MORBORNE
Morburn (xi cent.); Morborne (xiii cent.); Morbon
(xvii cent.).
This small parish, which is bounded on the east
by the Ermine Street, lies between Haddon on the
north and Folksworth on the south. It is a long
strip in shape, narrowing from about a mile across
at its western limit to about half a mile at its
eastern. A road runs through the village from east
to west, from which another road runs south to
Folksworth.
The land lies mostly between 75 and 100 feet above
Ordnance datum, but rises to 200 ft. at the southwest corner; it is liable to floods near the Billing
Brook.
The area is 1,205 acres, and the population was
54 in 1921. The soil and subsoil are clay. The
chief crops grown are wheat, barley, beans and peas.
The village is in the centre of the parish, and
the church stands at the eastern end of it. South
of the church and west of the Folksworth road is
the Manor Farm, where there is a late 17th-century
house and a fragmentary moat which probably
surrounded a manor house of earlier date. The
house has a modern south-east wing. In the north
wall is an original doorway with its former flat fourcentred head cut away, and above it a square panel
with a carved achievement of the Forrests of Morborne,
with initials which are apparently A. F. for Sir
Anthony Forrest, but the A is broken and resembles a
P. On a stone below is the date 1692.
At the north-east corner of the churchyard is a
thatched cottage of the 17th century with exposed
timber framing inside. At the western end of the
village is Earls Farm, with Glebe Farm farther west
still.
Two tumuli stand on the west side of the Ermine
Street, about 1¼ miles east of the church, one circular
and the other rectangular.
Names of closes include Bayly Close; Cherry,
Brazen, Pudding and Weaver's Closes; Weldon's
alias Blackhalls; and Great and Little Street Pastures. (fn. 1)
Crowland Abbey. Gules three knives argent with bafts or quartered with Azure three scourges or, the knives and scourges set upright and fessewise.
Manor
MORBORNE, consisting of 5 hides with
a church and priest, 40 acres of meadow
and one of underwood and worth 100s.,
belonged to Crowland Abbey in 1086; (fn. 2) King Eadred,
it is said, had confirmed it to them in 948. (fn. 3) With
the exception of a small estate
in Thurning, this was the
abbey's only property in Huntingdonshire. (fn. 4) In 1251, the
abbot and his men were under
threat of distraint for not
expeditating their dogs, (fn. 5) and
in 1284 the abbey had to
defend itself against the
charge that suit at county
and at hundred courts, owed
by them for their tenement
at Morborne, had been withheld for 45 years. The abbot
declared that suit at county
court had not been withheld
by himself or his immediate
predecessors, and appealed to the Statute of Limitations. He claimed quittance from suit at hundred
court by reason of a payment or rent of 11s. 0¼d.
made by him to the sheriff, who, however, maintained that this sum was received by him for
sheriff's aid, and that the Hundred of Norman Cross
was in the hands of the Abbey of Thorney. (fn. 6) Thorney
Abbey at the same time claimed view of frankpledge
in Morborne as a manor within their Hundred of
Norman Cross. (fn. 7) In 1291, the Abbot of Crowland
owned lands and rents worth £10 in Morborne, (fn. 8) of
which vill he was returned as lord in 1316. (fn. 9) In
1535, the abbey held various rents worth £17 5s. 9d. (fn. 10)
After the Dissolution, the manor of Morborne,
with the house and grange of Ogerston (fn. 11) in the same
parish, lately the property of the Abbey of Crowland,
was granted in 1540, with all appurtenances, to
Miles Forrest, (fn. 12) bailiff of the Abbot of Peterborough
at Warmington in 1535. (fn. 13) He died in 1558, (fn. 14) leaving
a son and heir Robert, aged 30, who had livery of his
father's lands, held of the queen in chief, in the
following year. (fn. 15) He presented to the church in
1585, (fn. 16) and died in 1599. (fn. 17) His son Miles settled the
manor, with view of frankpledge, and the advowson
of Morborne, in 1611, on the marriage of his son, Sir
Anthony, who was knighted in 1604, with Rebecca
Hampson. (fn. 18) Sir Anthony Forrest incurred heavy
debts and mortgaged the manor in 1620 to Sir
Robert Beville of Chesterton (q.v.), a transaction
which resulted in much litigation. (fn. 19) Sir Robert
Beville junior, son of the mortgagee, died without issue
in 1640, when his heirs were his 3 sisters, (fn. 20) and in
1660 Robert Beville, who may have been a lessee,
