THISTLETON
Tistertune, Tisteltune (xi cent.); Tystelton,
Thysteltun, Thistilton (xiii cent.); Tylystineton
(xiv cent.); Thissleton (xvii cent.).
The parish of Thistleton, which stands to the
north of the county, is bounded on the north partly
by the Leicester and partly by the Lincoln county
boundaries, and on the east by the Lincoln county boundary. It comprises 1,379 acres of land, which has
a general slope from west to east. The subsoil is
Inferior Oolite; more than half of the land is arable
and the remainder grass land. The decreasing population, which was only 105 in 1921, (fn. 1) is indicated by the
number of cottages in the village falling into decay.
The church stands in the centre of the small village,
which is built along the by-road from Market Overton
to the Great North Road that skirts the eastern boundary of the parish. The farm houses and cottages are
chiefly of stone with stone or thatched roofs. The
nearest railway stations are at South Wytham, 1¼
miles north-east, on the London Midland and
Scottish and London and North Eastern Railways, and
at Ashwell, 5 miles south-west, on the London
Midland and Scottish Railway.
There was in 1576 a dispute about the boundaries
between the manors of South Wytham and Thistleton; and the Thistleton localities of Woodleyes,
Redhill Furlong and Stonegravehill are mentioned. (fn. 2)
There was an Inclosure Act for the parish in 1759. (fn. 3)
Bussey. Barry argent and sable.
Manors
At the time of the Domesday Survey
there appear to have been two holdings
in THISTLETON. One was held of
the Conqueror's niece, the Countess Judith, and
later of the Honour of Huntingdon, and the other
was apparently held of the Crown. The former
comprising half a carucate was held in the time of
Edward the Confessor by Erich. In 1086 Hugh held
one plough and 6 villeins with one plough of the
Countess, (fn. 4) and it has been thought that this Hugh
was ancestor of the family of Bussey (Busey, Bushey,
Bucy) who later held the manor. The Busseys were a
Lincolnshire family; Hugh de Bussey presented to
the church of Merston (co. Linc.) in 1173, and was
apparently living in 1203. (fn. 5) His son Lambert was
living in the reign of King John, (fn. 6) and presented to the
church of Thistleton in 1226. (fn. 7) Hugh de Bussey
who in 1242–3 was holding the manor of Hougham
(co. Linc.) which Lambert had held in 1212 (fn. 8) may have
been his son. Hugh presented to the church of
Thistleton in 1249, and he possibly was the Hugh de
Bussey who presented in 1261. (fn. 9) Lambert de Bussey
was dealing with the manor of Horn (q.v.) in the
latter part of the reign of Henry III, (fn. 10) and Hugh,
son of Lambert de Bussey, settled two parts of the
manor of Thistleton in 1290. The other third part,
which was held as dower by
Elizabeth, then wife of John
Daubeny, mother of Hugh by
her former husband Lambert
de Bussey, (fn. 11) which ought to
have reverted to Hugh on the
death of Elizabeth, was to remain to Robert Cofyn. (fn. 12) Hugh
presented to the church in
1276, was assessed for half a
fee in Thistleton in 1305, and
died in 1306. (fn. 13) His son (fn. 14) Sir
John was lord in 1306–16, (fn. 15)
and was succeeded by a son John, and he by
a son Walter. The celebrated Sir John 'Bushey,'
sheriff of Lincoln, Speaker of the House of Commons, mentioned in Shakespeare's Richard II,
was son and heir of Walter. He was executed by
Henry IV in 1399. (fn. 16) His son, John de Bussey, (fn. 17)
was tenant of this half fee in 1428. (fn. 18) John, son of the
last-named John, was father of Hugh, father of Sir
Miles, (fn. 19) whose son John was in litigation about lands
in Rutland in 1515–18. (fn. 20) He made a settlement of the
manor and advowson in 1536, (fn. 21) and died within the
year. (fn. 22) His daughter and heir Agnes and her husband,
Edmund Brudenell, afterwards knighted, received
livery of the manor in 1542. (fn. 23) Thus the manor
passed from the Busseys after it had been some 400
years in the male line of the Bussey family. Jane
Bussey, aunt of Agnes, had married Thomas Meres
(Meares), and her son Francis left a son Anthony
Meres, who was heir to Agnes Brudenell at her death
in Jan. 1583. (fn. 24) Anthony at once conveyed the manor
and advowson to Sir Edmund Brudenell (fn. 25) of Deane
(co. Northant.). Just before his death in 1585 Sir
Edmund settled this manor and advowson on his
brothers Thomas, John, Robert, William, his cousins
Edmund, George (and his son Paul), Thomas and
William, sons of his uncle Anthony Brudenell, successively, in tail male, bequeathing an annuity to his
only child, a daughter, Etheldreda. (fn. 26) John, Edmund
and Christopher Bussey and Thomas Austyn quitclaimed the estate in 1589–90 to John, William and
Robert Brudenell, three of the above brothers, and
Thomas, William and John, sons of Robert; (fn. 27) and
Thomas son of Robert, as Sir Thomas Brudenell
bart., (fn. 28) made a settlement in 1614. (fn. 29) From this date
the manor followed the descent of Ayston until
the death of George Brydges Brudenell in 1801. It
then passed to his sister Caroline, who married Sir
Samuel Fludyer, first baronet. He was succeeded by
his son Sir Samuel (d. 1818), and he by his son Sir
Samuel, who died unmarried in 1876. The manor
then passed to his cousin, the Rev. Sir John Henry
Fludyer (d. 1896), whose son, Sir Arthur John Fludyer
(d. 1922),sold the property about 1920 to Lt.-Col. John
Maurice Wingfield of Tickencote, D.S.O., O.B.E.
