WASHINGLEY
Wasingelei (xi cent.); Wasingel', Wassinglai
(xiii cent.); Wassyngele (xv cent.).
Washingley lies to the north of Caldecote, and is
8 miles south-west of Peterborough, and 6 miles west
of Holme station on the London and North Eastern
Railway. The parish lies mostly at a height of about
200 ft. above Ordnance datum. Its area is about
1,295 acres, and the soil and subsoil are clay, producing wheat and barley. On the western side a
road, called the Bullock Road, runs north to south
through it, and it is crossed from west to east in a
northerly direction by another, the central portion of
which traverses Washingley Park.
There is no church, but Washingley Hall, standing
near the centre of the parish at the northern end of
Washingley Park, with its mounds and earthworks,
fishponds and moat, supplies much of interest from
the archæological point of view. (fn. 1) The manor house
recorded in the 13th century probably stood on this
site. The present house, which is of two stories,
was built of brick in the 17th century, and entirely
remodelled in the 18th. A moat and mounds lie
south-east of the house, and traces of a moat on the
west side may still be seen; there is another mound
to the north-west at the park boundary. Ward
Mound and Otter Pond lie in the west. At the
southern end of the park are a fish-pond and stews,
and, at the north-eastern end, Old Yard Copse and
Hall Wood. There is a homestead moat in the south
of the parish at Caldecote Wood, only a small portion
of which wood is in Caldecote parish.
North of Washingley Park is North Wood, whose
possession was disputed in the 17th century between
the Crown and the lord of the manor. At the southeastern extremity of Washingley Park is Newbery
Hall.
Packs Lodge or Ongutein Manor House is near the
north-west corner of the parish, and north of it in a
large field adjoining the Billing Brook is a shallow
homestead moat with an inclosure 143 ft. by 156 ft.;
Cold Harbour is north-west of it. The ruins of
Ogerston, the property of the Knights Templars,
are marked on the old maps as in the tongue of
Northamptonshire close to Papley Gorse, about
three-quarters of a mile north of Packs Lodge. They
apparently occupied the north-east corner of the field
just north of the Billing Brook, and in the same field,
close to the brook and the road, is a table mound about
96 ft. by 114 ft. inclosed by a shallow ditch; near
the centre of the field is a circular mound about
20 ft. in diameter with a shallow ditch round it. The
modern maps make no mention of the site.
Washingley. Ermine a chief indented azure with three fleurs de lis argent therein.
Manors
In 1086 WASHINGLEY was equally
divided, when two and a half hides
belonged to Eustace the Sheriff, and two
and a half were held by Chetelbert, the king's thegn,
of the king. (fn. 2) Eustace's holding was valued at 50s. and
passed to his successors the
Lovetots as a member of the
Barony of Southoe (q.v.), and
was therefore held of the
Lovetot fee. (fn. 3)
Tori held this portion of
Washingley before the Conquest, but no sub-tenant is
mentioned in the Domesday
Survey. (fn. 4) It passed into the
possession of Walter de Washingley, who held it as 2 parts
of a knight's fee in 1166. (fn. 5)
Richard de Washingley was apparently lord in 1201,
when John de Washingley, probably his brother,
accused him, with Guy de Folksworth and Roger
Malentys, of the death of his father. They we/re
acquitted and the sheriff was ordered to arrest John
and put him in prison. (fn. 6) Robert de Washingley
was dealing with land in Washingley in 1225, (fn. 7) and
was apparently succeeded by Walter who held ½ a
knight's fee in 1242–3. (fn. 8) His son Ralph was holding
in 1279 (fn. 9) and died in 1288 seised of half a fee in
Washingley held of Thomas de Lovetot; lands, rents
and tenements held of the king by serjeanty for
a rent of 20s. to the Exchequer; (fn. 10) and a 'culture'
called Solyemanwode in the field of Salton, (fn. 10a) held by
socage rendering 1d. each to the heirs of Richard
Tailour and of John de Salue. (fn. 11) His heir was his son
Robert, then a minor aged 14½, who had livery of the
lands before 1301 (fn. 12) and was assessed for half a knight's
fee in 1303. (fn. 13) He died in 1310 (fn. 14) and the manor was
in the king's hands in 1316, (fn. 15) presumably on account
