ALDERTON WITH MEMBERS MANOR

Claim

Location: Alderton, Northamptonshire

Places / associated places: Alderton, Northamptonshire

Listed in Domesday Book: Yes

Location & Extent

GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas

Representative GPS point: 52.1155, -0.9228

Location / boundary notes:

Identity: confirmed — The record is securely identified with the historical manor of Alderton, Northamptonshire, associated with the Honour of Grafton. The supplied National Archives references explicitly concern Alderton manor records within the Honour of Grafton, while Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record evidence identifies the surviving archaeological and documentary site of Alderton Manor House in the north-west part of Alderton village.
Representative point: 52.1155, -0.9228
Basis: documented_manor_house — Approximate WGS84 conversion of Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record grid reference SP 7386 4690, centred on the documented site of the medieval and later Alderton manor house. The site included the Gorges mansion of 1582, later Manor Farm buildings, archaeological remains, garden features and a former moat.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; specifically evidenced by records and surveys from the 16th to 18th centuries
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence establishes the manor house and associated manorial landscape but does not provide a sufficiently documented perimeter for the manor's entire territorial extent. Sources mention Alderton's open fields, demesne and appurtenant closes, including Pond Close, and indicate that the manor was later leased as a large agricultural unit after annexation to the Honour of Grafton. However, no accessible manor map, rental map, enclosure award or other source was found that defines the complete manorial boundary. The civil parish, village, Honour of Grafton and modern administrative boundaries cannot safely be substituted for the historical manor extent.
Sources:
- Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record: Site of Alderton Manor House, monument record 4745/4/1: https://her.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Monument/MNN24695 — Identifies the probable medieval manor-house site, the 1582 Gorges mansion, archaeological investigations, former gardens and moat, and gives grid reference SP 7386 4690.
- Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record: Alderton Manor archive, Historic England Archive BF107320: https://her.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Source/SNN116081/ — Records the Historic England archive plan of the manor-house site and adjacent ring castle.
- Grafton Estate: The Manor at Alderton: https://www.mkheritage.org.uk/grafton/Alderton/Alderton%20Manor.html — Provides detailed historical and archaeological discussion of the medieval manor site, Gorges mansion, Manor Farm, 1726 village map, gardens, moat and 17th-century surveys describing the manor-house complex and appurtenant land.
- Grafton Estate: Alderton History: https://www.mkheritage.org.uk/grafton/Alderton/Alderton%20History.html — States that Alderton was annexed to the Honour of Grafton in 1542, describes its open fields and explains that the manor was leased as one large unit while remaining divided into farms, fields and holdings.
- The National Archives: TNA/MDR record F279089: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F279089 — Registry record supplied for Alderton with Members Manor; the associated archival series are court rolls, rentals, accounts and other records of Alderton within the Honour of Grafton.
- The National Archives: Ministers' accounts, Honour of Grafton, SC 6/HENVII/6081-6088: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N16464262 — Supplied archival lead for 1541-1546 accounts relating to Alderton and other Honour of Grafton manors.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The title 'with Members' does not by itself establish that the manor included the whole Honour of Grafton or a separately identifiable group of territorial members.
- The representative coordinate is a documented manor-house-site point, not a reconstructed boundary centroid.
- No historically defensible complete manor polygon was established from the accessible evidence; the civil parish and Honour of Grafton boundaries were not used as substitutes.

About the Manor

Alderton with Members was the principal medieval and post-medieval manor of Alderton, Northamptonshire, associated with the settlement's castle or ringwork, later manor house, demesne, and customary lands. Domesday Book records two holdings at Alderton in 1086, both under Robert, Count of Mortain. The manor was later held through a succession of overlords and undertenants, including the Warennes, Brewers or Brueres, Maudits, Sauvages, Chaworths, and Combemartins. From the fourteenth century Alderton was treated as part of, or closely linked to, the manor of Stoke Bruerne. The estate came into Crown hands by 1539 and was annexed to the Honour of Grafton in 1542. The Crown subsequently granted leases or tenancy interests to Sir John Williams, Robert Stafford, William Gorges, and others. William Gorges built a substantial new mansion at Alderton in 1582. The property was associated with the Hesilrige family in the seventeenth century, and Sir Arthur Hesilrige was recorded as lord of the manor in 1655. By the early eighteenth century the manor house had been partly demolished; the site later became Manor Farm. Local estate history states that the lordship of Alderton remained with the Duke of Grafton, although the publicly available evidence reviewed here does not provide a complete modern conveyance chain.

Ownership / Holder Account

The earliest securely identified lordship is the pre-Conquest holding of Edmar and Edwin, followed in 1086 by Robert, Count of Mortain, who held two Alderton holdings as tenant-in-chief and lord. The descent between Domesday and the early thirteenth century is incompletely documented in the sources consulted. A local historical account states that the manor was assigned to William de Warenne in 1204 and then passed through the Brewer or Bruere, Maudit, Sauvage, Chaworth, and Combemartin interests. A charter of William de Warenne confirms land of his fee in Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, and Alderton to William Briwerre; this is evidence of a feudal connection but does not by itself establish that William Briwerre held the whole manor as immediate lord. Thomas le Sauvage held the castle and lands of Alderton before Pagan de Chaworth acquired them during the reign of Edward I; Pagan was lord of the manor by 1278 and obtained market and fair rights there. After Pagan's death, the lordship passed to his brother Patrick de Chaworth, and then through Patrick's daughter Maud to Henry, Earl of Lancaster. In 1307 Henry granted Alderton, with its advowson and the advowson of Stoke Bruerne, to William de Combemartin. William de Combemartin died in 1318. The subsequent medieval descent is not fully established by the sources reviewed. By 1539 Alderton was in Crown hands, and in 1542 it was annexed to the Honour of Grafton. The later named occupants and lessees should not be treated uniformly as fee-simple lords: Sir John Williams, Robert Stafford, William Gorges, and Samuel Rolt are evidenced as Crown or estate lessees or tenants, while Sir Arthur Hesilrige is specifically described as lord of the manor in 1655. The Duke of Grafton is reported by local estate history as retaining the lordship in the modern period, but a complete chain of post-1542 legal conveyances was not located.

Records & References

Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.

15 records found · showing 1–8.