i bondwoman ;
and (there are) 1 1 villeins and 8 bordars,

* *Wap' in the margin.

* In Rutland.

* Mr. Stuart Moore makes this to be
Ashton (' Asce ') in Cleley Hundred. In this
he follows Baker, in spite of whose high
authority I can find no evidence, even in his
own detailed account of Ashton, for this iden-
tification. 'Aceshille' ought to represent
some such name as Oakshill.

* Ambrose held of him also in Bucks,
Beds, and Notts.

with i^ ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
[de) 2 shillings. Wood(land) 2 furlongs in
length, and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was,
and is, worth 40 shillings.

The same (Ambrose) holds i^ hides, and
the third part of i virgate in Cailmarc
[Kelmarsh]. There is land for 4 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 7
villeins and 2 bordars have 2 ploughs. In
the same vill he holds I virgate of land,
which is waste. This renders geld in
Narninworde [Arthingworth]. It was
(altogether) worth 5 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 40 shillings. Osmund held (it)
freely.

Turstin holds of William i^ virgates of
land in Bosiete [Bozeat]. The soc pertains
to Hecham [Higham Ferrars]. There is
land for half a plough, and so much [tantum)
is there. It is worth 5 shillings.

Eustace holds of William half a hide in
Haregrave [Hargrave]. The soc pertains
to Hecham [Higham Ferrars]. There is
land for I plough. This (plough) is there
with 2 bordars. It is worth 68 pence.
Ailric held (it) freely.

Biscop holds of William in Horpol [Har-
pole] 2^ hides. There is land for 6 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 7
serfs ; and 14 villeins, with the priest and
5 bordars, have 4^ ploughs. There (are) 10
acres of meadow, and 10 acres of wood. It
was worth 30 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. The same (Biscop) held (it) freely
in king Edward's time.

Drogo holds i hide and l virgate of land
in Ravenestorp [Ravensthorp]. There is
land for 3 ploughs. 3 sochmen and 3
villeins, and 5 bordars, have these there.
There (are) 3 acres of meadow. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings.

The same (Drogo) holds 2 hides in Teche
[Teton]. There is land for 4 ploughs. 4
sochmen, 2 villeins, and 4 bordars, have
these there. There (is) I acre of meadow.
It was worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth)
20 shillings.

The same (Drogo) holds 3I virgates of
land in Cota [Cotton under Guilsborough].
There is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 3 serfs, and i
bondwoman ; and i villein and 4 bordars

338

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

have half a plough. There is a mill ren-
dering [de) 4 shillings, and 4 acres of
meadow.

To this manor pertains i hide of soc{land)
in ToRNEBERiE [Thornby]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. There is i plough and 4
acres of meadow. In Winewic [Winwick] '
are 3 virgates of land. There is land for i
plough. This I sochman has there.

In EcDONE [West Haddon] are i^ virgates
of land. There is land for I plough. There
is I sochman having half a plough. In Essebi
[Cold Ashby] are i^ virgates of land. There
is land for i plough. There is I sochman
with half a plough. In Nortot [Nortoft]
is half a hide. There is land for I plough.
I sochman has this there, and 2 acres of
meadow. In Holewelle [Hollowell] is i
virgate of land. There is land for half a
plough. I sochman has this there.

The whole manor of Cote [Cotton under
Guilsborough], with appendages, was worth,
when he received it, 15 shillings; now (it is
worth) 30 shillings.

Robert holds of William half a hide in
Torneberie [Thornby]. The soc pertains
to Navesberie [Naseby]. There is land for
half a plough. It is waste.

In Wimereslea Hundret

Robert holds of William in Hohtone
[Houghton Magna] i hide and half a virgate,
and 2 carucates of land. There is land for 4
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 4 serfs; and 15 villeins and 6 bordars
have 2 ploughs. There (are) 10 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length,
and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was and is
worth 40 shillings. Osmund held (it) freely.

In Claieslea Hundret

Robert holds of William 3^ hides, and the
fifth part of half a hide, in Pirie [Paulers-
pury]. There is land for 9 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 7 serfs ;
and 18 villeins and 7 bordars, with the priest,
have 7 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
(de) 26 shillings and 8 pence, and 10 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length,
and 4 furlongs and 2 perches in breadth.
It was and is worth 4 pounds. Gitda held
(it) freely.

Alvred holds of William 3^ virgates of
land in Gisleburg [Guilsborough]. There
is land for i^ ploughs. That (plough and a

In Guilsborough Hundred.

half) is there in demesne, and 2 serfs ; and
2 villeins and 3 bordars with half a plough.
There (are) 4 acres of meadow. It was worth
6 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings.
Gitda held (it) freely.

In Foxlea Hundret

Walter holds of William 2 hides in Ba-
CULVESLEA [Blakesley]. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 5 villeins with

2 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering [de)
5 shillings, and i acre of meadow. Wood

3 furlongs in length and i furlong in breadth.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings.

Turstin ^ holds of William half a hide and
half a virgate of land in Cortenhalo [Cour-
teenhall], and the soc belongs to [est Soca de)
another Cortenhalo [Courteenhall], Wil-
liam (Peverel's) manor. There is land for
I plough. Half a plough is there, and it is
worth 6 shillings.

Ambrose holds of William 4 hides in
Molitone [? Mollington].' There is land
for 4 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
(ploughs), and 3 serfs ; and (there are) 4
villeins and 5 bordars with 2 ploughs. There
(are) 16 acres of meadow. It was and is
worth 4 pounds.

Gitda held these lands freely in king
Edward's time.*

XXXV. THE LAND OF WILLIAM,
SON OF ANSCULF*

In Wiceslea Wapent[ake]

William, son of Ansculf, holds half a hide
in Toltorp [Tolthorpe],* and Robert (holds)
of him. There is land for 4 ploughs. The
King has the soc thereof. In demesne there
is I (plough) ; and 12 villeins and 15 bordars
have 3 ploughs. There (are) 4 mills ren-
dering [de) 40 shillings, and 20 acres of
meadow. 8 sochmen held (it). It was worth
40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 1 00 shillings.

* This was Turstin Mantel. See my
Calendar of documents, preserved in France, No.

1383. P- 506.

* In Oxfordshire (see Introduction).

■• This clause appears to refer to all three
of the above estates.

* de Pinkeni {i.e. Picquigny).

* In Rutland.

339

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Optonegrave Wapent[ake]'

Otbert holds of William 3 hides in Ber-
NAC [Bernack]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ;
and 15 villeins and 2 bordars, with I soch-
man, have 4 ploughs. There (are) 12 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 2 furlongs in length
and I in breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 4 pounds. Bundi held (it)
freely.

Ralf holds of William 3 hides in Bromwic
[West Bromwich].* There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is 1 (plough) ;
and 10 villeins and 3 bordars have 3 ploughs.
Wood(land) there I league in length, and
half a league in breadth. It was and is
worth 40 shillings. Brictuin held (it).

William, son of Malger, holds of William
I hide in Wavre [Over].' There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
with I villein. There (are) 4 acres of mea-
dow. Wood(land) i furlong in length and
half a furlong in breadth. It was and is
worth 10 shillings. Ulwin held it freely in
king Edward's time as did (the) others.

XXXVI. THE LAND OF WILLIAM
LOVET

In Stotfald Hundret

William Luveth holds of the King the
third part of I virgate of land. It was and
is waste.

XXXVII. THE LAND OF WALTER
DE AINCURT

In Gravesend Hundret

Walter de Aincurt holds of the King 3^
hides in Brandestone [Braunston]. There
is land for 9 ploughs. In demesne there are
3 ploughs; and 13 villeins and 4 bordars
have 4 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
[de) 2 shillings, and 8 acres of meadow, and i
acre of wood. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 4 pounds and 10 shillings.
Tori held (it) freely.

' Sic.

* In Staffordshire.

' In Warwickshire.

fo- 236b

XXXIX. THE LAND OF WALTER
THE FLEMING

In Rodewelle Hundret

Walter the Fleming (Flandrensis)* holds
of the King half a hide in Pipewelle [Pipe-
well]. There is land for i plough. Dodin
holds (it) of Walter. There is I plough,
with 2 bordars, and (there are) 5 acres of
wood. It was and is worth 4 shillings.
Levenot held (it).

In Gisleburg Hundret

The same (Dodin) holds of Walter i hide
and I virgate of land in Cotesbroc [Cottes-
brook]. There is land for 2^ ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 4 serfs and
I bondwoman ; and (there are) a priest and
10 villeins and 5 bordars with i^ ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering [de) 12 pence. It
was worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth)
30 shillings.

The same (Dodin) holds of Walter 2 vir-
gates and i bovate of land in Hohtone
[Hanging Houghton]. It is worth 4 shillings.

Fulcher holds of Walter 4 hides and i
virgate of land in Langeport [Lamport].
There is land for 2 ploughs. i 2 villeins and
7 bordars have these there. There (are) 4
acres of meadow, and an ash spinney {fraxi-
netum) I furlong in length, and i furlong in
breadth. It is worth 4 pounds.

The same (Fulcher) holds of Walter 2^
hides in Widmale [Withmale]. There is
land for 2 ploughs. He has these there ; and
10 villeins and 5 bordars, with the priest,
have 3 ploughs. There (are) I serf and I
bondwoman, and 6 acres of meadow. Wood-
(land) 2 furlongs in length, and i^in breadth.
It was and is worth 40 shillings.

In Spelehot Hundret

The same (Fulcher) holds of Walter 3
hides and i virgate of land in Pitesford
[Pitsford]. There is land for 7 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ; and
16 villeins, and 9 bordars, have 6 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 12 pence. It
was and is worth 70 shillings.

Otbert holds of Walter 2 hides in HoR-
tone [Horton]. There is land for 4 ploughs.

Otherwise called Walter de Wahulle.

340

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 6 vil-
leins and 4 bordars have 2 ploughs. There
(are) 2 serfs, and a mill rendering [tJe] 12
pence, and I2 acres of meadow. Wood(land)

3 furlongs in length, and 2 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 10 shillings; now (it is worth)
30 shillings.

In Tovecestre Hundret

The same (Otbert) holds of Walter 4 hides
in EvELAi [Evenley]. There is land for 10
ploughs. In demesne there are 4 (ploughs),
with I serf; and 11 villeins and 5 bordars
have 4 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills rendering
{tie) 20 shillings, and 5 acres of meadow. It
was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)

4 pounds.

Hugh holds of Walter 2^ hides in AscEBi
[Canons' Ashby]. There is land for 6 ploughs.
In demesne there is i plough, and 4 serfs ;
and 9 villeins and 3 bordars have 3 ploughs,
and (there are) 12 acres of meadow. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds.

In Otboldestou Hundret

Otbert holds of Walter 2 hides in Evelai
[Evenley]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
There are 4 ploughs, with 10 villeins and 5
bordars. It was worth 30 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 40 shillings.

In Sutone Hundret

The same (Otbert) holds of Walter i|
hides and the fifth part of half a hide.'
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there are i| (ploughs), with i serf; and (there
are) 5 villeins and 3 bordars having 1 1 ploughs.
There is a mill rendering [de) 2 shillings. It
was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. This land pertains to Evelai
[Evenley],

In Tovecestre Hundret

Godwin holds of Walter 2 hides belong-
ing to the church {ad acc/esiam) of Pascelle
[PateshuU] in Hecham [Cold Higham].*
There is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne
there is i plough ; and 9 villeins, with the

' In the hamlet of Astwick belonging to
Evenley.

* The ' Northamptonshire Survey ' proves
that these two hides were in Grimscote, so
that their relation to PateshuU church must
have been one of ownership, not of juxta-
position.

priest and 3 bordars, have 2 ploughs. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings.

Levenot holds of Walter in Pluntune
[Plumpton] ^ I hide. There is land for 4
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough), and
2 serfs ; and 6 villeins with 3 ploughs.
There (are) 4 acres of meadow. It was, and
is, worth 40 shillings.

In Gravesend Hundret

Hugh holds of Walter li hides, and the
fifth part of half a hide. There is land for
4 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs
and 2 serfs ; and 8 villeins, and 3 bordars,
have 2 ploughs. There (are) 2 acres of spin-

ney {spinetum).
shillings.

It was, and is, worth 40

Gildre holds of Walter 2 hides in Avies-
cote [Astcote]. He himself has sac and soc
of half a hide, and the King of i^ hides.
There is land for 5 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 ploughs ; and 8 villeins, with i
bordar, have 2 ploughs. It was worth 15
shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings.

In Wimereslea Hundret

Winemar holds of Walter 2^ hides in
Witone [Wotton]. There is land for 7
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs,
and 2 serfs; and (there are) 15 villeins, and
7 bordars with 5 ploughs. There (are) 4
acres of meadow. It was and is worth 4
pounds.

In Claile Hundret

Hugh holds of Walter 3 hides and the fifth
part of I hide. There is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), with I serf,
and a bondwoman; and 17 villeins, and 5
bordars, have 6 ploughs. There (are) 36
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in
length, and 3^ furlongs and 10 perches in
breadth. It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 60 shillings.

Levenot held all these lands freely in king
Edward's time, and could betake himself (trey
where he pleased.

The same Walter holds of the King 8
hides in Pascelle [PateshuU]. Of these he
has in demesne 2 hides. There is land for 20
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;

' In Norton Hundred.

* i.e. could commend himself to any lord.

341

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

and 2 serfs and a bondwoman ; and 22 vil-
leins and 6 bordars, have 12 ploughs. There
(are) 2 mills rendering {di) 32 pence. It was
worth 10 pounds when he received it ; now
(it is worth) 100 shillings. Leveno(t) held (it).

XL. THE LAND OF WINEMAR '

WiNEMAR holds of the King half a hide
and the fifth part of I virgate of land in
CovESGRAVE [Cosgrave]. There is land for
i^ ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
with 3 bordars. There (is) a mill rendering
{de) 13 shillings, and 5 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length and 2 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Alden held
(it) freely.

In Hecham Hundret

The same (Winemar) holds 2 hides and 3
virgates^ of land. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 4 serfs ;
and 10 villeins, with the priest and i bordar
and I Frenchman {francigena), have 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 8 pence, and 20
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 4 furlongs in
length and 2 furlongs in breadth. It was
worth 30 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shil-
lings. 6 freemen held it in king Edward's
time. One of them was called Osgot, whose
part of the land is claimed by the Countess
Judith.

The same (Winemar) holds 3 virgates of
land in Hantone [ ].' There is

land for i^ ploughs. In demesne there is
half a plough ; and 4 villeins with 5 bordars
have I plough. There (are) 3 acres of mea-
dow. It was and is worth lo shillings.

In CLAistUND Hundret

Dodin holds of Winemar i hide and 4
fifths of I virgate in AscE [Ashton].* There
is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough), with I serf; and 5 villeins and 5
bordars have 2 ploughs. There (are) 5 acres

' Winemar the Fleming, otherwise Wine-
mar de Anslepe (Hamslape).

* Probably in Easton Mauduit and Strix-
ton ; as we learn from the 12th cent. ' North-
amptonshire Survey ' that an estate was then
held there by Michael de Hanslepe, the suc-
cessor of this Winemar.

' The name is now lost.

■* This identification can be proved by its
descent to Mauduit.

of meadow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length
and 4 furlongs in breadth. It was worth 8
shillings; now (it is worth) 12 shillings.
Alden held (it) freely in king Edward's time.
Dodin has only the tenth part of this land.

Bondi holds of Winemar 4 fifths of half a
hide in the same vill. There is land for I
plough. There is I bordar. It is worth 4
shillings. The same Alden held (it) freely in
king Edward's time.

Maiulf holds of Winemar 2^ virgates of
land.* There is land for I plough. This is
there in demesne ; and (there are) 6 villeins
with half a plough. It was worth 10 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings. Alric
and Siuerd held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

XLI. THE LAND OF GUY DE
REINB[UED]CURT

In Neveslund Hundret

Guy de Reinbuedcurt holds of the King
8^ hides in Burtone [Burton Latimer].
There, in king Edward's time, were 14
ploughs. Of this land 3 hides are in demesne,
and there are 3 ploughs with I serf ; and
21 villeins and 18 bordars have 9 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering (^^f) 16 shillings,
and 20 acres of meadow, and half an acre of
wood. It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 6 pounds.

In Waredone Hundret

The same (Guy) holds 2 hides and 3 vir-
gates of land.^ There is land for 6^ ploughs.
Of this land i hide is in demesne, and there
are 3 ploughs; and 15 villeins, with the
priest and 2 bordars, have 5 ploughs. There
(are) 2 mills rendering {de) 26 shillings, and
20 acres of meadow. It was worth 100 shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 8 pounds. Tosti
held (it) freely. [Earl Ralf^ held Burton
(Burton Latimer)].*

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

The same (Guy) holds 2 hides, less half a
virgate, in Stanford [Stanford], and Abbot
Benedict * bought (it) of him. There is land

* In Easton Neston. See Baker, II. 139.
« In Wardon. See Baker, I. 521.

'' Probably Ralf, earl of Hereford under
Edward.

* This is an addition which apparently re-
fers to the preceding entry.

' Benedict, abbot of Selby. See Intro-
duction.

342

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

for 5 ploughs. There (are) i 7 villeins, with
the priest and 4 bordars, having 4 ploughs.
There (are) 8 acres of meadow. It was
worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40
shillings. Leuric held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

In Ordinbaro Hundret

Norgiot holds of Guy i hide in Harge-
DONE [Harrowden Magna]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough),
with I serf and a bondwoman ; and 4 villeins
with I bordar have I plough. There (is) a
mill rendering [de) 8 shillings, and 2 acres of
meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 20 shillings. Algar held (it) freely.

Ralf holds of Guy I hide and 2h virgates
of land in Isham [Isham]. There is land for
3 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
with I serf; and 7 villeins with I bordar
have 2 ploughs. There is a mill rendering
10 shillings, and 5 acres of meadow. It was
worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shil-
lings. Elwin, son of Ulf, held (it) freely in
King Edward's time. Of this land the bishop
of Coutances claims i^ virgates and 3 small
gardens {hortuloi).

fo, 337

In Hocheslau Hundret

Picot, Landric, and Oger hold of Guy in
Aldevincle [Aldwinkle All Saints] 5 hides.
There is land for 9 ploughs. In demesne
there are 3 ploughs, and 3 serfs; and 16
villeins and 5 bordars have 5 ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering 6 shillings, and 10 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 16 furlongs in length,
and 8 furlongs in breadth. It is worth 50
shillings among (them) all. Lefsi held (it)
freely in King Edward's time.

In Stotfald Hundret

Walter holds of Guy 2| hides, and the
third part of I virgate in Solebi [Sulby].
The soc pertains to Stanford [Stanford].
There he has I plough in demesne ; and
7 sochmen, with 6 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
It was and is worth 40 shillings. Leuric
held (it) freely.

Odelin holds of Guy 3 virgates of land in
Craneford [Cranford]. There is land for
3 ploughs. In demesne there is 1 (plough) ;
and I villein and 5 bordars have 2 ploughs.
It is worth 20 shillings.

Norgiot holds of Guy 3^ virgates of land
in CuGENHO [Cooknoe]. There is land for

3 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs) ;
and 8 villeins have I plough. There (is) a
mill rendering {de) 13 shillings, and 12 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) half a league in
length, and i furlong in breadth. It was
worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30
shillings. Edwin held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

Turchil holds of Guy three parts of I
virgate in Eltetone [Elkington].' There is
land for 3 oxen.^ 2 bordars who plough
{hordarli arantei) have these there. It was
and is worth 2 shillings.

XLII. THE LAND OF EUDO SON
OF HUBERT 3

In Corbei Hundret

EuDO son of Hubert holds of the King 2^
hides in Wacherlei [Wakerley]. There is
land for 6 ploughs. Of this land there is i
hide in demesne, and there are 2 ploughs,
and 4 serfs; and 16 villeins, with the
priest and 4 bordars, have 4 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {tie) 5 shillings,
and 12 acres of meadow. Wood(land) I
league in length, and 4 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
100 shillings.

In Optonegren Hundret

Rolland holds of Eudo i^ hides in Estone
[Easton].* There is land for 2 ploughs.
5 sochmen have 3 ploughs there, and 8
acres of meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in
length, and I in breadth. It was worth

2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 30 shillings.
This land belongs to {est) St. Peter of Burg
[Peterborough].

In Wilebroc Hundret

Rolland holds of Eudo i^ hides in Estone
[Easton]. There is land for 4 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 4 serfs ;
and 15 villeins, with 3 bordars, have 3
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering {de) 20
shillings, and 8 acres of meadow. Wood(land)

3 furlongs in length, and 2 furlongs in breadth.

' Sec p. 327, note 2.

* i.e. three-eighths of a ploughland.

' Eudo son of Hubert do Rye(s), other-
wise Eudo 'dapifer.'

* See Introduction.

343

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

It was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is \<'orth)
6 pounds. Drond held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

XLIII. THE LAND OF GHILO/ THE
BROTHER OF ANCULF

In Foxleu Hundret

Gilo holds of the King 3 hides in Wedone
[Weedon Pinkeney]. There is land for 7^
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 9 serfs, and 6 bondwomen. There I
knight, and 13 villeins and 6 bordars, have
4^ ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering 2
shillings, and 6 acres of meadow. It was
worth 40 shillings, and now (it is worth) 60
shillings. Fregist and Siward held (it).

Geoffrey holds of Gilo i^ hides in MoR-
TONE [Morton]. There is land for 6 ploughs.
In demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 5 serfs ;
and (there are) 14 villeins and 3 bordars with
3 ploughs. There are 30 acres of meadow.
it was worth 8 pounds ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds. Leuric held (it) freely.

Godwin holds of Gilo half a hide in
Selvestone [Silverstone]. There is land
for I plough. There are 2 villeins, and 3
acres of meadow. Wood(land) i^ leagues in
length, and i league in breadth. The fourth
part of this wood(land) pertains to this land.
It was worth 2 shillings ; now (it is worth)
5 shillings. Siward held (it) freely.

In Tovecestre Hundret

The same Gilo holds 2 hides in Wape-
HAM [Wappenham]. Of this land 3 virgates
are in demesne. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 9 serfs,
and 3 bondwomen; and 17 villeins, and 8
bordars with the priest, have 3 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 4 shillings,
and 5 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 1 1 fur-
longs in length, and 6 in breadth. It was
worth 100 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4
pounds. Leuric and Siward held (it) freely.

In Alboldestou Hundret

The same Gilo holds 2 hides in Stane
[Steane]. There is land for 5 ploughs. Of
this land 3 virgates are in demesne ; and
in demesne there (are) 2 ploughs, and 4 serfs,
and 2 bondwomen ; and 1 1 villeins, with
a bordar, have 3 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering (de) 2 shillings.

* De Pinkeni [i.e. Picquigny)

To this manor belong 4 fifths of 1
hide in Sutone [Sutton] Hundret. There
is land for 2 ploughs. There is I man
having I plough. The whole was worth
50 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60 shillings.

Landric holds of Gilo 2 hides and 4 fifths
of half a hide in Brime [in Culworth].* There
is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there are

2 ploughs, and 2 serfs, and 3 bondwomen ;
and 6 villeins, with the priest, have 2
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering (df)
32 pence, and 4 acres of meadow. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 60
shillings. Leuric held (it) freely.

Ingelran holds of Gilo 2 hides in ToRP
[Thorp Mandeville]. There is land for 5
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 6 villeins and 3 bordars have 2 ploughs.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
50 shillings. Osmund the Dane {danus) held
(it) freely.

Hugh and Landric hold of Gilo 2 hides in
Stoteberie [Stotesbery]. There is land for
5 ploughs. In demesne there is 1 (plough),
and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 5 villeins and

3 bordars, and 3 other men, with I plough.
Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length, and 2 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 30 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Osmund (the
Dane) held (it) freely.

Geoffrey and Robert hold 2 hides of Gilo
in EsTWELLE [Astwell]. There is land for

5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
with I serf ; and 8 villeins and 8 bordars have
3 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering 12
pence, and 10 acres of meadow. Wood(land)

6 furlongs in length, and i furlong and 5
perches in breadth. It was and is worth
40 shillings. Leuric and Alvric held (it).

Geoffrey holds of Gilo half a hide in

' ' Now lost,' says Mr. Stuart Moore. But
I am certain it is represented by the ' 2
hides and 4 small virgates' in Culworth,
which are returned as held by William in
the ' Northamptonshire Survey.' Bridges
thought that this holding was 'not men-
tioned in Domesday Book,' as he did not
recognize it under ' Brime.' William's heirs,
the Culworths, held it of the Pinkeneys by
the service of one knight, and also held of
them in Sulgrave, which adjoined Culworth
on the south-east, as did ' Landric,' their
Domesday predecessor.

344

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

SiGRESHAM [Syresham]. There is land for
I plough and 2 oxen.' In demesne there is I
plough, and (there are) 3 villeins. It was
and is worth 10 shillings. Leuric held (it)
freely.

In Waredon Hundret

The same Gilo holds 4 hides in Sulgrave
[Sulgrave], and Hugh, Landric, and Otbert
(hold them) of him. There is land for 10
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
with I serf; and 20 villeins and 6 bordars
have 5 ploughs. There are 8 acres of
meadow. It was worth g pounds ; now (it
is worth) 7 pounds. Four men held (it), but
could not depart [discedere) because the soc
of this land pertains to Waredone [Wardon].

XLIIII. THE LAND OF GEOFFREY
ALSELIN

In Colestreu Hundret

Geoffrey Alselin holds of the King 3I
hides in Mideltone [Milton or Middleton
Malsor], and William (holds) of him. There
is land for 9 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough) ; and 16 villeins, with the priest
and 5 bordars, have 7 ploughs. There (is)
a mill rendering {de) 30 pence, and 10 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length,
and 2^ furlongs in breadth.

To this manor pertain 2 hides, less I
virgate, in Colentreu [Collingtree]. There
is land for 4 ploughs. 2 sochmen and 5
villeins have these there. There (are) 3
acres of meadow.

In ToRP [Rothersthorpe] there is half a
hide belonging to Mildetone [Middleton
Malsor]. There is land for i plough, which
is there, with i villein. The whole was
worth 4 pounds ; now (it is worth) 6
pounds.

Winemar holds half a hide of Geoffrey in
the same vill. There is land for i plough.
That is there. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 8 shillings. Of this half
hide Winemar has only the soc. Tochi
held all this land with sac and soc.

XLV. THE LAND OF GEOFFREY
DE MANNEVILE

In Sutone Hundret

Geoffrey de Mannevile holds of the
King Aienho [AynhoJ. There are 3 hides

and the fifth part of a hide. There is land
for 8 ploughs. Of this land i hide and the
fifth part of I hide is in demesne, and there
(are) 3 ploughs, and 8 serfs ; and (there are)
23 villeins and 9 bordars, with 5 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering 10 shillings, and
20 acres of meadow. It was worth 6
pounds ; now (it is worth) 8 pounds. Asgar
held (it) in king Edward's time.

Osbern holds of Geoffrey I hide and 2
thirds of I virgate in Cliwetone [Croughton].
There is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne
there is I (plough), and 3 serfs ; and (there
are) 10 villeins with i^ ploughs, and a mill
rendering {de) 2 shillings. It was and is
worth 30 shillings. Suartlin held (it), and
could not leave {discedere).*

Suetman holds of Geoffrey the fifth part of
half a hide in Creveltone [Croughton].
There is land for 2 oxen.^ There is I
villein with half a plough. It is worth 3
shillings. Asgar held (it) freely.

In Waredone Hundret

Ultbert holds of Geoffrey Hintone [Hin-
ton]. There are 2 hides. There is land for
5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs,
and 2 serfs ; and (there are) 10 villeins and 3
bordars with 3 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering 2 shillings, and 3 acres of meadow.
It was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings..

Malger holds of Geoffrey 6 hides in Estone
[Aston]. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs and 5 serfs ; and

fo. 3a7b

1 5 villeins and 5 bordars have 6 ploughs.
There (are) 12 acres of meadow. It was
worth 100 shillings ; now (it is worth) 6
pounds.

In Niwebotlagrave Hundret

Baldwin holds of Geoffrey half a hide in
Flora [Floore]. There is land for i plough.
This is there with i villein and 2 serfs, and
(there are) 4 acres of meadow ; and of part
of a mill {de parte molini) he has 5 shillings.
The whole was worth 5 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 15 shillings.

In Foxesle Hundret

Ernald holds of Geoffrey half a hide in
Silvestone [Silverstone]. There is land for

I.e. \\ ploughlands.

* i.e. betake himself to another lord.
' i.e. a quarter of a ploughland.

345

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

I plough. This is there with 2 serfs ani I
villein and i bordar. It was worth lo shil-
lings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

The same (Ernald) holds of Geoffrey 2
hides in Hintone [Hinton].' There is land
for 5 ploughs. In demesne are 2 ploughs,
and 2 serfs ; and 1 1 villeins and 5 bordars
have 3 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
{de) 2 shillings, and 16 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 2 furlongs in length, and half a
furlong in breadth. It was worth 30 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 70 shillings.

In Edboldeston Hundret

Osbern holds of Geoffrey i^ hides, and 2
thirds of i virgate in Culeorde [Culworth].
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs; and 10
villeins, with I bordar, have 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 40 pence. It
was and is worth 3 pounds.

Asgar* held all these lands of Geoffrey's in
king Edward's time.

XLVI. THE LAND OF GILBERT
DE GAND

In Neubotlagrave Hundret

Gilbert de Gand holds of the King 3^
hides in Ceselingeberie [Kislingbury], and
Geoffrey (holds them) of him. There is land
for 10 ploughs. In demesne there are 3
ploughs, and i^ hides of that land, and 10
serfs ; and (there are) 22 villeins and 7 bor-
dars with 4 ploughs. There (are) 2 mills
rendering {de) 40 shillings, and 14 acres of
meadow, and 10 acres of wood. It was worth
4 pounds ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds.

Sasgar holds of Gilbert I hide and 1^ vir-
gates of land in Haiforde [Nether Heyford).
There is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne
there is half a plough ; and 3 villeins, with i
bordar, have I plough. There (are) 4 acres
of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings; now
(it is worth) 20 shillings.

In Gravesend Hundret

The same Gilbert holds 4 hides in Stowe
[Stowe]. There is land for 10 ploughs. In
demesne there are 3 ploughs, and 7 serfs ;
and 14 villeins and 6 bordars have 7 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 64 pence.

* In Sutton Hundred.

* Ansgar, Esgar, or Asgar, the Staller,
Geoffrey's ' predecessor ' in Essex also.

Wood(land) 7 furlongs in length, and 3 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 60 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 100 shillings.

The same Gilbert holds Epingeham [Em-
pingham].' There are 4 hides. Of these,

3 (are) in demesne. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 4 ploughs,
and 8 serfs; and (there are) 15 villeins with

4 ploughs. There (are) 5 mills rendering {d<)
42 shillings and 8 pence, and 10 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) I furlong in length,
and 10 perches in breadth. It was worth
100 shillings ; now (it is worth) 10 pounds.

The same (Gilbert) holds in the same vill
7^ hides, and I bovate of land of the King's
soc(land) of Roteland [Rutland], and says the
King is his patron {advocatum).*' There is
land for 15 ploughs. 14 sochmen, with 51
villeins, have these there. There (are) 5 mills
rendering {de) 24 shillings, and 10 acres of
meadow, and 10 acres of wood. It was and
is worth 8 pounds.

In Wilebroc Hundret

The same Gilbert gave to (the Abbey or)
S. Pierre-sur-Dive half a hide in Estone
[Easton]. There is land for 2 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough), and 4 villeins
have another. There (are) 4 acres of meadow.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings. Tonna held all these lands
with sac and soc.

Rotbert holds of Gilbert Wicford [Which-
ford].* There (are) 15 hides. There is land
for 19 ploughs. In demesne there are 4
(ploughs), and 10 serfs ; and 33 villeins and
21 bordars have 15 ploughs. There (are) 2
mills rendering {de) 15 shillings, and 3 furlongs
of meadow in length, and as much in breadth.
Wood(land) I furlong in length, and as much
in breadth. It was worth 10 pounds; now
(it is worth) 20 pounds. Wlf held (it) freely
in king Edward's time.

^ In Rutland.

* i.e. (in later language) he vouches the
King to warranty.

* Whichford in Warwickshire. Dugdale,
in his History of IVarwickihire, observes that
this place is not entered in Domesday, and
did not connect it with the above entry,
but the fact that Whichford church was given
to Bridlington priory, which was founded by
Gilbert's son, VV'alter de Gant, and was speci-
ally connected with their house, is sufficient
to establish the identity.

346

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

XLVII. THE LAND OF GEOFFREY
DE WIRCE

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

Geoffrey de Wirce holds of the King
4 hides in Wellesford [Welford], and Alfrid
holds (them) of him. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 2 serfs and I bondwoman ; and 12 vil-
leins, with the priest and 2 bordars, have 4
ploughs. There (are) 20 acres of meadow.

To this manor pertain 2^ virgates of land
in EssEBi [Cold Ashby]. There is land for
I plough ; and (there is) the fourth part of i
virgate of land in Etendone [Elkington].'
There are 2 bordars rendering 22 pence.

In Stofald Hundret
To the same Manor pertain 2^ hides in
SoLEBi [Sulby]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
It is waste. The whole in king Edward's
time was worth 20 shillings ; now (it is worth)
60 shillings. Leuric held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

The same Geoffrey holds in Crec [Crick]
4 hides less i virgate of land. There is land
for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are 3
ploughs, and 4 serfs ; and 1 7 villeins, with
the priest and 6 bordars, have 5 ploughs.
There (are) 12 acres of meadow. It was
worth 30 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds
and 10 shillings. To this land belong 4
sochmen, who render 10 pence.*

XLVIII. THE LAND OF GUNFRID
DE CIOCHES

In Corbei Hundret

GuNFRiD de Cioches holds of the King
half a hide in Boctone [Boughton]. There
is land for I plough. 2 villeins with i bordar
have this there. It was and is worth 6
shillings.

The same Gunfrid holds in Neutone
[Newton] 3 virgates of land and i bovate,
and the third part of i bovate. There is
land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough) ; and 4 villeins with 4 bordars have
another. Wood(land) there half a furlong in
length and 5 perches in breadth. It was
and is worth 10 shillings. Azur held these
2 lands * freely.

* See p. 327, note *.

* The whole of this entry is added at the
foot of the column.

' i.e. Boughton and Newton.

In Spereholt Hundret
The same (Gunfrid) holds 3 hides and i^
virgates of land in Belinge [Billing Parva].
There is land for 7 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs; and 16
villeins with the priest have 5 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 2 shillings,
and 50 acres of meadow. It was worth 40
shillings ; now (it is worth) 70 shillings.
Suain held (it) freely.

The same (Gunfrid) holds 5 hides in
Wilavestone [Wollaston]. There is land
for 10 ploughs. In demesne there are 4
(ploughs), and 8 serfs ; and 22 villeins, with
the priest and 4 bordars, have 6 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering [de) 5 shillings,
and 48 acres of meadow. It was worth 3
pounds; now (it is worth) 10 pounds. 4
thegns held (it) with sac and soc.

In Ordinbaro Hundret
The same (Gunfrid) holds i^ hides in
Craneslea [Cransley]. There is land for 3
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 2 serfs ; and 4 villeins, with the priest
and 10 bordars, have 2 ploughs. There are
5 acres of meadow. It was and is worth
30 shillings.

In Gisleburg Hundret
The same (Gunfrid) holds 2 hides and i
virgate of land, and half a hide of soc(land).*
There is land for 5^ ploughs. In demesne
there are 3 ploughs, and 7 serfs ; and 1 3
villeins and 5 bordars and 5 sochmen have
2^ ploughs. There are 8 acres of meadow.
It was and is worth 4 pounds.

The same (Gunfrid) holds i virgate of land
in Edone [West Haddon]. There is land
for half a plough, and this is there with I
serf. It is worth 4 shillings.

The same (Gunfrid) holds i hide in Crap-
tone [Creaton Magna]. There is land for
2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
and 4 serfs ; and 3 villeins with 2 bordars have
I plough. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 30 shillings.

In Colentreu Hundret
The same (Gunfrid) holds 2^ hides in
ToRP [Rothersthorpe]. There is land for

* Doubtless in Buckby, as the same amount
of land was entered in the ' Northamptonshire
Survey ' as held there by Saer de Quincey
of the fee of Aunsel de Chokes {i.e. Cioches)
(Bridges, I. 544)-

347

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

7 ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 7 serfs; and 14 villeins and 5 bordars
have 5 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
{de) 32 pence. Wood(land) 5^ furlongs in
length and i^ furlongs in breadtii. It was
worth 4 pounds; now (it is worth) 100 shil-
lings.

In Gravesend Hundret

The same (Gunfrid) holds half a hide and
the fifth part of half a hide in Westorp
[Thorpe].* There is land for i plough.
This is there with 2 bordars. It was worth
2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 6 shillings.

Suain held all these lands aforesaid with
sac and soc.

In Sutone Hundret
The same (Gunfrid) holds 2 hides and the
fifth part of 2 hides in Grimberie [Grims-
bury]. There is land for 6 ploughs. In
demesne there are 2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ;
and 15 villeins with 3 bordars have 4 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering [de) 10 shillings,
and 30 acres of meadow. It was worth 4
pounds ; now (it is worth) 6 pounds. This
land belongs to 3 lords.* Levenot held (it)
with sac and soc.

Winemar holds of Gunfrid i hide and 3
virgates of land in Cnutestone [Knuston].
There is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne
there are i^ (ploughs), with i serf; and
6 villeins have i plough. There (is) a mill
rendering [de) 8 pence, and 7 acres of meadow.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
20 shillings. Vluiet held (it) freely in king
Edward's time. Eustace * claims (it).

In Spelehou Hundret

John holds of Gunfrid half a virgate of
land in Westone [Weston Favel]. There
is I villein having 3 beasts [animalia).

In Niwebotlagrave Hundred

Olbaldus holds of Gunfrid i hide and I
virgate of land in Flora [Floore]. There
is land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 (ploughs), and 4 serfs ; and 5 villeins with
4 bordars have I plough. There (are) 6
acres of meadow. It was worth 10 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 25 shillings. Two thegns
held (it).

' Near Norton, in Fawsley Hundred.

' (r) ^ dominiorum' [the reading is somewhat
doubtful in the text of Domesday).

' Probably Eustace the sheriff of Hunting-
donshire.

In Claieslea Hundret

Tetbald holds of Gunfrid 3 virgates of
land, and the fourth part of I virgate, in
Hulecote [Hulcote]. There is land for 2
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 7 villeins have another. There (are) 5
acres of meadow. It was worth 12 shillings;
now (it is worth) 15 shillings.

Bondi holds of Gunfrid 3 virgates of land,
and the fourth part of i virgate in Adestane-
STONE [Easton Neston]. There is land for
2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 6 villeins have another. There (are) 3
acres of meadow, and from part of a mill
(come) 4 shillings. Wood(land) 5 furlongs
in length and in breadth. Two lords hold it.
It is worth 12 shillings. The same Bondi
held (it) freely.

Dodin holds of Gunfrid 4 fifths of half a
hide in Rode [Roade], There is land for i
plough. This is there with 2 bordars.
Wood(land) half a furlong in length and 4
perches in breadth. It was worth 12 pence ;
now (it is worth) 4 shillings. Suain held it
freely in king Edward's time.

fo. 328

XLIX. THE LAND OF SIGAR DE
CIOCHES

In Tovecestre Hundret

SiGAR de Cioches holds of the King 4
hides* and 4 fifths of half a hide. There is
land for 10 ploughs. Of this land i hide is
in demesne, and there (are) 3 ploughs, and 5
serfs, and 3 bondwomen; and 21 villeins,
with the priest and 1 1 bordars, have 8
ploughs. There (are) 8 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length, and 3 fur-
longs in breadth. It was and is worth 6
pounds. Earl Tosti(g) held (it).

L. THE LAND OF SUAIN »

In Claieslea Hundret

Suain holds of the King 4 hides in Stoche
[Stoke Bruern]. There is land for 10 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough) ; and 14 vil-
leins, with the priest and 7 bordars, have 5
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering [de) 13
shillings and 4 pence, and 30 acres of meadow.

* This entry refers to Gayton. See Baker,
II. 261, 272.

* This was Swegen son of Azur. See
Introduction.

348

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length, and 2^
furlongs in breadth. It was and is worth 3
pounds.

LI. THE LAND OF SIBOLD

In Hocheslau Hundret

SiBOLD holds of the King i^ virgates of
land in Ludewic [Luffwick]. There is land
for i^ ploughs. Of this land i virgate is in
demesne, and there (is) i plough ; and (there
are) 2 villeins and 2 bordars with half a plough.
It was worth 4 shillings ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings. Lefsi held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

LIL THE LAND OF OGER ^

In Narresford Hundret

Oger holds of the King 2| hides in
Trapestone [Thrapston]. There is land
for 5 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
ploughs, with I serf; and 7 villeins and 5
bordars have i plough ; and (there are) 4
sochmen with i plough. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 20 shillings, and 12 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 6 furlongs in length,
and as many in breadth. It was and is
worth 3 pounds.

LIII. THE LAND OF DROGO DE
BEVREIRE

In Winemereslea Hundret

Drogo de Bevreire holds of the King 1
hide and 3 virgates of land in Cedestone
[Chadstone]. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there is i plough, with I serf;
and (there are) 9 villeins and 4 bordars with
3 ploughs. Wood(land) I furlong in length,
and as much in breadth. It was worth 20
shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.
Ulf, a man of earl Wallefs,^ held (it). The
Countess Judith claims (it).

LIIII. THE LAND OF MANNO
In Sutone Hundret

Maino holds of the King i hide in Tane-
FORD [Thenford]. There is land for 2^
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough), and
3 serfs ; and 6 villeins have i^ ploughs ; and
from part of a mill (he has) 30 pence. It was
and is worth 40 shillings. Algar held (it)
freely in king Edward's time.

In Claiesle Hundret

The same (Maino) holds 3 virgates of land
in WiCHE [Wyke Hamon]. There is land
for 3 ploughs. In demesne there are 2
ploughs with I serf ; and 5 villeins, with i
bordar, have 2 ploughs. There (are) 6 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 10 furlongs in length,
and 3 furlongs in breadth. It was and is
worth 40 shillings. Siward held (it) freely.

In Stotfald Hundret

Berner holds of (Maino) 4 hides and 2
thirds of i virgate in Medewelle [Maidwell].
There is land for 8 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), with i serf; and 8 vil-
leins, and 4 bordars, and 6 sochmen, have 6
ploughs. There (are) 8 acres of meadow.
It was worth 5 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. Leuric held (it) freely.

In Rodewelle Hundret
To this manor pertains i virgate of land
in Dractone [Draughton]. This is valued
with the manor.

LV. THE LAND OF EUSTACE'

Eustace holds of the King i hide and 2\

virgates of land in Isham [Isham]. There is
land for 3 ploughs. In demesne there is I
(plough) ; and (there are) 7 villeins, and 3
bordars, with 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering [de) 10 shillings, and 5 acres of
meadow. It was and is worth 40 shillings.
Eustace occupied this land by force, wronging
[super) the church of Ramesy [Ramsey].

Rainald holds of Eustace 3 hides in
Niwetone [Newton].* There is land for
5 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and (there are) 8 villeins and 5 bordars with
3^ ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering 64
pence, and 8 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 4
furlongs in length, and 2 furlongs in breadth.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
30 shillings. Norman held these 2 lands.'

Alvred holds of Eustace in Pochebroc
[Polebrook] I hide and i virgate of land.
There is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne
there is I (plough) ; and 4 villeins, with the
priest and 4 bordars, have i^ ploughs. It
was worth 2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 20
shillings. Ormar held (it) freely.

The Breton.

Waltheof.

' ' De Huntendune,' sheriff of Huntingdon-
shire.

* Wood Newton (see p. 388 note * below).

* i.e. Isham and Newton.

349

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Widelard holds of Eustace half a hide in
WiNEWiNCLE [Winwick].' There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough),
with I serf; and (there are) 3 villeins with 2
ploughs. There (are) 3 acres of meadow.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings. Achi held (it).

In Neveslund Hundret

Agemund holds of Eustace half a hide in
Grastone [Grafton Underwood]. There is
land for I plough. This is there with certain
men. It was and is worth 5 shillings.

In Naresford Hundret

Alvred holds of Eustace i hide and i vir-
gate of land in Dotone [Clapton].^ There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is
I (plough) ; and I villein with 3 bordars has
half a plough. It was worth 3 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings.

LVI. THE LAND OF THE
COUNTESS JUDITH

In Wicelea Wapent[ake]

The Countess Judith holds of the King
i^ hides in Riehale [Ryhall].^ There is,
with (its) appendages, land for 8 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 4 serfs ; and
10 villeins and 4 sochmen have 4 ploughs.
There (are) 2 mills rendering {de) 36 shillings.
Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length, and 2 fur-
longs in breadth.

To this manor pertains Belmestorp [Bel-
mesthorpe].' There (are) 1^ hides, and in
demesne (there are) 2 ploughs ; and 14 vil-
leins and 6 bordars have 4 ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering {de) 10 shillings and 8
pence, and 16 acres of meadow. The whole
was and is worth 6 pounds.

The same (Judith) holds the third part of
I hide in AscE [Ashley]. There are 3 soch-
men (who) render yearly 5 shillings and 4
pence.

In SuTONE [Sutton Basset] there is half a
hide, and the third part of half a hide ; and 4
sochmen have there i| ploughs, and render
yearly 10 shillings and 8 pence.

^ In Polebrook Hundred.

* Bridges (II. 421) rightly conjectured this
name to be a clerical error for Clotone [Clap-
ton]. See Feudal England, p. 223.

* In Rutland.

In Westone [Weston-by-Welland] there
is I hide, and the third part of I hide ; and
5 sochmen have there i^ ploughs, and render
yearly 21 shillings and 4 pence.

In Tinglea [Dingley] there is the third
part of I hide, and 3 quarters of 2 thirds of i
hide;* and there (are) 5 sochmen with i^
ploughs. They render 6 shillings and 8
pence.

In Brantone [Brampton]* there is 1 hide;
and 4 sochmen have there 2 ploughs, and
render yearly 5 shillings and 4 pence.

Earl Wallef (Waltheof) held all this land,
and it was worth as much as it now is.

