A HISTORY OF RUTLAND son of Edward Viscount Campden. At the beginning of the year 1643 a detachment of Lord Grey's forces from Leicester had marched to Oakham, 'and thence carried away 22'° barrells of powder and other Ammunition which had long been stored there for the countrie's use,' and shortly afterwards some troopers from Grantham, under Captain Wray, marched to Baptist Noel's house at Exton, but ' finding resistance by the coming in of the neigh- bours 'were forced to withdraw, threatening vengeance on the whole Noel family. On hearing of these raids, Henry Noel, after consultation with his friends, collected sixteen or seventeen of his neighbours as ' a little Guard,' as he terms it, for his home, and officially informed one of the deputy lieutenants of Rutland that he had taken this step as a measure of ordinary prudence and without any desire ' to raise any forces to molest the county or to meddle with anie of their Armes.'*' His foresight proved fully justified, for at the end of February Lord Grey joined forces with Captain Wray with the view of capturing Lord Campden and his son ; and, finding that ' his lordship was . . . gone from thence and his eldest son was in Newark ' and that ' great store of arms and amunition,' which he had hoped to find, had been removed shortly before his coming, he marched to Henry Noel's house at North Luffisnham and demanded ' his person, arms, and horses.' " Though the ' troops and dragoons ' under Lord Grey numbered, according to Noel's estimate, 1,300, the latter, whose small force had been increased by the accession of friends and neighbours to 200, of whom 120 were armed with guns and the remainder with pikes and clubs, ' returned answer that he would stand on his defence while he had breath.'" In the skirmish which ensued, Catesby, a lieutenant of one of Lord Grey's troops, was killed, but the next day, when the house had been ' shot through,' the Parliamentarians set fire to some ricks and outhouses in the Hall yard.*' This so alarmed some of Noel's neighbours, that, in order to save further bloodshed amongst those who were fighting for him, he surrendered on condition that the fire should be extinguished ; that all in the house should have liberty to depart ; and that none should enter the house but the commanders." Lord Grey, in a letter on the subject, sent to Lenthall in London with the prisoners, is silent as to these conditions, which he appears to have entirely ignored, but after report- ing his capture of Noel and his friend Henry Skipwith, of Warwickshire, adds : ' With much difficulty I preserved their lives, but the soldiers were so enraged I could not save their goods.' " Noel, whose account is substan- tiated by Wright in his History of Rutland, states that the soldiery not only seized all his wife's jewels, destroyed all his ' goods, accounts, writings, and evidences,' insulted his female servants, and took ' twentie horses of very good value ' ; but also afterwards entered the adjoining church and defaced a monument erected to his deceased wife." " Rut. Mag. ii, 201-8. This article is based on a petition presented hy Noel to the House of Lords during his imprisonment, which is still preserved in the libr.iry of the House. " PortlanJ MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 99. A letter to Lenthall, the Speaker, from Lord Grey, 2 Mar. 1642-3, sent with Henry Noel and Henry Skipwith as prisoners. Cf Commons' Journ. ii, 989 ; LorJs' Journ^ V, 6+1, and Hist. MSS. Com. Rfp. v, App. 76. " Portland MSS. loc. cit. « Ibid. " Rut. Mag. ii, 206 ; Wright, Hist. Rut. 78. " Port/and MSS. loc. cit. "In 1853 some skeletons were found at Whitwell, which were supposed to be those of men killed during the plunder of Luffenham House and the attack on Burley ; Gent. Mag. (new ser.) xl, 270. But Whitwell is 5 miles from North Luffenham. The North Luffenham parish register has the entry 'A souldier of the Parliament troupes buried Febr. 21 [1642] slaine then at ye fight in ye Towne.' (Contributed by Rev. E. A. Irons.) 190
