NRC Index

NRC Order of Date (Earliest-Latest)

We are told that the Parish Records for Duddington pertaining to the 16th, 17th, and early 18th century were destroyed during a flood (the nearby River Wellend broke its banks and inundated St Mary’s Church). Although there is a Bishop’s Transcript covering these centuries – we have not yet discovered a copy. Around 2010, a colleague visited the Northants Record Office on our behalf (we live in London) and suggested accessing the “Court Rolls” for these dates. His expert advice stated that when Parish Records are missing, then what is happening to a population within a certain locale could be reconstructed from the “Court Rolls” – or the transcripts of all the action that passed a Judge’s scrutiny within the Civic Court system. Obviously, this is not the Criminal Court – which possesses its own record. Instead, the “Court Rolls” record marriages, deaths, dowries, Wills, and the buying and selling of land. Indeed, such a record gives an indication of the presence of a family, its relative wealth and activity, as well as its decline and/or moving into and away from an area, etc. There is no Court presence for the Wyles before 1530 – but there are Tax Records for the early 1520s. Either the Wyles family moved into Duddington around 1520 – or there are no written records preserved or available in the public domain to prove such a presence. The latest Court reference is for Wyles “Sarah Elizabeth Wyles” of nearby Collyweston, who applied for a Marriage Licence in 1936. In Duddington Cemetery there is Agnes Sarah Wyles who died in 1949 – but she does not show-up on the Court Rolls. In the 1500s the Wyles family registered 24 Civil Court actions, whilst in the 1600s the Wyles family registered 54 actions. In the 1700s, the Wyles family registered only 9 actions – with the 1800s signifying only 5 actions. I think we are seeing a decline in population and wealth – which means the diminishing of the extent of land the Wyles family used to control. All the way through 1600s and 1700s the Court Rolls record the aggressive acquisition of land by the (Irish) Bakers – the Jackson family – who entered Duddington from Stamford in the early 1600s. The Wyles family produced far more daughters than sons. This situation added to this loss of prominence due to their land and wealth being given away to different families (including the Jacksons who occasionally married their daughters to a Wyles). Other documents suggest the last regular Church Service was in 1943 (the disused Church received a Grade II Listing in 1967) – with the last Wyles being “P Wyles” (1910) who was a “Blower” for the Church organ. We initially received 72 entries for the Northamptonshire Record Cards – but as each entry often carries more than one Court action – or multiple related actions at various dates – we have ended-up selecting 94 Court Actions as representative of the Wyles activity in Duddington over five-centuries – although there are no entries proper for the 20th century. After-all, our branch of the Wyles family left Duddington for work in Uppingham around 1905 – and I assume the general population eventually followed suite. Either way, there were no young men to join the Regular Armed Forces during WWII – and elderly men to form a Home Guard. It would seem that by 1943 (during WWII) Duddington became virtually empty.

16th Century (1500s) – 24 entries
17th Century (1600s) – 54 entries
18th Century (1700s) – 9 entries
19th century (1800s) – 5 entries
20th Century (1900s) – 1 entry
Total entries = 93

16th Century (1500s) – 24 entries
1530 J(D)47p
1530 J(D)47
1531 J(D)540f23
1540 J(D)526
1540 J(D)540f21
1541 J(D)94
1541 J(D)94-6
1547 J(D)540f22
1550 J(D)48
1552 J(D)540f23
1559 J(D)540f7
1559-66 J(D)540f7-8
1562 J(D)540f15
1566 J(D)540f8
1578 J(D)540f10
1581 J(D)540f14
1590 J(D)540f13
1597 J(D)540f17
1596-8 J(D)540f17-8
1597 J9D)58
1597-98 J(D)540f17-8
1598 J(D)458
1599 J9D)58
1599 J(D)527

17th Century (1600s) – 54 entries
1601 J(D)53
1601-6 J(D)53-6
1602 J(D)540f16
1603 J(D)456
1603 J(D)540f32
1605 J(D)537
1606 J(D)540f31
1606 J(D)57
1607-12 J(D)58-60
1607 J(D)101
1607-24 J(D)101-3
1609 J(D)540f29
1609 J(D)540f32
1610 J(D)507a
1610 J(D)541
1610-7 J(D)541-68
1612 J(D)121
1612 J(D)502
1612 J(D)550
1612-22 J(D)550-2
1614 J(D)508
1614 J(D)540f5
1614 J(D)557
1617 J(D)132
1618 J(D)241
1619 J(D)241
1619 J(D)540f31
1620 J(D)102
1623 J(D) 63-5
1623 J(D)63-6
1623 J(D)242
1627 J(D)243
1627 J(D)417
1626 J(D)577-9
1626 J(D)579
1627 J(D)243
1627 J(D)472
1627 J(D)509
1627 J(D)472
1627 J(D)472
1627 J(D)509
1633 Y2 3243
1634/5 J(D)245
1635 J(D)245
1646 NPL1365
1668 J(D)63
1668 J(D)63-6
1668 J(D)66
1668 J(D)66
1670 NPL1131
1671 J(D) 530
1688 J(D)67
1696 NPL1132
1696 NPL1182

18th Century (1700s) – 9 entries
1705 J(D)71
1708 J(D)75
1710 J(D)84
1719 J(D)93
1720 EH 518 EH 525
1762 J(D)394
1775 J(D)395-7
1777 J(D)395
1794 NPL879

19th century (1800s) – 5 entries
1813 J(D)398
1828 J(D)446-52
1833 J(D)446-52
1836 ZA410
1839 411

20th Century (1900s) – 1 entry
1936 Y5P/28/3 (Collyweston)