Hundred of South Erpingham: Calthorp

CALTHORP.

This town lies on the north side of theriver Bure, and takes its name from its site, viz. a thorp on a cold stream or water, being wrote Calethorp in the Book of Doomsday; the chief lordship belonged to Edric, a Dane, who gave it to the abbey of St. Bennet of Holm, (fn. 1) and confirmed by King Edward the Confessor. At the survey the abbot had one carucate and an half of land held by seven villains, and three bor darers, one carucate in demeam, (fn. 2) and three amongst the freemen, with four acres of meadow, &c. a mill, and the third part of another; also three socmen held a carrucate, and twenty acres, with an acre of meadow then valued at 3s. The Abbot had also in King Edward's time a carrucate of land, 3 villains, and four bordarers, with one carrucate and an half, and one acre of meadow, &c. valued at 15s. per ann. Also a church without any land or glebe: the whole was nine furlongs in length, and six in breadth, and paid 5d. gelt.

About the time of the Conqueror, Godric was infeoffed herein by the abbot and convent; he was their dapifer, steward, or chief manager of all their estates, a place of great eminency and honour in that age, as appears by William Fitz Osborn, who (with Odo Earl of Kent, and Bishop of Baieux, half brother to the Conqueror, were appointed regents of England on the Conqueror's going into Normandy) is styled Dapifer Normanniæ, and seneschal to the Conqueror, as Duke of Normandy. From this Godric, the ancient family of the Calthorps are descended, as appears by their pedigree. By Ingreda his wife he had Radulph, who enjoyed the same office; and by Lescilina his wife had Hermannus, who in the reign of Henry I. was, with his sons, witness to a grant of the abbot and convent of the manor of Greenswell in Stoke Holy Cross to William Curzun, and therein is styled Hermann us Dapifer.

Herman had several sons, Adam, William, Peter, &c. to Adam, the eldest, abbot William and the convent of Holm granted, in a full chapter, the hundred of Tunsted, with other large possessions in fee, to him and his heirs, with the stewardship of the abbey; in the grant it is expressed, —"Ut post abbatem, totius abbatiæ sit procurator et Dapifer sicut pater;" and he was to hold by that service all the abbey lands in Calthorp, and the land of William in the said village; and this William, as I take it, was brother to Adam; and this Adam seems to be the first of the family that assumed the name of Calthorp, and dying sans issue. William his brother, was his heir, lord of Hobbies, Magna et Parva, and was on that account called William de Alto Bosco, or Hobbies, and was succeeded by his son William, who had several sons, Peter, William, Thomas, from whom came several families, who occur under the name of Hobbies and Calthorp; in the 12th of Henry II. William de Calthorp was found to hold here, &c. on fee of the Abbot of Holm de veteri feoffamento. (fn. 3) Sir Peter de Hobbies was his son and heir, called often Sir Peter de Calthorp, steward or dapifer of the aforesaid abbey, who died about 1239, and was succeeded by Peter, his son and heir, by Maud his wife, who sold his right in this manor, with the reversion of his mother's dower for forty marks of silver, to Walter de Calthorp, alias Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, and William de Calthorp, the Bishop's nephew and heir, and also by fine conveyed to the Bishop the advowson of this church in 1246. The witnesses to Peter's deed were Sir Nicholas de Berningham, Sir Roger de Calethorp, Robert de Erpingham, &c.; and after the death of Peter, John his brother conveyed all his right to them. Sir Roger de Calethorp, one of the said witnesses, wrote himself sometimes Sir Roger de Suffield, and Sir Roger de Hales; in the foundation deed of the free chapel of St. Andrew of Hales, he styles himself Sir Roger de Hales, son of Walter de Suffield; and Walter the Bishop in his will calls Sir Roger de Hales his brother, and was probably father of William de Calthorp the Bishop's nephew and heir, who was afterwards a knight: King Henry III. in his 40th year granted to him free warren in all his demean lands here, that no one should without his leave and license enter therein, to take or pursue any game under the penalty of 10l. The witnesses to it were William Bishop of Ely, Walter de Suffield, alias Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk, and Earl-Marshal of all England, Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, Peter de Savoy, Guy le Lesigha, William de Valence, the King's brother, William de Grey, Robert de Wallerund, Nicholas de Seymour, &c. Dated at Westminster, April 16.

