dition of a capital messuage belonging to the medieval manor of Wick Hamon, presumably because until the sale of 1367 it was held in demesne by a family seated close by at Wolverton and afterwards formed part of an estate centred elsewhere in Cleley hundred.
St. James's abbey in Northampton received at least two small gifts in Wicken, presumably in the 12th or early 13th centuries. Roger Greenworth gave 4 a. land and Robert son of Hamo de Wike 25s. in rent from messuages and crofts held by John de Mauleye. (fn. 206)
In the mid 13th century Snelshall priory (Bucks.) received at least three grants of lands and rent in Wicken, of which the most important was that of 35s. 4d. rent due from 15 tenants given by William de Northampton (together with 24s. 8d. rent from other premises in Wolverton (Bucks.)), which was confirmed by John son of Alan of Wolverton, the tenant in chief. (fn. 207) In 1291 the whole of the priory's lands and rents in Wick Hamon, Deanshanger and Passenham were valued at 48s. 10d.: (fn. 208) unless some of William's gift had been alienated or reduced in value, this implies that the bulk of the estate lay in Wicken rather than the other two townships. (fn. 209)
After Snelshall was dissolved the Wicken, Passenham and Deanshanger lands were leased as a single entity on several occasions between 1540 and 1573. (fn. 210) In 1587 the reversion of all the leases with years yet to come was granted in fee to Sir Francis Walsingham and Francis Mills, (fn. 211) from whom the estate passed through intermediaries to Sir John Spencer, (fn. 212) who in c. 1600 brought an action against John Seaman (or Simmons), one of the two freeholders on the manor, for the recovery of former Snelshall lands. (fn. 213) He was successful and in 1630 Seaman was paying 7s. a year for the premises. (fn. 214) Thereafter they appear to have been merged into the manorial estate.
Some concealed lands late of Snelshall discovered by, and granted to, John Mershe in 1576 were said to lie in Wicken as well as Cosgrove and Passenham, (fn. 215) although only those in the latter parish can be traced in later references to the property. (fn. 216)
In 1531 the Carthusian priory at Sheen (Surrey) entered into an exchange with Henry VIII, whereby it received the site and precincts of the former priory at Bradwell (Bucks.), together with lands formerly belonging to Bradwell in nine parishes in Buckinghamshire and two in Northamptonshire, one of them Wicken, in return for its own estates in Lewisham and East Greenwich. (fn. 217) In 1541, after Sheen was dissolved, the king granted the former Bradwell lands in Wicken and elsewhere, together with other premises, to Arthur Longfield of Wolverton (Bucks.) in return for Longfield's manor of Stoke Bruerne. (fn. 218) Henry VIII sold the lands at Wicken to Edward Giffard and his wife Christina the following year; (fn. 219) after she was widowed, she settled them in 1556 to her use for life, with remainder to Sir John Spencer and his heirs. (fn. 220) They were thus merged with the manorial estate in Wicken.
Some land in Wicken which before the Dissolution had belonged to Bradwell priory was granted in 1528 to Thomas Wolsey, who in turn added it to the endowment of his new college in Oxford. (fn. 221)
In 1540 the Crown purchased lands in Wicken, Puxley and Deanshanger from John Heneage and his wife Anne in exchange for premises in London, Lincolnshire and Kingston-uponHull. (fn. 222) The estate had been settled on John by his father Thomas Heneage in 1520 (fn. 223) and in 1542 was among the Crown premises in Wicken annexed to the honor of Grafton on its establishment. (fn. 224) What appear to be the same premises were leased, as parcel of the former Heneage manor of Deanshanger, in 1575 and again in 1583. (fn. 225) The land presumably later passed with the rest of that manor. (fn. 226)
In the early 16th century John Ede owned an estate in several parishes near Stony Stratford, including a messuage and 50 a. in Wicken, which passed first to his sons Jake and Edmund and then, after both died without issue, to his daug