In Wilebroc Hundret

The same Countess holds 6 hides in FoD-
ringeia [Fotheringay]. There is land for
12 ploughs. Of this land 2 hides are in
demesne, and there (are) 3 ploughs, and 3
serfs; and 19 villeins, with the priest and 6
bordars, have 9 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 8 shillings, and 40 acres of mea-
dow. Wood(land) I league in length, and 9
furlongs in breadth. When it is stocked (»«fr-
atur), and the King does not hunt in it, it is
worth 10 shillings. It was worth 8 pounds;
now (it is worth) 12 pounds. Turchil held
(it) freely in king Edward's time.

The same Countess holds 5 hides in Har-
ingeworde [Harringworth]. There is land
for 16 ploughs. In demesne there are 3
ploughs, and 6 serfs and i bondwoman ; and
26 villeins and 8 bordars and 6 sochmen have
10 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering (de)
5 shillings, and 5 furlongs of meadow in
length, and 2 furlongs in breadth. Wood(land)
8 furlongs in length, and I league and 3 fur-
longs in breadth. It was and is worth 10
pounds. Turchil held (it) freely.

In Langeport [Lamport] there is I bovate
of land, with I bordar rendering 16 pence.

In Bradebroc [Braybrook] there is half a
virgate of socland. There I villein has half
a plough. It was and is worth 4 shillings.

In Bracstone [Draughton]* there are 2^

* These complicated fractions amount in
all to ^ of a hide.

* In Corby Hundred.

* ' Bracstone ' is an error of the scribe for
Dracstone [Draughton]. See Bridges, II. 28,

350

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

virgates of land. 3 sochmen have there 2
ploughs. It was and is worth 10 shillings.

In BuRTONE [Broughton] there are i^ hides
of soc(land). There is land for 3 ploughs.

3 sochmen, with 4 villeins and 5 bordars,
have these there and 8 acres of meadow.

In Craneslea [Cransley] is I hide, and 6
sochmen with 5 bordars have there 2 ploughs
and 8 acres of meadow.

In Hanintone [Hannington] are 3 virgates
of land, and 4 sochmen have there i^ ploughs
and 2 acres of meadow. These 3 lands' were
worth 40 shillings ; now (they are worth)
16 pence more.

The same Countess holds 4 hides in Bar-
tone ^ [Earl's Barton], There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 3 serfs ; and 8 villeins and 6 bordars and
1 1 sochmen have 6 ploughs. There (are) 3
mills rendering (de) 28 shillings and 8 pence,
and 34 acres of meadow. It was and is
worth 4 pounds. Bond! held (it) with sac
and soc.

The same Countess holds 4 hides in DoD-
INTONE [Duddington]. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
and 2 serfs; and 12 villeins and 5 bordars,
with 4 sochmen, have 6 ploughs. There
(are) 12 acres of meadow. It was and is
worth 4 pounds. Bondi held (it).

The same Countess holds 4 hides in Wilebi
[Wilby]. There is land for 7 ploughs. In
demesne there is i (plough) ; and 7 sochmen
have 6 ploughs. It was and is worth 4
pounds. Bondi held (it).

The same Countess holds 4 hides in Asbi
[Mears Ashby]. There island for 7 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ;
and 6 villeins and 6 bordars, with 8 sochmen,
have 6 ploughs. It was and is worth 4
pounds. Bondi held (it). These 3 lands '
pertain to BuRTONE [Earl's Barton].

In Buchetone [Boughton]* are 3 virgates
of soc(land). There is land for i^ ploughs.

4 sochmen, with 3 bordars, have these there.

* i.e. Draughton, Cransley, and Hanning-
ton.

* u is written over the a, as if for altera-
tion.

' Duddington, Wilby, Mears Ashby.
■• In Spelho Hundred.

In Wimareslea Hundret and a half

The same Countess holds 3^ hides in Ger-
DELAi [Yardley Hastings]. There is land for
9 ploughs. Of this land there is I hide in
demesne, and there (are) 3 ploughs ; and 16
villeins, with 12 bordars, have 6 ploughs.

fo. 3l8b

(There is) wood(land) there 13 furlongs in
length, and 8 furlongs in breadth. This land
in king Edward's time, as now, was assessed
for 3I hides. To this (manor) pertain these
members following : —

In Grendone [Grendon] are 3 hides and

1 virgate of land. There is land for 9
ploughs. 12 sochmen have these there, and
(there are) 3 mills rendering [de) 3 shillings,
and 30 acres of meadow.

In Wicentone [Whiston] is i virgate of
soc(land). There is land for half a plough.

2 bordars have this there.

In Dodintone [Denton] * is i hide.
There is land for 2 ploughs. 6 sochmen
have these there.

In Bacheuntone [Hackleton] are 2 hides
of soc(land). There is land for 6 ploughs.
8 sochmen and 4 bordars have these there
and 10 acres of meadow.

In HoRTONE [Horton] is I virgate of land,
and of soc(land) I hide. There is land for
half a plough. It is waste.

In WiLAVESTONE [Wollaston] the Countess
has the soc of i hide.

In Bragefelde [Brayfield] are 3 virgates
of land. There is land for 2 ploughs. 3
sochmen, with 3 bordars, have these there
and 2 acres of wood.

In QuiNTONE [Quinton] is half a hide.
There is land for I plough. 2 sochmen,
with 2 villeins and 5 borders, have this there
and 4 acres of meadow.

In Hardingestone [Hardingstone] there
are 2 hides. There is land for 4 ploughs. 6
sochmen and 6 bordars have there 3 ploughs
and 3 acres of meadow. The whole manor,
with (its) appendages, was worth 12 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 15 pounds. Earl Wallef
(Waltheof) held (it).

The same Countess holds 8 hides in Da-
ventrei [Daventry]. There is land for 16
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 3 serfs ; and 20 villeins, with the priest
and 10 bordars, have 7 ploughs. There (are)
1 2 acres of meadow. It was worth 3 pounds ;
now (it is worth) 8 pounds.

In Teowelle [TwywcU] the Countess

' See Introduction.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

holds i^ hides. There is land for 2 ploughs.
In demesne there is i plough, with 2 bordars.
It was and is worth lo shillings. Earl
Wallef [Waltheof] held (it).

Hugh holds of the Countess half a hide
in Wedlingeberie [Wellingborough], and it
was assessed for as much in king Edward's
time. There is land for i^ ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), with i serf; and
2 villeins and 2 bordars have half a plough.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) $ shillings.
It was worth lO shillings ; now (it is worth)
20 shillings. Godwin held it freely in king
Edward's time.

The same (Hugh) holds of the Countess
half a hide in Waletone.' There is land for
I plough. 3 sochmen have this there. It
was worth 2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 5
shillings.

Robert holds of the Countess 2 hides and i
virgate of land in Bitlesbroch [Bisbrook].^
There is land for 3^ ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough) and 2 serfs ; and 12 vil-
leins, with 4 bordars, have 2^ ploughs. There
(are) 20 acres of meadow. Underwood [si/va
minuta) i\ furlongs in length, and as much
in breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worthj 30 shillings. Edward held (it)
with sac and soc.

Grimbald holds of the Countess 3 hides less
I bovate in Tichecote [Tickencote].^ There
is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough) ; and 8 sochmen, with 12 villeins and
I bordar, have 5 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {dt) 24 shillings, and 12 acres of
meadow. It was worth 30 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 50 shillings. Edward held this
also.

The same (Grimbald) holds of the Coun-
tess I hide in Horne [Horne].^ There is
land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough), and 2 serfs and 2 bondwomen ; and
9 villeins, with 4 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 4 shillings and
8 pence. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 30 shillings.

The same (Grimbald) holds I virgate of
land of the Countess in Ferendone [East
Farndonj. There is land for 2 oxen.' It

* Not identified.

* These three places are in Rutland.
^ i.e. a quarter of a ploughland.

was and is worth 32 pence. Turchil held
(it) freely in king Edward's time.

The same (Grimbald) holds of the Coun-
tess 3 hides and I virgate of land in Mul-
tone [Moulton].* There is land for 6^
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and 12 villeins, with 4 bordars, have 5^
ploughs. It was and is worth 40 shillings.
Ailric held (it) freely in king Edward's time.

In Corbi Hundret

Turgar holds of the Countess in Newe-
TONE [Newton] 3 virgates of land, and 1 bo-
vate and the third part of i bovate. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is
one (plough) ; and 4 villeins, with 4 bordars,
have another. There is a moiety of a mill
rendering [de) 16 pence. Wood(land) i^
furlongs in length, and as much in breadth)
It is worth 6 shillings. The same (Turgar)
held (it) freely.

In Rodewelle Hundret

Chetelbert holds of the Countess I hide
and I virgate of land in Bradebroc [Bray-
brook]. There is land for 2 ploughs. These
are there with 2 villeins and 4 bordars. It
was and is worth 15 shillings. The same
(Chetelbert) held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

In Stotfald Hundret

Ulf holds of the Countess 1 hide of soc
(land) in Ocedone [Oxendon Magna]. There
is land for 2 ploughs. These are there with
5 sochmen and 6 bordars. It was worth 20
shillings. The same (Ulf) held (it) freely in
king Edward's time.

Biscop holds of the Countess half a hide in
MuLETONE [Moulton Park]. There is land
for I plough. This is there with 2 villeins
and 2 bordars. It is worth 10 shillings.

Turbern holds of the Countess half a hide
in HoRTONE [Horton]. There is land for I
plough. There is half a plough, with 2 bor-
dars. It was worth 8 shillings ; now (it is
worth) 10 shillings.

Leuric holds of the Countess in Weletone
[Welton], and in Torp [Thorpe],* half a
hide and i virgate of land, less the fifth part
of half a hide. There is land for i plough.

* He gave the church here to St. Andrew's,
Northampton, at its foundation.

* Near Norton, in Fawsley Hundred.

352

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

In demesne there is half a plough with 2 bor-
dars. It is worth 8 shillings. The same
Leuric held (it) in king Edward's time. The
King has the soc thereof.

William holds of the Countess 4 hides in
Gladestone [Glaston].' There is land for
8 ploughs. In demesne are i^ ploughs, and
2 serfs ; and 5 villeins and 3 sochmen, with
2 bordars, have 5 ploughs. There (are) 10
acres of meadow. It was and is worth 40
shillings. Edward held (it) with sac and soc.

To this manor pertain 6 sochmen in LuF-
ENHAM [LufFenham],' the King's manor, and
I in Segestone [Seaton],' and i in ToRP
[Thorpe-by-VVater],' whose stock [pecunia) is
noted above.

In Corbei Hundret

Lanzelin holds of the Countess in Newe-
TONE [Newton], 3 virgates of land and I
bovate, and the third part of I bovate. There
is land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is

1 (plough) ; and 8 villeins, with 4 bordars,
have another. There (is) a mill rendering
(<Vc) 7 shillings and 8 pence. (There is) wood-
(land) I furlong in length and half a furlong
in breadth. It was worth 5 shillings; now
(it is worth) 16 shillings.

The same Lanzelin holds of the Countess
l-^ hides and half a virgate of land in Achelau
[Oakley]. There is land for 5 ploughs. In
demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ; and
19 villeins have 3 ploughs. Meadow 4 fur-
longs in length and 3 perches in breadth.
VVood(land) I league in length and half a
league in breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 30 shillings. Bondi held
these lands freely in king Edward's time.

The same (Lanzelin) holds of the Countess

2 hides less I virgate in Bosieta [Bozeat].
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), and 2 serfs ; and 6 villeins,
with 2 bordars, have 3 ploughs. There (are)
10 acres of meadow. Wood(land) 2 fur-
longs in length and I furlong in breadth. It
was and is worth 40 shillings. Stric held
(it) of Earl Wallef (Waltheof).

In Maleslea Hundret

Fulcher holds of the Countess 3 hides and

3 virgates of land in Woldgrave [Walgrave].
There is land for 7 ploughs. In demesne

' These four places are in Rutland.

there are 2 (ploughs) ; and 14 villeins with 9
bordars have 4 ploughs, and 4 sochmen with
8 bordars have i^ ploughs. There (are) 12
acres of meadow. It was and is worth 3
pounds. The Countess has the soc. Aki
held (it) with soc and sac.

Hugh holds of the Countess 2 hides and
I virgate of land in Scaldeswelle [Scald-
well]. There is land for 4 ploughs. 7 soch-
men and 4 bordars have these there. It was
and is worth 21 shillings and 4 pence.

The same Hugh holds of the Countess i
hide and i virgate of land in Hohtone
[Hanging Houghton]. There is land for 2
ploughs. 6 sochmen with 4 bordars have
these there. It was and is worth 13 shil-
lings and 4 pence.

The same (Hugh) holds of the Countess
I hide and i^ virgates of land in Holecote
[Holcot]. There is land for 2 ploughs. 5
sochmen with 3 bordars have these there. It
is worth 20 shillings.

The same (Hugh) holds i virgate of land
in Multone [Moulton Park]. There i soch-
man has half a plough, and renders 33 pence.

The same (Hugh) holds of the Countess in
AsEBi [Castle Ashby] 2 hides less i virgate ;
and it was assessed for as much in king Ed-
ward's time. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there are 2 (ploughs); and 12
villeins with 6 bordars have 3 ploughs. There
(is) a mill rendering {de) 6 shillings and 8
pence, and 12 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
I furlong and 1 1 perches in length, and I fur-
long less 7 perches in breadth. It was worth
20 shillings ; now (it is worth) 4 pounds.

To this manor pertains in Gredone [Gren-
don] I virgate of socland. 4 sochmen have
there I plough.

In Rodewelle Hundret

Eustace holds of the Countess 2^ hides
and the third part of I hide in Risetone
[Rush ton]. There is land for 5 ploughs. In
demesne there is i plough, and i bond-

fo. m)

woman ; and 19 villeins, with 8 bordars, have
4 ploughs. There is i sochman, and a mill
rendering {de) 32 pence, and 4 acres of wood.
It was worth 10 shillings ; now (it is worth)
40 shillings.

353

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Andferdesho Hundret

Alan ' holds of the Countess I hide in
Herdewiche [Hardwick].* There is land
for 2 ploughs. These are there with 2 serfs
and 3 villeins and i bordar. It was and is
worth 20 shillings. Ulf held (it) with sac
and soc.

In Ordinbaro Hundret

The same (Alan *) holds of the Countess
1 hide in Hardewiche [Hardwick].^ There
is land for 2 ploughs. 7 villeins, with i
bordar, have there 3 ploughs, and 7 acres of
meadow. It was worth 20 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 40 shillings.

In Hocheslau Hundret

Walter holds of the Countess 5 hides in
LiLLEFORDE [Lilford]. There is land for 14
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 (ploughs),
and 4 serfs; and 20 villeins and 16 bordars
have 12 ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering
(de) 24 shillings, and 50 acres of meadow.
It was and is worth 8 pounds. Turchil
held (it) freely in king Edward's time.

Rohais holds of the Countess i hide in
Sprotone [Spratton]. There is land for 2
ploughs. In demesne there is I (plough) ;
and I villein, with 8 bordars, has i^ ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering {de) 64 pence.
It was worth lo shillings; now (it is worth)
20 shillings.

Corbelin holds of the Countess 2 hides in
WiLAVESTONE [WoUaston]. There is land
for 3^ ploughs. In demesne there is i
(plough), with I serf; and 6 villeins, with I
bordar, have 2^ ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 6 shillings and 8 pence, and 12
acres of meadow. It was worth 16 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Stric held (it)
freely. Winemar de Hanslepe claims (it).

Dodin holds of the Countess i virgate of
land in Estone [Easton Mauduit]. There is
land for half a plough. There are 2 bordars,
and I acre of meadow. It was worth 12
pence ; now (it is worth) 3 shillings.

Gilbert holds of the Countess half a vir-
gate of land in Wedlingeberie [Welling-
borough]. There is land for i ox.^ This

' An Alan, * dapifer ' of the Countess, held
lands of her in Hunts.

* On the border of the two Hundreds.
' i.e. I bovate.

land pertains to Dodintone [Doddington],
and is valued there.

Winemar holds of the Countess I virgate
of land in Bosiete [Bozeat]. There are 4
bordars.

The same (Winemar) holds of the Countess
half a hide in Dodintone [Denton].* There
is land for half a plough, and that much is
there.

The same (Winemar) holds I virgate of
soc(land) in Bragefelde [Brayfield]. There
is land for half a plough. There are 2
bordars ploughing with 2 oxen.

The same (Winemar) holds of the soc of
Gerdelai [Yardley Hastings] :* In Hohtone
[Houghton Magna] i virgate of land ; in
Prestone [Preston Deanery] 3 virgates of
land, and 3 acres of meadow ; in Quin-
TONE [Quinton] 3 virgates of land, and 5
acres of meadow ; and in the same vill half
a hide ; in Witone [Wotton] I hide ; in
Hohtone [Houghton Parva] i virgate of
land, and 5 acres of meadow. In all, there
is land for 6 ploughs. There are 5 sochmen,
and 9 villeins and 2 bordars, having 4 ploughs.
The whole was worth 30 shillings ; now (it
is worth) 53 shillings.

Norgiold holds of the Countess 3 virgates
of land in Cugenho [Cooknoe]. There is
land for i^ ploughs, and that much {tantum)
is there with 6 sochmen, and (there are) 10
acres of meadow. It was worth 5 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings.

Robert holds of the Countess 3 virgates
of land in Widetorp [Thorpe in Earl's
Barton (?)]. There is land for I plough.
This is there in demesne with 4 villeins, and
4 acres of meadow. It was worth 4 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 10 shillings.

The same (Robert) holds of the Countess
I virgate of land in Buchedone [Boughton].
There is land for half a plough, which is
there, and it is worth 3 shillings. Ulchet
held (it) freely.

In Spelehou Hundret
The same Countess gave to S. Wandrille

* See Introduction.

* See p. 35 1 above.

354

THE HOLDERS OF LANDS

{Wandreghilui) in Buchedone ' [Boughton],
by the King's leave, 3 hides less half a virgate.
There is land for 6 ploughs. In demesne
there are 2\ ploughs; and 14 villeins, with
12 bordars, have 3^ ploughs. There (are) 10
acres of meadow. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Two thegns
held (it) freely.

Girard holds of the Countess half a virgate
of land in Buchenho [Boughton],* and it is
worth 4 shillings.

Nigel holds of the Countess half a virgate
of soc(land) in Hohtone [Houghton Parva].
There are 2 bordars.

The same (Nigel) holds of the Countess in
the same vilP 2 hides, and it is assessed for
that amount. There is land for 5 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough) ; and 8 villeins,
with 2 bordars, have 2 ploughs. There (is)
a mill rendering [de) 13 shillings, and 10
acres of meadow. Wood(land) i furlong in
length, and half a furlong in breadth. It
was worth 40 shillings ; now (it is worth) 50
shillings. Ulf3 held (it).

Gilbert holds of the Countess i hide and 3
virgates of land in Pidentone [Piddington],
There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
there is i (plough), with i serf; and 4
villeins, with 5 bordars and the priest, have
2| ploughs. There (are) 20 acres of meadow.
Wood(land) 4 furlongs in length, and 2 fur-
longs in breadth. It was worth 20 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 40 shillings. Two men of
Burred's held (it), and could betake themselves
[ire) where they wished. Bishop Geoffrey (of
Coutances) claims (it),* and Winemar de
Anslepe* (also).

William Pevrel holds of the Countess i
hide and the fifth part of i hide in Pirie
[Potterspury].^ There is land for 3 ploughs.
In demesne there is I (plough), and 2 serfs ;
and 6 villeins, with 3 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
There (are) 5 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
4 furlongs in length, and 2 furlongs in breadth.
It was and is worth 30 shillings. Biscop
held (it) freely.

* This name is written above the line in
the original MS., and apparently in a different
hand. ' See Baker, I. 34.

' Cf. p. 268 above for this vill.

* Cf. p. 337, col. I. ^ Hanslape, Bucks.

* Probably that portion of * Pirie ' now
called Heymundcote, or Heathencote. See
Baker, II. 214. (Mr. Moore's note.)

LVII. THE LAND OF GILBERT

In Spelehou Hundret

Gilbert (the) Cook holds of the King 4
hides in Bellinge [Billing Magna]. There
is land for 8 ploughs. In demesne there are
2 ploughs, and 5 serfs and I bondwoman ;
and 10 villeins, with 7 bordars, have 6
ploughs. There (is) a mill rendering (de) 20
shillings, and 28 acres of meadow. It was
worth 40 shillings ; now it is worth 1 00
shillings. Thor held (it) freely in king
Edward's time.

In Gisleburg Hundret and a half

The same (Gilbert) holds 2 hides in Wat-
ford [Watford]. There is land for 4
ploughs. In demesne there are 2 (ploughs),
with I serf and I bondwoman ; and 20
villeins, with 5 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
There (is) a mill rendering (de) 12 pence,
and 6 acres of meadow. It was worth 10
shillings ; now (it is worth) 40 shillings.
Thor held it freely. The same Gilbert holds
2 thirds of I virgate of land in Holewelle
[Hollowell]. There is land for 3 oxen. It
is worth 12 pence.*

The same (Gilbert) holds i virgate of land
in Ravenestorp [Ravensthorpe]. There is
land for half a plough. I villein and I
bordar have that. It was worth 3 shillings ;
now (it is worth) 5 shillings. Norman held
(it).

LVm. THE LAND OF DAVID

David holds of the King 3 virgates of land
in Castretone [Casterton Parva].® There
is land for i^ ploughs. In demesne, never-
theless, there is i plough ; and 6 villeins,
with the priest and 3 bordars, have 2 ploughs.
There (are) 2 serfs, and a mill rendering [de)
12 shillings, and 5 acres of meadow. It is
worth 40 shillings. Osgot held it with sac
and soc.

In Foxleu Hundret

The same (David) holds i hide and 4
fifths of half a hide in Bradene [Bradden].
There is land for 3^ ploughs. In demesne
there is i plough, with i villein and i bordar,
and I acre of meadow. It was worth 5
shillings; now (it is worth) 10 shillings.
Biscop held (it) freely in king Edward's
time.

* This Hollowell entry has been added,
partly in the margin.
^ In Rutland.

355

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

LIX. THE LAND OF RICHARD LX. THE LAND OF WILLIAM

In Optone Hundret

Richard' holds of the King 2 hides in
Stabintone [Stibbington].* There is land
for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough) ;
and 3 villeins, with 5 bordars, have another,
and they render 5 shillings. There (is) a
mill rendering {dt) 8 shillings, and 12 acres
of meadow. Wood(land) 50 perches in length,
and 15 perches in breadth. It was worth 2
shillings ; now (it is worth) 20 shillings.

In Hocheslau Hundret

The same (Richard) holds 3 virgates of
land in Benefield [Benefield]. There is
land for 2 ploughs. In demesne there is
I (plough) ; and 5 villeins have another.
There (are) 5 acres of meadow. Wood(land) i
league in length, and half a league in breadth.
It was worth 2 shillings ; now (it is worth)
10 shillings.

In Spelehou Hundret

The same (Richard) holds 4 hides in Abin-
tone [Abington]. There is land for 8
ploughs. In demesne there is i (plough),
with I serf; and 12 villeins, with 5
bordars, have 2 ploughs. There (is) a mill
rendering 20 shillings, and 20 acres of
meadow. It was worth 40 shillings ; now
(it is worth) 4 pounds.

In Corbei Hundret

The same (Richard) holds i virgate of land
in Chercheberie [Kirkby]. There is land
for 2 ploughs. It {Ipsa) is in demesne ; and
5 villeins, with I bordar, have another.
There (are) 3 acres of meadow. Wood(land)
4 furlongs in length, and i^ furlongs in
breadth. It was worth 12 pence; now (it
is worth) 6 shillings.

* Richard Engaine.

* In Huntingdonshire.

In OrdibAro Hundret

William' holds of the King 2 hides in
PiTESLEA [Pytchley]. There is land for 4
ploughs. In demesne there are 3 ploughs,
and 5 serfs ; and 7 villeins, with i bordar,
have I plough. There (are) 6 acres of
meadow. Wood(land) 3 furlongs in length
and in breadth. It was worth 1 1 shillings ;
it is now worth 40 shillings. Alwin the
Huntsman held these lands of Richard's and
William's* in king Edward's time.

The same William holds Lastone [Lax-
ton]. There are i| hides. There is land
for 4 ploughs. In demesne there is i
plough ; and 12 villeins, with i sochman,
have 2 ploughs. It was worth 10 shillings;
now (it is worth) 30 shillings. Turulf held
(it) freely in king Edward's time.

Olaf* holds of the King i virgate of land
in Weledone [Weldon]. The soc is in
King's Corbei. There is land for half a
plough. This is there, with i bordar. It
was worth 2 shillings ; now (it is worth) 3
shillings.

Dodin holds of the King half a hide in
Codesbroc [Cottesbrook]. There is land for

1 plough. There is l villein, with I serf.
It was worth 12 pence; now (it is worth)

2 shillings.

In Stotfald Hundret

Oslac holds of the King 3 virgates of land
and the third part of I virgate in Ferendone
[East Farndon]. There is land for i plough.
Nevertheless 2 ploughs are there, with 4
villeins and 5 bordars. There (is) a mill
rendering {de) 12 pence. It was and is
worth 16 shillings.

' William Engaine.

* i.e. this and the preceding four estates.
^ This and the two following owners have
no connection with the one preceding them.

356

THE

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

SURVEY

(i2TH CENTURY)

THE darkest and the most difficult period for topographical and
for family history is that which succeeds the Domesday Survey
and extends throughout the greater part of the 1 2th century.
The absence of records for this period is more especially to be
regretted because of the great changes that it witnessed in the holding of
land. Within less than a hundred years of the Conquest, fiefs great and
small, some of them indeed colossal, had, from sundry causes, escheated
to the Crown, placing at its disposal ample means of rewarding not only
the supporters of the king who had secured possession, but also the new
ministerial body, which, under the Norman administration, was rising
rapidly to power.

For Northamptonshire, happily, we possess a manuscript which
enables us, to a certain extent, to bridge the gulf I have described.' It
was till recently supposed that the adjoining county of Lincolnshire
possessed, in a survey of Lindsey made under Henry I., ' the sole record
of its kind, and that no similar return of the landowners of any other
county is known to exist. '^ But, in Feudal England, I was able to pro-
duce a Leicestershire Survey of the same kind, and to deal with part of
that Northamptonshire Survey of which a full and annotated translation
will be found below. We have thus, for three adjoining counties, sur-
veys which, although distinct, resemble one another in character ; for
they are all drawn up, not by fiefs, as is the record in Domesday Book,
but by Hundreds or by Wapentakes, as were the surveys from which, by
rearrangement, Domesday Book was compiled. Moreover, the object
of all three was the ascertainment and recording of those changes in the
tenure of land which threw the liability for its Danegeld on another set
of holders than those entered in Domesday.

While, by their system of arrangement, they enable us to recon-
struct the Hundreds and the ' vills ' which were torn asunder for
Domesday Book, these surveys enable us further to detect frequently
readjustment of assessed values, that is of the liability to the ' geld,' as

' Cott. MS. Vesp. E. XXII., fos. 94 et uq.
* See Mr. Chester Waters' edition of that Survey, p. 2.

357

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

between the different holdings in a ' vill.' It is somewhat remarkable
that this should be so, when we remember the solemn, if not immutable
character assigned to the Domesday record.' That the variation, how-
ever, existed is proved by this Survey's interesting reference, in two
distinct places, to ' the rolls of Winchester ' (its name for Domesday) as
containing a different assessment. But the Survey's evidence illustrates
also the assessment found in Domesday. For in Northamptonshire the
'small virgate ' of this 12th century survey is directly connected with
that reduction, that sweeping reduction of assessment, of which the
traces, as explained in the Domesday introduction, are found in that
record.'' In those Hundreds where the old assessment had been reduced
60 per cent. Domesday shows us a unit of 4 'hides' in the place of one of
10 'hides.' Thus each Domesday 'hide' was equal to 2| of the old 'hides,'
and each Domesday virgate {i.e. quarter of a 'hide') to 2\ of the old
virgates. What the Survey below did was to retain the new assessment
so far as the ' hides ' were concerned — indeed, the 4-hide unit is even
more conspicuous than in Domesday — but to revive the old virgates
under the name of ' small virgates,' the Domesday virgates being termed
'large' ones. The result, it will be found, was that the 'hide' had ten of
these 'small virgates'; and this must be carefully borne in mind, for the
' virgates,' in Northamptonshire, of the Testa de Nevill are these ' small
virgates,' and not the virgates of Domesday. It is the more necessary that
this should be explained, as the historians of the county, it is quite clear,
did not understand this system or its close connexion with Domesday.

Although they were acquainted with this Survey and used its evi-
dence, in some cases, for identifying holdings of which the locality was
not mentioned in Domesday, neither Bridges nor Baker made any attempt
to deal with the document as a whole, nor, indeed, has it ever been
published. Its value for tracing the devolution of fiefs and manors in
the county has, consequently, never been explained. Moreover, its
evidence was misunderstood, owing to the belief that it all belonged to
the reign of Henry II. Bridges, for instance, assuming this, was puzzled
(ii. 491) by its giving as lord of Barnack, not Gervase Paynell, who held
it under Henry II., but Fulc Paynell, his grandfather. Baker, similarly,
sought to identify, in the reign of Henry II,, the ' Odo Dapifer ' whom it
mentions, although this was no other than the Eudo Fitz Hubert of
Domesday, who enjoyed the favour of the Conqueror and his sons and
held the post of 'dapifer.'^ It is not easy to give the reader an idea of the

' ' Hie liber ab indigenis Domesdei nuncupatur, id est, dies judicii per metaphoram ; sicut
enim districti et terribilis examinis illius novissimi sententia nulla tergiversationis arte valet
eludi, sic cum orta fuerit in regno contentio de his rebus quas illuc annotantur, cum ventum
fuerit ad librum, sententia ejus infatuari non potest vel impune declinari ' {Dia/ogus de
scaccario, II. 1 6).

* See pp. 260-9 above.

' The reader should also be cautioned that Bridges and Baker wrote before Mr. Hunter's
discovery that the earliest Pipe Roll belongs to the year 11 30, and not, as had been supposed,
to 1 1 40 (5 Stephen). The latter date is that which is invariably given by Baker, and it made
all the calculations based on it ten years wrong.

358

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

unique difficulties presented by this Survey. Sometimes the tenant's
name is that of the Domesday holder ; sometimes that of his son or
grandson. Indeed, the names given may belong to any date from the
Conqueror's reign to the later days of Henry II. Again, we have
sometimes the name of the tenant-in-chief himself, sometimes that of
the under-tenant, and sometimes no name at all. And, as if this were
not enough, the text is corrupted by scribal errors of almost grotesque
character. ' Comes Abbemar',' for instance, was not the earl of Albe-
marle, but Earl Aubrey (' Albericus ') of Oxford ; ' Comes Mauricius,'
who was taken by Baker for an ' Earl Maurice,' otherwise unknown, was
clearly developed out of ' Comes Maurit',' under which form there lurks
that greatest of Domesday tenants, Robert count of Mortain. There is
nothing, therefore, improbable in suggesting that the Survey's earl of
Leicester should, in places, be the earl of Chester.

In spite, however, of these drawbacks the document below, when
critically treated, can be made to yield that very information which is,
in county history, the most difficult to obtain. For it gives us not only
names of sons of Domesday tenants and under-tenants, but also those of
the new grantees who obtained possessions in the shire later than the
Domesday Survey. We are shown Guy de ' Reinbuedcurt ' succeeded
by his son Richard, Winemar of Hamslape by his son Walter, Oger the
Breton by his son Ralf. Gilbert (Fauvel), an under-tenant of Peter-
borough Abbey, is succeeded by his son Richard Fitz Gilbert, Otbert by
his son Alouf de Merke, Odelin by his son Robert, Alvred, ' butler ' of
the count of Mortain and a very important under-tenant, by his son
William, and so forth. Other names emphatically belong to the days of
Henry I. The Domesday fief of Countess Judith is almost invariably
entered in our Survey as in the hands of ' king David,' who ascended
the throne of Scotland in 1 1 24, and who was dead before the accession
of Henry II. Contemporary with him were Brian Fitz Count, a
trusted officer of Henry I., who had succeeded to the Domesday fief of
Robert d'Ouilly (' de Oilgi'), Aubrey de Vere, another of his officers,
Robert, afterwards earl of Gloucester, who occurs in the Survey as ' the
King's son,' Richard Basset, and others.

We see, moreover, how the vast fiefs of the count of Mortain and
the bishop of Coutances, as well as those of less extent which had come,
by escheat, to the Crown, were distributed piecemeal or bestowed entire,
and yet how the Crown, not content with the lands thus at its disposal,
was steadily granting away the demesne it held in Domesday. So far
indeed had this process of alienation been carried that Towcester, Brix-
worth, Faxton, Barnwell All Saints, Hardingstone, Tansor, Rothwell
and Orton had all passed from the hands of the Crown. And each had a
different grantee. On the other hand, even the profuse grants that were
made to supporters or officers of the King could hardly dispose fast
enough of the fiefs that returned into his hand. Even before the
Domesday Survey Earl Aubrey had lost his lands, which were entered in
Domesday Book as then ' in the King's hand.' These together with the

359

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

forfeited lands of Count Robert of Mortain provided the means of ex-
tending widely that 'Leicester' fief in the county of which the nucleus
was that which Hugh de Grantmesnil had held in 1086, and which
eventually, inherited by two co-heirs, became the Honours of ' Win-
chester' and of 'Leicester.' The lavish grants to which it owed its
extension were doubtless bestowed on the count of Meulan, the father
of the first earl of Leicester, and himself the great and trusted minister
of William Rufus and Henry I.

Among the members of that official class whom Henry I. is, with
some exaggeration, said by Ordericus Vitalis to have ' raised, as it were,
from the dust,' the most typical layman, perhaps, was the great justiciar,
Ralph Basset. The Leicestershire Survey, spoken of above, proves that
he obtained in that county the escheated fief of Robert de Buci, and this
was the case also in Northamptonshire, where he gave name to Sutton
Basset and founded what became the baronial house of ' Basset of
Weldon.' Strangely enough the fellow officer with whom he and his
son were chiefly associated was the bearer of that most lordly of names,
Aubrey de Vere. Although among the greater tenants-in-chief, Aubrey
was ready to improve his fortunes by acting as an officer of the Crown ;
and in this county he had his reward from the forfeited fief of the bishop
of Coutances. Addington Magna was bestowed on him, as was also
Drayton, which well-known estate thus makes its first appearance in
this Survey.

As in Leicestershire, so in Northamptonshire, the escheated fief of
Geoffrey de la Guerche (' de Wirce ') formed the provision for Nigel
d'Aubigny (' de Albini '), a steadfast supporter, with his brother William,
of Henry I.^ William's heir, the earl of Arundel, had only Towcester
in this county,^ but Nigel's son, Roger de Mowbray, occurs frequently
in our Survey, and Nigel himself once. It is by an even worse con-
fusion that the manors composing the Courci fief are sometimes spoken
of in our Survey as held by William de Courci, and sometimes as held
by (his maternal grandfather) William Meschin, on whom doubtless
they were all bestowed, in the first instance, by Henry I. For it can
be shown that in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire escheated manors were
bestowed on this William Meschin, a younger son of the Vicomte of the
Bessin and a brother of Randolf earl of Chester. It is tolerably clear
that, in some cases, additions were made to the Domesday fiefs. When
that of Countess Judith is found in the hands, as below, of ' king David,'
it has been increased by lands at Wadenhoe, Harrowden, Edgcott, and
Clipston, all which had formed part of the fief of the bishop of
Coutances, as well as by some that had been held by Odo bishop of
Bayeux, and by the Crown manor of Hardingstone. This may have
been due to the fact that David enjoyed the favour of Henry I. Barnwell

* He must not be confused, as he is by Dugdale, with the Nigel d'Aubigny (' de Albingi')
of the previous generation, whose fief lay in the adjacent counties of Beds, Bucks, Warwick,
and Leicester, and who founded the Bedfordshire house of ' Albini of Cainho.'

* See also p. 365 below.

360

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

All Saints was added to the fief held by the house of Ferrers, while the
Dudley fief was increased by land being granted at Boddington to Pay-
nel. Of fresh families brought into the county, one may mention that
of Balliol (from Picardy), which obtained Crown demesne at Faxton and
at Moulton, probably from William Rufus, and that of Hasculf de St.
James(-sur-Beuvron), on the borders of Normandy and Britanny, who
held, probably under Henry I., the Crown manor of Tansor.

How this Survey assumed the form in which it has reached us
cannot be stated with certainty. But although we find, here and there,
the name of an actual Domesday tenant, the document, as a whole, gives
the impression that a Survey made under Henry I. was corrected, more
or less, by alterations and additions, to bring the entries up to date, down
to the days of Henry II. The late transcriber, to whom is due the
existing text, failed altogether to understand the Survey, and incorporated
in a single text all the additions and corrections, with the most be-
wildering result. This hypothesis is supported by the cases of other
manuscripts. We trace, for instance, the same process in The Red Book
of the Exchequer. In The Black Book the later additions that were made
to the barons' returns of their fees in 1166 are distinguished by the
difference in handwriting ; but in The Red Book these interpolations are
found transcribed in the same hand as the genuine original returns. To
the uninitiated this has been the cause of no small confusion. In
Northamptonshire alone there are such entries for the tenure of Nassing-
ton and Yarwell by Earl David of Huntingdon (i 184-12 19), for that of
Gretton by Walter de Preston, and for that of Higham Ferrers, New-
bottle, and Blisworth by Ferrers earl of Derby. It is remarkable that,
quite recently, in a learned dissertation on the heirship of Ferrers to the
fref of Peverel, this last entry is cited from The Red Book as proof that
Ferrers held these manors in 11 66,' though they were not obtained by
the Ferrers family till the reign of John. Again, in the Peterborough
list of the abbey's knights, the very first entry, made temp. Henry I., has
been carried on by a later hand to the time of Henry III. But there
Stapleton, who transcribed the list, carefully discriminated between the
two hands. ^ It is probable that the lists of Abingdon knights, published
in the Abingdon Cartulary, are rendered untrustworthy in places by the
cause of error described above. So also the Lindsey Survey {temp.
Henry I.) illustrates how some errors made their way into our Survey.
In that Survey, above the entry ' Comes Odo [tenet] in Aldobi,' a later
hand has interlined ' De feodo Comitis Albemerle.' It is by incorporat-
ing such additions that our Survey has produced the phrases ' Willelmus
Meschin de feodo Willelmi de Curcy,' 'Robertus filius Regis de feodo
Glovernie,' ' Brien filius Comitis de feodo de Wallinford,' and ' Odo
dapifer de feodo de Colcestra.' These phrases do not mean, as they
would be naturally supposed to mean, that the tenants named held their

' See Complete Peerage, VIII. 369-70.
' Chronicon Petrohurgenu (Camden Society), pp. 1 68-9.
361

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

lands as part of the fees in question, but that the lands which they had
held had subsequently formed part of the fees named.

In spite, however, of all its drawbacks and of entries which, until
explained, would actually mislead the reader, this Survey has a real
value. If we take, for instance, Polebrook (' Pochebroc '), a township
of five hides, we find that in Domesday (2211^, 228) Eustace (the
sheriff) held a hide and a quarter in capite of the Crown and three hides
and three quarters as a tenant of Peterborough Abbey. Now our Survey
shows us the former holding in the hands of Robert de Cauz, while the
other has been broken up, two-thirds of it passing to Walter ' de Clop-
ton ' and one-third to Roger Marmion. One more instance may be
given. Our Survey reckons Clapton (' Cloptone ') as five and a quarter
hides, of which ' Walter ' held one and a quarter in capite, having here
again succeeded Eustace, whose Domesday estate at ' Dotone ' should
have been entered as at ' Clotone.' On the other hand, the Polebrook
evidence goes to show that the fief of Eustace the sheriff did not, as
has been alleged, pass to his heirs. But perhaps the most remarkable
correction afforded by the Survey below is that of an entry found in
Domesday Book itself. At Wadenhoe there were, according to Domes-
day (see p. 309 above), two distinct estates belonging to the bishop of
Coutances, and held of him by a certain ' Albericus,' who is proved by our
Survey to be no other than Aubrey de Vere himself One of these, con-
sisting of 2| hides, is duly accounted for below (p. 368) ; but the other,
of 2| hides, to which were appurtenant 3 virgates in Scaldwell, is not to
be found there. On the other hand we find, in this Survey, Aubrey de
Vere's heir holding land at Wold which cannot be accounted for in
Domesday. Now, remembering that Scaldwell is adjacent to Wold and
is surveyed immediately before it below, while Wadenhoe is in another
part of the county, it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that the
Domesday scribe confused entries belonging, one to ' Walde ' and the
other to ' Wadenho,' owing to their both being held by the same
tenant-in-chief and under-tenant. On this hypothesis all would be
explained, and the estate of 2| hides assigned by Domesday to Wadenhoe
would be really at Wold, with 3 virgates adjacent in Scaldwell. The
addition of the Crown's portion of Wold would give the De Veres a
substantial estate there, as recorded in this Survey, an estate which was
subsequently held of them as two knight's fees.

Another instance in which this Survey affords us fresh information
is found in its entry on Tansor. It assigns the considerable holding
of 5I hides on this manor of Crown demesne to ' Hacuil de St. James,'
who is at first sight unrecognisable. But I believe him to have been
no other than Hasculf de St. James (sur Beuvron) temp. Henry I. Now
Stapleton has shown that this family of St. James was identical with
that of St. Hilaire (du Harcouet), being found under both names.' The
above Hasculf was succeeded by his son James, who is found in the

* Rotul'i icaccati'i Normann'Uy I. Ixvi.
362

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

pipe-roll of 1130, under Oxfordshire, owing the Crown the large sum
of 160 marcs for succeeding to his father's lands.' And this James,
better known as James de St. Hilary, was father of Maud, wife of earl
Roger de Clare. Thus it was, in my opinion, that Tansor came to form
part of the honour of Clare. With this clue we may turn to Rothwell,
another manor of Crown demesne, which is found, under Henry II., in
the hands of earl Roger de Clare. Our Survey assigns to ' Eudo de
HaschuU 'its gf hides, and Bridges, beheving the Survey to be temp.
Henry II., suggested that he was an under-tenant (ii. 57). I believe
that, on the contrary, ' Haschull ' was the same Hasculf de St. James,
and that the manor was brought by his grand-daughter Maud to her
husband, earl Roger.^ It is even possible that Towcester was originally
granted to St. Hilary, and that Maud de St. Hilary had brought it to
her second husband, the earl of Arundel, who is returned as its holder
in this Survey.' Here, then, we obtain a glimpse of the lands that
were bestowed by Henry I. on this family of St. James, of which
nothing had been known. It is significant that they came from the
extreme south-west of Normandy, for Henry I., as I have shown, had
made friends in this district before his accession to the Crown.*

An entry at first sight unintelligible is found under Charlton : —
' There also Odo " dapifer " 8 small virgates of the fee of Colchester.'
But Domesday tells us that 3^ virgates were held there by 'Adam' of
the fee of the bishop of Bayeux, and ' 8 small virgates ' were exactly
equal to 3^ Domesday ('large') virgates. And 'Adam' was a son of
Hubert de Ryes, who was succeeded in his holdings on the fief of the
bishop of Bayeux by his brother, Eudo the 'dapifer,'^ who was specially
connected with Colchester. On the death of Eudo without issue, all his
holdings escheated to the Crown" and became what is styled by our
Survey ' the fief of Colchester.'

The many discrepancies between the Domesday figures and those
found in this Survey, together with the frequent variations in the arrange-
ment of vills and manors and the emergence of fresh names, render the
task of their comparison one of extreme difficulty. They suggest also that
the Survey must have been compiled de novo, and was not based on the
Domesday returns. It should be observed that, in Northamptonshire,
we find some vills divided between different Hundreds, which seems to
point to the artificial and arbitrary arrangement of the latter. This is
seen even in Domesday, but in the Survey below there is a striking

* 'Jacobus filius Hasculfi de Sancto Jacobo reddit compotum de clx. m. arg. pro con-
cessione terra quam pater suus tenuit de rege.' Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I., p. 4.

* As this is only my own view, I have not asserted the identity of the two names
above (p. 359 line 42). Moreover 'Eudo* is difficult to explain, for though under Rothwell
in this Survey, he is ' Eudo de Haschull,' he is ' Eudo fil'iui Haschul ' under its dependent estate.

' Compare Baker's Northamptonshire^ II. 312-3.

* See Studies in Peerage and Family History^ p. 124, and p. 361 above,
of Kelmarsh.

6 Ibid. p. 166.

* Compare Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I., p. 138.

363

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

instance in the (lost) manor of ' Celverdescote,' which in Domesday is
a single whole, but in this Survey is divided between three Hundreds.

A careful student of this Survey has suggested to me that the
proportion of its 'small virgate ' to the Marge' or Domesday virgate can
be traced in certain other Hundreds as well as in these in which the
proportion was 5 to 2 as explained above (p. 358), in consequence
of their assessment having been reduced 60 per cent. In ' Stotfolde '
Hundred for instance, the ' small virgate ' seems to be ^^ hide at Maid-
well (though it is, strangely enough, j^ hide at Clipston), and in
Wimersley Hundred it is 1^ hide at Horton. But we nowhere find
such clear evidence as in those Hundreds where the ' small virgate '
was ^ hide, that is, in the proportion of 5 to 2 to the ' large virgate '
(i hide).

It may be convenient to append the order in which the Survey
enters the Hundreds : Hokeslawe, Navesford (p. 365), Pokebroc (p
366), Nass, Sutton (p. 367), Albodestowe (p. 368), Wardon (p. 369)
Graveshende Falewesle (p. 370), Aylwoldesle (p. 371), Norton (p. 372)
Toucestre (p. 373), Cleyle (p. 374), Wymeresle (p. 375), Hecham (p
376), Neubotlegrave (p. 377), Gildesboru (p. 378), Mallesle (p. 380)
Speleho (p. 381), Anfordesho, Orlingberge (p. 382), Stotfolde (p. 383)
Rowell (p. 384), Stokes, Coreby (p. 386), Wylebrok (p. 387), Suth-
naveslunt (p. 388), Northnaveslunt (p. 389). The modern equivalents
will be found above (p. 297).

364

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

[Note. — The place-names are only identified below where the forms in the Survey require it.]

HOKESLAWE

TwYWELLE. Aubrey (' Albr[icus] ') the
chamberlain 2 hides of the fee of the abbot
of Thorney.' There also of the fee of earl
David.* There also of the fee of the abbot
of (Peter)borough i great virgate.'