Adam, abbot of Holm, and the convent, warranted to defend and acquit him and his heirs from all services, customs, &c. which the heirs of John de Hobbies (the brother of Peter abovementioned) should demand of him for a tenement held by him in Calethorpe, of the fee of the said Abbot: and in the 55th of the said King, he and his lady had a grant of a fair at Burnham on the vigil, the day, and the day after St. Peter ad vincula, and a weekly mercate on Saturday. Dated at Westminster, July 24. Sir William married Cecilia, daughter of Sir Phillip, and sister and heir to William de Burnham, alias Warren, descended(as it is said) from a cousin-german of Hameline Plantaginet Earl Warren and Surrey, and bore for his arms, checque, or and azure, a fess ermine. Some take them to be the arms of the De Burnhams, alias Warren, a younger branch of the Earl Warren's, (fn. 4) which Sir William Calthorpe took up on his marriage with Cecilia aforesaid; but it is more probable the Calthorps bore them, as dependants on the Earls Warren, their capital lords, under whom they held several lordships; and it appears that Walter the Bishop, and uncle to this William, bore the same; and in the 30th of Henry II. when a fine was levied between Matthew de Gourney, and Rose his wife, and Phillip de Burnham, of the manor of Harpley, before John Bishop of Norwich, and Adam de Glanvil, the King's justices, Phillip's seal was the same with that of Hameline Earl Warren; this Sir William Calthorp, and Sir Ralph de Hemmenhale were founders of Burnham priory in 1241.

Sir Walter de Calthorp was his son and heir, by Cecilia, and married Ela, daughter of Sir Hervy Stanhowe, lord of Stanhowe; who bore barry of eight, azure and or, a bend over all gules; they are both mentioned in a fine in the 14th and 25th of Edward I. in which last year he gave land at Burnham to the priory; and in the 11th of Edward II. he quitted claim to Henry, abbot of Holm, certain services due to him for tenements in Beston, and sealed as his father; witnesses Sir Jeffery Wyth, Sir Roger Jenney, Sir Reginald le Gross, &c.; and died about the 17th of Edward II. His successour, by the name of Sir William Calthorp, son of Sir Walter, remitted, June 29, in the 14th of Edward II. to the abbot and convent of Crowland, all his right in the manor and advowson of Gedney, &c. Quaplode and Holbeach in Lincolnshire; and with Isabella his lady, daughter of John Lord Lovell of Tichmarsh, entailed on Walter, their son and heir, the lordships of Calthorp, Seething, Burnham, Thorp, &c. who married Alice, (fn. 5) daughter of Sir Ralph de Crophull, and niece to John Hotham Bishop of Ely, who was in the ward of Nicholas de Rysing; he was also a knight, and dying sans issue, Alice remarried, about the 16th of Edward II. by Sir John Bigot, Sir Wiliam died about the 33d of Edward III. and had a daughter Ela, married to John, son of Simon de Peirpoint (ancestor to the Dukes of Kingston) of Hensted in Suffolk, who settled on them the manor of Hurst-Peirpoint in Sussex on this marriage, in the 5th of Edward III. as appears by a fine.

Sir John Calthorp, his second son, was his heir; and Sir Thomas St. Omer, sheriff of Norfolk in the 33d of Edward III. accounted for one penny received of Sir John, for one bearded arrow for a messuage, and fifty acres of land in Seething, and paid then the said relief for the same. Sir John dying without issue, Sir Oliver, his brother, was his heir.

