Grafton

The Grafton Manor was a small one of about 1300 acres and not, according to the Domesday assessment, a wealthy one. It was assessed at four-fifths of one hide, and to put that into perspective it was generally reckoned that 5 hides would support a Saxon thane. Godwin, the man who held it at the Conquest was a freeholder, but had no higher status.

By 1086 the manor was one of the plentiful landholdings of Robert, Count of Mortain. His son William granted the manor at some date before 1106 to the abbey of Notre Dame de Grestain, located by the River Seine estuary. The abbot therefore became the tenant-in-chief. The land was sub-let to other tenants while the abbey enjoyed the income.

In 1348 the abbey sold the manor in order to raise funds. It passed through a middleman in a complex financial transaction to Sir Michael de la Pole. He was a very successful, and by this time hugely wealthy, Hull merchant. His descendants were to play a large role in English politics in the 15th century.

The Woodvilles first make their appearance in a Grafton context because of a dispute between Walter de Woodville and the Abbot of Grestain in 1235. Walter de Woodville apparently controlled the Court of Cleyly Hundred and believed that the Abbot, as tenant of Grafton, should be subject to his court. The Abbot thought otherwise and the matter was contested, eventually being resolved in the abbot's favour in 1316. It is tantalising to wonder how matters were dealt with over a period of 80 years but documentary evidence is silent. In 1316 the charter released the abbot and his tenants from suit at the Hundred Court. The grant was signed by John de Woodville, son of Walter de Woodville. I can only assume that this Walter de Woodville was not the Walter de Woodville of 1235.

This does at least show us that the Woodville family were already established in the area, although at this time they had no connection with Grafton itself.

Sir Richard Woodville probably settled here after his marriage to Jacqueline, duchess of Bedford after 1436 and leased the manor from the de la Poles. In 1440, he and his wife were able to purchase the manor from the de la Pole family. It was used as surety for two loans totalling 900 marks - £600, so it seems reasonable to assume that this was the purchase price. The annul value of the manor at that time was £24, and if that was the only source of income it would take 25 years to pay off. As it turned out he came into an inheritance a year later that considerably improved his income.

His father died in 1441 and Sir Richard came into the Woodville inheritance. This included several manors in the Cleyly Hundred and other estates in South Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, as well as The Mote in Kent, his father's residence. I should mention here that Sir Richard's father was in the junior Woodville line, but after the death of his half brother Thomas in 1435, came into the Woodville inheritance.

The Woodville connection with Grafton was therefore within the lifetimes of the protagonists in the Woodville saga of the 15th century.

After Earl Rivers was executed in 1469 the house and manor passed to his son Anthony, who in turn was executed in 1483. Anthony left no heirs and the land and title passed to his younger brother Richard ho died in 1491, also without issue. He wiled the estate to his cousin, Thomas Grey, marquess of Dorset and it stayed in this family until 1527 when the second marquess of Dorset negotiated an exchange of manors with Henry VIII. Thereafter it was a royal manor until 1706 when it became the property of the second duke of Grafton.

Grafton village is still very small. It tops rising ground above the Tove Valley to the east. Part of the village lines the east side of the Old Stratford to Northampton with a few houses beyond. The village appears to have escaped any post war development.