with Francis, William, Richard and Thomas Beville,
probably trustees, sold the manor to Thomas
Collett and John Bradbourne, (fn. 21) who were patrons
of the church in 1670. (fn. 22) Elizabeth Collett, widow,
presented in 1683. (fn. 23) Thomas Collett had a son
Peter, who died leaving his sister, Elizabeth Tipping,
his heir, and she, with her husband William
Tipping, joined with William Cherry and his wife
Anne, Henry Meux, and Loftus Brightwell, (fn. 24) probably
representing the Bradbourne interest, in selling the
manor to Philip Frowde of London, in 1688. (fn. 25) He
and his wife Sara sold it in 1699 to Thomas Browne,
who was holding the advowson in 1703. (fn. 26) Thomas
married Ursula, sister and heir of Sir Charles Duncombe, Lord Mayor of London, and had a son Thomas
who took the name of Duncombe and was holding the
manor and advowson and
those of Buckworth (q.v.) in
1764. (fn. 27) He died in 1779,
leaving a daughter Ann, wife
of Robert Shafto of Whitworth (Durham). (fn. 28) She had
two sons, John who died
unmarried in 1802, and Robert
who was dealing with the
property in 1827 and died in
1848. His son Robert Duncombe Shafto inherited and died in 1889, but the
manor was in the hands of Earl Fitzwilliam in 1854,
having been recently purchased from the Shafto
family. (fn. 29) His son, the Hon. George WentworthFitzwilliam, died in 1874, and the executors of his
son Mr. George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam are
the present owners.
Shafto. Gules a bend argent with three molets azure thereon.
Fee farm rents in Morborne were sold to Nathaniel
Horneby, citizen and haberdasher, and Joseph Horneby,
citizen and goldsmith, both of London, in 1672, by
the Commissioners for the sale of Fee Farm Rents.
The Hornebys sold them in 1678, as a tenth of 35s.
out of the manor of Morborne, to Robert Pulleyne
of the Middle Temple and St. Neots, from whom they
were purchased in 1689 by Philip Frowde. (fn. 30) Two
windmills were attached to the manor in 1611, but
only one is mentioned in 1666. (fn. 31)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
of a chancel (25½ ft. by 14¼ ft.), nave
(32¾ ft. by 15¼ ft.), north aisle (32½ ft. by
6¾ ft.), south transept (18½ ft. by 11¾ ft.), south aisle
(20 ft. by 7 ft.), and west tower (10½ ft. by 10 ft.). The
walls are partly of coursed rubble and partly of pebble
rubble with stone dressings, but the tower is of red
brick with stone buttresses. The roofs are covered
with stone-slates.
The church is mentioned in the Domesday Survey
(1086), but the earliest parts of the present building
are the east wall of the nave of an aisleless 12th-century
church, together with its two doorways now reset in
the aisle walls. The whole church was rebuilt in the
middle of the 13th century with a somewhat larger
chancel, two aisles to the nave, and a south transept
set at a curious angle with the rest, the chancel and
the north side being rather earlier than the south
aisle and transept. The tower was built c. 1600, at
which time new windows were inserted in the aisle
walls and a north porch added. The church was restored in 1864, when the east wall and part of the south
wall of the chancel were rebuilt; and again in 1900–01,
when most of the walls and columns were underpinned,
the walls repaired, and the chancel roof renewed.
The walls and features are of mid 13th-century date,
except where otherwise stated.
The 13th-century chancel has a modern east wall
(1864) with a cinquefoiled circle, rather high up, as
an east window. The north wall has an original twolight window with a segmental-pointed head and inserted 15th-century tracery, and having small angle
shafts to the inside splays and a moulded arch; a
plain doorway with a pointed head; and two rectangular lockers. The south wall has an original twolight window with a circle above under a pointed
label, and with internal splays and arch similar to
that on the north; a lancet window; a double piscina
with central shaft and pointed heads, and three small
recesses above, all inclosed within a segmental-pointed
arch; and a sedile with segmental-pointed arch and a
label continuous with that over the piscina. The
mid 12th-century chancel arch has a two-centred
arch of two orders, the outer with a roll-moulding on
the edge and a band of star ornament on the face, the
lower with two rolls on the soffit, resting on responds
having attached angle and soffit shafts with cushion
capitals, carved abaci and moulded bases.
