A snapshot of Welton in 1849

---

A hundred in Anglo‑Saxon England was an important administrative and judicial subdivision within a shire. Traditionally thought to contain 100 hides of land or roughly 100 households, it served as the core unit of local governance, overseeing tax collection, military levies, and the resolution of local disputes.

During the 19th century, hundreds were gradually dismantled through successive legal and administrative reforms. Their decline began after 1834, and they were effectively rendered obsolete by the Local Government Act 1894, which replaced them with modern rural and urban district councils.

---

Please note that some abbreviations have been rewritten as full names where known for ease of reading. 

WELTON PARISH

Is bounded by Long Buckby on the east; on the north by Watford, from which it is divided by the Watling-street way; by Braunston on the west; and Daventry on the south, from which it is divided by the Grand Junction Canal. It contains 1,690 acres, and its population, in 1801, was 485; in 1831, 600; and in 1841, 635 souls. 

The rateable value of the parish is £3,451, and the amount of assessed property is £2,935.

The soil is principally a strong loam, and the chief owners are Richard Trevor Clarke, Esq. of Welton Place (lord of the manor), and Beriah Botfield, Esq. of Norton Hall. The lordship is well supplied with springs, and there is some good limestone, and excellent brick and tile clay. The Grand Junction Canal is continued on to Braunston by a tunnel 1½ miles long, where it joins the Oxford one.

Manor: Osbern held 3 hides, wanting 1 virgate, of land, in Welintone, of Hugh de Grentemaisnil, at the time of the Domesday survey. There was a mill of the yearly rent of 12d, and 8acres of meadow, and the whole, which in the Confessor’s time had been the freehold of Baldwin and valued at 20s, was now rated at 40s.  

Leuric, the Saxon proprietor, held half a hide and one virgate in Welton and Thorpe of the Countess Judith at the same time. This was valued at 8s. 

In the reign of Henry II. William de Novo Foro held 2½ hides and 2 small virgates here of the fee of Leicester; Hugh de Leycester had 5½ small virgates of the fee of Birkhampstead, which were held by the monks of Daventry, and Richard Mallore had 2 small virgates. The descendants of this William de Novo Foro are not known. 

In the 18th year of the reign of Edward I (1290), Philip de Montgomery levied a fine of this manor; and in the 9th of Edward II. (1316), John Mallore was lord of Welton. In the male line of this family it continued for some time, and then descended to Margaret, daughter of John Mallore, and wife of Thomas Peyton, Esq. From this gentleman’s grandson and successor it was purchased, in the 2nd of Richard III. (1485), by William Catesby, Esq., of Ashby St. Ledgers, who levied a fine of it in the same year, and from whom it was named Catesby’s Manor. 

The manor in Welton belonging to the Daventry priory, was valued, in 1526, at £7. 10s. 2d. per annum, and passed with the other possessions of that house, to Cardinal Wolsey’s College, Oxford. Leicester abbey had the annual rent of a water-mill, at Welton, (43s.), at its dissolution, which was sold by the Crown to John Franke.

Sir William Catesby, for he was afterwards knighted, was beheaded at Leicester after the battle of Bosworth-field, and being attainted of high-treason, in 1485, his manors of Welton, with several others, were granted, in 1489, to Sir David Owen, in tail male. From him this manor descended to his grandson, Henry Owen, Esq, who sold it, in the 14th of Elizabeth (1572), to Sir Richard Knightley, of Fawsley, who afterwards alienated it to the family of Newport, of Welton. John Newport, Gent., sold it in 1647, together with the impropriate rectory, to William Adams, Esq, of Charwelton. 

In this family it continued till 1804, when Samuel Miller Adams, Gentleman, alienated it to John Clarke, Esq, son of John Plomer, Esq, who by Act of Parliament, in 1775, adopted the name and arms of Clarke, on succeeding to the estates of that family under the will of his maternal great uncle Richard Clarke, Esq. John Clarke, Esq. was succeeded at his death, in 1805, by John Plomer Clarke, Esq, from whom the manor descended to the present Lord Richard Trevor Clarke, Esq.

---

The Village of Welton, which is very respectable, is situated on a steep declivity about 2 miles N.E. of Daventry, and 12 N.W. from Northampton.