I have seen a deed of his, setting forth, that whereas the abbot and monks of Sybton in Suffolk were obliged, on account of certain lands and tenements, to pray for the souls of his ancestors in a chantry within the chapel of Sything, given to them by his said ancestors; which lands and tenements by length of time, and by the death of the free tenants and villains, are become so waste, and the profits so diminished, as to be not a sufficient support for one monk to live and remain there. In order to supply the same, he grants for himself and heirs, that the said abbot and monks should be freed from the same, on condition that they provide a chantry in their own monastery, to perform the said office, and saving to himself and heirs the payment of 18d. per ann. at the feast of St. Martin for one pair of boots, which the said convent used to pay to him and his ancestors on the said feast, and ail other rents and services annually paid.—Dated at Burnham, December 16, 1361. Witnesses, Thomas Bishop of Norwich, Mr. William Blyth, archdeacon of Norfolk, Sir Robert de Ilketeshale, Knight, Richard de Calthorp his brother, Robert Garneys, &c. In the 49th of Edward III. he was high sheriff of Norfolk, and married Isabel, daughter of Sir Robert, (and sister and heir of Sir Bartholmew Bacon of Erwarton in Suffolk, who bore, gules, on a chief argent, two mullets sable,) by a daughter of Bartholomew Davillers, who bore three escutcheons; she survived him, dying in the 12th of Henry IV. and left by her will to Richard Calthorp her son the lordshp of Snitterley, alias Blakeney, in Norfolk; from whom descend, the Calthorp of Cockthorp, &c. Sir Oliver died about the end of Richard the Second's reign, and was buried, as is said, in the church of Calthorp.—Sir William Calthorp, son and heir of Sir Oliver, was a witness in the 9th of Henry IV. for Sir Edward Hastings of Elsing, in the great cause of arms-bearing. He married first Atianore, daughter and heir of Sir John Mautby, who bore azure, a cross or, and, secondly, Sibilla, daughter and heir of Sir Edmund de St. Omer, who bore azure, a fess between six crosslets or, and relict of Sir John Wythe. Sir William's will is dated December 19, 1420, and proved on the 29th of the said month, wherein he appointsSibil his wife and Will. Paston, Esq. executors, and was buried in Burnham Thorpe chancel. The will of Sibil was proved October 6, 1421; (fn. 6) therein she gives a black vestment of baldekin with orfreys of red velvet, with the arms of Wythe, for a priest, with a missale, a cup and a patten to the church of Bestan by Smalburgh, where she was buried in the chancel, on the south side, by her first husband. Sir William by his first lady had Sir John Calthorp, who married Anne, daughter and heir of John Wythe, (who bore azure, three griffins in pale passant, or,) by Sibilla aforesaid; and dying before, his father Sir William, left a son William, aged eleven years, at his grandfather's death, and heir to his estate. (fn. 7)

On the 28th of June, in the 21st of Henry VI. at his court here he manumised Thomas Gybbs, his villain, and bore then, as appears by his seal, quarterly, Calthorp and Bacon, and for his crest, a boar's head between two naked boys armed with clubs. In the 36th of the said King he was knighted, became locum tenens and commissary-general to the most noble and potent William Duke of Suffolk, and Earl of Pembroke, high chamberlain of England, Ireland and Aquitain, during the minority of Henry Duke of Exeter. In the 8th of Edward IV. he writes himself Sir William Calthorp of Ludham; and in the 18th of that King was stewared of the household to the Duke of Norfolk, also high sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, as he had been in the 8th of that King, and in 20th and 36th of Hen. VI. and purchased in the 18th of Edward IV. of the executors of Joan Lady Bardolph, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Erpingham, an inn or mansion-house called Berney's inn, in St. Martin's parish, by the Bishop's Palace-gate in Norwich. By his first lady, Elizabeth, daughter of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthyn, he had Sir John Calthorp, his son and heir; (Wiliam Calthorp, Esq. of Pockthorp in Norwich, who was buried in the the White-friar's church in Norwich, being by his second wife, in 1528;) Amy, married to William Gourney, Esq. son and heir of Thomas; Elizabeth married to Richard Welby, Esq. of Moulton in Lincolnshire; his second lady was Eliz. daughter and coheir of Sir Miles Stapleton, by whom he had Anne, married to Sir Robert Drury, of Hausted in Sufolk, (fn. 8) privy councellor to King Henry VII.; she surviving Sir William, afterwards remarried Sir Edward Howard, Knight, lord admiral, brother to the Duke of Norfolk, then to the Lord Scroop, and lastly, to Sir John Fortescue, lord chief justice. Sir William died in 1494, his will was proved November 27, and inquisitions were awarded in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, &c. and was buried by his first lady (who died in 1437) in the White-friar's church at Norwich, where also several of her children lay, where, he says in his will, "The place of my Sepulture is made; and gives forty marks to be given in pence to the poor on his burial day, ten marks to the friers, and frier Thomas Waterpepe to sing three years for his own, friends and wife's souls at the altar, where my sepulture is; and after the gospel, to say openly at the end of every mass, de profundis, and to have six marks a year; also 74l. 6s. to make and adorn the choir and presbytery of the abbey of Crieke, and the chapel there where his ancestors lie buried."

