In the 12th-century foundation charter of Sawtry Abbey it is recited that King Cnut gave Sawtry to Turchil the Dane, who by the same king's orders divided the fen near Whittlesea Mere between Sawtry and the neighbouring townships. He was banished in 1021, but died apparently in England in 1039. A century later, the tenants of Sawtry said that their grandfathers had held of Turchil the Dane, but it is probable that, with regard to Sawtry, they confused him with Turchil of Harringworth, who was living between 1050 and 1070 and consented to his wife Thurgunt or Hurugonda leaving land in Sawtry by will to Ramsey Abbey. Turchil and Hurugonda seem to have been followed at Sawtry, as they were at Conington, by Waltheof, who married Judith, a favourite niece of the Conqueror, and retained his earldom till the rebellion of 1075. Judith retained a large fief after her husband's execution and held Sawtry in demesne in 1086. It afterwards passed to her daughter Maud, who married, first, Simon de St. Liz and, secondly, David, King of Scotland; it passed to Maud's eldest son, another Simon de St. Liz, who was Earl of Northampton and of Huntingdon. The earl founded the Abbey of Sawtry about 1147, and endowed it with the manor of Sawtry Judith; he claimed more land than he actually held, and Alexander Maufe and Richard Walensis held an inquest to establish the boundaries. The jurors swore that the boundaries, which they described, had been those of the manor since the time of Turchil the Dane, but they extended beyond the boundaries of Sawtry Judith at the present day and even in the 12th century would have infringed the rights of neighbouring townships. This suggests that the manor of Sawtry was larger in Turchil's time than it was in that of Earl Simon. The monks of the newly founded abbey evidently did not press their claim beyond the bounds of the present parish, and held at Sawtry Judith about half of the land included in Earl Simon's grant. They also obtained confirmation of the grant from Malcolm of Scotland. The site of the abbey in 1278 covered 15 acres, including all inclosures, and there were also cowhouses and stables, with land covering 5 acres, as well as two granges, the Old and the New Grange, each with 6 acres of garden. At the dissolution of the abbey in 1536, the demesne lands were valued at £33 6s. 4d. a year, while various tenements in Sawtry Judith were let on leases at a rental of £22 6s. 0d. a year, but this seems to have been an extraordinary underestimate of their value since, in the hands of the Crown, the bailiff in the year 1535–1536 accounted for £164 3s. 0d. from the farm of the site and demesne lands of the abbey, which was exclusive of the rents of the windmill, certain farms held by lease and the rent of the Old Grange. The manor was granted in 1537 to Sir Richard Williams alias Cromwell to hold as one-tenth of a knight's fee at a rental of £14 12s. 8d., and from that time followed the descent of the manor of Sawtry Moyne (q.v.).
Argent two bars gules fretty or.
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The manor of Sawtry Judith, which Countess Judith 'especially
loved and frequented,' was freed by William I, as a mark of
favour to her, from all dues to the Crown, including murdrum and
danegeld, so that the Abbey of Sawtry was enabled to
hold it in frankalmoin, entirely free from any service either to
the Crown or to the founder. Further privileges were obtained by
the descendants of Earl Waltheof and Judith from William II and
Henry I, who released the manor from suit to the shire and hundred, and granted exemption from toll, passage, pontage
and other customs. The abbey claimed to hold
the view of frankpledge by prescription, but its right was
disputed in 1285 by the Crown on the ground that there were no judicialia
on the manor and that the abbey did not hold the whole township of
Sawtry. The matter was, however, settled in favour of the abbey,
which was able in 1294 to grant certain lands in Sawtry to
sub-tenants at a money rent and suit at the two great courts. After
the Dissolution, Sir Richard Williams alias Cromwell held a view of
frankpledge for Sawtry Judith.
In Domesday Book, woodland for pannage containing 18 furlongs by
4 furlongs was attached to the manor, and William II or Henry I
freed the woods of the manor from all interference by the royal
foresters. The wood, surveyed in 1086,
afterwards known as Monkswood, was granted by Earl Simon to the
abbey at its foundation. King John in
1205 granted the monks permission to inclose all their woods
with a hedge and ditch, while in 1242 they had leave to make a
trench through it for the better protection of travellers. In 1279, besides Monkswood, there was a
wood called Athenrys, and in neither did the king's foresters
either hunt or in any way interfere. In 1537, 422 acres of wood in
Sawtry Judith were included in the grant to Sir Richard Williams. Earl Simon also granted fen and
fisheries in Sawtry to the abbey, stating that the boundaries
described in his charter were those assigned to Sawtry when, by
order of Cnut, Turchil the Dane divided the fen amongst the
neighbouring townships. These boundaries, redefined in
the inquest held by Alexander Maufe, with the fishing rights in
the fen, would have brought the monks into conflict
with their neighbours, particularly at Glatton and Wood Walton,
and they were evidently not exercised by the abbey. In 1279,
however, it is interesting to note that they had certain fishing
rights beyond those attached to the manor of Sawtry Judith,
which included a fishery in the ditches inclosing the abbey and
a fishery near Whittlesea Mere. The monks had besides a fishery
in Blakemere in the fen of Walton, and they claimed a fishery in
Whittlesea Mere with one boat, from which they had been deprived
when Glatton was granted to Richard, Earl of Cornwall and brother of
Henry III. They also formerly had common rights in the whole fen of
Wood Walton and Conington, while certain tenants of the abbey still
paid 15 capons a year to Sir William le Moyne, lord of the manor of
Sawtry Moyne, to have common in the fen of Sawtry. The abbey also
held 15 acres of meadow, newly reclaimed from the fen.
Victoria County History: Huntingdonshire Printed 1932