In Slipton I hide and i virgate of the fee
of William de Corey. There also Richard
Fitz Hugh two-thirds of i hide of the fee of
(Peter)borough.' There also Roger nephew
of the Abbot a third part of i hide of the same
fee.3

In SuBURG [Sudborough], 2^ hides of the

fee of Westminster (Abbey).*

In LoFWYC [LufFwick] Th — i hide and
I virgate of the fee of Deneford [Denford].'
There also Ralf Fleming i^ virgates of
the fee of Earl David.* There also Guy
(' Wydo ') his brother I large virgate of the
fee of Thorney.*

In Drayton Aubrey (' Albr[icus] ') the
chamberlain half a hide of the king's fee.''

In YsLEP [Islip] the same Aubrey (' Al-

' Aubrey de Vere, chamberlain to Henry
I., had obtained this land for his life, at an
annual rent oi £(), from Abbot Gunter (1085-
II 12). His younger son Robert afterwards
obtained it from Abbot Robert (1113-1151),
on the same terms, for his life [Mon. Ang.^ II.
603).

* This portion is the \\ hides held by the
Countess Judith in 1086. It was held of her
heirs, as half a fee, by the De Veres.

' Domesday assigns to the Abbot I hide
and I virgate there, which is exactly equal to
the above hide plus the virgate in Twywell.

* Three hides according to Domesday.

* This would seem to be the i^ virgates
assigned to Sibold in Domesday.

^ Perhaps part of Thorney Abbey's fee at
Twywell.

'' Drayton in LufFwick. The bishop of
Coutances had held \\ hides in ' Luhwic '
(Domesday), of which i^ hides appear above
as * of the fee of Denford,' while the remain-
ing half hide (Drayton) had, we here see, been
granted to Aubrey de Vere, from whom it
passed to his younger son Robert, who held
it in capitt, with Adington Magna (similarly
part of the bishop's fief), in 1166 as half a
knight's fee.

br[icus]') 2 hides of the King's fee. There
also 4 sokemen of the King (hold) i hide of
the fee of Westminster (Abbey).*

In AuDEWYNCLE [Aldwinkle] the abbot of
(Peter)borough (holds) 3 hides (and) a half,
of which Ascelin de Waterville is tenant.
There also Geoffrey de Glynton i large vir-
gate of the fee of Gloucester belonging to
(the) Barton. There also Richard son of
Guy 3 hides less half a virgate' of the Queen's
[hc) fee.'"

Also in Benifeld [Benefield] William de
Lisurs 3 large virgates of the King's fee."

In Bernewelle [Barnwell] Robert de
Ferrers ('Ferariis') (holds) 6 hides and i
large virgate of the King's fee.'* There also
Reginald le Moyne (holds) 6 hides of the fee
of Ramsey (Abbey). '^

In LiLLEFORD [Lilford] William Olyfart
(holds) 5 hides of the fee of the king of Scot-
land (' Scocie').'*

NAUESFORD

In Tychem[er]s [Tichmarsh] Robert de
Ferr[ers] 10 hides.** There also Ascelin de
Waterville 3 hides and i virgate and three-
quarters of half a hide from (Peter)borough
(Abbey).'«

In Thrapston Ralf Fitz Oger " 2 hides

* Domesday only assigns to Islip i hide
and I virgate held by the bishop of Coutances.

' ' iij hid' dim. virg' minus.'

'" Domesday assigns to Peterborough Abbey
3 hides there, and to Guy de ' Reinbuedcurt '
(father of Richard) 5 hides. Thus our survey
accounts for a total of only 6f hides, as
against the 8 hides in Domesday.

" Held by Richard (de Engaine) in 1 086.

" Barnwell All Saints, which the King had
held, in demesne, as 6^ hides in 1086.

*^ Barnwell St. Andrew (at one time
' Barnwell le Moine '). It was afterwards
in Polebrook Hundred.

" Held by Walter of the Countess Judith
in 1086.

'* The Domesday holding of Henry de
Ferrers.

'* Held of the Abbey by ' Azelin' in 1086.

'^ Son and successor of Oger the Breton,
lord of Bourne (' Brunne '), Lincolnshire,
who held 2^ hides here in 1086.

365

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

and I virgate of the ree of Brunne
[Bourne]. There also Robert son of Edelin*
(' Edeline ') i hide and i virgate of the fee or
Clare.'

In ToRPE [Thorpe Waterville] and
AcHiRCHE [(Thorp-)Achurch] Ascelin de
Waterville 6 hides and a half of the fee of
(Peter)borough.*

In Clopton [Clapton] Walter ' i hide
and I virgate of the King's fee. There also
3 hides and a half of the fee of (Peter)borough.*
There also Ascelin half a hide of the fee of
(Peter)borough.*

Wadenhowe [Wadenhoe]. Aubrey ('Al-
bricus') de Ver 2 hides and i virgate of
the fee of king David. There also

Wymunt de Stok(e) I virgate of the fee of
(Peter)borough. There also Roger Infans 2
small virgates of the same fee. There also
Vivien (' Wivienus ') de Chirchefelde half a
hide of the same fee.^ There also Geoffrey
de Gunthorp 2 hides of the same fee.''

* His father Odelin had held 3 virgates
here of the bishop of Coutances in 1086.
The son was a tenant of the Clares, which
proves that the land had been given them by
ihe Crown after the fief had escheated.

It is interesting to note that he witnesses a
charter (relating to LufFwick) of Adeliza
wife of Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare (son
of the Domesday tenant-in-chief) as a tenant
of the ' Honour ' of the said Gilbert {Mon.
Ang.^ II. 601).

* The two together had been held of the
Abbey by * Azelin ' in 1086.

^ Said to have been Walter de ' Graunt-
kort ' (Bridges), but styled Walter ' de
Clopton ' under Polebrook below.

■* As observed above (p. 362), the first
of these holdings had been held in 1086 by
Eustace the sheriflF, in capite, while the second
was held by him (as 3f^ hides) under the
abbot of Peterborough.

* Held of the Abbey by 'iElmar' in 1086.
^ This must be the half hide 'in Circafeld'

(Churchfield in Oundle) which Abbot Turold
is recorded to have given to Vivian {Chronicon
Petrohurgense, p. 175).

' These Wadenhoe entries are very diffi-
cult to explain. With the exception of a vir-
gate and a half held by ' Roger ' of the abbot
of Peterborough, Domesday assigns all
Wadenhoe to the bishop of Coutances,
whose holdings there, of 2f hides and 2^

In Catteworthe i hide and a half of the
fee of (Peter)borough.*

POKEBROC

In PoKEBROC [Polebrook] Robert de Cauz i
hide and i virgate of the King's fee.* There
also Walter de Clopton 2 hides and a half
of the fee of (Peter)borough.*'' There also
Roger Marmium i hide and i virgate of the
same fee.'"

In Armeston [Armston] . . . " de
Burgelay 2 hides and a half of the same fee.'*
There also Turkil i hide of the same fee.'*
There also Guy (' Wydo ') Maufee i hide of
the same fee.'* There also Geoffrey de Gun-
thorp two-thirds of half a hide of the same
fee.'* There also Tedrick, three-quarters of
half a hide of the same fee.'*

In Pappele [Papley] i hide.

hides respectively were both held of him by
' Albericus.' This last holding must have
been added, after coming into the hands of
the Crown, to the fief of king David, of
whom it was held by Aubrey de Vere, name-
sake and heir of the Domesday under-tenant.
I have suggested above (p. 362) that the other
holding was really at Wold, and was ob-
tained by Aubrey's heir to hold in chief.
It is of interest to observe that the Aubrey
de Vere of 1086 held Kensington also as
an under-tenant of the bishop, though he is
there entered as if a tenant-in-chief.

It seems clear also that the Abbey's 'virgate
and a half are represented above by the hold-
ings of Wymunt de Stoke and Roger Infans.
Consequently the remaining Domesday holding
(2f hides), if not Wold, must have passed
from the bishop of Coutances to the Abbey,
under whom it was held, as above, by Geoffrey
de Gunthorpe and Vivian de Churchfield.

* Held of the Abbey by Eustace (the
sheriff) in 1086.

* This had been held by Eustace (the
sheriff) in 1086.

'" These two holdings represent the 3I
hides held there of the Abbey by the same
Eustace in 1086 (see p. 362 above).

" 'Armeston de Burgelay' in MS.

'* Domesday only states that the 5 hides at
Armston and Kingsthorpe were held of the
Abbey by 5 knights. Here we have details
of the five holdings, which amount, however,
to 5^*^ hides for Armston alone.

366

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In LiLLiNGTON [Lutton] I hide.*

In Hemington [Hemington] Berenger le
Moyne 2 hides (and) a half of the fee
of Ramsey.* There also Richard Fitz
Gilbert i hide and i^ virgates of the fee
of (Peter)borough. There also Guy (' Wydo ')
Maufe half a hide and half a virgate of the
same fee. There also Reginald le Moyne
half a hide and half a virgate of the same
fee.^

In Kynesthorp [Kingsthorp] Walter de
Lodington i hide and I virgate of the fee of
(Peter)borough. There also William de
Chirchetot half a hide of the King's fee.*

In Therninge [Thurning] Roger Mar-
mioun 3 small virgates of the fee of (Peter)-
borough.^

In Ayston [Ashton] the abbot of (Peter)-
borough 4 hides in demesne. There also
Papilun half a hide of the same fee. There
also Leofnoth ('Leuenoth') half a hide of the
same fee.^

In Undele [Oundle] the abbot (of Peter-
borough) 6 hides in demesne.' There also
Vivien i small virgate.*

THE TWO HUNDREDS OF NASS
('DE NASSO')

In Stinton [Stibbington] William de
Lisurs 2 hides.'

In Bernak [Barnack] FulcPaynel 3 hides.*"

In Wirthorpe [Worthorpe] the abbot of
Crowland (' Croylaund ') 2 hides." There
also of the fee of Eudo Dapifer i virgate.'^

In EsTON [Easton] Simon" 1 hide and a
half.

In Peychirche [Peakirk]. In Etton.
In Northburg' [Norborough] half a virgate.

In the demesne of the abbot of St. Peter's
borough 70 hides and 3^ virgates.

HUNDRED OF SUTTON

In the said ('eadem') vill [King's Sutton]
the King has in demesne 4 hides.**

In the same (' eadem ') vill William de
Quency I hide (and) a half and a small virgate
of land of the earldom (' comitat[u] ') of
Leicester.** There also Alfred 8 small vir-
gates of Gilbert de Pinkeny.*® There also
Payn ('Paganus') I hide and a half and I
small virgate of the fee of the earl of Leices-
ter.** Robert Fitz Osbert held (it).*'

* Domesday gives only the half hide of
Ramsey Abbey there.

* This estate was he' i as 3 hides by
Reginald son of Berenger le Moyne, in 1 166,
of the Abbot, as one knight's fee.

' Domesday states that '3 knights' held
2^ hides of Peterborough Abbey. The above
three holdings represent, in all, an excess of
half a virgate over 2^ hides.

* Domesday only allows 5 hides to Arm-
ston and Kingsthorpe together, a total exceeded
in this Survey by Armston alone. The above
holdings, therefore, are difficult to identify.

* Entered in Domesday as half a hide held
by the Abbey in demesne.

® 4^ hides in Ashton (in Oundle) were
held, in 1086, by the abbot of Peterborough
in demesne, but Ivo also held of him half a
hide there. Thus there had been a further
subinfeudation of half a hide since 1086.
The Liber Niger [circ. 1125) shows us Ralf
' Papilio ' and Leofnoth {^Levenothui) holding
half a hide apiece in Ashton.

' So also in Domesday.

* Abbot Turold is recorded to have given
Vivian (of Churchfield) ^ hide in Oundle
[Chronicon Petroburgense, p. 175).

* Stibbington in the north-west corner of
Hunts. These two hides were held by his
predecessor, Richard (Engaine), as at ' Stabin-
tone.'

'" Held by his predecessor William Fitz
Ansculf in 1086.

** Held by the Abbot as i| hides in 1086.

** Doubtless appendant to his Easton estate
adjoining.

" Simon de Lindon. This holding had
escheated to the Crown on the death of ' Eudo
Dapifer,' who had held it, as i^ hides, in
1086.

** Entered as 3 hides in Domesday.

** Domesday assigns there to Hugh de
Grentmaisnil, the earl of Leicester's prede-
cessor, one holding corresponding in size with
each of the two above, namely, ' a hide and
a half and the tenth of a hide.'

*^ This would seem to represent the 3^
virgates held there, in 1086, by two of the
King's almsmen, for 8 'small' virgates
would amount to the same.

" It should be observed that, as at Charlton
below, exactly 4 hides are accounted for in
this second half of Sutton.

367

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In EvENLE [Evenley] I hide and I, small Chokes 2 hides and 4 small virgates, that is
virgate of the fee of the earl of Leicester.' the fifth part of 2 hides."

In Preston [Purston] half a hide of the
fee of the earl of Leicester.^

In Crouelton [Croughton] 4 small virgates
of the fee of the earl of Leicester.' There
also Seuar I hide and 2 small virgates of the
fee of Leicester.* There also Brien Fitz
Count i| hides and 2 small virgates of the fee
of Wallingford (' Walinford ').^

In Neubottle [Newbottle] ' Regis ' de
Reynes 6 hides and i small virgate of the fee
of the earl of Leicester.* William de Lepyn'
held (it).

In MiDDELTON [Middleton Chenduit]
William Me[s]chin I hide and a half and i
small virgate of the fee of William de Curcy.'*

In another Middelton [Middleton Chen-
duit] Simon Chcndut 2 hides of the fee of
Berkamstede.'^

In Thayniford [Thenford] Mainfenn de
Walrentone I hide.'* There also Robert
Basset i hide of the fee of Walingford.'*

In Ayno [Aynho] William de Mandeville
3 hides."

In FuRNiNGHO [Farningho] 4 hides of the I" Middelton [Middleton Chenduit] the

fee of the earl of Leicester.* "^o^l^s of St. Eu'ald [Evroul] 2 hides.'^

In Cherlington [Charlton] Maynard i
hide (and) a half and i small virgate. There
also Simon Chendut I hide (and) a half of
the fee of Berkamstede ^ and one small virgate.
There also Odo [sic) 'dapifer' 8 small virgates
of the fee of Colchester.'"

In Gremesbir' [Grimsbury] Aunsel' de

' Held, as I hide, by the count of
Mortain, in 1086.

* Held by William (de Cahagnes) of the
count of Mortain in 1086.

' Held by the count of Mortain, as ' four-
fifths of half a hide,' in 1086.

* This would seem to be an error for ' the
fee of Essex,' as Domesday assigns to Geoffrey
de Mandeville there I hide and |^ virgate,
which were held of him by 'Osbern.' Sewar
was probably Sewal de Oseville, who held 4
fees of the earl of Essex in 1 166.

^ This may include the | hide and -I- hide
that Domesday assigns to Robert d'Ouilly in
Purston.

® Held by Ivo of Hugh de Grentmaisnil
in 1086. 'Regis' should be ' Rogerus.'

'' William of Le Pin (de Pinu), who gave
the advowson of the church there to Dun-
stable Priory.

* Escheated lands of Earl Aubrey in 1086.
' Held of the count of Mortain by ' Ralf,'

as i^ hides, in 1086.

'" This entry is explained in the Introduc-
tion, p. 363. It should be observed that this
Survey accounts for exactly 4 hides (i hide =
10 'small virgates') at Charlton, the regular
amount in Sutton Hundred.

In Walton i hide with 2 virgates in
Sutton which Suouild held.'*

In Gildeby [ ] I hide and 7

small virgates of the fee of Mortal' [Mortain].

HUNDRED OF ALBODESTOWE

In Chacombe [Chalcombe] 4 hides of the
fee of the bishop of Lincoln."

In Evenle[y] 2 hides and {sic) less 1 small
virgate which Alouf de Merke held.^"

" This exactly corresponds with the 'two
hides and the fifth part of two hides ' assigned
by Domesday to Gunfrei de Cioches here.

'^ Held by the earl of Chester, in 1086, as
' four-fifths of two hides,' which is exactly
equal to the above amount (i-pj hides).

'^ Held of the count of Mortain by ' Ralf
in 1086, as at Charlton above.

'* Held by Maino of Wolverton (' Walren-
tone ') in 1086.

'* Held by Robert d'Ouilly in 1086.

'® Held by Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1086.

''' Held of Hugh de Grentmaisnil by
'Hugh' in 1086.

'* Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain i^ hides in Walton (in King's Sutton)
and to the bishop of Bayeux i^ virgates
there.

'^ As in Domesday.

^^ This entry is corrupt. Aloufs father
Otbert had held of Walter the Fleming (of
' Wahill '), in 1086, 2 hides and also i^ hides
and ^ hide there.

36S

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In Thorpe [Thorpe Mandeville] 2 hides.'

In Stanes [Stene] Gilbert de Pinkeny 2
hides. ^

In CoLEWYTH [Culworth] William 2 hides
and 4 small virgates."* There also Otuer i
hide.*

In Stotebyr[e] [Stotesbery] 2 hides ^
which the monks of Northampton hold.

In RoDESTONE [Radston] 2 hides of the fee
of the earl of Chester.^

In WvTEFELD [Whitfield] Gilbert de
Monte 2 hides and 2 virgates in demesne.''

In Merston [Merston St. Lawrence] Ralf
Murdac 4 hides of the fee of the earl of
Leicester.*

In Siresham Thomas Sorel i hide (and)
a half.^ There also the earl of Leicester i
small virgate.^ There also Gilo half a hide."^
There also William Fitz Aliu (?) 4 small vir-
gates.^

In Chelverdescote '^ half a hide. The
same earl of Leicester.

In Brackele(y) and Hausho [Hawes]'^the
same earl 7 hides and a half.

HUNDRED OF WARDON

In Wardon [Chipping Warden] Richard
Foliot 2 hides (and) a half and I great virgate,
that is [scilicet) the fourth part of I knight('s
fee) of the King's fee in capite}*

In EsTON [Aston le Wall] and Apeltreya
[Apeltre] William de Boulogne ('Bolonia')
7 hides of the fee of earl de Mandeville.'*

In BoTTELENDON [Boddington] Fulc Pay-
nel 2 hides ; one of them (is) of the fee of
Chester. There also William Meschin i
hide. There also I hide of the fee of the
bishop of Lincoln.'^

In Byfeld 8 hides of the fee of the earl
of Leicester. In Trapesford [Trafford],
which belongs to Byfeld, I hide and 2 small

virgates."

In Helmendene [Helmedon] William de I" Hinton (by Byficid) of the fee of Earl

Torewelle 4 hides of the fee of the earl of William (de Mandeville) 2 hides which Robert
Leicester." holds.'*

' Held of Ghilo (de Pinkeny) by Ingel-
ram in 1086.

2 Held by Ghilo (de Pinkeny) in 1086.

^ Held by ' Landric ' of Ghilo (de Pinkeny)
in 1086 as 2 hides and -^ hide in ' Brime.'

* Domesday assigns there to Geoffrey de
Mandeville i^ hides and |- virgate, held of
him by Osbern. The above Otuer was
doubtless Otwel de Bovil, a tenant of the
earl of Essex in 11 66.

* Held of Ghilo de Pinkeny by Hugh and
Landric in 1086.

^ Held by the earl of Chester in 1086.

' This was an appendage of the King's
manor of Sutton in 1086. The virgates in
demesne may represent its ' 2 car. inland ' at
that date. Cf. p. 374, n. 13.

* These were the earl of Chester's in
1086. There is probably a scribal error.

^ These three holdings amount to only 2
hides, though Domesday assigns 2^^ hides
there to the fief of Earl Aubrey and half a
hide to the count of Mortain.

'0 Held by Ghilo (de Pinkeney) in 1086.

" Held by the count of Mortain in
1086. The above tenant was one of the
Turvilles.

In Farendon [Farndon] Simon Chendut i
hide (and) a half and I small virgate of the

'^ This is the manor which cannot be
identified.

'^ This was part of the escheated fief of Earl
Aubrey, to which Domesday assigns 2 hides
in Hawes and 3 in Brackley. Doubtless this
Survey includes in the above reckoning part
of what Domesday enters under Syresham.

'* Held for the same amount by Guy de
Reinbuedcurt, whose heir he was, in 1086.

'* Held, as 6 hides in ' Estone,'of Geoffrey
de Mandeville by Mauger in 1086. The
above William of Boulogne was maternally
Geoffrey's grandson, and lived temp. Henry I.
He was father of Faramus ' of Boulogne.'

"^ Domesday assigns 2 hides there to the
count of Mortain and i hide to the earl of
Chester ; nothing to the bishop of Lincoln.

" Domesday assigns 8 hides there to the
earl of Chester (not Leicester), and 2 hides to
Hugh de Grentmesnil, of whom the earl of
Leicester was heir. The earl of Chester had
i^ hides at Trafford in 1086.

'* Held by Ultbert of Geoffrey de Mande-
ville in 1086.

369

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

fee of Berchamstcde.' There also the earl ('Hervicus') Belet 8 small virgates which
of Leicester 4 small virgates.* William de Strafford holds.'*

In HocHECOTE [Edgcott] Roger Murdac 2
hides of the fee of king David.'

In WoDEFORD the earl of Leicester 2
hides which Osemund holds.*

In Byfeld Roger de Reymes 2 hides.*

In Aydona [Eydon] Richard Fitz Wale
2 hides of the fee of Leicester.^

In Gretteworth [Greatworth] Ralf de
Kaynes 2 hides of his fee.'

In SoLEGRAVE [Sulgrave] 4 hides of the fee
of Gilo brother of Haschivill.*

GRAVESHENDE FALEWESLE

In Falewesle [Fawsley] the King has 2
hides.®

In Chelurdescote*" 2 hides of the fee of
the earl of Leicester.

In Fardingstone [Farthingstone] 3 hides
and I small virgate.*' There also Hervey

' Held of the count of Mortain by Ralf, as
1 1 hides and i bovate, in 1086.

* Held by Hugh de Grentmesnil, as i^
virgates in 1086.

' Held of the bishop of Coutances by
Walchelin in 1086.

* Held of Hugh de Grentmesnil by
♦Richard' in 1086.

' This is the estate there assigned to Hugh
de Grentmesnil by Domesday, and its tenant
here is the same as at Newbottle, above,
Roger de Reymes. The return of knights
in 1 166 speaks of him as living in 1 135.

^ Held of Hugh de Grentmesnil by ' Hugh '
in 1086.

' Held of the bishop of Bayeux's fee by
William (de Cahagnes) in 1086.

* They were held of Ghilo in 1086. The
corrupt form of his brother's name (Ansculf)
should be observed.

* Domesday assigns to the King only i^
hides and -^ hide there, but Godwine the
priest also held of him four-fifths of half a
hide there in 1086.

"* This is the manor that has not been
identified.

" Held by William (de Cahagnes) of the
count of Mortain as 3 hides and i virgate in
1086.

In Wedon' [Weedon Bee] the monks of
Bee 4 hides of the fee of the earl of
Leicester.''

In Charwelton 2 hides and 4 small vir-
gates of the fee of Berkamstede.''' There also
the abbot of Thorney 4 small virgates —
anciently written {antiquo scripto) half a hide.'*
There also Hugh de Chaham half a hide of
the fee of the earl of Leicester.'^ There also
4 small virgates of the fee of Adam de
Napton. There also the earl of Leicester
4 small vi.gates."

In Catesby 4 hides of the fee of William
Peverel.'*

In Eliden [Hellidon] 4 hides of the fee of
Berkamstede.'*

In Preston [Preston Capes] 3 hides less 2
small virgates of the fee of Simon de Wahill.***
There also Richard son of William i hide
(and) 2 small virgates.*'

In Lichebarue [Lichborow] 4 hides of
the fee of Hugh Poher.**

'* Held of the count of Mortain by Alvred
as 3 virgates in 1086.

" Hugh de Grentmesnil had 3^ hides there,
and the count of Mortain half a hide, in 1086.

'* Held by ♦ Ralf of the count of Mortain
as 2 hides and ' four-fifths of half a hide ' in
1086. These seem to be the '24 virgates'
assigned to ' Earl Richard ' (of Cornwall) by
the Survey in the Testa (p. 36).

'* Domesday assigns * half a hide ' there to
the Abbey. In the Testa Survey it is '4
virgates,' that is 4 of the 'small' virgates of
which 10 went to a hide.

'^ Held of the count of Mortain by William
(de Cahagnes) in 1086.

" Hugh de Grentmesnil had * i virgate '
there in 1086.

" So also in Domesday.

'* This is one of the omissions of Domes-
day, where it ought to be found among the
manors of the count of Mortain.

*" Domesday assigns to the lord of Wahill
a nameless estate in this Hundred, but it is
only i^ hides and -^ hide.

*' Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain there ^ hide and i^ virgates, which would
amount to the above total.

*' The abbot of Evesham's in Domesday.

370

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In EvERDON the monks of Bernay 2^ hides
and 2 small virgates.' There also Hugh the
sheriff 8 small virgates which the monks of
Daventre hold. There also Ralf de Waun-
deville 4 small virgates.* There also Walter
4 small virgates.

In Snokescombe [Snoscombe] 4 small vir-
gates of the fee of the earl of Leicester.'

In Stowe John de Armenteres 4 hides of
the fee of Gilbert de Gaunt.*

HUNDRED OF AYLWOLDESLE

In Baddeby [Badby]^ and Newenham
[Newnham] the abbot of Evesham 4 hides.

In Norton 2^ hides and 2 small virgates
of the fee of Warewyk.^

In Thorp(e) Stephen de Turs' half a
hide. There also William de Neufmarchd
{novo foro) 4 small virgates.'

In Beruby [Barby] 2 hides of the fee of

Will

lam reverei

* This holding does not seem to be recog-
nisable in Domesday. Henry II., early in
his reign, confirmed to the monks of Bernay
[Eure] ' Ebredona ' among the lands given
them in England {Calendar of Documents pre-
served in France, p. 13 7).

* These reappear in the Testa Sunxy as
' 4 virgates which Geoffrey de Waundeville
holds of the fee of Albemarle.' They are
also found [Testa, p. 27) as held of the Belvoir
fief.

' Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain 2 virgates there.

* Held in demesne by Gilbert de Gand in
1086.

^ On the 4 hides at Badby assigned by
Domesday to Crowland, see the Introduction
to Domesday (p. 285).

^ Norton (by Daventry) was held, in
1086, by the count of Meulan, brother of
the first earl of Warwick, as 2^ hides and
^ hide.

' He was seneschal of Anjou under Henry
II. As he was an under-tenant of Robert de
Chocques in 11 66, this was doubtless the
'half hide and fifth part of half a hide' held
by Gunfrei de 'Cioches' there in 1086.

* Held of Hugh de Grentmesnil by
' Osbern,' as ' four-fifths of half a hide ' in
1086. In the Testa Survey this holding is
entered as '4 virgates ' of the earl of Leices-
ter's.

So also in Domesday.

In Gildesboru [Guilsborough] the bishop
of Lincoln in demesne, 2 hides."*

In Stav[er]ton William de Neufmarch^,
(novo foro) I hide of the fee of the earl of
Leicester.*' There also Stephen de Welton
3 hides of the fee of Roger de Moubray.**

In Braundeston [Braunston] William
Trussebot 3 hides and 6 small virgates of the
fee of Payn Peverel.*' There also the earl
of Leicester 4 small virgates.**

In Daventre Walter Fitz Robert 8 hides
of the fee of the king of Scotland.**

In Welton William 2^ hides and 2 small
virgates of the fee of the earl of Leicester.*^
There also Hugh the sheriff 5^ small virgates
of the fee of Berkamstede. The monks of
Daventre hold (them). There also Richard
Maulore 2 small virgates.

In Esseby [Ashby St. Legers] 4 hides of
the fee of the earl of Leicester."

In Dodeford Ralf de Chanes 3 hides.**

*" This is not recognisable in Domesday.

** Held of Hugh de Grentmesnil by ' Os-
bern ' in Domesday.

** Held of the count of Mortain by ' Alan *
in 1086. These are described in the Testa
Survey as 'of the fee of Stuteville,' but the
Stutevilles were great under-tenants of the
Mowbrays.

*' Held by Walter de Aincurt as 3^ hides
in 1086. In the later Survey, found in the
Testa (p. 36), Robert de Ros (Trussebot's heir)
is ' dominus ville,' but it is 'of the fee of
John de Eyncurt.'

** Held of the bishop of Bayeux's fee by
William Peverel in 1086.

'* The Countess Judith's in 1086.

*® This was clearly the ' 3 hides less a
virgate' held here, in 1086, of Hugh de
Grentmesnil by ' Osbern ' ; and as the suc-
cessor of this Osbern in his two other under-
tenancies was William de Neufmarch^, this
was doubtless the name of the above
' William.'

*' Hugh de Grentmesnil's in 1086.

'* Held of the count of Mortain by Wil-
liam (de Cahagnes) in 1086. The later
Survey in the Testa (p. 36) proves that the
overlordship had passed from the Count to the
earl of Leicester, for it speaks of the vill as
' de feodo Leyc.,' though William de ' Kaynes '
was its lord.

371

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Chelredescote Geoffrey de Torevill
I hide and 2 small virgates of the fee of the
earl of Leicester.'

HUNDRED OF NORTON

In EssEBY [Ashby Canons] Stephen 2 hides
and 8 small virgates of the fee of Hugh de
Lega.2

In MoRTONA [Morton Pinkeney] Henry de
Pinkeny I hide and a half.'

In Wedona [Weedon Pinkeney] the same
Henry 2 hides and 8 small virgates.*

In Plomton [Plumpton] William Fitz
Robert^ I hide and a half of the fee of

'Wahill.'

In Slapton 4 hides of the fee of the earl
of Leicester.*

In Braddene [Bradden] Payn i hide (and)
4 small virgates.' There also Viel [Fitalh)
Engayne I hide (and) 4 small virgates.* There
also Ralf de Wandeville i hide (and) 2 small
virgates.®

In little Blacolvesle [Blakesley] '° Norman
de St. Patrick'* 2 hides of the fee of Peverel '^

' This is the unidentified manor.

* He held 10 knights' fees, in 1 166, of
Hugh, lord of Wahill, heir of the lord of
•Wahill' who had 2| hides here in 1086.

^ As held by Ghilo (de Pinkeny) in 1086.

* Domesday assigns 3 hides there to Ghilo.
^ Styled William de Plumton under

Blakesley below.

^ Probably an error for Chester. They
were held of the earl of Chester in 1086.

' Held by 'David' as 1-;*^ hides in 1086.

* Held by William (Engayne) of Robert
de Buci, in 1086, as i-j*,- hides.

^ He held of the lord of Belvoir. This
holding is not entered (as at Bradden) under
Robert de Todeni's land in Domesday, but is
probably included there in Sewell (see below).
The above Survey accounts for exactly 4
hides, a total which confirms its accuracy.

'0 Alias Woodend.

" He gave two-thirds of the tithes of his
demesne here, as a tenant of William Peverel,
to Lenton Priory. Domesday gives 2 hides
as held here by ' Walter ' of William Peverel.

'* St. John of Jerusalem manor.

Also {'tfm)y belonging to the hidage [hidagium)
of Norton i hide and 7^ small virgates.'*

In another Blacolvesle [Blakesley] the
same (Norman) half a hide.'* There also
Roger Golofre 3^ hides and half a small
virgate.'* There also William de Plumton

2 hides (and) 2 small virgates.'® There also
Gilbert I hide (and) a half and I small vir-
gate of the fee of Berkamstede."

Also in Selveston Otuer half a hide of
the fee of Earl William.'* There also William
de Caynes i hide of the fee of Morton' (s/V)."
There also Henry de Pinkeny half a hide.^"

In Maydeford [Maidford] Payn 2 hides
(and) 2 small virgates.^'

In Sewewell [Sewell] Ralf i hide (and) 6
small virgates.*^

In Pateshill' [Pateshull] 4 small virgates.*'

" Domesday enters ' Blachcslewe ' as a
' member ' of (Green's) Norton, but without
recording its hidage separately.

'^ This must be the half hide which Robert
(of Rhuddlan) held of the earl of Chester in
1086.

'^ Golafre manor. Hugh de Gulafre held

3 knights' fees of William de Curcy in 1 166.
The name seems to be preserved in some
lands called ' CuUofres ' in Wood Blakesley
mentioned in 1387.

"^ Plumpton manor, held of the earls of
Leicester by the Plumptons. It is not ac-
counted for in Domesday.

" This was the i^ hides held in 1086 by
Sagrim of the count of Mortain.

'* Held of Geoffrey de Mandeville by
' Ernald ' in 1086. The tenant above was
doubtless Otuer de Boville, a considerable
tenant of Earl Geoffrey (de Mandeville) in
1 166. Earl William succeeded in 1 167.

'^ Held of the count of Mortain by Wil-
liam (de Cahagnes) in 1086.

2'^ Held of Ghilo (de Pinkeny) by ' God-
win ' in 1086.

2' Held by 'Hugh' of Hugh de Grent-
maisnil, as 2\ hides in 1086. Payn (de AIneto)
held under the latter Hugh's successor, the
earl of Leicester.

" Sewell in Blakesley, held by Ralf (de
Waundeville) of the Belvoir fi(ef). The lord
of Belvoir is assigned 3|- hides there in 1086,
but this doubtless includes Ralf's i hide and
2 small virgates under Bradden above.

*' See note under Foxley, below (p. 373).

372

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Norton [Green's Norton] and in (its)
soke 7 hides and i large virgate.'

In Atteneston [Adston] Geoffrey de
Turviir 3 small virgates.^ There also the
monks of Bee 8 small virgates.

HUNDRED OF TOUCESTR[E]

In Gauton [Gayton] the advocate de
Bettune 4 hides.^

In Pateshill [PateshuU] Simon de Wahill

7 hides.* There also William de Hocton'

8 small virgates. There also ' earl Maurice '
{Comes Mauriclm) of the fee of Botebot 2 small
virgates.*

In FoxLEYA [Foxley] Simon de Wahill 4
4 small virgates.® There also {Comes Maur')
8 small virgates of the fee of Berkamstede.''
There also the monks of Northampton 6
small virgates.*

In HiNTON [Hinton in the Hedges] Elias
2 hides of the fee of Earl William.^

' So held by the King in 1086. See also
note under Blakesley above.

^ This was probably the ' one virgate ' held
in almoin by Leofwine, the priest, in 1086.
Geoffrey de Turville must have held under
the earl of Leicester, to whom the Crown
had alienated the land.

^ Held by Sigar de ' Cioches ' as 4^ hides
in 1086, though Domesday does not mention
the place. The seigneur of Bethune, ' advocate '
of Arras, was here his heir.

* Domesday assigns 8 hides there to the
lord of 'Wahill.' The above three entries
amount to 8 hides in all, but this may be only
a coincidence.

' Baker appears to accept ' Earl Maurice,'
here and at Foxley, as a real person, but I
deem the name to be clearly a corruption of
Comes Maurit' (count of Mortain). ' Mauri-
tanium ' is the form under which Mortain
appears in the East Anglian Domesday.

* It is possible that these 4 'small virgates'
with those under PateshuU above (p. 372)
were included in the Domesday total of 8
hides for the ' Wahill ' fee in PateshuU.

' Held by Ralf of the count of Mortain as
■^ hide in 1086.

* St. Andrew's Priory manor. These
lands seem to have been part of the Wahill
fief in 1086, for they were given to the
monks by one of its tenants, temp. Hen. I.

* Helyas de Hintone held 4 knights' fees
of Earl Geoffrey de Mandeville in ii66.

In Wappenham Henry de Pinkeny 2 hides
of (his own) fee.*"

In EvELEiA [Evenley] are 4 hides."

In Grimescote [Grimscot] Aunsel 2 hides
and 4 small virgates of the fee of Roger de
Moubray.'^ There also the monks of Dones-
tabel' (Dunstable) 2 hides of the fee of

Wahill."

In PoTTON John de Daventre i hide (and)
a half (and) i small virgate.

In TiFFELD William de Pery I hide (and)
a half (and) I small virgate of the fee of Earl
Hugh.'* There also Walter de Fortho I hide
(and) a half and 2 small virgates.** There
also William de Gaynes 7 small virgates.**

In Wytlebyr' [Whittlebury] Richard 6
small virgates of the fee of Selveston [Silver-
stone].

In Toucestr' the earl of Arundel 7 hides
(and) 4 small virgates.*^ There also Wybert
atte church [ad ecclesiam) 6 small virgates of
the fee of St. Wandrille.'*

' Ernald ' had held these 2 hides of Geoffrey
de Mandeville in 10S6.

*« Ghilo (de Pinkeney)'s in 1086.

** These 4 hides are assigned to the lord of
'Wahill' by Domesday.

'^ Held of the count of Mortain in 1086,
by Alan, as 2^^ hides at Cold Higham. This
proves that a grant from the count's fief had
here been made to Roger (or his father Nigel).

*' These are clearly the 2 hides held of the
lord of 'Wahill' in 1086 as 'ad ecclesiam
de Pascelle,' but in Cold Higham (to which
Grimscot adjoins). The monks of Dunstable
had obtained them by gift of Walter de
WahuU, who gave them ' all the land of
Grimscote of his fee,' with a moiety of Pates-
hill church.

'* Here again Domesday assigns no such
holding in Tiffield to Earl Hugh (of Chester),
but the accuracy of this Survey is proved by
its totals amounting to exactly 4 hides.

'* Held of the count of Mortain, as a hide
and a half and the fifth of a hide, by ' Ralf
in 1086.

'* Held of the count of Mortain, as half a
hide and the fifth of a hide, by William (de
Cahagnes) in 1086.

'■' Held by the King, as 7^ hides, in 1086.

** This must be the holding of the soch-
man, entered in 1086 as having there half a

373

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Graftone [Grafton Regis] the abbot of
Grestain {Grestenge) 4 hides [? ^ hide].'

HUNDRED OF CLEYLE

In Stok and in Aldrinton [Stoke Bruern
and Alderton] are 7 hides (and) 2 small vir-
gates.*

In Bassenham [Passenham] i hide.

In VVvcA Mainfein [Wyke Hamon] 2
hides of the fee of Wolfrington [VVolverton].^

In Pyria [Potterspury] Robert de Ferrar[iis]
3 hides (and) 2 small virgates of the fee of the
earl de Ferrar'.*

In West Pyria [Paulerspury] are 3 hides
and a half and the fifth part of half a liidc of
the fee of William Peverel.*

In FoRHOUE [Furtho] Walter 2 hides of
the fee of Richard Fitz William.'' There also
(are) 7 small virgates of the fee of Berkam-
stede.'' There also the earl of Leicester 3
small virgates.''

In Covesgrave [Cosgrove] Robert Ryvel
8 small virgates. There also William le Brun
6 small virgates. There also Adam 9 small
virgates.*

hide and ^ hide, that is, exactly ' 6 small
virgates.' The Conqueror must have given
it to St. WandriUe, with the advowson of
Towcester. It was afterwards known as
Bradenstoke Priory Manor. The words ' ad
ecclesiam ' might possibly mean 'as belonging
to the church.'

' Held by the count of Mortain as | hide
in 1086. His son William is said to have
given them to the Abbey.

* Domesday assigns 4 hides to Stoke Bruern
and 3^ hides (the count of Mortain's) to
Alderton.

' Domesday assigns only 3 virgates there
to Maino lord of Wolverton, and enters the
missing i]^ hides as Robert d'Ouilly's in
Wyke Dyve.

* Held, as 3^ hides, by Henry de Ferrers
in Domesday.

' Held, for exactly the same amount, of
William Peverel by 'Robert' in 1086.

* Held of the count of Mortain by ' Ralf '
in 1086.

' These two holdings represent two hold-
ings there of the count of Mortain, each of
■Y1S hide, in Domesday. But they only account
for I hide between them.

* Cosgrove was similarly divided, in 1086,

In Pyria [Potterspury] the heirs 'de
Safleto ' I hide (and) the fifth part of one
hide of the fee of king David."

In PoKESLE Robert Ryvel 6 small virgates
of the fee of the earl of Leicester.'" There
also 4 small virgates of the fee of king
David."

In EsTENESTON [Easton Neston] Richard
de Lc estre i hide (and) a half and i small
virgate of the fee of Berkamstede.'^ There
also Godfrey and Aldred 8 small virgates of
the fee of William Maudut.'^

In Som[er]eshale [Somersale] Michael
Mauntel 6 small virgates of the fee of William
Peverel of Hetham [Higham].'*

In Wakefeld 4 small virgates of the King's
fee.'*

In Hertwell [Hartwell] Nicholas, Hugh,
Adam, Ralph, 4 hides (and) a half and I
small virgate — that is [scilicet) the fifth part
of half a hide — of the fee of Walkelin Ma-
my(n)ot.'^

into 3 holdings of ^ hide, | hide, ^^ hide
respectively. But this Survey makes them all
rather larger.

" Held of the Countess Judith by William
Peverel in 1086.

'0 Probably the half hide held by the King
there in 1086.

" William Peverel held -^ hide there of
the bishop of Bayeux in 1086.

"* Held of the count of Mortain by Wil-
liam (de Cahagnes), as I hide and 2^ virgates,
in 1086.

" This holding appears, from its size, to be
the 3^^ virgates there held by Bondi of Gun-
frei de Cioches in 1086. But as William
Mauduit was the successor of Winemar, it
must represent the 2^ virgates (6^ small vir-
gates) held of Winemar there by Maiulf in
1086.

'* It appears to me that this may be the
' half a hide and half a virgate ' held of
William Peverel by Turstin (Mantel) in
1086 as in 'another Courteenhall.' The
land was afterwards reckoned as in Roade.

'* Count Alan's in Domesday.

'^ This exact amount — 4^ hides and 'a
fifth of half a hide ' — was held in Domes-
day by William Peverel of the bishop of
Bayeux. It had now been added to the
Maminot portion of the bishop's fief. The
' small virgate ' is explained, it will be seen,
by this entry.

374

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In Esse [Ashton] Robert Fitz Anketil i
hide and 2 small virgates of the fee of William
Maudut.' ' Ad hydam ' William Ruffi 4
small virgates.'

HUNDRED OF WYMERESLE

In MiDDELTON [Middleton Malsor] Robert
de Causho and Geoffrey 5 hides and i virgate
— that is [icilicet) the fourth part of i hide.^

In Trop' [Rothersthorpe] Ascelin de
Chokes 2 hides (and) a half and the fourth
part of I hide.* There also the hospital of
Northampton half a hide and the fourth part
of I hide.^

In WoTTON 2 hides and two-thirds of half
a hide.^ There also Michael I hide and the
third part of half a hide.''

In Hardingestorn' 7 hides of the fee of
king David.*

In Blethesworthe [Blisworth] and in
CoRTENHALE [Courteenhall] Peverel 7 hides

* It had come to him with the rest of
Winemar's Domesday holding.

' Clearly the four parts of half a hide
which Bondi held of Winemar in the same
vill in 1086.

' In Domesday ' Mideltone ' was held of
Geoffrey Alselin in two portions. William
held of him 3^ hides there, and 'two hides
less a virgate ' belonging to the manor, though
in Collingtree, were held of him by two
socmen. It will be observed that these hold-
ings make up, together, ^\ hides, which is the
figure given above. The gloss at the end of
the entry was doubtless intended to distinguish
this (Domesday) virgate, from a ' small ' one.

* Held by Gunfrei ' de Cioches,' in 1086,
as 2^ hides.

^ Held in 1086 by GeoflFrey Alselin, as
half a hide, with another half-hide, * belong-
ing to' Middleton, though 'in Torp.'

^ Held in 1086 of Walter the Fleming
(of Woodhill) by Winemar as 2| hides. It
descended with the holding that follows.

' Held in 1086 of the Countess Judith by
Winemar as i hide. The above Michael (de
Hamslape) was his successor temp. Henry I.
It will be observed that the two above hold-
ings amount, together, to 3^ hides, which is
the Domesday total for Wotton.

* Two of these were Countess Judith's in
1086, but the other five were then king
William's.

and 4 small virgates of increase [incremento] *
in Quenton which Gilbert held.

In Quenton' [Quinton] David and Philip
i^ hides and the fourth part of i hide.^°

In Preston (Deanery) Walter Fitz Wyne-
mer i hide and i virgate of the fee of king
David. There also, of the fee of Olneye, (he
holds) half a hide."

In Alecote [ ] king David the

third part of i hide.

In Pidenton' [Piddington] i hide and a
half and i virgate.'^

In Houcton' [Houghton Magna] Robert
de Pavely i hide (and) half a great virgate
and two virgates of the fee of Peverel.''
There also king David " 4 small virgates
which Osebert held. There also Simon 1
hide and i virgate.

In another Houcton [Houghton Parva]
and in Braunfeld [Brayfield] 3 hides (and)
a half which William de Houcton' held.**

In Horton Alouf de Merk' 2 hides and i

^ Domesday assigns to William Peverel 3^
hides in Blisworth and 3^ in Courteenhall.
The ' increase,' therefore, must be represented
by the ' 4 small virgates.'

'" Quinton was held in 1086 by the
Countess Judith as i| hides in all. Peverel's
'4 small virgates' seem therefore to figure
only in the previous entry.

'' This is Preston Deanery, where his
father Winemar had held, in 1086, I hide
of the bishop of Coutances (' the fee of
Olney ') and 3 virgates of the Countess Judith.
The two holdings are here given differently,
but their total (if hides) is the same.

'^ Must also have been king David's, for
Countess Judith had held it as i hide and 3
virgates in 1086.

1* Held of William Peverel in 1086 by
' Robert ' as i hide and half a virgate and
' two carucates of land.' From this entry we
again learn that the 'virgate' of Domesday
was the ' great virgate ' of this Survey.

" One hide had been held there of his
predecessor Countess Judith by Hugh.

'* This appears to represent the 2^ hides
in Houghton Parva and the i hide in Bray-
field which were the extent of the Countess
Judith's holdings in these places in 1086.

375

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

small virgate of Wahill.' There also of the
fee of the king of Scotland {Sloc') 3 small vir-
gates.* There also Turgis de Quenton' 6
small virgates of the same fee.* There also
Walter Fitz Wym[er] 6 small virgates of the
fee of Olney.*

In Hakelington' [Hackleton] Nortgold'
I hide.* There also Turgis de Quenton'
half a hide. There also the monks of North-
ampton I hide.* There also William de
Lisurs half a hide of the fee of Olney.
There also Walter Fitz Wynem[er] 8 small
virgates of the same fee.*

In CuGEHO [Cooknoe] William i hide
(and) a half (and) i virgate.''

