iversity of Cj Southern Re^ Library Facil RARY ;rsity of IFORNIA DIEGO Oversize Sni^ood Zhc Dictovia Ibistor^ of the (Tounties of Enolanb EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE VOLUME HI THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PUBLISHED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1930 BY DAWSONS OF PALL MALL FOLKESTONE & LONDON 1970 Published by The St. Catherine Press in 1930 Reprinted for the University of London Institute of Historical Research by Dawsons of Pall Mall Cannon House Folkestone, Kent, England 1970 ISBN o J129 04S1 4 Primed III drear Ilriiaiii by I'hololuhoxraphy Untuin liroihcn Umitcd WokiiiK and London INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF HER LATE MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE THE TITLE TO AND ACCEPTED THE DEDICATION OF THIS HISTORY % THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF NORTHAMPTON Edited by WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A. VOLUME THREE PUBLISHED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPRINTED BY DAWSONS OF PALL MALL FOLKESTONE & LONDON CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE Dedication Contents . List of Illustrations List of Maps Editorial Note . Topography PACE V ix xi XV Northampton Borough Polebrook Hundred Introduction Barnwell St. Andrew Benefield Hemington Luddington Oundle Polebrook Thurning Warmington Navisford Hundred Introduction Clapton Pilton Stoke Doyle Thorpe Achurch . Thrapston General descriptions and manorial descents compiled under the superintendence of William Pace, F.S.A. ; Architectural descriptions, except where otherwise stated, by F. H. Cheet- HAM, F.S.A. ; Heraldic drawings and blazon by the Rev. E. E. DoRLiNC, M.A., F.S..^. ; Charities from information supplied by J. R. Smith, of the Charity Commission By Helen M. Cam, M.A. ; Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A I By John Brownbill, M.A. By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class.Trip. Bv John Brownbill, M.A. ; Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class. Trip. ; Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. .... 68 71 76 80 83 85 lOI By John Brownbill, M.A. ....... 109 „ „ „ ,, ; Arcliitectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A 113 By Catherine M. Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. 123 ji >f II II II II II II II II **5 •I 11 II 11 )} II II II II II Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. . . 129 By Catherine M. Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. 132 II II II II II II II II II II *35 Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. . 139 IX CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE Topography (continued) Navisford Hundred {continued) By Maud E. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. ........ By Helen Douglas Irvine, M.A. ..... „ „ ,, „ „ ; Description of Lyveden Old and New Buildings by J. A. Gotch, M.A., F.S.A. . By Charlotte M. Caltiirop, Class. Trip. By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. . Titchmarsh . . By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. Wadenhoe . . „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ Huxloe Hundred Introduction . . „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ Addington, Great Addington, Little Aldwinkle All Saints Aldwinkle St. Peter Barnwell All Saints Barton Seagrave Burton Latimer Cranford St. Andrew Cranford St. John Denford Finedon Grafton Underwood Irthlingborough Islip Kettering . . By F. W. Bull, F.S.A. and William Pace, F.S.A. ; Architec- tural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A. . Lilford-with-Wigsthorpe By Maud E. Simkins ; Description of Lilford Hall by J. A. Gotch, M.A., F.S.A Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. By Catherine Jamison, Oxford. Hon. School of Mod. Hist. By Helen Douglas Irvine, M.A. By Maud E. Simkins Lowrick Slipton Sudborough Twywell Warkton Woodford By Maud E. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A. ; Description of Drayton House by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson ....... Bv Maud E. Simkins „ „ „ ; Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. ........ By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. By Maup F.. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A By Caihkrine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. ; Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A. Borough of Higham Ferrers By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class. Trip. Higham Park . . „ „ „ „ „ „ 142 149 '53 «55 160 164 168 '73 176 180 186 189 192 196 203 207 215 218 227 231 243 24s 248 252 25s 263 279 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PACE JTontisfitci jull-page plate Jacing 8 13 Jull-page plate facing 18 20 full-page plate facing 30 . 3* , plate facing 34 Northampton Pastures. ...... „ Plan of Borough 1610 (based on Speed's map) „ The Swan Hotel ..... „ Plan of Borough 1746 .... „ The Bell Inn ,, Plan of Borough 1810 .... „ Castle Plan „ „ Wall (demolished) Old Town Hall „ The County Hall 36 „ The Town Hall 37 „ The Hazelrigg Mansion, now the Ladies' Club ....... 38 „ Dr. Danver's House ........... 39 „ St. Peter's Church Plan 4I ., ,. >. ., Capital 42 „ „ „ „ from the North-west -^ „ „ „ ,, The Interior, looking East J } , plate facing 42 H .. .1 .1 Capital . 43 » Church of the Holy Sepulchre Plan .... . 44 » ,, „ „ „ from the South-east ~» „ „ „ „ The Interior : Tlie Round J . plate facing 46 » All Saints' Church : The Interior, looking East . Jull-page plate facing 48 n „ ,, „ from the South-east .... . platefacing 49 IF » » II Plan . 49 >l St. Giles' Church Plan . 52 ft „ „ „ from the South-cast .... platefacing 52 I* The Interior looking East • i» II 53 n St. John's Hospital : The Master's House (now desiroved) . II II 58 u .1 1. » Pl^n . 59 i> St. Thomas' Hospital (now destroyed) .... platefacing 60 Barnwell St. Andrew Castle Plan ........ . 70 » II .1 in '729 platefacing 70 » » >> II ........ 72 » II „ Latham Almshouses ...... platefacing 72 »i 11 „ Church from the South-west ■» n 11 „ „ The Interior ; The North Aisle J • II II /4 n 11 „ „ The South Porch . 75 XI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS plate facing 84 86 }flaU facing 86 \. flate facing 88 PACE Luddington Church from the South „ „ The Interior, looking East . Oundle : The WTiite Lion Hotel 86 ,, before 1852 „ New Street in 1876 The Talbot Hotel 87 „ Laxton's School 88 „ St. Os}th's Lane in 1710 „ The Market Place 9° „ Paine's Almshouses 93 Church Plan 96 „ „ The Interior, looking East f late facing 96 Polebrook Church Plan 106 „ „ The Interior : View across the Nave -> > . . . . plate facing 106 „ „ „ „ looking East J „ „ from the West „ „ Wall Arcade of North Chapel Thurning Rectory .............. no „ Church Plan 112 „ „ Interior, looking South-east ...... . plate facing 112 Warmington Church from the South-east 116 V ,. ., 107 }■ }. plate facing 120 „ „ The Pulpit » » Plan 120 „ „ West Doorway „ ,, The Interior, looking Eas Pilton : Old Manor House „ „ 130 „ Church from the South . . . . . . . . . .,,,,131 Stoke Doyle Church : Monument to Sir Edward Ward » '34 Thorpe Achurch Church Plan . . . . . ■ . . . . . .138 „ „ „ from the North-east . plate facing 138 Thrapston Church from the North , „ 142 Titchmarsh Church Plan ............. 146 „ „ from the West „ „ The Interior, Wadenhoe Church Plan 151 „ „ The Font 152 „ „ from the South-west "» ™ , . , ,. P ,f p/d/^^n«^ 152 „ „ I he Interior, lookmg J'.ast J xii est ^ > . . . . . . . plate facing 1 46 r, looking East J LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Great Addington Church from the South „ „ „ The Interior, looking Ea Little Addington Church Doorway » » •> Plan „ „ „ from the South Aldwinkle All Saints : Dryden's Birthplace „ „ „ Church Plan „ „ „ „ from the South-east „ St. Peter : Lyveden New Building Plan i> »» >» >» »> >» *« ji f« »> V/lu If J } } „ „ „ Church from the South-west. , „ The Interior, looking North-east Barnwell All Saints : Old Church Barton Seagrave Church Plan „ „ „ from the North-west „ „ „ The Interior of South Chancel „ „ „ Tympanum of North Doorway . • Burton Latimer Hall ....... „ „ Church Plan ..... „ „ „ from the South. . -^ „ „ „ The Interior, looking East J Cranford St. Andrew Church from the South . ^ „ „ „ „ The Interior, looking East J Cranford St. John Church from the South „ „ „ „ The Interior f> » »> i» rlan Denford Church from the South-east „ „ The Interior, looking East » » Plan • Finedon : Church Porch „ „ Plan „ „ from the West » ,, The Organ . . -v ,, „ The Interior, looking East J Grafton Underwood Church Plan „ „ „ from the East . "\ „ „ „ The Interior, looking East J Irthlingborough • The Market Cross .... xiii South . . -> rior, looking East J plate facing 158 . 160 . 162 plate facing 162 . . 164 . 166 plate facing 166 . 168 plate facing 168 ,, „ '72 ., „ '73 .. .. "74 . . 178 plate facing 178 ., ., 179 . 180 . 184 plate facing 1 84 ., „ 190 . 191 plate Jacing 194 » .. '95 • 19s • «97 . 200 plate facing 200 201 205 platefacing 206 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PACI Irthlingborough Church Plan . . . . . . . . . . . .210 „ „ Tower -» , , . ™, T • 1 L- 17 )» • • • • • p'tiif facing 210 „ „ 1 he Interior, looking tast J t j a Islip Church from the South-east „ „ The Interior, looking Eas V ,. ., 2>6 ast J Kettering : Old House, Hazelwood Lane 218 } „ Sawyer Almshouses „ Church Plan ............. 222 „ „ from the South -\ „ „ The Interior, looking East j ' ' " ' ' • r J ' S „ „ Porch 223 Lilford Church Ruin ............. 230 Lowick : Drayton House in 1729 ......... flate facing 232 } ,, 233 „ » „ Plan (adapted from plan lent by Mr. J. A. Gotch) . . „ „ 234 » „ » Gates 236 „ Church Plan ............. 240 „ „ from the South-west ......... flal^f^cir.g 240 „ „ Screen to South Chapel ........„„ 241 Sudborough : Anglo-Saxon Cross ............ 246 „ Church from the South-east ........„„ 247 Twj'well Church from the South ............ 250 „ „ Easter Sepulchre , „ 251 » ,. Plan 251 Warkton Church : Monument to John Duke of Montagu, d. 1749 „ „ „ „ Mary Duchess of Montagu, d. I » .. » » Mary „ „ „ d. 1775 »749 ^ latefacin „ Mary Duchess of Montagu, d. 1751 J ' ' • f J S "54 Woodford Church from the South-east d. 177s -, „ Buccleuch, d. 1827 / ^^^ „ „ The Interior, looking East J ,, ., Plan 259 Higham Ferrers : The College in 1729 ......... f,LiU facing 262 „ „ The Square ........... 264 n ,, College Plan ........... 265 „ „ The Bede House ~i > f late facing 266 „ „ The College J „ „ Borough Seal . .......... 270 „ „ View of Church Tower and Stliool „ „ The School and Cross „ „ Church Plan ........... 274 „ „ „ from the North-east . . . . . ^ ff „ „ Interior showing Screen of Chancel ironi Chapel / ' » » ., Font 276 .\iv > ..... l-hitf facing 270 LIST OF MAPS PAGE Index Map to the Hundred of Polebrook .......... 68 „ Navisford . . . . . . . . . .123 »» IF l» •> » •• » » Huiloe ijj XV EDITORIAL NOTE Since the publication of the second volume of the Victoria History oj the County oj Northampton nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed. The war and post-war difficulties put a stop to historical research and caused the History to fall into abeyance for many years. The two local editors, the Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, a scholar and a clergyman beloved by all who knew him, and Sir William Ryland D. Adkins, an enthusiastic supporter of historical research, have both passed away. It was not until 1925 that the late Mr. James Manfield, in order to resuscitate the History of Northamptonshire, undertook to guarantee the cost of the publication of this volume. Mr. Manlield died before the work on the History had been begun, and his widow and executors have generously carried out his intention. It is hoped that this volume may prove a suitable memorial of his appreciation of local history and a fitting tribute to his liberality. The Editor desires to express his thanks to the many helpers who have added so much to the completeness and accuracy of the work: To the Duke of Buccleuch for giving access to his valuable collections of early deeds, which has assisted in elucidating the descents of many manors. To Miss Joan Wake, for her untiring help in overcoming difficulties and in obtaining local information. To Mr. J. A. Gotch, Mr. L. M. Gotch, Professor A. Hamilton Thompson, Mr. H. F. Traylen, Major Christopher A. Markham, Mr. W. Talbot Brown, Mr. G. D. Hardinge-Tyler, Mr. Leslie T. Moore, and the Ven. Archdeacon A. I. Greaves for the loan of plans and information regarding architectural details. To the executors of the late Rev. R. M. Serjeantson for the use of the valuable notes relating to the manors and churches collected by Mr. Serjeantson. To Mr. W. R. Kew, the town clerk of North- ampton ; Mr. Reginald W. Brown, librarian of the Public Library, Northampton ; Mr. W. T. Mellows, the town clerk of Peterborough ; Messrs. Nicholl Manisty and Co., solicitors to the Duke of Buccleuch ; Mr. Hubert Elliot, his agent ; and Mr. L. M. Hewlett, for information relating to the history of Northampton and manorial descents. The Editor also wishes to acknowledge the assistance he has received fron. those who have supplied him with local information and help with regard to illustrations : The Right Rev. Mgr. Canon J. H. Ashmole, Mr. T. W. Buckley, Mr. G. H. Capron, Mr. George E. Cove, the late Mr. E. J. H. Felce, Mr. J. T. Foskett, Canon H. K. Fry, the Rev. H. B. Gottwaltz, the late Mrs. Mary C. Hall, the Rev. A. S. Hazel, the Rev. C. H. L. Hopper, Mrs. G. Ward Hunt, Captain Ward Hunt, R.N., the xvii EDITORIAL NOTE late Rev. W. J. B. Kerr, Mr. H. M. King, Canon W. Smalley Law, the Rev. C. B. Lucas, Canon A. M. Luckock, Mr. Joseph Simpson, Mr. H.J. Smith, Mr. J. Stanyon, Messrs. John Taylor and Co., Mr. Beeby Thompson, and the Rev. C. R. C. Wakefield. The following have kindly read proofs and made corrections and suggestions regarding them : Mr. G. E. Abbott, the Rev. A. G. Bagshaw, the Rev. W. W. Baillie, the Rev. L. Seymour Clark, the Rev. W. St. G. Coldwell, the Rev. H. A. Curtis, the Rev. G. M. Davidson, the Rev. A. C. Dicker, the Rev. H. E. FitzHerbert, the Rev. J. P. Flood, the Rev. C. G. Hodgson, the Rev. H. C. Holmes, the Rev. D. A. Jones, Mr. C. E. Lamb, the Rev. F. H. Lang, the Rev. F. H. La Trobe, the Rev. L. H. Lethbridge, the Rev. P. Lidster, the Rev. D. H. Meggy, the Rev. J. E. Newby, the Rev. C. Reeder, the Rev. W. H. T. Russell, Mr. C. H. M. D. Scott, the Rev. W. V. Tunks, and the Rev. R. C. Thursfield. xviu A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE TOPOGRAPHY THE BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON Ham tune (x cent.) ; Nor9hamtune, Northan- tone (xi cent.) ; Norhthamtune, Norhanthon, Norhantuna, Norhantona (xii cent.) ; Norhamptone (town seal) (liii cent.). Northampton, the county town, lies mainly to the north and east of the River Nene, the oldest part of the town being on a hill which rises from 194 ft. above sea level at the west bridge near Castle station to 294 ft. at the prison near the site of the old north gate. The road from London and Old Stratford, joined south of the river by the road from Oxford and Tow- cester, runs due north through the town towards Market Harborough and Leicester, and is intersected at right angles in the middle of the town, at All Saints' Church, by the road from Davcntry to Little Billing. From here also, roads run to Kettering and to Wellingborough, and it is in this direction that the chief expansion in the igih and 20th centuries has taken place. West of the river lie the suburbs of Duston and Dallington, extending from the medieval suburb of St. Jamas' End; to the south of the river, and west and east of the London Road lie the rapidly expanding suburbs of Far Cotton and Hardingstone, beyond the medieval suburb of St. Leonard's End. To the north, along the Market Har- borougii ro'.d, the municip.ility now includes Kings- thorpe, an independent royal manor in the Middle Ages, and outside the parliamentary boundary until 1918. The remains of the town fields are seen in the Race Course, once Northampton Heath, between the Kettering and Market Harborough roads, where the freemen had grazing rights down to 1882, and in Cow Meadow, Calvesholme and Midsummer Meadow, lying along the river to the south of the town. The first plans for a railway, deposited in 1830, show the line passing through Ashton, Roade and Ellsworth, avoiding Northampton. In 1831 the Corporation of Northampton, who owned an estate at Bugbrooke, took up the same attitude as other local landowners in opposing the project for a railway. Borough or North- AMPTOhf. Gulfs OH a mount i-ert a castle with three tmoers supported by two leopards rampant or. Later, however, they were acting with a committee of inhabitants of the town in pressing for the line to be brought as near to Northampton as possible. Stephenson reported against the route through the town. The bill for the railway was thrown out in 1832, it was thought by the opposition of the landowners, but a subsequent bill received the Royal assent on 6 May 1833. The London Midland and Scottish Railway now runs from London through Northampton to Rugby and the north ; lines run also to Leicester, Kettering, Peterborough, Market Harborough and Bedford. The station in Cotton End, known as Bridge Street, was opened in 1845, the Castle Station in 1859, the latter being enlarged in 1 881 so as to become the chief station. The station in St. John's Street was opened in 1872. The Grand Junction Canal joins the Nene at Northampton, this branch having been completed in 1815. Tram lines were first laid down in the town in 1881 and were electrifie.1 in 1903. An early omnibus service was run to Welling- borough, and since 1919 motor omnibus services have run to the villages round the town and bring in thousands of both buyers and sellers to the market. The earliest reference to Northampton in writing occur.s in 914, and though the archasological evidence clearly indicates occupation of the castle site in the Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon periods,^ no settle- ment of any importance seems to have existed at Northampton before the time of the Danish con- quest. The Danes appear to have made it a centre for military and administrative purposes during the thirty years of their undisturbed occupation (877-91 2) ; by 918 ^ it had a jarl and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the Welland.^ Thus, after its reconquest by Edward in 918 it naturally became the centre of one of the new shires organised in the district recovered from the Danes, and in 940 it successfully resisted the invading forces of Anlaf Guthfrithson, the Danish ruler of Northumbria.* As in the case of other Danish towns, however, the military centre seems to have rapidly become a trading centre, for in loio it is described as a ' port,' and in spite of the burning in that year by Thorkil's Danes* and the ravages of Edwin's and Morcar's forces in 1065,* it possessed about 316 houses in 1086, and ranked between Warwick ' ^tioe. Arch. Sot. Rep. 1882, pp. 243- 251. On the evidence here given, the caitle-roound itielf cannot be pre- Norman ; V.C.H. Ncrihantt. i, 219. ' Accepting the chronology of W. J. Corbett, Camb. Med. Hist, iii, 364. • Angl. Sax. Chron. s.a. 921. (Parker MS.) ' Simeon of Durham, Opera [Rolls Ser.], ii, 93 [s.a. 939). ' Angl. Sax. Chron. (Laud. MS.) • Angl. Sax. Chron. (Cott. MS.Tib. B iv.). A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE and Leicester in size7 It may have possessed three churches, for Anglo-Saxon sculptured stones have been found both at St. Sepulchre's and St. Peter's churches,* and the early reference to All Saints' fair* suggests that ihis church also may be pre-Norman. In Domesdayi" Northampton has the marks of an old county borough. It is extra-hundredal, being rated in the Northants Geld Roll** at a quarter of a hundred. It is characterised by heterogeneity of tenure, containing 87 royal burgesses holding their burgages of the King, whilst some 219 other houses belong to 34 different lords. Of these lords, 24 hold other lands of the King in the county, and the 21 houses of Swain the son of Azur are explicitly said to pertain to liis rural manor of Stoke Bruerne. To the old borough, which held 60 royal burgesses under Edward the Confessor, a new borough contain- ing 40 royal burgesses had been added. Unlike the majority of county boroughs, Northampton appears to have no mint ;*^ on the other hand, it is unique among Domesday boroughs in ha\'ing its farm assessed at a fixed sum {£30 'os. od.), payable by the burgesses to the sheriff. There is mention of a ' Durandus prepositus,' *^ who may well have been the town reeve and have acted in this matter as the sheriff's subordinate. The ' portland ' mentioned on folio 219b seems on a balance of evidence to belong rather to the carucated Stamford than to the hidated Northampton.** There is no mention of a castle ; its creation was to be the work of the first Norman earl, and the Countess Judith, lady of 16 houses, had not yet given place to her daughter's husband. The other chief tenants were the Bishop of Coutances (23 houses), the Count of Mortain (37 houses), and William Peverel (32 houses). The ' waste ' con- dition of 35J- houses is probably attributable to the raid of 1065. With the Norman Conquest Northampton became a town of national importance. Its geographical situation, ' in the middle of the kingdom,' as Geoffrey Ic Scrope said in his opening speech at the Eyre of Northampton in 1329,*'' made it a valuable strategical point for a government wliich was determined to control the north and west as well as the south and cast, and even before the line of Scnlis earls had died out, the castle built by the first of them had been taken over as a royal residence and fortress.*' The neighbourhood of the royal hunting lodges of Silverstone and Kings Cliffe and the royal palace of Geddington accounts, no doubt, for a large number of brief royal visits,*' but its general convenience as a meeting place is attested by the number of political, social, ecclesiastical and mihtary events that occurred here. Among the long series of councils and parlia- ments held at Northampton, from the time of Henry I to that of Richard II, may be mentioned the council of 1 1 31, at which the barons of Henry I swore fealty to Maud;'* that of 1 164 at which Becket was condemned by the King's court and appealed to the Pope ;*' that of 1 1 76, at which the assize of Northampton was pubUshed j^" that of 121 1, in which John and the Legate Pandulf had their famous deb.tte ;^'** that of 1232, in which the lands of the Earl of Chester were partitioned ;^* that of 1318, at which Edward II and Thomas of Lancaster came to terms for the time being ;'^ the parliament of 1328, at which peace was made with Scotland and the statute of Northamp- ton was passed;^' and the parliament of 1380, at which the imposition of the Poll Tax was decided on.** The importance of the fairs of Northampton is noticed below, and the town was also a favourite centre for tournaments from the time of Henry III to Edward III.** Many church councils and chapters were held here,** and at least three crusades launched. In February 1214, according to the chronicle of St. Andrew's priory, 300 persons of both sexes took the cross here ;*' in November 1 239, Richard of Cornwall and nobles too many to enumerate, swore on the altar of All Saints' that they would lead their troops that year to the Holy Land ;*' in June 1268 the two sons of Henry III, with 120 other knights and many others, took the cross at Northampton.** To its geographical position is due the part played by Northampton in the various civil wars. It com- manded one of the main roads from London to the North, and was a good base for movements against the west or south-west. In 1173 it was one of the strongliolds that held out for Henry II, and next year Wilham of Scotland made his submission there.** In 1215 the first move of the insurgent barons was to besiege Northampton,'* and the castle was one of four which were to be given into their hands as a ' y.C.H. Kcribanis. i, 276. • Cox and Scrjcantson, Hut. of Ch. oj the Holy Sepulchre^ \orthantpt. p. 30; R. M. Serjeantton, Hitt. of Ch. of St. I'elrr, h'oitbampl. p. 12. • See hfloWj under Fairs. '" y.C.II. Northants. i, 301. " Ellis, Gen. introd. to Dohiejday^ i, 186. *' W. H. Stevenson suggested that coins minted here may have been credited to Southampton, whose Saxon name was identical in form. A'ng. Hut. Met: xiv, 59&. '* Gilbert, son of Durand, acted as reeve in 1189-90 (Pipe Roll), and put hit name to the first toHTi cuttumal. Bntcson, Soto. Cuttowi, i, xli. '* I'.C.II. Korthaitls. i, 2-S. It should be observed, however, that carucates arc found at Northampton in 1274 R'^t. nund. ii, I. *' Enii. Iliit. Rex. xxxix, 250. A similar exprcsiion, Tfin^ujm tnrefjit medio^'it used in ijjS at a Provincial Chapter of the Benedictines (Wilkint, Conrilm. ii, 6x8). '* liy 1133. R. M. Serjeantson. The Castle of iVo/ thampt. p. 2. *' For John's 30 visits see Rot. Lttt. Pat. I. (Rcc. Com.), Itinerary of King John. For Henry Ill's constant visits see below under 'I'he Castle ; Edward II was here in 1307, I33'>, 1310, 1311, 1317, 1318. (Chart. R.) *' William of .Malmcsbury, Histona Novelt.i. (Rolls Ser.) (f/i-iM /<''g«ra), ii. 534. '• Ciron. Rog. de Hovedoii (Rolls Ser.), i, 224-8. " Ibid, ii, 89. '"" .innal .Mon. (Rolls Ser.), 1,209-219, not in 1210, as stated V.C.H. Northants. ii, 9. ^* Bracton^t Notebook^ case 1273. " Pari R. i, 453. '• Ibid, ii, 28. " Ibid. iii. 88. *' 'I'uurnaments arranged to be held at Northampton were forbidden in 1218, 1219, 1227, 1228, 1233, 1234, T237, 1241, 1247. 1249. [Sec Cal Pal. and Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 88, 647 ; v, 54]. For tournament of 1265 see below ; fur that at which Geoffrey le Scrope was knighted under Edward II sec Harris Nicolas, Scrope and Grosvenor Rotlj i, 142, 144; for one in 1342, Muri- muth (R.S.J, p. 124. " At least 46 iicncdictinc chapters were held here, and 20 chapters of Augustinian canons. See below under St. Andrew's Priory and St. James' .\bbey. The lirst general chapter of the Cistercian order in England met here (between 1400 and 1104), and Dominican chapters were licld here in 1231, 1271, 1272, 12S4, 1312, 1362. (/r*i^'. Hist. Rev. xliv, 386. Serjeantsony The RIack Fnars of Not thampt.) " Corpus Christ! Coll. Camb. MS. 281 (2) s.a. 1214. " Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 620. " Annal Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 217. " Chron. Rog. de Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), ii, 54. " ll'aliei of Coventry (Rolls Scr.),ii, ZI9. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON pledge for keeping Magna Carta.** It served as a base in the siege of Bedford in 1224.** Its pivot.,1 position comes out most strikingly in the campaigns of 1264-6. The Royalist forces mustered by Henry at Oxford, at the end of Marcli 1264, marched against Noriiiamp- ton, which was held by the younger Simon de Montfort and ' a great multitude '*• of knights and squires. In the Cow Meadow adjoining the town William Marshall, keeper of the peace, and Walter Hyldeburn, assembled the community of the county and addressed them, on behalf of the Earl of Leicester, on the iniquities of the King's party. *^-^ The Prior of St. Andrew's, a Frenchman, whose priory occupied the north-west angle of the town fortifications, facilitated the entry of the King's troops through a breach in the garden wall,'' and the town was taken and sacked ruthlessly by the Royalists, who, according to Wykes, reduced a most flourishing town to a most wretched state. ^ Fifty-five kniglits, including Sir Hugh Gobion and Sir Baldwin Wake, were taken prisoners*' and sent to various castles for safe keeping, and at a later date to have been against the King at Northampton was the measure of a man's disloyalty.'* The story of the King's threat to hang the students of the ephemeral university of Northamp- ton* for their resistance to him occurs only in a 14th century chronicle.*"' The town was, however, deprived of its mayor and committed to the keeping of a royal (ujloi,*^ Ralph de Hotot, who was to keep in touch with the constable of the castle. In the autumn that followed Lewes, when the King's government was controlled by Leicester, the levies were assembled at Northampton,** and a tournament was planned here by the younger de Montforts for Easter 1265, which was cancelled because of Gilbert de Clare's refusal to come.** Later, when the younger Simon was marching from the south to join his father in the west, he went out of his way to go through Northampton, counting, it would seem, on the warm support of the town.** Again, after Evesham, Henry and his son made Northampton the rendezvous for the troops going against the isle of Axholm,** and held a council here at Christmas, at which the younger Simon surrendered himself.*' Northampton was also the King's headquarters from April to June 1266.*' With the town held in turn by the rival parties, it is not surprising that the Jews took refuge in a body in the castle,** and that the priory suffered both from want and from failure to maintain order.** Eklward I made little use of Northampton as com- pared with his father, though four parliaments were held there by Edward II, and both parliaments and assemblies of merchants'* by Edward III. The parliament of 1380, however, some of whose sessions were held in St. Andrew's Priory," was the last to meet here, and in the 15th century Northampton ceases to be a centre of national importance. Its strategic significance was illustrated again in 1460. In June of that year Warwick had landed from France and been welcomed enthusiastically by London. The forces of Henry VI moved from Coventry and took up a position at Northampton to cut off London from the nortli. On July 10 they were routed by the forces of Warwick and March, marching from London through Towcester, in the meadows south-east of the town, between the river and Delapre Abbey. Henry VI was taken prisoner, and his queen fled to Scotland. We are told that the flight was watched by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury from the hill of the Headless Cross, which indicates that the Eleanor Cross on the London Road outside the abbey grounds had already had its top broken oflt.^^ Not till 1642 was North- ampton to be as prominent again in national politics. Between the record of Domesday Book and the first royal grant to the borough, almost exactly a hundred years elapsed. In 11 85 the burgesses of Northampton made a fine of 200 marks to hold their town in chief,** and it is probably to this grant by Henry II that John's charter refers.'* The consti- tutional history of the intervening period is largely conjectural, but for some of the time, at least, it must have been bound up with that of the earls of North- ampton.'' No earl is mentioned in Domesday ; it is supposed that Simon de Senlis became earl after his marriage with Waltheof's daughter Maud about 1089, and died on his return from the Holy Land some time between nil and 1 113." He was the founder of the Cluniac priory of St. Andrew's, the builder of the first castle, the Norman churches of the Holy Sepulchre and All Saints, and, according to tradition, of the town wall. In 1 1 13 his widow married David of Scotland,'''' who probably acted as guardian to his stepson, the second Simon, the founder of Delapre Abbey. By August 1138 Simon II had been rewarded with the earldom for his loyalty to Stephen, whom David was opposing.'* In 1153, when Simon II died, his son, Simon III, the builder of St. Peter's Church, was under age, and he only held the earldom from 1 159 to 1183 or 1 184, when he died without heirs.'* Various charters of the Senlis earls are preserved in the cartulary of St. Andrew's priory. One of the charters of Simon I is addressed to ' his reeve of Northampton,' and those of Simon II are addressed to ' his reeves and burgesses of Northampton " Matthew Parii, Cbron. Maj. (Rolls Str.), ii, 603. It JCtmi likely that it never wai handed over in fact. A royal garrison was holding it in October 1215. Mem. Iii!lt. ie Covtniria fRolls Ser.), ii, 226. " y.C.f/. Bidt. iii, 10. » C.C.C.C. MS. 281 (2) s.a. 1264. "• Hunter, Rol. Seltcti, 194. " Anncl. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 229-30. •• Ibid, iv, 145. •' W. Rishanger. Chronica (Rolls Ser.), p. 21. •' Cat. Pat. 1258-66, pp. 311, 314, 316, 3'8,3»3>472, 555; 1266-72, pp. 66, 248. •• I'.C.H. fiprthanls. ii, 15-17. " Walter of Hcmingburgh, Ctroniccn Eng. Hist. Soc), i, 311. •' Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 315 (26 April 1264). " Annal. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 234. " Ibid, iv, 162. " Ibid. 170. *' Cal. Pat. 1258-66, pp. 520, 549. " Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. MS. 2?i (2) t.a. 1265. *' Cal Pal. 1258-66, pp. 581, 595, 664. •* Ibid. p. 330-1. *• Ibid. p. 403. » Cal. Clase. 1333-37, P- ^77 i P- 5'7- 5' Pari. R. iii, 88. *' Sorthanti. Nat. Hist. Soc. March 19C7; R. M. Serjeantson, The Battle of Northampton. '• Pipe R 31 Hen. II. " Rot. Carl. (Rec. Com.), p. 45-6. The grant to the burgesses of Lancaster in 1199 refers to all llie liberties which the burgesses of Northampton had on the day that King Henry died. Rot. Cart. (Rec. Com-.), p. 26. *' R. ]M. Serjeantson, Origin and //is- lory of the de Senlis Family [Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxxi, 504 8.) *• \Vm. Tarrer, //onors and Knights* Fees^ ii, 296. " Diet. .\ai. Biog. This is probably the date at which the castle became royal. " Dugdale,.'/Bg/. A/on. v, 3^6; Round, Geoff, de MandevilU, 28 ?. " Diet. Sat. Biog. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE and to all his ministers of Northampton.'*' These formulae are lacking from the charters of Simon III. They indicate, as Dr. Tait has shown,*"* that for part of the nth and 12th centuries Northampton was a mesne borough, dependent, like Leicester, upon its earl, and not directly upon the King. Granted by Rufus to Simon I with the earldom, the town was retained b} Henry I on his death, and was being farmed by the Crown in 11 30.*' Stephen restored it to Simon II with the earldom, but Henry II resumed it in 1154,^'' and it was farmed by a royal official — from 1 170 onwards, by the sherifE^^'' — up to 1185. The death of Simon III may have made the King the readier to grant the burgesses' request in tliat year to farm the borough themselves, though the concession was terminable. This farm had risen from the ^30 los. od. of Domesday to ;^loo in 11 30, and from 1 185 onwards it was £120 down to the 15th century.*'- The right to pay the farm directly at the Exchequer logically involved the right to elect reeves or prepositos, and this right is expressly granted in the first charter extant, that of 18 November 11 89, which is preserved in the town archives at Northampton.*^ From 1 185 to 1197 the names of the two town reeves are to be found on the Pipe Roll ;** after that year the formula runs ' the burgesses of Northampton,' giving no names. Besides the grant of the Jirma burgi in fee-farm, which made the concession of Henry II a permanency, and the licence to choose their own reeve freely every year, the privileges granted to the burgesses of Northampton in 1 189 included the ratification of established customs, the tenurial privileges of warranty of lands, freedom from scotale and such exactions, freedom from billeting ; the jurisdictional privileges of freedom from external pleas, freedom from the duel, and preservation of established- judicial customs, a weekly court of husting to be held in the town, and exemption from miskenning ; also freedom from the murder fine and from arbitrary amercements ; the commercial privileges of freedom from toll throughout England, and the right of retaliation on any borough which infringed this custom. The privileges granted to Northampton were explicitly modelled on those of London. It falls into that group of boroughs, others of which were Norwich, Lincoln and Oxford, which looked to London for forms and precedents,*^ and on several occasions it definitely and consciously copied London customs,** if in some other respects, as will be shown, it had affinities with its neighbour, the mesne borough of Leicester. The clause confirming ancient custom, grants to the burgesses ' all other liberties and free customs which our citizens of London have had or have . . . according to the liberties of the city of London and the laws of the borough of North- ampton.' *' This last phrase is almost certainly to be associated with the oldest town custumal, wliich, as Miss Bateson has shown,** belongs to much the same date as the charter of Richard I. The town custumals throw so much hght on the constitutional history of the borough th.it it will be well to describe them here. The Liber Custumarum preserved at Northamp- ton, and printed in the ' Records of the Borough,' is the last of four versions of the town customs. The two oldest are in Latin and are preserved in a 14th century manuscript in the Bodleian Library .*• The first, containing 24. clauses, is headed by a hst of the forty burgesses who authorised the custumal and swore to preserve it.'" Nine of these appear on the Pipe Rolls as accounting for the farm of the borough between 1 184 and 1196, and it seems certain that the custumal was drawn up in connection with the grant of the firma burgi, between 1 185 and II90. The second custumal, containing 42 clauses, is headed by a list of 24 burgesses, most of whom can be identified as having flourished 1228-1264. Two of the clauses of this custumal are dated and belong to 1 25 1 and 1260 ; it may thus be assigned to round about 1260. The next version is French, and is in a manuscript now at the British IVIuseum,'^ but be- longing to the town of Northampton as late as 1769, and uniform in binding with the Liber Custumarum, still in the possession of the corporation. It contains 58 articles, the first 56 adapted from those of the two earlier custumals, the two last new. The latest is dated 7 October 1 341. From this French version was made an English translation, seemingly about 1461,'^ supplemented by further regulations and ordinances, enrolled from time to time, as they were carried in the town assembly or council, the whole forming the Liber Custumarum, now preserved at Northampton, the latest entry in which is dated II October 1549.'* The first custumal (c. 1 190) refers to bailiffs who take distresses on behalf of the King,''* to reeves or preposiii who intervene with an apparently higher authority and can give a man entry, together with the bailiff,'* and to the probi homines de placitis — the suitors of a court at which transfers of land take place for which the witness of these suitors is sufficient warrant.'* There is no reference to a mayor; the reeves seem to be the highest officials. Nor is there any reference to a mayor in John's charter. Of this charter, granted to the town in .April 1200, there are two versions differing from each other at the precise point where both differ from Richard's charter. This is witli regard to the election of officials. The " Cott. MS. \'c»p. E xvi! ; fo. 6 pre- Jecto suo de Nortbampl. ; omnibus prtpositit suit et burgemibui Northampt. ; Ricardo Grimbaud el G. de liloueuite el omnibus suit miniitris de Norlhampt. The charters of the Scottlih King! in this MS. never deicribe them ai Earli of Northampi. "• En^L II, St. Rev. \\\\, 33;. *' Pipe R. 31 Hen. I. "» The exact moment when the change occurs ii recorded in the Pipe Roll Ac- count at Michaelmai, ■■;;. Red Ilk. of /A«£Ari-A»y. (RolliSer,), ii, 6^5. I owe thi> reference to the lindneii of Dr. Tait. •"' /?b;;. Hisl. Rev. xlii, 352. " Pipe R. 31 Ilcn. II. " See Records oj the Boro. of Norlhtimpi., ed. Markham and Cox (cilcd henceforth ai Roio Rec), frontispiece, for facsimile of charter. " Ibid, i, 21-23. " Gross, Gild Merchant, i, 254. North- ampton itself served as a model to Grimsby and Lancaster. "* E.g. Dowbell in 1391 (lioio Rec. i, 252), orphans' custody in 1599 (ibid, i, 124); common council in 1649 (ibid, ii, 21). " Secundum Ubcriatcs Londoniarum et leges burgi .Worhanitonte. "* Bateson, Borough Customs, I, xli. «• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98. fo. 158, el se(]. '" hit sunt suhscripti qui providerunt leges Norbampton' et iuriiveruni eas obser- vnndits. " Add. MS. 34308. '! Boro. Rec. i, 208-236. " Ibid, i, 341. " CI. 19. " CL .3. "CI. 1,4, 16. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON , version on the charter roll" provides that two bur- gesses were to be elected by the common counsel of the vill and presented to the sheriff, who should select one of them and present him to the cliief justice at Westminster at the time of rendering his account, to be prepositus of the town. The version of the Cartae Antiquae'^ prondes that the two bur- gesses elected should be presented to the chief justice at Westminster and should serve as prepositi. Both versions say that the officials so elected should only be removable by the common counsel of the town, and provide also for the election of four coroners" to keep the pleas of the Crown and to see that the reeves treat rich and poor alike justly. There is some diffi- culty in deciding between the merits of the two charters.** On the whole, the version of the Cartae Antiquae seems the more likely to be correct.'"* Its form was followed by Henry the third's charter of 1227," which merely adds that the two prepositi shall be presented to the chief justice by the letters patent of the vill, and this procedure was presumably fol- lowed down to the charter of 1299, though the early Exchequer rolls do not record the presentations. The prepositi of 1227 are certainly the bailiffs of a later date; indeed, as early as 1222 the Exchequer addresses a writ to ' the mayor and bailiffs ' of Northampton.*'^ Two prepositi, as we have seen, appear on the Pipe Roll accounting for the farm as early in 1 185. This is an additional reason for pre- ferring the version of the Cartae Antiquae. Dr. Cox assigns the first mayor to the reign of Richard I, but there appears to be no evidence for the existence of a mayor, so-called, save the handwriting of certain un- dated deeds.*' As late as 1 21 2 John addressed to the reeve and good men of Northampton a command to lead the armed forces of the town, which is directed in the cases of London and Lincoln to the mayors of those cities.*' But three years later an unequivocally dated document mentions what may well be the elec- tion of the first mayor of Northampton. On 17 Feb- ruary 1 215 John, then at Silverstone, addressed a writ to his pood men {probi homines) of Northampton : ' Know that we have received William Thilly to be your mayor. We therefore command you to be in- tendent to him as your mayor, and to cause to be elected twelve of tlie better and more discreet of your town to expedite with him your affairs in your town.'*' From this date onwards commands directed to the mayor, coupled sometimes with the reeves or bailiffs and sometimes with the good men of the town, occur upon the Close and Patent Rolls,** though the reeves are addressed by tliem selves on matters connected with the Exchequer,*" and under Henry III the title of bailiff soon displaces that of reeve altogether in the royal commands whether on judicial or on financial matters.** Wilham Tilly, the first mayor of Northampton, is also mentioned in a letter of Faukes de Brcaute to Hubert de Burgh, which must fall between 1215 and 1 224.*' He held land in Flore : *" he, or a relation of the same name, is mentioned in the 1260 custumal as one of the burgesses appointed for levying a duty on the sale of cloths to foreign merchant s,*! and his name occurs in several early town deeds.''- He probably held office for many years, as was usual among his successors in the 13th century."^ The next mayors mentioned by name are Robert de Leycester, who occurs in a lawsuit in I229,''* and Robert le Especer, who accounts at the Exchequer in 1231.'' Six other mayors are named, from 1249 to 1272,** and six from 1273 to 1299.*' Under the charter of 1299, now preserved at Northampton,** the burgesses were to present the mayor-elect at the Exchequer every year within the octave of Michaelmas, that he might there take the oath pertaining to his office. From 1299 onwards the name of the mayor is enrolled on the Michaelmas Presentationes of the Memoranda Roll in the Exchequer, often accompanied by the names of the burgesses who signed the letters patent pre- senting him.'* The same names recur from year to year, and are clearly those of the leading burgesses — the mayor's colleagues and councillors. In 1478 Edward IV granted by letters patent that the mayor might henceforth be sworn in before the town re- corder at Northampton, without coming up to West- minster.^ The re-election of the mayor, usual in the 14th century, was restricted in the isth. In 1437, during the fourth mayoralty of John Sprygy, it was " Printed Stubbs' Select Charters 306-7 J Rot. Cart. p. 45-6. '• Coriae Aniiquae G. 15; Doro. Rec. i, 30-31. '• In 1329 the burgesses said that this unusually large number bad been granted them for the convenience of merchants {pur tie de mercbaunlr>j^ presumably that they might scn'e in rotation. F.gerton MS. (B.M.) 2811, fo. 250. The same number had, however, been granted to Lincoln, Gloucester, and Ipswich in the lame year. Ballard, Borough CbarierSjij 247. ■•" The copy on the Cariae Autiquae roll follows on a charter dated 1206, so it cannot be strictly contemporary. It is dated at Windsor 17 April, and that on ihc Charter Roll at Westminster 20.\pril. None of the three witnesses to the C.A. version appears on the Charter Roll, which gives only one witness. The version on the Charter Roll has Salopcibir' written for Northampton at one point, and then corrected ; the charter, as far as the dection of officials it concerned, is identical with one to Shrewsbury, dated 20 April, entered next but one on the roll. See Rat. Carl. (Rec. Com.), p. 46. '"•This is the opinion of Dr. Tait. It seems probable that the Chancery clerk assimilated the date and this clause of the Northampton Charter to that of Shrewsbury, which he was about to copy. The retention of permission to elect otie reeve from the charter of Ii3<) may have contributed to the confusion. " Chart. R. 11 Hen. Ill, Part 1, m. 17. •« Mem. R. (K.R.) 5, m. 4. " Boro. Rec. ii. 548. All the deeds which I have examined bearing the name of William Tilly appear to belong to the itth century. '^ Rot. Lin. Cliius (Rec. Com.), i, 123b. " Ibid, i, 188. If John meant by this ^rant to secure the loyalty of the towns- men he failed, for in April they attacked the royal garrison in the castle, which later burnt half the town in revenge. Mem. Willi, de Cuvenlrie (Rolls Scr.), ii, 219. •• Rol. Lilt. Claus. i, 227b, 233b, 367, 383 43>- "Ibid, i, loob, 112, 152, 155,1222. "Ibid. 1,517, 550, 567, 586. •• And. Cotresp. (P.R.O.) vol i, 66. "> Kol. Liu. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 511b. •' CI. 38 (fo. 162 v ). " Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press c. 7 ; Harl. Ch. 85, c. 1 ; Anct. D. (P.R.O.) B 2484; Cott. MS. Tib. E.V. 147, fo. 16. •' e.g. Robert le Spiccr, thrice ; Robert, son of Henry, five times ; Pente- cost dc Kershalton, four times. " liractoii's Kolehook. " Mem. R. (K..R.) ii, Adveiilus Vice- comitum Mich. •' Roger, son of Theobald, 1249-50 (deed at Lichborough) ; Benedict Dod. (Pat.) ; William Gaugy {Rol. Hund.) j Thomas Ken (Mem. R.) ; John le Specer {Rol. Hund.) ; William, son of Thomas. •' William le Pessoner {Rot. llutid.) ; John de Staunford (Add. Ch.) ; Robert, son of H-T.ry (Corporation Deeds) ; John le Mcgre (Add. Ch.) ; Philip de Horton (.' rize R.) ; and Peter de Ley- ccstrc (Anc D.). •' Boro. Rec. i, 57. •• One such presentation is printed by Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 153, and gives the usual formula. ' Boro. Rec. i, 93. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ordained that henceforth no mayor who had held office for a whole year should be re-elected till seven years had passed.2 In 1558 the assembly confirmed this, adding that none should be chosen mayor oftener than thrice,^ whilst in 1570 this was reduced to twice.'' The election of the mayors, to be held before Michael- mas under the charter of 1299, took place about St. Matthew's Day (21 September) in the 14th century,* about St. Giles' Day (l September) in the l6th," and was directed in 1618 to be held within ten days of the first of August.' The mayor-elect was known as ' the mayor's joint ' till Michaelmas, when he assumed office.* The charters of 1200 and of 1227 had stated that the bailiffs, if well conducted, were only to be remov- able by the common council of the town. All the evidence indicates that they were elected annually and served for a year only, rarely being re-elected. They were the chief administrative officials, sharing the judicial duties of the mayor,* and acted within the borough as the sheriff did outside, with additional duties, as the custumals show, in connection with the industrial regulations. As the officials who executed the king's writs, before 1257 by custom and after 1257 by charter, they were the king's bailiflfs and are some- times so described.^* They were personally respon- sible for the payment of the fee farm of the town at the Exchequer, and the office, like the sheriff's, thus entailed financial risks. ' Every year the men of the town who are bailiffs are impoverished and made beggars by reason of the aforesaid farm,' says the petition of 1334.'^ The 13th century custumal refers to the mayor's clerk as issuing the mayor's summons,'^ but the earhest mention of a clerk by name is in connection with the records. Ralph Barun witnesses deeds as clerk under the first and third mayors,'^ and John, son of Eustace, who had the customs of Northampton recorded for the information of those who should come after, is described in this second custumal as clerk of North- ampton,''* and witnessed a deed as such in the mayoralty of John le Especer.'* The town farm is occasionally paid in at the Exchequer by a clerk. '^ In the I4ih century the town clerk is called the clericus memorandornni," which indicates his duty of keeping the records of pleas and enrolments, and in 1419 John Laucndon is called the < ommon clerk.'" The letters close of 17 February 1 21 5 had com- manded the ' good men ' to elect twelve of their number to assist the mayor in the government of the town. This was not then a general custom in English boroughs, in spite of the statement in the Little Domesday of Ipswich regarding the election of 12 portmen there in 1200. But if the number of the mayor's advisers was twelve in the first half of the 13th century, by the second half we already seem to trace the Twenty Four who were sharing the work of government with him in the later middle ages. Leicester, which offers both parallels and contrasts to Northampton, had by 1225 set up its body of 24 sworn men or jurats who were bound to come at the summons of the alderman to give him help and counsel in the affairs of the town.^" The second Northampton custumal (c. 1260) is headed with the names of 24 jurati who passed the regulations,^' and whose consent is later mentioned as necessary if a stranger wishes to set up his stall in the market.^^ In spite of the gaps in the records, ten out of the twenty-four can be identified as having held office as baihff or mayor before 1255. Moreover, the first regulation that follows provides for a 2s. :;merccment of those who fail to come at the mayor's summons. It would seem that these are the Twenty Four who in the 14th century act as the mayor's colleagues in official transactions.^* In 1401 they are described as the Twenty Four sworn of the Mayor's council^* and in 1415 as the Twenty Four comburgtnses ;** in 1473 they are called his Twenty Four.^* The form of the oath taken by the Twenty Four suggests that it was re- administered each year.^' In 1442, at a busting held in the council house at the Guildhall, it was agreed by the Mayor and several of the Twenty Four that heavy penalties should be imposed on those sworn ' as well to the mayor's counsel as to the secret counsel {secreUtm consilium) of the town of Northampton ' who divulged discussions held therein.^* There is no other reference to any privy council, and the resolution probably refers to emergencies when there was a special need of secrecy. It was re-enacted in 1557 with altered penalties.^* In 1 53 1 two mercers of the town were said to be ' for ever put out of the Court and CounccU of the seid toun of Norhampton, and never to be sommoned ne takyn for any of the Com- pany of the xxiiij" Comburgessesof the same toun . . . and never have place ne seit within the Court of the same toun whereas other tlie xxiiij" Comburgesses do alvveise sirt, that is to sey within the barris comynly called the Chequer of the seid Court.''"' This, hke ' lioro. Rer. i, 275-6. • Ibid, ii, 30. • Ibid ii, 31. This new order was transgressed in 1575, and frequently later. ' See the dates of the letters patent of the town enrolled on the Memoranda Roll under Preieittattonfi. ' BoTO. Rr(. i, 122. ' Ibid. i. 128. ■ Ibid, ii, 33, 35, 548- • Sec below, under 'I'own Courts. " E.g. Assize R. 619, m. 75. " Vori. R. ii, 85. " Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) <)S, fo. 160. '• And. D. (I'.R.O.) B 2484 ; Add. Ch. 22353, 34251. " Bateson, Horough Cuilomi, I., xli. " Add. Ch. 22347, " Mem. R. (K.R.) 14, 17, 18, 20, under Adventus yicicomttum, " William de Burgo, Add. Ch. 22355. '• Add. Ch. 732 (l). Other town clerks mentioned are William dc Flore (c. 1292), William de Bray (1319), Honorius Saucee (1351), John Molyncr (1358), William Lichebarwc (1406), Lawrence Qucnton (1408), and John Towcestcr (1460-69). "Gross, Gild Merchanl, ii, 116; cf. Dr. Tait in Eng. Hist. Re-., xliv, 183. "* Bateson, Rriords of the Borough of LeiceiUr^ 1, xxxi, 34. ** Conitdcraciottfi facte per xxihj jurafoi Northampton. Douce MS. 98, fo. iCo. " Ibid, fo, 160 vo. (CI. 11). " Sec Bridges, liiit. of Northauts. i, 364, Robert le Spicer motor North' et fjusdern a-A'jm^ iurgcfijcj (135K) ; and the petition of Richard Sidrnicsu'ortli in 1393, mentioning " the 24 chief men." V.CJi. Northants. ii, 29. •* Rvro Rfi. i, 241;, xxtitj tie coniilto suo iiirati. 26 Ibid i, 243. '* Ibid i, 405. Dr. Cox suggests that the mayor's council numbered twelve in 1341, judging from the list of names on Jioro Rcc. i, 235. The French original, however, gives only eleven names; Adam fiz Adam (iarlckmongcrc is only one person. Tiie number of leading burgesses mentioned in official trans- actions varies from the sixteen addressed by Henry III in 1264, to the ten, six, four or two who sign the letters patent presented annually at the Kxchcquer. The burgesses mentioned can, however, be .ilw.'iys shown to be ex-mayors or cx-bailifTs. "' " Vc shall gefe good and trew councrll to your mcirc all this yere ensuyng," Boro. Rec. i, 393. " Ibid, i, 276-8. ''"* Ibid, ii, 20. '" Ibid i, 425. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON another expulsion in 1 544, is authorised by the mayor and ex-mayors, who bind themselves not to recall the expelled but by the consent of all the mayors and ex- mayors. By this time, then, an inner ring existed in the town government, and though the act of 1489, hereafter to be mentioned, had sanctioned the privi- leges of the ex-mayors, it seems unhkcly that it created them. The ' twenty four co-burgesses ' of the 16th century town assembly books become from 1595 onwards ' the bailifT^ and ex-bailifls,' of varying numbers, who wore distinctive gowns, and still occasionally acted with the mayor and aldermen apart from the rest of the assembly up to 1835,*' but iiad resigned the control of town policy to ' the mayor's brethren ' — soon to be called the aldermen. In the 15th century, however, the mayor's council seems to have had considerable powers as the efTective town executive. A number of ordinances for the crafts were issued by its authority, after consultation with the craft concerned.^* The wardens and sciiclurs of the crafts reported before the mayor and his council ;** they had some standing in the Court of Husting, which is said on one occasion to have been regularly summoned by the mayor, the coroner and the Twenty Four.** They acted with the mayor in exercising patronage and in assigning guardians to minors in the mayor's custody.** The council met like the husting on Mondays, at the Guildhall.'' In fact, in the 15th century, the mayor's council, like the king's, was a body exercising legislative, administrative and judicial functions, and effectively directing the supposedly popular assembly which met from time to time at St. Giles'. In addition to the officials already mentioned the 13th century custumal mentions a mayor's Serjeant, or executive official, to whom the 15th century records add four baihfTs' Serjeants,*' later to be known as serjeants-at-mace. In the 15th century also appear the two chamberlains who have custody with the mayor of the common chest and of the town property** and pay the mayor his allowance of twenty marks. As at Exeter and Norwich, whose constitutions were likewise modelled on that of London, there is no trace of the existence of a merchant gild ; the prepositura or provostry regulate all industrial matters. Freemen were, however, sharply distinguished from other residents. The second custumal (r. 1260) provided that every native merchant who wished to enter the freedom must pay 5s. 4d., whoever he was,*' and this rate held good till 1341, vvhen it was reduced to 6d. for sons of townsmen at lot and scot of the town.''" It is probable that freemen and prdn homines were the same ; sons of probi homines had to pay only a halfpenny to be enrolled in a tithing, where strangers had to pay 5d." In view of the high payment for the freedom, one clause of the 13th century custumal is of special interest : ' That no commune be made henceforth by which the government {prepositura) may lose its rights. If anyone be convicted of this he shall incur the amercement of the town of 40s. without remission.'*- There is other evidence of the existence of an aristocracy envied by their less well-to- do fellow-townsmen. The only original return extant to the inquest of 1274-5** is described as being made by the lesser folk of the town," and it complains bitterly that the wealtjiicr burgesses escape the burdens of citizenship. ' Divers burgesses holding many and great rents in the town refuse to make common cause with the community in tallages and other things, with the result that a large number of craftsmen {menestralli) have left the town because they are too grievously tallaged.'** Some of the exemptions from tallage to which the jurors refer arc enrolled upon the Patent Roll.** They complain further that when poor townsmen are put on assizes and have to go to London and elsewhere on the business of the town, it is at their own charges, whilst the rich men, if they have to do business abroad on behalf of the town, have all their expenses allowed them and the poor have to pay for it.*' This kind of complaint was arising from many towns in the 13th century,** notably from Oxford,*' and it has recently been suggested that it forms part of the wave of anti-aristocratic feeling expressed in 1259 by the communitas bachelerie Ane^Iiac.^ There is no record in Northampton of the proclaiming of a commune as at London in 1262-3*' or at Bury St. Edmunds in 1264,*- but we are told that the bad example of the bachelarii of those towns infected others,** and it would seem that such a demonstration was apprehended by the drafters of the second custumal. The ruthless sacking of the town by the royahsts in 1 264 suggests that if the priory was for the King, the townsfolk, like the scholars, were for the barons, and tiie attribute of Northampton in the medieval Ust of towns preserved in the same manuscript with the custumal echoes the term associated with turbulent democracy — -' Bache- lerie de Norhampton.'** Already in the 13th century it looks as if the town government was in the hands of an ohgarchy, closed by custom, if not by ordinance. Freedom in Northampton was probably the equivalent of membership of the gild merchant in towns where such existed ; its essence lay in the right to ' marchaundizen ' in the town itself, and to claim the town's chartered privileges of exemption from toll and custom elsewhere.** In 1396 it was ordered that no freeman need pay stallage, unless he had more than one stall in the market.** A petition of 1433 " Boro. Re,, ii, 19. >• Ibid i, 237, 245, 269, 273, 265, 294, •:o9 (1401-1467). " Ibid, i, 238. " Ibid, i, 260. •» Ibid i, 242. •• Ibid i, 260-276 passim. " Ibid, i, 244, 250, 257. ■•Ibid i., 250, 251, 255-7. •• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) 98, io. 160 Clause 2). The same fee is payable for purchase of a stall. No stranger can hn\c a stall but by consent of the 24 jurau^ fo. 160 »»■ (Clause 11). *• BP' '4') 1 in Jan. 1328 a free fight between the townsmen and Mortimcr'i Welshmen {Cat. Pat. 1327-30, p. 423, Assize R. 631;, m. 66d.) ; in March 1332 resist.'incc to Justices of oyer and terminer, headed by the mayor and bailiffs (Cal. Pat. 1330-34, p. 291). •' Boro. Rec. i, 85-8. " Bateson, Rec. 0/ Boro. of Leics. it , •34,438,47'- Boro. Rec. W, \c)i. " Bateson, Rec. of Boro. of Ltict. i, zxix, 2;o. " Ibid, i, 40-42. " Ibid, it, xlvi. - PLAN / OLD NORTHAMPTON. / / 1 r — y •••' \ r / y.\/ , \ \ \ r'^. \/ \ \ A \ \ A \ 1 \ V ^- — -^ y / i '/. Plan of Northampton Based on Speed's Map (i6io) {ReprciJiiceJ by f>er minion of the Toivn Clerk qJ Northampton^ BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 14th century its twenty-four jurati had become a close body, the last election having occurred in 1273," and in the 15th century they also were called the com- burgesses. In 1466 and 1467 orders were carried excluding the common folk of Leicester who were not gildsmcn from meetings of the common hall, especially at the time of the election of the mayor." As in the county courts, it would seem that the un- enfranchised were crowding in and claiming an equal share in elections with those worthy and substantial burgesses who had for the last two hundred years been effectively controlling the town government. The corporations of Northampton and Leicester fell back on Parliament to support their vested interests, and in response to their petition or petitions two acts were passed in the Parliament of Jan.-Feb. 1489, which created in each town a body of 48 burgesses who were henceforth to exercise the powers possessed till then by the assembly at Northampton and the common hall at Leicester. The wording of the two acts was not identical, but their interpretation was very similar. The act for Northampton opens ' For- asmoche as of late greate divisions, dissentions and discordcs have growen and been had as well in the Townes and Boroughcs of Northampton and Leycester as in other dyvers Townes . . . amongst the Inhabit- auntes of the same, for the election and choyse of Mayres, Bailies and other Officers within the same, by reason that such multytude of the said Inhabitauntcs, beyng of iytil substaunce and haveour, and of no sadnes, discretion, wisdome ne reason, whiche oft in nombre exced in their Assembles other that been approved, discrete, sadde and well disposed persones, haTC by . . . their Bandys, Confederacy s, Exclama- cions and Hedynesse, used in the seid Assembles, caused great trobles, divisions and discordes among theym selfe, as well in the seid EUections, as in Asses- syng of other lawf ull Charges ana Imposicions amongst theym, to the subversion of the gode Rule, Govern- aunce, and old Politilj demenyng of the seid Burghes, and oft tymes to the greate breach of the Kyngs Peace within the same, to the fere, drede and manyfold perills that thereby may ensue'** . . . and provides that henceforth the Mayor and his brethren the ex-Mayors shall nominate 48 persons who have not hitherto been mayors or bailiffs who shall, in conjunc- tion with the mayor, the ex-mayors and the ex-bailiffs, henceforth yearly elect the mayors and baiUffs for the town. The Mayor and ex-mayors shall have power to change the personnel of the 48 at will, and shall also appoint all other town officials, the mayor having a casting vote if the votes are equal.** The council of the borough followed up this act by an order as to the procedure to be followed in holding the elections of mayors and bailiffs. ' Fyrst the day of the seide eJeccion acustomed all tho that have voyces in the same eleccions to mete at all halowe Chirche att a convenient houre bi fore none and ther to here a masse of the holy goste. And at the ende of the same to departe and goo to the Gylde halde And ther to take every man ther setes be the Assigment of the Meire and of his brethern As schall Accorde with thcire discrecions And then the Joyntes to be made -Accordyng to the olde Custome. And the parsones named in the Joyntes severyally to be settc in sondry papyrs. And then the same papers to be borne abowte bi the town Gierke and the Comen serieant for the tyme beyng to every of the parsones thatt shall geve voyces. As stylly as maybe. And every voyce to be entrcd bi the seide Clerk to the names of the seide parsones to Wliom tliey geve their voyces. And whan the hole voyces be gcven and passed then the seide clerke and serieant to bryng the papers to the Meire for the tyme beyng. And to his brethern that have ben meyres. And ther bi the sight of the more parte of the seide voyces to puplisshe and make opyn the persones uppon whom the eleccions rest. And thys ordur to be folowed and thus done withoute noyse or crye.'**' The council also issued an order early in 1490 inflicting penalties on those who should use seditious or slanderous words against the mayor, his brethren, or the Twenty Four,*i clinching it by an ordinance in 1495-6 which declared disobedi- ence to the mayor to be perjury or broach of the freeman's oath, and gave the mayor,' the King's chan- cellor ' for his year in Northampton, power to deter- mine such perjury and disobedience."'^ The act had probably provoked opposition here at Leicester, where the commonalty elected a rival mayor in opposition to that chosen by the Forty Eight.'^ From this time onwards the government of the town was in the hands of a closed body ; the mayor and ex,-mayors (called aldermen from 1618),** the Twenty Four (called ex-bailiffs from 1595),*^ and the company of Forty Eight, who made up with the others what was called from 1599 the common council of the town.*' An oath, pre-reformation in form, to be administered to the aldermen, indicates that they were at first supposed roughly to represent the five wards of the town.'' The charter of 1599 further declared that the Eight and Forty should hold office for life, unless removed according to the custom of the town, and that the baiUffs could only be elected from among the number of the Forty Eight.** This finally closed the ring. Throughout the middle ages only one town court is named : the court of husting which the charter of 1189 provided should be held once only in the week. Whether the various jurisdictions acquired by the town were all exercised at this weekly court, or whether other sessions were held with other names it does not seem possible to say. The charter of H89 provided that no burgess should plead outside the walls save in pleas of foreign tenures ; that right should be done concerning lands and tenures within the city according to its own customs ; and that pleas of debt within the town should be held there. The first custumal {c. 1190) is mainly concerned with "• Bitcion, Rec. oj Boro. 0/ Leics. i, ii. xlv. •' Ibid, ii, 285-6. "Pari. R. vi, 431. •• The letter! patent exemplifying the act, dated 28 March, 5 Hen. VII, are en- rolled in the Brit. Mui. Cuitumal. Add. MS. 34308 fo. 1 5 d-17. " Ibid. fo. 17. " BoTO. Rec. i, 312-4. " Ibid, i, 338-9. •" Bateson, Rec. oJ Bora, of Leics. ii, 326-7. " Boro. Rfc. i, 127. " Ibid. ii. 19. •' Ibid, i, 121. •' ' Ye ihall iwere that ye do name persones other then have ben meires and bailliffs of this borowe parte of them to be dwcllyng severalli in every of the V. quarters of this borough, and moste con- venient nombre of them to be appoynted dwellers in cvtry of the seide quarters.* Add. MS 34308, fo. 15. •' Boro. Rec. i, 122. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE matters of land tenure ; i6 out of its 24 chapters deal with customs of inheritance, alienation and the rights of the feudal lord. The witness of the ' men of the pleas ' is frequently mentioned* as necessary for transfers of land in the town court (undoubtedly the husting), while the baihffs and coroners seem to be needed to authorise seisin.* No records of the court survive, but a large number of deeds, at Northampton and elsewhere, register transfers of land that took place in it, and illustrate the special customs of the town. If a kinsman wished to assert his right of first purchase, he had to make his ofiEer before three court days had passed, after the feoffment of the stranger.' In one early 13th century deed the court in which the plea of land had been held is called the porthimoth' de Norhant'.* No other instance of the use of this term at Northampton has been found ; at Leicester and Ipswich the court at which transfers of land took place was called the portmannmot.^ Both baihffs and prepositi are mentioned in connection with the court,* and John's charter appoints coroners to see that the prepositi do justice. At the end of the 12th century, then, the weekly court was a court of record for land cases and a court for the collection of debts and prob- ably enforcement of contracts,' at which the prepositi presided, royal writs were pleaded,* and the ' good men of the pleas ' made the judgments. The charter of 18 Jan. 1257 authorised a number of jurisdictional privileges, some of which had certainly been exercised before without express sanction.* In consequence, probably, of the general enquiry into royal rights in 1255, Thomas Kin, mayor of Northamp- ton, appeared at the Exchequer and declared that the burgesses of Northampton had always had the return of writs, and the sheriff of Northants said that he had found the town in possession of that right.** It was this, probably, that led to the burgesses purchasing their new Charter, in which, in common with some seventeen other boroughs in the years 1255 to 1257,1* they obtained the right to exclude the sheriff from executing summons or distresses in the town and to serve writs and summons of the Exchequer by their own officials. Henceforth the baihffs took the sheriff's place in the borough, and he could only intervene if they neglected their duties. The charter also granted that burgesses should not be convicted by strangers in any trespass, appeal or criminal charge brought against them, but only by their fellow-burgesses, unless con- cerning matters touching the borough community. Infangthef was also granted. Thus the town courts now had jurisdiction over criminal matters, excepting only those pleas of the crown whicli the coroners kept against the coming of the justices in eyre. The eyre roll of 1247 shows that even before this grant thieves who admitted their crime had been hanged by the judgment of the town court.*' The eyre roll of 1285 mentions a case of appeal for defama- tion in 'he court of Northampton.** In 1274 the jurors said that the sheriff had never held his tourn in Northampton, and that the town had a free court with gallows, pillory, tumbril, assize of bread and ale and all other liberties belonging the crown by royal grant.** Both the custumal and the eyre rolls of 1253 and 1285 show that the frankpledge system was operative in the borough. The mayor and baiUff must have held what was later called a court lect,** whilst the rights of infangthef, etc., would constitute the town court a court baron. Both these names survived into the 19th century and are mentioned in 1835. The ordinary business of the town court is well illustrated by a cancelled account of its pleas and perquisites for one whole year,** which shows that payments were taken for trespass, for hamsoken, for hue unjustly raised, for contempt done to the bailiffs and their Serjeants, for default, for false claims and for claims not prosecuted, for licence to agree, for unjust detention of chattels, for entering a tithing, for having a place to sell bread in, and for selling un- sealed or baaly baked bread. Judging by the names of the townsmen, the date of this estreat is between 1285 and 1300 It would seem to be the accounts of the court during a period when the liberty was in the king's hands, possibly after the eyre of 1285, when the borough was convicted of having exceeded its rights of infangthef by hanging a Dunstable man.*' In 1329 a custos of Northampton was appointed for similar reasons. The second custumal, with its frequent references to the baihffs' power of amercement,** and its numerous mercantile regulations,** which must have been enforced in the town courts, belongs to the same stage. A plea of 1307 shows that the bailiffs of Northampton had no jurisdiction in pleas of debt over 40s.'* The court was described in 1315 as ' the King's court of Northampton.' '* In the eyre of 1329 the mayor and commonalty claimed jurisdiction in a case of dower before the justices, asserting that by their charter no plea of tenements within Northamp- ton ought to be held except before tlie mayor and bailiffs within the walls. This led to a long discussion as to the jurisdiction of the mayor, who soon shifted his ground, asking only that the justices should sit within the walls (as they had done in 1285) and not at the Castle. Justice Scrope and the King's Counsel, however, pointed out that the charter under which jurisdiction was claimed made no mention of a mayor, and asserted that the town had no mayor in the reign of Henry III. From the coroners' roll, also, it was clear that the king's lieges had been arraigned and put to death for felonies committed outside the town, the franchise of infangthef having thus been executed. The justice also condemned the irregularity of the coroners keeping a joint record, when each of the four ' Bat«ton, Boro. Cmloms (Seidell Soc.), 1,245,272-3; ii, 63, 102. • Ibid, ii, 63-4. • Ibid, ii, 63. Mill Batcion interpret! tbii ai referring to lix-monthly ' great court!.' Ibid, ii, p. Ixuix. •Marl. Chart. 86, D. 45 (1231-330. ' Bateion, Rtr. »/ Hero, of Lcia. i, 8 ; Bateion, Boro. Cutiemi (Sclden Soc), i, • Ibid. I, 103, 292-3. ' Ibid, i, 215. ' Harl. Ch. 86, D. 45. • In 1221 the Exchequer w.i8 complain- ing that the burgemei had failed to execute Exchequer writs and sumiuons, Mem. R. (K. R), 4, y,„is Vic. Norhanl. '" M.ndox, Firma Burfi, p. 159. " Ballard and Taif, Boro. Charirn, ii, 15^-60, 171-3. " Ajiiie R. 614 B. m. 48d. " Ibid. O19, m. 75. '« Rot. l/unj. ii, 2, 4. '• The petition of Richard Stormei- worth in 1303 refcri to indictment! by the ' Dosouns ' (i.e. tithing men) before the m.iyor. V.C.H. Northants. ii, 29. I' Ct. R. (P. R. O.), I95'57; printed Northanli .V. and Q. [New Scr.), vol. v, pp. 203-11. " Auiie R. 6iq, m. 7;. "Clause! 9, 14, 15, 21, 22. " Thirty-three of it! 42 clauiei are concerned with trade. •• Abbrtv. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 300. " De Bine. R. 2o3 m. 62d. 10 BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON ought to have had his own roll. For these various reasons the liberties of the town were seized into the king's hands, and the officials removed from their offices. The baihffs and two of the coroners were reappointed and sworn in as the king's delegates, but a custos was appointed in place of the mayor.** From the deeds of the 13th and 14th centuries it appears that mayor, bailiffs and coroners were present at the court,** and in the I5lh century the Twenty Four sometimes at least took part.** The pleas at which the freemen were sworn in must have been the hust- ing.** In 1557 the assembly ordered that the mayor should be assisted by four ex-mayors and six ei- bailifTs every Monday at the court of husting, and that members of the Common Council might also be called upon to attend there.** The proceedings were enrolled by the town clerk on the Rotulus Memoran- doTum,^^ destroyed presumably in the fire of 1675, for no medieval court rolls are extant. Some legal formula are entered in the Liber Custumarum^* The charter of Richard II of 14 June 1385 granted to the mayor and bailiffs cognizance of all pleas whatever arising within the town, to be holden before them in the guild hall of the town and to the mayor the right to keep the assize of bread, wine and ale, of measures and of weights, to inquire concerning fore- staUers and regraters, and to inflict the penalties and take the profits arising from this jurisdiction.*' This charter again must have sanctioned existing practices ; the mayor had the assize of bread and ale in 1274. The procedure and scope of his duties as clerk of the market are indicated by the formula in the Libfr Custumarum and the charge administered to the jurors.* In 1621 the mayor was said to fine victuallers sitting as clerk of the market, at court-leet, as well as at quarter-sessions.*^ The charter of Henry VI of 1 1 June 1445, constituted the mayor for the time being the King's escheator in the towm, its suburbs and fields, with the jurisdiction belonging to the office,'* and his charter of 14 March 1459, which incorporated the town, appointed the mayor Justice of the Peace for the town.** In addition to these jurisdictions the mayor had the duty of registering recognizances of detjt under the Statute Merchant, probably from 1283 and certainly from 1 31 1.** This also was done in the court of Lusting.** As elsewhere, the sessions of the Justices of tlic Peace absorbed the work of the older courts of North- ampton. Under the charter of 1495 a recorder learned in the law and two other more honest and learned coburgesses were to be elected annually to sit with the mayor as justices of the peace.** The charter of 1 599 provided that the late mayor should be one of the two burgesses." By the charter of 1796 the bench was enlarged to consist of mayor, recorder, deputy- recorder, ex-mayor and three other aldermen, as the business was too heavy for the existing number.*" Thus down to 1835 all the magistrates were elective, and the majority were members of the corporation. The magistrates' sessions had absorbed all the criminal business, short of capital offences, and the court-leet and court-baron had purely formal duties.** The Northampton justices' abuse of their judicial powers, in combination with the town baihffs' bias in impanelling juries, was singled out for condemna- tion in the general report of the Municipal Com- missioners of 1835.*" The court of husting, still of importance in the 16th and 17th centuries,'*' had dwindled almost to vanishing point by the 19th century. It sat as a ' court of record ' once in three weeks, and was held before the mayor and two bailiffs and the town steward, but had little business — in 1830 fifteen actions, in 1831 four, and in 1832 six.*"* An attempt to have a court of Requests estabhshed in 1818-19 was defeated in the House of Lords."** Enrolments of recognizances are extant for 1 783-1 803. ■*•* There was also, in the i6th and 17th centuries, an orphans' court, reorganised, if not originated by the charter of 1599,'** which was held the first Thursday of Lent, at which the mayor and chamberlains inquired into the conduct of guardians and sureties."** A special inquest was held at Northampton for inquiring into boundaries or party walls. A similar inquest was used in London from the 12th century onwards,"*' and in some other boroughs later, but the name by which it was known in Northampton — Vernall's inquest — appears to be unique. Its origin can be traced to clause 11 of the earliest custumal** (c. 1 190), which provides for the holding of a jury to decide disputes over walls, gutters, or other boundaries. Records of the holding of such inquests are found in the assembly books as late as 1724, and the inquest was annually appointed down to 1768,'*° so that the institution has a history of some 570 years. The special local name has never been satisfactorily explained, in the absence of mediaeval forms of the word. It is possibly to be associated with the form veiours, vayowres or aviewers, as used for the jury that surveyed the boundaries in Bristol where, as in Northampton, it was the mayor's duty to adjudicate as to boundaries and gutters from the 13th century on.^" The corruption would be no stranger than that of frith-borli to third borough, the Northampton term for the tithing man. The closing of the corporation at Northampton, '* For reports of the Eyre of North- ampt. Ke Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2811, fT. 248-50; Add. MS. 5924, f. 7, I2d; lee alio Assize R. 635, m. 71 d. For appointment of custos^ Boro. Rec. i, 64. A cusiot had alio been appointed in 1227 and 1264. "Add. Ch. 22354-7, etc. " BoTo. Rrc. i, 309, 312. «» Ibid, i, 235. •* Ibid, ii, 20. " Ibid, i, 384. Deed* were frequently enrolled upon it ; ie« B.M. .Add. Ch. 729, 730, 22368, 22371. •• Ibid, i, 382-191. " Ibid, i, 367. " Ibid, i, 373. >' Cal. S. P. Dom. Add. 1 580-1625, p. 641. *' Boro. Rec. i, 77. The escheator's oath, from the Brit. Mus. cuitumal, is printed Boro. Ree. ii, 132. » Ibid, i, 85. •* Ibid, ii, 120-1. » Ibid, i, 382-3. >• Boro. Rec. i, 104. " Ibid, i, 123. "Ibid, i, 166; Pari. Papers 1833, vol. xiii. Minute* of Evidence, 1068. "Ibid. 1344. "Ibid. 1364-74, 1418; ibid. 1835, vol. jutiii, 40 ; vol. XXV, 1979-81. II ♦' Boro. " Pari. Rec. ii, 1 16, 1 18-9. ol. 1970. Rec. Press R. Papers 1833, vol. xiii, 344, p. 52. " Ibid. 1835, vol. XXV, " Northampt. Corp. 101. •• Boro. Rec. i, 124. " Ibid, ii, 119-20. " Bateton, Boro. Customs (Selden Soc). '■ 245-7- «' Ibid, i, 245. •• Boro. Rec. ii, 135-7. >« Bickley, Little Red Book of Bristol, ii, 134 ; Bateton, Boro. Ci«(<>mj (Selden Soc), ii, 31. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE as at Leicester,*^ may not have involved any real injustice or caused any serious discontent in the 15th and l6th centuries. In the course of the 17th and 1 8th centuries, however, the situation was com- pletely transformed, and this was due as much to poUtical as to social developments. Northampton has been called the Mecca of English Nonconformists, and, less kindly, ' a nest of Puritans — malignant, refractory spirits who disturb the peace of the church.' ^^ From the time when the students and ' bachelery ' of Northampton supported Simon de Montfort against the King and the prior to the time when the borough persisted in re-electing Charles Bradlaugh, in the face of a House of Commons zealous for the conventions of religion, there is a recurring tradition of defiance of authority. The Lollardry of the 14th, and the prophesyings of the l6th century, the dissemination of Penry's Marprelate Tracts, stitched, if not printed, in Northampton ; the obstinate resistance to Laudian reform in the 17th century,^* are followed by the militant puri- tanism of the civil wars and the last stand of the Leveller Thompson ; ** the pioneer activities of Inde- pendent, Baptist, Quaker, Moravian and Wesleyan congregations, with their meeting houses at Castle Hill and College Lane, Doddridge's Academy and Ryland's School ; *^ the iconoclastic free-thought of Thomas Woolston and Charles Bradlaugh ; and the radicalism of Chartists like Gammage. The conser- vative influences come from the county ; it was not a Northampton parson who preached the doctrine of ' ApostoUc obedience ' to the justices of Assize at All Saints' in 1632 so comprehensively that the Archbishop refused to license the pubUcation of the sermon. In view of the proverbial relationship of cobbhng and politics, it is interesting to notice that during these same centuries Northampton comes to take the first place in the shoemaking industry of England. The irresolution of mayor and corporation as to their attitude on Elizabeth's death is vividly thrown up in Sir Thomas Tresham's account of his ride to Northampton in March 1603, and his threefold proclamation of James I (regarded as a potential patron of Papists) outside the south gate, on the steps of the mayor's house, and in the mayor's own chamber.'* After these initial hesitations the town maintained the forms of loyalty in frequent welcomes to the first two Stuarts on their journeys through Northampton to or from Holdenby House," but from 1632 overt acts of the corporation betray a growing opposition to royal policy. Troops were refused in that year,'* shipmoney in 1636,"' and the fees of the king's messengers were reduced in 1640.** In March 1641 the Assembly resolved to complain to Parha- ment of the renewed attempts to exact coat and conduct money from the town, and to take the trained band? out of the hberties." In January 1642 a peti- tion, signed at the Swan Inn, Northampton, against Papists and Bishops went up to the Commons.'* From the outbreak of hostihties Northampton became one of the more important Parliamentary garrison towns, and the town government used every effort to strengthen it. Nicholas Wharton, one of the London volunteers in Essex' army, who entered the town in August 1642, describes the walls as ' miser- ably ruined, though the country abounds in mines of stones ' ; *^ the town, with the assistance at first of the Earl of Manchester and later of the Parliamentary committee for the town and county set to work to organise the defences.'* The assembly voted ;^ioo in 1642 and another j^i6o in 1643, for improving the fortifications ; a scheme for the provision of labour by the five wards in rotation on the first five days of the week was worked out.*' Stores were laid up against a possible siege ; the south and west bridges were turned into drawbridges,'* and out- lying houses in St. Edmund's end pulled down to make the east gate safer." Besides occupying the castle, the troops were billeted on the townsmen, who further helped the forces by supplying 2,000 pairs of shoes to Cromwell's army.** From Northampton Fairfax marched out to Naseby in 1645, and after the battle the Northampton churches received the living as prisoners, and their churchyards the dead.*^ The Commonwealth reduced the parhamentary repre- sentation of the borough to one member, and it is possible that the town shared the dislike of the county for the government of Major-General Boteler," though it does not seem to have joined in the county's Humble Address to General Monk on liis arrival at Northampton on 24 January 1660.'' Be that as it may, on 10 May 1660 Charles II was proclaimed ' by our Mayor and Aldermen in their scarlett, and the bayUflfs and Forty- Eight burgesses in all their formalities, with a troop of Horse and three Com- panies of Foot, and Drums, Trumpets and the Town waitse.''^ In spite of this show of loyalty, the cor- poration was drastically purged by the commissioners appointed under the Corporation .\ct of 1662. In September of that year, wliilst the town-walls were being demolished under the supervision of the Lord Lieutenant, the mayor-elect, the bailiffs-elect, 8 aldermen, 14 ex-bailiffs and 32 of the Forty Eight were turned out,'* and the town had to pay £200 for the renewal of its cliarter,'* which was accompanied by the proviso that the appointments of recorder and town clerk were to be confirmed by the king, and tliat all the officials must take the oaths of allegi- ance and supremacy.'-' In 1672 there wa*; some talk of a quo warranto against the town for the refusal to re-elect Peterborough as recorder,'* and though the *' Bateion, Rfc. lioro. of Letci. ii, liv. •■ Cat. S. P. Dom. 1638-9^ p. 588 (llum- phrry Ramidcn to .Sir John Lambc). •■ y.C.U. Northantt. ii, 29, 43, 68 ff. •• Gardiner, Commonweallh and Protec- lorali, i, 54 ; l.tc, Coll, p. 105. Note alio the earlier I.evellen of 1607, who oppoied the cncloiurei. Serjeantion, Hill, of Ch. af All Samtt^ pp. 149-50. " V.C.II. Norlhanu. ii, 6S-74 •• Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. Var. Coll. iii, I17-H3. " Boro. Rtc. ii, 469-71. •• Cat. S. P. Dom. 163 1-3, p. 278. '• lloro. Rec. ii, 435. " Iliid. ii, 33. *' Ibid, ii, 437. For the town tr,tined bands see ibid, ii, 444-453, and Acts of the Prtty Council 1595, p. 392. •> Cal. S. P. Dom. 1 64 1-3, p. 279. •> Ibid. p. 385. " Itiit. MSS. Com. Rrp. viii, app. 2, P- '.') " lloro. Rec. ii, 438-9. " Rridgci, Uitt. of Noribanli. i, 431. (from T. Duit). 12 •' I.ec, Coll. p. 99. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, p. 285. " R. M. Serjenntson, /list. Cb. of All Saint!, Northampl. p. 152. " Lee, Coll. p. 109. " Broadsheet, d.ited 24 J.m. 1659, * The Humble Addrcs* of the Gentlemen, Ministers and freeholders of the county of Northampton.' " Lee, Coll. p. III. '•Ibid. 113. "Ibid. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1663-4, p. 223. '* Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 7, p. 9!. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON king did not then insist, in 1681 the corporation were forced to accept him in place of the father of their sitting member, a prominent ExcUisionist Whig, whom they had just elected to the office." In 1683, following the example of a number of other boroughs who had been cowed by the fate of London, North- ampton surrendered its charter and received a new one which nominated the town officials and entire corporation and ' according to the new mode of charters,''^ reserved to the king the right to remove any official who should subsequentlv be elected." This right was freely exercised by James II, who, be- tween February and September 1688, removed a mayor, 8 aldermen, the town attorney, 16 ex-bailiffs, the acting-bailifTs, 23 common council men, and, in September, the mayor-elect.*" The Earl of Peter- borough, the recorder, also made a speech to the assembly, desiring them not to promise their votes at the coming parliamentary election till they had heard from him ; ' but the Prince of Orange coming in a short time after, there was an end put to that re- quest,'"' and the mob broke into the earl's house and spoiled his chapel.'* From 1688 the town supported the Crown loyally. In 1 745, when the Duke of Cumberland was preparing to make a stand outside Northampton*^ against the advancing forces of Charles Edward, the recruiting efforts of Halifax were warmly backed up by Doddridge, and one of the pupils of his academy was standard-bearer to the regiment of 814 volunteers raised in Northampton.** This temporary rapprochement of church and chapel was not, however, lasting ; the corporation grew steadily more exclusive in its Anglicanism and Toryism ; and as the Liberal and Nonconformist element in the town became more wealthy and influential, the town govern- ment grew less and less representative. Of the 67 subscribers to the loan for the French war in 1757, more than half were members of the Castle Hill Church.** ' We term it a Tory Corporation,' said a leading Northampton dissenter, giving evidence before the Select Committee on Municipal Corpora- tions in 1833,'' and in 1835 ' '^ ^^^ admitted by the mayor that he had never known an instance in which a person opposed to the politics of the corporation had been elected to the body. . . . Scarcely any of the master-manufacturers engaged in the staple trade of the town are members of the established church. . . . Since the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts no dissenter has been admitted into the common coun- cil.'*' The reform of the borough was long overdue in 1835. The constitution of the corporation remained unchanged in substance from 1489 to 1835. .As to its working we have evidence lacking for the medieval period. The records of the town assembly (latterly small enough to meet in the Guildhall)"" are extant from 1553 to 1835 ;*' the minutes of the Mayor and Aldermen's Court from 1694 to 1797 ;"" the mayor's and chamberlain's accounts from 1675 to 1835 ;°* the minUiC-bo'iks of the Committee of Accounts from 1800 to 1822,'-'- and tlie Enrolments of Apprenticeship and admission of freemen, some in the first assembly book, and the rest separately enrolled from 1562 to 1835.°^ There is also a good deal of material on the parliamentary representation of the borough from 1732 to 1835."'' There is also the chronicle of Henry Lee, town clerk from 1662 to 1715;"' and the two Northampton : The Swan Hotel custumal books, at Northampton and at the British Museum, contain oaths of office, corrected and brought up to date from time to time,** which enable us to differentiate the functions and names of the town officials. The mayor was generally chosen from among the ex-bailiffs, but sometimes {e.g., in 1702, 1762, 1817, 1 8 19) from the members of the Forty Eight. In spite of a resolution of 1570 that no man should be mayor more than twice,*' there are numerous in- stances of mayors serving thrice, and T. Cresswell served four limes (1579, 1588, 1596, 1604). The mayor's allowance, 20 marks in the 1 6th, as in the " Boro. Rec. ii, 109. '• Narcissui Luttrell, Diary, i, 278. '• Boro. Rec. i, 143-7. " Ibid, ii, 476-7. •' I.ee, Coll. p. 128. •= Hill. \1SS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 7, p. 230. " Lttteri of Cumbcrbnd to Wade and Newcaitle, 4 Dec. 1745 (S. P. Dom.). •• Corresp. and Diary of Philip Dodd- nd^e, ed. J. D. Humphreys (1831), iv, 428-31, 436-9, 442-3. '» Ibid. Minutes 1 98 1. •• Pari. Papers 1833, vol. xiii. of Evidence, 1400. " Ibid. 1835, vol. XXV, pp. 1976, •' lioro. Rec. i, 329. " Vorthampt. Corp. Rec. Press N. 2b, 3, 3a, 10, 5, 6. N. 8, 9. 4. Press O. I- 30-47; •» Ibid. Press N. 8,9 4- •' Ibid Press H. 1-28 , 1-X> i7-i<)b. •' Ibid. Press N. 1 1. ••Ibid Press 0. 13-1 6a. "Ibid. Press H. ; Press Press S. 33-35. 57 -58. *'•' * Memorandums oi the Antiquities of the Town of Morthampton and of severall remarkable things acted in this Kingdome of England Collected by Henry Lee in the Eighty Sixth Year of his Age who served the Corporacion of Northampton in the office of Town-Clerkc Fifty and Three Years till .August 1715.' Top. MS. (Bodl. Lib.), .Northants, c. 9, pp. 89-163, cited as I-ee, Coll. •• The prc-Rcformation forms, adjuring ' the Saints ' and ' the holydome ' are cancelled •' Boro. Rec. ii, 31. 13 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 14th century, varied according to the thrifty or festive tendencies of the times, but rose steadily in the l8th century from ^30 in 1745 to £105 in 1801, [J2.2.Q in 1814, and ^^350 in 1829, when the tide turned.-* In 1835 it was ^^150. No doubt the increase was partly due to the difficulty of inducing members of the corporation to accept an office which entailed so much expenditure on ' treats ' and ' feasts.''* The mayor and ex-mayors or aldermen had much the same functions as the mayor and his council had had before 1489.'*' Under the charter of 1489 they nominated the Forty Eight, and thus com- pletely controlled the personnel of the corporation. ^ They appointed all the corporation officials that were not elected by the assembly, such as coroners, chamberlains, constables, Serjeants and beadles, searchers and tasters for the trades, collectors of rents, the town clerk and the steward. They ad- ministered a variety of charities, and their preferen- tial treatment of candidates of their own poKtical colour was noted severely in 1835.^ Finally they de- cided when the assembly should be summoned. In the 17th century the court of the mayor and aldermen met fortnightly ; in the 1 8th century less frequently, and the business was almost entirely confined to the fiUing of offices, the dealing with charity property, and the calling of assemblies. The two baihffs, elected annually from the com- pany of the Forty Eight by the whole assemblv, became members for fife of the body of ex-haihffs, from wliom as a rule the mayor was chosen. They received as their allowance the rent of a river meadow known as the Bailiffs' Hook, which amounted in 1835 to £31 a year, and had then been recently supplemented by a grant of 50 guineas.' Their functions had come to be almost purely administrative and fiscal, as the Court of Record where they sat became less and less important. They were still responsible for the payment of the fee farm, for the arrangement of fairs and markets, and for the collec- tion of tolls. They also supervised the keeping of watch and ward and the upkeep of the walls till 1662.* They impanelled juries and executed the writs of central and local justices, the corporation success- fully upholding its right to exclude the sheriff's action in this matter.* The Forty Eight, nominated for life by the mayor and aldermen from the body of freemen, served as a pool from wliich the baihffs could be chosen.* They could be displaced by a vote of the assembly.' With the mayor and aldermen, the baihffs and ex-baiUffs, they made up the common council or assembly, which elected the mayor, the recorder, and the bailiffs, and other corporation officials,' admitted freemen, leased corporation property, and passed ordinances or bye laws, though this form of activity practically ceased in the 1 8th century, when they had come to take very little thought for the general well- being of the town.* The contrast between the earlier and later Assembly Books well reflects the narrowdng of interests. Of the other town officials the Recorder was first in dignity. He is first mentioned in 1478 as the person before whom, with the coroners, the mayor was to be sv/orn in at Northampton, instead of going up to the Exchequer.'" The charter of 1495 provided that the assembly should every year elect a discreet man learned in the law as Recorder, to serve as a justice of the peace for the borough, and be one of the quorum of three, with power to hear and deter- mine all felonies and trespasses committed within the town.'* The office was as a rule held for life, and the first recorded election (in 1568), was made by the mayor and aldermen.*^ As the influence of the county over the town increased, it became customary to appoint some neighbouring gentleman, who often served as knight of the shire or member for the borough. The first honorary appointment seems to have been the election in 1642 of the Earl of Man- chester, a member of the family of Montagu of Boughton, ' for various favours shown by him to the town, and especially for having provided for its defence,'^* and thenceforward the work of the office seems to have been done by a deputy-recorder. In 1671, the assembly elected the Earl of Peterborough as Recorder, but the next year the new mayor, a county gentleman, induced them to replace him by the Earl of Northampton.^* For this discourtesy to a royal favourite the mayor was summoned before the Privy Council, and rebuked by the King, who, however, allowed the election to stand.'* The Earl of Northampton was formally re-elected every year until his death, .ind was a most valuable friend to North- ampton in forwarding tlie Bill for the rebuilding of the town after the fire of 1675. When the earl begged the King to delay the prorogation of parhament for half an hour or so that the Bill might pass, Charles observed : ' My lord, I do much wonder you should be so kind to the town of Northampton which in the time of the wars were so unkind to my lord of North- ampton, your father.''" The earl replied : ' If it may please your Majesty, I forgive them,' and the King said : ' My lord, if you forgive them, I shall do the same.'" On Northampton's death, however, the town was forced to accept Peterborough until 1688, when the recordership became, in practice, hereditary in the Compton family, till the death of the last Earl of Northampton in 1828. The position then ceased to be honorary, and a working lawyer was appointed.'* The most distinguished of tlie deputy-recorders of North- ampton had been Spencer Perceval, who held the office from 1787-1807, gave legal opinion and advice to the •' DtiTo. Ret. ii, 41-2. ** In 1694 eight person! in succession were elected .is maynr and paid the fine of j^io rather than serve. Boro, Rrr, ii, 37. ••• For the mayor's oath see Boro. Rec. ii, ;3i,or Add. MS. Brit. Mu«. 34308,(0. 10 d. ' For the aldermen's oath, see Add. MS. 3430S, fo. 15. 'Far!. Paperi, 1835, vol. xxv. p. 1978. • Ibid. p. 1967. * For the bailiffs' oath, see Boto. Rec. ii, 533, or Add. MS. 34308, fo. 1 1 d. 'Assembly Books, 20 April 1612. 10 May 1722. • For oath of Forty Eight, see Add. MS. 14308, fo. 20. 'Assembly Book, 2 May, 1778. • The distribution of patronage between the common council and the mayor and aldermen varied from time to time. Sec Boro. Rec. ii, 49, • Pari. Paperi, 1835, vol. xxv, pp. 1967, "■ Boro. Rec. i, " Ibid, i, 104. 94. " Ibid, ii, 104. '= //is(. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, app. 2, p. 59n. '• I.ee, Coll. p. 118. " Boro. Rec. ii, 107. " The second earl was killed in a skirmish in 1643, and the parliamen- tarians refused to give up his body to his son. " Lee, Coll. p. I2t. " For the recorder's oath, see Boro. Rec. i, 392. H BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON town on several important occasions, helped to secure the new charter in 1796, and represented the borough in Parliament from 1796 till his assassination in 181 2. '• His statue by Chantrey, erected by public subscription'" and placed in All Saints' in 1817, was transferred to the council chamber of the town hall, where it now stands, in 1866. The town clerk, common clerk or mayor's clerk acted also as clerk of the recognizinccs.^' He was appointed as a rule by the mayor and aldermen and in practice held the otHce for life. He had a small stipend, but his income was mainly derived from fees. In 1652 it was put on record that he should have no voice in matters discussed in the assembly ;^* his importance as a permanent official is well illustrated by the story told by Henry Lee, town clerk from 1662-1688 and from 1690-1715, of the election of the mayor in 1694. Eight members of the corporation in turn had been elected and refused to serve. ' It being night, .^nd the Mayor and .Aldermen tired, the Mayor proposed to the Aldermen to adjourn the Court to the next day, .And then I informed them That it was against the Express words of the Charter.' (If the mayor was not elected at one sitting, the exist- ing mayor had to serve another year.) ' I told the present Mayor that . . . without speedy care taken they would all be gon, and thereupon he starts up from his Seat in the Councell Chamber and made hast to the Hall dorc and lockt it and brought in the Keys and laid them before him upon the Table, and said : " Now I will stay here till to-morrow this time, but I will choose a Mayor." ... It happened to be a wett night, and after nine of the clock.' ^ The town steward, first mentioned in the 15th century,** acted as clerk to the bailiffs at the court of record, and mayor's clerk at the court leet.*^ He was appointed by the mayor and alderman and paid by fees only. The coroners, according to the charter, should have been chosen by the assembly ; in practice the mayor and aldermen often appointed. The election was annual, and it was usual to choose aldermen for the office.** The chamberlains, elected annually, at first b_v the assembly and later by the mayor and aldermen, acted as the town treasurers. They kept the town accounts and had one of the keys of the common chest.*' During the 17th century there were two, a senior and a junior chamberlain, each holding office for two years. Their accounts** are preser\ed in the corporation archives from 1 5 54 onwards, with gaps, and are of great value, including as they do the rental of the towrn lands, receipts by fines and grazing fees, payments to town officials and beneficiaries, and all kinds of occasional expenditure. The increase in the amounts spent on feasting is well marked. From 1785 to 1835 the town chamberlain wore a distinctive badge of ' a respectable silver key in the gothic taste, double gilt.'*» By 1835 the ch.imberlain's functions had become largely honorary, and the real work of accounting was done by a treasurer, also elected by the mayor and aldermen." The Serjeants of the mayor and baihfEs, known, from the rods of office they carried, as mace-bearers from the 14th century*! ^y^re five in number, one for each ward of the town. Four were reckoned as bailifTs' Serjeants and called in the 17th and l8th centuries Serjeants at mace ; the fifth was known as mayor's Serjeant or mace-bearer. According to the form of their oaths in the town custumal** they executed attachments and distresses and had custody of prisoners, whilst the mayor's Serjeant also assized measures and weights and levied estreats. They were appointed by the mayor and aldermen. Besides the fees and perquisites of their office the bailififs' Serjeants received in 1833 a salary of 6 guineas each, and the mace-bearer ^t^?-*^ Four small maces, one going back to the reign of James I, are preserved at Northampton, together with the great mace still in use, made probably, like that of Leicester, by Thomas Maundy of London under the Commonwealth.** The duties of the Serjeants had become largely formal by 1835 ; their police duties were being performed by the constables. The 15th century custumal gives the constable's oath which defines his duties, and also that of the tithing man or dozener,*^ whose office, at that period, is still mainly one of presenting at the leet. In the 17th century custumal a later form of the sacramentum decenurionim in- cludes the duty of apprehension of wandering and idle persons of different kinds,** and can be taken as defining the duties of the third borough or head borough who in the i6th and 17th centuries assisted the constable. Each ward had one constable and two third boroughs, appointed from 1581 to 1690 by the assembly, and after that date by the mayor and aldermen.*' In 1833 there were in all 23 constables and head boroughs, paid according to the work done, by piece rates, out of the town rates by authority of the magistrates.** Among other minor officials of the corporation were the town crier, the hallkeeper, and, from 1584 to 1698 at least, the town waits or musicians.*' The government of the close corporation appears to have been on the whole satisfactory down to the Restoration. From that date the town records give evidence of steady deterioration. Alongside of the growth of political exclusiveness went the tendency within the corporation of the mayor and aldermen to arrogate to themselves more power, and the diminu- tion in the corporation as a whole of the sense of responsibility for the well-bting of all the town. The borough revenues were regarded as a fund entirely at their disposal, and any fresh needs of the growing '• Boro. Rfc. ii, 22, 206, 34g. Ht is also supposed to have used his influence to secure army contracts for the Northamp- ton shoe makers. *• The corporation subscribed £10^, Assembly Bk., 5 June, 18 12. " In the British Museum custumal the town clerk's oath covers also the office of * Prothonotary or clerk of the Recogniz- ances of the Statute Merchant.' lie had a seal in this capacity, reproduced Boro. Rtc. ii, 14a, fig. 4. " Ibid. 6(). " Lee, Coll. pp. 130-1. '■* Boro. Rec. i, 377. The steward's oath is given Add. MS. 34308, fo. 11 d, printed Boro. Rrc. ii, 533 ; for ' the Mrs ' read ' thy maystres.* '^ Boro. Rec. ii, 11 6-8; Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. XXV, p. 1968. *• Ibid. p. 1968. For coroners' oath see Boro. Rec. i, 392. " Ibid.. 256. =• Ibid, ii, 58-65. IS =• Ibid. 66. " Pari. Papers, 183;, vol. xxv, p. 1968. " Boro. Rec. i, 244, 2?o. "Add. MS. 34308, ff. 13, i;; Boro. Rrc. ii, 74, 78. " Ibid. 78. » Ibid. 74-85. »> Ibid, i, 397, 393- "Add. MS. 34308, fo. 12. " Boro. Rec. ii, 139-142. " Pari. Papers, 1833, vol. xiii, p. 50. "» Boro. Rec. ii, 85-92. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE town were met out of the town rates, fixed by the magistrates at quarter sessions and kept distinct from the corporation accounts.*" As early as 1692 a mayor is commended because ' he did not sell the town land for claret as others did.'*i The corporation became, in fact, little more than a dining club with considerable powers of patronage. One by-product of this stagnation was the difficulty found in filling municipal office and even in recruiting the corporation itself. A substantial sum was annually derived from the fines cf tho«e who refused office. We have seen that in 1694 eight mayors- designate refused to serve. This brought in ^80. Similar difficulties occurred in 171 1, 171 3, 1723, and 1730.*^ The same reluctance to serve was shown by bailifls-elect.*' The records of the mayor and alder- men's court show the difficulty of filling up the vacan- cies in the Forty Eight created annually by the election of the two bailiffs. The first instance of refusal to act is recorded in 1696, and from that time complaints were constant.** On 7 August 1775, for instance, 13 persons who were elected to the Forty Eight were displaced because of their refusal to take the oath ; ten of them, however, were immediately re-elected with six others. On 5 August 1776 twelve were simi- larly displaced and re-elected.** The assembly in its turn was endeavouring to compel persons to become freemen : on 23 May 1 776, for instance, it was resolved that nine persons should be admitted freemen at j^^io each, and prosecuted if they refused.** As a result, by 1 791 the corporation consisted of a mayor, 18 aldermen, 22 baiUlTs and 19 Forty Eight men, whilst 29 persons elected to the Forty Eight were refusing to act. Under the charter of 1663 the mayor and aldermen had power to fine, and if necessary imprison and distrain freemen who refused to serve.*' Having taken legal opinion, in 1794 they had a mandamus served on several of the defaulters, and the case was brought before the court of King's Bench, with unforeseen consequences. It appeared that by the Act of 1489 the mayor must be elected by a majority of the Forty Eight, not being ex-baiUfTs, ana that for several years past the mayors had been elected by a minority, as no majority existed.** The corporation had thus no legal warrant for its existence, and the only remedy was to surrender the charter of 1663*' and petition for a new one. The townsmen seized on the chance of asserting their rights and held a meeting on i June 1795 at the County Ilall (not being allowed the use of the Town Hall) and a counter- petition organised by Edward Bou\erie, the Whig member for the borough, was signed by five hundred persons, praying the King not to grant a charter without reference to the petitioners.'*' The attitude of the corporation is reflected in the resolution passed in the assembly of 8 June.'* 'That it is the opinion of this Assembly that the peace and good government of tliis town and the interest of all its inhabitants whether free or not free of the corporation have been well secured under the Ancient Powers and Franchises heretofore and hitherto exercised by the Corporation. ' That it would not be wise to depart from a System which has been found upon such long experience to answer. And therefore it is the opinion of this Assembly that they should endeavour to procure such a Charter only as shall confirm and restore the ancient Rights and Franchises of the Corporation and leave the Government and the Election of its officers under the same regulations which have hitherto prevailed.' Thanks were also voted to Mr. Charles Smith for his ' manly and steady conduct in resisting the unjust imputations aimed at the Corporation ' at the late town meeting. As was to be expected, the view of the assembly rather than that of the town meeting was accepted by the central government, and the charter of 2 April 1796'^ differed only in trifling respects from that of 1663. The right to fine freemen for refusal of office and to fine members of the corporation for non- attendance at assemblies was made definite, and the clause forbidding any but freemen to trade within the town was dropped. The fresh lease of life given to the old corporation led to no improvement either in zeal or in public spirit. Quorums were difficult to obtain,** and the worst instances of the expenditure of public funds on entertainment, of the exploitation of charity endowments for party purposes, and of pohtical bias in judicial action belong to the period 1796-1835. A proposal from one of its own members in 1831 to reform the financial procedure of the corporation was quashed as ' unusual, improper and prejudicial,' ** and the appointment of a special committee to audit the accounts in 1833, though it produced a valuable report, was in the nature of a deathbed repentance. The epitaph of the old regime was spoken by Cockburn in 1835 : ' It seems impossible to justify a system which alienates from the municipal government the affections and respect of one half of the community and gives rise to com- plaints of so serious a character.'** In November 1835 the close corporation of the last three and a half centuries was replaced by an elective body of one mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, representing the three wards into which the town was newly divided. Under the Local Government Act of 1888 (51 and 52 Vict. c. 41) Northampton became a county borough in that year, but the form of its government was unchanged till 1898, when, owing to the victories of th'- Progressive party in the municipal elections of i8g7,** a Boundaries Committee was appointed and a Pro- visional Order obtained from the Local Government Board, rcdividing the town into six wards. After further enquiry, the area of the town was enlarged by the act of 30 July 1900*' so as to include nine wards. " Pari. Paperi, 1833, vol. xiii, p. 50. •' B<^o. Rec. ii, 38 (HaU'i MS.). " Ibid, il, 39. " Ibid. 55. " Ibid. 21-2. " Northampt. Corp. Rcc. Prcii N 4. *' Anembly Book, Prcii N. 10. " Horo. Rec. i, 141. '• Ibid, ii, 14. " The town wai governed under thii charter, and not chat ol 1683, at, the lur- rendcr of the former never having been enrolled, the latter (which had provided for a company of forty instead of forty- eight) wai declared void by Sir Kdw.ird Northey, Attorney-General, 1701-1707, 1710-1718. Bridges, Hist, of Northants. i. 433- •• BoTo. Ree. ii, 24. " Asiembly Book, Northampt. Corp. Rec. Prefi N, 10. •• Btro. Rtc. i, 154-184. 16 '■' Ibid, ii, 25-6. " Ibid, ii, 27. " Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv, p. 19S1. " Northampt. Mercury, ^^ov. 1900, " I..G.B. Provisional Orders Con- firmation (no. 14) Act, 1900, 63 and 64 Vict, dxxxiii (Public Act of a local character). Northampton Workhouse serves Hardingstone Union. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON each of which returned three councillors, who with nine aldermen, made up a council of 36 members. In 191 1 the Northampton Corporation Act'* was passed, under which the borough was divided into twelve wards, and from 1912 on the council has consisted of the time-honoured number of 48. The first recorded representation of the borough in a parliament is in 11 Edward I,** and, except under the Commonwealth, there were two members up to 1918. The carhest writs are directed to the mayor and good men,** whilst the returns for Edward II's reign state that the members were elected by the bailiffs, by the mayor and bailiffs, or per considera- tiomm vilU.^'- From 1 381 at least, the elections appear to have been made in the assembly at St. Giles'.** A comparison of the list of m.iyors and bailiffs with that of the members shows that the same group of burgesses performed both services." In 1 381 the assembly resolved that the borough should always be represented in Parliament by the ex-mayor, unless he had discharged the office of burgess before his mayoralty.** From 1489 onwards it appears that, as the parliamentary elections were still made in the assembly,** voting was restricted to members of the corporation. The act of 1489 did not mention elec- tions to parliament, but the King's letter to Leicester in the same year definitely laid it down that only members of the common council should have votes for parliamentary elections,** and it is possible that the two acts, so nearly identical in form, were inter- preted similarly. The members were chosen from among the corporation until the reign of Elizabeth, when the practice begins of choosing county gentle- men to represent the town. From 1553, the recorder was generally chosen as one member, and the Yelver- tons of Easton Maudit established a strong family interest, whilst the Knightleys of Fawsley were another county family with influence in the borough. The notorious Peter Wentworth of Lillingston had sat for a Cornish borough before he represented North- ampton in 1586, 1589 and 1592.*' In 1601 the assembly books record that Mr. Henry Hickman, LL.D., and Francis Tate, Esq., made request to be chosen burgesses for the town and were accepted as being the first a resident and the second the son of a freeman, provided they paid their own expenses.** They were both made honorary freemen. Aldermen are still chosen as members after this date, but economy on the side of the corporation and solicitation from outside soon established the parliamentary representa- tion of the borough as a prize to be competed for among the county gentry." Henry Lee finds it noteworthy that in 1640 Zouch Tate of Delapre was elected burgess ' without his making any interest and without his knowledge till after the election.''" Under the Commonwealth the representation of the borough was reduced to one. At the Restoration Northampton, like several other boroughs,'^ under- went a peaceful revolution ; the parliamentary vote ceased to be the monopoly of the corporation. There must have been warning signs, for both at Leicester and Northampton the corporations prepared to resist an attack. The assembly at Northampton ordered on 19 June 1660 ' That this town do unite with any other corporation of the neighbourhood for the maintenance and continuance of their constancy in the choice of Burgesses to serve in Parhament by the mayor, Baihffs and Burgesses. ''^ In the elections for the convention two returns were made ; the one of Francis Harvey and Richard Rainsford, the other of Sir John Norwich and Richard Rainsford. The Committee for Privileges reported that ' the common- alty as well as the bailiffs, aldermen and 48 common councilmen have the right to elect,' and that therefore Rainsford and Norwich were elected.'^ Harvey, the deputy-recorder, was the corporation candidate. In the elections of 1661 there was again a double return for Northampton : the sheriff brought an indenture with the names of Sir John Norwich and Sir James Langham ; the mayor returned Langham and Harvey. The return of the mayor, the lawful returning officer, was filed, and Langham and Harvey were temporarily allowed to sit,'* but after investigation the Committee tor Privileges reported that the mayor had used menaces to such as would not give their votes to Mr. Harvey, had made infants free on the morning of the election that they might vote as he pleased, had caused persons to be put by who would not vote as he desired, had released Quakers from prison and put halberts in their hands to keep back such as would have voted contrary to his intentions, had adjourned the taking of the poll into the Church of All Saints and there behaved himself in a profane and indecent manner, and had declared beforehand that Mr. Rainsford should not be elected because he had given a charge for the Book of Common Prayer. On account of these ir- regularities the election was declared void by the Commons, by a vote of 185 to 127." The mayor was brought into the House in the custody of the Serjeant at Arms, and making a humble submission on his knees, received a grave reprehension. Henry Lee, who appears to have confounded the elections of 1660 and 1661,'* says that there were five candidates, and that the poll was held in the chancel of All Saints, by reason of the great rain that fell that day so that it could not be taken at the Market Cross. ' The election of burgesses,' he adds, ' was then ordered to be made in the town by the freemen and inhabitants of the town, and has continued a popular election ever since.'" Never- theless more disputed returns followed, leading to a more precise definition of the franchise. The bye-election ordered on 13 June 1661 led to the return of Sir Charles Compton and Rainsford ; but Compton died soon after and a fresh writ was issued on 5 Dec. 1661.™ This time Sir J. Langham was elected, and the rival candidate, Sir W. Dudley, protested. The •• 1 and ; Gtorge V, cUiv (Local Act). »• Patl. WrtU (Rec. Com.), i, 16. "Itid. " Ibid. I, Ixxiii ; II, i, ccxzxiv. " Bno. Rec. i, 248. •> Pari. Writs, II, I, cczzxii, fl ; Boro. Rtc. ii, 549 S. " Boro. Rec. i, 249. •* Ibid, ii, 494-6. '• Batcion, Rec. Boro. of Leics. ii, 325. " See £»{. Uist. Rev. zxxii, 38, 46; and Acls of Privy Council, 1578-80, p. 218, for Wentworth's conventicles at LUlingi- ton, attended by Northampton townsmen. •' Boro. Rec. ii, 495. •• Note Richard Spencer's account of his inteniew with the mayor and cor- poration in 1625. Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 82 (Buccleugh MSS.) i, 258-9. " Lee, Coll. p. 93. " Merewether and Stephens, fjisl. of Bore. pp. 1763 ff. 17 " Boro. Rec. ii, 498. " Commons Journals, viii, 70-71 (21 June 1660). " Ibid, viii, 257 (22 May 1661). " Ibid, viii, 269-70 (13 June 1661). " He seems to have misled all later writers ; the account given by Dr. Cox in the Boro. Rec. of the elections 1660- 1664 is quite incorrect. " Lee, Coll. p. 11 1-2. '• Commons Journals, viii, 326. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Committee for Privileges reported on 26 April 1662 that lawful voters had been prevented from voting, but the matter was too intricate for them to determine ; the House accepted their report and declared the election void.'^ The new bye-election was postponed for nearly a year by the rising of ParUament, but in February 1663 a fresh writ was issued*" and the election took place on 7 March.*^ The mayor attempted to hold it in the assembly, but two of the members of the corporation protested and left the guildhall with many others, joining the ' popularity ''^ in the market square which was shouting ' A Hatton ! a Hatton ! ' The rest of the corporation elected Sir W. Dudley ; Mr. Hatton's party polled at the Market Cross, and the sheriff received two indentures. As in duty bound he returned the one sealed by the town clerk (Henry Lee himself), but Hatton appealed to the House of Commons, and the Committee for Privileges, after hearing much evidence, reaffirmed that ' the voices in election do not belong to the Mayor, Alder- men and Forty-Eight only, and that . . . Mr. Hatton was duly elected.' The name of Dudley was erased from the indenture by the Clerk of the House and that of Hatton inserted.'^ In 1664 there was a fresh bye- election, necessitated by Rainsford's becoming a Baron of the Exchequer.** Again the return was disputed. On 26 April** the Committee of Elections reported that counsel on both sides agreed that whoever had the majority of voices of inhabitants being householders and not receiving alms ought to be elected ; and that the Committee upheld this and were of opinion that the sharing of the charitable gift at Christmas was a taking of alms. On this interpretation. Sir Henry Yelverton was declared duly elected, and Sir John Bernard unseated. It would appear that the process of corrupting the popular electors had already begun. From this time Northampton enjoyed what Tennant in 1782*' calls the cruel privilege of a very popular franchise. It is not unHkcly that the townsmen owed their enfranchisement to the fact that their pohtical sympathies were more royalist than those of the corporation, even after the purging of 1662,*' for in 1665 the mayor-elect was arrested by royal command.** Very soon, however, the corporation became more Tory than the town. In 1678 the Montagu interest, strong in the borough since the reign of James I,*' was exerted on the Exclusionist side. ' There are four that stand,' young Perceval reports ; ' Mr. Montagu is the only man who trcateth . . . the townsmen themselves say, both he and his father spend jf 100 per week, but to no purpose, for whomsoever the King will recommend they arc resolved to choose, and there coming a letter in favour of Sir W. Temple, he, it is thought, will be the man.'"* Owing to the Tory leanings of the returning officers, Temple was re- turned, but unseated by a vote of the House ' with so united a cry as made it very legible what incUnation they bear to the patron of the first.' *i From this time on the Montagu interest dominates the borough representation, and as the recordership had become a hereditary perquisite of the earls of Northampton, the Compton interest was equally strong and for a long series of parliaments the borough was represented by a Compton and a Montagu. In 1733 the assembly declared ' We think we have in some measure a right to be represented by a brother of the earl of North- ampton.''"' But on this occasion the corporation overreached itself. The parliamentary franchise was held to belong ' to every freeman, whether resident or not, and every householder, whether free or not,' *' and the mayor, for the purposes of the election, admitted 396 gentlemen of the county to be freemen of the town, on payment of 3 guineas a man :'■' but the defeated candidate successfully petitioned against the return of Colonel Montagu, elected by these new votes. In 1740 legal opinion taken by the corporation upheld the ruling that only resident freemen had the parliamentary vote.'* In 1768 a third great county interest entered the field. Earl Spencer put forward the Hon. Thomas Howe against the Montagu candi- date. Sir G. Osborn, and the Compton candidate. Sir G. B. Rodney. It was popularly beheved that ^^400,000 was spent on this election by the three patrons.'^ The campaign began at Michaelmas 1 767 and lasted till April 1768, after fourteen days' polling. The mayor and corporation used all their influence against the Spencer candidate," and by common agreement the oath as to bribery was not administered to any voter. A supporter of Hahfax, rebutting the charge of bribery, wrote : ' I have never heard of any other expense on his part but that of eating and drinking.'* . . . How can it be avoided when an old family interest is to be defended against a sudden and unexpected invasion ? In such a case one cannot blame what is done for self-defence.' *' Another con- temporary says : ' Each voter that would had twelve, fourteen or fifty guineas, some j^ioo to ^£500. The single article of ribbands cost j^6,ooo.'^ Osborn and Rodney were returned ; but a scrutiny in tlie House of Commons in 1769 resulted in Howe's being declared elected, and Osborn and Rodney tossed for the other seat, which was retained by Rodney.^ The expenses of the scrutiny, which took six weeks, during which Lord Spencer kept open house for members of Parliament, led to the Earl of Northampton's leaving the kingdom after cutting down the tiees and selling the furniture at Compton VVinyates, whilst Halifax and Spencer were also seriously crippled. The Compton and Spencer interests held the field after tliis for some years. From 1 796-1 812 Spencer Perceval, deputy iccorder since 1787, represented the borough (at first as ' Lord Northampton's Man ') * and there were a series of uncontested elections. In 1818 '• Commotit Journals^ viii, 414, •• Ibid, viii, 436. •' Bcro. Rcc. ii, 498-9 (Hall'i MS.). •"L«, Coll. p. 113. •• Commons Jourtiah^ viii, 469. •* Ibid, viii, 535 (11 March 1663/4). " Ibid, viii, 550. " Journey from Cbeiur to London, 310. " S« above, p. 12. " BoTo. Rec. ii, 35. •• Jbid. ii, log. " llisl. MSS. Com. Rep. (Egmont MS.), ii, 76. •' Ibid. Ormonde MSS. iv, 471. •" Boro. Rec. ii, 500. •• liridgo, op. cit. i, 434. •* Boro. Rec. ii, 500. •• Ibid, ii, 501. •• Quarterly /JiriVtc, Jan. 1857, p. 32 (article by Rev. T. James). •' Among (he corporation records is a list in the town clerk's handwriting of members of the Corporation tn the interest of Osborn and Rodney, which includes the mayor, 9 .ildcrmon, 18 bailiffs and 26 common council men. Bore Rec. ii, 506, ** The voters having drunk up all llalila.x's port at Ilurton, refused his claret, and went over in a body to Castle Ashby to sample Northampton's cellar. •• Hilt. MSS. Com. Rrp. 10, app. i, p. 409. ' Boro. Rec. ii, 506 (Hall's MS.). ' llist. MSS. Com. Rep. 10, app. i, p. 412. ' Boro. Ric. ii, 508. Pi AN OF Northampton in 1746 {By NMe ami Bullin) BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON the understanding that each party returned one candidate was terminated * and another tierce contest took place. The corporation supported the Tory interest energetically, and in 1826 went so far as to vote j([i,ooo out of the borough funds towards the expenses of a candidate in the ministerial interest : an action condemned by the commissioners of 1835, but falling far short of the party excesses of the Leicester corporation.' In 1768 the number of townsmen claiming votes was 1 170, and some 900 were allowed to poll. In 1784 908 voted, in 1790 893,* and in 1818 1,287.' T'^*^ number of electors under the Reform Act of 1832 was 2,497.* The last notable episode in the parUamentary history of Northampton was con- nected with Charles Bradlaugh. After two unsuccess- ful candidatures, he was elected M.P. for Northampton in 1 880. He was unseated on his refusal to take the oath administered to members, and was re-elected by the borough four times— in 1881, 1S82, 1884 and 1885. Finally, in 1886, he was allowed to sit, and he remained one of the burgesses until his death in 1891.^ By the Representation of the People Act in 191 8, the borough representation was reduced from two to one. The borough was represented by Miss Margaret Bondfield in the parhament of 1923-24. In 1086 the sum payable to the sheriff by the burgesses was ^£30 los. ; in 11 30 the sheriff accounted for ;£ioo at the Exchequer; and in 1185 the Jirma burgi WIS fixed at ;(^120. The burgesses had difficulty in paying this and they appear to have been badly in arrears at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, so that in 1227 the town was taken into the king's hand'" and a cuJtos appointed. '* In 1334 the town applied in vain for a reduction of the farm,'^ but in 1462 Edward IV remitted ^^20 of it for the next twenty years, a period extended later.** In 1484 Richard III increased the relief to 50 marks,** but Henry VII reduced it again to ;£22.*' Under a grant of 1 5 14 the farm was permanently fixed at ;^98,'* as it is to-day. It has been assigned from time to time to different persons, such as Robert de Crevequer in 1301," and Roger de Beauchamp in 1338.** From 1351 ^66 13/. 4• Pari R. ii, 85. '• Cat. Pal. 1461-7, p. 187 J ibid. 1476- 85, p. 99. " Ibid. 1476-85, p. 434. " Boro. Rec. i, 202. "Ibid, i, 113. " Cat. Pal. 1292-1301, p. 610. " Ibid. 1338-40, p. 17. " Ibid. 1350-4, p. 174. •" Information from the town clerk. " Cat. Inq. ii, 78. The grant to his father merely says 2S. payable at the Exchequer. Roi. Carl. p. 93. " Chan. Inq. Ed. I, ptf. loi, no. 2. '* Extents and Surveys, 143. »' Col. Fine, 1356-68, p. 150. » Pari. R. ii, 85. 19 " Ibid, ii, 348. " Boro. Rec. i, 308. •' Assize R. 635, m 67 d. " Boro. Rec. i, 251. " Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 48. " Boro. Rec. \, 123. "» Recently discovered in the Andrewr Collection of MSS. of Lt. Col. Packe, M.V.O.,who has presented it (1929) to the Mayor and Corporation of Northampton to be placed with the Borough Records, of which it originally formed part. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE hands of the King. There were five tenements around the cross of Alnoth {ad. crucem Alnoth ?). In the Masters' Street {in vico Magistrorum) were various houses which had been acquired by the College of All Saints, and in the tenure of the College ; near by were Fullers' Street and Weavers' Street. In the South Quarter (the south part of Bridge Street) and the parish of St. Gregory was ' Stokkwell Hall ' and lands of the fraternities of Corpus Christi and St. Nicholas in the Wall, probably connected with ■tsaaatjeSTj Northampton : The Bell Inn the famous rood in the wall in St. Gregory's Church. Laundry Street was probably near the river. The district of Bridge Street {in lico Pontii) included the holme or island called Barmerholme (Baums holem) belonging to Sir John Longville, several tenements be- longing to the chapel of the Blessed Mary and the fraternity of the Holy Trinity, and land at the South Gate belonging to the Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr. Under Kingswell Street we have mention of a lane called ' Lewnyslane,' an inn in Bridge Street called ' the Angel,' ' Wolmongerstrete ' and an ancient rent from a tenement in ' le Cowmede ' where there was formerly a mill. We next come to the Market Place, where in the Glovers' Row there were 17 shops, in Mercers' Row 9 shops and 2 tenements, the Re- tailers' Row {Rengum kegratorum Socorum (sic)) 14 shops. In Butchers' Row there were on the north side 12 stalls and one shop and on the south side 14 stalls, many of which belonged to religious houses. In Fishers' Row there were shops and stalls. In Barbers' Row in the Old Drapery there were 22 shops. In Gold Street, the lands were largely in the hands of religious houses. In the parish of the Blessed Mary next the Castle there was a mill near the church and a tenement belonging to the fraternity of the Blessed Katherine in the church of St. Mary, and land outside the West Gate belonging to the fraternity of Corpus Christi. In tiie parish of St. Peter there was waste land about the town wall and there were tenements around the castle and the Friars Preachers. In the North Quarter into which ' Berwardstrete ' ran was a house held by Peytmyn the Jew. St. Sepulchre's Street, now probably Sheep Street, extended to the North Gate. Newland in the parish of St. Michael seems to have extended to Bearward Street. There was a tenement called ' le Grenetree ' near the Friars Minor. ' Le Fawkon ' and an inn called ' le Hart ' in the tenure of William Crawme, notary, were in Corn- mongers' Row. There were also the Row where barley, oats and drage were sold, a Row opposite Bakers' Row, then called Potters' Hill, Shoemakers' Row, and the Tailory, where there was an inn called 'le Swan.' A terrier of the town property in the year 1586 ^'^ shows that the borough then held houses and lands in all the five wards of the town, including a good number of stables, gardens and orchards, a house called St. George's Hall,^^ eight shops under the Town Hall, as well as arable and meadow lands in Milton, Heyford, Pitsford, and Cotton, and a house in Pitsford. A good many of these plots were sold by the town in 1621-2, probably in order to get together the purchase-money for Gobion's manor, which was ac- quired in 1622 at the cost of £i,iio?* The first mention of Gobions at Northampton seems to be in U30, when Hugh Gobion paid 10 marks for a duel.^ The Gobion family held a considerable amount of property throughout the Mid- land counties. Hugh Gobion witnessed a charter of Earl Simon II to St. Andrews," and a Hugh Gobion was sheriff of Northantsin 1161.^' On the death of Hugh Gobion about 1 166 the sheriff seized his land,^* and accounted henceforth for 100/. a year from the land which was Hugh Gobion's'' until it was recovered by his grandson in 1200.'"' Hugh's son Richard granted by deed to St. Andrew's Priory a shop, paying 5/. a year, ' which is set up at All Saints Fair before the house of Hugh my father, next the market place towards Northampton,'" This Richard had seven sons and six daughters and died before Il85.''2 Among the corporation records are deeds by which William dc Vipont granted to Richard Gobion, second son of the last, lands in Cotes and beyond the South Bridge of Northampton.''^ This is the ' Earl Gobion ' of Northampton tradition who gave goodly commons and liberties to the town.^' His lands, including the recovered ' Grange,' were again seized into the king's hands later, as he joined the baronial faction against John, but in 1 217 he was re- stored to favour.'" He acted as royal Justice, and was the patron of the Franciscans on their first coming to Northampton, giving them shelter on his land outside the East Gate.** His son Hugh owed i6j. ^d. for relief, 'according to the custom of the town of Northampton,' " Northampt. Corp. Rcc. PrcH R. ^^. An abitract ii printed Boro. Rec. ii, 153-165. " For account of St. Georgc'i Hall, KC Bore. Rrc. ii, 181-6. '* Northampt. Corp. Dccdi, Prtii C. 101. •• Pipe R. 31 lien. I. •• Farrer, Ilonon and Knighli' Fen, ii, Z98. " Pipe R. 7 Ilcn. II. " Ibid. 12 Ilcn. II. "Ibid. 13 lien. II. *° Ricardui Gubiun r.c. de 40 M. pro liabenda leiiina dc 103 lulidatii terrc infra burgum et extra quod dicitur terra dc Cr.ingia. Pipe R. no. 45, m. 2 d; of. J3°i odd." With the administration of these charities went certain rights of patronage : the corporation appointed the warden of St. Thomas' Hospital,** the headmaster of the Free Grammar School" and the corporation schools and the Vicar of AH Saints'. The Assembly Books record various resolutions with regard 10 the management of St. Thomas' Hospital,** which appears to have been well administered. It was moved in 1834 f^o™ ^^^ °ld building at the bottom of Bridge Street (destroyed in 1874)*^ and the charity, in a house in St. Giles' Street, still supports both inmates and out pensioners.*' The advowson of All Saints was sold to the mayor and corporation by Sir Thomas Littleton and his wife in 1619 for ;{^200,*' and remained in their hands till 1835 when, under tlie Municipal Corporations Act, they had to sell it. Appointments to the living were made by trustees, being such of the corporation as lived in All Saints' parish.** In 1275 it was alleged that the appointment of the master of the hospital of St. John belonged to the borough,** and an attempt was made by the mayor and corporation to get control of the nomination in the 17th century in vain." The bishop of Lincoln was and is patron of the hospital,"- which was intended for the poor of the county, as that of St. Thomas was for the townspeople.'- The mayor and burgesses also had the right, probably from its foundation, of presentation to the chapel of St. Leonard attached to the Hospital of St. Leonard without Northampton." In 1282 they asserted that the wardenship belonged to them of the right and in the name of the lord king. Down to 1 294 the prior of St. Andrew's and the Vicar of Hard- ingstone had to sanction the chaplain's appointment ; after that the mayor and burgesses were the sole patrons and the mayor was (x officio master of the hospital. In 1473 he and the Twenty Four calmly reduced the number of beneficiaries to one, and leased the hospital with all its lands and appurtenances to John Peck of Kingsthorpe for life, on the condition that he should provide the_ chaplain's board and lodging, keep the buildings in repair, and maintain one man or woman leper in place of the brothers and sisters of former times.''' When the lessee died in 1505 the assembly resolved to keep the management of the hospital in their own hands, and each mayor had to take an oath to govern the hospital truly.'