Monument record 4232 - Clipston

Clipston medieval and post medieval settlement remains.

{1} The size of Clipston village at any one time is impossible to ascertain because the parish also included the now deserted village of Nobold and both settlements were always recorded together. However the village was presumably always large for in Domesday Book there are four manors listed for Clipston, three of which have a combined recorded population of 41, though the fourth, part of the royal manor of Rothwell, has no separate population figures. In 1377, 199 people over the age of 14, most of whom lived in Clipston, paid the Poll Tax. In 1674, 49 householders paid the Hearth Tax, all of whom were probably from Clipston, Nobold by then having been abandoned; in addition two 'empty ruined town houses' and two empty cottages are recorded. Bridges said that 120 families lived in Clipston in the early 18th century. In 1801 331 people lived in the parish.
The main significance of the settlement remains is that they indicate the complicated evolution of the village's morphology, and a tentative sequence can be inferred from the modern layout and the surviving earthworks. It is possible that the earliest part of the village was the area around high Street and Church Lane, centred on the church in which there is some evidence of a 12th century structure.
The second phase of development may have been a planned extension in the north west, comprising three parallel streets with the village green in the south east corner. Two of these streets survive as Chapel Lane and Harborough Road, and the third which lies equidistant between them is a broad hollow way.
Later expansion may have been in the area south west of Chapel Lane where there are extensive settlement remains apparently based on two hollow ways. Pegs Lane may be part of this development.
Elsewhere in the village are small areas of old embanked closes which so not appear to have been occupied by dwellings.

{4} Clipston is first mentioned in Domesday. The name is of Scandinavian origin meaning ‘Klyppr’s farm’. The manorial descent is complicated. Of the four landholders in 1086 the Crown manor (1 1/2 virgates) in the soc Rothwell is not mentioned after the 12th century. It may have been incorporated in a manor of the soc of Geddington which itself is not identifiable after the 14th century. The Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds held 2 virgates which consisted of 200 acres of land in 1514. They were dispersed after the Dissolution. Another manor, Calme, was in possession of the Abbey in 1086 but it is not mentioned again. There were two other larger manors in 1086. That held by the Bishop of Coutance (1 3/4 hides) became the fee of Huntingdon and was held by the de Clipston and Pilkington families from the early 12th century to the end of the 15th century. The chief lord in the 14th century was the Prince of Wales, and a letter survives from Edward III to the Black Prince signed ‘at our manor of Clipston’. The manor descended to the families of Buswell and Wade by 1558.
The other large manor belonged to William Peverel in 1086 (3 hides) and descended to the earls of Lincoln. The local tenants were the Pedwardyn family from the early 14th century until the manor became dispersed in the late 15th century.
Sir Justinian Isham was Lord of the single manor of Clipston in 1720 and it was sold in 1771 to Charles Watkins after which it became dispersed amongst freeholders.
The DMV of Newbold and the present village of Clipston was an example of a split parish. In Glebe terriers it is stated that the two were united in 1667. Although there were several manors their locations are difficult to identify. The present Clipston House is on the site of the Isham/Watkins Manor and may have been Pilkington or Pedwardyn manor house. The close next to the church called Hall Yard in 1688 almost certainly is the site of another manor. The Newbold manor stood somewhere in the earthworks to the west of Clipston. [Included in a report of the parish survey].

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.51 site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Aerial Photograph, AP (CUAP AHE83-4,BAP 74) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<3> Clipston Parish Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN57886.

<4> Hall, D. & Harding, R., 1979, Clipston Parish Survey 1976, 9/21-31 (checked) (Article). SNN16531.

<5> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.306, 310, 318, 337 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<6> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/28 (Document). SNN115882.

<7> PRO series E179, PRO E179/254/14 (Document). SNN115882.

<8> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.17 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<9> Bird H., 2005, Seaborne Re-Visited: Cob Cottages in Northamptonshire 2004, p.54-69 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109351.

<10> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.203 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<11> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 890770 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:57PM