In Whiston William a hide and a half of
the fee of the abbot of Rammes[eye].* There
also king David i great virgate.^

In DoDiNGTON [Denton] the same King i
hide.'" There also Walter Fitz Wynem[er]
6 small virgates of the fee of Rammeseya.
There also William de Wytendon' 10 small
virgates of the abbot of Rammeseye.''

» Held of Walter the Fleming (of ' Wa-
hill') in 1086 by Alouf's father Otbert as 2
hides.

* Entered in Domesday as I virgate.

* Which were held of the Countess Judith,
in 1086, as half a hide, by Turbern.

* Held of the bishop of Coutances as 3 vir-
gates, in 1086, by Turbern.

* These appear to represent the 2 hides
which was Countess Judith's holding there in
1086.

^ Which his father Winemar had held of
the bishop of Coutances, in 1086, as half a
hide.

^ At Cooknoe, in 1086, Norgiold had held
3^ virgates of Guy de ' Reinbuedcurt ' and 3
virgates of the Countess Judith. These two
holdings are represented by that of William
above.

* As Domesday assigns Ramsey Abbey 3
hides in Whiston and Denton, this would
leave it i| hides in Denton.

^ Entered as one virgate in Domesday.

*° This seems to be the 'one hide' there
which is entered immediately after Whiston
on the Countess Judith's fief in Domesday.

*' The Ramsey holding here was only i^
hides according to Domesday (see note *
above), but, as Winemar held half a hide here
of the Countess Judith in 1086, the Domes-

In EssEBY [Castle Ashby] and Chaddes-
ton' [Chadstone] William Fitz Clarembald 3
hides and a half."

In Gerdele [Yardley] and Grendone 7
hides and I virgate less {sic) of the fee of
king David."

HUNDRED AND A HALF OF
HECHAM

In Eston' [Easton Mauduit] and Strixton
Michael de Hampslape 3 hides (and) a half
and a great virgate.'* There also Payn i
great virgate.

In Bosesete [Bozeat] king David 2 hides.'*

In Neweton' [Newton Bromswold] Al-
nochus de Bidun 2 hides (and) a half less
(m).'«

In WoLASTON (are) 5 hides (and) half a
virgate of the fee of Chokes.'' There also
Corbelin 2 hides less half a virgate of the fee
of king David.'*

In Haregrave Ralf de Foleville 3 small
virgates. There also Richard and Roger de

day total for Denton was 3 hides (including
the first of the holdings above). The hold-
ings may be confused in the text above.

'^ Held as I J hides in Chadstone by Drogo
de ' Bevreire ' and 1 1 hides in Ashby by (Hugh
under) the Countess Judith in 1086.

'^ Domesday assigns to the Countess Ju-
dith 3 hides and 2 virgates in Grendon and
3^ hides in Yardley. The total would be 7
hides, which is the amount given above, if
we omit 'and I virgate less' as an error.

'* This certainly comprises the nameless 2
hides and 3 virgates in Higham Hundred
which Winemar, Michael's predecessor, held
in 1086. It is possible that the excess re-
presents the 3 virgates in ' Hantone ' which
follow immediately in Domesday and which
have not been identified.

'* Domesday assigns 2 hides in all to the
Countess Judith there.

'^ Held of the bishop of Coutances as 2
hides less half a virgate in 1086. 'Alnochus*
represents the name usually given as ' Hale-
naldus ' or ' Hanelaldus.'

" Domesday gives the'Cioches' holding
there as 5 hides.

'* In Domesday Corbelin holds 2 hides
there of the Countess Judith, who had also
the ' soc ' of another hide there.

376

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

Costentyn 3 small virgates. There also
Harold half a hide.'

In Stanewigge [Stanwick] Ascelin i hide
and I virgate and a half of the fee of (Peter)-
borough.'

In Yrencestre [Irchester] Nicholas le
Sauvage half a hide of the fee of Wahill.^

In Cotes [Cotton] Gilbert Fitz Richard

1 hide (and) a half and i small virgate of the
fee of Deneford.*

In another Cotes Frumbold de Deneford
half a hide of the same fee.*

In Cotes John Bidoun i hide (and) a half
and I virgate and a half.*

In Ringstede Gilbert Fitz Richard 4
small virgates of the fee of Deneford.*

In Raundes (j;V). There also Gilbert 4
small virgates of the same fee. There also
Robert the King's son, of the fee of Gloucester,

2 hides (and) a half.^

In Knoston [Knuston] Frumbold i hide
and a half and i great virgate.®

' At Hargrave Domesday mentions only
half a hide, which Eustace held of William
Peverel.

^ This holding, as i hide and i virgate,
was ' in demesne ' at the time of Domesday.
It must be the 'one hide and one virgate '
which Ascelin (de Waterville) is found hold-
ing by payment of ten shillings a year, apart
from the manors which he held by knight-
service. {Chronicon Petroburgense, p. I 70.)

' This appears to represent the 2\ virgates
there held in 1086, not by the lord of
' Wahill,' but by ' Robert ' under the count of
Mortain. Domesday assigns also to William
Peverel i^ hides ' de soca ' there.

* Domesday assigns to the bishop of Cou-
tances 6 hides and a virgate and a half in
Raunds and 5 hides in Denford. These
holdings had been broken up since his fief
had escheated to the Crown, and this Survey
treats of Denford under Ringstead and Cotton
(see also p. 389 below).

* The entry 'Robert the King's son' must
have been made before Robert was created
earl of Gloucester.

* This must represent the i hide and 3
virgates held of Gunfrei de 'Cioches' there,
by Winemar, in io86.

In the demesne of William Peverel 33
hides (and) a half and half a virgate.

In Boseyate [Bozeat] (are) 3 small virgates
of the fee of William Peverel.'

HUNDRED OF NEUBOTLEGRAVE

In Daylington [Dallington] (there are)
4 hides of the fee of the abbot of (Peter)-
borough.^

In DusTON (there are) 4 hides of the fee
of William Peverel.^

In Upton the King has 2 hides (and) a
half.i"

In HoREPOL [Harpole] (there are) 4 hides
of the fee of Beuver [Belvoir]. Peter i hide
(and) a half. Also another \al'iud) of the fee
of Peverel.''

In Kyselingbvr[ie] (there are) 3 hides
(and) a half of the fee of Gilbert de Gaunt.'*
There also the earl of Leicester half a hide.'^

In BucKEBROK [Bugbrooke] (there are) 4
hides of the fee of Mortain [morcnc')}*'

In Heyford there are 4 hides.'*

In Clachetorp [Clasthoip] and in Little
Heyford (there are) 4 hides."'

' Held of William Peverel, as a virgate
and a half, by Turstin in 1086.

* Held by ' Richard ' of the abbot of Peter-
borough in 1086.

^ So also in Domesday.

'" Entered as 2 hides in Domesday.

" These entries are very obscure. Domes-
day gives under Harpole only 2^ hides which
were held by William Peverel. It would
seem as if the text of this Survey were cor-
rupt. In that case its meaning may be that
of 4 hides in Harpole, Peter held li of the
fee of Belvoir, while the rest (2i) was of the
fee of Peverel. But the former holding can-
not be found in Domesday.

'« Held by Gilbert de ' Gand ' in 1086.

'3 Part of the Mortain fief in 1086.

'* Held by the count of Mortain in 1086.

'5 Domesday assigns there 2f to the bishop
of Bayeux, if to Gilbert de Gaunt, and f
hide to the count of Mortain, in Nether
Heyford.

"5 The count of Mortain held i^ hides and
William Peverel half a hide in Clasthorp,

377

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In Flora Otuer 4 small virgates of the
fee of Earl Geoffrey.' There also Aunsel de
Choices I hide and (i) virgate* anciently
[antiquo). There also Ralf Fitz Sewan, of
the fee of Peverel, half a hide.' There also
Hugh de Chaneys i hide and 4 small virgates
of the fee of Kaynes.*

In Brockehole [Brockhall] and in Musecote
Ralf de Gaynes i hide of the fee of Gaynes.*
There also Gervase Samson i hide of the fee
of War[wick].«

In Neubottle and in Brynton [Bring-
ton] there are 6 hides.

In Whelton [Whilton] (there is) i hide
of the fee of R[oger] de Moubray.''

In Ravenestorp and in Cheta [Teton] 4
hides of the fee of Peverel.'

In Haldeneby [Holdenby] (there are) 3
hides of the fee of the earl of Leicester.*

and the Count i^ hides in Upper Heyford,
in 1086. The above arrangement of Heyford
and Clasthorp in two groups of exactly 4 hides
each should be observed. The Domesday
total for the two seems to be 7^ hides.

* Otuer de Boville (compare p. 368,
note * above) is here entered as holding of
the fee of Earl Geoffrey (of Essex), earl
William's predecessor.

* Held as such by Gunfrei de Cioches in
1086.

' William Peverel's in 1086.

* In Domesday William de Cahainges (the
same name) held i hide there in capite and 3
virgates of the count of Mortain.

* Entered in Domesday as 3 virgates held
of the count of Mortain by William (de
Cahainges). ' Gaynes ' is Cahagnes.

® This holding is found in 24 Ed. I. as
' 7 virgates held by John Gerveys of the fee
of Warwick.'

' Held of the count of Mortain by ' Alan '
in 1086.

" Domesday assigns to William Peverel i ^
hides in Ravensthorp and 2 hides in Teton,
all which was held of him by ' Drogo.'

* This must be the *2 hides and i virgate'
which Domesday assigns to the count of
Mortain in ' Aldenesbi.'

This Survey throws no light on the
identity of the ' Aldenestone ' which is en-
tered in Domesday (fo. 224) immediately
before East Haddon, and was then held by
the count of Mortain as i hide and 3 vir-

In Haddon [East Haddon] the same earl
4 hides.'"

In Brampton the same earl 4 hides.'*

In Herleston [Harlestone] (there are) 3
hides.'*

In HoLTROP [Althorpe] i hide and i small
virgate of the fee of Berkamstede."

HUNDRED OF GILDESBORU

In Gildesboru [Guilsborough] William
Fitz Aldred' [sic) 3 great virgates (and) a half
of the fee of Peverel.'* There also the priest
I small virgate of the fee of the earl of
Leicester.'^

In HoLEWELLE [Hollowell] the bishop of
Lincoln i hide and the third part of a hide.'^
Robert de Dyva is the tenant. There also
the earl of Leicester 3 small virgates. There
also, of the fee of Peverel, 5 small virgates.'''

In NoRTOFT Coleman half a hide of the

gates. It should, however, be observed that,
adding this assessment to the above 2 hides
and I virgate, we obtain exactly 4 hides,
which is the normal assessment of a vill in
this Hundred. This rather confirms Mr.
Stuart Moore's suggestion that * Aldenestone '
was part of Holdenby.

'" This is the total of the count of Mor-
tain's holdings there in 1086.

" Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain there a holding of 4 hides less 5 acres
and another of half a hide.

'* Domesday gives four holdings there
reckoned in all at 3^ hides and i virgate
[i.e. 3I hides).

'^ The count of Mortain is only assigned
I hide here ('Olletorp') in Domesday.

'* Which his father Alvred (the butler of
the count of Mortain) had held of William
Peverel as 3I virgates in 1086.

'* The church, with i virgate, at Guils-
borough was held by the count of Mortain in
1086 as a dependency of Nortoft.

'* Domesday assigns if hide here to the
bishop of Lincoln.

'^ Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain (the earl of Leicester's predecessor) only
two-thirds of a virgate, and to William
Peverel only i virgate here. But it enters a
certain Gilbert also as holding two-thirds of
a virgate.

378

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

fee of Peverel.' There also the earl of
Leicester 2 hides and i great virgate.^

In CoTESBROK [Cottesbrook] Robert Bote-
vileyn 2 hides of the fee of Wahill'.*

In Creton [Creaton Magna] Aunsel de
Chokes I hide.*

In another Creton [Creaton Parva] Herbert
half a hide of the fee of Ralf de Gaynes.*

In Westhaddon Hugh the sheriff 2 hides
(and) I great virgate.® There also Peverel I
great virgate and a half.'' There also Aunsel
de Chokes i great virgate.* There also the
earl of Leicester half a hide. There also
Nigel de Albeny half a hide of the fee of
Roger de Moubray. ®

In Watford (there are) 4 hides of the fee
of Baldwin Fitz Gilbert.'"

In BucKEBY Series {sic) de Quency 2 hides
(and) a half and I great virgate of the fee of
Aunsel de Chokes." There also William Fitz
Alvred [Alfridi) half a hide of the fee of
Montacute {Month acuti)}^ There also the
earl of Leicester 3 great virgates.*^

' Held of William Peverel by a socman, in
1086, as a dependency of Cotton-under-
Guilsborough.

* Which his predecessor the count of
Mortain had held as 2 hides in 1086.

^ In 1086 Dodin had held i^ hides there
of the lord of Wahill and half a hide of the
King himself.

* Held by Gunfrei de 'Cioches' in 1086.

* Held of the count of Mortain by William
(de 'Cahainges') in 1086. ' Gaynes ' is the
same as ' Cahainges.'

® This holding seems to represent the 2
hides here assigned by Domesday to ' the
church of Coventry.'

'' William Peverel's in 1086.

* Held by Gunfrei de 'Cioches' in 1086.
^ This probably means that half a hide

had been given there to Nigel, and had de-
scended to his son Roger de Mowbray.

'" Domesday assigns to Gilbert only 2 hides
there.

" Held in 1086 by Gunfrei de ' Cioches'
as 2 hides and a virgate and half a hide of
soc(land).

'^ Held by his father Alvred of the count
of Mortain, as 3 virgates, in 1086, unless this
was the holding which follows.

'^ It should be observed that this holding,
which cannot be identified in Domesday,
makes up exactly 4 hides for Buckby.

In Crek [Crick] Roger de Caunvill' 3
hides (and) a half and i great virgate of the
fee of Roger de Mowbray.'*

In Lilleburn and Cotes [Claycoton] the
earl of Leicester 4 hides.'* There also
William son of Alvred {Alfridi) I great vir-
gate.'*

In Stanford the abbot of Selby {SeUhy)
2 hides. '^

In Welleford [Welford] William de
Wyvill 4 hides and i great virgate of the
fee of Roger de Mowbray '* of Gildetote
[? Chilcote]. There also Ad[am] I hide
(and) a half of the fee of Baldwin Fitz Gilbert.

In Gelvertoft [Yelvertoft] (there are) 2
hides and the third part of I hide of the fee of
the earl of Leicester.'^ There also Ralf Fitz
Osmund half a hide of the fee of William
Fitz Alvred.'"

In Eltesdon' [Elkington] Hugh the sheriff
I hide (and) a half. The monks of Pippe-
well are the tenants.*' There also Hugh i
great virgate of the fee of Westminster.
There also Hugh de Kaynes 4 small virgates.'"
There also Nigel de Aubeny 2 small virgates
of the fee of Welleford'."

'* This was part of the escheated fief of
Geoffrey de Wirce, who held there 4 hides
less a virgate (the same amount as above) in
1086.

'* This included 2^ hides at Lilbourne, part
of the escheated fief of Earl Aubrey, but the
balance is not accounted for by the 3^ virgates
of William Peverel, which is all that Domes-
day assigns to Coton.

'* Which his father Alvred held of the
count of Mortain in 1086.

'^ Two hides less a virgate in Domesday.

'* This was held, as 4 hides, of Geoffrey
de Wirce by 'Alfridus' in 1086.

'» Robert (of Rhuddlan) held them of Earl
Hugh (of Chester), as 2 hides and i virgate,
in 1086.

*" Held by Alvred of the count of Mortain,
as 3 virgates, in 1086.

*' Hugh's holdings here amount to i hide
and 3 virgates, which was the amount here
held of the count of Mortain, in 1086, by
Alvred.

** Possibly what was held of Guy de
•Reinbuedcurt' by 'Turchil' in 1086 as
three-quarters of a virgate.

*' This was the ' quarter virgate ' entered

379

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In EssEBV [Cold Ashby] 2 hides (and) a
half of the fee of Coventre.' There also
Henry de Mundeviil' i great virgate of the
fee of Peverel.^ There also Hugh de
Kaynes 3 great virgates.' There also Robert
half a hide of the fee of Welleford.*

In Wynewyk [Winwick] (there are) 3
hides and I great virgate of the fee of
Coventre.* There also Robert Alegod 8
small virgates® of the fee of Peverel.

In Navesbya [Naseby] (there are) 7 (hides)
of the fee of Peverel.''

In TuRLEBi [Thornby] i hide (and) a half
of the fee of the earl of Leicester. There
also Robert Fitz Alegod I hide of the fee of
Peverel.* There also (is) half a hide accord-
ing to the rolls of Winchester [per rotu/os
IFyncatrie).^

In Cotes [Cotton-under-Guilsborough]
Robert Halegod' 4 virgates (and) a half.'**

HUNDRED OF MALLESL[E]

In Houton' [Hanging Houghton], of the
fee of St. Edmund, i hide." There also

in Domesday as appurtenant here to Geoffrey
de Wirce's manor of Welford. This is an
entry of importance, because it implies that
Roger de Mowbray had been preceded in his
tenure of the forfeited lands of Geoffrey de
Wirce by his father Nigel de Albini.

' As in Domesday.

^ Held by William Peverel, as i^ virgates,
in 1086.

' Held of the count of Mortain by William
(de Cahagnes) as half a hide in 1086.

* Appurtenant to Geoffrey de Wirce's
manor of Welford, as 2\ virgates, in 1086.

It should be observed that the total of the
holdings is 4 hides in this Survey, as in
Domesday. Yet the figures are different for
the last three.

^ The same in Domesday.

® Entered in Domesday as 3 virgates.

'' The same in Domesday.

* Entered in Domesday as dependent on
Cotton(-under-Guilsborough).

^ Domesday enters this half hide as a
second holding of William Peverel there.

'* Entered as 3^ virgates in Domesday,
where it is held by William Peverel. The
tenant is the Robert 'Alegod' of the Win-
wick entry, and the Robert ' Fitz Alegod ' of
the Thornby one.

" Domesday makes it i hide and half a
virgate.

'Rocinus' I hide and 3 virgates of the fee
of Berkamstede.'^ There also i hide and i
virgate of the fee of king David."

In Langeport [Lamport] Simon Males-
ov[er]es 4 hides of the fee of Wahill'.'*
There also of the socage of St. Edmund half
a hide.'*

In Scaldewell' Aubrey [Alhrem] 3 great
virgates of the fee of Oxford.'® There also of
the fee of St. Edmund 1 hide (and) a half and
I great virgate.''' There also king David 2
hides (and) a half and i virgate.'*

In Walde [Wold] Earl Aubrey [Com'
Ahhemar) 4 hides and 4 (j;V) virgates of the
fee of Oxford.'^

In Faxtone (there are) 2 hides (and) a
halfof thefeeof Baillol.'o

In Waldegrave [Walgrave] Henry 3
hides (and) a half and I great virgate of the
fee of king David. ^' There also Henry de

'^ The count of Mortain's in Domes-
day.

'^ Countess Judith's in Domesday. The
above three holdings, it will be seen, amount
to just 4 hides.

'* Held of the lord of 'Wahill,' as 4
hides and I virgate by Fulcher in 1086.

'* Entered as i virgate and I bovate in
Domesday (Domesday also assigns i bovate
there to Countess Judith).

'® This entry identifies as Aubrey de Vere
the ' Albericus ' who held 3 virgates there of
the bishop of Coutances in io86. Compare
p. 362 and note '' on p. 367 above.

" The same in Domesday (i hide and 3
virgates).

" Held in 1086 by Countess Judith as 2
hides and I virgate.

" This entry illustrates by the Earl's name
the corruptness of the text in places. I have
shown above (p. 362) that the above holding
probably includes the 2f hides held, with 3
virgates at Scaldwell, by ' Aubrey ' of the
bishop of Coutances, although Domesday
assigns them to Wadenhoe. The addition
of the Crown's share of Wold would about
give him the holding, which is represented in
the text by that of his heir, Aubrey earl of
Oxford.

^° This was the King's in Domesday, and
had been granted to Balliol since.

" Held of the Countess Judith by Fulcher,
as 3 hides and 3 virgates, in 1086.

380

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

Tracy 3 virgates of the socage of Foxton.'
There also the earl of Leicester half a hide.*

In Brikelesworth [Brixworth] Simon
Fitz Simon 8 hides (and) a half of the fee of
Corey. There also Alfred i hide and i
virgate of the fee of Salesbyrs [sic).^

In Thorp' by Northampton [Kingsthorpe]
5 hides less i virgate.*

In MuLTON, of the socage of Torp' i hide
(and) a half and (a) bovate.^ And in Weston
I hide.*

HUNDRED OF SPELEHO

In Abendon' [Abington] Humfrey de Bas-

singburne 4 hides. ^

In Weston Richard 4 hides.'

In Billingge Parva (there are) 4 hides.^

In Billingge Magna (there are) 4 hides. ^

In Oveston' [Overstone] Gilbert de Milers
4 hides.'"

In MuLTON 2 hides and 4 small virgates of

' Domesday enters as appurtenant to Faxton
2 hides and 3^ virgates in Wold and Walgrave.

* Which Robert had held of the count of
Mortain in 1086.

' Here is more alienation of Crown de-
mesne. All Brixworth had belonged to the
King in 1086, when it was entered as of gi
hides. De Courcy's share may have been
granted in the first instance to William
Meschin.

* 4 hides and 3 virgates (the same amount)
in Domesday.

* Entered in Domesday, for the same
amount, as appurtenant to Kingsthorpe.

^ Richard [Engaine] held them in 1086.

' These 4 hides seem to be represented in
Domesday by the i hide appurtenant to the
king's manor of (Kings)thorpe (see note *
above) and the 2^ hides of the count of Mor-
tain (fo. 223) ; but this leaves the Count's 2f
hides on fo. 224 unaccounted for.

* Domesday assigns 3 hides i^ virgates
there to Gunfrei de Cioches and 2^ virgates
to the count of Mortain. This would ac-
count for exactly 4 hides. But Domesday
also assigns the Count 4^ virgates there which
are surplus.

8 Held by Gilbert the Cook in 1086.
'" Ovcrston is not mentioned in Domesday ;
but the Millers family are subsequently

the fee of Richard de [sic) Engayne." There
also Guy de Baillol I hide (and) a half and
I small virgate of the fee of Foxton [Faxton]."
There also Richard de le Pek 4 hides of the
fee of king David. '^

In Boketon [Boughton] (there are) three
hides and 3 small virgates of the fee of the
monks of St. Wandrille (IVandrageiile)}*'

In Pittesford [Pitsford] Henry Malesures
and Philip 3 hides (and) a half of the fee of
Wahill.'* There also the earl of Leicester 6
small virgates.**

In Sprotton [Spratton] (there are) 9 small
virgates of the fee of king David." There
also, of the fee of Richard Basset, 3 small

found holding it of the heir of William
d'Avranches, as a Mortain fee. It must
therefore have been held by the count of
Mortain in 1086, and granted out afresh,
like Sywell, as an escheat.

" Held of Robert de Buci by William
(Engaine), as 2 hides and \^ virgates, in
1086.

'* Faxton carried with it, in Domesday,
lands in Wold and Walgrave. As our Survey
records those at Walgrave as * 3 virgates of
the socage of Faxton,' it looks as if the above
entry might refer to the 2^ hides, which
balance Domesday seems to assign to Wold,
unless they are already accounted for under
Wold above.

The arrangement in Domesday is very
different from that in our Sun'ey, which
groups Multon in two halves of 4 hides each
(in addition to the portion belonging, as
above, to Kingsthorpe).

'^ Richard's predecessor Grimbald had held
only 3I hides of the Countess Judith there in
1086, but the 3 virgates wanting, to complete
the 4 hides, were held of her by two other
tenants.

** Domesday only assigns them 3 hides
less half a virgate (by Countess Judith's gift),
but enters 4^ virgates there as held of the
Countess by tenants, which would make up 4
hides. Domesday, however, also gives 4
virgates there as held of the King (fo. 222b)
and of Robert de Buci.

'* Fulcher (Malsor) held 3 hides and I
virgate there of the lord of ' Wahill ' in 1086.

'® This represents the count of Mortain's
holding there in Domesday, where, however,
it is given as only i virgate.

'^ Held of the Countess Judith, as 1 hide,
by Rohais in 1086.

381

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

virgates.* There also the earl of Leicester 2
hides (and) a half and i great virgate.*

HUNDRED OF ANFORDESHO

In Wenbugburg' [Wellingborough] of (the
fee of) Croylaunde 5 hides (and) a half.'
There also Nicholas de Cogeho 3 great vir-
gates of the fee of king David.* There also
the earl of Leicester i hide.*

In Herdwyk' [Hardwick] (are)
virgates of the fee of king David.*

small

In Eketon [Ecton] (are) 4 hides of the
fee of the earl de Ferrers. William de Mun-
gom[er]y is the tenant.''

In SiWELL [Sywell] the monks of North-
ampton and the nuns of Elstow {Aunestowe)
4 hides.*

In HoLECOTE [Holcot] Ad[am] 2 hides
(and) a half and i small virgate of the fee of
William de Curcy.' There also i hide and
4 small virgates of the fee of king David.'"

In EssEBY [Meats Ash by] are 4 hides of
the fee of king David.''

In Wyleby [Wilby] (are) 4 hides of the
fee of king David."

In DoDiNGTON [Duddington] (are) 4 hides
of the fee of king David."

» Held by 'Ralf of Robert de Buci, as i
virgate and I bovate, in 1086.

* Held of the count of Mortain, as 3 hides
less a virgate (the same amount), by William
and Durand in 1086.

' So also in Domesday.

* This is the amount assigned to Countess
Judith there in 1086.

* The only other holding at Welling-
borough entered in Domesday is i virgate held
of the bishop of Coutances.

® Entered in Domesday as I hide.

' These four hides were held of the
Ferrers' fee by Ralf in io86. Walter de
Mungomery held four knights' fees of the
Earl in 1166, but William seems to have
been his tenant in 1177.

* Held in demesne by the Count of Mor-
tain as 4 hides in 1086.

* Entered in Domesday as 2 hides and
2\ virgates appurtenant to Brixworth (which,
as has been seen above) had passed to Curcy.

'" Held by Hugh of the Countess Judith as
I hide and i\ virgates in 1086.
" Countess Judith's in 1086.

In (Earl's) Barton (are) 4 hides of the
fee of king David.**

HUNDRED OF ORLINGBERGE

In Orlingberge [Orlingbury] Fucher
Malesou[re]s i hide of the fee of Wahill.'*
There also i hide (and) a half of the fee of
William de Curcy."

In Wymale [Withmale] i hide (and) a
half and i virgate of the fee of Wahill'.'*

In Bateshasel Malesou[re]s [Ratsaddle
(Lodge)'*] half a hide of the fee of WahiU'.

In Hysham [Isham] Henry de Ysham
2 hides and the third part of i hide of the
fee of Daundeviir.'® There also Thomas
Pyel I hide (and) a half (and) 2 small
virgates and a half of the fee of Rameshe."'
There also Geoffrey 6 small virgates of the
fee of Huntingdon.'*

In Cranesle [Cransley] Hugh Kyde
I hide (and) a half and i bovate and a half

'^ See note below on Withmale.

" Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain 3 virgates in Orlingbury, which Fulcher
(? Malsor) held of him. But it also assigns
to him 3 virgates (held by Fulcher) in Pytch-
ley, which are not accounted for there below,
and may here be reckoned in Orlingbury.

'* Fulcher (Malsor) held of the lord of
Wahiir 2^ hides in ' Widmale ' according to
Domesday. This Survey shows us that, of
these, I hide was in Orlingbury and 1^ in
Withmale.

'* Between Pytchley and Hannington.

'* This holding must have been made up
of the 3 virgates which Walchelin held of
the bishop of Coutances there and the I hide
and 2^ virgates which Ralf held of Guy de
Reinbuedcurt there, in 1086, which would
amount together to 2 hides and i\ virgates.
In 24 Ed. I. Henry de Isham is found hold-
ing 1 1 hides here of Alexander ' Daunde-
wye,' who held of Latimer (heir, through
Foliot, of Reinbuedcurt). Thus ' Daunde-
viir ' was only a mesne tenant.

'^ This was the i hide and 2^ virgates
which Domesday charges Eustace (the sheriff)
with seizing from Ramsey Abbey, and which
the Abbey had now regained. See Ramsey
Cartulary, III. 55, 211, for Thomas Pyel's
tenure there.

'* Domesday assigns nothing there to
Countess Judith.

382

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

of the fee of Chok[es].' There also Ralf
Meschin 5 small virgates of the fee of Gey-
tington [Geddington].* There also John le
Bauld I great virgate. There also Foliot
2 hides (and) a half and i small virgate of
the fee of Huntingdon.^

In PvTESLE [Pytchley] the abbot of
(Peter)borough 5 hides (and) a half, but
(there are) nevertheless in the rolls of Win-
chester 6 hides and 3 small virgates.* There
also Richard Engayne 3 hides (and) I virgate.*
There also William Fitz Gery half a hide of
the fee of Mortoin.®

In Harudon [Harrowden] Reygold i hide
of the fee of William de Curcy. There also
Geoffrey 2 hides and [sic) one bovate less of
the fee of Huntingdon. There also Nicholas
de Cugeho i hide of the King's fee.'

In Ham'ton * [Hannington] (is) half a hide
of the fee of the earl of Leicester.^ There

as i^

hides by Gunfrei de Cioches

> Held
in 1086.

* 2 hides and I virgate there constituted a
member of Geddington in 1086. The above
tenant would be Ranulf Meschin, temp.
Henry I.

^ Only I hide is assigned by Domesday to
Countess Judith at Cransley. The Domes-
day total for Cransley is 4I hides, and that of
this Survey 4 hides, I great virgate, 6 small
virgates, and a bovate and a half. The hold-
ings seem to have been redistributed.

* Domesday (here termed ' the rolls of
Winchester ') assigns to the abbot at Pytchley,
in all, 6 hides and 3 virgates (not, as the Sur-
vey states, ' small ' virgates).

* Domesday assigns to William (Engaine)
only 2 hides there.

* Held as 3 virgates by the count of Mortain
in 1086. It will be observed that these two
holdings in Pytchley exceed the Domesday
assessment, while the Peterborough one is less.
The deficit of 1^ hides on the Peterborough
holding is exactly equal to the increase on
that of Richard Engayne.

'' Domesday assigns 2| hides in Harrowden
Magna and 2 J hides in Harrowden Parva to
the bishop of Coutances and I hide in Har-
rowden Magna to Guy de Reinbuedcurt.
This is a larger total than the above, and the
holdings had been redistributed.

* i.e. ' Hani[n]ton.'

' The count of Mortain's in Domesday.

also a hide and a half of the fee of king
David. i«

HUNDRED OF STOTFOLDE

In Maydewell [Maidwell] Alan 4 hides
and 2 small virgates of the fee of Wolrington'
[Wolverton]." There also Robate {sic) 2
hides of the fee of Rannulf de Bayouse
[Bayeux].'*

In Kevlmers [Kelmarsh] the same (holds)
half a hide of the fee of St. Edmund."
There also of the fee of No(t)tingham i hide
(and) a half and half a virgate.'* There also,
of the socage of Geytington' [Geddington], half
a hide and I small virgate." There also
Eudo Fitz Haschul' i hide and i small vir-
gate of the socage of Rowell [Roth well]. *^
There also Ad[am] 5 small virgates of the fee
of king David."

In Haselbech the bishop of Salisbury 2
hides of the fee of Berkamstede. There also
the earl of Leicester i hide of the fee of
Mor[tain].'*

In Clipston William Peverel 3 hides (and)
a half and i small virgate of the fee of
Peverel." There also Ad[am] half a hide
and three small virgates of the fee of king
David." There also, of the socage of Gey-

'" Only three virgates were held here by
Countess Judith in Domesday.

'' This is entered in Domesday as 4 hides
It was then held by Maino

and -I virgate

(the Breton) lord of Wolverton.

'^ This represents the Domesday holding of
Ansger the chaplain (if hides). The tenant
was ancestor of the family of Rabaz here.

" For all these holdings Domesday gives
nothing but 2 hides and a third of a virgate,
which formed, in 1086, a member of the
King's manor of Rothwell.

'* Held by William Peverel (of Notting-
ham) in 1086 as I hide and a half and a
third of a virgate.

" See note to this manor ('Esbece'] in
Domesday text (p. 323). The count of
Mortain held all 3 hides in 1086.

" Entered in Domesday as 3^ hides and
^ virgate. In the above entry the name of
the Domesday tenant-in-chief seems to be
retained, and the words 'of the fee of Peverel '
added.

" This is clearly the bishop of Coutances'
Domesday holding there, which is entered as
half a hide and ^ virgate.

383

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

tington [Geddington], 5 small virgates.' There
also Maurice 10 small virgates of the fee of
St. Edmund.* There also, of the socage of
Rowell [Rothwell] i small virgate.*

In SoLEBY [Sulby] (are) 5 hides and i vir-
gate of the fee of Westminster.'

In SiBERTOFT (are) 2 hides and a half and

2 thirds of a virgate of the fee of the King's
serjeanty.*

In Oxendon' (are) i hide and i virgate of
the socage of Rowell [Rothwell].* There
also I hide of the fee of king David.^

In Oxendon' Parva Robert Fitz-Hugh
I hide and three-quarters of a virgate of the
fee of Berkamstede.'' There also, of the
socage of Geytington [Geddington], 2 small
virgates. There also Turberd i small vir-
gate.

In Farendon' [East Farndon] i hide and
the fourth part of i virgate of the fee of
Huntingdon.* There also Robert Fitz Hugh

3 virgates and three-quarters of one small vir-
gate of the fee of St. Edmund.^ There also
William Meschin I small virgate of the
socage of Geytington [Geddington].

In BowDON [Bowdon Parva] Robert Fitz
Hugh 2 hides and I virgate and the third
part of I virgate of the fee of Berkamstede.'"

* Entered together, under Rothwell, in
Domesday as i^ (large) virgates.

^ Entered in Domesday as 2^ virgates.

^ At Sulby, in 1086, 25 hides and ^ virgate
were held by Guy de Reinbuedcurt and 25
hides by Geoffrey de Wirce.

* Held by Humfrey of the count of Mor-
tain, as 3 hides less a virgate, in 1086. The
above ' serjeanty ' was archer service, which
gave name to the family of Le Archer here.

* As in Domesday.

® Held by Ulf of the Countess Judith in
1086.

' Held by the count of Mortain as i hide
and ^ virgate in 1086.

* Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain 3^ virgates in Farndon, and to the
Countess Judith i virgate. King David's
holding (the fee of Huntingdon), appears to
combine these.

* Entered in Domesday as half a hide and
the third part of a virgate.

**• Held as such by the count of Mortain in
1086.

There also king David I hide and the third
part of I virgate and the third part of the
third part of i virgate.**

In Thorp [Thorpe Lubenham] the earl
of Leicester 4 great virgates and the third
part of a virgate.**

In M[er]ston [Marston Trussell] the same
earl I hide and a half and two-thirds of I vir-
gate which Osbert Trussel holds.'*

HUNDRED OF ROWELL

In Hetheringtone *' [Harrington] Wil-
liam Fitz Alvred (?) 6 hides.**

In Braybroke 2 hides of the socage of
Heth[er]ington.'* There also Guy the cook
I hide.'* There also Peverel the third part
of I hide.*^ There also Ivo 2 hides with the
addition (Implemento) of 2 virgates of the land
of Peverel and with half a virgate of the fee
of St. Edmund.**

In Aringworthe [Arthingworth] Robert
Fitz Hugh and William Fitz Albein (j/'f)

** This seems to be unaccounted for in
Domesday.

** Both these were held by the Earl's prede-
cessor, Hugh de ' Grentemaisnil,' in 1086,
their joint assessment then being 2 hides and
i^ virgates, and their tenant 'Hugh.' In
this Survey their total assessment is 2^ hides
and I virgate.

*' This early form of the name is found
also in a deed of 1278 concerning the manor
(Sloane MS. xxxii. 24).

'* See note to this place in Domesday text.
It was held in 1086 by the abbey of Grestain
as 5^ hides.

'* These 2 hides also were held by the
abbey of Grestain in 1086.

'" This was probably the I hide held there
by Robert de Veci in 1086.

" See next note.

** This holding appears to represent the

1 hide i^ virgates held there by Countess
Judith in 1086 with the addition, as above, of
2^ virgates, which would make it exactly

2 hides. No land at Braybrooke is assigned
to Peverel in Domesday, but Robert de Buci
held there half a hide and a third of a hide,
which are exactly the holdings here assigned
to Peverel. It would seem then that
Robert's escheated fiefs here had been granted
to Peverel. The half virgate of St. Edmund's
fee is duly assigned to that abbey in Domesday.

384

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

2 hides and two-thirds of i hide of the fee of
Berkamstede. There also Peter I virgate.*

In Rowell' [Rothwell] and in Overton
[Orton] and in Lodington Eudode HaschuU'
9 hides and I small virgate. In Lodington
William the constable 3 virgates, of which
Robert le Baud is tenant.^

In Deseburg' [Desborough] Norman and
Reg[inald] race {sic) 2 hides and two-thirds
of I hide.^

In PiPPEWELL Robert Fitz Hugh half a
hide and the third part of one hide. There
also William de Aubeny half a hide. Ac-
cording to {per) another roll i hide and three-
quarters of a hide.*

In RisTON [Rushton] Andrew 2 hides (and)
a half and the third part of a hide of the fee
of king David.* There also Robert Basset i
hide (and) a half and i small virgate of the
fee of William de Aubeny.® There also Viel
{Vitalii) Engayne two-thirds of a hide which
Viel {Vitalii) Lovet held {sic).'' There also

' The first holding represents the 2 hides
and i|- virgate (which is I virgate short) held
there by Humfrey of the count of Mortain in
1086. Domesday also assigns half a virgate
there to the Crown and the same amount to
St. Edmund's Abbey.

* This was an alienation of Crown demesne.
The King had held in Rothwell and Orton,
with their dependent estate at Loddington,
10 hides in 1086, and this total is practically
that of the holdings given above.

^ Desborough was much divided in 1086.
Ambrose held i^ hides of William Peverel,
Robert de Todeni half a hide, Alan a virgate
of the count of Mortain, and the Crown half
a virgate. Total 2^ hides.

* According to Domesday, Dodin held of
Walter the lord of Wahull half a hide in
Pipewell, and Humfrey of the count of Mor-
tain a third of a hide there. The remaining
holding was the half hide which ' Roger '
held of Robert de ' Todeni,' and which had
now come to the latter's successor, William
de Aubeny (' Brito ') of Belvoir. The ' other
roll ' and its entry cannot be explained ; but
this may imply that the total assessment is
elsewhere stated to be i| hides, not i^ hides.

* The same amount was held there of the
Countess Judith by Eustace in 1086.

« Held of Robert de ' Todeni ' by ' Hugh,'
as i^ hides, in 1086.

' This represents the half hide and the

Sigric {Siricius) Bucar' the sixth part of a hide.
There also, of the socage of Geytington
[Geddington], I small virgate and a half.*
Roger de Cranesle was {sic) the tenant.

In Bereford [Barford] (is) i hide of the
socage of Geytington [Geddington].*

In Clendon', of the same socage, half a
hide.'" There also Sigric {Siricius) Bucar'
half a hide and half a virgate of the fee of
William (Fitz) Alvred." There also Ralf
Normann' half a hide and half a virgate of
the socage of Rowell' [Rothwell].'*

In Thorp' [Thorpe Malsor] Fucher'
Malesoures i hide and the third part of a
hide of the fee of Avenel William {IViiri)}^

In another Thorp' [Thorpe Underwood r]
Hervey Belet two-thirds of i hide.

In Drayton' [Draughton] i hide and half
a virgate of the fee of Rowell' [Rothwell].'*
There also Corbet half a hide and three-
quarters of I virgate of the fee of king
David.'* There also William Durdent i
great virgate of the fee of Menfelyn of Wolf-
rington [Wolverton].'*

(waste) virgate which William (Engayne) held
of Robert de Buci there in 1086.

* The remaining holdings entered in
Domesday at Rushton are half a virgate ap-
purtenant to the King's manor of Barford (in
Rushton), and half a virgate held by the
Abbey of Grestain (see note '" below).

^ Entered as an independent manor in
Domesday.

'* Domesday enters half a hide and a third
of a hide here as appurtenant to the King's
manor of Rothwell. This Survey gives half
a hide and half a virgate as appurtenant to
Rothwell, and half a hide as appurtenant
to Geddington.

" Held by the abbey of Grestain as half a
hide and a third of a hide in 1086. This
proves that Sigric's holding in Rushton was
also that of the abbey of Grestain.

'* See note ' above.

'^ Held, as i hide and the third part of a
hide, of the count of Mortain by Fulcherus
in 1086. See note to ' Alidetorp ' in Domes-
day text (p. 327 above).

'* As in Domesday.

'* Held of the Countess Judith, as 2^ vir-
gates, in 1086.

'* Entered in Domesday as appurtenant to
Maidwell, one of Maine (of Wolverton's)
manors. Mainfelin was lord of Wolverton.

385

A HISTORY OF NORIHAMPTONSHIRE

HUNDRED OF STOKES

In Wilberdeston' [Wilbarston] and in
Stokes [Stoke Albany] William Daubcny 8
hides and i virgate.'

In Carleton [East Carlton], of the King's
socage, half a hide and I small virgate and a
half.' There also William Daubcny half a
hide and I small virgate and a half.' There
also Robert Fitz Hugh 3 great virgates and i
small virgate and a half.'

In Brampton', of the King's socage, i
hide.* There also Basset 2 hides.* There
also Ralf Fitz Eldewyn 4 hides less 2 small
virgates.*

In DiNGELE [Dingley] Alvr[ed] 2 hides
and I virgate.' There also Richard Basset i
hide (and) a half and i great virgate in his
demesne.*

In Sutton' [Sutton Basset] and Weston'
Richard Basset 6 hides.^

* Domesday assigns to Robert de 'Todeni'
(William D'Aubigny's predecessor) 3 hides in
Stoke and 3 hides and I virgate in Wilbarston.
But the total in this Survey possibly includes
the I hide at Stoke and 3 virgates at Wil-
barston, which had been held by the King in
1086 and which would bring up the total to
8 hides.

' Here is I hide and 3 ' small virgates ' in
Carlton apparently unaccounted for in Domes-
day. But Domesday assigns to Ralf Pa)'nel 2
hides in this Hundred, of which the locality is
not named.

' Held of the count of Mortain by Hum-
frey, 353 virgates, in 1086.

* This would seem to be the ' I hide ' that
Hugh held there of Robert de Buci in 1086.

^ This was certainly the '2 hides' that
Robert de Buci himself held there in 1086.

^ This entry is of special interest as giving
us, apparently, the name of the son of a Domes-
day under-tenant, 'Ildvinus,' who held 2
hides there of Robert de 'Todeni' in 1086.
The above total seems to include the I hide
less i^ bovates which 'Ildvinus' also held
of Robert in Dingley and the I hide belonging
to the Countess Judith at Brampton in 1086.

' Domesday assigns to the count of Mor-
tain there 1^ hides and 1^ bovates, and to
Countess Judith ^ hide and ' | of § hide,'
equal in all to 2 hides + ^ + y'^, which is close
to the above total.

» Held as § hide and ' f of § hide ' {i.e.
i^ hides in all) by Robert de Buci in 1086.

* Domesday assigns to Robert de Buci

In AssELE [Ashley] Ralf de Bcufo 2 hides
and 2 small virgates of the fee of Beuv[er].'*
There also Richard Basset 4 small virgates
which Guy de Wat[er]vill[e] held." There
also William Daubeny 7 small virgates.'"
There also Roger de Sprotton i hide of the
fee of king David." There also Berengar' I
hide less I small virgate which Guy de
Wat[er]vill[e] holds of Ralf de Beufo.'"

In CoTiNGHAM the abbot of (Peter)borough
7 hides.'*

In Banefeld [Benefield] i hide of the fee
(;;.).'*

In Rokingham i hide of the fee ("V).'*

HUNDRED OF COREBY

In Wakerle (are) 2 hides (and) a half of
the fee of Eudo Fitz Hubert.'*

In Haringworthe (are) 5 hides of the fee
of king David."

In Laxinton' [Laxton] and in Hvnewyk
[Henwick] Viel [Fitalis) Engayne i hide (and)
a half.'* There also Robert Fitz Hugh i
great virgate.

only 2§ hides in Weston and i§ hides in Sut-
ton. But the Countess Judith also held ^
hide at Sutton and \^ hides at Weston in
1086, which would give a total, in all, of 6|-
hides for the two places.

'" Domesday assigns to Robert 'de Todeni'
(' the fee of Beuver ') 3^ hides in all at Ashley.
Three hides were held of him by Geoffrey
and Walchelin and ^ hide by Wibert. These
three holdings are represented above by three
others, of which the total is 3 hides and 8
' small virgates.'

" Robert de Buci had held in all one hide
there in 1086.

" Domesday assigns only ^ hide to Countess
Judith at Ashley. Thus the total Domes-
day assessment is 4f hides, while in this
Survey it is 4 hides and 12 'small virgates.'

'^ So in Domesday.

'* Not Benefield in Huxlow Hundred.
It is now a farm south of Rockingham. It
is not mentioned in Domesday (compare note '
above on Carlton).

'* The King's in Domesday.

'* Assigned to him in Domesday.

" Countess Judith's in Domesday.

'* Held by William (Engayne) in 1086.

386

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In Blatherwyk Robert Fitz Hugh and
Richard Dengayne 2 hides.'

In BoLEWYK [Bulwick] are 2 hides.

In Henewvk [Henwick] Viel [Fitalis)
Lovet half a hide.

In Deen [Dene] Ralf Fitz Nigel 2 hides
(and) a half of the fee of Westm[inster].*

In Neweton' and in Acle [Oakley] 2
hides (and) a half of the fee of king David.^
There also William de Houton ' l hide (and)
a half and i great virgate of the fee of king

In Little Acle [Oakley] William Fitz
Alvr[ed] 3 virgates of the fee of Montacute
(^Montis acuti).

In Geytinton [Geddington] the King i
hide and i great virgate.* There also i hide
and I great virgate of the fee of St. Ed-
mond.*

In Wycle [Weekley] 2 hides and a half
of the fee of the count de Warren' de Mor-
teyn ® {sic).