The nave has a 13th-century arcade of three bays on
each side, that on the north being slightly the earlier;
both have two-centred arches of two chamfered
orders on circular columns with moulded capitals and
bases; the eastern responds are semicircular attached
columns and at the western end the arches die into
the wall. The west wall has an arch to the tower,
formed by cutting down a small early 16th-century
three-light window. At the south-east corner the
original quoins still remain.
The north aisle has a 14th-century two-light east
window much altered c. 1600. The north wall has a
four-light and a one-light window, both of c. 1600;
and a reset mid 12th-century doorway with a twocentred head of two orders, the outer order resting
on detached shafts having water-leaf capitals and
moulded bases.
The 13th-century south transept has a part of the
jamb and arch of a blocked recess in the east wall.
The south wall has a window of three lancet lights
under a segmental label outside and a lintel inside.
The west wall has a segmental-pointed arch of two
chamfered orders to the south aisle, springing from
the column of the nave arcade and from a moulded
corbel resting on a carved head.
The 13th-century south aisle has in the south wall a
two-light window of c. 1600, and a reset 12th-century
doorway very similar to that in the north aisle.
The west tower, c. 1600, has a Renaissance west
window of two round-headed lights under a square
head and a moulded pediment. The belfry windows
are square-headed two lights. The tower is of red
brick and has diagonal buttresses at the north-west
and south-west angles, embattled parapets and small
pinnacles at the angles.
The north porch, c. 1600, has a nearly flat fourcentred outer archway under a square head. The
seats against the side walls are formed of 13th-century
coffin-lids.
The mid 13th-century font has a plain circular
bowl on a modern circular stem and square base. A
12th-century square bowl with chamfered edges lies
loose in the south transept.
There are two bells, inscribed: (1) Cvm: voc: ad:
ecclesiam: venite: 1614; (2) Henry Penn fvsore
1712. The first by Tobias Norris I. There are pits
for four bells; and a tradition says that two were sold,
more than a hundred years ago, to Lutton, but it is
probably not true. (fn. 32)
In the south aisle is a 13th-century tapered coffinlid with effigy in high relief of a priest in mass vestments and his feet on two human heads; this was
found under the tower in 1900. In the south transept
is a 13th-century coffin-lid with cross at each end and
the double-omega ornament. Also in the church
is a stone coffin with shaped head-space.
There are the following monuments: in the chancel,
to Emily Georgina wife of the Rev. Robert Warrener,
Rector, d. 1894; in the nave, floor slabs to [Mildred ?]
wife of Thomas Butler, d. 1680; William Goodyar,
grazier, d. 1724, and Mary his wife . . .; (fn. 33) Robert
Laxton, d. 1832; Mary wife of Robert Laxton, d.
1832; Robert Wright Laxton, d. 1857; and L.L.
1857; in the south transept, a loose stone to Thomas
Woods, d. 1700; in the south aisle, to Lucy wife of
John Laxton, d. 1857.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages and burials, 14 April 1724 to 28 January
1792; marriages end 17 November 1747; (ii) baptisms and burials, 11 April 1792 to 28 August
1812; (iii) marriages, 29 March 1755 to 16 December 1783; (iv) marriages, 2 October 1783 to 20 May
1811.
The church plate consists of a silver cup inscribed: 'The Gift of A.D. (fn. 34) for the Church of
Morborn' hall-marked for 1728–9; a silver standing paten, partly gilt, inscribed 'Presented to Morborne Church by C. S. in affectionate remembrance
of Eliza Ann Ansted. August 2nd 1873' hallmarked for 1873–4; a plated paten; a broken plated
flagon.
In the garden of the Manor House is the base and
part of the stem of a churchyard cross; the base is
square with splayed angles having bold rounded
stops, and the stem is octagonal, rising from the
square with broach stops.
Advowson
The church belonged to Crowland
Abbey in 1086, and the advowson was
held with the manor (q.v.) (fn. 35) until
1855, but it was evidently separated when Earl Fitzwilliam purchased the property. Robert Duncombe
Shafto presented in 1858, but William Slingsby was
patron in the following year. He presented Dr. Vincent, who acquired the advowson by 1861. (fn. 36) It was in
the hands of Dr. Scott from 1899 until 1916, but by
1917 had passed to Mrs. Bentley, the present patron.
The rectory was taxed at £6 13s. 4d. in 1291, (fn. 37) and the
value was £12 13s. 2d. in 1535. (fn. 38) Crowland Abbey
received a pension of £1 6s. 8d. (fn. 39)
There are no charities for this parish.