Sir John Calthorp, son and heir of Sir William, married Elizabeth, daughter of Roger Wentworth, Esq. of Nettlested in Suffolk, whose arms were sable, a chevron between three lions faces, or; by whom he had Sir Philip Calthorp, who married Amy, daughter of Sir William Bullen of Blickling in Norfolk, (and aunt to Queen Anne, consort of King Henry VIII.) who bore argent, a chevron gules, between three bulls heads couped sable, armed or; she was buried in St. Andrew's church at Norwich, in 1501. Anne, his sister, married John Cressener, Esq. and after Edward Knevet; Agnes, William Curson, Esq. and Margaret was abbess of Brusyerd in Suffolk.

Sir Philip Calthorp, son of Sir Philip, by his lady Amy, married, first, Mary daughter of—Say, sister and heir of Sir William Say, who bore, per pale azure and gules, three chevronells metté voided and counterchanged; his second wife was Jane, daughter of John Bleverhasset of Frense in Norfolk, Esq. Sir Philip's will was proved April 7th, 1535; he died seized of this lordship, and those of Smalburgh, Burnham-Thorp, Seething, Sprouston, Stanhow, East and West Rudham, Berwick, Bermere, and North Clenchwarton, in Norfolk; Erwarton, Brome, Okeley, and Wattesham, in Suffolk. (fn. 9) Jane his widow died April 27th, 1550, and was buried in the chancel of St. Martin's church, by the Bishop's Palace, in Norwich, under a large marble gravestone, ornamented with brass plates, and an epitaph in verse, and gave a silver cup, and a velvet carpet, adorned with roses and lilies. (fn. 10) He had a son, Philip Calthorp, Esq.; his assignees presented to the church of Harpley, in 1541, and 1544, and dying sans issue, his sister Elizabeth succeeded, the only daughter and heir of Sir Philip Calthorp, by Mary his first wife; she was second wife to Sir Henry Parker, who had livery of this manor, &c. in the 3d of Edward VI. and bore argent, a lion passant gules, between two bars sable, charged with 2 and 1 bezants, in chief, three bucks heads caboshed of the 2d. In 1554, she was wife of Sir William Woodhouse of Waxham and Hickling, and, on his death, married in the 8th of Elizabeth, Drue Drury, Esq. and was buried at the east end of the north isle of St. Martin's church aforesaid, where is a monument, with a Latin epitaph, erected by her last husband, to her memory, but without any date.

Sir Philip Parker was her son and heir, and had livery of this and other manors, about the 20th of Elizabeth; he married Catherine, daughter of Sir John Goodwin, Knt. of Winchendon in Buckinghamshire, and by an inquisition taken in April Ao. 3 of James First, was found to die in November last past, and Sir Calthorp Parker was his son and heir, aged 30, who died September 5th, in the 13th of the said King, when this manor descended to Philip his son and heir, by Mercy, daughter of Sir Stephen Soame, Lord Mayor of London, aged 17; he was also knighted, and married Dorothy, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Gawdy of Claxton in Norfolk.

This lordship afterwards came to the Fromantels, and was lately sold by them to the Hon. Horatio Walpole, Esq.