In Boketon' [Boughton] i half {sic) of the
fee of St. Edmund.'

' Held of Robert de Buci by ' Norman '
in io86. His under-tenants were ' Hugh '
(father of Robert Fitz Hugh ?) and William
(Engayne ?).

* They are assigned to Westminster Abbey
in Domesday.

' Domesday assigns to Countess Judith 6
virgates and li bovates in Newton and i|
hides and i virgate in Oakley, which would
give a total of 3-j^ hides for the two. The
holdings of this fee above amount to i^\ hides.
But Domesday also assigns to Gunfrei de
' Cioches ' there 3 virgates and 1 4- bovates,
which would raise the total to the same
amount as in this Survey.

* A ' member ' of Brigstock, as i hide, in
Domesday.

* So also in Domesday.

* This interesting combination points to
1150-1160. Asa Crown manor in 1086, it
must have been alienated by Henry I. to
Stephen or by Stephen to his son William
(earl de Warcnnc and count of Mortain). It
is certain from the Pipe Roll of 11 30 that
Stephen, then count of Mortain, had been
given land in the county before that date.

' 'dim' may be an error for * hid,' as
St. Edmund held one hide there in 1086.

In KiRKEBY I virgate of the fee of Humfrey

de Bassingburn.*

In Stanerne [Stanion] i virgate (and) a
half of the socage of Bristok'.*

In CoREBY and in Gretton and in Brix-
STOKE [Brigstock] are 10 hides.*"

HUNDRED OF WYLEBROK

In Lodington' [Lutton] Ralf Fitz William
2 hides and a half of the fee of (Peter)borough."
There also the abbot of Ramsey half a hide.'*

In Aylington [Elton], of the socage of
(Peter)borough, I hide and a half There
also William Fitz Ketelber[n] half a hide of
the fee of Rameseye.'^

In Wermington' [Warmington] the abbot
of (Peter)borough i hide."

In Elmenton' [Elmington] the abbot of
Croylaund i hide.'*

In Tanesouere [Tansor] Hacuil de Sancto
Jacobo 5 hides and the third part of I hide.'*
There also Salomon two-thirds of i hide of
the fee of the earl of Warewyk."

* Held by Richard (de Engaine) in 1086.

^ Similarly appurtenant to Brigstock in
1086.

'" Domesday assigns to the King's manors of
Gretton, Corby, and Brigstock 3I hides, i|
hides, and 3^ hides respectively, making 8|
hides in all.

" Ralf was, apparently, son of that William
who held these 2^ hides of Peterborough
Abbey in 1086.

" So also in Domesday.

" Domesday assigns to Peterborough Abbey
\\ hides, and to Ramsey Abbey i hide in
* Adelintone,' which I identify as Elton. (See
note on p. 313.)

'* This is the ' i hide ' in Warmington of
which Domesday expressly says that it ' be-
lonsis to Walebroc ' [Willibrook Hundred].
It was held of the Abbey by '2 knights' in
1086 (see p. 315).

'* So also in Domesday.

'^ Crown demesne in Domesday as 6 hides.
Hasculf de St. James (-sur-Beuvron) had thus
secured 5^ hides of these. See Introduction
to this Survey (p. 362) for Hasculf.

" The earl of Warwick (doubtless the

supporter of Henry I.) had secured the rest

.^87

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

In SoTHEWYK [Southwick] with Yare-
WELL [Yarwell] William de Lisurs i hide.

In FoDRENGEVE [Fotheringhay] (are) 6 hides
of the fee of king David.'

In CoTHERSTOKE [Cotterstock] Richard
Fitz Hugh I hide (and) a half of the fee of
(Peter)borough.* There also Roger Infans i
hide (and) a half of the same fee.'

In Neweton' [Wood Newton] Robert de
Cerneya 3 hides of the fee of Marmiun.*

In EsTON [Easton] Simon de Lindon 2
hides.*

In Weston [Colly Weston] William Fitz
Herewyn '' 2 hides.

In Nassington 6 hides.

In Glapthorn Geoffrey de Normanvill[e]
I hide (and) a half. There also Ridel and
Hugh half a hide and I virgate. There also
Fulc de Lisurs 3 quarters of I hide.''

In Apethorp' [Apthorpe] (are) 2 hides.*

of Tansor, which was probably what appears
afterwards as his land in Southwick.
' Countess Judith's in 1086.

* Domesday assigns to Peterborough Abbey
3 hides at Cotterstock, held of it by '2
knights.' Here the holdings and names of
the knights are given.

' He is found complaining of its loss in
Chronicon Petroburgense, p. l6g.

* This is an important entry, for it proves
that the 3 hides held of Eustace (the sheriff)
by Rainald, in Domesday, were at Wood
Newton in Willibrook Hundred, and not, as
Mr. Stuart Moore makes them, at Newton in
Corby Hundred (see p. 349 above).

* Domesday assigns the same amount to
Easton (in Willibrook Hundred), but i\ hides
were then held by RoUand of Eudo Fitz
Hubert and ^ hide had been given by Gilbert
de Gand to St. Pierre-sur-Dives.

^ Here again we obtain the name of a
Domesday under-tenant's son, for these 2 hides
had been held of Ralf de Limesi by Herluinus
in 1086.

' So far as is known, there is no mention
in Domesday of Glapthorne.

* Entered in Domesday as the King's (at
' Patorp ').

In Clyva [King's Cliff] 1 hide (and) a
half and half a virgate.^

In DoDiNGTON [Duddington] (is) i hide.'

HUNDRED OF SUTHNAVESLUNT

Irtlingburg' [Irthlingborough] 5 hides
(and) a half and i small virgate of the fee
of (Peter)borough.'** There also Reginald de
la Bataille 3 hides (and) a half of the same
fee. There also Simon Basset i hide (of)
Avenel of the fee of (Peter)borough."

In Adington' [Addington Parva] Richard
Fitz Hugh 3 hides (and) a half of the fee of
(Peter)borough.'^ There also William brother
[rectius son) of Guy half a virgate of the fee
of Croylaund.^' There also William de
Huntingdon' i hide and I virgate (and) a
half of the fee of Gloucester.'*

In WoDEFORD [Woodford] are 8 hides
(and) half a virgate of the fee of (Peter)-
borough. There also Guy Treylli i hide
(and) a half of the fee of (Peter)borough.**
There also Reginald de la Bataille half a
virgate. There also William de Houton'
half a hide."'

' Both held for the same amounts by the
King in 1086.

*" The Abbey had 5 hides and i virgate in
demesne there in 1086.

" Domesday enters 5 hides less i virgate as
held of the Abbey there by 4 knights in 1086.
Thus the total in this Survey, as in Domesday,
is practically 10 hides. Simon Basset had
married one of the two daus. and cohs. of
William Avenel, who held one knight's fee of
the Abbey here temp. Hen. II.

*^ As 3 hides were held there of the Abbey
by 'Hugh' in 1086, this entry would seem
to give us the name of his son, Richard.

" Domesday assigns nothing to the Abbey
in Addington Parva.

** This must be the I hide and I virgate
which Osmund held there of the bishop of
Coutances in 1086. It had evidently been
bestowed on the first earl of Gloucester or his
father-in-law.

'* Domesday assigns to the Abbey there
only 7 hides, held by Roger (Maufe), and 3
virgates held by 3 tenants.

'^ These two holdings seem to represent
the I hide and I virgate held of the bishop of
Coutances by 'Ralf in 1086. Thus the
total assessment of Woodford would be 9
hides in Domesday and lO;^ hides in this
Survey, which suggests some error.

388

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

In another Adington' [Addington Magna]
Aubrey the chamberlain 2 hides of the
King's fee.' There also (is) i hide of the
fee of the Abbot (of Peterborough).^ There
also William son of Guy 2 hides of the fee of
the abbot of Croylaund.^

In Thingdene [Finedon], of the King's
demesne, lo hides.*

NORTHNAVESLUNT

In Craneford' Bertram de Verdon
('Wedon') 2 hides and I virgate (and) a half
of the fee of (Peter)borough. There also
Geoffrey the chamberlain 1 hide of the fee
of Gloucester. There also Richard Fitz Guy
1 hide of the fee of (Peter)borough. There
also Maurice Daundelyn 2 hides (and) a half
of the fee of (Peter)borough.* There also
Ralf Fitz Roger 5 hides of Simon Fitz Peter.®

' Held, as i^ hides, of the bishop of
Coutances by 'Hugh' in 1086. It must have
been granted by Henry I. to Aubrey (de Vere).

^ Not entered, it would seem, in Domes-
day.

^ Domesday assigns 2 hides there to Crow-
land Abbey.

* Domesday assigns only 9^ hides to that
portion of this great manor that lay in this
Hundred.

^ These holdings are difficult to identify.
Domesday assigns to the Abbey, at Cranford,
3 hides which were held of it by ' Robert '
and l^ hides which are entered as held by
Godric of the King. These holdings would
seem to be represented by the 2| hides of
Bertram and the 2i hides of Maurice, which
amount to 4J hides as against 4^. Richard
Fitz Guy was son of Guy de Reinbuedcurt,
who held 3 virgates there in 1086, but of the
King, not of the Abbey. The 1 hide of the
fee of Gloucester seems to represent the ' i
virgate ' which ' Robert ' held there of the
bishop of Coutances in 1086. It is certain, at
any rate, that the Daundelyns subsequently
held here 1 5 knights' fees of the abbey of
Peterborough, which were in Cranford St.
Andrew.

•^ Sheriff of Northants 11 55-1 160 and
1 1 63-1 1 70. He seems to have been son of

In Barton [Barton Segrave] Geoffrey the
chamberlain 5 hides of the fee of Gloucester.^

In Werketon [Warkton] are 4 hides of
the fee of St. Edmund.'

In Ket[er]inge (are) 10 hides of the fee
of (Peter)borough.^

In Grafton [Grafton Underwood] Richard
de Humaz 4 hides."*

In Burtone [Burton Latimer] Richard
Fitz Guy 8 hides (and) a half." There also
William de Houton i hide (and) a half.*^

Peter de Brixworth and father of Simon Fitz
Simon (Bridges, I. 453, 501), who occurs in
this Survey under Brixworth {i/>id. II. 80).

Mr. Baring has suggested to me that these
hides at Cranford, which cannot be identified
in Domesday, may have been taken from
some other Hundred since 1086 and added to
* Naveslunt.' In that case, he points out that
the Domesday 5 hides at Denford, not far off,
are not satisfactorily accounted for in this
Survey (see p. 376 above).

^ This had been held, as 4^ hides, of the
bishop of Coutances by 'Robert' in 1086.
It seems possible that the above tenant
was Geoffrey the chamberlain * de Clin-
ton ' (as he is sometimes styled), for in the
Lilxr Rubeus (though not indexed) ' Guefridus
de Clintune' appears, in 1 1 66, as having
formerly held 5 knights' fees of the Earl of
Gloucester (p. 289).

* Entered as 3^ hides in Domesday.

^ So also in Domesday.
'° Robert ' Albus ' had held 3 hides there,
and Eustace (the sheriff) ^ hide in 1086.
Both holdings must have been bestowed on
Richard du Hommet ('de Humaz'), Constable
to Henry II.

" Held in 1086 by his father Guy de
Reinbuedcurt.

'^ This must be the hide and a half held
of the bishop of Coutances by ' Richard ' in
1086. But Domesday seems to assign to the
Bishop another 2J hides there which are not
here accounted for.

389

THE KNIGHTS OF PETERBOROUGH

In the introduction to the Domesday Survey mention will be found
of the foreign knights brought with him and enfeoffed by Abbot Turold,
to whose holdings in the shire Domesday Book devotes a special
section.' We have not, unfortunately, in the case of Peterborough, the
usual detailed return of knights in 1166, but there are several distinct
lists of the Abbey's knights and their holdings, with which the historians
of Northamptonshire were not fully acquainted, and which more than
enable us to supply the lack of the above return. The earliest of these
is (A) that which is found in the Peterborough Liber Niger," and which
must belong to the first half of the reign of Henry I.' Next in order of
date is (B) the bull of Pope Eugenius (i 146), confirming to the Abbey
its possessions and naming all the knights' fees comprised in them/
Third is (C) a list belonging apparently to the last quarter of the 12th
century, and relating only to Northamptonshire." Fourth is (D) a full
return, apparently drawn up in 121 2, and doubtless intended as a substi-
tute at the Exchequer for the missing carta of 1166.* Lastly, Hugh
' Candidus ' gives us, in his history of the Abbey, the state of the fiefs
under Henry III., and their several descents.' In few, if any, cases
have we such a wealth of material for tracing the descent of fiefs at so
early a period ; for we have not only the names of the tenants, but the
extent of their holdings and the locality of their fiefs.®

As an example of the precision which we are thus enabled to
attain, we may take the Thornhaugh fief, held, in 1086 and under
Henry I., by Anschitel de St. Medard, and extending over Wittering,
Thornhaugh, Siberton and Etton, with part of Walmesford.* From
this fief there were due to the Abbey 4J- knights, and from Ansgotby, in
Lincolnshire (which belonged to it), i|, making in all 6 knights. This
estate, descended, as a whole, through heiresses to the Russells, gave to
Lord Russell ' of Thornhaugh,' the name of his barony, and is held by
his descendant the duke of Bedford, who thus inherits it from the days
of the Conqueror and of Abbot Turold.'"

From the ' Torpel ' (in Ufford) fief also there were due 6 knights.
Roger ' Infans,' its first holder, held 2| hides of the Abbot in Pilton,
but his full fief of 12 hides included lands in Maxey and Ufford, north

' 'Terra hominum ejus.lem ecclesie ' (pp. 314-17 above).
^ Society of Jntiquaries' MS. 6o.

* See Feudal England, p. 157. It was printed by Stapleton in Chronicon Petroburgense,
pp. 168-175.

* It is given by Hugh 'Candidus,' and printed in Sparke's Scriptores, pp. 80-81.

* It is found at the end of the Northamptonshire Survey in Cotton MS. Vesp. E. xxii.,
and has not been printed.

® It is printed in Liber Rubeus de Scaccario, pp. 618-19.
' See Sparke (as above), pp. 53-63.

* It will be convenient to refer to the above lists of fees under the letters (A, B, C, D)
assigned to them in the text.

" See p. 315 above. "* See Bridges, II. 595-7, for the descent.

3QO

THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SURVEY

west of Peterborough, and others in Cotterstock and Glapthorne. His
descendants took the name of Torpel, and their successors the family of
Camois held the fief, with Torpel as its head, by the same service of the
Abbey.

When the Abbot's sixty knights were summoned forth to war,
there w^as needed an officer to take command, as the Abbot could not do
so himself. The accident of a claim being made and admitted in 1294
reveals the fact that Abbot John, who died in 1 1 25, bestowed this post, as
that of hereditary constable of the Abbey, on Ralf De la Mare and his
heirs. As the charter by which he did so is witnessed by Robert abbot of
Thorney, it cannot, in any case, be earlier than 1113.^ The office is said
to have been appendant to the family's holding at Maxey,* but Ralf held
in all 2I hides in Northamptonshire and 2| carucates in Lincolnshire, for
which fief he owed the service of three knights.' Hugh ' Candidus '
identifies his holding in the former shire as at Maxey, Northborough,
and Woodcroft, and his Lincolnshire estate as at Thurlby. From the C
list we learn that his ' service ' was equally divided, one knight and a
half being due from his lands in Northamptonshire.* Geoffrey De la
Mare, the tenant in this last list, was succeeded by Brian, the tenant in
I 21 2,' and Brian's son Geoffrey® was father of Peter and grandfather of
Geoffrey De la Mare, the claimant in 1294.' His claim contains an
interesting recital of the duties appurtenant to his office. It was he
who had to summon the Abbot's tenants by knight-service, to ' distrain '
them if they failed to appear, to lead the knights, when assembled, to
the King, to marshal them ' as constable ' while on service, whether on
guard at Rockingham Castle or elsewhere, a representative of the Abbot
accompanying him to pay all expenses. It was he also, he claimed,
who ought to guard the Abbey on the day of a new abbot's installation,
to serve him with his first dish, and to have, for his perquisite, all the
vessels of silver and gold from which the Abbot himself should, that day,
be served. Two robes a year he claimed as his due from the Abbot,
keep ' within the Abbey ' for his charger and its groom, and hospitality
for himself, when he came there, ' with three esquires, five horses, five
grooms, and two greyhounds.' *

All these details help to illustrate the feudal side of a great abbey
holding its wide estates by military service of the Crown. The De la
Mare fief, with which we have been dealing, cannot be traced up to
Domesday, but that of the Watervilles of Thorp Waterville can be
shown to have had its origin in the days of the first William. ' Aze-
linus ' is found in Domesday Book holding of the Abbot at Achurch
and Tichmarsh, and thirty years later we find in the A list ' Ascelinus

* It is printed in Chronicon Petroburgense, p. 130.

' Ibid. p. 132. ' Ibid. p. 169.

* This is confirmed by the fact that, in I 21 2, Thurlby (the Lincolnshire portion) was
similarly held by that of li knights {Liber Ruheus, p. 522).

* Liber Rubeus, p. 618. " Hugh 'Candidus,' p. 54.

' Chronicon Petroburgense, pp. 73, 132. * Ibid. pp. 1 3 1-2.

391

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

de Waltervilla ' holding 13^ hides of the Abbot in Northamptonshire,
though he owed for this no more than the service of three knights, the
same quota as De la Mare. Hugh ' Candidus ' enables us to learn that
this holding included lands at Marholm, Clapton and Thorpe Water-
ville, as well as at Achurch and Tichmarsh. This family contributed an
abbot to Peterborough (1155-1175) and continued in the male line till
1287, when the 'Marholm' fief passed to Robert de Vere, maternal
grandson of Reginald de Waterville. Dallington, again, is an interesting
fief. In Domesday its four hides are held by ' Richard ' of the Abbot ;
in A, thirty years later, it is held by Robert Fitz Richard, who owes for
it two knights ; in B (1146) it is the fief of Robert Frehlle (?) ; in C
it is that of ' Almaricus ' Despencer ; in D (12 12) it is that of Geoffrey
de Lucy, but its service has now dropped to one knight, for (says Hugh
' Candidus') Geoffrey has kept back the other since the days of Abbot
Benedict (i 177- 1 194). The Abbot and the then holder of the fief
actually fought the question out in the ' Parliament ' of 1275, and the
service was fixed at one knight.'

One particularly noticeable point about the knights of Peter-
borough is the small number of hides that went to the knight's fee.
The information here at our disposal enables us to speak positively, and
to produce figures strangely at variance with the widespread belief that
a knight's fee normally consisted of five hides,^ or, as some say, of four."
In Northamptonshire ^^ knights were due from the lOj^ hides of
Anschetil de St. Medard, 3 from the 13^ hides of Ascelin de Water-
ville, 3 from the 8 hides of Geoffrey ' the Abbot's nephew,' 3 from the
yf hides of Richard Fitz Hugh, i| from the De la Mares' 2| hides, i
from the 2 hides of Richard Engaine, i from the i^ hides of Walo de
Pastone, 2 from the 5I hides of Roger Malfe, 2 from the 4 hides at
Dallington, 2 from 3 hides at Sutton, 2 from 2^ hides at Castor, and so
on. Not only are the majority of these fees extremely small in hidage ;
they also, it will be seen, differ widely in hidage among themselves.
This is a point of very great institutional importance in view of the
belief frequently met with, and so recently upheld, that a knight's fee
consisted of a certain number of hides, and that the system of military
service under the Norman kings was thus connected with that which
prevailed in the days before the Conquest.*

* Chronkan Petroburgense, p. 22.
^ Oman's History of the Art of War, p. 360.
^ Red Book of the Exchequer, pp. clxi.-clxiv.

■* See further, on this point, Feudal England, pp. 232—4 ; Studies on the Red Book of the
Exchequer, pp. I2— 16 ; The Commune of London and other Studies, pp. 57-8.

392

MONUMENTAL
EFFIGIES

THE monumental effigies of Northamptonshire are conspicuous
and worthy items in the history of a well-favoured and historic
county. They comprise a remarkable collection of memorials,
not only of knights who took part in stirring times of English
medieval history, but of men who were conspicuous politically, legally
and socially in the spacious days of Elizabeth. In addition to these are
the striking abbatical figures at Peterborough, and the large proportion
of forty-four effigies of ladies out of a total of a hundred and eighteen
monumental effigies to be found in the county.

It may be premised that the figures of knights, civilians and ladies
exhibit as good consecutive examples of changes in armour, habits and
dress as may be expected from the materials used by the sculptors ; that
as much attention was paid to detail as the nature of the different stones
employed allowed ; and that the likenesses were as good as the occasion
of the production of the different memorials would permit.

The effigies, exclusive of two early abbots at Peterborough, run
with a fairly even average intervention of only a few years between each
example, from the middle of the thirteenth to about the end of the
seventeenth century, and it will be convenient to consider each example
with reference to the armour or costume exhibited, the public or
personal history of each individual being naturally dealt with in another
section of the history. These memorials are divided into two parts and
taken in chronological order, and it should be stated that their dates
have been considered as coinciding with the deaths of the individuals
commemorated unless otherwise expressed.

Part I. comprises the monuments of the Gothic period proper. In
Part II., after treating of certain memorials of the time of the Early
Renaissance, and touching upon the effigies in legal costume, the
remaining figures in the county are dealt with in the more or less
modified manner that their gradually waning artistic or antiquarian
interest and other considerations suggest.

393

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

PART I '
GOTHIC PERIOD

Abbot Benedict. Died 1193. Peter-
borough Cathedral.

The effigy lies north and south, upon a
modern tomb, in the retro-choir at the back
of the high altar. The figure is sculptured
in rather low relief in polished grey marble,
and represented bareheaded, with the tonsure,
and the face closely shaved. It is shown
habited in an alb, a chasuble, with the orphrey
attached to it in front, and taking the form of
the archiepiscopal pall. Below the chasuble
the ends of the stole appear. Round the neck
is apparently the amice, but as there is no
indication of any turning over, or of the apparel,
the collar of the chasuble may be intended.
The pastoral staff is held diagonally across the
body, in the right hand ; it has a simple crook
curved outward. The ferule of the staff is
thrust into the jaws of a double-headed and
winged dragon, perhaps in allusion to that
verse of the Psalms : ' Thou shalt tread upon
the lion and adder : the young lion and the
dragon shalt thou trample under feet.' The
left hand holds a clasped book of the Gospels.

Over the head of the figure is a semicircular
trefoil canopy, surmounted by a rude repre-
sentation of a Norman building such as are
found in illuminated MSS. and on seals of this
period.

Abbot Benedict ruled the monastery from
1 177 until his death in 1193. The figure is
sculptured upon a slab narrowing to the feet
which, according to the practice of this early
period, formed the external lid of the coffin
placed level with the pavement.

Abbot Robert de Lyndeseye. Died
1222. Peterborough Cathedral.

The effigy is placed second from the west
end of the south aisle of the choir. It is
carved in polished Purbeck marble. The
head rests upon a pillow placed lozenge-wise.
The whole of the face has been destroyed,
but from its general form it appears to have
been bearded.

The abbot is represented bareheaded, with
the tonsure, he has the amice about his neck,
and is vested in the alb, stole and chasuble.
A pastoral staff has been held in the right
hand and the left holds the Gospels. Above
the figure is a semicircular trefoil canopy
supported upon sculptured capitals.

The slab upon which the effigy is carved

' The following section is based upon An Account
of the Recumbent Monumental Effigies in Noitkamfilon-
shire, by the writer (1866-76), which is not
within easy reach of the public.

narrows quickly to the feet and takes the
shape of a coffin-lid, and must originally have
been placed level with the ground and used
for that purpose.

' ViRGiLius.' Died 1228. Castor.

This is the demi-effigy of a tonsured eccle-
siastic, vested apparently in the amice and
chasuble, and sculptured in rather an unusual
manner upon a coffin-lid of Barnack stone
'en dos d' ane.' It is probably intended to
represent ' Virgilius Persona seu Rector ' who
was presented to the church by the abbot and
convent of Peterborough, and whose death is
recorded to have taken place in 1228.

Abbot Walter de St. Edmund. Died
1245. Peterborough Cathedral.

In chronological order this is the third of
the abbatical effigies. It lies in the south aisle
of the choir third from the west end, and is
sculptured upon a coffin-shaped slab of grey
marble originally polished. The abbot is
shown bareheaded, with the tonsure, and
wearing a short beard, arranged, like the hair,
in small curls. The forehead is lined with
furrows and the figure is evidently that of an
aged man. He is vested in the alb, with an
ornamented parure or apparel at the feet ; a
tunic, or it may be the dalmatic, and the
chasuble from which there is a very curious
and unusual pendent ornament, probably a
weight to keep this garment in place. There
is no stole visible, and over the left wrist is a
very long and narrow maniple. The amice
appears about the neck, in the right hand is a
pastoral staff with the simple crook turned
inwards, and in the left the book of the
Gospels. The feet rest upon a winged dragon
into whose jaws the end of the staff is thrust.
Over the head of the figure rises a pointed
cinquefoiled canopy, springing from shafts
with sculptured capitals and moulded bases,
and surmounted by a representation of a
building with towers and three-light windows.

Sir Robert de Vere. Died 1249. Sud-
borough.

This memorial finds its place in the midst
of the period during which military effigies
had their rise. The figure of an illustrious
soldier is presented fully clad in armour of the
fashion that had its development in the latter
part of the twelfth century, from the military
habits of the companions and soldiers of the
Conqueror, and was rapidly perfected, though
practically the same defence in 1250.

Sir Robert de Vere was famous in arms, a

394

(.,.,,1 . ^ JSii.

look- ThT

Abbot John de Caleto. Died 1262.
Peterborough Cathedral.

Sir David de Esseby. Died before 1268.
Castle Ash by.

To face page 395.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

real crusader, the only representative in the
county of the romantic expeditions to Pales-
tine. Not to signalize a holy voyage, but in
compliance with a conventionality of English
sculptors then just coming into fashion, and
which endured for rather more than a hundred
years — he is shown in his freestone effigy with
his legs crossed. De Vere is represented in a
complete suit of mail — a true hring-gar — con-
sisting of a hood continuous with the hauberk,
and confined round the forehead by a band,
and having a flapped opening fastened up with
a thong over the left ear, to enable the head
to be passed through the constricted neck of
the hauberk into its hood, after the usual
early manner. The hauberk is long, reach-
ing to the knees, the mail chausses being
steadied by straps below them. Over all is a
long surcote confined round the waist by a
cingulum in connection with which at the back
is the transverse sword-belt checked at intervals
for the buckle tongue, as with some examples
in the Temple church, in the effigy of De
L'Isle at Stowe-nine-Churches, and in that
of De Goldingham at Rushton. The attach-
ment of the sword-belt to the cingulum pre-
vented the former from slipping over the hips.
De Vere wears a shield suspended on the left
arm after the English fashion ; the feet resting
on an animal are armed with prick spurs, and
the head is supported by a single pillow. A
noticeable feature is the long surcote in whose
voluminous folds men dismounted on the
field were frequently apt to get their legs
entangled, and thus fell an easy prey to the
enemy. The effigy lies upon a plain tomb
under a low richly-moulded coeval arch.

Sir Robert de Vere was the second son of
Sir Henry, constable of Gisors, a nephew of
Aubrey, first Earl of Oxford. Matthew Paris
says that his posthumous fame was very great,
that his exploits became the themes for min-
strels and were quoted as signal examples of
martial bravery.

Abbot John de Caleto. Died 1262.
Peterborough Cathedral.

The fourth abbatical effigy in respect of
age is that which is now disposed the first to
the west in the south aisle of the choir, under
a low Norman arch which it does not fit. It
is carved in bold relief upon a coffin-shaped
slab of polished Purbeck marble. The abbot
is represented bare-headed, with the tonsure,
and with the face closely shaven. He is
vested in the alb, with a richly ornamented
parure or app.irel at the feet, a stole, a tunic
or dalmatic, and a heater-shaped chasuble.
This latter vestment is embroidered with
foliage on the front, and has an orphrey

straight down it, with a small square rationale.
The amice, like a hood, partially covers the
head which rests upon sculptured foliage, and
is supported on either side by the mutilated
remains of angels who grasp the abbot by the
ears 1 The right hand and upper part of the
pastoral staff are gone ; the left holds the
clasped book of the Gospels. The feet press
upon a very vigorous winged dragon who
receives the ferule of the pastoral staff in its
mouth ; the tail terminates in foliage.

Abbot de Caleto conducted the Benedictine
house at Peterborough from 1249 ^° 1262.

Sir David de Esseby. Died before 1268.
Castle Ashby.

In chronological sequence now follows the
cross-legged effigy of the distinguished warrior
Sir David de Esseby. He is represented in a
full suit of mail, beautifully sculptured, link
by link,"^ and differing only from that worn
by De Vere in having the hood distinct from
the hauberk, a convenient improvement that
had lately been introduced. The shape of
the head implies a cerveliere or skull-cap of iron
or padded material under the hood. The
surcoat, which retains slight traces of red
colour, is somewhat scanty and short in the
skirts, as it was frequently worn at this period.
The figure, which no doubt dates from soon
after the battle of Evesham in 1265, has
much interest as giving an accurate picture of
the military dress of that fateful era. It is
in wonderful preservation, polished through-
out, and is sculptured on a slab of Purbeck,
narrowing rapidly to the feet, and taking the
form of a stone coffin of the time, and of
which it probably once formed the lid.

1 During the last years of the thirteenth century,
as the demand for military effigies rapidly in-
creased, it became apparent that life-size statues
with the mail laboriously carved link by link in
Purbeck, Sussex or Forest marble, firestone, and
various so-called ' freestones,' must give way to the
easier process of working out the details of the
armour and other decorative parts on a gesso sur-
face, by the use either of tools or stamps, and
finishing with gilding or colour. With the ex-
pansion of this particular art there was less likeli-
hood of portraits being produced, because such
advanced technical work can only have been
carried on — as with the Purbeck effigies — in good
artistic ateliers with full appliances, and necessarily
without much reference to individual portraiture,
armorial bearings or small personal details being
added to conventional statues according to special
directions. The minute information necessar)- for
the appreciation of points such as these can only
be laboriously acquired by measuring and drawing
to scale and comparing monumental effigies in
divers parts of the country.

395

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Sir Gerard de L'Isle. Died about 1287.
Stowe-ninc-Churches.

The Purbeck effigy of Sir Gerard de L'Isle,
executed in a truly grand style, is one of the
finest of its period in the kingdom. The life-
less attitude of the figure, cross-legged and
with the right hand upon the breast, and the
rare feature of closed eyes, is admirably ex-
pressed in an intractable material, the flowing
folds of the surcote, the details of the mail
hood, the long hauberk and the chausses being
executed with freedom and careful precision.
It is apparent that a subsidiary defence was
worn on the head under the mail hood, which
is tightened round the temples by an unusu-
ally wide fillet. The sword-belt, gigue and
cingulum are barred at intervals for the buckle
tongues, after the fashion of early effigies, the
sword being worn so far behind that the man
lies upon it, the chape only being visible,
indicating that the use of the weapon was
over. The peculiarity of closed eyes and the
unusual position of the sword occur again in
one of the outer figures in Purbeck marble
(unappropriated) on the north side of the
Round in the Temple church. Prick spurs
are worn, and the effigy is of an earlier time
than the assumed date of the death of De
L'Isle — 1287. This seems to bear out the
view that it was one of a sculptor's stock,
made some years before. The slab narrows
to the feet and was evidently made with the
view of forming the lid of a coffin to be
placed level with the pavement.

Abbot Richard de London. Died 1295.
Peterborough Cathedral.

The fifth abbatical effigy in order of time
lies fourth from the west end in the south
aisle of the choir. It is executed in full relief
upon a greatly mutilated slab of polished Pur-
beck marble, and represents an aged man,
bearded, bare-headed and with the tonsure.
The hair is conventionalized in a series of
small curls, the cheeks are sunk and the upper
lip has the remains of a moustache. The
figure is habited in an alb, stole and chasuble,
and about the neck is worn the amice. The
pastoral staff, now broken away, was supported
at the lower end by foliage. The mutilated
left hand carries the Gospels. Over the head
is a pointed trefoil canopy enriched above
with freely designed Early English foliage,
now much abraded. The extremity of the
right foot is broken away and the whole of
the left. The effigy reposes upon a Purbeck
marble tomb to which it does not appear to
belong, indeed the heavy quatrefoiled panels
which support the figure on the north side
are of a later date. The panel at the west

end of the tomb is filled in with good Early
English foliage, and may possibly have formed
part of the original monument.

Sir Nicholas de Cogenhoe. Died 1280.
Cogenhoe.

The freestone cross-legged effigy of Sir
Nicholas de Cogenhoe lies upon a plain
coeval stone tomb, and the mail-clad figure
shows a slight advance in the more capacious
hood, the short surcote, and the small size
of the shield and its sculptured arms. The
head is still supported upon square and
lozengy pillows, in this case the lozenge
being below, and the coffin-lid shape of the
slab has nearly vanished. *

De Cogenhoe built the nave and aisles of
the very interesting and beautiful church of
Cogenhoe, his arms occurring four times with
four other coats upon the capitals of the piers
of the arcade — very rare features for that
period.

Sir John de Verdon. Died 1296. Brix-
worth.

The mutilated and abraded cross-legged
effigy in Barnack rag of Sir John de Verdon,
in the historic church of Brixworth, was dis-
covered about 1868 built into an arched recess
in the south wall of the south transept where
it now lies. Although the defensive armour
represented is the same as has already been
noticed, this mail-clad figure presents an im-
provement in the treatment of the armour, as
well as a freer treatment in the art associated
with memorials of this character ; the figure
must be of the extreme end of the thirteenth
century. The head rests upon the usual two
pillows ; the legs from just below the knees
have been destroyed.

With the exception of the figure of De
L'Isle, all the preceding military effigies are
represented as alert and drawing their swords,
and all wear mail mufflers continuous with
the sleeves of the hauberk. Out of these the
hand could be passed through a hole in the
palm, to be laced up in the immemorial way
still practised by modern Asiatics.

SirWilliamdeGoldingham. Died 1296.
Rushton.

The cross-legged effigy of Sir William de
Goldingham is the third of the polished Pur-
beck statues in the county, and is probably
from the same workshop as that of De L'Isle.
Thanks to the inflexible material the figure is
in the like fine preservation with those of De
Esseby and De L'Isle, and though generally
exhibiting the same military costume is some-
what later in character. The separate mail

396

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

hood has the flapped opening over the left
ear found in connection with the con-
tinuous hauberk, and is confined round the
temples by a wide outer fillet as well as
with a narrow band interlaced with the
mail. The surcote is long and full, the
knees encased in poleyns, and the mail sleeves
of the hauberk tightened at the wrist with a
strap. The feet shod with prick spurs rest
against a lion, and the head upon a single
pillow supported at the ends in an uncommon
manner by branches with ivy and conven-
tional leaves. The gigue and sword-belt are
barred or checked as in the De L'Isle effigy,
after an early method of ornamenting the
tongue-holes of the buckles. It is difficult to
say whether this remarkable figure is a mere
effigy from a sculptor's stock. It is just possi-
ble that it is the result of a special order and
an attempted portrait.'

A De Ros, about 1300. Braunston.

The cross-legged effigy of a De Ros in
hard red sandstone exhibits the military
equipment of a knight in the last quarter of
the thirteenth century, and varying but

slightly from the examples already noticed.
Thus the hood is bound round the brow by
a studded fillet, the knees cased in poleyns of
plate or cuir-houilli and the lengthysurcote more
freely treated. The attachment of the ends
of the sword-belt to the scabbard is an early
but not complete instance of a picturesque
method which prevailed with many varieties
until far into the following century, being
finally superseded by the long series of
locketted scabbards. The rowelled spurs are
early examples, and similarly indicate the ad-
vance in the details of military harness. The
head, sheltered by a canopy — which has pre-
vented the sculptor from representing the
mail beyond the convenient reach of his tools
— rests upon two pillows, flanked by censing
angels, and the feet upon two beasts trampling
upon a hooded ecclesiastic. Below the right
elbow is shown an animal curled up, some-
thing like a squirrel. Between the feet is
sculptured a large rosette consisting of a centre
and three concentric sets of leaves, and below
the right foot is another rosette formed of a
centre and twelve single leaves. These are
evidently allusive to the name of Ros. It

* With regard to portraiture in the recumbent
effigies, which give so human an interest to cathe-
drals and churches throughout the country, the
conditions under which they were executed during
the Middle Ages were generally quite unfavourable
to likenesses being effected ; indeed, it was only
under very exceptional circumstances that this end
was sought for or attained. In Northamptonshire,
for example, absolute and early evidence is fur-
nished on this point by the Purbeck marble effigy
of Sir David de Esseby at Castle Ashby, who died
before 1268. This figure bears so striking a re-
semblance to the figure of William Longspee the
younger in Salisbury Cathedral, that the one might
almost be mistaken for the other. Both must be
the work of the same school, perhaps of the same
sculptor at Purbeck, but both cannot be portraits.
They represent, as closely as the intractable ma-
terial would admit, knights of the period, quel-
conques, and must have formed part of a certain
number of effigies kept in stock.

Again, taking other early examples, and from a
famous series, the effigies in the Temple church,
one would like to think that those dignified
figures, which suffered such disastrous treatment
fifty years ago, are accurate presentments of the
Marshals and others ; but almost a counterpart of
one of them, also lying on his sword, and with
the rare attribute of closed eyes, is to be found in
the effigy of Sir Gerard de L'Isle (died about 1287)
at Stowe-nine-Churches.

It may be here recalled that portraiture was
sometimes carried out in early times, in exceptional
cases, with great success. The four royal effigies,
which after many vicissitudes are still preserved at
Fontevrault, should be mentioned as highly im-

portant examples, although neither sculptured in
England nor in the English fashion. Of these the
figures of Henry II. (died 1189) and Richard I.
(died 1 199) lie upon draped biers after the French
fashion, with closed eyes as if laid out in death.
They are shown habited in regal vestments, and
were originally carefully painted and decorated,
the shaven faces of the two kings being stippled to
the life. The countenances much resemble each
other, and to the extent that might be expected
between father and son. On the other hand, and
arguing from the kings to the queens, there seems
no reason why the effigies of Eleanor of Guienne,
queen of Henry II. (died I 204), and Isabella of
Angouleme, second wife of John (died 1 246),
should not be sufficiently faithful likenesses also ;
indeed, the countenances of the effigies of these
exalted ladies are so unlike that no other con-
clusion could be rightly arrived at. And similarly
of Berengeria of Navarre, queen of Richard I.
(died about 1230), whose interesting effigy at
Mans fully bears out the accounts of her beauty
which history has transmitted. On the other
hand, again, the coarse figure which lay over the
Lion Heart of Richard I. in Rouen Cathedral is
little more than a conventional effigy. The Pur-
beck marble statue of King John at Worcester
(died 1216), ignorantly gilded from head to foot
in modern times by a governmental ' department,'
is a further example, and highly valuable as the
earliest portrait effigy of a king in England, for
the figures of Henrj- I. and his queen on either
side of the western doorway of Rochester Cathe-
dral have nearly perished.

A noteworthy example of portraiture is shown
by the latten effigy of Henry III. in the Abbey

397

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

would however be difficult to identify the
effigy because the members of this ancient
house who were connected with Braunston
at this period are known to have been buried
elsewhere. It can hardly be supposed that a
portrait is intended.

. . . DeBernack, about 1300. Barnacle.

This effigy lies under a coeval arch in the
wall of the north aisle, and is excellently
sculptured in Barnack rag. A lady is repre-
sented habited in a long gown with rather
loose sleeves. Over this is the supertunic
without sleeves, gathered up in full folds in

the front, and fastened at will by a button on
either side just below the neck ; above this
garment is worn a mantle looped across the
breast with a cord, which has been held in
the right hand after the common fashion with
effigies of ladies of this period. The mantle
is caught up under each arm, and falls in a
multitude of graceful folds. The head is
covered with a crespine or net with a deep
scalloped edging, bound round the head and
fastened by a band under the chin. The hair
appears in wavy plaits under the caul, and a
short veil falling from it completes a very
picturesque head-dress. Both hands are broken

(died 1272). That it is a portrait is proved by
the countenance of the king as exhibited at differ-
ent periods from youth to age on his Great Seals.
The brow of the effigy with so marked a frown of
triple creases, indicative of the feverish and anxious
life that was led, can hardly be taken as an im.ig-
inary creation of Torel. But even in the highest
quarters there was no fixed rule, for the latten
effigy of Queen Eleanor at Westminster (died I 290),
also by Torel, is a purely conventional figure. At
the time of her death the queen had reached
mature years, and had borne many children.
Torel's masterpiece represents a woman of about
twenty-six, and it has been considered that the
four graceful figures by William of Ireland on
Queen's Cross, Northampton, were inspired by it.
This is possible, but it must be borne in mind
that countless effigies throughout the country are
represented in much the same conventional atti-
tude as that shown in the queen's statue at
Westminster, though far from approaching it in
its singular and dignified beauty.

Exceptional examples of portraiture are fur-
nished by some of the abbatical figures at Peter-
borough, doubtless executed from the life in the
monastery, or elsewhere, from careful clerical
instructions. And it is evident that in a few cases
in the county, which will be duly signalized, some
endeavour was made to give a degree of resem-
blance to the individual commemorated before
'lively effigies,' casts and painted portraits became
successively available to sculptors. It must always be
remembered that the carvers of the late thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, accurately as they repre-
sented the armour and military attributes (imitating
of course only up to the point that was consistent
with the nature and capabilities of the material
under their hand) could have had, even under the
most favourable circumstances, very little to aid
them in attempting a portrait beyond a chance
suggestion given by relatives or friends of the dead
man or the artist's own recollection of particular
characteristics of countenance. Doubtless the
armour and its general details were as familiar to
the sculptor as the form of his own hosen, hood
and leather coat. These remarks .apply more to
the productions of schools of sculpture such as
existed, as Purbeck, Doulting and Barnack, than
to the humble workshops of stonemasons in

villages, where the subjects of the effigies had been
personally known.

Allusion must be made to the ' lively effigies *
carried in ancient funeral processions. These were
crude portrait statues which, although hastily made,
not only could have served subsequently as full-
sized models for sculptors, but were often so far
' monumental effigies,' inasmuch as many great
personages had no other memorials. Towards the
end of the fourteenth century it became the practice
to bear a hastily-made ' lively effigy ' of the dead
man ' in his very robes of estate ' in the funeral
procession, and finally, when the obsequies were
finished, to place it temporarily in the church,
under or associated with its ' hcrse,' where it be-
came a source of great attraction to the vulgar,
supplying the place of the permanent effigy until
that was set up. The ' lively figures ' did away
with the exposure of the actual dead body at
the funeral, a practice which was attended with
much inconvenience. They were closely allied to
wooden effigies proper — of which there are ten
in Northamptonshire — and were perhaps first sug-
gested by them, inasmuch as their foundation was
a more or less rude wooden block, like a great
jointed doll. They were padded and made up to
the proper form, just as monstrous figures are con-
structed in the opera of a theatre for pantomimes
at the present day. The faces and hands alone
were treated with wax, or fine plaster {gesso), laid
over the roughly covered blocks, and fashioned
and tinted to the life. The figures were then
dressed in fair array with tinsel crowns, coronets
and further insignia of greatness, and must have
presented a somewhat barbaric spectacle. No
doubt there were many ' lively figures ' with their
' herses ' in Northamptonshire churches. As time
went on so many of these tawdry structures, stand-
ing in different parts of a great church like that
of Peterborough, or Higham Ferrers, must have
added greatly to its picturesqueness and interest,
possibly not always conducing to reverence.
Figures from these sources in different stages of
dilapidation — not less valuable on that account —
from the rude wooden effigies of Plantagenet times
to the examples of the beginning of the present
century, still remain in the Abbey, remnants of
the once popular ' Waxworks,' under the name of
' the Ragged Regiment.'

398

f m : ) I

IP'

'■■•'' '■■\4»i#' ~T

Olw "T I I i-r-

^•oor ^

Sir Robert de Keynes. Died 1305. Dodford.

To face page 399.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

away. The head rests upon a single pillow
and the feet upon a dog. The coffin-shaped
slab is still retained though no longer in use
at this time for a pavement burial.

The effigy probably represents the wife of
Peter de Bernak, who is commemorated by an
effigy in an arch hard by, and now reduced to
an almost shapeless block of stone. It is ap-
parent that this dishonoured fragment formerly
exhibited the usual dress of a soldier of the
end of the thirteenth century, with the links
carved on the Barnack stone as with the
Purbeck effigies. The head of the effigy is
broken oflFand lies near the mutilated trunk.

Sir Robert de Keynes. Died 1305.
Dodford.

This Purbeck marble effigy is sculptured
upon a slab narrowing to the feet, after the
early manner common to the effigies in this
material, and the last example in the county.
The figure lies upon a wide and low altar-tomb
formed of five plain slabs of Purbeck, the
whole monument being polished, and forming
a unique and striking memorial. A young
man is represented wearing a closely-fitting
mail coif apparently fastened up by a flapped
opening on the left side of the face. Over
this is a ridged headpiece or cerveliere, pro-
longed over the ears and strapped on to the
coif. The body is clothed in a quilted
gambeson, and over this is worn a hauberk
of mail, with sleeves, and gloves divided into
fingers. The elbows are protected by small
discs or coutes, and over all is a surcote laced
on the right side, short and scanty in the
skirts, indicating the cyclas and the coming
change, and confined round the waist by a
cingulum. The thighs seem to be covered
by cuisses or breeches of leather, the knees are
protected by ridged and shaped poleyns, and
the legs and feet by mail chausses, and armed
with prick spurs. The sword is suspended by
a broad belt, and on the left arm is a shield
charged with the arms of De Keynes — and
kite-shaped, a reversion to the Norman form
as depicted in the Stitch Work at Bayeux.
The head rests upon two pillows and the feet
upon a dog.

The whole of the mail here represented is
of the kind known as ' banded,' of which only
four other sculptured examples are known to
exist on effigies in England, namely, at Kirk-
stead Chapel, Newton Solney, Tollard Royal
and Tewkesbury. Brasses, painted glass, illu-
minated MSS., seals and other graphic
authorities of the period abound with illustra-
tions of this kind of defence, but the material
and construction of ' banded mail ' has not
been satisfactorily explained. It is impossible,

on seeing the Keynes effigy only, to come to
any conclusion other than that some pro-
tection differing very much from the usual
chain mail was intended to be represented by
the sculptor.