Col. Wingfield died in 1931, and was succeeded by his
nephew, Mr. John Llewellyn Parry, who took the name
of Wingfield and is the present owner. (fn. 30)
In 1286 Hugh de Bussey claimed view of frankpledge time out of mind, (fn. 31) though the lords of Oakham (q.v.) had the view here.
Colville of Bytham. Or a fesse gules.
The SOUTH WYTHAM LANDS in Thistleton
appear in the 13th century in
the possession of the Colvilles
of Castle Bytham (co. Linc.)
and Weston Coleville (co.
Camb.). (fn. 32) In 1252 Simon de
Capella and Maud his wife
conveyed to Hugh de Bussey
(lord of the manor of Thistleton) a messuage, 14 bovates
of land, and 20s. 8d. rent here,
with the services of Nicholas
de Weston and William de
Wyme (Wytham) and their
heirs. (fn. 33) Sir Walter de Colville's lands in Barrow and
Thistleton were seized in 1265, (fn. 34) but they were
restored, and he died holding 2 virgates here of Sir
Richard de Seyton by the service of 1 lb. pepper
yearly. (fn. 35)
In the returns of 1316 Master Robert Bernard
appears as the overlord. (fn. 36) From the Colvilles this land
descended to Ralf Basset, kt., (fn. 37) whose will was dated
at Castle Bytham in 1377. (fn. 38) Of the two daughters
he mentions, Elizabeth, who died in 1451, married
Richard, Lord de Grey, and had a daughter Elizabeth
married to John la Zouche. Elizabeth de Grey gave
these lands in 1443–4 to John and Elizabeth la Zouche,
although she left a grandson Henry Grey. (fn. 39) No further
reference to these lands has been found.
The Berkeleys and Husseys had lands in Thistleton
in 1524; (fn. 40) and in 1639 John Lambert died seised of
tenements 'in South Wytham in Thisleton,' held in
chief of the king. (fn. 41)
Church
The church of ST. NICHOLAS (fn. 42)
consists of an apsidal chancel 21 ft.
by 15 ft., with north organ-chamber and
vestry, nave 41 ft. by 18 ft., south porch, and west
tower 8 ft. square, all these measurements being
internal. With the exception of the tower, which is
of 14th-century date, the whole of the church was
rebuilt in 1879–80 at the charges of the Rev. Sir J.
Henry Fludyer, bt., rector. (fn. 43) The chancel and the
south side of the nave are faced with ashlar, the tower
and the north wall of the nave being of rubble;
the roofs are covered with Collyweston slates. The
building is in the style of the 14th century, and the
chancel is of a somewhat elaborate design. On plan
it terminates externally as a half-octagon, with a
circular window in the east wall, and a single-light
cinquefoiled window in each of the canted sides.
Internally, the end of the chancel is semicircular,
and is lined with ashlar; in the reredos is a terracotta panel of the entombment of Christ, and on the
wall of the apse, supported on brackets, terra-cotta
statues of the four Evangelists. The chancel arch
is of two chamfered orders, the inner order on moulded
corbels. The nave is lighted on the south side by
three pointed windows of two trefoiled lights and on
the north by a single-light window near the east
end; the walls are plastered. The open-timbered
porch has a stone base and angle piers, with outer oak
doors.
The tower is of three stages with large clasping
buttresses, battlemented parapets, angle pinnacles,
and gargoyles. In the bottom stage is a pointed west
window of two cinquefoiled lights, below which a
modern doorway has been cut through the moulded
plinth. The two lower stages are blank on the north
and south sides, but on the west there is a pierced
quatrefoil opening. The pointed bell-chamber
windows are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil
in the head. There is a vice in the south-west angle.
The arch to the nave is of two orders, the inner with
a broad chamfer on half-round responds with moulded
capitals and bases, and the outer order with a continuous hollow chamfer.
The font and pulpit are modern. There is a brass
tablet to William Towell ' for 56 years parish clerk
and 34 years schoolmaster in this village,' who died in
1915, aged 92 years.
There is one bell in the tower cast by George
Hedderley, of Nottingham, in 1793. (fn. 44) A clock was
erected in 1887. (fn. 45)
The plate consists of a cup of 1757, and a paten
probably of the same date. (fn. 46) There is also a pewter
plate.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries 1574–1698; (ii) baptisms and burials 1717–87,
marriages 1717–54; (iii) baptisms and burials 1788–1812;
(iv) marriages 1754–92; (v) marriages 1792–1812.
There is a gap 1698–1717.
Advowson
The first mention of the advowson
is in 1226, when Lambert de Bussey
presented John de Bussey; (fn. 47) again
in 1250 it was in the possession of the lord of the
manor (q.v.), with which it descended until 1920, (fn. 48)
when Sir Arthur John Fludyer sold the manor but retained the advowson. On the death of Sir Arthur in 1922
the advowson passed to his nephew, Mr. Vere Finch,
who in 1926 gave it to the Bishop of Peterborough,
when the benefice was united to Market Overton. The
living is a rectory in the alternate gift of Mr. John
L. Parry-Wingfield and the Bishop of Peterborough.
Henry Forster, gent., of Thistleton, who died
aged 91 in 1702, bequeathed lands in Lincolnshire
to the 'vicarages' of Whissendine, Stretton and
Greetham, and £10 a year to every schoolmaster
of Thistleton and other places to teach poor children
'to read in the English bible, and to learn them the
catechism used in the Church of England.' He
further settled an estate of £6 per annum in Thistleton for the above purposes. (fn. 49)
There are no charities in this parish.