Hook-Hall or Dame Kate's Manor,

Was part of the capital manor of Uphall, and given by Hermannus to William, his 2d son, from which William descended a numerous family; a younger branch of this was enfeoffed herein: in the 9th of King John, William, son of Richard de Calethorp was in custody of Roger de Suffield, who then gave for him 11 marks, to have a præcipe of 5l. lands belonging to Richard, and in the year following an assise was brought, to find if Peter, father of Ralph de Calethorp, was seized of lands here the day he went to Jerusalem. (fn. 11)

In the 16th of Henry III. Sir Peter de Alto Bosco, alias de Calethorp, sued Roger de Calethorp for the right of presentation to this church, and the said Peter granted it with lands here, by fine, in the 32d of that King, to Walter de Calethorp Bishop of Norwich, and William his nephew, saving to Maud his mother, relict of Peter, her dower. Bartholomew de Calethorp, (fn. 12) son of Sir Roger de Calethorp, was found to hold here, &c. a fee, and was not a knight, in the 52d of the said King; and in 1317, Sir Roger de Calethorp, (son of Sir Bartholomew,) and Catherine his wife, are said to hold a moiety of the manor of Uphall, by whom he had Sir Bartholomew, his son and heir; and in the 11th of Edward III. by a fine then levied, the reversion of this lordship, with 3 messuages, 100 acres of land, 16 of meadow, 4 of moor, 4s. rent, and 100 acres of heath, in Wickmere, then held by Catherine his mother, who gave name to it, was settled on Bartholomew and Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of Sir John Gestingthorpe, of Essex, who bore ermin, a maunch gules, which Sir Bartholomew bore in right of his wife.

By his will, dated in 1372, he gives legacies to the high altar of St. Mary of Calthorp, (fn. 13) and to the three hospitals of St. Mary Magdalen at Norwich, Lynn, and Thetford, and his body to buried where it shall please god, which was at Calthorp; and left Catherine, his only daughter and heir, married to Sir John Harsyke of Southacre, whose son, Sir John, by Agnes his wife, daughter and coheir of Sir William Caley of Oby, had Sir Roger Harsyke, who by Alice his wife, daughter of Nicholas Wichingham, of Fishley, Esq. left at his death, in 1453, two daughters and coheirs, Margaret, married to William Dorward, Esq. of Bocking in Essex, and Joan, married to Richard Dorward, his brother, who conveyed this manor of Hook-Hall, by fine, in the 3d of Edward IV. to Thomas Bullen, clerk; and Sir William Bullen of Blickling died seized of it in 1505, and Sir James Bullen passed it by fine to John Walpole, Esq. in the first of Queen Mary. After this it came to the Reymes and Blofields, &c. as may be seen in Wickmere, page 461.

There was also another small manor, taken out of the capital lordship, of Uphall, belonging to Sir Peter de Hautbois, or de Alto Bosco, which came to John, his brother, and which came to the hospital of St. Giles in Norwich; Matthew, son of Simon de Hoc of Calethorp, gave to Hamon, master of it, a messuage, &c. and the Lady Isabella, wife of Sir Roger de Calethorp, and Roger son of Simon, gave lands to it; Steven Crok, a brother of the hospital, confirmed it, a part of the manor of Uphall, late John de Calethorp's. Robert de Norfolk, also, by deed sans date, confirmed to the said hospital the homage of Roger, son of Simon de Hok, with his mill in Calethorp, called Newmill, with the fishing and suit to the said mill, which Sir Roger de Calethorp's tenants, in Calethorp and Wickmere, and every new master of the hospital paid to the lord of Uphall 15s. 8d. relief; William Sooper, master, paid it in the reign of Henry VIII. This hospital, on its dissolution, was granted, March 8th, in the 1st of Edward VI. to the mayor and corporation of the city or Norwich, with all the lands and revenues belonging to it, and so continues; and it appears that in 1748, there belonged to it, a messuage with lands and aldercars in Calthorp, with 4 acres and an half in Erpingham, valued at 45l, 13s. 1d. per ann.

Kybald Hall.