* Two of the aldermen were to act as wardens, with a bailiff under them to le'vy the rents, and they were to render accounts annu- ally. In 1546 St. Leonard's Hospital was said to have lands worth /^lo 15/. <)d. a year, and to be held by the mayor and Twenty Four in free alms, for the keeping of one leper ;'* and in 1 547 it was taken into the king's hands, and granted out again to F. Samwell, together with the chapel of Sc. Katharine, in 1549." The mayor and corporation protested vigorously, asserting in a petition to the Chancellor of the Court of Aug- mentations'* that for four hundred years and more they had been lawfully seised of the hospital and chapel of St. Leonard's. In response to this an inquiry was held which -vindicated the claims of the corporation," " Fine R. 15 Hen. HI, m. 7, " Annal. ."if on. (Rolli Scr.), iil, 229-30. •• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. 15; cf. Cal. Mi»c. Inq. I, 122. " Ibid. C 17. •' Cal. Iru}. ii, 78. •' Chan. Inq. Ed. I, ptf. loi, no. 2. '• Northampt. (Roll» Sec.) Corp. Deeds, C. i; ; cf. Cal. Miic. Inq. I, 122. " Inq. p.m.. Hen. VII, Ser. ii, vol. 9, no. 42. •* Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 61, 63, 64. The manor then included 3 messuages with orchards, etc., 600 acres of arable, 200 of meadow, 30 of pasture, 200 of heath or moor and 10 acres of woodland. •• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 106. " Ibid. C 109. •• Boro. Rec. ii, 166. •• Ibid, ii, 229. '• Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv p. 1971. •' Ibid. pp. 1971-5. •■ See V.C.H. Northants. ii, 161. •• Ibid, ii, 235-241. " Boro. Rcc. ii, 3^r. •• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Reps. x\i, 226. " R. M. Serjeantson, The Hospital oj St. Thomas, p. 7. •' Feet of F. Trin. 17 Jas. I ; R. M. Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints, i^ortbampt. p. 185. •• Lee, Coll. p. 129. •• Rot. Hund. ii, 3. 21 "> Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. and Field Club, xvi, 229. " Ibid, xvii, 12-18. " Lee, Coll. p. 96. " R. M. Serjeantson, The Leper Hos- pitals of Northampt. reprinted from Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. xviii, March 1915, supplements the account in V.C.H. Northants. ii, 159-161. '* Boro. Rec. i, 402-5. " Add. MS. 34308, fo. 21 ; V.C.H. Northanu. ii, 160. " Chantry Certificates for Northants. 1546, R. 36, no. 37. " Pat. 2 Ed. VI, Pt. 2, m. 25. " Aug. Off. Proc. bdle. 27, no. 4. '• Ibid. Misc. Bks. 132, fo. 136. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE and they were allowed, on payment of ^41 to Samwell, to keep the hospital as well as the chapel of St. Katha- rine, to serve as a chapel of ease for the sick. After tliis the rights of the corporation were unchallenged. As leprosy died out, one poor man or woman was main- tained up to 184.0, when the last beneficiary died, and the considerable endowments of the hospital were applied to the reduction of the rates. An investiga- tion by the Charity Commissioners was hampered by a refusal of the corporation to produce the records, and in 1857 the Attorney-General filed an information in Chancery and the facts were made public. After long discussion, the property of St. Leonard's was assigned to thesupportof the grammar school in July 1864. The lands of the charity are described in det.iil in the town terrier of 1586.^ The town property was administered by the mayor and chamberlains, who had power from the 14th century to let out lands under their common scal.*^ The existence of a common seal seems to be implied in the reference to the letters patent of the town in the charter of 1227 — an addition to the charter of 1200 which it mostly repeats. In 1282 it is definitely stated that the common seal has been attached to certain letters patent,'^ and there is at the Record Office one such letter patent to which a seal was formerly at- tached.** The oldest known common seal of North- ampton appears to have belonged to the early 13th cen- tury. It was circular, i| in. in diameter and bore an embattled tower with closed portal, the walls and battlements charged with fourteen irregular quatre- foils. Over the battlements appears the head of a knight, to the left, holding a crossbow and a banner- flag ; in the field a sprig and leaves of foliage. The inscription was sicillum : commune : norhamptone.** The mayor's official seal, of less rude design, appears to have been made early in the 14th century,^ and is perhaps to be associated with the charter of 1299. It was used for sealing letters accrediting freemen in other towns and returns of writs by the bailiffs,** authenticat- ing exemplifications of deeds enrolled on the Town Memoranda Rolls*' and adding authority to private deeds when the seals of the parties were not well known.** It was circular, l| in. in diameter, and bore a triple-towered castle, walls masoned and embat- tled, doors open, supported by two lions passant guardant of England ; in the field above, a reticulated pattern. The inscription ran : • s' maioritatis ville NORHAMTONiE.** Thcse two seals were in use down to the last quarter of the 17th century** and were prob- ably destroyed when superseded. The common seals of 1667 and 1796 are in the keeping of the corporation. That of 1667 is oval, and ^ in. long, and bears a circular triple-towered castle, flanked by two lions, with the inscription northamptoni.k 19 caroli 2 r. ANCI.I.S. The common seal of 1796 is also oval and is ij in. long, bearing on a shield the town arms of a castle and two Uons. The inscription runs : North- ampton charter renewed xxxvi GEO. III. The com- mon seal now in use, made in 1879, is circular, 2} in. in diameter, and bears on a shield the borough arms, with the inscription, castello fortior concordia. Impressions are extant of three other town seals. There were two seals for use under the Statute of Merchants for sealing recognizances ; the mayor's seal and the clerk's counterseal. A letter from the burgesses in 1 3 19 to the Chancellor reports that they have elected their mayor to keep the great seal and a clerk, their com- burgess, to keep the small one.^"- In 1351 Edward III appointed one of his yeomen to keep the smaller seal, but as he could not execute the office in person, it fell back into the hands of the Northampton clerk.*'^ In 1408 the clerk lost the smaller seal, and the mayor sent him up to the Exchequer to get it renewed.*' The inscription on the mayor's seal (circular, i| in.) is s' REGIS edwardi AD recogn' dekitorum. The design is like that for London. The inscription on the clerk's counterseal is S : cl'ici : de : stat : m'cat : norhton, and it bears a representation of St. Andrew onhiscross.** The cloth seal, of which a cast is preser\ed at North- ampton,** was used for stamping Northampton cloth which had paid the subsidy. Only three other instances of a cloth seal are mentioned in the British Museum Catalogue of Seals, whilst there are seventeen distinct examples of town seals under the Statute Merchant.** The Northampton cloth seal is an inch in diameter, and bears a king's head in the centre and round it the inscription, s' : panorum : norhamton :*' The open fields lay to the north and east of the town, the meadows to the south being used for pasture after haytime. There is a good map of the lands formerly belonging to St. Andrew's Priory in the year 1632 ; it shows a North Field, a Middle Field, and a South Field, as well as Monkspark, Rushmill Meadows and the Priory Leaze, and the town lands, including the recently acquired Gobion's manor, are indicated scattered among the other holdings.*' Among the borough records is a deed of 1373 which mentions lands lying in the North Field (Whetehul, Nether Whetehul, and Bartholomew furlong), in the East Field (Monkespark furlong) and the South Field (Rrerewong and Mede furlong) as well as the Port- mede.** There are constant references to the town meadows and pastures. In 1 391 it was ordered that no freeman should graze more than two beasts in the common pastures without payment.* In 1553 the assembly ordered ' That no man shall keep moor for his franchis than iij bestes upon the commons in alle, and that they be his owne . . . upon payne of xld . . . Item that the Cowe medowe, the horse medowe next ytt and Rawlines holme shal be kept " Printed in full by Strjcantion, ut lupra, pp. 42-4. •' BoTO. Rtc. i, 251. " Scrjcantion, Lrpcr Hcifilali of NoTtbampt. p.io. •• E«ch. K. R. Rilli7/2. "* Cal. oj Srali, liril. Mm. ii, p. 141. For reproduction lee Boro. Rtc. ii, 142. '» It it afHxcd to a deed of 1337. (Add. Cb. 729). •• Bofo. Rtc. i, 380, 3S4. " e.g. Add. Ch. 732, 735, 22371. " e.g. Add. Ch. 729, 730, 731, 22368. " Cal. oJ Seals, Brit. Mus. ii, p. 141. »° Add. Ch. 6132 (1684) bean the common seal. For an ex.implc of the personal seal of a mayor of Northampt. lee that of Robert Fitr. Ilcury, mayor 1279 and 4 timet aftcrwardn, reproduced in Scrjcanlion, Leper Hospitals of North- ampt. p. 49, from Northampt. Corp. Deedi, C 23. •' Anct. Correip. x«xv, 19S. " Cat. Pal. 1350-54, p. 99. •• Anct. Correip. Ivii, 29. 22 •• Sec Boro. Rcc. ii, 142 ; Cat. of Seali Bril. Mus. i, p. 145. " It is in the collection of the North- ants. Arch. Soc. in their rooms at the I.adlci' Club, Northampt. •• Cal. of Seals Brit. Mus. i, p. 141. " Sec lioro. Rec. ii, 142. •' A copy ii in the public library, Northampt., the original, made by Marcus Pierce, being in Meiirs. Markham'i office, Guildhall Road. •• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C, 42. ' Bofo. Rec. i, 253-4. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON severall from the purification of Saynt Mary the Virgin untyll the invention of the holy crosse in May and hkewise from the assumption of our lady unto saynt luke day the evangeliste upon payne of xld. every beast.'* In 1556 the right of common was re- stricted to freemen ' downlying and uprising and dwelling within the liberties ' and further regulations enforcing this restriction were passed in 1 599. Rules were laid down in 1582 for the times for throwing open The Cow Meadow, St. George's Leys, Balms Holme and the Foot Meadow, and there were regulations from time to time as to the branding of the cattle, the turn- ing out of diseased beasts and the nuisances caused by curriers or fullers, whilst from time to time the rates payable for depasturing beasts and the numbers al- lowed gratis to each freeman were altered. The freemen enjoyed rights of common during ' the open tide ' not only in the lands owned by the corporation but in those of other proprietors, and Henry Lee describes a dis- pute between the freemen and Mr. Bryan, the owner of Marvells Mills and Millholm, in 1648, about the date on which Millholm and Footmeadow were thrown open. The freemen declared it should be Midsummer day ; Bryan claimed as right the nine days' grace which custom had sanctioned.* The Chamberlain's accounts frequently mention the town bull.* They show that 280 horses and 103 cows were depastured by freemen on the town commons in 1692 and 233 horses and 221 cows in 1698. The annual branding of the freemen's cattle by the town chamberlain became the occasion of a public holiday and a town feast.* In 1778, in spite of the opposition of the corpora- tion,* an act was passed for enclosing the open fields.' That the scheme was in contemplation as far back as 1752 appears from a lease in that year of a farm in Northampton Fields for fifteen years ' if the open fields remain so long unenclosed.'* The fields of Harding- stone, Kingsthorpe, Moulton and Duston had been enclosed between 1765 and 1776. The commissioners' award under the act of 1778, dated 24 June 1779, is at the County Hall. It assigns to the corporation 133 acres of land in five allotments, and to the freemen, at the special request of the corporation,* 87 a. I r. 29 p. on the raceground, to be subject to a horse- race to be held between 20 Julv and 20 October every year. Trustees were appointed for the management of the new commons created by the award.** In 1870 the town held 189 a. o r. 39 p. of commons, including the Freemen's common on the racecourse (formerly part of Northampton Heath), where every freeman could pasture 6 head of cattle at fixed rates ; the Old Com- mons, vested in the corporation, comprising Mid- summer Meadow, Cow Meadow, Calves Holme, Baulms Holm and Foot Meadow ; and the New Com- mons, also vested in the corporation.^' Under the Northampton Corporation Markets and Fairs Act of 1870,** the freemen were given certain rights in the New Commons in return for giving up their rights in a portion of the Cow Meadow for the building of the present Cattle Market (1870-73). In 1882, under the Northampton Corporation Act of that year,** the freemen's rights of common of pasture and all other rights in the freemen's commons were sold to the corporation for a perpetual annuity of £800, to be paid yearly to the Freemen's trustees.** This marks the end of the common pastures of the town as such ; the racecourse is now preserved as an open recreation ground for the growing popui.ition of the northern part of the town, whilst Cow Meadow, Calvc^holme and Midsummer Meadow serve that purpose in the south. The laying out of pleasure walks in Cow Meadow began as far back as 1703, when the assembly authorised the expenditure of ^^30 in planting trees, making walks and ' other occasions and conveniences to be ornamentall and useful.' The discovery of a chalybeate spring, called Vigo Well from the vkiory of 1702, had roused the hope of making Northampton a fashionable watering place.** In 1784 a new walk was laid out from St. Thomas of Canterbury's well to Vigo well, planted with trees ' to form an agreeable shelter ' and fenced to preserve them from the cattle.*' Sincel884further park lands and pleasure grounds have been acquired by the town, which owned, by 1921, 409 a. 3 r. 26 p. for these purposes. Of these Abington Park was acquired in 1 895 and 1 903, 20 acres being presented to the corporation, with Abington Hall by Baroness Wantage in 1893, and the rest being pur- chased by the town ; Victoria Park in St. James' End was acquired partly by purchase, partly by the gift of Earl Spencer in 1898 and 1910 ; Far Cotton Recrea- tion Ground and Kingsthorpe Recreation Ground by purchase in 1912 and 1920, and Dallington Park (22 a. 3 r. 28 p.) by the gift of Messrs. C. E. and T. D. Lewis, in 1921.*' The first reference to a fair at Northampton is found in the charter of Simon II granting to the monks of St. Andrew's priory a tenth of the profits of the fair held on All Saints' Day in the church and churchyard of All Saints** which is described (1180-11S3) as eccksia de foro in Northampton?-^ The fair may have grown out of the church wake, and be older than the Conquest. On 9 November 1235 Henry HI by letters close forbade the holding of either market -^r fair in the church or churchyard of AH Saints, and ordered them to be held henceforth in a waste and empty place to the north of the church — the pre- sent market square.^* The inspiration of the reforms undoubtedly came from Robert Grosseteste, Arch- deacon of Northampton from 1221.^* The date of this and many other letters of Henry HI which con- cern the fair makes it clear that it went on well into the second half of November in the 13th century, and the parliamentary petition of 1334^2 states that at that time it lasted from All Saints' Day (No-vember l) to St. Andrew's (November 30). It came to be associated especially with the feast of St. Hugh (November 17), » Ben. Rtc. ii, 21 5 ; Kc following pagei for detailed rcfcrcncei to regulations here quoted. • Lee, Coll. p. 106. • BoTo. Rec. ii, 2Z2-3. • Ibid, ii, 223. • See A»»embly Bookt for 7 Feb. 1770; 20 Sept. and 14 Nov. 1776. ' iS George III, c. 77 (T>rivau Act). • Norihanii. .V. and Q. i, 3 (1886). • See Assembly Book, 18 Sept. 1778. '• Ibid. 2 March 1778. " Pari. Papers, 1870, vol. 55. Return of all Boroughs possessing common lands, p. 22. " 33 and 34 Vict. c. 45. (Local Act). " 4; and 46 Vict. c. 212. (Local Act). '• Information from Mr. A. E. Chick. " Morton, Natural Hist, of Nortbants. (1712), p. 279, says the waters are good for the stone. 23 " Boro. Ree. ii, 262-3. " Information from Corporation Tear Book, p. 43. " Cott. MS. Ve«p. E xvii, fo. 6. " Serjeantson, Hist, of Cb. of All Saints, Nortbampl. p. 14. » Cal. Close, 1234-1237, pp. 206-7. " V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, lo-ll. " Pari. R. ii, 85. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE that Bishop of Lincoln who, in 1 190, had braved the fury of the burgesses of Northampton by suppressing the cult of a pseudo -victim of the Jews in Alt Saints' Church,^ and had been canonised in 1220. The fair of Northampton was one of the four or five great fairs from which purchases were systematically made for the royal household in the reigns of John and Henry III.** In 1208, 1212, 1213 and 1214, for instance, John ordered purchases of robes and horses to be made there.*' In 1218 two royal baiUfls were appointed to ' keep the fair,' and look out for the royal interests there.^' Whatever other duties these terms may cover, the two men were empowered to make prises of wool, cloth and hides for the king's use, payment being promised later. A subsequent order directed that the wool seized at the fair should be sold at rates fixed by the mayor and reeves of Northampton.*^ In 1231 William de Haverhill and William the king's tailor were ordered to buy at Northampton fair 150 robes for the knights of the king's household, 100 robes for his clerks and Serjeants, five robes for grooms (garciones), and 300 tunics for alms.*^ Other orders for the purchase of cloth at the fair of North- ampton occur later.** In 1240 the King and Council arranged that all the King's prises from merchants should be paid for at four terms ; the Northampton purchases being paid for at the fair of St. Ives, the St. Ives purchases at Boston, the Boston purchases at Winchester, and the Winchester purchases at North- ampton.'*' In spite of the provision, the jurors of 1274-5 complained that Henry III owed the common- alty of Northampton ,{^4,000 and ;£loo for cloth bought at the fairs of Northampton and other places.'^ Both the king and burgesses of Northampton were also in debt to Douai merchants for cloth sold at Northamp- ton,** and there is an account of an uproar raised by merchants of Ypres and Douai at Northampton Fair in 1254 when the King's officials enforced the Assize of cloth.^ The charter of 1257 provided that no foreign merchants should lodge in North.-jmpton during the fairs without the licence of the bailiffs.^ A deed of 1 280 records the grant by Robert of Pitsford of a house in Abington Street to a burgess of Northampton on condition that during the fairs he should provide a kitchen and stabhng for nine horses for the Burellers of London.** In 1268 the king granted a yearly fair on St. James' day (July 25) to the abbot and monks of St. James' without Northampton,** and this fair, held outside the town at St. James' End beyond the west bridge, was a frequent source of dispute between the town and the abbey till the dissolution of the monasteries, when the expenses and the profits of it cancelled out.*' After that date it became a town fair, but it continued to be held in ' le fayre yard,' ** or elsewhere in the Abbey ground*' till about 1700. Dr. Cox found references to a fair on St. George's day as early as the reign of Edward I.^" In 1334, the town petitioned for a fair to last from Whitsuntide to the Gules of August, and the council recommended the grant of an eight days' fair.*^ The charter of 1 337, however, granted a fair to last for four weeks from the second Monday after Trinity.** This fair is not mentioned in the charter of 1495, which clearly reflects the decline in Northampton trade by hmiting the duration of the spring and autumn fairs to eight days each.** In 1566 there were still only two fairs — St. George's and St. Hugh's.** The charter of 1599 sanctions the holding of seven fairs, each to last three days, on St. George's Day (23 April), St. Hugh's (17 November), the Nativity of Our Lady (8 September), the Annun- ciation (25 March), the Conception of the Virgin (8 December), tlie Assumption (15 August), and St. James' (25 July).** When Bridges wrote (before 1724), an eighth fair had been added on 9 February.** The charter of 1796 retained these eight fairs, but as the old calendar was followed, the date of each was put forward eleven days. A new fair was sanctioned for 19 June (new style.)*' By 1 81 5 a tenth fair had been added, on the first Thursday in November, wliich was toll-free.** In 1849 there were thirteen fairs. In addition to those just mentioned there were fairs on the second Tuesday in January and the third Monday in March, whilst a new fair called the Wool Fair, on i July, had been recently estabhshed.** The fair on 19 September was known as the Cheese Fair, an innovation of Mr. Slowick Carr, Mayor of Northampton 1750-51.**' An Act of 1870 empowered the corporation of Northampton to establish markets and fairs,*^ and at present there are twelve fairs, the wool fair having been dropped.** The charter of 1 599 sanctioned the holding of a free market every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday by the burgesses ' as heretofore accustomed.' ** In 1683 they were also granted a cattle market for the first Thursday in every month.** In 1740 the market day was Saturday ;** in 1849, as now, Wednesday and Saturday were the market d.ays.*' Wednesday is the day for fat stock, Saturday for store cattle. The cattle market, opened in 1873, is on part of the Cow Meadow, and extends over six acres, with accommo- dation for 5,000 sheep, 5,000 beasts, and 500 pigs. The regulation of the markets was in the hands of the mayor as clerk of the markets from 1385 by charter, and probably before that date by custom. The standard weights and measures belonging to the corporation, including a bushel and gallon dated 1601, are preserved in the Town Museum.*' " V.C.II. Norlhanii. ii, 12. •* The otheri were Boston, Stamford , Wincheiter, St. Ivei, Bury St Edmund'i. Rol. Hund. ii, 5. "Rot. I.ilt. Claus. i, 100, 127, 154, '77- •• Cat. Pal. 1216-2?, 178. «' Rol. I.ill. Claus. i, 3S3. '* Cal. Cloie, 1231-34, p. I. Sec alto Cal. Liberait R. i, 3. " Rol. Ltlt. Claus. i, 580b ; Cal. Pat. 'i.n-47. P- »39i ibid- 1247-58, P- 37' i ibid. tz66-7i, pp. 393, 718. w Cat. Pal. 1232-47, p. 239. •' Rol. Hund. ii, 5. •• Cal. Pal. 1232-47, p. 393 ; ibid. 1266-72, pp. 393, 717. " Ibid. 1247-58, p. 430. •• Boro. Rec. i, 47. " Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B.2465. " Cal. Chan, ii, 100. " Valor. Eccl. iv, 319. '• Chan. inq. p.m., Charlci I, ccccxviii, 68. •• Bridget, op. cit. i, 501. " Boro. Rec. ii, 187. «' Pari. R. ii. 85. •• Chart. R. 1 1, Ed. Ill, m. 32, no. 67. *' Boro. Rtc. i, 107. •* Ibid, ii, 297. H " Ibid, i, 124. «• Bridges, op. cit. i, 433. " Boro. Rec. i, 177. *' Hist, of Norlhampl. 181;, p. 20. '• G. N. Wet ton, Guide-book to Norihampt. p. 86. The fair is now held in the Cattle Market. '"> Boro. Rec. ii, 40. " 33 ,ind 34 Vict. c. 45. (Local Act). " Kelly, County Directory (1924). " Doro. Rec. i, 134. •• Ibid, i, 146. " Bridges, op. cit. i, 433. " Wctton, op. cit., p. 86. •' Boro. Rec. ii, 194-5. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON The street names of Northampton are a fairly clear indication of the marketing centres of the medieval town. Sheep Street, The Horse Market, and the Hog Market lie in the north-western quarter ; Corn Hill,^ Malt Hill and Wood Hill north and east of the Market Square ; Mercers Row to the south and the Drapery to the west of it, whilst W'oolmonger Street runs to the south west, and Gold Street (once Gold- smiths' Street) runs west from tlie centre of the town. Henry Lee believed that the original market square was in the open space known as the Mayorhold or Marehold where the first Town Hall stood ;'"' but the early description of All Saints' as (/^/ero** suggests that in the 1 2th century the market was already held where it is to-day. The market square itself, known as the Chequer from the 14th century, has long been held one of the chief distinctions of Northampton. Morton in 17 1 2 says ' The Market Hill is lookt upon as the finest in Europe ; a fair, spacious, open place.' " Pennant calls it ' an ornament to the town ; few can boast the hke,' *^ and the Chartist Gammage calls it ' one of the prettiest in England.' ** The butchers' stalls or shambles to which a number of early deeds refer** were probably placed here, and it is supposed that the rows mentioned in early deeds, such as wimplers' row, mercers' row, cobblers' row, cooks' row and malt row'* ran along the west side of the square, where to-day a line of shops separates the Drapery from the market place. A market cross is mentioned in 14th and 15th century deeds, and the new one, erected in 1535, a fine piece of Renaissance work, as described by Henry Lee,** was destroyed in the fire of 1675. The market place also contained the great conduit, erected about 1481, a building of two or three stories, with a l.all above the conduit which was used for meetings of companies that had constitu- tions for regulating trade," and with arches below containing shops in the 17th and a bridewell in the 1 8th century. These, with all the buildings round the market square, except the Town Hall and Dr. Danvers' House in its north-east corner, were destroyed in the fire of 1675.'* From an early date the market square has been the centre of the civic no less than the mercantile life of the borough, and has witnessed a series of notable pubhc meetings such as the holding of the forest eyre of 1637,** the disputed election ' by the popularity ' in 1663,'" the great debate between Fergus O'Connor and Richard Cobden in 1844,'^ down to the public reception of the present King and Queen on 23 September 191 3. ''^ The fair and market days were the only occasions on which foreigners were allowed to sell their wares in Northampton, and the fair and market tolls made an important part of the borough revenues. They were levied by the town bailiffs or their deputies at a fixed scale of rates, revised from time to time in the assem- bly.'* Besides the market tolls, smaller tolls on the sale of corn and wood in the town were leviable, and the corn toll was collected in kind down to 1775.'* The position of Northampton as the county market town is well illustrated by the corn riots of 1693-4. In November 1693 the 'mobile' cut sacks of corn and threw the wagons into the river on several market days in succession, whilst many came to the market with knives in their girdles to force the sale of corn at their own prices.'* In June 1694 again loads of corn were seized and the mayor and his brethren defied and knocked about ; and a free fight took place in which two were killed and some sixty wounded." The occasion of the riots was the dearth noted by Lee, together with the sight of corn being sold in large quantities out of the town — presumably for the troops over sea." The market for beasts and sheep, of little or no importance in the 1 8th century, was revived in 1802 by the mayor of that time and developed steadily thenceforward." Besides the tolls on sales, traverse tolls were col- lected, from the 12th century if not earlier, from beasts and burdens passing through the town. In the oldest borough custumal (<-. 1 190) it is said that these tolls are collected at certain fixed places." According to the presentment of the jurors in the eyre of 1329,*" they hai been collected since 1264, when the town was in the king's hand, at points along the roads leading to Northampton, distant, in some cases, as much as fifteen miles from the town, so as to prevent strangers evading the toll by going round the town instead of through it. At this date the toll places were at Slipton on the Kettering road, at BiUing Bridge on the WeUingborough road, and at Syresham Cross on the Brackley Road.*^ In the reign of Elizabeth the tolls were collected at the en- trance to the town, and it had become customary for the baihffs to lease the right of collecting them to private persons.*^ In 1 765 the market tolls and traverse tolls together were let at a rent of ^^87 a year. The system was continued to 1829, the rents falhng to 70 guineas in 1801 and rising to ;^2I9 in 1829, owing probably to stricter exaction. This increased strin- gency led to resistance, and finally to the great Toll Cause of Lancum v. Lovellin 1831, when the corpora- tion incurred expenses of over j^2,ooo in defending its rights to levy the tolls.*' The test case was fought on a claim for lid. toll upon oxen bought in " The Corn Cbrpinge is mentioned in 1265 (Ca/. Chart, ii, 53) and the Strau- tcbepingeia 1301 {Hiil.MSS. Com. Ref. 15, ^fP- ». P- 73)- " Lee, Coll. p. 91. " See above. " Morton, Nat. Hiit. oj Nortbanu. p. 23. •' Jottnuy from Cbeiter to London (1780), p. 306. •• R. C. Gammage, Hiit. oj the Chartist Movement, 1894, p. 1 17. The iron lamp in the middle of the market tquare was given in 1863 \>y Capt. Samuel Isaacs of the Northants RiSe Volunteers. ** Anct. D. (P.R.O.),B. 2466, 2467,2484, e.g. * quoddam schamellum in rengo schamellorum camificum,' cf. ' Butchers Row,' in Anct. D. B. 3232 ; ' Kytstalles,' Boro. Ret. ii, 283. •• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. I, C. 6 ; Anct. D. (P.R.O.), 6444, 2549, 2764 ; Add Ch. 6117. " Lee, Coll. pp. 94-5. •' Ibid. p. 132. " Hartshorne, Hist. Mem. of Northampt. p. 234. The Riding, a small street in this neighbourhood, is named after the Riding School, where Methodism was first preached in Northampton in 1766. " Bridges, op. cit. i, 431. " Lee, Coll. p. 113 " Gammage, Hist, of Chartist Move- ment, p. 254-5. " Noriiamfl. Independent, 2. " Boro. /J«.ii, 188-90. "Ibid. 191. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1693, p. 397. " Ibid. Add. 1689-1695, p. 262. " Ibid. p. 263 ; 1694-5, p. 228. 25 " Report of the Trial for the Northampt. Toll Cause (Northampt. 1833), pp. 241-2. The receipts for tolls and rents at the Cattle Market were in 1914 ,{[2,923, and in 1927 ^[4,462 and for the General Market in 1914 ,(|2,ioo and in 1927 ^[7,035. '• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, £0. 159 v- " Assize R. 635, m. 51, m. 70. "So in the Liber Custumarum of c. 1460, Boro. Rec. i, 222. See also Rot. Hund. ii, 2, and Assize R. 619, m. 75, for private persons who were trying in 1274 and 1285 to usurp the town's right of collecting these toUs. " Boro. Rec. ii, 201-206. " Pari. Papers 1835, vol. xxv, pp. 1971, ■973- A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Northampton market, and led. traverse toll upon laden waggons going through the town, and a great body of legal precedents was cited — and misinter- preted— by counsel for and against the corporation.** Judgment was given for Lancum, the lessee of the corporation, in February 1832, but an application for a new trial was granted, on the ground of the rejection of legal evidence, in January 1833.*^ However, the defendant, an old countryman, died in July 1833 before the fresh trial could be held.*' The case revealed a good deal of ill feeling between the corpora- tion and the agriculturists of the surrounding district, though a declaration signed by 244 farmers and graziers of the neighbouriiood expressed their appreciation of the value of the Northampton fairs.*' One of the first acts of the reformed corporation was to discontinue the traverse toUs, as contrary to the spirit of the time and the freedom of trade, in i836.8« The fact that leather clippings were TRADES found with a coin of Edward the Con- fessor at the bottom of a well covered by the Norman earthworks of the castle*' has been adduced in proof of the existence of a pre-Conquest leather trade. There is, however, no early evidence of any outside market for Northampton leather goods and all the medieval sources suggest that textile industries took the first place in the days of the town's early prosperity. The earliest custumal (c. 1 1 90) mentions no craft but that of the weaver, who is classed with the nurse as a domestic servant not to be enticed away by a rival employer.^ It also refers to the sale of wool, thread, fresh hides, honey, tallow, cheese and flesh by the burgesses at the fair. In 1202 Northampton was one of eleven towns which pur- chased the right to buy and sell dyed cloth as they were wont to do under King Henry, that is, without keeping the assize of 1 197.'^ VVe have seen that the Northampton fairs were noteworthy for the sale of cloth and of furs in the reigns of John and Henry HI, and the petition of the burgesses to Parhament in 1334 indicates that some of this cloth at least was home made. ' In the time of King Henry . . . when the staple of wool was at divers places in England . . . there were at Northampton 300 workers of cloths, who paid on every cloth a fixed sum towards the farm of the town, as well as a fixed rent from their houses where they used to dweU in the said town, which are now fallen to the ground.'*^ The 13th cen- tury custumal contains regulations as to dyeing, and regulations as to the weaving of cloth, dated 1 251, which bear out the other evidence as to the impor- tance of the trade. Clause 23. Consideratum est quod nullus operarius pannorum ponat in panno suo, sc. imperiali, brasil nee tinctum de verme, nee in albo stragulato scorthe neque aiiam falsam tincturam. . . . 24. Si pannus inueniatur terra tinctus, et proprius pannus fuerit tinctoris, amittatur, et si alienus et ex consensu ipsius fecerit, similiter amittatur. Et sinon de consensu ipsius tinctor abjuret oificium suum per annum et diem. . . . 25. Nullus tinctor menstruet aliquem pannum cake. . . . 26. Nullus operatur pannos nisi pannus sit de rationabili sequela sc. peior ulna in panno tincto non valeat minus unum denarium ad plus et imperiale unum obolum. 34. Consideratur quod si aUquis textor alicuius pannum male texerit et super hoc convictus fuerit amittat laborem suum (et) duos denarios ad commo- dum ville. 35. Operatores pannorum qui textores sunt non sedeant super utensiUa'^ ad pannos suos proprios nee aUenos texandos.'* . . . 36. Provisum est quod quihbet pannus albus sit de triginta et triginta porteriis et imperiale de viginti et sex et viginti septem. Albus stragulatus eius latitudinis.** These regulations indicate advanced development both in technique and in organisation ; both dyers and weavers are represented as working with other men's material. Other regulations provide that woaders from outside the town may only bring in woad and sell it by Ucence of inspectors,^ and forbid dyers to throw their waste products into the streets." Scarlet Well is mentioned as early as 1239,** and local tradition, according to Morton, asserted that London cloth had formerly been sent to Northampton to be dyed," and that cloth miscoloured at Nottingham was brought to a good scarlet here. ^ The eyre roll of 1247 records the death of a dyer, scalded by falHng into a vat of his own dye.^ The Fullers' Street is mentioned in a deed of 1250-60,^ the Drapery 1202- 1220,* the VVimplers' Row as early as 1189-94.^ Northampton burgesses were employed as experts by Henry III to buy cloth for him at Ljmn and Stamford.* In 1274 the jurors giving a list of the craftsmen {menestralli) who have left the town to escape the heavy tallages, mention fullers, weavers, dyers, drapers, glovers and skinners,' and mention burgesses with the surnames VVaydour (or woader) Mercer, Comber, Tinctor, as well as a lituirius. The estreats of the town court, c. 1290, mention a taverncr, a carpenter, a baker, a fisher, a maltmongcre, a miller, a knyfsmith, a carter, a peyntour, a skynnere, a woman maker of cords, a catour, a laver, a latoner, a tailor, and a plomer.* Pentecost de Kershalton, mayor of Northampton in 1297, 1301, 1302, 1304, 1307 and probably some other years also, was a ' deyster.' ' The petition of 1334 testifies to a decline in cloth " Report oj the Trial of tbt Norlbampt. Toll CauiCy Lancum v. Lowell, NorthampC. 1833. •* Ibid. pp. 313-455. " Ibid. p. 461. •' lloro. Kec. ii, 2C7. " Ibid, ii, io8. •• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rcpl. xv, pt. ii, p. 205. •• nate«on, Boro. CuiUmt (S.S.) i, 215. •' Pipe R. 48, m. II d. •> Pari. R. ii, 85. " Thii would appear to forbid the uje o{ a loom in which the warp wai kept light by meant of a bar on which the weaver lat, initcad of hit uiual teparate leat. This would produce an uneven •train, .nnd »o bad cloth. (Information from Mr. L. F. Salzman.) •• The last two clauses arc dated 25 March, 35 Henry III. " Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, fl. 161 v, 162. »• Ibid. fo. 162 V. ; c.f. Batcion, Rec. of Boro. of Lticei. i, 250. •' Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.),98,fo. 161 v. " Boro. Rec. ii, 256. " Morton, Nat. Hiit. of Northanit. (1712), p. 270. Not as stated in V.C.U. Nortbants. ii, 336, in Morton's own time. 26 ' Boro. Rec. ii, 256. ' Assize R, 614 B. m. 48 d. This seemt to be the meaning of ' cecidit in uno plurnbo buUicnti de jalcis* (weld ?). ' Anct. D. (I'.R.O.) A. 9876. •Cott. MS. Tib. E. 5,fo. 181 b. • Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press Ci. • Cat. Pat. 1232-47, pp. 300, 449. ' Rol. Hund. ii, 3. ' Northantt. Notes and Queries (New Ser.\ V, 203-211. • Boro. Rec. ii, 549 ; Memoranda Rolls ; Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 43. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON working in the 14th century, shared by Northampton with Leicester, Oxford, Stamford and Nottingham.'" Nevertheless, Northampton, as we have seen, had its own seal for the cloth subsidy. James Hart, writing in 1633, speaks of the ruins of great buildings once employed in the clothing trade,'* but the only building recorded is the Wool Hall, and 14th century notices of Northampton refer rather to the wool trade than to the dotli industry. In 1274 six burgesses had been presented for exporting wool to foreign parts, contrary to the king's prohibition, one being responsible for 68 and another for 80 sacks. ^^ Northampton sent four of its merchants to the merchants' assembly of 1337 which formed the syndicate that cornered the wool of England for the benefit of Edward III,'* ana there are other indications of a wool trade of some importance.'* But in its «n3ol trade no less than its cloth trade it was completely outdistanced by other towns and counties of England.'* The frequent presence of the king and court must have stimulated various other crafts besides the textile. In 1224, when besieging Bedford, Henry was able to call on the smiths of Northampton for 4,000 quarrels, well headed and feathered, and for 150 good pickaxes." Two cartloads of Gloucester iron were also to be sent from Northampton to Bedford for the king's works there. Hides, both white and tanned, were demanded, and with them two saddlers with their craftsmen for making targes." The trades mentioned in 1274 not concerned with the clothing or leather industries were mostly victualling ; vintners, spicers, mustarders, fishmongers." A gold- smith is mentioned in 1233 ; '* a tanner and a parch- ment maker in 1247.*' In 1325 37 pairs of shoes and two of boots were stolen from one shop ;2' and there were a Tanner's Street, a Glovery, a Saddlery and a " Cordwauria " near All Saints' in 1332.^ In the eyre roll of 1329 there is mention of weavers, skinners, barbers, dyers, tailors, shearmen, brewers, taverners, garlic-mongers (or aillours), masons, cordwainers, cobblers, curriers, and a romonqeour?^ Amongst the economic ingredients of medieval Northampton, the Jews ought not to be overlooked. Jews of Northampton occur on the Pipe Rolls from 1 1 70,** and there was an anti-Semitic riot here in 1190 which St. Hugh intervened to check.^ In 1 194 Northampton with 39 Jews comes fifth on the hst of English towns with Jewries, after London (112), Lincoln (82), Norwich (42), and Gloucester (40).** In that year a chest was set up at Northampton, as elsewhere, for the deposit of Jewish bonds and deeds, and two Jews and two Christians appointed as custo- dians. Henry III commanded in 1237, not for the first time, that no Jew hould live in Northampton- shire outside the king's town of Northampton,*' and showed his sense of responsibility for them by his command to the leading burgesses in June 1264 to protect the Jews who had taken refuge in the castle during the disorders of the spring.** Some of the Jews who had deposited their chattels with Christians for safe-keeping in the emergency found it difficult to recover them later.*' The Plea Rolls of the Jewish Exchequer shew us the Jews of Northampton acting as bankers for both town and -ounty. Burgesses like Robert son of Henry or Robert of Leicester borrowed money from them at the illegal rate of \od. a week in the pound ;^ knights of the shire, Uke Robert de Pavely of Paulers Pury or Hugh de Chanceaux of Upton, pledged their manors to them." In the 1 3th century the Jewish community in North- ampton must have been shrinking steadily. A number of houses once possessed by Jews in North- ampton are mentioned as being granted by the king to other persons, such as to the Master of the Temple in 1215,'* the earl of Winchester in 1218,^ Philip Marc in 1219,'* Stephen de Scgrave in 1229,** and Robert de Mara in 1248.3' In 1277 the Northampton Jews were charged with a ritual murder,*' and in 1278 a general attack on them for clipping and forging coin led to the execution and forfeiture of many Northamp- ton Jews.** A series of grants of houses once belong- ing to Jews are enrolled on the Charter Roll 1280- 1286.** When the Jews were finally expelled in 1290 the inquest into their houses, rents and tenements showed that 5 houses were held in Northampton by five separate Jews, and the community of the Jews held a synagogue, two houses near its entry, two houses outside the north gate and a burial ground.*" A later document suggests that the synagogue of the Jews, granted to the Abbot of St. James in 1 291,*' lay in Silver Street.** Other Jews' houses are described as Iving in the Corn Row,** in the market place,** in Larttwychene,*^ in Berewardstrete,** in the Corne- chepyng,*' whilst Henry Lee describes as Jewish three houses standing before the fire of 1675, one near the Red Lion in the Horsemarket, one near the Ram in the Sheepmarket, and one in Silver Street.** The Jewish community then were not confined to one " Etig. Hist. Rev. xxxix, 22. " Hart, Diet cj the Dneased, p. 149. '• Rot. HunJ. ii, 4. '* Unwin, Finance and Trade under Edward 11 Jj p. 189. '* Woolmonger Street is mentioned 1329 (Aiiize R. 635, m. 67 d.) A bond of I3i9i> extant for the delivery of a half- tack of good ewes* wool by a Northampton merchant to a man of Ashby St. Ledgers. Anct. D. (P.R.O.) A. 9616. '• Eng. Hilt. Rev. xxxix, p. 34 ; Pari. R. ». ^75- " Roi. Litt. Clam, i, 612, 613, 615. " Ibid, i, 606. " Rot. Hund. ii, 1-5. '• Anct. D. (P.R.O.) C. 2280. «• Assize R. 614 B. m. 48. " Ibid. 635, m. 64. "Add. Ch. 61 17. " Assize R. 635, mm. 61-70. •* Jacobs, Jeui oj Angevin England, p. 73 " y.C.H. Nvrihanu. ii, 11. "Jacobs, op. cit. pp. 378 381. In 1255 the relative position of Northamp- ton was a good deal lower ; the share of the Northampton Jewry in the tallage of that year was equal to that of Bedford and Bristol, and below those of Oxford, Worcester, Winchester, York and Canter- bury. Cat. Pat. 1247-58, p. 443. •' Cat. Close, 1234-7, p. 425. " Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 320-1. The baronial party was re sponsible for massacres of Jews at London and Canterbury in April 1264. Annal. Mon. (Rolls Set.), iii, 230 ; Liber de Ant. Leg. p. 62. »• Rigg, Cal. PUa R. of Exc. oj Jews, V- '9'- •• Ibid. pp. 34, 39. "Ibid. pp. 114, 287; Cal. Pat. 1266-72, p. 534. " Rot. Litt. Claui. i, 196. " Ibid, i, 366. 27 » Ibid, i, 386. " Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 276. " Ibid. 1247-51, p. 130. >' y.C.n. Northanls. ii, 13. "Annal. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 279; Cal. Pat 1272-81, p. 362. »• Chart. R. 73, mm. 2, 3, 4 ; 7+ m- 4 i 75 m. 2. '" Extents and Surveys, 143, 1-2, no. 40. See Cal. Pal. 1281-92, p. 381, for safe conduct oversea to a Northampton Jew mentioned in the Extent. " Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 199. " Cox and Serjeantson, Hist, of Cb. of Holy Sepulchre, Nortbampl., p. 126. " Extents and Surreys, 143, 1-2, no. 40. " Ibid. " Ibid. " Chart. R. 74, m. 4. •' Cal. Pat. 1358-61, p. 211. ♦' Lee, Coll. p. 95. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Jewry, though they seem to hare preferred the northern and western parts of the town. There is no clear reference to any craft organisation till the 1 5th century, though the 13th century custumal refers to master butchers,*' and the expression bachelerie de Northampton has been interpreted to mean associations of journeymen,^ the economic equivalent of the political bachehria. The economic regulations of the 13th century custumal show the prepositura as the authority regulating primarily conditions of buying and selUng,^^ but also, in the case of weavers, dyers and butchers, the quaUty of the goods offered for sale. The butcher pays a fee to the town, ' as he used to do to his peers,' for the right to become a master.^^ ^^^ when in the 15th century the town records begin, it is noteworthy that the town government takes the initiative, in one instance at least, in forming a ciaft gild, and keeps throughout a controlling hand on the regulations of the crafts, both assisting in drafting the rules, swearing in the wardens and demanding reports from them, and enrolling the constitutions in the town records. In these craft ordinances the textile industries are still prominent. In 1427 the shearmen are commanded to organise themselves under two wardens, who are to inspect the quality of the work and report to the mayor.^' The existence of turbulent organisations of journeymen is indicated in the regulations for the weavers' craft in 1432,^ which are designed to put an end to ' many and dyverse unlittyng contestes and debates . . . which have long tyme regned in the Crafte of Englisshe wevers of Norhampton bitwene the Maistirs and the jorneymen of the seide crafte.' The ordinances of 1432 refer to old-estabhshed customs such as the Easter proces- sion to St. Mary de la Pre outside the town, and the ' customable drinking ' that followed the offering of wax tapers there, and further illustrate the cleavage within the craft by the prohibition of ' confederacyes, conventicles and gederyngs.' Supplementary regula- tions of the weavers' craft were passed in 1439, 1441, 1448*' and 1462, when a six years' apprenticesliip was provided for, and a supervision of the hcensing of new weavers by the warden of the craft, acting with two of the Twenty Four comburgesses.^' In 151 1 the inspection of cloths by the ' searchers ' was further regulated." The formation of the Tailors' Craft Gild in 1444-5 '5 of great interest : the industry was so important to the town as a whole that the town government took the initiative and compelled the tailors to accept a constitution. ' Full many gentil- men and other people of oure lorde the Kynge for the shapyng of theire clothyng and of their servauntcs and of theire lyvcreys daylycomen to the same town. Ncverthcles noo Rule ne order put nc is in the said Crafte bctwene thartificers and mynystres of the scido Crafte. . . . Wherefore the seide gentilmen . . . oft tymes for unhable shapyng . . . aren . . . dis- seived to her prejudice and also sclaunder and detri- ment I.O the saide toun. And therefore the saide Maire and his Comburgeis by the comyn Assent of the seide toun wyllen in the saide Crafte ordynaunce and good Rule be putt.'^^ By this constitution overseers were set up, with power to correct and to call meetings of the craft. The town assembly con- firmed the regulations for tailors and woollen drapers jointly in 1588.^' In 1452 the fullers' cr.ift was organised on similar Unes,*" further regulations being added in 1464, 15 1 1 and 1585.'! In hke manner, constitutions or regulations were made for the cor- visers and cordwainers in 1401 and 1452,*^ the shoe- makers in 1552,** the glovers in 1594;** the whit- tawyers and tanners in 1566 and 1582;** the bakers in 1467, 1518, 1545 and 1553;^ the butchers in 1505,' 1558, and 1568;*' the fishmongers in 1467 and 1574;*^ the innkeepers in 1383, 1568 and 1570;** the brewers in 1545,'" the carpenters in 1430;"- the slaters in 1509 ;''^ whilst in 1562 the ironmongers' constitution was cancelled.'^ All these regulations are duly enrolled in the Liher Custumarum or, after 1553, the Assembly Books. In 1574 a number of unorganised trades — mercers, haberdashers, linendrapers, grocers, apothecaries, upholsterers, salters and tryers of honey and wax — were ordered to meet at St. Katharine's Hall in the last week of October and choose themselves wardens, with various other regulations to bring them into line with the other tradesmen.'* In all these constitutions, drafted by the mayor and the craftsmen jointly, the craftsmen elect their own wardens or searchers, who are sworn in before the mayor at the guildhall on the court day.'* Regular fees are pay- able to the town chamber and fines for breaches of the regulations are divided between the craft and the town. Many of the crafts with constitutions used to meet, as we have seen, in the hall over the great Conduit in the m.irket place. The fullers and slaters used to meet at the Black Friars' House,'* the shear- men and the shoemakers at the White Friars." After the Dissolution the shoemakers used to meet in St. George's Hall.'* Some indication of the comparative importance of different trades in the town is given by the lists of town bailiffs between 1386 and 1461," in which in many instances, their crafts are named. Nineteen bailiffs were mercers, eleven drapers, eight dyers, six fullers, six hosiers, two weavers, and two woolmen. There were eight bakers and six fishmongers ; five glovers and five ironmongers. Other evidence sug- gests that Northampton continued to be of some importance as a clothing centre. There are frequent references to the fullers and their tenters in the Assem- bly Books from 1550 to 1630.** The Privy Council notes in 1577 that merchants of Norwich, London and Northampton are in the liabit of buying and selling wool at Northampton, driving up the price, to the •• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, fo. 162 (d. 27). " Hiitory Teacbtri' Miuellany, v, 31. •' E.g. : purchaic of a ttall (d. 3, 11), freeman'i iharc in bargain! (cl. 4), forc- italling and regrating (cl. 5, 7, 9, 16, 21), wcighli and mcaiurci (cl. 6, 13), tale of woad (cl. 31, 39). •• Cuitumal cl. 27. •• BoTO. Rec. i, 356-8. »• Ibid. 268-72. •• Ibid. 272-4. " Ibid. 298-9. " Ibid. 331. •' Ibid. 265 J cf. 278-82. " Ibid, ii, 295. •» Ibid, i, 290-4. " Ibid. 302, 332; ii, 288. " Ibid. 245, 294. •■ Ibid, ii, 293. •' Ibid. 2S9. " Ibid. 295-7. "Ibid, i, 309, 333, 380; ii, 278. " Ibid. 334; ii, 280. •• Ibid. 307 ; ii, 286. " Ibid. 249 ; ii, 295-7. "> Ibid. 352. 28 " Ibid. 237. " Ibid. 329. " Ibid, ii, 290. '* Ibid. 276-8. " The oaths of the w.irdcns and scarch- cri of the crafts arc enrolled in the Liber Ciistumaruni, Uoro, lice, i, 394-397, including one for the chandlers, whose constitution is not enrolled. '• Boto. Rcc. i, 291, 330. " Ibid, i, 356; ii, 183. '•Ibid, ii, 181-5. '• Ibid. 556-8. •« Ibid. 217-8. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON great decay of clothing in the shire.'* The enrolments of apprentices on the town records show the tailors as the most popular industry in the i6th and early 17th centuries, and the clothing trades running the leather trades close for the fust place in the town. There is a marked revival in weaving in the second half of the 1 8th century, and though the shoemaking trade is by now weU ahead, the poll books of the elections of 1768, 1784 and 1790 show a large number of woolcombers and weavers. ' A century ago,' says James, writing in 1857, ' the woolstaplers of North- ampton were the local magnates, the weavers of serges, tammies and shallons more numerous than the shoe- makers of the present day.'*^ In 1768 the weavers seem to have congregated about the Mayorhold and St. Giles', and the woolcombers in Bridge Street and the south quarter in general, where it may be pre- sumed the fullers would also be found, from the proximity of the Cow Meadow, where their tenters stood in the l6th and 17th centuries.'* The apprenticeship statistics cannot be regarded as exhaustive, but they give some indication of the pro- portion in which the different industries were pursued in Northampton in the 17th and 1 8th centuries, and of the extent to which the town population was recruited from the country.** Of the great advance of the shoemaking industry in this period an account has been given in the previous volume.** In 1619 the complaint of the nuisances caused by tanners, glovers, whittawyers and parchment makers washing their hides in the river and the watercourses of the Cow Meadow** suggests that the leather trade was active, but the glovers were still, apparently, as important as the shoemakers. By 1662, however, Fuller could say ' This town stands on other men's legs,' *' and in 1689 the shoemakers of Northampton, petitioning against a bill for the free transport of unwrought leather overseas, asserted, ' A very considerable part of the trade of this town has consisted, time out of mind, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, great quantities of which have been sent abroad.' ** The colonial and military demand for Northampton boots and shoes is thus of old standing, and war, from 164.2 onwards, has been a marked stimulant to the industry. In 1794. the town was producing from 10,000 to 12,000 pairs a week, as against 7,000 to 8,000 in time of peace,*' and its achievements in the war of 1914-18 were in accordance with previous traditions. During the four years of the war Northampton supplied the Allied forces with 23 million pairs, Northamptonshire contributing another 24 million, as against 23 million from the rest of the country.'*' These included infantry boots for the French, Serbian, Italian, Roumanian and American forces, Russian Cossack boots, Canadian knee boots, ski boots, rope-soled boots for the Tank corps, submarine deck boots, Flying corps boots, highland shoes, mosquito boots, seamen's shoes, and liospiial slippers, as well as the standard B.5. British infantry boot.**- When the period of Army requisitioning ended, however, the Northants Journal of Commerce observed that the army boot was a far heavier product than Northampton manufacturers and Northampton operatives cared to handle, as they preferred a higher grade boot.*^ In the 17th and l8th centuries Northampton was noted as a centre for the purchase of horses. Baskervill refers to the horse fairs in 1673,** and Morton in 1712 says that Northampton is famed for the best horses in England.** The Earl of Moray writes of a friend in 1683 : ' He is busy getting horses : he is resolved to have them good or not at all, and if he get them not here (in London) he will go down to Northampton, where the best are.' ** The horse fairs were still well attended in 1815. They are now held in the cattle market on the Saturday nearest to June 24. The mills of Northampton, tliough not mentioned in Domesday Book, have a long history. Conches melne or the mill of Conge" is mentioned before 1 135, and its tithe was granted to St. Andrew's Priory by Grimbold.** In 1274 there were two mills of that name ■} in 1539, if we may identify the Quengions mills of the Court of Augmentations with the Congenes mill of 1320,2 there were five, two being used for grinding ' meselyn corn,' one a ' colyn ' mill for grinding wheat, and the other two being fulling mills.* Marvells mill is apparently identical v/ith the Merewyns mill of 1253,* the Merthensmylne of the Hundred Rolls* and the Mervyns mylne of the Valor Ecclesiasticus.' It also was held by St. Andrew's,' like St. Andrew's mill north-west of the town and RushmiU* to the south-east. A postern in the town wall and a causeway seven feet wide led to it.* After the Dissolution it was acquired by the town, and a windmill was erected alongside of the water mills.*' The mills having been leased to a succession of tenants,** were employed about 1740 for a new venture in cotton-spinning, financed by Edward Cave, the founder and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine and one of the original patrons of the Northampton infirmary. The carding and roller- spinning machinery invented by Lewis Paul,*^ which anticipated Cartwright's inventions, was set up in " Acts of the Privy Council 1577-8, PP- 2+-5- " Quarterly Rtvieu, Jan. 1857, p. 30. " Boro. Rcc. ii, 217-8 ; Speed's Map of 1610. •* Compare evidence of regitters of St. Gilei, in R. M. Serjeantjon, Hist, of Cb. of St. Giles, Nortbampt. p. 210-11. •» r.C.H. Nmbants. ii, 317 fF. " Boro. Rec. ii, 217. " Morton in 1712 (p. 23) and Lytoni in 1724 fiii, 513), confinn Fuller's account ef the importance of the hosiery trade, which is not reflected in the apprentice- ship sutistics. •• Hitl. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 6, p. 115. The petition is signed by four- teen shoemakers. '» J. Donaldjon, A I'ievi of the State of Agriculture of the County of Northampt. '" W. H. Holloway, Northampt. and the Gieat IV ar, p. 205. •' rbid. pp. 207-8. " Northants. Journal of Commerce, May 1919, p. 8. •' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 51, p. 290. " Nat. Hist, of Northants. p. 23. •' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 100, p. 164, cf. vol. 117, p. 550. •• History of Northampt. (by John Cole). publ. by Birdsall, Northampt. 1815, p. 49. •' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. 14. •• MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fo. 18. ' Rot. Huni. ii, i. • Assize R. 635, m. 63 d. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, vol xv, p. 563. Of the two Quengions Mills one was a 29 fulling mill and the other a gygg mill. (Inf. from Mr. Beeby Thompson.) 'Assize R. 61;, m. 14. A Mervln was grandfather of a donor to St. I^eonard's Hospital, whose gift is dated 1190-4 by R. M. Serjcantson. Lefer Hospitals of Northampton, p. 4. » Rot. Hund. ii, 3. • Dugdalc, Mon. v, 193. ' Rot. Fin. 15 Edw. ITT, m. 23. • Ibid. ; also Assize R. 1187, m. 14 d. • Rot. Hund. ii, 3 ; Assize R. 615, m. 14. This causeway was uncovered in 1889, in course of excavations at the gas works. " Boro. Rec. ii, 291. " Ibid. 292. " See appendix to G. J. French, Life of Crompton, which shows that Wyatt was not, as stated in the previous volume, the inventor. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE them under the management of T. Wyatt, as described in the previous volume/^ and for a while Marvell's Mills were known as the Cotton Mills. The venture failed, for lack of capital as much as of good manage- ment. The Nuns' mills to the south-east of the town were held by Delapre Abbey .1* After the shoemaking and leather curr^nng industry, the town is to-day noted for its flour mills, as well as its makings and breweries. There are also iron-foundries of some importance. The Northampton Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1917, and its organ, The Northants Journal of Commerce, began to appear in January 1919, announcing as its aim ' to extend the fame of our members' productions in every market throughout the world.' ^ The parts of the town that have DESCRIPTION been longest inhabited are round the castle site and the churches of St. Peter and the Holy Sepulchre. The convergence of streets on the Mayorhold,^' together with the name Newland and the reference to the waste open space by All Saints' Church in 1235 suggest that the oldest town lay entirely to the west of the road from London to Leicester. Dr. Cox beUeved that the wall built by Simon de Senhs I (1090-1111) ran south of St. Andrew's Priory and west of St. Giles' Church, and that the tower which was still standing not far from the Derngate in Lee's time was a survival from the Norman wall, whilst the line of wall shown on Speed's map in 1610 is assigned by him to about 1301.^' Grants of murage were made to the town in 1224,'* 1251,1* and 1301,2*' the last on so large a scale as to suggest rebuilding rather than repairing. On the other hand, the action of the prior of St. Andrew's in 1264^1 seems to prove that the priory was then inside the town wall. Further repairs of the wall were authorised in 1378,^ 1400,2^ and 1549.^ The wall ran north and east of the town ; to the west and south the river and the castle fortifications formed adequate defences. The hne of the later wall and ditch is still clearly traceable from its north-west corner on the river, along the south side of St. George's Street (North Gate), Campbell Street, the Upper and Lower Mounts (East Gale), York Road, Cheyne Walk (Dcrn Gate), Cattle Market Road (South Gate), Weston Street, across the gas works (Marvell's mill postcrn)^^ and so up to the West Gate near the castle, on Black Lion Hill. There was also a postern between the East Gate and the Dern Gate, near St. Giles' Churchyard,^* and another called the Cow Gate,*' leading from Cow Lane (now Swan Street) into Cow Meadow. The four main gates stood where the Market Harborough, Kettering, London and Daventry roads entered the town. The gates,^ and the East Gate in particular,^' are mentioned in John's reign. Those mentioned by Lee in the 17th century appear from his description to have been built in the 14th century, the East Gate being very handsome and adorned with coats of arms ; the other three main gates being then used as tene- ments for the poor.^ Sir Thomas Tresham describes the guard kept at the South Gate, with partisans and halberds, on the morning of Lady Day 1603, when he came to the town with the news of Queen Ehzabeth's death.^i The wall, or a part of it, between the East and North Gates, is described in an inquisition ad quod damnum of 1278. It was then crenellated and much used for walking purposes, by sick burgesses when they vrished to take the air, by all who wanted to take short cuts to avoid the muddy lane below in winter, and by the night watchmen who spied through the battlements upon malefactors as they came in and out of the town.^^ The sheriff notes that the opposition to blocking up the battlements and the wall-walk was so strong in the town that he chose the jury from outside the borough, from Billing, Bough- ton, Mouhon, Weston and Overstone, but their verdict was as emphatic as the townsmen could wish, and nothing was done. The walls, which had been al- lowed to fall into a bad condition in the i6th century, were repaired by the strenuous labours of the towns- men in 1642-3 ;'* and they were destroyed by royal order in 1662.** A drawing in the British Museum by a foreign artist shows them as they were in 1650, when there was, apparently, no wall between the East Gate and Marvell's Mill postern.^ The town ditch, mentioned in the inquests of 1274-5^* and the town terrier of 1586,*' survived the walls for a good while ; part of it, near St. Andrew's Mills, was still visible in 1849,^ whilst the section north of the Cow Meadow had only recently been filled in.^ If the earliest centre of the town was indeed, as the evidence indicates, the Mayorhold, it was probably the building of the castle** which caused the centre of gravity to shift eastwards. From the 13th century the modern market square is the commercial and civic heart of the town ; and a scries of deeds dealing with the transfer of house properly, shops and stalls suggest the growth of a thriving eastern quarter. Early in the 14th century, however, complaints are heard of the ' decay ' of the town. The petition of 1334 speaks of houses fallen to the ground, and rents thus lost ;** an ordinance of about 1 390-1400 pro- vides for the letting out by the mayor and chamber- lains of certain waste places from which no returns or profits have accrued for some lime past.** In 1484 Richard III, in remitting fifty marks of the fee farm, accepts the mayor's account of the town as in great '• y.C./f. Northanli. ii, 334-5. " Another mill wai later known ai the Clack Mill, and later (till at Mulliner'i Mill. Norihanii. Nat Iliit Sor. xv, 247-9. *• Nortbantt. Journal of Commerce^ no.!. " Kingiwell Street led directly from the South hridge to the Mayorhold. " Boro, lite, ii, 515, and lee map at end, which, however, repreirnti the wall at continued along the river between St. Andrew'i and the cattle. " Pal. R. 'I Hen. HI, pi. 2, m. 8. '• Ibid. 36 lien. Ill, m. 11. •• Ibid. 29 F.dw. I, m. 6. ■* Sec above, p. 3. •• Pal. a. I Ric. II, pt. i. m. 31. " Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 40. ** Acts of Prhy Council, 1547-50, p. 391. For later repairs ordered by the town aitembly, tee Poro. Rrc. ii, 428 ff. " Pol. {fund, ii, 3. " I'otjibly the ' foUcrna de Lurlcborn' of Rol. Ilund. ii, 3. " Rol. Ilund. ii, 3. " Mem. Wall, de Cotentria (RoUl Ser.), ii, 219. " Chart. R. 2 John, m. 4. " I.ee, Coll. p. 91. " //«/. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 103, pp. 117-123. '* Inq. a.q.d. 6 Edw. I, file iv, no. 21. " See above, p. 12. 30 " Lee, Coll. p. 112. " Add. MS. 11564 fo. 49. It is possible th.Tt this part of the town defences never had more than a ditch ; but the existence of the west gate and the south-west postern seems to imply a wall here. '* Rol. Ilund. ii, 3. "' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 107 ; Poro. Rec. ii, 155. " ("1. N. Wetton, Guidebook 10 Norlb- ampl. and tis Vutnily (1849), p. 29. •» Ibid. p. 62. '" R. M. Scrjeantion, Hist, of the Cb. of Si. (hies, Norlhampt. p. 15. •• Pari. R. ii, 85. *■ Boro. Rec. i, 251. ^: i.^Cfnt-Jjy .o^vJ?" ''■ ■.■■a— n"T"' ■ '»"'•>■ , ' ^mted b^ FKi'pt^ frvnaOiu^tttif ty * utaimpan^ tiu ^ojuiU^ < BoTo. Rec. i, 9S. «• Lee, CoU. p. 93. " Stat. 27 Heniy VIII, cap. i. «• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 397. *' See especially the map of 1633 show- ing the property once St. .Andrew's, a copy of which is in the Public Library, Northampt. •• Feet of F. Hen. III. 172/17, 19, 22, "Anct D. (P.R.O.) C. 5147- "Ibid. B. 2473. " Feet of F. i John, no. 2. •» Cat. Inq. ii, 78. •• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 48. " V.C.H. Nortbanu. ii, 127-30. •• Cal. Pal. 1358-61, p. 36. {In suburbio it Northampton vocato U Siint James- tni.) •' Cott. MS. Brit. Mus. Tib. E v, fo. 16 (e.g. Harper Street, St. James' Street). •' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. iq, 28, show burgesses holding land in Cotes and Coten Without. " V.C.H. Norlbanis. ii, 159-60. " For charter (original at Northampton) KcRoro.Rec. i, 126-7. Borough constables were appointed for Cotton End and St. James' End in 1618 and 1619, and no later. (Ibid, ii, 140). The county magis- trates had jurisdiction in Cotton End in 1630. Quarter Sessions Records of Co. of Northampt. i, 9, 60. For St. James' End (1657) see p. 214. No explanation of this cancellation of the grant has been found. Possibly it is to be associated with the disgrace (1620-21) of Sir Henry Yelverton, Attorney-General and Re- corder of the town, at whose instance James says the charter was granted. The chief charge against 'Velverton was that he bad inserted clauses in the charter to the 31 city of London which the King had not authorised. The record of his trial before the Star Chamber throws no light on the Northampton charter (Star Chamber Proc. J. I. Bdle. 30, File 5). I owe this reference to the kindness of Miss W. Taff s. It should also be noted that the Privy Council memorandum of new clauses in the charter granted to the town of Northampton (Letters and Papers Domestic, James I, vol. civ, no. 83) contains no reference to St. James' End or Cotton. It is possible that the fate of London's attempt to increase her liberties surreptitiously caused Northampton to drop her acquisitions quietly. " There arc also groined arches remain- ing in the cellars of some houses in College Street. " 27 Chat. IL flit. Plan of NoKTiiAMrroN Castle [Riproiucti by permiiiion of the execuion oj ibe hie Rev. R. M. Sfrjeantion) BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON to prescribe rules for rebuilding and enforce obedience to them. The records of tliis court arc preserved at Northampton and form a substantial volume. 'They extend from April 1676 to October 1685, and deal with 79 cases." Briefs and pamphlets'^ brouglit in generous contributions from all over Kngland, from individuals, beginning with the King, from towns and from the two universities, amountins; in all to ^25,000, and the subscription list drawn up by Henry Lee the town clerk is still to be seen in All Saints' Church.*' No great alterations were made in the town plan ; the definite recommen- dations of the Act for widening the approaches to the market square, the narrowness of which had much increased the loss of property, were for the most part not followed, though .Ml Saints' Church was shortened by the length of its nave and more space was thus secured in the south-west corner. Eighteenth cen- tury taste entirely appro\ed the style of the rebuilding: Northampton, ' nobl) re-edified after the fire, is now universally owned to be one of the neatest towns in the kingdom,'** but it was admitted that the town arose ' though much more beautiful, less spacious.'*" The great increase in the size of the town began in the second half of the i8th century. The population rose from 5,136 in 174.6*' to 7,020 in 1801, 15,351 in 1831, 32,813 in 1861, 87,021 in 1901 and 90,923 in 1921. The increase between 1801 and 1831, which is well above the average increase over all England, is attributable to the stimulus given to the boot trade by the Napoleonic wars. The number of houses increased from 2,086 in 1821 to 3,239 in 1831.** The main growth of the town in the 19th and 20th cen- turies has been to the north-east, in the direction of Kingsthorpe, Kingsley and Abington. There has «lso been a considerable extension to the west and south, and a recent survey of the town*' with a view to its future development advocates the formation of a garden city suburb on the rising ground south of the river, round the site of Dclapre Abbey. The second Reform Act added parts of Dallington, Duston, Hardingstone and Kingsthorpe to the Parliamentary borough, but the municipal boundaries remained unchanged till 1901, when they were extended so as to include half Kingsthorpe, the whole of St. J.imes' End and Far Cotton, with the exception of some small agricultural areas, and a large part of Abington, the area of the borough being thus enlarged from 131 1 to 3,392 acres.'" In the early middle ages the borough was, like Leicester, divided into four quarters, named after the four points of the compass. These are mentioned in the rolls of the eyre of 1253." To these a fifth, the Chequer Ward, round the market place, was added. Dr. Cox thought about 1300.''^ These five wards, supplemented for a few years by those of St. James and Cotton End'* in 1618, lasted down to 1835. Under the Municipal Corporations Act of that year the town was divided into three wards ; the South \\'ard, south of Gold Street, St. Giles' Street and Billing Road; the East Ward, c.Tst of the Drapery, Sheep Street and the Kingsthorpe Road, and the West Ward, west of the same line.'* Each ward was represented by six councillors on the borough council. With the increase in the population, the East and West Wards outstripped the South Ward, originally the most populous, and in 1897 the East Ward contained 6,898 \oters, the West 2,325, and the South 1,380. In 1898, by an order of the Local Government Board, the town was divided into six nearly equal wards : the Castle Ward, the North Ward, St. Crispin's, St. Edmund's, St. Michael's and the South \^'ard. Further, after a two days' inquiry at Northampton Town Hall at the beginning of 1900, the Local Government Board approved a scheme for the enlargement of the municipal borough which was embodied in an Act passed on 30 July, 1900.'^ This Act" added to the six wards formed in l8q8 tlie three new wards of Far Cotton, Kingsthorpe and St. James, each, like the six old wards, returning three councillors and one alderman. In 191 2, under the Northampton Corporation Act," the borough was divided into twelve wards, of which Castle and St. James' Wards were unchanged from those of 1 90 1. The name of Far Cotton Ward was changed to Delapre Ward. Part of St, Edmund's Ward was added to South Ward. Three new wards were added : Kingsley, carved partly out of the old Kingsthorpe and St. Edmund's Wards ; Abington, out of the old St. Edmund's and St. Michael's Wards ; St. Lawrence's, out of the old Kingsthorpe, North and St. Crispin's Wards. These twelve wards each return three councillors and one alderman.'* Corresponding changes took place in the civil parishes of the town in 1902 as a result of the enlarge- ment of the borough. In 1909 the four civil parishes of All Saints, St. Giles, St. Peter and St. Sepulchre were consolidated and formed into the civil parish of Northampton." In 1914 the civil parishes of Kingsthorpe, Duston St. James and the parts of Dallington and Abington within the municipal boundary were added to the civil parish of Northamp- ton 80 The CASTLE OF NORTHAMPTON, hke most royal castles, was outside the borough liberties. Ori- ginally built by earl Simon I, from the time that it " Northampt. Corp. Book), Press \, 2a. Inrolmenti of decrees of Court of Judica- ture appointed 1675. " The State of Northampton from tbt beginning 0/ tbi Fire . . . to Nofember ^ . . . ntKB recommended to all uiell-diipoted persons in order to Christian charity and speedy relief for the said distressed people, hy a Country minister. London, 1675, Nov. 22. Reprinted in Hartshomc, Mem. of North- ampt. pp. 224-257. Sad and LamentabU metes from Northampton, 1675. The ac- count given above is based upon these and Henry Lee's narratives. ** Printed Bar's. Rec. ii, 250-1. " Morton, Natural History of North- ants. (1712), p. 23. See also Pennant, Jouyney from Chester to London (1782), p. 307 : ' Much of the beauty i)f the town is due to the fire of 1675 ' ; and Baskcrvillc : ' Phtrni-x like risen out of her ashes in a far more noble and beauteous form.' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. >;iii, app. 2, p 2S9. "Notes to Noble and Butlin's m.ip of I74fi. " Pari. Papers, 1826-27, vol. iii, p. 63. "Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv, p. 1965. '■■' County Borough of Northampt. Prc- pcsult for Development and Reconstruction. Published by authority of the County Borough of Northampt. 1925. '" 63 and 64 Vict. c. clxxxiii. 33 " .\ssize R. 615, m. 14. ''- lioro. Rec. ii, 517. " Ibid. II, 140.' " Xorthamp. Corp. Rec. Misc Docts. 45/>- '* Northampt. Mercury, 9 November 1900. " L. G. B. Provisional Orders Con- firmation (No. 14) Act, 63 and 64 Vict, c. dx.xxiil. (Public .Act of a local cha- racter.) " I and 2 Georgii V, c. Ixiv (Local Act). " Information from Mr. H. Hankinson. Town Clerk. '" I . G. n. Order, No. 53404. "» Ibid. No. P. 1623. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE became the king's" it served the purposes of royal residence and stronghold and county government office and prison. The jurors of 1274-5 ^^'^ that it 'belonged to the county,'*^ and an inquest of 1 329 found that its constableship was by old custom appurtenant to the county and jurisdiction of the sheriff.*^ The uses to which the castle was put are illustrated by the fact that this inquest was held in the castle hall which the sheriff had been commanded to be prepared for the sessions of the justices in eyre, who sat from November 1329 to May 1330,** the mayor having been ordered to oversee these preparations.** In the same eyre the mayor protested on behalf of the town against the burgesses being forced to plead outside the liberties, but was unable to obtain a special sessions for the borough like that of 1285.^ The castle was still outside the jurisdiction of the borough in 1655. A Duston Utigant in that year writes, ' I deUvered writs to the undersheriff to arrest G. and the rest. ... He said Northampton was a pri\-ileged place and he durst not serve them. They durst not come down to the castle at Easter sessions last, for they had been out of their liberty and had been arrested.'*' When the castle was dismantled in 1662, Charles II directed that as much should remain as was necessary for the shelter of the justices of the Bench,** and Henry Lee could remember the judge of Nisi Prius sitting at the castle with his back against the west wall of the Chapel of St. George.** The county magis- trates sat there for quarter sessions down to the Epiphany term, 1671,'** after which they sat in the town, presumably in the temporary building erected for the use of the Judges on Assize.*t From 1670 to 1675 the town and county authorities were wrangling as to whether the new sessions house should be built in the town or on the castle site.*^ .4ftcr the fire, however, it was mutually agreed that the county sessions house should be built in the town ' as an encouragement to rebuilding,''* and the castle ruins ceased to have any connection with the government of the county. The greater part of the site of the castle was levelled in 1880 for the erection of the London and North- Western Railway Company's station and goods shed, and the records of what formerly existed are so frag- mentary tliat it is difficult to reconstruct the original form of the castle. It seems to have been of the ' motte ' and bailey type, common to the more important castles of the time.** The ' motte,' upon which stood the keep, surrounded by a moat, was apparently on the north-east side of the bailey where a flat-topped conical mound called Castle Hill was still a play- ground for children in the middle of the 19th century. This mound, under which a skeleton was found in 1827,*^ was approximately bounded by Chalk Lane, Castle Street, Phoenix Street and Castle Hill. The bailey, which was fortified by a rampart and ditch, was roughly circular in shape and covered about 3J acres. It is now traversed by St. Andrew's Road, and a little to the east of the point where this road would cross the southern part of the moat was the southern entrance to the bailey, and at the spot where it would cross the northern part of the moat was the northern or principal entrance. The jamb of the gateway here was discovered in 1883. Outside this entrance were some earthworks, which it is thought covered the approach to the gate ; they may, however, have been thrown up for siege purposes. The position of the curtain wall of the bailey is known on the south and west sides, and photographs exist of the wall and of a bastion on the south side. On the west side of St. Andrew's Road remains of buildings have been from time to time discovered together with four wells, and remains of the moat still exist at the north- east of the bailey in the garden of St Peter's Rectory, off Fitzroy Street.** Building accounts of the 12th century refer to repairs to the tower or keep {turrtj) as well as to houses in the castle {castellum)P The survey of 1323, moreover, refers to 'an old tower called Fawkestour,' wliich seems to have been at that date outside the curtain wall.** It does not appear to have formed part of the later fortifications, being ignored in Speed's map, and in the military drawing of 1650,** but it is shown in the plan in the Gt'ntleman's Magazine for 1800,* which is of value as giving a cross- section from north to south of the bailey and the triple rampart guarding the northern entrance. It was finally levelled between 1827 and 1832, the earth from it being used to fill in the moat.* The first Norman buildings may well have been of wood, since it would take time for the earthworks to become settled. Fxcavations in 1863 revealed, amongst later remains, a Norman chamber with a groined roof and a central column, which may have belonged to the castle of the time of Henry II.' The accounts of Becket's interviews with the King in 1164 mention a castle gateway, through which the archbishop rode ; a hall ; an inner chamber ; an upper chamber where the King received the bishops wlio tried to mediate between Becket and himself ; and a chapel.* From the time of Henry II onwards there are constant references on the Pipe Rolls, Close Rolls and Liberate Rolls to constructions and repairs at Northampton Castle.* The masonry uncovered in 1863 belonged mainly to the 13th and 14th centuries, and the records indicate the greatest building activity under Henry III, with extensive repairs under Eduird Hand Fdward III. There is specific reference to the King's •' Before 1130 ; ice Pipe R. 31 Hen. I. '' Rot. llund. ii, I : periinct comiiatui. •' Fine R. 3 Ed. Ill, m. 4. •• Cloic R. 3 Ed. Ill, m. 9 ; 4 Ed. Ill, m. 3zd. " Cat. Pal. 1327-30, p. 441. '• See above, p. 10, .ind hclow, p. 36. •' Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. zii, app. 3, p. 344. •• S. P. Dom. Charlei II, Entry Book I, fo. 62. " I-ee, Coll. p. 98. •• See Record! of Quarter Se«iioni, • t County Hall, Northampt. I owe thl» iolormation to the tcindneit of Mill Joan Walw. '" Boro. Rrc. ii, 148. Note .ilso Henry I.ee'i itatement, that in 1670 the sessions houie was removed from the caitle to the Market Croii (Lee, Coll. p. 118). " R. M. Serjeantion, The Casile 0 Norihampl. reprinted from Xorlhnnls. A'a/. Hill. Soc. and Field Cl:th, xiv, pp. 49-52. •• Ibid. p. 53. •* Thii account it baled on Asioe. Arch. Soc. Repls. XV, ii, 198-209; xvi, 63-70, 243 251, and notei by Dr. Cyril Fox, National Muieum of \Valei. " Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rcpii. xv, 2o8. •• Ibid. XV, 205 ; xvi, 247. " Pipe R. 20, 23, 28. 29 lien. H. Theic 34 have been interpreted .t» referring to the tower in I.atinier'l Croft, ncir Derngato. If thl« tower was a part of the town wall there seems no reason for its appearance in the iherifj'i accounts, and nothing in iti later history supports this identification. •' Chan. Misc. Inq. 16 Edw. II, 80/15. "•Add. MS. 11564; reproduced in Serjeantson, Caiile of Norihampl. p. ' Gem. Ma^. Ixx, 929. • Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rrpis. xv, 208, • Serjeantson, op. cit. p. 55. • Gent. Ma^. i860, part i, 385-8. •Serjeantson, op. cit. pp. 9, 11, 21. »3- "> XoRTH-WrpTON CaSTi.F. W'aLI. (nOW DEMOLISHED) NoRTHANtl'TON : TlIK OlD ToUN HaLL (^VflW an Old Dra'wing) BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON great chamber in the castle in 1235,' the King's chapel in 1 244,' the building of the Queen's chapel in 1247,* fitted with glass wndows in 1 248,' the King's wardrobe, the great hall and the chaplain's room in 1249,** the wall of the castle and the bailey next the river in 1251,^ further alterations to the chapel in the tower, and stained glass windows in the hall in 1252 and 1253.** A survey of 1253 refers to repairs already carried out on the great wall, but says that it needs further repairs.*' In 1318 the great hall, the lower chapel and two otiier larger chambers were destroyed by fire. The sur\ey of the castle in 1323, which reports this, mentions the ' new tower,' six small towers in the circuit of the castle wall, two stables, a new gate, two old gates, an old bar- bican, the miinullum of the castle, the hall court, the castle court and the g,\rdcn. The repairs said to be necessary are estimated at 7^1,097 6s. 8(f.'* It does not seem probable that they were ever carried out ; but the great hall, as we have seen, was made fit for the holding of the eyre of 1329-30, and the castle continued to be used both for royal and shrieval purposes. During the parliament of 1380, however, the king stayed at Moulton, and not at the castle,'* and St. Andrew's Priory was used for the sessions.'* Repairs mentioned in 1347" and 1387'* suggest that the castle was being used mainly as a county gaol and sheriff's office — a checker house and a checker board are named. When Leland saw the castle it still had a large gate," but in 1593 Norden described it as ruinous. It was probably repaired for the use of the Parliamentary garrison, and the drawing of 1650 shows a wall round both the inner and the outer bailey, and four turrets in the wall of the inner bailey. Soon after the castle ceased, about 1671, to be used as gaol and sessions house, the site which had been ori- ginally sold by the crown in 1629*" was resold to Robert Hesilrige, who acquired the adjoining strips of land from the borough in 1680." A survey of the property in 1743 shows that the outer bailey was then known as the old orchard, and the inner bailey as the young orchard, both being well planted with fruit trees ; the moat was called the upper and nether roundabout ; the northern rampart, called the Fort in 1680, was known as the Castle Ground, and the whole, including the Castle holme, came to 18 acres. No traces existed, apparently of the wall of the outer bailey. The castle ground was built over between 1863 and 1880 ; in 1 859 a small railway station was built on part of the old orchard, and in 1876, for the purpose of building the present Castle Station and goods yard, the rest of the site was bought by the London and North-Western Railway Company, and the remains of the masonry, including a circular bastion on tlie south, and a sohd fragment of the wall on the river side, Norman at the core, reinforced with Edwardian facing and buttresses, were destroyed. The course of the Nene was diverted, the greater part of the earth- works levelled, and a new road cut across the levelled castle site joining Black Lion Hill to St. Andrew's Road. A postern from the wall above the river was re-erected in the southern boundary wall of the goods station, and this is all that now remains of the castle buildings.^ Whilst prisoners were still kept at the castle in 1655,^' as early as 1630 ** a house of correction for the county had been set up in the town, under the control (if the county justices. This was in or near the old Dell Inn,^ across the road from the south-east corner of All Saints' Churchyard, and it served as a county gaol, supplementary to that in the castle. Here pro- b.ibly the Quakers were confined, between 1655 and 1664**, who issued various tracts from their prison, and died, several of them, of their hard usage." It was formally conveyed to the use of the county in 1670, as a gaol and bridewell.^^ The buildings were destroyed by the fire of 1675, and on the same site, as it seems, the present County Hall was erected between 1676 and 1678 from the designs of Sir Roger Norwich, by H. G. Jones, who rebuilt All Saints' Church.*' The County House of Correction was at the same time rebuilt behind the Sessions House, and a house built by Sir William Haselwood on a piece of land to the west was used as a gaol and bought by the county in 1691.*' Then, and for many years later, the county gaol looked south across Angel Street to the open country with no houses intetyfening. In 1777, when Howard visited it, some new cells had been built, but there was still an under- ground dungeon like that in which the Quakers had suffered.'* In 1792-4 a new gaol and bridewell were erected to the south of the County Hall, and the old gaol was made into the turnkey's house. The new gaol was built so as to conform with Howard's recom- mendations and held 120 prisoners. This in its turn was found inadequate by rising standards, and an addition to the gaol was built to the east and south of the old site in 1846 by J. iMilne.^ This latest gaol, built for 140 prisoners, served the county till 1889, \\hen, all prisons having been vested in the Secretary of State by the Act of 1877,^ it ceased to be used, and the former borough g.iol became the only prison in the town. The old county gaol wa's sold to Mr. J. Watkins in 1880, who sold the portion now used as the museum and art gallery to the Town Council. The remainder of the property was bought by the Salvation Army in 1889 and purchased from them by the County Council in 1914. The Salvation Army remained in occupation as tenants till early in 1928. The building is new being reconstructed to serve as 'Cal. Close 1234-7, p. 138. ' Ibid. 1242-7, p. 195. • Ibid. p. 522. • Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, in. II. '• Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, m. 3. " Cal. Close, 1247-51, p. 510. '• Liberate R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 15 ; 37 Hen. Ill, m. 1 1. '• Printed in full, Hartshome, ^^em. of NoTibamfl., pp. 136-7. " Chan. Misc. Inq. 16 Edw. II, 89/15. " Hartihome, Mem.of NorlbampI, 164. " Part. R. iii, 89-90. " Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 196. >' Enrolled Accounts (Foreign), 13 Ric. II, Roll E, m. 38 d. " llinerary, i, 9. '" Scr']cinUon,Castle oj Norlbampt. p. 45. " NorthampuCorp. Deeds, Press C. 109. " Photographs of the remains before demolition are preserved in Northampt. Public Library, and several are reproduced in Scrieantson, Castle of Northampt. " Quarter Sessions Records {NortbanU. Rec. See), vol. i, 194. "Ibid. p. 55. =' C. A. Markham, Hist, of the County Buildings of Nortbampt. (1885), pp. 5-8. 35 " Ibid. pp. 3-4. " Ibid. pp. 53-5. List of Tracts written in Northampton gaol. See also Quarter Sessions Records, i, 191 ; Brief .■hiount of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers. *' See Quarter Sessions Files — Acts of Court. Epiphany, 21 Charles II. •'Markham, op. cit. p. 42. "Ibid. p. II. " Howard, State of the Prisons in Eng- land and If ahs, 1777. "Marliham, op. cit. pp. ic-24. "40 and 41 Vict. c. 21. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE additional offices for the County Council and a record room and students' room for the Northamptonshire Record Society.^^^ The prison of the vill of Northampton, as distinct from the prison in the castle, is mentioned in 1253** when the keeper of the prison is named. From an incident narrated by the jurors of 1274-5 ^ ''^ appears that the baihffs kept the key of the prison, and that any person who had a thief to imprison could apply to them for it. There is no means of locating the town gaol til! the i6th century ; then it is mentioned in Northampton after the closing of the county g.Jol in 1889, was also closed in 1922, and Bedford prison now serves Northampton for male prisoners and Bir- mingham for female. The earliest mention of the Town Hall is found in 1285, when the justices in eyre held their session for the borough ' in the common hall ' (in communi aula).*^ The Guildhall or ' Gihalda,' is mentioned in the charter of Richard II of 1385,*- as the place where the mayor and baiUflfs hold their pleas, and in 1387*' as the place where the court of husting sat. Henry ■Mm !«I"M„|,^, »lll||(/|Jl,.. .,. Northampton : The County Hall as adjoining the town hall, in Abington Street, and from 1584 some cf the rooms under the town hall were used as prisons for some 200 years." In 1 777, owing, it may be, to Howard's visit, complaint was made that the town gaols were close and unfit fur the reception of prisoners,^ and a levy upon the town was ordered for the necessary repairs.^ About 1 800 the use of these rooms was abandoned, and a gaol was built by the town on a site in Fish Lane given by the corporation, and subsequently altered in 1823 and 1840.'* This gaol was superseded in 1845 by the new town gaol on the Mounts, built by Hull on the PentonviUc model and capable of holding 80 prisoners.^ The gaol in Fish Lane became a police station. The gaol on the Mounts, the only prison Lee says that the old Town Hall was in a little close, adjoining the last house on the right hand in the lane going from the Mayorhold to tlie Scarlet well, and he had seen a circular mark of stonework on the west end of the adjoining houses."" The second Town Hall, which stood at the south-cast of the IMarket Square, between Abington Street and Dickers Lane, was apparently of 14th century origin.** The third story may have been added in the I5t!i century: possibly when the assembly began to be held here after 1489. Tlie basement was used for shops in the Tudor period, and in the 17th and l8th centuries for a town gaol. The assembly books and the accounts report various repairs to the Town Hall in the 17th and 1 8th centuries.** The building was of tiiree •••Inf. from Clerk lo the Co. Council. " Anizs R. 615, III. nd. " Rol. Ilund. ii, 5. •• BoTC. Ric. ii, 175. " Aiitmbly Rook, 3 Feb. 1777. •• Ibid. 9 Feb. 177H. •'Hold. Rer. ii, 176; Pari. I'apen, 1833, vol. niii, p. 51. " Ci. N. Wetton, Guidebook U Norih- ampi. and its ytctnity (1849), p. 47. 36 " .\»si/c R. 619. 111. 74. " Roro. Ree. i, 367 (;iA/J un/n). " Ibid, i, 160. CyidrhMe 1432, ibid.. I, 269. ••• Lee, Coll. 91. •' lloro. Rrc. ii, 172. •' Ibid. 172-3. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON stories with battlemcnted parapet, the hall being on the first floor, and the ground story originally open. Several pointed two-light windows on the first floor long survived, though latterly in a more or less muti- lated state, but the upper windows were square- headed. The door and the outside staircase were burnt in 1675, but the rest remained until 1864, when, on the building of the new Town Hall in St. Giles Street, the old hall and its site were sold by auction for j^l,20O, and the old hall destroyed.*' Some oak wainscot from the council chamber and an Elizabethan table with bulbous legs are in the Abinglon Museum. The east wing of the present Town Hall, designed by E. \V. Godwin, was built in 1861-4; the west wing, added in 1889-92, was designed by A. W. Jeflrey and M. H. Holding, the restorers of Castle Ashby. The public library was housed here with the museum, until 1883; the borough records are now preserved here. Of the few surviving houses which escaped the fire of 1675 the most notable is No. 33 Marcfair, known as the Hazlc- rigg Mansion, since 1914 a ladies' club.'" It is a stone-fronted building of two main stories, and attics with three rounded dormer gables corbelled out from the wall, and appears to date from the end of the l6th or early years of the 17th century. It was purchased by Robert Hesilrige in 1678,''* and continued fl in the family till about 1835,''* when it was bought by George Baker,^ ilic historian of the county, who with his sister resided in it and died there. The building formerly extended farther to the east, with fi\e gables to the street, and a frontage of about 97 ft., now reduced to 51 ft. 3 in. It has a square- headed moulded doorway, and mullioned windows of two or three lights, all with- out transoms or hood moulds. There seems originally to have been a porch.'* The interior has been much altered and the plan modified. None of the old fireplaces remains, but there is a good contemporary staircase with twisted balusters and moulded hand- rail. In one of the bedrooms arc three large and two smaller pieces of tapestry.** The garden extended from St. Peter's Church to the present Freeschool Lane, and contained a summer house. The building was recently restored. The so-called ' Welsh House ' or ' Dr. Danvers' House ' from Dr. Daniel Danvers v, I\o lived in it at the end of the 17th century (No. 2 NewJand) at the north-east corner of the Market Place,** was until recently a building of some architectural interest, but the ground floor was first converted into shops and in 1924 the three lofty dormers of the attic story, with three-light windows and curved gables, were taken down. Little old work therefore remains except the calling and mullioned windows of the first floor, between which on the upper part of the waU are three shields with the arms of Wake of Courteenhall and Parker, and another shield which has been attributed to Danvers.** There is also a shaped device with tall finial, formerly surmounting one of the lower Mi 'li \mfm Northampton : The Town Hall windows, on which are the initials and d.Ue 'W.E.P., 1595,' and the motto ' heb . dyw . heb . dym . dyw . A DicoN ' (Without God, without everytliing, with God enough). Below the motto is a large shield with the arms of Parker with crescent for difference, flanked by two smaller unidentified shields.** The history of the building is not known, but judging from the initials and two of the shields, it may have been the residence of John Parker, Serjeant at law, of Northampton, and built by one of the family.** It has a frontage facing west of 60 ft. and a depth of •• Boro. Rec. ii, 17;. " It ii alto the head>]uartcri oi the Northampton and Oakham Arch, and Archzol. Soc. It i> on the touth tide of the street, and it alio known at Cromwell Houie from a local tradition that Crom- well ilept there the night before the battle of N>teb)r. ♦• Serjeinttoo, Hill, of Cb. tj Su Ptur, Koribtmfl. tji. " Xoribaiiipt. iV. anil O. i, 57. '• Ibid. Before purchase by Mr. B.iker the house had remained so long empty and shut up that the title \nt rumoured lost. It wat stripped of much of itt wains- cot and ornament at this time. •' A tquare projection it ihown on a plan of 1713 ; ibid. 58. " Noriiampi. N. and Q., i, 59, where they are detcribed. 37 " It was the only house on the Market PI.->-c spared by the fire of 1675. ^* Arch. '^ urn. xxxv, 436. The third sliiclJ ' thr^c bars ermine' is not that usually attributed to Danvers. *• A chevron between three roset, and a chevron between three birds. '* Sir Henry Drydcn iii Njrihdmpl. ,V. and Q. i, 1S5. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 37 ft., and is built of red sandstone, but the front was stuccoed and painted. Before the removal of the ground floor wall there was a pedimented doorway, two low mullioned windows, and a modern bay- window at one end. The roof was covered with stone slates, and there were three gables at the back corre- sponding with those in front, but plainer. Theinterior has been so altered that the original arrangements are lost. A building on the east side of Sheep Street, the ground floor of which has been converted into six shops," was originally the property of Lord Halifax and probably liis town house, but it is best known as the residence of Dr. Doddridge and the seat of his '""iffiAjau^oI^j^, '«*M=,^s«!i:_ Northampton : The Hazlericg Mansion, now THE Ladies* Club Northampton Academy from 1740 to 1752. It is a long stone-fronted early 1 8th century building of three stories, the upper part of which remains un- changed, with sash windows and unbroken eaved roof. The middle story is divided by Ionic pilasters into a series of bays, as was also the ground floor, but the top story, which was added in Doddridge's time,'' is quite plain. There was originally a wide central gateway, two arched recesses over which still remain. The County Hall, erected at the close of the 17th century in the Classic Renaissance style of the day, is a simple but dignified building of a single story, with high-pitched hipped roof, in which the entabla- ture is supported by pilasters and coupled columns of the Composite order standing on a high base. The main front, facing north to George Row, is a well-balanced composition with a balustrade and curved pediment at each end containing the Royal Arms. The great hall has a richly ornamented plaster ceiling, completed in i688.'' The County Council Chamber, erected in 1 890, and a Record Room built early in the i8th century stand behind the Hall. The Judges' Lodging, a plain i8th century stone- fronted house adjoining the County Hall on the east, was formerly a private residence, but was acquired for its present purpose in 1819. The nucleus of the Public Library was the Northampton Mechanics' Institute, set up in 1832 in George Row. Though in 1849 it was described as ' more flourislung than most in the kingdom ' *" and possessed a Ubrary of 7,500 volumes, by 1876 it was in financial difficulties, and its books were handed over to form the beginnings of the Pubhc Library. It was at first housed in the Town Hall ; transferred in 1884, vrith the museum, to the old county gaol in Guildhall Road, which had been purchased by the town and reconstructed for the purpose ; augmented in 1885 by the library of the ReHgious and Useful Knowledge Society (founded in 1839, consisting of some 5,000 volumes) and by a collection of Northamp- tonshire books, purchased by public subscription. A new wing was added in 1889. In 1901 the open access system was introduced ; and in June 1910 the present buildings in Abington Street were opened. A juvenile library and reading room were added in 191 2, and in 1921 a special local room, containing some 16,000 items dealing with the town and county, including books, pamphlets, prints, drawings, maps, plans, posters, playbills, photographs, manuscripts and transcripts. The Photographic Survey of the district is kept here. The library possesses a com- plete file of the Northampton Mercury, going back to May 1720." The Museum, in Guildhall Road, on the site of the county gaol, contains the remains from Northampton Castle, from Hunsbury, from Duston, from Towcester and Irchester, various Anglo-Saxon antiquities, and a collection of boots and shoes and other leather articles. There is also a small art gallery. Another museum is at Abington Hall, which was presented to the town by Lady Wantage in 1894; most of the Natural History specimens are preserved here, and there are also local engravings and portraits of local worthies. The first proposal for a county infirmary*^ was put forward by Dr. John Rushworth, son of a vicar of St. Sepulchre's, who practised as a surgeon in North- ampton for many years. In a pampidet addressed to the Surgeons' Company in 1731 he urged the desira- bility of Parliament's assisting in the erection of an infirmary in the centre of every county. He followed this up by an advertisement in the London Gazette, offering to give j^5o towards the building of such an infirmary in his own county, and suggesting the calling of a meeting to discuss it, at Quarter Sessions or some other time.** Nothing, however, came of his suggestion till after his death.** In 1743 Dr. James Stonhouse, then aged 27, came to the town to practise, and within two months had circulated papers entitled ' Considerations offered to the Nobility, Gentry, " Numbered |8 to 24. " Arnold and Cooper, lliii. 0] Ch, 0, OodJriJge, 8-). " The ceiling, which ».ii the woik of F.dNvard Cfoudge, 16H4-88, was cut in two in 1812 when the Crimin;il Court wat lalien out ol the hall. " Wctton, Guidi 10 Notlbampl. aii.l ihe Vtctntiy^ p. 65. " lltuilratrd Guide to Northampl. I'ublic Library, iiiucd by Northainpt. I'ublic Library Coinrniltcc (1926). "'The following account is based on th.it by C. A. Mjrltham in Xoriham/il. N. and Q. New Scriei. Vol. II. 38 •' Northampt. Mrrcurv, 20 December 1731. •* He died in 1736; in 1747 bit ion Daniel writcj from the County Hospital to solicit Lord Townihcnd'i lupport for the (clicmc. l/tst. MSS, Com. Rep. xi, app. iv, p. 368. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON &^%% '-.-*^ Clergy and all who have any property in the County, with regard to the establishment of a County Hospital in Northampton.' The subject was brought up before the Grand Jury at the Assizes on 21 July, and the design being approved, a subscription was started on the spot. The project was warmly supported both by the county, the corporation, and the influential minister of Castle Hill Chapel, Dr. Doddridge, who preached a sermon on 4 September 1743, " In favour of a design to erect a County Infirmary,' in which his detailed account of the eleven e.xisting provincial and London infirmaries suggests that he must share with Rushworth and Stonhoase the honour of originating the scheme. A large edition of this sermon was printed. At a meeting of the subscribers on 20 September 1743, a committee was elected, and on 17 November 1743 the statutes and rules for the government of the hospital, modelled upon those of the Winchester Infirmary, were confirmed; and a house in George Row, to the west of the County Gaol, was obtained and fitted up by December. ' Thus has the project of a County Hospital at Northampton, of which some per- sons there wholly despaired, been brought to maturity in less than two months from the first meeting on this occasion.'** Three physicians, includ- ing Dr. Stonhouse, two surgeons and an apothecary, were appointed to the staff. All those who subscribed £2 a year or more were governors, the Grand Visitor was the Duke of Montagu, and the Perpetual President the Earl of Northampton. The formal opening took place on 27 March 1744.** The hospital contained thirty beds at its opening, and issued its first report in October 1 744, when 103 in-patients and 79 out-patients had been treated. Up to 1829 the subscribers used to assemble on Anniversary Day to hear the annual report, and proceed to All Saints' Church to hear a special sermon and contribute to collections when the bag was taken round by the Countess of Northampton and other ladies of title. In 1753 the building was enlarged and the number of beds increased to 60, the financial strain being met by fresh appeals to the public, and in spite of setbacks the work of the hospital developed steadily and a further enlargement was made in 1782. In 1790 it was resolved to erect a new hospital, in view of the unfavourable report of Dr. Kerr, one of the governors, on the site, the offices and the water supply." The new hospital was to accommodate 90-100 patients ; and amongst other conditions it was laid down that each patient should be allowed 90 square feet, that no ward should contain more than 10 beds, and that the lavatories should be out of the wards. The new site was near St. Giles' Church, and had formerly been part of the possessions of St. Andrew's Priory. The new building was completed and opened for use in October 1793, palicius from other counties besides Northamptonshire being admitted for treatment. In January 1804 the practice of free vaccination of out-patients was begun, and 1,882 persons were inoculated in the next five years. It is interesting to note that the building of the London and Birmingham railway, 1835-37, produced so many casu.ihics that the Hospital Committee resolved ' that the managers of the railroad within reach of Northampton be informed that it is impossible that any more cases of simple fracture can be received into the House ; compound 9 lO'OL 'llilf- -TSJ ,, Will'iTHmilllllllHI'l, 'TSlJlliilllliilliliiiliririjiiii Northampton : Dr. Dan vers' House before 1924 fractures or such cases only as arc attended with danger can be admitted.' The use of anesthetics for surgical operations began in January 1847. In 1872, 1879 and 1889 further additions were made to the hospital, the last to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee ; in 1896 a new operating theatre was added. The name of General Infirmary was changed in 1903 to ' The Northampton General Hospital.' In 1901 two new wings were erected, and the old building became a home for the staflF, with a library and labora- tories : the new buildings were opened on 2 June 1904, The constitution of the hospital was drastically revised in 1904 and a new board of management set up. The hospital has now 231 beds, with an average yearly number of 2,891 in-patients and 12,449 out-patients. Other hospitals now existing in Northampton are : St. Andrew's Hospital (for Mental Diseases), the scheme for which originated at a meeting of the governors of the General Infirmary in 1814, but which owes its beginning to a gift from the second Earl Spencer in 1828. It was opened in 1836-7. The Northamptonshire poet, John Clare, died here in 1864. It will hold 500 patients, many of whose payments are assisted from the charity. The Royal Victoria Dispensary, opened in 1845, served a useful purpose till the 20th century in pro\'iding medical service, on an assisted contributory basis. It was dissolved in February 1923, the " Gtnt. Ma^. xiii, 6io. The editor of thii periodical, Edward Cave, the pro- prietor of the Cotton \fiUi then recently •tarted in Northampt., wa> one of the original lubtcriberi to the hoipital. •• The lermon preached by Dr. R. Grey on the opening day wai printed by W. Dicey of Northampt., together with the ■tattite* of the infirmary, and an engrav- 39 ing, after a drawing by K. Gravelot, of a ward in the infirmary. •' Northampt. Mercury^ 9 Jan. 1790. Dr. Kerr wji turgeon at the Infirmary, 1765- 1815. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE building sold, and the assets handed over to the General Hospital. The Northampton Queen Victoria Nursing Institu- tion, opened in 1901, has two maternity homes dependent upon it, opened in 1918 and 1919, in Colwyn Road and Kingsthorpe Road. There are at the present time eight Infant Welfare Centres in the town with an attendance of 700 mothers, and a stafi of one lady doctor, and 4 health visitors assisted by 70 voluntar)' workers. Of other important buildings, the B-irracks in St. George's Square were built in 1 796 on the petition of the townsmen ; the Working Men's Club in St. Giles' Street was founded in 1865 by the late Major Whjte-Melville ; the Opera House in Guildhall Road was erected in 1884, the Temperance Hall in Newland in 1887 and the Masonic HaU in Princess Street in 1889-90. A statue in terra-cotta of Charles Bradlaugh, for many years member of Parhament for the city, was unveiled by Sir Philip Manfield, M.P., on 25 June 1894 in Abington Square. There is also in the Market Square a monument with a bronze bust of Lieut.-Col. Edgar R. Mobbs, D.S.O., 'a great and gallant sportsman,' who raised a company of the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1914 and was killed in action 31 July 1917. The monument was unveiled by Lord Lilford on 17 July 1 92 1. There is a bust of King Edward VII in the north-west angle of the wall in front of the General Hospital in the Billing Road. A large proportion of the names associated with Northampton are those of dinnes of varying de- nominations. The famous schoolman, Duns Scotus, was ordained a priest in St. Andrew's Priory Church by Bishop Oliver Sutton on 17 March 1291.*'° Among the friars of the Northampton houses were the famous 13th-century Franciscan, Thomas Bungay, lecturer at both Oxford and Cam- bridge, who died and was buried here ; the Dominican, Robert Hokot, the reputed author of Philobiblon and 26 other treatises, who died here in 1 349; the Augustinian friar, Geoffrey Grandfelt (d. 1 340); the Carmelites, John Avon, a distinguished mathe- matician, who died in 1349 ; William Bcaufcu, a noted theologian (d. 1390), and Thomas Ashburne, the author (in 1384) of De Contemptu Mundi. Among tlie Anglican divines, besides a number of distinguished rectors of All Saints' and St. Peter's Churches, are T. Cartwright (1634-89), born at Northampton and edu catcd at Chipsey's Grammar School, Bishop of Chester, 1685, and a wholehearted supporter of James II, like his fellow-townsmen, Samuel Parker (1640-88), Bishop of Oxford, 1686-88, and intruded by James II into the presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford. Among the famous Nonconformists, besides Doddridge and the Rylands, should be mentioned John Penry (1559-93), the reputed author of m.anyof the Marpre- late Tracts, whose wife was a native of Northampton, and who lived here 1587-1590; Robert Browne** (i 550-1633), founder of the Brownists, who died in Northampton Gaol and was buried in St. Giles' Churchyard ; and Samuel Blower (d. 1701), the founder of Castle Hill meeting house. Of literary worthies, Anne Bradstreet, the New England poetess (161 2- 1672), should be noted as a native of Northampton ; also Thomas Woolston, the freethinker (1660-1733), the son of a Northampton currier, deprived of his fellowship at Sidney Sussex College for his icono- clastic criticism of the Old Testament ; Simon Wastell (d. 1632), headmaster of Chipsey's school and author of Microbiblion ; and William Shipley (1714-1803), drawing master in Northampton, originator of the Royal Society of Arts ; the two anti- quaries, George Baker (1781-1851), author of an unfinished History of Northants, and his sister, Ann Baker (1786-1861), who helped to save St. Peter's Church from neglect and ruin, and compiled a glossary of Northamptonshire words and phrases ; John Cole (1792-1848), bookseller and antiquary, the friend of Baker, the author of a short account of Northampton (18 1 5), who pubUshed many anti- quarian works, and made a collection of books on the town and county, now in the Pubhc Library. E. A. Freeman, the liistorian, was a schoolboy in Northampton from 1829-37, and James Rice, col- laborator with Sir Walter Besant in novel writing, was born here in 1843. Of the medical profession, besides Rushworth (1669-1736), Sir James Stonhouse (1716-98) should be mentioned, the founder, with Doddridge, of the County Infirmary, converted by Doddridge, and ordained as a deacon of the Church of England in 1749, practising medicine in Northamp- ton 1743-64, and ending his life as a parish clergyman. Sir Charles Locock (1799-1875), accoucheur to Queen Victoria, was a native of Northampton. In connec- tion with political hfe. Sir Richard Lane (1584-1650), deputy recorder of Northampton,* nati\eof Courteen- hall, defended Straflord on his trial, and was made Lord Keeper in 1645. Spencer Perceval and Brad- laugh have been mentioned in connection with the parhamentary history of the borough. R. G. Gam- mage (d. 1 888), a native of Northampton, was an active organiser of Chartism in Northampton and the neighbourhood, and author of a History of the Chartist Movement (1854). W. L. Maberley (1798-1885), member for Northampton from 1820 to 1830, was secretary of the Gener.1l Post Office and a die- hard opponent of Rowland Hill's postal reforms from 1846 to 1854, ' wasting millions of public money.'** The church of ST. PETER stands CHURCHES, on the south side of Marefair, near the west end of the town, close to the site of the castle. The building is chiefly of late 1 2th century date, but two fragments of pre- Conquest cross-shafts" found in 1850 point to an earlier church having occupied the site. No part of the present building, however, is older than c. 1150- 75, to which period the chancel and nave arcades, the tower arcli and part of the clearstory walls belong ; the arcades arc very perfect examples of the highly decorated work of the time, and have frequently been noticed and illustrated." •" Arrb. Francti Hill. ann. xxii, Faic. 1, 11, 19J9. •• A. Jetiopp'i life of R. Browne in tlic Dill. A'ffl/. Bio[(. iliouUl be lupplenicnted by R. M. Serje.intion'i account in lliii. «/ Cb. of Si. 6'i/cj, ! building was at that time in progress, perhaps the reconstruction of the Norman church ; but whatever the nature of the work then done it probably con- tinued for many years aftet Bishop Wells's death in 1235, though no remains of distinctly 13th century masonry have been found. The church, however, appears to have undergone a variety of alterations and adaptations during the 14th and two succeeding centuries." The existing crypt, below the western part of the chancel, is of the early 14th century, and the upper part of the tower seems to be very little later. Pieces of jamb and mullion stones recovered from crypt excavations'* were all of the 14th century, and it is not unlikely that at the time of its destruction arches were built up and the existing narrow arches on the north, east and south sides constructed.** There were repairs at the west end in 1624, in the chancel in 1632, and of a more general character in 1633-5"; '" 1667 the roof of the south aisle of the chancel was ' very ruinous and out of repair.' The new church was opened in September 1680, but was not completed in its present form till the beginning of the 1 8th century.** The great west portico was erected in 1701, and the cupola and vane added to the tower in 1704. A gallery was erected on the north side of the nave in 1 714, but it was not until 1 81 5 that the south gallery was set up.** The church was partially restored in 1 840,*' and more extensively *• Strjeantson, op. cit. 245-6. •» Ibid. 236. " Ibid. 16. " Ibid. 236. " During alterations in 1886. " Thii wai the opinion of Mr. Matthew Holding, architect, quoted by Serjeantion, 139. " Serjeantion, op. cit. 243 : 'A great part of the church ii fallen down by meant of the great wind that happened on TbuitJay lait (March 20).' " Ibid. 244. " Mr. Holding dated theit arches from about 1619, when it is recorded that ' this year the congregation of All Saints was afraid the church would have fallen in sermon time.' " Scrjcantson, op. cit. 244. In Novem- ber 1658 it was ordered that the church- wardens ' do take and weigh the lead that came oB the chapel of the Lady Mary and 49 other the materials thereof except the walls and what else may be useful for the church, and make sale of them.' " Ibid. 247. " At the west end a gallery nas erected in 1806 on each side of the organ, which had been placed there in 1700. •» It was closed for five weeks : the tower was restored ' in a subsuntial manner.' A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in 1865-6 when the galleries were reduced in width,*^ the seating cut down 15 in. in height, and made to face wholly east, the chancel screen removed and the position of the pulpit altered.*^ In 1883 an organ chamber was built on the north side of the chancel,*^ and in 1920 a War Memorial Chapel** was erected on the south side. The tower was restored and refaced in 1928. Of the older parts of the fabric something has already been said about the tower, the lower part of which appears to incorporate much 12th century masonry, though no architectural features of that period are now visible. Internally, the tower is 12 ft. II in. square on the ground floor, with walls 5 ft. 6 in. thick, except on the west side where the thickness is increased by the 17th century facing. There is a vice in the north-west angle. The original openings appear to have been 11 ft. 3 in. wide, and there is some reason to believe that the four lofty semi- circular arches in the upper part of the ringing chamber are ancient.*^ The inserted 15th century arches spring from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals at a height of about 24 ft. above the floor,** but in their turn ai e filled on three sides by the e.\isting low and narrow 17th century aiches of four orders. The levels of the different floors have been alteied from time to time. The vice projects as a half-octagonal turret to the level of the bell-chamber stage, and has a pointed doorway now giving on to the roof of the transept.*' The bell-chamber has on each side a pointed window of two trefoiled lights with elongated quatrefoil in the head** and low tran- som, the windows being recessed within wide two- centred moulded arches. The top of the tower with its balustraded parapet belongs to the 17th century rebuilding. The cr^pt is under the western part of the present chancel and extends about 4 ft. below the nave. It was originally 22 ft. 10 in. square internally, covered with a vault of four quadripartite compartments, with longitudinal and transverse chamfered ribs foiming pointed arches, springing from a central octagonal pier and responds with moulded capitals and bases. The ribs spring at a height of about 6 ft. above the floor, the lotal height of the crypt having been about 14 ft., but the floor is now considerably raised. In the east wall are two small rectangulai windows, now blocked, and the diagonal angle buttresses show that the medieval chancel ended here, the 17th century chancel being erected about 16 ft. eastward. The crypt has undergone considerable alteration and has long housed the heating apparatus. Many of its original features are mutilated or destroyed, and its size is reduced to about 18 ft. by ig ft.** .4s rebuilt in 1676-80" the church may be said to follow the Greek cross plan used by Wren at St. Mary- at-Hill, the area enclosed being here a rectangle 72 ft. 2 in. long by 68 ft. 9 in. in width, the super- structure of which is formed into a cross by tlie grouping of vaulted ceilings round a central dome. Four tall stone columns with enriched Ionic capitals,'* standing on high pedestals, carry a dentilled cornice, above which spring segmental plaster vaults spanning the four arms of the cross, but, instead of intersecting in a groin, they are treated as arches and carry a cupola or dome resting on pendentives. The four compartments at the angles of the building have flat ceilings, which form abutments to the arched roofs, or vaults, covering the arms of the cross. The dome is lighted by a lantern. Above the capitals of the pillars the whole construction is of wood, with elaborate plaster ceilings, the general effect being of much dignity and beauty. The chancel measures internally 33 ft. by 24 ft., and was lighted by a large five-light east window and by two windows in the side walls. The east window is now blocked by a classic teredos erected in 1888, occupying the whole of the end wall, the principal feature of which is a large painted panel of the Cruci- fixion'* flanked by coupled Corinthian columns supporting an entablature and lofty semicircular canopy. One of the windows on the north side has been displaced by the organ chamber, and those on the south have been shortened so as to clear the roof of the War Memorial Chapel. The elaborate moulded plaster ceiling of the chancel is contemporary with the rebuilding, but the ornament on the walls dates only from 1888, in which year also the arch to the nave was remodelled, its curve improved, and sup- porting Ionic columns and entablature introduced." Externally, the 17th century work is faced with ironstone ashlar, with plinth and cornice, and the windows are all round-headed, with pseudo-Gothic tracery. The north and south arms of the cross and the east end of tlie chancel are slightly advanced and have large five-light windows and curved pedi- " They originally extended the full width of the aislei, in line with the pillars : they were »et back 5 ft. •" The church wai re-opened in October 1S66. There had been much intra-mural burial : before the seats were reconstructed the floors were taken up, the graves arched over or covered with stone slabs, and the whole area within the walls laid with a bed of concrete ; Scrjeantson, op. cit. 252. A small crypt, or bonehousc, under the middle part of the south aisle, was filled up at this lime : ibid. 242. •• In the angle formed by the nave and chancel the walls of which were advanced and the windows re-used. The organ was at this time moved from the writ gallery. *• Designed by Arthur C. Blomfield and A. J. Driver, .irchitects, London. It is entered from the east end 0/ the south aisle of ihe nave. ''■' This was the opinion of Mr. Holding. The arches are about 30 ft. to the spring- ing. Portions of late 12th century moulding in the angles of the tower, 10 ft. from the ground, were thought by Sir Henry Dryden to be the impost mouldings of low arches. The difficult problem of the tower is discussed at length in Serjeantson, op. cit. 237- 240. " Ibid. 239. "' A small fragmentof weather moulding against the turret indicates the height of the roof of the old north transept : ibid. 240. " The tracery is modern, but is said to reproduce the old design. •• Serjeantson, op. cit. 241, where there is a lengthy description of the crypt by Sir Henry Dryden, from notes taken during the alterations in 1886. The vault is mutilated at the west end tu maki- 50 room for the pavement of the cast end of the 17th century nave. The entrance eccms to have been originally from the outside, on the south of the chancel. •" It is said to have been designed by Henry G. Jones, architect, of North- ampton. ' * The capitals bear the emblems of the four Evangelists in the hollows of the abaci. " The panel is let into the recess of the window. Two large paintings of Moses and Aaron, together with the Decalogue, Creed, and Lord's Prayer, formerly at the east end of the chancel, were removed to the west gallery when the rcredos was erected. The paintings arc attributed, probably erroneously, to Sir Godfrey Kncller : Scijcantson, op. cit. 264. '* It was originally quite plain ; the pilaitert in the nave also dale from this period. BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON raents, the other windows in nave and chancel being of three lights. There are elliptical windows in the nave pediments, and the roofs are leaded. The dome sits on a square base. The transepts are internally about 31 ft. long by 20 ft. in width, and have straight dcntilled pediments and five-hght end windows. They contain the gallery staircases and vestries,'* and in the south transept the Consistory Court : they also form vestibules, with lofty round-headed outer doorways opening on to the portico. The smaller west door- way of the tower is flanked externally by semicircular wall recesses. The great oct.istyle portico covers the west end of the building to within about 8 ft. of the ends of the transepts : it is two columns deep and the Ionic order is used. The entablature is surmounted by a balustrade with urn ornaments, in the centre of which are the Royal Arms and a statue of Charles II in Roman costume and long flowing wig, added in 1 71 2. Along the frieze is the inscrip- tion : ' This statue was erected in memory of King Charles II, who gave a thousand tons of timbei towards the rebuilding of this church, and to this town seven years' cliimney money collected in it. John Agutter, mayor, 1 712.' The white marble chalice font was the gift in 1680 of Thomas WiUoughby." The carved 17th century pulpit stood from 1 81 5 till 1866 in front of the altar below the chancel arch, but was then removed to its present position on the north side : it was altered in 1888 and a new base provided." The removal of the 17th century chancel screen is to be deplored : its carved pilasters, pedi- ment and Royal Arms have been worked up in the three western doorways of the nave.'' The mayor's seat has a carved and panelled back surmounted by the arms of the town and is inscribed 'Anno Majoratus 20 Ricard White. Anno Dom. 1680.' The only monument apparently'* older than 1675 is a marble tablet at the west end of the south aisle in memory of John Travell (d. 1669). T'^^ '^^^^ monuments include tablets to Dr. John Conant, vicar (d. 1693); Dr. Daniel Danvers (d. 1699); John Bailes (d. 1706), who ' was above 126 years old and had his hearing, sight, and memory to the last ' ; Isabella Stewart, daughter of John Haldane of Lan- rick and widow of the Jacobite leader Charles Stewart of Ardsheal, who died at the Peacock Inn, Northamp- ton, 8 .'^pril 1782 ; Sir John Stonhouse, oart., founder of the County Infirmary (d. 1795), and others." A record of the monument of Francis Samwell, erected in 1585, has been preserved, and also of upwards of a hundred coats of arms taken from stained glass or from monuments in the church at the beginning of the 17th century.** There is a ring of eight bells by Chapman and Meats, of London, 1782.*^ In 1829 the corporation presented a clock and new set of chimes by John Briant of Hertford.** The plate consists of a set of two cups and cover patens, two breadholders, two flagons and two alms dishes of 1677, given in that year by ' Mrs. Mary Reynolds, relict of Edward, late Lord Bishop of Norwich ' ; a cup and strainer spoon of 1718 ; a cup of 1740; two cups of 1888, and a small plain paten. There is also a plated set of seven pieces.*' The registers before 18 1 2 are as follows : (i) baptisms 1560-1722, marriages 1559-1721, burials 1559-1722, (ii) baptisms and burials 1721-1812, marriages 1721-1754, (iii) marriages 1754.-1S12. There is also a series of Vestry Books from 1620. Interments in the churchyard west of the portico were prohibited in 1857, and in 1871, with a view to widening the lower end of The Drapery a portion of the yard was cut off. Originally enclosed by low fence walls on the north and south and by an iron grille on the west, the churchyard was afterwards bounded by a low wall and chains ; these remained until 1926, when the whole space was added to the roadway and the existing steps to the portico formed. An octa- gonal conduit, which stood at the south-west angle of the churchyard, was taken down in 1831 ; it is said to have been of 14th century date.** A war memorial in the churchyard, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, was unveiled by Gen. Lord Home on 1 1 Nov. 1926. The church of ST. GILES consists of chancel 42 ft. by 25 ft. 6 in. with north and south chapels, central tower 17 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., clearstoried nave of five bays 68 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft., north and south aisles respectively 14 ft. 6 in. and 15 ft. 8 in. wide, outer north aisle of four bays 14 ft. 9 in. wide, and north and south porches, all these measurements being internal. The tower is flanked on the north and south by continuations of the aisles representing former transepts. Including the outer north aisle the total internal width of this building is 74 ft. 6 in. The south chancel chapel is now the organ chamber, and the vestry is in the space south of the tower. The building is faced with dressed ironstone and has plain parapets throughout ; the porches are tiled, but elsewhere the roofs are leaded. The architectural history of the building may be briefly summarized as follows : as originally built early in the 12th century it was an aisleless cross church with central tower, the lower part of which remains. Early in the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt, lengthened and increased in width on the north side, and later in the same century the south arcade of the nave was begun, with the intention of adding aisles, but was temporarily abandoned. The tower was strengthened at the same time by blocking up its four arches and building narrower "'* In the north transept a clergy vcetry on the ground floor with choir practice room above, in the louth transept a temporary choir vestry. '* It is inscribed ' Donum Thomae Willoughby armigeri Ecclesiz Omnium Sanctorum in Northon.' " Serjeantson, op. cit. 261. " Ibid 252. " It is possible that this monument may have been erected after the fire. " Serjeantson, op. cit. 277-297, where the inscriptions on all the monuments are given. Certain of the tablets were re- moved from the ch.Tncel to other parts of the church in 1888. '° Ibid. 278-280, where the Samwell monument and some pieces of heraldic glass are figured, taken from the Belcher MS. in the Bodleian Library (Lansd. MSS. 213, col. 379). " North, Cb. Brils of Ncritanls, 344, where the inscriptions are given. Before 51 1782 there were six bells, which appear to have been by Bagley. " Serjeantson, op. cit., 273. The date 1829 is on the west face of the tower above the clock ; chimes had been presented by the Corporation in the reign of Eliza- beth, and a * new pair of chimes * was erected in 1628. The chimes were renewed in 1651 and 1680: ibid. 275-6. " Markham, Cb. Plate of Norlbants 199. '* Serjeantson, op. cit. 302. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE arches within, of which those on the north and south still remain. In the first half of the 14th century the chancel was repaired, its east wall rebuilt, a chapel added on the north side, and the aisles and arcades of the nave (of three bays) completed ; the aisles were afterwards continued eastward on the site of the transepts,** the work being finished about 1350-60. The chapel south of the chancel was finished in its present form later in the century, the church then assuming the plan it retained till the middle of the 19th century. In 1613 the tower fell, demolishing outer order, the greater part of the hoodmould, and the moulded bases of the shafts only are original, the rest being a modern reconstruction. The doorway is of three orders all with chevcron ornament, the two outer on shafts with enriched cushion and scalloped capitals, the inner continuous : the hood- mould is enriched with a reticulated pattern. The smaller round-headed north doorway is of two un- moulded orders, but the jambs and imposts are modern. The new east and west arches of the tower represent the original openings in dimensions if not "^^ Porch ^ -^^r JI ,>^^^ 1683- 1709 and others till 1855. The churches of St. Peter, the Holy ADVOWSONS Sepulchre and All Saints arc all, as we have seen, probably as old as the Norman Conquest. The Priory of St. Andrew, by the charter of Earl Simon I,** confirmed by Henry I and Henry II,*' had the presentation of all the churches in Northampton, and Bishop Hugh of Lincoln's charter** specifies nine by name : All S.iints', St. Giles', St. Michael's, Holy Sepulchre, St. Mary's (by the Castle), St. Gregory's,*^ St. Peter's, St. Edmund's and St. Banliolomcw's, as well as the chapel of St. Thomas. AH these churches then were in existence by 1200, and wc have records of presentations to all of them by St. Andrew's priory between 1219 and 1247.** Other churches men- tioned in the records or by Henry Lee are St. George's in the Castle,*' St. Lawrence's outside the North gate, St. Catharine's in College Lane,*' St. Martin's in the North quarter,** and, outside the liberties, St. Leonard's in Cotton End** and St. Margaret's in St. James' End, but it is not likely that all or most of these were parish churches. The inquest for the taxation of parish churches in 1428'* gives the number of parishes as eight, naming all those of 1200 with the exception of St. Bartholomew's. The Valor Ecclesiasticus** also omits St. Bartholomew's as well as St. Peter's, which was not in the gift of St. Andrew's, but St. Lawrence's is described as a chapel attached to the parsonage or rectory of St. Andrew's.^ Leland says that there were seven parish churches, two being in the suburb. It would appear therefore that the number of parishes was constant from 1200 to the Reformation, though other churches may have been used for parochial purposes. After the Reformation the ecclesiastical parishes of Northampton were reduced to four. St. Sepulclire's absorbed the parishes of St. Bartholomew's and St. Michael's ; St. Giles' that of St. Edmund's ; and All Saints' that of St. Mary's by the Castle** and St. Gregory's, the latter by the authority of Cardinal Pole, when the site of St. Gregory's was converted to the use of a free school.^ In a suit as to tithes due to the vicar of St. Giles' in 1598 it was deposed that the parish of St. Edmund's had been deceased for about 60 years.** The same record gives the bounds of St. Giles' parish at the same date.*' The four ecclesiastical parishes of Northampton remained unaltered till the 19th century. The smallest, St. Peter's, remains unaltered still : but twcnt)r-four ibieldi of arms in the windows, and a later copyist in 1614 noted twenty- three (hields on tombs and windows. None of these now remain. Twenty- eight of these coats are figured in Ser- jeantson, op. cit. 137-143. '• Bridget, Hill, of Norihanti. y 445. The male line of the Gobions became extinct in 1301, but the tomb may have belonged to one of their descendants, the Paynell-Oobions, or the Turpyns : Scr- ieantton, op. cit. 145. "In Bridges' day it stood 'against the cast end of the south cross aisle.' Serjeant- ion, writing in 1911, says 'it has been moved three times during the last sixty years." " The inscriptions on all the monu- ments earlier than the 19th century are given in Serjeantson, op. cit. 146-159. '• North, Ch. Belli fj Nortbantt, 347, where the inscriptions on Arnold's bells are given. The two trebles are by Taylor of Loughborough. Before 1783 there were six bells. Quarter chimes were added in 1845 striking on all ten bells. The earliest reference to a clock occurs in 1633: the present clock was erected in 1865. " Markham, Ch. Plate oj NorihanH, 203. The older plate was stolen in 1892 : it included a cup and paten presented in 1683, a flagon of 1735, a breadholder of 1756, and a cup of 1878. " No marriages arc recorded in 1642, 1644, 1653-4, and no burials in 1642-44, 1647-51, and 1654-59: Serjeantson, op. cit. 184. " Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 190. "Cal.Cb.R.xv. 118. '* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 191. " For the parochial history of St. Mary's and St. Gregory's see R. M. Serjeantson, Hist. 0/ the Ch. of All Saints, Northampt. c. viii. " Rot. Hug. de IVelles (Cant, and York Soc), 106, 142, 149, 271 ; Rot. Rob. Grosseteste, 177, 231. •' The west window was still there in Lee's time. Lee, Coll. p. 98. The ' St. Miles in Cock Lane ' mentioned by Lee, p. 99, is St. Michael's. See Boro. Rec. ii, 528. " A chapel of ease to All Saints, de- molished in 1631. Boro. Ric. '\l,^^l. Sec above, p. 21, and Serjeantson, op. cit. pp. 60-62. "In 1274-5 '^i' chapel had been 55 without a chaplain for twenty years, and was ruinous. Roi. Hund. ii, 2. But in 1348, Edward III was presenting to it, as in the gift of an alien priory. Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 247. "' The chapel was probably older than the hospital and had all the adjuncts of an ordinary parish church. Serieantson, Leper Hospitals of Northampt. pp. 7-10. *^ Feudal .■lids, iv. 504. " Valor Ecd. iv. 315-6. " Dugdale, A/oB. /?ng/. v, 195. Pat. R. 36 Elii. pt. 14 ; 6 Jas. I. pt. 30 ; II Chas. I. pt. 24. Lee says St. Lawrence's was called the lawless church, because mar- riages were performed there without license (p. 99). "In 1590; see Serjeantson, op. cit., p. 97. In 1549 the communicants in St. Mary's parish numbered 150, as against 62 In St. Gregory's, 1,000 In All Saints', and 1,140 In St. Giles'. Chantry Cert. Roll 35, mm. i-i d. "■ In 1556 ; V.C.H. Northanls. Ii, 236. " Coram Rege Rolls. 33 Eliz. mm. 22, 81 d. See R. M. Serieantson, Hist, of the Ch. of St. Giles, Northampt., p. 287. " For an account of the bounds as beaten in 1851 see ibid. p. 228. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE as the vacant spaces within the old walls filled with houses, and the open fields were first enclosed and then built over, the others had to be subdivided.