Monument record 7204/95 - Gales Manor

Unlocated within settlement

The second manor in 1086 was that of Odelin, who held 3 virgates at Thrapston of the Bishop of Coutances.
In the reign of Henry III (1216-72) the manor, or part of it, together with Denford was held from the Earls of Gloucester by William Hay as an eighth of a knights fee and by 1329-30 it had passed to High Lucas when it was purchased by Bernard de Bons. Although the manor appears to have been fragmented amongst various tenants sufficient survived intact to be recognised as a distinct manor, for in 1574 a small manor called Gales is recorded, named after an earlier 16th century lord, though no capital messuage is referred to at this time. By 1706 the manor of Gales had been united with the main manor.
Though a there may have been two manor houses in Thrapston in the later 11th century, judging from the evidence of the Domesday Survey, it seems likely that the manor later known as Gales did not incorporate a capital messuage in Thrapston for much of the medieval and post medieval period, but that it was held with other property of the Gloucester fee, for which the adjacent village of Denford was the local administrative centre. Certainly there was nothing in the topography of the town in the late 18th century to suggest the site of a second manor. (1)

<1> Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Thrapston (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100460.

<2> 1781 (circa), Thrapston Inclosure Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100461.

Record last edited

Aug 9 2000 12:00AM