Page 12 - Oundle Life June 2023

TO THE
MANOR
BORN
Prebendal Manor – Part 2
By the year 1200 the current Prebendal Manor Hall had been built over the site of the original wooden structure, although the original Saxon hearth was used to heat the new building up until 1434.
The new manor consisted of a Great Hall – where most activities took
place – and a private chamber for the prebendary’s use. The Great Hall served as a local courtroom as well as a dining area and sleeping quarters for most of the household, as well as being used for day-to-day business.
Once established, the Prebendal
Manor became so profitable that Pope Nicholas IV attempted to seize control of it for the Catholic Church in Rome in 1290 but was rebuffed and paid off with 160 marks’ worth of produce instead.
Perhaps the most famous prebendary of the manor was Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of
Canterbury, whose hugely unpopular poll tax led to the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381. The rebelling peasants beheaded Sudbury and the gruesome
Pope Nicholas IV attempted to seize control of
it for the Catholic Church in Rome
relic of his preserved head can still be seen at St Gregory’s Church in Sudbury, Suffolk.
Another famous prebendary of Nassington was Nicholas Colnet, who served as Henry V’s personal physician and was present at Agincourt in 1415 during the king’s most famous hour. Colnet was granted the prebendary of Nassington two years later, perhaps as reward for his services during the battle later made so famous by Shakespeare.
The estate also comprises a 15th century guest lodging, a 16th century dovecote, fishponds, and an 18th century tithe barn, as well as reconstructed high-status medieval gardens which are planted with period plants, flowers, and herbs. The earliest parts of the Grade I listed
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