The monument of Sir Robert de Keynes is
undoubtedly the most remarkable in the
county. About forty years ago the effigy,
which had been broken into three parts, was
with characteristic appreciation and veneration
most carefully put together by the distin-
guished antiquary the late Sir Henry Dryden,
to whose untiring zeal in the elucidation and
illustration of the antiquities of the county
Northamptonshire is so greatly indebted.

Mabila de Murdak, about 1 3 1 o. Gayton.

This diminutive freestone effigy of a child,
measuring only two feet two inches, wearing
a veil and gown, was discovered in 1830,
built face inwards into the exterior of the
east wall of the chapel. At the end below
the head are two mutilated shields — a fess
between six fleurs-de-lis, and a fess, in chief
three roundles. On one side of the plinth
is this inscription : HIC lACET IN TUMBA
MABILA FILIA THOME DE. . . . There
was no such person at this period as Thomas
de Gayton, but there was a Thomas de
Murdak of Edgecott, who married Juliane,
daughter and co-heir of Philip and Escholace
de Gayton. Juliane de Murdak murdered
her husband at the instigation of Sir John
Vaux, in 13 16, and was convicted of the
crime and burnt at the stake. This unto-
ward incident may account for the name of
Murdak having been defaced on the effigy.

Sir John de Lyons, died 131 2, and
Margaret his wife. Warkworth.

The freestone effigy lies upon a low tomb
within an arch in the north wall of the north
aisle, and is carved with much freedom and
art, the loose fit of the mail hood and the
arms of the hauberk, as well as the full folds
of the long surcoat, being capitally expressed.
There is no change in the general character
of the military costume, but there is a manifest
advance in its representation. The head rests
upon two pillows supported by angels, and
the feet, armed with prick spurs, upon a lion.
The shield is sculptured with the Lyons
coat. The sword-belt is a perfected example
of a system of suspending this lethal weapon
from two points on the scabbard which had
its origin at the beginning of the last quarter
of the thirteenth century. By the old plan
the belt was attached to the top of the
scabbard only, the result being that the
sword constantly hung in a more or less

3Q9

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

vertical position and vibrated inconveniently.
This was found to be an evil both on foot
and on horseback. The new system of
fastening the entire end of the buckle-
strap to the scabbard, and the other or long
strap a few inches down the scabbard had
many advantages. It brought the grip of
the sword more within the compass of the
right hand, and the weight of the weapon, by
leverage, tended to tighten and steady the
belt, while on horseback the hilt was pitched
outwards and the flat of the sword thrown
more into a line parallel with the side of the
body of the horse and its rider. But there
was yet a difficulty, the tendency of the
sword, thus hung from two points not opposite
each other, was to take a diagonal bearing,
and throw its front edge out of plane. This
was at once obviated by slitting the upper
portion of the buckle end of the belt into
thongs of varying widths, lacing and tying
these into the mouth of the scabbard, and
carrying the remaining part of the belt in a
slanting direction, and free, across the scabbard,
until it met on the scabbard the loop of the
long portion of the belt. Arrived at this
point, the slanting strap was split into two
narrowing thongs ; these were laced altern-
ately into the sinister or back edge, never
into the dexter, of the loop of the long
portion of the belt ; the ends were run out
behind, brought forward to the front of the
scabbard, and tied in a ' sennit ' knot.
Thus the sword was steadied and righted,
and this connection of the belt-ends on the
scabbard had the further advantage of hinder-
ing it from flying wildly about, and entangling
in the belt when the sword was drawn from
it and the wearer on horseback and in action.
That the system answered its purpose there
can be no doubt for it remained in constant
use, of course with diflTerent or modified
details, until the middle of the first quarter of
the fourteenth century, and it probably had
special qualities connected with service in the
field, which to us at the present day are not
so apparent. No doubt also an advantage of
this picturesque and complicated belt was that
the loop of the long strap was thus prevented
from slipping down the narrowing scabbard
by its attachment to the end of the buckle-
strap. The pommel of Sir John Lyons'
sword is cut into facets in a very unusual way,
and the bare hands are posed in prayer after
the fashion that was now almost universally
established. The mail mufflers and the
fingered mail gloves — the ancient prolonga-
tions of the sleeves of the hauberk — are now
almost clean gone.

The freestone effigy of Margaret de Lyons

lies on the left side of her husband, and re-
presents her in a gown and mantle with its
usual fastening cord, a coverchief, and a
wimple pinned up under it over pads on each
side of the face. The hands are in prayer
and the head rests upon two pillows supported
by mutilated angels. The straight under line
of the eyes in both figures is a marked con-
ventionality of sculptors of the time. Neither
effigy is a portrait.

Sir Philip LE Lou. Living 131 5. Ashton.

The wooden effigy lies upon a modern
tomb in the north-east corner of the south
aisle, and represents a man in the usual hood,
hauberk and chausses of mail, and surcote ; the
head rests upon two cushions and the hands
are in prayer. The vanished shield has been
suspended by a broad gigue and was doubtless
originally charged with the arms. The
sword and right foot have disappeared, and
the whole figure is in a melancholy state of
decay.'

' From the same art centres which produced the
stone effigies came the oaken or wooden figures, of
which there are so many in the county. These
memorials — with the exception of the odd elon-
gated figure at Braybrooke, probably a production
of the local carpenter — have high interest and
value, not only from their artistic quality, but
from their comparative rarity in the country
generally. Their manufacture was as follows : —

The sculptor of a full-sized wooden effigy, say
in the early years of the fourteenth century, had
many difficulties to contend with. In the first
place, he must find a block of well-seasoned oak,
sound at the heart, and at least two feet across.
This width would be essential whether he repre-
sented a knight 'in the posture of prayer,' drawing
or sheathing his sword, or a lady 'fair and gent,'
holding the mantle-strings, gathering up the long
skirts of the gown, or with ' hands in resignation
pressed.' It was necessary that the wood be care-
fully chosen, because the tabic of the monument
and important parts of the figure had to be
fashioned out of the block, and also because — in
order to prevent splitting — the body, as far as it
was absorbed into the table or bed upon which it
would lie, must be hollowed out from the back.
There must be no decay or failure breaking
through to the front. The sculptor having done
his work, and fastened with wooden pins such
parts as lay outside the compass of his block, the
decorator took the effigy in hand. Having sized
the figure as far as was necessary, he glued pieces
of linen across the open cracks and knots to bridge
over the inequalities. He then gave the statue a
thin coat of gesso — that is to say, a mixture of
parchment size and whitening — with a view to
subsequent painting. He applied a thicker coat-
ing of gesso to those portions of the effigy which
he intended to decorate in relief, such as mall, or
large surfaces which were to be afterwards gilded

400

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

Sir Philip de Gayton, died 1316, and
EsCHOLACE his wife, living 1284. Gayton.

The wooden effigy of Sir Philip de Gayton
lies under an open ogeed arch in the wall
that separates the chancel from the chapel, on
a high tomb of which the sides are divided by
panelled shafts with crocketed finials into
twelve niches with ogeed and cusped canopies
of very good design. The knight is shown
in the well-known military costume of the
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries,
consisting of hood, hauberk, genouilleres,
chausses, spurs, surcote, sword-belt, sword
and cingulum, with the head resting upon the
usual two pillows, and the feet upon a smooth
and sleek animal. It is apparent that a shield,
doubtless charged with the De Gayton arms,
was originally borne on the left arm. The
whole monument, including the effigy, which
had fallen into some decay, was ' restored ' in
1830.

He was one of the representatives for the
county in 1300, and married a lady of whom
nothing further is known than that she had
a daughter Juliane, married to Thomas de
Murdak, and bore the unusual name of
Escholace, and was living in 1284. Her
graceful freestone effigy lies under a richly
moulded pointed arch in the north wall of
the chapel. The lady is shown wearing a
long loose gown, low in the neck, with tight
sleeves fastened with eleven very small buttons
at the wrist, very exasperating to do up.
Over this garment a mantle is shown gathered
under the left arm in the common fashion of
effigies of the period, and fastened by a cord
held in the left hand. This is the usual
attitude with effigies of ladies at this time, and
Queen Eleanor is so shown in her statue at
Westminster. The face of Escholace has
been rechiseled in modern times. She wears
one of the numerous varieties of head-dresses,
consisting simply of a coverchief flowing to

or silvered, and which he desired, as the medieval
artists always did, to break up by slightly raised
work in order to supply value and ornamental
importance to the gold or silver. The gesso he
impressed before it hardened with matrices or
stamps of various patterns — mail of different sizes
being among them — certain liney marks showing
the removal of the mould as the operator proceeded
with his work. As to the surfices to be gilded,
there were many processes. They were usually
first treated with bole Armenian, to give depth
and richness to the gold leaf, which was much
thicker than that of the present day — often, in
early times, beaten out of specially supplied gleam-
ing bezants from the East — and, as well as the
silver, applied with white of egg, left dead, or
burnished with an agate, the detit de knp of the
Frenchman.

the shoulders over small pads at the sides of
the temples, and confined round the head by
two jewelled circlets. She has no wimple
and in this respect also her dress resembles the
effigy of the queen, as well as all the figures
on the crosses at Northampton, Geddington
and Waltham.

Sir Walter Trevlli, died 1290, and
Eleanor his wife, died 131 6. Woodford.

The wooden effigy of Sir Walter Treylli
lies together with that of his wife on an altar-
tomb in the line of the north arcade of the
nave, both figures being carved with consider-
able art. The knight is represented in a
round headpiece covering the mail hood or
possibly attached to it, a short surcote, mail
hauberk and chausses, and poleyns of plate,
the precursors of the more shapely genouil-
leres. He bears a shield on his left arm origin-
ally charged with the coat of Treylli. The
hands are in prayer and the sword is suspended
from the belt by two lockets in accordance
with the new fashion then coming in. The
feet rest upon a lion and the head upon the
usual double pillows. The absence of spurs
is very unusual, perhaps unique, and may be
attributed to an oversight, unless real spurs
were attached. The whole figure has been
painted and decorated, according to the in-
variable practice with wooden effigies, but
nearly every trace of this treatment has
perished. It is evident that it is a memorial
of about the middle of the first quarter of the
fourteenth century and it was no doubt set
up shortly before or at the death of Eleanor
relict of Sir Walter Treylli in 13 16.

The figure of Eleanor Treylli is well
proportioned. She wears a tight-sleeved and
long gown of which the full skirt is gathered
up under the left arm in the usual way, fall-
ing in voluminous and graceful folds. Over
this is worn a mantle ; a deep wimple is

The painting upon stone and wooden effigies —
for the process was the same in both cases — was
of course done in distemper {tempera), and finally
covered with a coat of plain or tinted oleaginous
varnish, a very necessary but not sufficient pro-
tection. The failure of the painting upon wooden
effigies is attributable to constant changes of
temperature, causing the contraction and expan-
sion of the wood, and the consequent breaking
up or ' fretting ' of the surface. Age, damp and
neglect have accelerated the ruin of stone and
wooden figures alike, and this h,is been completed
by the periodical scrubbing? with soap and water
and soda by relentless parish clerks. Thus it is
that the effigy of Dame Treylli at Woodford
retains traces only of its ancient splendour ; all
the rest of these interesting memorials in the
county are melancholy wrecks.

401

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

fastened up under the chin, a long coverchief
falling over it in many folds. The hands are
in prayer, the head rests upon two pillows, and
the feet upon a dog. The mantle has been
diapered in two shades of red and white, in
alternatequatrefoils containing concentric folia-
tions, and circles intermittently decorated with
swans, and cinquefoils with the same florals
centres of a smaller size. Portions of this
pattern still remain in the deep folds of the
drapery.

Sir William de Combemartyn. Died
1318. Alderton.

The wooden eflSgy is a good example of a
work of art of this character and represents
the man in the usual hood, hauberk, chausses,
etc. It is accurately carved in an attitude of
easy repose, and though it has lost every particle
of colour and is sadly decayed, in its looped
and windowed raggedness it still exhibits
much that arrests the attention. The loose
fit of the mail about the right arm and neck
is well expressed, and the repair of the block
by the sculptor before he handed it over to
the painter is evident, as is also the straight
under-eye line, the favourite fashion of medieval
sculptors of this the best age. The effigy
formerly lay in the south aisle of Alderton
church, but when this was pulled down in
1848, it was relegated by the process of
' restoration ' to an upper stage of the tower.

Hawise de Keynes, living 1329. Dodford.

Under an arch in the north wall lies a
neglected and dismembered wooden figure of
a lady who wears a veil, wimple originally
painted white, kirtle or cote-hardie, formerly
blue, and supertunic. This is doubtless the
effigy of Hawise, mother of the last Sir
Robert de Keynes, and who was living in
1329. On the wall at the back of the arch
is painted a representation of two angels bear-
ing away the departed spirit in the shape of
a small figure held up in a napkin, and five
shields of arms of which two only are legible.

An entry is now made into a new period
of costume, with a new king very different
from the old one. It may here be mentioned
that the outer military garment for the body
had three developments. First, the ancient
surcote. This in its origin reached only to
the knees, it subsequently came to such a
length at the end of the thirteenth century
that, as has been already intimated, men
called upon suddenly to fight on foot got
their legs enraveled in the surcote's ample
folds and became easy victims to the foe.
The skirt was accordingly evenly reduced all
round, but still the shorter drapery was found

to be an inconvenience. A new and strangely
unpractical garment was therefore formed by
cutting away the whole of the front of the
surcote up to the middle of the thighs, slit-
ting it up the sides to the hips, taking it in at
the body, and lacing it up on the right side.
Thus was formed the cyclas, which appears
to have been a purely English garment.

It did not long find favour. The useless
hinder flapping part was an incumbrance, and
not more than fifteen monumental effigies in
the country, between 1 32 1 and J 346, repre-
sent it. As early as 1340 the long hinder
flap of the cyclas was cut off, it was fitted
tightly to the body, the lower edges of the
garment were finally quainted or dagged, it
was laced up at the side, and the jupon made
its appearance. These three stages of the
gradual growth of a garment from long and
loose to short and tight within two hundred
years are well exemplified in Northampton-
shire. Not less so is the gradual change of
the jupon to the heraldic tabard, as will also
duly appear.

The effigies of which that of Sir Laurence
de Pavely is an excellent type may properly
be classed as belonging to the Transition
military equipment between the hauberk and
surcote effigies of the thirteenth century and
the camail and jupon figures of the latter part
of the fourteenth. As with the architectural
Transition, the monumental works now to be
considered have great beauty and interest.
The coming change has already been indicated
by the shortened skirts of the surcote, as seen
in the effigies of De Keynes, Le Lou, and
Combemartyn, and in the locketted scabbard
of Treylli; indeed, very gradual and strictly
chronological advance in armour and costume
may be clearly shown from the effigy of De
Vere to that of De Pavely, and although on
comparing the former figure with that pre-
sently to be noticed the latter shows itself as
something quite different after a lapse of
eighty years, it is noticeable how slowly so
complete a change has been brought about by
slight varying details and in almost imper-
ceptible modifications in the forms of the
different defences and costume.

Sir Laurence de Pavely, living 1329,
and ... his wife. Paulerspury.

The wooden effigies of Sir Laurence de
Pavely and his wife lie upon a high freestone
tomb, under the easternmost arch of the
chancel aisle, on the north side, with the
eastern end of the tomb abutting against the
respond of the arch. The north and south
sides are divided into five compartments with
plain shields within them, suspended altern-

402

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

ately from foliage and heads, under ogeed
canopies of good design, cusped and sub-
cusped. At the west end of the tomb are
two shields under canopies of the same
character, the one being hung from a queen's
head, crowned and wearing a wimple, the
other from the head of a king bearded and
crowned, the two being probably intended
for Philippa and Edward III.

The effigies have suffered much from decay,
whitewash and neglect. De Pavely wears a
conical and fluted bascinet, to which a camail
is attached in the usual way by laces running
through vervelles. This head-gear takes the
place of the ancient mail hood, forming an
important change. The body is clothed in a
haketon with tight-fitting sleeves, and over
this is worn the singular garment the cyclas,
with loose sleeves reaching to the elbow. The
hands are protected by plain cuffed gauntlets
and the knees by fluted genouilleres ; the legs
are encased in chausses of mail, bound with a
band below the knees, and the feet armed
with rowelled spurs. The sword, which the
knight is sheathing, is loosely suspended by a
broad transverse belt, fastened by a double
locket in accordance with the new fashion,
and placed a few inches below the top of the
scabbard. How these transverse sword-belts
were kept in position at the back, in the
absence of the narrow cingulum or waist-strap,
is not apparent. They passed away when
the baudric came in, and reappeared when
the latter fell into disuse, as will presently
be seen. The left arm carries the mutilated
shield, which must have borne the De Pavely
charges. The head rests upon two pillows
and the feet upon a lion. The effigy of De
Pavely is one of very considerable interest.
The fluted bascinet is of excessively rare
occurrence, and the cyclas is rendered the
more curious in this instance by having sleeves
attached to it. Of the fourteen effigies and
brasses exhibiting the cyclas in England, three
examples are in Northamptonshire.

The effigy of the lady represents her wear-
ing a coverchief over the head confined round
the temples with a circlet and falling with
long folds over the shoulders. The hair is
plaited over small pads and a wimple is pinned
up loosely under the chin. She is habited in
a gown with tight sleeves and over this is a
long supertunic without sleeves, open at the
sides as in the later cote-hardi, and falling in
easy graceful folds to the feet. The hands
formerly in prayer are missing. It is apparent
that they were separately attached to the
effigy. The head reposes upon two pillows,
supported by mutilated angels, and a dog lies
at the feet. The memorial is a work of

great artistic merit ; it is rarely that such an
elaborate work, with angels supporting the
pillows, is found associated with a wooden
effigy.

Maud Holand, about 1330. Woodford
Halse.

This well proportioned and delicately-
sculptured figure, in hard red sandstone, repre-
sents a lady wearing the usual coverchief,
wimple, gown and mantle of the time. The
hands are in prayer, and the head rests upon
two pillows supported by angels. The lower
part of the effigy has been greatly mutilated.
It was discovered March 7, 1878, buried
about two feet below the surface of the
ground close to the north wall of the chancel,
towards the west, outside.

In 1329 Maud widow of Robert Holand
was lady of the manor of Woodford Halse,
and is probably represented by this effigy.

Sir Thomas le Latymer. Died 1334.
Braybrooke.

This wooden effigy of strange proportion,
and of the great length of 7 feet 4 inches,
has suffered much from decay. It is
carved in very knotty oak, and represents a
man wearing a ridged cerveli^re over a mail
hood, a hauberk and chausses of mail,
genouilleres of plate, a surcote reaching only
to the knees — the cyclas in fact, with its
hinder portion cut off — and plain gauntlets.
The spurs have wheel rowels, and the shield,
no doubt originally blazoned with arms, is
suspended by a narrow gigue. The short sur-
cote indicates the transition from the cyclas,
which it resembles in being open at the sides,
to the jupon which succeeded it as a military
garment. The ridged cerveliere is the pre-
cursor of the pointed bascinet, but is very
seldom met with.

. . Wale. About 1340. Eydon.

This disfigured freestone effigy of a lady
habited in a gown and supertunic probably
represents the wife of Sir Richard Wale, who
was lord of Eydon in the time of Edward II.
It formerly lay under a pew in the north
aisle, from whence it was removed into the
vestry in 1865.

Effigy of a Delamere. Glinton.

A man is here represented wearing the un-
usual dress of a forester. The head is
apparently bare with the hair arranged in full
locks at the sides. Taking Chaucer's descrip-
tion of the Yeoman in the Canterbury
Pilgrimage, the shoulders appear to be covered
by the hot/t; the body is vested in the coote
with close-fitting sleeves, and over this is

403

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

worn a short surcote with loose sleeves, the
legs are covered by hoien and the hands by
cuffed gauntlets. On the right side a horn is
suspended from a narrow crossed strap, and
apparently from a haudric worn under the
supertunic. A shef of pocok arwes is carried
in what seems to be a sling, a mighty howe is
held under the left arm, and the feet rest
upon the remains of a hound.

The effigy at Glinton is evidently a monu-
ment of the early part of the fourteenth
century and probably represents one of the
Delamere family who possessed land in the
adjoining parish of Northborough, and are
said to have held the office of foresters of
Kesteven, an adjacent district of Licolnshire,
from the beginning of the thirteenth century.
In the time of Bridges it was lying together
with the figure of a lady in Glinton church-
yard. They were then described as ' two
old stones with battered figures of ecclesiastics.'
The forester has been sheltered in the tower,
but the effig)' of the lady remains outside, a
mere block of stone.

Sir William de Hinton, living 1346,
and . . . his wife. Hinton-in-the-Hedges.

The freestone effigies lie upon low plain
panelled tombs of the same material placed
continuously against the north wall of the
north aisle, and apparently in their original
positions. They are somewhat abraded, and
were described in 1788 as painted black,
perhaps their original condition ; they have
subsequently been scraped, and in 1866 were
coated with thin green licherK The knight
is in a costume very like that of De Paveley
at Paulerspury, the attitude is exactly the
same, and the latter may possibly have formed
the model for a local sculptor. The costume
is interesting. De Hinton wears a bascinet
and camail, a habergeon, a tight-sleeved
haketon, with the lower edge cointised or
pinked, a cyclas with a short sleeve on the
right side only, gauntlets with articulated cuffs
of plate and leather fingers, a mutilated lion-
faced pallet or disc is fixed on the right
elbow, chausses of mail cover the legs and are
bound below the knees. The sword is sus-
pended by a rather narrow belt, from a
double locket ; on the right side are the
remains of a misericorde — the first appearance
of this weapon. The shield is hung by a
gigue and fastened to the arm by an enarme.
The head rests upon the two pillows which
are now finally to be superseded in military
effigies by the knightly helm. The feet
armed with rowel spurs rest upon a lion
whose mane is sculptured in a series of long
wavy locks instead of the usual short curls.

The effigy of De Hinton's wife is uncouth
and rudely executed. She wears a tight-
sleeved gown and a mantle looped across the
shoulders, a coverchief over the head, pads for
the hair at the sides of the face, and a wimple
under the chin. The head rests upon the
usual double pillows supported by headless
angels, and the feet upon a mutilated animal.

Sir John de Lyons. Living 1346. VVark-
worth.

The effigy carved in clunch lies under an
arch of the north arcade, on a high and
narrow altar-tomb of the same stone, of which
the north and south sides are divided into
eight compartments by buttresses with
crocketed finials. Each compartment contains
a panel under an ogeed and canopied arch ;
three of the panels on each side contain
figures, and in the other five are shields sus-
pended from foliage. At the west end of the
tomb is a kneeling figure under a canopied
arch. The east end of the tomb abuts
against the respond of the arch under which it
is placed. The effigy is a very rich and
beautifully sculptured example of the costume
of a knight in the middle of the fourteenth
century. He wears upon his head a bascinet
to which is attached a camail of mail, over
his body a cyclas laced at the right side, under
this a haketon with sleeves, and under this
garment a gambeson. His legs and feet are
encased in chausses of mail, the spurs have
plain wheel rowels, the knees are protected by
genouill^res, carefully decorated with ball-
flowers and quatrefoils, like the ' Paules
windows' on the shoes of the laity, the
elbows by guards and lion-faced discs, and the
hands by gauntlets of plate and leather, with
close-fitting cuffs, strapped round the wrists.
The spurs have plain rowels, left almost in
block by the sculptor. The knight's head,
supported by angels, rests upon his helm for
battle and jousting, surmounted by the crest.
The feet press, with admirable spontaneity, on
a lion. The shield is charged with the lion
rampant of De Lyons. The sword is sus-
pended by an elaborate baudric worn obliquely,
the ends of it are fastened to a double locket
placed a few inches below the top of the
scabbard. In later swords the double locket
is close to the top, and in earlier examples
two single ones are used. The end of the
scabbard is protected by a chape or bouterolle,
and the pommel of the sword is ornamented
with a human face. The ornate misericorde
is slung by a loop from the baudric, and every
detail of the effigy has received the sculptor's
most careful attention. Such was the military
dress in which the heroes of Cressy and Poictiers

404

Sir John de Lyons. Living 1346. VVarkworth.

To face page 404.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

took the field. Of the six figures or weepers
on the sides of the tomb, four are men and
two women, the men being in complete har-
ness of a slightly later date than that shown
on the effigy. The women appear to wear
mourning habits. The kneeling figure at the
west end is in armour of the same character
as that of the male statuettes at the sides.
It probably represents the last Sir John Lyons
son of the subject of the paramount figure.

No doubt from the architecture and costume
of this interesting memorial, it commemo-
rates Sir John de Lyons, who was living in
1346. It is nevertheless somewhat remark-
able that we should find upon the tomb the
arms of the wife of the last Sir John de
Lyons, son of the subject of the effigy,
and who was married in 1370, as well as
those of his brother-in-law and successor Sir
Nicholas de Chetwode who died in 1369.
These coats must have been sculptured after
the marriages. The existence of the Chet-
wode arms upon the tomb seems to account
for the absence of any other memorial to Sir
Nicholas in Warkworth church, where
brasses still remain to several of his immediate
successors.

John de Ardele. Aston-le-Wal!s.

Near the north door of the chancel is a
cinquefoil-headed arch containing the free-
stone effigy of a priest with a crocketed canopy
over the head. He is shown vested in alb,
stole, chasuble and amice, and of course wears
the tonsure. This is a monument of the
middle of the fourteenth century, and probably
commemorates John de Ardele who was pre-
sented to the church in 1348.

Sir John dePateshull. Died 1350. Cold
Higham.

This individual is represented by a cross-
legged effigy carved in oak, and lying under a
richly-moulded ogee arch in the south wall of
the chapel, upon a freestone tomb with
delicate tracery panels, containing ten blank
shields under cusped canopies. It is an
instructive example of military costume, and
is so far, and indeed widely, transitional that
it presents details of armour both of the be-
ginning and of the middle of the fourteenth
century. For instance the mail hauberk,
surcoat and chausses are of the former, while
the plate and leather gauntlets, the coutes,
genouilleres, bascinet and camail are of the
latter time. The head rests upon the
customary pillows of the older fashion, and
the feet upon the lion, which appears to
acquire greater fierceness of expression and
fulness of treatment as time advances. The

figure has suffered from decay in the usual
manner and has been painted white in modern
days.

Nothing is known of the knight here com-
memorated save that he was lord of Cold
Higham in the time of Edward II. and
Edward III. and died in 1350, the probable
date of the effigy. It is reasonable to suppose
that the surcoat was originally blazoned with
the arms, and it may be hoped that no ama-
teur in archaeology will now claim as the
effigy of a crusader this cross-legged represen-
tation of a man who died eighty years after
the last of the romantic expeditions to Pales-
tine.*

> The procedure during the thirteenth and the
first half of the fourteenth century with regard to
the fashioning of monumental figures sufficiently
explains why we find effigies in the purely English
conventional attitude so common throughout the
country, and particularly during the half century
subsequent to the last crusade of 1 270. Such
memorials bear, obviously, no more reference to
attachment to the enthusiastic expeditions to
Palestine than to participation in the wars of
Edward I. in Wales and Scotland.

With a view to once more dispelling this fiction,
it may be stated that there are no cross-legged
figures to be found on the continent, and that
one of the striking characteristics of the armed
English effigies is that with two or three exceptions
they are uniformly shown with open eyes, as living
and alert, with the hands in prayer or drawing or
sheathing their swords. Moreover, devotional
feeling has been invariably expressed in recumbent
statues throughout Christendom by the position
and treatment of the hands and not by the attitude
of the legs, and this is illustrated by hundreds of
monumental effigies from end to end of England.

Practically the cross-legged attitude is one that
a recumbent living figure naturally takes, and it
was not a posture reserv'ed to illustrate romantic
episodes in one period of the world's histor)-. The
old sculptors of the golden age of English Gothic
speedily saw the sculpturesque value in the natural
and restful character of the living position. It
added at once an artistic flow of the lines to the
folds of the surcote, while the yielding nature of
the mail specially promoted and lent itself to the
particular technical treatment of English effigies
which we look for in vain on the continent.

By far the greater number of cross-legged effigies
are, as has been intimated, of a later date than the
Eighth and last Crusade of 1270. The attitude
being a purely conventional one was only very
gradually adopted by the sculptors from about the
time of the Seventh Crusade of 1248. Conse-
quently the generality of examples in this posture
are to the memory of men who flourished a whole
generation subsequent to 1270, and whose military
ardour was chiefly expended in the Welsh and
Scotch wars.

The existing cross-legged effigies of such men
as Brian Fitz Alan at Bcdale, Yorkshire (died i 302),

405

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

All the wooden effigies in the county are
carved in oak, and there is no pretence for
the idea that any of them are in chestnut.

Having arrived at the borders of the third
quarter of the fourteenth century, by slow
and well-defined changes in military costume,
the alabaster period is entered upon, but as
regards this county not until thirty years after
this tractable material first came into use. A
type of military habit is now presented which
is more fully exemplified than any other in
the whole range of English monumental art.
The recumbent bronze statue of the Black
Prince at Canterbury — ' An image in relieved
work of laton gilt placed in memory of us —
' tout armez de fier de guerre ' — is indeed a
notable type of the camail and jupon period,
and the pure alabaster figure of Sir John de
Hertcshull is no less important in its way, and
a very early example of the style of armour
which, arrived at step by step, again passed
away by equally slow degrees.'

John de Hastings at Abergavenny (died 1 3 1 3),
and Aylmer de Valence in Westminster Abbey
(died 1323), none of whom went to a crusade,
as well as countless similar figures of the same
period, and later, which were made under the
same conditions, and dating, indeed, throughout
the first half of the fourteenth century, are not
only entirely in accord with the system of medieval
sculpture, but constitute the irrefragable evidence
of historical monuments as regards the subject.

And although art of this kind naturally deterio-
rated with the gradual change from mail to plate
defences, there was always propriety of treatment
of the subject. The truthful though wholesale
manufacturers of the bascinet-and-camail and later
effigies in 'monumental alabaster,' soon recognized
the fitness of not crossing ' in effigy ' the legs of
men encased in rigid tubes of steel, and who could
not have so placed them with any degree of
comfort, if at all, in real life.

Of the fifteen cross-legged effigies in Northamp-
tonshire, only one, that of Sir Robert de Vere
(died 1250), represents a man who is known to
have taken part in a Crusade, namely, in the
Seventh of 1 248. Of the rest, one is of Sir David
De Esseby who died before 1268, while six repre-
sent men who deceased between 1280 and 1296,
and who may or may not have gone to Palestine ;
but of such expeditions there appears no record,
although other military services are carefully
chronicled. The remaining seven cross-legged
effigies in the county are the memorials of persons
who died between 1305 and 1350, and who took
part in no crusade, the latter date being in fact
eighty years after the last of those military expe-
ditions. No doubt an analysis of the cross-legged
effigies and brasses in any county in England
would yield precisely the same results.

1 It is apparent from examples which will be
duly notified that blocks of clunch, magnesian
limestone, alabaster and other proper material were

Sir John de Herteshull. Dead 1365.
Ashton.

The effigy lies in the south-east corner of
the south aisle upon a tomb of hard red sand-
stone, of rude and no doubt local workman-
ship, with the front divided into seven panelled
compartments, with flat single cusped ogee
arches. The figure is sculptured out of a
block of pure alabaster 7 feet long, 2 feet
wide, and about 18 inches thick. De Hertes-
hull appears armed in a tall conical bascinet,
with a camail of mail fastened by laces run-
ning through vervelles. The shoulders are
protected by articulations of plate, and the
arms by brassarts, articulated coudi^res and
vambraces. The curtailed cyclas has developed
into a jupon under which is worn the hauberk
of which the lower part appears below the
jupon's cointised edge. Under the jupon a
circular breastplate or plastron de fer is sug-
gested by the swelling outline of the chest.
Round the hips is buckled a very elegant

constantly sent from their beds in Bedfordshire,
Hertfordshire, Derbyshire and other parts during
the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
to be sculptured into effigies in London and other
artistic centres. Their high character marks them
out from the rude memorials presumably made by
the village mason at local stone quarries. It will
be remembered that Cennino Cennini, who com-
pleted his valuable work on painting in 1437, in
his usual simple piety invokes the Virgin Mary,
and then gives directions how to take casts from the
life. This is valuable evidence, as showing what
assistance the sculptors may have had in special
cases in the early part of the fifteenth century
towards obtaining faithful likenesses.

Shortly after the end of the first quarter of the
fourteenth century the uses and value of Derby-
shire alabaster were recognized. The earliest
artistic exponent of this material is perhaps the
beautiful figure of John of Eltham in the Abbey
(died 1334). But the effigy of Edward II., set
up in Gloucester Cathedral by Edward III., must
have been made about the same time, as well as
that of the king's second son, William of Hatfield
in York Minster, who, having been born in the
winter of 1335, and living only a few weeks, is
commemorated by a statue of a boy of about
twelve years old. Thus appreciated in the highest
quarters, alabaster opens a long artistic vista, and
its importance is emphasized by the fact that we
know precisely the sources of this admirable ma-
terial which surrendered so readily to the chisel,
and was worked principally on its own ground.
The results were sent everywhere, actually under
safe-conducts to Nantes, in 1408 — the monument
of the irascible John Duke of Brittany, made by
Thomas Colyn and two others, at the request of
Joan of Navarre, as a memorial of her first
husband.

Even without looking at the effigies, a clear
judgement can be formed as to the amount of

406

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

horizontal baudric, the new sword-belt, which
was introduced in or about 1335, and lasted
in purity until the end of the century, being
from that time gradually superseded until
about 1420, when it had quite vanished. It
should be noticed that with the baudric the
misericorde was generally first introduced,
and it disappears and reappears during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It must be
that when the cingulum and other subsidiary
belts of the surcote and cyclas periods, which
supported the transverse sword-belts passed
away, the baudric was sewn to the jupon to
prevent it from slipping over the hips. It is
apparent that the gussets of the arms, at the
elbows and shoulders, are the visible parts of
the hauberk, the jupon furnishing no more
protection than did the surcote ; indeed St.
Remy says that the French at Agincourt even
wore hauberks under their plate armour —
' Premierement estoient arm6s de cottes
d'acier, longues, passants les genoux, et moult
pesantes ; et par-dessous harnois de jambe ;
et par-dessus blancs harnois ; et de plus,
bachinets de camail.' The thighs are pro-
tected by cuissarts, and the knees by genou-
illeres ridged and studded, and with single
inverted lower articulations. The head
reposes upon two pillows, tasselled, for the
first time, and supported by angels. The
lower portion of this fine effigy is greatly
mutilated, the heel and part of the left (in
two senses) foot, shod with a rowel spur,
rests against a lion. The hands and wrists are
gone. Round the verge of the slab, which is

portraiture which now, under such a wholesale
alabaster system, could have been produced ; and
when we see the ' marble ' countenances them-
selves the conclusion is verified at once. For
countless alabaster effigies throughout the country
follow the same bascinet-and-camail model. From
the last quarter of the fourteenth century a furor
to be thus represented in effigy seems to have set
in both with regard to alabaster and brass. There
was not, nor could there be, portraiture, but there
was perfect accuracy in arming details, for the
sculptors were well acquainted with the glittering
suits of steel, and with the heraldry on the jupons
and the tabards.

We find these alabaster representations from
Derbyshire throughout the west of England, in the
mid-lands, in East Anglia and in the northern and
southern counties, from Cumberland to the Isle of
Wight. And though there arose a reaction in
favour of brass memorials as against alabaster, sup-
ported by importations from the Low Countries
from about 141 8, the fashion again reverted to
the use of the delicate and easily-worked stone,
and its employment never died out again until
after the middle of the seventeenth century, and
then, apparently, only because the quarries ceased

embattled and ornamented with ball-flowers,
is the following inscription, divided at inter-
vals and alternately by scutcheons and roses :
•ii:moDnCr-:®:3oi): o:an:®:tie:fjcr: o:
teC®f)ull:o:le®tt:o:5C5:®:l)2:o:cu:o:
t)i:©:Ca:D:a:®:me: D:tit:®:mt. o:rci:
©:oain®eon:; the letters being much
broken and defaced towards the end.

Sir John SwiNFORD. Died 1371. Spratton.

This effigy lies upon a low embattled altar-
tomb of alabaster, under an arch between the
chancel and the north chancel aisle, and en-
closed on the south side by coeval iron rail-
ings, with the main standards formed into
pricket candlesticks, herse-fashion. It is a
massive and striking figure, cut out of a block
of spotless alabaster, 7 feet long, 2 feet 4
inches wide, and i foot 9 inches deep, and
although there is no departure from the general
mode of representing the deceased at this
time, there is an unusual amount of repose
and dignity about the figure which is very
impressive. All the details are carefully ren-
dered, and the whole has been elaborately
painted and gilded. On the head is shown
the bascinet, with the camail fastened by laces
running through staples or vervelles in the
usual way. Over the camail is worn a collar
of SS, the letters strung on two ribbons, and
set in a metal or cuir-bouilli band of which
the ends are fastened together by a single
cord, the slack end expended in a knot
similar to the slip in what is called a hang-
man's knot. The shoulders are protected by

to yield sufficiently good material. The best
alabaster had, in fact, already begun to succumb
to the heavy demands made upon it before the
end of the fifteenth century, and it rapidly de-
teriorated in quality from that time.

The use of alabaster brought about retrogression
in monumental art. It rapidly did away with
the employment of gesso on effigies, and put an
end to the delicate painted decorations on such
monuments of which Stothard, with infinite zeal
and pains, and only just in time, rescued the
evidences from obliteration and oblivion.

Under these conditions it will be at once antici-
pated that the number of alabaster effigies in North-
amptonshire is very considerable. As a matter of
fact, they form the large proportion of 50 of the
1 1 8 effigies in the county, ranging between the
years 1371-1629. The earliest example is that of
Sir John de Hertcshull, who died at least thirty
years after alabaster had come into use. As has
been already noticed, the alabaster employed for
effigies up to about the end of the fifteenth centur)'
was of a pure white kind. It was free from the
red streaks and imperfections of the inferior stone
which was subsequently used, and finally abandoned
on account of its impurity.

407

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

articulated ^pauli^res, the arms to the elbows
by brassarts (arriire bras or rerebraces), the
elbows with the advanced details of double
articulations, the forearms by avant bras or
vambraces, and the hands by plate gauntlets
with leather palms and fingers of articu-
lated plates. The gussets of the arms at the
' vif de I'harnois* seem to indicate a garment of
leather — Ma cuera de antes' of Spanish knights.
The body is clad in a hauberk, over which a
jupon is worn, with the bottom edge pinked
or dechiquet^, and laced upon the right side.
Over this is worn an elaborate baudric bear-
ing the initials of the wearer, I.S., thrice re-
peated, and from which, suspended by two
rose-studded chains (one is partly destroyed),
is a ponderous sword, 4 feet 4 inches long ;
it has unfortunately lost its quillons. On the
right side are the remains of a misericorde, at
this time an indispensable attribute of the
accoutrements of a soldier. Below the jupon
appears the hauberk of mail, like the camail in
large links and originally gilded. The thighs
are covered by cuissarts and upon the front of
these defences, about an inch below the hau-
berk, is a short fillet checked at intervals and
apparently of a piece with the cuissarts. The
only explanation that can be offered of these
singular additions is that they were features in
the armour of Sir John Swinford to meet a
special requirement. They have their value
in showing that care was taken in this instance
to instruct the sculptors to represent accur-
rately this peculiarity of an individual suit.
The knees are protected by genouilleres,
slightly ridged and with single articulations.
The legs are cased in greaves or jambeaux,
and the feet covered by articulated sollercts,
of which the three last members, which would
have projected through the stirrup, cover only
the upper half of the foot. The rowels of
the spurs are gone ; the head resting on a
tilting helm — the fashion now established —
deeply hollowed out and showing the oc-
cularia, and surmounted by the crest : and
the feet press against a lion, admirably ren-
dered, and with his tail wound round the
sword.

It must be noticed that the collar of SS, one
of the fourteen associated with effigies in the
county, appears to be the earliest sculptured
example in England. Sir John Swinford died
in 1371 ; there is no question of the precise
period and subject of the effigy, and the fact
therefore remains not only that this knight
was entitled to wear a collar of SS, but that
the decoration was an established livery collar
when Henry of Lancaster was yet a boy,
since he was not born until 1360. This at
once disposes of the favourite conjecture that

the SS collar was first devised by Henry IV.
when he was Earl of Derby in allusion to the
motto Souverayne.

On each side of the alabaster tomb are three
sunk circles, containing shields within trefoils.

Effigy at Orlingbury, about 1375.

This alabaster effigy differs in a very few
respects from those at Ash ton and Spratton.
It is very delicately carved, and represents a
man in a bascinet with the camail, of which
the attachment is covered by a foliated coronal
or ' prente,' with an ornamental frontlet
such as is described in the will of Humphrey
de Bohun, died 1321, as'j. petite prente oue
foilles dargent oue j. frountele de Saye pur j.
bacynet.' It is inscribed in front over the
brow 3 1) C n a J E n i , and at the sides are the first
four words of the penitential Psalm li.,
fflifcrtre mti Dens ftcuTil)um [benignita-
tem tuam secundum amplitudinem miserationum
tuarum dele defectiones meas). The armour
for the body is the same as at Ashton and
Spratton, the coudieres and genouilleres being
edged with a lozengy border, which also ap-
pears upon the cuffs of the gauntlets, them-
selves further strengthened by gads or gad lings.
The jupon sculptured with the arms — a fesse
between three lozenges — is deeply fringed at its
bottom edge, and the mail hauberk is just
evident below it. The baudric is a refined
example of the almost endless varieties of this
military belt. Extra articulations or reinforc-
ing plates are shown on the cuissarts and jam-
beaux, which are worked with a lozengy
ornament on the hinging seams, and closed on
the inside with little hooks, their first appear-
ance in this relation. The head reposes on
the tilting helm, with the crest, and the
dilapidated feet showing the remains of the
spurs, on a well-executed lion.

Orlingbury was held by a family bearing
the local surname from the beginning of the
reign of Edward II. to the middle of the four-
teenth century. The manor was subsequently
divided, and the names of knights of the
families of Orlingbury, Loges, Verdon and
Thurning occur as holding parts of knights'
fees here, or levying fines of the manor up to
the end of the third quarter of the century.
During the reigns of Richard II. and Henry
IV. knights of the names of Simson, Curtys
and Wimbish are recorded as more or less
connected with Orlingbury. The effigy is
clearly of the extreme end of the fourteenth
century, but none of the above-mentioned
persons are signalized as bearing the arms — a
fesse between three lozenges — and the absence
of tinctures on the jupon make it impossible
to appropriate the coat to any one of the

loS

Sir John de Wittelbury. About 1410.
Marholm.

To face page 409.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

twenty-nine families who displayed these
charges on their shields.

VVentiliana de Keynes. Died 1376.
Dodford.

Immediately in front of the monument of
Hawise de Keynes is the freestone effigy and
altar-tomb of her great-granddaughter VVenti-
liana, the namesake of her great-aunt, and the
last of this ancient house. She was lady of
the manor of Dodford, and died unmarried in
1376. Like her maternal predecessor, Wenti-
liana is habited in a veil, kirtle and super-
tunic, her head is supported by angels, and in
her uplifted hands she holds a heart, the only
instance in Northamptonshire. ' Let us lift
up our heart with our hands unto God in
the heavens' (Lamentations iii. 41). The
front of the tomb is divided by piers charged
with blank shields hanging from talbots' heads,
into six trefoil-headed, cusped and crocketed
niches, which contain small figures of knights
with swords and veiled ladies — ' weepers,' in
attitudes of great distress.

John Pyel, died about 1380, and Joan his
wife. Irthlingborough.

The alabaster effigies represent a man wear-
ing a merchant's gown and a gypcidre, and a
woman in a gown, kirtle and mantle. The
figures are in a shockingly mutilated state, and
lie upon an altar-tomb panelled with quatre-
foils containing blank shields, in the south
aisle of the church.

Sir John de Wittelbury, about 1410.
Marholm.

The effigy is vigorously carved in clunch,
and lies upon a beautiful clunch altar-tomb
under the south-eastern arch of the nave
arcade. The sides and ends of the tomb are
divided into twelve multifoliated panels con-
taining blank shields, the plinth is panelled
with quatrefoils, and the cornice ornamented
with grotesque animals and richly sculptured
round the verge. De Wittelbury wears a
bascinet with the enriched ' prente ' for
covering the attachment of the camail. This
latter is replaced by a bavi^re, and over it is
worn the deep plate gorget. The headpiece
is encircled by a jewelled orle, of a pattern
that was common at this period, for prevent-
ing the pressure of and steadying the tilting
helm. A collar of SS signifies the wearer'
attachment to the person of the king. The
articulations at the shoulders have increased in
number from those last noticed at Orlingbury.
Pallettes are introduced at the ' vif de
I'harnois,' fan coudieres, richly edged and
with double articulations at the elbows, and

the plate gauntlets have foliated edgings on
the cuffs and gadlings on the knuckles ; the
joints of the brassarts, avant bras, cuissarts
and jambes are richly seamed. The knight
wears a tight-fitting jupon, and an elaborate
baudric, below which the mail hauberk appears,
with additional sets of free-hanging rings very
characteristic of the time, and which were
usially gilt. Modern oriental mail has these
loose rings in brass. The feet are encased in
sollerets and armed with spurs, of which the
leathers are crimped in a manner only seen in
connection with effigies of this time. The
quillons of the sword appear to be late seven-
teenth century repairs. The head rests upon
a tilting helm, with the crest, and the feet
upon a lion. The whole figure is capitally
executed and represents a most interesting
suit.

All that is known of John de Wittelbury is
that he was attached in some way to the per-
son of the king, and that he was lord of the
manor of Marholm in the time of Richard IL
and Henry IV.

Ralph Greene, died 141 9, and Katherine
his wife. Lowick.