^ From All Saints' parish, lying within the old walls, was formed St. Katharine's parish in 1839, subse- quently enlarged by an addition from St. Andrew's parish. From St. Sepulchre's, which extended north of the old walls, was formed St. Andrew's parish in 1842, with a church designed by Mr. E. F. Law, architect. From St. Giles' parish, which extended east of the old walls, was formed in 1846 St. Edmund's parish, the church of which, consecrated in 1852, was built from plans by Mr. Matthew Holding and enlarged in 1 89 1. In 1879 S^- Lawrence's parish was formed from part of St. Edmund's and part of St. Sepulchre's ; the church, built of red brick, was consecrated in 1878. In 1882 St. Michael's and All Angels was also formed from a part of St. Edmund's, a church of red brick being built from designs by Mr. George Vials. The district of Christ Church was formed in 1899, from parts of St. Edmund's, St. Michael's and Abington parishes, and was made a parish in 1907. The transepts and part of the nave of the church were consecrated in 1906, the chancel was subsequently built but the nave has yet to be completed. The architect was Mr. Matthew Holding. The enlargement of the municipal boundary in 1901 meant the inclusion of the district parish of St. James, formed in 1872 out of parts of Duston and Dallington ; the church, of red brick, was consecrated in 1871, enlarged in 1900 with a tower, subsequently completed. St. Mary's (an ecclesiastical district), formed in 1885 out of Hardingstone parish, for Cotton End and Far Cotton, has a church designed by Mr. Mattheiv Holding. St. Paul's (an ecclesiastical district), formed in 1877 out of the parishes of Kings- thorpe and St. Sepulchre's, the church of which was designed by Mr. ^latthew Holding. St. Matthew's, an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1893 out of Kings- thorpe parish ; the church built from plans by Mr. Matthew Holding, has a north-west tower with a spire, 170 ft. high. Holy Trinity, an ecclesiastical district, was formed in 1899 (parish 1908) out of Kingsthorpe parish. Northampton thus consists to-day of 15 ecclesiastical parishes. St. Andrew's priory presented to the church of y^iZ S/^/A'TS down to the Dissolution. From 153910 1616 the Crown had the patronage, after which date it came into the hands of Sir Thomas and Dame Kathcrine Littleton, who sold the advowson and rectory to the mayor and corporation of North- ampton on 24 May 1619. The patronage remained in their hands till 1835, being exercised by such members of the corporation as were parishioners of All Saints'." In 1835 the advowson was sold to Lewis Loyd, from whom it descended to Lord Overstone, whose daughter. Lady Wantage, made it over to the Bishop of Peterborough, the present patron. The church of All Saints, first mentioned in lioS,*" stands to the south of the market place, at the centre of the- modern as of the medieval town. The congestion of traffic ovring to the convergence of main roads and tramways at this point has been reUeved by the town's acquiring in 1871 and more recently the land west of the church, formerly the churchyard and before 1675 the site of the nave. The church has bet;n the scene of many events of national importance. Ecclesiastical courts have been held here*i; the convocation of the province of Canterbury sat here in 1380**; ' prophesyings ' originated here, and it was the centre of the oppo- sition to Laudian reform, as described in the previous volume.** Two political sermons of some interest were preached here in the 17th century, one by Robert Wilkinson on the anti-enclosure riots on 21 June 1607, given before the Lord Lieutenant of the county and the Commissioners** ; the other — Sibthorpe's Assize sermon on Apostolic obedience — given on 22 Feb. 1626-7.** ^* "'^^ t''^ town church in an especial sense. Mass was celebrated here before the elections of town officials under the Act of 1489** ; from 1553 the town records were kept in the vestry, in a special chest*' ; and special seats were assigned for the mayor and baihfFs both before and after the fire,** which is recorded in the register for marriages by the sentence, ' While the world lasts, remember September the 20th, a dreadful! Fire, it consumed to ashes in a few hours 3-parts of our Town and Chief Church.' The Justices of Assize attend service here before the Assizes. ST. /'£T£/J'S church is first mentioned about 1 20O.*» Down to 1266 the patronage was in dispute between the priory of St. Andrew's and the Crown. Henry III presented in 1222.^ The jurors in the eyre of 1253 presented that the Church of St. Peter's had been in the gift of the Kings of England down to Henry II, but was now in the possession of St. Andrew's priory.*^ In 1266 Henry III recovered the advowson from the priory, allowing the prior an annual pension of 15 marks in compensation, which, however, was not being paid in 1334.** In 1329 Edward III granted the advowson to the hospital of St. Katharine, near the Tower of London,^ in whose hands it remained till the middle of the 19th century, though leased out from 1 550-1640 to the Morgan family.^ The last appointment by the hospital was made in 1873 ; the patronage has since been exercised by the Queen Consort, the patron of St. Katharine's. From time immemorial the chapel of 57". JOHN THE BAPTIST, Kingsthorpe, was attached to St. Peter's as a chapel of ease.** It only became an independent parish church in 1850.** The chapel of St. Michael at Upton has also continued to be appur- tenant to St. Peter's as a chapel of ease from the earliest recorded times.*' St. Andrew's priory presented to ST. SEPUL- CHRE'S until the Dissolution. The advowson then »• Sec V.C.H. Northanti. ii. 66. •• Serjcantion, lliii. of the Cb. of All Sainti, S'ortbampt. p. 184-5. " Ibid. p. 12. ♦' 6Vi/j Jamei Bowler, 1627. *• Sec above, p. 9. " Boro. Rrc. ii, 4. " Seric.intion, llnl. of the Cb. of All Sainti, Korlbampt. pp. 254-8. «» Ilarl. Ch. 44, H. 34. '" Cal. Pat. 1216-25, p. 342. " Assise R. 6 15, m. 14 d. »• Rot. Pari, ii, 76. '> Cal. Pat. 1327-30, p. 420. " R. M. Scrjeantion, Hist, of the Cb. 0 St. Prter, Norlhampt. p. 105-108. '» Ibid. p. 250 (Harl. Ch. 44 H.34.) ■'• Ibid. p. 147. •' Ibid. p. 217. 56 BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON passed to the Crown, and was in the royal hands till 1615, when James I sold it to Edmund Dufficld and John Babington of London.** From them it passed a month later to Sir John Lambe." His executors sold it in 1653 to Peter Whalley, twice mayor of Northampton, and Ferdinando Archer, headmaster of the grammar school, 1646-96. It passed from the Whalley family to the Watlcins,** and was sold early in the 19th century to Thomas Butcher and by him to W. ButUn,*^ who sold it to Lord Ovcrstone, whose daughter, Lady Wantage, made it over to the present patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. ST. GILES' church is first mentioned about iizo.** It served as the meeting place of the town assembly down to the time of the Act of 1489, possibly, it has been suggested, because it was equally remote from the Castle and the Priory of St. Andrew's.** St. Andrew's presented to St. Giles' church down to the Dissolution. From that time the advow- son went with that of St. Sepulchre's until 1833, when the Rev. Edward Watkin sold it to the Simeon trustees, the present patrons. Of the eleven newer churches of Northampton, the advowsons of St. Katharine's and St. Andrew's belong to Hyndman's trustees, and that of St. Matthew's, Kingsthorpe, to Pickering Phipps, Esq. ; the other eight are in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough. There were a great number of rehgious GILDS, gilds and fraternities in Northampton on the eve of the Reformation. In the church of All Saints there were the following. The Gild of St. Mary, stated in 1388 to have been founded before 1272, supplied three chaplains for the saying of daily masses and other services.** The Gild of St. John Baptist, founded in 1347 for the maintenance of one chaplain, and also, if funds permitted, for con- vivial purposes," was closely connected with the craft gild of the Tailors.** The Corpus Christi Gild, founded 1351, was for the maintenance of one (later three) chaplains and the organisation of a Corpus Christi procession.*' The Gild of the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in 1392, maintained four chaplains to say mass.** The craft gild of the Weavers came to be connected with this gild.** The Fraternity of the Rood was for the adornment of the Rood beam.'" The Fraternity of St. George found a priest to sing mass in St. George's chapel, and was the owner of St. George's Hall, which later became the property of the cor- poration.'* The Fraternity of St. Katharine appears to have existed for the purpose of assisting the burials of those who died of the plague and were buried in St. Katharine's churchyard (between College Lane and Horsemarkct).'* The chaplains of these several fraternities formed the college of All Saints, described in the previous volume." In the church of St. Gregory there was the Gild of the Holy Rood in the Wall, founded by the Hastings in 1473 for the maintenance of chaplains to celebrate mass.'* In the church of St. Mary there was the Gild of St. Katharine,'* founded in 1347 for the maintenance of one chaplain (later two) to celebrate mass, and to keep the gild Feast on St. Katharine's Day, and attend at the funeral of the gild brethren. In the church of St. Giles there were the Gild of St. Clement, in existence by 1469,'* for finding one priest," and the Gild of the Holy Cross, mentioned in a will of the year 1521.'* In the church of St. Sepulchre's there was the fraternity of St. Martin, mentioned in a will of the year 1500.'* Besides the parish RELIGIOUS HOUSES, churches and chapels of ease there were five con- ventual churches and a hospital chapel within the walls of Northampton in the middle ages as well as several in the suburb. The PRIORT OF ST. ANDREW,'"' founded by Simon I c. 1 100 for Cluniac monks, was at first, according to the statement of its prior in 1348, located in a house adjoining the chapel of St. Martin, pro- bably on the present Broad Street.'* Later, at a date to wltich we have no clue, it was translated to the site in the north-west corner of the medieval borough which it occupied till the Reformation, as shown in Speed's map. The estate map of 1632*^ shows that the priory wall ran from St. Andrew's mill along the site of the present St. George's Street to the North- gate, then west along the present Grafton Street to Grafton Square, where the great gate of the priory probably stood, then south along Lower Harding Street, west along Spring Lane to St. Andrew's Road and thence north to St. Andrew's mill.** The priory church stood between Brook Street and Lower Priory Street, and Monks' Pond Street runs across the site of the fish pond. The cemetery lay across Upper Harding Street, Priory Street and Francis Street, where stone coffins were found in 1838, 1852, and 1880, some architectural fragments are now in the Northampton Museum.** ST. JAMES" ABBET,^ was a house of Austin Canons, founded at the beginning of the 12th cen- '• Pat. R. 1 2 Ja». I, pt. 1 5, m. 24. "Col. S. P. Dm. 1611-1618, p. 174- " For the descent see the family tree in Serjeantson, Hisi. oj the Cb. oj St. Gilts, Nortiampt. p. 289. •' Whellan, lliit. of Nortbanu (1874), p. 135. ••Cott. MS. Veap. E. xvii, f. 17 d. •• Serjeantion, Hist, of tit Cb. of St. Gilts, fioTtbampt. p. 15. " Certif. of Gilds, Chan. No. 383. •» Ibid. Chan. no. 381. •• Boro. Rec. i, 266, 281. •' Cert, of Gilds, Chan. no. 380. '• Pat-R. i6Ric. ll,pt. 2, m. 32 j Chan. Inq. a.q.d. i;i, pt. 2 a. •• BoTo. Rec. i, 332. '" Serjeantson, Hin. of the Ch. of All Saints, Nortbampt. p. 56. '^ Ibid. pp. 56-9. " Court of Augni. Proc. bdle 27, no. 4. Aug. Off. Bks. vol. 132, no. 173. " r.CM. Notthants. ii, 18&-1. '*Pat. R. 12 Ed. IV, pt. ii, m. 8. "Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, 103. '• Serjeantson. Hist, of tbe Cb. of St. Giles, Northampt. p. 33. "' Ibid. p. 36. '• Ibid. p. 33. " Cox and Serjeantson, Hut, of tbe Cb. of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampt. p. 238. '" V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 102-8 ; R. M. Serjeantson in Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc. Tol. xiii. •' Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 247. This S7 reference seems to have escaped the obser- vation even of Mr. Serjeantson. *' Original in Messrs.Markham's offices ; copy in Northampt. Public Library. "See plan; Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc. xiii, 136. " See Journal of Brit. Arch. Assoc. viii, 67. They are of the I2th and 13th century, and include an enriched Norman shaft. There are also two tiles, one with arms of Fitzwalter of Daventry (possibly for Sir Thomas Fitzwalter, M.P. for Northampton, d. 1381) and the other with a lion rampant (possibly for Sir John Lyons, sheriff, 1381). "V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 127-30; Ser- jeantson in Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. xiii. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Abbey or St. Janus, Northampton. Party argent and guUs a scallop or. tury by William Peverel. It lay outside the liberties, but in the suburb, and owned much property in the town. The only trace remaining to-day is the name Abbey Street ; a small part of the Abbey wall on the Weedon Road, near the point where the roads to Duston and Upton divide, was entirely taken down in 1927.'^ The great barn of the abbey was described by Henry Lee (1715) as ' one of the greatest and stateliest barns of England. A carriage with grain could stand in one of its southern porches, as I have seen, before it was shaken down and the material sold.'*' He adds that the abbot of St. James' entertained travellers coming from the west, as the prior of St. Andrew's entertained those coming from the north, the town inns being often ' very ordinary.' From early in the 13th century the two houses were much used for monastic gatherings. Twenty at least of the triennial general chapters of the Austin Canons were held at St. James' between 1237 and 1446, and thirty-nine of the forty general chapters of the Benedictine order between 1338 and 1498 were held at St. Andrew's, though a Cluniac house.*'* THE FR.4.\CISCAN^^ first settled in Northamp- ton in 1226. Valuable details as to the foundation of the house are to be found in the Phillips MS. of Eccleston, not yet in print when the previous volume of this history was written, which contains a number of marginal notes specially bearing on Northampton. The first two friars arriving in the town in 1226 were received by Sir Richard Gobion, ' who settled them outside the east gate on his own hereditary estate near St. Edmund's Church.'*' The knight's own son John was one of the first to take the habit, and in consequence the angry parents ordered the friars to depart. The humble acquiescence of the brothers and their poverty, however, so touched Gobion's heart that he relented and allowed them to stay. About 1235 the friars moved into the town, where the towns- folk had given them a site in St. Sepulchre's parish, and thenceforward a series of grants from their devoted patron Henry III of timber for building are found on the Close Rolls."' By 1258 the friary was complete, and the brothers began building a house for their schools. The Greyfriars' site, ' the best builded and largest House of all the places of the freres,' according to Leland," was almost due north of the market place, near the present Greyfriars Street. Traces of interments were found in 1849, 1887 and 1889,'* in Princess Street, showing conclu- sively that the cemetery lay between Newland and the south side of Princess Street, on the site of the present Temperance Hall and Masonic Hall. The well also was discovered, and is under the present Masonic H.ill. A house of POOR CLARES or SISTERS MINOR, the first in England, existed for a short time in North- ampton. From 1252 to 1272 the sheriff of Northants is ordered to provide the sisters with five tunics of russet every two years. They are described as dwelling near the Friars Preachers, that is, not far from the Mayorhold. Nothing is known of the house beyond the references on the Close and Liberate Rolls, first noted by Mr. Serjeantson in 191 1.*^ The FRIARS OF THE SACK^ also had a house in Northampton, founded by Sir Nicholas de Cogenhoe in the reign of Henry III. In 1271 they received a grant from the king for the building of their church.'"* From the returns to the inquest of 1274-5 it appears that their house was in the south-east quarter, between the Derngate and ' Dandeline's court,' wherever that was.** The friary came to an end before 1303," and the order itself was suppressed in 1307. THE DOMINICANS*'' first settled in North- ampton about 1230, and began building about 1233, assisted by a series of grants from Henry III, from 1233 to 1270.** The house was large enough for a provincial chapter to be held there in 1239." The building of ' studies ' is mentioned in 1258.* Building continued through the reigns of Edward I and Edward II, and in 1310 the friars obtained a license from the bishop to have six superaltars in their church.* The royal chancery was estabhshed in the Black- friars' Church from 31 July to 6 August 1338.' No traces of the house are left ; it was situated on the east side of the Horsemarket and its precincts came down to Gold Street.* If the later tradition can be trusted,* by which Simon de Montfort was one of their first benefactors, THE WHITE FRIARSO must have settled in North- ampton by 1261; ; they were certainly here by 1270, when Simon dcPateshull was bcstowinglands on them.' An inquest of 1278* shows that their house was near the town wall, and they were making additions to it both at that date and in 1299.' In 1310 they obtained leave to have six altars in their church,*' and four provincial chapters were held in it in the course of the 14th century. The site of their house was in the parish of St. Michael," near the top of Wood Street, formerly called Whitefriars Lane, •♦ Ibid. p. 262. The position indicated by Dr. Cox in hit map, horo. Rec, vol. ii, ii definitely incorrect. " Lee, Coll. p. 92. •'• H. E. Salter, Cbapten of the Augiu- linian Canoni(Oxl. Hist. Soc), pp. xiii-xli ; W. A. Pantin, Tram. Royal Hut. Soc. 4th Ser. X, 251-5. "y.C.H. Norihant,. ii, 146-7; Ser- jeantion, Hiit. of the Six Hoiuei of Friars in Nortbampt. (191 1). '• Eccleston, De /Idvrntu Fratrum Mino- runi, ed. A. G. Little (Paris, 1909), p. 29. '•" Serjeantson, op. cit. pp. 47, gives full references. *° Itinerary^ i, 10. " Aiioc. Arch. Soc. Reps. 1887-8, pp. 12 1-4, contains a full .iccount of the excavations, by Sir H. Drydcn. •* Serjeantson, /Itst. of the Six Houses of Friars in Northampt. •' Ibid. " Close R. sfillcn. Ill.ni. 10. " Rot. Himd. ii, 3. •• Close R. 31 Ed. i, m. 10. " y.C.H. Northants. ii, 144-6 ; Ser- jeantson, op. cit. •• Ibid. " Liberate R. 23 Hen. Ill, mm. 5, R. ' ClotcR. 42 Hen. HI, m. 2. • Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Mem. fo. 162. ' Close R. 12 Ed. Ill, pt. 2, m. 20 d. • Serjeantson, op. cit. The position indicated by Dr. Cox upon the map in Boro. Rec. vol. ii, is incorrect. ° Tanner, Notitia Monaslica ; cf. Boro. Rec. i, 360. ' V.C.H. Northants. ii, 148-9; Ser- jeantson, op. cit. ' Rot. Ihind. ii, 2. " y.C.H. Northants. ii, 148. • Pat. R. 27 Ed I, m. 3:. '» Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Mem. fl. 162, 171. " Boro. Rec. i, 360. ■>> Northampton : Master's House of St. John's Hospital (now destroyed) BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON lying between Newland, Ladies' Lane, and the Upper Mounts of to-day.** The foundations of the church were uncovered in 1846, under the road now known as Kerr Street'^ The house of 'THE JUSTIN FRIJRS^* was founded by Sir John Longevile in 1322/* and was situated on the west side of Bridge Street, opposite St. John's hospital, on the site now occupied by Augustine Street. No traces of it remain. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. 70//.V," founded by Wilhara de St. Clare, Archdeacon of Northampton, about 1 1 38, is the only one of the religious houses of Northampton still standing." It is on the east side of Bridge Street, within the line of the town wall, near to the site of the south gate, and now covered with blue slates : the interior is in a bad state of repair. The west end,'* with its gable to the street, is apparently of early 14th century date, its chief feature being a wide and lofty recessed pointed arch of two moulded orders, the inner springing from shafts with moulded capitals and bases, within which is set the continuous moulded west doorway, and over it the remains of a niche with bracket for a statue. In the gable above the arch is a large circular window of four pairs of trefoiled lights radiating from a quatrefoil, the spaces between having sexfoil cusping : the window is surrounded by a hood- mould which dies into the ape.T of that of the great arch. Probably no other part of the building is con- temporary with the west front, but parts of the north KJ_5__o 10 20 .^_ 40 Scale of Feet 14BJ Century earlv 15- Century late 161!! Cent.late or 1711! earlv C3 182! Century Modern Plan of St. John's Hospital, North.\mpton consisted originally of an almshouse and chapel, with a master's house about 60 yards to the north- east. The site of 3I acres was bounded on the north by St. John's Lane, on the south by the town wall, and on the west by Bridge Street. The master's house has been pulled down, but the chapel and almshouse, or domicile, still stand. In 1871 the property was sold to the Midland Railway Company, and the master's house was demolished to make room for the Midland Station. The infirmary and chapel were resold to Mr. Mulliner, from whom they were purchased in 1877 for a Roman Catholic community, in whose possession they now are. The inmates of the hospital were transferred to a new building at Weston Fa veil, opened in 1879. The almshouse is a building of red sandstone standing east and west, in plan a parallelogram, measuring internally 62 ft. 6 in. by 22 ft., except that the west wall is shghtly skewed in order to accommodate itself to the direction of the street, and it is attached by its north-east angle to the south-west angle of the chapel. The building is of two stories, but has been a good deal rebuilt and altered." The roof is wall and the middle part of the south wall, which contain pointed windows, are apparently of late 15th century date, and the square-headed windows on the north side are perhaps a century later. The greater part of the south wall and the whole of the east wall were rebuilt in the 1 8th century, when wooden-framed windows were introduced on both floors and alterations made in the interior arrange- ments. A 4 ft. passage runs down the middle of the building from the west to the east door, with staircase and a series of bedrooms on the south, and four larger rooms on the north side. There is reason to believe that originally the building did not extend so far to the east." the buttresses of the south-west angle of the chapel having been cut away to allow for the erection of the east end of the north wall of the almshouse, which appears to be not earlier than the end of the i6th century. The side walls are about 16 ft. to the eaves, and in the middle of the south side is a window of three cinquefoiled lights with depressed head and hollow chamfered jambs, lighting the stair- case, its sill about 6 ft. above the ground. This window contains the figure of a man and the name of ' Richard ** The positions indicated by Dr. Cox upon his map in Boro Rec. vol. ii, for the White Friars' and the Grey Friars' houses should he exchanged. '• G. N. Wetton, Guidebook u North- ampt. p. 4S. '♦ F.C.H. Nortbanis. ii, 147 ; Serjeant- ion, op. cit. " Inq. a.q.d. 16 Ed. ii, i6o-2. '• y. C. H. Nortbanti. ii, 156-9; Serj- jeantson in Northants Nat. Hist. Soc. vols, xvi and xvii. '" Bridges early in the iSth century states that it had been ' altered in some parts by modem reparations ' : op. cit. i, 457- 59 *^ The elevation towards the street it 29 ft. in length inclusive of a later but- tress at the north-west angle. The ground level has been raised outside. *• Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xji, 233, in a paper by Sir Henry Dryden, 1875, use of which has been made in the present description. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Sherd,' who was master in 1474,'' and it formerly con- tained also fragments of painted glass, including shields of Grey, Hastings and Valence, but these have been lately taken out. The stairs are not centrally placed, being shghtly nearer the east end : from a landing below the window they lead east and west to two large upper rooms, one at each end of the building, said to have been for the ' co-brothers ' or chaplains.^^ On the north side of the ground floor passage is a room at the west end with a square-headed two-hght window, and next to it one with a smaU pointed external doorway. Next to this is a larger room, or hall, hghted by two three-light ^-indows similar to that on the staircase, and open to the roof, and at the east end the kitchen, which has a large projecting fire- place and a two-hght square-headed window in the north wall. The roof of the building is of six bays. Although the division of hall and kitchen is apparently modern the construction of the two bays of roof over the hall seems to imply that this part of the building alone was always open its fuO height.*^ Of the two upper rooms, which are 22 ft. by 20 ft., that at the west end is hghted by the circular window and by two square-headed mullioned windows on the north, and two wooden-framed ones on the south side, and has a fireplace in the south-west angle. The eastern room has also mullioned windows on the north and wooden ones on the south side, and a fireplace with moulded jambs. Both rooms extend the full vvidth of the building, and occupy two bays of the roof. The chapel is in plan a plain rectangle, 16 ft. wide in- ternally by 44 ft. long, built of local red sandstone, and the roof covered with blue slates. The three-light east window is of the early 14th century with cusped inter- secting tracery and moulded mullions and jambs, and the chapel was probably wholly rebuilt in that period. The entrance is at the west end. The north wall is blank. The west wall is of the 15th century and has coupled buttresses at the angles standing wholly beyond the face of the north and south walls, i.e., the west end is nearly 6 ft. wider than the body of the chapel, and it is possible that the whole of the north, south and east walls have been rebuilt on a narrower plan, leaving the west end as it was and re-using the east window.^ The building was extensively restored in 1853-4 ''y '^^ Charity Commissioners, the whole of the south wall being then taken down and rebuilt in its present form with two two-hght windows in the 14th century style,** below the westernmost of which is a small pointed doorway.^ The roof of five bays and the wooden bell turret are modern. The building was renovated in 1882, to which date the present fittings belong. The buildings are now undergoing further repair. The moulded west doorway has an almost semi- circular two-centred head under a square label, the spandrels of which contain quatrefoils with square-loaf flowers. The original double doors remain. Above is a large four-centred five-hght window with Perpen- dicular tracery and moulded jambs and mullions. The two-armed cross on the gable is said to be original .The doorway and west and east windows are of oolite. In the east windows are considerable remains of 15th century glass, including saints, a head of the Blessed Virgin, an angel holding a sliield, and a kneeling figure. The Master's House, now demolished, is said to have contained work of every century from the 13th to the 19th, and its architectural history was com- pUcated.*' It was rectangular in plan with a south porch and north-west wing, and had a frontage of about 87 ft. The hall, 26 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 2 in., had been divided in the 1 8th century. The kitchen and offices were at the west end. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD,^'' founded by Richard de Stafford in the nth century, was in Hardingstone parish, outside the liberties, on the west side of the road leading to Queen's Cross. The hospital btuldings, of which no description is extant, included a chapel and churchyard which served the inhabitants of Cotton End as a parish church. The Lazar House is mentioned in the Assembly Books from 1623 to 1823, when it was finally pulled down ; it can have been Uttle more than a cottage at this time, when there was only one recipient of the charity. THE HOSPITAL OF ST THOMAS,^ founded apparently in the 15th century, stood on the east side of Bridge Street, just outside the south gate. In 1834 the residents removed to a new house in St. Giles' Street, and the buildings were used for a carriage-builders' shop until, in 1874, they were pulled down to make room for a road to the new cattle market.'* It was a rectangular 15th century stone building, consisting of a large hall, 22 ft. 3 in. wide internally with upper floor, and a chapel at its east end 15 ft. wide by 16 ft. 9 in. long, the south wall of which was continuous with that of the hall. The roofs were covered with Collyweston slates. At the time of demohtion the hall, or domicile, was 54 ft. 8 in. long internally, but it had been shortened some 3 ft. or 4 ft. at the west end, probably for street-widening purposes. The original west elevation facing Bridge Street, as shown in Bridges' History, had a central arched doorway, with window on the south side, and above these a row of quatrefoils containing blank shields. Over the doorway was a four-light window and on each side of it a canopied niche containing a figure. The hall was, no doubt, formerly divided by screens in the usual way, with cubicles arranged round the walls : several lockers ^ remained in both tlie north and south walls, but some had been con- verted into uindows. In the middle of the north wall was a large fireplace, one jamb only of which was '°Thi« may give the approximate date of the 15th century alteration). " Brideei, //n(. of Noribanis. i 457. " Alloc. Arch. Soc, Reps. %n, 233. *' Ibid. 232. There are no buttresses St the north-east and south-east angles, and except at the west end, where it is chamfered, the plinth is a mere set- •* They are said to have been indicated by fragments found in the wall, but the windows previously in the south wall were round-headed and probably of i8th century date : ibid. 230. "The doorway is probably in its original position, but the form of the previous one is not known : ibid. 230. " Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xil, 225, where there is a lengthy description by Sir Henry Drydcn. His measured draw- ing of the building in in the collection of the North.impt. Arch. Soc. in the rooms of the Ladies' Club. 60 'T.C./f. Northanis. ii, 159-161 ; Ser- jcantson, Northanis Nat. Hist. Soc. Vol. xviii. " V.C.n. Northanis ii, 161-2 ; Scr- jeantson, Hospital ofSi.Thomat, Northampt. (1909). "■The following description is based on a paper by Sir Henry Dryden in Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xiii, 225-231. •"They were 3 ft. 3 in. high, 2 ft. 2 in. wide, and 16 in. deep. There Were no lockers in the upper room. ^-TrfT. ' -' ■ ,4, V { ,V» k«rE< NoRiiiAMPTON : St. Thomas' Hospital (now destroyed) BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON original, and two square-headed two-light windows. There was no arched wall opening to the chapel at the east end of the ' domicile ' and no trace of any division between the chapel and the lower room, though pro- bably a screen had existed.'' The upper room had several windows. The chapel had an east window of four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery and a canopied niche on cither side within : in the south wall was a piscina and a window of three lights. Both chapel and domicile had open timber roofs, the former of two, the latter of five bays, with wind braces under the upper and lower purlins. After its vacation in 1834 the building was used for business purposes.^^ Two hospitals stood outside the north gate of the town in Kingsthorpe parish ; the Leper hospital of VValbeck" and the hospital of St. David and the Trinity,** founded in 1200 by the prior and convent of St. Andrew's on the petition of Peter, son of Adam. THE COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS,^ founded in 1460, stood on the west side of College L.inc, oppo- site the end of College Yard, and consisted of a priest's house for the warden and fellows and a garden. It was used as a hospital for the sick during the plague of 1603 to 1605, being then the property of Abraham Ventris.** There were two HERMITAGES, one on the west and the other on the south bridge. THE CASTLE HILL MEETING is prob.ibly older in origin than 1662," though it was augmented by secessions from St. Giles' and St. Peter's in that year. In 1672 licenses were NONCONFORMIST granted for worship in 6 CHAPELS. houses in Northampton, of which three were Presby- terian and two Congregational.'* The definite history of the Castle Hill congregation begins with the ministry of Samuel Blower in 1674 ; and his meeting house was one of the few that escaped the fire. The present Castle Hill Chapel was built in 1695 and is now known as Doddridge Chapel. It is a rectangular building with hipped roof. On the south side is a sundial on which was originally the motto, ' Post est occasio calva, 1695.' Within, the roof was propped inside by two great wooden pillars, and there was a heavy white pulpit with sounding- board and galleries. In 1852 the building was enlarged and newly roofed, the pillars removed and new gaUeries put up. A spacious vestibule was added on the south side in 1890 covering the doorways. There are five other Congregational chapels, of which one was built in the 18th, three in the 19th, and one in the 20th century. COLLEGE STREET CHAPEL is the second oldest Free Church centre. In its origin it was a secession from Castle Hill Meeting, though friendly relations were maintained between the two, and the members met for some seventeen years at Lady Fcrmor's house in the south quarter. The ' Church Covenant ' at the time of the formal establishment of a Baptist church is dated 27 October 1697 ,'* and the chapel in College Street was built in 1712. Beginning as an Independent, it became a Baptist community. As Castle Hill is associated with Doddridge (1729-53) so College Street is connected with the Rylands, father and son, the elder famous for his ministry (1759-86) and his school; the younger (minister 1786-93) for his friendship with Carey and share in founding the Baptist Missionary Society (1792).** There are eight other Baptist chapels in Northampton besides the College Street Chapel, which was rebuilt in 1863. Of these one, Providence Chapel, Abington Street, was built in the eighteenth and the rest in the 19th century. There are six Wesleyan chapels, four Primitive Methodist chapels, two chapels of the Plymouth Brethren, one Unitarian chapel, and two Salvation Army barracks. The Friends were early persecuted in Northampton, and several died in Northampton gaol. They have a meeting house in Wellington Street. The cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese of Northampton, opened as ST. FELIX CHURCH in 1844, now the church of St. Mary and St. Thomas of Canterbury, is in the Kingsthorpe Road. The chapel of St. John's hospital in Bridge Street is also used as a Roman Catholic place of worship. There is a Jewish synagogue in Overstone Road. To the account of the early schools of SCHOOLS. Northampton in the previous volume**" should be added a reference of the year 1 232. John de Duston, presented in that year to the church of St. Bartholomew's, Northampton, by the prior and convent of St. Andrew's, and being examined by the archdeacon of Northampton, was ordered to frequent the schools of Northampton and study there, and at the end of the year to present himself to the archdeacon for re-examination.*' In 1258 the Grey Friars of Northampton were granted ten oaks from Silverstone Forest for the building of their schools.*^ In the same year the Black Friars were given sixgood oaks for the\TS.tudyioomi{studta).*^ Possibly these buildings are to be associated with the transitory university of Northampton, whose history was given in the previous volume.** The Grammar School*^ endowed by Chipsey in 1541 and housed first at ' The Lamb ' in Bridge Street and later on the site of St. Gregory's Church, in the modern Free School Street, was moved in 1867 to new buildings in Abington Square, and in 1911 to the *' ' The part of the east wall of the domicile outiide the chapel roof wai wooden framework, covered with lath ■nd pUitcr,' except a imall piece of atone work covering the wall over a doorway at the eait end of the hall north of the chapd : Auk. Arcb. Soc. Reps, ziii, 227. "The chapel and the east part of the hall were used as a carriage house, double doors being inserted at the east end below the window. After the rebuilding of the welt wall, probably early in the 19th century ,a small house had been constructed in the north-west part of this hall, and a large doorway made in the south end of the new west wall to admit carriages. Some 14th-century glass from the Hos- pital is now in the Church of St. Sepulchre: Cox and Serjeantson, /list of Ch. of Holy SepuUbre, Norihampt. 50. " V.C.H. Northantt. ii, 162 ; Nortbanu. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. xviii. " y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 154-6. ''- tbid. •• Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints, Northampt., p. 72. *^ V.C.H. Nortbanu. Ii, 69; T. Cas- 61 quoine, etc., Hist of Castle Hill Cb. Northampt. 1896. "' Cal. S. P. Dam. 1671-2, p. 306 ; ibid. 1672,238,379; ibid. 1672-3, 178,259,261. '» J. Taylor, Hist, of College St. Ch. (Northampt. 1896), p. 3. *» y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 74; Diet. Nat. Biog. ♦»• y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15, 16. *' Line. Rec. Soc. vi, 170. ♦•Close R. 42 Hen. Ill, m.6. "Ibid. m. 2. " y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15-17. " Ibid, ii, 234-41. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE present buildings in the Billing Road, just outside the municipal boundary. It is now known as the Town and County School, and has some 530 pupils.*® In the 1 8th century Northampton became a centre of Nonconformist higher education, by the presence here,from 172910 l75i,of PhihpDoddridge'sacademy, a training college for the Free Church ministry. This academy, opened in July 1729 at Market Harborough under Doddridge's headship, came to Northampton with him and was originally in No. 34 Marefair, at the corner of Pike Lane.*' In 1740 it was removed to a large house in Sheep Street opposite the Ram.** Formerly the Rose and Crown inn, it later became the town house of the Earl of HaUfax, and later still was divided into tenements. The course of instruction was based upon that of Doddridge's tutor at Kibworth, John Jennings,** and included Hebrew, Greek, psychology, ethics, divinity, natural philosophy, civil law and some mathematics. All had to learn Doddridge's special system of shorthand.^" The full course occupied five years, and some two hundred pupils passed under his care, of whom 120 entered the ministry,** and several had careers of distinction.** After his death, the academy removed to Daventry, and was carried on by Caleb Ashworth, one of his own former pupils. The elder Ryland also had an academy ; but this was no more than a boarding school (1769-1786) ; it moved with him to Enfield when he resigned the ministry of College Street Chapel to his son.*3 The three charity schools, namely, Dryden's Free School, or the Orange School, founded in 1710, the Blue Coat School, founded by the Earl of Northampton in 1755, and combined with Dryden's, and the Green Coat School, founded by Gabriel Newton in 1761, were amalgamated in one, known as the Corporation Charity School, and survived until the 20th century. In April 1923 the school having been closed, the endow- ments of the charity were, under a scheme of the Board of Education, devoted to educational purposes, forming a fund known as the Blue Coat Corporation Charity School Foundation for the provision of scholarships.** Becket and Sargeant's (Blue) Girls' School, founded in 1738 for 30 girls,** is still in existence at 13 Kings- will Street. On the Sunday next sfter 29 May, following the practice of the 1 8th century,** tlie school girls attend a special service at All Saints' Church, wearing their distinctive dress. In 1738, owing to the eflForts of Doddridge, a free church charity school was established for instructing and clothing twenty boys which seems to have come to an end about 1 772.*' In 1812 British and National Schools were set up by Lancaster and Bell respectively. A number of Church of England schools were set up in the course of the 19th century, five being founded between 1839 ^""^ '858, and nine more before the close of the century. There arc now 22 elementary schools, of which two are Church of England ; and in addition one special school for mentally deficient children and two Roman Catholic elementary schools. There are two girls' secondary schools : namely, the Girls' High School, Derngate (165 pupils), and the County Borough Secondary Girls' School, in St. George's Avenue, opened in 191 5 (270 pupils). There are also a number of private schools, including a convent school, a large and imposing building in Abington Street, under the Sisters of Notre Dame. The Northampton School of Arts and Crafts, Abington Street, now under the control of the county borough, was estabhshed in 1871 ; the Technical School in Abington Square was opened in 1894; a Domestic Economy School, under the Northants County Council, in Harleston Road, was estabhshed in 1896, and there is a housewifery centre, under the Northampton Education Committee. Cleveland Henry James Butterfield, CHARITIES, by a declaration of trust dated 12 April 1923, gave ^^loo, the interest to be applied in granting a prize to the most deserving mother during the year. The endowment, known as the Catherine Anne Butterfield Memorial Charity, now consists of ;^I24 8;. id. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock with the Official Trustees producing £4 js. 2d., which is distributed by the Town Clerk and four other trustees appointed under the previsions of the declaration of trust. Mrs. Mary Clark, by her will proved 9 March 1907, gave ;(^200, the income to be distributed among the poor members and attendants at the Doddridge Congregational Chapel. The money was invested in ;^300 15J. Consols and is with the Official Trustees producing £j los. 4d. yearly wliich is distributed by the deacons amongst the poor members of the con- gregation. Emma Pressland, by her will proved at Northamp- ton 24 Feb. 191 1, gave ^£100 to the trustees of the Doddridge Congregational Chapel, to apply the income for providing coal for the poor members of the chapel. The money was invested on mortgage producing approximately £j annually. William Jeff cry, bv his will proved 14 March 1896, gave ;£200, the income to he distributed among the poor members of the Doddridge Congregational Chapel. The endowment of the charity now consists of ;^2ii 13J. lod. 5 per cent. War Stock 1929-47 with the Official Trustees ; the dividends amounting to j^io in. %d. yearly are distributed by the trustees among the poor members of the chapel. Mary Jeffcry, by her will proved at Northampton on the 4 March 1 864 bequeathed ;{!l50, the interest to be equally divided between the Coal Club, Sunday School and Bible Mission in connexion with the Doddridge Congregational Chapel. The endowment of the charity now consists of ^[284 Northampton Gas Light Company Consolidated Stock ; the dividends are distributed annually. " A. P. White, 7bt Story 0/ Norlhampl. pp. 109, iiz, 150. «' T. Gaiquome, Hiil. oJCauli IIM Cb., Northampt.^ p. 22. "Ibid, p. 19. "Jcnningi' I.ccturcf, printed at the ^torthampton Mercury oflice in 1721, arc in the Taylor Collection in the Northampt. Public Library, (Author J J] '"The Rulci of the Acidemy, from a MS. Book at New College, H.Tmp- itcad,arc printed Gaaquoine, op. cit. pp. 63-71. "Job Orton, Life of Doddridge (ed. D. Ruiiell), p. 115. "E.g. Dr. Aiken, Dr. Kippii, J. Orton, T. Urwick, Samuel Merivalc, Stephen Addington, Benjamin Fawcett, etc. 62 '• Ibid, p, 269, " Information from the To«n Clerk, '' See tombstone of founders, with figure of Charity ichool girl, in All Saints* Church, west end of north aisle, " The children then wore gilded oak apples, " Gasquoine, Util. of Caille Hill Cb. p, 24-5, BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON Rebecca Clifford, by her will dated 19 Jan. 1719, gave a yearly payment of ;^lo issuing out of premises No. 24, in the Drapery, Northampton, for the wives or widows of poor members of the Corporation of Northampton. This charge was redeemed in 1915 and the endowment now consists of jTm 6s. 8o Consols, with the Official Trustees, producing £2 10/. yearly, each parish receiving 12/. 6d. a year. By an order of the Charity Com- missioners, dated I August 1905 the incumbents' churchwardens of each parish were appointed trustees for the administration of the charity. William Stratford, by will dated 16 July 1753, gave /^500, the income to be applied for the benefit of poor housekeepers and other poor. Tliis sum was expended in the purchase of an estate at Helmdon, which was sold in 1920, and the proceeds invested in ;£3,II3 8/. 5^. Local Loans 3 per cent. Stock, in tht. name of the Official Trustees. The income amounts to ^93 8/. annually. Francis Clarke, by will proved at Northampton 27 July 1910, gave to the vicar and churchwardens of All Saints' ^^500 London and North Eastern Rail- way 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock, and ;^25o London and North Eastern Railway 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock, the interest to be distributed among the sick and aged poor of the parish. The stock has been transferred into the name of the Official Trustees, and the dividends, amounting to £^0 annually, are distributed by the vicar and churchwardens. Mrs. Dorcas Sargeant, as appears by an entry in the vestry book of the parish of All Saints, gave the rents of a small plot of ground in Cow Lane, North- ampton, for the clothing of two poor widows. The land was sold in 1877, and the endowmwent now consists of ^^627 12/. 5<£. Consols, with the Official Trustees, producing ^^15 13;. 8^ yearly in dividends, which are applied by the vicar and churchwardens. In the year ending 31 March 1926, 16 widows received clothing. The Beckett and Sargeant Sermon Charity was founded by Dorothy Beckett and Anne Sargeant, by deed dated 20 Sept. 1735. The deed (among other things) directed the trustees to pay the yearly sum of j^i to the vicar of All Saints' to preach a sermon yearly on the Feast of St. Andrew in All Saints' Church, for which purpose ^40 Consols with the Official Trustees has been set aside. J.imes Bracegirdle, by will dated 24 March 1633, gave an annual rent charge of £2 issuing out of land at Bugbrooke to be distributed among the poor of All Saints and St. Sepulchre. Each parish receives 16s. annually for distribution, Ss. being deducted from the charge in respect of land tax. The vicar and churchwardens of AU Saints' and St. Sepulchre's are the Trustees. Under the charity of Sir Edward Nicholjs, founded by will dated 12 August 1708, the vicar of All Saints' receives from the trustees ^^30 per annum for the augmentation of the vicarage. Parish of St. Andrew. — The charity of Miss C. E. Hyndman was founded by deeds dated in 1836 and 1842 which provided that the interest on ^272 3 per cent. Annuities should be applied towards the cost of the repair of St. Andrew's Church. The endowment now consists of ;^272 Consols with the Official Trus- tees producing £6 l6s. annually. The charity is administered by the churchwardens of St. Andrew's. Parish of St. Giles. — The Feoffment Estates com- prises the following : — The charity of Edward Watson founded by deed dated 2 Edward VI, 1548, which provided that the income of the charity should be applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The endowment consists of property known as ' The Chequers ' Inn, 4 cottages and 6 doses of land at Rothersthorpe containing about 45 acres. The charity of George Coldwell, founded by deed dated 22 Mar. 1553, which provided that the income of the charity should be applied for the use and relief of the poor and for other pious and charitable uses within the parish of St. Giles. The endowment consists of two shops and houses known as Nos. 40 66 BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON and 40a, Abington Street, together with the rent of j^l per annum received from the ' Vine ' Inn. The charity of Thomas Stone was founded by deed dated 31 Eliz., 1589. The endowment consists of 5 houses known as Nos. 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28, Wood Street. Tlie trusts of the charity were similar to those of George Coldwell's charity. Owen Dodden, by will dated 26 July 161 5, gave /[lOO, the income to be given to the poor of the parish of St. Giles. The money was invested in the purchase of a dweUing house known as No. 64a, Abingdon Street, Northampton. The house was sold in 191 3 and the proceeds invested in ;^533 4s. 8d. Consols in the name of the Official Trustees. Nicholas Rothwell in 1658 gave the sum of ;^loo to the Mayor of Northampton, the interest to be distributed among the poor of the parish of St. Giles and for placing out poor boy apprentices. The money was invested in the purchase of land at Duston containing about 32 acres. By a deed dated 6 Apr. 1 802 the several properties comprised in the before-mentioned charities were conveyed to 15 trustees or feoflFees. Under the trusts of this deed the income of the Feoffment Estates is to be applied as follows : — To the vicar of St. Giles the annual sum of £15 ; to the clerk and sexton the annual sums of [i and [2. 3s. 4d. respec- tively ; to apply the residue for the benefit of the poor of the parish and for such other pious and charitable uses within the parish as the trustees should think proper. The gross income of the charities in the year ending 1925 was about £610. It was distributed in accordance with the directions contained in the deed, the trustees giving a donation of ^50 to the funds of the General Hospital and sums of ^^15 each to the funds of St. Giles', St. Edmund's, St. Michael's and St. Gabriel's Sunday Schools. The charities are administered by 15 trustees appointed under the provisions of the deed of 6 Apr. 1802. When their number is reduced to 7 or less new trustees arc appointed by the surviving trustees. Arthur Goodday, by will dated 13 Jan. 1692, gave a close of garden ground at Northampton and a rentcharge of ^^5 per annum issuing out of No. 2, Ambush Street, Northampton. The garden ground was sold in 1859, and the endowment now consists of Cifi^i 4s. 2d. Consols with the Official Trustees producing ^^46 os. \d. annuaOy, and the rentcharge of ;^S. Under the directions contained in the will the rentcharge is paid to the vicar of St. Giles and the remainder of the funds distributed to the poor of the parish in clothing and bread. The charity is ad- ministered by the trustees of the Feoffment Estates. Wilham Brooks Gates, by will proved in the Principal Registry 16 May 1876, gave ;^200 upon trust, the income to be given towards defraying the expenses of the parish church of St. Giles and schools. The endowment of the charity for the church now consists of £106 4s. lod. Consols uith the Official Trustees producing £z 13s. annually. which is applied by the vicars and churchwardens as above. The Northamptonshire Orphanage for Girls stands in St. Giles' Street. It originated in the Northampton- shire Servants Training Institution which was founded at Wootton in 1858, removed to St. James' Street, Northampton, in 1861, and to the Horse Market in 1S67. In 1868 it was merged into the Northampton- shire Orphanasje for Girls, then in process of forma- tion, and in 1870 moved to the premises in St. Giles Street which it now occupies — 291 girls have been trained at the home.^* William Stratford, by will dated 16 July 1753, gave a sum of ;^5oo, which was laid out in the purchase of an estate at Denton in 1755. The estate was sold and the proceeds invested in ;^794 13s. 7d. Victoria Government 3 per cent. Consolidated Inscribed Stock in the name of the Official Trustees, and forms the present endowment of the charity. The income, amounting to £1"] \6s. 2d. annually, is distributed to the poor of the parishes of St. Giles, St. Peter and St. Sepulchre. Each parish receives about £() 5/. yearly, which is distributed by the minister and church- wardens of each respective parish. The charity of Miss C. E. Hyndman was founded by deeds dated in 1836 and 1842, which provided that the interest on £224 13;. jd. Consols should be applied towards defraying expenses in connexion with the repair of St. Katherine's Church. This amount is now with the Official Trustees, and produces j^5 I2S. \d. yearly, which is applied by the church- wardens towards church expenses. The Rev. Robert William Stoddart, by will proved 16 Aug. 1898, gave to the rector and churchwardens of St. Peter's ;^ioo for investment, the income to be distributed among the poor of the parish. The en- dowment now consists of £1)2 ()s. Sd. Consols with the Official Trustees, producing £2 6s. annually. The origin of the Church Estate Charity is unknown. By an indenture dated 20 Dec. 18 James I (1620) properties in Northampton were conveyed to the churchwardens, the rents to be applied towards the repair and expenses of the church. The properties were sold in 191 1 and the proceeds invested in ;^I,I56 is. Sd. India 3i per cent, stock in the name of the Official Trustees. The interest amounts to j^40 ()s. 4^. yearly. Nicholas Rothwell, who died in 1658, gave by his will ;^loo, the income to be applied towards the relief of the poor of the parish of St. Sepulchre. This sum was invested in the purchase of a close of land at Northampton which was sold in 1875 and the proceeds invested in ;^l,l68 13/. ^d. Consols with the Official Trustees, the present endowment of the charity. The charity is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 8 Mar. 1918, and the income, amounting to £2^ 4/. ^d. annually, is applied by the trustees (of whom the churchwarden of St. Sepul- chre is a trustee ex officio) for the benefit of the poor. " Inf. from Mils L. H. Wake, late Hon. Sec. 67 THE HUNDRED OF POLEBROOK CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF BARNWELL ST. ANDREW BENEFIELD HEMINGTON LUDDINGTON OUNDLE POLEBROOK THURNING WARMINGTON This hundred lies between those of Willybrook and Navisford, with Corby to the west. To the east it borders on Huntingdonshire. The bound- aries of the hundred and the parishes assigned to it are not conterminous, Thurning and \\'in\vick being partly in Huntingdonshire (Leightonstone hundred), while part of Oundle is in Willybrook hundred and Warm- ington (detached) was formerly in Willybrook hundred and afterwards partly in Willybrook and partly in Polebrook. In 1 888 Thurning was wholly transferred to Northamp- tonshire and Winwick to Hunting- donshire. The history goes back to early times, for Polebrook was part of the eight hundreds of Oundle (Eahte hundred) confirmed to Peter- borough in 972 by Edgar,^ and this district again may be derived from the 900 or 800 hides assigned to 'Wigesta' in the Tribal Hidage. The eight hundreds were confirmed to the abbey by Eugcnius III in i 146,- by Henry IP and Richard I^ and later kings.^ It must be noted, however, that in 1 125-8 Vivian owed is. of the ^^'? hundreds of Oundle and Geoffrey 10s. ;" and when in 1329 the abbot was challenged to say which were his ' eight hundreds,' it being alleged on the king's side that his predecessor had claimed only five, viz., Polebrook, Navisford, Huxloe and North and South Naveslund, he brought the number up to eight by adding his two hundreds of Nesse (Nassa- burgh and the town of St. Peter) and the town of Finedon (Thingden) in the hundred of South Naveslund, which in spite of its name, involving a 'thing,' docs not seem to have been a hundred.' It seems probable that at some early time the abbey lost the hundred of Willybrook, for the Geld Roll ..,_.., ^ <—* ^, — > ^_-l ^•% /.-'.— V /**'•. '"••Vc" ■■■•..'>- Index Map to the Hundred of Polebrook 1 yIngl.-Sax. Chron. 963 ; Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582. • Dugdalc, Mon. /Ingl. i, 390. ' Ibid. 391. * Cal. Chart, iv, 274, 278. 68 ^ Rot. Cart. (Rec. Com.), 82 ; Cal. Chart, i, 19. ' Liher Nigfr (Camd. Soc. 47), 167. ' Phu. lie Quo 11'nr. (Roc. Com.), 553, 555. POLEBROOK HUNDRED assigns 62 hides each to Polebrook, Navisford, Huxloe and Willybrook hundreds,^ as if an older district of 250 hideg had been divided into four. The five hundreds of Oundle were later reduced to three by the inclusion of the Naveslunds in Huxloe. These three hundreds of Polebrook, Navisford, and Huxloe remained in the possession of the abbey till the Dissolution.^ In 1291 the annual value of the hundreds of Polebrook and Huxloe was £s-^^ ^ ^^^^ °^ compositions for sheriffs' aids, apparently of the 14th century, gives the total yearly receipts for the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford. In addition there was in Irthling- borough a knight's fee of Avenel held in moieties by Walkeline de Arderne and Robert Basset, whose tenants followed the hundreds and yearly made fine for frank-pledge ; the vill of Barton also followed the hundreds, and the bailiff entered to make view of frank-pledge and took a fine from the men ; also in Sudbury the free tenants and the ' capitales franciplegii ' followed the two great hundreds yearly. ^"^ A rental for the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford for 1408 has been preserved.!^ In 1462 the king made the monks a grant of felons' goods, etc., in the abbey's hundreds of Polebrook, Huxloe, Navisford and Nassaburgh.'- About 1535 the issues of the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford were estimated at £1^ los. 9^.^^ After the Dissolution the hundreds of Polebrook, Navisford and Huxloe were in 1541 granted as jointure to Queen Catherine Howard, 1* reverting to the Crown a year later on her execution. In i 544 the new queen, Katherine Parr, received the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford, together with the castle of Fotheringhay,!^ and she retained them till her death in i 548. Robert Tyrwhitt had been made steward of the hundreds in 1543.1® The hundreds remained in the Crown until in 161 1 James I sold them to John Eldred and William Whitmore,i^ who two years later sold to Sir Edward Montagu, after- wards Lord Montagu of Boughton,i^ and thus they descended regularly to the Dukes of Montagu and from them to the Dukes of Buccleuch.^" A writ of * Quo Warranto ' was issued against Sir Edward Montagu regarding his rights in the three hundreds, which were eventually allowed him. While Queen Katherine Parr held the lordship it appears that the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford were put to farm for ^^14 is. i.^d. yearly ; a court was held for the hundred of Polebrook in i 546, at which loj. was received, as follows: Barnwell 22^/., Benefield i6<2'., Armston ^d., Luddington 6*2'., Thurning 14^'., Polebrook 6J., Warmington 12^., Winwick lod'., Oundle 2s. 2J., Ashton 4d'.2<' The court of the Duke of Buccleuch for the liberty and hundred of Polebrook used to be held at Oundle in October.^i * V.C.H. Northants, i, 259. * Bh. of Fee:, pt. ii, p. 936 ; Feud. Aids, iv. 28. 10 Pope Nic. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 55- "* W. T. Mellows, Swaffham's Reg. " Con. MS. Nero C vii, f. 213. >« Cnl. Pat. I461-7, p. 191. 1» Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 279. "Z.. fln It is not ihown in S. & N. Buck'i View of the Castle in 1729. Thi« drawing, though itylcd the ' louth view,' it really taken from the ealt. * Brit. (Ed. Gibion), i, 407. ' C. Wile, The Monlagus of Bougblon, 23. ' Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne ; Noribantt N. and Q. iti, 89-93 (1890). 71 ' The house and stables are probably the ' new buildings ' mentioned by Camden in 1586 as having been ' of late erected ' by Sir Edward Montagu. The •tables, which stand at right angles to the house on the north, were rebuilt stone by etone about fifty yean ago. Behind the •tables i« a large barn. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE wall. The two lower chambers, or guard rooms, have groined vaulting in two bays, with cross ribs resting on moulded corbels, and contain each five loopholes, three in the circular front and the others in the side walls. The room in the south tower is nearly square and has two loops low down facing east and west and two others high up in the wall, but the vaulting has been destroyed, the corbels and springing of the ribs alone remaining. It is entered from the court by an arched passage at the east end Barnwell Castle of the south wall, twisted so as to bring the inner doorway to the middle of the wall of the chamber. Access to the upper floor of the gatehouse was by a flight of steps from the court in the wall north of the passage, here curved out ; the doorway remains, but the steps have been altered. They led to an oblong apartment over the passage, lighted by a large window at each end, that facing east being still entire ; traces only of the other remain. From this apartment doorways led to large rooms in the flanking towers, and from the southern one to the tower beyond. The windows in these rooms are tall, narrow openings with acutely pointed rear arches. Each of the three circular corner towers is entered from the court by a round-headed doorway set across the angle leading to a straight vaulted passage giving into a circular chamber. In the south-west lower the chamber has two loops only, commanding respec- tively the western and southern curtains ; a small vice in the thiclcness of the wall on the left of the passage gave access to a large square room which has a fireplace and muUioncd window of two lights. Above this was a similar room, also with fireplace and window. These seem to have been the principal living rooms. The north-west tower has four loops in the lower chamber, and on its south-west side is an attaclied •mailer tower containing a rectangular chamber, formerly vaulted, with two loops, and between this and the main tower another still smaller attached tower, formerly containing the staircase to a room above, A'hich had a fireplace and wooden floor. The north-east tower is very similar in plan and general arrangement, with loops commanding the north and east walls, smaller attached tower on the north side and upper room. The doorway leading into it has been rebuilt and the whole angle appears to have been refaced in modern times. All the buildings inside the courtyard have disappeared, but on the east curtain are frag- ments of cross walls between which masonry is partially plastered, indicating that it was the east end of a large apartment. Several parts of the curtain inside have been stripped of their facing stores, leaving the rubble exposed. Most of the loopholes have two cross slits. Latham's Hospital, which stands across the road on the south side of tlie church, was rebuilt in 1873-4 '" ^^^ °^'^ style and is a gabled store building facing three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth side open on the north to the road. The old gateway, dated 1601, has been preserved in the en- closing fence wall. On it is the inscription, ' Cast thy bread upon the waters.' Place names which occur are Boyespital, Jordones, Alwoldeshallyate, Goldisplace, Childrebrigg, and Fladerhill. In the 14th century there was a town at Barnwell with many tradesmen, and we find such names and descriptions as gardener, washerwoman, ' le roper,' weaver, ' barcar,' ' le woollemongere,' the smith, ' le parmenter,' the cobbler and the tailor in the deeds of the Duke of Buccleuch. There were also important mills at Crowthorp. In 1921 the population numbered 167 persons. A charter of AUNOKS Edward the Con- fessor confirmed BARN fr ELL ST. ANDREW to Ramsey Abbey as the gift of Ethclric, Bishop of Dor- chester," who died in 1034;' William I and Edward III also confirmed this grant.*" At the Domesday Survey (1086) and again in the nth century, the land of St. Benedict of Ramsey included six liidcs in Barnwell. '^ Between 1 1 14 and 1130, Abbot Reinald granted ' as an inheritance ' [in here- dttatem] to Reginald le Moyne, liis tenant in Barnwell, and to his sons, the lands which Reginald held of him Ramsey Abqky. Or a hcnd azure with three rams' beads argent there- on. ' Carlul. Mon. ii Ramts. (Roll» Str.), , 73 ; Kcmblc, Cod. Dtpl. rol. iv, no. i.rccix. The authenticity of the latter deed, however, i> doubtful. » Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl. 33. '" Chart R. 121, m. 13, no. 29. " V.C.II. Norlhants, i, 319, 365*. 72 Barnwell Si. Andrew • Latham Almshouses POLEBROOK HUNDRED Le Muvne. Aigtnt a crass paly gules. in this parish and elsewhere for loos, a year and the service of one knight's fee."^* Reginald le Moyne was the Abbey's tenant in Barnwell from about mo and possibly as early as 1091.*- Berengar, his son,^^ whose name appears as a witness to various deeds between 11 14 and 1163,*^ was succeeded in or before 1166 by his son, another Reginald le Moyne,'^ who between the years 1184 and 1 1 89 owed the service of one knight to the abbot for a fee in Northamptonshire.** He ap- parently had two sons, Beren- gar and Reginald, and wis succeeded by his grandson Reginald, son of Berengar, who was dead in 1248 when William of York, Provost of Beverley, was guardian of his son and heir Berengar." In 1267 Berengar, who had attained his majority before 1264,** was keeper of the peace in Hunts.** and in 1270 he was one of the col- lectors of the 20th in that county.-" Protection for four years was granted him as a crusader in the same year.** About 1266 he built the castle at Barnwell, and in 1276 it was declared that he was holding a market, fair and assize of bread and ale there without known warrant.^ In the same year William de God- manchester, abbot of Ramsey, bought back the manors of Barnwell, Hemington and Crowthorp and other lands from Berengar le Moyne, as it is said, for ^1,666 ly. ^d. and for prayers for himself and for the souls of his father Reginald and his mother Rose.*' The grant was confirmed by Berengar's widow Emma in 1286.** Barnwell being held of the king in chief, questions arose about its alienation at this time without the king's licence.*^ In 1329 John, son of Geoffrey of Southorpe, son of Rose, daughter of Berengar and Emma, and Walter Naunton, husband of Joan daughter of Margaret their other daughter, sued the abbot for the manor of Barnwell, which, as they alleged, had been settled on Berengar le Moyne and his wife Emma and their issue.** A verdict was given in favour of the Abbot,*' and eleven years later John of Southorpe's son Robert released to Simon Abbot of Ramsey all his right in the manor. After the dissolution of Ramsey Abbey Henry VIII in 1540 granted in tail the manor of Barnwell to Sir BARNWELL ST. ANDREW Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's Bench,** who had been steward of the manor for 20 years.** Sir Edward also purchased from Ralph Agard in l553^another estate which had belonged to William Willington of Barcheston. A few months later he was imprisoned for his opposition to the succession of Lady Jane Grey.'* Probably in con- firmation of title Sir Edward Montagu, his eldest son and heir by his third wife, Ellen daughter of John Roper, attorney-general to Henry VIII, who succeeded him in 1556,'* bought the reversion of the manor granted in tail to his father, from Queen Elizabeth in 1602 for ^^153 3s. 9d.'' He seems to have made Barnwell Castle one of his residences, for he left to his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Haring- ton of Exton, Rutland " all my househoulde stuff in my CasteUof Barnewelle."** By this lady he had seven sons, of whom the second but eldest surviving, another Edward, succeeded him in January i6oi- A settlement made Montagu. Argent a (esse indented gttles of three points and a border sable, for Montagu, quartering Or an eagle vert Jot MoNTHERMER. by him rather more than two years later included the manor of Barnwell St. Andrew, as did others in 161 1 and 1634.'* ^^ 1604 Sir Edward and other gentlemen of the county were put from the Justiceship of the Peace for favouring the Puritan ministers deprived of their livings.'' Later on he made his peace with the king'* and was created Baron Montagu of Boughton in 1621.'* As a royalist he incurred the displeasure of the Parliamentary party and was imprisoned in the Tower. In consideration for his advanced age, he was allowed to withdraw to his dwelling in the Savoy, where, in his 82nd year and still a prisoner, he died on 15 June, 1644.'"' Edward his second surviving son, by his second wife Frances Cotton, succeeded him. He sat as one of Cromwell's lords in 1657.''* Edward, his eldest son by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Ralph Winwood,''* was killed fighting against the Dutch. On his death in 1683 he was succeeded by his second son Ralph,^' who with his third son John settled Barnwell St. Andrew in 1704.^ John succeeded him four years afterwards in his later titles of Marquis of Monthermer and Duke of Montagu, and died with no surviving male issue in 1749.''* "» Cartul. Men. de Rames. (RoUi Ser.), u, 259. '» y.C.H. Northants. i, 365*. '• Chron. Abb. Rames. (Rollt Ser.), 263. '* Ibid. 259, 261, 274. " y.C.H. Northants. i, 367 n. " Cariul Mon. de Rames. (Rolli Ser), in, 48. " Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York Soc), 232. See also Bucclcuch Decdi 148, A 7, 27. " Bridges, Hisl. of Northants, ii, 393-4- •» Cal. Pat. 1266-72, p. 132. » Ibid. p. 418. •' Ibid. p. 440. " Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 7. Nfarkct and fair had been granted him hj royal charter (»ee below). «• Cjriul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), ''i ^3^1 339i 34° > '"> '85; Add. Chart, 33063. " Ibid. 34245 i Buccleuch Coll. 50, H 42, 43- " Feud. Aids, iv, 13, 28. '* Assize R. 629, m. igd. Cartul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 79-81 ; Buc- cleuch Deeds H 62, 75. John de Southorp was also known as John de Layham. >' Ibid. " Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 39. " yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 274, Buccleuch Deeds, C. 5. •"> Com. Pleas. Deeds. Enrolled East. 7 Edw. VI, m. 6. •' Diit. Nat. Biog. ; Fuller, tVortbies of Engl, ii, 167 ; Lord Campbell, Lives of the Chief Justices, 170-77. •• Did. Nat. Biog. " Pat. R. 44 EUz. pt. 15, m. 12. 73 " P.C.C. I Mountague. s^ Bridges, op. cit. ii, 352 ; G. E. C, Complete Peerage, v, 342-45. " Recov. R. Trin. 2 Jas. I, ro. 42 ; Hil. 9 Jas. I, ro. 37 ; Trin. 9 Chas. I. ro. 40 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Chas. I. " Winwood, Memorials, ii, 48-9. »« Buccleugh MSS. {Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.), p. 46. » G. E. C. op. cit. V, 342. *» Ibid. ; Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebel- lion [ed. Macray], bk. vi, par. 35 ; North- ants N. and Q. ii, 16; Cal. of Com. for Advance of Money, i, 364 ; ii, 795. •1 G. E. C. loc. cit ; Diet. Nat. Biog. «' G. E. C. loc. cit. *" Ibid. V, 342-3. " Ibid. Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne. ♦' G. E. C. op. cit. V, 344. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE In accordance with an Act of Parliament passed in 1723, upon the marriage of his elder daughter Isabella with the second Duke of Manchester, his entailed estates including Barnwell St. Andrew should have been divided between his two daughters and coheirs, Isabella Dowager Duchess of Manchester, then the wife of Edward Hussey, and Mary, who in 1730 had married George Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan.^' Each sister had an only son named John. The late Duke had directed that this part of his inheritance should be kept undivided and pass to his daughter Mary and her issue, who were to pay to the Dowager Duchess and her issue a moiety of the rents and profits.'" This arrangement was continued until the death of the latest survivor of the four, Edward Hussey-Montagu, Earl of Beaulieu, in 1802.''* Mary the younger of the two sisters died in 1775, having survived her son five years, and in the following year her husband, who had borne the titles of Marquis of Monthermer and Duke of Montagu since 1766,^' held a moiety of Barnwell St. Andrew in conjunction with their only surviving child Elizabeth and her husband Henry Scott, Duke of Buccleuch.^" The manor then passed with the Buccleuch title until 1 91 3, when the present Duke sold it to Horace Czarnikow, who in 1920 sold the castle to Mrs. Baiiibridge, now Mrs. W. H. McGrath." In 1086 there were two mills rendering 24J. in Barnwell St. Andrew.^- A grant of two weekly markets, on Monday and Friday, and a fair on the vigil of St. Michael and the si.x days following was made to Berengar le Moyne in 1270.^^ This grant was renewed to tho Abbot of Ramsey eight years later, when the market was to be held on Wednesdays only but the fair was to remain as before.^* These privileges were disputed by the Abbot of Peterborough in 1279 on the ground of the harm suffered therefrom by his market at Oundle. A compromise was effected. Market, pillory and tumbrel at Barnwell St. .\ndrew were discontinued ^^ and the men of Ramsey Abbey in that parish were appointed to come before the Peterborough bailiffs twice a year for view of frank- pledge, the bailiff of Ramsey Abbey being allowed to sit with the others and receive half the fines or profits from the Abbot of Ramsey's villeins, but to exercise no other jurisdiction.^' A custom called ' physsilver ' or ' phisshesilver ' was paid to the lord of this manor in the 13th century." The Church of ST. AXDRFJf consists CHURCH of chancel 27 ft. by 16 ft. 3 in. with north vestry and organ chamber, clearstoried nave 47 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles, south porch,^ and west tower 7 ft. 6 in. square surmounted by a broach spire. All these measurements are internal. No part of the building is older than the 13th century, to which period the main portion belongs, and the plan remained unaltered until 1873, when the organ chamber was added in the re-intrant angle of the north aisle and chancel.^' The original work began m the usual way at the east end about 1 250, and progressed westward to the tower, the upper part of which, with the clearstory, is in the geometrical style of about 1290. It is not unlikely, however, that the building proceeded without serious interrup- tion over a number of years, covering more or less the latter half of the 13th century, though the architectural detail of the chancel arch, nave arcades, south doorway, porch, and lower part of the tower is of the earlier type. The north doorway and the windows of the aisles are 14th century insertions, and in the 15th century the chancel was largely reconstructed, new windows being inserted and the upper part of the walls rebuilt. The church is built throughout of rubble with ashlar dressings and has plain parapets and low-pitched lead roofs. The chancel is without buttresses and has an original string course below the sill level and a I3tli century moulded priest's doorway with rounded arch on jamb shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The 15th century east window is of five cinquefoiled lights with four-centered head and transom at mid-height, but the mullions and tracery are modern (1851). The two-light window at the eastern end of the north wall was originally farther west, but was moved to its present position when the organ chamber was built. In the south wall are two 15th century windows, the easternmost, high up in the wall, of three cinquefoiled lights and Perpendicular tracery, and the other of two lights. The north wall is open at its west end by a modern arch to the organ chamber, and the roof is a modern one of three bays. The double sedilia, under the easternmost south window, belong to the 15 th century recon- struction and have crocleted ogee canopied arches ; the seats are level. The piscina is modern, or a restoration. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders supported by corbelled shafts with richly moulded capitals. The 13th century nave arcades consist of three pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from piers composed of four fiUetted shafts with moulded capitals and bases, except at the west end on the north side, where there is a plain circular pier with more simply moulded capital and chamfered base. The responds follow the design of the shafted piers.*" The rood-loft doorway remains in position over the easternmost arch of the south arcade and part of the stairs at the end of the aisle. The clearstory has three pointed windows on each side, of two grouped lancets with quatrefoil in the head under a containing arch, and the parapet is carried on an original corbel table. At the east end of the south aisle is a trefoilcd lancet, on either side of which «• P.C.C. us Lille J Complete Peerage (New Ed.) ii, 58; iii, H-'S- «' P.C.C. Z55 Li«le. «' Complete Peerage (New Ed.), ii, 58. " Ibid, iii, 14. '" Feet of F. Northanti, Eait. 16 Geo. Ill ; Complete Peerage (New Ed.), ii, 369. " Inf. from Rev. W. W. Baillie. »« V.C.II. Norihanit, i, 319. •> Cal. Chart, 1257-1300, p. 136. " Ibid. p. 107. '^ The Commissioner* of 1276 who accused Berengar le Moyne indiscrimin- ately of building a castle and holding market, fair and assize of bread and ale, all without warrant, did not mention pillory and tumbrel. Rot. Uund. (Rec. Com.) ii, 7. " Chron Pelrob. (Camden Soc.) 31-33. »' Cariul. Men. de Ramet (Rolls Ser.), i, 52; iii, 316-17. '• The north aisle is 10 ft. 6 in. wide, and the south aisle differs in width from 7+ 9 ft. It in. at the cast end to lo ft. 3 in. at the west. The porch i» 10 ft. 6 in, by 9 ft. 6 in. *• It was built originally as a chapel to contain the monument of Nicholas Latham, and was known as the Latham Chapel. *" There is a measured drawing of the Routh arcade, with details, in Sharpens Chi. of the Nene f'tiUry, plate 47. 'I"hc height of the piers, to top of capital, ii 7 ft. 9 in. o H U 3 O c/2 a: a U CO POLEBROOK HUNDRED internally is a crocketed ogee niche of 14th century date, which with the window formed a teredos to the aisle altar. In the south wall, in the usual position, is a plain pointed piscina with cusped bowl, and above it a small round headed opening with sloping sill, which in spite of its heiglii above the ground seems to have been a lowside window.'' The two 14th century windows in the south wall are square-headed of two trefoiled lights, and there is reason to believe that the wall was rebuilt when they were erected.^' The pointed west window of this aisle is c. 1280 of two elongated trefoiled lights ••■-j^-.=vr with moulded jambs. The south doorway is a very good ex- ample of 13th century work, of two moulded orders, the outer ornamented with dog- tooth, on double jamb shafts with moulded capitals and bases, the inner shafts banded at mid-height. The porch has a wide gable with plain coping, stone slated roof, and pointed outer arch of two hollow chamfered orders, and large nail-head hood- mould with mask terminations, on shafted jambs with moulded capitals.** There is a sundial in the gable. The north doorway is equally good 14th century work, of two moulded orders, on shafted jambs, the capitals carved with oak leaves on either side of a human head,** and the windows in the north wall are all pointed and of two trefoiled lights. That formerly at the east end of the aisle is now in the north wall of the organ cham- ber ; the west window is of earlier type, of two plain lights with quatrefoil in the head. At the east end of the aisle, origin- ally below the window, is a 14th century reredos consisting of three crocketed ogee trefoiled arches, the middle one wider than the others, with a band of quatrefoils and heads above,** and on the east respond of the arcade adjoining, at a height of 34 inches from the floor, a small projecting trefoil headed niche. The tower is of three stages with moulded plinth and projecting vice in the south-east angle, but is without buttresses. The upper stage has a slight setback, and the bell-chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil above, mid-shafts, and moulded jambs, the arches richly ornamented with dog-tooth and flowers in the outer order. The spire has plain angles and three sets of lights on each of its cardinal faces. The west doorway is of two moulded orders on shafted jambs with moulded capitals and bases, and above it is a window of two trefoiled lights. In the middle stage on the south side is a circular moulded opening enriched with dog-tooth and flower ornament. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders dying into the wall. BARNWELL ST. ANDREW The font is of early 14th century date, and has a richly ornamented bowl with cusped and crocketed niches on seven sides, tlic west face being blank. The oak pulpit is of Elizabethan, or early 17th century date, with arcaded p.incls ; it stands on a modern stone base. The otiier fittings are modern. The monument to Nicholas Latham (d. 1620), founder of the hospitals at Barnwell and Oundle, after removal from the chancel to the chapel in 1873, was re-erected on the north wall of the chancel about Barnwell St. Andrew : The South Porch 1907. It is coloured and bears the bust of Latham, who is described as ' parson of this church only the space of 51 years.' On the south wall is a brass plate to John Orton, ' first warden of Parson Latham's hospital,' who died in 1607 ' in the yeare of his age loi,' and another with Latin inscription, formerly in All Saints' Church, to the memory of Christopher Freeman {i. 1610), who is depicted kneeling with his wife and eight children at an altar.^* In the south aisle is a floor slab to John and Robert Carter, who died in September and November 1698, and a painted board in the north aisle commemorates Elizabeth, daughter of William Worthington, rector ; she died in 1665. There is some old glass in one of the south windows of the chancel and in a window in the belfry.*' There are two bells in the tower, the first medieval, " C. A. Markham in Ai%oc. Arch. Soc. Rfpi. xxix. The sill is 5 ft. 5 in. above the floor, at the ume level as that of the adjacent window. •« There is no string in the east wall of the aisle below the 13th century lancet, but a 14th century string runs the length of the south wall at sill level between the end buttresses. •» The bases are hidden, and the jambs lean outwards. •* On one side the leaves issue from the mouth. •' The wall was pierced through the arches when the organ-chamber was built. " The bnss is figured in Franklin Hudson, Brasiei of Nortbantt : * the man 75 and woman kneel one on each side of an aitar . . . behind the man arc the effigici of four sons and behind the woman are four daughters, all kneeling.' *' Bridges records the ' portraits of three persons in episcopal habits ' in the upper south window of the chancel, op cit. ", 393- A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE with the letter S three times alternating with a cross patonce and a mark generally ascribed to Richard Mellor of Nottingham (1488-1508) ; the second bell is by Thomas Norris, 1658.^ The plate consists of a cup of 1570, a paten of c. 1684, a dish of 1636, a flagon of 1869, a modern medieval chalice of 1871, and a paten of 1872.'' The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages and burials 1558-1727 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1727-1812, marriages 1727-53 ; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. In the second volume is a list of briefs 1 741-3, and several lists of the ' warden, sub-warden, brethren, sisters and nurses of Mr. Nicholas Latham's Hospital in Barnwell,' 1744-50. The churchwardens' accounts begin in 1742. There was a priest in Barnwell ADVOWSON St. Andrew in 1086™ but no direct mention of the church itself seems to be preserved before 1178 when Pope Alexander con- firmed to Ramsey Abbey among many other of its possessions Barnwell with its church.'^ At that date, however, both manor and advowson belonged to the earlier Berengar le Moyne (see above) and the rights assured to the Abbot were those of overlordship merely. The advowson has followed the descent of the manor down to 1920, when Mr. Czarnikow sol J the manor but retained the advowson. The rectory has also followed the same descent. A carucate of land and six acres belonged to it in the 13th century" and in 1535 its profits amounted to £ij izs. 6J." The rector also received one sheaf from the tithes of the lord in Barnwell St. Andrew, the other two, formerly of Berengar le Moyne, being afterwards paid to the sacristan, who had a portion of £i 13/. \d. in the church.'* By an Act of 1830 all ancient tithes and glebeland in the united parishes of Barnwell St. Andrew and Barnwell All Saints were commuted for 3 1 acres I rood 2 perches of land annexed to the rectory and an annual rent of £^oP^ The parsonage house of the 1 6th century" was rebuilt by the Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch about 1820." There was a chapel in the Castle.'* The church has always been dedicated to St. Andrew."* Parson Latham's Hospital in CHARITIES Barnwell, founded and incorporated pursuant to the Statute 39 Eliz. cap. 5 ly Deed Poll dated 2 1 February, i James L (1604) and including the charity of William Bigley for the inmates founded by will proved in Prerogative Court of Canterbury 11 Oct. 1834, '^ regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 2 Feb. 1923. The general property of the charity consists of the almshouse buildings, land situated in the counties of Huntingdon and Northampton and com- prising about 350 acres, rent-charges of ^20 issuing out of hereditaments in Pilton, Stoke Doyle and Wadenhoe and two cottages at Ringstead and Clapton. The Ringstead property consists of 109 a. 2 r. 12 p. of land with farm and cottages at Ringstead and a sum of ;^25 Consols. The Shelton property consists of 66 acres of land in Shelton in the county of Bedford. The endowment of Bigley's Charity consists of a sum of £'!■■,'] SS ^^- 1^- Consols which forms the Repair Fund and any income not required for repairs is invested in augmentation of the fund. Of the income from the Ringstead lands ||ths is paid to the trustees of the Latham and Bigley Educational Foundation. The land belonging to the hospital produced ^^462 \os. in 1923 and ^^224 11$. 6d. was paid to the inmates, ^^lo spent on medical attendance, and £y distributed to poor of Rushden, Ringstead and Higham Ferrers. The stock is with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. The Montagu Dole. — A sum of 6s. Sd. yearly is payable out of the estates of Lord Montagu for distribution to the poor. The origin of the charity is unknown. BENEFIELD Benefield (xi cent.) ; Banefield, Benifeld (xii cent.) ; Beningfelde, Benefilde, Berifelde, Benetfeld, Beni- feud, Beningfeud (xiii cent.); Benyngfielde alias Beneficlde alias Beddingfielde (xvi cent.). This parish, to which the hamlets of Biggin and Churchfield, formerly in Oundle, were transferred in 1894, contains 5,664 acres of clay land on a subsoil of Oxford clay in the north and cornbrash in the south. Nearly the whole of this area is permanent grass, less than a fifth is arable land, growing barley and wheat, and some 356 acres are woodland and plantations. The land rises about 100 ft. from cast to west, where it reaches 300 ft. above the ordnance datum. The principal road is the highway from Kettering to Oundle, which enters Benefield from Great Wcldon on the west and leads eastwards into Upper Benefield, formerly called Uppthorpe, Over- thorpe or Upperthorpe. Here there is a good deal of woodland, called in 1800 the Spring, Cockendale, and Blackthorns Woods ; here also are the reservoir, some farms and Benefield and Springwood Lodges. Tlie village lies some distance southwards, in Lower Benefield, or Netherthorp, as it was called in the 17th century and later. The church of St. Mary stands on rising ground and adjoining it on the west is the moated site of the castle of the Lisurs. The date of the erection of the castle is unknown, but it may well have been one of tlie numerous forts thrown up during the anarchy of Stephen's reign (1138-44). It was in existence in 1208, when John seized it for the debts of Hugh de Lisurs.* On 15 May 1264, the day following the Battle of Lewes, Henry III, while ** For intcriptioni kc North, Cb. BiUi of NoTihantt^ 190 ; the date of the iccond bell it wrongly given it 1678. For S.S. belli »ec North, Cb. Belli of Lincotntbtrt, Ii8. •» Markhim. Cb. Plan of Noribami, 28. "V.C.ll. Norlband, i, 319. " Carlul. Men. di Ramn, ii, 136-37. " Carlul. Mon. de Ramet. (Rolli. Ser.), i, 48. '• Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 292. '♦ Cartul. Mon. de Ramet. (Rolli. Ser.) i, 48; ii, 182, 207; Pope Nicb. 7a.x (Rec. Com.), 39* ; Add. Chart. 33665. " Local and Personal Acti, Ii Geo. iv, cap. 79. " Valor Eecl.\ot. at. " Local and Personal Acts, loc. cit. '» Carlul. Mon. de Ramrr. (Rolli Ser.) i, 54 ; Ducclcnch MSS. (Ouugliton Houic), no. 4. '• Carlul. Mon. de Ramrs. (RolU Ser.), i, 48 i Rol. Rob. Grosseleili (Cant, and York Soc), 232. ' Rol. Lilt. Pat. John (Rec. Com.), 79b, 97b. 76 POLEBROOK HUNDRED BENEFIELD a prisoner with Simon de Montfort, issued a mandate to the knights and others in Benefield Castle, stating that peace having been made between the king and his barons, they were not to go out of the castle nor do any ill in those parts.' It was probably in the following year that, the castle being held for Edward the king's son, the men of the castle plundered the manor of Biggin and crossed the river to Oundle, where and at Ashton they took a number of cattle. The men of Oundle, however, made a counter-attack and recovered many of their beasts.* Not long after this date the castle was probably dismantled. In 1298 it is described as an old castle,* and in 1315 the site of the castle only is referred to.^ It continued a ruin and is so described in 1 378.' Lcland about 1535 mentions the site as ' the diche and mines of an old castelle.' ' Part of the wall was still standing in Bridges' time (1724), when the inclosure was said to be square, covering about an acre of land. On the north of it was the manor house,* which apparently superseded the castle and is mentioned in 1445. A furlong to the west of the village are nine Swallow Holes where the land floods occasionally flow and disappear. Banhaw Wood (the Banho or Danho in the 14th century) was said to be within the metes of Rockingham Forest, and Humphrey de Bassing- bourne obtained licence to inclose 100 acres of its waste.' In 1820 the wood covered nearly 312 acres on the south of the parish. Eastward of this wood are the hamlets of Churchfield and Biggin Hall with ■jl large part of its grounds, the rest of which are still in Oundle. An Act of 1820 for the inclosure of certain waste and commonable lands in this parish preserves many place names, such as Northaws, Cobs Hurn, David's Leys, Rimington, Cockmore and Nuthalls Closes.^" Other place names which occur are Ouldwalles and Pottereswaye, a lane near Banhaw Wood, and Fezauntes landes. In 1921 the inhabitants of Benefield num- bered 410. The modern parish of Beanfield I, awns in the Hundred of Corby, which was for some pur- poses considered part of Benefield, though extra parochial in 1831,^ lies about three miles distant from it. It was perhaps part of the King's fee in the Ilth and 12th centuries.^ Henry II granted the Abbey of Pipewell its pasturage and herbage, which the Abbot exchanged in 1356 for the advowson of the church of Geddington.^' Many references to leases or grants of the custody of the launds of Pkterborougu Abbey. Gulc! two crossed keys or. Benefield and to the capital messuage here are found in public records.** Domesday Book accounts only for MANOR three virgates of land in BENEFIELD, which were of the King's fee*^ and were • held in chief by knight's service until the latter part of the l6th century. The service varied from that of one to a quarter of a knight's fee.** Wulfhere, King of the Mercians, according to a spurious charter, gave Benefield to the Abbey of Peterborough in 664," but Domesday Book contains no mention of any such fee. A single hide in the Hundred of Stokes that the Survey of the 1 2th century ascribes to Bene- field, now a farm south of Rockingham,** was amongst the Peterborough lands at that date.*' The overlordship of the manor remained with Peterborough until the Disso- lution,^' when the manor was held direct of the Crown.^* Richard de Engaine was tenant of Benefield at the time of the Domesday Survey (1086)^^ and in the 1 2th century it had passed to the Lisurs.^' According to a charter of 1 1 66 R[ichard] de Lisurs describes Richard de Engaine as his grandfather.^ It would appear that Richard de Engaine married more than once and the last of his wives was the widow of Richard Fitz Urse.-* His son, Viel or Vitalis, apparently married the daughter and heir of William de Lisurs?' and had two sons, Richard and Fulk, the former of whom occasionally and the latter regularly used their mother's surname." Fulk de Lisurs, who succeeded to Benefield, was the King's forester in fee and attended the King with his horn hanging from his neck.-* He married Alice or Adelis, sister of WiUiam de Auberville,'' and died before 1185.^ His son, William de Lisurs, married Isabel, daughter of Simon Fitz Simon,** and died without issue in 1194. He left two brothers, Hugh and Fulk,*^ and was succeeded by Hugh,** who died about 1207, leaving two daughters, Alice, who married Nicholas de Bassingbourne, and Eleinor, the v^fe of William de Ayshe.** The manor and castle of Benefield were seized by the Crown for debts owing by Hugh de Lisurs,*^ but were recovered by John de Bassing- • Cal. Pat., 1258-66, p. 318. • Sparke, Hiit. Angl. Script, iii, 135. • Cal, Inq. iii, no. 468. » Cott. MS. Vesp. E. Jtxi, fol. 30b. • Chan. Inq. p.m. Rich. II, file 4, no. 8. ' Itinerary (ed. Toulmin-Smith), i, 12,13. • Bridges, op. cit. ii, 395. 'Cat. Pat. 1313-17, p. 453. " Private Aft, i Geo. IV, cap. 31. •' Pop. Returns. '• V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a, 365*. '• Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 389; 1257- 1300, p. 408 ; Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 423. "Ibid. 1377-81, pp. 170, 407; 1381- 85. p- >77; '396-99, P- '9^; '4'3->6 p. 232,235, 262. " V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a, 365A. " Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 24 no. 15 ; file 84, no. 4 ; Edw. Ill, file 90 no. 8 ; file 193, no. 15 ; file 208, no. 25 ; Ric. II, file 4, no. 8 ; Hen. IV, file 90, no. 15; (ser. 2), ccx, 90; Chan. Misc. file 12, no. 7, m. 1 ; Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 208, no. 4 i Fine R. 170, m. 10 ; Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. i, m. 27; 33 Eliz. pt. 8, m. 33. " V.C.H. Northants,n, \2\, 576. '» Ibid, i, 386*. " Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 395. *" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), xxxiv, no. 81. " Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. I, m. 27 ; 32 Eliz. pt. 14, m. 31. " V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a. " Ibid. 365*. " Red Bk. ofExcheq. (Rolls Ser.) i, 333. The editor suggests from a similar entry in the Liber Niger that R. is a scribal error for Ffulk], but there seems to be no reason why Richard should not have held 77 in 1 166 and Fulk his brother should not have succeeded him. » Ibid. =» Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 76 n. Viel is, however, here stated to be son of William Engaine. »' Complete Peerage (New Ed.) v, 72-3 ; cf. Red. Bk. loc. cit. " Red. Bk. of Excbeq. (Rolls Ser.) i, 333- " Cat. Amt. D. (P.R.O.) ii, c. 2002; Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. ii, 251 ; Pytchley's Bk. of Fees, 76 j Wrottesley, Ped.from Plea Rolls, 4, 62. •" Complete Peerage, loc. cit. " Cat. Anct. D. (P.R.O.) ii, C. 2021. "Ibid. C. 2004; Curia Regis R. ii, 309. " Complete Peerage, loc. cit. •* Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. iii, 4-5. •»/?o/. Lilt. Pat. Job. (Rec. Com.), 79*. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Bassisgbourne. Gy~ Tonny argent and gules. bourne in 1213.^ In 1216 King John granted the manor to Baldwin de Gisnes*' possibly on account of Nicholas's debts, in which we find him involved in 1222.^ Nicholas was paying scutage for his fee in Benefield in 1236 and 1243.** In or before 1252, he was succeeded by his son, Hum- phrey,'*" who, in 1273, leased the castle and manor of Bene- field to Queen Eleanor, the King's mother, for ;^ioo a year, the rent of the first twenty-five years being paid in advance to acquit Hum- phrey of his debts to the Jews.^' Humphrey died about 1280,''- and in 1298 Benefield passed from his son and heir of the saiLe name to his grandson, another Humphrey de Bassingbourne,*^ lord of the manor in 1 3 16.*' This Humphrey obtained a grant of free warren in 1321,** a liberty which his son, another Humphrey, main- tained at law some eight years later.^ In 1330 Humphrey de Bassingbourne had three sons living," but by 134.3 Giles, the eldest, had died, leaving a daughter and heir, Margaret,** and Benefield was settled on her marriage with Walter, son of Robert de Colvile.** Walter and Margaret succeeded Hum- phrey in 1349,*" Margaret being then fourteen, Walter not quite eight years old.^^ Walter was dead before the close of 1367, and his infant son, Robert, survived him less than two years.^^ In accordance with the settlement of 1343 the castle and manor of Benefield descended to the heirs of Robert de Colvile, Walter's father.^^ These were Ralph Basset of Sapcote and John Gernoun, the former being grandson of Elizabeth, one sister, the latter son of AHce, the other sister of Robert's father, Edmund de Colvile.^* In 1377 the manor of Benefield was settled on Ralph Basset,^ who died seised of the manor and castle in the following year.*^' His widow, Alice, held the manor and a third of the castle as dower. She died in 1412, when her heirs were their daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Richard Lord de Grey, and Robert Moton, grandson of Alice, Ralph's elder daughter,^* whose father, William Moton, had died seised of the site of the castle and lands in Benefield nearly twenty years before." Richard Lord de Grey died in 1418 seised of the manor and a moiety of the castle in right of his wife, Elizabeth.^ In 1445 Elizabeth, who survi\ed her husband about thirty-three years, settled the manor on John Zouche and his wife, her daughter Elizabeth,^' and a few months before her death she granted them her moiety of the castle.^ John Zouche, who had settled a third of the manor on his second wife, Eleanor, widow of John Melton, died in 1501. At her death in 1519"'^ she was succeeded by her son, John Zouche. In 1529 his younger brother David claimed for himself and his late brother Lionel, a share in the family estates under his father's will.*^ John Zouche was succeeded about 153163 by his son and heir George, who died in 1557. His son and heir was another Sir John Zouche,®* who with his wife Elizabeth settled the castle and manor.*-'' He died in 1586*' and his son John Zouche with his wife Mary settled the manor in 1590*' and in the following year sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancel- lor.^ Sir Christopher died without issue in 1591, heavily in debt to the Crown.** His heir was his nephew William, son of his sister Dorothy, wife of John Newport, who took the ?urname of Hatton on his uncle's death.™ In 1 594 Sir William Hatton settled the castle and manor of Bene- field on himself and his heirs male with remainder to his daughter Frances. William and Francis Tate," two of the trustees, obtained a lease of the property from the Crown the next year.'^ Sir William died without male issue within two years.'^ According to the settlement of the late Lord Chancellor,'* Benefield should have passed to Sir Christopher Hatton of Kirby, his first cousin,'^ but Sir Robert Rich and his wife Frances, Sir William Hatton's daughter, obtained the interests of the Crown and of the Zouche and Hatton families.'* In 1641 Robert, then Earl of Warwick, with Robert and Charles Rich, his sons by Frances, made a settlement of the castle and manor of Benefield among other estates on the marriage of Charles with Mary, Zouche. Gules bezanly and a quarter ermine. pt. Close ** Rot. Lit. Pal. JoM. (Rcc. Com.), 97*. *' Chan. jMisc. bdle. 12, no. 7. "Pipe R. 66, m. 6d ; 67, m. 1 3,/. " ^*- «/ F'", pt- i, 494-99 i S°i-S, 937- " Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. 56. ♦'Chart. R. 63, m. 5; Cat. '*72-79i PP- "Z, 113- •"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 24, no. 15. "Cal. Inij. p.m. iii, no. 468. «• Feud. Aids, iv, 28. "Chart. R, 107, m. i. "Plac. de Quo fVar. (Rec. Com.), 510. ♦' Chan. Inq. j.q.d. file 208, no. 4. "Cal. Pat. 1343-45. P- '4'- " Feet of F. Div. Coi. caie 287, file 41, no. 345. »" Ibid. Northanti. cjie 177, file 77, noi. 290, 293. " Chan. Inq. p.m. F.dw. Ill, file 90, no. 8; Cloie R. 185, m. 27. "Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 193, no. ■; ; file 208, no. 25. " Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 287, file 41, no. 345. '* Fine R. 170, m. 10. "Close R. 217, m. 3od ; 218, m. 26. "^ Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. II, file 4 no. 8. "Ibid. Hen. IV, file go, no. 15. " Ibid. Ric. 11, file 75, no. 21. "Chan. Inq. p.m. Ilcn. V, file 30, no. ;. "Close R. 295, mm. 3d, i6d ; 297, m. I5d. Chan. Misc. bdlc. 14, file 2, no. 12. •"Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. \'I, file 144, no. 34. "Ibid. (ser. 2), xxxiv, no. 81. •• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 599, no«. 55, 56.57-. •• Bridges, loc. cit. j Glover, llist. Derby, ii, 342. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cix, 19. •» Pat. R. 8 Elil. pt. I , m. 27 i Feet of F. Div. Coi. East. 8 Eliz. " Ch.in. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), ccx, 90. "Pat. R. 32 Eliz. pt. 14, m. 31; 33 Eliz. pt. 8, m. 33. •* Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 32 Eliz. ; Hil. 33 Eliz. ; Recov. R. Mich. 32 Eliz. ro. 64. •" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, 193 ; Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. 18, m. 19. '"Baker, Hist. Northants, i, 196; Diet. Nat. Biog. "Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, '93- "Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. i8, m. 19. '•Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix, 193. " Diet. Nat. Biog. "Baker, loc. cit. j Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), ccclxxvi, 100. '• I-cct of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Jas. I; Ibid. Northants, Trin. 12 Jas. I ; Hil. 14 Jas. I; Mich. 1; Jas. I; Notes of Fines, East. 14 Jas. I ; Pat. R. 14 Jas. I, pt. 22, m. II. 78 POLEBROOK HUNDRED BENEFIELD ^^ Rich. CiJes a cbtveron betvieen ihree crossUn or. daughter of the Earl of Cork." Charles, who suc- ceeded his elder brother in the earldom in 1659,'* with his wife Mary, sold Bencfield in 1666 to Thomas Bromfield of London and others,'* possibly acting on behalf of Sir Thomas Middleton, who held the manor from 1676 to 1689.*" Shortly after this date the manor was held by William Marquis of Powis, who already held the adjoining manor of Oundle. In 1724 he sold Benefield to James Joye," and from this date it followed the descent of Oundle (g.v.). In 1280 there was a wind- mill'- in the Peterborough fee, and in 1367 a windmill and a watermill** probably stood on the same sites as the two mills of the manor of 1566. A dovecote also is mentioned** at this date. Sir Thomas Bnidcnel received a grant of free warren within the manor of Benefield in 1616.** The Knights Templars held view of frankpledge over their tenants in Benefield, as did their successors of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England.** The church of ST. MART stands CHURCH on the south-west side of the village and consists of chancel with vestry, clearstoricd nave of four bays, north and south aisles, north porch, and west tower surmounted by a broach spire. At the east end of the north aisle is a transeptal extension formerly used as a choir vestrv, but since 1925 as a memorial chapel.*' With the exception of the chancel, which is of 14th-century date, the whole of the church was rebuilt in 1847 at the charges of James Watts Russell, the patron,** in a style roughly approximating to that of the older parts (14th century) of the building then pulled down, but diflfering in many respects from that structure. The aisles and vestry are under separate gabled roofs, and all the roofs are eaved and covered with grey slates. Bridges describes the old church as consisting of ' body, north and south aisles and chancel, all leaded,'** with an embattled tower and spire at the west end : the chancel also was embattled, and the north aisle was prolonged at its east end as a chapel, covering the chancel for about a third of its length. A drawing of the building made before its demolition shows the nave and north aisle** to have been completely niodernised, probably in the 1 8th century, the windows of the clearstory being elliptical and those of the aisle plain undivided pointed open- ings.'* There was a north doorway to the chancel. The upper part of the present tower differs completely from the original design, which had single pointed bell-chamber windows of two lights. The chancel was restored and modernised internally in 1847, and a screen erected, but the elaborate mural decorations then carried out perished in course of time, necessi- tating a further restoration in 1897, when a new altar and reredos were erected and other work carried out.'^ In 1901 the south-west corner of the tower was underpinned and rebuilt, and the spire repaired.*' The chancel has an original east window of five lights with reticulated tracery, restored in parts. On the south side are three restored windows of two lights, and a similar single window at the east end of the north wall. The chancel has double angle buttresses of two st.ages, and a moulded plinth and string. The piscina and sedilia were 'renewed' in 1847. Three carved misericord seats, said to have come originally from Fotheringhay church, were purchased at Tansor in 1899 and placed in the chancel, one on the north and two on the south side. In 1904 a loft was added to the screen,** and above it a rood with attendant figures, a staircase being added in 1906. All the other fittings, together with the font and pulpit, are modern. In the chancel is a brass plate to Elizabeth Grant (d. 1608) inscribed ' my child-bed was my death-bed : thanks I gave to God that gave a child, and so I died.' Under the tower is a marble slab to Mark Lewis, S.T.P., rector (d. 1620). Until 191 1 there were five bells, but in that year a treble, by Taylor of Loughborough, was added, making a ring of six. The second (old treble) is by Henry Penn of Peterborough, 171 3, the third by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, 1755, the fourth by C. and G. Mears of London, 1847, the fifth dated 1733, and the tenor by R. Taylor of St. Neots, 1815.*' The silver plate consists of a cup and cover paten of 1570, a paten of 1637 inscribed with the names of the churchwardens of 1658, and a silver-gilt cup, two patens, and a flagon of 1843. There is also a modern plated cup, paten and flagon.'* The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) baptisms 1570-1705, marriages 1570-1695, burials 1570-1684; (ii) baptisms 1705-1742, marriages 1696- 1742, burials 1685-1742 ; (iii) baptisms 1743-1812, marriagesi743-l778, burials 1743-1812; (iv) marriages 1778-1812. " Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 17 Chas. I ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage, viii, 65. '» Ibid. '» Recov. R. Mich. 18 Chai. 226; Com. Pleaj, D. Enr. |g Char II, m. lod. ••Inst. BIcs. (P.R.O.)j Feet Northants, Mich. 29 Chas. II; I Will, and Mary; Recov. R. 1 Will, and Mary, ro. 308. •' Feet of F. Northants, Trin. Ceo. I. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file no. 15. •> Ibid. Edw. Ill, file 193, no. 15. •• Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. I, m. 27. "Ibid. 14 Jas. I, pt. ii, m. 14. •• Plae. de Quo Ifar. (Rec. Com.), 531. " In memory of Capt. A. E. Watts II, ro. Mich. of F. Mich. Mich. 24. Russell. The internal dimensions of the church are : chancel 35 ft. by 18 ft., nave 54 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., north aisle 13 ft. wide, south aisle 17 ft., tower 9 ft. 9 in. square. " Designed by Mr. Derrick, of Oxford. " Bridges Hisl. of Norihants, ii, 39S. '^^ The drawing is from the north ; probably the south aisle was modernised also. '* There were four windows and two doorways in the north wall of the aisle. " The altar and reredos were designed by Mr. J. .N. Comper. During this restoration a piscina was uncovered in the south wall of the chapel (now vestry) north of the chancel. Its state not allowing of restoration, a new one was put in itt place. 79 *• When the nave was rebuilt In 1847 the ground was considerably lowered, and the footings of the tower on the south fide were only about 15 in. below the surface. " The Royal Arms were placed on the screen at this time, flanked by those of Dr. Carr Glynn (Rishop of Peter- borough), and of the Ven. E. M. Moore, Archdeacon of Oakham (rector 1876- 1907), who was the promoter of the works of restoration within that period. He was also a generous donor. The loft and rood were designed by Mr. J. N. Comper. •^ The Inscriptions on the old bella are given in North, Ch. Bells of Northants. (1878), 190. •• Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 31. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The church*' was in the gift of the ADVOWSON lord of Benefield in 1 225,88 and has followed the descent of the manor (q.v.) since that date. In 1329 William of Benetfeld obtained licence to alienate land in this parish to a chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the church of Benefield for the King and the souls of himself, his ancestors and benefactor s,** and in 1515 William Newman bequeathed 40^. to the same church ' to by a coope.'*'^ Its rectory was the occasion for several suits in the l6th centur>' in which the lord of the manor was involved. Between 1525 and 1529 the parson, Richard Robinson, appealed to the Star Chamber against George Zouche the patron ' and also a man of great strength and powre ' for keeping him out of his benefice by force and threats.*^"" More than thirty years later George's son and heir, Sir John Zouche, was sued in Chancery by Thomas Washington, clerk, for withholding the deed of presen- tation by which he had granted him the living and instituting another rector.'^' The plaintiffs of 1591 were laymen — Francis Flower who sued the last Zouche lord of Benefield and his uncle, William Zouche, for non-fulfilment of an undertaking to sell him a lease of the rectory of Benefield, and William Tate, who complained of the detention by the same defendants of the indentures and bonds by which they had sold him the same rectory.'''' Church Estate. In 1683 theCom- CHARniES missioners of Charitable Uses decreed that the rent of certain tenements and lands, which had been given by the family of Benning- ton, should be applied to and for the repair of the Parish Church. Under the Inclosure Act passed in I George IV, an allotment of 1 3 a. o r. 4 p. was set out and awarded to the Churchwardens in lieu of the original property. The land produces (io yearly and the Charity is also possessed of ;^ioo 5 per cent. War Stock standing in private names and representing accumulations of income. Poor's Land. The same Commissioners in 1683 found that certain sums of money given by persons named Bennington and Wright for the poor had been laid out in the purchase of a close of land containing 4 acres. The property consists of a field at King's CliflFe containing 5 a. and let for ^4 5/. yearly. The Poor's Money. The Commissioners previously mentioned found that other persons gave altogether £io for the poor. This money was originally secured on a mortgage, but has since been invested in £?i1 l()i. Sd. Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and pro- ducing £■} I/, id. yearly in dividends. The income of the Poor's Land and the Poor's Money is distributed in doles on St. Thomas's Day to about 18 poor. By his will dated 1783 the Rev. Francis Broade gave ;^ioo to the Rector and Churchwardens the income to be distributed to the Poor on Good Friday. The money is now represented by ^103 15/. 3;^. Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and producing ^3 12s. Sd. yearly in dividends which is distributed among about 18 poor. HEMINGTON Hinintone, Hemintone (xi cent.) ; Hennington, Hemingtone, Heminthon, Hevinton (xii cent.). The parish of Hemington covers an area of 1,354 acres and stands at an average height of 200 ft. above the ordnance datum. The subsoil is Oxford clay with cornbrash in the east. The upper soil varies. About a third of the land is laid down as grass and the remainder, except for about 15 acres of woodland, is arable land producing barley and wheat. A road leading from Great Gidding to Polebrook goes through the village past Hemington Lodge, and the vicarage, church and school. North of the school a branch road goes eastwards past the remains of the old Manor House, which survived as two tenements in 1888. This, the second Northamptonshire home of the Montagus, was surrounded by a moat, inclosing 8 acres. The last member of the family who lived here was Elizabeth Harington, widow of the second Sir Edward Montagu, known as ' The Blind Lady Montagu.'* Dean Swift, writing to the Duke of Montagu in 171 3, nearly a hundred years after this lady's death, said, ' I was at Hcmmington according to your order, and found no mansion house there, and was informed it had been pulled down about 30 years before.'^ The population of Hemington numbered 106 persons in 1921. Part of HEMINGTON was given with MANORS Barnwell St. Andrew (q.z:) to Ramsey Abbey by Ethelric Bishop of Dorchester. The gift consisted of 3 hides and 2 virgates of land.^ The area by 1086 and in the 12th century had fallen to 2j hides.* The tenants in fee holding of the Abbot as at Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.) were the le Moynes^ until Abbot William de Godmanchester purchased the manor with Barnwell in 1276.' In 1293 Abbot Sawtry appropriated Hemington to the uses of the Abbey ceilar.' After the Dissolution the Crown in 1540 granted the manor to Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's Bench.' From 1540 the manor descended with Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.), but the Duke of Buccleuch did not sell it with that manor in 191 3, and is still owner.* Another fee in Hemington, also 2^ hides, the soke of which lay in Oundlc, was held of the abbot of " Dedicated to St. Mary, P.C.C. lo Holder. •• Rot. //u?. Je Ifellei (Cant, and York Soc.) ii, 123. •• Cal. Pal. 1 327- JO, p. 364. •»' P.C.C. 10 Holder. »••' Star Cham. Proc. Hen. VIII, bdlc. 17, not. Z51 and 257. "" Ch.in.Proc. (Ser. 2), bdlc. 190, no. 76. "■"1 Ibid. Elir,. F. I 7., no. 29 ; T.t. 8. ' C. Wiic, The Monlagui oj Boiighwti, 12, 28. • Duke 0/ Buccleuch MSS. (Hi«t. MSS. Com. Rep.) i. 359. • Cariul. Man. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.), i, 280. 80 « r.C.H. Norihanis. i, 318*, 367a. • Ibid. • Cariul. Men. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.) lii, 18;. ' Ibid, ii, l..\o. ' I'.it. R. 31 Men. VIII, pt. 6, m. 31. " Inf. from Messrs. Nichull, Maniity and Co. POLEBROOK HUNDRED REMINGTON Peterborough by three knights in the nth and 12th centuries.^' The ovcrlordship of the abbey over these lands continued to the Dissolution." In the reign of Henry I, one of the three knights had been succeeded by Richard Fitz Gilbert,'^ who has been identified with the son of Gislebert Favel, a tenant of the abbey in 1086.''' Riciiard's holding comprising a hide and i\ virgatc formed the nucleus of the manor of Hemington parcel of the manor of Southorpe which was held of the abbey.** Between 1 173 and 1 176 Ivo, son of Geoffrey de Gunthorpe and Richard his brother, probably the sons of Geoffrey de Southorpe," and John de Remington, confirmed the church of Remington to the Priory of St. Neots.^' The same John contributed towards an aid at the end of the 12th century." Re was succeeded by Richard de Remington, said to be his son, whose wife was Amice.'* Their son John in 1232 acknowledged the right of the daughters of Robert de Remington to lands in Remington.'* Re was succeeded by his son Richard (living 1277),*" who in 1254 obtained licence from the bishop of Lincoln to have a chapel and chantry without burial, font or belfry, except one bell for the elevation of the Rest, at his manor.''' He confirmed the advowson of the church of Heming- ton to St. Neots Priory in 1269.^- Possibly the relict of his son or grandson, Richard de Remington, Joan, then wife of a Colville, settled lands in Remington, which she had of Gilbert son of Simon, and Joan, daughter of Simon de Remington, on her children, Roger (who had a son John), Richard (who had a son Richard, who married Divorgela), and Elizabeth.^^ John, son of Richard de Remington, did homage to the Abbot of Peterborough in 1290, when he was aged seven years.^* This John had two sons, Richard andJohn(whohada sonThomas,mentionedin 1367).^* Richard and his wife Joan were living in 1329 and '345-** Probably Joan held the manor in dower, a? we find that in 1350 Roger Ryrst held for the term of the life of his wife of the inheritance of Richard de Remington, a third part of a fee in Remington." Richard and Joan had two sons, Richard Remington (living in 1361, 1374), who married Margerie, and John (living in 1361), whose wife was Joan. Richard and Margerie seem to have had a son John, who with his wife Joan was living in 1401.^* It seems probable that they had a son Richard, as Katherinc, daughter and heir of Richard Hemington, settled the manor in 1424** on her marriage with John Kirkby,'''who was holding three parts of a knight's fee in Remington formerly of RogerRyrst of the abbot of Peterborough." 15cfore 1455 the manor had fallen to the coheirs of Kathcrine lady of Hemington. In that year William Inglcfield and his wife Agnes with William Elyngton and his wife Joan conveyed a third of the manor to llcnrv Ehen, chaplain, and others.'" A settlement of another third was made in 1456 by Richard Blogwyn, son and heir of Margaret Blogwyn, one of the coheirs of Katherine, and his wife Alice.^ A moiety of tlie remaining third belonged ten years later to Henry Wytlessy.** The manor of Hemington became settled upon William Est the elder, with remainders to his sons William and Robert in tail male. Alice, widow of the elder William, had a life interest, and she and her second husband, John Dann, held the manor. William the younger married Anne Montgomery, upon whom a settlement was made, and they had an only child Anne. His widow Anne married Thomas Dykons and in 1489 Alice and Anne and their husbands brought an action against Robert Est, described as of London, draper, who as heir male under the settlement had sold his interest to Thomas Montagu. The dis- pute was compromised and all parties, together with John Hcryng and Anne his wife, apparently the daughter of William Est the younger, quitclaimed their interests to Thomas Montagu.^ Tliomas died in 1517, having settled Remington in tail male on his eldest son Edward with remainder to a younger son John.^ From this date the manor has followed the descent of the chief manor. The second of the three Peterborough knights in Remington in the reign of Henry I was Guy Maufe, whose share in the fee was half a hide and half a virgate." Re was the heir and probably the son of Roger ' Malfed,' the abbot's Domesday tenant at Woodford,'* whom he had succeeded in 1 1 14. Re and his wife Adeliza granted tithes to Peterborough in 1141.** Re was succeeded by Simon, possibly his son, who with Alexander Maufe had some right to the advowson about 1176.^" The Maufe fee followed the descent of Woodford (i-v.) and about 1254 was divided among the four daughters of Robert Maufe. The small holding in Hemington seems to have been acquired by Thorney Abbey, Peterborough Abbey and Richard de Hemington, and in the 1 6th century came to Thomas and Edward Montagu.^"* The abbot of Thorney's possessions in Kingsthorp and Hemington were described as half a knight's fee of the fee of Maufe in 1315'" and later in the 14th century.''^ •• F.C.H. Norihants. i, 315-16, 367J. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, 1. 159*; Chron. Pttroi. H7 ; Feud. Aiii. iv, 28, 48 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (jcr. 2), xxxii, 37. '« y.C.H. NoTtbanit. i, 367a. '» Round, Feud. Engl. 167, 223. '* Fine R. 88, m. : ; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, fife 103, no. 2; Close R. 118, m. yi. " r.C.//. Northanu. ii, 466, 514. It •eemi likely that Thomas, son of Robert of Gunthorpe, who held eight hides in Gunthorpe, Southorpe, Stokes and Hem- ington (Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. 54), it the Thomas, son of Robert, son of Geoffrey Southorpe of 1243; cf. Stoke Doyle. '• Cott. MS. Faust. A 4, fol. 41; Gorham, Hist, oj Eyntsbury and St. Neott, ii, p. cxrvi. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol. 159A. " Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 401 ; Buccleuch Deeds, A. 30. " Feet of F. Northants. case 172, file 25, no. 279. " Buccleuch Deeds, C. 10(d). ■' Ibid. B, 14, 18. " Feet of F. Northants. case 174, file 49, no. 889. " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 32, 67, 72. " Cbron. Pelrob. 147. " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 73, 87. " Ibid. A. 69. " Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 71 K. "Buccleuch Deeds, A. 851, G. 25, K. 6, B. 20. " Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 399- 401. 81 " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 11 ; Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file 93, no. 49. " Feud. Aids, iv, 48. " Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file 95, no. 134. " Ibid.no. 138, •* Ibid, file 96, no. 12. " Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 90, no. 54 ; Feet of F. Northants, case 179, file 97, not. II, 13, 16. '•Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxii, 37; Coll. Top. et Gen. v (c. viii,), 89. •' y.C.H. Northants. i, 367a. " Round, Feud. i'"g/. 158, 223. "• Pytchley op. cit., 60 «. *" Gorham, loc. cit. *»• Pytchley, loc. cit. ; Cott. MS. Cleo. C ii, fol. 143A. •' Cott. MS. Vetp. E xxi, fol. 30A. ««Ibid. Cleop. C ii, fol. 143*. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE A share in the Peterborough fee equal to that of Guy Maufe belonged to Reginald le Moyne in the reign of Henry I.** This seems to be the so-called manor said to have been conveyed by Berengar le Moyne in the 13th century to Sir Richard de Reming- ton,''* but in 1 31 5 a later Reginald le Moyne still held the sixth of a knight's fee in Hemington and Little- thorp of the abbot of Peterborough.'*^ Two landowners in Hemington whose names appear in the return of 1316 are John Sandon and John Car- doun.*® John Cardoun was at the same date one of the lords of Thurning with Winwick, then in the county of Huntingdon,'*' and either he or his heir of the same name in 1330 defended his right to take toll of carts passing through Winwick to avoid the difficult transit by the highway through Thurning and Hemington.'** John Sandon may possibly be the Essex landowner of that name in 1303.'** In 1 291 there was a mill on the Ramsey Abbey land in Hemington.*" The church of ST. PETER AND ST. CHURCH PAUL stands on the south side of the village and consists of chancel 24 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 2 in., nave 38 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 4 in., south porch, and west tower 8 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft. 6 in., all these measurements being internal. With the exception of the tower, which is of late 15th century date, very little ancient work survives, the old chancel and nave having been pulled down in 1666 and a new building erected by Lord Montagu consisting of a rectangular body measuring 38 ft. by 19 ft.,** with square-headed windows taken from the ruins of the old manor-house.** The church remained in that condition until 1872, when the nave was restored and a chancel and south porch added.*' The new work is in the style of the 14th century, but the chancel arch is said to be a reproduction of an arch which had formerly existed and of which a few stones had been built into the walls.** These stones are of early 13th century date, and include the two respond capitals, which have nail- head ornament, and part of a moulded base. The arch itself, which is almost wholly modern, is of two chamfered orders. New windows in the 14th century style were inserted in the nave in place of the old square-headed windows, but the 17th century round- headed south doorway remains. The chancel is faced with ashlar and has a slated eaved roof. The nave retains its 17th century open-timber roof of four bays, with turned pendants to the tie beams. It is covered with grey Colleyweston slates. The tower is of grey rubble masonry in four stages, with embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses. Above the west doorway is a square panel with the arms of Montagu, and the west window is of three cinquefoiled lights, with four-centered head and hoodmould. The mullions and tracery are new. The bell-chamber windows are also four-centered and of two plain pointed lights. The lofty tower-arch is Ot two chamfered orders dying into the wall. There is no vice. The font is of late 12th or early 13th century date, and consists of an octagonal bowl and circular moulded stem, in which the nail-head ornament occurs. The shorter sides of the bowl have carved heads in their upper part. In the chancel are ten oak stalls, five on each side, of late 15th century date, said to have come from Fotheringhay church.** All retain their carved misericords the subjects of which are as follows :— North side : (l) dragon, (2) crown, (3) hawk in fetter- lock, (4) publican with jug, (5) mermaid ; South side: (6) owl, (7) tailed beast in monk's hood, (8) tumbler, (9) two boars saltire-wise, (10) helm and mantling. The four end counters have traceried designs, and carvings of a rose, boar, crown, and hawk in fetterlock. The knops are also carved. At the east end of the nave is a floor slab with brass figures of Thomas Montagu and his wife Agnes (Dudley), and a shield in each of the four corners. The male figure is bareheaded, with long flowing hair and wears a large cloak and gown edged with fur ; the ladv is habited in a tight-fitting gown and wears a pedimental headdress. The inscription records that Montagu died 5 September, 1517.** A glass panel with the arms of Montagu is in one of the south windows of the nave.*' Some portions of carved screen work and tracery, found in 1 872, have been worked into the new oak pulpit. There are four bells in the tower, the treble by J. Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, 1872, the second by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, 1724, the third a recasting by Taylor in 1908 of a bell dated 1598, inscribed ' Cum voco ad ecclesiam venite,'*' and the tenor undated, but inscribed ' Obe the Prince.' There is a pit for a fifth bell. The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of about 1683, and a paten and flagon of 1699 presented by Robert Wells and .'Mice his wife,' who designe to be Buried in this church by their only son Robert, who died y" 12"" of Nov'' 1685.'*' There is also a brass alms dish. The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) bap- tisms 1574-82, 1596-1783, marriages 1596-1753, burials 1562-90, 1597-1783 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1784-1812 ; (iii) marriages 1755-1812. The advowson of the church, dedi- ADVOIVSON cated to St. Peter, at least as early as 1254,'" but since 1786 to St. Peter and St. Paul," was given, with a virgate of land in the *'y.C.H. tiortbanti. i, 367a. " Bridgei, op. cit. ii, 399, quoting from (he Duke of Mcntjgu'j cvidcncei. "Cott. MS. Veip. E xii, fol. 30A. •• Feud. Aidi, iv, 28. •' Ibid, ii, 472. «' Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 526. "Feud. Aidi, ii, 148. w Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), 55*. " Theic are the dimeniioni given by Bridget, ii, 40t. He deicribei the building ai of frecitone, covered with ilate. and joined at the weit end to the old itteple. Thomai Montagu in i;i4 directed thai hii bodj ihould be buried in the chapel of Holy Trinity, and left money for the repair of the steeple (Wills, Probate OfT. Northampton, A, 329.) "Whellan, Dtreclory oj Nortbanis (1874), 710. The building i> said to have had an ' entirely domestic appearance.' "The coit was borne by the Duke of Bucclcuch. "Whellan, op. cit., 710. "H. K. Bonney, //»/. Notes on Folher- ingbay {t9it). The stalls are said to have been left by will to Hemington church by a farmer of Fotheringhay in the iSth cent. Inf. from Rev. F. II. La Trobe. '• I'ranklin lludmn.Jiraiieiof Norlbanli. 82 " Bridges (op. cit. ii, 401) says that the arms of Mont.igu were in the east window. '» The old third hell also bore the initials E. M. (probably for Sir Edward Montagu, lord of the manor ; died Jan. 1601-2); the inscription has been retained. See North, Cb. Bells oj Nortb- anis. 303. '• The inscription is on the paten only : Markham, Cb. Plate of Northants. '55- •" Bucclcuch Deeds, B 14, 18 ; Rol. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York Soc), 119. " Bacon, Ltber Regit, 829. POLEBROOK HUNDRED LUDDINGTON parish, to the monks of St. Neot's by Thurstan, the priest of Hemington, in 1 149, on the condition that after his death Roger, his son, should hold it for life.'- Between 1173 and 1 1 82 the prior and monks were inducted into the church by order of Geoffrey, Bishop elect of Lincoln, Roger,then priest, retaining possession in the name of the monks and paying them 2;. a year." Although Thurstan's grant had thus obtained episcopal sanction and was ratified by the several tenants of the abbot of Peterborough in the parish, [see above] the Priory was not undisturbed by rival claimants. The Ramsey Cartulary preserves a bull of Pope .\lexander III which confirms Hemington with its church to the Abbey,** and at a later date the abbot of Peterborough laid claim to the advowson.** The dispute between the Priory and Abbey was finally settled in 1 219 when the prior surrendered his right to the church of Clapton on condition that the abbot gave up the advowson of Hemington to him and paid him the ancient and due pension which he was wont to receive from Clapton.** It was amongst the possessions of St. Neot's Priory at its surrender" and was included in the grant of Lud- dington (y.t.) to Sir Edward Montagu in 1544. From that date the rectory and advowson followed the descent of the manor** until 1920, when the Duke of Buccleuch conveyed them to Mr. Benjamin Measures. A vicarage was ordained during the episcopacy of Hugh de Welles (1206-35).** The rectory belonged to the Priory of St. Neot's until 1539'" and in 1544 was granted to Sir Edward Montagu with the advowson (q.v.) with which it has since descended. In the 14th century the Priory of St. James, or Hinchinbrooke Priory, near Huntingdon, owned certain tithes in Hemington which were leased to Sir Edward Montagu for £1 4J. a year at its surrender." An annuity of 13.1. 4d. is payable out CHARITY of the Estates of Lord Montagu for distribution to the poor. Tlie origin of the charity is unknown, but it said to have been a bequest of the blind Lady Montagu. LUDDINGTON LuUintone, LuUinthone (xi to xiii cent.) ; Lyling- ton, f.oUington, LuUyngton (xiv cent.) ; Lodyngton in the Brooke (xv cent.) ; Leddyngton, ah. Luddyng- ton, als. LuUyngton (xvi cent.) ; Ludington ab. Lullington (xviii cent.). The parish of Luddington, or Luddington-in-the- Brook, lies on the borders of Huntingdonshire and a small part of it falls within the Hundred of Leighton- stone in that county. It covers 1,104 ^cres on a subsoil of Oxford clay, with a border of cornbrash in the east. Of this area rather more than a third is pasture, about eight acres are woodland, and the rest is arable, producing chiefly wheat and barley. The average height above the ordnance datum is 200 ft. A long and rather narrow tract of land in the east of the parish ftretches south of Lutton and east of Hemington along the county boundary in Gipsy Lane to the Rectory Farm. Farther south on the east the road from Great Gidding enters the parish and runs through the village in a north-westerly direction into Hemington, passing the church of St. Margaret and the Church Farm. A very winding itream called Alconbury Brook rises in the Great Hall Spinney north of the church and flows in a south-easterly direction through a tract of land liable to floods. In the early part of the i8th century the county historian described the situation of the village as ' low and dirty ' from the overflowing of this rivulet, and attributed its title of Luddington-in-the- Brook to this cause.* In 1921 the population of Luddington consisted of 65 persons. A hide and a half in LUDDINGTON MANOR which was parcel of Oundle were held of Peterborough Abbey by Walter in 1086.2 'YYie lordship of the Abbey over this fee con- tinued without interruptionuntil its«urrender in 1539.* The names of Walter's successors in the 12th century and early 13th have not been preserved. A mesne lordship over the fee was held by Richard Poure, possibly the Shropshire and Stafford landowner of that date, in 1243.* It came afterwards to the Marmion lords of Lutton manor, of which the manor of Luddington was a member, until John Marmion, who did homage to the abbot of Peterborough in 1300,' released all his rights in Luddington to the Abbey.* In 1243 William de Lullington was subtenant to Richard Poure, holding half a knight's fee of the old enfeoffment, of him.' He presented to the church four years later,' but in or before 1275 had been succeeded as patron by Gregory de Lullington.' Within the next thirty years the manor had passed into the possession of John, son of Thomas de Oundle, probably Gregory's grandson,*" who held it of John Marmion by homage and fealty and service of half a knight's fee.** •• Gorham, op. cit. ii, pp. xxxix, xl, •cxx»i. •• Cott. MS. Faus:. A. iv, ff. 40A, 41 ; Dugdale, Mtm. Angl. iii, 474. ** Cartul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 137. •» Cott. MS. Cleo. C. ii, fol. io6b ; Gorham, loc. cit. •• Fe«t of F. Nortbants. case 172, file 16, no. 58. •' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 262. •' Inst. Bk«. (P.R.O.). •» Rot. Hug. de WeUes (Cant, and York Soc), i, 208. '» ValoT Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 262. "Add. Chart. 34326, 39589; Dug- dale, Mon. Angl. iv, 388-89. ' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 402-4. ■ V.C.H. Northants. i, 316a. • Egerton MS. 2733, ff. 134, 1344; Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xxi, fol. \id; Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 23; Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. I. • Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants Rec. Soc), ii, 968, 69 ; Egerton MS. 2733, fol. 134A. • Cott. MS. Veip. E. xxi, fol. I2d. • V.C.H. Northants. ii, 584-85. ' Egerton MS. 2733 fol. 134b. ' Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York Soc), 226. ' Rot. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York Soc), 127. A John de Lullington and Benigna, his daughter, appear about 1260-70. Buccleuch Deeds, A 37, G 8, H 28. '° Walter de Whyttlcseye (Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, pp. 157-8) describes him as Gregory's son. "Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4; Cott. Chart, xv, 18. 83 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE In 1304 he granted it to the abbot of Peter- borough, its chief lord, John Marmion, the mesne lord giving his consent.'^ Abbot Godfrey de Crowland assigned the manor to the convent for his anniversary .^^ He was returned as lord of Luddington in 1316,^* and it remained among the temporahties of his house until the sur- render of the Abbey in 1539.** In 1544 it was granted to Sir Edward Montagu," and followed the descent of Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.), but was not sold by the Duke of Buccleuch in 191 3, and the duke is still owner of the manor. Mr. James Cheney is one of the chief landowners in the parish. Land in Luddington formed part of a knight's fee in Great Gidding and Luddington, given by Ingeram de Owe (Auco) to the Austin Canons of Huntingdon^' and confirmed to them by Henry I.'^* The lands and rents of the Priory in Fotheringhay and Luddington together were valued at £^ gs. id. in 1291 ^' and in 1539 its rents in Luddington alone amounted to 102s. lld.^" The possessions of this house in Luddington remained with the Crown until 1546, when they were sold with the manor of Great Gidding to Edward Watson of Rockingham and Henry Herdson, skinner, of London,^^ who in the same year obtained licence to convey them to Sir Edward Montagu.^- The church of ST. M.-IRGARET: con- CHURCH sists of chancel, 22 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 2 in. ; clearstoried nave, 39 ft. by 15 ft. ; south aisle, 9 ft. 6 in. wide ; south porch and west tower, 6 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 8 in., all these measurements being internal. The tower is surmounted by a short broach spire. The building is almost entirely of 15th century date, but it appears to have taken the place of a 13th century church, which seems to have had both north and south aisles. The building was very completely restored in 1874, the chancel being in a great measure modern work, but four lancet windows, three on the north and one on the south, which had survived the 15th-century rebuilding, were retained in modern form. The buttresses and part of the walling at the west end of the nave may belong to the 13th-century church, the north buttress indicating the line of the former north arcade. The building is of rubble masonry, with plain parapets, large grotesque gargoyles,^^ and leaded roofs to nave and aisle. The chancel is covered with grey slates. All the roofs are modern. The spire dates only from 1874, but is said to be a copy of a spire long ago destroyed ; before the restoration only its base remained, covered with a slated pyramidal roof. The chancel retains no ancient features except its 15th-century arch with moulded capitals and bases. The rood loft doorway remains on the north side, approached by a stairway, still perfect, in the north nave wall, here thickened out. The nave arcade consists of three pointed arches of two chamfered orders, the outer running down the piers to the ground, the inner resting on attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. All the windows of the nave are four-centered, those of the clearstory of two cinquefoiled lights, the others of three lights, and at the east end of the aisle, in the usual position, is a piscina with four-centered head and quatrefoil bowl. The tower is divided by string courses into five short stages, and has clasping buttresses and bell- chamber windows of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head. The tower arch is lofty and of a single chamfered order. There is no vice. The font is of 1 5 th century date, with plain octagonal bowl and stem. The oak pulpit and the seating are modern, but some old linen pattern panels have been used up and have been copied in the bench ends. There is a good carved oak chest, probably of 16th-century date. The only ancient glass consists of some fragments of late 15th-century canopy work in the east window of the aisle and in one in the north wall.