of the minority of his son Robert, who proved his age
in 1319. (fn. 16) He was dealing with the manor with Amy
his wife in 1324, (fn. 17) but married a second time and
settled lands in Washingley in 1334 on his wife
Margaret, (fn. 18) who survived him. He died in December
1348, leaving a son, another Robert, aged 9. (fn. 19) Margaret died in 1354, (fn. 20) and Robert and his wife Joan
settled the manor in 1365 on themselves with
remainder to their sons Richard and Robert. (fn. 21) They
apparently predeceased their father, as his heir on
his death in 1392 was his daughter Margaret, wife of
Sir John Pekebridge or Pokebridge, (fn. 22) by whom she
had a son John; she afterwards married John Drew,
by whom she had another son Richard. She died in
1401 (fn. 23) in the lifetime of her mother, Joan, who
survived till 1426. John Pekebridge must have predeceased Joan, as her heir was her grandson Richard
Drew. (fn. 24) In 1428 Sir Robert Hakebeche was returned
as holding the half-fee in Washingley formerly held
by Robert de Washingley, (fn. 25) but in what capacity
does not appear. Richard Drew died in 1429, leaving
an infant son Robert (fn. 26) who died in 1446 just before
he attained his majority, his heir being his brother
John aged 17. (fn. 27) John died in 1458, leaving a son
John, (fn. 28) who died a minor and without issue in 1471,
and a daughter Elizabeth aged 21, who then succeeded
to the property. (fn. 29) She married firstly John Otter,
and secondly John Clerke. By her husband John
Otter she had a daughter and
heir Joan, who married Robert
Apreece (fn. 30) (Aprice, Apprice,
Ap Rhese, or Price), and thus
Washingley came into the
possession of a family who
owned it for more than two
centuries, and whose fidelity
to Catholicism brought them
frequently into conflict with
the authorities. Robert and
Joan settled the manor and
advowson of Washingley on
themselves for life, in 1522,
with remainder to their son
William and Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir
apparent of Robert Latymer, of North Crawley
(Bucks). Robert survived Joan and married in 1544,
as his second wife, the Lady Christian Sapcote,
widow, (fn. 31) who survived him. He died in 1555, when
his son William, then aged 50, succeeded. (fn. 32) In 1559
he settled the manor, several fishery, common of
fishery, etc., on his eldest son Robert and his wife
Joan and their heirs male, and his other sons Edmund,
Lewis, and John, in tail male successively, (fn. 33) and
died on 11 February 1574. Robert, then aged 39
and more, succeeded him, (fn. 34) and as Robert Apreece,
senior, was dealing with the manor in 1594. (fn. 35) In
1600 he was ordered before the Council to answer for
two sons who had been committed to Huntingdon
prison for conniving and assisting at an escape of
priests from Wisbech Castle. (fn. 36) In 1604 Robert
Apreece was again dealing with the manor. (fn. 37) He
was referred to by the Bishop of Peterborough in 1611 (fn. 38)
as a notorious recusant, but out of reach in Huntingdonshire. In 1620 he was dealing with the manor
with his grandson, Sir William Apreece, (fn. 39) son and
heir of his eldest son Robert, and his own heir at his
death in 1621 at a very advanced age. (fn. 40) The year
before he had settled the manor on his grandson
Robert, son of his son Jeremy, (fn. 41) who was still living
in 1633. Robert, who left a six-years-old son, Robert,
as his heir, died seised of the manor and advowson
in 1644. (fn. 42) He was murdered, after the taking of
Lincoln, by the Parliamentary soldiers, who shot him
in cold blood, on his affirmation that he was 'Apreece
the Roman Catholic.' In 1887, Pope Leo XIII conferred on him the title of 'Venerable.' (fn. 43) He was
a Royalist, and in 1647 his widow Mary and her then
husband, Humphrey Orme, begged to compound for
his lands and tenements on their own behalf and that
of their child. (fn. 44) The name of Robert Apreece was
included in a list of recusants in Norman Cross
Hundred with that of Richard Apreece in 1648. (fn. 45)
In this same year, the Parliamentary Committee
wrote to General Fairfax: 'We are informed there
are tumultuous meetings in Huntingdonshire, where
Colonel Montagu has been taken prisoner and carried
to Washingley House.' (fn. 46)
Apreece. Sable three spear-beads argent with drops of blood gules upon them.