The indenture of agreement made in 141 9
between Katherine, widow of Ralph Greene,
and two others, his executors, and Thomas
Prentys and Robert Sutton, ' kervers ' of
Chellaston, Derbyshire — published in Hal-
stead's Genealogies^ merely states that the
tomb of Ralph Greene and his wife at Lowick
shall sustain ' deux images d'alabastre, I'un
countrefait a un Esquier en Armes en toutz
pointz, avec un helm de soubs son chief, et un
ours a ses pies, et I'autre image sera countre-
fait <i une dame gisant en sa surcote overte,
avec deux Anges tenant un pilow de soubz
sa teste, et deux petitz chiens a ses pies, I'un
des ditz images tenant I'autre par la main.'
There is not a word in the agreement to the
effect that the two figures shall be presented
' come ils estaient en lour vivant.' Accord-
ingly the effigy of Greene, hand in hand with
that of his wife, shows him as an armed man
quelconque, but accurately depicting the armour
of the first quarter of the fifteenth century,
the jupon bearing the Greene arms ; and
similarly the effigy of the lady is no more than
a type of the costume of the day.

Greene is habited in armour of the same
character as that of De Wittelbury, but more
advanced, and while adhering generally to
truthful representation, the effigy has just such
difference of detail and treatment as is to be
expected from the interpretation of well-known
forms of defensive armour by the chisel of a
different artist working in a more facile

409

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

material. The headpiece, with a similar orle
to that of De Wittelbury, has 3lfjc naja in-
scribed on the front, and the defences for the
body and arms are practically the same, with
the addition of a camail with a free-ringed
edge appearing below the gorget, and, sur-
prising though it is, unmistakably shown to be
worn under a mentonni^re of plate, the gorget
covering both these protections. The simpler
form of the coudicres and the fastening buckles
of the brassarts and avant bras are notice-
able. The jupon is charged with the arms
of Ralph Greene's father. The gauntletted
left hand holds the right gauntlet, gallantly
removed to clasp the right hand of the faith-
ful Katherine. These protections for the
hand exhibit the advance of gadlings on the
fingers as well as on the knuckles. The
close-fitting jupon, ddchiquet^ after the earlier
fashion, is bound round the hips by the
baudric, the free-ringed edge of the hauberk
appearing below. This belt now sustains the
misericorde only, which disappeared with the
disuse of the baudric and reappeared during
the Wars of the Roses, the sword being slung
from a narrow transverse strap, a recurrence
in modified form to the broad sword-belts of
the early part of the fourteenth century. How
it was kept in position at the back there is no
evidence to show. The cuissarts, genouillires
and jambes are richly bordered and seamed,
and the sollerets, which rest on a muzzled
bear — ' un ours k ses pies ' — are reinforced
by instep plates and armed with spurs with
crimped straps, after the peculiar and short-
lived fashion of the time. The head rests on
the tilting helm — as the agreement has it,
* un helm de soubs son chief,' with the crest.
The effigy of Katherine Greene shows her
in accordance with the terms of the agree-
ment as ' gisant en sa surcote overte, avec
deux anges tenant un pilow de soubz sa teste,
et deux petitz chiens a ses pies,' and wearing,
besides the mantle or surcote, a tight sleeved
gown and a cote hardi. The head-dress, sup-
ported by two angels with a pillow, is very
remarkable, the hair being widely displayed
on either side over pads under a net, a long
veil falls behind, and this is surmounted by a
heavy coronal, more than twice the size of,
and with the same details as the orle on the
husband's helmet.

Sir John Cressy. Died 1444. Dodford.

A period has now intervened during which
brasses to a large extent took the place of
effigies as monumental memorials. Such
brazen records are well supplied in the
county, but to a much smaller scale than the
effigies. A space of rather more than twenty

years being thus bridged over, the capital
alabaster effigy of Sir John Cressy presents
itself for consideration.

This distinguished soldier is represented in
a suit of armour that is noteworthy, both in
itself as well as in showing how great an
alteration had gradually and continuously
taken place in military dress since the death
of Henry IV. in 1 413. The old-fashioned
jupon, the lineal descendant of the ancient
surcote, is now clean gone, the baudric has
vanished, and gone are the bascinet and
camail. With the exception of the new
gorget of mail and a mail skirt, the man is
now ' lock'd up in steel,' and the change has
been complete and remarkable.

The effigy of De Cressy represents him in
a gorget, or more properly a standard of
mail, and wearing a collar of SS to which a
trefoil pendant is attached. The shoulders
are protected by a series of articulations, the
lowest being deep, forming the main shoulder
plates, and cut out on the right side to facili-
tate the working of the sword arm. In other
and cotemporary and later examples, these
defences took the form of reinforcing plates,
fixed to the under armour, having great variety
of shape, and attaining, like the elbow guards
of the time, extraordinary dimensions. De
Cressy's elbow guards are of comparatively
moderate form, the brassarts are buckled in-
side, and the avant bras tubular. The gaunt-
lets are fine examples with gadlings on the
knuckles. The body is covered by a cuirass
' a emboitement,' formed of two parts, of
which the lower overlaps the upper, giving
flexibility. To the cuirass are attached five
tassets, each hinged on the left and buckled
on the right side ; channelled tuiles are fast-
ened by straps to the lowest tasset, and under
them the mail skirt, which had now taken the
place of the ancient hauberk, appears. The
legs are cased in cuissarts, the knees protected
by genouillires with plain and engrailed articu-
lations, and the jambes are richly seamed and
hinged as usual. Reinforcing plates are fast-
ened below the knees by a nut fixed by half
a turn, and the feet, covered with articulated
sollerets, and armed with rowel spurs with
enriched leathers, rest upon a sleek animal.
The sword, its hilt decorated with tl)C —
' Goddes hygh name thereon was grave ' — is
suspended by a broad transverse richly studded
belt, and the head reposes on the tilting helm
with the crest — a demi Saracen, armed.

The effigy lies upon a high altar-tomb of
alabaster. The sides are divided into com-
partments containing angels holding shields
of arms, and between them are small figures
under trefoil arches. Round the verge of

410

OW*' 111 J — L

■ '■'■'' yook. Jm

Sir John Crlssy. Died 1444. Dodford.

Archdeacon Sponne. Died 1448. Towcester.

To fact page 411

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

the tomb is the following inscription: ?^ic
jacet 3o\)ie Creaag milea t'nus isti
btlU quonbam capitani tst Egcicui
©rfatf ct ^ontltutquE in i^ormaliia ac
cociliati tint regis in Jtancia qui obiit
apuli 2EobE in ILairina iiii° tiit marcii
anno fini m" cccc iliiii cui aixie ppicietut
teuB, amen.

It is uncertain whether a portrait has been
produced in the effigy ; circumstances were
certainly against accuracy, but no doubt it
was attempted, and that the memorial some-
what resembles one of the most notable of the
ancient worthies of the county. The eyes
however are treated in the narrow slit fashion
of sculptors of the day. The neck is shaved
high up into the hair, which is cropped to a
hard line round the head, far above the ears,
and according to the ugly custom then pre-
vailing. It is also doubtful whether the body
of the captain of Lisieux, Orbef and Pont
I'Eveque lies within the panelled alabaster
altar-tomb, with its lines of angels holding
shields of arms, alternating with ' weepers ' ;
but if he is indeed enshrined within this grace-
ful grave, it may well be said that 'after life's
fitful fever he sleeps well.'

John Dycson. Died 1445. Yelvertoft.

Under a canopy in the north wall of the
chancel lies the alabaster effigy of John Dyc-
son, who was presented to the church in 1439.
He is represented wearing the usual sacerdotal
vestments, consisting of alb, stole, chasuble,
maniple and amice, with the very unusual
addition for a priest of a dalmatic worn under
the chasuble. The head of the figure rests
upon a pillow supported by mutilated angels,
and the feet upon a kneeling lamb. The
whole of the surface of the alabaster on one
side has been disintegrated, apparently by the
dropping of water from the roof. The wall
outside the chancel at the back of the tomb is
beautifully panelled and decorated with quatre-
foils.

Archdeacon Sponne. Died 1448. Tow-
cester.

This liberal-minded ecclesiastic was buried
before the altar of the Virgin in the parish
church of St. Laurence. The effigy lies upon
an open altar-tomb consisting of eight but-
tressed shafts, with open four-centred and
cusped arches, with foliage in their spandrels.
The upper slab is richly moulded, and orna-
mented with the Sponne arms and roses,
and forms a canopy over ' the lively picture of
death ' which lies beneath it. This lower
stone effigy represents a corpse stretched upon
a winding-sheet, and shows considerable
power of sculpture and knowledge of anatomy.

When the church was repewed in 1835,
it was thought necessary to lower the actual
tomb of the archdeacon, and it was then dis-
covered that the oblong sepulchre which con-
tained the body was formed of rough slabs of
limestone, strongly cemented together, with
an opening loosely closed on the south side.
The skeleton of the deceased was found in a
perfect state of preservation, lying on a bed of
fine white sand, and with no trace of any
vestments or coffin.

The archdeacon is represented in a long
cassock, or toga talaris coccinea, reaching below
the feet, and with sleeves closely buttoned at
the wrists ; a ' surples wythe slevys ' ; and
an almutium, or aumasse, a furred tippet and
hood covering the breast and shoulders. These
are not the usual eucharistic vestments, but
those of a canon of a cathedral or a member
of some collegiate or conventual foundation
as attired in the choir habit. Sculptured effi-
gies in this costume are extremely rare, but
the feoffees of the Sponne charity, in their
laudable zeal to preserve this fine monument,
did not retain the original colours of the vest-
ments. Up to the year 1883 they were all
painted black. The entire tomb is of clunch
except the head and hands of the archdeacon's
effigy, which were of oak. The tonsure is
not shown on the head of the upper effigy or
on that of the skeleton figure.

It would have been satisfactory if it could
now have been recorded that the active his-
tory of this interesting memorial to the town's
great benefactor ceased before the lamentable
restoration of the church in 1 883. But at that
time the effigy of the archdeacon was ' denu-
dated ' or stripped by a tool of all its coats of
paint, including that which gave the original
colours of the vestments ; the figure was de-
capitated, and a new and gross stone head
with wild Medusa-like locks put in the place
of the wooden one, and bearing of course no
kind of resemblance to it or to work of the
period of the effigy. In the old head it is
probable that there was some likeness of the
man. It had been treated with gesso for
painting after the usual medieval manner,
and was in perfect harmony with the figure ;
in the modern one it is certain that there is
none. The only authority for this absolutely
needless and mischievous work was that of
the legal guardians of the memorial — the
vicar and churchwardens ! To crown all, at
the present day, the original head is ' lost ' !

This particular case — which it is difficult
to allude to with any kind of moderation —
is mentioned as a very glaring instance of the
ignorant and barbarous manner in which local
history is dislocated or written backwards, and
II

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

historical monuments defaced or wiped out
under the shelter of ' restoration,' which daily
devours apace.

Sir Thomas Greene, died 1457, and
Philippa his wife. Greene's Norton.

The long-suffering alabaster effigy of the
third Sir Thomas Greene again shows an ad-
vance, and is a good prelude to the still more
elaborate but rare military effigies which were
set up to the memory of men who flourished
during the latter part of the wars between
the rival Houses, and of which unfortunately
there are no examples in the county.

Greene is represented in a standard of mail
or gorget, and wearing a collar of SS with a
trefoil and ring pendant. The shoulders are
protected by deep articulated dpauli^res, with
reinforcing plates, replacing the earlier pallets,
fixed to the body armour by nuts, and the
right plate being shaped for freedom of the
sword arm. The ' d^fauts de la cuirasse ' are
of mail, the avant-bras and brassarts circularly
channelled or fluted, and the great coudieres
fixed by ties or arming points. The bare
hands are uncommon at this period. The
tassets are hinged on the right and buckled
on the left side ; to the lowest the channelled
tuilles with engrailed edges are attached, the
mail skirt being worn under them. The
cuissarts are slightly waved, the genouilleres
plain with the large wings and small articula-
tions of the period. The reinforcing plate of
the plain jambes is fluted. The bare head,
resting upon the tilting helm with the crest,
shows that the hair cropped high up to a
hard line, as in the effigy of Sir John Cressy,
is now abandoned.

The effigy of Philippa Greene exhibits the
hair confined in a flowered caul, the lady
wearing a mitre head-dress such as may still
be seen among the peasantry in Normandy.
She is habited in a tight-fitting gown falling
in straight folds to the feet, and a mantle
fastened from a brooch on the right side by
double cords looped through a brooch on the
left ; the head rests on a pillow supported by
mutilated angels, and round the neck is a
collar of SS, a very unusual attribute of a lady.

The church of Greene's Norton formerly
contained a most interesting series of monu-
ments of the Greene family, consisting of
altar-tombs with brasses and tffigies. Their
general condition at the end of the seven-
teenth century is somewhat indifferently
shown by engravings in HalsteacTs Genealo-
gies, a volume of great rarity compiled by
Mr. Rans, chaplain to the second Earl of
Peterborough, and the memorials appear to
have been considerably maltreated and de-

spoiled before that time. The effigies in
question were then said to represent Chief-
Justice Sir Henry Greene and Katherine his
wife. Sir Henry Greene was buried at
Boughton, and the costume shown by the
Greene's Norton effigies is nearly a century
after his time. Bridges in his description of
the monuments has confounded one tomb
with another, taking no account of armour
and costume. Baker identifies the effigy
with the first Sir Thomas Greene who died
in 1 39 1, but the costume exhibited is not of
this period ; and it fortunately happens that
the armour and dress shown by the figures
are of so distinct a character that their date
cannot be mistaken. They are the effigies
of the third Sir Thomas Greene who died in
1457, and of his wife Philippa, daughter of
Robert fourth Lord Ferrers of Chartley.

The Greene monuments had already suf-
fered before the time of 'Halstead'; they had
been further mutilated and plundered of their
brasses when Bridges described them ; but
their complete desecration was reserved to the
year 1826, when the church was beautified
by the authorities — ' actuated by a proper
spirit.' It is one of the saddest passages of
Northamptonshire history.

Whatever memorial there was of the first
Sir Thomas Greene, died 1391, has vanished
entirely. The grey marble slab of the second
Sir Thomas Greene, died 141 7, and his wife,
has been taken off its tomb and laid in the
pavement ; the brass plate with the inscrip-
tion, the two shields and the knight are
gone ; the figure of the lady alone remains,
the sides of the tomb being used as paving in
the chancel. The alabaster effigies of the third
Sir Thomas Greene and his wife appear to
have been taken from the midst of the chan-
cel and cast into an obscure corner of the
church before 1826. At this time they were
again brought to light ; the despoiled tomb of
the fifth Sir Thomas Greene was entirely re-
moved from its arch in the north aisle, and in
its stead the effigies were placed — the lady in
a recumbent position, raised upon a tomb of
rubble, and at her head, in an erect attitude,
the figure of the knight broken off at the
knees, the feet resting against a lion and
portions of his legs lying loose. At the back
and one end of the arch are slabs of alabaster,
divided into narrow trefoil-headed compart-
ments, containing alternately shields nearly
obliterated. These are parts (about one-
third) of the sides of the tomb ; the re-
mainder are said to have been taken away
and made into a pigsty. The tomb of the
fourth Sir Thomas Greene, died 1462, and
his wife, has been entirely destroyed, but the

412

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

Sussex marble slab containing the five brasses
of the knight, his wife, a child and two
shields still remain. The long and compli-
cated inscription has vanished, and the marble
slab forms part of the pavement. Such is the
melancholy and humiliating picture of the
memorials of a great medieval family.

Military Effigy, about 1475. Apethorpe.

This half life-size alabaster effigy represents
an armed man, bare-headed and with long
curling hair after the fashion of the last quar-
ter of the fifteenth century. The moderate
size of the coudieres is unexpected, but the
gauntlets with piked cuffs and plain plate
backs and leather fingers are characteristic of
the time, as are also the engrailled genouilleres
articulations and soUerets. Over all is worn
the tabard, the lineal successor of the armorial
surcotes and jupons, and differing from the
latter in being somewhat longer and having
the flap sleeves. This garment, which eventu-
ally presented a strict fourfold picture of the
heraldic coat of the wearer, is not seen earlier
than in the beginning of the reign of Henry
VI. and endured to the end of the sixteenth
century, the example under notice being about
fifteen years after his deposition in 1 46 1. The
head rests on the tilting helm, with the crest
— a human-headed beast — and the feet on a
chimerical animal. Above the head and
forming part of the main block is a sculptured
representation of the coronation of the Virgin.
The principal figure has the right hand raised
in benediction, the left, which formerly held
the crown, being broken awa)-. An angel
bears a long scroll dividing the two figures.
On the plinth are mutilated remains of four
angels holding shields, and indications of the
sword and misericorde. The memorial has
long been removed from its tomb and lies on
a window-sill on the north side of the chan-
cel. The plinth has been cut to fit into the
mullions and the whole figure much damaged
by whitewash and cement.

Edward Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire.
Died 1499. Lowick.

On a high tomb of alabaster in the midst
of a chapel on the south side of the beautiful
church of Lowick, reposes the alabaster effigy
of Edward Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire. This
refined memorial is ordered in the will simply
as 'a convenient tomb.' The earl is shown
bare-headed, with hair long-flowing to the
shoulders. He is habited in a cuirass and
tassets with fluted tuillcs, under which the
mail skirt appears. The coudieres are large,
and fixed by nuts on the brassarts and avant-
bras. The cuffed gauntlets consist entirely of a
series of articulated plates to the tips of the

fingers, forming steel mufllers with leather
foundations. The genouilleres have quite
lost the large wings of the middle of the cen-
tury, and have the fine engrailed articulations
of the end of it. Over the body is worn a
tabard elaborately and delicately sculptured in
front and on the sleeves with arms. The Earl
of Wiltshire wears a dainty collar of SS, pre-
sumably representing that bequeathed in his
will to ' my Lord and cousin of Shrewsbury '
as 'my Collar of the King's Livery.' The
sword is suspended from a plain belt, and the
misericorde has been slung by a looped cord
from a distinct and slender strap. The feet,
clad in the wide-toed sollerets just come into
fashion, rest upon a muzzled bear couchant
upon the staff, the soles being further supported
by crouching figures of ecclesiastics telling
their beads. Under the head is the crest.
Round the verge of the slab is the follow-
ing inscription, in richly ornamented letters :
Ocate pro 9niina iEtitoartii StafforU
Comitis StaffotU ComitiB OEglttcbst
qui quititm lEtitoarlJus ofattt fatccCimo
quarto tie mcnfis marcit Snno Domini
ml"" CCCC j^onagtCimo i^ono Cuius
SLnitne ppicittut Dcug -amen.

The Earl of Stafford was born April 7, 1469,
and died March 24, 1499, being then in his
twenty-ninth year. The effigy represents a
man past middle age, with a drawn and har-
assed face and prominent bony brows, in ac-
cordance with the character of the conventional
effigies of the end of the fifteenth century.

Sir Henry Vere. Died 15 16. Great
Addington.

The alabaster effigy of Sir Henry V^er; is
very inferior as a work of art to that of his
cousin the Earl of Wiltshire. Moreover it
has greatly suffered at the hands of the
iconoclasts, having been much scraped and
mutilated to provide 'Vere powders' for the
children of the village. The knight is shown
bare-headed and with the long hair of the
time. He wears a standard of mail — cpaulidres
reinforced by pauldrons, a cuirass with its
lance-rest, tassets, channelled tuiles and a
skirt of mail. The coudieres are of moderate
dimensions and the gauntlets, with fingers of
leather, have single plates shaped to the back
of the hand, and plain cuffs. The wings of
the genouilleres are quite small, and the feet,
protected by articulated sollerets, rest upon a
muzzled bear, and the head upon a helm from
which the crest is gone. The suit here
represented is of the period when Sir Henry
Vere flourished, and may consequently be
taken to represent the harness in which he
fought on the field of Bosworth in 14S5.

413

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The last will of Sir Henry Vere contains
this entry : ' Also I will that my tombe
be made in our Lady's Chappell, with a
vault in the wall of alybaster, and tomb of
the same with a Picter insolid on them.'
There is nothing in the appearance of the
countenan.rc of the effigy to warrant a belief
that it was sculptured as a portrait statue.

Dame Elizabeth Cheyne. Irthling-
borough.

This mutilated alabaster effigy represents
a lady of the early years of the sixteenth
century in a pedimental head-dress with long
lappets, a partlet, gown and mantle. It
apparently commemorates Elizabeth first wife
of Sir Thomas Cheyne, and only daugh-
ter of Henry Hodylston, by whose death in
1 5 1 1 she became possessed of the manor of
Irthlingborough.

Sir John Spencer, died 1522, and Isabel
his wife. Great Brington.

The Spencer tombs and effigies take a very
high place among the sepulchral memorials of
their period. Their condition is all that can
be desired ; they have never been mutilated,
restored, or repainted, and the rich soft tone
which the monuments and figures have ac-
quired by age is very striking. Of the ten
effigies eight are carved in clunch, the two
latest being in white marble from the hand of
Nicholas Stone. Tempting as it might be to
consider the Brington monuments as a whole,
and to treat at large of the manifold heraldry
and the rich late Gothic and Renaissance details
of the tombs, the exigences of a strict system-
atic arrangement of the effigies in the county,
and of space, make it necessary to take the
Spencer effigies indifferently with the others,
as they fall by the deaths of the men into the
chronological order which has been adopted,
and to deal with them only in a like limited
manner.

The effigies of Sir John Spencer and Dame
Isabel his wife repose upon a high altar-tomb
divided on either side into three compartments
containing shields within enriched quatrefoils.
Over the figures rises a four-centred arched
canopy with a quatrefoiled entablature, sur-
mounted by an elaborate cresting, and flanked
by panelled and embattled turrets. It is a
memorial of great refinement, and of special
interest as the latest Gothic monument with
effigies in the county. The sculpture through-
out is admirable, and none can doubt that
faithful portraits are here presented.

Sir John Spencer is represented wearing a
simple gorget, his body being habited in a
tabard. At the side openings of this gar-
ment the cuirass and taces appear, and below

it the tuiles and the mail skirt. The bras-
sarts and avant-bras are hinged after the
old manner, the coudi^res decorated with
rosettes, the cuissarts and jambes plain, and
the large-winged genouilleres and their single
articulations ridged and engrailed. The feet
are covered with engrailed sollerets ending
with wide fluted sabbatons or toepieces, imi-
tating the puffings of the civil fashion of
the time. The heels resting on broad plate
gauntlets, then just going out, show the
construction of the soles and the straps fast-
ening the sollerets. A scarlet mantle, lined
green, falls to the feet, and is fastened across
the breast by a continuously hinged band
bearing the initials of the wearer. From the
right side an estoc is suspended by a loop,
and a sword on the left, both with Renais-
sance details, as is to be expected. The head
rests upon a tilting helm with barred sights,
surmounted by the wreath, and crest.

Dame Isabel Spencer, wears the pedimen-
tal head-dress with double lappets, paned
and diapered. Her hair is braided in front,
and flows behind her shoulders to the waist ;
she has a necklace from which a heart is
suspended, and as this was the age of great
gold chains, she wears three round her neck.
The partlet is embroidered and edged with
pearls, and the wrists similarly decorated.
She is habited in a white kirtle edged with
gold over a long scarlet gown covering her
feet. From the girdle is suspended a rosary
and a richly ornamented pomander chain ; a
heraldic mantle is looped across the breast by a
tasselled cord, and falls in broad folds to the
feet ; it is embroidered with arms. At the
feet are the mutilated remains of two squirrels.

At the east end of the canopy below the
arch is this inscription in Roman capitals : —

here LIETH the BODDIES of sir JOHN

spencer KNIGHT & DAME ISABELL HIS

WIFE ONE OF THE DAUGHTERS & COHEIRES

OF WALTER GRAUNT OF SNITTERFIELD

IN THE COUNTIE OF WAR : ESQUIER HER

MOTHER WAS THE DAUGHTER AND HEIRE

OF HUMPHRIE RUDINGE OF THE WICH

IN THE COUN : OF WORCESTER ESQ : WHICH

JOHN AND ISABELL HAD ISSU SIR WILL'M

SPENCER KNIGHT i. ANTHONY SPENSER

2. WHO DIED WITHOUT ISSU. JANE WIFE

TO RICH : KNIGHTLEY ESQUIER SON'E &

HEIRE OF SIR RICHARDE KNIGHTLEY OF

FAWSLEY IN THE COUNTIE OF NORTH :

KNIGHT. ISABELL MARIED TO SIR NIC'S :

STRELLY OF STRELLY IN THE CON'TIE

OF NOTT. KNIGHT. DOROTHYE MARIED

TO SIR RICH : CATESBIE OF LEGERS
ASHBIE IN THE COUN : OF NORTH : KNI :

WHICH JOHN SPENC : DEPARTED
THIS LIFE THE 14 OF APR. A° D'NI 1522

414

ro«k . ^. It* >

Sir John Spencer, diku 1522, and Isabel his Wife. Great Brington.

Tofice fogt 414.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

Abbot Robert Kirton. Died 1528.
Peterborough Cathedral.

The sixth effigy in the great Benedictine
church is that of a mitred abbot carved in
clunch, and very much defaced. The figure
is shown wearing the alb with its apparels,
tunic, dalmatic, stole and chasuble. Upon
the head appears the mutilated remains of the
mitre, it rests upon two pillows, and is sup-
ported on either side by angels. As this
effigy is that of a mitred abbot there are only
two to whom it can be ascribed — Kirton,
forty-fourth abbot, and Chambers, forty-fifth
and last abbot and first bishop, who would no
doubt have been represented in a cope rather
than a chasuble. The first mitred abbot of
Peterborough was William Genge, elected in
1396, and from his time to that of Kirton it

is recorded that the abbots had brasses for
their monuments, all of which were despoiled
in 1643. Robert Kirton was elected in 1496.
He erected ' that goodly building at the east
end of the church,' and the gateway leading
to the deanery. He died in 1528, and was
buried under a high tomb in the chapel of St.
Mary.

The effigies in Peterborough Cathedral may
be compared with those early ecclesiastical
figures in the cloisters at Westminster. They
are not of so stately a character as those at
Wells and York, nor do they occupy their
original positions like those at Rochester, for
in this respect they have shared the same fate
as the Salisbury and Worcester monuments.
They may be regarded as the most interesting
series of early abbatical effigies in this country.

PART II

RENAISSANCE AND LATER PERIOD

Chief-Justice Sir Robert Brudenell
died 1 531, and Dames Margaret and
Philippe his wives. Deene.

The alabaster effigies of these three person-
ages lie upon an altar-tomb of a debased Italian,
or rather early English Renaissance style,
divided on the sides by arabesque shafts,
sculptured with naked figures and vine and
ivy foliage, into three compartments, contain-
ing shields in foliated lozenge-shaped panels.

The Chief-Justice is shown in the full
judicial costume, precisely such as is seen on
the bench at the present day with the ex-
ception of the head-gear. He wears a black
cornered cap, a coif, and a scarlet gown with
loose white sleeves, showing the close white
sleeves of the doublet ; he has no tippet or
hood, but a scarlet mantle fastened by an ouche
on the right side, and a collar of SS with a
pendent Tudor rose.

Dame Margaret Brudenell, daughter and
co-heir of Thomas Entwissel has her brown
hair braided with black ribbon ; she wears a
blue pedimental head-dress with black lappets,
a white pleated partlet, and three gold chains
round her neck. The white gown has divided
sleeves with ruffles, the blue mantle is fastened
by a gold chain, a loosely-knotted yellow sash
is about her waist, and two lapdogs lie at her
feet.

Dame Philippe, the relict, daughter of
Philip Englefield, wears the mourning habit,
consisting of a long veil, and a barbe under
the chin, according to her rank, a black gown
with plain cufFs, and a long black mantle
looped up under the right arm. It is doubtful

whether any of the three figures are portraits.
Round the verge of the tomb is the follow-
ing inscription: of gotnr cijaritt prno for
ti)c aoults of £sr robt bruttncll Unigljt
late cfjict justice of tlje hgiigos como
bcncfie at fatatiit anb fHargarct anli
bame pijolgp Ijia fasbes t tobt tocti ue
III iavt of 3anuaric ano tni m ccccc
mi anil gc stg Ijac pijgUgipt bgclj tfjc
iibiii tiag of ffiarc^c anno bni m ccccc
iiiii ^ Igcn \}txi on tofjoae souUca iiju
tafac tncrcg 2lmen.

At this point it will be convenient to allude
to the three other effigies in the county in
judicial dress.

Sir Edward Montagu, successively Chief
Justice of the King's Bench and of the Com-
mon Pleas, is shown in his alabaster portrait
effigy at Weekley in the robes of a judge.
He died in 1557.

Sir Christopher Yelverton, Judge of
the Queen's Bench, died 1612, is represented
in his excellent portrait effigy in alabaster,
together with that of his wife, Mary Catesby,
at Easton Mauduit, in full legal habits. In
the same church is the portrait effigy in ala-
baster of his son. Sir Henry Yelverton,
Judge of the Common Pleas, died 1629,
together with that of his wife, Margaret
Beale. He is in complete legal dress, precisely
the same as that of his father.

In Stcane church is the careful portrait effigy
in white marble of Sir Thomas Crewe,

415

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

King's Serjeant and Speaker of the House of
Commons, died 1633, and that of his wife,
Temperance Bray. He wears a triple ruff,
and the coif and gown of a 'serjeant of the
law ware and wise.' Both figures appear to
be from the hand of Nicholas Stone.

Sir Richard Knic.hilev, died 153+, and
Joan his wife. Fawsley.

The alabaster portrait effigies of this worthy
member of an ancient family and his wife
lie upon a Renaissance tomb of much the same
character as that of Sir Robert Brudenell at
Deane. The sides are divided into four com-
partments. On the north are four female
figures, and in each division on the south two
male figures. The east end abuts against the
respond of the arch, and at tlie west is the
Knightley achievement (as on the tabard) sur-
mounted by a helmet with mantling and crest.

Sir Richard Knightley wears a tabard
blazoned with arms on the front and each
sleeve. Over the tabard is a collar of SS, from
which is suspended a Tudor rose. This
marked the position of Gentleman Usher
Extraordinary to the King. Round the neck
is the mail gorget, and under the tabard ap-
pear the upright neck guards of the pauldrons,
and below it the large tuilles over the mail
skirt. The knees are protected by articulated
genouilleres, and the feet by plain round-toed
soUerets, unusual at this period, when broad
soUerets were in full fashion. Inside the tilt-
ing helm, upon which the head rests, is a
loose lining of mail, reaching beyond the
edge ; this was to defend that part of the
neck where the headpiece and gorget come
in contact.

Dame Joan Knightley, daughter and heir
of Henry Skennard, wears the pedimental
head-dress, a partlet embroidered at the neck,
a waistcote, to which are attached divided
sleeves, connected at intervals by points or
laces, a kirtle of ermine, a gown, and over all
a heraldic mantle, showing that the original
was embroidered with the same Knightley
quarterings and impaled coats as are exhibited
on the knight's tabard, and on the achieve-
ment at the west end of the tomb — a striking
costume.

In all probability both effigies are as careful
portraits as could under the circumstances be
produced.

The alabaster effigy of the lord of Faws-
ley's eldest son, Richard Knightley of
Upton, together with that of his wife Jane,
eldest daughter of the first Sir John Spencer,
remain at Upton in a greatly disfigured state,
the monument having been destroyed before
the time of Bridges. The knight is shown

wearing a gorget and a standard of mail, a
collar of SS and a tabard, below which the
usual tuiles and mail skirt appear. The
culettes and taces are seen at the side, the
elbows are protected by plain coudidres, the
knees by articulated genouilleres, and the feet
shod with articulated soUerets, and armed with
long-necked spurs. The lady is habited in
the usual gown, kirtle and mantle of the time,
and her long hair flows from a plain caul with
a jewelled edge. She wears gold chains, a
collar of SS, a girdle and a rosary. Richard
Knightley succeeded his father at Fawsley in
1534 and died in 1537.

William Parr, Lord Parr of Horton.
Died 1546, and Mary Lady Parr. Horton.

The alabaster portrait effigies of Lord and
Lady Parr lie upon a tomb of the same stone
and of the same Renaissance character as those
of Brudenell at Deane and Knightley at
Fawsley, in the midst of the chancel. Both
figures are very delicately sculptured, and of
the best work of the time, the greatest care
having been bestowed by the sculptor upon
the waving curls of Lord Parr's hair and
patriarchal beard. He is represented in
armour, with remarkably large upright pass-
guards protecting the neck, and formed by
turning back the upper members of the
pauldrons which cover the shoulders. The
waist is encircled by tassets, from which large
channelled tuiles are suspended over the mail
skirt. The coudieres no longer have the
exaggerated form of the preceding century,
and are ornamented with an incised pattern.
The knees are protected by plain genouilleres,
kept in place by straps passing behind and
fastened by screws. The feet are covered
with the broad-toed soUerets, and take the
form of the general civil costume then in
fashion, as was usually the case with armour.
From the back quillon of the sword plain
gauntlets of plate are suspended by a loop, no
doubt representing the actual practice in real
military life, and on the right side of the
figure a heavy dagger or ' ballok-knyf ' is
hung from a cord round the waist, at the
bottom of the plain ridged breastplate. The
head rests upon the tilting helm, exhibiting
the usual loose lining of mail of the time,
which protected the neck, and is surmounted
by the crest. Over the shoulders is worn
a collar of SS from which a Tudor rose
depends. This signifies the wearer's attach-
ment to the royal person as Lord Chamber-
lain to his niece Queen Katherine Parr.

The effigy of Lady Parr lies on the left
side of that of her gallant husband, and is a
good example of a splendid and peculiar cos-

416

William Parr Lord Parr of Horton, died 1546, and Mary Lady Parr.

HORTON.

To Jacc pjge 416.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

tume which rapidly passed away at the death
of Henry VIII. She is represented in a pedi-
mental head-dress, with plain lappets pinned
up at the sides, and her hair braided with
ribbon. She wears a partlet embroidered at
the neck, and two gold chains, from which a
four-leaved flower is suspended. A tight-
fitting gown, cut square at the neck, falls
in plain folds to the feet ; round the waist
is a loosely-knotted girdle from which a
gypci^re or purse hangs by a cord with a
running knot, and is drawn together by a
tasselled string. The gown has divided sleeves
attached to it, connected at intervals by
points, and showing the pleated under-sleeves
of the partlet, with ruffles at the wrist. The
lady's head rests upon double pillows — they
were called cushions after the period of the
Reformation — supported by angels, and at her
feet are two lapdogs with belled collars.

The tomb is divided into compartments
with semi-circular arched canopies containing
shields at the ends and figures at the sides.
On the north side of the tomb are five female
figures in pedimental head-dresses, and wear-
ing pomanders ; on the south side are two
figures of ecclesiastics in tippets and hoods,
and three men in long-sleeved gowns, open in
front. Arms are painted on three shields at
the two ends. Round the verge is the fol-
lowing inscription :

Here lieth • Sir ■ Weliam ■ Par • knight

• LAT ■ lorde • Par ■ of • Horton • and

LORDE • CHAMBERLENE-TO-THE -QVINES

• HIGHNES • DISESID ■ THE X • OF SEPTEM-
BER • Ano i 1546 Here • lie ■ th • Marie •

DOWGHTER • AND COHEIR OF JOHN •
SALISBERI • ESQVIER ■ LATE • WIF ■ TO

Ser • Weliam Par • lord Par • of •
Horton • desesed ■ the • x • of ivli •

A • 1555.

Sir Thomas Tresham. Died 1559.
Rushton.

This alabaster effigy is remarkable as the
only one of its kind in England. Tresham
is shown wearing the long black mantle with
a cross flory on the breast, the dress of a knight
Hospitaller ; the sword is worn over the mantle
and portions of the armour are visible at the
neck, wrists and ankles.

When Capt. Symonds visited Rushton
June 5, 1645, the day before the battle of
Naseby the alabaster tomb and effigy were in
the church of St. Peter. This was pulled
down in 1785 when the monuments were
removed to All Saints church.

Sir Thomas Andrew, died 1 564, and Dames
KATHERiNEand Marv his wives. Charwelton.

Sir Thomas Andrew is represented in a
tabard, blazoned as usual upon the front,
back and sleeves, with his arms. The upright
guards of the pauldrons, and the straps and
buckles fastening the cuirass to the back-piece
appear above this garment. The coudieres
show the vanishing channels of earlier times,
and the nuts fastening them to the straps
which kept them in place. Below the tabard
is the mail skirt, and the genouilleres and
articulations have the characteristic plainness
of their date. The head rests upon the tilting
helm with its mail skirt, mantling and crest —
a Moor's head. A collar of SS is worn with
a pendent Tudor rose.

The effigies of the two ladies show them
dressed alike in high-collared gowns, kirtles
with divided sleeves, and mantles looped across
the breast, the heads reposing on embroidered
cushions.

The figure of Sir Thomas Andrew lies
between those of his two wives upon an altar-
tomb with the sides divided into three com-
partments containing shields. At the east
end of the tomb is the coat of Andrew with
crest between a man and seven sons, and a
woman and three daughters, all kneeling.

Round the verge of the tomb is the follow-
ing inscription :

Sub isto tum'la jacet tiomina IStattrina
3[nlJtctocs prima uxor 2EI)omc 3lnTjrcfac0
militia una filiar' et (jetEtium lEljfaartJi
CCabe armtge' que quittem Batcrtna
obiit liEcimo actafaa bit SuguTti an'o
miirima quingentcaimo quinquagfaimo
quinto, of totoae aolU ®oti Jjafae mctcg.
3 m £ n .

It is thus shown that the monument was
set up by Sir Thomas Andrew after the death
of his first wife. He married secondly Mary,
daughter of John Heneage. It is evident
that the figures are not the accurate portraits
that might have been expected.

William Chauncy, died 1585, and Joan
his wife. Edgecott.

A considerable decline in interest, both
antiquarian and artistic, is evinced by the rude
and well-preserved alabaster effigies and tomb
of the elder Chauncys. The effigy of the
man shows him in armour of much the same
character that has been noticed in earlier
figures in the county. But the upright pass-
guards of the pauldrons are gone, and in the
place of the tuiles suspended from the tassets —
seen for the last time on the effigy of Knightley
of Fawsley — we have tuiles of articulated
plates, a style which endured as long as armour
was worn, working freely with sliding rivets,

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

and known as ' Almayne rivet.' The armour
generally is now of a lifeless and uninteresting
character, though no doubt that under notice
accurately represents a real suit. Chauncy's
rufF and heavy gold chains, the articulated
tuiles, and the method of suspending the
sword are very characteristic of the time, as is
also the dress of the lady — French hood, large
rufF, pleated stomacher, gold chains and
pomander. On the north side and west end
of the tomb are coats of arms of Chauncy and
Bustard, and round the verge of the tomb an
inscription to the effect that William Chauncy,
who deceased April 6th, 1585, and Joan
Bustard his wife, who died May 7th, 1571,
are here intombed. The alabaster tomb and
effigy of their son Sir Toby Chauncy, and
his two wives, born respectively Shelley and
Risley are counterparts of those of the father
and mother. Sir Toby died in 1607.

At Rockingham are the greatly abraded
and mutilated effigies of Sir Edward Wat-
son died 16 1 6, and Ann his wife, born Digby.
It is clear that these were again counterparts
of those at Edgccott, and that none of them
have any pretension to be portrait statues.

Sir John Spencer, died 1586, and Dame
Katherine his wife. Brington.

In nearing the end of the sixteenth century,
the armour shown by the military effigies and
the costume of the ladies gradually tend to
deteriorate in artistic quality ; and in the
place of the simpler memorials of knights of
Gothic times, with their highly interesting
harness, in which every detail tells its story,
and the graceful or picturesque statues of their
dames — we have the ornate and often garish
monuments of the Renaissance, conceived
indeed in the same pious spirit as the stony
records of earlier times, but naturally of less
antiquarian import and value. On the other
hand many of the memorials in the well-
favoured and historic county, now to be briefly
considered, have the wider and more human
interest as presenting portrait effigies of per-
sonages who took considerable positions during
the spacious days of Elizabeth, and whose
history forms part of that of the country,
while Northamptonshire has the honour of
holding their monuments in its keeping.

The tomb and effigies of Sir John Spencer
and his wife is a conspicuous and typical
example of the memorials just alluded to.
He wears a double ruff, and a tabard over
trunk hose, the arms and legs being clad in
armour decorated throughout with an Italian
feeling. It may be a question whether the
singular ridged and engrailed cuissarts represent

portions of an actual suit. The head rests
upon a naked helm, with neither mantling or
feathers, and the heels upon gauntlets with
well-defined details. On the left arm is
worn an oval targe — the parma of the Roman
soldier, which at this period, in accordance
with the Renaissance feeling of the time,
again took its place among military equip-
ments in England. This example is charged
with Spencer quarterings. The lofty altar-
tomb is surmounted by a semicircular canopy,
entablature and pediment, the whole being
replete with manifold coats of Spencer, and
quarterings ; the entire monument is of clunch,
richly painted. Dame Katherine, daughter
of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave, wears a
large ruff in nebule folds, a tight bodice,
with full puckered sleeves, pleated stomacher,
and scarf. A large hood k caleche, reaching
below the waist, partly shades the face, and
over the lower half of the figure a coverlid is
disposed in broad folds, draping the feet.
The head rests upon delicately embroidered
cushions. Both effigies have the appearance
of being faithful portraits. The will directs
that the executors should make a tomb such
as they think fit.

The effigy of his son Sir John Spencer,
died 1599, and of his wife Mary, only
daughter and heir of Sir Robert Catelin, Lord
Chief Justice of the King's Bench, lie upon
a very stately wide and low altar - tomb,
under a lofty canopy, embellished with many
coats of arms, and supported by square arab-
esque pillars and Corinthian columns — perhaps
the design of John Thorpe. The entire
monument is in clunch. The knight wears
the heraldic tabard, and the armour differs in
very slight respect from that of his father, the
tabard — the latest example in the county,
perhaps the latest in England — being worn
over trunk hose and Almayne rivet ; the
cuissarts are horizontally articulated, and the
genouill^res decorated with arabesques. The
head rests upon a finely-proportioned and
well-plumed helm and the feet upon gaunt-
lets. The costume of Dame Mary is more
ornamental, but much the same as that of
her predecessor, a fluted hood h caliche of
moderate size being worn over the head. Both
effigies must be accurate portraits.

William Cecil Lord Burghley, died
1599. Stamford Baron.

William Cecil, Lord Burghley, is exhibited
in his alabaster effigy lying on a noble cano-
pied Renaissance tomb of alabaster, ' touch '
and other marbles, and further decorated with
the armorial bearings of Cheke, Coke and
Cecil. He holds in his right hand the staff

4it

O -• -' — ■ — '— '^

li^ot.ff./Sie.

William Chauncy, died 1585, and Joan his Wife. Edgecott.

■To face fage +18.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

of Lord High Treasurer, and is habited in
the mantle of the Garter — then crimson,
lined ermine, as shown — worn over a com-
plete suit of armour, with large articulated
tuiles of ' Almayne rivet ' over trunk hose.
This is apparently to a great extent a con-
ventional suit, but based by the sculptor upon
those which the armourer Jacobi made for
Sir Christopher Hatton, the Earl of Leicester,
Sir Henry Lee and others. The effigy lies
upon a platted mattress — an ugly fashion of
the time, which modern sculptors have had
the bad taste to reintroduce — rolled up un-
der the head, which is supported by a cushion.
The face of the effigy is a striking portrait,
well recognized from Mark Garrard's fine
picture at Burghley.

Sir William Fitzwilliam, died 1 599, and
Dame Ann his wife. Marholme.

The effigies, carved in clunch, lie hand-
in-hand on a tomb of the same stone with
shields within arched panels on the side.
Fitzwilliam wears an articulated gorget fast-
ened with Almayne rivets, a breastplate with
a tapul, large articulated tuiles of Almayne
rivet over trunk hose, a bragetto, articulated
cuissarts, genouilleres, jambes and soUerets, all
the details being most carefully rendered.
The absence of the tabard shows very clearly
the shoulder defences of the time, the whole
suit being no doubt an accurate copy of real
and well fitting armour. The head rests
upon an armet. Dame Ann, daughter of Sir
William Sidney, is shown simply dressed in
a small jewelled French hood, a red em-
broidered bodice buttoned up to the throat,
with high collar and rufF, and a loose scarlet
gown with fronts of arabesque work.

Sir Edward Montagu, died 1601, and
Dame Elizabeth his wife. Weekley.

The interest of the effigy of this personage
consists principally in the armour exhibited
having the appearance of being a copy of a
real suit. The tuiles, of uncommon moderate
dimensions, the fitting and careful construc-
tion of the elbow-pieces and gauntlets deserve
attention, and in all probability the face is a
portrait. The head rests upon a close helmet.
The figure of Dame Elizabeth, daughter of
Sir James Harrington, presents a simple and
picturesque dress, and free from the ungainly
extravagances not unusual at this time.

Lady Elizabeth Knightley. Died 1602.
Norton.

This is the alabaster effigy of Lady Eliza-
beth, Dame Knightley, fourth daughter of
Edward Duke of Somerset, Protector of
England. It lies upon an alabaster altar-

tomb with an arched canopy, supported by
two circular Corinthian columns of black
marble. The lady is shown in a jewelled
French hood, a large single rufF, a plain
bodice with an elaborately embroidered skirt
and a mantle lined with ermine. The hands
and features are very small. On comparing
this memorial with that set up by James L
in 1606 in the Abbey, to Mary Queen of
Scots, it is evident that both are from the
studio of the same sculptor — Cornelius Cure.

John Rede. Died 1604. Cottesbrooke.

On an alabaster tomb in the form of a
sarcophagus, in front of a recessed Corinthian
arch, lies the alabaster effigy of John Rede.
He is shown in a suit of armour well repre-
senting that worn at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, including a plate gorget,
a peascod breastplate and back-piece, articu-
lated tuiles of Almayne rivet over trunk hose,
and articulated half cuissarts. The figure
lies upon a platted mattress rolled up to
support the head, the clumsy fashion then
lately introduced from the Low Countries.
In front of the tomb are eight female figures,
his daughters, kneeling in pairs, seven in the
usual dress of the day and one in black, with
hood a caleche, representing Theodozea who
died unmarried. There is one male figure
kneeling apart in a suit of armour, the only
son, who died in 1603.

Sir George Fermor, died 161 2, and
Dame Mary his wife. Easton Neston.

The alabaster effigies lie upon an altar-
tomb in front of a wide monument placed
against the north wall of the chancel. This
comprises a semi-circular arch surmounted by
an entablature, supported by two circular
Corinthian columns, with an obelisk at each
end. The whole monument is exceedingly
rich with heraldry, arranged with excellent
taste, and is in the finest possible condition.
The knight wears a suit of armour so care-
fully rendered that it must have been copied
from the real harness that served the wearer
in the Low Countries. The plate gorget,
peascod breastplate, deep articulated tuiles of
Almayne rivet over trunk hose, and the half
cuissarts are very characteristic of the time.
The head rests on a helmet and the heels on
gauntlets. Dame Mary, daughter and heir
of Thomas Curson of Addington, co. Bucks,
wears a plain gown tied all down the front
with bows of ribbon and a small hood i
caleche. Both faces are undoubtedly portraits.

