Wrandike hundred

THE HUNDRED OF WRANDIKE

containing the parishes of Barrowden; Bisbrooke; Caldecott; Glaston; Liddington; Luffenham, North; Luffenham, South; Morcott; Pilton; Seaton with Thorpe-by-Water; Stoke Dry; Tixover

The parishes of which Wrandike, or, as it is sometimes called, Barrowden Hundred, is composed formed the Hundred of Hwicceslea West referred to in the Northamptonshire Geld Roll of about 1075, and the southern portion of the Wapentake of Wiceslea in the county of Northampton of the Domesday Survey of 1086. (fn. 1) The Wapentake of Witchley (Wiceslea) had become part of Rutland by 1129 and probably some years earlier (see account of the County), but the earliest reference to the hundred under the name of Wrandike is in 1166. (fn. 2) In 1287 the lords of some five manors in this hundred claimed view of frankpledge, which would detract from the importance of the hundred court—namely, Isabel de Paunton in Glaston, the Bishop of Lincoln in Liddington, Stoke Dry, Snelleston and Caldecott. (fn. 3) Wrandike, where probably the court was held, may be 'Wrongedich' in North Luffenham. (fn. 4) Barrowden became the head of the hundred. The hundred was probably the soke which Michael de Hanslope held at Barrowden, and was undoubtedly the hundred which Henry II confirmed to William Mauduit, his chamberlain, grandson of Michael, in 1163. (fn. 5) William Mauduit, his grandson, died seised of Wrandike Hundred in 1256, leaving a son William, (fn. 6) who became Earl of Warwick and died in 1268 without issue, leaving as his heir his nephew, William de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, who held the county, apparently claimed the hundred as an escheat, and in 1294 Warwick brought an action for its recovery. (fn. 7) The case seems to have been left undecided, as Cornwall died in 1300 seised of Martinsley, Alstoe and East Hundreds, but from Wrandike he received nothing because it was in the hands of the Earl of Warwick. (fn. 8) From this time the hundred passed with the manor of Barrowden (q.v.) and now belongs to the Marquess of Exeter.