The many transactions connected with the manor
between 1654 and 1659 were probably mortgages
necessitated by the impoverishment of the family,
owing to their recusancy. (fn. 47)
Humphrey Orme, with his wife Mary and her son
Robert Apreece, were still holding the manor in 1664, (fn. 48)
and Robert was living in 1672. (fn. 49) Thomas Apreece
was dealing with the manor in 1731, (fn. 50) and another
Robert Apreece died in 1744. (fn. 51) Thomas Hussey
Apreece was holding in 1765, (fn. 52) and died in 1777; (fn. 53)
he was succeeded by his son Thomas Hussey Apreece,
distinguished for his gallant defence of Alnwick
against Paul Jones, the pirate, while Captain of the
Huntingdonshire Militia, and created a baronet in
1782. (fn. 54) As Sir Thomas Hussey Apreece, bart., he
was dealing with the manor in 1798. (fn. 55) He had married
in 1771 Dorothy, youngest daughter and co-heir of
Shuckburgh Ashby, esq., and their eldest son, Shuckburgh Ashby Apreece, died without issue in 1807,
and Sir Thomas himself at his seat, Effingham House,
Surrey, in 1833. His surviving son, Sir Thomas
George Apreece, died unmarried in 1842, and all
the Washingley property was devised by his will to
St. George's Hospital, no single relative being mentioned. (fn. 56) This resulted in litigation, owing to which
the house and estate were not sold till 1859, when
they were purchased by the 5th Earl of Harrington,
who remodelled the house in 1861. He died in 1862
and was succeeded by his son, the 6th earl, who died
unmarried in 1866. The property was afterwards
sold, probably to James C. Dymock Robertson, who
died in 1895, and his heir was his brother, William
Henry Robertson, who died in 1918. Major George
Robertson succeeded to the estate, and in 1928 it
was sold to Mr. T. Shaw, from whom it was purchased
in 1934 by Lord Cobham, the present owner.
The two and a half hides held by Chetelbert the
Thegn in 1086 were valued at 10s. (fn. 57) In 1210–12
this part of the manor of Washingley was held by
Hugh de Neville of the king by the serjeanty of
accompanying him to Wales. (fn. 58) It passed to Robert
Malentys, who was bound to find two footmen for
40 days in the army in Wales, to guard a tent with
bows and arrows, each of them receiving 4d. a day
from the king. (fn. 59) This serjeanty was alienated before
1250 in favour of Walter de Washingley, and converted into knight's service for one-fortieth part of a
fee and 20s. to be paid annually to the Exchequer. (fn. 60)
Thus this half of Washingley came into the hands of
the de Washingley family, and thereafter followed the
same descent as the other half.