^ The two bells in the tower were cast by Henry Penn, of Peterborough, in 1710.^* The frames were renewed in 1861. The plate consists of a silver gilt cup and cover paten of 1640, both bearing the initials of Richard Faulkner, and the date 1641.^* There are also a pewter alms plate and a brass alms dish. The registers before l8l2 are as follows : (i) baptisms 1673-86, 1702-31, 1733-58, marriages 1673-1702, 1711-43, burials 1635-92, 1711-57; (ii) baptisms and burials 1759-1812 ; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. The church, which until the latter ADFOWSON part of the i8th century was dedi- cated to St. Andrew,^^ has been known as the church of St. Margaret of Antioch since 1791.^* It was included in the grant of the manor {q.v.) by John, son of Thomas de Oundle, to the Abbey of Peterborough, and remained one of the possessions of that house until its surrender.^' Sir Edward Montagu bought it with the manor in 1 544. The rectory, which was united to the vicarage of Hemington before 1854, has, with the advowson, followed the descent of the manor. In 1920 it was conveyed by the Duke of Buccleuch with Heming- ton to Mr. Benjamin Measures. An annuity of 13/. \d. is payable out CHARITY of the estates of Lord Montagu for distribution to the poor. The origin of the charily is unknown. "Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4; Cott. Chart, xv, iS. Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 241 i Cott. MS. Vcip. E. xxi, ff. 16A, 17; Ibid. CIco. C. ii, fol. 81. " Sparkc, loc. cit. "Feud, /lids, iv, 23. ■• A'a/or Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 279. " Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. i. " Chart. R. Ii4,m. 31. "Cart. Anliq. II. no. 8. " Pie Nicb. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 556. " faUr E d ■u^r.iZJCl LuDniNGTON Church from the South LuDDlNCTON Church : The Interior, looking East POLEBROOK HUNDRED OUNDLE Undala, Undela (x cent.) ; Oundel (xiv cent.). The parish of Oundle is situated on the Nene, which almost surrounds the level ground called St. Sythc's meadow. This ancient market town is situated on the higher ground to the north-west, on the neck of this little peninsula. The hamlets of Ashton and Elmington lie to the north-east, across the river; Biggin and Churchfield to the west. The land near the river is liable to floods, but the main part of the town stands from 25 ft. to 35 ft. above the level of the river, and the ground rises on the east and west boundaries to about 250 ft. The area of the parish is 4,992 acres, of which 3,144 acres are in Oundle and 1,848 in Ashton. In 1895 Biggin and Churchfield, with the rural portion of the township, were added to Benefield,* the area of Oundle being thus reduced to 2,228 acres. The land is mainly permanent pasture. A private Act, un- printed,- was passed in 1807 for the inclosure and the tithes of Oundle ; under it the vicarage was augmented by 66 acres.' There are several mineral springs in the neighbour- hood,* and a century ago the making of bobbin lace was a local industr)'. A road from Thrapston on the south crosses the river Nene by the South or Crowthorp Bridge, which has six round keystoned arches and a plain sloped coping, but is of no architectural interest. There were formerly two crosses on the old bridge 12 ft. apart, the bridge extending ' 20 ft. from one cross to the north and 40 ft. from the other to the south. '^ The road continues north and again crosses the Nene by the North Bridge on its way to Elton and Peter- borough. The North Bridge was rebuilt and widened in 1912-14. It consists of eleven arches, six over the river proper and five more widely spaced in the approach from the town. A tablet recording a former rebuild- ing, found during the course of repair in 1835, has been inserted in the parapet ; the inscription reads : ' In the yere of oure Lord 1570 thes arches wer borne doune by the waters extremytie. In the yere of oure Lord 1 57 1 they wer bulded agayn with lyme and stonne. Thanks be to God.' On the east side of the bridge is the railway station (opened 1845) on a branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. Near by on the river is a wharf or dock. Other roads from Stoke Doyle, Benefield, Glapthorn and Fothering- hay converge on the town. At the junction of the roads from Benefield and Stoke Doyle, the district was formerly called Chapel End, from the medieval chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Leiand, refer- ring to this chapel about 1540, describes it as ' the church or chapel of St. Thomas now of our Lady.' The site of the chapel is at present approximately occupied by Jesus Church. The town has many picturesque stone-built houses, La xto n. Argent a chei'eroti gobotiy ermine and sable between three griffons* heads gules sprinkled Kith drops of gold. chiefly of 17th and 1 8th century date, and some retaining earlier work, but the growing needs of Oundle School have necessitated the removal of several interesting blocks of buildings, notably in New Street. The new buildings, however, are everywhere de- signed to harmonise with their surroundings, and add not a little to the pleasant aspect of the town, being mostly in a late Gothic style adapted to modern needs. The gram- mar school and almshouse on the south side of the church- yard, which was a recon- struction by Sir William Laxton of the then existing guildhall,* was pulled down in 1852 to make room for the new Laxton School building, and new almshouses were built on a near site. The new school building has an open ground story, with wide four-centered arches, square-headed mullioned windows above, and a gable to the Market Place. The bronze tablet formerly over the entrance of the old school has been built into the end wall ; it bears the escutcheon of Sir William Laxton between the arms of the city of London and of the Grocers Company and an inscription in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, the Latin version of which reads, ' Vndellae natus Londini parta labore Laxtonus posuit senibus puerisque levame.' New school buildings adjoining were erected in 1885. The Town Hall and Market House, which stands in the middle of the Market Place, is a plain but not unpleasing gabled building of two stories erected in 1 826, in which year the market cross, which stood to the east of it, at the top of St. Osyth Lane, was destroyed. The cross, which was dated 1591, consisted of a tall shaft on two octagonal stone steps, and was surrounded by a pent house of timber, also octagonal, with high- pitched roof covered with stone slates.' Tlie war memorial stands in the Marl-et Place. At the corner of West Street (formerly the High Street) and New Street is a house now turned into a shop on the ground floor, with a panel in the gable inscribed ' 1626 W.W.,' the initials being those of William Whitwell, who built the block of property on that site, which extended to, and apparently included, the Talbot Hotel in New Street. Part of this property was pulled down for the Post OSice, erected in 1903, but the Talbot Hotel, originally the Tabret,' remains unaltered, and is a picturesque gabled building of three stories, with mullioned bay windows and wide central archway. The staircase is a good example of the period, with moulded rails, turned ' L.G.B. Order 33,586 ; a imall transfer had been made in 1885, L.G.B. Order '7.763- •47 Geo. Ill, Sesi. i. Cap. 19. The ■ward was nude in 1811. ' W. Smalley Law Oundle's Story, 35. *J. Morton, Nai. Hist, of Nortbantt (171a), p. 273. ' .Markham, Crosses of Nortbants. 9Z. •The guildhall was described in 1565 as' a very fair hall builded with freestone ' j it measured yz ft. by 38 ft. ; \V. Smalley Law, Oundle's Story, 35. ' Markham, Crosses of Sortbants. 93. Every Thursday at mid-day a bell is rung at the parish church to denote that the 85 market has opened. Up to about forty years ago two bells used to be rung on Sunday at 7 a.m. to indicate that it was the Sabbath day. •The name Talbot is from the ' talbot passant,' the crest of Mr. WhitweU's wife's family, the Griffins, which he adopted ; W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 90. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE balusters and square newels with tall shaped finials.* The Wliite Lion Hotel in North Street, another gabled three-story house with mullioned windows, has a panel with the initials ' E.H., I.H.,' but another inscribed ' A.H., B.H. mdcxli ' appears to be modern, though probably marking the position of Oundle: The White Lion Hotel one of that date. The Anchor Inn, a low two- story building, at the corner of St. Osyth Lane and East Road, with a panel inscribed ' 1637 IM.,' forms the end of a row of small houses in St. Osyth Lane, which were apparently built at the same time.** A gabled house on the north side of West Street, near Chapel End, is dated ' W.H. 1650,' and in the same street are two stone gabled 17th-century houses forming a single property known since 1801 as Paine's Almshouses,^ built on either side of a small court- yard and connected by a high wall with moulded coping, in which is a small but charming gateway with four-centered arch in a square frame, circular pediment, and tall obelisk finials.'^ Latham's Hospital and School*' in North Street, built in l6ll, though much restored and wholly modernised internally, preserves generally its original appearance, and is of two stories with mullioned windows, and three gabled wings towards the street Latham. Or a chief indented azure {barged zvith three roundels ar- inclosing two small courtyards entered by stone gate- ways. There was a restoration in 1837 and a more extensive one in 191 2, when railings took the place of the high stone wall to one of the courtyards. The inscriptions over the gateways were obliterated in Bridges' time, but over the school door was ' a rude pic- ture of a schoolmaster in a chair, with a cap on his head and his scholars around him, but much defaced.'** The ' hall ' of the hospital, for- merly on the ground floor, is now in the upper story : it contains some good 17th-cen- tury furniture and the prayer which Nicholas Latham' pen- ned by himself ' painted on 1 board above the fireplace.*^ The house known as The Berrystead,** now the property of Oundle School, is a large building of two stories with lofty basement and dormered attics, originally of 17th century date, but apparently rebuilt from the ground floor in the century following. The basement has mullioned windows, and a stone dated 1670 has been reused in a later wing, but the main elevations have tall sash windows, central doorway with pedimented head, dressed quoins, and bold cornice. The house is under parallel roofs with two gables at each end. The garden extends down to East Road, where there is a small square 17th century pavilion, or garden-house, with pyramidal stone slated roof. The vvrought-iron gates adjoining the lower ro?d have been erected at the entrance to East Haddon Hall. Another house, known as Cobthorne,*'in West Street, is of the same type, with mullioned windows in the basement, central doorway, and barred sash windows on the ground floor, and a range of five similar windows above. It was built by William Butler, commander of the Parliamentary forces, who used the timber from Lyveden House in its construc- tion.'^ A 17th-century oak staircase with turned balusters with ball tops runs from basement to attic, and is a good specimen of the period, built round a central well-hole.*' Bramston House, at the corner of the Market Place and St. Osyth Lane (formerly St. Sithe's Lane or Lark Lane) is an early 18th-century building of three stories, the front elevation of which is of ashlar with tall flanking pilasters, plain central doorway, sash windows, cornice and balustraded parapet. York's House, on the south side of West Street, has a lead head dated 1715, and attached to a large i8th century house on the opposite side of the street is a garden- house of the same period facing Milton Road, which has round-headed sash windows and low domed stone slated roof. •The 'tradition' that the house wai built with itonci from Fothcringhay Cattle and that the staircase came from there is unsupported by evidence, and ai regards the staircase it obviously without foundation. '•They may be of 16th century date, and the panel marks a rebuilding or reitoration. *' Or the ' Chapel Almshouses,' from the bequest of John Paine in 1801. The wing next to the Congregational Church forms the minister's house and is known as the Manse ; the other contains five free tenements called the 'almshouse.' *■ The gateway is said locally to have come from Kirby Hall. '•The school is no longer held here. '* //ii(. o/jVor(Aa«/), ii, 410. The in- scription over the almshouse was ' Quod dcdi acccpi ' and over the school ' V.x ore infantium pcrfecisti laudcm.' '• The prayer is given in Smalley Law, op. cit. 7J. 86 " In N'orth Street, opposite the cast end of the church. The original Bury Stead was to the north-west of the church, between the rectory and the vicarage. *' From Cobthorne furlong in St. Sithc'a field ; Sniallcy Law, op. cit. 30. " \V. Smalley Law, Outflle's Story^ 8$. *• It appears not to have been designed for the house. There is a local ' tradition * that it came from the Lyveden New Building. OUNDLE BEFORF 1852, SHOWING BUILDINGS NOW DESTROYED (From II drazving by B. Riidge) OuNDI.C : XtW SlREET IN iSj^), SHOWING HOUSES DEMOI.tSHED IN THAT YEAR POLEBROOK HUNDRED OUNDLE Ashton chapel and schoolhouse, erected in 1706, is a rectangular building measuring externally about 57 ft. by 18 ft., with diagonal angle buttresses, and a bell-cote,*** containing one bell, over the west gable. The schoolhouse, of two stories, occupies the east end of the building, which is faced with coursed, undressed stone, and has a slated roof. The entrance to the chapel is at the west end by a well-designed classic doorway, above which is a round-headed vnndow of three lights, forming with it a single archi- tectural composition. There is an altar-piece of canvas painted by Mrs. Creed, and two wooden tablets with long inscriptions relating the foundation of the chapel and school.-' Two doors at the east end, one on each side of the altar, lead to the schoolhouse, to which there is also external access. The side windows of the chapel are of two rounded lights. There is an addition to the building at the east end or the north side. Oundle is governed by an Urban District Council of 15 members formed in 1895, and is also the head of a Rural Dis- trict Council extending from Yarwell to Thorpe .\church and from Bulwick to VVarmington, the town itself being excepted. The Urban District Council succeeded a body of Commis- sioners appointed under an Act of l825,^consisting of the lord of the manor, the vicar and the master of the school as ex-officio commissioners, and 92 others named in the Act. The number was not to fall below 40 and the qualification was ^^500. The streets were to be improved by the removal of the Butter Cross, Shambles, etc. ; the market day was changed from Saturday to Thursday and a stock market added ; provision was made for lighting the town with gas or oil. The old Ascensiontide fair was liter represented by a pleasure fair on Whit Monday ; St. Valentine's fair for horses is kept on 2; February, St. Lawrence's fair is discontinued, but a new fair is held on 12 October. The Urban Council controls the water supply, but gas is supplied by a company. The history of Oundle begins with St. Wilfrid, who established a monastery here, where he died in 709 ; his body was taken to Ripon.'^' A later archbishop of York (Wulfstan) was buried at Oundle in 957.^ The town and the surrounding district were at a very early time given to the abbey of Peter- borough, being restored or confirmed to the abbey in 972 ; the charter shows that it then was the local government centre for ' eight hundreds ' and that it had a market.*^ It was probably about this time that St. Ethelwold visited the place in his endeavours to restore the abbeys destroyed by the Danes.'* Leofsi son of Bixi afterwards despoiled the abbey of Oundle and other lands, and they lay waste for two years ; afterwards, however, he was compelled to restore them." As in the case of most monastic manors, the history of the place was peaceful and uneventful. With the district generally it suffered from the ravages of earl Morcar in 1065,** and again from King John's vengeance on the monks of Peterborough in 1216 ; Oundle : The Talbot Hotel the church escaped, but the granges were destroyed.** In 1230 Henry III passed through on his way south from Stamford to Hertford.'" Occasional outrages are reported, as when the bishop of Durham's men were assaulted in 1297, and despoiled of the goods they had purchased for the bishop in the market ;'* or when in 1 35 1 some knights and their men broke into the abbot's park and carried away his goods and deer.'* A series of grants of pontage for the repair of Ashton bridge began in 1352 with renewals every few years till 1401.'' Sabi-'e Johnson, a Polebrook woman, wrote in 1545: 'Ripen hath buried one of plague and at Oundle they die still very sore. I fear this town ' [Glapthorn],'^ ; and a month later : ' At Oundle they die sore.''* In the next century Oundle seems to have been a meeting place for county business, especially in con- nection with the musters of men liable to serve.'* John Leland " gives a good description of the town as he saw it about 1540, approaching from the south. The river name should be noticed : ' The town standeth on the further ripe as I came to it. The bridge over Avon is of five great arches and two small. There is a little gutter or brook coming upon the causey as I entered, on the left hand, into Avon river. •" The vane is dated 1706. •' The inscriptions are given in Bridges, ii, 412. " Local Act, 6 Geo. IV, Cap. 32. " Bede, Hut. EccUs. v, 19. " Angl. Sax. Cbron. " Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582. "• Sparke, Hut. Angl. Script. (Hugo Candidut), iii, 17. " Hist. Eltin. (Anglia Christ.), 122. «» y.C.H. Norlhar.is. i, 262. " Matth. Paris, Hist. Angl. (RoUs Ser.), ii, l8g. " Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 284. " Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 286. " Ibid. 1350-54, p. 205. See also p. " Ibid. p. 304, &c. " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xx (2), 641. "Ibid. 855. " E.g. Cal. S.P. Dom. 1623-5, P- 4°^ i 1627-8, p. 102. See also 1629-31, p. 351 ; 1640, p. 164. " ItiH. i, 4. 87 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE among the arches of the bridge. The town hath a very good market and is all builded of stone. The parish church is very fair. One Robert Wiat, a merchant, and Joan his wife made a goodly south porch . . . They also made on the south side of the churchyard a pretty almshouse of squared stone, and a goodly large hall over it for the brotherhood of that church. And at the west end of the churchyard they made lodgings for two chantry priests founded there by them. The scripture in brass on the almshouse door beareth the date of the year of our Lord 1485 as I remember. At the west-northwest end of Oundle churchyard is the farm or parsonage house^ impro- priated to Peterborough. It is a £50 by year. Peter- borough was lord also of the town, and now the king hath allotted it to the queen's dowry. . . . The river of Avon so windeth about Oundle town that it almost insulateth it, saving a little by west-northwest. Going out at the town end of Oundle towards Fother- inghay I rode over a stone bridge through which the Avon passeth. It is called the North bridge, being of a great length because men may pass when the river overfloweth, the meadows lying on every side on a great level thereabout. I guessed there were about a ^-^n..:tt Oundle : Laxton's School thirty arches of small and great that bare up this causey. From Oundle to Fotheringhay a two miles by marvellous fair corn ground and pasture, but little wood.' An elaborate extent was made in 1565.'° The whole main street now called West Street and North Street was then High Street, and New Street was Bury Street ; St. Sithe's (or Osith's) Lane, leading down to her meadow, was then Lark Lane. Leland's description of the Guildhall is borne out : ' A very fair hall, builded with freestone.' The lord's ' stock- house and cage for punishment ' stood at the turn from the Market Place to Bury Street.''" The Burystcde is thus described : ' A general hall with cook-house adjoining and several little garrets under one roof, a tiled stable and the malthouse thatched with straw. '*^ Near by was the Drumming Well, which was one of the curiosities of the town. In a letter of Feb. 1667-8 occurs this account of it : ' There is much discourse of a strange well at Oundle, wherein a kind of drumming, in the manner of a march, has been heard. It is said to be very ominous, having been heard heretofore, and always precedes some great accident. I wrote to the town for an account of it and was informed . . tliat it beat for a fortnight the latter end of last month and the beginning of this, and was heard in the very same manner before the [late] King's death, the death of Cromwell, the King's coming in, and the fire of London.'*" V\'illiam Butler commanded the Parliamentary forces here ; he destroyed the house of the Ferrars at Little Gidding and also Lyveden.*^ The district seems to have been on the Parliamentary side, but a letter writer in 1655 speaks of ' this disaffected corner,' and states that there were persons enlisting horses and men at Oundle and promising fourteen days' pay.*' In 1666 there was again an outbreak of the plague, brought from London ; there were over J 200 deaths.** Several tradesmen's tokens were issued about that time, sixteen being recorded by Williamson between 1657 and 1669.** A project for making the Nene na\igable from Peterborough to Oundle occurs in 1692, but docs not seem to liave been carried through.*' Sir Matthew Dudley about 1700 tried to establish the manufacture of serges, etc., bringing weavers over from Flanders ; but the effort did not succeed.*' A view of the town was engraved in 1710.** In 1722 there was a complaint that the postmistress of Oundle was notorious for opening letters.*' Soldiers were stationed in the town in the l8th century.^" A curious scheme for the relief of the unemployed was tried here a century ago. At a Vestry meeting on 9 Feb. 1820, it was resolved that a levy of Sd. in the pound should be paid by every occupier of land and other property in the parish who was assessed above a certain amount and considered competent to employ his quota of men and boys, or pay the amount assessed to the Overseers according to a plan outlined in a pamphlet printed at Oundle by T. and E. Bell. The plan was that if a farmer spent an amount equal to the levy in employing men and boys (men at iSd. a day and boys at 6d.) he would be relieved alto- gether ; if not, he would be relieved of so much as he had so spent. Sir William Laxton, founder of the school and almshouses, was a native of Oundle, who acquired wealth in London, becoming an alderman and mayor '* Hearne notci that Stow «ay8 : 'Called the Bery-itede, for that it wat a beriege in time of pcit.' •• .Many extract! are given in Canon W. Smalley Law'i Oundle'i Story 24-46 from which the text it taken ; liiti of the freeholderi and copyholderi are printed, pp. 45-'i- The lurvey it kept at Biggin. *• Dr. Law tayi the itocki were later moved to the wcit end of the town, by Jeiui Church. *' The houie now called Berryitede it on a different lite. "'Cal. S. P. Dom. 1667-8, p. 255. See Moreton, Nal. Hiii. 0/ Norlhanti. 310-313; Norlhcnii. N. and p, i, 102; Dr. Law (op. cit. 41) give i later inttancet. *• W. Smallry Law, op. cit. 85. 88 *• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655, p. 149. " Ibid. 1666-7, p. 53. " G. C. Willianiton, Traders' Tokens, 893- " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv (6), 282-3 *' W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 108. " Ibid. 100. «" //.)/. MSS. Com. Rep. x (4), 31. •" W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 1 14. !»'■■ OuNDLE : Old \'ii\v of St. Osyth's Lane * ^ t^'if . VUMiir. \ >r ^x a« .'•^-. w-* '\>ar m. -^-..i... V ..y the local information in Canon Law's Oundle's Story. " Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582. Oundle is called a ' former possession ' by Hugh Candidus (Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, ii, ■7)- " Cat. Chart. R. i, 22; li, 142, 485; iv, 4, 8, 274, 276, 278 ; Rol. Cart. (Rec. Com.), 82. " y.C.H. Northants. i, 313. For the Woodland, see ibid. 280. " Ibid. 367. " Liber Niger (Camden Soc. 47), 158. •K Cart. Antiq. x (2). «' Cal. Chart. R. ii, 101. «• Ibid, iii, 43. •> Feud. Aids, iv, 28. 89 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE the annual rent of ^^5 19/. "jd. due to the abbey was increased to ^12 l/j. 6i/.** The value of the manor of Oundle and the grange of Biggin was assessed at ^44 \\s. a year in 1291.*^ In addition to the burgesses there were franklins and virgaters (or semi-virgaters).*'* A long account of the abbey's rights in OUNDLE and BIGGIN was compiled in 1321 after the death of Abbot Godfrey. In the town was a capital messuage, with dovecote and two water mills; also 170 acres arable land, with meadow and pasture. At Biggin were 200 acres arable land in demesne, and other 260 acres newly brought under the plough and there- fore worth only id. an acre ; also a park ; two free tenants rendered js. and a pound of cummin. There were 37 free tenants in Oundle, holding 24 burgages, and rendering £10^. i\d. ; ten natives with 8 virgates of land, rendering £4 ; twelve natives with 7 virgates. Market Place rendering £i i^s. \d. ; with various boon works. The portman-mote and market tolls yielded 53J. ^d. ; and there was another court worth y. \d. a year. The total was £43 I u.** At an enquiry de quo warranto in 1329 the abbot claimed, among other things, ' through toll ' at Oundle, as held by his predecessors, viz., for each sack of wool zd., each horse load iW., bundle on a man's back \d., cartload of merchandise zd., and other dues for animals and wine. He alleged that in former times there was no common way through Oundle, on account of the inundation of the waters, and this toll was granted for licence to pass through the abbot's land and make two bridges (at the cost of the county) on this soil." A rental of April 1400 shows that the burgages were then held at varying rents, but 4J. was a usual sum ; suit to the oven and portman-mote, and other customs were in force. Sometimes there were several tenants for one burgage. The burgesses' charter is mentioned, but not recited. The list of the free tenants is headed by John Wakirlee, who held one carucate of land, paying l2s. rent and providing reapers at harvest time ; if he brewed, there was id. for ale toll ; pan- nage, id. for each pig. His tenants also rendered \d. rent, ale toll and pannage, and did reaping.** About the same time the fields were measured ; Inhamfield, Howefield, and Holmfield are names." In 1565 a freehold tenement in Hillfield was recorded thus : ' This was a manor in Wakerlees' days and kept a court baron upon the same, which is now dismembered because the land is sold to divers persons.'* Of the tenants there is little to be told. Vivien de Churchfield held J hide in Oundle in the time of Henry I," having received it from Abbot Thorold (1070-98), together with \ hide in Warmington, to be held by serjeanty of serving as the abbot's knight with two horses and arms.'^ This probably descended like Churchfield. In 1400 Lord Fitz Walter held in right of his wife, daughter of Sir John Devereux, a free tenement formerly belonging to Hugh de Gotham." There are a few fines con- cerning tenements in Oundle, among which may be mentioned those by which John de Grey obtained (1259-61) a messuage and land from John de Suleny and a similar tenement from William de Musca and Joan his wife.'* In 1345 Thomas de Pabenham held 50/. rent of Roger de Grey from a carucate of land in Oundle occupied by Basilia, widow ^.^^^ of John de Croyland.'* " William Cook of Oundle, who died in 1503, held messuages and land there of the abbot ; his heir was his son Richard, aged seven.'® Richard Chamberlain died in 1624, holding messuages etc. in Oundle of the king as of his manor of East Greenwich, lately belonging to the Minoresses of .'\ldgate." From depositions taken a few years before, it appears he had land by the North Bridge, Howehill fields, Pexlcy, Windmill fields, St. Stithes fields. Further Marsh, Higher Marsh, Hey furlong, the Long Leaze beneath the Fleet, and TwidaUs Crowder meadow.'* Other religious houses having lands here were the priory of Fineshade," the college of Fotheringhay,*' and the Hospitallers.*' The abbot's grange or manor of Biggin has been mentioned above. Fulk de Lisures, forester to Henry II, made a purpresture upon the demesnes of Oundle which William his son quitclaimed to Abbot Benedict (U77-93). The abbot then built there New Place, or Biggin Grange.*- Geoffrey Cras later released to the abbey his land in the Biggin, the ' new place of the monks.'*' In 1285-91, Gilbert de Clare, carl of Gloucester, laid claim to the manor. _^# ''*'^ii " Black nook of Peterborough (Soc. Antiq.), f, lybd. *^ Pope S Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.) i, 276. • Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 1650, m. 21. ' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1 4 Chai.II. • Ibid. HU. 27/28 Chas. II. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The earl (later, marquis) of Powis refused to accept the Revolution of 1688 and went into exile with James II, dying at St. Germains in 1696. Being out- lawed, his estates were confiscated, and in 1691 it was found on inquiry that he had held the manor of Oundle, with court baron, market, three fairs, water mill, lime kiln, Park Wood, Hills Wood, Pexley Wood, Hall Wood, Parson's Wood, the capital messuage called the Berrystead and site of the manor (late in the possession of Bridget Page and then of Thomas Manning), also the manor of Biggin, with appur- tenances in several adjacent parishes.' The estates were in 1696 granted to William Earl of Rochford* but were eventuaUyrestored to theMar- quis of Powis's son William (d. 1745),* who sold Oundle and Biggin together with Benefield in 1724. to James Jove. He died in 1741 and was succeeded by his son Charles who died unmarried in 1776. Charles was fol- lowed by his brother Peter Joje of the Inner Temple, who by his wiU proved in 17821" left his property to his wife Anne for life with remainder to his sisters Eliza- beth and Jane. Anne married as her second husband Sir Isaac Pocock and died in l8l8,i' being predeceased by her sisters-in-law. The trustees under the will of the survivor Jane Joye^^ sold the property in 1822 to Jesse Watts Russell, who had taken the additional Herbert, Earl of Powis. Party azure and guUs three lions argent. Watts. Azure a bend engrailed ermtnois between two crescents or xotth a quarter gules. Russell. Ermine a lion gules with a collar argent and a chief azure with three roses argent thereon. name of Watts on his marriage with Mary daughter of David Pike Watts of Portland Place. He was succeeded in 1875 ^X ^'^ son Jesse David Watts Russell, M.P. for North Staffordshire (1879) whose eldest daughter Josephine married Sir Arthur Birch, K.C.M.G. Their son Capt. Arthur Egerton Watts Russell (who took the name of Watts Russell in 1898) died in 1923 leaving a son David. Mrs. Watts Russell of Biggin Hall, is now lady of the manor. The Court Rolls begin in October 1678. The market dues are still paid to the lord of the manor.*^' The RECTOR!' MANOR has been mentioned in the preceding account. Nothing is known of the conditions while it was in the possession of the rectors of ..he parish ; the rector about 1400 paid 2J. a year for free entry to the fields.*' When the vicarage was constituted the rectory was appropriated to the monks of Peterborough and shared the fate of their other estates. In 1546 John Nox farmed the rectory for ^55 13/. \d. a year,i* and in 1590 the Crown granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage, to Sir Anthony Mildmay, Grace his wife, and Mary their daughter, for life." Mary became Countess of West- morland and died in 1640, when this grant would expire. As already stated it was sold by James I to Sir Thomas Mounson and WiUiam Darwyn with all rights, court, view of frank pledge, etc., except the advowsons of churches, vicarages, etc., to be held in socage of the manor of East Greenwich at a perpetual rent of j^39 6s. Sd. ; ecclesiastical dues were to be paid also, including 6s. Sd. a year to the poor and ^^i 3 6s. Sd. to the vicar of Oundle. ** In 1674 the rectory manor was acquired by Bernard Walcott from William Page and Bridget his wife, as the manor of the rectory of Oundle and the rectory with its tithes, etc., two messuages, 30 acres of land, dovecote, etc. ; i' and Bernard Walcott and Elizabeth (Page) his wife were in possession in 1680.** Out of the Crown's reserved rent ^32 13^. ^d. a year was granted by James I to his queen Anne** and by Charles I to Queen Henrietta Maria.^"* Later it was sold and shared by various persons,^* whose rights were purchased in 1750 by William Walcott,^^ who thus held the rectory clear of the rent to the Crown. Dr. WilUam Walcott, who died in 1806, left (by his wife Mary Creed) a son William, after whose death in 1827, aged 74, the property went to the Simcoe family, who disposed of it.'' The rectory manor was purchased by John Smith, who was succeeded by his son John WilUam Smith, of a local family of brewers and bankers. The dues included mortuaries and Easter dues, called ' Apron money ' in Oundle, because the tradesmen were the chief contributors ; these were originally fixed at 2d. per head, but ulti- mately stood at is. 2^d. per house.^'' About 1870 the court of the rectory manor was held every two or three years. CHURCHFIELD occurs as Ciricfeld in an ancient account of the boundaries of a pieceof land atOundle.*' Abbot Thorold gave Vivian \ hide in Circafeld" as well as the \ hide in Oundle already mentioned, and he held it c. 1125.^' He was succeeded by Henry Angevin, who was living in 1 133 and 1 163, and he by William Angevin before 1 169, who left a widow Ismania.^* Baldric the Angevin, his son, held a knight's fee in Churchfield, Warmington and Oundle in 1189,^' and acquired 32 acres in Churchfield from Matefrei the dispenser in 1202,** and was witness to a charter of Abbot Robert de ' Excheq. Spec. Com. 6806 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1691-2, p. 545; 1693, p. 447. • Pat. R. 8 Will. HI, pt. 6. • Feet of F. Nurthanti. Trin. 10 Geo. I. "P.C.C. 548 Goieling, "Berry, County Geneal. Berkt, 118; In.tit. Bki. fP.R.O.). '• Priv. Acti, I Geo. IV, cap. 31; P.C.C. 190 Blihop. "• Information of Mr. L. M. Hewlett. '• Cott. MS. Nero C. vii, f. ro;. "Minj. Acct). Hen. VIII, n. 2661. " Pat. R. 3i Eliz. pt. 19. "Pat. R. 5 Jame» I, pt. 19. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 15/26 Chai. II. "Ibid. Mich. 32 Cha». II. '• Pat. R. II Ja.. I, pt. 13. " Pat. R. 2 Ch.:i. I, pt. 4. •' Feet of F. Nortlianti. Hil. z Will, and Mary ; Trin. 9 Geo. I. "Ibid. Trin. 24 Geo. II. The dc- 92 forcianls were Elizabeth Horton, widow, James Horton, and Thomas Roane. "W. Smallcy Law, op. cit. 98, 121-3, 130. " Ibid. 130. " Birch, Ciriul. Sa.x. iii, 368. «' Chron. Petrob. 175. •' r.C./l. Northants. i, 366. " For this descent tee Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants. Rec. Soc), I2i. •• Cal. Chart. K iv, 277. •» Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 4 John. POLEBROOK HUNDRED OUNDLE Lindsey (1214-22).*' Later (f 1242) William Angevin held J a knight's fee in the three places named,*' but he or a son William incurred forfeiture in the Barons' war, his lands being given to Philip Marmion, who afterwards released the same to the abbot of Peterborough.'^ Hugh de Gorham married Margery, daughter of William Angevin,^'' and in 1289 did homage to the abbot for lands in Churchfield, Oundle, Stokes, and Warmington.*^ Hugh died in 1325, but in 1312 he and Margery his wife gave the reversion of this estate to William de Gorham (their son) and Isabel his wife.*" William and Isabel sold the manor of Churchfield to Robert de Wyvill, bishop of Salisbury, in 1332.^ Four years later it was settled on Henry Wyvill and Katherinc his wife and their issue,^ and in 1346 Henry Wyvill held J knight's fee in Churchfield, formerly the estate of Geoffrey Angevin.-"* Kathe- rine, as widow of Henry, held it in 1352, when it was settled on Geof- frey Blount and Margaret his wife, probably the daughter of Henry.*" Twenty years later (1372) Walter de Frampton of Melcombe Regis and Margaret his wife had the manors of Churchfield and Lyveden.*' From this date Churchfield followed the descent of Lyveden in Aldwinkle St. Peter (y.f.). In 1338 the abbot of Peterborough received licence to acquire in mort- main inUr alia 33/. rent from tenementsin Oundle called CL.4RT- VAUS FEE, the vendor being the rector Robert de Croyland.''^ It does not appear that this ' fee ' was a manor. The surname occurs in 1347, when Richard Aloora of Oundle was pardoned for the death of Nicholas Clerivaux.^'' ASWION (Ascetone, 1086, Ays- ton, Hen. I and common, Ashton, xvi cent.) is now a separate township, formed in 1885 when the adjacent hamlet of Elmington was added to it abbot of Peterborough held it as 4J hides. Two mills rendered 40/. and 325 eels. It was worth only 8/. in 1066, but in 1086 j[j. There was a free tenant, Ivo, who held J hide, worth 4J." About 1 1 25 the abbot held 4 hides in demesne, and there were now two free tenants, Ralph Papilian and Levenoth, holding \ hide each.** The descent of these free tenements cannot be traced; they are mentioned in 1321 as paying 5/. each,*' in 1408 the fees formerly held by John Papilliun and WiUiam son of Ralph contributed lid. each to the sheriff's aid**. Simon de Stokes in 1242 did the service of J knight for the 2 hides and one virgate he held of the abbot in Stoke, Ashton and Warmington.*' Some 13th century deeds ^^ show that there was a family using the local name, Robert son of Adam de .'Vyston making some small gifts."' Roger Malherbe of Polebrook gave to the Hospital of St. John Baptist at Armston the rent of a pound of cummin due from David de Ayston and Constance his wife for land at Ashton.'* The abbey of Peter- borough's estate in Ashton, lands, rents, miUs, and bakehouse, was valued at £10 ijs. \d. a year in 1 291.5' In 1309 Godfrey abbot of Peterborough and the convent demised to John de Croyland and Robert his son for life a messuage and 3 virgates of land in Ashton, with the water mills, millpool, moor, Yak- In 1086 the Oundle : Paine's Almshouses holme and meadow ; they were to render £"] 16/. %d. a year and do ploughing and other services." A survey made in 1 321 shows that in Ashton there were a messuage and two water miUs ; in demesne were 102 acres of arable and 10 acres of meadow. Fourteen natives each held a messuage with I virgate of land (which would account for 3J hides, unless the ' small virgate ' was used), paying 8/. rent and doing two ploughings at the winter and Lent sowings, and reaping two days. Two other natives, holding 2j virgates, rendered 25/., and two customary tenants held I virgate and rendered lis. ; but these four did " Pytchley, Bk. 0} Fees, loc. cit. " Sparlce, Hut. Angl. Script, iii, 62. •• Ibid. (Swaffham) cclxxxii b. A Geof- fre/Angcvin was apparently holding about that date {Feud. Aiii. iv. 448). Godfrey Angevin occurs in 1235 ; Bk. of Fees, 5«5- •• CM. Top. el Gen. v, 334. " Cbron. Petroh. 144. " Feet of F. Northantt. case 175, file 64, no. 127. " Ibid, case 177, file 74, no. 113. " Ibid, file 75, no. 152. •» Feud. Aids, iv, 448. •" Fe«t of F. Northants. case 177, file 79, no. 382. •' Ibid. 46 Edw. III. ♦' Cal. Pat. 1338-40, p. 56. ♦» Ibid. 1345-8, p. 561. The Clerevaus family is mentioned in the Peterborough register at the Society of Antiquaries, f. 1S4. «• L.G.B. Order 17763. ♦' y.C.H. Northants. i, 314. " Ibid. 367. *' Sparke, Hill. Angl. Script, iii, 191. 93 •» Cott. MS. Nero C. vil, i. 213. " Sparke, Htst. Angl. Script, iii, 62. '" Feet of F. Northants. 41 Hen. Ill, 13 Edw. I. " Harl. Chart. 45 E. 62-64 ; Emma relict of Robert Areyd of Ayston and daughter of John son of Hubert de .'Vyston were dealing with land in Pole- brook in 1326. Buccleuch Deeds K 5. "Cott. Chart, xxvii, 14; see Harl. Chart. 44, A. 6. "Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 55. •« Cott. MS. Cleo. C. ii, f. 83 d. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE no works. A cottar paid 6d. rent, but worked for the lord every Monday from midsummer to Michaelmas." John Nor\s7ch of Gayton died in 1504 holding a messuage in Ashton of the abbot of Peterborough by fealty and Sd. rent. His wife Katherine is named, and his son Simon, aged 13, was heir.'* In 1535 the revenues of the abbey from Ashtprt are given.*' In 1553 the manor of Ashton, with manor house and three mills, and the rectory, etc , of Wil- boston, were sold by the Crown to Hugh Lawe and Thomas Lawe, who were to hold them by the service of Jj; knight's fee.** A dispute arose in 1602 between Sir Anthony Mildmay and others and Thomas Lawe concerning the tithes of Ashton and its four mills. Three of the mills were corn mills under one roof; the other was a fuUing mill. Defendant and his father Hugh Lawe were alleged to have had the tithes by lease 50 years ago. Robert Selbie, a tanner, aged 78, deposed that in his youth the fulling mill was known as the New Mill; 13/. 4^. used to be paid as tithe for the corn mills. Hugh Lawe had transferred his lease of the tithes to Mr. Price (who married Hugh's daughter), and Sir Anthony Mildmay then had it. He remem- bered the chapel of ease at Ashton; a priest called Sir John said service there in the time of Henry VIII, and witness had acted as his clerk. Another witness said that the minor tithes were paid to Sir John as ' chapel tithes,' but the tithes of corn, wool, lamb, and the mills, with 30^. 2\d. and a few pence for the ancient meadows belonged to the rectory. There was mention of Sandells meadow in Ashton, said to belong to Oundle.*' Thomas Lawe died at Ashton in 1628, holding the manor of Ashton, and a capital messuage occupied by Peter Dayrew. By a settlement made in 1627 the estate was to remain to John Lawe of VVigston (Leics) and then to his brother Thomas Lawe of Mount Sorrell (Leics) ; but the heirs were Bridget Aprice, widow, his sister ; Thomas Aprice, son of Robert Aprice by Elizabeth his wife, another sister ; John Wildbore, gent., son and heir of Matthew Wildbore and Elizabeth his wife, one of the daughters of John Flamsteed and Catherine his wife, another sister of Thomas Lawe ; and this Catherine's four other daughters — MericU wife of William Gifford, KLiry wife of Francis Muscott, Joan wife of Roland Tampian, clerk, and Catherine Fowler, widow.*" The brothers were probably half-brothers and therefore passed over by the jury. The estate was probably disposed of in parcels and the ' manor ' does not occur again, though J. W. Smith of the Rectory, Oundlc, was styled lord of it in 1874.'! A manor house and a green are marked on the map to the south of the chapel. Peter Dayrew or Darrell, mentioned above, was succeeded by Newdigate Paynes, who died at Ashton in 1643, leaving a son and heir Thomas, aged 14J. The tenure was unknown.** Croyland Adbey. GuUs three knnes argent quar- tering azure three scourges Bridges states that about 1710 there were 25 families in Ashton.*^ About 1870 ' a few scattered farm houses ' was the description. The Hon. Mrs. N. C. Rothschild is now the owner, with a residence called Ashton Wold. In ELMINCTON, according to a spurious charter in Ingulph, the abbey of Croyland held 3 hides of land at an early date, possession being confirmed by Edred (946-95 5). *■' Ingulph says that Abbot Turketul gave this manor when he became a monk.** In 1086 the abbey had two estates there ; one hide was held in demesne, with land for one plough, and was worth 8s. in 1066 and l6x. in 1086 ; two hides, with land for three ploughs, were worth 12s. and 20/. res[iectively at those dates.** In the survey made c. 1125 only one hide is re- corded.*' A fine in 121 8-9 between the abbot of Croyland and Ascelin de Waleis con- cerning land in Elmington is recorded.** It was found in 1276 that the abbot's tenants in Elmington had withdrawn suit to the hundred court for the last 24 years ; they had been accustomed to do this suit and pay lid. at the sheriff's tourn.*^ In 1 3 16 the abbot of Croyland was lord." At the dissolution it was found that the abbey had received £j los. from Elmington, by a demise made in 1534 to Thomas Clark and Margaret his wife ; the money was used by the pittancer and almoner." The reversion of the ' manor and hamlet ' was sold to Sir Robert Kirkham in 1542, it being stated that Richard Clark, father of Thomas, had held it beforetime ; Kirkham was to hold by knight's service.'* The manor had been included in the jointure of Queen Katherine Howard in 1541," but she was executed a year later. Sir Robert Kirkham, who also acquired Fineshade, which became the seat of his family, died in 1558, while the lease was still in force.'* The manor of Elmington was included in a settlement made by his son William Kirkham the elder in 1586.'* This settle- ment is recited in the inquisi- tion taken after his death in 1599, when he was succeeded by a son William, who had a brother Thomas.'* Walter Kirkham son of William died in 1636 holding the manor of Elmington of the king by knight's service ; the heir was his cousin Robert (aged 40), son of the above-named Thomas Kirkham, Anne his wife and Wa 000 Kirkham of Fine- ahadc. .Urgent a fesse piles xvith three bezants thereon. In J647 Robert Iter (his son) joined " Sparke, ffiit. An^l. Script, iil, 191. " Cal. Inq. p. m. Hen. VII, ii, 882. •' Valor Eccl. (Rtc. Com.) iv, 279. " Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI pt. 3. " Exch. Ucpi. 44 Eliz. Trin. 4, Northantt. •" Chan. Inq. p. m. (ler. ii) ccccUxiv,69. •' Whclan, Northantt. 716. •• Chan. In c. 1050. '* Alio known lateral the Guild Chapel 95 from the Guild of Our Lady founded by Robert Wyatt. " In 1908. when some work in connec- tion with the heating apparatus was in progress on the north side of the vestry, a two-handled earthenware drinking cup of the Tudor period was found a few feet below the surface of the ground : Smalley Law, Oundle's Story, ao. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The whole of the building is faced with rubble and has low-pitched leaded roofs behind plain and battlemented parapets. InternaUy, except in the chancel and chapels, where the plaster remains, the waDs have been stripped. Of the 1 2th centur}' fabric a fair amount of walling remains at the east end of the nave and west part of the chancel, the arches to the chapels and transepts having been cut through the earlier walls. Archi- tectural features, however, are scanty. The top of a round-headed window remains over the arch between the chancel and north chapel, and the inner arch of the blocked north doorway of the chapel appears to be of this date, but if so it is not in its original place, probably indicates that there was a projecting vice or staircase turret at the north-west corner of the tower,** which would stand within the aisle until the tovver was demolished, and thus account for the different spacing of the arcade on that side. The chancel has a five-light east window with perpendicular tracery and a roof of four bays. In the south wall are two 13th century windows, each of two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil plate tracery, lengthened in the 15th century by their heads being raised, and there is a similar window in the north wall. The plain trefoiled piscina recess is original, but the three sedilia west of it, arranged in ascending order, were made in the 14th century, and have ogee ■ 120 Century [111132 Century OI4™Cent.cI340-5 ^ 14 111 Century late □ I511JCE.NTURYCI485 S 162 Century □ Subsequent &. Modern SovLE OF Feet Plan of Oundle Church the position of the vnndow indicating that there was no chapel here in Norman times.*' The south-west quoining of the original south transept at its junction with the aisle is still visible, and portions of early masonry in all probability remain at the angles of both transepts, and possibly at the west end of the nave.** The position of the west arch of the central tower seems to be indicated by corbels which remain in the walls, and the 12th century plinths of the chancel arch and of the responds of the north and south arches of the crossing remain below the present bases. The longer masonry pier at the east end of the 13th century nave arcade on the north side cinquefoiled arches with crocheted hoods and finials on detached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The responds of the arches between the older western part of the chancel and the chapels have rounded capitals with good early 13th century mouldings and bases with deep water moulds. The arch on the north side is segmental in form and cuts into the sill of the Norman window ; that on the south side is pointed, with two chamfered orders, and retains traces of colour. The west arches of both chapels opening into the transepts are of two chamfered orders and the capitals of the half round responds have nail-head ornament much renewed. The arch "The chamfered itring in the north " Ahience of bonding between the been deilroyej when the tower wai joined aiile and a fragment of itring in the nave and aiile walli «hows th.it the 12th up to the nave. louth wall of the louth chapel appear century church wai aiilcleti ; but all the " Reaioni for this view are itatcd bjf alio to belong to the 12th century original maionry at the west end may have Mr. A. B. Whittingham in Smalley Law, building. op. cit. 17. 96 OuNDLE Church : The Interior, looking East POLEBROOK HUNDRED OUNDLE from the south aisle into the transept corresponds to these in detail, and the south arcade of the nave, of three bays, has arches of two chamfered orders, and cylindrical columns with deep water-moulds in the bases and elaborately moulded capitals with nail-head ornament in the groove above the lowest projecting member. The west window of the south aisle is composed of five graduated lancets. All the work from the west part of the chancel represents the alterations of the beginning of the 13th century. In the north arcade of the nave, also of three bays, the bases of the cylindrical columns have hollow mouldings of a more cramped design than those on the south, and there are no bands of nail-head in the capitals, while the abaci, instead of consisting of a roll, fillet, and soffit hollow, are formed of a scroll, quirk and small undcr-roll. The arch"* into the north transept from the aisle has a continuous outer chamfer and the responds supporting the inner chamfer are filleted, as are also the responds of the arcade on this side. The west window of the north aisle, wholly renewed on the outside, consists of four lancets of equal height, the head being filled with plate tracery — two quatrefoiled circles below a sexfoiled circle. The westernmost of the two south windows of the south chapel has three quatrefoiled circles in the head. The north doorway has a moulded arch of three orders on jamb shafts with moulded capitals and bases. All this work, with the possible exception of the doorway which appears earlier, is of about the same date as the east part of the chancel, c. 1250-60. The transepts project 18 ft. beyond the aisles and beneath the south transept is a small vaulted crypt, or bone-hole, approached by steps from the outside. The five-light north window and the two-light west window of the north transept have tracery formed by the curving and intersection of the muUions, and the three-light east window has geometrical tracery in the head, with very acute-angled trefoil cusping, and a row of ball-flower round the upper portion. The south window of the south transept is also of five lights with excellent geometrical tracery, and the east and west windows are each of two rounded trefoil lights with a large quatrefoiled circle in the head. The five-light east window of the north chapel is of this later period and has geometrical tracery, but it appears to have been lengthened in the 15th century when the plain four-light north window was inserted. The window in the south aisle east of the porch is of five trefoiled lights with geometrical tracery, but that west of the porch and the corresponding window in the north aisle are four-centered 15th century openings of three cinquefoiled lights. The window in the north aisle east of the doorway is of five cinque- foiled lights like the east window of the chapel. In the south chapel is a piscina beneath a cusped ogee arch, and there is another piscina of the late 14th or early 15th century in the south transept, together with an aumbry.*' The three arches of the former crossing are of two moulded orders, the outer continuous, the inner on responds with moulded capitals and bases. The northern entrance of the rood-loft remains high up in the north wall above the arch to the transept, and near the chancel arch. Close to it is a corbel for the rood beam and above is a small window inserted to throw light upon the rood. There are four three-light clearstory windows on each side of the nave, but owing to the masonry left between the new arches and the nave arcades the eastern window of the clearstory on cither side is not above tlie eastern arches. The tower is of two main stages and has a moulded plinth, double angle buttresses, battlemented parapets, and octagonal angle turrets. Tlie first stage is again sub-divided into two, the lower of which has traceried panels. The shallow west porch, with cinquefoiled ogee arch and crocketed gable, is a late example of a local peculiarity of design, the earliest instances of which are the west porches of Higham Ferrers and Raunds.*' On either side of the gable is a canopied niche, and the west doorway has continuous mouldings. Above the porch is a two-light pointed window, with a similar ' blind window ' on either side. The upper stage of the tower has three tall traceried belfry openings forming the middle panels of a row of five on each face, and below the windows is a less lofty range of panels the middle one alone of which is open. The tall lower stage is vaulted, with a large central well hole and the arch to the nave is of three chamfered orders. The spire has crocketed angles and three sets of lights on the cardinal faces. The date 1634 '^ ^^^ ^^ ^°^^ numerals under the lowest light on the south side. The general design of the tower and spire is of much grace and beauty, the predominant vertical lines giving it an apparent lightness which its bulk, in proportion to the building to which it is attached, might seem to preclude. The south porch is vaulted and has a chamber above approached by a circular stair from the aisle. The outer opening has a four-centered arch with square label and quatrefoiled circles in the spandrels. Above are three empty niches, with windows between, and the gable has a battlemented parapet. The inner doorway is of the same date as the porch, with panelled jambs. In the porch is a stone coffin. The lower portion of a 15th century rood screen remains, with three traceried panels on each side of the opening, and the screens separating the chancel from the chapels, which appear to be rather earlier in the same period, are entire. The fine painted pulpit is apparently of 15th century date, though it used to be known as the ' Reformation pulpit.' It has traceried panels ornamented with gilded leaden stars on a black background, and is picked out in red. The fine brass lectern with eagle book-rest is of mid-i5th century date ; the ' tradition ' that it came from Fotheringhay seems to be unsupported. The font now in use dates only from 1909 and is of late gothic pattern, but there is an early i8th century block font with panelled sides under the tower. At the end of the gangway in the north transept is a heavy oak chair used by the master of Sir William Laxton's School, on the head of which is the inscrip- tion 'svMPTv APtiMATOnnAiiN lo.vdinensivm a.d. •0 When the suir to the central tower apei is north of the middle of the span. "There are other neighbouring was removed the arch would be rebuilt " There is also an aumbryin the north examples at Rushden, and Keyston, and widened on the south side ; its transept. Hunts. 97 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 1576 ' ; and in the vestry a small wooden box inscribed 'This belongs to the vestry in Oundle 1676,' a 17th century table, and a chest with two locks of about the same period. Below the tower is a brass chandelier inscribed ' Ex dono Edvardi Bedell generosi anno Dni 1687.' The oldest monument is the grave slab of John de Oundle, rector {d. 1278), in the floor of the chancel. It has a floriated cross and imperfect border inscrip- tion in Lombardic characters, which Bridges recorded as 'Johan : de : Undele : ke : ci : Lid: Re: de: Scoteye.'*' In the chancel floor are also three large blue slabs with indents of brasses, two of which were of priests, and stones marking the burial places of John Lewis, apothecary, and William Filbrigge,*-* gent., both of whom died in 1687. On the north wall of the chancel is an elaborate Renaissance monument with Ionic columns, strapwork patterns, and shields of arms, to Martha Kirkham of Fineshade {il. 1616), the pedestal of which bears inscriptions to Susanna, widow of William Walcot {d. 1737) and her daughter Elizabeth (d. 1735), and on the opposite wall tablets to William Walcot, M.D. of Oundle {d. 1806), and his son of the same name (d. 1827). There is also a tablet in the chancel to William Raper, gent. {d. 1746), who ' studied physick all his life, not to profit but for the pleasure of doing good.' In the floor of the north aisle is a stone with indents of two figures and a brass inscription recording the burial of Katharine, wife of Peter Dayrell, second son of Sir Thomas Dayrell of Lillingstone Dayrell, Bucks, and eldest daughter of Edward Cuthbert of Oundle, who died in 1615,®^ and at the west end of the same aisle is a small mural monument to William Loringe of Haymes, Gloucester- shire (d. 1628).** In the south aisle is an inscription to James Risley (d. 1605) and Joan his wife {d. 1612). There is an elaborate monument between the windows of the south chapel to Mary Gaymes {d. 1760) and Mrs. Mary Kirkham, formerly wife of W. Langhorn Games (d. 1754), and at the west end of the south aisle one commemorating the Rev. John Shillibeer, head master of Oundle School and rector of Stoke Doyle {d. 1 841). There is a ring of eight bells in the tower, four of which (the treble, second, third and tenor) were recast by Mears and Stainbank in 1869, after damage by a fire in the belfry on 16 August, 1868. The fourth is by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, 1735, the fifth by the .same founder 1742, the si.xtli by Joseph Eayre, of St. Neots, 1763, and the seventh by Thomas Osborn, of Downham, Norfolk. 1801.*' The chimes date from the renewal of the clock in 1868. The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, flagon and breadholder of 1697, given by William Whitwell, each piece engraved with liis crest, a talbot passant ;" two silver basins of 1729; two silver plates of 1731, inscribed ' The gift of Mrs. Alice Hunt, widow, to the church of Oundle, Com. North'ton,' with the .irms of the donor; two silver cups of 1847, and two plated cups given in 1855.^ The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) all entries 1625-1732, (ii) all entries 1733-1748, (iii) baptisms and burials 1 749-1 Si 2, marriages 1749-5S, (iv) marriages 1755-80, (v) marriages 1780-1806, (vi) marriages 1808-12. The advowson of the rectory be- ADVOWSON longed to the abbey of Peterborough. The earliest of the rectors known is one Ralph, who occurs in 1159.' He may be the rector, Ralph, who renounced his right to certain tithes.^ The earliest recorded presentation is that of John de Burgo, subdeacon, in 1234.^ John deThoresby, one of the king's clerks, held the rectory of Oundle for a time (1346) as one of his many preferments; he became chancellor (1349-56) and archbishop of York (1352-73).* Richard de Treton, rector, made an agreement with the abbot in 1395 concerning his claim to take wood and brushwood in the abbot's woods at Oundle for his fires in the rectory.* To Treton in 1393 succeeded Thomas Brake, presented by the abbot ; two years later the king presented John Boor, and a long dispute ensued, in the courts in England and at Rome, with various changes of fortune,* but at last, in 1402, Brake's right was fully acknowledged, and he retained the rec. tory for about thirty years in peace.' Anotlier dispute occurred about 1447, when Dr. Henry Sharp, rector of Potterspury, obtained a papal grant of the rectory, vacant by the promotion of John Delabere to the see of St. David's ■? the king pardoned this breach of the statute of provisors on account of Sharp's services at Rome in the establishment of Eton college,* but one John Middlehame appealed to the pope against it, alleging a presentation by the abbot. ^* In 1477 the king, after inquiry, allowed the abbot to appropriate the rectory in mortmain, a sufficient endowment for a vicarage lacing provided, and a distribution to the poor yearly. For this permission the convent gave the king certain lands at Cotten- ham." This was carried out, and the vicars were " lliil. oj Northanls. ii, 408. John was also rector of Scotter, in I.incoln- thirc. *• He issued .1 token in i/i^S with inscription * Will. I-'ilbrigp, linen draper of Oundle ' and arms borne by the family of the same name se.tced at Fclbrigg, Norfolk. Sorlhanis X. and (J. ii, 92. •*Thc Inscription is given in Bridges, op. cit. ii, 409. The brasses had then been lorn a"ay. •* The monument wa» on the sicstcrn- most pillar of the north aisle in Bridget' time. It has small Corinthian pillars, but the figure of I.oringe (kneeling at a desk) il missing, below are twelve children — five loni, five daughters, and two infants. This William Loringe had two sons at Sir William Laxton'i school; .Smilley law, op. cit. 61. "' The former treble and second uerc by Thom.TS Osborn, 1780, the third hy Henry Baglcy, of Ecton, :6S8, and the tenor by Thomas Eayre, 174S. 'I'he inscriptions on all the bells arc given in North, Ch. llelli of Xorihniiis. 3-;5. The old third was the gift of John Lewis;, apothecary, who is buried in the chancel. Ili< bequest of ,^50 ' to buy a sixth bell ' indicates that there were then five, and that a new treble was added. Eayrc's tenor of 1748 was a recasting of one ' paid for by Thomas Tranklin,' who in his will dated 12 May, 1544, beijiicathcd xijd. to the rcp.'iration of the bells within Oundle church : Smallcy Law, op. cit. "The flagon, in addition, bears the inscription ' Lx dono Wm. Whitewell, cent. 1697.' '•'' ^Llrkham, Cit. Plate of Norlhaiiis. 221. ' W. S. Law, UundU's Story, 15. ' Sp.irkc, lliil. Angl. Script. (Swaphain), t. \cvii. = Rat. /fug. df ll'rUes (Line. Rec. Soc). ii, 115. * U. N. B. i C In 1710 the vicar had the 20 marks from Mr. \Valcott,the impropriator; also^^io for reading prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and £30 under the will of the late Sir E. Nichols." Jesus Church was built in 1879 at the west end of the town by the late Mr. Watts Russell on or near the site of the chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury. It was designed by Sir A. W'. Blomfield, and is in plan a Greek cross with central octagonal tow^er or lantern with pointed roof. It possesses a silver cup, paten and flagon of 1878. There were chapels at Ashton, Elmington and Churchfield in 1189,'^ but the two latter have dis- appeared without leaving any history. In later times, as already stated, there was a chapel at the west end known as St. Thomas's ; its origin is un- known, but it is mentioned in the rental of 1400,'* and Leland records its new title of St. Mary, after Henry VIII's prohibition of the ' traitor Thomas.' What remained of it about 1700 is described by Bridges." ' John parson of Aston ' attested a local charter next after John parson of Oundle, in 1248,-" but may have been rector of some other church. The chapel of St. Mary M.agdalen (.') was still in use in the time of Henry \ III, as appears by a suit quoted above, in which the small tithes of the township were shown to have been given to the priest who served it. It was desecrated shortly afterwards, and in 1548 the cemetery and chapel of Ashton in Oundle, and the cemetery and chapel of Oundle (probably St. Thomas's) were sold by the crown to Francis Samwell, to be held in socage as of the manor of Green's Norton.^' The site is said to be that of the Manor House. A new chapel and schoolhouse was built in 1708, under the will of Jemima Creed, daughter of John Creed of Oundle. Joan Wyot, widow of Robert Wyot, obtained the king's licence in 1499 to found a gild of St. Mary in the parish church of Oundle, and endow it with lands to the value of £10 a year for the maintenance of one or more chaplams to celebrate for the soul of Robert Wyot and for Joan herself and the members of the gild, who might be both men and women.*^ Jqj,, died in or before 1507, when her executors obtained a further licence to alienate 32 messuages, 16 acres of land and 10 acres of meadow in Oundle for the en- dowment.^' The gildhouse stood in the churchyard of Oundle, and was admired by Leland ; it was later used as the home of the grammar school and alms- house. In the time of I'hilip and Mary a rent of 10;. came from the Gildhall, which abutted on a bake- house called the Cornhill on the east, the churchyard of St. Mary on the north, and lands of Lord Bedford and — Rudston on the south and west. Before the suppression of the gild certain poor folk had lodging and allowances, and afterwards they were maintained by the charity of the people. The executors of Sir William Laxton desired to make a perpetual foundation there, and in 1557 Lady Laxton agreed to pay £20 for the building.2' The rest of the lands had been sold in 1550.25 Of the religious history of the place there is little to be told. Among the presentments to the bishop in 161 3 was one against Henry Wortley, who had maintained that ' women had no souls but their shoe- soles,' but recanted ; and another against William Wortley for allowing a wizard to come into his house to tell fortunes. 2* The vicars seem to have been Puritans, Eusebius Paget being deprived for that reason in 1573.^' His successor 'found the people in a state of the most deplorable ignorance and pro- faneness, living in the constant profanation of the Lord's day by Whitsun ales, morris dances and other ungodly sports. '2* At the archbishop's visitation in 1635 the church and churchyard were found to be very much out of order. The schoolmaster (Mr. Cobbes) was admonished for using a wrong catechism and for expounding the Ten Commandments out of the writings of a silenced minister; he refused to bow at the name of Jesus. The ministers of the deanery appearing, were, in general, canonical in their habits, except those of the peculiars, of whom there was but one in a priest's cloak.^' The Quakers were no more welcome here than elsewhere to the estab- lished Presbyterians ; a document of 1655 names William Butler of Oundle among ' those now in commission who have all along given the power unto the Beast and have fought with the Lamb, and to this day think they do God service in imprisoning His servants.'** It does not appear that there was ever a Quaker meeting-house here. At the Restoration the vicar, Richard Resbury, retired, but ministered in his house. He was licensed in 1672 as a Congregationalist, and Robert Wild and Thomas Fownes as Presbyterians ; the house of Mary Breton at Oundle was licensed for meetings. '1 " falor Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 290. "Charity Ccrtlfs. 35-+0. '* W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 79. '* W. Kcnnet Case of Impropriaton (1704), 337; quoted by Bridges, ii, 472- '• Bridget, Hisl. Nortbanlt. ii, 408. " Cal. Chart. R. iv, 274. " Cott. MS. Nero, C. vii, f. nod. " Iltsi. Xonhatils. ii, 405. »J Add. Chart. 5888. = ' Cal. Pat. 1547-8, p. 311. " Ibid. 1494-1509, p. 173. 'Mbid. 518. " Harl. MS. 607, f. Sid. »^ Cal. Pat. 1550-53, p. 23. 99 '» \orlhaiils X. and Q. i, I 58. =' T. Coleman, Indep. Churches 1 .\orthants. 250. " Ibid. 252. " S. P. Dom. Chas. I, 293, n. 128. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655-6, P- 64. " Ibid. 1672, pp. 473, 475, 578, 678. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The existing Independent congregation appears to have originated from these efforts, and in 1690 or 1691, soon after the Toleration Act, a meeting house was built, which in 1724 became the property of the congregation.^ It continued in use until the present Congregational Chapel in West Street was built in 1864. John Paine (1801) left ;£300 to it. The Baptist Chapel, now part of New House, Stoke Road, is stated to have been founded in 1800. The present building in West Street dates from 1852. The Wesleyan Methodists had two ministers in 1827.^ The old chapel was in New Street ; the present one, in West Street, was built in 1842. The Jinks family, carriers, set apart a room in their house in West Street, where Mass was said occasionally from 1807 to about 1880 by priests from Peterborough. Fr. Ignatius Spencer, the Passionist, preached his first sermon there.^ The Feoffee or Town Estates CHARITIES comprised in Indenture of Lease and Release dated 9 and 10 July, 1828, include the following property, viz. : allot- ments in Stoke Road ; a field called ' Bouners Home ' containing 3 roods ; Wakerley and Dovehouse Close and Cottage containing 22a. 2r. 32 poles ; a field on Heme Road containing la. 3r. 9p. ; a field on Stoke Road containing 4a. 2r. 29p., and a field at Elton, Hunts, containing 7a., and wharf and land at North Bridge, Oundle ; £z^ os. ()d. India 3 per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds ; a sum of ;^2lo los. 6d. 5 per cent. War Stock in the names of John Miller Siddons and others, the whole producing in 1924, with the income from Franklyn's Charity mentioned below, ^^96 is. \d. The estates are chargeable with annual payments in respect of the following benefactions which were paid to and became merged in the general property of the Feoffees, viz. : £20 given by William Thirlby to the poor ; ^10 given by Ralph Robinson, half the income to be applied towards the repair of the church and half towards repairing the highway in Oundle ; ^^lo given by Thomas Orton, the interest to be employed in such good charitable uses as the Feoffees should think fit; £\2 given by Hester Lucas, the interest to be applied in the purchase and distribution of copies of the Netu Whole Duty of Man ; and /[lo bequeathed by Thomas Webb in 1753, the interest to be applied in the distribution of penny loaves on St. Thomas' Day by the vicar and churchwardens. Francis Hodge by his Will dated 11 November, 1695, gave j^20, the interest to be applied in the purchase of Bibles for poor children and like pur- poses. In 1924 £z was distributed in doles to 8 persons ; ;f3 wa? expended in gifts ; ^^3 10/. 6d. in Bibles ; 8;. in bread on St. Thomas Day ; ^£20 to the Oundle Nursing Association ; £5 5/. ^d. to the Beneficiaries of Clifton's Charity, and ^^8 ijs. iid. was expended in material and labour on Ashton Road. By his Will dated 12 May, 1544, Thomas Franklyn gave about 13 acres of land for the relief of the poor. The land was sold and the endowment of this Charity is now represented by a sum of j^336 lis. od., Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds pro- " T. Coleman, Indep. Churcbei in Norlhanti. 253-7. " W. Sm.illcy Law, op. cit. 129. " WheUn, Nonhanii. 714. ducing £% 8/. 4^. in dividends, which sum is applied by the Feoffees of the Town Estates The Almshouses of Sir William Laxton were founded by a Codicil to his Will dated 27 July, 1556, and are under the management of the Grocers' Company of the City of London. The almshouses are for the accommodation of 7 poor men, who receive a weekly stipend, and a nurse. The Official Trustees of Charitable Funds hold a sum of £1,664 Consols producing ^^41 12s. od. yearly in dividends. This sum of Stock represents the redemption of a yearly payment of £\l l2s. od. issuing out of propertv in the City of London in the possession of the Grocers' Company. Parson Latham's Hospital, founded and incor- porated pursuant to the Statute 39 Eliz. c. 5, by Deed Poll dated 15 May, 161 1, is regulated by schemes of the Charity Commissioners dated I July, 1910, i6 January, 1914, and I March, 1921. It is administered by a body of 10 Trustees. The fuU number of almspeople shall be not less than 8 and not more than 12. They shall be poor widows or spinsters of not less than 50 years of age. The endowment consists of land situate in various parts of the Counties of Northampton and Huntingdon aggregating about 397 acres, and the following sums of stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds: £900 13/. 31^. 5 per cent. War Stock; £293 16;. 2d. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock, and ^^307 13/. id. 4J- per cent. Conversion Stock; the whole producing nearly ;^650 in 1924. Out of the income a sum of j^5o is payable to the Trustees of Parson Latham's Educational Foundation. In 1924 stipends amounting to ;^I49 10s. od. were paid to 9 inmates, £1^ 15/. od. was expended on medical attendance and nursing, £3 was distributed to 6 poor of Oundle, £2 to 4 poor of Polebrook, and £2 to 8 poor people in Kirton in Holland in County of Lincoln. The Parish of Oundle participates in the Charity of Clement Bellamy founded by Will dated 12 October, 165S. It is administered by a body of Trustees appointed by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 3 June, 1910. The property consists of £2!^'i ijs. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds producing £6 is. Sd. yearly in dividends and a rent charge of j{^20 issuing out of land in Cotterstock called Bartons Holme. The income is subject to a payment of £S to the Bellamy Educational Foundation, and the residue is applicable in putting out apprentices to some useful trade or occupation deserving and necessitous boys and girls whose parents have been boiu2 fide resident in one of the parishes of Cotterstock, Glapthornc, Oundle and Tansor. Jemima Creed's Charity, founded by will dated II February, 1705, is administered by a body of trustees in accordance with a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 22 January, 1909. The pro- perty consists of a building used as a chapel, about 20 acres of pasture land known as Law's Holme near Ashton Bridge let for ^^25 yearly, and a sum of £224 lis. 6d. Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds producing £^ izs. 41/. yearly in dividends. The stock arose partly from accumula- tions of income and partly from the sale of 31 poles of land. Out of the net yearly income ^£20 is applic- 100 POLEBROOK HUNDRED POLEBROOK able to the Creed Educational Foundation, and the residue is paid to the Vicar in consideration of his conducting religious services and giving religious instruction in the Hamlet of Ashton. By his will dated 29 January, 1723, John Clifton gave ;^30O to the feofTees of the Town Estates, the interest to be applied for the benefit of two poor blind people, or failing this to be distributed among deserving old men. In respect of this charity a sum of j£5 5/. 4//. was distributed in 1924. Paine's Almshouses. By an Indenture dated 21 May, 1801, John Paine conveyed to trustees 4 tenements situate at Chapel End in Oundle upon trust to place therein poor persons or families of or attending the congregation of Protestant dissenters in Oundle. The almshouses have no endowment. By an Order of the Northamptonshire County Court holden at Oundle 17 April, i860, the Vicar and Churchwardens of Oundle were appointed Trustees of the Charity of Miss Charlotte Simcoe, the endowment of which consists of ;^S00 Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds pro- ducing £12 10;. od. yearly in dividends, which is distributed in flannel to about 100 recipients. The Unknown Donors Chanty consists of a yearly payment of 6s. Sd. paid by the Hon. Mrs. C. Roth- schild out of the Tring Estate. This payment is distributed in flannel by the Vicar and Church- wardens with Miss Simcoe's Charity. The Charity of John William Smith, founded by will proved in P.R. I June, 1 897, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 2 April, 1912. The property consists of £iJS 4 P^f cent. 1st Prcf. Stock of the L. and N.E. Rly. with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds producing yearly £s Si. od. in dividends, which is distributed in doles by the Trustees of Parson Latham's Hospital. POLEBROOK Pochebroc (xi cent), Pokebroc (xii cent), Pokebroke (xiii cent.), Pokesbrook, Pogbroke, Polbrok (xv cent.), Polehbrooke als Polebrooke (xviii cent.). The parish of Polebrook covers 1,836! acres, its hamlet of Armston, 852J acres, on a subsoil chiefly of Oxford clay, but of cornbrash in the north-west, the upper soil being clay. There are here 681 acres of arable land, 1,037! of permanent grass, and 13 of woods and plantations. The chief crops are hay, barley and wheat. In the north-west of the parish where the River Nene separates it from Oundle, and about the village, the land is 100 ft. above the ordnance datum, but rises towards the south and east to 200 ft. The road from Peterborough enters the parish through Ashton on the north and runs south-east- wards through the village. A branch road bears east to Lutton, Washingley and Norman Cross, with a small Wesleyan chapel, built in 1863, on its north, and the rectory, Polebrook Hall, the school and Manor House on its south. The main road con- tinues in a southerly direction to the Giddings, passing the church of All Saints on the one side and on the other the post office, noteworthy for two 16th-century chimneypieces. In the centre of the village a stone column commemorates the fallen in the war of 1914-18. The Northamptonshire his- torian in the early part of the 1 8th century describes the village as standing low on a rocky ground, with two bridges, one ' Pottock bridge,' outside, the other, a small horse bridge of two arches, within, its area.i At Armston are woods called New Fox Covert, Horse Close Spinney, Burray Spinney, and Cow Shackle Coppice, a name which recalls the Cow- shakell bushes and Cowshakell slade of 1602.^ There are two moats here and the site of a chapel, possibly that of St. John Baptist. In or before 1791 there remained in a building here four large windows resembling ' chapel windows,' and a high arched roof within and two columns without.' The remains of the chapel of St. Leonard at Armston were also found at the end of the 19th century in a farmhouse to the east of the Green, and near to them were some evidences of a moat and fishponds.* This chapel was founded apparently by Ralph de Trubleville and Alice his wife early in the 13th century, who gave it to Royse lady of Polbrook and patron of the church, together with six acres of land. Whereupon Royse gave to the chapel a font for the baptism of infants and pro- vided a chaplain to say services daily excepting burial of the dead. 5 There was an altar of St. Mary in the chapel.* The abbot of Peterborough was bound to find a chaplain to say divine service daily for the soul of Robert le Fleming.' To the east of Polebrook stands the rectory farm, now the property of Brig.- Gen. A. Ferguson, and Polebrook Lodge, with New Lodge, near the borders of Hemington. Three Acre Spinney, with Kingsthorpe Lodge and Kingsthorpe Coppice, with a moat adjacent and other woods, are all in this direction. Armston is said to have been inclosed in 1683. Long before that time, however, other parts of the parish had been inclosed by tenants. In 1602, at the instance of Edward Batley, farmer of the Queen's manor of Polebrook, it was found on inquiry that 30 acres of arable land and pasture had been inclosed by the first Sir Edward Montagu and his son, besides various other lands in the hamlet of Kingsthorpe.* An Act was passed in 1790 for inclosing the common fields of Polebrook, then reported to contain about 1,400 acres.* Armston was finally inclosed by an Act of 1807.9' Among place names which occur are Le Lynch- furlong, Cookesgreene, Haselbrooke, Cuttstones Crosse (Le Cutcrosse in Kingsthorp), Hensons Closse, Saltersmeare, the Queenes Closse, Hartmere Furlong, ' Bridges, ftist. Nortbants. ii, 414. • Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. 633. • Bridges, op. cit. 417. • T. H. Wright, MS. notes on Barnwell Esute, 1909. • Buccleuch Deeds, F. 26. • Ibid F. 3. ' Ibid F. 45. the • Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. 633, 645. lOI » Private Act, 30 Geo. Ill, cap. •" Loc. and Personal Act, 47 Geo. Ill, SesB. I, cap. 19 (not printed). A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Splint Close, the stone bridge called Brokforde Brigge,!" (13th century), le Kirkegrene and Copthorn- hill at Armston.ii In 1921 the population of Polebrook was 310, that of Armston 28, persons. In 1086 Si hides in POLEBROOK MANORS belonged to Peterborough Abbey, which were held by Eustace the Sheriff.'- The overlordship was claimed by the heirs of the Earl Gilbert of Gloucester (d. I3i4),i3 but it was retained by the Abbey until the Dissolution.'^ In the reign of Henry I 2J hides of the Peterborough fee in Polebrook had passed from Eustace the Sheriff to Walter de Clopton.'^ A mesne lordship over this fee or some part of it was afterwards held by the Lovetot lords, as at Clapton {q.v.), until Margery de Vernon and Nigel de Amundeville surrendered their rights in it to the Abbey.'* It is probable that the manor of Polebrook descended with that of Clapton (q.v.) until the close of the 12th century when it fell to the share of Rose or Rohesia, probably sister of WiUiam de Clopton, Lady of Polebrook," who apparently married Hugh le Fleming. Hugh held the Peterborough manor in Polebrook,'* and presented to the church there." He was succeeded by his son Robert le Fleming,'*" possibly before 1 2 19 when Rose by her son Robert granted the advowson of Clapton to the Abbot of Peterborough.-" Robert le Fleming was patron and parson of Polebrook in 1232-' and in 1245 held a quarter of a knight's fee of the old feoffment of the Honour of Lovetot in Pole- brook.-- This seems to be the Polebrook fraction of the Fleming's third of a knight's fee which they held together with a knight's fee and a half de sancta terra in Polebrook, Kingsthorpe and Clapton.^^ These tenements went to make up the manor which in 1252 Robert granted in frankalmoigne to Abbot John de Cauz.-'' Out of the revenues of the manor the abbot assigned ;^ioa year for wine for the monks.-* The manor continued in the hands of the abbey until its dissolution in 1529.-'' Another Peterborough tenant, Thomas Smert, held land in Polebrook in demesne in the early years of the 13th century.'-' He or his heir of the same name and others paid sciitage for their fees in Polebrook, Kingsthorp and Armston before 1252.-* In 1299 Thomas Ellger did homage to the Abbot for a tene- ment of the fee of Smert,'-^* but in 1314 the name of Thomas Smert appears again as one of four tenants who held of the Abbot in Polebrook.™ A holding in Polebrook belonged to the family of Porthors. A Reginald Porthors paid scutage in Warmington in 1253,3' and William Porthors is described as of Pole- broo!' in 1260,^'- and held lands there about lijt).'^^ He had a son Ralph who did homage to the abbot in I289,'" and a daughter Sarah who married Geoffrey le Dispenser. 3* Ralph apparently mortgaged the so-called manor of Polebrook to John son of Thomas de Oundle at the end of the 13th century.^^ Robert Porthors, presumably his heir, w-as holding here in 1315," and was living in 1326- 30.^* Richard Porthors of Polebrook and Agnes his wife were deaUng with lands in Polebrook in 1326,^' and WiUiam Porthors of Polebrook in 1356 to 1373.'"' The last of the family at Polebrook to which reference has been found is Hugh Porthors of Polebrook, who witnessed a charter in 1404.^' Another hide and a virgate of the Peterborough lands in Polebrook had come into the possession of Roger Marmion in the reign of Henry I.'- This land, as part of the fee of Robert Marmion in Langton and Polebrook was confirmed to the Abbey in 1146 by Pope Eugenius III, and in 1189 by Richard l.« The mesne lordship of the Marmions passed from Roger to his son Robert who was slain in 1143. He was suc- ceeded by another Robert who was living in 1155, and had a son Robert who died in 1 2 18. He had by his first wife, Maud de Beauchamp, a son, ' Robert Marmion, senior,' and by his second wife, Philippa, two sons, ' Robert Marmion, junior,' and William Marmion, a clerk. Robert, senior, died about 1242, and was suc- ceeded by his son Philip, a minor,''^ who died without issue about 1292.''* On his death the mesne lordship appears to have reverted to the abbot of Peterborough. The holders of this fee under the Marmions were the Grendons. Herlwin de Grendon held J knight's fee of the Marmion Fee in Polebrook in the middle of the 13th century.'"' He was succeeded by Ralph de Grendon, who paid scutage for ^ fee in 1253,'" and was living in 1262 to 1272.''* His son John was living 1270 to 1315.''* Ralph son of John de Grendon did homage to the abbot of Peterborough in 1318,''" and was apparently succeeded by two Vair a fesse '° Bucclcuch Deeds, K. 4. " Ibid. H. 80, 81. " V.C.II. Nortbanls. i, 315A, 362. " Cf. manor of Cbpton ; see also Cott. MS. Clcop. C ii, ff. 101-12 ; Cal. Inq. p.m. v. no. 538 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. lidw. Ill, file 230, no. Cp2 ; ibid. Ric. II, file 47, no. 38 ; Hen. IV, file 38, no. 41. '* Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 279. '• r.C.II. Norihanti. i, 366*. " Cf. manor of Cl.ipton ; let alio Cot(. MS. Clcop. C ii, ff. 109-12. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 159b; Ciir. Reg. R. (I'.R.O.), i, (I. 117, 119, 283. " Cott. MS. Clcop. C ii, f. 104. '• De Banco R. 54, m. I5d. '•"Ibid. " Feet of F. Northants. ca«c 172, file 14, No. 25. " Rcl. Hug. dt Wtllo (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 164. " F.gerinn MS, 2733, f. 141b. ■' Ibid. ff. 129, 129b. " Cott. MS. Cleop. C li, f. 1 1 1 ; Chi on. Pelrob. (Camden Soc.) 15 ; De Banco R. 54, m i5d. " Gunton, //i;(. Ch. oj Petcrlwrough, 34; Sparke, lUst. Aiigl. Script. (Walter de Whytlesey), 129. •* Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 279. " Cotton MS. Cleop. C ii, f. 10. ■' Ibid. f. nob. " Ibid. Vesp. E xxi, f. lid. •° Ibid. f. 30 b. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249. •• Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 37. " Cott. Chart, xvii, i. " Chron. I'clroh. 145. " Bucclench Deeds, F. 41. " Feet of F. Northants. case 175, file 58, no. 32. " Cott. MS. Vcsp. E xxi, fol. 30 b. " Bucclcuch Deeds, G. 17, 22, K. 5. 102 " Ibid. K. 5. " Ibid. A. 77, 84, D. 24. G. 24, 25. " Ibid. G. 19. " V.C.H. Northants. i, 366A. " Dugdalc, Mou. Angl. i, 391 : Cliart. R. 119, m. 14. " VVrottesley, PeJ. from the Pl-a K. 491-2. " Cf. Round, Fend. Engl. 189-194, where the Marmion pedigree is set out with authorities. •' Cott. MS. Clcop. C. ii, 101 b, 106. •' Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248 b ; I'ytch- ley, Bk. 0/ Fees (North.ints Rec. Soc.) 52 n. The ' Radulpho Ucrlewinc ' may be for * Radulpho filio Ilerlcwine.* '" Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 40, 41, 46, D. 17, G. 8. " Ibid. F. 10, G. 1 ; Cott. MS. \'esp. F. xxi, f. 30 b. •• Pyfchley, op. cit. 157. POLEBROOK HUNDRED POLEBROOK sisters." From these sisters it passed to William de Carlton,^'^ possibly a husband or son of one of them, who was holding in 1346.^' William Carlyll was described as of Polebrook in I36l*'' and 1367,^* and he and his wife Margaret were dealing with land there in 1397.^" Possibly it was his son, William Carlyll, who did homage to the abbot for lands in Polebrook in 1401,-'' and was in possession of lands there, held by knight service, in 1428.''' William Carlyll of Pole- brook son of William Carlyll conveyed lands in Pole- brook to William son of William Armston.'* The descent of ihis holding after this date is uncer- tain, it seems to have been acquired by the overlords the abbots of Peterborough, and came to the Crown at the Dissolution of that monastery in 1539. It was granted together with the holdings of Robert le Fleming, Thomas Smert, the Porthors and the Grendons as the manor of Polebrook late of Peter- borough monastery in 1542 to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough,'" but was afterwards resumed and leased to Sir Edward Montagu.*' Another grant was made in 1548 to Sir William Sharington,'- who within a few days obtained licence to alienate the property to Sir Edward Montagu.*' From that time until 1910 Polebrook manor has followed the descent of Barnwell St. Andrew {q.v.), but was not sold with that manor in 191 3 and still belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch. In 1086 Eustace the Sheriff was tenant in chief in Polebrook of a hide and a virgate which had for- merly been held freely by Ormar.** This fee, which had come into the possession of Robert de Cauz in the 1 2th century,*^ seems to be the manor of Pole- brook which in 1455 was declared to be held of Walter Norton in socage.** It was parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1610,*' and parts of it were held of the King in 1615 and 1623.** In 1236, three parts of a knight's fee in Polebrook, Thurning and Clapton, were held by Robert le Fleming of William Patrick, tenant of part of the Lovetot fee.** This part of the King's fee in Pole- brook may have come into the possession of Peter- borough Abbey with the rest of the Fleming manor. In 1207 Ralph son of Reginald de Polebrook acquired a virgate in Polebrook from Walter son of Agnes, widow of Robert.'" In 1229 Ralph petitioned for leave to divert a way in Polebrook." Three years later the Bishop of Lincoln granted him per- mission to have a chapel with a chantry in his court of Polebrook.'^ William son of Ralph de Polebrook witnessed the deeds relating to Hemington of the middle of the 13th century,'^ but no later record of his tenement seems to be extant. Certain messuages and lands in Polebrook of which the reversion was granted to the Abbot of Peter- borough by Richard de Outheby in 1339,''' must be assumed to have been part of the King's fee. The rest, as the manor of Polebrook, had come into the possession of the Lovels of Tichmnrsh before 1455, when William Lovel ' chivalcr,' Lord Lovel of Tich- marsh, died seised of the reversion of the manor, John Greyby being life tenant.''' Lord Lovel settled Polebrook on his younger son, Robert,'* whose widow, Eleanor, was accused of illegal treatment of his former tenants here." In 1466, Eleanor, with her second husband, Thomas Prount, claimed Polebrook and other manors as jointure.'" John, Lord Lovel, her first husband's elder brother, had died in 1465, leaving a son, Francis, who was attainted, and died without issue in 1487." His manor of Polebrook was granted in 1491 to John Moton,'" after whose death in 1492 it was acquired by George Kirkham, who left it by will, dated March, 1527-28, to his son Sir Robert Kirkham, and his wife Sibill.*' Messuages and lands in Polebrook were in the possession of Sir Robert and his wife, Richard and Katherine Pallady, and Thomas Henson in 1547,'- but at the beginning of the ne.\t century the manor belonged to the Crown as parcel of the possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster.®' Messuages and lands which seem to have formed part of it were held of the King in chief in 1615, 1623 and 1634,"^ but about the middle of the I7fh century it was conveyed by William Raby and his wife, Katherine, Thomas Roborne, and Richard Goodman and his wife, Joan, to Thomas Andrew,®^ possibly the Thomas Andrew, senior, who held it with Thomas Andrew, junior, in 168 1."* Later owners were John Buxton and his wife, Ehzabeth, and Lawford Watts and his wife, Sara, from whom a moiety of the manor passed to Thomas Goodfellow in 1694."' Both moieties were in 1774 the property of Mary Goodfellow, widow, and Catherine Good- fellow,"® the latter of whom was presumably the spinster of that name who owned land in Polebrook in 1790."' Domesday Book accounts for 5 hides of land in JRMSTON (Mermeston xi cent., Armeston xii cent., Ermeston, Armston xiii cent., Armenston, Armis- torem, Armyston xiv cent.) and Kingsthorpe belong- ing to the Abbey of Peterborough.*' In the reign of " Pytchley, op. citu 52. " Ibid. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 415. " Buccleuch Deeds, K. 6. " Col. Close, 1364-8, p. 374. »• Buccleuch Deeds, I. 8a, K.8. •' .\dd. MS. 25288. " Feud. Aids, iv. 48 ; Buccleuch Deeds, K. 9. " Ibid. I. 8a. "Pat. R. 33 lien. V1!I, pt. 3, *' Gunton, op. cit. 66. •• Pat. R. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 4, m. 14. " Ibid. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 3, Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. p. 259. Sir Edward bought out the interests of the Crown lessees, Ibid. p. 259-74. '• V.C.H. Nortbants. i, 349 *. " Ibid. i. 366 b. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. VI, file 158, no. 28. '4- 35; " Pat. R. 7 Jas. I, pt. 35, m. 6. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) cccxlviii, 122 ; ccccxv, III. " Book of Fees, i, 580. '" Feet of F. Northants. case 171, file 12, no. 202. " Close R. 39, m. 16. " Roi. Hug. de yVelles (Cant, and York Soc.) ii, 255-56. " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 12, 30, R. 43, G. 4. "Inq. a. q. d. file 251, no. 5; Cal. Pal. 133S-40, pp. 249-50. " Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i) file 199, no. 2. " Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 31, no. 254. " Chan. Proc. Eliz. (Rec. Com.) ii, p. Ixix. " Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 31, no. 254. '• Complete Peerage v, 164-65. "> Pat. R. 6 Hen. \'II, m. 13 ; Cal Pat. i.|S5-94, p. 406. " Coll. Top. ct Gen. vol. v, cli. 24, p. 307. »' I'eet of F. N'ortliants. E;ist. 37 Hen. VIII. '" Duchy of L.'inc. Spec. Com. 633. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) cccxlviii, 122; cccctviii; Dcxxxi, 8. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 22 Chas. I. In 1651, however, the site of the manor was owned by Nicholas Hunt. (Feet of F. Northants. East. 1651 ; Recov. R. East. 1651, ro. 15.) •* Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 22 Chas. II. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 4 and I!il. 6 Will, and Mary. " Ibid. Trin. 14 Geo. III. " Private Act 30 Geo. Ill, cap. 26. " y.C.H. Xonhanis. i, 315*. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Henry I, however, Armston alone is described as extending over more than 5 hides, the whole still forming part of the Peterborough fee,"- and this overlordship continued until the 15th century. The five knights, tenants of Peterborough Abbey in io86,'2 were followed by five others in the next century.'^ One of these knights was probably Geoffrey of Winchester, who held 3 virgates in Burghley of the Abbot.^^ Geoffrey's fees went to William de Burghley, who claimed to be hereditary reeve of the abbot's liberty of Stamford, and is men- tioned in 1 1 16 and lliS.*'' He was succeeded by Roger de Burghley, who surrendered the office of reeve of Stamford, and was living in 1143-4.'^ The next holder apparently was William de Burghley, who was holding in 1189 and by 1212 had been succeeded by a third William, who was holding two fees in Burghley and Armston in 1227.^' Probably a fourth William was holding in 1254 and 1260,^' and was succeeded by his son, Roger, who died in 1280.*' Roger was followed by Thomas de Burghley ,1 and he by Geoffrey de Burghley, who did homage to the abbot in 1322 and 1327 for his fee in Armston.- Geoffrev, by his wife Mariota, had a son Peter.' In 1346, Mariota, widow of Geoffrey, is mentioned as holding a fee in Burghley,"" and in 1428 she is named as a former tenant of the fee of the abbot of Peter- borough in Armston, then held by Gerveys Wykes.^ Another mesne lordship here, possibly over the same lands, belonged to Reginald de Grey in 1256, who settled on John de Grey a knight's fee in Armston inherited from his mother, Emma.* His successor, Reginald de Grey, in 1295 held of the Burghley heirs,' and Richard de Syward was his sub-tenant.' Below Syward again came James Byron. Richard Byron, probably James's great nephew and heir,' complained in 1308 that the prior of the Hospital of Armston and others had be- sieged him in his manor house for two days and assaulted him in the High Street of Armston.^" Sir James Byron was dealing with lands in Kingsthorp and Armston in the middle of the 14th century,'! anj John Byron was holding lands there in 1364.!^ A small property in Armston, held of John Byron by Sir John Knyvet of Winwick, Hunts, who died in 1381,'' seems to have been part of this Byron manor which was included in a settlement made in 1441 on Sir Robert Booth and others by BvRoN. Argent three bastons gules. •' y.C.H. Norihanls. i, 366A. " Ibid. " Ibid. •*lbid. 315 a; Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees (Northanu Rec. Soc.) 88 n. •• Ibid. 88 n. •• Ibid. 88, 88 n. •' Ibid. 88 n, 89 n ; Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 20. •• Pytchlcy, op. cit. 88, 89 n ; Egerton MS. 2733, f. 128 b. " Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees, 89 n. ' Ibid. • Cott. MS. Vcipaiian E xxi, i. 41, 78 b. 81. • Pytchlcy, op. cit. 88, 89 n. • Ibid. * Frud. Aids, iv, 47. * Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 283, file 14, no. 318. ' Intj. .T.q.d. file 24, no. i8. • Ibid. * Thoroton, Hist. Nolls, ii, 2S5. "Cal. Pal. 1307-13, p. 168, Rich.ird's •on, J.ime», must be the J.imes Byron mentioned in the return of 1428, and the Abbey's former ten.int in Armston. {Feud. Aids, iv, 47.) " Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 69, F. 42. "Ibid. G. 25. "Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. II, file 15, no. 32. " Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 293, file 70, no. 253. " Fts. of Now. (Harl. Soc. iv), 9. 104 Sir John Byron of Clayton and his wife Margery,** daughter of John Booth of Barton, Lancashire.'^ Bridges identifies the carucate possessed by James Byron in 1295 with lands called from their owner ' Buren's thing.' These lands were settled in 1463 by William Aldvvincle, lord of Ticlimarsh manor in Aldwincle, on his wife, Elizabeth, who, with her second husband, William Chamber, granted them in 1489 to the chantry they had founded in the church of Aldvvincle.'* The manor of Armston belonging to this chantry was sold to Sir Edward Montagu in 1547," and descended from that time with Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.),but was not sold in 191 3 and is still in the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch. Another of the five Peterborough tenants in Armston, in the reign of Henry I, was Guy Maufe, who held a hide of the Abbey land.'* Some part of his fee seems to have been included in Hervey de Borham's grant to Thorney Abbey, of the manor of Kingsthorpe (q.v.), and was held by this house in 1291." As lands in Armston of the late Abbey of Thorney, then occupied by John Robery, they were acquired by Sir Edward Montagu, with the manor of Luddington (q.v.), in 1544. From the first half of the 12th century the history of the rest of t!:e Peterborough lands in Armston, held by Turkil, by Geoffrey de Gunthorpe, and by Tedrick,^* is obscure. Geoffrey may have been ancestor of the Geoffrey of Southorpe who did homage to the Abbot for lands in Armston in 1275,^' but no later mention of the tenure of this family occurs, and it can only be supposed that all three holdings were eventually united in the manor of Armston, in Armston, and that the nucleus of it may have been the lands held by a family who bore the name of the hamlet. These lands were originally held apparenily by Gudold the Beadle, whose lands were confirmed to Peterborough Abbey by Henry I.-^ Philip de Armston paid lid. towards an aid at the close of the 12th century, and held land in Armston by the service of •[\ of a knight's fee payable to the chamber of the Abbot.2' It was probably the same Philip who was holding of the Honour of Peterborough in 1211-12,2* and with his son Reginald witnessed a charter of Abbot Robert de Lindsey (1214-22). ^^ Philip also had a son Bartholomew, whose son Geoffrey,^® with Stephen de Winwick, held J of a fee in 1 254.2^ The descent at this date becomes uncertain. A John de Armston, probably a brother or son of Geoffrey, had a son Robert, who took the name of Berncwcll,-' and a daughter Isabel, who had a son John.-" John de Armston seems also to have had a son ' John de Armston, called Despenser,''" whose name frequently *• Bridges, op. cit. ii, 211. " Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. 7, ni. 36. •• r.C.H. Northaiits. i. 366*. '» Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 55 b. " V.C.H. Norihanls. ii, 366*. " Soc. Aniiq. MS. 60, 159/1. " Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees (Northanti Rec. Soc), 136 n. This land may have been held later byTuricor Teduck. Ibid. » Ibid. » Red. Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Scr.), ii, 619. '• Pytchlcy, loc. cit. ■" Bucclcuch Deeds, A, 31, D. 11. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249. " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 15, F. 3. " Ibid. F. 3. "Ibid. K. 3. POLEBROOK HUNDRED POLEBROOK occurs in the Buccleuch Deeds of the last quarter of the 13th century as John le Despenser, or Spenser, of Armston.'i He had by his wife M.ibel three sons, John le Despencer, Geoffrey, and Walter.^- Of these, John had three sons, Philip le Spenser, by whom he was succeeded in I3I4,''^ David le Spenser,-''' and John le Spenser, chaplain,^* who together held a part of Philip de Armston's {3 of " knight's fee in Armston'* ; Geoffrey had by his wife Sarah" a son, John le Spenser, who was holding in the middle of the 14th century. Another tenement in Armston was held by Ralph de Trublcvill, sheriflF of Northamptonshire in 1223, whose name appears here as early as 1202.'* His wife was Alice, who seems to have been an heiress.^" In 1224 he received timber from the King's wood of VVrikes towards the repair of his house at Armston,'" and in 1 232 he and his wife built the Hospital of St. John the Baptist of Armston on their land," and Alice presented the first master.''- The fee later went to Geoffrey, brother of Berengar le Moyne of Barn- well St. Andrew, and he presented a master to the hospital in 1274.''* Two years later Geoffrey claimed view of frankpledge and assize of bread and ale.'''' He was succeeded by his son Reginald,''* who pre- sented a master in 1298'* and in 1302. His wife's name was Divorgilla.*' John Moyne presented in 1353,'" and with his wife Cecily settled the manor and advowson of the Hospital possibly in favour of William Peytevj'n of Armston, who had letters of protection for the King's service in Ireland in 1363.''* In 1381 he presented to the Hospital,^* and in 1393-4 William with his wife Joan conveyed lands in Armston and Kingsthorpe and the advowson of the Hospital, all of Joan's inheritance, to William Armston,"^ whose wife Joan was possibly the daughter of William Peytevyn. William Armston claimed to be patron when a new constitution was given to the Hospital in 1397,*^ and he and his wife were alive in 1428.*^ He was succeeded by his son William, who married Maud and presented to the Hospital in 1430.*'' He was succeeded by another William Armston, whose widow Ellen was in 1500 the wife of Robert Halley.** Thomas, son of the last-named William Armston, inherited his father's estate and was living in 1535.** A petition was presented by Thomas Armston against Richard Compton, master of the Hospital, for neglect of his duties in not praying for the souls of the founders nor saying divine service in the chapel of the Hospital for the benefit of the inhabitants living at a distance from tlie parish clurch.^' Thomas was succeeded by his half-brother, William Armston, who was dead by 1540,*' when the in- heritance was disputed under various settlements. The claimants were Thomas Henson, son of Elizabeth, sister of the last-named William Armston, who is said to have married John Henson ; Katherine, daughter of Guy, son of the elder William Armston by his third wife, which Katherine was then liiewife of Richard Pallady, and was said to be illegitimate ; and Sir Robert Kirkham, son of Anne, sister of Guy, who had married George Kirkham.^* The matter was compromised, and the disputants joined, about 1545, in conveying the estate to John I.anc,^'' by whom it was sold in 1548 to Sir Edward Montagu.** The Hospital was dissolved by Sir Robert Kirkham in 1536, and sold to Sir Edward Montagu.*- The Crown, however, granted it in 1548 to Sir William Sharington, who conveyed his title to Sir Edward Montagu. Probably on account of Sharington's attainder it was granted by the Crown in 1588 to Edward Wymark.'^ The Montagus seem to have come to terms with Wymark and retained possession, and the lands of the Hospital remained part of the Manor of Armston, which descended with Barnwell St. Andrew** until 1913, when it continued in the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch. A family of Porthors of Armston held lands there in the 13th century.** Andrew Porthors had a son John, who with his wife Rose was living about 1270.** They had a son John and a daughter Alice, who married John de Milton,*' living in 1305.*' One hide and a virgate of land in Kingsthorpe (Chingestorp, xi cent. ; Kyngesthorp, xii cent. ; Kynestorp, xiii cent.) belonged to the fee of Peter- borough*^ from the 12th to the 15th century.'" The Abbot of Peterborough's lands here were partly of the fee of Maufe and partly of the fee of Lovetot.'i The mesne lordships followed the descents of Woodford and Clapton respectively (q-v.)- Walter de Lodinton, the abbot's immediate tenant in the reign of Henry I,'^ may have been the predecessor of the one or other, or of both. Robert Maufe gave lands here to the abbot " Buccleuch Deeds, A. 7, A. 46, D. 10, 22, 23, F. I, 2, 4, 23, 24. " Ibid. F. 34, 41 ; Cbmn. Petrob. 23. " Ibid. •* Buccleuch Deeds, A. 121, G. 23. •• Ibid. F. 42, 43, G. 17, 23. •• Pytchley, loc. cit. •' Buccleuch Deeds, F. 10, 41. "List of Sberifs, 92; Plac. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 41. " She was possibly Alice de Polebrock, who held lands in Kingsthorp at this time (Buccleuch Deeds, G. 2, 4). " Close R. 28, m. 3. " Anct. D. C. 31 19; Rot. Hug. ie Wellfs (Cant, and York. Soc), ii, 255-6. " Ibid. 164. In 1269 Walter de Vernon gave 5 marks for prayers for the soul of Margaret de Pomeray (Buccleuch Deeds, D. 25). " Ibid. H. 30, 34 i Rot. Rich, de Graves- tnd (Cant, and York. Soc), 122. '* R ^ silver chalice and flagon and processional cross were given by Gen. Ferguson ; a silver almsdish by Lady Paston-Cooper, and two silver almsbowls by Ivor Ferguson, Esq. The registers begin in 1655, the first volume con- taining entries to 1770. There was a priest on the King's ADVOWSON fee in Polebrook in io86.8^ The advowson apparently belonged to the Clopton family and at the beginning of the 13th century Rose de Clopton as patron of the church of Polebrook made an agreement regarding St. Leonards Chapel at Armston.*^ Her husband Hugh le Fleming, presented a clerk in the reign of Henry III. The advowson descended to his son and heir, Robert le Fleming,*' who granted the church and manor to the Abbey of Peterborough.*' The claim to the advowson made by Hugh's great-great-granddaughters in 1284 was refuted by the production of Robert le Fleming's charter'* and the church remained in the possession of the Abbey until its surrender,*' when the profits of the rectory with tithes, mansion and glebe amounted to ^^29 14J. a year.^ In 1542 Henry VIII granted the advowson of the rectory of Polebrook to the Bishop of Peterborough'* but it was afterwards sold with the manor to Sir William Sharington and alienated by him to Sir Edward Montagu (see above). Sir Edward's heirs, however, did not succeed in establishing their right to the church though they made some attempt to do so in the 17th century,'- and it has remained in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough to the present day."'' In 1 291 the Prior of Huntingdon enjoyed a portion of tithes amounting to ^l a year, in the church of Polebrook and portions of equal value from the church also belonged to the sacristans of Peterborough and Croyland and the Prior of St. Neots."'' The Hunting- don portion amounted to only 1 3;. 4^/. in 1539,'* when the Croyland portion was described as a certain •" It projecti beyond the aiile inter- nally 12 (t.,and ii 13 ft. 6 in. wide. There ii no separating arch. " Now covered by panelling. •• North, Cb. ttrlll of Sorlhanli. 384, where the inicriptioni are given. There ii no founder'! name on the treble. •• y.C.II. Norlbatiii. i, 349*. " Buccleuch Decdi, F. 26. " De Banco R. 54 m. 15 d. " Chron. Pelrob. i 5. " De Banco R. 54, m. 15 d. " Cal. Pal. 1361-64, p. 27; E(el. (Rec. Com.) iv, 293. " Fahr Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 293. •' Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 31, m. 13 108 "Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.), i, 214. Ciil. S. P. Dom. 1660-61. p. llS. " Inst. Bks, (P.R.O.) ; Cal. S. P. Dom. Valor 163S-39, p. 56; Bacon, Lib. Rrg. 828. Private Act 30 Ceo. Ill, cap. 26. •' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 39 b. •' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 254. POLEBROOK HUNDRED THURNING portion of rent issuing from the church of Polebrook.** Tlie Croyland tithes were granted in 1562 to Henry Best and John Holland who conveyed them to Thomas Eastchurch and Robert Hunt who in 1563 sold them to Sir Edward Montagu."'^ A pension of 20s. a year was due from the rectory of Polebrook to Peterborough Abbey at its dissolution, and was included in the grant of 1548 to Sir William Sharington (y.f.) as was also some land in the parish which had belonged to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Sir Edward Montagu agreed with the parson of Polebrook in consideration of the inclosure of Polebrook and in order to discharge the manor from all tithes proposed, he would give a portion of the tithes belonging to the parsonage of Hemington, a pension of 20s. and a lease of certain tithes in Polebrook belonging to the late monastery of Croyland.*' A gild of Corpus Christi in the church of Polebrook is mentioned in 1518 and 1524.'^ The Rev. Nicholas Latham, CHARITIES founder of the Hospital at Oundle, gave £z yearly to be distributed equally among four poor people. This sum is regu- larly paid and applied by the Trustees of Parson Latham's Hospital at Oundle. The Rev. Charles E. Isham by Declaration of Trust dated ll February, 1858, declared that the dividends on a sum of /^loo Consols should be distri- buted by the Rector equally among six of the most deserving poor inhabitants who are members and communicants of the Church of England, first con- sideration to be given to widows. The distribution takes place after divine service on Christmas Day. The Wcslcyan Methodist Chapel comprised in an Indenture dated 25 July, 1863, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, and is held on trusts as expressed in The Wesleyan Chapel Model Deed. THURNING Terning, Torning, 1086 ; Thiringez, Terringes, Thirning, Thorning (xii cent.) ; Thernynge (xiv cent.) ; Thurning (xv cent.). The parish of Thurning was formerly partly in Northamptonshire and partly in Huntingdonshire (Leightonstone Hundred), the church being in the latter county. The boundary went north and south through the main street. In 1888, however, the whole was included in Northamptonshire. ^ The area is 1,016 acres, of which about two-thirds are under permanent grass. The soil is clay, upon which wheat and barley, beans and peas are grown. The land rises gradually from north to south, from about 150 ft. to 240 ft. above sea level. The population was 133 in 1921. The village lies about l\ miles south-east of Oundle at the crossing of the roads from Barnwell St. Andrew to Alconbury, and from Clapton to Luddington in the Brook. The church stands to the south of the village. The rectory house, which is to the east of the church, is a two story building of timber and plaster, with reed-thatched roof, probably of the late 15th century date, but partly refaced in yellow brick with single story brick additions. The interior has been modernised, but the original timber construc- tion is everywhere visible. It has been the rectory since the 17th century, to which period the stone tithe barn on the north side of the house apparently belongs. In 1263 Berengar le Moyne obtained a charter for a weekly market on Wednesday at his manor of Thurning, and a three days' fair at Michaelmas.^ The grant may not have become effective, for Thur- ning does not seem later to have been reckoned as a market town. Sir William Thirning, a prominent lawyer and judge of the Common Pleas in the time of Richard II and Henry IV is supposed to have belonged to this place, but nothing is definitely known. He took a prominent part in the deposition of Richard II in 1399, and died in 141 3.' In Domesday Book (1086) the greater MANOR part of the land is recorded under Huntingdonshire. The abbot of Croy- land held ij hide, with land for a plough and a half ; the soke was in the King's manor of Alconbury. Eustace (the sheriff) held it of the abbot. In 1066 the value was 20^., and in 1086 the same. Eustace held 5 hides in chief, there being land for 5 ploughs ; the soke, as in the last case, was in Alconbury. The value alike in 1066 and 1086 was 60/. Alured and Gozelin held the land of Eustace, and Robert the Dispenser claimed I virgate and i hide.* In Northamptonshire there was only J hide, with land for half a plough ; it belonged to the abbot of Peter- borough and was appurtenant to Oundle. The value, 2od. in 1 066, had doubled by 1086, being then 3^. 4i.6_ It is impossible to trace these various estates clearly. The chief tenant in 1086 was Eustace, the sheriff, whose fee passed to the Lovetots and followed the descent of Clapton* {q.v.). Alured's holding went to the Cloptons of Clapton {q.v.). The holding of Robert the Dispenser may be represented by the Marmion fee, as Roger Marmion, according to the survey of c. 11 25, held 3 small virgates of the fee of Peterborough.' By the end of the 13th century these mesne tenancies had all been surrendered to Peter- borough Abbey. The sub-tenants of the Lovetot's fee in the 13th century were Robert, son of Walter de Polebrook, Berengar le Moyne, Thomas de Hotot, Roger Beaumes (de Bello Mesuagio)* and Ralph de Grendon. Of these the holding of Robert, son of Walter de Polebrook (liung in 1260-2)' appe.irs to have passed to his son Walter, son of Robert de Polebrook.^' The •' VaUr Ecd. (Rcc. Com.) iv, 85. ••« Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. 271. •' Ibid. 269. " P.C.C. 10 Aylofts ; Prob. of N'orth- ampt B. 169. ■ Loc Gov. Bd. order. • Cai. Chart. 1257-1300, p. 46. • Foi3. yud^fS. • V.C.H. Hunt!, i, 342A, 350a. • V.C.H. Northantt. i, 314. • The long dispute with the Earls of Gloucester, which included Thurning, is given under Clapton. 109 ' V.C.H. Norihanls. i, 367J ; cl. Round Feud. Engl. 194-5. • Pytchley, Bk. of Fefs (Northants Rec. Soc), 100. • Buccleuch Deeds A 31, 38, 39. '"Ibid. G2, K2, 4. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE later descent, however, of this holding has not been ascertained. The holding of Berengar le Moyne seems to have been acquired by his ancestor Reginald, who in the time of Henry II exchanged lands in Woodwalton (Co. Hunts.) for lands in Thurning, Thorp and GrafTham.*'- From this date the descent followed that of Barnwell St. Andrew {q.v.) until the holding was acquired by the abbot of Peterborough. The Hotot holding of the Lovetot fee probably foDowed that of Clapton {q.v.). The descent of Ralph de Grendon's holding doubtless followed that of his property in Polebrook (g.v.). His descendant William Carlyll was in 1428 holding half a fee in Polebrook and Thurning, formerly held by William Carleton and others of the Peterborough Fee.i- In 1316 Thurning was recorded as making one vill with Winwick, the holders being Walter de Aloles- Mullysworth's and the advowson of the church of Thurning. This is recorded in the inquisition after his death in 1505 ; the heir was his son, the famous John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's. ^* It became part of the Knyvet estate in Thurning. The Beaumes were holding in 1236 when Reginald de Beaumes was a tenant in Thurning," and in 1263 another Reginald, son and heir of Robert de Beaumes, paid rehef, his lands being in the King's hands by reason of the custody of the heir of Richard, Earl of Gloucester.'* The Beaumes estate appears to have descended to Thomas Beaumes, who, in 1373, in con- junction with Katherine his wife, sold to Sir John KnjTet seven messuages 3J virgates of land, rents of 21. 6d. and a pair of gloves and five villein tenants. Thomas and Katherine were, however, to retain it for life.19 Thurning Rectory worth, Geoffrey de Beaumes, John de Holme and John Cardon.'' The estate of the first of these, which probably represents one of the above holdings, was, on the death of Walter de Molesworth in 1 318, divided between his daughters Katherine and Mar- garet.'* A small part of the estate in Molesworth was settled on Margaret and the rest in Thurning and Wold Weston, including the advowson of two parts of the church of Thurning, was settled on Katherine and Richard de Bayeux, her husband, and their issue, with reversion to Margaret.'^ The other third part would be held by Walter's widow Katherine. The later descent is not known, but Sir Henry Colet, of London, purchased from Thomas Molesworth, probably about 1470, the manor called Sir John Knyvet acquired much of the Peterborough property in Thurning, and his family seem eventually to have obtained all of it.-" In 1380 Sir John held the manor of Winwick and also held a messuage and land in Thurning of the abbot of Peterborough by suit of court.^i Joan (? Kn)Tet) in 1428 held the third part of a fee in Tliurning.'^ She seems to have been the widow of John Knyvet the elder, on whom (in conjunction with his wife) the estate had been settled for life in 141 1, should Sir Robert Ty and Margaret, his wife, die without issue, with remainders to Catlierinc and Elizabeth, daughters of another John Knyvet. Margaret Ty was no doubt a sister.-' By 1456 it had come to Edmund Radcliffc, as son and heir of Elizabeth, wife of Sir John RadcliflFe " Roi. dt Obi. el Fin. (Rcc. Com), 395 »• Fend. Aidi, iv, 4(1. '• Ibid, ii, 472. '* Cal. Inq. vi, no. 166. " Fctt of K. Hiintt. caic 93, flic 2J. " Chan. Inq. p. m. (Ser " Bk.ofFeei,H,<)iy 12 Edw. II, ii), xix 28. *' F.xcerpia e Rot. Fin. ii, 400. '• Feet of F. Ilunti. llil. 47 F,d\v. III. "Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (nt. no8.), file 230, no. 62. See ttUo Exch. Inq. p.m. fSrr. i), liii, 2 (for Hugh Earl of Stafford, 1387) and Ch.Tn. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, file 39, no. 41 (for Edmund Earl of Stafford, 1403). I 10 •' Ch.TH. Inq. p.m. 4 Ric. II, file 15, no. 32. For the pedigree, ace Klomeficld, NorJ.\,l7<); v. 153. " Frud. Aids, ii, 474. Slie is called Thyrninp in the print. " Add. Chart. 7567, 7575, 7578 ; Hridgcs, //m/. Northanti. ii, 420. POLEBROOK HUNDRED THURNING Azure six of Chadderton, in Lancashire,^* but twenty years later had reverted to the heir-at-law, Sir William Knyvet, who mortgaged and sold various estates, including his lands in Thurning, to Sir Henry Colet, of London, in 1472-7.^'' The sale was confirmed by fine in 1478, the estate being de- scribed as the manor of Thurning, etc.^* Sir Henry had married Christian Knyvet, a kinswoman of the vendor. He purchased other estates in Thurning, as will be seen below. On Sir Henry's death in 1505, the manors and estates descended to his son and heir Dean Colet, who died in 1519, and by liis will left his estate to his mother for her life, for division after her death. The manor of Thurning, with other manors and lands purchased from Sir William Knyvet, was to pass to his mother's kinsman Edmund Knyvet, of Ashwellthorpe (Norf.), Serjeant porter to Henry VIII, while Molesworth's manor and the advowson of the church, purchased from Thomas Molcsworth, 2 messuages, etc., in Thurning purchased by Sir Henry from Thomas Henson, and another messuage purchased from Thomas Newman were togo to Christopher Knyvet, brother of Edmund ; another brother, Anthony, being in the re- mainders.2^ Christopher's estate seems to have reverted to his elder brother Edmund, whose son John and grandson Thomas inherited Thurning. The last- named in 1577 sold the manor of Thurning and lands appurtenant in Thurning, Hemington and Ludding- ton to four of the tenants — Robert Byworth, Robert Smyth, Nicholas Smyth, and Silvester Collyn,-' who seem to have di\'ided it among themselves. Thus the manor seems to have ceased. From the inquisition after the death of Robert Smith in 1622 it appears that his estate in the three places named had been parcel of the manor called Mullesworth's and afterwards Collet's manor, and had been purchased by the deceased from Thomas Knyvet. The heir was his son Henry Smith, aged 44. The lands were held of the king by fealty only .2* Silvester Collyn, another purchaser, died in 1589 holding his lands in Thurning, etc , of the queen in chief ; the lands lay in Northamptonshire and Hun- tingdonshire, but the capital messuage was in the latter county. His heir was a son Silvester, only 4 years of age.^ Margery Sturrapp, widow of Thomas Sturrapp, Knyvet. .h^ciit a bend and a border engrnUcd sable. and daughter and heir of Robert Byworth (another purchaser), died in 1624 holding her land of the king."^ Her son and heir Thomas, then 26 years of age, died in 1631, leaving a son Thomas, aged 12. The land was now stated to be held of the king by knight's service.*- \'arious religious houses had estates in the parish. The earliest reference to Thurning is in a charter by Burgred, king of Mercia (852-74) confirming a grant of a hide and a half in Thurning made by Grimketel to Croyland.'^ The estate is recorded in Domesday Book, the land being held by Eustace in 1086. In 1303 only one hide was reckoned; the services were unknown. '■* The abbey had a rent of 56/. id. from it in 1538 ; the pittancier used it.^^ \^ 1546 it was leased to John Strenie.^' Eugenius III in 1147 confirmed lands in Thurnmg and Winwick to St. Mary's priory, Huntingdon. =" The priory had copyhold rents in Winwick in 1538 amounting to £2 "js. y^-arly value. '* The Hospitallers had some estate in Thurning,^' held as of the preceptory of Temple Bruer. In 1540 they had a free rent of I3if. from Thomas Henston for a cottage and lands called Sessikke.*" This tene- ment was with others sold in 1546 to WiUiam Ramsden and Richard Vavasor,'"- who quickly resold it to George Smyth, of Sibston.''- According to the Parliamentary Survey of 1650, the Crown had had rents of js. from the freeholders of Thurning, in lease to the Earl of Manchester ■" In 1874 the chief landowners were Borrett Bletsoe. who lived at Barnwell All Saints, and John and James Fortescue.**- There were 60 a. common in 1840.** The church of ST. JAMES consists of CHURCH chancel, 25 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in., with north vestry, clearstoried nave 33 ft. by 16 ft., north aisle 7 ft. 6 in. wide, south aisle 9 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower, or turret, containing two bells. All the above measurements are internal. In 1880-81 a great part of the structure was taken down and rebuilt as nearly as possible in accordance with the previous design, only the chancel, nave arcades, south aisle wall, and the porch being left standing ; the chancel was restored in 1902. Exter- nally therefore the whole of the north and west sides of the building, as well as the tower and clearstory, is modern, but it appears to have replaced work of the 15th century. The walls are of rubble, and the roofs are modern and covered with lead. The earliest church of which there is evidence was built in the first half of the 12th century, and con- sisted of a small square-ended chancel and an aisleless nave which probably covered the area of the present nave. The semi-circular chancel arch belongs to this church. It is 9 ft. wide, of two square orders, and has moulded imposts and half round responds with scalloped capitals and chamfered bases. The north aisle was thrown out and the north arcade " y.C.II. Lams, v, 117. " Bridget, loc. cit., and Add Chart. 813-6, 7579- ) or a lease made by Colet in 1482, see the Deeds Enrolled 00 De Banco R. 882. " Feet of F. Divers Cos. 18 Edw. IV ; see Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 120, no. 18. " P.C.C. 22 Ayloffe. " Add. Chart. 704, 705 ; Pat. R. 19 EHj;. pt. 3 (lie. of alienation) ; Feet of F. Hunts. Mich. 19 Elii. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxv, 115. "' Ibid, ccxx, 5. " Ibid, ccccxvi, 104. »= Ibid, cccdxiv, 8. " Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 113, 115. " Feud Aids, ii, 470. '' Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, 2020. •« L. 6- P. He;. VIII, xxi (2), p. 440. Ill " Diigdali-, !\fcti. An^l. vi, 80. " Ibid. 82, citing Mins. Accts. " Cal. Pal. 1549-51, p. 232. " Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, n. 7274. " /.. (S- P. Hen. VIII, xxi (i), p. 356. " Ibid. p. 488. " Parly. Surv. Common W. Hunts, i, ** V^'helan, Northants. 72;. *' Lewis, Tofofi. Diet. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE nserted about 1180-90. The nave was at the same time lengthened westward by a bay, and the former north-west angle of the nave now forms the square part of the masonr)' pier at the west end of the existing north arcade. The arcade as built was of three round arches, now reduced to two, of two orders, the inner chamfered on both sides and the outer moulded. It has a circular pillar and half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases. The east respond of the destroyed western arch now stands within a recess in the modern wall and has the nail-head orna- ment in its capital ; otherwise it is similar to the others. The south aisle with its arcade was erected ■HI2IH CCMURV EARLY E3c II8O-9O :i]13ffiCi;NTURy __j I IB Century □ I5ffiCENT.ILATEi!500) NoTE:SouIhwail Jmey be 6'-cent. with /-% r, |l4'-''cenT.inserrions,or LJ |880 —81 may be rebuilt in 14!' cent. 10 5 O 10 20 30 III iImiiI I 4 I Scale of Feet Plan of Thurninc Church in the 13th century, and is probably the first aisle on this side, as there is no evidence of an earlier one. The arcade was of three pointed arches, of which two only remain, of two hollow chamfered orders resting on a pillar composed of four shafts with fillet on face and hollows between. The springing of the third arch still remains, but the westernmost pillar is octagonal and appears to be of later date ; it may indicate a proposed rebuilding of the arcade from this end. The cast window of this aisle is of two trefoiled lights, with a trefoil opening over each, and in the south wall is a piscina with a cinquefoiled head. The three-light square headed window in the same wall is apparently a 14th century insertion, and the south doorway is of this period. The south wall may have been rebuilt at this time. The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century and probably took the place of one which replaced the 1 2th century chancel referred to above. The windows are contemporary with the rebuilding, the cast window of four trefoiled lights, and two south windows, one with three and the other with two lights ; below the western of these is a pointed low-side window with traccried cinquefoiled head, the sill of which is 4 ft. above the ground. There is also a priest's doorway on this side. On the north side is a modern window of three lights similar in design to the others, and further west is a doorway to the vestry, and two arches, one (modern) open to the vestry itself and the other to a small chapel on the east end of the north aisle. The vestry appears to have been originally a priest's room, or sacristy, from which a circular stone stair gave access to the chancel roof ; the uppc part of this stair and the turret surmounting it still remain. Above the arch opening to the chapel the rood loft doorway rei.aains in the wall, and from the chapel a squint is directed to the high altar. There are two plain sedilia and a trefoil-headed piscina in the usual position in the chancel, and on the north side an aumbry. Towards the end of the 15th century, or early in the 1 6th, if the evidence of the rebuilding of 1881 is to be trusted, the clearstory was added and the porch and vestry built. The nave was at the same time reduced in length by one bay, a new west wall being erected in front of the two westernmost piers. This wall carries the east side of the tower, the west front of which is set upon a lofty external arch enclosing a two-light tran- soraed window. The south porch has a four-centred moulded outer arch on attached shafts, and there is an octagonal stoup in its north-east angle. The font is ancient and has a plain octagonal bowl. The oak pulpit, lectern, litany desk, and a seat in the chancel are all of i6th century date, and are said to have come from Barnwell All Saints.''* The other fittings are modern. There is a mural tablet in the north aisle to Robert Negus, gent., d. 1657. The chancel arch is filled by a modern rood-screen and the organ is placed above the arch. The smaller of the two bells is a recasting by Taylor of Loughborough in 1899 of a medieval bell which bore the inscription : ' Dei genetrix, Virgo Maria, ora pro [nobis].' The larger bell has four pairs of letters, perhaps part of an alphabet, and appears to be of pre-Reformation date from a Leicester foundry.*' The plate consists of a cup and cover paten, the latter dated 1569 and the cup inscribed ' For the towne of Thorneing ' ; an early 15th century Florentine chalice, silver gilt, with enamels on the knop and foot, given in 1924 by the parishioners as a thankoffering for the rector's (Rev. H. B. Gottwaltz) twenty-five years' service ; a jewelled silver-gilt ciborium given in 1900 ; a silver ciborium of 1908-9 ; and a flagon of 1 870-1, given in 1872. There is also a pewter flagon and a plated almsdish. The registers before 1812 are as follows: — (i) baptisms 1560-1804, marriages 1560-1641, 1666-1809, burials 1560-1803; (ii) baptisms and burials 1809- 1812; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. The advowson was in 1318 held ADFOWSON with the Molesworth manor, for in that year the king presented to the church, because he had the custody of the heirs of Walter de Molesworth.** In 1403 Thomas Hethe, " The church of All -Sainti, Barnwell, WM pulled down about 1825. " Owen, Cb. Bells of Huntingdonibirt, 137. There were retained by the church in I {53 a chalice of lilver, two great I 12 bells and a aaunce bell. F.xch. K.R. Church Gds. bdlc. ii, no. 33. " Cttl. Pal. 1317-21, p. 196. Thurning Church : The Interior, looking South-east POLEBROOK HUNDRED WARMINGTON clerk, transferred to his brother Henry all the estate he and another brother Richard had in half an acre in Thurning (John Mabbot had been tenant), with the advowson of the church.'" As shown above, Sir Henry Colet purchased the advowson from Thomas Molesworth about 1470, and it came to Christopher Knyvett after the de.ith of Dr. John Colet in isig.*" One Richard Routhall acquired it with certain tenements in Thurning, and these passed to his widow Agnes and her second husband Robert Char- nock.'' Her son Tliomas Routiuil made a feoffment, in 1529, a few months before his mother's death, in which the advowson was included.''- The advowson, however, came back to Thomas Knyvet, for it was excepted when he sold the manor in 1577 ;■''■' he trans- ferred a moiety to trustees in 1580.'"' In 1617 the advowson was acquired by Thomas Wells, clerk,'* and John Wells,rector of Thurning from l627,and probably son of Thomas, bequeathed it in 1656 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge.'''' Tlie master and fellows have since presented to tiic rectory. In 1291 the cliurcli of Thurning was taxed at £&.'"'' By 1535 tiie value had increased to /^IZ,'* but in the tiiiie of Elizabeth the rector leased the rectury for £lo, out of wliich a pension of 6j. Sd. was paid to Hunting- don priory.'* The tithes were commuted for /180. Tliere are 60 acres glebe. The rectory house is near tlic church. A National school was built in l8.).3. The Rev. John Wells, by his Will in CHARITY 1640, gave a rentcharge of ^1 to the poor vested in the Minister and Over- seers. In respect of tiiis an annual sum of £\ was paid out of lands in the parish and distributed equally among 20 po^r families. WARMINGTON Wermingtimc, c. 980 ; Wirminton, Werminton, Wormington. Warmington extends eastward from the Nene ; on the northern boundary is Elton in Huntingdonshire, the old part of its manor-house standing on the border line, part in each county, and Elton Park extending some way into this parish. The acreage is 4,013 (including 20 acres in water), of which a good deal more than half are permanent grass. The soil is clay, with gravel underlying. Wheat and barley are grown. The land rises to about 212 ft. above sea level in the middle of the parish, whence it falls towards Billing Brook on the eastern boundary to 100 ft., and more quickly towards the Nene on the north-west, where the level is as low as 55 ft. to 50 ft. The straggling village is in this western part, with the church to the south and the manor-house or Berry stead to the north; there is a moat a little north- east of the latter. To the south of the church is a late l6th or early 17th century two-storey house, now unoccupied and in a dilapidated state, with two bay mndows on the ground floor, low muUioned windows above, and a thatched roof. The mill is on the river some distance to the north-west. The chief road leads from Oundle north-east through the village, going to Elton and Peterborough ; another road goes east towards Norman Cross. Eaglethorpe to the north and Papley to the south-east were formerly hamlets, but were depopulated even in Bridges' time (171 1), when he records only three shepherds' cottages in the latter place. There is a moat at Papley. Eagle- thorpe House has a door said to have been brought from Fotheringhay. Formerly the parish was considered partly in WilTibrook Hundred and partly in Polebrook, and Bridges thus states the position : " Adjoining the touin and lying intermixed with it is Warmington hamlet, all lying in (Willibrook) Hundred. In the earliest records this township is comprised within Willibrook Hundred, but Warmington town is now- reputed a member of the Hundred of Polebroo'-,.* Maps of a century ago show the north-west portion (the Grange) in Willibrook Hundred. One part of the town was called Southorp and the other Mill End. Near the town are two springs formerly known as Stockwell and Caldwell or Chadwell, the latter yielding a mineral water. In 1393 the lordship was divided into four fields — the Ernefield, Bolwell Field, Blackthorn Field and Westfield.2 The common fields were enclosed by an Act of 1774. In 1921 the population numbered 550. George Thicknesse, a former master of St. Paul's School, at one time resided with an old schoolfellow at Arlescote, and was buried in Warmington church- yard in 1790.' From a very early time the whole MANORS of WARMINGTON belonged to the abbey of Peterborough, possibly from its foundation. There is a charter attributed to Wulphere'' embodying such a claim, and Edgar's charter of 963 names Warmington among the estates confirmed or restored to the monks.' Two of the inhabitants about that time have their names recorded as sureties for land here- — Thurferth and Cytel Claccessune,^ and one Swerteling took land on the understanding that it should revert to St. Peter at his death.' In 1086 the abbey held, as it had held in 1066, 10 hides in Warmington.* (I) Of these 7J were held in demesne ; the mill rendered 40/. and 325 eels yearly. The value in 1066 was 5/., but in 1086 it had risen to £11, pointing to ruthless devastation just before the Conquest." In this portion the rubrication** is defective or erroneous. (II) Two " Add Chart. 699. " Sec ibid. S26. •' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), I, 114. •• Feet of F., Diveri Co». Hil. 20 lien, VIII. •• Add chart. 705. '* Feet of F. Hunti. Trin. Z2 Elii. •' Ibid. Mich. IS ]»». I. '• E. S. Shuckburgh, Emmanutl CoU.,i2i. "Pope A'ifi. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 36; Feud. /IrJsy ii, 481. " ruhr Kcd. (Rec. Com.), 260. " Ct. of Req. bdlc. 76, no. 30. ' HiU. Northanls, ii, 478. * Bridge! citing Abbot Elncston'i rental, Cott. MS. Nero C. vii. ' Dut. Nat. Biog. • Birch, Ciiriul. Sat. i_ 36 — ipuriouf, for the names of the shires are used. • .'Ingl. Sax. Chron. an. 963, • Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 42. ' Ibid. f. 44rf. ' V.C.H. korlhant!. i, 314, 315, 316. ' See Oundle. '• " In Wiceilt Hund." A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE kniglits held one hide, which belonged to VVillybrook Hundred ; the value had risen from 2s. to 20J. The two knights were probably ancestors of the Gargates and Peverels of later days. (Ill) Isembard [Artifex] and Rozelin held Ij hide ; the land had increased in value from 5;. to 40.