William Russell, Lord Russell of

Thornhaugh. Died 1613. Thornhaugh.

The stone effigy of this illustrious soldier

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

lies upon a plain stone altar-tomb, and pre-
sents a well-proportioned and martial figure
clad in a suit just like that of his companion
in arms Sir George Fermor. Such must
have been the appearance of the splendid
retinue of captains who were sent to Holland
with the Earl of Leicester in 1585, and in
this harness he appeared on the celebrated
field of Zutphen in the following year, and
soothed the last hours of his friend Sir Philip
Sidney. The sword-belt offers an excellent
example of the ' hangers.' On the north
side of the tomb, kneeling before faldstools
charged with impaled coats, are figures of
Lord Russell's three sisters — Ann, Countess
of Warwick ; Elizabeth, Countess of Bath ;
and Margaret, Countess of Cumberland.
They wear jewelled cauls, rufife, and scarlet
mantles lined ermine. On the south side
are three figures of men in armour, wearing
scarlet cloaks lined ermine. These are the
three brothers of Lord Russell, who also
kneel before faldstools bearing the respective
impaled coats of their marriages.

Sir John Nedham. Died 1616. Lich-
borough.

The alabaster effigy lies upon a tomb of
the same material, and represents the Gentle-
man Pensioner in a suit of armour so carefully
detailed as to make it almost a certainty that
it was copied from the harness of office. More-
over the full-length coeval portrait in civil
dress in the possession of Mr. Edward Grant
of Lichborough Hall, with the original pen-
sioner's axe alongside of it, indicates that the
effigy is a faithful likeness. The head rests
upon a helmet, the latest example in the county
of this military pillow ; it is decorated with a
copious plume of feathers, a good instance of
the feather fashions of the time, common
alike with soldiers and civilians, as well as to
noblemen's bedposts. Every gentleman pen-
sioner had a man to carry his axe when he
was not in duty bound to carry it himself.
Both in the effigy and the picture the knight
carries a stick in token of his quality.

Sir Anthony Mildmay, died 16x7, and
Dame Grace his wife. Apethorpe.

The effigies lie upon a well proportioned
and stately tomb, with a canopy in the form
of a dome of two stages, with excellent life-
size allegorical figures at the sides and on the
frieze of the canopy, the whole memorial being
of alabaster. Sir Anthony, son of Sir Walter
Mildmay, is represented in the usual armour
of the time, with large tuiles of Almayne
rivet over trunk hose, and lies upon a finely
platted mattress of careful make. Dame

Grace, co-heir of Sir Henry Sherington of
Lacock, wears a gown, mantle and hood k
calcche. Both figures strongly resemble the
full-length portraits formerly in the long
gallery of the delightful house at Apethorpe,
chiefly of Sir Walter Mildmay's building,
which were unhappily sold a few years ago.
On the tomb and canopy are many shields of
arms.

Sir Arthi;r Throckmorton, died 1626,
and Dame Ann his wife. Paulerspury.

These alabaster effigies lie upon a con-
tinuous tomb of black and white marble at
the west end of the chancel aisle. Sir Arthur
wears a coif, large falling bands and cuffs, and
a complete suit of the armour of his time that
has been so often exemplified. The right leg
has been restored in stone. The lady, who
was daughter of Sir Thomas Lucas of Col-
chester— together with Lord Lisle, ' in cold
blood barbarously murdered ' — has her hair
crisped, and wears an old-fashioned single ruff,
and a tight bodice with slashed virago sleeves.

The effigies are doubtless portraits, and are
early instances of the abandonment of the
recumbent position.

Robert Lord Spencer, died 1627, and
Margaret his wife. Brington.

The clunch effigies of Lord Spencer and his
wife lie upon an altar-tomb, under a semi-
circular canopy, enriched with armorial bear-
ings, and supported upon fluted Corinthian
columns with black marble capitals ; above
the entablature on each side are three pyra-
mids with shields on their bases. Lord Spencer
is represented in a complete suit of armour,
decorated throughout with an Italian taste,
and of an earlier date than that in which he
died. He is shown in a close helmet or
burgonet with the visor up, a plate gorget
and a peascod breastplate, with the skirts or
bases charged with arms. Round the waist
is a strap with three buckles, from which
an estoc is suspended by a loop and tassel.
The whole of these are of iron, and the
straps and buckles in complete working
order. The head rests upon a green grass
mound, and the heels upon the gauntlets.
The Lady Spencer wears a French hood
edged with pearls. Her hair is arranged in a
number of small curls close to the face, and
brushed back. She wears a plain open ruff
and a simple pleated dress of a pale lilac
colour. Below the waist some drapery is
loosely disposed over a sort of heraldic hetse,
which covers the lower part of the figure.
The peculiar costume of this effigy is doubt-
less in allusion to the circumstances of Mar-

.20

. ^oot. ^

Dame ELizABtTH Carly. Died 1630.
Stowe-nine-Churchhs.

Tt) face page 42 1 .

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES

garet Spencer's death in childbed. The
head rests on two cushions, rich in flowing
arabesques. From the fact, as stated in the
inscription, that ' Robert Lord Spencer built
this monume't in his life anno I599>' both
effigies must be taken as faithful portraits.

Although not an effigy, the very singular
memorial in white marble of Sir Edward
Spencer (died 1655), fourth son of Lord
Spencer, may not be omitted from these ac-
counts. It consists of a pedestal supporting an
urn out of which arises the life-size portrait
bust in armour. The urn is flanked on the
right and left sides respectively by a square
and a round column and of the same height
as the urn. The right hand is placed on the
heart, the left resting on a book, the action
probably signifying that by the aid of the
Book the dead man will rise from his funeral
urn.

The final sentence of the Latin inscription
on the marble urn is as follows : — ' Maria
uxor charissima monume'tu' hoc ipse ut
descripsit viv', honoris et amoris ergo mortuo
erexit.'

In one of the ' Note Books' of Nicholas Stone
in the Soane Museum is the following entry :
' In ano 1656 I set up a tombe for Sir
Edward Spencer att Brainton neare Althrop
in Northamptonshire for w"^'' I had Li 64.'

Dame Elizabeth Carey. Died 1630.
Stowe-nine-Churches.

This beautiful white marble effigy repre-
sents Lady Carey in a richly embroidered
bodice or gown, and a mantle lined ermine.
The head is covered with a coverchief, a feature
very characteristic of the works of Nicholas
Stone. This is justly considered his master-
piece. It was set up in Lady Carey's life-
time, and must therefore be an accurate por-
trait. In the sculptor's ' Note Book' in the
Soane Museum the following entry occurs :
'The 1 6th of March, 161 7, I undertokc to
mak a tombe for my Lady, mother to my
Lord Da'vcrs, which was all of whit marbell
and touch, and I set it up at Stow of the nine
chirches in Northampton some two year after,
one altertomb for the wich I had ^^220.'

Elizabeth, youngest daughter of John
Nevill Lord Latimer, by Lucy, daughter of
Henry Somerset second Earl of Worcester,
married first Sir John Danvers, and secondly
Sir Edward Carey, third son of Henry Lord
Hunsdon. Her own alliances as well as
those of her six daughters and her third and
youngest son — together with the coats of her
two elder sons and her seventh daughter — are
displayed on white marble oval shields on
the tomb of ' touch.'

Sir William Dove, died 1633, and Dames
Frances and Dorothy his wives. Upton,
near Peterborough.

Under a large canopied altar-tomb, sup-
ported by four Ionic columns, the whole of
Barnack rag, lies the effigy of the knight
carved in fine red stone, between those of his
two wives. He wears the usual armour of
his time, and lies upon a platted mattress,
rolled up to form a support for the head.
The rugged countenance, with its wrinkles
and warts, are evidences of an accurate por-
trait. The figure of Dame Frances is also in
fine red stone, and the face clearly a likeness.
She wears a falling ruff or band edged with
lace, a bodice, and a gown with slashed
virago sleeves, lace-edged ruffles, and a cover-
chief over the head. Dame Dorothy wears a
hood a calcche, falling ruff, loose body with
narrow bodice, gown and mantle. This
elegant portrait effigy is carved in clunch, and
doubtless all of them arc the work of Nicholas
Stone.

William Lord Spencer, died 1636, and
Penelope his wife. Brington.

The tomb of this nobleman is a very stately
erection. It consists of a large basement table
of black and white marble ; upon this is
placed a low altar-tomb of ' touch,' sustaining
the white marble effigies. Above them rises a
lofty canopy supported upon eight Corinthian
pillars of black marble with white capitals.
On the tomb and canopy are numerous
impalements and quarterings of Spencer, and
a long Latin inscription at the east end of the
tomb. The effigies are very delicately sculp-
tured in every respect, and are of course faith-
ful portraits, having been set up in 1638,
twenty-nine years before the death of Lady
Spencer. Her noble husband is shown wear-
ing a pique devant beard and a falling band
edged with lace. He is habited in peer's robes,
well disposed and lined ermine. The badge
of the Order of the Bath hangs from a broad
ribbon, and a very elegant sword, with an
escallop shell at the hilt, lies free on his right.
Lady Spencer wears Stone's characteristic
coverchief over the head, and a lace collar
richly decorated with jewels and SS for
Spencer. She is habited in a loose gown
with wide sleeves and double lace cuffs, and
the mantle of a peeress lined ermine. The
hands are long and slender, and the counten-
ance betokens the nobility of her character.
The cushions of both effigies are rich with
arabesque patterns very beautifully executed.
The monument is the work of Nicholas
Stone, and his ' Note Book ' records that it was
erected at the cost of ;^6oo, the figure of

421

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Lord Spencer being carved under the sculp-
tor's superintendence by Richard Hargravc
for £i^, and that of Lady Spencer by John
White for ^^15.

Sir John Langham, died 167 1, and Mary
his wife. Cottcibrooke.

These white marble effigies lie upon coarse
platted mattresses on a handsome tomb of
black and white marble, with coats-of-arms
on the north and south sides of the monu-
ment. Sir John Langham is habited in an
alderman's gown faced with fur, and wears
his own hair. The moustaches are carefully
brushed upwards in a series of small curls,
and a wart sculptured on the right side of the
face indicates a faithful portrait. The lady, a
daughter of James Bunce, wears a coverchicf,
a stomacher, and a gown embroidered at the
bottom ; in the right hand she holds a rose.
The fine condition of the monument, which
is probably from the workshop of John Stone,
is attributable to the original iron railings still
surrounding it.

Edward Gorges, Lord Dundalk, living
1634, and Katherine his wife. Maidwell.

The stone effigy of Lord Dundalk is in-
teresting as an example of civil dress. This
consists of falling band, doublet with slashed
sleeves, trunk hose fastened by points or ties
finished with fancies or aglets. He has yellow
nether stocks or stockings with white tops
and carefully wrinkled boots. The lady, who
was widow of Edward Haslewood and

daughter and heir of Sir Robert Osborne,
wears a coverchief, a gown with slashed
sleeves, and the scarlet mantle of a peeress
lined ermine. In the time of Bridges the
monument stood in the chancel ; it was sub-
sequently removed to the outside of the east
end of the chancel, and protected to a certain
extent by a framework of glass. Thus it
remained until I 891, when it was taken back
to its original site in the chancel. The
monument consists of a semi-circular recessed
arch containing the effigies, which lie under a
canopy with a broken pediment, supported by
two Corinthian columns.

Sir John Germaine died 17 18, and Lady
Mary Mordaunt his wife. Lowick.

These white marble effigies are good ex-
amples of a bad style — of the d^gr'ingolade of
monumental art. He is shown in a suit of
armour, which it is doubtful if he ever wore,
and a full-bottomed periwig. The lady,
dressed in a low and loose gown, has naked
feet, holds a palm branch in her left hand,
and, like her husband, is shown lolling with
the right elbow on a cushion, which in her
case is further embellished and supported, in
the odd taste of the time, by a human skull.
This queer monumental production — so
strangely contrasting with the dignified monu-
ments of early times — is probably the work
of Francis Bird, a greatly abused and indus-
trious sculptor, much employed for want of a
better by Sir Christopher Wren at St. Paul's
Cathedral.

422

^oot. ^. /«»/.

William Lord Spencer, died 1636, and Penelope Lady Spencer. Great Brington.

Tit fact page +11.

INDEX TO DOMESDAY OF
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

PERSONAL NAMES

Aba, 332rt

Abbemar', Comes. See Vcre,

Aubrey dc
Achi, 336^, 350<j
Adam, 374^, 37+-^, 379^, 382^,

383*
Adam brother to Eudo Dapifer,

288,309,3,363
Adeliza wife of Gilbert Fitz

Richard de Clare, note 366^
jEileva, 33+«
iElfgar [Algar], Earl, 273, 285,

3073, 318J
jElfgifu [yElveva] wife of Earl

iElfgar, 285, 318*
JEMwme [Alwin] the huntsman,

294, 356^
JSAmiT, 323/7, note 366J
jElveva. See ./Elfgifu
yEtheling, Eadgar, 282
illthelnoth ' cild ' [Alnod of Can-
terbury], 3081J
Agemund, 329^, 350J
Ailet, 309a

Aileva the widow, 325^
Ailric, 323*, 334*, 338^, 352*
Aincurt, Aincurth, Walter de,

303, 3401J, note iJii
Alan, 383^
Alan [? dapifer to Countess

Judith], 354a
Alan (holding of the Count of

Mortain), 288, 323^, 324^,

nota T,~lb, 373*, 385a
Alan of Brittany, Count [Count

of Richmond], 303, 329^,

note l'j\b
Albemerle, Comes, his fee, 361,

note 371a
Albericus, Albr(icus) the cham-
berlain. See Vere, Aubrey de
Albini, Albeny. See Aubigny
Albus, Robert [Robert le Blond],

303, i'i6b,note 3893
Alden, 342a, 342^
Aldred, 374*
Alegod, Robert [Robert Halegod,

Fitz Alegod], 380^ and note
Alfred, 367;^, 381a
Alfrid, ' Alfridus,' 347fl, note 379*

Algar, 3093, 311^, 334<7, 343^,
349^. See also .^Ifgar

Alii, 322^

Almar, 309^, 324^

(AIneto), Payn de, note 3721^

Alnod. See yEthelnoth

AJouf de Merkc. See Merlcc

Alric, 326^, 327a, 329^, 342^

Alselin, Geoffrey, 292, 302, 303,
345c, note 375<J

Ralf brother of, 302

Alsi, 353*

Aluers, Robert de, 302

Aluric, 326,7. See also Alvric

Alvr(ed), 386a

Alvred butler of the Count of
Mortain, 288, 326/J, 327^,
3273, 339,7, 349,^, 350a, 359,
notes 370^, 378*, 379,7, 3793

Alvric, 311*, 312a, 325a, 332rt,
344^. Sec also Aluric

Alwin, 315,7, 32 2fl, 324^, 324*,
326^, 331,7, 331^. See also
vElfwine

Alwin Cuboid, 310^

Ambrose, 338^, 338,^, 339*, note

385"
Andrew, 385^

Ansgar, Ansger the king's chap-
lain, the clerk, 301, 303, 320^,
note 383,^
Ansgar, Asgar the stallcr, 345,^,

346J
Armenteres, John de, 371a
Arundel, Earl of, 363, 3731J
Ascclin. See VVaterville, Ascclin

de
Aschil, 332,7, 332^
Asgar. See Ansgar
Aubigny [Albini, Albeny, Au-
beny] —

Nigel d', 360, 379^, 379*,

note 380a
William d' [Brito (of Bcl-
voir)], 360, 385J, 386tf,
3863, note 385^
Aubrey, Earl (of Northumbria),
289, 303. 33°''. 359> "««
379*
Aunsel, 373^

423

Avenel, 3 883

Avcnel, William, j&ji,note 388^
Avranchcs, William d', note 38 13
Azelin. See Waterville, Ascelin

de
Azo, 3163
Azor, 330,7, 3343
Azor, Azur, father of Suain, 292,

293, 311,7, 347a
Azor son of Lefsi, 3 263

Baillol, Guy de, 3813

fee of, 3803 and note
Baldwin, 302, 319a, 3313,3313,

332rt, 3453
Baldwin Fitz Gilbert, 379a, 3793
Balliol. See Baillol
Bardi the thegn, 287, 3123, 313a
Basset, 386a —

Ralf, the justiciar, 360
Richard, 359, 3813, 386^,

3863
Robert, 3683, 385a
Simon, 3883 and note
Bassingburne, Humfrey de, 381a,

3873
Bauld, John le, 383J
Bayeux [Bayouse] —

Bishop of See Odo
Rannulf de, 3833
Bee, monks of, 281, 370^, 373a
Bedford, Duke of, 390
Belet, Hervey [Hervicus], 370a,

385*
Belvoir, Lord of, notes 372a, 3723
Berengar', 3863
Berenger le Moyne, 367a
Bern, 309a

Bernay, monks of, 371a and note
Berner, 3493
Bessin, Vicomtc du, 360
Bethune, Bethune, Advocate (of

Arras) de, 373a
Beufo, Ralf de, 3863
Bevrere[Beurere, Bevreire], Drogo
[Dru] de, 289, 303, 349J,
note 3763
Bidoun, John, 377^
Bidun, Alnochus [Halenaldus,
Hanelaldus] de, 3763

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Biscop, 309<J, 324J, 328J, 338^,

355". 355*
Bondi, 342/J, 348^, 35 M, 353a,

note JJS"
Borgeret, Borgret, Borred, Borret.

See Burred
Boscnorman, Roger de, 302
Botevileyn, Robert de, 379<J
Boui, 323^
Boulogne [Bolonia], William de,

3693 and note
Boville, Otuer de [Otwel de

Bovil], 36917, 372^, iJia,notes

369J, 372/5, 378a
Brand. See Peterborough, Abbot

of
Brian (de la Mare), 391
Brian Fitz Count [Brien filius

Comitis], 359, 361, 368J
Brictuin, 34013

Brito. See Aubigny, William d'
Brittany, Count of. See Alan of

Brittany
Brumage, 323a
Brun, William le, 374<J
Bucar', Sigric, 38515 and note
Buci [Boci], Robert de, 289, 294,

3°'. 303. 334'^. 335". 335*^.
336a, 360, notes 37217, 381^,
38217, 3843, 385^, 38617,

387"
Bundi, 33317, 340<:
' Burgelay . . . de,' 3 663
Burred [Borgeret, Borgret, Bor-
red, Borret, Burgret, Burret]
thegn of King Edward, 287,
293, 3093, i\oa, 310^, 31 117,
3iii5, 312(7, 33717, 355a
Bury St. Edmunds —

Abbey and fee of, 303,
3173, 31817, ilU, 31917,
38017, 380^, 3833, 38417,
381*, 387". 388-5, 389^,
noiei 3843, 385a, 387a
Abbot of, 301, 3i8i, 32417

Cahagnes [Cahaignes], William
de, 284, 288, 296,303, 32517,
325^, 32617, 326^, 3361J, notes
S6Sa, 37017, 370^, 371.J, 3723,
373-^.374'^. 378". 38017. See
also Caynes, Chaham, Chanes,
Chaneys, Gaynes, Kaynes
Canterbury, Stigand Archbishop

of, 32417
Canute, King, 286
Caunvill, Roger de, 379^
Causho, Robert de, 37517
Cauz, Robert de, 362, 366^
Caynes, William de, 372^. See
also Cahagnes, Gaynes, Kaynes
Cerneya, Robert de, 388J
Chaham, Hugh de, 370^. See

also Cahagnes, Kaynes
Chanes, Ralf de, 3701^. See also
Cahagnes, Kaynes

Chaneys, , Hugh de, 37817. See

also Cahagnes, Kaynes
Chendut, Simon, 368a, 368^,

369*
Chenric, 33617
Chester —

Earl of, 36917
fee of, 36915

Hugh Earl of, 296, 301,
303, 332J, 332*, 36917,
373*, notes 36917, 3693,
37217, 372i5, 379*
Randolph Earl of, 360
Chetclbert, 352^
Chirchetot, William de, 36717
Chocques. See Ciochcs
Chokes. See Cioches
Churchfield[Chirchefclde],Vivian
[Wivienus] de, 366/7, 36717,
notes 366(7, 3663, 367(7
' Cioches ' [Chocques, Chokes] —
Aunsel [Askelin] de, 368^,

375". 378-7, 37917
fee of, 3761J, 38317, w/^ 3763
Gunfrei [Gunfrid] de, 289,

29^ 293.295. 302.303.
305,5, 347a, 347^, 348(7,
34815, notes j6Si, 37117,
374*. 375". 378-7, 379(7,
38i(7, 383(7, 387(7
Robert de, note jyia
Sigar de, 289, 303, 348^,
note 37317
Clare —

Adeliza wife of Gilbert Fitz
Richard de Clare, note
366(7
fee or honour of, 363, 36617,

note 36617
Maud wife of Roger de

Clare, 363
Roger Earl of, 363
Clinton. See Glynton
' Clopton,' Walter de, 362, 36617,
3663, note 366(7. See also
Walter
Cogeho, Nicholas de, 382(7, 3831?
Coleman, 378/5
Corbelin, 35417, 376^ and note
Corbet, 385^
Corey. See Courci
Cornwall, Richard Earl of, note

370*
Costentyn, Richard and Roger de,

376*
Courci [Corey, Curcy], William
de, 360, 361, 36517, 368-5,
382(7, 382,5, 383(7, note 372i
fee of, 38 1(7
Coutances, Geoffrey Bishop of,
270, 282, 287, 290, 293,
301, 303, 309-5, 337(7, 343,7,
355". 359. 360, 362, notes
365-5, 366,7, 370-7,375^,37617,
376*, 377-7, 380^, 38217, 382,^,
383". 383*. 388-5, 389J, 389,5
424

Coventry [Coventreu] —

Abbey of, 303, 320,7, 38017,

note 3791J
Abbot of, 301
Cranesle, Roger de, 385,^
Crowland [Cruiland.Croylaunde]
Abbey and fee of, 285, 303,
319,5, 382(7, 388-5, note
38917
Abbot of, 286, 367^, 387*,

389"
Curcy. See Courci

Daubeny. See Aubigny

Daundelyn, Maurice, 389-7

Daundeviir, fee of, 382,5

Daundwye, Alexander, note 382^

Daventre —

John de, 373^
Monks of, 37117, 371^

David, 303, 355^, 375-5, note

372"
David Earl (of Huntingdon), 36517
David King of Scotland, 359,
360, 365,5, 366(7, 370(7, 374-5,
375". 375*. 376", 378*, 380^,
381^,382(7, 382^, 3833,384(7,
3843, 3853, 386-5, 38717,38817,
notes 3663, 3753, 384^
De la Mare, Geoffrey de, 391
Deneford, Frumbold de, 377(7
Dengayne. See Engayne
Despencer, Almaricus, 392
Dodin, 294, 302, 3403, 342a,
3423, 3483, 354a, 3563, notes

379". 385"
Drogo, 3383, note 37817
Drond, 3433
Dunstaple [Donestabel'], monks

of, 3733 and note
Durand, 3 2 83, note 38217
Durand the reeve, 302
Durdent, William, 3853
Durham, Bishop of, 296, 303,

309(7, 3lO(7, 3103, 311(7, 31 13,

312-7, 3123
Dyva, Robert de, 3783

Eadgar .lEtheling, 282

Eadwine, Earl, 263

Eadwinc [Edwin] son of Burred,

287, 290, 293, 31017, 3ll3,

312(7, 3123
Edith, Queen [the lady, the

king's wife], 258, 273, 302,

3043, 308(7
Edmar, 3o83, 322(7
Edric, 3233, 324(7
Edward, 33817, 35217, 353(7
Edward the Confessor, 276, 301,

3043, 309(7, 336.7
Edwin, 322(7, 3223, 324(7, 3273,

333*,, 334". 343*- See also

Eadwine
Eldewyn. See Ildvin
Elias, 373(7

INDEX TO DOMESDAY

Elmar, 31 63

Elstow [Aunestowe], nuns of,

38212
Elwin son of Ulf, 343a
Ely-
Abbey of, 284
Abbot of, 284
Engayne [Engaine, Inganie] —
Richard, 294, 301, 303,
356<j, 38 1^ 383J, 387/7,
392, notes 365*, 3673,
38i<7, 383a, 387*
Viel [Vitalis], 372a, 38 5 j,

386^
William, 294, 301, 303,
335. 3563, notes 372,1,
381^ 383,7, 3853, 386,^
Ernald, 345^, 346a, notes 372^,

373*
Ernui, 336^
Essex —

Geoffrey Earl of, 378,3 and

note
William Earl of, note 369^.
See also Mandeville
Estan, 324a

Eudes, Eudo the dapifer [Eudo
Fitz Hubert], 284, 289, 303,
343^^, 358, 367*. 386d. See
also Adam, Odo Dapifer
Eudo de Haschull, 38 5J
Eudo Fitz Haschul, 383,5
Eugenius, Pope, 285, 290
Eustace, 316^, 338^, 353^, notes

ill", 385"
Eustace the sheriff. See Eustace,

Huntingdon
Evesham —

Abbey of, 285, 286, 303,

320a, note 290
Abbot of, 301, 37ifl, note

Avicius Prior of, 285, 286
Reginald Abbot of, 286
Eyncurt, John de, note 37 13

Fardein, 3221J

(Fauvel), Gilbert, 359

Ferrar', Ferrers, Fereires, Fera-

riis —

Earl de, 374*, 382rtand note
Henry de, 301, 303, 333J,

notes 3653, 374d
Robert de, 365^, 374,3
Ferron, 284, i\ja
Folevillc, Ralf de, 376,5
Foliot, 383J, note 382*
Fortho, Walter de, 373*
Frano, 311^, 334a
Fredgis, Fregis, Fregist, 323,?,

323*, 324^, 328^,338^, 344rt
? Frehlle, Robert, 392
Frumbold, 377^
Fulcher, 327^, 340^, 353a, notes

380^, 382,5, 3853. See also

Malesoures

Gaunt, Gand, Gilbert of. See

Ghent
Gaynes [Cahagnes] —
fee of, 378a
Ralf de, 378^, 379(7. See

also Kaynes, Chanes
William de, 373^. See also
Cahagnes, Gaynes
Geoffrey, 309^, 3 i o3, 3 1 ja, 3 i 5^,

344a, 344^, 346,7, 375(7, 382*,

383a, note 3863
Geoffrey (De la Mare), 391
Geoffrey, Earl (of Essex), 378(7

and note
Geoffrey nephew to the Abbot of

Peterborough, 315a, 392
Geoffrey the chamberlain, 389a,

389,5 and note
Gerveys, John, note 378,7
Ghent [Gand, Gaunt], Gilbert

of, 287,289,303,346,7,346*,

notes 37itf, 377*, 388,7
Ghilo. See Picquigny, Ghilo de
Gifard, Osbern, 302
Gilbert, 268, 330,2, 354/7, 355,7,

■i7^l>, 375*. 377". "otes 378,5,

379"
Gilbert Fitz Richard, 377a
Gilbert the cook, 303, ^^s,b,note

381a
Gildre, 341*
Gilo, 3695. See also Picquigny,

Ghilo de
Girard, 355,3

Gitda (widow of Earl Ralf of
Hereford), 289, 337a, 337,5,
338(7, 339(7, 339,5
Gloucester —

fee of, 361, 365*, 377(7,

388,5, 389,7 and note
Honour of, 288
Robert Earl of (Robert the
king'sson),288,359, 361,
377,7 and note, note 388,5
Glynton, Geoffrey de, 365*
Godeman, 324*
Godeva, 324*
Godfrey, 312*, 374*
Godric, 317,7, 320*, 326^, 331,7,

332*, note 389a
Godwin, 322tf, 3223, 323^, 326(7,
328*, 34ifl, 344a, 352(7, note

Godwin the priest, 302, 321,7

Godwine, Earl, 293

Goisfrid. See Geoffrey

Golofre, Roger, 372*

Gozelin, 332*

Grauntport, Walter de. See
Clopton

Grentmesnil [Grentemaisnil,
Grantmesnil], Hugh [Hugo]
de, 261, 270, 296, 302, 303,
3303, 331(7, 331*, 332(7, 360,
notes 367,5, 368/', 369,5, 370a,
370*. 37"», 37>*. 372*. 384*
425

Grestain —

Abbey of, 286, 303, 320,7,
320*, notes 384*, 385*

Abbot of, 374/7
Grimbald, 293, 352J, 352*, note

381*
Grimbald, Robert, note 294
Guerche, Geoffrey de la. See

Wirce
Gueth, Gethe, Countess, widow

of Ralf Earl of Hereford. See

Gitda
Gulafre, Hugh de, note 372*
Gunfrid', 334,7
Gunthorp, Geoffrey de, 366/7,

3663
Guy the cook, 384^
Guy [Wydo], 365(7

Halegod, Robert. See Alegod
Hamslape [Hanslape.Hanslepe] —
Michael de, 290, 375,7,

376,5, notes 342(7, 375a
Winemarde. SeeWinemar
Hardwin, 3 loa
Harold, 377/7
Harold, King, 293
Haschull, Eudo de, 363, 385a.
See also St. James, Hasculf de
Henr)', 380*

Henry I., 363, 365,5, 366*, 367/7,
367*5, 369,^, 3773, 383J, 389a,
notes 387a, 389a
Henry II., note 371a
Hereford —

Milo Earl of, 286
Ralf Earl of, 289, 342*.
See also Gitda
Hereward, 283
Herlwin [Herluinus], 3 1 2,7, 3 36J,

note 388a
Hervey Belet. See Belet
Hintone, Helyas de, note 373(»
Hocton [Houcton, Houton'],
William de, 373a, 375*, 388*,

389*
Hugh, 3 I 1/7, 317,7, 3303, 331a,

33'*. 333*. 334". 335". 335*.
341^,341^ 3443,345^,3 5 2a,

353*. 374*. 379". 388j, notes
3683,3723,3753,3763,379*,
382J, 3843,385(7,387(7, 3883,

389"
Hugh, Earl. See Chester
Hugh Fitz Baldric, 273, 304*
Hugh lord of Wahill, note 372,7
Hugh the sheriff, 371(7, 37i3,

379". 379*
Humaz, Richard de [Richard du

Hommet], 3893 and note
Humfrey, 3223, 323,7, 323*,

3253, notes iS^a, 385/7, 3863
Huntingdon —

David Earl of, 361
Eustace sheriff of, 284, 289,
29^. 303. 315*. 316*.

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Huntingdon, Eustace sheriff of
{continueti) —

348fl, 349*, 350J, 362,
notes 366(7, 366*, 382*,
388a
William de, 388*

lldvin [Eldewyn], 334'', "oie

386d
Ilger, 3 1 2d
Ingelran, 327*, 344A
Isenbard, 3 i6c
Isham [Ysham], Henry de, 3 8 23

and note
Ivo, 3173, 33 Id, Ziibytiote 367<j
Ivry. See Juri

James son of Hasculf de St.

James. See St. Hilary, James

de
John, 348(3
John, King, 28 1
John le Bauld, 383(7
Judith, Countess, 286, 290, 293,

295. 30'. 302, 303. 3I9''.
32i3, 342(7, 349(7, 350(7, 350*,

SS'". 35'*. 352". 352-^. 353".
353*. 354". 354*. 355". 359.
360, notes 365(7, 3653, 37 13,

374*. 375". 375*. 376". 376*,
3803, 3813, 382(7, 3823, 383(7,

3833, 384(7, 385(7,3853, 386(7,

3863, 387,7, 388(7
Juri [Ivry], Hugh de, 303. See
also Luri

Kaynes —

fee of, 378(7

Hugh de, 3793, 380(7. See

also Chaneys
Ralf de, 370(7. See also

Chanes, Gaynes
William de, note 37 i3. See
also Cahagnes, Caynes,
Gaynes
Ketel, 3323
Kyde, Hugh, 3823

Landric, 343(7, 3443, 345(7, note
369,7

Langfer, 309,7

Lanzelin, 353<7

Lefsi, 343(7, 349(7

Lefstan, 302, 3 263

Lega, Hugh de, 372(7

Leicester, Earl of, 360, 3673,
368,3, 369(7, 3693, 370,7, 3703,
371(7,3713,372(7,374(7, 3743,

377*. 378", 378*. 379". 381".
3813,382(7,383(7,3833,3843,
notes 3693, 371,7, 3713, 3723,

373"

fee of, 3673, 368(7, 370,7
Honour of, 360
Leofnoth [' Leuenoth '], 367,7
and note

Leofnoth [Levenot] thegn of
King Edward, 290, 320(7,
3243, 3263, 3293, 3403, 3413,
342(7, 348(3

Leofric, Abbot. See Peter-
borough, Abbot of

Leofric, Earl, 285, 287. See
also Leuric

Le Pin [Lepyn, Pinu], William
de, 368(7 and note

? Le estre, Richard de, 3743

Leuenoth. See Leofnoth

Leuing, 324a

Leuric, 32 13, 3223, 324(7, 325(7,
3253, 326a, 331(7,343(7,344(3,
344*. 345". 347". 349*. 35**.
353"

Levenot. See Leofnoth thegn

of King Edward
Leviget, 31 23
Lewin, 325a, 3253, 328^, 329^,

334*
Lewin the priest, 303, ^zia,note

373"
Limesi, Ralf de, 303, 336/3, note

388fl
Lincoln —

Bishop of, 3683, 3693,

37 13, note 3783

Remi Bishop of, 287

Robert Bishop of, 303,

3123, note 293

Lindon, Simon de, 3673, 388(7

Lisurs —

Fulc de, 388a
William de, 3653, 3673,
376^, 388«
Lochi Scotel, 328^
Lodlngton, Walter de, 367^
Lovet [Loueth, Luveth] —

Viel [Vitalis], 385fl, 387,7
William, 303, 340(3
Lucy, Geoffrey de, 392
Luri —

Hugh, 296, 3323
Roger de, 33 i3. See also Juri
Mainfenn, Menfelyn. See Wol-

verton
Maino [Manno] the Breton, lord
of Wolverton, 292, 303, 349,3,
3493, notes 3683, 374(7, 3833.
See also Wolverton
Maiulf, 3423, note iJi^l>
Malger. See Mauger
Mallore. See Maulore
Malsor [Malesou(re)s, Malc-
sures] —

Fulcher, 3403, 3823, 3853,

notes 3813, 3823
Henry, 3813
Simon, 3803
Maminot, Walchelin, 295, 374^
Mandeville [Mannevile] — ■

Geoffrey de,303, 345,7, 3453,
346^, 3683, notes 369,7,
369*. 3723, 373(7, 3733
426

Mandeville [Mannevile] —

William de, Earl of Essex,
3693, 3723, 373(7, note
3723
Mansel, Warin, 277
Mantel, Turstin, 3393, note 374^
Marmiun [Marmioun], Roger,
362, 367(3
fee of, 388J
Martin, 328(7

Maud [Matilda] queen of Wil-
liam L, 275, 285, 318(7
Maud queen of Henry L, 3653
Maud wife of Count of Mortain,

286
Maud wife of Earl Roger de

Clare, 363
Mauduit [Maudut], William,

374*. 375". ""'f 374*
Maufee [Maufe, Malfe, Malfcd] —
Guy [Wydo], 3663, 367,7
Roger, 317(7, 392, »JO/r 3883
Mauger, Malger, 3453, note 3693
Maulore, Richard, 3713
Mauntel, Michael, 3743
Maurice, 384(7
Maurice, Earl, 359, 373,7. See

also Mortain, Count Robert of
Maynard, 368,3
Mellent. See Meulan
Merefin, 3243
Merke, Alouf de, 359, 3683,

375*. """^ 376"
Meschin —

Rannulf [Ralf], 383,7 and

note
William, 360, 361, 3683,
3693, 384(7, note 381(7
Meulan [Mellent, Mellend],
Count of, 288, 303, 3293,
360, note 37 1/7
Milers, Gilbert de, 381(7
Monte, Gilbert de, 369^
Montgomery, Earl Roger de, 286.

See also Mungomery
Morcar [Morkere], Earl, 260,

262, 273, 3043, 336,3
Mortain [Moriton, Mortone,
Mortal']—

fee of, 3683, 3723, 3773,

3833, note 3773
Robert Count of [Comes
Maurit'], 261, 286, 288,

295. 301. 303. 321*,
322(7, 3223, 3233, 324(7,
325^, 3263, 3273, 328d,
329". 359. 360, notes
290, 3273, 371(7, 3713,

3723, 373". 373*. 374^.
3743, 377(7, 3773, 378d,
3783, 379(7, 3793, 380(7,
3803, 38i(7, 3813, 382(7,
383(7, 3833, 384(7, 385(7,
3853, 386(7. See also
Maurice
Stephen Count of, 387(7

INDEX TO DOMESDAY

Mortain [Moriton, Mortone,
Mortal'] {continued') —

William Earl de Warcnne
and Count of, 288, note
374^, 38717 and note
Mowbray [Moubray] —

Nigel dc, notes 373^, 379.7
Robert de, 288, 360
Rogerde, 371^, 373*, 379<7,
379/5, notes ^-j^a, 380J
Moyne. See Bcrenger
Mundevill, Henry de, 380J
Mungomery —

Walter de, note 382(7
William de, 382(7 and note
See also Montgomery
Murdac —

Ralf, 369(7
Roger, 370(7

Napton, Adam de, 370^
Neufmarchc, William de, 37 1(?,

Nicholas, 374(5
Nicholas le Sauvagc, 377(7
Nigel, 308^, 328/5, 3 55(7
Norgiold [Nortgold'i, 354^, 376(7

and note
Norgiot, 343(7
Norgot, 31 1(7
Norman, 323,7, 325(7,325/5, 349*,

355^, 385". ^"te 387(7
Norman brother to Earl Leofric,

285
Normanvill(e), Geoffrey de, 388/7
Northampton, monks of, 369(7,

373''. 376^, 382(7

Odelin, 311^, 343(7, 359
Odo Bishop of Bayeux, 282,
287, 288, 301, 302, 303,
308(7, notes 368^, 370(7, 371^,

374^, 377^^
'Odo dapifer,' 361, 363, 368(7.

See also Eudo the Dapifer
Oger, 343(7
Oger the Breton, 292, 303, 349/7,

359, note 36;^
Oilgi. See Ouilly
Olaf, 294, 356^
Olbaldus, 348(7
Olifard, Roger, 291
Olyfart, William, 365,5
Ordric, 324/j
Orgar, 325c, 326/7
Ormar, 349/5
Osbern, 330/5, 331/7, 345/^, 346/7,

notes 371(7, 37 li
Osebert, 375,5
Osemund, 370(7
Oseville, Sevval de. See Seuar
Osgot, 342(7, 35 5*
Oslac, 294, 330/5, 356/5
Osmund, 31 1/7, 321^, 32 3^, 328^,

330(7, 338/5, 339(7, nw 388/5
Osmund son of Leuric, 32 13

Osmund the Dane, 344^
Osulf, 326(7, 333/7, 333/5, 334/7
Otbert, 340/7, 340^, 341/7, 345/7,

359, «flto 368/5, 376(7
Otuer [Otwel de Bovil]. See

Boville
Ouilly [Oilgi], Robert de, 303,

334^. 359. "<"" 368*, 374"
Oxford, Aubrey Earl of, note 380^.
See also Vere, Aubrey de

Pagen, 338(7

Pagenel. See Paynel

' Papilio', Ralf, note 367(7

Papilun, 367(7

Pastone, Walo de, 392

Pavely, Robert de, 375^

Payn [' Paganus '], 367/5, 372(7,

372/5, 376*
Payn [dc Alneto], note 'ijzb
Paynel family, 361
Paynell [Payne!, Paganel] —

Fulc [lord of Barnack],
358, 367/5, 369/5

Gcrvase [lord of Barnack],

358

Ralf, 303, 336/j, note 386/7
Pek, Richard de le, 381*
Pery, William de, 373^
Peter, 377/5, 385/7, note ^Tjb
Peter [de la Mare], 391
Peter of Blois, 285
Peterborough [Burgus] —

Abbey and fee of, 261, 2 So,
282, 283, 284, 285, 292,

294. 303. 3'"^. 3 '3".
313/5, 314/7, 314/5, 343*,
362, 365^, 366/7, 366*,
367/7, 377/7, 387*, 388/7,
388/5, 389/7, 389*, 390,

39'. 39^. w/^'' ^7". 295.
366/7, 366^, 367/7, 387^,
388/7, 388/5
Abbot of, 277, 285, 301,
314^, 315/7, 315/5, 316/7,
316^, 317/7, 317^, 365/7,
3653, 377^, 383/7, 387^

389". 39'. 39^. "0'"

377*. 383"
Benedict Abbot of, 392
Brand Abbot of, 282, 283
John Abbot of, 391
Leofric Abbot of, 282
Turold Abbot of, 390, 393,

notes 366/7, 367/7
Pcverel [Peurcl, Pevrel], 375/7,
379/7, 384*, notes 375^, 384,5
fee of, 361, 372/7, 375/5,

377*. 378/J, 378*, 379".
380/7, 383*, notes 377/5,
383/5

P.iyn, 371*

William, 261, 287, 288,
Z89, 296, 301, 303,
305^, 308/7, 308/5, 309/7,
309*, 3363, 337(7, 337/5,

427

Peverel [Peurel, Pevrel], William
{continued) —

338,7, 338*, 339a, 339^,
355/7, 370*, 371,7, 3740,
374/5, 377*, 383*, notes
371/5, 372(7, 374/7, 374*,
375*. 377", 377*. 378/7,
378*, 379". 379*, 380/7,
383/5, 385.7
Philip, 375/5, 381*
Picot, 284, 343/7
Picquigny [Pinchengi, Pinkcny,
Pinkeni] —

Ansculf de, 291. See also

William Fitz Ansculf
Ghilo [Gilo] de, 291, 302,
303, 344^, 344^, 345^,
370/7, notes 369/7, 373^
Gilbert de, 367^, 369/;
Henry de, 372/7, 372*. 373*
Plumpton, William de, 372^.

See also William Fitz Robert
Pohcr, Hugh, 370^
Port [Forth], Hugh de, 273, 304^
Preston, Walter de, 361
Pyel, Thomas, 382^ and note

Quency —

Series de, 379/7

William de, 367^
Quenton, Turgis de, 376/7

Raimbecurt, Rainbudcurt. See

Reinbuedcurt
Rainald, 321, 349*, note 388/7.

See also Reginald
Ralf, 3 11/7, 324/7, 328/7, 328/5,
330/7, 333(7, 336(7, 340(7,

343", 372*, 374*, "0'"
368(7, 368/5, 370/5, 373(7,

373*, 374", 382", 382*,
388^. See also Waunde-
ville, Ralf de

Ralf Fitz Eldewyn, 38617

Ralf Fitz Nigel, 387/j

Ralf Fitz Oger, 365^

Ralf Fitz Osmund, 379^

Ralf Fitz Roger, 389/7

Ralf Fitz Sewan, 378/7

Ralf Fitz William, 387A

Ralf Fleming, 365/7

Ralf Normann', 385*

Ralph Dapifer, 329^

Ralph nephew of Geoffrey Alse-
lin, 302

Ramsey [Ramesy, Ramesyg, Ram-
meseya, Rameshe] —

Abbey and fee of, 284, 303,

3 1 8/5, 3493, 365*, 367/7,

376(7, 382^, 387*, notes

271, 376(7, 382^, 387/5

Abbot of, 284, 301, 376/7,

387*
Rcg(inald), 385/7. See also

Rainald
Reginald de la Bataille, 388^

A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Reginald le Moyne, 365;^, 367J
Reginald son of Bercnger le

Moyne, note j6ja
Reinbuedcurt [Renbudciirt, Rain-
budcurt, Renbodcurth, Raim-
becurt, Reinbeudcourt], 287,
292, 295, 301, 303, 3423,

343". 343^ 359. "<"" 365'^.

369,^, 376<7, 379*, 382^, 3830,

384/;, 389^, 389^
Reygold, 383J
Reynes [Reymcs], Roger [Regis]

de, 368<J, 370(7 and note
Rhuddlan, Robert of, 332'J, 332^,

notes 3723, 379^
Richard, 3 1 o^, 3 1 7^, 3 7 3/J, 3 8 1 a,

392, notes nib, 389(5
Richard Fitz Gilbert, 359, 367J
Richard Fitz Guy [son of Guy

de Reinbuedcurt], 359, 365^,

389a, 389^, note 389(a
Richard Fitz Hugh, 365(7, 388J,

388^, 392
Richard Fitz Wale, 370<;
Richard Fitz William, 370^, 374(7
Richmond, Count of See Alan

of Brittany
Ridel, 388<J

Geoffrey, 284
Robate, 383^
Robert, Rotbert, 3091^, 3ii(7,

312(7, 312*, iz-jb, 328(7, 335^,

339"- 344*^. 346^^. 352''. 3 54'^.
369^, 38o(7, notes 374(7, 375-^,

377". 38 I"
Robert Fitz Alcgod, 380(7. See

also Alegod
Robert Fitz Anketil, 375(7
Robert Fitz Hamon, 288
Robert Fitz Hugh, 384(7, 384^,

38517, 386(7, 386^, 387(7
Robert Fitz Osbert, 367^
Robert Fitz Richard, 392
Robert le Baud, 385(7
Robert le Blond. See Albus
Robert son of Odelin, ' Edeline,'

359. 366(7
' Rocinus,' 38015
Roger, 312,7, 314^, 316(7, 317(7,

333^. 334'^. 336". notes 366(7,

385"
Roger ' Infans,' 316(7, 366(7, 388(7,

390
Roger nephew of the Abbot of

Peterborough, 365(1
Rohais, 354(7, note 381,5
Rolland, 343^, note 388(7
Ros, Robert de, note 'i'j\b
Rotbert. See Robert
Rozelin, 3 i6(7
Ruffi, William, 375,7
Russell of Thornhaugh, Lord,

390
Ryvel, Robert, 374,7, 374^

' Safleto,' heirs of, 374^

Sagrim, 329,7, note 3 7 23

St. Edmund, St. Edmund's Bury.

See Bury St. Edmunds
St. Evroul, monks of, 368^
St. Hilaire [du Harcouet], 362.

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