The Knights Templars, and their successors the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, owned a manor in
Washingley with the vill of OGERSTON, and in
1187 the sheriff owed the king 16s. 8d. for assarts and
waste of the land of the Templars at Washingley. (fn. 61)
Half their property they had of the gift of Bertram
de Washingley, before 1185, held of the Lovetot fee,
and the other half, given by Robert Malentys, they
held by serjeanty. (fn. 61a) In 1279, the court of the
manor and the wood adjoining it comprised 8 acres,
but the account of the extent of the whole manor is
indecipherable. (fn. 62) The house was, however, apparently of some importance, as Letters Close were dated
at Ogerston in 1303. (fn. 63) After the Dissolution the
manor was granted in 1543, as the manor of Ogerston
which belonged to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
and the Preceptory of Temple Bruer, to Miles Forrest
of Morborne (q.v.), (fn. 64) who owned the grange of
Ogerston in that parish. He sold the manor, though
not the grange, to Robert Apreece, in the following
year, (fn. 65) and it afterwards followed the descent of the
manor of Washingley. Ogerston had been held on
lease by Sir John Sapcote, and afterwards by his son
Richard and his wife Christian, (fn. 66) who married
Robert Apreece as her second husband.
Twenty-four acres of land in Washingley which
William Hill had inherited as heir of John Clerke,
probably husband of Elizabeth Drew, were purchased
from him by Robert Apreece and held in 1574 with
the manor of Washingley. (fn. 67)
Church
The church of WASHINGLEY is
mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but
has long since disappeared and nothing
is known as to its architectural form. It is said to
have stood in Chapel Close, near the Keeper's Lodge.
In 1534 it was described as fallen down and broken
so that it could not be used for divine service, and it
was stated that it was vacant in 1447 and, on account
of the smallness of the living, it had been annexed
to Lutton (Northants). (fn. 68)
It is locally said that the materials were removed to
Lutton and Yaxley, and two monuments in the former
church, dated 1603 and 1633, are said to have been removed from this chapel, but it would seem much more
probable that they were originally put up at Lutton.
In the Folksworth Register, a marriage is recorded
in Washingley Chapel, in 1735, (fn. 69) but it is incredible
that the church could have been standing at that
date, and the reference is, perhaps, to a private chapel
in Washingley Hall. In 1739, Washingley people
were married at Caldecote. (fn. 70)
Advowson
The church was recorded with the
land held by Chetelbert the Thegn
in 1086; (fn. 71) the advowson afterwards
evidently belonged to the Abbey of Crowland, and
was acquired by Richard de Washingley, apparently
at the beginning of the 13th century, from the abbey,
in exchange for a virgate of land. (fn. 72) It followed the
descent of the manor of Washingley, (fn. 73) but in 1446 it
was granted to Richard, Duke of York, during the
minority of John Drew. (fn. 74) The advowson is frequently
stated in the Inquisitions post mortem to belong to the
Lovetot fee, but this is a mistake, arising perhaps
from the fact that the virgate of land given in exchange was on that fee. (fn. 75) The church was pronounced
ruinous in 1447, and, on the ground of the smallness
of stipend, the probable reason of its being declared
unfit for use, was united to that of Lutton; the
resignation of John Walshe in 1512 was followed by
the appointment of John Higham, rector of Lutton, to
the combined living. (fn. 76)
The advowson is still mentioned with the property
of William Apreece, who died in 1574, (fn. 77) and of Robert
Apreece (1621) and Robert Apreece (1644), but the
family never exercised any right of alternate presentation to Lutton, the advowson of which was then in the
hands of the Watsons, of Rockingham. (fn. 78) Lutton is
now annexed to Polebrook and the present patrons are
the executors of Mr. G. C. W. Fitzwilliam.
In 1291 a pension of 13s. 4d. from the church was
paid to the Prior of Huntingdon. The church was
valued in that year and in 1428 at 10 marks. (fn. 79)
Charities
Charity of Sir Thomas Hussey
Apreece.—This charity was founded
by will proved 24 June 1833, and the
endowment consists of £100 Consols with the Official
Trustees. The dividends are distributed and divided
equally between and amongst poor women (either
married or single) parishioners of Washingley and
Caldecote in accordance with the directions contained
in the will of the donor.
Under the charity of James Charles Dymock
Robertson, founded by will proved 17 June 1895, this
parish receives a yearly sum which is distributed to
the poor in coal.