(. between 1066 and 1086. This estate was Papley. The Survey made c. 1 1 25 gives no further infor- mation, but again affirms that one hide was in Willy- brook Hundred ; the assessment of Papley is given as one hide only, and is recorded under Polebrook Hundred." Later than Domesday the abbots appear to have made further grants to free tenants. Thus one portion, \ hide, was joined with the manor of Church- field in Ouiidle'2 ; another with Stoke Doyley,''' and a third with Torpel in UfTord. Papley seems to have been the only free tenement entirely within Warming- ton, for Gargate had land in Irthlingborough as part of his fee, and the Peverel holding here was attached to Paston. The manor proper, that held in demesne by the abbots, remained undisturbed till the Dissolution. W.irmington, with its churches and mills, was con- firmed to the abbey by Eugenius HI in 1146'* and by Richard I in 1189,^* as well as by later kings. Its condition about 11 25 is described in det.iil in the Liber Niger, as follows : ** In Warmington there are 8 hides geldable ; of which 20 full villeins and 29 half-villeins hold 34J virgates. The full viUeins work 3 days weekly ; the otheis according to their tenures. In all they have 16 ploughs and plough 68J acres, and also do 3 boon works with their ploughs ; they carry 34 cartloads from the wood. They render ^4 I is. ^d., and give to the charity of St. Peter lo rams, 400 loaves, 40 dishes (disci), 1 34 hens and 260 eggs. There are also 8 sockmen, who have 6 ploughs. In demesne are 4 ploughs for 32 oxen, 9 cows, 5 calves and one idle beast, 129 sheep, 61 pigs, a draught mare {aura) and a foal. Also a mill with one yard {z'ir^a) of land and 6 acres, rendering 60s. and 500 eels. Ascelin the clerk holds the church with 2 yards of land of the altar of St. Peter of Burgh. Robert, son of Richard, has 2\ yards. In this town can be stocked 100 sheep. In 1231 a composition was made between Abbot Martin and John (Scot), earl of Huntingdon, as lord of Fotheringhay, concerning the fishing in the Nene. It was agreed that where tiie earl had one side of the river and the abbot the other, the two should have the fishing ; but where the abbot had land on both sides he should have the sole right of fishing between them ; from Turnbrook to Pirihou (in Southwick) the carl should have sole right." There is a very full rental made in I393i*under Abbot Nicholas de Elnestovve. After coming into the hands of Henry VIII the manor was, with Oundle, etc., given to Katherine Howard, his queen, in 1541,'* and after reverting to the Crown on her execution in the same year was given to queen Katherine Parr in 1544,2" and she retained it till her death in 1 548, when it again fell to the Crown. A very full survey made in 1546 is extant.^l From a survey of 1605^^ it appears that Thomas Elmes held by charter of 28 October, 1555, a messuage, late of Edmund Elmes, his father, and previously of Robert Kirkham, and various others ; also the rectory. The Warden of Stamford had land in Middlefield and Westfield. The inhabitants claimed to hold by copy a tenement near the parsonage called Scobhouse. William Dickenson had the tithes of Eaglethorpe, paying ^3 a year. The jury found that the fines of all the ancient copyholds were certain, being half a year's rent ; all freeholders and copyholders were accus- tomed to feed their cattle on the common ; copy- holders could use the timber on their copyholds for repairs ; land had been taken out of every farm to make cow pastures, called Angerstonne Leyes (50 ac.) ; leys at the over end of Golding Slade next the Wold were their sheep and neats' pasture, and there was other pasture on the Greens. There was no waste in the woods. " Thomas Elmes, esq., had a fishing in the manor butting on the east end of Thornbrook, and so to the Fishhouse butting east, so to the Holme butting east, so to Elton dam butting north ; being in the same water these kind of fishes — perch, roach, cheviun, pickerell, eel," etc. ; the extent was about J mile. There were ashes and wiches in the woods. These were the ancient bounds of the manor : Portersherne on the north-west, to Warmington Grove, to Tansor Cross, to the corner of William Blofield's close, so up Barnwell slade, to Tansor Mere, to Potter's Hill, to Butcher's Gr.ive, to Lutton brook, to Wasingley brook, to Odgarstone brook, to Great Wolwell, to Foxhalls hill, to Eglethorp, to the Watch close, so to Thornbrook east, over the high stream to the weir of Fotheringhay Park to Fother- inghay bridge, from the bridge in the farther side of the causey (the bridge lying east) to Portersherne. Leases of portions had been made by the Crown from time to time-' until in 1614 the manor was sold to Thomas Elmes of Green's Norton^'* ; court let and view of frank-pledge were added in 161 7." Tliomas Elmes, who had inherited the manors of Lilford and Papley, with various other estates in the neighbourhood, settled this manor of Warmington on his younger son Thomas on his marriage (1621) with Anne, daughter of Robert Clark of London, as " V.C.H. Northaiili. i, 366, 387. *' Cbron. Petrob. (C.imdcn Soc), 175, fri>m 'hf I.ibcr Nigrr. *' By fine in 114S-0. Robert dc Stoke acknowledged the abbot's right in J knight'l fee in Stoke, Warmington and Aihton. The abbot thereupon released the lame to him for a rent of 8i. (Pytch- lej't Reg. f. 9+rf). " Gunton, lliil. Ch. of Pettrborotifb, 131. " Cal. Chan. 1327-41, p. 174. '• ChroH. Pnrth. 160. "Colt. MS. CIcop. C. ii, f. ai■ P. Urn. Vlll, xvi, p. 716. •» Ibid, xix (1), p. 644. ■■ Mins. AccM. Hen. VIII, 2661. The issues of a messuage with the ' Rurgh wcrke ' were 401. 4jd. ; the site of the manor was in lease to Thomas Rootlie and the mill and rectory to lluinphrry Ilornc ; from the warden of the Hospital called the Dc.idehouse in Stamford, 8(. "Miic. Bki. (Land Revenue), 221, fl. 2S6-326. " Eg. in 15(10 the manor to William Gerard and others (Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 15); in 1588 a close to Thomas Newman (Pat. R. 30 Elir. pt. 4); in 1608-q, the site of the manor to Roger Dale (Pat. R. 6 Jas. I, pt. 2) ; also a messuage and three water mills to Edward Cuthbert (Pat. R. 6 Jas. I,pt. 23). '* To he held in chief as one knight's fee (P.it. It. 11 Jas. I, pt. 12). Acreman's land had been demised to John KIdred and others. " Pat. 11. 15 Jas. I, pt. 16. I \i POLEBROOK HUNDRED WARMINGTON appears from the inquisition after tlie father's death in 1633.-' In 1651 Thomas, the sun, was discharged of an assessment for the service of the State, as possess- ing no considerable estate."^' In 1653 he suflEered a recovery of the manor of Warmington, with four water mills and a rent of £i\ from the rectory ;-* and then in 1657, in concert witli his wife, trans- ferred this manor to trustees.^' He died in 1664, aged 73, having liad by his wife four sons and nine daughters. Only one of the sons, William, reached manhood, and he died before his fatlier in 1653, aged iS*" ; so the inheritance became divisible ultimately among the five surviving daughters,^' the widow retaining the manor till her death in 1686. The daughters were Ann, wife of John Pain, of Colsden Grange in Roxton^- ; Margaret, wife of Robert Tat- nall, of London, cleric^' ; Martha, wife of Edmund Spinkes, of Oundle, clerk''* ; Elizabeth, wife of Richard Holt, and Mary, wife of George Wroth of South Farnham, mercer.'^ There were disputes in 1692 among the coheirs, and according to Nathaniel Spinks, clerk, of St. Giles in the Fields, eldest son and heir of Edmund and Martha, Richard Holt obtained possession, and Nathaniel had to sue in Chancery for his own right in the Elmes estate. He had three brothers — Seth, William and Elmes Spinks — and a sister Martha.'" The youngest of these sons, Elmes Spinks, appears to have obtained possession of the whole manor," and Bridges describes him as lord of it in 17U. By his will of 1720 this Elmes left all his real estate in Aldwinkle and Warmington to his only son Elmes, with remainder to daughters Debora and Ann.'** He died soon afterwards. Elmes Spinks the son, in 1738 suffered a recovery of the manor," and again in 1745 in conjunction with his wife Jemima.''*' In the next year (10 January, 1745-46) he sold it to Thomas Powys of Lilford for ^[4,362 ; the sale included the manor house (Berry- stead), Millholme, Bcrrystead and Lammas closes, land in Bolwell field, various pieces of meadow, and a fee farm rent of ^24 from the rectory.** Thomas Powys, who bought up a number of smaller estates in the parish, died in 1767, leaving a son and successor of the same name, who was created Baron Lilford in 1797. He also bought some minor estates, and made a settlement in 1772, previous to his marriage with Eleanor Mann of Bourne Place, Kent.''- A further settlement of the manors of Warmington, Lilford and Wigsthorpe, with various V£ Proby, Earl of Carjri- fort. Ermine a festt gules uiith a lion paisani or thereon. lands there, was made in 1 794, to provide for younger children, and in June, 1797, Powys sold the manor of Warmington with quit rents and other perquisites, a fishery in the Nene, and various messuages, closes, etc., to John Joshua (Proby), 1st Earl of Carysfort, of Elton Hall. The manor descended in this family until the death of the last Earl of Carysfort in 1909,*' when it passed to a nephew. His sister Elizabeth ((/. 1900) had married Lord Claud Hamilton, brother of the 1st Duke of Abercorn, and their son. Col. Douglas James Hamilton, who took the name of Proby in 1904, is now lord of the manor. The Gargatc knight's fee lay two-thirds in Warmington and one-third in Irthling- borougli.'''' Robert de Gar- gate, who was living about 1 160, is said to have been the first fcofTee.''' He had appa- rently two sons, Roger and Robert. Roger and Agnes his wife had a son Hugh, who held the fee in 1 189.'** In 1206 Robert de Gargate, pro- bably his uncle, gave him 8J^ virgates of land in War- mington,*' and two years later he conveyed 2 virgates to Walter, prior of St. Andrew's of Northampton, the grant being confirmed by Robert and Maud his wife.'*' Hugh is mentioned in 1216, but died before 1220.** He left two daughters by his wife Sibyl, namely, Muriel, the wife of William de Ros, who died before 1 2 30, leav- ing a son Hugh,'" and Isabel, wife of Gerard, son of Roger de Munibery, who had a son Peter.*' Appar- ently the Irthlingborough third of the Gargate fee passed to Gunfrid de Gargate, whose son David conveyed 7 virgates of the fee there to Walter, abbot of Peterborough (i 233-46). '^ Ernulf, prior of St. Andrew's, Northampton, granted the 2 virgates in Warmington given to his house by Hugh de Gargate, to Simon de St. Liz,*^ and in 1253 and 1254 the two- thirds of the Gargate fee in Warmington were held by John de St. Liz.'* William de St. Liz acquired further lands in 1285,'* and he, or another of the same name, did homage in 1 3 10,*' and in 1315 held these two parts of the Gargate fee." About 1322 William de St. Liz sold his interest to Ralph de Thorney, who died in 1333.^ His widow Margaret was holding in 1 346, and their son Thomas was in pos- •• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxcii, 87. ■' CM. Con:, for Advance of Monev^ 730. " Rccov. R. Xorthantj, Mich. 1653. " Feet of F. Northants, Comm. Easter 1657. •• M.I. in Warmington ch. •* Another daughter, Christian, wife of Joseph Bulkcley, teems to have died before the partition. "Conveyed to trustees; Feet of F. Xorthants, Mil. 16 & 17 Chas. II. '* Conveyed to trustees (Feet of F. Northants, Hil. i6 Si 17 Chas. II) j and after to John Ward ; Ibid. Hil. 2-3 James II. " These in conjunction with Elizabeth Elmes, then unmarried, conveyed to the Pain trustees (Feet of F. Northants, East. iS Chas II). " Conveyed to Setb Spinks (Ibid. East. 3 Jas. II). ** Conveyed to trustees (Ibid. Trin. 16 Chas. II). Afterwards Wroth con- veyed to Leonard Child (Ibid. Hil. I & 2 Jas. II). "' Chan. Proc. before 1714, Bridges Div. bdle. 16S, no. 11. 'I'he plaintiffs were Robert Johnson of Spalding, mercer, and Martha his wife, sister of the defend- ant Nicholas Spinks. " Abstract of title, kindly lent by .Mr. Granville Proby. " Recov. R. Northants, Mich. 12 Geo. II ; the manor with a free fishery in the Nene. *' Abstract of title. " Ibid. •■ Recov. R. Hil. 11 Geo. III. " John Joshua Proby, ist earl, d. 1828 — son John, 2nd carl, d. 1855— bro. Granville Leveson, 3rd earl, d. 18C8 — son Granville Leveson, 4th earl, d. 1872 — bro. William, 5th earl, d. 1909. " Pytchley, Bk. of Feet (Northants Rec. Soc), 126, i26rt. 127. " Ibid. " Cat. Chart. R. 1327-41, p. 277. " Feet of F. Northants, 7 John, no. 198. " Ibid. 9 John, no. 212 ; 27 Hen. Ill, no. 468 ; Cott. MS. Vesp. E. ii, f. 225-6. *• Farrer, Honors and Knigbts* Fees, iii, 410-11. '" Ibid. ; Maitland, Braclon't Note Bk. no. 382. " Farrer, loc. cit. ; cf. V.C.H. Buikt, iv, 158. •• Pytchley, loc. cit. " Cott. MS. Vesp. E ii, f. 226* ; Soc. Anliq. MS.,6r, f. 248. '« Feet of F. Northants, 37 Hen. Ill, no. 637 ; Pytchley, loc. cit. " Feet of F. Northants, 13 Edw. I, no. 147. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248. " Pytchley, loc. cif. j Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii. " Pytchley, loc. cit. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE session shortly afterwards.'^ The almoner of Peter- borough secured a virgate of this fee.*" Soon afterwards the Stokks or Stock family became prominent. They may have originally been con- nected with the Stoke Doyly land in Warmington.** In 1375 the right of Thomas del Stokkes to a tene- ment in Elton and Warmington was acknowledged by Hugh Rauf and Agnes his wife ;'''- and the same was held by John Stokkes and Alice his wife in 1390.*^ It was probably the same John who, in 1428, held the fourth part of a knight's fee in Warmington which had formerly (1346) been held by Margaret wife of Ralph Thorney.*^ He or his son John seems also to have had a grant of lands forfeited by John Moyne.^* A son of John and Agnes Stock was Sir William Stock, knight, of Warmington, who, in 1464, was attainted as an adherent of Henry VI,** but procured pardon and restitution in 1472.*' He died in 1485, leaving as heir his brother Thomas Stokes, clerk.** Agnes, widow of John Stok, died in August, 1465, holding tenements in Warmington and Papley of the abbot of Peterborough, and others in various places in the district. The heir was her son the above- named Thomas Stok, clerk.** This son died 23 Octo- ber 1495, having settled his estate on one Thomas Stock the younger and his sister Agnes ; these may have been illegitimate, for his heirs were his two sisters, Isabel, widow of — Fazakerley and Margaret wife of William Brown of Stamford, whose daughter and heir married John Elmes.'" The Fazakerley share, described as 8 messuages, 100 acres of land and 40 acres of meadow in Warmington and Church- field, was purchased by George Kirkham about 1504.'! By his wilF'^ (3 March 1527-28) he be- queathed all his land to his son Robert, some being in the hands of trustees for Robert's wife Sibyl ; should Robert have no children, then the lands in Warmington, Papley, Churchfield, Elton, etc., were to be given to his daughter Margaret Middlcton, with remainders to his other daughters Agnes Lynne and Cecily Kirkham.'^ Dying soon afterwards, he was succeeded by his son Sir Robert Kirkiiam, who at the Dissolution acquired the priory of Fineshade and made it his seat, selling his lands in Warmington, which he styled a manor,'* to Edmund Elmes in 1555.'" The Stock estate was thus reunited and afterwards descended with Papley (g-v.). Walo de Paston held of the abbot (about 1 100) J hide in Warmington for the third part of a knight's fee, in conjunction with his land in Paston.'* This had descended to Robert Peverel by 1 146," and to " Pytchley, loc. cit.; Cott. M.S. CIcop. C. i. •" Pjrechlcy, op. clt., p. 155. •* Wymund dc Stoke was holding a knight's fee in Warmington in 1125-8 and in 1199 Robert dc Stoke held half a knight's fee in Warmington and chcwhcrc (I'ytchlcy, Bk. of Frei, ii4>i, 1451, cf. I'cct of F. Northants. 10 Rich. I, no. 77). Vivi.m de Stokes occurs in 1227 {Cal. Chan. R. 1226-57, p. 20). •« Feet of F. Divers Cos. 49 Edw. \U. " Ibid. 14 Ric. 11. *« /•>urf. /f/ (Swaflham), ccixiii. "' Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 20. "' Cal. Close, 1389-92, p. 540. "" Ibid. 1392-96, p. 397. "' Cott. MS. Nero, C. vii, (. 86d. '■ Harl. ch. 55, G. i«. •' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccliii, 89. For pedigree, see Vtm. of II unit (Camd. Soc), p. 12 ; John Sapcot — s. Richard — 8. John — s. Richard — s. Robert — daus. lilranor, Mar^.irct and Frances. 116 3 u o U POLEBROOK HUNDRED WARMINGTON acquired by the Proby family, descending through the Earls of Carysfort to the present owner as shown above. In an inquiry made in December 1605 it was stated that Henry Sapcote had copyhold and freehold lands in Warmington, rendering ^^3 gi. lod. a year, but how much was copyhold and how much freehold was not known. He also had copyhold tenements in Eaglethorp, which decayed about 1570.** In 1291 the prior of Fineshade had is. rent from Warmington, and the prior of St. Andrew's 19/. ; the almoner, sacrist and infirmarer of Peterborough had respectively ^^3 13/. ^d., 6s. 8J., and 6s.*'' In 153s the almoner received £z8 3/. ^^J. from this manor and the cellarer had 60s. from Eaglethorp."* The nups of Stamford had an estate here," called Blofield. In 1545 a rent of lo^d. and lands in War- mington were granted to Richard and Robert Taverner.*^ Bridges gives the following description of the house there : ' There are still [1711] remaining arched windows and a chamber at the west end, now a dove house, called the Chapel Chamber ; 4 ac. of meadow called Nuns' Acres belong to it.'' There was a local family named Blofield, and Ishmael ^:U7 Knights Iemplars. Ardent a cross gules and a chief sable. K.NIGHTS Holl'ITALUBi. Gules a cross argent. Blofield, gent., died in 1636, holding a tenement called Ederley Place, descending to him from his father William and grandfather Thomas. He left sons, William and Ishmael.- The Knights Templars (afterwards the Hospitallers) had an estate here from an early time, for Brother Aymery, Master of the Temple, claimed from Hugh Gargate land in War- mington and Ogerstone in 1209;^ in 1546 appur- tenances of the manor of Sibston, late of Temple Brewer preceptory, were sold by the Crown.* Rents of "jd. and 4J. are recorded from Warmington and Lutton in the Temple Brewer accounts.* The various minor tenements of Gargate and others seem to have varied considerably from time to time. so that the tracing of them is uncertain, but the manor of PJPLET retained its individuality. Isem- bard Artifcx, named in Domesday Book, is recorded to have been the first enfeoffed by the abbots of a knight's fee." His successors took the local surname but the descent cannot be traced in detail. Martin dc Pappele attested charters of the abbot in 1 117 and 1 1 20 and is mentioned in 1 1 46. Probably a son or grandson of the same name held the knight's fee in 1 189,' and was defendant in a claim for dower in 1 202.* Walter de Papley had succeeded by 1 21 2.' Roger de Peterborough gave land in Peterborough to Martin son of Walter de Papley in free marriage with his daughter Alice." Martin de Papley was tenant in 1227II and acquired other land in 1240;'^ he occurs in 12421^ and 1 254, paying 4^. for ward of Rockingham Castle.'* The hamlet, which made with Warmington one geldal.le vill, about this time contributed zs. for sheriff's aid, is. for view of frank- pledge and 3 1. for suit."* John de Papley did homage in 1276 and Thomas son of John in 1300.'* Tlie name of this latter occurs again in 1316," and 1322, when he was recorded to hold a knight's fee and the fourth part of the serjeanty of being bailiff at Castor Court. 1* He or another TThomas occurs in 1346," and the Bishop of Lincoln in 1398 gave licence for divine service in the manor house of Papley for two years to Thomas Papley and Isabel his wife.-" The same tenement was held in 1428 by John Papley (I fee), and John Beven and John Ward (} fee). 2' In 1456 Richard Papley, son and heir of John, and Isabel his wife, joined in selling the manor to William Brown of Stamford, merchant. -- As already stated, this William Brown married Margaret Stock, so that his descendants inherited Papley, Lilford (which he acquired in 1473)" and a large estate in Warmington and the surrounding country. He appears to have been an innkeeper in Stamford, where he founded an almshouse called the Bedehouse. He died 14 April, 1489,^' having made a will in which he desired to be buried in Our Lady's chapel in All Hallows', Stamford.^" The manor of Papley was held of the abbot of Peterborough by fealty only. Margaret, his widow and executrix, survived but a short time, dying on 28 October, 1489. The heir was their daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Elmes, aged 48 and more.^" Margaret's will-' left many gifts to churches, including a vestment of black velvet for Warmington (cope, chasuble and two tunicles) ; it mentions John Elmes the elder, my son, and Elizabeth his wife, William, Katherine, John the " Mis. Bks. (Land Rev.), 221, f. 321. •» Pope Nicb. Tux (Rec. Com), 55. •• Valor Ecil. (Rcc. Com), iv, 279. •* Roger de Torpcl gave them landi for the health of the loul of his wile Mary in the 12th century, Pytchley, Dk. of Fees, 33. •• L. &■ P. Hen. Fill, xx (2),g. 496(7). ' Nortbants. ii, 480. • Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccczc, 48. • Feet of F. Northantj, caie 171, file 12, no. 222. ; alio Plac. de quo War. { Rec. Com.), 532. • L.i>P. Hen. Fill, xxi (1), g. 718 (4). • Mins. Accti. Hen. VIII, 7274. • Soc. Antiq. MS. 60. ' Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 277. ' Feet of F. Northanti, ca«e 171, file 8, no. 107; Pytchley, op. cit. 119. > Red Bk. 619. '° Pytchley, loc. cit. " Cal. Chart, 1226-57, p. 20. " Feet of F. Nortliants, case 173 file 28, no. 375. Martin was called to warrant by Wiscard Ledet. Olhcr fines occur in 53 Hen. Ill (883) and 23 Edw. I, (337). '• Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248. '* Sparks, lltst. Angl. Script, Swaffham. " Ibid. 267. " Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xxii, f. 46. " Feud. Aids, iv, 2S. ** Soc. Antiq. MS. 60. '» Cott. MS. Clcop. C i. " Bridges, llist. Northants, ii, 484. " Feud. Aids, iv. 48. " Feet of F. Northanti, case 179, file 95, no. 139. " De Banco R. 845 (Hil. 12 Edw. IV), m. 21. ■* Cal. Inq. p.m. Henrv Vll. i, no. 476, 478. "' P.C.C. 22 Mille*. He left 20J. a year to the ancrcss at Stamford. An en- graving of the brasi of William Brown and his wife in All Hallows' Church will be found in F. Peck's .-Jnnah oj Stam- ford; also one of the brass of Margaiet daughter of John and Elizabeth Elmes. who died i August, 1471, and one of the Bedehou&e seat, bearing the arms of Elmes. «• Cal. Inq. p.m. Ihn. VII^ i. no. 525, 533» 55'- ^^^ •* pedigree of Elmes, see Metcalfe, Vistt. of Northanti^ ^S^li p. 18. ^ P.C.C. 30 Milles. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ■4 f 0 a ♦* 4 0 i ■* % ♦ •* \0 0 0/ Elmes. Ermine two burs sable each sprinkled with elm leaves or. younger, Joan and Isabel Elmes, Thomas, Margaret and Jane f'azalcerley, and the executors were her brother Thomas Stock, clerk, John Elmes and William his son. John Elmes, son of John Elmes of Henley, died 4 May, 1491, and it appears by the inquisition that he had married Elizabeth by 1457 ; their son and heir William was 27 years old.-* Elizabeth and William Elmes obtained the manor of Papley and other estates from Brown's trustee in 1495.-* Thomas Stockdied 23 October, 1495, leaving as heirs his sister Isabel Fazakerley and his niece Elizabeth Elmes. ^* Elizabeth survived till 1511,-" but her son William Elmes, of Stamford and the Inner Temple, died in 1 504, having by his will-'^ made many charitable gifts, including one to Warmington. The will mentions his moiher Elizabeth, his wife Elizabeth and Joan Iwardby her mother, sons John and Thomas, and daughters Elizabeth and Joan. He desired to be buried in the Temple church in London. His wife was one of the three daughters and coheirs of John Iwardby of Great Missenden, Bucks, where she was born 24 August, 1475.^^ She seems to have died in 1526.^* The son, described as John Elmes of Lilford, esq., made his will,'*^ a very long one, in No\'ember, 1540, and it was proved 7 February, 1544-5. By it he left jf 10 to his ' grandfather ' William Brown's almshouses at Stamford and small gifts (including 6s. id. to War- mington) to many churches, the gild of our Lady at Oundle, etc. His son Edmond was under 22 years of age, and other children and kinsfolk are mentioned ; also lands in Papley, Ogerston, Elton, Fotheringhay and Stamford. The executors were desired to make reparation for any wrongdoing by him, and to give knowledge of this ' about Oundle and Stamford, where I shall be most defamed.' His wife, who sur- vived, was Edith, daughter of John, lord Mordaunt of Turvey, Beds. In 1539 charges had been brought against him in the Star Chamber, which may explain t)ic defamation mentioned in his will. The inhabi- tants of Warmington and Barnwell claimed common of pasture in these places and in Lilford and alleged that Elmes had closed up highways in Papley, etc., converted arable into pasture and impounded their cattle. He was learned in the law and a man of great lands and substance. The witnesses for com- plainants described Papley as a hamlet in War- mington, and the inhabitants of Warmington had common there till Elmes stopped them. Once there had been twelve ploughs going in the fields of Papley, but now only three. There had been ten houses of husbandmen and four cottages in Papley, but only two houses were now inhabited. Elmes had surcharged the fields with cattle and sheep. He had stopped tiie highway from Huntingdon to Fotheringhay called Bradgate, and other roads.'" The son Edmund succeeded, and made in 1579 a settlement of his manors of Papley and Warmington (this latter being the Stock estate)" ; and he died 12 March, 1601-2, holding these manors of the bishop of Peterborough, having settled them on his second son Thomas. The heir was a son John, then aged 40.-'* No reason is given for thus giving them to a younger son, but his widow Alice (sister of Oliver St. John of Bletsoe) in her own will directed that her late husband's will was to be carried out, and left household stuff at Lilford to John on condition that he did not disturb it ; Thomas was to have the household stuff at Papley. Thomas Elmes, who thus succeeded, had already several children — William, John, Edmund, Thomas and Anthony being named.'* A survey of Warmington and Papley in 1605 has been cited above. Thomas Elmes complained as to Papley, that the jury had done their work badly. He said the cow pastures in Ogerstone Leyes were in the waste of Papley manor between Goldingdale gutter and Papley hedge. Ogerstone Leyes had been common or several, according to the time of the year. In 1573 Sir Walter Mildmay procured a commission to have the bounds between Warmington and Papley defined'"' and also obtained an exchange of lands, acre for acre. After this exchange Warmington and Papley did not intercommune. Ogerstone Leyes (though in Papley) were then allotted to Warmington for common of cattle, but the soil still belonged to the lord of Papley, who felled the wood, etc. The true and ancient bound of Papley and Warmington was Goldingdale, not Lutton brook.*' Thomas Elmes made settlements of the manor of Papley in 1615 and 1621-'-; and died at Lilford, 10 July, 1632. .'\s already stated, he had divided his estates, leaving the older manors of Lilford and Papley to his eldest son William, then aged 40 or more, and the newly- purchased manor of Warmington to the younger son Thomas.*' William had in 1614 married Margaret, sister of Sir Francis Goodwin. The manor of Papley was held of the bishop of Peterborough in socage. The rectory of Warmington descended with it for a time. William Elmes suffered a recovery of his manors of Papley, Lilford and Wigsthorpe watermill, etc., in I632,''-* and died 17 April, 1641, leaving a son and heir Arthur, aged only ten years.** Arthur Elmes and Jane his wife were in 1663 still in possession of the manor of Papley and the rectory of Warmington.** Arthur died in that year and Jane married Sir Francis Compton, the estate being sold in 1668 to Edward (Watson), lord Rockingham.*' Lilford *• Cal. Inij. p.m. I/en. Vll, i. no. 592, lie, relating only to Uifordihirc and IJcrkihirc. '• Feet of F. Divcri. Col. Trin. 10 Hen. VII. " Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII. i. no. 1179. Mil Undi in Warmington .ind Papley were held of the abbot of Peterborough. •' P.C.C. 1 Fetlipl.ice. •• P.C.C. II llolgrave. >> Cal. Irti/. p.m. Ilrn. I'll, i. n. 328, 1080 ; ii. n. 627. " P.C.C. II Porch. " P.C.C. 22 Pynney. "Star Chamber Proc. lUn. \I1I, 23/29. " Feet of I". Northanls. Mich. 21/22 Eli?.. •" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cclxxiii, 89. Will in I'.C.C. 7 Montague. " P.C.C. <;7 Huddlc ICxche. Spec. Com. 1658 (Northanti 16 F.Iiz.). The boundary at given was : North from I'antworth Furret to Colder- 118 ingdalc, Brodegate w.iy, Losborrow lladon, Archcsladc and Craneland. «' Mis. llks. (Land Rev.), 221, f. 325. *• Feet of F. Northantj, Trin. ijjai. I., Faiter, 19 Jal. I. *' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxcii, 87. " Kecov. R. Mich. 8 Chaj. I. *' Clian. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxiv, 88. " Feet of F. Norihanti, 'Fiin. 1658 ; and Trin. 1 1; Chai. If. «' Ibid. Mich. 2oCha». II. POLEBROOK HUNDRED WARMINGTON descended separately. In 1708 Lewis, lord Rocking- ham (son of Edward) was in possession,^* and in 1735 his grandson Lewis, earl of Rockingham.'"' On his death in 17.^5 his brother Thomas (d. 1 746) succeeded and left his estates to a kinsman, Lewis Monson (afterwards Watson), created baron Sondes in 1760, who held Papley in 1751.^*' The same family''' were in possession in 1785^'' and 1818.*^ Afterwards Papley went to the FitzW'illiam family, one of whom had married Anne, sister and coheir of Charles, 2nd marquis of Rockingham, heir male of the Edward, lord Rockingham of 1668. It was owned in 1864 \V*rsos, tarl of Rock- ingham Argent a ihev- iron azure engrailed benseen three martleti labU toitb three ires- ceitti ttr on the cheveron. FiriwiLLiAM. /.ozengy urgent and gules. by the Hon. George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, younger son of Charles, 5th earl FitzW'illiam, whose son, George Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, is the present owner. The church of ST. MART-IHE- CIIURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel, 42 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft., clearstoricd nave of five bays, 73 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles each 13 ft. 6 in. wide, north and south porches, and west tower 13 ft. 6 in. square, surmounted by a broach spire. The width across the nave and aisles is 47 ft. 9 in. All these measurements are internal. An organ chamber was added in 1893 in the angle of the chancel and south aisle. The church is built of Barnack ragstone, plastered internally, and has plain parapets throughout. The chancel is covered with grey slates, the rest of the roof-i being leaded. With the exception of the nave arcades and certain minor alterations named below, the building is all of 13th century date, a very beauti- ful example of the work of that period, the plan of which has remained practically unaltered. Shortly before 1850 the interior was partially restored, numerous coats of whitewash and a west gallery being then removed^'' : a more extensive and careful restoration of the whole building was carried out in 1876. The nave arcades belong to an earlier building and date from c. 1 180-90, at which time aisles were prob- bably first added to a 12th century church. The tall and slender columns are octagonal on the north side and on the south cylindrical in section, with responds to correspond. The bases rest on plinths, probably fragments of the walls of tlie earlier cliurch, and have good water mouldings. The capitals, which on both sides have octagonal abaci, differ considerably. The eastern respond and the two eastern columns on the north side, and the western respond and eastern column on the south side have scallopped capitals. The third column and west respond on tiic north and the second and third columns on the south have water- leaf foliage, the northern column and respond having volutes in addition. The western column on the north side has well-developed crocketed foliage, while the western column and eastern respond on the soutii have plain early gothic mouldings, the respond having also an extra band of moulding in the base. Tiic arches are high and pointed with small hood- moulds and consist of two orders of square outline with I.ecled edge-rolls and broad flat sofTits. About the middle of the 13th century the original chancel was lengthened and rebuilt, the aisles were rebuilt and widened, a clearstory was added to the nave, and the tower, spire and porches were erected. The south aisle seems to have been set out first, but the whole of the work was planned with strict regard to the spacing of the existing arcades of the nave. The south doorway, covered by a magnificent vaulted porch, is in the middle of the length of the wall, with two three-light windows on each side, and the north door is directly opposite in the middle bay of the aisle, covered by a vaulted but less lofty porch. In the 14th century new buttresses were added to the aisle walls, and the east wall of the chancel seems to have been rebuilt in the 15th century with a window of poor design, and other windows were inserted in the south wall. New buttresses were also added to the chancel, a three-light window inserted in the west wall of the south aisle, and a stair-turret, giving access to the roof, made at the north-west angle of the north aisle. The chancel is of three bays and retains two original windows on the north side, each of two-lights divided by a slender mullion and with a cusped quatrcfoil in tlie head. Their hoods are continued as a string along the upper part of the wall inside and out, and the windows are extremely plain in detail. Below the sills is another string, continued round *he whole chancel and raised to form a hood to the round-headed doorway of a former sacristy and to the pointed priest's doorway in the south wall. Both these doorways are now blocked. The east window is four-centered and of five cinquefoiled lights without tracery. The windows on the south side are of similar type, the first of two and the others of three lights, and at the west end of the wall a modern arch opens to the organ chamber, in which the displaced window has been re-used. No traces are visible in the chancel of either piscina or sedilia, but at the east end of the north wall is a rectangular aumbry, and on each side of the east window is a 13th century image bracket, that at the north end elaborately carved but in a mutilated state, the other moulded. A stone bench remains along the lower ** Recov. R. Eait., 7 .\nnc. «• Ibid. nil. 9 Ceo. II. •• Ibid. Eait. 24 Geo. II. " Lewii lord Sondet, d. 1765 — 1. Lewii Thomas, d. 1806 — t. Lewii Richard, d. 1836. The Rockingham eitatei then went to hi: youngest brother, Richard Watson, who d. 1852, leaving a •on and heir, Wentworth, born 1848. »■ Recov. R. Mich. 26 Geo. III. " Ibid. Trm. 58 Geo. III. " W. Caveler, Ar 10 ft. 7 in. by 4 ft. ancJ 9 in. thick, chamfered on the uncleriidc. It may have been the alt.ir slab of the chancel, but there are no coniccration croiici viiiblc. It ii deicribcd by Bridget ai ' a free itonc monument covered with a rough »tone, on which have been por- craiti and armt in brail * : //rir. of Ncriiaitu, ii. 482. " Cavcler in 1850 wrote, ' the original roof of the chancel has been removed, and a Hat plaster ceiling with large beami lubititutcd, cutting acrosi the chancel arch, the upper part of which appears on the outside of the building, above the chancel roof ' ; op. cii. 9. *' Molt of tht-m have been much re- stored, but three at least arc left untouched. 120 ^* 'I'hcre arc also imall circular openings between the clearstory windows, lighting the roof space. '• hxccpt a small single quatrefoil opening over the doorway. •® The outer order only i^ moulded on the exterior ; both are chamfered inside the porch. will SSHrsSrit-^?^- i w h u o 1- o o o o POLEBROOK HUNDRED WARMINGTON At the east end of the south aisle there was an altar, with a leJge for an image in the soutli-east corner, and the piscina niche in the south wall has a rounded trefnil opening with a triangular head, in the tympanum of which is an octofoiled circle. West of this is a tomb recess in the wall, now half blocked up, and there is another recess in the same wall west of the doorway. In each of these recesses part of a 13th century grave slab is exposed.*' The tower is low and massive and of three stages with moulded plinth and square angle buttresses. The elaborate west door-vay has an inner trefoilcd head set within an outer arch of three moulded orders on jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases, the whole profusely ornamented with dog-tooth. In the lower stage, north and south, is a tall round- headed window, and in the middle stage a quatre- foiled circle on each face. The bell-chamber windows are of two lights deeply set, with a quatrefoil in the spandrel, dog-tooth ornament, and jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The spire is low, but well proportioned to the tower. It rises from a corbel table of masks and has three tiers of lights of somewhat disproportionate height. The doorway to the vice, in the south-west corner, has a rounded head and the arch into the nave is of three chamfered orders, the outer springing from small moulded corbels, the others resting on half octagonal jambs round which the mouldings of the corbels are continued ; the jambs have bases with water-moulding and stand on very large plinths. The stair to the rood loft is at the south-east corner of the north aisle, and the doorway remains in the wall of the nave above. The whole of the upper part of the existing rood screen dates only from 1876, before which time " a portion of the base " only remained, in the panels of which were some vestiges of colour.*^ The original work, which is of 15th century date, has been restored and the whole is richly coloured and gilded. The pulpit, similarly restored, appears to be of about the same date ; it has six panelled sides, with painted figures of our Lord and St. John the Baptist. A handsome Jacobean screen, extensively restored, incloses the eastern bay of the north aisle, which contains a late gothic table tomb, said to have been erected by Sir Robert Kirkham," and an alabaster mural monument to Thomas Elmes, of VVarmington (died 1664), his wife Ann (died 1686) and son William (died 1653). The font has an octagonal bowl with trefoiled panels, on a pedestal dated 1662, with the initials S.S., W.B. ; it has a plain flat cover. The tower contains six bells, the treble being an addition in 1912'' to a former ring of five, the second"' and tenor of which had been recast by Mears and Stainbnnk in 1876. The present second (original treble) is dated 1670, the fourth 1604, and the fifth is by ilenry Penn, of Peterborough, 1710.°* The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten c. 1570, a silver flagon of 1736 given by Mrs. Anna Maria Compton, and a silver plate of 1834." The registers before 1812 arc as follows : (i) all entries 1558-1687 ; (ii) all entries 1688-1718 ; (iii) baptisms and burials I7l()-l8l2, marriages 1719- 1754 ; (iv) marriages 1754-1802 ; (v) marriages 1802- 1812. The advowson, like the manor, bc- .inrOJl'SON longed to the monks of Peterborough, and they presented the rectors. Giles do Spolcto, one of the Legate Otho's clerks, was rector in 1238, but not being resident, a " vicar," or deputy, Thomas de Wudeston, chaplain, was appointed for Giles's life ; he was to have all the altarage."' Ellis de Bedingham, a judge without a taint, was rector in 1281 ; he was buried at Bottisham (Cambs.)*' In 1 291 the value of the rectory was estimated at j^38 a year, out of which a pension of 261. 8tJ. was paid to the abbot of Peterborough.'" In 1 316 the rec- tory was appropriated to the abbey, and a vicarage was ordained." On the dissolution of the abbey the rectory came to the Crown. A lease of it was granted in 1595 to Thomas Elmes,'- who in 1609 obtained it in fee, a condition being that he paid ^10 a year to the vicar and j^24 to the King." The advowson of the vicarage was reserved. The rectory descended with the manor of Papley to Arthur Elmes, who in 1654 sold or mort- gaged it to Sir John Trevor.''' Sir P'rancis Compton and Jane his wife (daughter of Sir John Trevor and widow of A. Elmes) passed it to trustees in 1668,''' and in 1701 James Compton had the tithes in Warm- ington, Papley and Eaglethorp.'" Mrs. Anne Comp- ton, widow of James, son of Sir Francis Compton, was the lay rector in 1711." In 1656 an augmentation of £20 a year for the minister was approved," but this would not continue after the Restoration. Soon after- wards the rectory was subdivided. The separate tithes of Papley were acquired by Lord Rockingham, owner of that manor, in 1704,'* and those of Eaglethorp were held by William Whitwell and his wife in 1739 ;'" the residue was probably the " moiety of the rectory " which occurs in a fine of 1719 between Francis Cud- worth Masham and Nathaniel Gower, clerk, and Frances his wife.*' In 1775 John Williamson acquired the rectory from William Compton and Catherine his wife.'2 The tithes had been commuted in 1774, when the Inclosure was made, excepting those of Eagle- thorp. The rent of ^^24 reserved to the Crown when the rectory was sold, was granted out in l6l9,'''' and came •' The stoncj arc moulded on the edge and have a cross with shaped ornament similar to that on a slab at Titchmarsh. •" Caveler, op. cit. 9. •' Bridges, lltst. oj Northant:^ ii. 4S2 where it is described as " an altar tomb of grey marble, covered with a grey slab, round the verge of which was an inscription in brass and on the sides three escutcheons of arms, all of which arc now torn off." •* " In memory of William 3rd Earl of Carysfort K.P. who restored the church in 1S76 " : inscription on bell. " Present third. "• The inscriptions on the old ring of five are given in North, Cb. Bclb oj Northants, 429. " Markham, Ch. /'laicofNorihanis, 299. " Rot. Rob. GrosieUite (Line. Rcc. Snc), 170, 192. " Bridges, Hist. Nortbanls, ii, 4S3 ; F088, Judges, iii, 52. " Pope Xirb. Tax. (Rec. Com), 39. '* Bridges, op. cit. ii, 480, quoting the Lincoln Registers. " Pat R. 37 Elii. pt. 5. " Ibid. 7 Jas. I, pt. 39 i Cat. S. P. Do:n. 1C03-IO, p. 496. 121 " Fret of K. Northants, Mich. 1654. " Ibid. Midi. 20 Chas. II. Thomas Elmes was vouchee in the accompanying recovery. " Feet of F. Northants, Easier 13 Will. III. " Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 4S0. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655-56, p. 331. '• Feet of F. Northants, Mil. 2 Anne. '» Ihid. nil. 12 Geo. II " Ibid. Mich. 6 Ceo. I. »' Ibid. Trin. 15 Geo. III. •• Pat. R. 17 Jas. I, pt. 3. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE to the Elmes family, becoming divided, like the manor, among the five daughters of Thomas Elmes, who died in 1664.'* A fifth part of it was acquired by William Walcott in 1709.'^ Sir Walter Mildmay of Apethorpe'* acquired the advowson of the vicarage, and it descended regularly to the earls of Westmorland. It was sold with the Apethorpe property in 1904 to Sir Leonard Brassey who exchanged the advowsons of Warmington and King's Cliff with the Bishop of Peterborough for those of Apethorpe and Woodnewton. The Bishop is the present patron. About 1880 the vicar had £2^ a year from the Tithe Rent Charge, and £106 rent from the 44 acres of glebe. The net income is now^^lSs, with a house." According to Bridges (171 1) there ' was anciently St. Andrew's chapel [near the manor-house], of which no vestige hath been remaining within any person's memory, nor any mention occurs in any record.' Wil- liam Proby had paid ^4 i6j. a year out of Eaglethorpe, which was supposed to be the purparty of this chapel ; the rent was then paid to Lord Rockingham, who owned part of the impropriated rectory by purchase from Mr. Whitwell of Oundle, who had purchased from Mrs. Compton.** The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel, which was rebuilt in 1 88 1. Three almshouses for aged widows were built in i860 by the Ladies Fanny and Charlotte Proby. Poor's money. A sum of £100, for- CHJRITIES merly given for the poor by benefactors whose names are unknown, was placed out in 1754 on security of the tolls of the turnpike road from Peterborough to Wellingborough. The endowment is now represented by ^^113 l<)s- 2J. Con- sols producing £i ijs. od. annually. The income is distributed in money to poor men who have attained the age of 65. In 1924 there were 13 recipients. The Mossop Fund was founded by Declaration of Trust dated September 1879. The endowment consists of ;(^30l 8.t. \d. Consols producing £j \0!. id. yearly. By his Will proved 23 September 1908 the Rev. Charles Henry Ward Capron gave ^1,000 to the Vicar and Churchwardens upon trust to apply the income in the distribution of coal to the poor on or about St. Thomas's Day. The money was invested in £l,\l'! 14J. io<^. India 3 per cent. Stock, producing ^f 34 14J. %d. yearly. In December 1924 4 cwts. of coal were delivered to each of 98 recipients, by the Vicar and Churchwardens in respect of this Charity and the Mossop Fund. By his Will proved 27 August 1888 Daniel John Baxter gave ^^loo to the Oundle Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Superintendent and Circuit Stewards and the Chapel Stewards and Society Stewards of the Wes- leyan Methodist Chapel at Warmington upon trust to apply the income for the benefit of poor Widowers and Widows without respect of creed, sect or other- wise. The endowment consists of £()6 is. 6d. India 3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charit- able Funds producing ^3 ji. ^d. annually in dividends. The income is distributed in money to about 25 re- cipients. By her Will proved at Peterborough 13 April 1 891 Mrs. Elizabeth Mossop gave a sum of money to the Vicar and Churchwardens now represented by ^93 21. 5(/. India 3^ per cent. Stock producing ^3 5f. ^d. yearly, the income to be distributed to poor Widows on St. Thomas's Day. There are about 18 re- cipients. The several sums of Stock are with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. " Teet of F. Northants, Easter, 20 Chas. II and Hil. i Anne. •• Ibid. Trin. 7 Anne. •• lie died in 15S9 holding intrr alia the advr>w8on of W'armington, and left a ion Anthony ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii). ccxxiii, 61. This son died similarly seised in 1617, and his heir was his daughter M?.ry, wife of Sir Fr.Tncis Fane, after- wards earl of Westmorland ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccclxxvi, 94. «' Crockford. *' Bridges, Wnr. Northaiils,\i, 4%2. The sum appears to be a fifth part of the ^24 a year due to the Crown from the tithe- owner. 122 THE HUNDRED OF NAVISFORD CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF CLAPTON THR.-VPSTON PILTON TITCHMARSH STOKE DOYLE WADENIIOE THORPE ACHURCH The Hundred of Narresford or Navisford was one of the eight hundreds held by the Abbey of Peterborough, which were confirmed to it in the charter of Richard I.' In tlie Domesday Survey, the four parishes of Clapton, -r ^ / .STOKE DOYLB^» ^ Index Map to the Hundred of Navisford Thrapston, Titchmarsh and Wadenhoe are given under the definite heading of Navisford Hundred ^ and there is no reason to think that Thorpe Achurch and Pilton, which were held of the Abbey, did not belong to it. Stoke Doyle is given under the heading of ' VVicesle,'^ but this apparently is a mistake. The Abbot, however, seems to have held only one court for the Hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford, so that the seven parishes frequently appear under ' Cal. Chart. IZ26-57, p. 19; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 118, 124-125. ^ V.C.H. Northants. i, 309a, 333(3, 349^, 3S0(J. * Ihid. ii^a. 123 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Polebrook.'* A part of Catworth in Huntingdonshire was held with Thrapston, and was within the Hundred of Navisford/^ After the dissolution of the Abbey, the issues of the courts of the two hundreds were returned jointly, and only one bailiff and one steward are named. ^ Henry VIII granted the Hundred of Navisford for life to Queen Catherine Howard,^ but after her death it remained with the Crown' until i6i I, when James I granted it to John Eldred and George Whitmore^ to hold with all the privileges formerly belonging to the Abbey of Peterborough.^ In 1 6 1 3 the two grantees sold it to Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton.i" Shortly afterwards a writ of quo warranto was issued against Sir Edward regarding his rights in the Hundreds of Polebrook, Huxloe and Navisford which were duly allowed to him.^^ In the early i8th century his descendant the Duke of Montagu held it, and the court of the hundred was held at Thrapston. ^^ It afterwards passed to the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, ^Cf. Chron. PetTob. p. 118. <* Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. 353 ; V.C.H. Northunts. i, 365^-. '" ydor Ecclts. (Rcc. Com.), iv, pp. 279, 280, 282. ' Close R. 2,165 ; ^- ^1^^ P- ^''"- fm, xvi, p. 716; Pat. R. no. 695. ' P.R.O. Court R. ptf. 19s, no. 56. ' Pat. R. (no. 1905), 9 Jas. T, pt. 6. ' Close R. 2,165 ; Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 220; Cal. Pat. 1226-57, P- '9: P^^- ^■ 38 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 8. •"Close R. 2,165. " Buccleuch Cell. Ser. Chron. 387. '- Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 264. 124 NAVISFORD HUNDRED CLAPTON Cloton (xi cent.), Clopton, Clotton (xii cent.), Clop- ton, Cl.ipton (xiii cent.). The parish of Clapton lies on the eastern side of tlie county, the Huntingdonshire county boundary marking its eastern limits. It covers 1,952 acres of land of which over half is laid down in grass. A stream crosses its western side and here the land is only some 100 ft. above the ordnance datum, but eastward near the church it rises to about 250 ft.* The sub- soil is mainly Oxford clay, with some stone marls.'^ No railway crosses the parish and the nearest station is at Thorpe, on the London Midland and Scottish Rail- way. The vill.ige lies to the east of the main road from Kimbolton to Oundlc, with the church and rectory a little to the south. Tliere is a homestead moat in Ringsdale's wood,' and SkulLing Dudley Coppice pre- sumably gained its name from one of the former lords of the manor. A water-mill at Clapton is mentioned in 1397.* There were formerly brick-works in the parish. The manorial history of CLAPTON or MANORS CLOPTON in the years succeeding the compilation of Domesday Book is dif- ficult to unravel, the confusion arising from the fact that Eustace the Sheriff of Huntingdonshire held part of Clapton in chief of the King and part as a tenant of the Abbey of Peterborough. The manor of Clapton, later held in demesne of the Abbey, developed from land forming part of the Abbey holding, but the manor of Clapton Hotots or Hotofts was formed from land belonging to both of the Domesday holdings. In 1086, Eustace held 3 hides, 3 virgates and \ part of J hide of land, of the Abbey of Peterborough.' No tenant is named in the 12th century Survey of the county,' but in 1125 Eustace had been suc- ceeded by Roger de Lovetot, who held 2 knights' fees of the Abbev,' containing as appears later land in Clapton, Pole- brook, Catworth, Winwick and Remington.* In 1 146 William de Lovetot his son was the Peterborough tenant.* William had two sons, Richard and Nigel, the Hallamshire (co. York) fees passing to Richard and the Southoe (co. Hunts) and Peterborough fees, in- cluding Clapton, going to Nigel. There is some uncertainty about the family of Nigel, who is said Lovetot. Arg.'nt aUon parted fessewtse, gules and sable. to have had five sons, namely, Richard, Roger, Nigel, Robert and William. The identity of Richard and Roger has been confused, but it appears that Richard died childless before 1192. Roger seems to have had six children, namely, William, who died child- less,'* Nigel, a clerk, who before 1201 held Clapton and later gave it to his brother Geoffrey for life. Geoffrey refused to pay the relief and the Abbot of Peterborough seized his land. Both Nigel and Geoffrey died without direct heirs, and their property passed to their three sisters or their heirs, whose homage and relief was refused by the Abbot because the earlier relief was still unpaid. '^ The matter was apparently settled and Clapton passed to Elias de Mundevillc or Amundeville, the son of the eldest sister. Amice or Avice, wife of Ralph de Amundeville, and to William Patrick, the son of the youngest sister Alice, who had married William Patrick. i'' Rose, the second sister, was still living at the time of Nigel's death in 1219,'' but no part of Clapton was assigned to her.''' Before 1234, William Patrick granted his moiety to his sister Margery, the wife, first of William de Vernon and secondly of John de Littebury.'^ After the death of her first husband, both she and her cousin, Nigel de Mundeville, the brother and heir of Elias, granted their moieties in Clapton, consisting of the homage and service of their sub-tenants, to John de Caux, abbot of Peterborough (l 250-1 262)." Before 1259, however, Margery and John de Littebury, her second husband, sold to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester," the services of Thomas de Hotot, a sub- tenant in Clapton, and other properties. This sale led to a claim being made in 1347 by Hugh Audley, Earl of Gloucester (whose wife had inherited part of the Honour of Clare), to the overlordship of land in Clap- ton held by the Abbot. A lawsuit ensued'* and the case is interesting as showing the care with which the Abbot's defence was prepared from researches among public records. The abbot was able to prove that the Earl could have no claim in the land since Margery and John de Littebury had no right to it at the time of the sale to Richard, Earl of Gloucester. Although in 1372 the land in Clapton was returned amongst the fees held by the Earl of Stafford,'* the Abbey was apparently left in undisputed possession of the Love- tot rights there. The history of the sub-tenants of the Lovetot's lands is confused. In 1086 a nameless knight appears as the tenant under Eustace the Sheriffj^" who may perhaps be identified with Alured, Eustace's tenant in the other holding in Clapton.*' In c. 1 125, Walter son of ' Ord. Surv. • V.C.H. Soribanls. i. Geological Map. * Ibid. ii,4i2. * Col. Pal. 1396-9, p. 184. ' V.C.H. Soitbants. i, 316*. • Ibid. p. 366. Bridget {Hist. Sn'tbants. ii, 367) give* the early history of Clapton from a MS. in the possession of the Dud- leys, the lords of the manor. In the nuin facts the manuscript is corrobor- ated by other contemporary evidence. The statement, however, that Roger de Lovetot was enfeofled by Abbot Turold (1069-109S) docs not scciii correct, as his name would in that case have appeared in the Survey. " Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc). p. 173. 'Soc. Antiq. MS. 38,1. 64. ' S. Gunton, Hist, oj Cb. of Peter- bjfeugb, 129; Thoroton, H.st. of Notts, i, 63. *" The above descent is taken from Pytchlcy, Bk. 0/ Fees (Northants Rcc. Soc), 95fl, 96«, where authorities are quoted. See also Rot. de Obi. et ? tn. (Rec. Com.), 149. " Egerton MS. (II. M ) No. 2733, f. 129. " I'ytchley, Bk. of Fees (Noilh.inii 125 Rcc. Soc), p. 541. Excerpt, i Rot. Fin. (Rcc. Com.), i, p. 32 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38 f. 64; ibid. MS. 60, f. 156^. " Excerpt. > Rot. Ftn. (Rec. Com.) i, p. 32. '* Soc Antiq. MS. 38, f, 64. " Excerpt. > Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i, p. 255 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64. '• ("ylchlcy, op. cit. 96 ; Soc Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64. "Ibid. '» Ihid. ft. 62-121J. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. Ill (iil nos.), no. 62. " f'.C.H. Northants. i,ii('h. " Ibid. 3:ca. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Alured, or Walter de Clapton, was the sub-tenant of the Abbey fee. He held one hide and one virgate of Roger de Lovetot and 3J hides of the abbey.^ Walter was succeeded by his son William, who alienated a great deal of his land in Clapton. His only child was his daughter Emma,^' but she died without descendants ^•' as his heirs were Alice the wife of Robert de Hotot, Denise, the wife of Robert de HofFord, and Rohesia or Royce, probably the daughters of his brother Robert.-^ The manor of CLAPTON HOTOTS may be traced to the grant of lands partly in demesne and partly in villeinage made before 1 190 ^^ by William de Clapton to Thomas, the son of Alice de Hotot.^' The manor was originally held of the Lovetots and the homage and service of a later Hotot was granted by Margery de Vernon and Nigel de Mundeville to the Abbey of Peterborough,^ but when the latter claimed, in 1288,^° the homage of the sub-tenant, it appeared that between tlie death of Nigel de Lovetot and the grant to the Abbey,^ the homage and service due had already been granted to a mesne lord, an ancestor of David de Fletewik, lord of Ringsdon.^* The latter, however, granted his rights in Clapton to the Abbot, ^^ who from that lime was the immediate lord of the manor.^* Thomas de Hotot, the original grantee, who was living in 1 190, was succeeded by his son Richard, the tenant in 1243.^^ Richard is said to have bought back part of the land given by William de Clapton to the nuns of Chicksand, as well as the share of William's lands which passed to his sister Denise and to her granddaughter Isabella, the wife of Hugh de Rings- don. -"^ Before 1254 another Thomas appears, ^^ and in 1272 he made a settlement of the manor, with re- mainder to his son William,^' who succeeded him in 1288.^ William's son Robert did homage to the Abbot in 1311,^* and his grandson, another Robert, in 1322.'"' The latter was presumably the tenant in 1346.*' He seems to have been succeeded by another Robert, at whose dwelling in Clapton there was a chapel which, with other chapels and oratories in the parish drew the parishioners from the parish church, and was interdicted in I369.''2 His daughter and heir married Richard Dudley of Barnwell. ''^ In 141 2 and 1428 John Scot held the manor presumably as a trustee,'** since Dudley afterwards enfeoffed other trustees, from whom his son and heir William, be- tween 1467 and 1472 liad difBculty in obtaining livery on coming of age.""^ William died seised of the manor in 1505, when his heir was his grandson William, tlicn a minor.''* The manor was held by the Dudleys, passing from father to son, with one temporary break, until the 1 8th century. Their names were Thomas,*' Edward who succeeded before 1588** and died in 1608,'" Edward, who died in 1632,^" and a third Edward, who died in 1641, leaving four daughters and heirs, all under age.^^ The manor, however, was settled on their uncle William, to enable him after their father's death to pay the portions left to them.^- William Dudley was created a baronet in 1660.*^ His son Matthew and grandson William succeeded him, hut the latter, who had no children,^'' sold the manor in 1724 to William Peere Williams. ^^ His son Hutchins Williams was created a baronet in 1747. On the death of the third and last baronet. Sir Booth Williams, in 1784,'''' it passed to the nephew of the first baronet. Admiral Peere Williams, who assumed the name of Freeman DuDLiv of Barnwell. Azure a cheveron he- tvieen three Horn* beads razed or. WiLMAMS. Gules a wolf coming out of bis den argent. Freeman. . lozenges or. three in 1822." His descendants hold it till 1906, when Augustus Freeman died unmarried. It was then sold to Sir John Brunner, who settled it upon his son in law, the Hon. Audley Blyth, in March 1906. He died 21 March 1908, and was succeeded by his widow, from whose trustees it was purchased in 1910 by Thomas William Buckley, M.D., J. P., the present owner. The third heir of William de Clapton m.iy be identified with Rohesia, lady of Polcbrook, who renounced her claim in the advowson of the cluirch of Clapton in her quitclaim.-''' " I'.C.II. Xorlhants. i, 366 ; Chroi:. Petrob. 173. In the Dudley MS. Alured is called Alfred dc Crauntkort and his family is said to have taken the name of Clapton. " Bridges, Hist. Nortbanis, ii, 369 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 68 j Cal. Curtn Regis, i, pp. 25, 14S. "Soc. Antiij. MS. 38, f. 06, 121J; Bridges, loc. cit. «* Cal. Curia Regis, i, pp. 25, 117, 119, 253 ; Bridges, loc. cit. gives them as sisters of Willi.im, but from the pleadings in the Curia Regis Royce is said to be the niece of William and daughter of Robert de Clapton. " SwafFham Reg. clxxi. " Bridges, op. cit. i, 368. " Soc. Antiq. MS. 3K, f. 66. See above. '• CBron. I'ftrob. (Camden Soc.) 142-3. "Soc. Antiq. MS. 38,1.66. •' Cote. MS. CIcop. C ii, f. 105./. " Ibid. f. Ill ; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), pp. 142-3. " Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, f. 49; FaiJ. Aids, iv, p. 448 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xix, 129. " EgcrtonMS. (B.M.), 2733,f. 141^. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 369 ; cf. Feet of F. .Northants. llil. 24llcn. HI. •• S,.c. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248./. •' I'cct of F. Northants. East. 56 Hen. III. " Chron. Petrob. 142-3; William seems tfi have paid huinage again in 1301, pcr- li:.ps after the dispute with David dc I'letcwlk was finally settled (Cott. MS. \'e!p. F. xxii,f. 49). ••Cott. MS. Vcsp. Exxii. f. 110. " Ibid, xxi, f. 80 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, I. 65. ♦' Feud. Aids, iv, 44S. " J. inc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bucking- ham, 67. " Mctcilfr, Visit. Northantt. 15. 126 1219.'* Her son Robert ratified It seems probable that she was •* Fend, .■tuts, vi, 501 ; ibid. Iv, 48. " Early Chan. I'roc. bdle. 38, no. 114. *" Clian. Inq. p.m. (Scr. II) xlx, 128. *' Meicalfe, loc. cit. ; Northants .V. and Q. (new Sor.) iv, 52. " Ibid. 45, 46. *• Chan. Intj. p.m. (Scr. ii) ccc v, 129. ^*' Ibid, cccclxvill, 93. " Ibid. dcxvll,4i. "Ibid.; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trln. 1649; ibid. Mich. 1651; ibid. Mich. 1654 ; ibid. Trin. 165;. "' Ci.E.C. Complete Baronetage,\\\. p. loo. " Ibid. " I'cet of F. Northants, Trin. to Ceo. I ibid. llil. I Geo. II. " G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, v. 94. " Burke, Landed Gentry, 1921 ; Recov. K. Trin. 24 Ceo. Ill; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 2<) Geo. III. •• Swatlham Reg. ccl. b. ; Feet of F. Northants. Trln. 3 Hen. HI. '• Swatlham Reg. cclxi. b. NAVISFORD HUNDRED CLAPTON the wife of Hugh le Fleming who held land in Clapton of the Lovetots.'" Her lands in Clapton presumably followed the history of the manor of Pole- brook (y.f.). which was bought by Abbot John de Cau7. from Robert son of Hugh le Fleming." They were assigned to the Almoner and were held, possibly with other lands in Clapton, as one tenth of a knight's fee.** The manor of CLAPTON, held by the Abbey of Peterborough, may be traced in origin to various benefactions made by the Clapton family, which were assigned by Abbot Benedict (1177-I194) to the Almoner of the abbey.*' William, son of Walter do Clapton, granted in frankalmoin one messuage and one virgate of land and a meadow called Sumc's yard or MawnesyerdtoPetcrborough'-'and this land is specially mentioned in the charter of Richard 1 of 1189.'^ In the following year William and his wife Emma seem to have given a further release of it to Abbot Bene- dict.** The latter recovered a carucate of land from William Dacus and Thomas de Hotot*' as well as 6 acres of the land of the nuns of Chicksand.** Richard de Clapton and Geoffrey son of Ralph dc Clapton, a military subtenant of William de Clapton, made various gifts of land to the Prior of St. Ncots, Hunt- ingdon,** and Abbot Martin of Peterborough (1226- 1233) bought the rent of zs. a year arising from these tenements from the Prior, and assigned it to the Almoner.'" In 1347 the latter held in frankalmoin in chief of the king 249J acres of land." In 1300 the manor of Clapton was valued at 56.1. \d. a year,'^ and at the dissolution of the abbey it was worth £t, 8;. 5W.'^ In 1542, Henry VIII sold it to Roger Tyrwhitt, who in the same year resold it to William Dudley, the lord of the manor of Clapton Hotot (y.t.).'^ In 1086, Eustace the Sheriff held one hide and one virgate of land in chief of the King.'' This land also passed to the Lovetots, but was held of their Huntingdonshire Honour of Southo.'* In 1236, William Patrick held a third of a knight's fee in Clap- ton, Polebrook and Thurning as part of the Honour, so that he had not by then granted his rights in this land to his sister." It seems probable, however, that she obtained them later, and that it was the homage and service of their tenants in this holding that she and John de Littebury granted to Richard de Clare in 1259.'* If so, Hugh Audley had presumably some right in his claim against the Abbot of Peterborough, but put himself in the wrong first by claiming too much and secondly by distraining the lands which were held in frankalmoin in the almoner's manor of Clapton {/]."'.). The mesne tenants in the early l3tli century were Hugh le Fleming and his son Robert," and the homage and service which Robert le Fh-ming and Tlif)nias Sincrt held in this part of Clapton prob.ibly passed with their otlier holding which the Almoner held by military service."" The holding, however, had been again sub-infcudated. The hide of land was held by Walter le Stiward, apparently in the middle of the 13th century, and was sold to Thomas, son of Richard de Hotot," so that it presumably was incorporated with the manor of Clapton Hotots (■??'•), the Abbey of Peter- borough being the overlord of both holdings. The vir- gate of land was held by Hugh de Cliastillon, who was living in 1 240,'- and it seems to have passed to the Abbey of Tiiorncy,"^ wliicli held one-tenth of a knight's fee of the .'\bbey of Peterborough as of the fee of Lovetot."'' Another reputed manor of CLAPTON may be traced to half a hide of land, held in 1086 of the Abbey of Peterborough, by Elmar.'^ In the early part of the 12th century he had been succeeded by Ascclin, who may be identified with Ascclin de Waterville,'* the lord of Thorpe Waterville and Achurch, and his successors held the ovcrlordsliip of this land until the middle of the 14th century, but it is not mentioned after the time of Robert de Holand.*' The half hide seems to have been granted before 1185 to Osbert le Bret,"* but in 1243 it was held as one-seventh of a knight's fee by William Hay,"® who had obtained it from Ralph de Ccstreton.'" Hugh dc Cliastillon also claimed some right in it at this time, but William Ha\ re- tained possession.®! Between 1 261 and 1274 Sir William Hay granted his manor in Clapton in exchange to William Jakeley, Abbot of Thorney®^ to be held in frank- almoin and in 1286 the Abbot obtained a quitclaim of the half hide of land from John le Bret and his wife Sarah.®' In 1450 the Abbey of Thorr.cy was said to hold a manor in Clapton,'* and at the Dissolu- tion of the Abbey, the rent was returned at £6 ! y. \d. a year, but the issues of the court were of no value.®* In 1542, Henry VIII granted all the lands formerly belonging to the Alibey of Thorney to Robert Thorney .Arrfy. Azure ihrff crozicri bctzvecn as Ttiatjy crosihis or. •• Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64. " Ibid. •« Cott. MS. CItop. C i, ff. I45 '■ '34''- " Feet of F. Northants. East. 24 Hen. III. •' Ibid. ; Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, '= Dugdale, Mon. Anef. 11, p. 604; Rol. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 84; Cal. Chart. 1341-1417, p. 79. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 14 Edw. I. •• Dugdale, Mon. An"!, ii, 597. •• Ibid. 613. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Tyrwhitt, who sold them with the Peterborough manor of Clapton to William Dudley.*' The Church of ST. PETER stands at CHURCH the extreme south end of the village and is a structure in the style of the late 13th century, erected in 1862-3 at the charges of William Peere Williams-Freeman," on, or near, the site of an older building then pulled down. The former church consisted of chancel, clearstoried nave of four bays, north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower and spire, and appears to have been mainly of late 13th or early 14th century date, though one of the stones in the hoodmould of the chancel arch was a re-used fragment of the pre-Conquest period.'* The tower and spire having been struck by lightning at the end of the 1 8th century, were allowed to fall in order, it is said, to save the expense of repair. A wall enclosing the nave at its west end was built, but the base of the tower remained stand- ing to the top of the plinth until 1 862.'* The present building, which was consecrated 23 July, 1863, consists of chancel 21 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. loin., with north vestry and organ chamber, nave of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., north aisle 10 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower 9 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being internal. The building is faced with coursed dressed stone and has red-tiled eaved roofs. The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses and saddle-backed roof. The aisle is under a separate gabled roof. The font consists of a plain octagonal bowl, apparently ancient, on a modern pedestal. The pulpit and all the fittings are modern. A 13th century sepulchral slab with dog-tooth ornament and elaborately carved top, is preserved under the tower, and in the vestry is a marble tablet to William Breton, D.D., rector (d. 1658). The tower contains one bell, by Thomas Mears of London, 1800.* The plate consists of a silver-gilt cup and cover paten of 1548, a silver-gilt paten of 1740 given by the Rev. Claudius Founereau, rector, in 1 749, and a plated cup with two handles.^ The registers begin in 1558. The advowson was granted either ADFOWSON by one of the Lovetots or their sub-tenants, the Claptons, before 1 183 to the Priory of St. Neots, Huntingdon, the gift being confirmed by Richard, son of Walter de Clapton in tliat year.3 In 1219 Abbot Robert de Lindesey of Peterborough obtained the advowson from the Prior of St. Neots in exchange for that of Hemington,* but the Abbey was apparently disturbed in possession by the claims of various tenants of lands in Clapton, who had succeeded William de Clapton. The archdeacon of Northampton held an inquiry into the matter in 1220 and the patronage was confirmed to Peterborough.^ Renunciations of their claims were made by Ralph de Clapton, possibly the heir of Geoffrey, son of Ralph de Clapton, a sub-tenant of William de Clapton, by Sir William Dacus, husband of Emma, niece or great-niece of William ' and by Rohesia, the lady of Polebrook and her son Robert.' In 1282, John Faunel obtained the next presentation to the living,* but from that time it passed with the manor of Clapton.* In 1274-5 Hugh de Colingham, as rector of Clapton, had for three years withdrawn the suit of his tenants there at the Hundred Court as well as the payment of 2s. a year for sheriff's aid. He also claimed to have view of frank-pledge and the assizes of bread and ale.'* W'illiam de Clapton granted the third sheath of the tithes of his demesne to the Prior of Huntingdon and this was reserved to the Priory, when the advow- son of the church was assigned to the Abbey of Peterborough."^ In 1 291 the Priory received an annual pension of £z.^' A further sheath of the tithes of his demesne was granted by William to the Sacrist of Peterborough,*^ whose pension in 1 291 was worth ^l 6s. Sd. a year.''' A pension 25^. 8d. a year was reserved to the Priory of St. Neots, when the advowson was exchanged,'^ but in 1 291 the value was returned as ;^i." In 1250, a chapel is said to have been built in honour of the Holy Trinity, in the churchyard of Clapton, but no mention of it appears in later docu- ments." In 1306-7 Sir William Hotot gave a pension of j^4 to Ralph de Clapton to celebrate daily at the altar of St. Mary Magdalen in Clapton church, but presumably it was merely a grant for life.'* The Rev. William Breton who died CHARITY in 1658, by his will directed his executors to purchase land of the yearly value of ^5 for the benefit of the poor. The land is situated in the adjoining parish of Winwick and contains about 15 acres, producing £\6 10/. yearly, which is distributed in coal to about 30 householders. " L. and P. Hen. fill, xvil, g. 714 (15 and 17). •' There is a memorial tablet to him in the nave ; he died in 1X73. The fovmdation stone wai laid 3 Jidy, 1S62. The architect wai Rictiard Armstrong, of London. •• It was ornamented with plait work and was probably part of a cross shaft ; see V.C.n. Northants. ii, i83. •• There is a plan of the old church, made by Sir Henry IJryden in 1862 among the Dryden papers in the Nortli- ampton Free Library. The east end of the north aisle widened out and was the burial place of the Dudley family ; Bridges, Htit. of Northnntf. ii, 370. There was a figure of St. Katharine in the cast window. There is also an account of the old church with drawings of details, dated 1862, among the church papers. ' There svere four bells in the tower of the old church, one of which was by John de Yorkc, of Leicester (15th cen- tury) ; another was inscribed " Sancte Petre, ora pro nobis." North, Cb. Beth oj Xorthants. 222. • Markham, Ch. I'lile of Xorlhanls. 70, where the 1548 cup and paten are figured full size. On the foot of the paten is inscribed "1595: E.D.," the initials being those of Edward Dudley, son and heir of Thomas Dudley, lord of the manor. • Soc. of Antlt]. MS. 38, p. M'. • I'eet of I". Northants. Trin. 3 Men. Ill; Ducclruch Deeds, U. 1 1 j Kol. Iluj;. de If'fllet (Cant, and York Soc.) '., 160-1. • Roi. Hug. de ll'elles (Cant, and York Soc.) ii, 190. • Ibid. ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 66 j Bridges, op. cit. ii, 26S-9 ; cf. Feet of V. Northants. Trin. 1 John. ' Swallham Reg. IT. ccl.6, cclxl.6 ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 3 Hen. III. 128 • Feet of F. Northants. Trin. to Edw. I. • Rot. RfC. Gratrsend (Cant, and York Soc), pp. 109, il6; Add. MS. 25288, f. 38 i /,. c~ P. Hen. rill, xvii, g. 714 (15 and 17); Ch;in. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii) cccv^ 129; dcxviii, 4t ; F"ect of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Geo. 1 ; ibid. Trin. 29 Geo. HI. " Rot. Hund. (Rcc. Com.), ii, S4. " Rot. Hug. de It'elles (C.mt. and York Soc), i, 160-I ; Cill. Papal Letters, i, p. ss*!- " Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rcc.Com.), p. 39A. " Rot. Hug. de IfeUes (Cant, and ^'ork Soc.) i, 160-I. " Pope Nieb. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39A. " Rot. Hug. de ll'elles (Cant, and York Soc.) loc. cit. ; Feet of V. Northants. Trin. 3 llro HI. " I'ofte \i,h. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 39*. " Bridges, //ij(, Northants. ii, 37J. "Ibid. NAVISFORD HUNDRED PILTON Pilchetone (xi cent.), Pilkctlion, Pilkintona, Pilkctun (xiii century). The parish of Pilton contains 1,4c/) acres of land.' The subsoil is mainly Oxford clay, with some great oolite and cornbrash-. The greater part of the land is laid down in permanent grass. In the north-west, the land near Bearshank Wood rises to 254 ft. above the ordnance datum, but near the River Nene, which forms the eastern boundary, it is low-lying, about 100 ft. above tile ordnance datum.' A bridge over the river, which is mentioned in the reign of Ed- ward I,* connects the village of Pilton with Lilford parish. In the early i8th century the bridge was built of stone with ten arches, the three nearest to Pilton being repaired by the lord of the manor.* The name Bearshank, now only given to the wood, may have been used for the north-western portion of the parish, since Robert ' Bareschanke ' of Caistor in the 13th century paid separately for his land in Pilton his quota for sheriff's aid and other dues to the Hundred Court.' The wood is mentioned in 1540,' and in 1565 was appurtenant to Aldwinkle manor, but the inhabitants of Pilton had common rights in it.* A homestead moat lies to the north of the wood.' Quarries existed in the l6th century and were used in the building of Lyveden House.'' They were worked in the early l8th century, but are now disused. The village lies near the Nene, with the church and rectory to the cast. The rectory house stands immediately to the south-east of the church, and is the old manor house of the Treshams. It is a picturesque l6th century building, with dormered gables and mullioned windows, much restored and with modern additions. Little of the ancient work is left inside except a handsome oak staircase with turned balusters and square newels with shaped tops, which goes the full height of the house, and a large panelled upper room with a segmental ceiling and good four-centered (tone fireplace. PILTON or PILKETON may MANORS probably be included amongst the pre-conquest possessions of the Abbey of Peterborough, but the first mention of it seems to be in Domesday Book, when the Abbey held zj hides of land of the King in chief.'' The whole of this land was subinfeudated, and the Abbey retained the overlordship till its dissolution, the last actual mention of the overlordship of the manor being in 1534.'^ The sub-tenant in 1086 was Roger,'* ancestor o( tlic Torpel family, who held 12 hides of the Abbey in Northamptonshire, for the service due from 6 knights' fees.''' Later ilocumcnts show that their manor in Pilton was held for the service of 1} knights' fees," with castle-guard at Rockingham, li seems possible that these fees also included li virgales of land, wliich in Domesday Book were held by Roger in Wadenhoc.'" In the 1 2th century Survey of North- amptonshire, Roger Infans, his successor, held 2 small virgates under the heading of Wadcnhoe, but the entry is confused, and it seems probable tiiat the land was in Pilton, which with Wadenhoe and Stoke formed one township." The Torpels held Pilton till the first half of the 13th century.'* Robert de Torpel, who succeeded Roger Infans, was tenant in 1130." He was apparently succeeded by Roger de Torpel, who granted land to St. Michael's of Stam- ford for the soul of his wife Mary,^'' and died about 1178.2' His son Roger, a minor at his father's death, married Ascelina, daughter of Saher de Quinci.^^ It was probably their son Roger who in 1225 brought an action against his aunt Maud regarding the lands of his mother.-' He died in that year, when the custody of the lands of his heir, held of Peterborough, was granted to the Abbot of Peterborough,^'' and the lands held in chief, to Ralph Bishop of Chichester.-* The last Roger died in 1 229, apparently a minor, before having livery of his inheritance.^* He had married in his father's lifetime, and was survived by his widow Mabel.^^ The wardship and marriage of their son Roger was granted in 1229 to L. Dean of St. Martin's- le-Grand, later Archbishop of Dublin.-* The last- named Roger probably died a minor and unmarried, as Ascelina de Torpel, the wife of Ralph de Camoys,^* obtained seisin of his lands between 1242 and 1251.'" As the Torpel fees were still apparently held in ward- ship, at the earlier date, Ascelina must have been the sister of the last Roger de Torpel. Her husband is said to have been that Ralph de Camoys who died in 1259, but none of the Torpel fees is mentioned in the inquisition taken after his death,*"" and it seems im- possible that Ascelina could have been the mother of his son and heir Ralph, who was over 40 years old at his father's death.*' It seems clear that she was the wife of the younger Ralph, who died seised of the 6 fees of the Torpel inheritance in 1277.*^ His son and heir John was then over 25 and of a suitable age to be • Ordnance Survey. • V.C.H. Sonbanu. i, Geological Map. • Ordnance Survey. • Cal. And. D., B. 2,R90. ^ Bridges, //»/. Noribanu. ii, 374. •Egcrton MS. (B.M.), 2731, f. 15;. ^ L. &■ P. I/en. Vlll, XV, g. 831 (50). • Bridget, Idc. cit. • y.C.H. Ncribanti. ii, \lt. "Hill. MSS. Com. Pep. (Var. Coll.) iii, pp. li, liii. "y.C.H. Noribanls. i, p. 316a. " Cbron. Peirob. {Camden Soc), p. 170; Red Book of Excbej. (Rolls St.), p. 618 ; Egerton MS. 2733 (B.M.), ff. 135b, IJ7; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxi, f. 81; FeuJ. Aids, IT, pp. 48, 448 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Str. ii), dcxcvi, 2. "V.C.H. Norlhants. i, 316a. ** Cbron. Petroh. (Camden Soc.), pp. 169, 170; Pilton followed the same de- scent as the manor of Torpel until 1280; cf. y.C.H. Nortbanls. ii, p. 466. " Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135b ; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, «. 136-7. ^' y.C.H. Noribanls. i, 316. The ser- vice of 1} knights' fees was very heavy, according to the custom of the Abbey, to be due from 2 hides .ind 1 virgate of l;ind. " Ibid. 366 ; Egerton MS. (B.M.), ^733, f- I54.Vi7. rP- i''5. 37o>4S2. •'•Coll. MS. Vcsp. K xxi, f. II; riac. de Quo lyarr. (Rcc. Com.), |;o8. ■• Asiizc R. no. 632, m. 76 ; Plac. tie Quo H'arr. (Rtc. Com.), 508. •• Cal. Pat. 1334-38, p. 275 ; Cott. MS. Clcop. C i, f. I36d ; A»flizc R. no. 632, m. 76. *• Feud. Aids, iv, p. 448. ** Complete Peerage (new ed.). "Cloic R 4 3 F.dw. Ill, m. 6. " Feet of F. ih\. Coi. 'Frin. 7 Ric. II. " Northanti. A'. <5>- Q. iv, 141 ; c(. King'i Dcnch R. 534, m. 54. " Feud. Aids, iv, p. 48. " Uridgcs, Hist. Northanls. ii, 323. *' Ibid. lie w.ts sun of Rich.Trd Trcjh.im. ** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxcvi, 2. " Ibid. Ix, 35. •" Feet of F. North.mts. E.ist. 5 Y.Vn.. " Ilridgcs, op. cit. ; Feet of F. Nortli- .Tnts. Trin. 16 J.ts. I. " Ch.in. Inc], p.m. (Ser. ii), cccclssxi, 13. " Krrov. R. Trin. 15 CIi.ts I, ro. 51. •M'.R.O. Initit Boolii, 1606-1671. " Norlhants. A'. (S- Q. V, 238, 239. "Ibid. " Feet of F. Norlhants. F^.iit. 12 Will. iSiMary. •• Feet of F. Northants. East. 13 Anne. " Recov. R. Mich. 6 Ceo. IV, ro. 265 ; G.E.C. Complrir Peerage. '** See above. " Soc. Anii'|. MS. 60, f. 159 d. •MMd. f. is6. •■ Egerton MS. (Il.M.), 2733, f. 154 d. 130 '* 'I'he Piltons were benefactors of the Ilospit.-il of St. John Baptist of Armslon, .ind much information about them will be found among the deeds of that house in lUiccleuch Charters 66 to 75 ; Soc. of Antiq. MS. 60, f. I59 -""^ when the latter was granted by James I to Lord Montagu, he also obtained the overlordship of Stoke Doyle.* About 1 1 25, Wymund de Stoke was the tenant of this land, which he held as one knights' fee, but claimed to hold l\ hides in socage.' In the 1 2th century survey of Northamptonshire, Stoke does not appear, but as Wadenhoe, Pilton and Stoke formed one town- ship,* it is possible that the entries under Wadenhoe include holdings in the other two parishes. Wymund appears as holding one virgate of land,' which may have been the virgate which the lords of Stoke Doyle afterwards held of the manor of Pilton," but if so his main holding is omitted. He was probably suc- ceeded by another Wymund before 1146.*' In 1 189, the fee was held by Guy de Stoke, ^- and in 1 199 Robert de Stoke agreed to perform the military service due from half a knight's fee and to pay a rent of 8x. a year for the other half.^^ He was living in 1227,** but was succeeded by Edmund or Simon de Stoke shortly afterwards. ^^ In 1242-3 John de Stoke was the tenant,** but he had died before 1246-7,*' and in 1254 the half fee was held by the heir of Robert de Stoke.** In 1275 John de Stoke was lord of the manor," but he apparently died before 1280.-" The manor then passed to Alice, the wife of John Doyley, who obtained in I3I3,2<'-" {rom Robert son of John de Stoke, a quitclaim of his right in the manor. In the same year they settled it, with remainders to their son Thomas and the right heirs of Alice.^* Thomas did homage to the abbot in 1322.2'- A John Doyley, possibly son of Thomas, held the manor in 1 34123 and in 1353 he made a settlement on his son Tliomas by his second wife Margery.** This Thomas seems to have died young, and the manor went to Henry Doyley, probably his great-uncle, son of John Doyley and his wife Alice.25 On his death after 1367 the manor went to John, son of Robert Knightley (d. c. 1326) and Alice his wife (d. 1349), who was sister of Henry Doyley. John Knightley presented to the church in 1 369 and 1390.2* A settlement of Stoke Doyle was made in 13702' on Joan, said to be daughter and heir of Sir John Doyley, DovLEV. Ctilfs thref bans' brads cabosbed argent. ' I'.it. R. 14 Ch.iB. I, pt. 18. ' Whclbn, lliil. of Noribani! 1S74. The iron gatci were taken to a house in Oundte. • V.C.U. A'orlhanls. i, JI4'J. • C'bron. Peiroh. (Camden Soc), 1 57 ; Ftud. Aidi, iv, 48, 448 ; Chan. Int). p.m. 18 p.dw. IV, no. 37. 'Ibid. (Ser. ii), civlii, 14; P.R.O. Ct. R. ptf. 19;, no. 56. • Chan. Inq. p.m. miic. ptf. 22, no. 9b. ' Chron. Peiroh. (Camden Soc), i 57. • Kgcrton MS. (ll.M.), 27J3, f. 15 ;. • Cott. MS. Vein. F. xxii, f. 94. "Soc. Antiq. -MS. 60, f. ijCi. " Sparke, Ihil. /Itif.l, Script, d;, 81. ^^ (.'al. Chart. 1226-57, p. 20. '•I'eet o( F. Northanti. 10 Ric. caie 77, no. •). " Rfd Hi. 0/ rx.hrj. (Rolli I, Ser), C19; Rot. Hug. dc H'clles (Cant, and \'ut\( Soc.), ii, 140. "Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2713, f. Ijzd. '* Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 251 d. " Cott. MS. Clfop. C i, f. 58 d. "Soc. Antiq. MS. (io, f. 249. Sit Robert de Stoke had a brother Walter (Hucclcuch Deed. II. 18). '» Rot. Ric. Gravcscnd (C.int. and York Soc), 126. In 1273 a John de Stiike juxta Ilundcl (Oundle) wa« in gaol for robbing Borne merchants of a great Bum of money [Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. S). VV'ilh.mi Bon of Sir Jolin Stoke waB witness to a 13th century diartcr as to landi in Itarnwcll (Duitleuch Decdi, II. 20). ■" De Ilanco R. 42, m. 82d. As lord of the manor, John presented to the rectory in 1275, but in 1280 the Ilishnp of Lincoln presented owing to lapse (HridgcB, //ii/. Norlhanli.W, 377). Rifore 12S2, John 132 Doyley and his wife Alice recovered the ad- vowsun from John de Stoke and others, but it seems clear that the defendant in thii case must have been another John de Stoke. •»• Dc Ranco R. 201, m. id (3). •' Feet of F. Northants, llil. 6 Edw. 11; Cott. MS. CIcop. C i, f. 144. " Ibid. Vcsp. E xxi, I. 79b. "Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 14 Edw. Ill ; Feud. Aids, iv, 44X. »« Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 26 Edw. III. '* See I'.C.ll. Northants. Familtcs, 174, where John tie Kniglilley is descrihetl as his nephew, and Alice, John's mother, wife of Robert Knightley, is described ai daughter of John Doyley in 1313. •" List of I'resentatiimi, cit. Ilridgei, op. cit. ii, 377. " Baker, Northants. 508 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 44 Edw. III. NAVISFORD HUNDRED STOKE DOYLE and Thomas, son of Roger Lcwkcnor of Sussex, her husband,*' and in 1391 a further settlement of the manor was made on Joan and her second husband, John Cobham, with a life interest to John Knightlfy.-' Roger l.ewkenor apparently granted it to trustees,*" one of whom, Nicholas Nymmes, did homage in l.joi," and the trustees still held it in 141 2.^- By 1428 the manor had reverted to Thomas Lewkenor, Joan's grandson,'-" whose son Roger presented to the church in 1453 and died in 1478, leaving a son and heir Thomas,*'' who forfeited his lands, probably as a Yorkist. Stoke Doyle was granted to William Sapcote in 1484,''''' but Lewkenor was probably re- instated in possession, as his son Roger presented to the church in 1 491.** He left four daughters, and his heirs apparently sold the manor to Sir George Puttenham, who in 1 526 levied a fine of it against Roger Corbet.** It seems to have passed, with other property to Andrew, first Lord Windsor, before 1536.*' On his death it passed to his son V\'illiam** and grandson Edward. The latter sold it in 1560 to Richard Palmer,** who was already lord of another manor in Stoke Doyle (j.t'.). Richard Palmer died in 1570,"' and the property passed in direct descent to Anthony (d. 1633), Edward, Edward, Geoffrey (living 1677), and Anthony Palmer.'* The last- named sold it in 1697 to Sir Edward Ward, Chief Baron of the Exchequer.*- His sons,''* Edward (d. 1734),'''' and Philip, successively succeeded liim.''* On the death of the latter in 1752,'" the manor was divided amongst his sisters or their descendants.'" The whole manor, however, was obtained before 1789 by Rowland Hunt, grandson of Jane, the eldest daughter of Sir Edward Ward,''* who married Thomas Hunt (d. 1753) and had a son. Rev. Rowland Hunt, D.D., rector of Stoke Doyle (d. 1785). Rowland Hunt (d. 183 1), his son, apparently conveyed the manor to the Rev. Robert Roberts, D.D., after whose death it was put up for auction in March 1830, when it was stated to be discharged from tithe and to extend over 1,300 acres, and there went with it the right of fishing in Palmer, .-izttre a che- vcron engraiUd bettvfen ibree craccnts arpent. Cahbon. rarly cheve- ronti'isr [quit's anii azure a ihet'eton enaiaiUd argent heiween tzvo Uorts ermino:s fating one another in the ihief and a ( rojj paiy or m the foot uiith three nwiets sable on the theieron. the Nene for nearly two miles, and tiic right to cut rushes. In .'\pril 1830, however, it was privately sold by the trustees of Dr. Roberts to George Capron. It passed on his death in 1872 to his son, the Rev. George Capron, whose son, Mr. G. Herbert Capron, is the present lord of the manor.'" In 1086, the Abbey of Peterborough had a second holding in Stoke. The under tenants were two knigiits, two Serjeants, with one sokman, who held 2 hides and 3 vir- gates of land." One of the knights may be identified withGeofTrey Infans, said to have been nephew of Abbot Thorold (1069-98), and tenant of 8 hides in Gunthorp, Southorp, Stoke and Hemington."' Geoffrey Infans or de Gunthorpe seems to have had three sons, Ive, Richard and Ralph. Ive apparently left no issue. Richard, who succeeded him, had a son Geoffrey whose son Geoffrey is mentioned in 1189. In 1198 Waleran son of Ralph, who took the name of de Helpston, claimed against Geoffrey, son of Geoffrey, 3 knights' fees in Southorpe, Gunthorpe and Stoke.*" Geoffrey was succeeded after I2I2 by liis son Robert, who was followed by Thomas, his son, and another Geoflrey, son of Thomas. Geoffrey de Southorpe con- veyed the manor of Southorpe, with the homages and services pertaining to it, to Stephen de Cornhill, citizen of London, probably in security for a loan. Stephen de Cornhill sold the manor and services to Elias de Bckyngham, apparently on behalf of the abbot of Peter- borough. Geoffrey de Soutliorpe, however, being im- prisoned for a debt to Queen Eleanor, repudiated ti^e conveyance of Southorpe, saying it was made while he was under duress, and therefore of no effect. But William de Woodford, out of respect for Geoffrey's poverty and to avoid a scandal, gave him 10 marks and two horses, and Geoffrey confirmed the manor to the abbot. The transactions were completed in 1291.'* The knight's service held in Stoke was in respect of the manor of STOKE or STOKE DOT LEI'}'* >' I'isil. of Sussex (llarl. Soc), 25. " Feet of F. Northants. case 17S, file 88, no. 136. " De Banco R. 572, m. 210. " Add. MS. (B..M.), 252SS, i. 9. *• Feud. Aids^ vi, 500. Thomas Torp, another of the trustees, lu'ld a rent of ^ifi a year, and Robert Knyvet a rent of J[j as dower of his wife, the widow of Roger Lewkenor. " Feud. Aids, iv, 4S. ." Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 37. "• Cal. Pal. 147C-85, p. 42S. " Bridges, loc. cit. For descent of I.cwkcnor, see Vistt. of Sussex (Harl. Soc), p. 25-30; Cal. Inij. Hen. Vll vol. ii, no. 620, and Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Plea R. p. 432. •• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 18 lien. VIII. " Bridges, op. cit. i, 126. ••G.li.C. Complete Peerage; Ct. of Req. bdle. 14, no. 33 ; Recov. R. Trin. 1556, ro. 546; ¥.\K.O. Ct. R. pif. 195, no. 56. *• Recov. R. Mich. 1560, ro. 915; Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Eliz. '° Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), civiil, 14. "Metcalfe, Visit, of Northants. 123; Chan. Inq. p.m. Misc. pt. 22, no. 9b ; Pat. R. 14 Chas I, pt. 18 ; Feet of F. Northants. East. 29 Chas. II. «' Recov. R. Trin. 9 Will. Ill, ro. 185 ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Will. III. *'M.I. in church; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Bridges, op. cit. ii, 12. *' Centos. Mag. 1734, p. 330. *' Instit. Bki. (P.R.O.) 1735. "• Glut's. Mag. 1752, p. 192. ''Diet. Nat. Biog.; Recov. R. Ilil. 26 Geo. II, ro. 16^ ; ibid. Mich. 29 Geo. II, ro. 161 ; ibid. Mich. 3 Geo III, ro. 272; ibid. Mich. 18 Geo. Ill, ro. 279; ibid. Mich. 20 Geo. Ill, ro. 339; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 20 Geo. III. "Recov. R. Mich. 30 Geo. Ill, ro. lOQ *" Inform, supplied by Mr. Cj. Capron. II. '° y.C.ll. Northants. i, 3iCa. " CAroB. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 168; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, 137. '2 Curia Regis R. i, 38, 61-2, 120, 288, 444- "The descent and other details of the Southorpe Fee are set out in Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants. Rec. Soc), 63-71. The last-named Geoffrey married Rose, daughter and co-heir of Berengar Ic Mijyiie of Barnwell St. Andrew. John de l.ayham, son of Geoffrey de Southorpe, released all his right in Berengar Ic Moync's manors to Ramsey Abbey in 1329 (Buccleuch Deeds, 11.62). Robert, son of John, son of Geoffrey de Southorpe, had done the same in 132S. (Ibid. Ii. 75). " In thr ]4lh century, the manor wai called Stoke Doyley, though it never apparently had any connection with the Doylevs' manor, and the same confusion continued, presumably because the name Stoke D(jyle caioc to be used for the whole parish. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE At what date it was sub-infcudated is not known, but in 1242-3 Thomas Wake held a quarter of a knight's fee of Thomas, son of Robert, and Thomas of Peterborough Abbey.*^ In 1 3 16, Hugh Wake was liiC tenant,** and in 1329 Andrina Wake, possibly his widow, holding for life, had apparently succeeded him." Thomas son of Hugh was at this time a minor in the wardship of the abbot.'* Another Hugh Wake appears in 1347,*^ and he seems to have been succeeded by Thomas Wake.^ -A Hugh Wake of Stoke Doyle was living about 1400.'^ The manor seems to have been bought either by Sir William Thorpe, senior, or his brother Sir Robert Thorpe, since Sir William Thorpe, junior, inherited it *"^ and settled it in 1383.*^ After his death it passed with the manor of Pilton (y.t'.) to the Mulshos and Tres- hams." Just before his death in 1533, Richard Tresham sold the manor to John Palmer,*^ and the transaction was completed by his son and heir John.'"* John Palmer died in 1558,"' and the manor passed to his son Richard,^ who some years later purchased the main manor of Stoke Doyle (ij.i'.). The manor is mentioned separately in the inquisition on the lands of Anthony Palmer in 1633,** but the two manors afterwards became merged. The second knight, who held of the Abbey of Peter- borough, apparently only held 3 virgates of land, and his holding may be identified with the land held by Ingram {d. II 14), whose fee was seized by Geoffrey de Gunthorpe. The next holder was Hugh Olifard of Stoke in 1 125.'* Hugh held another third part of a virgate," but later documents show that some land in the quarter of a knight's fee held by his successor lay in Churchfield.'- His land passed in succession to Ingelram, who was the tenant in 1146,''' and to Vivian de Stoke, who, however, had died before llSy.'-* Ive de Stoke was holding in 1 1 89, and Henry his son was the tenant in 121 1,'* and he was followed by another Ive de Stoke.'* By 1243 it had passed to Henry Knight (Miles)," and in 1254 Robert Knight paid the scutage due from a quarter fee.'"* In 1300 Nicholas Knight did homage for his land in Stoke,'* and another Nicholas did homage in 1322,^" but shortly afterwards he gave it to William de Whatton, rector of the church of Stoke, who sold it to Thomas Doyley,*^ the lord of the chief manor of Stoke Doyle (y.t'.), to which this quarter fee seems to have been united.*^ A free fishery was apparently parcel of the second manor of Stoke Doyle, and is mentioned in 1537 and 1610.'^ A fulling mill is referred to in 1408." The church of ST. RUM BALD CHURCH or ALL SAINTS stands on the east side of the village, and is a plain, classic structure erected in 1722-25 on the site of an older building. The former church, which appears to have belonged mainly to the middle of the 13th cen- tury, consisted of chancel with north chapel (or ' burying isle,') nave with north aisle, and west tower surmounted with a broach spire. The nave was of four bays, and the chancel opened to the chapel by an arcade of three arches. There was a large round- headed south doorway with many shafts and orna- mented with dog-tooth, but no porch.*' In a petition to the bishop to pull down the old church it was stated that the building had become ' so ruinous that to repair it would be a burden too heavy for the parish to bear'; the spire*' was in danger of falling, and the structure was described as ' very much larger than is necessary for the inhabitants of so small a parish.' The building, therefore, was pulled down in the spring of 1722, and the first stone of the new church laid in May of that year. The roof was completed in the autumn, but no joiners' work was done in the interior until the summer of 1724,**'' when the pews, pulpit, wainscot and doors were put in, the windows glazed, and the ceiling and walls plastered. The tower was begun in June, 1724, and finished in August, 1725, but the building was not opened until the following March.*' The church as then completed remains unaltered. In plan it is a rectangle measuring internally 61 ft. by 24 ft. 6 in.,** with west tower, and mortuary chapel, now used as a vestry, at the east end of the north wall ; it is faced with aslilar, and has a cornioe and "Kgcrton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135. '« Feud. Aids, iv, 2S. " De Banco R. 272, llil. 2 Edw. III. ''' Pytchley, op cit. 61, 62. »»Cott. .MS. Clcop. C. i, f. i32d. •» Feud. Aids, iv, 48. " Pytchley, op cit. 128. " Soc .\ntiq. M j. jS, f. 112. •> Feet of I'. Oiv. Coj. Trin. 7 Ric. II. •'/■>«-^7, p. 20. ^^ Red Ilk. of Fx.b. (Koll. .Ser.), 15S, 619; Soc. Aniir|. MS. 6 ., I. i<;9(l. '* Pytchley, op rii. 14611, 14711. " Egerton MS. (ll.M.), 2733, f. 135. From the Rucclcuch Deeds we find refer- ences to the KniglitB (Miles, le Cnit, le Knyt, Knyvct) of Stoke, of Pilton, of Wykingsthorp and of Polebrook in the 13th century. The name Robert is common to all of them, but the entries arc too disconnected to show whether tiicy have .'iny relation to one another. It is possible tlut Henry tiie knight of Stoke was son of Ive dc Stoke. '^ Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249. '• Cott. MS. Vcsp. K xxii, f. 47. '" Ibid, xxi, f. 79b. "Pytchley, op. cit., 146; Cott. MS. Cleop. (' i, f. 145. 'Fhomas Doyley was holding in 1346. " F.-ud. Aids, iv, 48, 448; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, f. I32d. "•Feet of V. Northants. Mil. 28 lien. \III i Rccov. R. East. 8 Jas. I, ro. If)2. "Add. MS. (n.M.), 25288, (. 115. " The Ilebutldittg o( the Parish Church of Slohe Doyle, from an orig)n;iI MS. by Rev. John Vorkr, rector, 1721, anriol.ited by Rev. J. T. Hurt, and with architectural notes by Rev. \V. D. Swecliuc 1SS4. This paiiiphh-t has been used in ifie description that follows. An illustration •34 of the old church thows five two-light clear It ory wim^ows on the south side, though there was no south aisle, and low- pitched leaded roof to the nave. The ro(»f of the chancel was of high pitch and covered with tiles. The internal length of chancel and nave was 92 ft., and the width across nave and aisle 36 ft. "• Bridges pays tliat at the base of the spire, facing south-east, was cut ' Oia pro aninia Hawisig ' : U%H. Nortbantiy li, 377. ■'" ' The summer of 1723 was too little to dry the walls.' " It was intended that the church should I'c opened in the summer of 1725, but Mr. Ward, the patton, at whose charges it had been erected, 'happening not to come into the country till the lunmicr was almost over, and some utensils, etc., being wantini;, the opening was put off for that winter.' : Yorkc'i MS. '" The west wall 11 in the same position as (he west wall of the old na\e, but the south wall is about ^ ft. in front of the (lid one. The ea^t wall of (lie chancel nf the old church was 30 ft. to the eabi of the prc'cnt cast wall. Stoke Doyle Church : Monument to Sir Edward Ward NAVISFORD HUNDRED thorpe achurch plain parapet, and semi-circular hcaJcd side windows with moulded architraves and sills. The east window is of the three-light ' Venetian ' type, and the south doorway has a semi-circular arch, pilasters, and broken segmental pediment. The tower is of three stages, witii balustraded parapet and angle pinnacles, round-headed bell chamber windows, and west doorway. There is no structural division of chancel and nave inside, > coved plaster ceiling covering the whole space. The font, pulpit, seating and wainsct)t are all contemporary with the building. The vestry, or mortuary chapel, opens to the sanctuary by a round stone arch and has a window facing east. It contains an elaborate marble monu- ment to Sir Edward Ward, knight. Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer (d. 1714), wdth reclining figure in judge's robes, said to be by Rysbrack." In the sanctuary is a canopied mural monument in marble and alabaster to Mrs. Frances Palmer {J. 1628), wife of Edward Palmer, Counsellcr at Law, and memorials to Katharine {d. 1760), wife of Dr. Rowland Hunt, rector, and to Hannah (d. 1819), wife of the Rev. R. Roberts, curate, the latter by Chantrey. There is a ring of five bells by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, cast in the winter of 1727.'*' The plate consists of a cup and cover paten, flagon, and two plates of 1734, each inscribed ' Stoke Doyle in Northamptonshire.'" The registers begin in 1560. The first volume has all entries to 1653, the second from 1654 to 1736, and the third from 1736 to 181 2.*^ On the south side of the building is the base of a churchyard cross, of somewhat unusual form, the chamfered stops of which have scroll-like projec- tions.*' Bridges records in the chancel of the old church a stone 8 ft. long, on which was cut the name ' Ricardus Ashton.'** A recumbent efTigy of a priest now in the church- yard to the east of the chancel was formerly in the old church, between the chancel and north chapel.'-" The advowson of the church of .■IDI'OII'SOX Stoke Doyle has been always held by the lords of the first manor of Stoke Doyle, the earliest recorded presentation being in 1222, by Robert de Stoke."* Mr. Capron is the owner of the advowson at the present day. A rent of los. a year from the rectory of Stoke Doyle was paid to the Sacrist of the Abbey of Peter- borough in 1291." All portions, tithes and pensions in the parish were granted in 1541 to the dean and chapter of the newly founded cathedral.** At the Dissolution of the chantries, a sum of 53J. •^d. existed to maintain an obit and light in the church as well as an annual rent of 2/.'* In 1591 a dispute arose as to a messuage and 20 acres of land lield for the benefit of the parish for repairing bridges, the relief of the poor, etc. The deeds were in the possession of Anthony Palmer, the lord of the manor, and two others, who, it is alleged, tried to conceal the property, pretending that it had been given for superstitious uses.'"** Thomas Hewitt in 1749 left ^^20 for CHARITIES the poor. This sum was subsequently invested in £20 8j. ()d. Consols pro- ducing 10/. yearly in dividends. The income is distributed by the rector and churchwardens in bread on St. Thomas's Day to about 20 recipients. George Capron by indenture dated 24 June 1844 gave /^20O to the rector and churchwardens for charitable purposes. The money was invested in /^2I5 10/. loii. Consols producing £^ ys. Sd. in divi- dends. £2 is distributed to the local Clothing and Coal Clubs, £2 in aid of the Sunday School and ^l to Peterborough Infirmary. The sums of Stock are with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. THORPE ACHURCH Asechurch (xi cent.), Torpe and Achirche (xii cent.), Thorp, Asechirche (xiii cent.), Thorp Watervill, Acherche (xiv cent.). The parish of Thorpe Achurch lies about 5 miles south of Oundle and covers i ,608 J acres, most of which arc laid down in grass. The land rises gradually from the River Nene which forms the western boun- dary of the parish and is for the most part about 100 ft. above the ordnance datum, although it reaches 157 ft. near the church of Achurch. Along the valley of the river the soil is alluvium and the subsoil is formed of the great 1 olite scries, red marl and Oxford clay. The village of Achurch is in the northern part of the parish and lies a little to the west of the mrin road from Wellingborough and Thrapston to Oundle. It consists of a farm and 16 cottages, the church of St. John and the rectory, which is a picturesque " YorkcMS.(printed),whcrf the inscrip- tion 18 given, p. 30. The name of Rysbrack (loei not occur on the monument. , •* They were recastings of five oIH bells, two of which were cracked. They were liung in the tower in new frames in the lummer of 1728, and about the same time a new clock wns provided. The inscrip- tioni arc given in North, Cb. Bells oj ynrlkantSy 408. •' In in inventory of 171 1 arc recorded a silver gilt cup and cover given in 170S, a small silver cup, a silver dish for bread, and two pewter flagons dated 1647. The whole of this was exchanged in 1734 for the present set. Markham, Cb. Pluie of Noribanis, 271. "Notes to Yorke's MS. 1884. A few extracts, mostly relating to the lords of the manor cr to the rectors, are given, pp. 26-27. " .Markham, Crosses of Northants, 107. The socket is let diagonally, and the lower part of the shaft is still in the hole. •' llist. of Noribanis. ii, 378. Ashton was rector 1390-1435. " I'hc elTigy is 1 1 ft. east of the chancel, slightly to the north. It is probably in its original position, though now out- side. " Roi. Hug. de H'elUs (Cant, and York Soc), ii, eo8, 140; Roi. Ric. Cravtsend (Cant, and York Soc), 126 ; Dc Banco R. 42, m. Szd ; Feet of F. Northants. Mil. 6 Kdw. II; Mich. 14 Edw. Ill; Mich. 26 Edw. Ill ; Div. Cos. Trin. 44 Edw. Ill ; Northants. Trin. 18 Hen. VlII ; East. 5 Eli?.. ; Recov. R. Trin. Phil, and Mary, ro. 546 ; ibid. 9 Will. Ill, ro. 185; Insiit. Bks. P.R.O. In 1823 a recovery suggests that Sir James I.angham, Bart, owned the advowson, but presumably he only held land or tithes in the parish (Recov. R, Mich. 4 Geo. IV, ro. 285). •' Pope Nub. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39b ; Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, f. bod. •• /.. and r. Hen. VI II, vol. xvi, g. 1216 (10). •• Chantry Certif. (P.R.O.), 35. '" Ct. of Req. bdle. 98, no. 25. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE gabled stone house built about 1633, with mullioned windows and two-storied porch. Most of the inhabitants, however, live at Thorpe VVaterville, about a mile to the south of the church and on the west side of the main road. Near the river here are the remains of Thorpe Waterville Castle, built by Walter de Langton, Bishop of Lichfield,* who held the manor from 1300 to 1307 and had licence to crencllate his house there in 1301.- The castle is mentioned in 1307, after the forfeiture of his lands, when the gate of the castle and chapel are referred to.* In the next century, the castle is regularly mentioned with the manors (j.f.) and in 1461 it was held for the Lancastrians against Edward IV, who ordered Sir John Wenlock to besiege it with three cannon.^ Presumably it was more or less destroyed at this time. A constable was appointed certainly as late as 1485,^ and in 1537, ' le Parke ' in the castle is mentioned.* About the same time John Leland refers to the ruins of the outer wall of the castle as he passed through the village.' The castle was apparently of the type of fortified manor house which was being built early in the 14th century. Only a portion of this house survives, which for a long time has been used as a barn. It is built of stone and measures externally 70 ft. in length from north to south, by 25 ft. 10 in. in width. This structure, which has a plinth all round and a gable at each end, was originally of two stories, but the upper floor has long been removed, and wide openings' have been made in the middle of the side walls. There is evidence of a partition having run across the building at its centre and a two-story gabled porch is said to have stood on the east side until about a century ago.* At the north end, corbelled out from the first floor, is a chimney, the upper part of which, above the gable, is octagonal and battlemented, and on either side of the chimney is a circular moulded opening, nearly 2 ft. in diameter. There is said to have been a similarly constructed chimney at the south end.*" There arc loop windows in the longer sides, and the roof principals have moulded collars and kingposts. The walls arc 3 ft. thick and the roof is covered with thatch. All the remaining arcliitcctural features arc of 14th century date. Thorpe station, near the village, is on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The parish was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1772.*' Robert Browne (1550-1630 f), who formed the first Independent congregations in England, was rector of Thorpe Achurch from 1 591 for 40 years. He liad, however, finished his active career as an itinerant preacher, before Lord Burghley presented him to the benefice. ^^ The two manors of THORPE MANORS WATERVILLE and ACHURCH were held together throughout their history. In Domesday Book, both parts of the parish were entered under the heading of ' Asechurch,' which was then held of the Abbey of Peterborough. l'' They were held by knight service and is. was due for guard of the Castle of Rockingham. As each knight of the Abbey of Peterborough was quit of service in the time of peace for a payment of 4J. a year, it is probable that the two manors were held as two knights' fees.** The overlordship of Peterborough** is last mentioned in a law-suit between Abbot Kirketon and Lady Margaret Beaufort, the tenant for life, as to the rent due to the Abbey.*' After the Dissolution, the manors were held in chief of the Crown.*' In 1086, Ascelin and two Englishmen held 6i hides of land of the Abbey in Achurch,*' but in the North- amptonshire Survey of the following century, the Englishmen disappear and Ascelin de VVaterville was the tenant of the land in Thorpe and Achurch.*' An Ascelin de VVaterville appears amongst the knights of Peter- borough in 1 1 25-1 1 28.-" Pos- sibly there were two Ascelins, father and son, who succeeded each other. After 11 26, but before 1155, Hugh de VVater- ville, the son of Ascelin herited the manors.^* heir was another Ascelin before 1189 his son or grand HI 1 1 • J 1 Waterville. ArP':»t ugh, wiio claimed the „ , / o ' crustily and a jcae office of hereditary high dancetiy gula. steward of Peterborough, was holding Thorpe Waterville.-' Between 1 1 97 and 1 21 1, Richard, son of the second Hugh, had succeeded.-^ He was living in 1240-* and, together with his son John, his name appears in the list of the anniversaries observed at Peterborough Abbey.-' John must have predeceased his fatlier, whose heirs were his sister Maud and Alice. Thorpe and Achurch apparently formed part of Maud's moiety and passed in 1241, to Reginald de Waterville, said to be her son.^' He joined Simon de Montfort and his manors were forfeited on his being taken prisoner at Northampton in 1264. He was pardoned two years later and held his lands till his death in 1287.^' His heirs were the heirs of his daugh- ters, Robert de Vere, son of Joan, Robert de Wykham, son of Maud or Elizabeth, and his third daughter, 3 w ' Pytchlcy, Ilk. of Fca (Norlhants. Rcc. Sor), 42. Bridget [Ilisl. Norlhiinls. ii, 367) st.ttci th.it it was prob.Tbly built b^ Aicclin dc Waterville, but there seems to be no historic.'il or arcl)itectur.il evi- dence for this early date. 'Cat. Pal. 121J2-1301, p. 561. •Sparte, llnl. /Ing. Script. (Var.), 172 J P.R.O. Mini. Accts. Gen. Scr. bdlc. 1 132, no. 2. ' Cat. Pal. 1461-67, p. 28. ' Rol. Pari. (Rec. Com), vi, 372.1. • L. and P. Hen. yill, ii, g. 1008 {"9)- ' l.cland, liincrary, ed, 1744, i, f. 6. •The openings are 12 It. wide. • T. L. Selhy in jliwc. Arch. Soc. Rep. (1861), Ti, 64-^, where it is stated that the porch was pulled down ' about thirty-six years ago.' "•Ibid, where it is said to have been ' removed probably a himdred years since ' (fr(Mn 1861). " Slat. 12 Geo. Ill, c. 105. ' ' Did. A'om. 1541-80, pp. 84, 88 ; Feet of Fines Div. Cos. Mich. 1649; East. 22 Chas. II; Hil. 8 Will. Ill; Recov. R. Hil. 7 Will, and Mary, ro. 76 ; ibid. Trin. 10 Geo. I, ro. 51. ••Close R. 6369, no. 7; Recov. R. Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 137 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in his demesne lands in Thorpe in 1 235." The same right was granted to William Tuchet in 1300 and to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield a few months later,^* and it was claimed by the Countess of Pem- broke and her feoffee Maud de Holand.'' A water-mill is mentioned in 1330, and was held with Thorpe Waterville manor. It had then been recently reconstructed. '^ It was leased in 1519 with other demesne lands to Miles Brykehead and his wife Joan for 21 years'' and is mentioned again in the grant of the manors to Sir William Fitzwilliam.'^ The church of ST. JOHN-THE-BAP- CHURCH TIST consists of chancel 32 ft. 3 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., nave 54 ft. 9 in. by 19 ft., north and south transepts, north aisle, south porch, and west tower surmounted by a broach spire. The tower is 10 ft. 3 in. square and the width across the transepts 45 ft., all these measurements being internal. of the easternmost window is lowered to form a seat. The transepts are identical in size, being 12 ft. 6 in. in widtn by 10 ft. 6 in. deep,*^ and are separated from the nave by pointed arches. The end windows are of two lights with geometrical tracery similar to that in the westernmost window of the chancel, but the one on the north is wholly restored. At the east end of the north wall of the north transept is a trefoil- headed recess, probably a piscina, but the sill is covered. The end of the south transept is wholly covered by the monument to Sir Thomas Powys." The windows of the nave are similar to those in the transepts, but the tracery is modern. The tower is of three stages, with moulded plinth and projecting vice at the north-west angle weathering back at the level of the bell-chamber. The spire is carried on a trefoiled corbel table and has plain angles Scale of Feet Plan of Thorpe Achurch Church mSIUCcNTURYLATE C] Modern The aisle and porch are additions made in 1862, when the church was extensively restored, and in 191 2 an organ chamber was built on the north of the chancel against the transept ; with these exceptions the build- ing is all of one date, having been erected c. 1280-90 on a regular cruciform plan, with transcptal chapels opening from the east end of the nave. The roofs are all modern and covered with grey slates ; the walling is of coursed rubble with buttresses and dressings of ashlar and having corbel tables to chancel and nave. The aisle has a plain parapet. The chancel is of two bays with gabled buttresses of two stages, and cast window of three trefoiled lights, the geometrical tracery of which is a modern copy of the original. The other windows in the chancel are of two trefoiled lights with simple geome- trical tracery, one on the north side and three on the south, diflferiiig in detail and in part restored. At the west end of the south wall arc the remains of a rectangular low-side window, now blocked, and without architectural features. The walls arc plas- tered internally and no piscina is visible, but the sill and two sets of lights on each of the cardinal faces The west doorway has a segmental head of two moulded orders and shafted jambs ; there is a single light window over and in the stage above a tall round-headed window. On the north and south the lower stage is blank, but the middle is pierced by a quatrefoil opening within a circle. The bell-chamber windows are of two plain lancets with trefoiled circle in the head within an enclosing arch, the hood- mould of which is continued round the tower as a string. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders, the inner resting on moulded corbels, the outer dying out. The font, which stands in the south transept, is ancient, and consists of a plain octagonal bowl and stem. The church was reseated in 1862, but tbc pulpit, choir stalls, and tower screen date from 1 91 2. In the chancel are four 1 8th century brass candelabra, and in the nave is an old oak chest with three locks. The elaborate monument to Sir Thomas Powys in the south transept was brought here from Lilford " Cat. Chan, 1116-57, p. 111. " Ibid. 1157-1300, p. 4S1 ; 1300-1316, pp. 1, 77. "Anile R. 631, (. 76. "Ibid. I. 75. " L. and r. Urn. I'lll, ii, g. 1008 (19) ; iii, g. i86i (6). "Pat. R. 2c) Men. VIII, pt. i. " Or 13 ft. i( mr.iiurcd from the face of (he nave wall, which il 30 in. thick. "* The monnment blocks the south window, but there ia a two-light window in the enst w;ill. The cut wall of the nor t h tr.iTiscpt is now covered by the or^an chamber, and on the west the transept is open to the aiilc. TliORl't AcllURCH CllUKCll hRO.M THE NoRlll-SAST NAVISFORD HUNDRED THRAPSTON church after its demolition in 1778. Sir Thomas, who died in 1719, is represented in a reclining position in his judge's robes, below a canopy supported by Corinthian columns ; the inscription is by Matthew Prior. There is also a blue stone floor-slab marking the place of burial of Sir Tliomas, and others in memory of his son Thomas (d. 1719), his grandson of the same name (d. 1767), and Ambrose Powys (d. 1753); on the wall is a tablet to the Hon. Charles Powys, R.N. (d. 1804) and his brother Henry killed at Badajoz in 1812, and also a brass plate to the third Baron Lilford (d. i86i).«» There are four bells, the first by Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1861, the second and third re- castings by Taylor in 1898 of two bells dated respectively 1675 and 171 1 (the latter by Henry Penn, of Peterborougli), and the tenor by Thomas Eayrc of Kettering, 1735.*' There were four bells in 1552. The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, and flagon of 1669, given by Thomas Elmes to the church of Lilford, and a silver alms dish of 1713, the gift of Sir Thomas Powys." The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1591-1669, with gap from 1635 to 1644; (ii) baptisms 1670-1807, marriages 1670-1755, burials 1671-72; (iii) burials 1678-1812; (iv) baptisms 1808-12; (v) marriages 1755-1812. The first volume contains a note by Robert Browne, founder of the " Brownists," who was rector for thirty years. The churchwardens' accounts begin in 1784. The churchyard is entered from the cast through a lycli-gate erected in memory of the fourth Lord Lilford (d. 1896). The advowson of the rectory of ADl'OU'SON Achurch has been held by the tenants in demesne of the manor since tlie early 13th century. Richard de Water- villa presented before 1219** and the advowson accompanied all subsequent grants of the manor.** In 1439, three fcoflees of John, Duke of Exeter, made the presentation and™ in 1633 Thomas Ashton pre- sented for one occasion." Lord Lilford is the present patron. The church land. On the inclosure CHARniES of the commonfields in the parish an allotment was awarded to the church- wardens in lieu of their rights in the open fields. Tlic allotment consists of about 18 acres of grass land and is in the occupation of Lord Lilford at a yearly rent of £1% which is applied to church expenses. Richard Ragsdale by will 30 Jan. 1711, gave 20/. yearly to the poor. This is paid out of land belonging to Lord Lilford and applied by the Rector in aid of the Village Coal Club. THRAPSTON Trapestone (xi cent.), Thrapeston (xiii and xiv cent.). The parish of Thrapston contains 1,149 *cres of land and is low-lying, being only about 100 ft. above the ordnance datum. The subsoil is alluvium, near the bed of the River Nene, which forms the western boundary of the parish, upper lias, great oolite series and Oxford clay. The Thorpe brook forms part of the eastern boundary. About half the acreage is arable land and the remainder grass land, with practically no woods. A quarry is mentioned in 1330, and mines and quarries in a sale of the manor in 1770.' There is an ironstone quarry at the present day, but the Nene Side Iron Works which once flourished no longer exist. Thrapston is a small market town, probably owing its prosperity to its situation near the bridge over the Nene, towards which bridge several roads converge. It is the head of the Thrapston Petty Sessional Division, the Thrapston and Oundle County Court District and the Thrapston Rural District. It was almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, the later buildings being of red brick. A few older houses remain ; a cottage in the Huntingdon road is dated 175S, 2nd the Baptist Chapel adjoining bears a tablet recording that " This place of Worship was built by public Subscription A.D. 1787, for the Propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." It is a plain brick building of two stories. There is also a Wcsleyan Chapel in the town. There is a market place in the centre of the town and the church and manor house lie on its north side. The bridge over the Nene is mentioned in 1224, when Bishop Hugh of Welles granted an indulgence to travellers contributing to its repair^ and in 1313 Bishop Dalderby granted an indulgence for the fabric of the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr next the Bridge of Thrapston.' In the later 14th and early 15th centuries, the bailifTs and men of Thrapston obtained several grants of pontage for the repair of the bridge.* Leland about 1543 mentions a stone bridge with eight arches,' but in a brief for its repair of 1664 it is said to have twenty-four arches.* The Leper Hospital of St. Leonard existed in the 1 2th and 13th centuries, but nothing is known of its history and it probably had no endowment.'* " There are alio memoriali in the church to the firit and terond Baroni (1800, 1825), the Rev. Littleton Powyt (d. 1842), the Hon. Adelaide .Marjr Powyi(d. i873),Thomai Atherton Powyi (d. i8$i), eideit ion of the 4th Baron, and Thomas Atherton Powjri (d. 1909), the two latter in the chancel. •• The inicriptions are given in North, Cb. Brllt of SoTibanit. 175. Thoje on the iccond and third have been retained in factimile. On the bell frame ii cut • W. Selby, c.w. |S|6.' •' MarUiam, Ch. Phle 0/ Noribanit. 281. The alma dish bean the arms of Powyi impaling Mcdowi ; Sir Thomas's second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Medows. •• Rol. Hug. di ll'ellcs (Cant, and York Soc), i, J. •• Rol. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York Soc), 122; Cal. Pal. 1307-13,428; Chart. R. 8 Edw. II, m. 20, no. 42 ; Pat. R. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I i 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 17; 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7; Instit. Bks. (PRO), 1638, 1643, 1685, 1737, 1743, '74S1 1778 i Close R. 13 Geo. Ill, rn. 19, no. 7. 139 "> Bridges, Hill. Nonbanti. ii, 365. "Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1633. 'Cum. Pleas. Assiie R. 632, t. 73; Eect of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Geo. III. • Rot. Hug. de Welln (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 207, 219. • Line. Epii. Reg. Memo. Dalderby, f.2<;3. « Cal. Pal. 1367-70, p. 273 ; 1381-1385, pp. 116, 556; 1385-89, P- 457; '39'-9^ p. 108 ; 1408-13, p. 281. • Leland, //incrrfry, ed. 1744, p. 6. • ('al. S.P. Dom. 1663-64, p. 32O. •• r.C.H. Norlhanli. ii, 166. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE OOO There is a station on the Northampton and Peter- borough branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, which crosses the parish. Thrapston mill is on the river Nene, to the south of the town. A water mill is mentioned as parcel of the manor in 1336 and 1355.' The parish was inclosed by .Act of Parliament in 1780.'* There is no mention of a pre-Conquest MANORS tenant in THRAPSTON, but in 1086 Oger the Breton held 2j hides.* In the following century 2 hides and I virgate were held by his son Ralph fitz Oger of the fee of Bourne in Lin- colnshire.* The honour of Bourne passed to the Wakes and Baldwin Wake granted his holding to Robert de \'cre, in the latter half of the 1 2th century. '" The overlordship was held by the Wakes, until 1350, when it passed to Margaret, Countess of Kent,** sister and heir of Thomas Wake. On the death of her son John, Earl of Kent, it went to his sister Joan, the wife of Sir Thomas Holand,*^ but Elizabeth, the widow of John, held it in dower till her death in 1411.1^ In the in- terval four Earls of Kent had died,** and in 1424 Joan, daughter of Thomas Holand and Joan, above mentioned, died seised of the rent of 50/. from half a knight's fee in Thrapston. Her property was divided amongst her six sisters or their descendants** and the overlordship probably disap- peared after this. In 1481 Roger Wake, of Blisworth, was stated to be the overlord,** and in 1493 Edward, Earl of Wiltshire,*' but both statements were probably due to a confusion with the tenure of other property. The manor of Thrapston was granted by Baldwin Wake to Robert de Vere, and followed the descent of Great Addington {q.v.), where the Veres lived, until the iHth century, when Thrapston was sold. In 1335 during Ralf de Vere's tenancy an extent of the manor of Thrapston shows there was there a capital messuage with two gardens, 100 acres of arable land in demesne, 10 acres of meadow, 10 free tenants, 10 native tenants, 10 cottages, a water mill, and a market and fair.** Alice, widow of John de Vere, in 1386 had her dower in Tlirapston, including the profits of the market and fair, the common oven and a cottage in ' le Draperie.'** Thrapston was sold Wake. Or two ban tvitb three roundels gules in the chief. to Humphrey Morice (d. 1731), a merchant and M.P. for Grampound, or to his son of the same name (d. I785).2'' It was sold by the latter in 1770 to Lejnard Burton,^* and the Burton trustees were hold- ing in l874.'^2 Mr. John Pashler afterwards held the manor, and his widow now holds it. The third part of the manor, which went to Etheldreda, the youngest daughter of Henry Vere, on his death in I493, was still in her possession, as a widow, in 1553.-^ She gave it to her son, George Browne, and it passed to his son, Wystan,^* but before 1572 her third part seems to have been again divided amongst heiresses, as transactions as to their thirds of one-third of the manor were carried out by Christiana Browne in 1572,-5 and Catherine Browne in 1576,^* and later by Christiana, the wife of John Tufton, Mary, the wife of Thomas Wilfride and Catherine, the wife of William Rooper." The last of these transactions was in 1 590 ; no later history of this part of the manor appears, and it was probably conveyed to the Mordaunts. In the 14th century Ralph de Vere claimed view of frank-pledge, pillory and tumbrels in the manor,^ and the view is mentioned in l66829 and again in 1770.'" In the time of Edward the Confessor, Burred held freely 3 virgates of land in Thrapston.^* In 1086 Clare. Or three cbeve- rons gules. Stafford. Or a ibeve- ron gules. this land was held of the Bishop of Coutances,^- but after his fief escheated it was granted to the Clares, this holding apparently formed part of half a knight's fee held of the fee of Clare in Thrapston, Dcnford and Ringstead.^^ After the death of the last Gilbert de Clare at Bannockburn, this half fee passed to his eldest sister, Margaret,^* and through her to the Earls of Stafford.^* The last overlord mentioned was Edward, Duke of Buckingham, who was attainted and beheaded in 1521,^* and the half fee was presum- ably held of the Crown after lliat date. ' Hal stead, SMffiHr/Cz-wrd/ogiVi, 268, 270. " Private Art oj Pari. 20 Geo. lll,c. 59. ' y.C.II. Norlbants, i, 349. •Ibid. 365; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxii, f. 94. >' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 500; the charter it given in M.ilstead's Succinet Cenealo'^jes, l''94, p. is'i- " /Ik. of Fees (I'.R.C), ii, p. 937; Cat. Irnj. ii, no. 439 ; Cal. Close 1272-79, p. 259; Tear Books (Rolli Ser.), 18-19 Ediv. Ill, pp. 246-264 ; Cal. Iiiij. ix, not. 219, 234. *■ Cal. tnq. X, no. 46, "Cal. Close, 1349-54, p. 553; Chan. In(|. p.m. 12 Hen IV, no. 35. '« Ibid. 20 Ric. II, no. 30; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. "Ibid.; Chan. In.|. p.m. lien. IV, file 66, no. 43. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 74, no. II. " E\ch. In<]. p.m. Scr. ii, vol. 673, no. 2. " Drayton Ch. 91 ; Cal. Close, 1337-39, p. 144 ; llalstcad, op. cit. 268. '" Dr.iyton Ch. 45. '» D.\.JI. ; Bridget, op. cit. ii, 3S0. '* Feet of I'. Northnnts. Trin. 10 Geo. Ill ; Recov. R. Trin. 10 Geo. Ill, ro. 749. " Whcllan, I/ist. of Aorthants, p. 732. "Common Pleat Recov. R. Hil. I Mary, ro. 415. " Chan. I'roc. (Ser. ii), 82 (15). " Common Pleat Recov. R. Eait. 14 Eliz. ro. io68. ■« Ibid. Trin. 18 Eli«. ro. 1107. " Feel of F. Northantt. Mich. iX and 19 Eliz. ; ibid. Trm. 32 Flir. " Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 500 ; Halttcad, op. cit. p. 268. 140 " Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 10 and 21 Chat. II. " Feet of F. I^orthanls. Trin. 10 Geo. III. •' y.C.H. Northanis. i, 311 A. •' Cott. MS. Vcsp. Exxii, f. 94 ; I'.C.ll. Northanis, \, 31 Ii'', 365(1. •• Colt. MS. Veip. E xxii, f. 94 ; Rot. Ilund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 * ; Feud. Aids, iv, 449. " Cal. Im;. v, no. 538 ; G.E.C. Com- plete Peerage. »» Atsi/e Roll, no. 6)2, f. 76; Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (i«t not.), no. 62; ibid. 10 Ric. II, no. 3S ; ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, no. 27; ibid. 18 Ric. II, no. 43; ibid. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41 ; Cal. Pat. 1401-05, p. 349. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xxx, 117 j G.E.C. Comptrle Peerage. NAVISFORD HUNDRED THRAPSTON In 1086, Odelin held this land of the Bishop," and his son Robert was the tenant under the Clares early in the I2th century.*'* Towards the end of the century the tenant was Riclurd de Marun,^ but it is difficult to trace the descent of the land in Thrapston. In 1236 Maud, the wife of William Hay, was dealing with land in Thrapston, and in 1242 William Hay held an eighth part of a knight's fee there and in Denford.'" Be- tween 1252-3 and 1263, William de Shardclawe and his wife Joan were parties to various fines levied on land in Thrapston which were part of her inheritance.'" The next tenants seem to have been John Spigurnel and his wife .Mice.''^ In 1310, they settled a con- siderable estate in Thrapston, Woodford and Den- ford on themselves and the heirs of their bodies, with remainder of John, son of Roger Bozun.** Before 1330, John Bozun sold one quarter of a knight's fee in Thrapston to Bernard de Brus, the son of John de Brus of Thrapston.*'' Athelina, daughter of Ber- nard, is mentioned in 1367 in connection with other property,*' but the next tenants were William Everard de Sutton in Holand and his wife Alice, who settled the manor of Thrapston in 1379 on Hugh Hekclyng and Richard Gcttyngton, clerks, with warranty by the heirs of Alice.*' In 1387, amongst the tenants of the half fee held of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, appear Alice Vere, possibly identical with Alice Everard, and Henry Petelyng, clerk.*' In 1392 they were succeeded by Margery Table,** in 1394 and 1396 by William Braunspath,** but in 1401 Margery Table reappears.^ No further tenants are recorded till 15 1 5, when William Thorley died seised of two virgates of land and other property in Thrapston, held of the Duke of Buckingham, his heir being his son Richard.*' This holding, however, can only have been a small part of the lands attached to the manor of Thrapston, and presumably they had passed into the hands of many tenants. They seem, however, again to have come into the possession of one tenant and the manorial rights revived, possibly when the over-lordship passed to the Crown.** In 1574 the manor of THR.4PST0N, alias THRAI'&JON G 4LES, was held by John Gale, and was possibly the manor formerly held of the honour of Clare. Gale sold it to Henry Daye," who in turn sold it in 1575 to Lewis, Lord Mordaunt.** In 1582 the latter obtained a quit-claim of the manor from Anthony Muscott and his wife Ellen, presum- ably the heir either of John Gale or Henry Daye.** From this time the manor of Thrapston Gales was held with Thrapston manor (j.e/.).** The tenant of the land held of the Honour of Clare did suit at the .Abbot of Peterborough's court for Navisford Hundred." The Earl of Gloucester also held a view of frankpledge, pleas ' de namio vctito,' and the assizes of bread and ale for his tenants at Thrapston.** He also had the return of writs,** and his successors held a view of frankpledge and a court, generally at Denford, for their tenants of the half fee in Thrapston, Denford and Ringstead.*" In the early part of the l8th century the Duke of Montagu held the court of Navisford Hundred at Thrapston." In 1205 Baldwin de Vere gave two palfreys for the privilege of having a market every Tuesday,'- and his market rights were specially reserved to him in the agreement as to view of frankpledge made with the Abbot of Peterborough.'* Ralph de Vere in 1330 claimed the market under a charter of Henry 111,'* and presumably the succeeding lords of the manor of Thrapston held a market there, as it was in the possession of Sir John Germaine and his wife in 1706.** It was not mentioned in the sale of the manor in 1770" to Leonard Burton, and in 1870 the Thrapston Market Co. was formed by Act of Parlia- ment, in which all control and profit of the market and of the fairs are vested. In 1226 Baldwin de Vere obtained a grant, until the coming of age of Henry III, of a fair to be held on the eve and day of St. Michael." A fair is now held on the first Tues- day after old Michaelmas day. Robert de Vere obtained the grant of another fair in 1245 on the \igil, feast and morrow of St. James the Apostle.** A fair was still held on St. James' day early in the 1 8th century,'* and was afterwards kept on 5 August, old St. James' day, but it had fallen into disuse before 1874.'" The second fair is now held on the first Tuesday in May. The church of ST. JAMES consists CHURCH of chancel 37 ft. 8 in. by 19 ft. 4 in., with organ chamber and vestry on the north side, clearstoried nave, 50 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft., north and south aisles, each 12 ft. 8 in. wide, and west tower, 13 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft., surmounted by a spire. All these measurements are internal. The ground floor of the tower forms the porch. The nave and aisles," together with the chancel arch, were entirely rebuilt in 1842 in the Gothic style of the period, when galleries were erected on three sides. The galleries still remain. In 1888 an old vestry which had blocked a 14th century window in the chancel was removed, and the present vestry built further west. The building throughout is of rubble with •' J'.C.H. Noribanli. i, 31 1 ». •»Ibid. 365*. " ERcrton MS. (B.M.), 2733 I. 155 d. " Cal. Close 1234-37, 343 ; Bk. of Feet (P.R.O.), ii, p. 936- *' Fe«t of F. Northants. Jlil. 37 Men. Ill; ibid. Trin. 45 Hen. Ill; ibid. Trin. 47 Hen. III. " Feet of F. Northanti. Mil. 22 F.dw. I j Ciil. Ituj. V. no. 538 j Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (lit noi.), no. O2. *' Feet of F.N'orthant S.Mich. 4 Edw. II. «• Assiie R. no. 632, f. 76 ; Cal. Close, '333-37, P- '^(^■ " Cal. Close, 1364-68, p. 366. " Feet of F. Northanti. Hit. 2 Ric. II. *' Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, no 3S. •' Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, no. 27. «» Ibid. iS Ric. II, no. 43 ; 22 Ric. II, no. 46. " Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41. ** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 1 17. '- See above. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. i<> and 17 F.liz. " Ibid. East. 17 Eliz. " Ibid. nil. 24 Eliz. '« Ibid. Trin. 22 Jas. I ; ibid. East. 2 Chas. I; ibid. Ilil. i and 2 Jas. II; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxxiv, 64. " Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155 d. " Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, S b ; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 114. " Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 b. "> Cal. Inij. iv, no. 435 ; v, no. 53X ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 62 ; 10 Ric. II, no. 38; 22 Ric. II, no. 46; Cal. Pal. 1401-05, p. 349. " Bridges, Hist. Norihanis. ii, 379. "' Pipe R. Northants, 7 John, m. 21 d. " Swaflham Reg. cciii b. " riac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 500 ; I[.-.lstead, op. cit. p. 268. «' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4 Anne. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Geo. III. •' Rot. Litt. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, p. 121. •» Cal. Chart, i, 288. " Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 379. '° Whcllan, Hist. Northants^ 732. '* 'I'he old nave and aisles were appa- rently of 14th century date. Bridges states that before the building of the two aisles there seems, from the difTerence of the fabric, to have been a cross aisle, or two chapels, at each end : Hist. 0] Northants. ii, 3S0. No evidence of this remains. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ashlar dressings, and has low-pitched roofs and plain parapets. The walls inside are plastered. The chancel is substantially of the later part of the 13th century, and retains strings, angle buttresses, priest's doorway, and internally a double piscina of that date. The piscina has two plain pointed arches set within a larger arch, the tympanum being pierced with a quatrefoil. In the 14th century an east window of five lights with reticulated tracery (now restored) was inserted, and long two-light windows with transoms in the side walls. These windows, two in the south wall and one in the north, have cinquefoiled lights and a quatrefoil in the head. West of the piscina, below the first window, are three ogee-headed sedilia of 14th century date, with crocketed arches and dividing shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The seats are on one level. The sanctuary was panelled in oak and a reredos erected in 1920 as a war memorial. The 14th-century tower has a battlemcntcd parapet, and is of five stages marked by strings, with diagonal buttresses and a vice at the north-east angle. The west doonvay has a continuous series of wave mouldings divided by deep casements, and over it is a two-light window with modern tracery. The bell- chamber windows are each of two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head. Below the parapet is a continuous row of square quatrefoiled panels, and the gargoyles are set in the middle of each side. The spire is without ribs, and has three sets of lights on each of its cardinal faces. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders, the inner carried on responds with moulded capitals and bases. The nave is of four bays, and retains most of the fittings of the period of its erection. In the west wall is set a stone with the arms and crest of Washington. It is without inscription, but is said to commemorate Sir John Washington, some members of whose family are buried in the churchyard. The font dates from 1888. There is a ring of eight bells, cast in 1897 by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough.''^ The plate consists of a cup and paten of 1570, and a cup, paten, and flagon of 1855, given by Alfred Wigan in i860. There are also a pewter flagon, pewter plates and a brass alms dish." The registers before 181 2 are as follows: (i) bap- l^l^tV WASiiiNr.TON. Argent ttL'O bars itntb three motets gules in the cbtef. tisms, marriages and burials 1560-1640; (ii) births and baptisms, marriages, and burials 1653-87, with a few earher notes (1641-52) on one page of births ; (iii) parish clerk's paper register book 1643-87 ; (iv) parish clerk's register 1688-1709; (v) baptisms and burials 1709-59, marriages 1709-54 ; (vi) marriages 1754-98 ; (vii) parish clerk's book 1761-90; (viii) baptisms and burials 1790-95 ; (ix) baptisms and burials 1796-1812, marriages 1798-1812. In the churchyard is the head of a medieval grave slab with cross patonce. The church of St. James '* was ADVOWSON granted by Baldwin, son of Gilbert, to the Abbey of Bourne in Lincoln- shire, which he founded in 1138.'* The abbey held the advowson until its dissolution in 1534, but from 1422 frequently granted away the presentation on a particular occasion.'* From the Dissolution till the present day the advowson has belonged to the Crown." No vicarage was instituted, but the rector paid a pension of 4s. a year to the abbey .'^ In 1600 Queen Elizabeth granted certain tithes in Thrapston formerly belonging to the abbey to the Bishop of Ely." Three roods of land and a fishery in the Neve were given for the maintenance of a light in Thrapston church, and in 1552, Edward VI granted them to Sir Thomas Tresham and George Tresham.** Mary Allen in 1685 bequeathed £1 CHARITIES a year for poor widows. The sum of ;{|20 which was appropriated to answer this charity was applied towards building a poor house, and £1 a year was formerly paid out of the rates and distributed in bread. By his will proved at Lichfield 31st October, 1878, Matthias Royce Griffin gave ^^1,000 to the trustees of the Baptist Chapel at Thrapston for the poor. The sum was invested in stock now represented by ^^969 13/. lid. India 3^ per cent. Stock, producing £33 I9-'- yearly in dividends. The income is dis- tributed in kind among about 50 recipients. The Reynold Hogg Fund is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated l6th April, 1924. The property originally consisted of a piece of land in Church Street with buildings formerly used as a Protestant Dissenting Chapel comprised in an inden- ture dated 6 November, 1812. The property was sold in 1924 and the proceeds invested in £177 19J. ^d. 5 per cent. War Stock, which stock was made up to ;f20O by the deacons of the Baptist Chapel who were appointed trustees of the scheme. The income is applied for the general purposes of the chapel. The sums of stock are with the Oflicial Trustees of Charitable Funds. TITCHMARSH Thichemcrs, Tychcmers (xiii cent.), Tychcmersh, Tichmarsh (xiv cent.), Ticiimcrsh (xvii cent.). The parish of Titchmarsh contains 3,988 acres, of which more than two-thirds are under grass. The land lies between 120 ft. and 175 ft. above the ordnance datum. The river Nene forms part of the western ''They take the place of 3 ring of five, ihe inicriplioni on which are given in North, Cb. /fetiioj Nortbantt^^it). Theie brll« were rc-cait and three new onci a'lded ai a memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. One of the old belh wai o( 16th century date, and three othcrt were dated reipcctivcly 1634, 1677, and 1686. " Markham, Cb. Piute of Nortbitnts, 283- " Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 328. " Chart. K. I Edw. Ill, m. 24, no. 4'- " Ibid. ; Rot.ll«g.d,lfellei{C»m. and York Soc), i, 169; ii, iqo; iii, 2; Koi. Rob. Crossttesle {Cant, and York See), 142 226; Epii. Reg. cit. Bridgci, op. cit. ii, 380. " P.R.O. Initit. Bk». 1628, 1631, 1662, 1680, I70(), 171:5, 1789. " Pope Nub. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 39 * ; I'utor. F.eeles. (Rec. Coin.), iv, 103. " I'at. R. 42 V.Wi. pt. 9, m. 4. •» Ibid. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7. •-^'.SS :^?'i^-__.M*i»-«^. TiiKAPsroN Church from the North NAVISFORD HUNDRED TITCHMARSH boundary and the Thorp brooL that of the north and east. The sub-soil is alluvium, great oolite series and Oxford clay. The parish was inclosed under an Act of Parliament of 1778.' The name of Foxholes, now a farm, is mentioned in 1227.' The village lies off the main road from Northampton to Peterborough, about 2j miles from Thrapston. At the north-west end of the long village street is the church. Not far from it is the rectory house, which was rebuilt in 1861, and has in its garden a fine cedar tree planted about 1744.' The Pickering almshouses are to the south-west of the church on the Denford road, and form a long one-story stone building with dormer windows, a tablet records that "This Hos- pital was erected and endowed for the support of eight Poor Persons by Mrs. Dorothy Elizabeth Pickering, eldest daughter of the late Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bart., Anno Domini 1756." There is a modern extension at each end.* Near by are two blocks of cottages dated respectively 1742 and 1750. The old manor house stood on the south side of the village a quarter of a mile south-east ot the church, on or near a site which has already been described.' The date of its erection is not known, but it may have been built of stone obtained from an older house known as Titchmarsh Castle,* which seems to have been deserted at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the ruins of which were taken down in the 1 8th century.' The earlier building would be the house which Sir John Lovcl in 1304 obtained licence to crenellate,' and which in the inquisition on his death (1346-7) was described as moated round and enclosed with a stone wall after the manner of a castle.' In 1363, however, the castle is returned as being in a ruinous condition," and no part of it now remains above ground. An excavation of the site by Sir Henry Dryden in 1887,'^ however, revealed considerable remains of the lower portion of numerous buildings, apparently of two different periods, some of the older having been destroyed before the others were erected. It was found impossible from the fragmentary nature of the remains and the confusion of the plan to appro- priate the greater number of the buildings or to decide the period of their erection. The material was all of limestone, and Sir Henry Dryden was of the opinion that theearliest buildingon the site had been bounded by a wall nearly circular in plan, inclosing several irregular buildings, of which some of the foundations uncovered were portions. This first building he assumed to have been pulled down when the house was reconstructed by Sir John I.ovel, and he conjectured that it was an early castle, built, as he suggests, by the Ferrers f.imily, but possibly by the grandsons or great- grandsons of Saswalo, the Domesday holder, in the latter part of the l2tli century. If this was so, the present quadrangular moat is of early 14th century date, and belongs to Sir John Level's building, the lower parts of whose external walls were laid bare along the greater part of four sides, from 12 in. to 8 ft. in height above the bottom of the moat. The space inclosed was an irregular parallelogram,"' and at three of the angles were found the foundations of tive-sided towers projecting from the walls ; the north-west angle had disappeared. Boniface Picker- ing died in 1585 seised of a pasture called Castle Yard, with a barn standing in it wliich was again mentioned in 1629." A bridge carrying the main road to Peterborough over the brook running into the Ncnc south of Thorpe station, has remains possibly of medieval work on its south side. In the time of Edward the Confessor, MANORS Bundi held freely 10 hides and a portion of a hide in TITCHMARSH.^* In 1086 the land was held by Henry de Ferrers, ancestor of the Earls of Derby,*' and the overlordship of it con- tinued in the possession of the Earls of Derby as of their Honour of Tutbury until the forfeiture of Earl Robert in 1266." The overlordship passed with the Honour to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster," and later, with the Duchy of Lancaster, to the Crown.'* The Domesday under-tenant was named Saswalo, who held other lands of the Ferrers.'' This holding appears as forming first one and a half knights' fees,^"and then as two knights' fees,^' through- out the nth and 12th centuries. Sewal, son of Henry, held it in I233,''2 and from him it passed to James Shirley, said to be his son.^* Shirley granted the mesne lordship to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester,"* but presumably only for a term of years, as his son, Ralph Shirley, had recovered the lordship by 1286.2' Between 1298 and 1302 Ralph granted it to Bishop Walter de Langton, the Royal Treasurer.^' On the latter's death it passed to his nephew, Edmund Pevercl, a minor in the wardship of the king." The Peverels continued Ff-Rrers. Argent six horseshoes sable. • Priv. Act of Pari. 18 Geo. Ill, c. 8. • Feet of F. Northanti, Trin. 11 Hen. III. • N. and Q. cliii, 103. The tree wai damaged by a »tonn in March 1916 and again in Jan. 19Z8. •At the north end for "two Bedei- women, erected A.D. 1857 by donation of the late T. Coalcs, Esq.' : at the south end (or ' two Bedesmen, erected A.D. 1863.' The original building hat four door- wayi and eight windows on the ground floor, and eight dormers in the roof. » y.C.H. Nortbanls. ii, 413 (under ■ Homestead Moats '). • More correctly a fortified manor- house. ' Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 381. • Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 290. ' .issoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxi, 245. '" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 14. "Assoc. .Ircb. Soc. Rep. xxi, 243-52- See also the measured drawings in the Dryden Collection, Northampton Public Library. "The measurements from outside to outside of opposite walls are thus given ; north-east side about 238 ft., south-west about 257 ft., south-east about 220 ft., north-west about 210 ft. "Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccix, 33; cccclix, 44. " y.C.H. Northants, i, 333a. " Ibid. '• Ibid. 365* ,- Bk. of Fees, i, 495 ; Cal. Inq. ii, no. 622 i G.E.C. Complete Peerage. " Cal. Inq. i, 137. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Hen. IV, no. 29 ; ibid. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120. H3 " y.C.H. Northants. i, 333a. " Bk. oj Fees, i, 495. •' Cal. Inij. ii, no. 622 ; Bk. of Fees, ii, 937. Sewal had two sons, Henry and Fiilchcr, and Fulchcr also had two sons, Henry and Sew.il, the latter of whom was heir to his father and uncle. Cf. Round in Derbyshire Arch. Soc. "Journ. 1905. "And. Deeds, D. 286. " E. P. Shirley, Slemmata Shirleiana, 362. '* Tear Books (Rolls Ser.), 30-31 Edw. I, p. 8. " Cal. Inq. ii, no. 622. ■' Ibid, iii, p. 302 ; v, no. 263 ; Tear Books (Rolls Ser.), 30-31 Edw. I, p. 8. *' Cal. Iruj. vi, no. 330 (the inquisition enumerates only the lands held in demesne by the Bishop). A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Shirley. Paly or and azure with a quarter ermine. to be the mesne lords,-* but in 1 363 their fee was again in the king's hands, and their rights seem to have disappeared before 1408.^' The Ferrers' land in Titchmarsh mav be identified with the manor of TITCHMARSH, alias LOVELLS, alias SOMERSETS. The first tenant in demesne of the manor recorded was Ascelin d° Sidenham,** who in 1224 hjd a law suit with the Abbot of Peterborough as to suit of court due from his tenants to the courts of the Hundred of Navisford.^i He was succeeded by William de Sidenham, who had died before 1233.^'^ William's heir was a minor, and the wardship of his fees in Titchmarsh was granted by Sewal, son of Henry, to Sir John de Plesseys,^^ who mar- ried William's widow'* and held there in 1243.^5 Maud de Sidenham is said to have been William's daughter and heir and to have married John Lovel of Minster Lovel, but contemporary evidence of this does not appear.^ John Lovel was undoubtedly the tenant of the manor in 1268,^' and died seised of it in 1287.^ His son Sir John Lovel was summoned to Parliament as Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh in 1299 and his descendants'* held the manor until the for- feiture of the lands of Francis, Lord Lovel, in 1485.40 The following year the King granted Lovel's manor to Charles Somerset, afterwards Earl of Worcester.*^ His grandson, William Earl of Worcester, obtained a new grant of the manor in 1553,42 and in the same year sold it to Gilbert Pickering.''^" Gilbert's son John (d. 1591) had a son Gilbert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of . . .Hogard of Bourn, in Cambridgeshire. He was succeeded in 1613 by his son John, who in 1609 had married Susannah, daughter of Sir Erasmus Dryden.'"^ Their son, Sir Gilbert Pickering, was created a baronet in ruwi njvu\ Lovel of Titchmarsh. Barry tvavy or and gules. Pickering. Ermine a lion azure crowned or. 1638, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Sidney Montagu.'*'* He was an ardent Parliamentarian and chamberlain to both protectors. He was one of the regicide judges, but did not sign the death warrant of Charles I, and obtained a pardon after the Restora- tion.44* His great grandson, Sir Edward Pickering, M.P., the fourth baronet, died unmarried in 1749,*° and his estates passed to his two sisters, Elizabeth, who died unmarried in 1766, and Frances, afterwards the wife of Thomas Byrd. She also died childless and a widow in 1765, and by their wills the sisters directed that the Titchmarsh estate was to be sold.'*' It seems, however, to have been vested in trustees before their deaths, as Frances Byrd conveyed her moiety of the manor and advowson in 1764 to Edward Dickenson,'*' while Elizabeth's moiety ap- parently was transferred to Anne Pye.'** Before 1778 it was acquired by Thomas Powys,** whose descendant, Lord Lilford, is now lord of the manor. In the early 13th century, the geld payable by Titchmarsh was divided amongst the three holders of fees there, Ascelin de Sidenham, Ralph, son of Ralph, and Robert, son of Thomas.^" The holding of Ralph, son of Ralph, may probably be identified with the knight's fee held of John de Plesseys in 1242 by Ralph de Titchmarsh, Robert le Her and William de Suthburc.** Sir Ralph de Titchmarsh witnessed a deed as to lands in Hemington in 1264^- and Robert witnessed charters of a few years later.*' Ralph de Titchmarsh whose heirs held a several fishery in the Nene in 1348 may have followed in the descent.''* Possibly the fee had been divided before this, since Sir John Lovel's lands had been considerably sub- infcudated ; one quarter of a fee was held by Richard, son of Guy and his wife Joan, another quarter by William de Clavbrook and his wife Elizabeth, a third quarter by Isabel Drayton and two eighth parts respectively by John de Seymour and the successors of Simon ISIullesworth. It seems possible that these tenants represented the heirs of Ralph de Titch- marsh.'" •" " Feud, /lids, ii, 569 ; Cat. Inq. ix, no. 44. »» Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 36 F.dw. Ill, file 14, no. 326 ; ibid. 9 Men. IV, no. 29. "" Egcrton MS. (l).M.), 2733, f. 155. " Curia Regis R. 85, m. 2. lie is de- scribed 38 Ascelin dc 'ritchm.irsh of Titchmarsh, but this is probably a mistake. Although two families n.imed Titchmarsh held p.irts of the parish, there docs not seem to have been an Ascelin nt this time and the defendant of the law- suit seems to have been a man of more importance than the Titchmaishes. " Cal. I'al. 1231- 34, p. 354 ; Anct. D. D. 236. " Anct. Deeds, D. 286. '• G.E.C. Complete Peerage. »' Egerion MS. (n.M.), 1733, f. 141 ; nk. of /■'(■«, ii, 937. •• Aihmole MS. (Rodley's Lib.) 804, fl. 31, 42 (evidences of the l.ovel family). " Hunter, Rot. Select. (Rec. Com.), 197. ■* Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 47, no. 2. "Cal. Pat. 1 292- 1 3c I, pp. 44, 45; 1301-7, p. 145 i 1396-99, P- .=;4'- *» Chan. In<|. p.m. Edw. II, file 20, no. 14 ; file 37, no. 3 ; Edw. Ill, file 84, no. 15 ; Hen. V, file S, no. 30 ; Hen. VI, file 158, no. I ; Cal. Anct. D., A. 4790. *' Cat. Pat. 14S5-94, p. 100; I'eet of F. Div. Cos. East. 4 and 5 Hen. VIII ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlv, 63 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. •" Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 3. *'» Recov. R. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 1 Mary. *• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120. Bridges, llilt. Sorthant). ii, 3S3, 384. *•* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccxlii, 94. ** Rridges, loc. cit. "»CE.C. ComplcleBaronetage,\\,a2-i. " Ibid. He was son of Gilbert (rf. 173ft), son of John (d. 1703), son of Gilbert (d. f6fi8). " Ibid. ; J. Nichols, Nitl. and Aniii]. of I.eici. i, 615; ii, 664; cf. Instit. Bks. (I'.R.O.), 17SI- 144 '■ Recov. R. East. 4 Geo. Ill, ro. 278. " Cf. Instit. liks. fl'.R.U.), 1770. " Pr,v. .let of Pari 18 Geo. Ill, cap. 8. "» I-gerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155; n R.ilph df Titchni.irsh was li\ing in 1 199. Rot. Cur. Rrz. (Rcc. Com.), 389. *' Bk. of I-'ns, ii, 937. Robert le Her was probably Robert son of Ralph llcrcde of Wiulenhoe (Hncclcuch MS. 71). 6' UiKcleuch Deeds, G. 8. ^> Ibid. ]l. 19, 28 ; Bwccleuch MS. 73. " Ch.in. In.), p.m. Kdw. HI, file S4, no. 11;. Sir Rich.ird dc 'iiicbni.irsh witnessed deeds .is to lands at Kingstliorp in 1264 and Linda at Barnwell c. 1270 (Rncclcuch I>rcds, A. 40, M. 21). C'»cnffrcy {\c ritchm.irsh witnessed a deed as tol.inds iit IN-min^ton in n4(; (ibid. A. 71;) and Sir Richard W.itrrvilie, R.dph de Titch- marsh, (Icoffrey si>n of Rr>gcr dc Titch- marsh, and I'ulk de Tilchnuirsh witnessed n ijlh century charter as to Unds at l.iHurd (Uuctlcuch MS. 20). •* Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393. NAVISFORD HUNDRED TITCHMARSH A rent of 20 marks held in 1412 by Nicholas Mores, in Rothevvell, Titchmarsh, and Glapthorn may have arisen from one or more of these portions of land ^' and equally be represented by the manor, later known as TrRR!NGH.^.MS, which was bouglu from John Morice in 1512 by Thomas Tyrringham and otliers." On the death of Thomas, the manor, which was held of Lovel's manor by fealty only, passed to his son Robert, a minor.^' The latter died in 1532 and his heir was his brother Thomas,** who settled the manor in 1544 on Edmund, his son, and he, in 1557, conveyed it to Thomas, probably his brother. Apparently, in 1557, it was held by Boniface Pickering,''" the third son of the Gilbert Pickering,'* who had bought I.ovel's Manor (j.f.). In 1583 Boniface settled the manor on his second son, James, on his marriage with Anne Clifford. James obtained seisin when his father died in 1586.** He was succeeded in 1629 by his grandson Christopher,'' who owned the manor in 1655.'^ On his death, it seems to have been divided between his two heiresses, Anne the wife of Alexander Wilkinson and Jane Picker- ing." They probably sold it in 1679 to John Farrer and William Sherard,** who sold it in 1685 to John Creed, of Oundle," who had married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Gilbert Pickering, the lord of Lovel's' manor. John Creed died in 1701, and his eldest son Major Richard Creed was killed at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704."" John, brother of Richard, apparently succeeded and died in 1731.*' He was succeeded by his son John,*' who made a settlement of the manor, in 1745, on another John Creed, the younger.™ In 1766, the property was in the possession of Dr. William Walcott and his wife Mary,'' the younger daughter of Col. John Creed (d. 1751). Their son, William Walcott, died in 1827 Margaret,the daughter of Ascelin de Sidenham, the tenant of Lovel's manor, married Simon de Borard and Joan their heiress brought the manor of Clifton Reynes, iu Buckinghamshire, to her husband Thomas de Reynes about 1293.'- It seems probable that she Creed. Azure a ch£vc~ ron bet'vccn three ytvans argent. brought land in Titchmarsh also, since in 1 349 Thomas de Reynes, grandson of Thomas and Joan and Geoffrey de Titchmarsh held j\- of a fee of Jolin Lovel.'* In 1383, Sir Thomas de Reynes, of Clifton Reynes, son of the last named Thomas, settled lands in Titch- marsh and other places on his younger son Richard'* and in 141 2 Robert Reynes had rents in Titchmarsh of z6s. 8d. a year,'* but this appears to be the last mention of this holding. TITCHM.IRSH alias KNOLLES manor was held of the Abbey of Peterborough. In 973, 2 J hides of land at Titchmarsh are mentioned in a forged charter of King Edgar to the Abbey" and in 10S6 it held 3 hides, I virgate there." The overlordship is last mentioned in 1428,'* but it presumably lasted till the dissolution of the abbey. In 1086, the under-tenant was Ascelin" who may be identified as the ancestor of the de Watervilles, who held Thorpe Waterville and Achurch of the Abbey.*" In the early 13th century, the manor was sub-infeudated*! and the mesne-lordship followed the descent of Thorpe Waterville (y.t'.), Lord Burghley being the mesne lord in 1590.'''- The manor was held in demesne by a second family named Titchmarsh, but their pedigree is obscure. A Robert de Titchmarsh was living in 1 199*' and may have been the same as Robert son of Thomas, who paid geld from his fee in Titchmarsh early in the 13th century.*'' In 1243 he had been succeeded by Thomas son of Robert, who held a fee of Reginald de Water- ville.** Robert de Titchmarsh was seised of land in Titchmarsh before 1269*' and was living in 1280.*' His son William was living in 1298,** but before 1301 it seems to have passed to Henry de Titchmarsh, presumably the husband of the youngest Waterville heiress.*' In 1 317, he settled the manor of Titch- marsh on his elder son John,'" but he seems to have been living in 1324.'! John was seised of other family property in 1330'^ and, in an undated inquisition, was said to hold half a knight's fee in Titchmarsh." Before 1 348, he was succeeded by his son Henry .'^ from whom the manor passed to Katherine, the wife of John Bray. Two parts of the manor were acquired by Sir John Lovel, who died seised of them in 1408, when the remaining third part was held for life by Margaret, widow of Henry de Titchmarsh of the inheritance of Katherine Bray.'* The Brays' portion •* Feud. .iiJs, vi, 500. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlvl, 64. The chief reaion for luggciting that the m.inor of Tyrringhams represented part of Ralph de Titchmarsh** fee is that a free fishery was one of the appurtenances of the manor and that it was held of Lovel's manor. For Tyrringham descent •ee y.C.H. Bucks, iv, 482-3. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlvi, 43 (i), «♦• »• Ibid, liv, 48 ; L. and P. Hen. Fill, Tol. vi, g. 105 (23). " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 36 Hen. VIII i ibid. 4 and 5 Ph. and Mary ; Court R. (P.R.O.) (Gen. Ser.), ptf. 195, no. 56. •' Metcalfe, Vtsil. Nortbanls. 42. •• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 25 and 26 Eliz. ; Chan. Inq. p.m (Ser. ii), ccix, 33- •• Ibid, ccccxlix, 44. •* Recov. R. Mich. 1655, to. 26 ; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 165;. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 30 Chas. II. " Ibid. •' Ibid. Mich. 36 Cha.. II ; Recov. R. Trin. 36 Chas. II, ro,io. "» M.I. in church. " Did. Nat. Biog. " Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 384. "> Recov. R. Trin. 18 and 19 Geo. II, ro. 240. " Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. Ill, ro. 8. ' » V. C.H. Bucks, iv, 3 1 7-8 ; Lipscombe, Hist, of Bucks, iv, 105. '* Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393. '« Close R. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 1 1 rf. " Feud. Aids, vi, 500. '• Kemble, Cod. Ihpl. dlxxix. " V.C.H. Northants. i, 316A, 365*. " Egcrton MS. (B.M.) 2733, f. 134 i; Feud. Aids, iv, 48. '• V.C.H. Northants. i, 316*. »» See p. 136. " Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, f. 134 d. ••Cott MS. Vesp. E ixii, f. 113; H5 Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 66, no. 29 ; ibid. Hen. V, file 8, no. 30 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 48, 51 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120. "' Rot. Cur. Regis (Rec. Com.), p. 389. e« Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155. " Ibid. f. 134 d. " Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 53 Hen. III. «' Chron. Pctroh. (Camden Soc), 36. «» Cal. And. D., A. 1288. «» Coram Rege R. 166; Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 43 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 28 ; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, 141 d. "Feet of F. Northants. Mich. II Edw. II. »' Cal. Inq. Edw. II, no. 619. •• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 3 Edw. III. •• Cott MS. Cleop. C i, f. 141 d. •« Cal. Inq. Edw. II, ix, no. 44. " Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 66, no. a9- A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE is not mentioned again,'® but the two parts acquired hj Sir John Lovel remained with his descendants presumably until the forfeiture of Francis, Lord Lovel in 1485." They do not, however, seem to have been included in the grant of Lovel's manor (q.v.) to Sir Charles Somerset. Possibly they may be identified with the manor held in 1532 by Sir John Mordaunt, in right of his wife EHzabeth'^ and sold by him to William Saunders, John Smyth and Thomas Saxby. In 1553, a settlement of the manor was made on Gilbert Pickering and his son John, to which Roger Knolles was a party and presumably the manor took its name from him.*' From this time the manor of Knolles was held with Level's Manor by the Pickerings and is last mentioned as a separate manor in 1638.1 In 1274 John Lovel claimed free warren at Titch- marsh," but it is not mentioned later. The right of a free fishery in the Nene is mentioned in 1 3 14 as parcel A mill is mentioned on the land of Henry de Ferrers in Domesday Book and later' there was a water-miU in Lovel's manor' and a windmill is mentioned in 1330' and was parcel of Knolles' manor in 1553.' A mill in Tyrringham's manor is mentioned in 1613.^" An interesting custom of Lovel's manor is recorded in 1350 that each of the bond tenants with his wife dined with the lord on Christmas Day and that each dinner was worth ■^d. At the same date a common oven is mentioned.^^ In 1305, Edward I granted the second John Lovel a weekly market on Mondays and an annual fair to be held on the eve and day of Trinity Sunday and on the seven days following.''' The Church of ST. MART THE CHURCH riRGlX^' consists of chancel 42 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 9 in., with north aisle or chapel 31 ft. 10 in. by 15 ft. 8 in., clearstoried nave of three bays 50 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft. 8 in., north and south %m^'=^mf~^^. ■ I31i! Century ■ 142! Century ^152 Century E3 Subsequent 6. Modern Scale of Feet Plan of Titchmarsh Church. of Level's manor' and in 1348 it was said to be several except that the parson of Titchmarsh, Henry de Titchmarsh, then tenant of Knolles' manor, and the heir of Ralph de Titchmarsh, had the right to fish from the river bank.'' The free fishery attached to Tyrringham's manor (g.v.) is referred to in the 17th and 18th centuries.' aisles each 12 ft. 3 in. wide, short north transept, south porch, and lofty west tower 17 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being internal. There is a small modern vestry north of the chancel aisle. No part of the existing structure appears to be older than the 13th century, but the rear arch of the priest's doorway is a 12th century semi-circular •• It ii pojsibic thnt the Jrd part of the m.Tnor of RancBic in the town of Titchmarih of which John de Styude .Tnd Katherinc his wife held the reveriion in 1381, might be identical with thii portion of the manor, hut (he life tenant! who were in iciiin were different. Cf. Feet of F. Northanti, caic 178, file 86. no. 31. " Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. V, file 8, no. 30; Cat. Pat. i485-()4, p. 100. •• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 24 Hen. VIII. " Ibid. nil. 6 and 7 Edw. VI. ' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccixix, 120 ; cccxvi, 61; cccxiii, 94; ccccxlvi, 84; Rccov. R. Mich. 12 Ja«. I, ro. 142 ; Feet of F. Northanti. Trin. 14 Chai. I. * Roi. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8*. •Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 37, no. 3. * Ibid, file 84, no. 15. ' Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 30 Chai. n i ibid. Mich. 36 Chai. II ; Reco». R. Trin. 18 and 19 Ceo. II, ro. 240. * y.C.H. Northanti. i, 333a ; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 37, no. 3 ; ibid. Edw. Ill, file 84, no. 15. ' Rccov. R. Mich. 20 Chat, II, ro. 225 ; ibid. Trin. 3 Will, and Mary, ro. 173 j ibid. East. 4 Geo. Ill, ro. 278 (two watcr- milli) ; ibid. Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265. ' Aiiiie R. 632, f. yid. ' I'ect of F. Northanti. Ilil. 6 and 7 Edw. VI. "> Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 10 Jai. I. " Cal. Ihj. Edw. IH, ix, no. 664. '• Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, m. 12 (66). '" Aiiiie R. 635, m. 56d. 146 w H u X ^iSi: :^ ^^ 4 U H NAVISFORD HUNDRED TITCHMARSH arch re-used, and in all probability a 12th century church stood on the site consisting of an aislcless nave and chancel. The first extension was probably made by the Lovel family, in 1250, by adding an aisle on the north side and by lengthening the cliancel to its present extent. The chapel is also of the same period and seems to have been part of the original re-building. .'\ south aisle was added, or a former one rebuilt, early in the 14th century, and a little later the north aisle was rebuilt in its present form and the transept added. The tower, clearstory and porch were additions of the 15th century, at whicli period new windows were inserted in the chancel, aisles, and chapel, the building then assuming its present appearance. Tliere were restorations in 1840-3 and in 1866, and in 1926 a chancel screen and new pulpit were erected. Tlie tower, which is about loo ft. higli, has lately been repaired. The tower is faced with wrought Weldon stone, but the rest of the building is of rubble with wrought stone buttresses and dressings. The parapets of the chancel and clearstory are battlemented, but else- where plain, and the roofs, which are modern, are of low pitch, leaded. The porch has a chamber over, at one time used as the pew or ' gallery ' of the Pickering family,'^ and said to have been connected by an over- head passage with the manor-house, which then stood immediately to the south of the church. The chamber is now inaccessible, the openings having long been blocked : the chimney from the fireplace remains on the west side. The walls of the chancel and the arcade opening to the chapel '* on its north side are of 13th century date and the walls of the chapel are probably contemporary, but with one exception aU the windows are 15th century insertions. The four-centered east window is of five lights with perpendicular tracery, and in the south side are three windows of similar type but of three lights. The pointed 13th century priest's doorway has a plain continuous chamfer ; the rear- arch already referred to is ornamented with chevrons. The piscina is original, with trefoiled head and stone shelf above the bowl, but the sedilia are formed in the sill of the easternmost window at two levels. Below the westernmost window is a blocked rectangular low-side opening, and in the north wall at the east end is a restored recess similar to that of the piscina. West of this a low pointed 13th century doorway, now blocked, led to what appears to have been a priest's room, or sacristy, the lean-to roof of which was below the sill of the late 1 3th century two-light window with forked mullion at the east end of the north wall of the chancel. The greater length of this wall is open to the chapel by an arcade of two arches springing from a cylindrical pier and half-round responds, all with moulded capitals and bases, the nail-head occurring in the former. The lofty chancel arch was rebuilt in the 15th century, but the north jamb to a height of about 7 ft. is original.*''* The chapel had originally an east window of two lights, which was refashioned in the 15th century into one of four lights, using the old hood-mould, the jambs re-used for the wider opening and the sill lowered : it has external shafted jambs with delicately carved capitals at its original 13th century springing. A three-liglit window in the north wall has been blocked. The original piscina in the south-east corner was cut through in the 14th century to form a squint from the chapel ; the openings on either side have cusped heads and moulded jambs. The chapel is open to the north aisle of the nave by a 13th century arch. The north arcade of the nave has arches springing from cylindrical piers and half-round responds, all with moulded bases and capitals, in the latter of which the nail-head occurs. The 14th century south arcade is generally of the same character, the piers having moulded bases, but the capitals have boldly carved upturned leaf ornament, and the mouldings are later in character and without the nail-head. The moulded north doorway belongs to the 14th century rebuilding of the aisle, but has been restored : west of it is a restored window with intersecting tracery, and in the west wall a square-headed window of two trefoiled lights. The other window and that in the transept are 15th century insertions. In the south aisle all the windows are 15th century insertions with four-centered heads, cinquefoiled lights and perpendicular tracery, similar in type to those of the clearstory, of which there are five on each side. In the south aisle, between the two easternmost windows, is a 14th century tomb recess ** with pointed arch of two hollowed orders, containing a 13th century grave slab with floriated cross. The south doorway is a modern restoration. A scroll string runs round the south aisle externally, and the buttresses are of an early type with gabled heads. The magnificent west tower is of a type uncommon in the county, being rather akin to the towers of Somersetshire. It is of four stages, with open para- pets and lofty angle and intermediate pinnacles. The two lower stages are blank on the north and south but in the third stage is a pointed two-light window with transom at half-height, and the double bell- chamber windows** are of the same type, the thick dividing mullion between them being carried up the face of the wall to form the intermediate pinnacle. Ornament is chiefly concentrated in the ground story and upper stage, there being a triple band of quatrefoils in circles above the moulded plinth, and on either side of the west doorway a pointed niche with straight-sided crocketted hood-mould. There are also canopied niches in the second and third stages on the west side, all the niches being filled with modern statues. The moulded arch of the doorway, which has an ogee crocketted label, is set within a rectangular frame, the spandrels of which are filled with blank shields in quatrefoils. The vice is in the south-west angle and is lighted by quatrefoil openings. The four-centered west window is of three cinquefoiled " Bridget, Hut. Norlhants. ii, 385. '* Possibly the chapel of St. James mentioned in wilts of 1521. Ex inf. Canon Luckock. Now used as an organ chamber. '** One of the stones at the base was part of a Norman capital inverted. Ex inf. Canon Luckock. *^ The recess was opened out in the restoration of 1866. Possibly it was the tomb of one of the Lovcls who probably rebuilt the church. *• The windows are now filled with open brickwork set diagonally ; the windows in the third stage are similarly treated on the north and aouth ; oa the H7 east and west they are blocked. On the south side of the tower is a painted sun- dial dated 1798, the gnomon gone, and lower down the disused clock face made by George Eayre in 1745. The present clock with quarter chimes was installed in 1886. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE lights, with double transoms and perpendicular tracery. The lofty arch to the nave is of three hollow orders, the two inner resting on embattled imposts, below which the jambs are moulded. The 15th centur)' font consists of an octagonal panelled bowl and plain pedestal. Bridges records some old glass,i' but this has disappeared. At the east end of the south aisle is a medijeval grave slab, re-used in the 17th century, inscribed round the verge in Lombardic characters — ' Margery la femme Johan ci Dieu de sa alme eyt mercy.'^* In the north chapel is a mural monument to Sir John (d. 1703), Sir Gilbert (d. 1735), and Sir Edward Pickering (d. 1749), baronets, and other members of the family down to 1766 ; and a table tomb to John, eldest son of Sir Gilbert Pickering, who died in 1703 in his eighth year. The chapel also contains two wooden mural tablets painted by Mrs. Elizabeth Creed, the first about 1710^* in memory of her brother the Rev. Theophilus Pickering, D.D., Prebendary of Durham, and successively rector of Gateshead and Sedgefield, who died in 1710 :-* the second in 1722 in memorv of her cousin John Dryden, and his parents Erasmus Dryden and Mary Pickering, which is sur- mounted by a wooden bust of the poet.-' The east end of the south aisle, which was the burial place of the Creed family and formerly enclosed by a wooden screen,^ contains mural monuments to John Creed of Oundle (d. lyci), ' a wise, learned, pious man,' who ' served His Majesty King Charles ye II in divers Honorable employments at home and abroad ' ;23 his wife Elizabeth (d. 1728), daughter of Sir Gilbert Pickering ;-•• his son Richard who was kiUed at Blenheim in 1704 ;25 and his daughter Jemima (d. 1705). In another part of the aisle is a monument to Colonel John Creed (d. 1 751) who ' served under the Duke of Marlborough in the wars during the reigns of King William and Queen Ann.' There are three scratch dials on the south side of the church, (i) on porch, (ii) on gable of middle buttress of aisle, and (iii) on lower stage of angle buttress of chancel. There were formerly six bells in the tower, but two trebles were added in 1885, and the whole eight recast in 1913 by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon.-* The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of 1670, another cup and cover paten of 1674, ^ flagon of 1670 (inscribed ' 1671 '), and a silver alms-dish of 1836, given in 1837 by the Hon. and Rev. L. Powys, recto. .^' The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1544-1651, marriages 1556-1646, burials 1543-4, 1556-1646; (ii) all entries 1653-1715 ; (iii) baptisms 1715-1789, marriages 1715-1754, burials 1715-1787; (iv) baptisms and burials 1789-1812; (v) marriages I7r5-l8l2. There are two volumes of churchwardens' accounts : (1)1730-1766; (ii) 1779- The church of St. Mary the Virgin^* ADVOWSON is a rectory, of which the advowson was held by the lord of Lovel's manor since the early 13th century.-' The first recorded presentation was by Ascelin de Sidenham in 1224.5" At the present day. Lord Lilford is patron. In 1616, Sir John Pickering sold the next presentation to Lord Say and Sele,^' who presented, together with Robert Horseman in 1633,'- while in 1660,^ presum- ably before Sir Gilbert Pickering, the Parliamentarian, obtained his pardon, a presentation was made by the Crown. The rector of Achurch, in 1291, had a portion in the rectory worth ^i a year.^'" The free chapel of St. Stephen^* founded by John, son of John Lovel, is first mentioned in 1293^* and was a chantry chapel in the castle or manor of Titch- marsh. It was served by a chaplain presented by the lords of Lovel's manor,^' the last recorded presentation being by Alice, the widow of William, Lord Lovel in 1462.^' No chantry certificate exists and presumably the Somersets retained possession of the Chantry lands, though the latter and some of the demesne lands called Somerset's lands were later separated from Lovel's manor. They came into the possession of Boniface Pickering, who died seised of the Chantry lands in 1586, which were held in chief of the Crown.^ The lands presumably passed with Tyrringham's manor {q.v.) to the Creeds, but they did not include the Chapel itself and the Chapel Hill, which were held by James Pickering, the second son of the first Gilbert Pickering. On his death in 1602 they passed to his grandson William Bury,^* who is said to have sold them again to the Pickerings.*' Bridges mentions the Chapel Hill in the centre of the village in the early l8th century.*' •' Hist. Norihanis. ii, 385. In the lower window, south aisle, the effigy of a woman ' Mar^areta Hlythc,' and in tfiis and the adjoining window were * snints, a king, a bishop, and an old man.* In the east window of the same aisle ' a parson praying ' with the inscription ' Lord God who sittcst on Thy t?nc have fiici on Thos, Criston.' *• The inscription is now partly covered, but is recorded by Bridges ; the slab was re-uscd in 1691, and again in 1765 (for John Creed, jun.). " The inscription records that she was lixty-cight when the tablet was erected. *° He was son of Sir Oilbert Pickering, born 1662, buried at Sedgefield, co. Dur- ham. The inscription, which is a very long one, is given in Itridgcs, op. cit. ii, 3K7. " He is described as ' the celebrated Poet and Laureate of his time.' The inscription consists of sixty-four lines, and was executed by Mrs. Creed in her eightieth year. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 3S5. " He was Secretary to the Commis- sioners for Tangier. ^* She painted the tablets recorded above. '' There is a monument to M.ijor Creed in Westminster Abbey (south aisle of nave). He was interred on tlu field of battle. ** Four of the old bells were cast by Henry Ha^Icy of F.cton, 1688, the tenor was by Henry Penn of Peterborough, 1708, ^nd the third by l-'dward Arnold of St. N^ots, 178 r. The inscriptions are given in North, Cb. Dells oj Northann. 420; only two have been retained on the new bells. •' Markham, Ch. I'laUaJNortbants. 284. " Assise R. 632, f. 751/. " Rot. Hug. dc H'cUcs (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 119, 215; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 37, no. 3 1 F.dw. HI, file 84, no. 15; ibid. Hen. VI, file 6; Common Pleas, Rccov. Trin. 7 Edw. VI ; Recov. Mich. 12 Jai. I, ro. 142 ; East. 4 Ceo. HI, ro. 27S ; Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ; Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1631, 1648, 1751, 1770, 17SS. " Rol. Hug. dc irdles (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 119. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxlvi, 84. "Instit. Bks. (I'.R.O.), 1633. •> Ibid. 1660. >'» Pope .\'iih. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39*. " Cal. I'm. 1327-30, p. 319. " Line. Fpis. Rep. Inst. D.ilderby Lilt of Instit., Bridges, Hist. NorthntttSy ii, 388. "■ Line. Epis. Rog. Inst. Chedworth, fol. 651/; List of Instit., Bridges, Hist. h'orthiints, ii, 388; Cal. Pat. 1327-1330, pp. 319, 324; ibid. 1350-54, p. Sof'i Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. HI, file 84. " List of Instit., Bridges, Hitl. NoTthanis. ii, 388. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccix, 33. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cclxxxiv, 97. *" Bridges, Htit. Nertbanti. ii, 383, 384. "Ibid. 148 NAVISFORD HUNDRED WADENHOE In 1672, George Foule obtained licence to use James Cole's house and barn at Titchmarsh as a Congregational Chapel.''^ There is now a Wesleyan chapel in the parish. The Hospital or Almshouses CHARITIES founded by Dorothy Elizabeth Pickering and Frances Byrd by in- dentures dated I and 2 January, 1756, consist of The Almshouses in Titchmarsh and a farm of 210a. ir. 6p. at Molesvvorth, Huntingdonshire, let for ^^165, including sporting rights. The property and the following subsidiary charities are regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 6 June, 1882. Mrs. Francis Byrd by her will and codicil gave ;^i, 500 Bank Annuities, now Consols, and produc- ing ^■^-j los. yearly, for the benefit of the Hospital. Thomas Knight by his will proved at York, 19 June, 1858, gave £900. This sum was invested in ^^839 3^.3^/. India 5 per cent, now 3^ per cent. Stock producing j^29 7/. 4 G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Cal. Close, i3'8-23, p. 575- •* Cal. Pat. 1321-24, pp. 156, 179, 180, 182. " Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 18 Edw. II; Ctil. Chart, 1317-41, pp. 199, 213. " Cal. Pal. 1334-38, p. 319. •' Ibid. p. 463. "Chan. Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. Ill (lit nni), no. 6 ; Cal. Fine, vi, 434. " Close R. 47 Edw. Ill, m. 5 and 6; Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 52; ibid. 5 Hen. IV, m. 27 ; ibid. 27 Hen. VI, no. 29 J Feud. Aids, iv, 50 ; ibid, vi, 500 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Kegister Bp. ISO John Chedworth, cit. Bridges, Hist. Nortbants. ii, 390. •° G.E.C. Complete Peerage. " Feet of V. Div. Cos. Trin. 24 Hen. VIII. " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, pt. ii, g. 449 (i) ; Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 5, m. 4 d; Feet of F. Northanti, Hil. 35 Hen. VIII. •• Pat. R. 4 Edw. VI, pt. 3. •« Pat. R. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3. ■* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccxxiii, 61 j Rccov. R. Hil. 41 Eliz. ro. 68 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccclxxvi, 94 ; ccccxcviii, 44 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 2 Chas. I ; Northants. Trin. 8 Chas. I ; Recov. R. East. i6i;6, ro. 189. •• Feet of F. Northanti. Trin. 19 Chai. II. •' Ibid. Mich. 35 Chai. H. " Bridj;ei, Hist. Northants. ii, 391 ; Wotton, English Baronetage, ed. 1741, pp. 188-190. NAVISFORD HUNDRED WADENHOE remainder to Rev. George Hunt (d. 1853), son of Rowland, son of the last-named Thomas. George Hunt was succeeded by his son the Right Hon. George Ward Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the .-Vdmiralty. His son George Eden Hunt succeeded him in 1877 and died in 1892 leaving i son George Ward Hunt, captain in the Northamp- tonshire regiment, who was killed in action in 1915. His son George Edgar Ward Hunt, born 191 1, is the present owner.'' In 1249, Edmund de Lacy obtained a grant of free warren'"' and Ebulo Lestrange and his wife claimed it in 1330. They also claimed view of frankpledge, pillory, tumbrel, the assize of bread and ale, and waifs.** View of frankpledge was held by the lords of the manor in the 17th century. ''^ In 1298, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, was granted per- mission to inclose 30 acres pertaining to the manor of Wadenhoe, lying within the Forest of Rockingham, in order to make a park.*' A water-mill and free fishery are mentioned in 1356** and two mills are referred to in 1656 and again in 1818.** The church of CHURCH ST. GILES con- sists of chancel 27 ft. by 16 ft. with a modern vestry on the south side, clear- storied nave 36 ft. 6 in. byl9 ft., north and south aisles each 12 ft. 6 in. wide, north porch, and west tower with saddleback roof 15 ft, by 14 ft. 6 in., all these measurements being internal. The tower is all that is left of a late 12th century church (c. 1 195-1200), the chancel and nave of which were rebuilt some time in the next century. The nave arcades are of this period, that on the north being the earlier, but the aisles appear to have been rebuilt and widened in the 14th century, when the clearstory was added, the porch erected, and some alterations made in the tower. The chancel was recased externally early in the l8th century and the tower restored,*' and in 1901 there was an exten- sive restoration of the fabric when the floors of the nave and aisles were lowered to their original level and the tower was underpinned to a solid foundation.*' The roofs are all modern, those of the nave and aisles being leaded and the chancel roof tiled. The parapets throughout are plain. The ground falls rapidly from west to east and the chancel stands high above the level of the churchyard : on the north side there are two steps down to the porch and five from the porch to the floor of the church. The chancel has an east window of two lights with a circle in the head, originally c. 1250, and there are single lancets in the north and south walls. The vestry is of brick and is five steps below the chancel level. The 13th century arch to the nave is of two chamfered orders, the inner one resting on moulded corbels supported by grotesque heads. The north arcade (c. 1250) consists of three pointed arches on piers composed of four attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases, a half-round respond at the east end, and a corbel at the west. The pellet ornament occurs in the capitals of the respond and of the first pier, and small rosettes in that of the second pier. The piers stand on large plinths. The south arcade may be as late as 1280-90 and differs from the other in that the shafts have a fillet on the 10 3 O K) 20 30 -I — *o 22 Cent, late CJ250-80 I42J Cent, late » ED 18™ Century □ Modern Scale of Feet Plan of Wadenhoe Church face ard there is a half-octagonal respond at each end. The capitals|aIso vary, those of the east respond and second pier having'rather bold conventional stiff up-turned foliage of large veined leaves and round stems. The plinths have claw corners. The windows of the north aisle are all of 14th century date, that at the east end being of three trefoiled lights with modern reticulated tracery, the others of two lights with quatrefoil in the head. On each side of the east window is a moulded corbel for a statue. In the south aisle the east window is of three tall trefoiled lights, with slight piercings, c. 1280, and near it, in the usual position, is a pointed ** The account of the Hunt tiicceiiion wai kindly supplied by the late Mrs. Mary C. Hall, great-aunt of the present owner. See also Burke, Landed Gentry^ under Hunt of Boreatton. " Cat. Chart, i, 346, 357. •' Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), p. 5.8. ♦• Feet of F. Div. Cos. East 1656, no. 189. ♦' Cal. Close, 1296-1301, p. 164. '* Chan. Iiiq. p.m. 29 Edw. IH (i»t nop.), no. 6. " Recov. R. East. 1656, ro. 189 ; ibid. East. 58 Geo. HI, ro. 215. " During the incumbency of the Rev. Brooke Bridges (instituted 1713), Bridges, the historian, says the chancel and tower were built at the charge of the present incumbent,' but as regards the tower this can only refer to restoration or repair: Hut. of Northants. ii, 390. *' The pillars of the nave arcadci were also underpinned as it was found that they stood immediately over faults in the rock, causing their bases to be crushed to a dangerous extent : ex. inform. Mr. W. Talbot Brown, F.S.A., architect of the restoration. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE piscina with fluted bowl and inner trefoil arch on plain corbels. The other windows are later and of two cinquefoiled lights. Both doorways have con- tinuous moulded head and jambs, and there is a pseudo-Gothic plaster ribbed ceiling to the porch. At the west end of the south aisle is a stone wall- bench. The clearstory windows are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights. The tower is of three stages with later diagonal angle buttresses and new tiled roof. On the north side in the lower stage is a waU arcade of three arches, the outer semi-circular, the middle one pointed, springing from shafts and responds with moulded bases and capitals with conventional foliage. The west window is a single lancet (restored) and in the Wadenhoe Church Font stage above is a small blocked round-headed opening. There is also a small lancet on the south side in the middle stage. The bell-chamber windows vary, those on the east and west being of two round-headed lights within a semi-circular enclosing arch, the tympanum pierced with a small vesica-shaped opening ;••* on tlie south two lancets ; and on the north a restored late 14th-century square-headed window of two lights. There is a vice in the north-west angle. The 13th century arch to the nave is of two chamfered orders, the inner resting on half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The beautiful 13th century font consists of a cir- cular bowl moulded round the lower edge and orna- mented at the top with lunettes of foliage, below each joint of which are rosettes, dogtooth and masks in relief set vertically on the face of the cylinder. The font has been reset on an octagonal stone step. The early iSth century oak pulpit was re-arranged at the restoration. The seating is modern, but in the aisles are some carved and traceried bench ends, perhaps of l6th century date. There is a brass plate in the floor of the nave to John Andrewe (d. 1629), and in the chancel a mural monument to Brooke Bridges (d. 1702). There are three bells in the tower, the first cast by Tobie Norris, of Stamford, in 1603 ; the second a mediaeval bell inscribed 'Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum'; the tenor dated 1607. The tenor alone is rung, the others being cracked.*' The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of 1755, a flagon of 1776, and a silver dish with the mark of Jacques Cottin, of Paris, r. 1726, inscribed ' To the Pious Memory of ye Revd. Mr. Nat. Bridges who was 33 years Rectr. of this Church 1747.'" The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) all entries 1559-1648, and births 1654-81 ; (ii) bap- tisms 1695-1812, marriages 1695-1754, burials 1683-1812; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. The second volume contains entries of penances between 1719 and 1763. There are some good 17th century tombs and headstones in the churchyard, and on one of the buttresses on the south side are three scratch dials. *^ The advowson of the rectory ADVOWSON of Wadenhoe has been held with the manor throughout its his- tory.*' The first recorded presentation was made by Henry de Vere in 1227.*'' In 1307 the King granted licence to Henry, Earl of Lincoln, to alienate in mortmain the advowson of the church in substitution for that of Wivelingham, which he had granted to the scholars of a newly-founded house in the University of Oxford.** It does not appear, however, that the licence was ever used. The benefice was in 1925 united to Pilton {q.v.). A pension of 10/. a year was payable in 1 291 from the rectory of Wadenhoe to the Prior of Colne, Essex.*^ The grant was probably made by one of the Veres. Francis Hilditch gave ^^30 to the poor CUARIT7' and this sum was invested in 1789 in j^39 8j. %d. Consols now with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and producing 19;. 9,d. annually in dividends. The income is applied by the Rector to the widows of Wadenhoe. *• The cast window has a circular mid- shaft with rough cushion capital, the other a plain mullion. The confusion of detail may he due to the ' rebuilding ' mentioned by Bridges (see above). *• 'f'herc arc mural tablets in the north aisle to Thomas Welch Hunt and his wife, ' both cruelly shot by banditti, near Paestum, in Italy,' Dec. 3, 1824, and to Mary Caroline Hunt, lady of the manor (d. 1847) : she contributed largely to the repair of the church in 1844 ; in the south aisle is a brass plate to Admir,il Sir M;chacl Culmc Seymour (d. 192c). '» North, Ch. Bells of Nonhanls. 425, where the inscriptions are given. The treble is Tobie Norris's earliest bell in the county. " Markham, Ch.Plair of Norihants, 293. ^' One perfect, and traces of two others. '• Koi. Hug. dr Hrlln (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 127, 239; Rot. Rah. Gnaetesle (Cant, and York Soc), 168, 212 ; Rot. kic. Gravettnd (Cant, and York Soc), 1 00, 1 2 1 i 152 Feet of F. Div. Cof. Mil. 12 Edw. Ill; Trin. 24 Hen. VII! ; Northants. Hil. 35 Hen. VIII; Trin. 19 Chas. II; Mich. 35 Chas. II ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Hen. VI, no. 29 ; ibid. (Ser. ii), ccclxxvi, 94 ; Pat. R. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3 ; Instit. Bki. (P.R.O.), 1641, 1670, 1674, 1747, 1783, 1792. " Rot. Hug. de Wellrs (Cant, and Yoik Soc), ii, 127. " Col. Pat. 1307-13, p. II. •• Popt Ntch. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39*. W'AnENiioi: Church from thi; South-west W'adenhok Church : The Interior, looking Easi THE HUNDRED OF HUXLOE GREAT ADDINGTON LITTLE ADDINGTON ALDWIXKLE ALL SAINTS ALDVVINKLE ST. PETER BARNWELL ALL SAINTS BARTON SEAGRAVE BURTON LATIMER CRANFORD ST. ANDREW CONTAINING THE PARISIUS OF CRANFORD ST. JOHN DENFORD FINEDON GRAFTON UNDERWOOD IRTHLINGBOROUGH ISLIP KETTERING LILFORD CUM WIGSTHORPE LOWICK SLIPTON SUDBOROUGH TWYWELL WARKTON WOODFORD The Hundred of Huxloe is formed of the three ancient hundreds of Huxloe, Suthnaveslund and Northnaveslund, which were included in the eight hundreds, claimed by the Abbey of Peterborough,^ and confirmed to it \ ''*•*. /■ s ^ /x ,0-^i C 0 R B V /^•... ? i •" 0 . 1 ^ \ CUM •■> • ^- V1>-|CSTH0RBE .^.-.^ . ,./ « ^"> . SEAGRAVE •'■*'**.•••'' • \ V '^■..•" ' . I^ANFORd WOOUtUKD .' ■ V ■ :ST. JOIU** _ _ _ *. ■ ■••" tiENfORD* T"^ ? '^•burton tATlMtR'V-vDD^NCTON/^"^ \ o ' FINEDON • .*> 1 1 . .*■ .'"^ \ ^5 •"' S'" / / / •■ 1 Index Map to the Hundred of Huxloe by Richard I.^ In the iith century Northamptonshire geld-roll Naveslund is said to have contained two hundreds^ ; in Domesday Book Naveslund is mentioned without any qualification,* but in the i2th century survey of the county the names Suthnaveslund and Northnaveslund are used.^ The former contained Irthlingborough, Great Addington and Little Addington, Wood- ford and Finedon ; the latter, Cranford, Barton Seagrave, Warkton, Kettering, 1 Plac. de Quo JVarr. (Rec. Com.), p. 558. * Cal. Chart, i, p. 19; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), pp. 69, 70, Il8, 122, 124-125. 9 y.C.H. Northants. i, p. 297. « Ibid. ' Ibid. 388fl, 389 a and b. 153 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Grafton Underwood and Burton Latimer.* By 1316, however, these two hundreds were both included in Huxloe Hundred' and the names disap- peared from use. In 1447, Henry VI granted various privileges to the Abbey of Peterborough, including the goods and chattels of felons and outlaws, etc., not only belonging to the men and tenants of the Abbey, but also of residents within the Hundred of Huxloe and other Hundreds ; also all fines, ransoms, forfeitures, issues and amerciaments as well as fines for licence to agree in whatever court the judgment might have been given. ^ This was confirmed in 1462, and the charter also confirmed the grants by previous kings of deodands, wreck of sea, treasure trove, evasions and escapes, and other privileges.^ In 1 540-1, after the dissolution of the Abbey, Henry VIII granted Huxloe Hundred to Queen Katherine Howard for life,^'' but after her execution it remained in the Crown^^ until 161 1, when James I granted it to John Eldred and George WTiitmore.^^ Two years later they sold it to Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton,^^ whose descendant Ralph, Earl of Montagu, owned the Hun- dred in 1704.^* A moiety of it appears to have been alienated before 1760,^^ but the remaining moiety passed by descent to George, Duke of Montagu, who held it in 1776.^* From him it passed to his daughter and heir, Elizabeth, the wife of Henry, Duke of Buccleuch,^' and the present Duke of Buccleuch is now lord of the Hundred. ^^ The court was probably held at Huxloe Cross in Lowick parish (q.v.). « V.C.H. Northanti. i, 388a, 389 a and *. ^ Ibid. 297. 5 Cal. Chart, vi, p. 88. » Cal. Pat. 1461-67, p. 191. i« L. IsS P. Hen. Vlll, xvi, p. 716 ; Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 3. '1 L. (J P. Hen. VIII, xviii, pt. i, no. 982 ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 157. >2 Pat. R. 9 Jas. I, pts. 6 & 8. ^ Close R. 11 James I, pt. 12, no. 9. " Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne, ro. 223 ; cf., Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Chas. I & Mich. 1658. 1' Recov. R. East., 33 Geo. II, ro. 162. " Recov. R. East. 8 Geo. Ill, ro. 479 ; Feet of F. Northants. East. 16 Geo. Ill ; Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, p. 203. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 16 Geo. Ill ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. '* Inf. from Messrs. Nicholl Manisty & Co., Solicitors to the Duke. 154 HUXLOE HUNDRED GREAT ADDINGTON Edintone (xi cent.) ; Haderingtona, Nordadington, Borcalis Adintona, Adington Major (xiii cent.). The Addingtons lie on the left bank of the River Nenc and are very nearly equal in size ; Great or North .^ddington, as it was once called, is 1,260 acres in extent, being but 127 acres larger than Little Addington, which lies to the south of it. A little to the east of the dividing line between them is Ring- stead and Addington Station on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The soil is partly light, and partly stif? clay : the subsoil clay and ironstone. The chief crops grown are wheat, barley, peas, and beans. Ironstone quarries were opened in 1877, but are now no longer worked. The population in 1921 was 285. The little village of Great Addington lies on the road from Irthlingborough to Lowick, which is here crossed by a road from Ringstead to Cranford St. John. It is about 1 1 miles away from the station, and about 4 miles south-west of Thrapston. A stream flowing into the Nene almost encircles it, its water driving the mill on the south of the village. At Shooters Hill burials with weapons and ornaments have been found.* At the northern end of the village is the church, and grouped near it, on the eastern side of the road, are the school (erected in 1873-4) ^""^ ^^^ smithy. Opposite, and west of the road, is the Manor House, a good example of simple Jacobean work, and the residence of Licut.-Col. Malcolm Romer, O.B.E. The rectory, a little distance to the north-east, a substantial building of stone, erected in 1678, and repaired in 1870, is pleasantly situated. The hall windows of the rectory house, as Bridges noted, contain several escutcheons : arms of the Peterborough see. Bacon, Isham, and Towers. Outlying properties are Rectory Farm in the north-west of the parish, and in the south-west Great Addington Lodge, to the west of which are chalk pits and Patch Lodge. There were riots here and at Rushton and ' Pightesley ' in 1607 regarding the inclosure of lands. An agreement made in 1232-3 between Baldwin de Vere and the Abbey of Croyland confirming a grant to the church (q.v.) gives various place names, such as Sleng near the fee of Maurice de Audely ; Wudefordebanlon', Grenewey,* Ridgeway, Trendlade, Lidewellehil, Michelwelle, Westfield on Scitershul (Shooters Hill), Brook furlong. By a very doubtful charter of 833, MANORS Witlaf, King of the Mercians, confirmed to Croyland Abbey the gift of Wulnoth his steward of 2 hides of land in Addington, with a fishery, the advowson of the church of the vill, and a •virgateof land in another [Little] Addington.' This grant was confirmed in other doubtful charters by Behrtulf, King of Mercia in 851,* by Burgred of Ittli litii Croyland Abdey. Quarterly : 16-4, Gulrs three knives with thetr points upwards set Jesse- utise^ ivith hafts or and blades argent ; 2 dj* 3» Azure three scourges or also set fesseuiise and upright. Mercia in 868,' and by King Eadred in 948 ;• the last confirmation refers to the gift as 3 hides, with the advowson of the church of the vill. In the Domesday Survey, the Abbot of Croyland was entered as holding 2 hides in Addington, and a mill render- ing 131. \d. The value had risen from 15/. to 40J.' The abbey's tenant of these 2 hides in the reign of Henry I was William son of Guy [f de Reinbuedcourt].* The Abbot of Croyland in 1284 held two parts of the vill of 'Adington Major' of the king in chief in frankalmoin,* and in 1 291 the value of his lands was £6 8/.*" Addington with its members was in 1316 held by the Abbot of Croyland, the Abbot of Sulby, and Robert de Vere," the two latter each holding manors or lands in both Adding- tons. In 1318 the Abbot of Croyland was engaged in a suit against William Marmaduke, bailiff of Richard Marmaduke of Raunds, and others, for damage done to his mill pond at Addington.** The abbey continued to hold the manor, rectory and advowson until the Dissolution.** The manor and advowson of the rectory and church on 25 March, 1544, were granted as parcel of the property of Croyland Abbey to Sir William Parr, Lord Parr of Horton, in tail male.** After the death of Lord Parr without male issue in 1546, a fresh grant was made in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane, Kt., of Horton, and Anthony Throckmorton, of Charleston (co. Oxon),togetherwith grants of other monastic property. Great Addington manor was held with Brinklow (co. Warwick) for one fortieth of a knight's fee.*' By Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Throckmorton the manor (but not the advowson) was sold in 1562 to Henry Clarke of Stanwick,** who, in his will dated 1574, refers to his farm at Stanwick where he dwelt, to his wife Anne (who survived him), and to his sons Gabriel and Christopher. He died in that year, his heir being his son William, aged 28 years.*' William Clarke, as lord of the manor of Great Addington, was with Richard Curteys (son of Richard Curteys, late of Great Addington, husbandman), Richard Bolney, and John Bolney, defendant in 1588 in an action instituted by John Curteys of Great Addington, another son of Richard Curteys, and others, as to the admission to certain copyhold lands.** William Clarke died in 1604, leaving a widow Eleanor, who lived at Potterspury.*' His heir was his brother Gabriel, aged fifty, who in 1608 conveyed the Manor of > V.C.H. Nortbami. i, 241. 'Rot. Hug. de WeUei{Ctat. and York Soc), ii, 260. • Kemble, Cod. Dip. i, no. 233, p. 307. ♦ Ibid, ii, no. 265, p. 43. • Ibid. no. 297, p. 91. * Ibid. no. 420, p. 284. ' F.C.H. Narlbanli. i, 319. Thi« riie probably indicated a previous fall through invading devastation. • V.C.H. Northants. i, 3893. • Feud. Aids., iv, 12. >» Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), 54*. ** Feud. Aids, iv, 29. '' Abhrev. Plae. (Rec. Com.), 331- The dam of the mill pond had flooded lands in Raundi. 155 '• falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 85-7. " Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 13. >' Ibid. 4 & 5 Phil. & Mary, pt. 12. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxivi, 178. " Ibid. cUxi, loi. " Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), 223 (ii5). '• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxxvi, 178. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Great Addington and lands in Great and Little Ad- dington to William Bedell and William Ward, and the heirs of William Ward.^* The manor next appears in the hands of Christopher Curteys and his wife Dorothy, by whom it was con- veyed in 1618 to William Bletsoe and Robert Sander- son.^^ Thomas Bletsoe of Addington, who appears in a list of ' friends ' in 1655,'" was presumably holding the manor, which by 1668 was in the hands of three generations of Thomas Bletsoes, grandfather, father, and son, and by them with Thomas Gerrard, was conveyed to Samuel Whitby of London, with the chief messuage or manor house of Great Addington,** and lands. The Bletsoes seem to have held under a settlement or mortgage, for in 1664 the manor with a water mill, a windmill, a dovecot, and lands in Great and Little Addington and Woodford was held by Thomas Andrews, who made a conveyance of it to John Clarke and Henry Hemington,** and in 1678, Thomas Andrew and his wife Ann conveyed the manors of Great Harleston and Great Addington to John Clendon and Thomas Bletsoe. ^^ After this, the manor remained in the Andrews family, by whom it was held with the manor of Harleston (q.v.). Both manors were entailed by John Andrews by will of 22 July, 1736, and in 1794 Robert Andrews the elder, son of John Andrews, and Robert Andrews the younger, conveyed them to James Kindersley and John Russel.*' No manorial rights are mentioned in the inclosure Act of 1803, when Robert Andrews was one of the owners and proprietors of the open and common fields,*' and no manorial rights are now in existence. Addington Manor is occupied by Lt.-Col. Malcolm Romer, O.B.E. Mr. S. E. R. Lane and Mr. G. H. Capron, J. P., are the chief landowners. A second manor in Great Addington originated in ij hides in Addington held in 1086 by William's trusted minister Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances and under him by Hugh. The land had risen in value from 10;. in 1066 to 40/. at the date of the Domesday Survey (1086),** a rapid recovery after the devastation of the land at the Conquest or before. The Bishop forfeited his lands on account of his rebellion against WiUiam Rufus in 1088. Before the time of the Northamptonshire Survey (c. 1 1 25), the Bishop's fee had passed to Aubrey de Vere or the Chamberlain, but whether the grant had been made to him or his father Aubrey is uncertain.** It was there entered as ' 2 hides of the King's fee,'** the 2 hides being made up of the Domesday ij hides and an additional half hide of the Bishop's land at Drayton in Lowick, which properties continued to be held together. The manor pissed to Robert, younger son ot Aubrey the Chamberlain,*' who was holding Addington in n66. He married twice, his first wife being Margaret Wake, presumably daughter of Geoffrey Wake and sister of Hugh Wake; with her he received a charter from Baldwin Wake (Wac)** granting to him ' with Margaret my aunt' (auita mea),** the vill of Thrapston. The charter is undated, but must have been made after 1 168 when Hugh Wake, father of Baldwin the grantor, was alive and would have been holding Thrapston. By his first wife he had at least one son William. His second wife was Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell. By an undated charter, Robert de Furnell granted to ' Robert son of Aubrey de Twiwell with Maud my daughter in free marriage ' certain lands in Cranford.** These lands were later confirmed by John, son of Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell, ' to Robert de Ver ' as lands which Robert de Furnell gave ' to my mother in free marriage.'** Evidently John was a son of Maud by a former hus- band. By his second marriage, Robert de Vere had a son Henry, known as Henry son of Robert, who is said to have been brought up by his kinsman William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Albemarle, son of Roesia de Vere, and to have commanded with re- putation at Gysors.** He was probably the judge of this name of the end of the 12th century. He is said to have died about 1 193-4, and was succeeded by Walter, his son. This Walter, as Walter son of Henry son of Robert, by an undated charter of the early years of the 13th century, gave to William ' patrunculo meo,' or uncle on his father's side, all his land in Twy- well for the service of half a knight and in Addington for the service of a quarter of a knight's fee which Robert his grandfather held on the day he died, to be held of Walter and his heirs.*' Walter married Lucy, daughter of Gilbert Basset of Weldon. He had apparently two brothers, William and Geoffrey, and died in 1210-11. This branch of the family, which took the name of ' de Drayton,' continued to be the overlords of the Veres' holding in Addington. Its descent is given under Drayton in Lowick (q.v.). William, the elder son of Robert de Vere, lived on till the early part of the 13th century. Under the name of WiUiam son of Robert son of Aubrey, he endowed the Hos- pital of St. John Baptist of Northampton with lands in Slipton and Twywell.** His passed to Thomas de D E Vere. Quarterly gules and or with a moUt argent tn the quarter. lands in Thrapston Vere, perhaps his son, who died in 1204 and was succeeded by his brother •« Feet of F. Northants. East. «' Ibid. Mich. 16 JaJ. I. 5 jas. I. " Cal. S.P. IJom. 1655-6, p. 64. •» Cloic R. 20 Cha». II, pt. 11 ; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 20 Chas. II; Recov. R. Mich. 20 Chas. II, ro. 125. '* Feet of F. Northants. Mil. 15 and 16 Chas. II. •* Ibid. Div. COS. Mil. 29, 30 Chas, II. •* Close R. 34 Geo. Ill, pt. 21, m. 7 ; Recov. R. Mil. 34 Geo. Ill, ro. 292. " Priv. Stat. 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 108. «• y.C.H. Northantt. i, 311. •• Ibid. 360. •• Ibid. 389J. " Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. ii, 603. As Robert son of Aubrey the chamberlain of the King, he made an agreement with the Abbot of 'I'horncy as to tithes in Adding- ton and elsewhere, by which agreement his father Aubrey had been bound. Drayton Ch. no. 1. This Robert must not be confused with his uncle Robert de Vere, who was in frequent attendance at the Courts of Henry I and Stephen. "This important charter is in the collection of the late Mr. Stopford- Sackville at Drayton House. A series of photographs of this collection lias kindly been lent by Miss Joan Wake, hon. sec. of the Northants Rec. Soc. It is no. 10 of this collection. This collection will hereafter be referred to as Drayton Charters. Henry, a hitherto unrecorded abbot of Bourne, was a witness to this charter. " The word is clearly ' auita,' but it is probably a mistake of the scribe for 'amita.* •* Drayton Ch. 104. •' Ibid. 76. *• He was witness to two of William dc Mandevillc's charters c. 1176-81. Round, Cal. Doc. France, 243; Pipe Roll Soc. 31 Hen. 11 (1185), p. 51. " Dr.iyton Ch. i. The charier is wit- nessed by Richard and Simon Basset. •' Ibid. 2, 40, 93. 156 HUXLOE HUNDRED GREAT ADDINGTON Baldwin de Vere, who in 1233 was described as constable of Clun Castle." He obtained exemption from suit at the hundred court for his lands and men of Thrapston from Alexander, Abbot of Peter- borough (1222-6)*" and appears to have taken up his residence and possibly built a house at Addingon. In 1232 he received licence from tl\e Abbot of Croyland as patron, Walter, rector of the church of Addington, and Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, to build a chapel, without a baptistery or belfry, in his court at Adding- ton, where he and his wife Havvise, their guests and household, might hear divine service, but they were to visit the parish church on certain feasts. Baldwin and his heirs could present a chaplain who would be admitted by the rector, and he and his wife granted certain lands to the parish church.** At the same time he exchanged certain lands with the abbot of Croyland for other lands before his gate, evidently with the object of improving the approach to his house.** He was alive in 1242-3,** but in 1 245, Robert his son was holding his lands.** Robert married Joan de Waterville, one of the heiresses of Thorpe Waterville, with whom he received one third of the manor of Ludborough and other lands. He died before 1 277 when Baldwin his son was under age. Baldwin died before 1287, when Robert his brother did homage for part of the inheritance of Joan his mother.** Robert de Vere, who was sheriff of North- amptonshire in 1 301 and 13 19, paid scutage for his manor of Thrapston held of Thomas Wake in 1316.** His wife's name was Maud. He died before 1330, and was succeeded by Ralph his son.*' Ralph died in 133s,** and an extent of Addington Manor taken after his death, showed there was then a capital mes- suage, a dovecot, a garden with a mill in it and 60 acres of demesne.*' His son John de Vere, who married Alice, was one of the 1 10 defendants in a suit as to dower in Thrapston in 1345.^ He was killed at the Battle of Crecy (1346)'* leaving a son John who survived his father only a few years and died under age. In 1349 Simon de Drayton, the overlord of Adding- ton, granted the wardship of John in respect of that manor to Thomas Wake, lord of Liddell^^ who was John's overlord at Thrapston. John was succeeded by his uncle Robert, who is described as of Addington He and his wife Elizabeth entailed the manor of Addington in 1351, when Alice widow of John de Vere had her dower in it.** Robert died about 1369, leav- ing three sons, Robert, Baldwin and John. Elizabeth his widow had her dower in the lands, and she is described in 1400 as lady of Great Addington,** where no doubt she lived. Robert the eldest son, also described as of Addington,** was still under age in 1400.** In 1408, by deed dated at Great Addington, he, described as ' Robert Vere of Thrapston,' granted the manors of Thrapston, with his lands in Little Addington and Woodford, to Sir John Pilkington, Ralph Grenc of Drayton, Thomas Mulsho and John de VVelton of Bolde, probably for the purposes of a settlement.*' On 26 February 1420, Pilkington, Mulsho and Welton reconvcycd these lands, except the site and demesnes of the manor of Thrapston and other lands there, to Robert de Vere.** Robert died appar- ently in this year or the following, leaving a daugliter Margaret, married to Thomas Ashby. In 1421 Thomas Ashby, of Louseby in Leicestershire, and Margaret his wife granted the manor of Thrapston to Baldwin de Vere, uncle of Margaret.*' Baldwin, described as of Addington, by deed dated there in 1405, conveyed all his lands to William, parson of the church of Islip, and William Seymour, apparently for the purposes of a settlement.*" He died in 1424, leaving a son and heir Richard,** who married Isabella, sister of Sir Henry Grene. Richard died in 1480 and was succeeded by his son Henry de Vere'^ who died in 1493, leaving four daughters and heirs by his wife Isabella Tresham, all under age.** These ladies were also co-heirs of their mother to the lands of Constance, daughter of Sir Henry Grene, wife of John Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, on the death of their son Edward, Earl of Wiltshire** in 1499. These de Vere co-heiresses were (i) Elizabeth, who married John son of Sir John Mordaunt, who was created a baron in 1522, and whose descendants eventually obtained nearly the whole of Henry de Vere's property ; (2) Anne, who married, first, Robert, another son of Sir John Mordaunt, by whom she had no issue, and secondly, Humphrey Brown, brother of Sir Wistan Brown, by whom she had a son George who died without issue in 1558 ; after George's death his share in the manor of Great Addington being conveyed by the three daughters of Sir Humphrey Brown by his second wife Anne, daughter of John, Lord Hussey,** and their descendants, to the Mor- daunts before the end of the century ; (3) Constance, the third daughter, who married John Parr and died without issue in 1501, when her share fell to her three sisters ; (4) Audrey or Etheldreda, the fourth daughter, who married John, son and heir of Sir Wistan Brown ; they and their son George conveyed their share in Great Addington to Sir John Mordaunt in 1548.** Thus by the end of the l6th century all the shares in Great Addington and Thrapston had come into the possession of Lewis, third Lord Mordaunt, son of John son of John first Lord Mordaunt and Elizabeth de Vere. Lewis leased the manor house of Great Adding- ton to Arthur Darcy with the chief messuage in the tenure of John Cootes. In 1610, a term of six years •» Rol. Liu. Claus. (Rcc. Com.),i, loA. ; Cat. Liberate R. 1226-40, p. 232. " Drayton Chart, no. 52. * * Ibid. nas. 2 1 , 94, 98 j Line. Epis. Reg. Bp. Wells, Jol. 23. •• Drayton Chart, no. 68. •• Bk. of Fees, pt. ii, 937. " PUe. de Quo Warr. (Rcc. Com.), 500. ♦'Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 136; Cbron Petrob. (Camden Soc), 142. *• Drayton Chart, no. 6. ♦' Plac. de QuolVarr. (Rcc. Com.), 500; Halstead, op. cit. 265, 268. " Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. no. 128. ** Drayton Chart, no. 91. " rear Bks. (Rolls Scr.), 18-19 Edw. eo in, 4Sq. 61 " HaUtead, Succinct Genealogies, lyj no. I (See Lowick, note 57) ; Cal. Close, 1346-9, Add. 233- 62 " Drayton Chart, no. 75. 6a " Feet of F. Div. Cos. 25 Edw. Ill, 61 no. 67. " " Drayton Chart, no. 53. Feet " Ibid. no. 65. Div. " Ibid. no. 57. 18, I " Ibid. no. 55. East. " Ibid. No. 52. 66 1 '• Feet of F. Northants. case 179, m. 6 file 92, DO. 45. Edw. Drayton Chart. 7. Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 74, II ; Cal. Pat. Hen. VII, vol. ii, 419; , MS. 1025, p. 6. Ibid. Exchcq. Inq. p.m. ptf. 573, no. 2. Cal. Pat. Hen. VII, vol. ii, p. 419. Visit, of Essex (Harl. Soc.), i, 166 j of F. Northants. Mich. 22 Hen. VIII ; Cos. East. 4 Eliz. ; Northants. Mich. 9 Eliz. ; IVin. 40 Eliz. ; Recov. R. , 1572, ro. 1068; Trin. 1576, ro. H07. Com. PI. D. Enr. East, i Edw. VI, d ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. X .VI. 157 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE still remaining of this lease was granted to George Ciiambers on the conviction for recusancy of Arthur Darcy and his son Henry.*' In 1609 Henry, fourth Lord Mordaunt, son of Lewis, died seised of the manors of Great Addington, Thrapston, Lowick, Islip and Slipton, and of the chantry of Great Addington.** The manor of Great Addington passed with the barony of Mordaunt and earldom of Peterborough until 18 14, when the last Earl of Peterborough died without issue.** Lands in Great and Little Addington held by John Pyel by the rent of a pair of gloves, were granted in 1357 by John Daundelyn the elder of Cianford, to Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry Pyel, clerk.'" In 1386 a grant for life of 50 marks rent from the manors of Inhlingborough, Sudborough, Great and Little Addington was made by Simon Symeon and John Curtys of Wennyngton (co. Hunts), who had these manors from Henry Pyel, Archdeacon of Northampton, and William Braybrook, by release from John Pyel to Joan, the widow of John Pyel, citizen of London.'^ Land in Addington held by Nicholas Pyel was included among the fees held of Edmund Earl of Stafford at his death in 1403.'^ The manors held by the Pyels descended to the Cheyneys of Irthlingborough, and after the death without issue of Elizabeth Pyel were inherited, as her kinsman and heir, by Sir Thomas Cheyney, Kt., son of Sir John Cheyney, who settled them on his wife Anne. He died in 15 14, leaving a daughter Elizabeth, then aged nine and married to Thomas son and heir of Sir Nicholas Vaux of Harrowden. Margaret Vere, widow of Sir George Vere, Kt., unsuccess- fully claimed the manor" which passed with IrthHng- borough (q.v.) to the Vaux family. Lord, Vaux of Har- rowden. The abbot of Peterborough held land in Great Addington in the 12th century.'^ This may have been the manor of Great Addington which, with the advowson of the rectory, parcel of tlie possessions of the Abbey, was granted to William, Lord Parr of Horton, in 1544.'° It seems to have passed to Lewis Mordaunt, who with WilHam le Hunt conveyed it in 1646 to Richard Raymond and Thomas Watts.'* In 1649 Richard Raynsford and Katherine his wife conveyed it to Richard Andrew and Henry Paynter," in 1760 Robert Lambe conveyed it to John Woodford, clerk.'* Early in the reign of Henry II (l 154-89) Arnold de Pavilly (Papilio) granted a mill in Addington to Sulby Abbey which was confirmed to the Abbey in the time of Henry II.'» The Church of ALL SJlNTSconshu CHURCH of chancel 28 ft. by 14 ft. 4 in., with north chapel 15 ft. 3 in. by 10 ft., clcarstoried nave of three bays 39 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., north and south \Uu.v. Cheeky argitit and gules a chezeron azure uittb three roses argent thereon. aisles each 9 ft. 6 in wide, south porch, and west tower lift. 4 in. by 12ft., all these measurements being internal. The width across nave and aisles is 38ft. 6 in. The chapel (the chantry of Our Lady) is a continua- tion of the north aisle and covers the chancel about half its length : it is now used as an organ chamber. Further east is a modern vestry. The church is built of rubble and has plain parapets and low-pitched leaded roofs, except to the porch, which is covered with grey slates. The interior is plastered. The chancel was restored in 1891, and the nave roof renewed. Of the 12th-century aisleless church there are traces in the large plinths beneath the piers of the nave, embodying fragments of the former walls ; and the south doorway of this building, with a round arch carved with a row of chevron, and jamb-shafts with foliated capitals, is now the outer doorway of the south porch. The usual process of enlarging the chancel and adding aisles to the nave was begun in the later part of the 13th century, and further altera- tions were made in the two following centuries, includ- ing the addition of the south porch and of the tower. The work of rebuilding appears to have started with the nave. The chancel and north chapel were built about I300,and the string-course beneath the windows is of this approximate date. At present the east window and the three two-light windows in the south wall are 15th-century insertions, much restored in modern times. The eastern window on the south side, however, is the original opening with inserted tracery : the sill is lowered to form a sedile, and from the east jamb of the window, within the opening, there projects the bowl of a piscina with a cinquefoil- headed niche behind. On the north side of the chancel there is a small oblong squint from an old vestry, the place of which has been taken by the modern building. The chancel communicates with the north chapel by an arch of c. 1300, which is filled with early I5tli- century screen-work. Another screen, later and more formal in design, separates the chapel from the north aisle. Immediately to the east of the arch from the chancel, in the south wall of the chapel, is a projecting half-octagon piscina with roses on the bowl, resting upon a cluster of attached shafts, and having a small ogee-headed hollow behind. There are two windows in the north wall of tliis chapel. One, a two-light 14th-century opening, contains glass with shields of arms. The other, set low in the wall, contains frag- ments of 15th-century glass, and lights a recess in which is the alabaster efligy of Sir Henry Vere (d. 1493), founder of the chantry. The efligy has already been described.*' The arch between nave and chancel, with semi- circular responds, is contemporary with the nave arcades. South of the arch, in the angle between the south respond and the east respond of the south arcade, a doorway, inserted in the I5tli century, leads to a steep stair by which the rood-loft was approached. The stair is corbelled out towards the south aisle. •' Pat. R. 7 Jai. I, pt. 47. " Chan. Inc|. p.m. (Scr. ii), cccix, 200. •• Rccov. R. Hil. 19 Jai. I, ro. 40; 1-2 Jai. II, ro. 62 ; Trin. 54 Ceo. Ill, ro. •33 i If o' •■• '■'i*- Coi. Trin. 19 Jai. ; Northanti. Hil. 14 Chai. I, 22 Chai. 1, I and 2 Jai. II, 41 Geo. Ill; Pat. R. p.m. 15 Chai. I, pt. 10; Chan. Inq. (Scr. ii) di, 64 ; dii, 26. "• Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 428. "Ibid. 1385-9, p. 143; Cloic R. 9 Ric. II. pt. i, m. 8. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Ilcn. IV, no. 4. " Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 587, no. 40. '« y.C.H. Nortbantt. i, 389a. 158 " /, &■ r. Hen. Fill, vol. xix (i) g. 141 (75)- " Icct of F. Northanti. Mich. 22 Chai. I. " Ibid. Mich. 1649. '• I'cct of I". Northanti. Trin. 33 and 34 Geo. II. "Add. Ch. 21512. " J'.C.H. Nortbanli. i, 413. ■^ mn, «»«,, Great Audington CiiuRtii trom tiil South Great Addincton Church : Thl Intkrior, looking East HUXLOE HUNDRED great addington and infringes upon an earlier bracket in the east wall : it is lighted on this side by a small double opening. The upper doorway remains, but the screen is gone. The nave arcades are plain late 13th-century work. The piers are octagonal, with slender half-octagon responds ; but the eastern arch of the north arcade springs from a corbel ; and the pier on its west side is formed by a cluster of four shafts. The arches are very wide, and much ironstone is used in them. Both aisles underwent some alteration after their original construction, and the outer wall of tlie north aisle, which is now continuous with that of the north chapel, has been practically rebuilt. Tlicre is a plain round-headed north doorway. Tlie windows of the north aisle are 14th-century two-light openings with flat heads : the west window is rather later. In each case, the tracery has been considerably renewed. The south aisle was partly rebuilt in the 14th century and was probably repaired in the 15th century, to which date belong the east and west windows, both of three lights. The two windows in the south wall are each of two lights : the western, with a round quatrefoil in the head, is contemporary with the arcades : the other has ogee lights and a pointed quatrefoil, and is of the early 14th century. Between this window and the east wall of the aisle is a very large tomb-recess, practically rebuilt. The south doorway is of the 14th century, with mouldings on the chamfer-plane. It is covered by a porch which is partly of 13th-century date. The stone benches on either side stop short of the outer doorway, which, as already noted, is a fine late 12th- century arch. It is clear that this arch was at first rebuilt in the south wall of the aisle and was covered by the porch, and that, when a new doorway was made in the 14th century, the porch was slightly lengthened and the old arch added to its outer face. This work formed part of the repair which included the east part of the aisle, but was apparently not continued west of the porch, where the older window was left undisturbed. The porch has a plastered barrel-roof, apparently of the 18th-century. The clearstory, consisting of two-light windows, three on each side, was added in the 15th century, below the high pitch of the older roof, which appears above it externally. The tower was built towards the middle of the 14th century, and has diagonal buttresses and a finely moulded west doorway, with filleted rolls in the outer, and a sunk chamfer and wave in the inner orders, and with a scroll hood-moulding. Above this is a vaulted niche. In the second stage there is a lozenge-shaped opening with reticulated tracery. A similar lozenge is pierced in the lower stage of the south wall, which is lighted in the second stage by a two-light window like those of the belfry above. The second stage in the north wall has a plain single light. The bell-chamber windows are of two lights with rather formal reticulated tracery. The carved band and high parapet with cross-loops above seem to have been added in the 15th century. The tower communi- cates with the nave by a chamfered arch of three orders. The vice is in the south-west angle. The font is of the 13th century, with a circular bowl upon a circular stem furnished with four attached shafts, the capitals of which are joined to the bowl by grotesque head-shaped projections. There is a good early 17th-century pulpit, and there is some old glass in the heads of the north aisle windows, in addi- tion to that already mentioned. In the chancel, upon a marble slab placed upon a low stone table north of the altar, is the brass of a priest in mass vestments, carrying the chalice and wafer, with a scroll inscribed ' Illu fili dei miserere raei.' In medallions at the corners are the emblems of the four evangelists. The inscription reads : ' Orate pro aia magistri Johis Bloxham primi Capellani istius Cantarie bcate marie qui obiit quinto die mensis decembris Anno xpi millimo quingentesimo xix° cuius anirae propicietur deus amen. Henricus Veer erat fundator istius cantarie.' This brass evi- dently was originally in the north chapel, where the effigy of the founder, as already mentioned, still remains. There are mural tablets in the chancel to William Lambe (d. 1762) and two of his sons, one of whom of the same name was rector (d. 1767), and to William Lambe (d. 1780). There is a ring of six bells, by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1899. They take the place of four bells'^ which were then recast, to which a treble and tenor were added. The plate consists of a cup of 1835 and paten of 1845, both London make, and an almsdish made in Birmingham in 1832, the gift of Mary Tyley, wife of the Rev. James Tyley, rector, in 1846. There are also two plated almsdishes given in 1863.M The registers before 1812 are as follows: (l) baptisms, 1 694-1 767 ; marriages, 1692-1 754 ; burials, 1692-1767; (ii) baptisms, 1768-1812; burials, 1767-1812; (iii) marriages, 1754-1812. The church is referred to in a ADVOWSON doubtful charter of 833 to Croyland Abbey, and the advowson was held by that abbey until the Dissolution,*' after which it was granted with the Croyland manor to Lord Parr of Horton in 1544, and in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane, Kt., of Horton, and Anthony Throckmorton, of Charleston. Before 1 562 the manor and advowson had been separated, and in 1586 the advowson was conveyed by Thomas Birte and Cresida his wife to William Goodfellow and Mary his wife,'*; since then it has been held by a succession of owners, some- times incumbents. Henry Vere at his death on 22 May, 1493, left directions for the endowment of a chantry of one chaplain in the parish church of Great Addington, to be called the Henry Vere chantry, for the souls of King Henry VII and his consort Queen Elizabeth, Prince Arthur and Henry, Duke of York, the said Henry Vere, his parents and benefactors. On 18 Oc- tober, I5CX3, licence was obtained for the alienation in mortmain to the priory of St. Andrews, Northamp- ton, of lands to the yearly value of 9 marks, or to charge the lands of the priory in Sywell with the pay- ment of 9 marks yearly to the chaplain, and to alienate *■ The first and lecond of the old belli were by R. Taylor, St. Neots, 1807, the third wai by Tobie Norrii, 1605, and the fourth watdated 1630. The inscriptioniare given in North, Cb. Belli oJNoribartis. 175. " Markham, Cb. Plate oj Nortbanii. i. •• See above, under the hittory of the manor. " Feet ofF.NorthantJ.Mich.zS-agElii. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE to him a messuage, garden, and 3 acres of land in Great Addington.** At the Dissolution the profits from the chantry, of which Robert Aleyn was incum- bent, were £(>?^ The manor of Sywell, belonging to St. Andrew's Priory, exclusive of the payment to this chantry, was granted to John Mershe in 1543.*' The chantry and its endowment were granted to John, Lord Mordaunt, by George Brown in '547)** ^nd continued to be held by the Mor- daunts,*' as the manor of the chantry of Great Addington. There are no charities in this parish. LITTLE ADDINGTON Edintone (xi cent.) ; Adington Watervill or Parva (xiv. cent.). The smaller of the Addingtons differs little in its main features from Great Addington {q.v.), which lies to the north of it. The height varies from about 300 ft. to about 150 ft. above ordnance datum. LiTTLi: Addington Church : West Tower Doorway the ground near the River Ncnc being liable to floods. The area is 1,134 acres of land and 9 of water. The population was 280 in 1921. The village, triangular in shape, is about 3^ miles north of Higham Ferrers, and | mile south- west from Ringstead and Addington Station. The Church of St. Mary lies at its southern end, and is noteworthy for the beauty of its tower. To the east of the church is the Manor Farm, the home, during many generations, of the Sanderson family. South of it is St. Mary's vicarage, built in 1859, but the vicar resides now at Great Addington. To the south-west of the church is a two-story thatched house, now used as a Working Men's Institute, dated 1712, and a pair of houses on the north side of the village green, also of two stories, with thatched roof, is dated 1715. In both cases the windows have been modernised. Two farms have good stone barns of late 17th or early l8th century date, with thatched roofs and coped end gables, and there is a rectangular dove-house west of the green, with panel inscribed ' R. L. 1739,' and red pantiled roof. Another dove-house, to the south- east of the church, with thatched roof and lantern, is now in a state of dilapidation. The public elementary school, built in 1873 for 66 children, also lies to the south of the church, and near by is the smithy. A Wesleyan chapel was built in 1844. Little Addington Lodge stands by itself in the west of the parish. We have a glimpse of 17th-century village life in a dispute in 1620 over the inclosing, by Richard and Edward Beeby,* of ways by which access was obtained to the common well, the washing block on the common ground, where it was used by all the inhabitants, and the cattle troughs there. The history of the two Adding- MANORS tons before the Conquest is given under Great Addington (q.v.). The abbot of Peterborough held 3 hides in inTLE ADDINGTON, which were held by Hugh his tenant in 1086.^ In the Northampton- shire Survey of the time of Henry I Hugh's fee with another half hide had passed to Richard son of Hugh.8 They later went to the Lisurs, and Richard son of Hugh may have been a Lisurs. Possibly it was his grand-daughter, daughter of William Lisurs, who married Viel de Engaine.* Their son Fulk took his mother's name, and from him this mesne lordship passed with Bencfield (q.v.) to the Lisurs and Bassingbournes. According to Pytchley's Survey of Peterborough Fees, there were four fees in Addington which were held under Peterborough of the Lisurs and Bassing- bournes, namely, those of Daundelyn, Waterville, the abbot of Sulby, and the Earl of Gloucester.^ These fees were partly in Great and partly in Little Adding- ton, but mostly in the latter, and so it is more con- venient to take them here. The Daundelyn fee passed with Cranford St. Andrew (q.v.). A part of it went to the liarnacks,* of Irthlingborough (q.v.), and from them to Sulby Abbey. The Waterville fee went willi the Watervilles' "CW. Pal. Hen. VII, ii, p. zi6. •• Valor Ecd. fRcc. Com.), iv, 312. •' L. and F. Hen. VIII, xviii, (i) g. 216 (38)- " Com. Pleat. DecJi Enr. Eait. 1 "Edw. VI. •• Chan, id., r.4. ' Chan. In q. p.m. Proc. (Scr. 2), vol. cccxtIx, no. 9. • V.C.II. Nortbanti. i, 317a. • Ibid. 388.^ (.Scr. ii) cccix, joo \ bdlc. • Pytchlcy, lik. of Fm (North.Tnti Rcc. Soc), 76 «. » Ibid. 75. ' Feet of F. Ilcn. Ill, catc 173, file 40, no. 658. 160 HUXLOE HUNDRED little addington lands at Thorpe Achurch (q.v.). They were holding in 1 196, when Hugh do Watervillc convoyed land to Maud de Houghton, and in 1240 Richard do Water- villc granted lands and a mill to William, abbot of Sulby.* The remainder of their lands here was apparently acquired from the heirs of Reginald de Waterville, who died in 1287, by the Barnacks,' and from them by the abbot of Sulby. The abbey of Sulby gradually bought up the lands of the other holders in Little Addington from the early part of the 13th century if not before. Kdward II confirmed the gifts of Arnold de Pavilly (Papilam) of lands, the church and mill of Addington ; of Roger Ic Brabanhoun (i Brabazon) ; of John de Hotot, of Hampton ; of the manor of Sir Richard son of Gervase de Barnack, and the lands of William son of Richard de Barnack.* In 1300 a composition was made between the abbot of Peterborough and the abbot of Sulby whereby the abbot of Sulby had licence to enter on the Barnack lands subject to the continuance of the homage to the abbot of Peterborough, as chief lord, of Humphrey de Bassing- bourne, under whom the Barnacks had held, suit at the court of Castor, and relief and fealty by the abbot of Sulby to Peterborough.*' The abbey of Sulby had a grant of free warren here in 1 316,** and con- tinued to hold the whole manor until the Dissolution. In 1543, Edward Humfrey, a younger son of Richard Humfrey, of Barton Seagrave, received a grant of the manor and rectory of Little Addington, formerly the property of Sulby Abbey.** He settled the manor on his younger brother John, and died without issue in 1552.** John Humfrey died in 1592, when he was succeeded by his son John, aged thirty,** who died without issue in 1 596, when his mother, Margaret, survived him. John Humfrey, the son, was succeeded by his brother Edward,*^ citizen and merchant tailor of London, aged 27, who with Mary his wife in 1597 sold to John Weekly, of Little Addington, for £S'^ '^^ manor and manor house of Little Addington, in the occupation of Thomas Selby, late in the occupation of John Weekly,*' the rent of Zi. from the mills called Cotton Mills, and two barns known as the Tithe Barn and Church Barn. John, father of Edward Humfrey, had settled the manor and advowson on his wife Margaret, and had had a daughter Elizabeth Burton, the mother of Rowse, Thomas, and Israel Burton, and a daughter Marjory Mallory, the mother of Thomas, Anthony, William, and Katherine Mallory. Edward left a son Edward, who died in 1599, aged five, leaving sisters, Eleanor aged two, and Dorothy aged one, as his heirs.*' John Weekly, in 1606, settled certain lands in Little Addington on his son Thomas on his marriage with Anne, daughter of Richard Templer, and died in 1628.** A settlement was made in 1630 by Thomas Weekly, with John Weekly, presumably his son, and .Anne Weekly, widow, evidently his mother,** and in 1656 the manor was in the hands of John Weekly (Weckeley) and Mary his wife, and Thomas Weekly, presumably their son.^' John Weekly and Thomas Weekly, senior, and Susan his wife in 1682 conveyed the manor to Robert Underwood, and Henry Weekly,'* the latter of whom was already holding the Gloucester manor (q.v.) in Little Addington. This was probably only a settlement, as in 1685 Thomas Weekly, senior, and his wife Susan, with Thomas Weekly, junior, conveyed it to Samuel Penn, apparently for the pur- pose of a mortgage.*' Thomas Weekly, senior, and Susan his wife were holding it in 1691.** It was possibly the manor which William Murdin, clerk, and his wife in 1737 conveyed to Robert Lambe.'* When Bridges wrote, the lordship was divided among several freeholders, but the manor belonged to Henry Weekly. The most considerable estate, he writes, was owned by the family of Sanderson, who with it held the advowson. At the Inclosure Act of 1 803, William Zouth Lucas Ward was lord of the manor, and one of the principal proprie- tors of lands and messuages with Thomas Sanderson, clerk, vicar and owner of the ad- vowson, and George Capron. There is now no lord of the manor, but Mr. G. H. Capron, lord of the manor of Stoke Doyle, is one of the principal landowners in the parish. One and a half hides in Little Addington, held before the Conquest by Azor, were entered in the Domesday Survey among the lands of the Bishop of Coutances,^' whose tenant there was Osmund.^' After the forfeiture of the bishop's lands it was bestowed on either the first Earl of Gloucester or his father-in-law, and continued parcel of the Gloucester fee. In the 12th century Northamptonshire Survey^' it is entered as a hide and one and a half virgates, held by William de Huntingdon of the fee of Gloucester. The Grimbalds seem to have succeeded William de Huntingdon, as in 1198-9 Maud, widow of Robert Grimbald, granted land in Addington and Slipton to Ernald de Bosco,-' and this property appears in 1284 as a quarter of a knight's fee in Little Addington which John de Bosco was then holding of the Earl of Gloucester. It was held of John de Bosco by Hugh Daundelyn, under whom Warner de Garney and Beatrice de Wolaston were sub-tenants.'* The Daundelyn descent followed that of Cranford Sanderson. Paly argent and azure a bend sabte tviib three thereon. rings ' Feet of F. Northants. 8 Rich. I, caie . 171, file I, no. 15; ibid. Hen. Ill, case 1731, file 19, no. 386. • There wai a family quarrel in 1281 ai to lands in Addington, when the question of the legality of the marriage of Robert de Waterville and Alice, his wife, was raised. Anct. D. A5010. In 1284 this fee is said to have been held by the heirs of Reginald de Waterville and Richard de BarnacV. Feud. Aids iv, 12 ; cf. Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 44^. • Dugdale, A/ob. Angl. vi (ii), 904 ; ef. Col. Pal. 1292-1301, p. 520. "Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. ^id ; Reg. Rob. Swaffham (Peterb. Cath. Lib.), cclxxvi. " Cat. Chan, iii, 306. '• L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii (i), g. 981 (62) ; Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 16, m. 32. '* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xcv, 104. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxxvi, 89. " Ibid, ccxlv, 93. '• Close R. 39 Eliz. pt. 22 ; Feet of F. Northants, Hil. 39 Eliz. ^' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxii, 122. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccdxxviii, 48. '• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Chas. I. 161 " Ibid. Trin. 1656. " Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 34 Chas. II. "Ibid.Mich.IJas.il. «• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 3 Wm. and Mary. " Ibid. Trin. loand 11 Geo. II. •* In Naveslaad hundred. •• V.C.H. Northants. i, 311. •' Ibid. 388. In South Navesland. " Feet of F. Northants. 10 Ric. I, case 171, file 2, no. 38; Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, i, 37. " Feud. Aids, iv, 12. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE St. Andrew (q.v.). Maurice Daundeljii was returned in the 1 2th centur>- Northamptonshire Survey. In 1357 John Daundelyn the elder, of Cranford, sold to Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry Pyel, clerk, lands, rents, etc., in Cranford,^ a yearly rent of 6 barbed arrows, which he used to receive of Walter Daundelyn, John Daundelyn, and Thomas Daundelyn of Little Addington, of their lands in Little Addington, of the fee of the Earl of Glou- cester, and a rent of a pair of gloves from the lands of John Pyel in Great and Little Addington. Walter, John and Thomas Daundelyn, of Little Addington, were witnesses to this grant. It was possibly this John Daundelyn of Little Addington who was assaulted and maimed at Higham Ferrars in I3S4-^' When the Daundelyns ceased to hold in Addington does not appear. But their property is evidently represented by a manor of Little Addington, of which Barnabas Wykyrley or Wykeley or Weekly made a conveyance in 1553 to Giles Wykeley^^ (or Weekly), ScA'.F OF Feet Plan of Little Addington Church v/ho settled it in 1554^ on his wife Eleanor. Accord- ing to Bridges, Eleanor was the daughter of Thomas Sawyer of Raunds, and Giles died in 1558 9 se'sed of the manor of Addington Parva, held of the Crown as of the honour of Gloucester, leaving a son John as his heir.** A Richard Weekly appears as a tenant in the Sulby manor (q.v.) in 1597, and in 1627 Richard Weekly died at Little Addington seised of a messuage and lands held of F^dward Lord Montagu as of his hundred of Huxloc ; of one and a half virgates of land held of the king in chief by knight service i^ and of a cottage held of Edward Lord Montagu as of the honour of Gloucester. By his will, dated 3 June 1626, he bequeathed this cottage to his son Richard, but his heir was his son Henry .^ The church of ST. MART stands CHURCH on high ground above the road, and consists of chancel 20 ft. by 15 ft., with modern vestry and organ chamber on the north side, clearstoried nave of three bays 41 ft. by 14 ft. 3 in., north and south aisles each about II ft. wide,^' north and south porches, and engaged west tower 11 ft. by 8 ft. 9 in., all these measurements being internal. The tower is sur- mounted by a short spire. The church is built on ground falling sharply from south to north, so that while the level of the south porch is two steps above that of the nave, the north porch is five steps below it. There is also a westward slope. The church is built of rubble, plastered internally, and the chancel has a low, modern slated roof. The other roofs are leaded, with plain parapets to the clearstory and north aisle ; the lead overhangs on the south aisle. The greater part of the building belongs to the last quarter of the 13th century, covering per- haps the period c. 1 280-1 300, the north arcade and two windows at the west end of the north aisle being rather earlier in character than the rest of the work, though the whole appears to have been more or less continuous. The tower was built towards the end of the 14th century, when the clear- story and south porch were added and the chancel altered. The east end of the north aisle was rebuilt in the 15th century, and the date 1705 on a stone below the parapet apparently records some re- construction of the north wall at that time. The church was restored and reseated in 1857, and there was a more exten- sive restoration in 1882-3, I280~ 1300 when the vestry was added. I360~70 The chancel has a small 1512 Century 14th century east window of EH Subsequent »lV1oa two trefoiied lights with 20 30 40 K3 quatrefoil in the head, and a diagonal buttress at the north- east angle. If the window is in its original position it seems likely that the north rebuilt at this period, and In the south wall is and east walls were possibly the chancel shortened, a 13th century priest's doorway of a single chamfered order, and west of it a low-side window, the lower part of which (now blocked) is contemporary with the doorway, the head being of 14th century date. There are remains of a destroyed window east of the doorway. The chancel is open its full width to the nave by a late 13th century arch of two chamfered orders, the inner- most resting on moulded corbels supported by heads. The nave arcades have excellently moulded arches and piers composed of clusters of four sli.ifls, with arriscd projections in the hollows between. In the later south arcade these projections are enlarged and treated as additional shafts, but have no capitals. The responds correspond with the piers, except at the east end on the south side, where the arch springs from a moulded corbel carved on the underside with foliage. •• Cat. Clou, 1354-60, p. 428. •' Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 87 i ibid. n^iM, p. .87. •• Fttt ol F. Northanti. Eait. 7 Ed. VI. " Ibid. Mich. 1 Phil, and Mary. •* llin. Noribanli. ii, 207 ; let alio Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cxjiv, 217. •* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Str. ii), dcizviii,64. 162 •• Ibid. " The north .liilo it 10 ft. q in. wide at icicait end, and the inuth aide 11 ft. The width acroti n.ivc and aiilca i> 41 ft. J.ITILE AdDINCTON ChURCII KROM lllE SoU TH HUXLOE HUNDRED little addington The south doorway is of two moulded orders on angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and the porch opening of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal responds with much restored moulded capitals. The plainer north door- way has a continuous round and hollow moulding, without hood, and tlie porch, which is lo ft. square internally, is covered by a stone vault with chamfered diagonal ribs. The roof space above was lighted by a window in the gable, now blocked, but was never properly a porch-chamber. The porch has stone benches and an outer double chamfered arch of two- centred segment form. There is a beautiful double piscina with two trefoiled openings and quatrefoil over, together with an aumbry in the south aisle, and a single piscina in the east wall of the nortli aisle. Above the double piscina is a plain stone image-bracket. The east window of the south aisle consists of three uncusped gradated lancets with pierced spandrels, and the west window and one on either side of the doorway, are of two lights with forked mullion. Another window in this aisle is a 14th century insertion, of three trefoiled lights with fully developed reticulated tracery. In the north aisle the west window^ and another in the north wall adjoining it, are each of two plain lights with a cuspcd circle in the head, c. 1280 ; another has a forked mullion, and two at the east end are four-centred 15th-century windows of three cinqucfoiled lights. The clearstory has four win- dows on the south side and three on the north, all square headed and of two trefoiled lights. The tower is inserted at the west end of the nave, cutting it short by a bay, the reason being perhaps the westward slope on which the church stands. The tower is of three stages with moulded plinth, coupled buttresses, and battlemented parapet above a band of quatrefoils. The beautiful western doorway, with sculptured figures in the hollow mouldings, has a crocketed hood with finial and flanking pinnacles, and over it is a traceried window of two lights. The deeply recessed bell-chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head except on the south side, where the upper part of the window is older work re-used, with a trefoiled circle in the head, similar to the west windows of the north aisle. The spire has two sets of lights. The arms of Pyel (a bend between two molets) occur upon the upper stage of the tower on the north side, and ironstone is freely used with picturesque effect. Internally the tower opens into the nave by a lofty arch of four^ continuous chamferdU orders, and into the aisles by similar but less lofty arches. The vice is in the south-west angle. The 15th-century rood screen, with its doors, remains ; it has two bays on each side of the middle PviL. Argent a bend between two moleti sable. opening, but has been badly painted in brown pigment, and the top is new. The oak pulpit is contemporary with the screen, and has carved panels ; it stands on a modern stone base. Outside the east wall of the south aisle are indications of a blocked outer doorway, but there is no sign of any remains of an internal stair to the rood loft. The font is modern, with octagonal p.inelled bowl. The seating dates from 1 857. At the restoration of 1883 most of the monumental slabs in the chancel floor, with the Sanderson arms and inscriptions, were sunk, and tiles placed over them. Some brass plates, including one to John Sanderson, 1672, are in the vestry. There are three bells, all by Hugh Watts II, of Leicester. The treble is an alphabet bell dated 1610, and the second and third, dated respectively 1620 and 1629, are inscribed ' HIS Nazarenus Rex Judeorum Fili Dei miserere mei.' '"' The plate consists of a paten of 1853 and a cup of 1857, both I-ondon make.'** The registers begin in 1588. The advowson belonged to Arnold ADFOWSON de Pavilly (Papilam) in the middle of the 1 2th century, who gave it to Sulby Abbey.*^ The lords of the manor seem to have regained possession, and in 123.). it was regranted to William Abbot of Sulby by Richard de Waterville, who was received into all benefits of the Abbey.*' It was held by the abbey until the Dissolution, when in 1543 it was granted with the manor and rectory to Edward Humfrey.** It was not included in the sale of the manor to John Weekly, but in 1608 was in the hands of Rowse Burton, John Humfrey's grandson, who conveyed it to Dorothy and Eleanor Humfrey, the daughters and co-heirs of John Humfrey's son Edward. ■*' It was conveyed in 1621 by Richard Pickes andEleanor his wife, and Henry Calthorpe and Dorothy his wife, evidently Edward Humfrey's daughters, to John Sanderson,** of Little Addington. In 1634 John Sanderson, and his wife Cecily, and Thomas Sander- son were dealing with the rectory and advowson,*' as were John Sanderson and his wife Margaret and Theophilus Sanderson (their son and heir) in 1 662,*' and Theophilus alone in 1669.''* John Sanderson died in 1672, and the death in 1683 of his son Theo- philus was followed by that of John Sanderson, son and heir of Theophilus, in 1687, at the age of twenty- three.^" The rectory and advowson must then have been held by Sanderson co-heiresses, the daughters of Theophilus, one of whom, Martha wife of Thomas Pemberton, was with her husband dealing with one- third in 1695,5* and in 1697.^^ Elizabeth Sanderson, the daughter of Theophilus, married her cousin, Anthony Sanderson, of Serlby Hall, Co. Nottingham, and died in 1694.^' The rectory and advowson ulti- mately passed to her husband with Little Addington mansion. He became vicar in 1720,'* and died in 1737. Harvey Sparkes and William Sanderson pre- sented in 1737, William Sanderson in 1770, and Thomas Sanderson in 181 3. ^^ The last Sanderson to hold the rectory and advow- •* The we»t window is wholly restored. •* Three on the inner tide. ♦• North, Cb. Bells of Nortbants. 176. ♦' Markham, Cb. Plate of Nortbantt. 3. ♦• Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, (ii) 904. •» Feet o( F. Norcbanti. Hen. Ill, ca»e 172, file 27, no. 340. «« Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 16, m. 32. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Ja». I. " Ibid. Hil. I9]as. I. «' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Chas.I. " Ibid. Hil. 12 and i3Chas. II. "Ibid. East. 21 Cha>. II. '» M.I. in church. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 7 Will. HI. '» Ibid. Hil. 9 Will, and Mary. " M.I. in church. " Information supplied by Mrs. Eliz. Sander son-Etough. " Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 163 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE son was Thomas Sanderson, who was also vicar, and died unmarried in 1855.^* Mrs. Benton Keane now holds the advowson. A vicarage is referred toe. 1 2 14-15, and was endowed with a moiety of the church, the abbey and convent of Sulby retaining the other half.*' The endowment now includes 275 acres of glebe, a part of which was a thank-offering for the Restoration, given by John Sanderson, ' Counsellor at law,' who had been ' a great suffer>,r for King Charles I.'^ An allotment was made for tithes at the passing of the Inclosure Act.*' There are no charities in the parish. ALDWINKLE ALL SAINTS Aldvincle {x\ cent.) ; Aldwj'ncle, Audewinlde, Ardewinlde (xv cent.). The parish of Aldwinkle All Saints was united to that of Aldwinkle St. Peter by Order in Council of 29 November 1 879.^ The combined parishes contain 2,886 acres, the most of which isgrass- land, with a fair amount of wood around Lyveden. The parishes are bounded on the east by the River Nene, and on the south by its tributary Harper's Brook. From the low land near these streams the ground rises towards the north-west, where it reaches a height of nearly 290 ft. The soil is clay and gravel. A road from Thorpe Waterville leads over the Nene and across the bridge, called Brancey Bridge, over Harper's Brook, to the village of Aldwinkle All Saints. The church lies on the south side of the road and the South Hay, Lady Wood, Bradshaw Wood and Bareshanke Meadow (now Bearshank Wood).' Old Mill Bridge, carrying the road from I slip to Lowick over Harper's Brook, may mark the site of the manorial mill. Other place names are Cockermouth Closes, Great Laund, Old Laund and Old Park. In 1651 the constables and third-boroughs presented seven recusants and declared that the village contained no ale house nor any Sabbath breakers, common drunkards or profane swearers ; that it was well provided with churches in a state of repair; its high- ways and bridges were in good repair and there was provision for its poor.* An Act for inclosing the common lands of Aldwinkle was obtained in 1772. >— ^i."^ — '•«.,. . • ^aJt-Tf^!- Aldwinkle: Dryden's Birthplace manor house, which was pulled down about 1826, adjoined the churchyard on the east.* The rectory house, the birthplace of John Drydcn, the poet, is a plain but rather picturesque two story building of rubble and plaster with a thatched roof. It is, in part, of i6tli century date, but tlic windows have been modernised and the liouse othcrv/ise altered. The road continues through Aldwinkle St. Peter to Oundlc. A branch from it goes to Lowick and another to the north to Lyveden where some of the woodland is in this parish. We have here mention in the 17th century of the Over and Great Assart, South Wood or In 1086 Picot, Landric and Oger held M.4N0RS of Guy de Reinbuedcurt 5 hides in Aldwinkle All Saints, wliich in King Edward's time had bcin held freely by Lef si.* Richard, son of Guy de Reinbuedcurt, held in Aldwinkle 3 hides, less half a virgatc, of the queen's fee.* His licir was his daughter Margery, who married Robert Foliot, lord of the barony of Wardon,' and ihe over- lordship of half a knight's fee in Aldwinkle afterwards passed with this barony.* Tlie mesne tenant in 1242-3 was Henry de Ald- winkle,* probably failicr of Richard de Aldwinkle, son ** Norihonii N. and Q. i, 115. »' Rot. Hug. dt Wtllet (Cant, and York Soc), 130. •' Lanidownc MS. 1029. " Priv. Stat. 1 1 Cto. IV, c. 19. ' London Gaxillt, 5 Dtc. 1879, no. 7201. Set also Loc. Gov. Bd. Order, 25 Mar. 1885. ^ Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep. vii, 251. ■ Pat. R. 9 Chai. I, pt. 5, no. 24 ; 12 Chai. II, pt. 24, no. 12. * Quarter Sen. Rtc. (Norlhanlf. Rcc. Soc), 124, 161, 172, 227. ' r.C.H. Northanti. i, 343a. • Ibid. 365/I. ' Rrldgci, Hill. Northanti. i, i iz. • Uk. of Feel, pt. i, 495, 499 ; Cat. lag. p.m. ii, 374. ' Bk. of Feei, pt. ii, 937. 164 HUXLOE HUNDRED of Henry** and grandfather of Henry de Aldwinkle, who rendered 2/. 6d. a year to the barony of Warden in 1280," and held half a knight's fee in Aldwinkle in 1284." This Henry had a son Richard de Aldwinkle/* who in 131 3 helped to carry off the goods of Aymer de Valence in Aldwinkle St. Peter** (y.f.). and was a tenant by knight's service in Aldwinkle in 1316.** In 1 35 1 Henry de Aldwinkle, probably Richard's son, conveyed the manor of Aldwinkle to Adam Bacoun, knight,** evidently as trustee, for John de Aldwinkle held there in 1376,** and lands were conveyed by Sir Simon Felbrigge and his wife Katherine, probably as trustees, to William Aldwinkle in 1434-5*'*. William de Aldwinkle died in 1 463 leaving a widow who married William Chambre, founder of Chambre's chantry.*' His heir was his kinsman Thomas Lenton** who died seised of the manor in 1504 leaving a son John,*' who died in 1558. His grandson John son of Robert Lenton succeeded, and apparently settled the manor in 1582*' and again in 1583** on his first wife Dorothy. She died in the following year and he married as his second wife Elizabeth Shepperde. In 1587 and again in 1593 he leased his messuage and lands in Aldwinkle to Robert Hatley and John Viccars. His son Simon was holding at the end of the l6th century, when he disputed his father's leases.*^ In 161 3*' and 1616^* Simon Lenton conveyed the manor to Sir Oliver Luke of Woodend (Co. Beds) and Sir John Luke, probably in trust for Sir Oliver's sister Anne, wife of Sir Miles Fleetwood,*' who dated a document from Aldwinkle in 1627** and presented to the church in 1637.*' He was Receiver of the Court of Wards, and had three eminent sons, William, a Royalist, George, who fought in the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus, and Charles, a well- known Parliamentary officer. Sir Miles Fleetwood died in 1641 and was succeeded in his estates and office by his son William, also a knight, who was deprived of the Receivership of the Court of Wards by Parliament, the office being conferred in 1644 on his brother Charles.** In 1646 Sir William Fleetwood of Aldwinkle petitioned to compound for his delinquency in having attended the king, as his sen'ant in ordinary, at Oxford and elsewhere. He was certified to be suffering from dropsy and annuities were payable to his brother Charles and his sister Anne.*' Sir William Fleetwood. Party tvavy azure and or six martlets countercoloured . ALDWINKLE ALL SAINTS and his wife Elizabeth conveyed the manor of Ald- winkle in 1650 to Richard Gorman and William Snowe, probably for purposes of settlement." In 1659 Nathaniel Whiting, minister of Aldwinkle All Saints, dedicated his ' Old Jacob's Altar newly repaired ' to the three Fleetwood brothers. ' I am not ashamed. Right Worsliipful,' he says in words particularly addressed to the eldest of them, ' to tell the world how ancient and affectionate a Maecenas you have been to me, that I received many encourage- ments from you when I was a student in the Universi- tie, how ready I have always found you to lay forth your power and interest for me, how freely and speedily you placed me at Aldwinkle, and how muche I have found the favour of a Patron and the affections of a friend (I might go higher) for the space of many ycares. . . .' Sir William died in 1674*** and was succeeded by his son Miles, M.P. for Northampton county (1677-80), who died in 1688, leaving a son and heir William.** This William Fleetwood with his wife Elizabeth conveyed the manor of Aldwinkle All Saints and a free fishery to John Carpenter and William Whitwell in 1693,** probably for a settlement. Bridges states that William Fleetwood sold the manor to Elmes Spinkes, who was holding in 1723.** From Elmes Spinkes the manor and fishery seem to have passed to Elizabeth Spinkes, the wife of Col. Thomas Gwillim, of Old Court, aide-de-camp to General Wolfe, who was holding in 1754.** Their daughter Elizabeth Posthuma married Lt.-Col. John Graves Simcoe,** who was dealing with the property in 1784 and 1788.*' The estate has been sold, but all manorial rights have ap- parently fallen into desuetude. In 1242-3 half a knight's fee in Aldewinkle repre- senting TITCHMJRSH MANOR was said to be held of William de Ros of Hamelak.*' Mentions of this overlordship recur until the 15th century.** In 1242-3 the demesne tenant of this half knight's fee was William de Mosca.** In 1284 he had been succeeded by William de la Zouche,*" who was tenant of one knight's fee. In 1316 allot part of this holding had passed to Henry Titchmarsh,** and in 1346 to Gilbert Titchmarsh " In 1428 a fourth part of a knight's fee in Aldwinkle, held of the Lord of Ros and once in the tenure of Gilbert de Titchmarsh, was shared by William Aldwinkle, Henry Neville and John Travers.** The manor of Aldwinkle called 'Tyche- mersh Manor' was conveyed in 1427-8 by Robert Longe and his wife Anne to William Aldwinkle,William Armeston, John Beans, clerk,** and may afterwards have passed with the chief manor of Aldwinkle (q.v.). *>Buccleuch MS. no. 67. '• Cal. Inq. ii, 374. ** Feud. Aids., iv, 13. "Feet of F.Ed. II, case 175, file 65, jio. 193. " Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 72. '« Fiud. Aids, iv, 28. « Feet of F. Ed. Ill, caie 177, file 79, no. 379. '• Bridget, Hist. Nortbanls. ii, 209. "•» Feet of F. Hen. VI, caie 179, file 94, no. 77. " Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 253. '• Buccleuch Deedi, G 31. *• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xviii, 95. •• Recov. R. Northanti. Hil. Eliz. ro. 44«- " Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 25 & 26 Eliz. "Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii) vol. ii, bdle. 244, no. 1. " Feet of K. Northanti. Eaat. n Jas. I ; Recov. R. Northantt. East. 11 Jas. I, ro. 122. '♦ Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 14 Jai. I. " V.C.H. Beds, iii, 239; D.N.B. '« Cal. S.P. Dom. 1627-8, p. 372. «' Init. Bks. P.R.O. " D.N.B. •• Cal. Com. for Comp. 1403. •"Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1650; Recov. R. East. 1652, ro. i. "a D.N.B. " Nortbanls. N. and Q. (new Ser.) i, 1 1 3 et seq. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Wm. and Mary. " Hist. Northants. ii, 209. •• Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 27 Geo. II. •' Burke, Landed Gentry. " Recov. R. Northanti. 24 Geo. Ill, ro. 18; ; 28 Geo. Ill, ro. 41. •' Bk. of Fees, pt. ii, 937. •• Feui.. Aids, iv, 13, 49, 51 ; Cal. Inq. viii, 339. •• Bk. of Feel, pt. ii, 937. *" Feud. Aids, iv, 13 ; Cal. Inq. viii, 339. *^Feud. Aids, iv, 28. •« Ibid. 449. *>Ibid. 49, 51. " Feet of F. Hen. VI, case 179, file 93, no. 46. 165 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The church of ALL SAINTS consists CHURCH of chancel 25 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 9 in. with vestry on the north and chapel on the south side, clearstoried nave of three bays 36 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft., north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower 11 ft. 6 in. square, all these measure- ments being internal. The north aisle is 8 ft. 6 in. wide and the south aisle 7 ft. 6 in., the width across nave and aisles being 34. ft. 8 in. With the exception of the tower, which is faced with dressed stone, the church is built of rubble, plastered internally, and the chancel has a grey slated, eaved roof. The other roofs are leaded and of low pitch, behind battlemented parapets. The chancel, chancel arch and south arcade of the nave belong to the latter half of the 13th century, though the chancel retains only two original windows and has been otherwise altered. The north arcade m m^^'^-mm^^m North Aisle .w.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.nii'''.'.'. Nave South Aisle ilK'-'t-'-^l a 132! Century |,' Q 14™ Century I ESISIHCentur/^ 10 5 Scale of Feet Plan of All Saints' Church, Aldwinkle and aisle, vestry and clearstory date from the 14th century, the arcade being first built, while the chapel, tower and porch are 15th-century additions, the chapel having been erected by William Chambre and his wife, who founded a chantry there in 1488. Several new windows were inserted about this time. The chancel was restored in 1863, and the rest of the church in 1893, when the old scats and a west gallery were removed and the tower arch opened out. The building is at present used chiefly for funerals, and is furnished with chairs. The chancel has a four-light east window with much restored early geometrical tracery, and in the north wall is a window of two uncusped lights with a quatrcfoilcd circle in the head. The other windows, one at the west end of the north wall and tlie other on the south side, are 15th-century insertions, each of two cinquefoiled lights. The piscina is in the sill of the south window and there are brackets for statues in the east wall, on cither side of the window. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders on moulded corbels, that on the south side having nail head orna- ment and a small angle shaft supporting the outer order. The 13th-century south arcade has chamfered arches of two orders springing from cylindrical piers with moulded capitals and bases, and from a similar respond at the west end. The nail head occurs in the capital of the easternmost pier, and at the east end the arch 'ests on a corbel.''* The circular bases stand on large square plinths 9 in. high, which may be part of the south wall of an earlier church. The north arcade has cylindrical piers of less diameter*^ and half-round responds, all with circular moulded capitals and bases,'" and the arches are also of two chamfered orders. There is a 14th-century piscina with muti- lated bowl in the south-east corner of the north aisle, and this aisle retains its 14th-century east and west windows, each of two trefoiled lights with a quatre- foil in the head, and the west window of the south aisle is of the same period and style. The other win- dows of the aisles are four-centred 15th-century insertions of three cinquefoiled lights, and the clear- story has two square-headed two-light windows on each side. The moulded north doorway is contemporary with the wall, but the south door- way is of 15th century date. The nave roof has four moulded principals, one of which bears the initials and date ' I.B. 1676.' The chancel roof is modern. The Chambre chantry chapel is 14 ft. 6 in. long by 10 ft. 6 in. wide and is open to the chan- cel by a 15th-century arch of two moulded orders on at- tached shafts, and to the aisle by a narrower arch of the same type, the shafts having moulded capitals. In the east capital of the arch to the chancel and the north capital of the aisle arch are shields of arms, the former the arms of William Chambre, and there is a third below a bracket in the east wall. The chapel stands in front of the south aisle and is lighted by a four-light east window with Perpendicular tracery and by two three-light windows of the same type on the south side. Below the westernmost window is an ex- ternal doorway with rectang- ular hood, and in the usual position an elaborate traceried piscina recess with battle- mented cresting and circular bowl. The late 14th-century vestry retains two original windows and its west wall is weathered back so as to clear the older chancel window. The tower is of four un- equal stages and has a moulded plinth and buttresses covering the angles, on which animal figures are carved on the strings at each stage. The moulded west doorway is deeply recessed, with crocketcd ogee hood set within a rectangular frame, with quatrcfoilcd circles in the spandrels. Over the doorway is a traceried window of three cinquefoiled liglits, with a small niche above, C II A M a R E . Ciilei a cbeveron bettveen three cintjfoili 9r. *• The corbel may have been ihapcd from a former reipond, *" 'I'lic piers arc 17 in. diam. Those of the *ou(h ;nc.i(Jc arc 21 in. 166 *' There arc no i^uare pliiuhi. Aldwinkle All Saints' Church from rut South fast HUXLOE HUNDRED both with crocketed ogee hoods. The three lower stages on the north side and the two lower on the south are blank, the third having a small traceried opening. The lofty upper stage is almost wholly occupied by double square-headed, traceried bell- chamber windows of two lights, with wide middle muUions and traceried transoms, above which is a band of quatrefoils and battlcmentcd parapets with tall crocketed angle pinnacles. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders, the innermost on half- round responds with moulded capitals and bases. The vice is in the south-west angle. The late 13th-century font consists of an octagonal bowl moulded on the under edge, on a pedestal com- posed of eight keel-shaped shafts with moulded bases. The font was sold in 1655, but was set up again in 1662, when it was rclcaded.^* In the chancel is the brass of William Aldwincle (d. 1463), who is represented in a long garment with his feet resting on a dog. The inscription reads, ' Hie jacet Williu Aldewyncle armig. qui obiit xxviii die augusti A° Dni. Millmo cccclxiii cujus ale ppicietur Deus.' On the waU of the north aisle is a brass com- memorating John Pykering, physician (d. 1659) with a rhyming inscription written by himself in 1652. There are Jacobean turned altar rails, and over the chancel arch the names of the churchwardens of 1814 on either side of the space formerly occupied by the Royal Arms. Bridges records a ' portrait of St. Catharine with her wheel ' in the lower window of the south aisle,'" but this is lost. There were formerly five bells^" in the tower, but in 1903 four were melted down to provide metal for a new ring at Aldwinkle St. Peter. The remaining bell (tenor) was found to be so badly cracked that it was recast. The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of c. 1570, and two patens of 1861, one inscribed ' Ald- wincle All Saints Church 1864. R. Roberts, rector.' There is also a pewter flagon/^ The registers begin in 1653. The first volume con- tains entries of baptisms to 1726, of marriages to 1725, and of burials to 1679. There is a lych gate in memory of Fanny Satter- field Hodgson (d. 191 7). The advowson presumably passed ADVOWSON with the manor of the Aldwinkle family until in 1 315 it was conveyed by Richard son of Henry Aldwinkle to Robert de Holand.^' It then went with the manor of Ald- winkle St. Peter (q.v.) until the forfeiture by Francis Lord Lovel in 1487. Sir Ralph Butler, possibly as trustee, presented in 1 47 1. The advowson later passed to the Somerset family, Sir Charles Somerset afterwards Earl of Worcester presenting in 1503 and ALDWINKLE ALL SAINTS 15 II.*' It was conveyed by William Earl of Worcester in 1553 to Gilbert Pickering,'''' apparently on behalf of his son Boniface, who died seised of it in 1586.^* Boni- face left it to his younger son John,'* and it was prob- ably he who in 1597 presented his kinsman Henry Pickering, father of Mary, mother of John Dryden, the poet, who was born at the rectory in 1631." Early in the 17th century the advowson was acquired by Simon Lcnton,wiio conveyed it with the manor (q.v.) in 161 3 to the Fleetwoods.** Elizabcth,vvidow of William Fleet- wood who sold the manor, presented in 1 72 1,** and died in 1722. Her eldest son Miles had a son and heir William** who died without issue in 1747. Eliza- beth, one of his three sisters and coheirs, wife of John Kimpton, obtained her sister's shares in the advowson. John Kimpton desired to sell the advowson, but fail- ing, presented Thomas Haweis, a Methodist, who was assistant chaplain at the Lock Hospital. Later, being offered £1,000 for the advowson, Kimpton tried to eject Haweis. Eventually Lady Huntingdon bought the advowson and Haweis remained incumbent until his death in 1820.*"" The advowson was afterwards purchased by Lord Lilford, who held it with Ald- winkle St. Peter, to which parish it was united in 1 879.** The present Lord Lilford is patron of the united parishes. The chantry of William Chambre in the church of All Saints was founded by William Chambre in 1488 to pray for William and his wife Elizabeth and her former husband William Aldwinkle (d. 1463). '^ It was endowed with the manors of Armston and Denford and lands there and in Aldwinkle and Benefield.*' It was founded to provide a priest who taught six poor children of the town of Aldwinkle. Its lotal value in 1549 was £10 15J. 6d. out of which 26s. 8<^. was annually distributed in alms to two poor bedesmen in the almshouses in Aldwinkle.** On 18 December, 1546 William Dudley and others were ordered to take possession of the chantry** and nine days later the endowment, including the Chantry House in Ald- winkle, was granted to Sir Edward Montagu.** The property of the chantry seems to have reverted to the Crown and was granted out again in 1570 to Thomas second Lord Wentworth in tail. At the request of Lord Wentworth's son William, it was re- granted in 1585 to Theophilus Adams and Thomas Butler.*' In 1619 William Montagu, younger son of Edward the original grantee, died seised of a messuage and 20 acres of wood called Priestes Coppice, probably part of the endowment. His heir was his nephew Edward afterwards second Lord Montagu.** The chantry house, which had been the priest's dwelling and the school house, seems to have been held with the manor. Bridges (1724) states that its ruins ' which were lately pulled down stood, in Mr. Spincke's yard, where human bones were dug up.' *' •• Assoc. Arch. Sac. Rep. vii, 244. *' Bridges, Hist, oj Nortbants. ii, 210. '» North, Ch. Bells of Northanis. 