Eynford Hundred: Themilthorpe

THEMILTHORPE.

This is village is not mentioned in the book of Domesday; part of it is accounted for under the King's manor of Folsham, of which it was a member, and valued with it; part of it also belonged to the Earl Warren's manor of Kerdeston.

It remained in the Crown till King Richard I. granted it with Folsham to Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemarle and Holderness, and from him it came to William Marshal Earl of Pembroke; and John de Marshal, as lord, gave in the reign of Henry III. to the priory of Walsingham, the advowson of the church of Themilthorpe.

King Henry III. in his 28th year, granted to Alice Luton, nurse to his son, Price Edward, for her maintenance during life, the land of John de Save, a Norman, which came to the King as an escheat, John (as I take it) being a rebel; and in the 43d of that King, a fine was levied between William, son of William of Great Yarmouth, and John Luton, and Alice his wife, who conveyed to William this land of 10l. per ann. called Luton-Fee, lying in this town, Folsham, Geyst, Woodnorton, Dalling, &c.: and in the 15th of Edward I. Thomas Gerberge, was found to be in possession of it; and in the 17th of Edward II. John Gerberge held half a fee here and in Geyst, of the Earl Warren, as said: Sir Thomas Gerbrigg died lord and intestate, in 1370; and William Gerbrigg, his son, held here and in Woodnorton, half a fee of the Earl of Arundel, as said; of this family see in Wood-Norton.

In the reign of Henry VIII. Sir Robert Townsend had a grant of Luton-Fee, &c. as in Geist.

In the 8th of King John, a fine was levied between Muriel, widow of William de Bellomonte, and William de Bellomonte her son, of the dower of Muriel in this town; and William de Bellomonte confirmed to the priory of Castleacre 2 parts of the tithe of his demeans here, and in Kerdeston, held of the Earl Warren; and in the 14th of Henry III. Robert de Thymelthorp had lands, and paid half for a writ called a pone.

Warine Fitz-Hugh had an interest here in the 17th of Edward I. by Alice his wife, relict of John de St. Clare; he had 2 daughters and coheirs; Mabil married to Robert de St. Lys, and Alice to Walter de Clopton, who contended for the lands of Warine, in Cowling, Suffolk, this town, Kerdeston, Repham, and East Barsham, Norfolk; and on a division of the estate, Mabil had Cowling, and Alice the other towns and lands.

William de Clopton held here and in Kerdeston, in the 20th of Edward III. the 3d part of a fee, and Hugh de Burgolion, in the said towns, a 3d part of the Earl Warren's fee; William de Kerdeston, also two parts of a third part of a fee, of William de Clopton.

On November 24, in the 38th of Henry VIII. John Byllow and John Broxholm had a grant of all the manor of Thymblethorp, late Sir Richard Southwell's; in the said year, Byllow had license to alien it to John Spencer; and again, in the first of Edward VI. Byllow had license, and aliened it to George Themilthorp, Gent. who presented to the church in 1554, and Robert Themilthorp, by his assigns, in 1586. —George was son of Richard Themilthorp of Foulsham, by Anne Barrow, his wife; he married Bridget, daughter of Walter Jernegan of Somerley town in Suffolk, and was father of Charles Themilthorp, of Worsted, who by Margaret, daughter of Paul Birkbank of Alborough in Suffolk, had 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Anne.—Thomas Hunt was lord in 1600: from the Hunts it came to Sir Jacob Astley, Bart. and his grandson, the Honourable Sir Jacob Astley, Bart. died lord in 1757, and patron.

The tenths were 1l. 8s. 2d. Deducted 5s. 2d.

The Church is a rectory, dedicated to St Andrew; the ancient valor was 6 marks, and paid Peter-pence, 5d. ob. The present valor is 4l. 2s. 7d. ob. and is discharged of first fruits and tenths. It is a single pile with a chancel thatched, and a square tower with three bells.

In the 3d of Henry III. Vincent de Bee occurs rector, presented by Baldwin Earl of Albemarle and Holderness; in the 35th of that King, there being a suit between William, prior of Walsingham, and Walter de Thymelthorp, about the right of presentation, the prior's right and grant from the Marshals being allowed, Walter conveyed his interest herein by fine to the prior.

John of Oxford Bishop of Norwich confirmed to the priory of Castleacre, two parts of the tithes of the demeans of Godfrey de Bellomonte, as Simon the Bishop did in 1265.

Rectors.

William de Welbrun occurs rector in the 17th of Edward II.

1330, Jeffrey de Walsingham instituted, presented by the prior of Walsingham.

Jeffrey Skynner, rector.

1352, Robert Attefaldgate. Ditto.

1356, Jahn de Aysh.

1359, Thomas de Derham.

1367, Robert Clere.

1404, John Shepherd.

Simon Morse, rector.

1412, Hugh Deye.

William Tanner, rector.

1414, Henry Mayhew.

1442, Robert Rydout.

John Wylson, rector.

1458, William Preston.

1492, William Bache.

1528, John Wright.

1529, John Baker.

1535, Robert Sall.

1554, Edmund Nicholls, presented by George Themilthorp, Gent.

1561, John Breese. Ditto.

1576, Thomas Richards, by the assigns of George Themilthorp.

1581, Henry Hilton. Ditto.

1586, John Walden, by the assigns of Robert Themilthorp.

1600, Robert Lamkyn, by Thomas Hunt, Esq.

Robert Hunt, rector, succeeded him.

George Fetherstonhagh, rector.

1660, Herbert Astley, D.D. rector also of Folsham.

1715, Jos. Hogan, succeeded Daniel Morley.

1721, Robert Burrow, by Sir Jacob Astley, Bart.

George Featherston, died rector 1721.

In the church were the arms of the Earl of Arundel, and the Earl Warren, quarterly.

The temporalities of Walsingham priory 5s. 9d.; of West Derham, 1s.

John Marshall, lord of Folsham, gave by deed, sans date, the advowson to Walsingham priory in the reign of Henry III. and Warine Fox of Thymelthorp, in the 35th of that King, released all his right to the prior.