A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE that manor improving from 2s. to 30J. and from 5/. to 40J-. respectively. What can be the meaning of these figures ? It is my belief that they point to these and similar manors having lain 'waste,' as it was termed, in 1066. That a manor could be worth a nominal sum, even when lying ' waste,' is shown by the cases of Charlton and Foxley, which are entered together in Domesday (fo. 2231^.). In both these cases we read :
- It is waste ; yet it is worth five shillings.'
If, then, these entries point to some devastation, we ought to examine them throughout the county, and see if their distribution can be made to enlighten us on the subject. With this object I have constructed tables containing every manor which had doubled, or more, in value within the twenty years, and then I have selected out of these the com- paratively small number of which the value had increased five-fold or more. The locality in which are found most of the latter class is one that is full of significance ; it is the valley of the Nen between Warmington and Northampton. With Warmington itself we have already dealt. Distributed round it in a quarter circle are Polebrook (5^. to £2 and 2s. to £1), Oundle (5/. to £1 1), and Cotterstock (5/. to ^^3). Just beyond, up the Nen, are Stoke Doyley {los. to £^ 10s.) and Pilton (5J. to £2 lOJ.). Luddington, also, had risen in value from lox. to 30^. There is no questioning the evidence of figures so decisive as these ; including Warmington the whole group had risen, we see, in value from £2 14.S. to £^i los. Following up the valley of the Nen, we have notable rises at Titchmarsh (^4 to £g 15^.), Woodford (^i 10s. to ^4 lox.),^ Addington Magna (loj. to £2), and Irthlingborough {£1 to ^5). Further up, Irchester had risen from £1 to £S, and Knuston, adjoining it, from 5^. to 20s. Apart from the above district there are others in which may be traced a recovery from some devastation. In the north-eastern extremity of the county, Barnack, with Burghley and Pilsgate adjoining it, had all quadrupled in value ; Glinton, Warrington, and Castor (with Milton and Ailsworth) had all more than doubled ; Wittering had nearly quad- rupled, while Southorpe, adjoining it, had increased three-fold. All this evidence points to one conclusion. When, in 1065, Morcar marched south with the Northumbrian host, he would have entered the county at Stamford, advancing from Doncaster and Grant- ham. It is possible that the men of Lincolnshire who, according to the Chronicle, joined him, crossed the Welland at Market Deeping, but, in any case, his host must have ravaged Peterborough, and the district lying to its north-west, before marching up the valley of the Nen to Northampton. The men of Derbyshire and Notts, who are similarly stated to have joined him, would have crossed the river at Market Harborough. Little Bowden, the spot at which they would have entered the county, shows an increase from 5/. 4^'. to £1 lOJ., which implies that it had been devastated. If
- Besides a small manor worth IOj. (in 1086) which had been * wholly waste.'
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