178, where the inscriptions are given. The treble and tenor were dated 1720, the second 1830, the third was by Thomas Eayre 1724, and the fourth by Thomas Norris, 1637. " Markham, Cb. Plate of Nortianls. 6. '« Feet of F. bdle. 175, file 65, no. 193. "Bridges, H:sl. Nortbanls. ii, 210; G.E.C. Compute Peerage, viii, 20. '* Rccov. R. Northants. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516. " Bridges, op cit. ii, 3S4 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich, i Mary ; Chan. Inq. p.m 209 (33). " Ibid. " D.N.B. ■ " Recov. R. Northants. East. 11 Jas. I, ro. 122; Feet of F. Northants. East. II Jas. I ; Mich. 14 Jas. I. " Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). •» Northants N. and Q. (New Ser.), i, 119; Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 20 Geo. II. 167 '"^n.N.B. XXV, 186; XXXV, 288; jV. and Q. (New Ser.), vi, 73. " London Gaz. 5 Dec. 1879, no. 7201. " Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 253. "Ibid. 311. •• Chant. Certif. 36, no. 9. " L. &■ P. Hen. VIII, vol. xxi, pt. ii, g- 64S (39). " Ibid. (52). " Pat. R. 27 Eliz. pt. 4. m. 31. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) ddxxxv, 51. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 21 1. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE By indenture dated 19 Dec 1765, CHARITIES in performance of the intention of Henry Wotton, as expressed by his will, a yearly rentcharge of £1 lis. was granted to trustees. The rentcharge is paid out of land belong- ing to Lord Lilford and is applied by the overseers in the distribution of 120 twopenny loaves and 12s. in money to between 50 and 60 recipients. Poor's Allotment. On an inclosure of the lands at Aldwinile land was set out for the use of the poor. The property consists of 24 a. I r. 30 p. of land let to Lord Lilford for ^^30 yearly, which sum is distributed by the rector and churchwardens in coal to about 60 recipients. The Church Land was set out on the inclosure of the lands in AldwinJde and consists of 3 r. 1 8 p. let to Lord Lilford at £1 15/. yearly, which is applied by the churchwardens towards church repairs. Richard Thorpe, rector of Barby, who died in 167 1, left by his will a quarter of a yardland in Barby Field for teaching poor children at Aldwinkle. The rent is paid to the managers of Aldwinkle Church School. ALDWINKLE ST. PETER The description of the parish of Aldwinkle St. Peter is covered by that of Aldwinkle All Saints (q.v.) to which it was united in 1879. T^^ villages adjoin Aldwinkle St. Peter, which is the larger, lying to the north of Aldwinkle All Saints. The present rectory house was built in 1867. The old rectory, which ■ Steps desfroyei I Late I6I2J Century Plan of LyvEDtN New Building appears to have been a timber-framed house, was pulled down at the end of the 1 8th century by the first Lord Lilford.i At Lyvcdcn, where the land rises some 150 ft. from the River Nenc and the country is well wooded, are the two interesting houscsknown as the Old Building and the New Building. The former stands on the site of an old manor house of the Treshams of Rushton. Of rcccnl years it has been occupied as a farmhouse, and has become encumbered with farm buildings. Only a few fragments of the old house which it replaced are preserved, some built into the house itself, others into an adjacent cottage. It had an imposing Jacobean ' Attoc. Arch. Soc. Rtp. vii, 251. staircase and some handsome fireplaces of the same period, but the staircase has now been sold. It appears to have extended farther to the east than at present, and there was a forecourt entered through a fine arch- way, which, however, was taken down about the middle of last century and re-erected at the neighbouring house of Farming Woods by the then owner, Lord Lyveden. Towards the end of the l6th century. Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton, of whom Thomas Fuller in his Worthies says ' hard to say whether greater his delight or skill in building, though more forward in beginning than fortu- nate in finishing his fabricks,' devised a fine lay-out at the back of the Old Building, extending some way up the hill. Remains of it still exist, particularly a long raised terrace with a mount at each end. Adjoining this is a ' canal,' part of a series which inclosed a ' water orchard.' Be- yond these again, and doubtless once connected to them in the design, lies the curious New Building, one of three notable buildings erected by Sir Thomas, the others being the Triangular Lodge at Rushton and the Market House at Rothwell. Sir Thomas was a Roman Catholic and a mys- tic. As the former he suffered long terms of imprisonment, which incidentally gave him leisure as a mystic to elaborate many curious conceits, some of which he embodied in the Triangular Lodge and this New Building. The first is based on the number 3 and illustrates tiie doctrine of the Trinity. The New Building symbolises the I'assion, and its design is influenced by the numbers 3, 5, 7, 9. The plan is an equal-armed cross, each arm being a square with a bay window at the end. The basement windows and shields are grouped in threes ; the bay windows have five sides of 5 ft. long ; the lower cornice carries seven emblems of the Passion placed in rotation ; in the upper cornice were appropriate legends, parts of which remain, and they were so selected that those on each arm had eighty-one letters (nine times nine). The building wa« intended for a small house or ' lodge,' 168 Aldwinkle St. PtTER : Lvveden Ntw Huilding Ai.inviNKLE Sr. I'liek : Lyveden Old IU ii.uinc; HUXLOE HUNDRED and it contained the usual rooms of the period, hall, parlour, great chamber, bedrooms, kitchen, pantry, larder, staircase, etc. The arch that connects the parlour with its bay window bears the arms of Sir Thomas and his wife, Muriel Throckmorton. The Tkuham. Party lallirt- vfise argent and labU with six trefoils vert. THROCrMORTON. OultS a cbeveron argent charged tvith three gemell-bars sable. building is of stone and is admirably built, much of the detail being as sharp as when new. It was pur- chased, together with the water orchard and the long terrace, in 1922 by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. The walls were then protected against the weather, but no restoration was attempted. It has been a ruin from the time when it was built, for Sir Thomas died before it was completed, and immediately afterwards the house and manor (q.v.) were forfeited, as his son Francis became implicated in the Gunpowder Plot. The Lyveden estate appears to have been rescued from the general disaster, for the Old Building was rebuilt by another son, Sir Lewis. His arms, impaling those of his Spanish wife, were in a panel in the principal gable, but were removed along with the archway and in- corporated with it when it was rebuilt at Farming Woods.* In the time of Edward the Confessor 3 MANORS hides in ALDWINKLE or HOLLANDS MANOR were held by Peterborough Abbey for the sustenance of the monks, but by 1086 Ferron held them by the king's command, against the will of the abbot. ^ According to the survey of c. 11 25 3J hides were held of the abbey by Ascelin de Water- ville.* Ascelin's son Hugh before 1 155 made a composition with Abbot Martin whereby he should hold the manor of Aldwinkle at a rent of 60/. ^d.,^ From this date the manor followed the descent of Thorpe Achurch (q.v.) to the end of the 15th century.' In 1487, while Margaret Countess of Richmond held it for life,' the reversion of Hollands Manor, in tail male, was granted to John Risley, knt., the king's servant. The grant included woodland called Bare- thanke and meadow in Brantsey and Swillyngholt in Aldwinkle.* The Countess of Richmond died in 1509 and John Risley, to whom the manor then passed, died in 1513 leaving no son.' The manor thus reverted ALDWINKLE ST. PETER to the king, who in this year granted it in fee to Sir William Compton." He died seised of Hollands Manor in 1528 having a son and heir Peter, then six years old, who died in 1539 ^'^^ ^^^^ succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards Lord Compton.*^ In 1570 Henry Compton, at this time a knight, had licence to C o M p T 0 N. Sahlt a leopard or between three helms argent. Cecil. Barry of ten argent and azure six scutcheons sable each charged with a lion argent. alienate Aldwinkle or Holland Manor, to Thomas Cecil,*2 who became Earl of Exeter in 1605. The manor of Aldwinkle St. Peter afterwards followed the descent of the Earldom of Exeter until in 1773 it was conveyed by Henry Brownlowe, ninth Earl, to Thomas Powys of Lilford,^^ created Baron Lilford in 1797." It subsequently passed with this barony. One large virgate of land in Aldwinkle was stated in the 12th century survey of Northamptonshire to be held by Geoffrey de Glinton of the fee of Gloucester belonging to the Barton.** In 1285 this overlordship of the earls of Gloucester in Aldwinkle was disputed by the abbot of Peterborough, who alleged that the earl's bailifTs had usurped one-eighth part of the vill of Aldwinkle, which had been wont to answer to the abbot's bailiffs for all that pertained to the king's dues, in the same way as all other vills within the abbot's liberty. Writs of summons were accordingly issued against the earl," but his right seems to have been maintained, and henceforth it passed with the overlordship of Denford (q.v.). Joan, the widow of the Earl of Gloucester and the king's daughter, was found in 1306-7 to have received yearly rents from Aldwinkle,*' and two Icets in Aldwinkle were held, as parcel of one-third of the earldom of Gloucester and in right of his late wife Margaret, by Ralph, Earl of Stafford, who died in 1372,** and by succeeding earls of Stafford.** In 1404, Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, being a minor and a royal ward, the king, after assigning a dower to the late earl's widow, granted, from the two-thirds of the possessions of the earldom still in his hands, a leet of the township of Aldwinkle to his consort. Queen Joan, to hold during the young earl's minority.'"* At the view of frank- pledge held at Denford in 1549, Sir Thomas Tresham, * For a full Recount of Lyveden BuUd- ingi, lee J. A. Gotch, The Buildings of Sir Thomas Tresham. A number of references to them will also be found in Hist. USS. Com. Rep. (Rushton MSS.) * y.C.H.Northants.i, 3166. « Ibid. 365*. * Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 236. * Feud. Aids, iv. 13; Feet of F. 29 Edw. I, case 175, file 58, no. 398; ii Edw. II, case 176, file 69, no. 368 ; Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. loa; 1313-17, pp. 72, 184; 1317-21, p. 43'; '3Z'-4, 88. >'3i 1327-30, p. 455; Cal. Chart, 1300-26, p. 242 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), 19; I Hen. VI (51). ' Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 155. • Ibid. p. 210. • Chan. Inq. p.m. ptf. 25, no. 63 ; ptf. 79, nos. 174, 191. ">/.. 6- P. Hen. VIII, 1509-13, no. 1662 (58), no. 2772(51). " Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iii, 390. '" Pat. R. 12 Eliz. pt. 7, m.i ; pt. 9, m. 34 ; Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 13 Eliz. '• Close R. 13 Geo. Ill, pt. 19, no. 7. '« G.E.C. Complete Peerage, y, 80. » V.C.H. Northants. i, 365*. '^ Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 113- 119. " Cal. Inq. iv, p. 316. " Ch. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), 62. '• Ibid. 10 Ric. II, no. 38 ; 4 Hen. IV no. 41. •" Cal. Pat. 1401-5, p. 349. 169 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Thomas Webster of Barnewell and Richard Webster were presented from Aldwinkle for failure to give suit at the court and were amerced.^* Bridges states that two houses in the parish of Aldwinkle St. Peter and two in that of Aldwinkle All Saints were held of the honour of Gloucester in 1723.** LYVEDEN was partly in the Bassingbourne fee and partly in the Angevin fee of Churchfield, both of which fees were held of the abbot of Peterborough.*' It was divided into Upper and Lower or Great and Little Lyveden. The Angevin portion followed the descent of Churchfield in Oundle (q.v.) and the Bassingbourne that of Benefield (q.v.) until the end of the 14th century when in 1372 we find that Walter de Frampton of Melcombe Regis and Margaret, his wife, conveyed the manors of Churchfield and Lyveden with lands, wood and rent in Pottereslyveden, Over- ly\'eden, Lyveden and Lyveden Daundelyn to Richard de Spredlyngton and Roger de Wymondham, clerks.** Possibly the grantees were acting on behalf of Sir John Holt, justice of the Court of Common Pleas, who was in possession of the manors about this time. He was impeached in the Parliament of 1388 and forfeited his lands. *s His property, however, was restored to his son John Holt in 1390, except the manor of L}'veden which had been granted to Sir John Devereux, knt., and others to whom it was confirmed in 1392 in payment of debts due from the Crown.** Devereux apparently sold to Sir William FitzWalter, who, with his wife, Joan, conveyed the manor in 1401 to Nicholas de Pye.*' Eventually it went back to John Holt, the son, who died seised of rents from the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield in 1419, leaving a son Hugh aged 30 years.** Hugh died in 1420, his heir being his brother Richard Holt, clerk, aged 37 years.*' As early as 1458 the Treshams of Rushton were holding the manor. A messuage and lands in Aldwinkle were held by Sir Thomas Tresham, controller of the king's household, who was beheaded as a Lancastrian in ^ei." This property was granted in 1462 to John Donne, usher of the king's chambers," who in 1465 conveyed it to George, Bishop of Exeter, and other feoffees.** In 1480 it was given by the Crown to William Sayer and Margaret his wife for their lives,'' and in 1484 it was granted in tail male to Edward Brampton, esquire of the king's body.** After the accession of Henry VII, however, the manor of Lyveden was restored to John son of Thomas Tresham,** who did homage to the abbot in 1499.** He was succeeded by his son. Sir Thomas Tresham," who with Isabel Tresham, widow, probably his mother, settled the manor in 1536.** In 1540 Sir Thomas Tresham had licence to impark 120 acres of wood, 250 acres of pasture and 50 acres of meadow in Lyveden commonly called Lyveden Park ; the lands abutted on the east on Bareshank Wood and on Whynney Green in Pilton ; on the west on the wood called Sherylappe and Sudborough Green ; on the south on Sir Thomas's own wood called Ladywood and Bradyhawe, and on the north on the highway called Harlowe Ryding." Leland wrote ' he cauUith himself communely Tresham of Lyveden a 2 miles from Undale in Northamptonshire where yet standithe Parte of aun- cient Manor Place and godely Medows about it, and there hath Tresham a 300 Markes by the yere.'*" Sir Thomas died in 1547 leaving a son, Thomas, then a minor, who became prior of the order of St. John of Jerusalem in England.*^ He died in 1558 seised of the manor of Ly\'eden and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas, son of John Tresham, then under age,** who was later imprisoned several times for recusancy. The New Building at Lweden was built by him and he laid out the gardens there.*' He settled the manor on his wife Muriel and his son Francis, in 1584, and died in 1605. His son Francis, then aged 38 years,** was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot and died in the Tower within a year of his father, his estates having been forfeited. He left no son, but in 1634, after the deaths of Muriel, widow of Thomas, and Anne, widow of Francis, who had interests in the manors under settlements, the manor of Lyveden and other estates were granted to Sir George Simeon and another,** who in that year conveyed them to Francis' brother. Sir Lewis Tresham, and his wife Mary.** Lewis, who had been created a baronet in 161 1,*' died at Lyveden seised of the manor in 1639 leaving a son and heir William.** The manor had been settled in 1634 °" ^^^ marriage of William with Frances, daughter of Sir John Gage of Firle in Sussex, on William and his heirs male, with remainder to Toby Tresham and his sons Edward and Thomas. A month before his death, however, Lewis Tresham revoked this settlement for another on William and his heirs. Sir William Tresham died without issue in 1643 leaving as his heirs his sister Mary, the wife of Thomas Lord Brudenell, and the sons of his sisters Elizabeth, Frances, and Katherine, namely, Henry Lord Morley and Mounteaglc, William Lord Stourton, and Sir John Webbe, bart.** None of these heirs, however, appears to have had any interest in Ly\eden, the limitations under the various settlements being to heirs male. Frances, widow of Sir William Tresham, who in 1649 married George Gage, held the manor after Sir William's death and it was sequestered for her and her husband's recusancy.*" »> Court Rolli, Gen. Scr. ptf. 194, no. 49- •• Hill. Norlbanti. 11, 210. " Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fiei (Northanti. Rec. Soc), 73, 120. " Feet of F. Northanti. 46 Edw. Ill, DO. 644. » Rolli 0/ Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 240A, 2410. •• lUrl. Ch. 49 D. 54. " Feet of F. Northanti. bdlc. 179, file 90, no. 14. »• Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 lien. V, file 43 ; Eicheq. Inq. p m. bdle. 114, no. 7. ••Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Hen. V, file 52; the Northanti portion ii illrRible. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. IV, no. 65 ; Varioui Coll. iii [Hist. MSS. Com. Hep.), pp. vi, vii. •' Fine R. 5 Edw. IV ; Cal. Pal. 1461-7, p. III. "Ibid. 431. " Ibid. 1476-85, 201. »« Ibid. 416. " Varioui Coll. iii {Hist. MSS. Com. Rfp.)y pp. vi, vii. •• Hriclgd, Hill, oj Northanls. ii, 373. •' Ibid. 69. •" Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mil. 27 Hen. VIII. •• L. &■ P. lien, yill, 1540, no. 831 (5°)- ♦" Lrland, llinerary (ed. 1744), vi, 32. " Dridgci, op. cit. ii, 374. 170 *• Ch.in. Inq. p.m. bdle. 124, no. 144. ♦• Varioui Coll. iii (Hut. MSS. Com. Rep.), pp. xlix to Ivii. ** Wardi and Liv. Inq. p.m. bdle. 294, no. 104. " Pat. R. 9 Chai. I, pt. 5, no. 24 ; Recov. R. Eait. 26 Elii. ro. 56. «• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 9 Cha». I. *' G.E.C. Baronetage, i, 56. " VVardiand Liv. Inq. p.m. ii,bdle. 66, no. 81. "Chan. Inq. p.m. II Miic. 524(5); 537 (>8). 539 (s). 54° (75)- »» Cat. Com. Jor Comp. 2624, 3049 ; S. R. Gardiner, Hist. 0/ Commonwealth, iii, 197. HUXLOE HUNDRED Major-General Butler, the Parliamentary commander, about 1655 attempted to demolish Lvveden House built by Sir Thomas Trcsham, but his efforts were in vain, and he was only able to take the timber, which he carried to Oundle to be used for the house there afterwards belonging to Major Creed." At the Restoration the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield, with Lyveden House, were said to be in the Crown, either by attainder or escheat, and in 1660 were granted to Edward Earl of Sandwich.'* The property, however, was claimed by Maurice, son of Thomas Tresham, and in l66l he and the Earl of Sandwich were together enfeoffed of it.'* In 1667 Maurice Tresham was said to be desirous of selling his part in order to pay his debts," and he and the carl probably conveyed to George Mathcw and Mary his wife, Sir William Smith, bart., of Redcliffe (co. Bucks) and Thomas Rymer, in whose possession the manors are found in 1668.'* It is possible these grantees were acting on behalf of William Harbord, of Grafton, the politician and diplomat, who held the manor and died in 1691 at Belgrade on his way to undertake the duties of ambassador at Constantinople. He left by his first wife Mary, daughter of Dr. Arthur Ducks, three daughters, namely, Margaret, the wife of Robert King, second Lord Kingston in the Peerage of Ireland, who died without issue ; Mary, the wife of Sir Edward Ayscough, who left two daughters, Letitia, the wife of Lt. Andrew Thornhaugh, and Isabel, the wife of Matthew Bourcherett ; and Grace, the wife of Thomas Hatcher, who died without issue ; and by his second wife Catherine Russell, he left a daughter Letitia.wife of Sir Rowland Winn of Nostell.'* The Harbord co-heirs were dealing with the manor during the first half of the 1 8th century. The largest share became acquired by the Winns.*'' Rowland Winn and his wife died at Bath in 1722, and their son Rowland^ in 1732 conveyed his share to Anne Fitzpatrick of Farming Woods, widow of Richard Fitzpatrick, Lord Gowran.'* She died in 1744 and her son, John Fitzpatrick, created Earl of Upper Ossory in 1751, seems to have purchased the rest of the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield.** He died in 1758, and his son John in 1769 settled both manors." John the second Earl died in 1818, leaving two unmarried daughters, Gertrude and Anne, known as the ladies Fitzpatrick of Farming Woods. Both these ladies died in 1841, when the manors passed to an iUegitimate daughter of the second earl, Emma Mary. In 1823 she married Robert Smith, who took the name of Vernon. He held various ministerial offices and was created Lord Lyveden in 1859. On his death in 1873 he was succeeded by his eldest son Fitzpatrick ALDWINKLE ST. PETER Henry Vernon, who died without issue in 1900. The manor then went to his nephew Courtenay Robert Percy, son of the Rev. Courtenay John Vernon, some- time rector of Grafton Underwood.'* FitzPatrick. Sabli a ialtire argent and a chtef azure tuitb three fieurt de Us or tbrrein. Argent fretty " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 373. " Pat. R. 12 Chai. II, pt. 24, m. 12. »• Cal.S.P.Dom. 16601, 351, 367 ; Feet of F. Northant!. Trin. 1 3 Chas. II. »« Cat. S.P. Dom. 1667, 88. " G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, 191 ; D.N.B. •* Pedigree in Baker, Hut. of Noribants. ii, 172. •' Recov. R. Mich. 8 WiU. Ill, ro. 22 ; Trin. 2 Anne, ro. 148, 361 ; Mich. 5 Geo. I, ro. 243; Trin. 9 Geo. Ill, ro. 453; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 8 WUl. III. " Bridget, op. cit. ii, 374 ; Recov. R. Mich. I Anne, ro. 298 ; Mich. 2 Anne, ro. 361. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 5 Gto. II. There were several large freeholders in the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield. Matefrei the Dispenser held lands in Churchfield in 1202 and in the time of Abbot Robert de Lindsey (l2l4-22).«* In 1233-4 Richard, son of Simon de Lyveden, conveyed a messuage to his brother Roger.'* William Aldwyncle in 1428 held a fourth part of a knight's fee in Church- field, formerly held by Henry de Wyville,*' and Sir John Holond had a free tenement in Oundle formerly held by William de Lyvenden and previously by Sir Reginald de Wadville (Waterville ?).»« The Lyveden family held considerable property in the manors.*' The church of ST. PETER consists CHURCH of chancel 31 ft. by 17 ft. 9 in., with north vestry, clearstoried nave of three bays 36 ft. 9 in. by 14 ft. 8 in., north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower 8 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in., surmounted by a spire. The north aisle is 8 ft. 6 in. wide, the south aisle 10 ft. 6 in., the width across nave and aisles being 38 ft. 8 in. All these measurements are internal. The tower is faced with ashlar, but the rest of the building is of rubble, with lead covered roofs. There are plain parapets to the chancel, north aisle and north side of the clearstory, but elsewhere the parapets are battlemented. The porch has a plain gable and overhanging stone slated roof. The earliest work in the present building is the west respond and the western cylindrical pier of the north arcade, which are c. 1180-90. At this time a north aisle was added to an earlier 12th century aisle- less building, the nave of which was probably about the same length as at present. The pier has a moulded base and rudely carved capital with square abacus, and the respond a square impost, but no other work de Liveden and Fithio Palmer hi» father, Thomas son of Fethio, Andrew son of Wilham de Liveden (no. 55) ; Walter eon of the late Richard Ic Palmer of Great Liveden, Walter son of the late Robert le Palmer of Liveden and Amabilia his wife, Robert de Wivile of Liveden, Robert ion of William de Liveden and Richard son of William de Liveden (no. 56) ; Humfrey de Bassingburne, knt., Richard son of William son of Luke de Liveden, Ralph le Maine, William son of Andrew de Live- den (no. 57) ; Richard son of Thomas le Paumer of Great Liveden, Andrew son of William de Liveden, Robert son of William de Liveden and Richard hit brother (no. 58). " Recov. R. Trin. 9 Geo. Ill, ro. 453. •' Ibid. •■ G.E.C. Complete Peerage. "V.C.H. Northant!. i, 366; Pytchley, Bk. of fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 121. •« Feet of F. Hen. III. bdle. 172, file 27, no. 338. •' Feud. Aids, iv, 448. " Cott. MS. Nero C vii, fol. 107. " In tome 13th and 14th century charter! relating to Great and Little Liveden among the Buccleucb MSS. (Boughton House), nos. 53 to 58, there are references to Richard son of William de Liveden, Robert le Wyvile and William le Palmer (no. 53) ; Robert son of William de Liveden (no. 54) ; Jordan son of Fithio 171 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE of this period survives. The next enlargement was about the middle of the 13th century, when a south aisle was added, and later in the century, c. 1290, the north aisle was rebuilt, the south arcade reconstructed with the old materials, and the aisle widened. The chancel was rebuilt in its present form about 1370-75, and the porch, clearstory, and tower and spire are approxi- mately of the same date. The vestry is contemporary with the chancel. The chancel was restored in i860, and the rest of the building in 1876, when the north aisle was rebuilt. With the exception of the tower and the west end of the nave, all the walls are plastered internally. The chancel has an east window of five cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery, perhaps a later insertion, and is lighted on the south side by three 14th-century windows each of two trefoiled lights with traceried heads differing in design, and one at the west end of the north wall. The sill of the eastern window is lowered internally so as to form two graded sedilia, on either side of which in the window jambs are ogee-headed niches. The moulded piscina is also ogee- headed and has a fluted bowl. The west window has a transom at the level of the other window sills, which cuts off the lower portion of both lights, one of which** is rebated as a low side window. There is a scroll string all round the chancel externally at siU level. In the north wall is a rectangular aumbry, and a moulded doorway to the vestry,'* and west of this a restored wall recess. In the east wall, north of the altar, is an image bracket. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders with hoodmould on each side, the inner order resting on carved and moulded corbels. The oak chancel screen was erected in 1921. The north arcade, as rebuilt in the late 1 3th century, has three pointed arches of two chamfered orders with hoodmoulds, resting at the west end on the square respond and early pier already described. The eastern pier (c. 129c) consists of four attached shafts with moulded capital and base ; at the east end the inner order of the arch is carried on a moulded and carved corbel. The hoods have stops over the piers. The cylindrical piers of the south arcade are c. 1240, but differ in detail. Both have circular moulded bases, and the capital of the western pier is also circular and has nail-head ornament. The eastern pier is of slightly less diameter and has an octagonal moulded capital with pellet ornament, and the base stands on an octagonal plinth. The responds are similar to those of the north arcade and all four piers stand on high square plinths, perhaps parts of the walling of the original church. The arches, as on the north, are of two chamfered orders. In the south aisle are three late 13th-century windows of two lights, that in the west wall witli forked mullion and low transom, the bottom lights of which are rebated inside though the sill is over 5 ft. above the floor. The window west of the porch is of two trefoiled lights with a cuspcd circle in the head, and the window at the east end of the aisle is of the same type, with an image bracket on either side. Next to it in the south wall is a two-light window with 14th-century tracery ; its sill is lowered inside to form a seat, at the back of which below the window is a piscina with trefoiled ogee-head and projecting moulded basin carried on a small shaft. The middle window of the aisle is a 15th-century insertion of three lights. The south doorway is modern. At the east end of the north aisle is a pillar piscina with moulded basin on three clustered and banded shafts with chamfered base and square plinth ; the recess has a plain ogee head and the bowl is fluted. More to the north is a 13th-century piscina with trefoil headed recess and bowl in the thickness of the wall. There are two image-brackets in the east wall, the window of which is modern ; but with one exception the other windows of the aisle, and the north doorway, are the old ones re-used. The clearstory windows, four on each side, are square-headed and of two tre- foiled lights. The tower is of three stages with moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses and a projecting vice in the south- east angle. The two lower stages are blank on the north and south, but on the west there is an ogee- headed window of two lights, the mullion and tracery of which are new, and in the middle stage a circular moulded window with modern ' roue tournante ' tracery. The bell-chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, and the cornice above, from which the graceful broach spire rises, is carved with grotesque heads and birds clinging head downwards. The broaches have small octagonal pinnacles, and there are three sets of spire lights on the cardinal faces. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders on moulded and carved corbels. The doorway to the vice has a shaped and moulded head. The late 13th-century font is similar to that at All Saints' church, with octagonal bowl and shafted stem. The pulpit and other fittings are modern. In the chancel is an elaborate mural monument to Margaret Davenant (d. 1613) with shield of arms, and on the entablature the date of erection ' Anno Domini 1616.' There is some interesting mediaeval glass. In the western window south of the chancel are figures of St. George and St. Christopher beneath canopies, c. 1290, and with a border of alternate white hounds and yellow hares ; in the top lights of the east window are figures of two priests, one representing Roger Travers, rector, and the other William de Luffwyck, the builder of the chancel, who was rector 1335-80 : both are mentioned by name in inscriptions. The tower window has modern glass commemorating Thomas Fuller. There are five bells by Taylor and Co. of Lough- borough, 1903. A former ring of three (the tenor dated 1585, and the second by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, 1724)'" was then recast and a new treble and tenor added. The plate consists of a cup, paten, and flagon of 1855 ; there is also a plated paten." •• The wcit light : the lower hook on the weitern jamb itill rcmalni, and the two bolt hold on the mullion cin itill be traced. The height of the lill above the floor ii z ft. 8 in. nil, 379. Asi. Arch Soc. Reps. •• The vcitry originally wai of two itoriei \ it hat a lingle upper window on the north tide. " North, Cb. Bells of Norlhanls. 178, where the inscriptions on the old bells are given, " Markham, Ch. Hate of Nortbanls. 6. 172 It :^t tit '■ ^i ■'< B I" , ii ^ AtDWiNkLE St. Peter's Church FROi\i the South-west Aluwinki.k St. Peter's Church; Tnt Inikkiok, looking North-east HUXLOE HUNDRED The first volume of registers contains entries of baptisms from 156J to 1653, but there are no marriages or burials, the book having been mutilated.'* The second volume contains baptisms 1653-1711, mar- riages 1654-1706, and burials 1653-1678. At the end of the second volume are sixteen pages of briefs. There was a priest among the ADl'OiySON tenants of the Abbey of Peterborough in Aldwinkle between 1 125 and 1 128'' and two parts of the tithes were confirmed to the abbot by Pope Eugenius III.''' The church was held with the manor in the middle of the 12th century \t'hen Hugh de Waterville held them, and they continued to be so held. In 1372 it was found by inquisition that Oliver de Lufwik and Richard, parson of the church of Stanwigg, might assign tenements in Aldwinkle, held of Sir Robert de Holand, to William de Lufwik, parson BARNWELL ALL SAINTS of St. Peter's church, to provide a priest to celebrate daily at the high altar.'* At the time of the Dissolution, the tithes, the rectory house, the land and glebe were worth /;i I 16;. 8(/. a year, whence loj. 7(f. was paid to the archdeacon of Northampton for procurations and synodals.'* In 1570, at an episcopal visitation, it was presented against the rector of Aldwinkle St. Peter that ' the parsonage is in decay. And that he helpeth not the poore nor tcacheth anie children.'" In 1602 Thomas Fuller became rector, whose son, born at Aldwinkle in 1608, was Thomas Fuller, author of the ' Worthies."* Joseph Drury, the distinguished headmaster of Harrow School from 1785 to 1805, held the living for some years on condition he should resign it to the son of Lord Lilford, the patron, but he never lived at Aldwinkle." There are no separate charities for this parish."" BARNWELL ALL SAINTS Bernewelle (xi cent.) ; Bernwella (xii cent.) ; Barnewell, Kyngesbernewelle (xiv cent.) ; King's Barnwell (xvi cent.) ; Barnwell .All Saints (xvii cent.). The parish of Barnwell All Saints, which since 1821 has been united with the sister parish of Barnwell St. Andrew ' covers 1,781 acres on a subsoil of Corn- brash, surrounding Great Oolite in the north and centre and Oxford Clay in the south-east. The land is mostly under grass, but hay, wheat, barley and beans are grown. There are over 200 acres of wood- land. The average height above the ordnance datum is 200 ft. In the west of the parish the main road from Thrapston to Oundle leads northwards, separating it from Lilford cum Wigsthorpe. The village is watered by a stream flowing, also northwards, into and through the neighbouring village of Barnwell St. Andrew, which passes in its course the site of the manor house, tenanted in the early years of the 1 8th century by Mrs. Elizabeth Creed, philanthropist and artist, a Montagu by birth,^ and the remains of the church of All Saints. A little distance to the east are Friar's Close Farm, a moat, and Foot Hill Spinney. There is a considerable amount of wood- land in the south-east of Barnwell All Saints and different parts of this are named Rough Wold, Common Wold, Barnwell Wold, Gunwell's Wold, Middle Coppice, and New Park Close. Earlier place names are Newdegardun, which belonged to the chief manor in the 14th century,' Tuthill and Break- hill situated east of the village, and Kilsey meadow, all three known in the 1 8th century. Barnwell All Saints is said to have been inclosed in 1683.* In 192 1 its population numbered 79 persons. Barnwell All Saints belonged to the MANORS king in 1086, but in the following century was alienated to Robert de Ferrers.* Robert and his successors in the parish held of the Crown in chief until l6o8.' From the first Robert de Ferrers, created Earl of Derby in 1 138, SPENSER or KINGS BARN If ELL descended to his son of the same name' who gave 10 librates of his fee here to his daughter Isold on her marriage with Stephen de Beauchamp. Isold was a widow in 1 1 85, with a son aged four and five daughters." Her son, another Stephen de Beauchamp, was dead without issue in 1216" and his lands in Barnwell went to John, son of his sister Isold de Suburie, (Sud- borough), by her husband Richard de Suburie, and Maud, another sister, widow of William de Wascough*" who conveyed their shares in the manor to Sir Philip Basset.** This conveyance was confirmed by John de Suburie and Ralph son of Maud de Wascough, in 1248. '^ Sir Philip Basset gave the manor of Barnwell All Saints to Hugh le Despenser in free marriage with his daughter Aline or Aveline,*' who be- came the wife of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk** after her first husband's death at the battle of Evesham.** She died in 1 28 1 and the manor descended to her son and heir Hugh le Despenser** afterwards Earl of Despenser. Argent quartered tvitb gules fretty or with a baston sable over all. "The book consisted originally of 65 parchment leaves, of which only 14 re- main. '• Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 166. '• Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. (Hugo Candidus), 83. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (znd nos.) 35. '• Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 291. " Sorthants. N. &■ Q. (New Ser.), ii, 176. "Ibid. 173. " Diet. Nat. Biog. "> See Aldwinkle All Saints. * Vardon, Index to Local Personal and frivau Acts. In 134; < croft in Barnwell next the well which is called ' Barnewell * is referred to (Bucdeuch Coll. 148 H 78). • D.N.B. * Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, file 251, no. 29. ' Bridges, Hist. Noribanis. ii, 213-14. ' y.C.H. Nortbanls. i, 307a, 359-61, jC^b. • Feud. Aids, iv, 13 ; Pat. R. 25 Edw. I, pt, ii(ii7), m. 7 ; 16 Edw. II, pt. i (157), m. 10; II Edw. Ill, pt. ii (190), m. 29 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. ; 27 Edw. Ill, file 121, no. 12 ; 2 Hen. V, file 8, no. 27 ; 6 Hen. VI, file 35, no. 58 j (Ser. ii) cccv. 129. ' Complete Peerage (New Ed.) iv, 190. « Rot. de Dom. (Pipe R. Soc), 20. » Close R. (2 Hen. Ill (19), m. l8d. '*• Dugdale, Baronage^ i, 252. " Anct. D. A. 5033, 5069. " Anct. D. A. 5027 ; Feet of F. Northants. case 173, file 36, no. 569. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27, no. 8. '• Cal. of Inq, p.m. Edw. I, vol. ii, no. 389. " Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 261. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27, no. 8. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Winchester." In 1284 two-thirds of the manor was held by Hugh and the remaining third by John de Beaumont, on whom Godfrey de Beaumont and his wife Cecily, two years before, had settled lands, the inheritance of Cecily in Barnwell.'* Hugh leased the manor in 1297*' and before 1316 granted it for life to Walter de Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who died seised of the manor called Spenser in Barnwell.-" In 1326, the Earl and his son were executed and their lands forfeited.-' After the death of Giles de Wachesham, another life owner,2- the king in 1337 granted the manor to his yeoman, John de Ravensholme.^' Later in the same year Hugh le Despenser, the earl's grandson, renounced his right in the manor in John's favour.'* John, in 1344, made a settlement of the manor in his wife Margaret and his heirs.-* He died in 1353,^' Margaret and their son Thomas, then aged four, surviving him.-' After Thomas's death without issue in 1370, the manor was held by his mother until her death in 1375.'* The heirs of John de Ravensholme were then found to be the descendants of Margery and Cicely, the sisters of his father William de Ravens- holme, namely, John Dyn, grandson of Margery, and John Dounome, son of Cicely .^^ John Dyn had already conveyed the reversion of his moiety to Sir Richard Stury,^ to whom John Dounome soon after Margaret's death, sold his moiety.^' In 1376 Sir Richard received a life grant from the Crown of a weekly cartload of firewood for his hearth at Barnwell such as Sir John de Ravensholme had enjoyed before him.'- In 1385 he settled the manor in tailmale,'^' and on the death of his widow Alice in 141 3 Barnwell All Saints descended to Robert Stury, the third but first surviving contingent heir.** Sir Robert settled it on his son Richard, to whom Catherine Stury, his widow and Richard's mother, released her right.** In 1436 Joan Pavy, widow, formerly relict of John Kent, also renounced her right.'* In 1438 Richard Stury, then knight, sold Barnwell All Saints to John Sturdys, citizen and goldsmith of London." A considerable part of the manor seems also to have belonged to John Laurence of Wyboldston, Bedford- shire, and Elizabeth, wife of John Estwyk, who, together with John Estwyk, sold their rights here to John Sturdys in 1441.** John Sturdys sold the manor in 1447 to Thomas Thorpe'' in whose possession it was in 1451.'"' Thomas, one of the Barons of the Exchequer under Henry VI, was taken prisoner at the Baale of Northampton and executed after a long imprisonment.'" His lands in Northamptonshire were confiscated by Edward IV in I46l,''2 but were re- stored to his son Roger on the accession of Henry VII.''* Roger was lord of the manor of Barnwell All Saints in 1496 when, with his wife Constance, he sold it to David Phelip''* afterwards knight of the body to Henry VII.« \\'ithin a year of his death in 1506** Sir David sold the reversion to George Kirkham, who sued his executors in Chancery for their refusal to complete the bargain.'" George, however, was seised of the manor of Barnwell All Saints when he died in 1528. He had settled it on his son Robert and his wife Sybil.'** In 1548 Sir Robert Kirkham and Sybil, together with John Banastre, whom Sir Robert had enfeoffed of some part of his estates,** sold the manor to Sir Edward Montagu*" and within the next three years George Middleton and George Lynne, sons and heirs respectively of Margaret Middleton and Agnes Lynne, the daughters of George Kirk- ham, confirmed his title.*' From that time to the present day Barnwell All Saints has descended with Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.) Another so-called manor in this parish was in the posses- sion of William Dudley of Clapton in 1521 and descended with the manor of Clapton (q.v.) until 1666, when it was mortgaged by Sir William Dudley*^ and acquired six years later by Edward Lord Montagu.** An estate in this parish called Barnes between 15 1 8 and 1529 appears to be the so-called manor of Barnes sold to Sir Edward Montagu in 1548 by John Banastre who seems to have acquired it from Sir Robert Kirkham.*'' The manor of Barnwell All Saints had two dove- cotes in the 14th century,** twelve in 1548.** A fishery is mentioned amongst its appurtenances in 1 28 1.*' There were a capital messuage and a wind- MoNTAGU. Quarterly : I (S- 4 Argent a Jesse in- dented of three points and a border sable ; 26-3, Or an eagle vert. *' Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 261;. " Feet of F. Northants. caie 174, file 51, no. 12. Cecily was probably a Ferreri by birth [Bridges, op. cit. i, 485]- " Pat. R. 25 Edw. I, pt. 2 (117), m. 17. •" Feud. Aids, iv, 28 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, file 70, no. 7. " Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 266, 6^-70. " Pat. R. 16 Edw. II, pt. I (157), m. 10, " Ibid. II Edw. Ill, pt. 2 C"9o)i n>- 29. •• Close R. II Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (159), m. i^d. "Pat. R. i« Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (212), m. 26; Feet of F. Northants. case 177, file 77. no. 287. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill, file 121, no. 12. •' Ibid. "Ibid. 49 Edw. Ill, file 251, pt. 2 (ist nos), no. 29. •• Close R. 49 Edw. Ill (213), m. 9. •• Feet of F. North.ints. case 178, file 84, no. 648 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, pt 2. (ist nos,), file 251, no. 29. " Feet of F. Northants. case 178, file 85, no. 689. " Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 314. " Pat. R. 6 Ric. II, pt. i (313), m. 27 ; 8 Ric. II, pt. ii (319), m. 31. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Hen. V, file 8, no. 27. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 214. " Close R. 14 Men. VI (286), m. 9. •' Ibid. if. Men. VI (288), m. 10. ■" Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file 95, no. 104. •* Bridges, loc. cit. " Close R. 32 Hen. VI (304), m. 22J. ♦' Pari. R. (Rec. Com.) vi, pp. 294-5. " Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 4 (495), m. 81/. *• Pari K. (Rcc. Com.) vi, pp. 294-5. '* Feet o( F. Northants. case 179, file 97, no. 39. " Cal. Pat. 1494-1509, p. 383. " Ibid. pp. 490, 514-15. •' Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 328, no. 56. •74 " Chancery Warrants, file 608, no. 161 j L. and P. Hen. I' III, iv, g. 4993 (4); Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), file 692, no. 13. " Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 2 Edw. VI, m. 7. '» Ibid. Trin. 2 Edw. VI, m. 91/; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 2 Edw. VI. " Com. Pleas 1). Enr. Mich. 3 Edw. VI, m. 91/1 nil. 3 and 4 Edw. VI, m. qd ; Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 3 and 4 Edw. VI. •' Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 18 Chas. II. *' Bridges, op. cit. ii, 214. '• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 510, nos. 12, 13 ; Com. Pleas \). Knr. East. 2 Edw. VI, m. 7. " Chan. Inq. p.m. q Edw. I, file 27, no. 8; 15 Edw. II, file 70, no. 7; 27 Edw. Ill, file 121, no. 12. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 2 Edw. VI. *' Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27, no. 8. Barnwell All Saints: Old Church, taken down in 1S23 {From a ivater-colovr drawing) HUXLOE HUNDRED mill here in 1322.** The windmill was still standing about thirty years Liter but only the site of the manor remained.*' John de Ravensholme received a grant of a weekly market on Friday and a fair every year on St. Luke's day, in ijig.*" The church of ALL SAINTS consisted CHURCH of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and tower with broach spire on the south side forming a porch. The east end of the south aisle was widened out to form the Montagu chapel, the south wall of which was in line with the tower. All the roofs were leaded. The whole of the building, with the exception of the chancel, was pulled down about 1825. From the evidence pre- served*' it seems to have been of 1 3th and 14th century date, the tower and spire being of the latter period, and very good examples of a well-known local type. The chancel was left standing as the burial place of the Montagus, Earls of Sandwich, and contains many mural monuments to members of the family. It was restored in 1894, but the vault had been closed ten years earlier. The chancel now stands isolated in the middle of a field. It is built of rubble and has plain parapets and a low-pitched roof. Internally it measures 29 ft. in length by 1 7 ft. 6 in. in width, and is of 1 3th-century date. There are no buttresses, but some portion of the walling north and south of the chancel arch has been left standing, the arch itself, which is of two chamfered orders on half-round responds with octa- gonal moulded capitals, being blocked by a modern wall in which a doorway is inserted. At the west end of the north wall is a small lancet low-side window, now blocked and covered on the inside, and there is a blocked square-headed two-light window of 14th- century date at the west end of the south wall. The five-light east window is a 15th-century insertion, as are also a two-light transomcd window on the north and one of three lights on the south side. Internally the walls are plastered, but the east end was panelled in oak in the early part of the 1 8th century by the Duke of Montagu,'^ the panelling covering the lower part of the window. The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal- to-square bowl standing on four short pillars. The most interesting of the monuments is that to Henry Montagu, infant son of Sir Sidney Montagu, who was drowned 28 .4pril 1625 at the age of 3. He is figured under a curious tapering alabaster canopy and is described as ' a wittie and hopeful child tender and deare in ye sight of his parents and much lamented BARNWELL ALL SAINTS by his friends. "** There are also memorials to Dame Lettice Montagu (d. 1611), Thomas Dillingham, rector (d. 1704), Mrs. Dorothy Creed (d. 1714), Rev. Matthew Hunt (d. 1 729), William Dillingham, gent. (d. 1753), and Ann, wife of William Ord (d. 1808). In the floor are armorial slabs, with brass inscriptions, to the 4th and 5th Earls of Sandwich (1792, 1814), and a brass plate on the wall records the names of all the Montagus buried here from 1622 to l862.«' High up on the south wall are two iron brackets, one designed to support a flag staff, and the other a long spike to hold a helmet. The helmet is hammered out of sheet iron and has a wooden crest of Montagu — a gritlin's head couped and collared with a crown, between two expanded wings ;'•'' the flagstaff is lost, and a sword is now suspended from its bracket. The four bells were sold when the church was taken down ; no record of them appears to have been kept.** The registers are now at Barnwell St. Andrew ; before 1812 they are as follows : (i) baptisms and burials 1695-1812, marriages 1705-1753 ; (ii) mar- riages 1 754-1 81 2. A large number of briefs is recorded 1707-43. The church of ALL SAINTS, ADFOfVSON which has been under this dedica- tion since 1260,*' belonged to the king's fee until Henry I gave it, it is said, about the year 1 120,** to the Priory of St. Neots, upon Michael its rector, son and successor of the .\rchdeacon Nigel, rector under William II and Henry I, taking the habit of a monk.*' The priory was confirmed in its pos- session by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln in 1 140, and by Hugh Bishop of Lincoln about seventy years later.'" A pension of ^3 a year, payable from this church to the Prior of St. Neots, was disputed by Robert the parson in 1232" but was still due in 1291.'^ During the 14th century the church was several times in the king's gift, the temporalities of the alien Priory of St. Neots being in his hands on account of the war with France" and a grant of the advowson was made by Edward III to John de Ravensholme in 1345.'" In 1496 Roger Thorpe included the church in his sale of the manor.'* A later lord of the manor, George Kirkham, was seised of the advowson of Barnwell All Saints at his death in 1528,'* holding it by grant of next presentation from the prior, who afterwards made similar grants to John Lord Mordaunt and Sir Edward Montagu." Lord Mor- daunt presented to the church in 1554'* and the ad- •' Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, file 70, no. 7. " Ibid. 27 Edw. in, file 121, no. 12. •0 Chart. R. 23 Edw. Ill (136), m. i. •* There is a drawing (undated) of the church from the louth-east by Edward Blore in Baker'i Htttory of Nortbanti (at end of vol.). Bridget gives the length of nave and chancel as 77 ft. and width across the aisles 36 ft. 6 in. : Hist, oj Nortbanti. ii, 214. In 1321 an indulgence for the fabric of the church of Barnwell All Saints was granted (Line Epis. Reg. Memo. Burghersh, f. 22). •" Bridges, Htit. of Nortbanti. ii, 214. *• The monument was erected in August 1626. It is fully described by Bridges, op. cit. ii, 216. In a cupboard in the panelling on the south tide of the altar is preserved a parchment recording the life and death of this infant. Another panel opens to disclose a piscina. " They include the 2nd Earl of Sand- wich (d. 1688), and his four successors, the 3rd (d. 1729), 4th (d. 1792), 5th (d. 1814), and 6th (d. 18 18) Earls. The burial vault is below the chancel, the floor of which is paved with black and white marble. " The wings are gone. For full de- scription see C. A. Markham in An. Ar^b. Soc. Reports, xxxvi, 78. " North, Cb. Bells of Northants. 190. Not only the bells, but the material of the fabric and interior fittings were sold at auction, and the registers were even offered, but being claimed by the churchwardens were saved : MS. Notes by Thos. H. Wright (1909). •' Rot. Ric. Gravtsend (Cant, and York Soc), pt. ii, 100. " Gorham, Hist. St. Neots, ii, p. cxiviii. •• Ibid. Cott. MSS. Faust. A 4, fol. 46. '" Gorham, op. cit. ii, pp. xii, xiii ; Cott. MSS. Faust. A 4, fol. 41, 41^. " Gorham, op. cit. ii, p. xv. ''^ Pope Nicb. Tax (Rec. Com.) 39*. "Ca/. Pat. 1338-4°, P- 3'8i 1354-58. PP- 249>273i 1385-89, P- 3°'- '« Pat. R. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. I (213), m. 22. " Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file 97, no. 39. '• Chan. Warr. file 608, no. 161 ; Excheq. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxcii, no. 13. " Gorham, op. cit. ii, Ixxii ; Bridges, op. cit. ii, 215. '• Ibid. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE vowson remained in his family until 1 600, when his grandson, Lewis Lord Mordaunt, with his son and heir Henry Mordaunt, sold it to Edward Haselrigg," by whom the reversion was granted to Robert Syers of Isham, convicted of recusancy in 1603. Five years later Edward Haselrigg obtained a grant of the ad- vowson for forty-one years on payment of a fine to Robert Syers.®" The presentation of 1617, however, was made by Sir Edward Montagu,*^ and although the Crown reasserted its rights in 1620 by granting the church to Sir Henry Spiller and others,'^ it seems to have followed the descent of the manor until 1821" when it was united to the church of Barnwell St. Andrew.** This parish participates in the CHARITIES benefits of Parson Latham's Hos- pital, an account of which is given under the parish of Barnwell St. Andrew. A sum of 6s. Sd. yearly, known as the Montagu Dole, is due on St. Thomas' Day for the poor of Barnwell All Saints out of Lord Montagu's Estate. The origin of this charity is unknown. BARTON SEAGRAVE Bertone xi cent. The parish of Barton Seagrave contains 1,826 acres of land, and lies between 200 ft. and just over 300 ft. above the ordnance datum. The subsoil is Great and Inferior Oolite and Upper Lias. The river Ise forms part of the western boundary and another stream part of the eastern boundary. The village is on the Ket- tering and Thrapston road about two miles south-east of Kettering. The church lies on the south side of the road and south-west of it is the site of Barton Sea- grave Castle built in the early part of the 14th cen- tury by Nicholas Segrave the younger,' and is appa- rently last mentioned in 1433,^ after which it probably became a ruin. It was surrounded by a moat, and another moat lies to the north of the castle site. Barton Seagrave Hall, lately the property of Mr. George Edward Stringer, but now of the Wicksteed Village Trust, is on the north side of the road. It appears to have been rebuilt in the first half of the 1 8th century, the date 1725 being on the lead rain-water heads. The house is of two stories, constructed throughout of limestone and roofed with CoUyweston slates. The main front faces south and has projecting end-wings ■with plain gables and a middle gabled porch of two stories with classic doorway. A wing at the east end containing a number of small rooms appears to be older than the rest of the building.^ The Kettering and Huntingdon branch of the Lon- don Midland and Scottish Railway crosses the parish, the nearest station being at Kettering. The manor of BARTON, which was MANORS afterwards divided into the manors of BARTON HANRED and BARTON SEAGRAVE, was held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Burred.'' He and his parents are said to have granted it to the Abbey of Peterborough,^ but it was not amongst the abbey lands in the Domesday Book (1086), but appears under those of Geoffrey Bishop of Coutances, to whom it and other lands of Burred and his son Eadwine were granted.* It was assessed at 4J hides in 1086,' and passed to Robert de Mowbray, who forfeited it to William Rufus. Rufus probably gave them to Robert Fitz- Hamon, whose daughter married Robert first Earl of Gloucester.* They thus passed to the Gloucester Fee in Northamptonshire.* In 1086 the sub-tenant of the manor was named Robert,'" but early in the 12th century he had been succeeded by Geoffrey the cham- berlain, probably Geoffrey de Clinton, who held 5 hides of land in Barton.'' In 1284, the immediate mesne tenant of the Earl of Gloucester was Joan Chambernon,"' who was living in 1 314," but her successors are not named, nor does it appear what right she had in the manor. In the second half of the 12th century Barton was held in mesne lordship by Richard de Hanred,'* who gave his name to the manor of BARTON HAN- RED. His son William succeeded as a minor, but was of age in 1201,'^ and he held the manor partly as a mesne lord but had also 2i virgates of land in de- mesne." He died before 1209" and was succeeded by his son Richard ;'* the latter's heir was holding Barton in 1243;'® he was probably another Richard de Hanred, who was living in 1266.^" His successor, William Hanred,^' was hanged for felony in 1295, and his possessions escheated to the king for a year and a day, and the mesne lordship disappeared.^^ The first tenant of the manor in demesne whose name is recorded was William Clifford, who was hanged for felony in the latter part of the 12th cen- tury .^^ It escheated to his lord, Richard de Hanred, and while William de Hanred was a minor his guar- dian granted it to Thomas de Buketon, who married Agatha sister of William Cliff^ord.-'' It passed to her son John de Buketon before 1 201, when William de Hanred tried to recover it.^^ An agreement was made '• Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 42 and 43 Ellz. '" Pat. R. 6 Ja». I. pt. ii (1761), no. 17. " Init. Bk.. (P.R.O.). •• Pit. R. 18 Jai. I, pt. 21 (2136), no. 5. m. 7. •• Init. Bki. (P.R.O.). •• Vardon, Index U ImcoI Pen. and Priv. Acu, 1798-1839. ' Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 37 ; D.N.B. ' Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 lien. VI, no. 43. ■ • C. A. Matkham in Norlhanli N. and Q. (N.S.), T, 146-9. ' V.C.H. Norlbanlt. i, p. 311. ' Sparkc, Hiu. An^l. Script. (Var.), ii, 43. • V.C.H. Noribanis, i, 287. ' Ibid. 311a. • Ibid. 287-8. ' Ibid. 389A ; Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68 ; 46 Edw. Ill (i«t nos.), no. 62 ; 10 Ric. II, no. 437 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 41. '" V.C.H. Norlhanti. i, p. 311. " Ibid. 389*. " Feud Aids, iv, 12. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II no. 68 j Col. Close, 1313-18, p. 138. '« Abkrev. Plac. (Rcc. Com.), p. 34. " Ibid. '• Feet of F. Northanti. 4 John, caic 171, file 9, no. 145. 176 '^ Booh of Fees, \, 19, ■» Red Bk. of E.ych. (Roll. Ser.), 533 ; Feet of F. Northants. 2 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 14, no. 3 ; 4 Hen. HI, case 172, file 16, no. 64 ; Bk. of Fees, i, 326. '• Ibid, ii, 937; Egcrton MS. (B.M.), J73.1. '"'• '42<'- •" Cal. Pal. 1258-66, p. 592. " Feud. Aids,{v, 12 ; Cat. Close, 1272-79, p. 4i;i-2. "Ibid. 1288-96, p. 478; 1330-33, p. 70-1. " Ahhrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 34. •« Ibid. »• Ibid. HUXLOE HUNDRED r.ARTON SEAGRAVE HuMPHRtY of Barton. GuUs a iTOSsUt quarter pureed argent with three scallops sable upon each arm. by which John licld the manor of William, who, how- ever, reserved 2j virgatcs of land in demesne.'-' In 1218 another agreement was made between Simon de Hal and Arnold de Buketon, the heirs of John dc Buketon and Richard de Hanred." Before 1278 it had passed to William de Lisle.^* In 1284 the tenant was Roger de Lisle,'-' who obtained certain land which William de Hanrcd held when it escheated to the king in 1295.^ John de Lisle made a settlement of the manor in 1334 on himself for life with remainder to his grandson John, son of his daughter Amice and her husband Simon de Lanshull,'" but before 1368 it had passed to Richard Cloun,'- who was still the tenant in 1402.^ It passed before 1446 to Henry Garstang,** probably in right of his wife Elizabeth, who afterwards married Peter Humphrey,^ probably a mem- ber of a family long settled at Barton." The Humphreys held Barton Hanred manor till the middle of the 17th century. They also obtained Barton Segrave manor (q.v.),and from this time no distinction seems to have been made between the two manors, which were later known as the manor of Barton Sea- grave or Hanred. Elizabeth's son John" was suc- ceeded in direct succession by William,^ Richard,^ William,^" Richard,** and Nathaniel Humphrey.''- Nathaniel left two daughters, Anne, the wife of Ed- ward Tudor, and Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Brudenell.''* The manor apparently got into the hands of trustees or mortgagees at this time.''* Sir John Robinson, Lord Mayor of London, and Anne his wife were dealing with it in 1659,*^ and others a little later.** John Bridges states that his father John Bridges bought the manor about 1665 from Mr. Humphrey, Brien Cockayne (Lord Cullen), Lord Mayor of Lon- don, and others,*' and the historian of Northampton- shire was born there in 1666.** John Bridges died in 1725. He had been successively appointed Solicitor of the Customs in 1695, Commissioner of the Customs in 171 1, and Cashier of Excise in 1715.*' He was a Fellow of the Royal Society*" and had devoted both his time and money to collecting material for a history of Northamptonshire. His collections were left to his brother William, but owing to various misfortunes they were not published till I79l,and then appeared in a form which does not do justice to the great amount of research and mass of accurate information which he had collected. The manors of Barton seem to have been sold and came into the possession of Richard Tibbits before 1 793.*' He was succeeded by Richard John Tibbits, whose daughter and heir, M.irv Isabella, in 1837 married Samuel, tliird Viscount Hood. She died in 1904 and was succeeded by her son Francis, fourth Viscount Hood, who died in 1907 and was succeeded by his son Grosvenor Arthur Alexander, fifth Viscount Hood, the present owner.*^ At some period in the 13th century part of Barton was granted to Nicholas de Segrave the elder,*' possibly when the manor was in the king's hands after William de Hanred's felony.** It was known as the castle and manor of Barton Segrave, and contained some 12 virgates of land, as well as meadow, pasture, and 20 acres of wood, besides rents.** Nicholas granted it to his younger son Nicholas de Segrave, who died seised in 1322, when it passed to his daughter and heir Maud, the wife of Edmund de Bohun.*' It afterwards reverted to the elder branch of the Segraves*' from Mood. Azure a fret argent and a chief or charged with three cres- cents sable. Segrave. Sable three sheaves argent banded gules. Mowbray. Gulrs a Itcn argent. whom it passed to the Mowbrays** and was in the pos- session of John, Duke of Norfolk, in I469.*» Before 1331, a manor had been granted to Simon de Drayton and his wife Margaret,*" but in 1 336 they and their son John and his wife Christina quitclaimed it to John," " Feet of F. Northantj. 4 John, case 171, file 9, no. 145. " Ibid. 2 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 14 no. 3 ; ibid. 4 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 16, no. 64. •• Cat. Close, 1272-9, p. 451-2. "Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Chron. Peirob. (Camden Soc), 109 ; Feet of F. Northanls, Mich. 13 Edw. I, case 174, file 53, no. 162. "> Cat. Close, 1288- 1296, p. 478. " Feet of F. Northants. 8 Edw. Ill, case 177, file 74, no. 130. "Ibid. 42 Edw. Ill, case 178, file 84, no. 609. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41. •' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 24 Hen. VI, case 179, file 95, no. 117. " Bridges, Wur. o/iVoriian/j. ii, 217-18, cit. Harve/'s yijil. " See below. " Bridges, loc. cit. '" Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcUxi, 3. " Ibid, dccx, 16. " Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. 6 ; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 33 & 34 Eliz. ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxciv, 100 ; Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), bdlc. 273, no. 18. *' Chan. Inq p.m. (Ser. ii), cccxxvi, 38. *= Recov. Mich. 18 Jas. I, ro. 90; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 21 Jas. I. " Bridges, loc. cit. ** Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), bdle. 454, no. 64. *' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1659 ; G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iii, 52. " Recov. Mich, i Jas. II, ro. 59. " Bridges, op. cit. i, p. v j ii, p. 2l8. '» D.N.B. " Bridges, op. cit. i, p. v. »" Ibid. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 33 Geo. Ill ; ibid. East. 57 Geo. III. 177 '« The Complete Peerage (New Ed.). VI, 570-1 ; Whellan, Htst. of Northants. 1874, p. 746. "Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 37. ^* See above. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 4 Edw. Ill, case 176, file 73, no. 77. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 37 ; Inq. a.q.d. file clxxxiii, no. 13. " Feet of F. Northants, Hil. 10 Edw. Ill ; Mich. 18 Edw. Ill ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. in (ist nos.), no. 69. '« Ibid ; 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 38 ; 22 Ric. II, no. !oi ; file 150, no. 71a ; 8 Hen. IV, no. 76 ; 1 1 Hen. VI, no. 43. '» Feet of F. Uiv. Cos. Hil. 8 Edw. IV. "• Ibid. Northants. Trin. 4 Edw. Ill, case 176, file 73, no. 77. •' Ibid. Hil. 10 Edw. Ill, case 177, file 74, nos. 145 and 148. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE son of Stephen de Segrave, and in 1 344 John dc Segrave was apparently holding the manor in demesne.*- In 1493 Henry Vere who succeeded through the Greens to the Drayton property*^ died seised of property in Barton,^ which seems to have been sold, before his daughters and co-heirs came of age. In 1557 Richard Humphrey, the lord of Barton Hanred manor (q.v.), died seised of the manor of Barton Seagrave*'' and from this time the manors were held together. The Earls of Gloucester held a court-leet and view of frankpledge for their tenants of Barton, the court being held within the manor of Barton Seagrave. They also had the rights of assizes of bread and ale, pillory, tumbril, infangentliief and outfangcnthief, chattels of felons and fugitives, waif and strays and the return and execution of writs, summons and orders of the king." The prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem Scale of Feet Plan of Barton Seagrave Church in England held a view of frankpledge for his tenants of Barton Hanred, at Glapthorn." Two mills are mentioned in 1086, paying los. a year."* One mill appears to have been granted to the Abbey of Sulbv before 1227, but in that year Abbot Walter granted it to Simon dc Hal in exchange for half a virgate of land." Another mill was held in 1 285 of William de Hanred,'" by William, son of William Cranford. The priory of St. John of Jerusalem held lands in Barton, some of which probably liad been held by the Knights Templars,'^ but a messuage and virgate of land were granted them in 1 292 by William de Barton, chaplain.''' In 1546, the lands of the Hospitallers were granted to Giles and George Isham, and were occupied by Richard Humphrey.'^ The Abbey of Suiby also held lands in Barton, which after the Dissolution of the Monasteries were granted with the advowson (q.v.) to Edward Humphreys.'* The church of ST. BOTOLPH is a CHURCH building of considerable interest con- sisting of chancel and nave with massive axial tower built in the early part of the 12th century, to which about 1270 a south aisle was added with a chapel at its cast end, covering the tower. Other work done before the close of the 13th century and later did not affect the plan, which remained unaltered until 1878, when the south aisle and chapel were pulled down and rebuilt on a larger scale, forming a new nave and chancel. A modern north porch was at the same time removed and the church completely restored.'" The original building is of rubble and some herring- bone work remains. The heightened nave has a plain parapet with low-pitched leaded roof, but the chancel is covered with red tiles. The new work is faced with ashlar and is under a separate tiled roof. Internally, all the walls are plastered. The north and west walls of the nave, the bulk of the tower, and in the main the walls of the chancel are original 12th-century work, though the chancel has been mucli altered : a clearstory was added to the nave c. 1 300 and the tower was heightened in the middle of the 14th century. 12]^ Century The chancel measures internally c 1280"! 300 '9 ^'- 9 '"• ^y H ^'- ^ '"• ^"'^ ^^' I — IMoDFRN *" n^°'^'^i'n three-light east window. On the north side it retains a 12th century round-headed window high in the wall, with moulded outer arch on shafts with volute capitals, and in the south wall are two 13th-century lancets. Later in the century a wall arcade was carried round the chancel inside, below the windows, and this remains along the north and south walls. It consists of seven trefoiled arches on each side, with moulded bases and capitals alter- nately moulded and carved with upturned foliage. The arcading, long hidden, was uncovered and restored in 1878 and tiiat on the east wall reconstructed. There is also a return arch on each side at the west end on either side of the tower opening, that on the south being pierced to form a squint. The trefoiled pis- cina, set within the arcading, has a modern drain, and at the west end of either wall are two rectangular low- side openings with outer trefoiled heads." The remains of a panelled tabic tomb, with shields retain- ing traces of colour, are built into the north wall below the arcading. The tower is the full width of the nave and has flat angle buttresses north and south : it measures •'I«t of V. Div. Coi. Mich. 18 '° Ibid. 13 Edw. I, ca«c 174, file 54, tilw. Ill, caic 2S7, lilc 41. no. 163. •■ Bridget, op. cit. ii, p. 250. " Feet of F. Northanli. 37 Hen. Ill, ** Exch. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), dclxiiii, 2. case 173, file 38, no. 623. •Mbid. dcci, 16. " Inquis. a.q.d. file xx, no. 25 ; " Pltu. df Quo tCarr. (Rtc. Com), Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 101. 57>- "Pat. R. 38 lien. VIII, pt. 10; •' IM. 531 2. /.. (S- P. lien. I'm, xxi, pt. ii, g. 476 •• KC.-.W. AV/Aanli. i, ^r., (66). ••Feci o( F. Norlh.ioti. 11 lien. Ill, " L. &■ P. lien, rill, ivili, pt. i, g. ca«c 172, file 10, no. 139. 981 (62). '* The faculty for altering; and restoring the church is dated 9 October, 1S77. The width of the aisle was increased by about R ft., its present dimensions being 31 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 3 in. The new chancel at its cast end is 22 ft. by 20 ft. 3 in. These measurements are internal. '• In each case the sill is 4 ft. 9 in. above the floor and about (t ft. above the ground outside : An. Anb. Soc. Rrportt^ ixix, 383. ryS U h u ^ ^y^^w^W^N**^ |i.l * ^^V y-'ommd' o u ,SSi-' •'rtv;,^"'''^^ ^feSi.'T^-^ T. ^*. to -r Barton StACRAVt Church : TY.NrpANUM of North Uoorway HUXLOE HUNDRED BARTON SEAGRAVE internally 1 8 ft. 8 in. by 19 ft. 6 in., the grc.iter dimension being from north to south, .ind the walls are 3 ft. 10 in. thick. The lower stage is open to the chancel and nave by semi-circular arches of two orders facing west," the inner square and the outer with big edge rolls, billet hood moulds, and jamb shafts with sculptured capitals. In the chancel arch the capital of the south shaft is carved with birds and that on the north with a volute and acanthus. Both shafts of the western arch have volutes and foliage of a more advanced type and a cable soffit to the impost. In the north wall is an inserted pointed doorway and above it a late 13th-century window of two lights with forked mullion and modern cusping. Above this again is an original recessed semi-circular window with moulded arch and jamb shafts similar to that in the chancel, but with star ornament on the imposts : a corresponding window on the south side of the tower is unmoulded. The later bell-chamber win- dows are of two trefoiled lights with a quatrcfoil in the head, and the tower terminates in a restored 15th-century battlemented parapet with angle pinnacles. The height to the top of the parapet is 55 ft. The nave measures internally 31 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft. 6 in. In the north and south walls, at a considerable height above the floor, are the remains of two blocked round-headed windows, that on the south side in the spandrel above the pier of the arcade, the arches of which were cut through the old wall. The north doorway has a semicircular arch with roll and hollow moulding and a hood with cable and sunk star decora- tion, on angle shafts with high moulded bases and carved capitals. The tympanum has already been described.'* The capitals have grotesque heads with volutes at the join, and that on the east a cable moulding. The panelled oak door is probably of the l6th century and retains a ring handle. East of the doorway is a late 13th-century window of three lights with intersecting tracery and modern cusping, but the west window dates only from about 1845." The clearstory windows, four on each side, are small trefoiled openings set within curved triangular labels, similar in type to those at Cranford, and possibly as late as c. 1310-20. The late 13th-century nave arcade is of two bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from an octagonal pier and responds with moulded capitals and bases. The single arch cut through the south wall of the tower to the former chapel is of the same period and type, the inner order carried on moulded corbels supported by heads. There are remains of a rood-loft stair in the tower wall at the north-east corner of the chapel,** and a late 13th- century trefoiled piscina has been re-used in the south wall of the new south chancel. All the roofs are modern. The late 12th-century font has a plain circular bowl and flat 17th-century cover. The pulpit is modern, but some 16th-century linen pattern panelling has been worked up in a prayer desk. There is also some good late l6th or early 17th century oak panelling in the screen forming a vestry on the north side of the tower : from the vestry a circular wooden staircase gives access to the ringing chamber. In the chancel is a brass tablet to Jane Floyde (d. 1616), wife of Hugh Floyde, rector, who is depicted at a prayer desk attended by five children : below the tower is a blue slab with indents of four corner shields and an inscription, but re-used in 1686 for William Henchman, rector.*' The east end of the former aisle was the burial place of the Bridges family : the marble wall monument to John Bridges (d. 1 71 2) and Elizabeth his wife, is now at the west end of the aisle, and in the old nave is a monument to his grandson John, son of William Bridges, who died in 1741 : both have long Latin inscriptions. There is no monument to the historian of the county,*^ but in the floor of the new nave, near the pulpit, is a slab in- scribed ' Johannes Bridges Armiger, obiit 16 Marti An. Dom. 1723/4, aetatis suae 57.' There are five bells, the treble by Taylor and Co., of Loughborough 1903, the second by Thomas Newcombe of Leicester (c. 1562-80) with an imperfect inscription, and the others of pre-Reformation date inscribed respectively ' S. Jacobe,' ' Sti Petre o.p.n.,' and ' S. Johanne.'*^ A clock was presented in 1 891 by Viscountess Hood. The plate consists of a cup, paten and almsdish of 1832, each inscribed ' Barton Seagrave 1833,' a flagon of 1868, and a silver christening bowl of 1763 with the arms of the see of Rochester, inscribed ' In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. Ecclesia de Barton Segrave in agro Northantoniensi.'** The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) baptisms 1609-1810, marriages 1609-1750, burials 1610-1685, (ii) burials 1678-1812, (iii) marriages 1754-1809, (iv) marriages 1811-12. There are church- wardens' accounts 1 743-1 836, and overseers' and constables' accounts 1728-1797. The advowson of the church ADVOWSON of Barton Seagrave was granted by Geoffrey de Clinton to the Priory of Kenilworth, which he founded about 1 1 22.*-' In the early 13th century Richard de Hanred unsuccess- fully claimed the advowson.*' The priory held the advowson at the Dissolution and a yearly pension of £z was paid to it from the rectory.*' In 1543, the advowson and pension were granted to Edward Humphrey, a younger son of Richard Humphrey, the lord of the manors of Barton Seagrave and Hanred (q. v.)** William Humphrey, his brother, held them on a lease at the time of Edward's death and they seem to have passed into his ownership, as John Humphrey, an elder brother, predeceased tlicir father.*' Before 1629, however, they seem to have been alienated, since Sir John Lambe presented in " On the ca»t lide the archci have a ■ingle iquare order only. " y.C.H. Nortbanti. ii, 196. See alio Kcfter'i Norm. Tympana, fig. 67. '• Churchfi Archd. Nor' Ion (1849), 150, where the window ii itated to have been inserted ' a few yean ago.' •* Now the new chancel. In iti original form the chapel wai divided from the aitlc b^ a wall and arch. The piicina belonged to the chapel altar. '' It is Eaid to have been the tombstone of one of the Seagrave family : Bridges, //irr. of Northantt. ii, 220. •' The monumental inscription printed on p. vi of the Preface to Bridges' Iliiiory is not in the church. " North, Cb. Bells of Norlbanli. 190. '* Marlcham, Cb. Plate of Norlbanli. 29. " Cat. Cbari. R. iii, 276-7 ; Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 220-1. 179 " I'eet of F. Northanti. 14 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 23, no. 245 ; Rot. Hug. de Ifillei (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 157. " Cal. Pal. 1345-8, p. 292; Dugdale, Afon. .^ngl. vi, 222. "« L. &■ P. Hen. Fin, xviii, i, g. 981, no. 62. *• Wards and Liv. Inq. p.m. (Set. ii) vi, 41 ; L. S- P. Hen. fill, xi«, ii, g. 527 (48); Feet of F. Northanti. IVIich. 36 Hen. VIH. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE that year**' and Robert Ekins in 1631.'* Jane Ekins presented in 1686*- and JefFery Barton and John Sawyer in 1703.'^ The advowson was acquired before 1773 by the Duke and Duchess of Montagu** and the Duke of Buccleuch is patron of the living at the present day. By his will dated in 1760 John CHARITIES. Ekins gave ^^50 for the poor. In respect of this charity a sum of £1 los. is yearly paid out of land now belonging to the Islip Iron Co. near Thrapston and is distributed by the churchwardens equally among six poor widows. BURTON LATIMER Burtun (xiii cent.) ; Burton I.atymer (xv cent.) ; Burton Lattimer (xvii cent.). The parish of Burton Latimer, which was con- stituted an urban district in 1923, comprises 2,756 acres.' The soil is clay and limestone lying on Upper Lias, Great Oolite and Cornbrash beds. The land rises northward and eastward from the river Ise which forms a part of the western boundary and from a stream flowing into the Ise on the south, the height at the rivers being a little below 200 ft. and in the north-east of the parish about 300 ft. above the ordnance datum. The village, which is fairly large, lies on the road from Higham Ferrers to Kettering, about 4 miles from the latter place. The church stands in the middle of the village. The rectory house is a I7th-centurv Burton Latimer Hall building with vaulted cellars of that period but was newly fronted in the style of the time in the 1 8th century and added to in more recent years. A house known as the Manor House, wliich lies immediately to the west of the church, probably stands on the site of the Plcssey manor house. It is a two-story build- ing with thatched roof, in a gable of which is a panel dated 1704 and with the initials, I * M. The house has been modernised and none of the original windows remain. The school house is situated to the north- west of the church and is a rectangular 17th-century building of Wcldon ragstone measuring internally 44 ft. 4 in. by 16 ft., with a fine oak roof of five bays, now covered with modern tiles. The front to the road has four mullioned windows and a good central doorway, above which is a curved gable breaking the roof-line and containing a panel inscribed; — this house WAS BUILT 1622 I THE FRESCHOOLE WAS FOUNDED | BYTHOMASBURDANKE AND | MARGARET HIS WIFE I587 | MEMORIA • IVSTI ■ BEKEDICTA. Pro. 10. Over Cach of the windows is an inscription, as follows: — (i) ' Ex dono Johannis Michel ' (ii) ' l6 Donum Johannis Barriffe 22 ' (iii) ' 16 Georgius Plowright me dedit 22 ' (iv) ' W. Carpes citius quam imitaberis. N.'^ The larger three-light end windows have the middle light heightened. The school-house was renovated and additions made at the back about 1904. To the north of the village is Burton Latimer Hall, which was the manor house of the Latimer manor. It is a picturesque, two-story gabled stone building of simple but attractive design, erected in the first half of the 17th century. It contains a fine oak staircase and some original oak doorways of unusual char- acter. Alterations were made in the l8th century, including one or two new windows and a wing facing the main road, and the house was restored and additions made in 1872. The garden retains the spacious outline given to it in the l8th century, and near the house are stables of the same period and a rectangular dovecote with end gables and lantern, all this work being of a plain character. In the grounds are some ancient fishponds. A boot and shoe factory, large flour mills, and quarries give employment to the inhabitants. The parish was inclosed by Act of Par- liament.* Several of the rectors of the parish attained a certain degree of eminence or notoriety beyond its limits. Hugh Ashton, who owed his pre- ferment to Lady Margaret Beaufort, was, like her, a generous benefactor of St. John's College, Cambridge.* Dr. Robert Sibthorpe was a royalist, who made his reputation by his advocacy of extreme obedience to the king in an assize sermon preached in 1627.* John Owen, who succeeded his father in 1608 in the rectory of Burton Latimer, became Bishop of St. Asaph, and was chiefly famous for his work as a W'clsh bishop.* Thomas Grimthorpc is best known for his Life and H'orki of H'illiam Cotvper, published in 1 835, and Thomas Barlett for the Memoir of the Life, Character and Writings of Bishop Butler, published in 1839.'' '» Init. Bki. (P.R.O.). •' Ibid. ; Feet o( F. NorthanO. E.iie. 16 Chai. I. •' Init. Dk». (F.R.O.) •• Ibid. •* Ibid 1773, 1798, 1800. ' Minii. of I Ii alth ('onf. Order, 29 Mjy. ' The fiKnrci and Ictlcrt at the begin- nings :tn I'rivitif .1(1, 43 Cieo. III. c. 65. « ly.s.n. ' Ibi.l. « Ibid. ' Ibid. HUXLOE HUNDRED BURTON LATIMER In the reign of lulward tlic Confessor, MANORS Earl Ralph, probably the carl of Here- ford, held 8J hides of land,' which constituted, until the first half of the 13th century, the manor of Burton, and paid the service due from 1} knights' fees.' In 1086, it was held of the king in chief by Guy de Reinbuedcurt,'" whose son Richard was the tenant under Henry I." Richard is said to have pledged the manor in payment of a gambling debt, to the King,'- who granted it, to hold at pleasure, to Alan de Dinant, a Breton who defeated the cliam- pion of the King of France near Gisors.** This grant, which was continued to Alan's successors, evidently caused confusion as to the payment of scutage, and in 1 173-74 ••" inquiry was ordered as to the fee which Roland de Dinant held of the King.*'* Margery, the daughter and heir of Richard de Reinbuedcurt, married Robert Foliot and their descendants con- tinued to return Burton amongst their fees.'* Margery, the granddaughter of Robert Foliot, brought their rights in the manor to her husband Wischard Ledct, who answered for the Foliot barony in 1210-12." In 1215, his lands were seized by King John, and his Northamptonshire holdings were granted to Hugh Neville." Ledet, however, recovered Burton, which escheated to the Crown at his death, about 1221.'' It seems clear, however, that at this time, or a few years bter, a division of the manor was made between the heir of Wischard Ledct and the successors of Alan de Dinant. The former relinquished the over- lordship of the whole manor and obtained a third of the township of Burton, which formed a separate manor, held in chief of the King in demesne as half a knight's fee." It was known as Jl'LESFORD'S MJ.\OR-<> or BURTON LJTIMER.-^ Wischard Ledct's heir was his daughter Christina, the wife first of Henry de Braybroc" and then of Gerard dc Furnival.-^ She outlived both her eldest son Wischard, who took the name of Ledet, and his son Walter, so that on her death between 1266 and 1270,-* her h^-irs were Walter's daughters Alice and Christina, the wives of the brothers William and John Latimer, and Burton was apparently assigned to Alice.^ In the meantime, the manor had been subinfeudated. In 1242 it was held by Henry de Aldwinkle, probably only for life,"' since it wasgiven, possibly in the lifetime of Christina," to her younger son Gerard de Furnival.'-* He gave it to his elder daughter Christina, the wife of William Gules a cross de Aylesford or Eylcsford,'" and it was held of the Latimers for the rent of i oz. of silk or 121/. a year.*" The younger Christina, as a widow, apparently granted it both to Gerard dc Furnival and to John Devereux and, though an ensuing lawsuit in 1283 was decided in favour of Furnival,*' Devereux evidently obtained a further grant of it for life as he died seised in 1316.*^ It reverted to Christina's son, Gerard de Aylesford** and passed in direct succession to lidmund,** John*^ and John de .Aylesford. The last granted all his right in the manor in 1369 to his overlord William, Lord Latimer, the great- grandson of Alice Ledet.** On the death of Lord Latimer's widow in 1389 it passed to their daughter Elizabeth and by her marriage to the Nevilles,*' who held it till the death of John Neville, Lord Latimer, in 1577.** It was inherited by Catherine, the eldest of his four daughters and heirs, and wife of Henry, Earl of Nortliumberland.** Her son sold it in 1605 to Francis and George Mulsho,** from whom it passed to Edward Bacon.'" He died seised of the manor of Burton Latimer in 1627'- and was succeeded by his son Thomas, a vigorous opponent of the levy of ship-money.''* Thomas's son Edmund inherited it in l642'''' and was living in 1670. Early in the 1 8th century. Dr. Perkins, who had married the widow of Edmund or his successor, was lord of the manor.** About 1760 the manor was purchased by John Harpur, on whose death it passed to his cousin Joseph Harpur, of Chilvers Coton (co. Warwick). His son, Henry Richard Harpur, was succeeded in 1870 by his brother, the Rev. Latimer Harpur, who died in 1872. His son and heir, the Rev. Henry Harpur, died in 1904, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Wilfred Harpur, the present owner.'" The two-thirds of the township of Burton which in the 13th century were assigned to the successors of Alan de Dinant became known as the manor of BURTON by THINGDEm'' or BURTON PLESSl' or PLACr*'*. Alan, the grantee of Henry I, was succeeded as tenant at will in the whole of Burton by Roland de Dinant, who was holding it in 1166 and • y.C./f. Xorihants. 1, 342A. • Red Bk. of Ex.b. (R.ill) jcr.), jji-z. '" y.C.H. S'oribants. i, 342A. ' " Ibid. p. 3S9A. " B.nkcr, Hist, oj Northants. i, 521. ■> Book oj Fees (P.R.O.), ii, 937. ■« Great Roll of the Pipe (Pipe Roll Soc), xxi, 53. " Dugddlc, Baronage, 1, 679 ; Red Bk. of Exch. (Roll» ler.), 331-2; Pipe Roll Soc. xviii, 53; Pipe Roll, 13 John, m. 13. " Wrottcjicy, PeJ. from the Plea R. SIS J Pipe Roll, 5 John ; Red Bk. of Ex.b. (Roll tcr.), 173, 532. " Rot. Litl. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 235*. " Excerpt, e Rot. Fin. i, 80. *• Book of Fees, i, 499 ; Feud. Atds, iv, 12. "■ Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Ric. II, no. 34. «' And. D. A, 8428. " Excerpt, e Rot. Fin. i, 80. " Cat. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 374. «* Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 559 J Cal. Inq. i, no. 781. '•'- Ibid. ; Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 325 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 43. '• Bk. of Fees, ii, p. 937. " Cf. Rot. Ric. Gravcsend (Cant, and York. Soc), p. 105. " Ibid. ; Assize R. 1256, m. 33 ; Dc Banco R. 427, m. 203. «• Ibid. "" Cal. Inq. p.m. v, no. 569. " Assize R. 1256, m. 33. '^ Feud. Aids, IV, 12, 29; Cal. Inq. v, no. 569. " Ibid. ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. II, no. 37. " Ibid. ; ibid. 5 Edw. Ill (ist nos ), no. 43 ; Cal. Close, 1327-30, p. 414. >» Ibid. " Close R. 46 Edw. Ill, m. 28 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Ric. II, no. 34. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Ric. II, no. 54; ibid. 5 Urn. IV, no. 28; Ecct of F. 181 Div. Cos. Hil. 22 Hen. VI ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 & 10 Edw. IV, no. 28 ; Anct. D. A. 8428 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), clxxviii, 57- '" Ibid, ccxlviii, 22 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 21 Eliz. ; Hil. 22 Eliz. ; Trin. 28 Eliz. " Rccov. R. Hil. 2 Jas. I, ro. 95 ; Feet of F. Nnrthants. Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Northants Record Society, i, p. 49(cit. Quarter Sessions Records). " Metcalfe, Visit, of Northants. p. 66; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. i Chas. I. "Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxixv, 115. " Ibid. ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1635-36, pp. J29, 33>. 349- ** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dxxi, 47 ; Feet of F. Northants. East. 1654 ; ibid. East. 21 Chas. II. *' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 223. " Burke's Landed Gentry. *' Cal. Inq. iv, no. 47. *' Chan. Inq. p.m 8 Hen. IV, no. 63 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 1 173.'" Before 1 190, it had passed to his nephew and heir Alan, the son of his sister Emma and Robert de \'itry.^ He seems to have died shortly and Burton passed to his mother and Robert de \'itry, but before 1196 it escheated to the King.'^ Burton passed to Thomas Malemains, the husband of Joan, a grand- daughter of Emma de \ itry, and one of the daughters of Eleanor de Vitry by her second husband, Gilbert de Tellieres.^- Malemains went to Germany in 1209,^3 and apparently during his absence, King John gave Burton to Fullc de Cantilupe to hold at will.^^ Malemains on his return joined the king's party, and recovered the manor of Burton in 1 216, as part of his wife's inheritance.^ In 1217, it was again granted to Cantilupe,** but presumably he obtained other compensation, since on the death of Thomas Malemains, it was granted during pleasure in 1219 to his widow Joan.*' She died in 1221, and the custody of her lands and heir was granted to William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury and his wife Ela, her half-sister.** Nicholas Malemains obtained livery of the manor before 1225** and it was probably during his life time that the division of the manor of Burton already mentioned was made. In 1 236, Nicholas apparently held the whole of the I J knight's fees.^ Before 1 225, he leased the manor*' and then forfeited it. In 1228 it was granted to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, on behalf of his brother Richard Marshall,*- on whose death in 1233, it was granted, during the king's pleasure, to Gilbert de Segrave.*^ In 1234, however, Nicholas Malemains obtained restitution of the manor.** He died before 1240** and his widow apparently only held the smaller manor for her life.** His heir, presumably his daughter, was Ela, the granddaughter of Thomas Malemains and wife of Robert de Plessy.*' On the death of Nicholas's widow, Beatrice, after 1284,** the manor was held in direct descent by John, son of Robert and Ela (d. 1313), Edmund (d. 1327), Nicholas (d. 1356), and John who was succeeded by his brother Nicholas Plessy, a minor, who died in 1362.*' It passed to his sister Joan, the wife of John Hamely.'* Their son John died without issue, and after the death of John Hamely in 1399, the reversion of the manor belonged to Joan's uncle, Peter Plessy," who had granted it to John Plessy of Shapwick (co. Dorset), '■' Rrd Bk. of F.xch. (Rolls str.), 331-2 ; Crtai Roll of iht Pipe (I'ipc Roll Soc), xi, 119, lii, 54, xxi, p. 53. '0 Cott. MS. (B.M.), Doinit. A 8, (ol. 87 ; Pipe Roll Soc. (New «cr.), i, p. 30 ; Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm. (Soc. of Antiq.), ii, p. xlvii, note O. " Pipe R. 8 Kic. I. m. 17. 'M/ithant8. K.ist. 1 1 Ceo. II, "■ Ibid. Norlhants. Mich. 4 Ceo. III. "* Feet of F. Northants, East, 4 Geo. III. " Slowe MS. (IIM.), 925, fol. 152. " Ibid. fol. ibid. »' Ibid, fol, 152-3 ; Feet of F. case 172, file 27, no. 345 ; case 173, file 40, no. 657 ; Cal. Chart, iii, 225. "" /'/«., dr Quo ll'arr. (RccCom,), 548-9. »• /.. 6>- P. lien. 11 II, i, g. 587 (10). "' Ibid, ; Feet of F. Northants. Mil. 17 Hen, VII. •' Ibid. "' Exch. Inq. p,m, (.Ser. ii), dclxxvi, 10, I I ; Chan, IiKi, p,m, (Ser, ii), xxvi, 21. "• /.. 6- /'. //-•". /■///, i, K 10S3 (41) i Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 13. 182 HUXLOE HUNDRED BURTON LATIMER Croxton Abdiy. Or a bend betzoeen iix mart- Uis xuble. session of the manor.*' He seems to have sold it to Ricliard Fermor, a merchant of the Staple of Calais who was attainted under Henry \'1II, but when par- doned in 1550, only tenements in Burton l.atinier are mentioned among the lands restored to liim.*^ The Prior's manor was apparently incUided amongst them, since his son, Sir John Fermor, together with his wife, sold it in 1555 to Richard Humphrey.'^ Tiie latter died seised of it in 1557," but its later history does not appear. In 1803 William King claimed to have a manor in Burton Latimer, wiiich may iiave been the Nether manor."' The Abbey of Croxton held a manor, called 'THINGDEN and BURTON LAJIMER, with lands in both townships. Its history appears under Fineden.®' The lords of the manor of Burton Plessy held a view of frankpledge, to which, in 1285, the tenants of the Prior of Bradstock did suit."* The Farls of Gloucester also held a view of frankpledge for the township of Burton, with- drawing suitors from the Abbot of Peterborough's court for the Hundred of Huxloe.* It passed by inheritance to the Earls of Staflord,^ and came into the hands of the king.' In 1803, Henry, Duke of Buccleuch and his wife Elizabeth owned the Honour of Gloucester Fee in Northants, to which the view probably belonged. They also claimed to own a manor in Burton Lati- mer.** Two mills were attached to the manor in 1086, paying l6i. a year.* One mill is mentioned in 1220 as part of the inheritance of Margery Foliot,^ and presumably passed with the manor of Burton Latimer. The second mill seems to have been assigned to the Malemains, whose sister Hillary granted it to the Priory of Bradstock.' The Priory of Bushmede also had a mill in Burton Latimer at the time of its dissolution.'* The church of ST. MART THE CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel 41 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft., with modern south vestry, clearstoried nave 71 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles 11 ft. wide, north porch, and west tower and spire. The width across nave and aisles is 44 ft. 6 in., and the tower is 13 ft. square, all these measure- ments being internal. The church throughout is built of rubble, with leaded roofs to nave and aisles, and high-pitched modern tiled roof to the chancel. The aisle parapets are plain, and those of the clearstory battlemented. The church was extensively restored in 1866-68, when the tower and spire were taken down and rebuilt with •* Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 406, no. 42 ; Anct. I). A. 5400. •'Bridges, op. cit. i, 290; Cal. Pat. 1550-2, p. 22-23. •• Fett of F. Northants. Mich. 2 & 3 Ph. and Mary. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cxiv, 3. "* Pnv. Act of Pari. 43 Geo. Ill, C65. •• S«e btlow. •• Cbm. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 109. The prior was later allowed a view : Plac. de Quo fVarr. (Rec. Com.), 548-9. ' Chron. Petrob. 109. ' Cal. Pat. 1401-5, p. 349. • P.R.O. Ct. R. ptf. 194, no. 40. •• Priv. Act of Pari. 43 Geo. Ill, c. 65. « V.C.H. Northanti. i, 342*. ' Feet of F. case 172, file 17. • Stowe MS. (B.M.), 925, fols. 152, 1521/, 153; Feet of F. case 173, file 40,. no. 657 i Mich, z & 3 Ph. and Mary. the old materials, and the flat roof of the chance! removed. In 1882, the porch was restored, the vestry ' rebuilt, an organ recess constructed on the north side of the chancel, and the nave reseated. All the walls are plastered internally. A prc-Conqucst stone with plait-work upon it was re-used in the rebuilding of tlic tower, but no part of the present building is older than the 1 2th century, in the early part of which there was an aisleless church, the nave occupying at least the existing three west bays and probably a fourth farther west, of which only half now remains.' The south wall of this building was pierced c. 1 1 30 by an arcade of four round arches, three of which, with a half arch at the west end, and three piers still remain. The eastern arch has a chevron moulding on the nave side, the second a roll, while the others arc unmouldcd, and all are plain facing the aisle. The cylindrical piers have moulded bases and scalloped capitals, the square abaci of which, in two of the piers, have incised carving on the north face. No north aisle was made at this time, but a transeptal chapel was added on the north side at its east end, entered through a round arcli, one of the jambshafts of which remains in the compound pier of the north arcade. This arch, which is equal in height to the opposite arch in the south arcade, was originally lower, and is now stilted on the west side : it has an edge-roll towards the nave, and its impost blocks remain on both sides. A north aisle was added c. 1200, an arcade of three bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders being cut through the wall west of the transept, two and a half bays of which remain. The eastern pier is a small square with large attached shafts, and the western pier is cylindric.il, both having moulded bases and capitals with good stiff leaf foliage. The half-round east respond, which forms part of the compound pier of the transept, has also a stiff-leaf capital and square abacus, and the pier has also shafts at the angles with foliated capitals and moulded bases above a chamfered plinth. From the north aisle an arch (now destroyed) was made into the transept, springing from short angle-shafts in the wall and from the back of the compound pier, some 2 ft. beow the arches of the nave.' The great west tower was built in the second quarter of the 13th century, and intruded on the west end of the 12th-century nave, cutting it short by half a bay, and shortly after, about 1250, the nave was lengthened to the east by three bays, the old arches immediately adjoining the new work being adapted to it — on the south side by leaving a portion of the 12th-century respond capital above the capital of the new pier, and on the north by the retention of the impost block, new piers taking the place of the original east responds. The aisle walls appear to have been rebuilt at the same time, except, perhaps, •• Rent & Surv. (P.R.O.) ptf. 20, no. 15. ' It was of comparatively modern date. ® The massive stonework beneath the eastern piers of the present nave suggests that the early nave extended farther east, but the length seems abnormal for an earlj 12th-century building. ' There are indications of a transverst arch across the south aisle in the same position. 183 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in the western bay, and the chancel was completed in its present form c. 1270-80. A keel-shaped string- course runs round the whole of the chancel below the windows, and along the aisles to within about 20 ft. from the west end. About the middle of the 15 th century, the clear- story was added, the porch built, and new windows inserted in the aisles, the walls of which were heightened. The spire is approximately of the same date, perhaps immediately following the clearstory, and the church then assumed its present aspect. The chancel has been much restored.*" It has two-stage buttresses of small projection, and a modern five-light east window with geometrical with smaller attached shafts at the angles. The west windows of the aisles are modern copies of late 13th-century two-light openings, but all the other windows north and south are four-centred 15th-century insertions of three cinquefoiled lights. The clearstory windows, six on each side, are three- centred, and of two trefoiled lights. The tower is of three stages, with good coupled but- tresses and moulded plinth. The old stones having been used in the rebuilding, it has lost little or nothing of its original appearance. The doorway on the north side reproduces a 14th-century opening in the same position ; the entrance to the vice-turret in the south- west angle, with its beautiful trefoiled head, has been te^^^^ ■ 12111 CiNTUKv H 1311! Cr.NTURv C.I2 10 □ C.I195-I200 [UT1C.I280 eaiSHJ Clmuky rebuilt rrJI5i!! Ci.ntuky ^^^^Ml^^ □MOD.KN North Aisle .#: Nave '.'Ml.\\'.¥'".'''^: South Aisle '.W i!w^iiiiniiiiiiiirf^^^:^-[ijiiiiiiiiiiif,w^nT 10 5 o ^-^ f-i-f-n-T-1 j—^ 10 20 30 O Scale of Feet Plan of Burton Latimer Church tracery, but the other windows, three on each side, are c. 1 280 of two trefoiled lights, with pointed trefoils and cusped circles differing in detail in the heads. There is a scroll string at sill level inside, but no ancient ritual arrangements remain. The 13th century chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half- octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases, the capitals being cut back for a much restored and painted 15th-century screen." The arches of the three 13th-century eastern bays of the nave arc of two chamfered orders springing from piers of four clustered shafts and from half-octagonal responds, all with moulded capitals and bases. The 13th-century north doorway is of a single continuous chamfered order with hood, and retains a 15th- century oak door on which are inscribed the names of ' Ihon Campyon and Ihoan hys wyf.' Tiic lofty porch is open to the roof and has a moulded outer arch with canopied niche above breaking the parapet of the gable. The south doorway is of late 12th- century date with round head of two moulded orders, the outer on nook shafts with carved capitals and blocked and an external doorway made. The west window is a widely splayed single lancet with rear arch, and the lower stage is open to the nave by an arch of three chamfered orders springing from clus- tered shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The middle stage has plain arcading of three pointed arches on the north, south and west sides, the middle arch on the west being pierced by a lancet. The double two- light bell-cliamber windows were originally without tracery, but the lights were afterwards trefoiled and a quatrefoil inserted in the head. The battlemented parapet is the same date as the spire, which has two sets of crocketed gabled lights. The roofs of the nave and aisles are in the main ancient, with moulded principals and carved bosses, but all the rafters arc new. The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal bowl and stem on a chamfered base : on the west the stem has a solid projection bringing it in line with the bowl. The north aisle wall had formerly a painting, per- haps of the 14th century, representing tlie story of St. Katharine, within a border, but only a fragment now "About 1750 a pUiter ceiling wai erected over the ch.incel and the cait end partitioned of! Co form ■ veitr/, a doorway bcinj; broken thr'»u;!i the east wall. " The icrcen ,wh(ch had been removed 184 W.1S put hack at tlic time of the restoration and a luft added. HUXLOE HUNDRED BURTON LATIMER remains. A scries of late Elizalicthan paintings of the twelve patriarchs in strapworlc frames occupy the spandrels of the nave arcades and are in a fair state of preservation, though two have perished.^ There is a good Jacobean oak poor box : a large iron- bound chest is dated 1629. Below the tower is a marble wall monument with brass figure, shields and inscription to Margaret Bacon a ' chrisom ' cliild (d. Jan. 1626-7), •'"'^ <" t''<^ •^•"t ^"J of the nave and in the chancel are two grave slabs with indents of brasses, one of which retains a group of nine daughters and a shield, and the other a shield only. There is a ring of eight bells. The treble and second arc by Taylor & Co. of Loughborough 1920, the third by the same founders 1903, the fourth dated 1620, the fifth by T. and J. Eayre of Kettering 1718, the sixth and seventh dated 1619, and the tenor by Thomas Eayre of Kettering 1749.*' The plate consists of a silver cup and cover patent of 1569, the paten inscribed ' 1571 ' on the foot ; a paten of c 1682, and a flagon and almsdish of 1774.*'* The registers begin in 1538, but the earlier entries are on two parchment rolls. The first roll contains baptisms to 1559, marriages to 1561 and burials to 1560, and the second, baptisms and burials to 1569 and marriages to 1367. The contents of the books before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1558-1700, marriages 1558-1718, burials 1558-1678,** (ii) burials 1678-1735, (iii) baptisms 1700-1812, (iv) marriages 1719-1757, (v) marriages 1754-1812, (vi) burials 1736- 1812. The first book contains lists of churchwardens and overseers from 1668 to 1757 and of constables from 1679 to 1757. There are cliurchvvardens' ac- counts beginning in 1559 but not continuous, and a book of briefs 1670-1753. The Foliots held the advowson ADVOWSON of the church of Burton Latimer in the 1 2th century, but Richard Foliot seems to have made some kind of grant of it to the abbot of Beaulieu in Brittany, since, in 1220, the abbot quitclaimed it to Richard's daughter and heir Margery and Wischard Ledet.*' Thomas Male- mains presented to the church between 12 16 and 1219" and in 1263 his granddaughter Ela and her husband claimed the advowson against Christina Lcdet, but they lost their case'* and Christina gave it to her son Gerard de Furnival.*' When he went to the Holy Land he entrusted the advowson and an acre of land to the rector, Master John Fleming, on condition that if Gerard did not return they should be granted to Christina de Aylcsford, with remainder to her son Gerard de Aylcsford.'''" Fleming presented in 1290,'* but in a lawsuit of 1368 it appears lie did not carry out Furnival's stipulations.''^ Prior to 13 16, Sir Walter de Neville recovered the advowson from Robert Fleming and Gerard de Ayles- ford^' and granted it to Philip de la Bechc.'-' Pliilip's heir was his brother Jolin who died before lie obtained seisin-^ and liis two sons died childless, so that the advowson was inherited in 1 348 by his three daughters.-' In the meantime, however, Thomas Fytling, who presented in 1348,^' and his wife Alice seem to have obtained the advowson, but it was recovered in 1349 by Andrew de Sackville and his wife Joan, the eldest of the de la Bechc heiresses.'^* The heiresses and their husbands granted it to Edmund de la Bechc, Arch- deacon of Berkshire,^" who died seised of it before 1364.^ He was said in 1369 to have granted it to Roger de Elmerugge, who successfully defended his right in it against Sir William Latimer.'' In 1369 Latimer obtained a grant of the advowson, wliich was held by John de Aylesford and in some way ousted John de Elmerugge, and from this time the advowson was held by the lords of Burton Latimer manor ''(q.v.) until after 1676, when Edmund Bacon presented.''^ It was sold by him or his successor to Sir Gilbert Dolben bart.,** whose family retained it till 1803.*^ In 1809 John Grimshaw presented''* and in 1874 '^ belonged to the Rev. Francis Brown Newman.^' At the pre- sent day Mrs. Jaques is the owner of the advowson. A considerable amount of land was attached to the rectory and in 1 3 30 the rector was said to hold two carucates. He and his predecessors held a view of frank-pledge, waifs and strays, the assize of bread and beer, and certain amercements. The right to hold the view was disputed by the crown officials, but the rector recovered it on payment of a fine.^ About 1239, the rector of Burton Latimer presented Walter, a chaplain, to the vicarage of Burton, but ap- parently no vicarage was permanently ordained.'" A Baptist Chapel here dates from 1744 ; there is also a Wesleyan Chapel in the village. An allotment of 10 acres was set CHARITIES out on an inclosure of the lands in this parish in 1804 in lieu of land formerly appropriated to the repairs of the church. This land was sold in 1919 and the proceeds invested in ;^5I7 10/. jd. 5 per cent. War Stock, producing ;^25 17/. 6d. yearly in dividends. The income is ap- plied by the churchwardens towards church repairs. Another allotment containing about 2j acres was " The fifth from the east on the north •idc and the westernmost on the south •ide. The names of Levi and Issachar and the general reference to Gen. xlix and verses can be easily read. The refer- ence to Levi is Deut. xxxiii, 8-1 1. • '• The third bell was added as a treble to a then existing ring of five, the inscrip- tions on which arc given in North, Ch. Brill of NorthanU. 213. The two new trebles were added in 1920 as a War Memorial. " Markham, Cb. Plate of \ontanii. 59. ■' Many of the entries between 1643 and 1646 were not made in the time of the war, but some were afterwards inserted. '• Feet of F. c.ise 172, file 17, no. 77. " Cur. Reg. R. no. 173, m. io- • Ibid. 311a. ' Ibid- 343- • Ibid. 389a. f Ibid. HUXLOE HUNDRED Or two bends held in 1086 by Robert as a mesne lord of the Abbey and identified with the somewhat smaller holding of Maurice Daundelyn in the 12th-century survey.' Robert was presumably Robert D'Oylcv who was the tenant in 1125-2S,"' and the manor continued to be held of the fee of D'Oyley til! 1253.'° In 1284 John son of Guy was the mesne lord,** but afterwards the manor seems to have been held immediately of the Abbey.'- In 1086 a nameless knight was the sub- tenant of Robert D'Oyley," and early in the next century the manor was in the hands of Maurice Daundelyn.'* It was held by the service due from half a knight's fce.'^ Maurice was succeeded in direct male succession'" by Ralph (living 1189)," Maurice (living temp. John),'* Ralph (living 1228),'* Maurice (l 261), Hugh (living 1 280- 1 3 16),-" John (living temp. Edward III)-' and John Daundelyn (living 1346).-- The second John sold the manor in 1360 to Henry Pyel, afterwards Arch- deacon of Northampton, and Richard Bryan, chaplain, presumably as trustees of John Pyel.'-^ The manor followed the descent of Pyel's manor in Woodford,-' in spite of attempts by John, son of William, son of the last-named John Daundelyn-'' in 1403 and by his son William-" in 1469, to recover possession. In 1595, William, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who had been empowered by Act of Parliament to alienate certain manors, sold Cranford to Thomas Hensman, Owen Prise and Thomas Conwaye," who also obtained a quitclaim of the manor from Sir Thomas Cecil and his wife Dorothy.-* It is said to have come before 1676 into the possession of a family named Coo, wlio were lords of the manor of Cranford St. Johns (q.v.) Dr. Christopher Coo, D.D., sold it in 1715 to Sir James Robinson, bart.,-' and his descendant Sir Frederick Robinson is now lord of the manor. Godric's holding in Cranford mentioned in Domes- day Book^ may possibly be identified with CURZON'S Af.4.\0R, which was held of the Abbey of Peter- borough early in the 12th century by Bertram de Robinson. Vrrt a hart Inppiit^ in an orle of trcjoili or. CRANFORD ST. ANDREW Verdun, whose holding, however, contained 2 hides and I J virgates of land," instead of the l} hides held bv Godric. In the latter half of the 13th century John de Verdun, Constable of Ireland, seems to have held the overlordsliip.''- Wliile the lands came into liis hands owing to the for- feiture for felony by an under- tenant, he seems to have enfeoffed John de Kirkby with part of them, overriding the rights of his intermediate tenant. Sir Richard Curzoii.^ No furtlier mention is made of the Verdun mesne lordship, but lands, parcel of the manor of Cranford, were held of the Curzons of Croxhall, in Staffordshire, as late as 1638.^' Richard Curzon granted it to his son Thomas,^ whose son Robert was the tenant in 1278 and 1284,"* and who seems to have settled at Cranford.^' In 1300 and 1316 the tenant was John Curzon,^ who was probably succeeded by Thomas Curzon before 1329.^' It passed before 1374 to Margaret Curzon, who probably married John Fossebrook. He was living in 1391, but seems to have died before I403. His son and heir, John, died in 1418, and both he and his wife Maud, who was nurse to King Henry VI, arc buried at Cranford St. Andrew. She survived him for many years, and apparently held the manor for life. She was succeeded in direct succession by Gerard, John and Robert Fossebrook, the last-named dying seised of Curzon's manor in 1518. He was suc- ceeded by his son John,''" who died in less than a year. The manor passed to Richard, John's brother and heir,'" whose direct descendants held it till 1630,''- when, after the death of John Fossebrook, leaving several daughters as his heirs, it was sold to Lawrence Curzon of CroxI)all. Azure a bend between tion Iiotis argent wt th three piirrots vert on the bend. » r.C.H. Norlbants. i, 389A. • Cbron. Pelrob. (Camden Soc), 173. '» Ibid. ; Sparke, Htst. Angl. Script. (Var.) pt. ii, 62,81; Cal. Chart, i, 20 ; Cal. Imj. i, no. 10; Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol. 249. " Feud Aids, iv, 13. "Colt. MS. (B.M.), Vesp. E xxii, fol. 112; Feud Aids, iv, 49; Cal. Inq. Hen. f'J/, i, no. 297. " V.C.H. Norlbants. i, 317a. '* Ibid. 389. " Cal. Inq. i, no. 10 ; Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, fol. 136,^; Feud Aids, iv, 13; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152 (in another entry, in the same register (fol. 128) John Daundelyn is said to hold I \ fees in Cranford, but this is probably a mistake). '• Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152; De Hanco R. 833, m. 324. *' Cbron. Petrob. 173 ; Sparke, op. cit. C2 ; Cal. Chart, i, p. 20; iv, p. 277. The dates are talicn from Mellows, Pytebley's Bk.of Fees, 116 «, who quotes authorities. *• Cal. Inq. i, no. 10; Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, fol. 1 36; Feet of F. Northants. 37 Hen. Ill, case 173, file 39, no. 627 ; 45 Hen. Ill, case 174, file 46, no. 805. '» Mellows, Pytchley's Bk. 0/ Fees (North.ints Rcc. Soc), 116 », quoting Swaflham, fol. 267*. "> Feud. Aids, iv, pp. 13, 29 ; Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, fol. 1 12. •' Ibid. Cleop. C i, fol. 152; Cal. Pat. 1350-54, p. 254. " Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152. " Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 33 Edw. Ill, case 177, file 81, no. 477 ; ;o Edw. Ill, case 178, file 85, no. 696 ; Cal. Close 13S5-S9. p. 143. " See below j Feet of F. Northants. 4 Hen. VI, case 179, file 93, no. 35 ; Feud. Aids, iv, p. 49 ; Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, no. 297 ; Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 587, no. 40 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 27 Elii. ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) ccxiiv, 115. «' Wrottcsley, Ped. from the Plea R. 231, citing De Banco R. Mich. 4 Hen. IV, m. 492. «• Ibid. 428, citing De Banco R. 9 Edw. IV, m. 324. 187 " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxiiv, 115; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 37 Eliz. " Ibid. nil. 38 Eliz. " Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 227 ; G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, 55. "" V.C.H. Northants. i, 317,1. >' Ibid. 3890 kb. " Colt. Ch. XXX, 2. '' Cf. Ch.in. Inq. p.m. iS Edw. I, no. 37. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcclxxt, 5S. "Ibid. 18 Edw. I. no. 37. s' Ibid. ; cf. Rot. Ric. Cramsend (Cant, and Yoik Soc), 136; Feud. Aids, iv. 13. »' Cf. Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i, 166; Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 150. '" Rot. Jn. Dalderby, cit. Bridges, ii, 228 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 19. " Cal. Close, 1327-30, 589. '"Northants. N. and Q. (New Ser.), ii, 12-13; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxxiii, 78. «'Ibid. "J. Metcalfe, yisit. of Northants, 20, 89; /,. and P. Hen. I'll I, xvil, g. 1012 (39) ; F'ect of F. Northants. Mich. 33 St 34 Eliz. ; East, 1 Jas. I ; Mich. 11 Jas. I j Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dccii, 10; CUian. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Misc. iii, 4;. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE FossFBROOK. Azure a salttre between four cinq' foils argent. a year CHURCH Maidwell, Arthur Bold and Jolin Bland." In 1654, Arthur and John Bland sold it to Henry Hudson," who resold it in 1657 to Bernard Walcott.*^ In 1700, his grandson William, son of another Bernard W'alcott, sold it to Sir James Robinson, bart.,^* who later purchased Daundclyn's manor (q.v.). The Earls of Gloucester claimed various privileges in connection with their holding in Cranford, which they presumably obtained after the forfeiture of the Bishop of Coutances, but they held more than the virgate as- signed to the bishop in 1086.*' Both the Daundelyns''* and Fossebrooks*^ held land of the honour of Gloucester. The earls had a view of frank- pledge, court leet, assize of bread and ale, pillory, tumbril, infangthief and outfangrhief, chattels of felons and fugitives, waifs and strays, and the re- turn and execution of all writs, summons and orders of the king, for their Cranford lands.^" A mill belonged to Godric's land in Cranford in 1086. It then paid 2s. . 61 The church of ST. ANDREW stands within the park of Cranford Hall, a short distance south-west of the house, and consists of chancel 24 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., north and south chapels, each 8 ft. 6 in. wide, clearstoried nave of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., north aisle 8 ft. wide, north transept, south porch and west tower 9 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being internal. The width across the nave and aisle is 26 ft. 10 in. The transept was added in 1847 at the eastern end of the north wall, and measures internally II ft. 8 in. square.*- The building generally is of rubble, with low- pitched leaded roofs. A former external coat of plaster is now rapidly peeling away. There are plain parapets to the nave, aisle and chapcl.% but the chancel and porch are battlemented. The chapels cover the chancel its full length, the walls being flush at the east end. The earliest part of the building is the nave arcade, which is of late 12th-century date, and consists of three round arches of two square orders springing from cylindrical piers with plain circular capitals and roll bases, and at either end from corbels. In the 13th century the church appears to have been largely reconstructed, the tower being then erected, the nave probably rebuilt,''^ and a north chapel first added. The 13th-century arch between the aisle and chapel is of two chamfered orders on half-round responds, with moulded capitals and bases, but the chapel itself retains no original architectural features. The tower consists of a lofty lower stage with coupled buttresses of small projection and a bell-chamber story which has been heightened at some later period by the addition of plain masonry above the windows, and an embattled parapet. The 13th- century west doorway is of two moulded orders on noo'' shafts with moulded capitals, but the bases are gone, and the outer order is disfigured with plaster. Above is a single wide lancet, and there is another lancet on the south side high up in the lower stage, the north side being blank. The bell-chamber windows are c. 1 280, of two trefoiled lights and cusped circle in the head, except on the west side, where there is simple trefoiled tracery above the lights and a plain circle. The arch to the nave is a beautiful piece of 13th-century work of four^'' chamfered orders, the first or innermost springing from triple shafts with moulded capitals and bases, the second and outer continuous, while the third terminates with tall 'extinguisher' stops above slender angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases.^ In the first half of the 14th century the church underwent a very extensive alteration, amounting almost to a rebuilding, the clearstory and porch being then added and new windows inserted. The aisle may have been rebuilt at this time, but the south wall, at any rate up to sill level, was retained. Further alterations took place in the 15th century, when the south chapel was added, and the chancel and north chapel assumed their present aspect. The south chapel was largely refaced with ashlar in 1674.** The chancel has a four-centred east window of three cinquefoiled lights, with vertical tracery, and is open to the chapels by arches of two chamfered orders, that on the south carried on corbels, the other dying out. The piscina, reredos, and all the fittings are modern : a screen was erected in 1893. The 14th-century chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The rood-loft stair remains on the north side, at the end of the aisle, the steps ascending from the east in front of the 13th-century arch to the chapel : the loft doorway is blocked and covered with plaster. The north chapel is now used as a vestry and orgar. chamber and is lighted by I5th-rcntury windows, but both windows ot the south chapel are modern. The aisle retains a 14th-century square-headed two- light window, but its doorway has been transferred to the transept : another window of the aisle is a 15th-century insertion. Both windows in the nave are 14th century, that west of the porch square- headed and of two trefoiled lights, the other a pointed three-light window with curvilinear tracery : the clearstory windows, four on each side, are trefoiled openings similar to those at Barton Seagrave, within curved triangular labels. There is a 14th-century trefoiled piscina in the south wall of the nave, west of the screen, but the south doorway is a I5tli-century insertion with four-centred head. The porch has a continuous moulded outer arch and small windows of two trefoiled lights on each side. The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal " Sorihonli N. and Q. (New Scr.), il, 14-15; I'lct of F. Nnrllianli. Mich. 1; Cl>]i. I ; ibid. Mil. 22 Chat I. "Ibid. Mich. 1654. '"' Nolciof Finci, Northanti, Trin. ilj;/. " Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 1 1 Will. III. «' I'C.II. S'erlhnnll. i, Jllfl. " i.'j/. Close 1354-60, p. 4;3. *• Ch.irt. In(^. p.m. 4 llcii. IV, no. 41. '» flac. de Quo If'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 571 ; Cal. Pal. 1401-5, 341). " y.C.U. Nonhanli. i, J17A. " It wa> erected by the Rev. Sir OorRe Robiiiion, b.irt., rector, at a kind of * hall prw,' with futernil entrance. 188 **A kecI-B)t.ipfd BtriiiK at lilt level (»n tlir south nidc is -ill the architect urat cvidrticc that mirvivcs. '^' Three orJcn facing west. ^'•^ The :ircli was opened out. ahiiut 1847 by the removal of a wc^t gallery. ''" The date is on the south wall over the dnnrway. r Cranfokd St. Andrew's Church from the South Cranfdrd Si. Andrmv's Cmirui : 'I'lit Imi.kiok, looking East A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE of Simon Fitz Simons, the last of whom died in 1280, when he was succeeded by his grandson or nephew Sir John de Verdun. His son Sir Thomas succeeded in 1295 and died in 1315 leaving a son John. Sir John de Verdun was holding in 1368 of Robert de Lisle.* In 1466, however, this part of Cranford was held of Richard Earl of Warwick,' and in 1479 of Richard Duke of Gloucester.* In the reign of Henrj- VII the overlordship came to the Crown.* In the 1 2th century the tenant in demesne of these 5 hides was Ralph fitz Roger.*" Part .of the land was later held by knight's service by William de Cranford, who died before 1 209, when his heir, presumably a minor, had succeeded him.** Ralph de Cranford was the tenant between 1235'- and 1262." He was succeeded by his son William who was holding in I284,i'' but in 1295 Ralph son of William appears.*^ William son of Ralph de Cranford made a settlement of the manor in 1330.'* The next tenants were Baldwin Drayton of Cranford and his wife Alice, and as the manor formed part of her inheritance, she may have been the daughter of the last William de Cran- ford." She and her husband sold it in 1394 to John son of Baldwin Drayton,** and in 1426 the latter together with his son John, who had married ."Vnne, daughter of Robert de Cran- ford, were parties to a lawsuit over lands in Cranford.*' In 1466 William Drayton died seised of a capital messuage and land in Cranford.-" His son Richard died in 1479.^* Tlie property seems to have passed to Richard's sister Anne, the wife of Thomas I.ovett." Henry Lovett, pre- sumably her son, died seised of 'Drayton's manor' in Cran- ford in 1492.^ He was suc- ceeded by his son Thomas, who died seised in 1 542, his heir being his grandson, another Thomas Lovett.-' The latter sold the manor in 1550 to Thomas Good- fellow.-^ In 1614 Christopher Goodfellow was the tenant-" and it passed about 1652 to liis daughters Jane, the wife of William Coo, and Mary and Sarah Goodfellow.^' The manor came to the family of Coo and passed on the death of William Coo in 1676 to their son Christopher Coo, D.D., who also was lord of Daundelyn's manor (q.v.) in Cranford St. Andrew.^' Lovett. Argent three wolves passant pjli':vise sable . In 1805, Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch, owned the manor of Cranford St. John.^*' A second holding in Cranford St. John was known in the 1 6th century as the manor of CRANFORD. It originally formed part of the holding of Bertram of Verdun in the early 1 2th century-' and seems to have been separated by the overlord, John de Verdun, Constable of Ireland, from Curzon's manor in Cran- ford St. -Andrews.^ In 1476 this estate was said to be held directly of the Abbey of Peterborough,^* and after the Dissolution, of the king in chief.*- In the reign of Henry III certain lands were held by William de Esseby of Sir Richard Curzon, but they were for- feited for felony and escheated to the Constable, who granted them to John de Kirkby, Bishop of Ely, to hold as the sixth part of half a knight's fee.^ On the bishop's death in 1289 the lands should have escheated to Robert Curzon,*^ but they passed to William dc Kirkby, the bishop's brother, and were neld immedi- ately of the \'erduns.^ William died in 1302 seised of rents and tenements in Cranford and in 1303 his lands were divided between his four sisters and co- heirs, Cranford being assigned to Maud, the wife of Gilbert de Houby.^" She died seised about 131 1 and was succeeded by her son Walter de Houby.^' Cran- ford seems to have passed to his son Anketine, who died seised of 6 messuages, 6 virgates of land and 8 marks rent in Cranford.^ These tenements finally passed to John Bellers, the son of Elizabeth, the daughter of Anthony, the son of Alice, the daughter of Anketine de Houby.'* Bellers died seised in 1476 and Cranford passed to John Villers, the son of his sister Joan."*" In 1506 Villers was succeeded by his son, another John,''* who sold the manor of Cranford to Edward Montagu, scrjeant-at-law, William Dudley, William Stokes, Thomas Stokes and Henry Freeman, giving a quitclaim to the purchasers and the heirs ot Montagu.^- Henry Freeman, however, appears to have obtained possession of these lands,''^ and his son Thomas Freeman died in 1637 seised of the manor and left the land which was parcel of the manor to his executors for provision for the children of his brother Henry.'''' His heir was Henry's son Thomas, a niinor.*^ A Thomas Freeman died in 1692, and the manor passed to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Weaver.''* In 1730, their son, the Rev. William Henry Weaver, was lord of the manor.'" A free fishery in Cranford is mentioned in 1753''* and 1786^' as appurtenant to Lovett's manor, and at the latter date 3 water corn mills belonged to the manor.^ ' Farrrr, op. cit. i, 114-118; Book of Feel, ii, 1)37; FeuJ. Aids, iv, 13; Cal. Close, 12S8-5C), p. 448 ; 1364-68, p. 497. ' Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. W, no. 7. • Ibid. If) Edw. IV, no. 44. • Cal. lisq. lien. VII, \, no. 753. '" V.C.II. Norlhants. i, 389 a & * ; cf. rcmsrki on thii point in K,irrcr, op. cit. i, ii3. ■' Book of Fees, i, 18. "Ibid, i, 500; ii, 937 J Fcft o( F. Northanti. Mil. 24 Ilcn. Ill ; 45 lien. Ill, no. 806. " Exeerpi. e Rot. Fin. ii, 382. *• Feud. Aids, iv, 13. " Cal. Close, 1288-96, p. 448. " Feet of F.North.inti. Hil. 3 Edw. III. " Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mich. i« RIc. II, no. 370. '■ Ibid. " Ejtiy Chan. Prof. bdlc. 7, no. 250. '» Ch.nn. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. I\', no. 7. •' Ibid. 19 Edw. IV, no. 44. " Ibid. " Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, no. 7^3. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) Ivvi, 42. •' Rccov. R. nil. 4 Edw. VI, ro. 100; Feet of v. Norliiants. East. 5 Edw. VI. " Feet of F. Notthanls. Mil. 11 Jas. I. •' Ibid. Trin. 1652; Bridgei, op. cit. ii, 230. •• Ibid. Feet of F. Northanli. Trin. 5 Anne ; Hil. 10 Anne. "'» Privau All of Pari. 45 Ceo. Ill, c. 34. " r.C.ft. Nonhanii. i, 389 a lib. >** ('ban. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. I, no. 37. " Ibid. 16 E37, 1640, i(ifi2, i'i;i), 1681, •7<'4. '745. '75°. '752. lyf.;, 1774, 1S15. In i^i^i Edward Mnuntagu presented ' pro hac vice ' and in t62t Thomai I"rccnian presented. ' I'riv. Act. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 34; Recov R. Trin. 6 Geo. Ill, Deeds enrolled, m. 275. ' y.C.II. Noribanlt. i, 309*. ' Ibid. * Ibid. 36511, 377a. HUXLOE HUNDRED DEN FORD Clare. Or three cheve- ront gules. place there from which the rent should be taken. Probably Adeliza his grandmother was then still ahve. The manor* was apparently held of the honour of Clare in 1242,* while in 1262 Richard, Earl of Gloucester, died seised of the overlordship there.' The manor was afterwards held of the Gloucester Fee in North- amptonshire,* to which it still belongs. The first tenant in demesne of whom record has been found was Frumbold Denford, who in the 12th century survey appears as holding half a hide of land in Cotton of the fee of Denford.* In charters of the same century, Walter son of Gilbert Denford appears'" and he was succeeded by his son Gilbert and grandson Walter, the latter of whom was living in 1219." Shortly afterwards the manor was divided, but the fact that the number of knights' fees in Den- ford varies in different inquisitions on the Gloucester lands makes its history difficult to trace. Probably, however, the manor was held as one knight's fee and the later moieties each as half a knight's fee.*^ In 1242 Walter Denford held half a fee of the honour of Clare and was probably the mesne lord of the other half fee.''' He was succeeded by Gilbert Denford, whose heir was holding in 1262'* and may possibly have been Joan the wife of William Sharde- low, who was certainly the heiress of lands in Den- ford at this time.'* She and her husband granted lands in 1263 to Richard Trailly of Woodford'* and in 1284 William Trailly is said to have held the town- ship of Denford of the Earl of Gloucester." In 1285 the lands that had formerly been held by Walter and Gilbert Denford had passed to William Trailly and John de Tolthorp.'* It seems fairly clear that John de Tolthorp held the half fee which Walter Denford held in 1242, since in or before 1326 his widow Maud died seised of a moiety of the manor of Denford, which was held as half a knight's fee." Her heir was her son Gilbert^" and his sons Gilbert and John both seem to have succeeded him.^' John in 1353 quit- claimed all his right in the manor to Sir Richard Chamberlain,*' who also obtained the third part, which Ehzabeth, the wife of Ralph Beauchamp, held in dower.-' In 1373 John Chamberlain and his wife Kathcrine, who seems to have had some right in the manor, quitclaimed it to Sir Richard Cham- berlain,'-' on whose death his son and heir Richard assigned the manor to his mother Joan in dower.^* She died seised in 1410 and it passed to her grandson, another Richard Chamberlain,-* who granted it to certain feoffees." In 1432 these feoffees granted it to John Gryffyn and William Aldwinkle, who were in seisin at the time of the death of Richard in 1439,^* and of his son, a fourth Richard, in 1440.^' Aldwinkle died before 1472, when his heir Thomas Lenton gave a release of the manor to a fifth Richard Chamber- lain.'* Another Richard, probably his son, died in 1496, leaving the manor in trust to be divided amongst his three sons, with remainder to his daughter Anne." The next tenant, however, who appears is John Audlett, of Abingdon, Berks, who died seised of the manor in 1537.'^ His heirs were first said to be his cousins Ralph Edmunds and Margaret, wife of Ralph Tomson.^ Edmunds sold his moiety to Katherine, the widow of Audlett,'* and the Tom sons granted their moiety to her for life in satisfaction of her dower.'* Later, William Boiler, the true heir of Audlett, appeared and sold the manor to Katherine Audlett and her nephew Thomas Reade and his wife Anne.'* After BoUer's death, his daughter and heir Margaret and her husband, William Sergeant, tried to recover the manor." An agreement, how- ever, was reached in 1544 with the Reades,'* whose descend- ants retained possession of the manor.'* In 1661 Corapton Reade was created a baronet,'"' but in the early years of the l8th century the manor was sold by Sir Thomas Reade to Joseph Diston,*' who in 1719 resold it to Jeremiah Sambrooke.*^ It afterwards passed to John Freeman, who sold the manor in 1764 to Leonard Burton.*' The trustees of Thomas Burton owned the manor in 1874,'** and Mr. Thomas Freeman and Mr. George Keeble, J. P., are the chief landowners at the present day. The other half fee in Denford seems to have been in the hands of Matthew the Butler in 1242,''* but Reade. Gules a salrire betzoeen Jour sheaves or. ' Farrer Honors and Knigbls' Fees, ii, 210-1 1. • Book of Fees, ii, 937. ' Bridges, Hist, of Noribanls. ii, 231, cit. Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. III. no. 34. The list of the Earl's Northampton- ihire tees now appears to be lost. • Chan. Inq. p.m. i Hen. V, no. Exch. Dep. by Com. Northants. II Jas. I, no. 15. • y.C.H. Northanu. I, 377a. '» Harl. Chart. 4S B. 25 and 26. " Ibid. 50 A. 41. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. no. 34; ibid. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.) no. 62 ; 18 Ric. II, no. 43 ; 22 Ric. II, no. 46 ; 38 and 39 Hen. VI, no. 59 ; Bk. of Fees, ii, 937 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 12, 49. '• Bk. of Fees, ii, 937. '♦ Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no. 34 ; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc.) 113. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 41; Hen. HI. ■• Ibid. Trin. 47 Hen. III. 33 i Hil. Ill, *' Feud. Aids, iv, 12. It seems possible that William Trailly was the second hus- band of Joan Shardelow ; cf. Feet of F. Northants. East. 18 Edw. I. '* Chron. Petrob. 113. *• Cnl. Inq. vi, no. 621. »» Plac. de Banco. Trin. 2 Edw. Ill, m. 72d. " Cal. Close, 1349-54, P- 616. " Ibid. " Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 27 Edw. III. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 46 Edw. III. " Chan. Inq. p.m. I Hen. V, no. 33. " Ibid. " Ibid. 17 Hen. VI, no. 31. " Ibid. " Ibid. iS Hen. VI. no. 45 ; Early Chan. Proc, bdlc. 18, no. 18. His heir was his cousin William Rokeby, but he does not seem to have obtained seisin. w Close R. 1 1 Edw. IV, m. 5. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xi, 4. •» Ibid. Ixxxii, 75. •• Ibid. •* Feet of F. Northants, East. 29 Hen. VIII. " Star Chamber Proc. Hen. VIII, bdle. 17, no. 196. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Ixii, 30 j Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 30 Hen. VIII. " Star Chamber Proc. Hen. VIII, bdle. 17, no. 196. »' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 36 Hen. VIII. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 30 Eliz. ; Mich. 13 Chas. I; Trin. 34 Chas. II; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxc, 125 ; Exch. Dep. by Com. Northants. Hil. 12 Jas. I, no. 15 ; Pat. R. 13 Jas. I, pt. 18; Recov. R. Trin. 31 Chas. II, ro. 30. *" G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, p. 172. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 321. *' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 5 Geo. I. ♦> Ibid. East. 4 Geo. III. ** Whellan, Hist, of Northants. 1874,751. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 26 Hen. III. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE bv the following year his heir or heirs had succeeded him.^ His heirs possibly were Isolda, the wife of Brian Denford'" and the wife of Ralph de Pulteney, as in 1262 Brian and Ralph were tenants here of the Earl of Gloucester.''* In 1285 Ralph de Pulteney" was living, but in 1 3 14 he had been succeeded by William de Pulteney,'" and in 1365 Isabella, daughter of William Pulteney, sold a messuage and lands to Sir Richard Chamberlain Knt.'' Before 1425 a tenement called Pultpneys was in the hands of Richard Chamberlain,'- who held the other moiety of Denford (q.v.), and though he granted it to Thomas Chamberlain and his wife Katherine, it seems probable that from this time the Chamberlains and their successors held the greater part at least of Matthew the Butler's half fee.'^ Brian Denford's share cannot be traced after 1285, when his son Robert had succeeded him.*'' Another tenant of the Gloucester Fee in Denford before 1240 was Simon de Berughby, whose wife Alice** was possibly another heir of Matthew the Butler. Alice de Berughby was holding in 1262,** William and Hugh Berughby appear as tenants in 1285," and John and Robert Berughby in 1314.*' This may be the manor in Denford which, though not held in chief, is said to have been granted in 1374 or 5 by Edward III to Robert Ward.*' The latter, with his wife Emma, conveyed it in 1410 or II to Thomas Cantlowe," who granted it to William Aldwinkle.'^ The latter by will left it to his wife Elizabeth, who afterwards married W'illiam Chaumbre*^ It seems, however, to have been in the hands of trustees, who sold it in 1488 to John Selyman, the chaplain of the chantry founded by Chaumbre in Aldwinkle church.*^ The lands of the chantry seem to have been seized by Henry \'I1I, who in 1546 granted the manor to Sir Edward Montagu." The Earls of Gloucester and their successors held a court leet and view of frankpledge for their tenants at Denford.** In 1616, Thomas Reade obtained a grant of free warren in his manor of Denford.^ In 1086, two mills at Denford, paying [z los. Sd. and 250 eels a year are mentioned, but it is not certain that both were in Denford itself." A mill at Denford is mentioned in the reign of Henry HI,*' and again in 1537.