That part of this town which appertained to this lordship was held in King Edward's time by Lestan, a Saxon freeman, but at the survey, by Teheli, a Norman, and under him, by Guerite and Osbert, consisting of a carucate of land, 3 villains, 8 bordarers, with one carucate in demean, and one and an half amongst the freemen, &c. valued at 30s. per ann. (fn. 14)

In the reign of King Henry II. Robert Fitz Roger was found to hold three parts of a knight's fee here of Richard de Reymes, or Rains, (fn. 15) who was descended from Roger de Ramis, a great Norman lord, who had several lordships in Essex, (fn. 16) and in the the 20th of Henry III. Sir Andrew de Helion of Bumpstead in Essex, certified that Roger de Calethorp held here one knight's fee of him belonging to his barony of Helion; and before this, in the reign of Henry I. William, son of Herman, lord of Uphall, held lands here, late Robert Kibald's. In he 16th of Edward VI. in an assise, the jury find that the manor of Kybald was, time out of mind, held by the family of Calthorp, and that Sir William Calthorp, who lived in the reign of Henry III. purchasing Uphall lordship, pulled down the houses, &c. thereto belonging, and carried them to Kybald-hall, with all the grain, that the tenants of Uphall came to Kybald-hall court, and did suit there; after it was thus joined to Uphall manor, it had the same lords, of whom see there.

Roger Bigot, ancestor of the Earls of Norfolk, had one villain here, which Godwin de Scotohou held in the Confessor's time, and was added to Bigot's manor of Hanworth, in North Erpingham hundred, under which I find it in Domesday Book; see there. (fn. 17)

The tenths of this town were 2l. 10s. deductions 10s. and is in the dutchy of Lancaster.

The Church of Calthorp is dedicated to the Virgin or St. Margaret, and consists of a nave, or body, with a south porch covered with lead, and a chancel with tiles, also a square with 3 bells. In the nave lie several gravestones in memory of

Eliz. Lomb, widow, who died April 19th. 1690.—John Tubbing 1686.—Mary Scotthow, 1694.—James Springal, gent: 1728—Curtis, his wife 1710.—Orate p. aia. Tho. Drake, qui obt. 15 Apr. 1501.

In the upper window, on the north side, were the arms of Calthorpe, Wythe and St. Omer, and Mautby. The effigies of Sir Oliver Calthorp, in his coat armour, kneeling, with a prayer book before him on a crimson velvet cushion, also that of his lady, with these words, MARY HELP, JHE MERCI, with the arms of Calthorp, impaling Bacon.

In the opposite south window, or, a chief indented sable, Harsyke impaling, ermine, on a chief sable, 3 crosses pattee or, Wychingham. Harsyke and Calthorp, with the effigies of Sir John Harsyke and Catherine his wife, daughter of Sir Bartholomew Calthorp. Calthorp with his supporters, two lions rampant, guardant, argent. Harsyke impaling Caley, quarterly, argent and sable, on a bend cotised gules, 3 mullets or. Vert, an escutcheon and an orle of martlets argent, Erpingham impaling Calthorp, and or, a lion rampant gules, Felbrigg, impaling Erpingham, the effigies of the Virgin Mary, and that of a pilgrim to St. James of Compostella, with his ensign, an escallop.

The presentation to this church (which was a rectory) belonged to Edric, lord of the manor, and was given by him to the abbey of St. Bennet of Holme, (fn. 18) and confirmed by Edward the Confessor; Walter de Calthorp, being afterwards lord and patron, appropriated it to his hospital of St. Giles in Norwich, and a vicarage was settled in the patronage of that house; the valor of the rectory was 18 marks, and it paid 4d. 0b. Peter-pence; there belonged to it 48 acres and 2 roods of glebe, in this town, besides what lay in Wickmere and Epingham. The vicarage is in clear value 27l. and capable of augmentation; charged in the King's Books at 1l. 13s. 4d.

1313, Stephen de Herling instituted vicar, presented by the master and brethren of St. Giles's hospital in Norwich. 1325, Richard de Wyctone. 1349, John Blome. 1355, Richard Uploft. 1360, William Berther. 1361, James Cecilia. 1384, John, son of Peter Hogan of Berningham.

1449, Walter Drew, by the master, &c. Richard Watson, vicar about the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Robert Quash, succeeded, then Samuel Wickes, after him Thomas Jackson. Theophilus Brown occurs vicar in 1700. 1734, Charles Ray, by the mayor, &c. of Norwich, and Daniel Fromantel, in 1739. 1755, Mr. Stileman, presented by the mayor and corporation of Norwich.