The Church, dedicated to St. Martin, stands on rising ground, near the centre of the village, and consists of a nave and side aisles, south porch, and chancel, with a pinnacled tower containing five bells. The whole building, except the tower, is in the Perpendicular style of the 15th century. The living is a discharged vicarage in the deanery of Daventry, rated in the king’s books at £7, but its net value at present is about £193. The patronage is vested in the Lord Chancellor; and the Rev. Daniel Darnell, M.A., is the present incumbent. The impropriate rectory consists of 196a. 0r. 1p.; the vicarage of 60a. 1r. 5p., granted by the commissioners, in lieu of vicarial tithes; and 3a. 3r. 14p., in lieu of an annual payment of £3. 16s. 8d. out of certain lands. 

In ecclesiastical matters Welton was originally a parochial chapelry to Daventry.

There is also a small Baptist Chapel in the village.

The National School was built by the late Mr. Clarke and is supported by voluntary subscription. 

The Charity Land, consisting of 58 acres, a small close, and a garden, lets for about £130 per annum; and the rents are applied to the relief of the poor, repairs of the church, causeways, bridges, &c.

Welton Place, the seat of R. T. Clarke, Esq is a handsome mansion situate near the church, on the southern side of a bold abrupt hill, on a terrace commanding a prospect of the town of Daventry and the adjacent country. The hill rising behind the house is ornamented with forest trees and shrubs, and near its base is Mickle Well in a curious ancient, vaulted cave, which is so called, perhaps, from its never-failing abundance. It feeds several fish-ponds &c, within the grounds.

Churchill House, formerly the Manor-house, stands at the entrance of the village, and is the seat of Edmund Singer Burton, Esq.

Antiquities: Mr. Baker tells us, that in the year 1778, in a close called Stone-pit Field, belonging to John Clarke, Esq a “rudely formed sepulchre,” probably a cist, was discovered about two feet below the surface, within which were deposited two skeletons of small stature, having two brass fibulæ, and a number of beads lying near the throat and wrists. Between the skeletons was an urn, and a spear now mouldered to fragments, with four or five small Roman coins, one of which appeared to be of Constantine the Great, and another of Flavia Fausta, his empress. 

The urn, which is in the possession of R. T. Clarke, Esq, is of a dark colour, nearly black, and the beads are of amber, glass, and jet, varying in size, shape, and colour. A small Roman coin of Barbia Orbiana, last wife of the Emperor Alexander Severus, was dug up in the church-yard some years since.

---

At this point the summary lists some of the parishioners and their roles. Many of these people are mentioned in the memory of Tom Pearcey from 1841 which can be found here.

Atkins Mr. John
Batchelor Alexander, tailor
Benjamin Joseph, victualler, Red Lion, and builder +
Boys Elizabeth, dressmaker
Boys John, victualler Wheatsheaf
Burton Edmund Singer, Esq., Churchill House +
Clarke Rev. Charles, curate of Norton
Clarke Richard Trevor, Esq, Welton Place +
Darby Thomas, carpenter, &c.
Darnell, Rev. Daniel, vicar +
Downing William, tailor
Elliott John, gardener

Farr Jane, beer-retailer +
Farr John, baker, &c.,
Field John, corn-miller
Harris Harry, victualler, White Horse
Harrison Thomas, blacksmith +
Hill, Captain Stephen John, Welton Cottage [later known as The Firs] +
Jackson Henry, butcher
Robinson Rev. Richard. (Baptist)
Reeve Harriet, dressmaker
Reeve Thomas, butcher
Roberts S., National Schoolmaster.
Smith John, tea-dealer
Smith Thomas, shoemaker
Smith Wm., parish-clerk
Wilbee F., agent. at Welton wharf.

Farmers & Graziers.
Marked thus * are yeomen.

Howard Samuel. (& brick-manufacturer & coal-merchant.)
Jones William
*Lee Thomas
Pearcey Thomas
Robbins Samuel
Robinson John
Sabin Thomas
Townsend-William
*Winterton J., Welton Grange
Winterton Ralph
Wokley William

Letters are received through the Daventry office.

Carrier to Daventry – John Field, Wednesday and Saturday