** A free-fishery in Denford was granted in 1545, by William Burton and his wife Joan, and Margaret Gale, widow, to Gilbert Pickering.™ The church of the HOLJ' TRINITT CHURCH consists of chancel 31 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., clcarstoried nave of four bays, 49 ft. 4 in. by 21 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles each 10 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and west tower 12 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft., surmounted by a spire. All these measure- ments are internal. The building belongs generally to the later part of the 13th century, c. 1275-90, but the lower stage of the tower and some other features appear to be rather earlier, and it is, therefore, not unlikely that the church was building during a rather protracted period, extending over the latter half of the century. In the 14th century, new windows were inserted in the south aisle, and the clearstory was added, but no material alteration was effected in the plan. The east window and two in the north aisle are 15th- century insertions, and a window at the east end of the south aisle is about a century later. Originally, the north aisle extended some 20 ft. further eastward, covering the chancel for more than half its length, and forming a chapel with a vestry at its east end. The church was restored in 1864, and in 1897 the lower part of the tower, including the buttresses, was newly faced and the spire restored. In 1925, the east ends of both aisles were taken down and rebuilt," the north aisle roof renewed and the roof of the nave repaired. The roofs are of low pitch, leaded to the aisles, slated to the nave and chancel. The chancel is built of grey stone with an iron-stone band every fourth course, and has plain parapets and chamfered plinth, but no string course. The walls inside are plastered. The east window retains 13th-century moulded jambs and part of the early rear arch has been re-used, but is otherwise of 15th century date, of four trefoOed lights and Perpendicular tracery. Two late 13th-century windows remain in the south wall, one of three and the other of two lights, with tracery formed by the forking and intersection of the mullions. There is no window in the north wall, but a doorway (now blocked) with a drop arch and continuous roll moulding, led formerly into the vestry, from which there was a squint to the chancel. In the usual position on the south side is a rather plain 13th-century piscina, the bowl of which has been blocked. Originally the interior of the chancel was surrounded with trefoiled arcading. Two arches remain on the south side, and four on the north, with excellent filleted roll-mouldings and soffit cusping, on triple clustered shafts and single- shafted responds. The shafts stand clear of the wall and have moulded capitals and bases, and in the spandrels on the north side are sculptured faces, a man's and two women's. Of the northern arches, three are placed beneath a relieving arch in the wall, and in the tympanum thus formed, are four recesses, which may have been intended for acoustic purposes.^'' The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the *• Book of Feet, ii, 937. ♦' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 31 Ilcn. in. *• Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, nu. 34. ** Cbron. I'ctrob. 113. " Cban. In Harl. Ch. (B.M.) 47 I. 29. •• Cban. Idc|. p.m. 18 Ric. II, no. 43 ; 22 Ric. II, no. 46; 38 and 39 lien. VI, no. 59. ** Chron. Petrob. 113. " IVet of F. Northanti. Mich. 24 Hen III. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no. 34. •' Cbron. Petrob. 1 13. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 62. " Bridges, Uist. of Nortbanls. i), 231. «" Ibid. •' Ibid. •' Ibid. «• Cal.Pat. 1485-94, pp. 253,311. " L. and P. Hen. fill, xxi (pt. ii), g. 648(52). *• Cal. Inij. iii, no. 371 ; iv, 435 ; Cat. Pat. i343-45> P- 3'''' i '4o'-°5. P- 349; Chan. Iruj. p.m. 36 Kdw. Ill, pt. i,no. 37 i P.R.O. Court R. (gen. «er.) pif. 194, f. 49. "Pat. R. 13 Jan. I,pt. 18. •' y.C.ll. Northanti. i, 309^. " Cott. Ch. xxviii, 74. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), U«xii, 75. "• Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 37 Hen. VIII. 194 " The old materials were used and the windows replaced. The fnnndaticms of the original east end of tbo north aisle were uncovered at this time : ex. inform. Mr. H. F. 'IMylen, F.S.A. architect. A considerable amount of repair appears to have been done to the north side of the chancel in the 18th century, or perhaps earlier. " The recesses were discovered in 1864 : one of them still contains an earthenware pot, or acoustic jar. The rubble face of the wall is here left exposed. Sec An. Arcb. Soc. Reporti, vii, 102 ; Bloxam, Gothic Arcb. (iitb ed.) ii, 154. Denford Church from the South-East DhNKORl) ChLKLH : Tnh ImIRIOK. LOOKIM, EaST HUXLOE HUNDRED DENFORD innermost carried on moulded corbels. There is no screen. The nave arcades spring from piers composed of four attached shafts with moulded capitals, and from half-octagonal responds. The arches are of two chamfered orders. On the south side, the piers have moulded bases, but not on the norlli. The door- ways of the aisles are of the 13th century ; the northern has a simple chamfer, the southern is of two chamfered orders, the innermost on shafts with moulded capitals and chamfered bases, the shafts being new. The outer arch of the porch is of two chamfered orders on imposts, with tooth ornament in the hood mould. The windows of the aisles are of various dates. The easternmost window in the soutli wall and the The tower is of two stages with massive double buttresses to half its height, and a vice in the south- west angle. The lower stage is of rubble, and the upper or bell-chamber story of dressed stone. The west doorway is a modern 13th-century restoration, but the tall lancet window above is original. The north and south sides of the lower stage are blank, and tlie bell-chamber stage sets back slightly. The windows consist of two grouped trefoilcd lancets, witli shafted jambs and moulded heads, with trefoil opening above, set between two blind lancets, the whole composition forming a triple arcade on each side, covering the greater part of the wall surface. The arch between the nave and tower is modern. The spire belongs to a type sometimes known as timber Scale of Feet ]3I!J Century 14 B Ceintury 1512 Century 161!! Century ES Subsequent 4. Mod Plan of Denford Church westernmost in the north wall are of three lights and have the late 13th century intersecting tracery already described, and another at the east end of the north wall has three gradated lancets under a single arch with pierced spandrels. The west window of the north aisle is blocked, and the two 15th-century middle windows are of three trefoiled lights with vertical tracery. In the south aisle, on either side of the doorway, and at the west end, are rectangular openings with excellent mouldings and tracery of a late 14th century type, and the window at the east end of the aisle is four-centred and of three uncusped lights with vertical tracery. It appears to be a 16th-century insertion, at which time probably the east end of the north aisle was walled up, after the disuse or removal of the chapel. The south aisle appears to have been repaired at the end of the 14th century, as indicated by the character of the square-headed windows, and the parapet has fine gargoyles of this date. The clearstory windows are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights, but on the north side they were altered to plain single openings probably in the 1 8th century, the old rear arches being retained. " Ac a parochial viucation held in the Thii, apparently, wai removed in 1864. church 3 Juoe, 1718, according to an order The pretent Kone pulpit wai erected in of the court there wit to be • new pulpit. 1926. spires worked in masonry, and rises from behind a plain parapet with angle pinnacles, carried on a bold corbel table. The spire has ribbed angles, and two sets of gabled lights on its cardinal faces. At the level of the lower lights, it is ornamented with bands and strings. The font and pulpit" are modern. The roofs also are modern throughout, but the corbels for the wall-pieces and some fragments of the timbers appear to be old. A bracket for an image remains in the south-east corner of the south aisle. The east end of the north aisle is screened off to form a vestry. The organ is under the tower arch. There are six bells, the first by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1629, the second by Robert Mott of Whitechapel, 1581, and the others by Matthew and Henry Bagley, of Chacomb, 1680.'^ The plate consists of a silver cup of c. 1570, a paten inscribed ' Denford 1682,' and a cover paten of c. 1700." The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all entries 1597-1613, 1618-38, 1654-73, (ii) all entries 1674-1718, (iii) all entries 1727-52, Isaptisms and burials 1753-1812, (iv) marriages 1754-1812. '* North, Cb. Belli of Nonbanit. 247, where the iatcriptiona are given. " Markham, Cb. Plate of SorthamU. 96. 195 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The advowson of the church of ADVOU'SON Denford appears to have been held by Hugh, Earl of Chester," after the forfeiture by the Bishop of Coutances. Before lioo, the earl granted it to the abbey of St. Werburgh at Chester." In 1394, it was obtained by Richard (le Scrope), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,'" who two years later appropriated it to his table, on con- dition that a vicarage was ordained.'^ Before 1535, the vicarage of Denford was united to the chapelry of Ringstead.*" In 1551, Richard (Sampson), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, leased the rectory and the advowson of Denford for a hundred years at a rent of ^18 to Nicholas Williamson of Kingsthorpe and his wife Marj'.*' She married as her second husband, John VVarde, and they were sued for the rent by Bishop Thomas (Bentham).'- The property passed to Bridgit, apparently the daughter and heir of Nicholas, who married Thomas Williamson, presum- ably her cousin.*' In 1588, Thomas and Bridgit, together with their son Nicholas and his wife Anne, sold the rectory to Lewis, Lord Mordaunt,** whose descendants owned the advowson and rectory till after 1681,*^ whether still as leaseholders of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield or as freeholders does not appear. They were probably sold after the death of Henry, the last Earl of Peterborough, in 1697.*^ In 1720, the rectory was sold by William Freina, clerk, and his wife Bridgit, Mary Cleter, widow, and Stephen Ashby to Jeremiah Sambrook,*' who had recently bought the manor (q.v.). He pre- sented to the vicarage in 1752,** and both advowson and rectory passed with the manor in 1764 to Leonard Burton*' and his descendants. Before 1874, Miss Leggatt was patron of the living."*' In 1898 it belonged to S. G. Stopford Sackville of Drayton House, Thrapston, and is now owned by Mr. Nigel Stopford Sackville. Church Estate. There is no docu- CHARITIES mentary evidence of the origin of this charity. The property consists of meadowland containing about 4 acres and 4 cottages with gardens, the whole producing ^^31 13^. yearly which is applied to church expenses. Three cottages and a garden situate in Pegg's Lane were sold in 1916 and the proceeds invested in ;^2ll 10/. \d. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. The dividends on this sum are invested in augmentation of the principal. FINEDON Tingdene, Thingdene (xi cent.) ; Thyngden, Tyn- den (xiii cent.) ; Thynden (xiv cent.) ; Thingdon (xvi cent.) ; Finedon (xviii cent.). The parish of Finedon contains 3,541 acres of land. It rises to a little over 300 ft. above the ordnance datum from the River Ise which forms the western boundary. The sub-soil is Upper Lias, and Great and Inferior Oolite, the surface soil being clay producing wheat and barley. The parish was formed into an urban district in 1894 with a council of twelve members. It was inclosed under a private Act of Parliament.* The large village lies at the inter- section of the roads from Wellingborough to Thrap- ston and from Higham Ferrers to Kettering. It is a somewhat uninteresting looking town of red- brick houses, a red brick water tower on the Irth- lingborough road being a prominent landmark. The rectory house stands on the north-west of the church and is a well-designed building of two stories, faced with ironstone and roofed with CoUy- weston slates, erected in 1688 by Roger Altham, rector. A few late 17th or early 1 8th century houses remain in the old part of the town, one of them in Mulsho Square with a thatched roof, is dated 1693 and another in the same square is dated 1736. In Church Street, the Charity School for girls is a well-designed two- story house with slated roof erected in 171 2, while the Gothic revival is represented by the Almshouses in the same street, built in 1847 and by the Bell Inn. At the west end of the town is the Old Hall or manor house which was rebuilt about 1835,- and enlarged some twenty years later,' but it incorporates on the north-west side some rooms belonging to a former structure, which appears to have been an Elizabethan house of only moderate size. The existing mansion is a picturesque gabled building of local yellow stone, with Weldon stone dressings.'' Iron-stone was formerly worked and the Finedon Ironworks belonging to the Glendon Iron Ore Company are now disused. The principal industry at the present time is the manufacture of boots and shoes. Finedon station on the London Midland and Scottish Railway is two miles from the village in Isham parish. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, MANORS Queen Edith held the great soke of Finedon, which contained 27 hides of land in six hundreds. In 1086 it was in the king's hands and formed part of the ancient demesne of the crown. Only 1 1 hides were in the later hundred of Huxloc and a holding of 9J hides seems to represent the manor of FINEDONfi In the 12th century survey of the county, the king held 10 hides there.' The men of Finedon in 1 388 successfully claimed that '• Dugd.ilr, Man. Angl. ii, 385-6, cit. Chart. R. 2 Ilea. V, pt. 1, m. 26. " Ibid. ; Rol. Roll. Grotitleue (Cant. • nd York Soc), 167 ; Rol. Ric. Gravestnd (Cant, and York Soc), 126. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Ric. II, no. 80; Cat. Pal. 1391-96, p. 516. "Ibid. p. 686; 1399-1401, p. 51.1; 1413-16, p. 391. •» Ta/or F.cd. (Rcc. Com), iv, 3 1 2. •' Chan, Proc. (Srr. ii), bdlc. 35 (119). •• Ibid. ; Walwr C. Metcalfe, f m.(. 0/ Nortbanli, 55. " Ibid. ; Feet of V. Northants. Kast. 13 Eliz. ; Mil. 29 Eliz. •« Tcct of F. Northants. Mil. 30 Elii. ■' Ch.TH. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) cccix, 200; Feet of F. Div Cob. 'Frin. 19 Jas. I ; Rccov. R. nil. 19 Jas. I, ro. 40; Initit. Bk». (I'.R.O.) 1648, 1677, 1681J Feet of F. Northantj, Div. Cos. Uil 6 Geo. I. «• G.E.C. Complrte Peerage. " Feet of F. Norlh,iiil«. Mil. 6 Geo. I. " Initit. Bk.. (P.R.O.). 196 '• Feet of F. NorthanU. East. 4 Geo. III. •» Whellan, llisl. of Nonbanu. 1874, p. 75'- ' Priv. Act 45 Geo. Ill, c. 44. An Incloiurc award of 1808 ii in the custody of the vicar. ■ 'Fhis date is on one of the cliitnneys. • The dates 1851, 1856, and 1859 occur on parts of the house. • A'orrAun/j.A'.iiiK/p. (NcwScr.),iv, 161. • V.C.H. Nonbanu. i, 308a. • Ibid, i, 3890. HUXLOE HUNDRED FINEDON it was ancient demesne and proved their right to be quit of toll throughout the kingdom.' The sokcmen of the ancient demesne appear in a rental of the manor in 1423." The manor apparently remained in the crown until King John granted it in 1200 for life at fee-farm to his clerk, Stephen de Clay,* who was holding it in 1209.^" In I2i7it was granted to Thomas which passed to their daughter DivorgiUa, the wife of John Balliol.-" From her it went to John de Burgh, grandson of the justiciar.'^' On his death in 1279,'" his moiety was assigned to his eldest daughter, DivorgiUa, the wife of Robert Fitz Walter, Lord Fitz Walter, who in 1283 sub-infeudated their moiety of Finedon.-'' One quarter of the manor was granted to Ralph de ^S5. r iBr^ M^,il4jd FiNEDON : Church Porch Malemains" and in 1218 to William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury,^ who possibly retained it till his death in 1226.'' At some time, however, it was granted to the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, but after his outlawry,^* it was given to Stephen de Segrave and his heirs. '* Stephen's son Gilbert was holding the manor in 1234, when he was ordered to restore it to Hubert de Burgh.*' In 1241 it was at farm to the men of Finedon," but in the same year the manor was granted in fee to William, son of William de Forz, count of Aumale, and his wife Christina, daughter and heir of the Earl of Chester, in part compensation for her inheritance in the earldom.'' In 1246 they granted one moiety of the manor to Richard de Bolebec,** but retained the other moiety, ' Cal. Close, 1385-89, p. 408. • Add. Roll (B.M.) 38983. • Chart. R. 1 John, pt. 4.9, m. 10. '° Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4d ; 7 John, m. 21 ; II John, m. i6d. " Rol. Lin. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 32oi, 343*. " Ibid, i, 364A, 368* ; Pipe R. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 7. '" G.E.C. Complete Peerage. '* Cat. Close, 1231-34, p. 567. " Cal. Chari.i, 116. " Cal. Close, 1231-34, p. 567. " .hid. 1237-42, p. 307. ■» Cal. Chan, i, 262 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. 26 Hen. Ill, no. 55. " Feet of F. Northante. East. 29 Hen. III. '0 G.E.C. Complete Peerage (New Ed.) ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.) 545. •■ Ibid. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. I, no. 9. In the inquisition of his lands, only the advowson of Finedon is mentioned, but the manor was mentioned at the time of the redivision of his daughters' inheritance in 1282 {Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 186). " Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 186 ; Feet of Kirketon, who held it by the service of a quarter of a knight's fee.2* He demised it to William Bernak, probably only in settlement on Alice de Kirketon.^* Alice may have been identical with Alice the wife of John de Thorp, who jointly with her husband was holding it in 1321.2' She granted it for his life to John de Harwedon, who was the tenant in 1 334," but in 1 341 William de Thorp sold the reversion to Simon Simeon of Grimsthorp.^* The other quarter of the manor was granted by the Fitz Walters in 1283 to Ralph Seymour, also for the service due from a quarter of a knight's fee.^' In 1 3 10, however, the service had been changed to the yearly gift of a pair of gilt spurs. ^^ Ralph died seised in 1310^1 and alter the death of his widow Alice, who F. Northants. East. 11 Edw. I; Plac. de Quo h'arr. (Rec. Com.) 545. " Ibid. ; Fit2 Walter's descendant, the Earl of Sussex, held the overlordship in 1609 (Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii), cccvii 98). «» Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545. " Cal. Itu/. Misc. Chan. ii. no. 445. »' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com. 545 ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 13 Edw. III. '* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 15 Edw. III. «• Ibid. East. II Edw. I. » Cal. ;«j. V, no. 186. •' Ibid. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE held it for life,'^ it passed to his son Edmund.^ Lawrence Seymour was holding it in 1334^ presumably DJ Burgh. Gules seven lozenges voir. DE FoRZ. Gules a cross paty vair. as a trustee for settlements made on Thomas Eey» mour,^^ but the latter sold it in 1 348 to Simon Simeon,^ who thus became possessed of the whole moiety of the manor. He settled it jointly on himself and his wife Elizabeth Neville.'' He died without heirs,^ and Elizabeth brought the manor to her second BoLBrc. Vert a lion argen t. FiTzwALTER. Orajesst between two cbeverons gules. husband John la Warre,'' who died seised of it in 1398.'"* She had predeceased him, and his heir was his brother Thomas,'" who seems to have sold the moiety of Finedon manor between 1400 and 1405 to John Mulsho ; ■»- at the same time Mulsho obtained a quarter of the other moiety of the manor (q.v.). He was succeeded by his son, who died in 1478, and his grandson, who died in 1536, both named John.''* Thomas, the grandson of the third John Mulsho, succeeded him^' and bought the remainder of the other moiety of Finedon manor (q.v.), which had been alienated by the Count of Aumale in 1246** so that from this time the whole manor was held by the Mulshos. Thomas's eldest son, another Thomas, sold the manor in 1604 to his brother Robert'* from whom it passed in direct descent to William, Robert" and Tanfield Mulsho.^ On Tanfield's death his heirs were his daughters Anne and Elizabeth, who married two brothers Gilbert and John Dolben, the sons of the Mulsho. Ermine a bend sable wt:b tbree goats* beads razed argent wttb horns or thereon. Dolben. Sable a helm betivcen three broad arroto heads argent all pointing inwards. Archbishop of York, but Anne and Gilbert bought Elizabeth's share.''* Gilbert was created a baronet in 1704^" and his successors were lords of the manor till the death of Sir John English Dolben in 1837,^^ when it passed to his daughter Frances, the wife of William Mackworth, who took the name of Dolben."^ She died in 1892, and the last owner of the manor was her daughter Ellen Mackworth Dolben, on whose death in 191 2, the whole estate was sold in separate portions.^-* The moiety of the manor of Finedon which Lord FitzWalter and his wife granted in 1246 to Richard de Bolbec was held by the annual payment of a pair of gilt spurs.^'' On the death of Richard's son Hugh in or before 1262, it was divided between Hugh's four daughters and heirs, Philippa, the wife of Roger de Lancaster, Margery, the wife of Nicholas Corbet, Alice the wife of Walter, son of William de Hunter- combe, and Maud who was then unmarried.''^ Philippa's eighth part of the manor passed on her death before 1294 to her son John de Lancaster,^" who was holding it in 1321.^' It was then held in demesne by John, son of Robert de Lancaster,'* but probably before 1327 it had passed to Robert de Sandford.^' In 1342, Robert gave it to his son Thomas and Margaret Spryng,^ but in 1367 Thomas de Sandford sold it to Simon Symeon of Grimsthorp," and from that date it seems to have followed the descent of the other moiety of the manor (q.v.) since John Mulsho died seised in 1478 of one moiety and a fourth part of the other moiety .*- The eighth part assigned to Margery and Nicholas " Teet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 5 and 6 Edw. II ; Cal. Inq. Misc. Chan, ii, no. 445. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. II, no. 20. •' Ptac. de Quo Ifarr. (Rec. Com.), 54;. " Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mich. 3 Edw. III. " Ibid. Northanti. Eait. 21 Edw. III. " Feet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 30 Edw. Ill ; Mich. I Ric. II i Cloie R. 9 Ric. II, part I, m. 7. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 Ric. II, no. 48. •• Cloic R,, 12 Ric. II, m. 38d. i Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mil. 12 Ric. II. *" Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 53. «' Ibid. *■ Add. Chart. (B.M.) 22005 ; Feet of F. Northanti. caie 179, file 90, no. 34; Add. Roll (B.M.), 38983. *• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) xx, 101; l»il. III. "Ibid. " See above. " Metcalfe, Fisil. of Noribants. 38, 116; Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 1 Jai. I ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccvii, 98. " Mctcilfe, op. cit. 116. *» Recov. R. Eait. 13 Chai. II, ro. 196; Feet of F. Northanti. Trin. 25 Chai. II ; Norihants. N. and Q. (New Ser.) iv, 166-8. ♦• Ibid. ; Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 35 Chai. II. »» r..E.C. Complete Baronetage. "Ibid.; Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. I, ro. 217; Feet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 21 and 22 Geo. II ■, Recov. R. 42 Geo. Ill, ro. 211. "Whcllan, Hist, of Northanti, 1874, p. 752 ; Norihants N. and Q. loc. cit. " Ibid. " Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 29 Ilcn. Ill ; riac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.) 545. " Cal. Inq. i, no. 528. In 1333/4 '" a plea of Quo Warranto (cf. previoui note) there ii a very full account of the deicent of the manor, but the namci of Hugh'i d.iughtcn are given as llawisia, Lora, Cecilia and Joan. The names in the inquisition appcir from otlier evidence to be correct. •• Cal. Inq. ili, no. 177. *' Cal. Inq. Misc. Chan, ii, no. 445. " Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 289. " i'lac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 54^ ; Plac. de Banco, no. 570. •" Cal. Close, 1 341-43, p. 680. " Feet of F. Northanti. East. 40 Edw, III. •' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xx, 101 ; Ivii, 112. 198 HUXLOE HUNDRED FINEDON CRtvaTocK. Barry ar- gent and azure three wreaths gules. Corbet was granted to Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and Wells,*^ presumably as trustee of a settlement on Margery, daughter of Nicholas and wife of Ralph fitz William of Greystock.*' The latter enfeoffed his son Robert and his wife Elizabeth with all his lands in Finedon.^ Robert died seised in 1315"' and his widow was the tenant in 1 334.''' Their direct descen- dants in the male line held this part of Finedon till the death of Ralph, Baron Greystock, in 1487.*" It then passed to his granddaughter Elizabeth, who married Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gillesland.** The Dacres seem to have sold or demised it to James Harrington, who brought an action for recovery of the manor against Sir William Dacre.'" Two years later Harrington conveyed it to Sir Robert BrudeneU." The latter left it to his son Anthony,'- but it came into possession of Sir Robert's eldest son and heir Thomas,'^ who sold it in 1542 to Thomas Mulsho,''* the lord of the other moiety of Finedon Manor (q.v.). The share in the Bolcbec moiety of Finedon, assigned to Alice, wife of Walter de Huntercombe,'* was demised by them to Master Giles de Barinton, who, presumably for his own life, granted it to Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and Wells.'* The latter died seised in 1292 and his heir was his nephew Philip." Barinton was apparently holding it as trustee for Amice de Shepey, possibly the daughter of Alice de Huntercombe,'* and when Philip Burnel died about 1294, except for a small holding," it was in the hands of William de Shepey. In 1 321, it had passed to John Poleyn and his wife Amice,*" who had also come into seisin of the fourth and last share of the moiety of Finedon manor (q.v.). The youngest daughter of Richard Bolebec, Maud, married Hugh de Laval, who after her death, gave her pourparty, during his life-time, to Robert Burnel, Bishopof Bathand Wells, who thus held a quarter of the manor of Finedon.*' On the Bishop's death, it passed to his nephew Philip Burnel.*'- Hugh de Laval died about 1 301 and his wife's share passed to her nephew John de Lancaster.*^ The latter, however, only held as a mesne lord, as this share passed with the other eighth share held by the Bishop to Amice de Shepey and William de Shepey.** In 1321, the quarter part of the manor had passed to John Poleyn and his wife Amice,** who is said to have been the daughter of Amice de Lacey,"' but she was presumably descended from the Shcpeys. In I412, a lady Poleyn had a rent of 10 marks in Finedon,*' but in 1415, the fourth part of the manor had passed to Rose, the wife of John Fish of Bishop's Hatfield.** Rose was a descendant of the daughter of John and Amice Poleyn.*" In 1415, she and her husband sold it to William Sack- ville."" A hundred years later, it is said to have been in the hands of Thomas Sackville, who sold it about 15 15 to Michael or possibly, more correctly, to Nicholas Boughton." In 1521, Edward, the son of Nicholas Boughton, granted it to John Docwra and Thomas Sackville."'- In 1569, Thomas Docwra and his wife sold the quarter part of the manor to Thomas Mulsho,^' who thus became lord of all the pourparties of the manor of Finedon. It should be noted, however, that in a Chancery case of 1533-38, John Saby is said to have been lord of the manor of Fine- don,"* while about 1542, Gabriel Shaller and Robert Plante and his wife Margaret sold a quarter part of the manor to William Franklin, who had been suc- ceeded before 1 579 by his son Nicholas."^ What right these tenants had in the manor does not appear. A manor called THINGDEN and BURTON LATIMER may be traced in part to two holdings, one of half a hide in Finedon and the other of one and a half hides in Burton Latimer, which Burred held in the time of Edward the Confessor.'* Burred also held two hides and three virgates of land in Burton, but whether these formed part of the later manor is not certain."' The three holdings passed to the Bishop of Cou- tances,'* and the first two seem certainly to have passed with much of his Northamptonshire land to the Clares, as the manor was subsequently held by knight's service of the Honour of Gloucester."" In 1086, the bishop's sub-tenant in the two small holdings was named Richard.' In the Northampton- shire survey, William de Houton held one and a half hides in Burton,^ but the half hide in Finedon is not mentioned. In 1222, Robert, son of Richard, granted a messuage and 27 acres of land in Finedon and rents from 7 virgates of land in Burton and Finedon to the Abbot of Croxton in frankalmoin.^ In 1250, this grant was confirmed by Richard, Earl of Gloucester.* After the dissolution of theAbbey,Henry VIII granted the manor of Thingden and Burton Latimer in 1539 •• Cal. Inq. vi, no. 51. •« Ibid. ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545 ; G.E.C. Complete Pierage itates that Ralph FitzWilliam was the iccond husband of Margery Bolcbec, but this does not »cem to be borne out by the two documents mentioned. •' Cal. Inq. vi, no. 51. " Ibid. ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. •' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545. •' Feetof F. Div. Cos. Hil. i8Edw. Ill ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Edw. Ill (ut nos), no. 33 ; 6 Hen. V, no. 37 ; 14 Hen. VI, no. 34; Harl. Chart (B.M.), 112 H 52 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage. " Ibid. '• Bridges, Hist, of Northants. cit. Dolben papers, ii, 250. " Ibid. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Hi, 64 ; Fett of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 24 Hen. VIII. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), lii, 64. "' Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 34 Hen. VIII. " Cal. Inq. i, no. 528. "• Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545. " Cal. Inq. iii, no. 65. '• Amice may have been one of Robert Burnel's illegitimate children, of whom he had several. " Ibid. no. 194. " Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545. *' Ibid. ; Cal. Inq. iii, no. 65 \ iv, no. 81. " Ibid, iii, no. 65. '" Ibid, iv, no. 81. '* Ibid, iii, no. 194; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545. " Cal. Close, 1 3 18-23, P- 189. " V.C.H. Herts, iii, 63, 64. " Feud. Aids, vi, 501. 199 «« Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 2 Hen. V. " y.C.H. Herts, loc. cit. '" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 2 Hen.V. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 258. " Ibid. •» Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1 1 Elii. '* Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 851, no. 20. "■ Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), bdle. 68, no. 24. " y.C.H. Northants.u iio. •' Ibid. »« Ibid. " Book of Fees, ii, p. 937 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68 ; 10 Ric. II, no 38 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 4. ' y.C.H. Northants. i, 310. » Ibid. 389. • Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 6Hen. III. * Nichols, Hist, of Leicester, ii, pt. t, p. 156. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, and his wife Elizabeth.' In 1555, his son Henry, Earl of Rutland, sold it to Richard Lambert, citizen and grocer of London,^ who immediately re-sold it to Edward Jackman, a fellow grocer.' In 1561, it was sold by Jackman to John Isham* and in 1564 it passed to Richard Peacock.* Peacock died in 1616, and the manor passed under a settlement of 1604, to his cousin William Peacock, who was succeeded in 1625 by his son Richard.^" The latter sold it in 1659 to William Downhall,*' who with his wife sold it in 1671'^ to Thomas Goodinge. It mentioned in 1301'* and it seems, like the other privi- leges, to have been divided amongst the holders of the different parts of the manor. It is mentioned in the various transfers of the manor and appears in 1720.-" Three mills are mentioned in Domesday Book, but presumably they were not all at Fincdon itself.-"- In the 14th century there was apparently only one water- mill, divided up similarly as the manor,^^ but in 1650 and 1661 3 water-mills and a windmill are men- tioned.-' ^^..^.•^■> 1142! Century early 3MiD H-I!1Ci;ntury(cI350) 3 182! Century c Modern Scale of Feet Plan of Finedon Church passed about 1673 to Tanfield Mulsho,*' the lord of the main manor of Finedon (q.v.). A market was held at Finedon at the end of the 13th century"'* and in 1 330, the holders of the various pourparties of the manor claimed to have a view of frank-pledge, a market every Thursday, thourtol, waif, infangthief, together with gallows, tumbril and pillory, for their tenants. The right of thourtol, however, was recovered at this time by the Crown."* In the early 1 8th century part of the gallows was still standing." A grant of the right of free warren in his demesne lands was made to Simon Simeon in 1386" and is mentioned in 1720.'* A free fishery is The church of ST. MARV-THE- CnURCn VIRGIN consists of chancel 51 ft. by 21 ft., north and south transeptal chapels 31 ft. by 16 ft., clearstoried nave of four bays 80 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles about 14 ft. 6 in. wide,^'' south porch, and west tower 14 ft. 10 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., all tlicse measurements being internal. The tower is surmounted by a lofty spire and the porch has an upper story. There is a modern vestry on the north side of the chancel. Of the original 12th-century building nothing re- mains except the font, the church having been entirely rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century. With » L. and P. lien. g*5'(43)- yjll, xiv, Mil. ) pt. 1 and • Veet of F. Northanli. Ph. and Mary. ' Ibid. Trin. 1 and 2 Ph. and Mar;. • Ibid. Eait. 3 F.Iir.. • Ibid. .Mich. 6 and 7 Elii. '• Chan. Inf|. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccccv, •57- " Fe6 ip. \d. Consols. GRAFTON UNDERWOOD The gifts of Thomas Harvey and Mary Mulso were invested in about 29 acres of arable land with 3 cottages in Church Street. This land, together with the land belonging to Deborah Hampton's Charity, was sold in 1916 and tlie proceeds invested in j^3,6io 14J. lod. Consols. The 3 cottages were sold in 1924 for ;^I30. Of this ;^I07 11;. was spent in repairs to the cottage occupied by the Hampton pensioner and the residue invested in £'i'i Is. %d. Consols. By an order of the Charity Commissioners dated 20 March, 1925, ;{^400 Consols was placed to an investment account to replace the cash expended. The income amounts to ^£104 i is. yearly. In 1924 ^20 ()s. was paid to the Hampton pensioner, ^^64 lis, was distributed in cash to 165 recipients, and dona- tions of ;^I0 were made to the Northampton Hospital and the Finedon Nursing Association. Juliana Dolben, before-mentioned, by her will gave £10 Consols to the vicar and churchwardens upon trust that the income should be applied in giving a dinner and tea and 6d. each to 12 poor inhabitants. The charity of Ellen Frances Julia Mackworth Dolben, founded by her will proved in Peterborough Registry, 20 September, 191 2, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 21 April, 1914. The charity is administered by the vicar and the endowment consists of 50 shares of £l each in the Finedon Gas Co. The interest, which amounted to ^^24 7/. lod. in 1924, is applied in supplying milk, eggs and medical comforts to the sick poor. There were 46 beneficiaries in 1924. The Wesleyan Chapel and Trust Property is com- prised in indentures of 20 November 1822, 10 and 11 April, 1838, and 28 February, 1849, and the property is vested in a body of trustees appointed by order of the Charity Commissioners dated 8 October, 1889. The Independent Chapel and Trust Property, whereof trustees were appointed by order of the Charity Commissioners, dated 23 August, 1895, is comprised in indenture of 22 November, 1752, will of George Wallis dated 11 June, 1755, will of John Carver dated 29 April, 1796, and indenture of 11 June, 1 85 1. The property consists of the chapel and 2 cottages and a yard in High Street and I r. 27 p. of land in Orchard Road, producing £2^ 18/. id. yearly. The income is applied towards the repairs of the chapel. The several sums of stock are with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. GRAFTON UNDERWOOD Grastone (xi cent.), Grafton (xii, xvii cent.), Grafton Underwood (xviii cent.). The parish of Grafton Underwood contains 1,825 seres. It lies for the most part between 250 ft. and 350 ft. above the ordnance datum. The sub- soil is Great Oolite, the upper soil being clay and gravel growing wheat and oats. There is a consider- able amount of woodland in the northern part of the parish belonging originally to Rockingham Forest, •• Chantry Ctrtif. 35, no. 15 ; I'alor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, Jii. *^ Col. S.P. Dom. 1595-97, P- 35J- from which the name of Underwood is derived. The chief woods are Grafton Park Wood, Old Head Wood, Freier Wood, besides Kirtly Coppice. The village stands on the by-road from Cranford to Brigstock. There still remain a few 17th-century thatched stone houses. The Duke's Arms Inn is dated 1645, and a gabled house in the main street 1653 ; on a barn adjoining the latter is a panel in- scribed ' R.B. 1676.' A stream runs through the village. The nearest railway station is at Cranford on the Kettering and Cambridge branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, 2i miles from the 203 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE village. The parish was inclosed in 1777, by a private Act of Parliament.^ In the time of Edward the Confessor, MANORS Achi held the manor of GRAFTON or GRAFTON UNDERWOOD freely .2 After the Norman Conquest it was given to Robert Albus, who was the tenant in 1086, his three hides of land being held by a sub-tenant named Roger.' Another holding of half a hide is mentioned in Domes- day Book, when it was held by Agemund of Eustace the sheriff.* Both holdings apparently were granted early in the next reign to Richard de Humez,^ who was succeeded by his son William, constable of Normandy.* The latter's lands escheated to the Crown' and in 1205 Grafton was granted to Philip of Worcester.* In 1217 the manor was granted to Ralph de St. Sampson.^ At his death about 1248, it passed to his daughters and heirs, Brunna, the wife of Simon Maufe, and Joan, the wife of William de la Bruere.i" The manor, which was held of the king by the serjeanty of keeping a white brachet with red ears,'^^ was divided into two moieties at this time. Brunna's moiety passed to her daughter Joan, wife of Alan de Chartres.^^ Her son Roger and his wife obtained licence in 1335 to grant the manor to his son Peter,!' jj^j jjj j^^j jj^gy jointly sold it to Simon Simeon,^* who settled it on himself and his wife Elizabeth Neville.*^ After his death, she married Sir John la Warre and in 1389 it was settled on them and their direct heirs, but both died without children and it presumably passed in 1398 to Thomas la Warre, his brother and heir ;i' its later history does not appear, but it seems probable that it came into the possession of the tenantsof the other moiety of the manor (q.v.). Joan, the other co-heir of Ralph de St. Sampson, and William de la Bruere sold her moiety to William de Lisle and his wife Mabel in or before 1253." William subinfeudated the manor and owing to the subtenant William Hanred being convicted of felony, the mesne lordship seems to have been lost, although in 1330 John, the grandson of William de Lisle, tried to recover the moiety of the manor.'* In 1266, William de Lisle granted it to Richard Hanred and his heirs,'' but Richard appears to have granted it to Robert le Baud before 1284.-" His son William Hanred was hanged for felony in 1295^' and the king entered the moiety of Grafton manor and granted it for life, at a rent of ^^lo a year, to Thomas Brown, although the Crown should only have held it for a year and a day.^^ In 131 1 Simon le Baud, pos- sibly che successor of Robert le Baud, obtained licence to grant in fee to Thomas Brown, a mill, land and rents in Grafton-' and Brown had licence to grant the same premises to John le Bole.-'' In 1313, the rent of /^lo was granted to Jakinet de Mareygny, in reward for his good services^* and after the death of Brown, the moiety of the manor was jIso in 1317 granted for life to Jakinet.28 On his death about 1328, the rent of £\o was granted for life to Owen Corder.-' In 1316, however, Thomas Brown had obtained leave to grant 7 messuages, a mill, 4 virgates and 8 acres of land and certain rents to John Seymour and liis wife Maud.2* This probably represented the moiety of the manor. John died seised in 1340 and his widow held the lands for her life.^' They passed to their son John Seymour^ and their grandson, another John Seymour held the manor in 1 362.'' He died seised of rents in Grafton in 1363, which passed to his brother and heir Thomas,'^ who was the tenant of the manor of Grafton in 1397." In that year, he settled the manor on himself for life with remainder to Thomas Greene, son of Sir Henry Greene, knt. The final remainder was to Sir Henry Greene and his wife Maud and the right heirs of Maud, which suggests that she was the heir of Thomas Seymour. Thomas Greene apparently died without children and the manor passed to his brother John, who was mentioned in the settlement of 1397.** In 1450, it was held by Henry Greene of Drayton, the son of John.'* His daughter and heir Constance, the wife of John Stafford, son of Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, made a settlement of the manor in 1469.'* Their son Edward, Earl of Wiltshire, died leaving no children and the Greene property passed to the three surviving daughters and heiresses of Sir Henry Vere, a nephew of Henry Greene." The eldest daughter Elizabeth married John, first Lord Mordaunt,'* and their descendants obtained, as at Great Addington (q.v.), all three parts of the manor of Grafton." John Mordaunt, the first Karl of Peter- borough, died seised of the manor of Grafton Under- wood in 1644,'"' but it was apparently sold to Sir John Robinson in the latter part of the 17th century. Sir John died before 1708, leaving two daughters and ' 17 Ceo. III. c. 107. » V.C.H. Noribantt. i, 336*. • Ibid. • Ibid. 350a. • Ibid. 389*. • Red Bk. ojf Exchfq. (Roll. Ser.) 129, 172; Rol. Lill. Claui. (Rcc. Com.), i, 345* i ^0/. CAar J. (Rtc. Com.) 160. ' Rol. Lill. Claui. (Rcc. Com.) i, 345*. • Ibid. 57*, 345*. • Ibid. 345*, 392*. In 1228 a further grant wai made, by which Ralph was to hold Grafton freely until the king might reitore it to the hciri of William de Humez or until a peace wai made {Col. Chan. 1226-57, p. 86.) '• Cat. Chan. 1226-57, p. 432 ; Bridge*, //ill. Norihanli. ii, 233. " Fiud. Aidi, iv, 12; Cal. Iiuj. viii, no. 278. "Cal. Pal. 1301.7, p. 418 ; Bridget, op. cit. ii, 233. "Cat. Pal. 1334-8, p. 119J Ch«n. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. MI (2nd noi), no. 30. '« Cal. Pat. 1340-43, pp. 270, 334. '» Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 30 Ed. Ill ; Cal. Pal. 1381-85, p. 387. '• C.E.C. Complete Peerage; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 12 Ric. II; ibid, case 178, file 88, no. 116; Cal. Pat. 1388-92, p. 1 1 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 53. " Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 432 ; Feet of F. Northants, 45 Hen. III. "Cat. Pat. 1258-66, p. 592; Cat. C/ojf, 133033, p. 70-1. '• Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 592 J Ilund. R. (Rec. Com.) ii, 7 j Feud. Aids, iv, 12. •» Ibid. " Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 442 ; Cal. Close '330-33. P-70-'- •■ Ibid. ■• Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 321. " Ibid. p. 400. " Ibid. 1313-17, p. 40. " Ibid. 1317-21, pp. 37, 250. "Ibid. 1327-1330, p. 264 J Cal. Close, '330-33. P- 70-1- "Cat. Pat. i3i3-'7, P 338. 204 " Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. Ill (i«t nos.), no. 32 ; Cal. Pat. 1341-3, p. 94. •" Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. ii (i8t nos.), no. 76. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 35 Ed. III. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill, pt. ii (lat nos.), no. 44. "Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 21 Ric. II. •* Ibid. " Rolls of Pari. (Rcc. Com.), v, 195* ; Chart. R. 27 to 49 Hen. VI, no. 38. •" Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 158. >' G.E.C. Complete Peerage; Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 25. •» Ibid. •• Feet of F. Northants. Ilil. 31 Hen. VIII ; ibid. Div. Cos. Mil. 2 and 3 Ph. and Mary; Northants. Mil. 3 and 4 Ph. and Mary ; Div. Cos. Hil. 4 Eliz. ; Northants. Trin. 10 Eliz. ; Northants. Hil. 6 Jat. I ; Chan. Inq. p m. (Scr. ii), cccix, 200. " Ibid, di, 64. HUXLOE HUNDRED IPea^lllllllltJ^'^^ heiresses, Mary the wife of the Earl of Wemyss and Anne, afterwards the wife of Lord Gowran ; Anne obtained both moieties of the manor.'" which de- scended to her son John Fitz Patrick, who was created Earl of Upper Ossory in 1751.-'- On 5 April 1748 Jolui Fitz Patrick sold the manor to John second Duke of Montagu.^^ The Duke died in the following year and the manor descended through his daughter, Mary wife of George Brudenell, Duke of Montagu to the present Duke of Buccleuch, who is now lord of the manor.** In 1086 woodland was attached to the manor a league in length and four furlongs in breadth.'** The manor was within the Forest of Rockingham, but in 1343 Simon Simeon obtained licence to enclose his wood there and five years later to empark it, but he was not allowed to make a deer-leap in it.'" In 1450 Henry Greene obtained leave to empark his woods called Grafton Park and Grafton Woods and certain fields and to have free chase in the woods.*' The manor was disafforested in 1639.''* A mill is mentioned in 131 1, when it was granted in fee with other tenements to Thomas Brown, the tenant for life of a moiety of the manor,'" with which it was granted in 1316 to John Seymour.^" The church of ST. JAMES consists CHURCH of chancel 30 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 9 in. with north chapel, clearstoried nave of three bays 32 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles about 9 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower 8 ft. 6 in. square surmounted by a spire ; all these measurements are internal. The north chapel and aisle are continuous without division and there is a small vestry north of the tower. The width across nave and aisles is 42 ft. The building is of rubble throughout, and the roofs of the nave and aisles are leaded behind plain parapets ; the chancel has a high-pitched tiled roof with overhanging eaves, and the porch is also covered with tiles. The earliest work in the present building is the north arcade of the nave, which is of late 12th century date, at which time an aisle was probably first added to an earlier church. The arches are semi-circular and of two square orders, springing from cylindrical piers with moulded bases and shallow capitals with square abaci, and from half-round responds with outer angle shafts. The capitals are carved with bold scroll foliage and the bases stand on square plinths. GRAFTON UNDERWOOD The south arcade and the tower were built early in the 13th century and the chancel arch is of the same period, but there are no architectural features in the chancel itself older tiian c. 1290. The round arches of the south arcade are of two orders, the outer square and the inner chamfered, springing from cylindrical piers of more slender dimensions''"' than those opposite with moulded bases and carved capitals with circular abaci : the responds are half-octagonal. The capitals have elementary stiff- stalk trefoils in North Aisle :::.?s::::.::u:::. Nave :g) South Aisle □ 1212 Century late;c.H90 I3S Century I4EJCENTURYC.I34.0 1512 Century E3 Subsequent so 20 40 JP Plan Scale of Feet OF Grafton Underwood Church low relief with nail head up the middle leaves, and nail head also occurs on the west respond. In the east respond the foliage is more fully developed. About the middle of the 14th century alterations were made to the chancel, and the chapel added. The spire also dates from this period, and the south aisle seems to have been rebuilt.^'- The aisle has a string course at sill level and retains its west window and south doorway, in front of which the porch was built. New windows were inserted in both aisles in the 15th century and the clearstory was added, or an old one rebuilt. The chancel has diagonal angle buttresses and an east window of four cinquefoiled lights, with transom and excellent tracery of mixed geometrical and curvilinear character, the date of which may be c. 1340. The two-light window at the east end of the north wall and the three-light window opposite are of the same period, the former with trefoiled lights and quatrefoil in the head, the latter with reticulated tracery. The plain priest's doorway is of the late 13th century and west of it is a contemporary window of two trefoiled lights and plain circle in the head, which seems to have been re-used in the 14th-century alterations, its jambs being of that period.''^ In the east wall, north and south of the altar, are elaborate *' Bridgei, op. cit. ii, 233; Recov. R. Hil. 7 Annf, ro. 125. *• G.E.C. Complete Peerage. *• Inf. from Messrs. NicboU Mani^ty and Co. " See WarVton, p. 254 below. " V.C.H.Northanu.\,-ii(>b. "Col. Pat. 1343-45, P- **> ''''''• 1348-50, p. 57. " Chart. R. 27 to 49 Hen. VI, no. 38 ; Rolls, of Pari. (Rec. Com.) v, 195*. " Pat. R. 15 Chas. I, pt. 10. *• Cal. Pal. 1307-1313, pp. 321, 400. •" Ibid. 1313-17, p. 338. ** They arc 20 in. diam. and 7 ft. 10 in. to the top of the capital. In the north 205 arcade the diam. is :i in. and the height 7 ft. 6in. *■ And perhaps widened : its width at the west end is 9 ft. 8 in., that of the north aisle 8 ft. loin. •' They have a double hollow chamfer, similar to the window at the west end of the south aisle. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 14th-century niches, that on the north (which is the larger) having a smaller trefoiled niche over it. At the extreme east end of the south wall, about 6 ft. from the floor^'' is a curious squint, or small opening of two trefoiled lights cut out of a single stone, similar in many respects to one at Weekley, the purpose of which cannot be definitely stated.^* The 14th- century triple sedilia have cinquefoiled ogee heads beneath a rectangular traceried canopy and are on the same level : the piscina has a fluted bowl and trefoiled ogee head. In the north wall is a rectangular aumbry with modern door, and further west the wall is pierced by a broad chamfered arch opening to the chapel, the floor of which is raised three steps. The 13th-century chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from corbels with nail- head in the upper mouldings. The lower panels of 15th-century oak screens, with carved rails, remain below the chancel arch and between the north aisle and chapel. The plain 13th-century north doorway is now blocked, and both windows in the north wall (to aisle and chapel) are three-light 15th-century insertions. The east window of the chapel is square-headed and of three trefoUed lights. The south aisle has a 15th- century east window and another in the south wall, both of three lights, but the older west window is of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head. The 13th-century piscina of the aisle altar remains ; it has a fluted bowl and plain pointed head. The south doorway is of two hollow chamfered orders with stops above the imposts and mas'; terminations to the hood. The porch is of unusual depth, measuring internally 15 ft. from north to south, by 8 ft. 6 in. wide, and has an outer arch of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The clearstory windows are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights. The tower is of three stages marked by strings, and has plain parapets with big gargoyles in the middle of each face, but no pinnacles. The lower stage has early lancets, widely splayed inside, on the west and south, the heads in one stone and without hoods. In the second stage there is a tall narrow round-headed opening on the south,^* but the north and west sides are blank. The bell chamber windows are of two lights, those on the west and east being unaltered 13th-century openings with solid tympanum and hood ; the north and south windows have 14th- century heads of two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil above. The 13th century tower arch is of two square orders with imposts, the inner order resting on conical corbels. A buttress has been added at the south-west corner of the tower, and a modern doorway in the south wall blocked. The spire is of the ' stone-timber ' type, with broaches behind the parapet, like that of Denford : it has plain angles and two sets of lights on the cardinal faces, w^ith a band below the lower lights. The vestry seems to be a comparatively modern addition, but in its west wall is a small early 13th century window, probably taken from the north side of the tower, against which it is built. Two lead rain water heads on the north clearstory are dated 1758. The font has a plain 13th-century bowl with curved sides, and a flat Jacobean oak cover with knob handle. The panelled oak pulpit is dated 1728. In the chancel is a marble wall monument com- memorating Richard Fitzpatrick, Baron Gowran (d. 1727), his wife Ann Robinson (d. 1744), their son John, Earl of Upper Ossory (d. 1758) and his wife Evelyn Leveson-Gower (d. 1763) ; also John, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (d. 1818) and his wife Ann Liddell (d. 1804) ; they are all buried 'in this vault.' Another monument is to the Rev. William Bidwell, rector (d. 1794). In the north chapel is a table tomb with modern-media'val brass to Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, who died 30 September, 1841, and on the waU a monument to Lady Anne Fitzpatrick, who died 14 December in the same year. There are five bells, the treble, second and tenor by John Taylor & Co., Loughborough, 1923, and the third and fourth by Matthew and Henry Bagley, dated 1682." The plate consists of a cup and paten without marks but inscribed ' 1664,' an almsdish of 1690, a bread-holder of 1704 and a flagon of 1836.^* The registers begin in 1538. The advowson of the church of ADVOWSON Grafton Underwood was given to the alien priory of St. Fremont in Normandy, probably by Richard or William de Huniez.^" The temporalities of the priory were seized by the crown during the Hundred Years War and presentations were made by the crown from 1337 to 1413.'''' In 1389 or 1390, the prior of St. Fremont had granted the advowson to the Carthusian priory of Beauvale, in Nottinghamshire, although the grant could not take practical effect as the king had leased the rectory in 1382 to Walter Malet and again in 1399 to Robert Hastings.®' In 1464, however, Edward IV granted the advowson to Beauvale, but it does not appear amongst its possessions at the Dissolution of the monasteries.''^ It seems to have come into the possession of the heirs of Henry Vere,*' between whose heirs the manor (q.v.) was divided and finally passed to the Mordaunts." It followed the descent of the manor*'''' and in 1874 Lord Lyveden was patron of the ** The height of the sill from the ground outiide ii 8 ft. ** The opening bclongi to a category lomctimcs ttylcd 'high lide windowi.' It iplayi intcrn.illy to ii in. and com- mandi the louth niche and the altar. The itonc in which it is cut measures 20 in by iz in : the lights are 4 in. wide by 14I in. high. Inside, the opening is rectangular and goes right back to the east end of the chancel. The sill is very •loping. All. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxix, 415. ** The head is new. " There were formerly four bells, all by M, and II. Bagley, 1682 j in 1923 a treble was added, and two of the old bells recast. The bells were rehung in 1924, a pit being left for another treble. The inscriptions on the old belli are given in North, Ch. nelts of Nortbanls. 279, but not in their right order. " M.irkham, Cb. Plate 0/ Noribanti. 135. The almsdish was given in 1854 by Robert Vernon Smith, afterwards Lord Lyveden, and his wife ; the bread- holder was app.ircntly a domestic salver. " Rot. Rob. Groiiileiti (Cant, and York Soc.) 213. •" Cat. Pal. 1334-8, p. 521 ; 1348-50, PP' 374. 470. 5'»i '358-6'i P- 16 1 ; 206 1391-96, pp. 204, 212; i40'-5^ P- 270; 1413-16, p. 18. "' Ibid. 1461-67, p. 155. '^^ Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 14. '* I'ret of F. Northants, Ilil. 3 .ind 4 Ph. .ind Mary ; Div. Cos. Mil. 4 Elii. ; Northants. Trin. lo Elir. ; I'ai. R. 3 and 4 Ph. and Mary, pt. 6. " I'cct of !•'. Norlhanls. Ilil. 6 Jas. I ; Trin. 8 Chas. 1 ; Div. Cos. Mil. i and 2 Jas. II; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) cccix, 200; Instit. Bks. (I'.R.O.) 1621, 1641, 1649. "Ibid. 1667, 1742, 1794; Recov. R. Ilil. 7 Anne,ro. 125. IP*' Grafton U.NutRwuoD Church trom iiit East Grafton UNotRwoou Chukcii : Tut iNTtKioR, looking East iissffUff'^--*- -.«-^. Iri Mi.iNGBOROLi.il : 'I'lii Marki- I' Cross HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlingborough church.** About 1918 he sold the advowson with the Fermyn Woods estate, to Mr. Robert Davidson. The church land consists of 3 a. CHARITIES 3 r. 37 p. at Grafton Underwood let to Mr. W. Palmer at £6 yearly. The income is applied by the rector and churchwardens, agreeably to immemorial usage, to the expenses of the church. The Poor's Land has been appropriated time out of mind to the use of the poor. It consists of 9 a. I r. 17 p. in the parish of Geddington and is let to Henry Smith at ^^lo yearly. In 1905 a sale of timber took place and the proceeds were invested in £}\ 14J. 4<^. Consols, producing 15^ 8J. yearly in dividends. The income is distributed in bread and meat by the rector and churchwardens to about 5 recipients. By her will, proved 19 September, 1856, Elizabeth Dopping Arnold gave /jioo Consols to the rector and churchwardens for the benefit of 6 poor families. The income amounting to £z ioj. is distributed to 6 families in bread, meat and clotliing. The stock is with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. IRTHLINGBOROUGH Erdeburne, Erdinburne (xi cent.), Yrlingbure, Irtlingburg, Irtlibure, Urtlingburch (xii cent.), Yrthingburia, Irelingburg, Irtlingburgh (xiii cent.), Hertillingborogh (xiv cent.), Artleborough (xvi, xvii, xviii cent.), Itchingborovve (xvii cent.). The parish of Irthlingborough comprises 3,676 acres, of which about half is arable and half under grass. It lies in the bend of the River Nene, which forms its eastern and southern boundaries, while the Ise, a tributary of the Nene, is its western boundary. The land rises northward and westward from the river, reaching 260 ft. at Crow Hill near the confines of Little Addington. The soil is clay, iron- and limestone. Until the latter part of the l6th century Irthling- borough formed two parishes, the one with its church of St. Peter standing in the village on the south side of me main road, and the other with its church of All Saints about a quarter of a mile east of St. Peter's. The site of this church is in a field overlooking the Nene on the south-west of the road to Higham Ferrers, near the manor house, which was probably the manor house of the BataiUe fee to which the church was attached. As early as 1428* there were only eight parishioners, and in 1562 the church is said to have been ' dcvasted and in utter ruin.' Sir William Cecil, being in want of lead for the roof of Burleigh House, was informed that the parishioners of All Saints were ' otherwise sufficiently provided of a church,' and that the Dean of Peterborough, who had been approached, declared the lead on the church was worth ;^io, and no one should have it except Cecil.' In 1570, after an episcopal visitation, the church- wardens were admonished regarding the state of the church. The glass windows were broken ' that 20 nobles will not make them sufficient,' two altars were half standing and ' not pulled down as they ought,' there was ' much superstition which would grieve any man to come to ' and the churchyard was ' in con- fusion.' The churchwardens were ordered to certify that the repairs had been made.* Probably no repairs were carried out, and the church at this time fell into complete ruin, although the fragment of a gravestone, bearing the date 1670, found on the site, may indicate thai the churchyard was in use until the close of the 1 7th century. The church had been pulled down long before Bridges wrote {d. 1724), though considerable remains of it then existed, built into a house. In 1849 only the foundations of the eastern and northern walls could be made out, and from them it was considered that the church was smaller than that of St. Peter's. The foundations are now only discernible for a few feet. The village clusters round the road from Higham Ferrers to Kettering where it is crossed by the by-road from Wellingborough to the Addingtons and Wood- ford. The former road crosses the River Nene to the east of the village by Irthlingborough Bridge, which was built probably in the 14th century. It consists of ten ribbed arches of three chamfered orders with five refuge cutwaters on the down-stream side and three further cutwaters at the south end weathering back below the parapet. One of the cutwaters bears the date 1668 denoting, probably, the time of some repair. The bridge was widened on the up-stream side in 1754 by the addition of semicircular brick arches which are advanced nearly to the front of the old cutwaters* ; on a stone of one of these cutwaters are the arms of Peterborough Monastery. The refuges above on this side have been destroyed. The bridge was repaired in 1922. The expense of the repairs of this bridge, and that at Ditchford at the south of the parish, was formerly borne jointly by Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers. The market cross stands at the junction of the two main reads. It is of late 1 3th century date and consists of a calvary of seven octagonal steps^ with a shaft splayed from a square base to form an irregular octagon, on each face of which at unequal distances are carved ballfiowers resembling crockets. The capital is carved with trefoil foliage and is surmounted by a square abacus set diagonally to the base. The cross was restored in 1925 by H.M. Office of Works. Bridges states that ' the stafT ' of the cross, in height 13 ft., was used as a standard for the pole to measure the ' parts or doles on the meadows.'* A house at the west end of the main street is dated 1624, but very few old buildings remain in the town. On a small two-storied house in Gosham Street is a panel inscribed : WILLIAM TRIGC BUILT THIS HOUSE FOR TWO WIDOWS ANNO DOM. 1724 " Whellan, Hist, of Noribanu. Thomai Harper preiented in 1692 prctumably ' pro hac vice ' (Initit. Bki. (P.R.O.) 1692). ' Ftud. Aidi, IT, 52. • Nortbantj, A', and Q. vi, 201. • Ibid. (New Ser.) ii, 175. • Ibid i, 91 ; ii, 26, 42, 136. ' There are leven iteps on one side and eight on the other, the lower itep being 207 divided into two on the south side and raised high above the road : Asi. Arch. Soc. Reps, xxiii, 179. • Bridges, Hill. Norlbanli. ii, 235. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE In 1630 there is mention of a meadow called ' Towne Hulme ' probably part of the common, the tenants of which and those of the King's meadow in Higham Ferrers had to maintain the ditch between them. An Act for inclosing lands in the parish was passed in 1808.' Boot and shoemaking has been the principal industry in the parish for a long time. There are also iron works. IRTHLINGBOROUGH may have MJXORS been included in Edgar's grant of Ketter- ing (q.v.) to the abbot and convent of Peterborough. In 1086 the abbey held there five hides and one virgate.' The survey of the abbey's land made between 112*5 ^"^ nzS states that two hides were in demesne, that three villeins and ten half- villeins held I hide, the priest one virgate and two socmen one bovate and a half, that there were two cottars, and that one hide, less half a vir- gate, lay vacant. Further, the socmen of Irthlingborough were said to hold one hide, one virgate and one bovate and to owe knights' service. The Northamptonshire Sur- vey gives the land of the abbey's fee in Irthlingborough as five and a half hides and one small virgate.* A charter of Pope Eugenius III of 1146*" and royal charters of 1189,11 1227I- and 13321^ confirmed their holding in Irthlingborough to the abbot and convent. Abbot Martin de Bee (1135-SS) assigned the profits of Irthlingborough to the work of the sacristy ;!'• Abbot Walter, of Bury St. Edmunds (1233-45), built there a new byre and new stables ;i^ and Abbot Godfrey of Crowland (l 299-1 321) inclosed the right side of the manor with a new stone wall and new gates in front of the hall, the former wall being in ruins.*" Officials of the abbey must have stayed in the hall from time to time, and in 1281 it sheltered the Bishop of Lincoln.*' In 1321-2, there was a capital messuage, and the demesne included 70 acres of arable land, 21 acres of meadow, and pasture of the annual value of 6s. Sd. ; seven free tenants rendered 10/. 6J. a year, twenty-three customary tenants held virgates of land and were bound to do tillage, weeding, reaping and harvesting on 46 acres of the demesne, and to till the remaining 24 acres. Further, for each virgate, they had to supply a man for a day in every week in the year, except at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, or render \il. for each day's work of one Peterborough Abdev. Gules two CTOised krys or. The manor continued in the possession of Peter- borough Abbey until the Dissolution.** In 1542 the manor of Irthlingborough was granted to the Jean and chapter of Peterborough,^" who are still lords. Hugo Candidus states that when Thorold, Abbot of Peterborough (1069-88), distributed land in knights' fees, because he desired defenders against Hereward the Wake, he made two fees in Irthlingborough.-* In 1086, however, four knights held there of the abbot five hides, less one virgate." In the middle of the ne.\t century these knights' fees were apparently repre- sented by 3 J hides held by Reginald de la Bataille, and one hide by Simon Basset of the Avenel fee.^^ These holdings were included in the confirmatory charters granted to the abbey by Eugenius IIl,^* Richard I,^^ Henry III,"^ and Edward III.2' With regard to the BATAILLE FEE, there appears to have been some doubt whether it was held directly of the abbot of Peterborough or of the Bassingbourne fee, which was held of the abbot.-^ Reginald de la Bataille seems to have been succeeded by William de la Bataille (de Bello), who held land in Irthlingborough in 1179"* and in 1189 he, with Richard del Peak, held 3 knights' fees in Irthlingborough and Addington. William de la Bataille in 1214 claimed the advowson of the church of All Saints,'" and in the middle of the 13th century Robert de la Bataille held ij knights' fee in Irthlingborough, Addington and Woodford.'* In 1 3 16-17 Henry de Drayton conveyed a manor of Irthlingborough to Simon de Drayton probably in settlement.'- Simon held it of the fee of Bataille" and in 1 327 obtained a grant of free warren over his lands there.** In 1353 he conveyed the manor to John Pyel, citizen and mercer of London,'* whose widow Joan, at his desire, founded the college of Irthlingborough in 1388.'* The manor passed to Nicholas Pyel, who did homage to the abbot of Peterborough in 1399." He married Elizabeth Gorge and died in 1402-3. He is said to have had a son John, who was succeeded by Elizabeth, probably his daughter. Elizabeth married Sir William Huddle- ston and on her death the manor passed to her son, Henry Huddleston, who at his death in 1488 be- queathed it to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Cheyney, but failing heirs of her body it was to be devoted to the salvation of his soul and the souls of his parents and ancestors.'* Sir Thomas Cheyney and others, in 151 1, obtained licence to grant to the dean and chapter of the collegiate church of Irtlilingborough lands of the annual value of £2\?^ These lands probably went towards the endowment of the two additional prebends of the foundation of Lady Chey- ney to which reference is found in 1530.'"' At the dis- ' Norihanls. N. and Q. (New Ser.) ii, 117. * y.C.H. Norlhann. i, 314A ; »cc alio Cbron. Petrcb. (Camdrn Soc), i6'>, • y.C.II. Norihanls. i, 388*. «' Sparkc, llisl. Corn. Burg. Script. Var. (Hugo Candidui), 78. " Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 275. " Ibid. 1226-57, p. 19. " Ibid. 1327-41, p. 275. '« Sp.irkc, op. cit,87. '» Ibid. 120. '• Ibid. i<;4. >' Cbron. /•<(«>. (Camden Soc), 85. " Sparke, op. cit. 120. '• Valor Ecd. (Rcc. Com.\ iv, 279, 2S0, 282. »» I'at. R. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 3. " Sparkc, op. cit. 61. " V.C.II. Norlhanli. i, 317a. "Ibid. 388. " Sparkc, op. cit. 78. " Cal. Chart. 1327-41, 275. " Ibid. 1226-57, H). ■' Ibid. 1327-41, 275. •• Pytchlcy, Hk. of Fees (Nortlianli Rcc. Soc), 73-5. •• Pipe Roll Soc. XXV, p. 65. 208 " Rot. de Oblatis et Fin. (Rcc Com.), 535- " Pytchlcy, op. cit. 74. " Feet of F. Edw. II, ca«e 176, file 68, no. 323. " Pytchlcy, op. cit. 75. " Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 13 ; Plae. de uo Ware. (Rcc. Com.), 543. "' Bridges, llist. Northants, ii, 235. '" r.i.'.ll. Northants, ii, 179. " Ibid. cf. Woodford. "" K.trly Chan. Proc. bdlc. 587, no. 40 j Col. Inq. Hen. VII. i, 297. " I., and P. Hen. I'll 1,1, 1724. *" \'iRitalion of l.ongland. HUXLOE HUNDRED IRTHLINGBOROUGH •olution of the college in 1547, it seems to have been possessed of manorial rights in Irthlingborough.'" A manor in Irthlingborough was settled by Sir Thomas Cheyney, by his will dated 1512, on his wife Anne for life with remainder in fee-tail on Elizabeth, his daughter by his first wife,*^ Klizabcth Huddlcston. Sir Thomas died seised in 1514 and was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth, then aged 9 years, and affianced to Thomas, son and heir of Sir Nicholas V'aux,'" who became second Lord Vaux of Harrowdcn. Elizabeth died in 1556 and was succeeded by her son William, third Lord N'aux,** who settled the manor in 1564.''* He held lands inherited from liis mother in Irthling- borough and those of the late College.''* In 1574 he mortgaged the glebe lands of the rectory and parson- age. He married M.iry, sister of Sir Thomas Tresham, and was imprisoned as a recusant in 1583.'" In 1 591 his second son Ambrose was accused of having, at his father's instigation, carried ofT the barley of Robert Gage, farmer of the parsonage.** Lord Vaux died in 1595, having been predeceased by five weeks by his son George, whose heir Edward was a minor.^" For assurance of title he obtained a crown grant of the manor in 1612 and 1613,'*' and in l6l6 he had a fresh grant of free warren." The manor was settled on him in 1628.*- In 1632 he married Elizabeth, widow of the first earl of Banbury, and in 1646,** and 1655" he settled Irthlingborough manor on his reputed son by her, Nicholas, who was born in 1632, and had succeeded to the earldom of Banbury. Nicholas inlierited the manor on the death of Lord Vaux in l66l, and died in 1680,''* when Irthling- borough manor passed to his eldest daughter Anne, the wife of Sir John Briscoe, knight. By Sir John it was sold before 1724 to John Underwood, attorney-at- law, of Higham, who was succeeded by his son John, a minor at this date.^ John Underwood settled the manor on himself and his wife in 1738," and was dealing with it in 1768.^' It subsequently passed to the dean and chapter of Peterborough, who are the present owners. The AfENEL FEE in Irthlingborough of one knight was held of the abbot of Peterborough by William .Avenel (11 25), whose son William was living in 1 168.*' The second William left two daughters, Amice, the wife of Richard de Vernon, and Elizabeth, the wife of Simon Basset.*" The whole fee seems to have passed to Simon Basset*' after William, son of Richard and Amice, had subinfeudated one Harang of their share. Simon Basset left a son John Basset (12 1 2) and a daughter Mabel, the wife of Guy Wake. Robert son of John Basset was succeeded by his grandson Robert.*^ The last Robert had a son Robert Basset of Rushton, who did homage to the abbot of Peterborough for his father's lands in Irthlingborough of the fee of Avenel in 1291." John Basset was holding in 1348, when we find that Hugh Wake, John Ic Warde and Henry Green held the knight's fee of him.** Hugh Wake was the great- grandson of Guy and Mabel Wake, referred to above, whose son Thomas had a son Hugh, whose son Hugh was the holder in 1346.** John le Warde and Henry Green represented the interest of Harang, above referred to, whose share passed to Walkclin de Arderne, and from his son Peter it seems to have been divided between Richard le Warde, whose son John le Warde was holding in 1346, and Hugh Heroun whose share passed to Henry Green.** By 1428 the whole fee of Hugh Wake and John le Warde, possibly including the share of Henry Green, had been acquired by William Braunspath.*' The later descent of this holding has not been traced, but it was probably acquired by the chief lords, the abbot and convent of Peterborough, who were purch.ising much property about this time. Apparently the first feoflee of the G ARC ATE FEE of one knight in Irthlingborough and Warmington was Hugh Gargate, who was enfeoffed probably in the reign of Henry II.** Hugh was followed by Gunfrid Gargate, whose son David granted to Walter, abbot of Peterborough (1233-45) 17 virgates of land with a messuage in Irthlingborough.** About 1228 the fee became divided, two-thirds of it in Warmington going to the St. Liz family and one-third in Irthlingborough to Robert de Meysy and John de Dene. In 1254 Ralph Fitz Henry paid aid on this part of the fee and in 1315 it was held by Roger de Lisle and later by John de Lisle.'" In 1 341 John de Seymour (St. Maur) died seised of rents in Irthlingborough, held of Alan de Seymour, leaving a son John," who in 1347 held of the abbot of Peterborough in Irthlingborough one-third of the knight's fee in Warmington and Irthlingborough which had been in the tenure of Hugh Gargate.'^ This John de Seymour died in 1349, leaving a son John, a minor, but before his death he had demised his holding in Irthlingborough to William de Seymour of Hardwick." This conveyance may have been in trust, for in 1357 Thomas de Seymour died seised of messuages and land in Irthlingborough, held of the abbot of Peterborough. The holding had been settled on Thomas, in tail, by the grant of Warine de Seymour, with remainders to his brothers, of whom Nicholas alone survived and inherited, since Thomas died without issue.'" In 1428 the tenants of the fee in Irthlingborough once in the tenure of John de Seymour were said to be William Braunspath, Richard ♦' Falor Eccl (Rcc. Com.), iv, 309. " Coll. Top el Cm. v, 88 ; G. E. C. ComfUie Peerage, viii, 18, 19. . *■ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xxix, 3. " G. E. C. Complete Peerage, viii. 19. " Feet of F. Northanti. East. 6 Elii. *• Chan. Proc. vol. ii, bdle. 225, no. loi. " Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. (Var. Coll.), iii, pp. vii, 33,64, 65,72, 73. " ^cis oj Prtvy Council, 1590-1, p. 303. " G. E. C. loc. cit. *• Pat. R. 10 Ja». I, pt. 15 ; II Jai. I, pt. 6, no. 13. " Pat. R. I4jai. I, pt. j. '• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 4 Chai. I. " Ibid. Chai. I, 22 March 1646. "Ibid. Mich. 1655. " G.E.C. " Bridget (who died in 1724) Wis/. Nortbants, ii, 236. " Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 12 Geo. II. '« Ibid. 8 Geo. III. " See Mellow, in Pytchley, Hk. of Fees (Northant*. Rec. Soc), 128-9. •° Ibid. ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (Bclvoir Caitic), iv, 23. •' Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 174; V.C.H. Northanti. i, 388* ; Cat. Cbart, Ui7-4'. P- J7S- •« Pytchley, loc. cit. •• Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 148. '* Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 147, njd. •' Pytchlej, loc cit. 209 •• Ibid. •' Feud. Aids, iv. 49. A Sir William Bramspath of Bloreston (Co. Leicester) and hi» brothers John and Thomas died f.p. and their nephew, John Howell, brought an action against William I sham about Bloreston in 1474. Wrottesley, Pcd.from Plea R. 437. " Sec Mellows in VytMiy,Bk.oJ Fees, 127H. " Reg. Rob. Swaflfham, cclxiiii. "> Pytchley, op. cit. 126, 127, 12711. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Ed. Ill (ist nos.), "Cotton MS. Cleop. C i, foil. 143* and 144. 'I Ca/. /»•/. ii, 281. '• Ibid. I, 437. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Lord and John Lord.'* The later descent cannot be traced. The church of ST. PETER consists CHURCH of chancel 41 ft. by 16 ft., with north and south chapels, nave of four bays, 44 ft. 6 in. hy 18 ft. 6 in., north and south transeptal chapels, 17 ft. by 16 ft., north and south aisles, west porch, 18 ft. by 11 ft. 6 in., and west tower 13 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. The north aisle is 13 ft. 6 in. wide and the south aisle in li.'u, but no other work of this period remains, the church having been entirely rebuilt in the second quarter of the 13th century, approximately on the existing plan. The chancel, chapels, nave, tran- septs and aisles are substantially of this period, but the chancel was lengthened a bay, c. 1280-90, and windows inserted in other parts of the building. The tower was probably built or begun by John Pvel, but may not have been completed at his death in 1 376 : he was also responsible for the west doorway, mc 1221-50 nnjc 1280-90 Ei!lcl3S5 fBcl385(Ki:i\tmT 18SS-90) in 161!! Ci^iTURv Plan of St. Pitfr's Church, Irthlingborouch 15 ft., the width across nave and aisles being 51 ft. 6 in. There arc clearstories both to chancel and nave, with battlementcd parapets, but elsewhere the parapets are plain. All the roofs, except that of the porch, are leaded and of low pitch. The tower stands west of the porch and is con- nected with it by a building measuring internally 14 ft. by 10 ft., to which other buildings were attached on the north side covering the tower : the vaulted cellars of these remain. This western structure formed part of the buildings of the college : other collegiate buildings appear to have been on the south side. The church is built of rubble, and internally tiie walls have been stripped of plaster, except in the aisles and transepts. The use of mingled ironstone and freestone in the nave and chancel arcades produces a rich note of colour. The original church was of 12th-century date. It had a nave the same size as at present and a south arcade the moulded pier-bases of which arc still porch, and connecting building, and the establishment of the college led to other alterations in the church, the chancel being heightened by the addition of a clearstory and new windows inserted in other parts. The nave clearstory was added in the latter part of the 15th century. Tiie tower having long been in a dangerous state" was taken down in 18S7 and rebuilt on a new concrete foundation in 188S-93 as far as possible with the old stone. The first portion was completed in the spring of 1889 and the tower finished as far as the battle- ments in 1892 : the octagon was rebuilt in 1893. The chancel has an east window of five gradated lancets with pierced spandrels, and north and south windows of two lights with forked mulliuns, all having chamfered rear arches and plain jambs. Ncrtii of the altar in the cast wall is a triangular headed aumbry, and in the south wall below the window a double piscina.'* Below the north window is a segmental wall recess with inner moulded arch and trefoiled '* FeuJ. Aidi^ iv, 4(^. '• Cf. nalaillc I'cc, ahovc. ^' Examination in 1883 ihowctl tlic devi- ation from ihc pcrprndicular .it Rroutui two plain ch.imfcrcd archci, but the level to be 2 It. ti in. to tlic njuth-c.ist. ccntr;il 8h;i(t fif any) is gone. Tlic bowli " The rcccti ii i (t. 8J in. wide with are without (oil«. 210 w X H HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlikgborough cusping, containing a I3th-cenfar) coped coffin lid witii cross in circle. Thus far the work belongs to the late 13th century bay, which extends about 12 ft. beyond the chapel on the south side. Further west in the south wall is a fragment of the earlier 13th- century piscina and a rectangular aumbry, the lintel of which has a cusped trefoil cut on the face. The western half of the chancel, which formed the collegiate quire, is open to the chapels on both sides by 13th- century arcades of two arclies on piers composed of four clustered shafts and hall-round responds, all with moulded capitals and bases : the arches are of two chamfered orders. The wide and lofty chancel arch is of similar character, the outer order continuous, the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases on high plinths. The chancel clearstory has four square-headed three-light win- dows on each side, the western windows being narrower than the rest. The chapels ditTer in size, but that on the north has been rebuilt and its east wall moved slightly west of the respond of the chancel arcade. This was probably done at the beginning of the l6th century by Sir Thomas Cheyney, whose arms occur on two of a row of otherwise blank shields on the parapet. The walling is rather rough and without string-course or buttress, but the old windows were re-used. As rebuilt, the chapel measures internally 21 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., and it is divided from the north aisle by a 13th- century arch of two chamfered orders springing from half-round responds at a considerably higher level than those of the nave and chancel arcades. The east window is of two lights with forked muUion and in the north wall is a restored 14th-century window of two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil in the head. The south chapel is 29 ft. long by 16 ft. wide, and has a moulded outer doorway and two two-light windows with forked muUions in the south wall. The east window is blocked : on its north jamb is an image bracket and another in the north wall adjoining. From the north-east angle of the chapel a 15th-century squint with cinquefoiled and em- battled head is directed to the high altar.'^ The arch to the aisle is similar to that on the north side, but has been restored. The 13th-century nave arcades consist of four arches*-' of two chamfered orders springing from piers of four clustered shafts with moulded capitals and bases and from half-round responds. The capitals of the north arcade are more elaborately moulded and of greater projection than those opposite, but on both sides the arches are built of approximately alternate voussoirs of ironstone and freestone, like those of the chancel arcades.*' The bases of the piers of the south arcade stand upon square plinths and 12th-century circular moulded bases with foot orna- ments : the plinths alone remain on the north side. The lines of the high-pitched 13th-century roof are still visible at the ends of the nave and high in the west wall is a three-light 14th-century window with excellent tracery, probably inserted by Pyel. The lofty clearstory windows have very depressed arches and are of three trefoiled lights. The doorway to the rood loft remains in the south wall west of the chancel arch : towards the aisle several steps of the rood stair remain in the thickness of the wall. The north aisle has a late 14th-century square- headed window of four trefoiled lights at the west end and in the north wall a blocked doorway with con- tinous mouldings, a 15th-century window of three lights like those of the nave clearstory, and furtlicr east a square-headed I4th-cenlury two-light windov/. Externally, east of the doorway, is a mutilated stoup and above it a moulded rectangular recess with blank panel. The south aisle has a restored west window of three gradated lancets, and in the south wall a square- headed 14th-century three-light window with good reticulated tracery. West of this is a single lancet vvhicii, though modernised, appears to be one of the original windows of the 13th-century church: there is another in the west wall of the south transept. This transept is divided from the aisle by a wide 14th-century arch of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases, and is lighted at the end by a pointed 14th-century window of three lights with reticulated tracery : in the east wall is a late 13th century two-light window with forked mullion. Below the transept is a crypt, or bone-hole, approached from the aisle by a staircase in the thickness of the west wall and covered by a single bay of quadripartite vaulting, the ribs of which spring from low angle- shafts. The crypt is lighted by windows on the south and east. The 13th-century arch to the north transept is similar in character to that between the aisle and the north chapel. Externally the transept has low diagonal buttresses, and is lighted at the end by a window of three gradated lancets and from the west by a two-light window with forked mullion. In the east wall is a wide and deeply recessed moulded arch resting on three short shafts; the arch appears never to have been opened and probably contained the transept altar. The west porch had originally a chamber over,'- but is now open its full height and covered with a modern high-pitched tiled roof hipped at the east end so as not to interfere with the nave window *^ The porch has four doorways, those north and south being external and placed near the west end of the walls. They have a continuous moulding and labels on the outside, but internally plain segmental rear arches only. The east doorway is, of course, the west doorway of the church and is moulded similarly to the porch, but with some difference in the termina- tions of the label. On each side of the doorway is a trefoiled niche and above are two transomed, or double stage niches with groined canopies and the arms of Pyel below the sills. The doorway into the forebuildingof the tower corresponds in moulding with theothers.and over it is a trefoiled niche with a flue behind, evidently intended for a light." The porch is now lighted by modern pointed windows of two lights in the north " On the chancel lidc the opening ii quite phin. '° The eastern arch of both arcades oppoiite the traniepti ii 10 ft. wide i the width of the other* ii 9 ft. •' Ironilonr is alio uied in some of the piers and responds, but is disposed »ery irregularly. "^ The room had a fireplace and was at one time used as a school It was rcmoTed about 1S46 : ths. Archd. Northamfl. 1 16. ^' Under the window arc the marks of 211 the original porch roof, which wai of verj low pitch. ^^ Chi. Archd. Northampt. Ii6. The niche wai originnllr higher ; it was lowered when a flat ceiling was inierted in the porch. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE and south walls, but traces of square-headed windows remain on the south side, one of which, high in the wall, retains its label. The 15th-century font has an octagonal bowl with ehhorate traceried panels and embattled top moulding rtn a panelled stem. There are four I5th-centurj' stalls on each side of die quire, but the misericords are missing from three : of the others one has a man holding a shield and four are moulded. The pulpit and seating are modern. In the floor of the north chapel is a fragment of the brass inscription from the grave of Richard Frysseby, first dean of the college, which reads ' . . . pro anima domini Ricardi . . . qui obiit ...'*" The monument of the founder John Pyel (d. 1376) and Joan his wife in the south chapel has already been described :*'' the effigies are mutilated and lie on a tomb with panelled sides. A later mutilated female effigy,*' supposed to represent Elizabeth, first wife of Sir Thomas Cheyney, lies on the floor of the chapel, and against the east wall is a l6th century canopied table tomb at the back of which are indents of two figure brasses, two shields and two inscrip- tions.** In the floor of the chapel are three grave slabs containing indents, one a blue stone with figure of priest, inscription, shield and corner roundels, another with figures of knight and lady and shields at bottom, and the third is a fragment only with canopy work and two shields. In the north chapel are wall monuments to Mary, wife of Anthony Leybourne (d. 1690), Henry Wyckley (d. 1723), Simon Taylor (d. 1786), Simon Oliver Taylor (d. 1819) and .Ann his wife (d. 1773). The tower is of unusual design and stands about 36 ft. west of the nave, having apparently been planned with the college buildings, of which it formed part. It is of four stages, with battlemented parapets and angle turrets and is surmounted by an octagonal lantern of two stages with pointed roof, or short spire of lead. The total height of tower and octagon is 99 ft. The three lower stages of the square tower have rectangular buttresses set back a little from the angles and carried up the bell-chamber stage as flat pilasters. The lower stage has windows on three sides, that on the north being square-headed and on one side set towards the east. The middle stage has openings on the north and west only, while in the third stage there are windows on all four sides with the arms of Pyel in a panel above. The bell-chamber windows consist of two single pointed openings with flowing tracery and hoods, set widely apart and with a trefoiled and gabled niche** between. The two external stages of the lantern are divided by a string and in the lower one wide rectangular openings with trefoiled heads, except on the west side, which is blank. On each face of the upper stage is a square-headed and panelled window of three trefoiled lights with quatre- foils in the head. The tower has a vice in the north- east corner giving access to the bell-chamber : the parapet is carried on a corbel-table and has cross loopholes. In a description of the tower written by Professor Freeman about 1848,'" it is stated that the buttresses on the south side were then new and ' but feeble imitations of the older work.' A vast buttress had been built against the east face as high as the bell- chamber windows, concealing any openings on that side, the tower having ' previously been in a somewhat dangerous state, which had been increased by opening a small doorway in the south wall.'** At that time the structure leaned ' very perceptibly ' to the south- east. Internally the lantern was divided by floors into three stories connected by staircases and passages in the thickness of the walls. The lower and upper- most chambers had fireplaces, and all three*- floors appear to have formed part of the collegiate buildings. The uppermost chamber was lighted from the large panelled ' windows ' of the top stage, the lower parts of which, however, were blocked. The theory that the interior of the lantern had been cased and the fireplaces added some time after its actual building and that the stability of the tower was thus affected,*^ was not borne out by any structural evidence at the time of demolition. No straight joint in the thickness of the wall was found, the outer and inner stones being tailed into the wall and built with lime mortar, but the fiUing-in between was found to be of rubble and mud. Upon removing the recessed stone traceried panelling of the upper windows it was found that on seven sides the spaces between the mullions had been filled in with ironstone without bonding into the mullions or jambs, and in tlie remaining one (facing north) the filling was worked out of the solid stone. The walls of the square tower from the bell- chamber downwards were also constructed with a filling of rubble, and it was found that as the walls got thicker the proportion of rubble filling in the centre increased in ratio, causing the walls to split apart vertically and thus largely to crush and destroy the wrought stone.*^ The failure of the 14th-century structure therefore seems to have been due to an unequal pressure of the lantern on walls of very imperfect construction below, rather than to any additional weight imposed later. As rebuilt, the " In Bridgci' time the inicription wai ' on an antique marble in the area of the chancel ' : it it piven a* ' Orate pro anima Ricardi Fryieby primi Decani iitiui Collegii qui obiit A" l><>' MCCCC ..." 1'hc indent in which the fragment remaini meaiurei i8 in. by zj in. The dale of death ii left incomplete. " y.C.II. Notthanu. i, 409. •' Deicribcd ibid. 414. ** The braiiei had been taVen away before Bridget' time. He dctcribci the monument at * an antique tabernacle tomb of blue marble ' Hut. NoTthann. ii, 23S. The tomb wat formerly under the caiternmoit window on the louth tide. It it described in detail in Cbi. Ar^hii. iXorthampt. 125. Three of the sup- porting shafts of the canopy arc of wood, inserted about 1840 when the tomb wat moved to its present position. "* One of the old statuci remains. •" In Chs. Archd. Korihampt. (1849). *' Ibid. 118. It is nowhere stated in what year the great cast buttress had been built. It it ihown on all early drawingt of the tower. During the procett of demolition in 1887 the buttrcit wat found to h.ive been insudiciciilly bonded into the old work, thus ' adding weaknrst rather than helping in the stability of the lower ' : A!\. Arch. Soc. Rtfi. xxvii, 122. 212 " The middle chamber was of consider- ably less height than the others. *" This theory was set out in a report by Sir Henry Drydcn, dated June 1879, printed in An. Arch. Sec. Reps, xv, p. xxxvi, " Report of Mr. W. T.ilbot Brown, F.S.A., architect, in Ass. Arch. Soc. Reps, xxvii, 122. On removal, the strings, quoins, weatherings, doors, steps, windows, trac- ery, etc., were found to be so badly shat- tered or crushed that their conveyance to the ground became a difllcully : their re- use was not possible. All the architectural detail of the rebuilt tower is new. HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlingborough Untern retains its original internal features, but the floor joists are left open to allow of greater dispersion in the sound of the bells. The doorway in the middle stage on the north side of the tower no doubt gave access to a building on tliat side, which was continued eastward as far as the porch, covering and forming part of the existing building between the porch and the tower. The cellars of this structure, as already stated, still remain and consist of two vaulted chambers about 6 ft. high, one opening from the other. The larger is entered from the chamber west of the porch and has two bays of quadripartite vaulting in one of which the boss bears the arms of Pyel : the smaller cellar north of the tower is about 13 ft. square and has a more complicated vault the boss of which is carved with a rose. Both cellars are lighted by splayed windows just above ground level. The building between the porch and tower is approximately the height of the second stage of the tower, but its south wall has been rebuilt. On the north side it is of two stories with a blocked pointed doorway in each. From the ground floor the tower is entered by a moulded doorway and in the south-cast corner is a squint piercing the buttress and command- ing the south doorway of the porch. There are eight bells, two trebles by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, having been added in 1893 to a former ring of six cast by T. Mears of London in 1829.** The plate consists of a cup, paten, flagon, and two plates with the London date-letter 1832-3, each inscribed ' Irthlingboro' 1833.'** The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1562-1739, marriages 1562-1738; (ii) baptisms and burials 1739-1812, marriages 1739-1753; (iii) marriages 1754.-1812. The earlier entries in the first volume were copied from an old register book in the year 1603. The church of St. Peter must be ADVOWSON that church of Irthlingborough con- firmed to Peterborough Abbey in the charters of Eugenius III,*' Richard I,"* Henry III,** and Edward III.* Pope Eugenius III also confirmed to the abbey two parts of the tithes of the lordship of Irthlingborough .2 In 1291 the value of the church was £\6 ly. \d. a year, in addition to a pension of £2 6s. Sd. paid to the abbot of Peterborough.^ In 1332 an inquisition having found that no wrong would thus be done,* the abbot and convent of Peter- borough received licence to grant to the parson of St. Peter's Church in Irthlingborough, for the enlargement of the rectory house, a messuage there, in exchange for another messuage and an acre of land in the same place.* In 1388 the rectory became Irthlingborough College* (q.v.) and the patronage was exercised alternately by the heirs of the founder and the abbot of Peterborough. This house, when dissolved, was found to hold lands and other property to the value of ^73 4s. 9d. a year, and to have goods and chattels variously returned as worth £6 1 p. ^d? and £"] y. 2d.* The commissioners stated that ' a vicar of necessitie is to be indowed there forasmuch as the master of the seyd college is both vicar and person there.' The college house, which was annexed to the church, was roofed with lead.' The rectory, the advowson of the vicarage and the church were, in 1581, granted by the queen in fee-farm to Edward Downing and Peter Ashton, the fee simple being vested in John Morley." At this time the holder of the rectory was bound to pay out £2^ ios. ^^d. a year, namely ^^13 6s. id. to the curate for his stipend, 33^. ^d. to the dean and chapter for their pension, and ^^^9 2;. \o\d. to them for their due rent, 13;. ^d. to the bishop for his pension and is. ^d. to him for the visitation of Irthlingborough College, and 10/. ()d. to the Archdeacon of North- ampton for synodals and procurations.** In 1597 Irthlingborough rectory was conveyed to Edward Vaux, Lord Harrowden, by Sir Thomas Tresham and others.*^ It is not clear when the advowson passed to this family. Thomas Infield, clerk, in 1639 peti- tioned Archbishop Laud, who had, he alleged, licensed him in 1633, during a vacancy of the bishopric of Peterborough, to serve the cure of St. Peter's, Irthlingborough. He stated that subsequently William Crane, clerk, had been nominated to the cure by Edward, Lord Vaux, and that the archbishop, by an oversight, had licensed him. George Broughton, Lord Vaux's bailiflF, had seized the keys of the church and kept Infield out of it, so that on Sunday, 21 October 1638, there had been no service. Infield declared that the records had been searched and the church found to be a vicarage to which the king presented, institution and induction being by the archbishop. Crane counterpetitioned, stating that he was a poor man with a wife and eight children and no means of subsistence except his curacy, and that Infield had created a disturbance in the church. The Court of High Commission found in favour of Infield, Broughton and Crane being ordered to make submission and the former fined /20 and the latter ^10. Crane was also ordered to pay costs. '^ It seems to have been established that the advowson was vested in the Crown, for in 1641 the receiver of the king's revenues for Northamptonshire was directed to stay payment to Thomas Infield of the stipend due to him as curate of Irthlingborough, since he was acting as vicar and claiming tithes.** The advowson of St. Peter's vicarage, as well as the rectory, was, however, settled in 1646,** 1651*" and 1655" on Nicholas, first Earl of Banbury, the holder of the manor. From him both the rectory and the advowson of the vicarage passed to his son Charles, the second " North, Ch. Bills of Norihanii. J 12. The inscription on the tenor records that five old bells were ' exchanged for this peal of six a.d. 1829.' •• Mirkham, Ch. Plate of Nortbonli. 165. •^ Sparke, HtU. Cotn. Burg. Script. Far. (Hugo Candidus). 78. " Col. Chan. 1327-41, p. 275. •• Ibid. 1226-57, p. iq. ' Ibid. 1 327-4 >> P- VS- * Sptrke, op. cit. 82. • Popt Nich. Tax. fRec. Com), \oh. • Inq. a. q. d. F.ccxxiii, no. 4 ; Cal. Inij. a. (j. d. (Rec. Com), 294. ' Cal. Pat. 1330-34, p- 405. • Ibid. 1385-9, p. 42S. ' Chant. Cert. 36, no. 3. ' Ibid. 35, no. 10. •Ibid. '» Cal. Chan. Proc. Eliz. (Rec. Com), i, 105. " Pat. R. 23 Elii. pt. i, m. 19. 213 " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 39 Eliz. '• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1639-40, pp. 123, 156; 1640, p. 399; 1640-41, p. 381. George Broughton ii sometimes called Draughton. '« Cal. S. P. Dom. 1625-49, p. 751. ■' Feet of F. Northants. Chas. I, 22 March 1646. '• Ibid Hil. 1651. " Ibid. Mich. 1655. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE earl.'* He in 1694 conveyed these rights to Thomas and George Watson,'' and in 1696 George Watson conveyed them to Thomas Wentworth, aUas Watson, and his wife Alice.^" This Thomas, the third son of Lewis Watson, first Earl of Rockingham, had in 1695 inherited the estates of his mother's brother, the second Earl of Strafford, and had then assumed the additional surname of Wentworth. He was created Baron and Ear! Malton, and inherited the earldom of Rockingham in 1746. In 1738 he presented to the vicarage William Knowler, who a year later published Thi Earl of Strafford's Letters and Despatches from the collection inherited by his patron.-' Lord Malton was created Marquess of Rockingham in 1746 and died in 1 750, leaving a son and heir Charles, who died without issue in 1782, when the rectory and advowson of Irthlingborough passed to his sister's son, William, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam.^- They are now in tlie tenure of George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, grandson of the fifth earl. The church of .411 Saints followed the descent of the Bataille fee to 1 2 14, when William de la Bataille FiTZWILLIAM. Lozetioy argent and gules. Wenttworth. Sable a cbeveron belv)ei;n three leopards' beads or. eave the advowson to the abbot and convent of Peterborough in exchange for lands in the tenure of Nicholas, son of Geoffrey.'^'' In 131 3 the pope gave to Robert de Bukyngham, alias de Selford, rector, dispensation to accept another benefice of the value of £.^o.^* John de Thornton was provided to the church in I 328, and on his death in the same year the king successfully claimed the right to present during a vacancy of tlie abbacy.^* After the Dissolution tiic rectory, namely, the great and small tithes, the house and the glebe, was worth lo6s. Sd.'^^ The advowson of the rectory was granted in 1541 to the dean and chapter of Peterborough^' who presented in 1661 and 1664.^* Tlie bishop collated in 1675, but in 1646, 1651, 1655 and 16832' the advowson of All Saints together with that of St. Peter was settled as parcel of the estates of the earls of Ilarrowden. Tiic church, as already stated, had fallen into ruin and ihe site and parsonage seem to have passed with the manor (q.v.) William Trigg built a school and CII ,1 RITIES an almshouse in two tenements and by his will, dated 25 I'cb. 1728, cliargcd his lands with renlcharges amounting to ^^27 4J. The charity is regulated by a scheme of the Cliarity Commissioners dated 18 May 1897, pursuant to which rentcharges of £\j and ^l issuing out of various properties in Finedon and Irthlingborough, including the house at Irthlingborough in which the founder lived, were made the endowments of a separate charity called the Educational and Ecclesiastical Charity of William Trigg. £1"] is applied to the National School and £\ to the rector, the trustees being the incumbent, churchwarden and two others. The remaining rentcharges issuing out of various pieces of land in Irthlingborough, and amounting to £() 4s. yearly, form the endowment of William Trigg's charity for the poor. The trustees are the incumbent and two others appointed by the U.D.C. £1 is paid to each of the two inmates of the almshouse, ^^i 4J. is distributed to poor widows, and the balance in coal. Richard Glover, by indenture dated I July 1 801, settled his land in trustees for the benefit of the poor people of the Society of Friends and charged the same with j^io yearly for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The land known as Glover's Charity Farm, and containing about 177 acres with farmhouse and buildings, was sold in 1916 and the proceeds were invested in ;^2,387 lis. id. Metropolitan Water Board Stock, £()i6 'is. 2d. 5 per cent. War Stock, £3,793 H)s. lod. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock, and ;^2,530 3^. 2d. Liverpool Corporation 5^ per cent. Red. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, producing ^£389 is. yearly in dividends There are five trustees each of whom is entitled to £1 Is. yearly for his own use ; £10 is distributed to the poor at Christmas and the residue is applicable for the benefit of poor Quakers. The Church Land : — An allotment was awarded on an inclosure to the churchwardens in lieu of lands previously appropriated to the repairs of the Church. The property consists of 19 a. 2 r. 22 p. of land abutting on Marsh Lane and is leased to the U.D.C. at a rent of j^70 per annum. The Irthlingborough Nurses' Home Trust was founded by indenture dated 4 June 1921. The indenture recites that during the late War a fund was raised called the Northamptonshire Regimental Prisoners of War Fund, and as the objects for whicii had been completely s.itisfied and a balance of /[l,059 left in the hands of the Prisoners of War Committee, it was determined to apply the balance for the purposes of the Irthlingborough Nurses' Home Tiust to provide accommodation for a nursing staff for the parish and for the stretchers and other appli- ances belonging to the St. John Ambulance Associa- tion. /[615, part of the sum of ^^1,059, was applied in the purchase of three tenements known as Nos. 27, 29 and 31 Victoria Street, which premises are used for the purposes of the trust. The trustees con- sist of the rector for the time being and four others. '• Fcrt of F. Northanii, Trin. 35 Chai. II. '• Ibid. nil. (, Win. III. '» Ibid. Mich. 8 Wm. Ill ; InMit. Bin. (H.R O). " Ibid. 1 D.N.B. " JnsM.BVt. (r'.V..O.); G.¥..C. Peerage, vi, 38r.. '- Colt. MS. CIcop. Cii,p. 13. " Cal. Pup. l.rtirn, ii, 116. " Dc Banco R. 347, in. 150. " Valor Ectl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 311. " /,. and P. Urn. nil, vol. xvi, g. 1226 (10). »" Inilit. Bkr (I'.R O.). '" Fcpt of F. Northants. Chai. 1, 11 March 164^1 ) Hi!. 1651 ; Mich. 16;; ; Trin. 35 Chai. II. 214 HUXLOK HUNDRED ISLIP Slcpe, Yttcslepc, Isteslcpe (xi cent.) ; Hystlcpa (xii cent.), Eslcp, Ittcslcp (xiii cent.). The parish of Islip covers an area of 1,383 acres. The surface of the parish is undulating. Liable to floods in the vicinity of the Nenc, it rises about 250 ft. in the north-west, and in the east is mostly about too ft. above ordnance datum. The soil, which varies in quality, is mainly clay and i;r.i\cl, with .1 subsoil of clay and ironstone. Harper's Brook, which flows into the Nenc, forms its northern boun- dary, and separates it from Aldwinkle. There is a bridge over this brook to carry the road to Aldwinkle, with the mill stream near by. The Nene, flowing northward, forms its eastern boundary, and the parish is divided from \\ oodford on the south by a stre.im flowing east into that river. A little to the north of this stream is the Kettering, Thrapston, and Hun- tingdon brancli of the I. .M.S. Railway, which lias a station about half a mile away in Twywell. The Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway traverses the southern corner of the parish, and a tramway takes a circuitous route to the Islip furnaces in the south-west, where the Islip Iron Company have valuable mines of iron stone, and three smelting furnaces. There are old quarries in the same direction. A fine white stone is quarried for building ; and good stone for repair of roads. Besides the iron work and quarrying carried on, the manufacture of horse collars and matting was a considerable industry. The population was 616 in 1921. The village lies along the road from Lowick to Woodford. It has a charming situation and contains a fair number of 17th and 1 8th century stone houses, roofed with thatch, stone slates or pantiles, with good stone chimneys. The newer houses generally are of red brick. The manor house probably of Drayton manor, on the east side of the street, now occupied by Mr. Waller, is a modernised 17th-century gabicd building with mullioned windows and tiled roof. The Norwyches manor house is possibly the 17th- century two-storied cottage, with stone slated roof, on the opposite side of the road a little to the north. It has its end gable and chimney to the street, but only one mullioned window is now left. Inside there are the remains of an oak staircase and two stone fireplaces. The Rose and Crown Inn, in the middle of the village, is dated 1691, but is without architec- tural features, and two other houses are dated re- spectively 1744 and 1763. At the north end of the main street is a house dated f;fj and another at the south end {jj,. The recreation ground on the west side of the village street was presented by Mr. S. G. Stopford Sackville as a memorial of the Great War (1914.-18). The public elementary school, erected by subscription in 1862 (and enlarged in 1883 and again in 1894), on a site given by William Bruce Stopford, then lord of the manor, is somewhat south of the church ; ind there is an infants' school, built in 1905, on a site given by Mr. S. G. Stopford Sackville. The rectory house, a substanti.il stone building, stands on the north-west of the cluircii. A reading room, with billiard room and small library, was built in 1897 by public subscription. Two almshouses for two poor widows were erected under the will (d. 1705), of Henry Medbury, a member of a family long connected with the parish, Thomas Medbury having been instituted rector in 1646-7. The alms- houses form a pleasing block on the east side of the main street, with good end gables, middle chimney and dormer windows to the upper floor, but the windows and chimney are modern and the roof is covered with modern blue slates. The inscription on the tablet is indecipherable : only the figure; of the date [i] 7 [o] 5 can he distinguished. Chapel Lane led to the chapel of Si. Thomas of Canterbury^ on the bridge over the Nene on the road to Thrapston. I.eland wrote c. 1 545 'At the very end of Thrapeston Bridge stand Ruines of a very large hermitage welle buildcd but a late discovered and suppressed : and hard by is the Toune of Islep on Avon as upon the further Ripe.'^ Bridges says that the ruins referred to by Leland were probably those of the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, in a close called Hermitage close on the right hand from Thrapston ' in which stood several stews of water.' The chapel was standing in 1400, when William Mareschal, chaplain, had the custody of the king's free chapel or hermitage at the end of the bridge of Islip.^ In 1492, Henry Vere bequeathed 10/. to the chapel. It is described as one of two chapels annexed to the mother church of Islip.* The bridge has no architectural features, and is of uncertain date It consists of seven round arches, and has four cut-waters facing up stream and two down stream ; the arches are of yellow brick and the superstructure of stone. The view from the bridge towards Islip is very picturesque. In the Domesday Survey i hide I M.4N0RS virgate of land were entered as held of the Bishop of Coutances by Algar in ISLIP in the hundred of Huxloe.^ Before the taking of the 12th-century Northamptonshire Survey, the lands of this bishop had been forfeited, and his lands in Islip, with an addition making a total of 2 hides, h.id passed into the hands of Aubrey [dc Vere], the chamberlain, by whom they were held of the king's fee.* From this date the manor has passed with that of Drayton in Lowick parish (q.v.). The bishop's manor of Drayton in Lowick had also passed to Aubrey,' who made a grant of tithes from land in Islip, Drayton and Addington to Thorney Abbey, which his son Robert confirmed. In 1584 the manor place and close in Islip called the Lords Lands, in which was the chief messuage of the manor, were the subject of a suit.' * The patronage of thii chapel was in diipute between Henry de Drayton and Gervate dc Islip in 1231 and 1232. Gcrrate maintained his right as patron of the mother church of Islip. There were no tithes nor right of sepulture belonging to the chapel : Maitl.ind, Bracton't Note Bh. 625, 693. ' Itinerary^ i, 8. * Cal. Pat. 1309-1401, p. 197. * Red Bk. of Thorney, pt. 4, fol. iv. ' y.C.U. Northanti. i, 31 14. » Ibid. 365. ' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 603, nos. 27, 23 ; Chart. R. 22 Edw. Ill, m. 26, no. 36. • Ct. of Req. lix, 17. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE NORWrCHES MANOR may have had its origin as a member of the royal manor of Brigstock called Slepe.' It was possibly the manor to which the advowson of the church (q.v.) was attached. Gervase son of Richard de Islip, living in 1230,1' was succeeded by his son Adam.'* Lands were held by Hugh son of William de Islip, in 1238,'^ and John and Simon de Islip in 1329.''' Master Simon de Islip, parson of Horncastle in Lincolnshire, possibly a son of John, or at least a member of this family, in 1 348 requested licence to alienate land in mortmain for a chaplain to celebrate daily there for the souls of his father and mother, John and Margaret dc Islip, and William, Thomas, and Richard de Islip, his brothers, and others.'* In 1376 Alice, widow of William de Islip, quit-claimed to John Holt and his wife Alice, and the heirs of the said John Holt, all lands, rents, reversions and services of free men and neifs in the towns of Islip, Lowick, Aldwinkle, Grafton by Cranford, and Wood- ford, formerly belonging to the said William de Islip and Millicent de Islip.'* The lands of Sir John Holt, Kt. (justice of the Common Pleas) were forfeited in 1388, but restored to his son John in 1391.'^ John the son died in 1419 and was succeeded by his son Hugh, and he in 1420 by his brother Richard Holt, clerk,'*^ from whom this manor descended in 1451-2 to his next heir Simon Norwich." John Norwich, the son of Simon, died in 1504 seised of a manor of Islip held of the Earl of Wiltshire, which he had settled on his wife Katherine ; his son and heir John was aged thirteen.'* John Norwich died in 1557 seised of this manor, and left a son and heir Simon Norwich, aged 19. Margaret, the widow of Simon the grand- father, was still living at Leicester in 1558, and Alice, the widow of her son John, at Brampton." Simon Norwich was dealing with this manor with Brampton, Cotterstock, etc., in 1579,^ and in 1594 it was held by Charles Nonvich, and Anne his wife, who then conveyed it as the manor of Islip alias Norwiches Manor to Sir Lewis Mordaunt, Lord Mordaunt," to whom the overlordship already belonged as representative of the heirs of the earls of Wiltshire, and with whose other manor it then descended. A member of the family, Ascan Norwich, was holding a messuage or farm and 40 acres of land in Islip at his death there on 20 May 1 630, in socage of the heirs of Katherine Green and was succeeded by his son John.^* In the 12th-century Northamptonshire Survey 4 sokemen of the king were entered as holding a hide in Islip of the fee of Westminster Abbey.^' This Norwich. Party gules and azurf a lion ermine. was possibly the land in Islip formerly belonging to Hugh de Morevill for which Robert, son of Hawise of IsHd, claimed quittance before the barons of the Exchequer in II90-I." It was held by Reginald de Waterville in 1284 as 5 virgates of land in Islip, of the abbey of Westminster, which the abbot held of the king in chief.-* The abbey was holding £"] in rent in Sudborough and Islip c. 1291.^^* Their land was possibly that which John de Tolthorp was holding in 1 3 16." Water mills in Islip, known in 1624 as Drawater Mills, were the subject of dispute.-* Possibly the mills were those held with Norwyches Manor. An inclosure Act for the parish was passed in 1800." Allotments were made {inter alia) for shares in the Low Town Leys and in Lammas ground called the Five Leys Close. The common or open fields were estimated at about 1,320 acres. The church of ST. NICHOLAS con- CHURCH sists of chancel 30 ft. by 15 ft. 3 in. with vestry on the north side, clearstoried nave of four bays 42 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 4 in., north and south aisles 8 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and west tower and spire. The width across nave and aisles is 37 ft., all these measurements being internal. The church is of one period throughout, having been rebuilt in the latter part of the 15th century, and is a very perfect example of a village church of that date, unaltered in plan and little changed by restoration. At the east end of the nave outside is a roof table wider and of higher pitch than that of the present chancel,** which seems to indicate that the body of the church was built on to an earlier chancel, which was afterwards pulled down and the present one erected. The whole structure, however, is uniform in design, and its situation on rising ground above the valley of the Nene makes its spire a pro- minent landmark. With the exception of the upper stage of the tower, which is of dressed stone, the whole of the building is of rubble, with flat-pitched leaded roofs and plain parapets. The walls are plastered internally. The building was restored in 1854-55, new roofs being then erected and the nave reseated. The chancel is of two bays and has a four-centred east window of five cinquefoiled lights and diagonal angle buttresses. On the south side are two three-light windows and one in the west bay on the north, the east end of the north wall being covered by the vestry," which was built about 1881 on the site of an old vestry which had long disappeared ; the doorway of the old vestry alone remained. At the cast end of the south wall, set within the window splay, to which it also opens, is a piscina recess with fluted bowl, with which is combined a rectangular aumbry in the thickness of the angle of the wall. The chancel arch is of two orders, the outer with a hollow chamfer • V.C.II. Ncrlbanli. i, 305A. ■" Rtl. Iluf. de IVellei. (Cant, and Vurk boc.;, ii, 133, 151,236. " Drayton Chart. 83. '•Feet of F. Northanti. caici73,file 28, no. 370. " Bridgci, //ill. Ncrlbanli. ii, 239. '* Cat. Pal. 1348-50, pp. 127-8, 374. '» Cal. Cloie, 1 374-7, p. 3''!,i^&d »' - // y u HUXLOE HUNDRED ISLIP continued to the ground, and the inner on attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The oak screen, with rood and attendant figures, is modcrn.''- The arches of the nave arcades are of two orders, like the chancel arch, but have an ogee curve at the top, and spring from piers of unusual type, in plan an oblong set north and south, down the angles of which the outer hollow chamfered order is carried, and with attached shafts east and west : the responds are of similar character. The tower arch is also of the same tvpe. All the shafts have moulded capitals and high moulded bases, and the uniformity in design and detail make the interior of the church one of much dignity and beauty. The north and south doorways occupy the second bay from the west, each of the other bays having a recessed three-light window similar to those in the chancel, with wall benches below the sills. There is a piscina at the east end of the north aisle,*'* in the jamb of the respond, the bowl of which is partly cut away, and to the east of the south doorway a groined niche for a stoup, the supporting half-octagonal shaft of which still re- mains. The clearstory windows, four on each side, are four-centred and of two cinqucfoiled lights, and there are similar windows in the side walls of the porch. Over the outer moulded doorway of the porch is a niche containing a modern figure of St. Nicholas. The tower is of four stages, marked by strings, and has wide clasping buttresses and battlemented parapets with crocketed angle pinnacles and gar- goyles. The moulded west doorway is set within a rectangular frame with quatrefoiled circles in the spandrels, and above it is a three-light window. On the north and south the two lower stages are blank, but in the third stage on each side is a small rectangular opening containing a quatrefoiled circle. The bell- chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights, with quatrefoil in the head and ogee hoodmoulds. Below the parapet is a band of quatrcfoils set lozengewise. There is a vice in the north-west angle. The spire is crocketed and has two tiers of lights, the lower on the cardinal and the others on the diagonal faces. The font appears to be of 13th century date, and consists of a plain octagonal bowl on eight short attached shafts without bases or capitals. The chancel contains wall monuments to Mary, wife of Sir John Washington, kt., of Thrapston, and daughter of Philip Curtis, who died in January, 1624-5, and to Katharine, wife of Philip Curtis {d. 1626). In the floor is a modern brass commemorating John NicoU (./. 1467) and Annys his wife, placed here in 19IQ by their descendants in the United States of America.''^ There are some fragments of old glass in one of the windows.^' The modern glass in the east window is of great excellence. The pulpit and all the fittings are modern. The organ is in a loft at the west end below the tower. There are six bells, the first and third by Henry Bagley of Chacomb 1678, and the others by J. Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, 1892.*' The plate consists of a cup of 1570, a paten of c. 1682, a silver gilt cup and paten 1883, a cup and paten of I917, and a bread box of I925. There is also a pewter flagon.^* The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) bap- tisms and burials 1695-1754, marriages 1695-1753; (ii) baptisms and burials 1755-1809 ; (iii) baptisms and burials 1810-1812 ; (iv) marriages 1755-1812. The graveyard was extended eastward as far as the main street in I927, and a lych gate, erected in 1903 to the north east of the church, was moved to form an entrance from the road. The War Memorial en the north side of the church was designed by Mr. Temple Moore. The advowson was held by the ADVOWSON Islip family. In 1202 Joscelin de Islip was holding lands in the parish^' and some twenty-five years later Gervase son of Richard de Islip held lands, apparently a manor, here.'* This Gervase, it would seem, presented to the church in 1227-8 and 1230.'" He married Eustachia and had three sons, Adam, Hugh and Joscelin.'"' In 1248 Eustachia, then the wife of de Pavilly, claimed the advowson against her son Adam, and it was seized by the king by default of Adam.*' In 1253 Thomas de Pavilly agreed to presentation being made by the King if the next presentation were made by himself.'- In the mcanwliile in 1264 Baldwin de Vere claimed the advowson by grant of Adam, son of Gervase Islip, to his father Robert de Vere.*' Thomas de Pavilly said that his mother Eustachia had enfeoffed him of the advowson, which she had obtained from her son Adam de Islip. Baldwin evi- *• The icrcen, stalls and reredos were erected in 19U by Dclancy NicuH and Benjamin NicoU, of New \'ork, to com- memorate their ancestor. Matthias NicoU, who, as secretary of the Duke of York's expedition to America in 1664 and after the capture of New Amsterdam, became mayor of New York in 1671, Speaker of the first Colonial Assembly, writer of the Duke's Laws. He died 22 December i6'?7, and was buried at Manhasset, Long Island, U.S. .A. [from inscription on icrcenj. In 1570 the churchwardens were presented for not having taken down the rood loft. Scrjeantson MS. *'' There is reference to the altar of the Blessed Mary in this church of Islip in an undated charter. Drayton Chart, no. 58. " Bridges records ' the portrait of a woman in brass ' in the chancel, but the inscription at her feet had gone. A copy had been kept, which he gives (//.jr. Noribanli. ii, 141). Thi* it reproduced on the new brass. The new brass with figures of John and Annys [not Amys] .NicoU has this inscription around verge : * An ancient stone bearing elhgies and inscription as here depicted lay near this spot and to commemorate their ancestors the descendants of John and Annys NicoU in the United States of America have caused this memorial to be placed a.d. .MCMX.' The old inscription, i+f)?, is reproduced, and the two figures. " Bridges (op. cit. ii, 240) notes heraldic glass in one of the south windows of the chancel, a figure of a man praying in one of the north aisle windows, and ' some imperfect portraits ' in other windows. '^ There were five bells before 1892, when a tenor was added and the second, third and fifth were recast. The old second and third were by Bagley 1678, and thefifthbyHughVVattsII of Leicester 1621. The inscriptions are given in .North, Cb. Billi oj Norlbant%. 313. 217 >» Markham, CA. PlatcoJ Northants. 166. The modern cups are of mediaeval design, the later one given in 1919. *•' Feet of F. Northants. case 171, file 10, no. 154. '^ Drayton charters 50; Joscelin de Islip and Peter his brother were witnesses to this deed. Close R. 12 Hen. Ill, no. loi/ ; Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. oS. " lioi. Huz- de ll'elln (Cant, and York Soc), ii, 133, ii;i, 23O. "> Drayton Chart. 83. *' AssiicR. East. 32 Hen. III. 6a. '■ Cal. Pal. 1247-58, pp. 185, 203. *■' The charter is among the Drayton Charters (no. 83) whereby Adam, son of Gervase de Islip, granted a rod of land and the advowson of the Church of the Blessed Nicholas of Islip to Robert de \'ere, knt., to hold of Adam and his heirs. Hugh son of Gervase and Josccline his brother were witneiset. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE dently won his case, and in 1277-8 the presentation was made by Sir Baldwin Wake as guardian of the heir of Baldwin de V'ere.''' From this time the ad- vowson followed the descent of the manor, which was the same as that of Drayton (q.v.). The charity of Henry Medbury, CHARITIES founded by will dated 27 December, 1705, is administered by the rector and four co-optative trustees in conformity with a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 Feb. 1S92. The property originally consisted of two alms- houses, land, and tenements in Earls Barton and Islip. The land was sold in 1920 and the proceeds invested in sums of £z,\(p ijs. 2d. Consols and ^^1,900 6j. 8 J. 4 per cent. Funding Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, producing £138 ^1. 6d. yearly in dividends. The Official Trustees also hold a sum of ^£130 15J. 4^/. Consols to a Rebuilding Fund Account the dividends upon which are invested in augmenta- tion of the principal. In 1924 j^26 was paid to the two almswomcn, who are widows and members of the Church of England. The almswomen must be inhabitants of Islip, or, failing that parish, then of Earls Barton. Failing Earls Barton, then of any of the following parisiies : Thrapston, Slipton, Twpvell, Lowick, Denford, Woodford, Titchmarsh or Aldwinklc. Four clergymen's widows receive £20 each, the Vicar of Earls Barton receives £l, and ^3 is paid to him for distribution to the poor of that parish. £j is also applied by the rector and churchwardens of Islip in doles at Christmas to 30 recipients. KETTERING Cytringan, Kyteringas (x cent.) ; Cateringe (xi cent.) ; Keteringes, Ketteringe (xii, xiii cent.). The civil parish and urban district of Kettering covers 2,814 *t^tes, of which the town occupies the greater part ; there are still, however, over 1,000 acres of pasture and arable land growing corn and roots. The soil is iron and lime stone, and in 1766 borings were unsuccessfully made for coal. The land rises from the River Ise on the east and a stream on the west to a height of a little over 300 ft. above the ordnance datum. Objects of the Bronze Age and the Romano-Briti;h and Anglo-Saxon periods have been found in the parish, suggesting an early settlement of the district. The town stands on high ground and probably owes its importance to the fact that it is a centre of the road system of the Midlands. In 1086 and probably before, Kettering was a prosperous agri- cultural manor and grew into a trading town with the grant to the abbot of Peterborough of a market here on Fridays, in 1227.' The building of a ' noble hall ' faced with stone, by Walter, abbot of Peterborough (1233-45)-, added to the importance of the town and brought traffic to it when the abbot was in residence there. The town remained a prosperous market town down to the dissolution of Peterborough .'\bbcy in 1540. Leland refers to it about 1535 as a ' pratie market town,' and Camden, about 1600, as a market town of considerable resort. Owing to its easy access from all parts, it was selected in 1625 as the place for holding the quarter sessions'" whicii gave it increased importance in the county. In 1613 the justices petitioned that the sessions might be held alternately at Northampton and Kettering,' but this apparently was not done, and in 1629 the Earl of Wesunorlaiid, then Custos Rotulorum, built in tlic IMarket Place ' a very fair sessions house.' A reference at this lime to the old session house suggests that the sessions had been held there for a long time previously. It was said that the town could accommodate all those who usually appeared at tlie winter session of tlie five hundreds and those who attended could return home the same night after they had done their service, ' whereas when the session was at Northampton they were forced to lie there two nights at charges.'' Kettering was also a meeting place of the musters, and, as the musters were held almost annually, the billeting and payments to the muster master became a burden to the inhabitants for which repayment was very irregularly made.* During the Civil War, Kettering's sympathies were mainly on the Parliamentary side. The imposition of ship-money was strongly resented. Francis Sawyer, brother of Edward Sawyer who lived at the Manor House in 1638, refused to pay this tax and assaulted the collectors,' and in 1640 the grand jury at the quarter sessions held at Kettering complained to the Bench that there was ' a great and unsupport- able grievance lying upon the county under the name of ship-money to be raised for providing of ships, for which their goods were forcibly taken and detained.' They prayed for redress from a burden which they were not well able to bear.* In August following, there was a meeting of ministers of the neighbourhood at tlic ' Swan ' in Kettering to consider the oath in ' the late Book of Canons ' known as the ' Etcetera 0.1th.' Those attending resolved never to take the oath but rather to lose their livings." Led by the Sawyer family, Kettering remained Puritan in sym- pathy throughout the Civil War, although for a time in 1643 it was a rendezvous for the royal troops.'" The town suffered severely from the plague in 1665, which claimed some 80 victims." The justices of the peace presented a petition to the Bishop of Peterborough, calling attention to the distressed con- dition of the town by reason of the plague and asking for relief out of tlic money collected.'^ Tlic failure of the crops in 1795 was the cause of much distress, and bread riots took place at Kettering ; wagons loaded with flour passing through the town had to be protected by soldiers, wlio were attacked by the niob.'^ '* Rol, Rich, dt Gravtiend (Cant, and York Soc), xTvi, p. 133. ' Cal. Chan, i, 21. ' AH.1. MS. (n.M,)io25, i34. • IJuke ol Uucclcuch, lliil. MSS. Com. Rtf. i, 168. • Cal. S. v. Dom. 1611-1S, p. 218. ' F. W. Hull, lint, of KclUrini;, p. 16. 'Cal. S. P. Dorn. 1629-31, p. 452; Hill. MSS. Com. Rfp. x, App. vi. p. 32. ' Cal. S. I'. Pom. 163K-31J, pp. 5-16, 34, 36,45, l6i, 455; 1625.49,588. 218 " Ibid. 1639-40, p. 312. ' Cj/. S. I'. IJom. 1640, pp. 636-8, 644 ; 1640-41, 7 ; Hull, op. cit. 19, 20. '" llull.cip, al. 20,21. "Ibid. I".P. 32. " L.msdownc MS. 1027, p. 155^, 158. '•Bull, op. cit. 38. Kettkrinc : Old lloust in IIazi.i.wood Lani; 1 ■ X , ^^ "C*^. - pi ^:w.^-^: W ■p- ,.nj,,„ J, yr FTrn a Kettering : The Sawyer Almshouses HUXLOE HUNDRED KETTERING About 1700, Kettering is described in the Maptia Britannica as ' a well traded popidous market town ' which owed its prosperity wholly to the woollen manu- facture, introduced by Mr. Jordan and then still carried on by his posterity. About 20 years later Bridges described Kettering as ' a large and populous town ' containing 566 houses and 2,645 inhabitants. The market place lay to the north-west of the church, in the middle of which, dividing the Sheep Market from the Butcher Row, was a row of houses later known as Rotten Row. At the end of Butcher Row was the Sessions House, ' a good stone building sup- ported by pillars ' ; eastward was Newland pond and in one of the pond walls was fixed a piece of the stump of a cross. ' Coming out of the north end of Newland and crossing the stone pit Leys,' where stone was then dug ' you descend by going westward into Staunch Lane, so named from pellucid or vitrified stones, which from the shape of some of them are called Kitcats and are seemed good for staunching blood.' They are also found in several other shapes in the clay used for making brick and sometimes near the surface of the ground.'* The growth of the town through the latter part of the 19th century was rapid. Besides the woollen trade already alluded to, silk, plush and ribbon weaving, linen making, lace making and wool combing were carried on, and bells were cast at a foundry at W'adecroft Lane from c. 1710 to 1762 by the Eayre family. All these trades save the bell foundry were prosperous at the beginning of the 19th century, but they gradually gave place to the manufacture of boots and shoes, a trade said to have been introduced by Thomas Gotch about 1790. It was not, however, till about 1857 that this industry developed, and it greatly increased in 1870 during the Franco-German war. Railway communication, which reached the town in 1857 when the Leicester and Hitchin Railway was opened, also helped towards its prosperity. Since this date Kettering has become an important railway centre. Previously the means of communication had been by one coach which passed through the town from Uppingham to Wellingborough, and an omnibus to the latter place. In connexion with the woolcombing industry there were processions on the festival of St. Blaise (3 Feb- ruary)'* the patron saint of the trade, the last of which took place in 1829. The old town of Kettering lay on the west side of the main road from Wellingborough to Uppingham. Eayre's map of the town made about 1720 (here repro- duced) gives a good idea of its extent at that date. The fires which devastated it in 1744 and 1766 have left little in the nature of old buildings. The Sessions House built by the Earl of Westmorland in 1629,'''' which stood in the Market Place as already mentioned, was pulled down in 1805. The Market Place was rciYiodclled at the end of the l8th century; the line of thatched shops called Rotten Row in the middle of the Market Place, was pulled down between 1785 and 1789. The cross, with a dungeon or lock-up under it, which stood close to the old .Market House near the entrance to the churchyard, w.is removed about 1 790. The smaller cross which was erected on the site of the old cross was destroyed about 1808. Near it stood the stocks, later moved to Hog Leys, the whip- ping post and pillory.'" 'Fhe Sawyer almshouses in Sheep Street were formerly of one story with high-pitched roof and dormer windows, but the walls have been heightened and have windows lighting the upper rooms. The block consists of six dwellings with as many dor.rvvays and mullioned windows on the ground floor and is built of ironstone rubble ; the roof is covered with stone slates. Over the middle windows is a panel inscribed ' This Hospitall was Built by Edmund Sawyer Esqr Afio Dmni, 1688,' and the founder's arms above with helm, crest and mantling. The government of the town was administered at the Abbot of Peterborough's manorial court and we have references to the bailiff of the manor as the principal oflicial of the manor and town and the constable acting under him, to carry out the orders of the steward." The vestry began to assume powers possibly in the 17th century, but certainly early in the l8th century, and the organization of a workhouse by the vestry in 1717 is an early instance of such an institution.'* In 1862 the officials of the vestry were the four overseers, two surveyors of highways, a Nuisance Removal Committee, twelve in number, and a Sanitary Committee." A Local Board was formed in 1873 which in 1894 became the Urban District Council, now consisting of twenty-five members. The district is divided into five wards. Proposals were made in 1893 and again in 1901 to apply for a charter of incorporation, but they were negatived. There was an Inclosure Av\'ard in 1804. The Public Library and Museum were given by Mr. Andrew Carnegie in 1904 and the Alfred East Art Gallery adjoining it was built in 1913 as a memorial to Sir Alfred East, R.A., a native of the town. The Gallery contains a representative collection of Sir .Alfred's paintings. By a charter of 956 King Edwy MANORS granted 10 cassati of land at KETTER- ING to his thegn Aelfsige the gold- smith.^" The boundaries of the land are set out and seem to have included the site of the present town. They run from Cransley Bridge along the brook to Humbridge, thence to the gallows tree on Debden, from there to Kinston Head to Flie Long Dike, then to Weekley Ford along the Ise until it came to Pytchley Ford, and from the ford along the brook until it came back to Cransley Bridge. Possibly Aelfsige gave Kettering to the monastery of Medeshamstede or Peterborough as, by a charter dated 972, King Edgar confirmed it to that monastery.-' Although this charter is spurious, it is probably correct as to its facts, for in 975 it is said thatLeofsi son of Bixi, ' an enemy of God,' dispossessed Peterborough Abbey of Kettering for two years, but by the influence of Actlielvvold, Bishop of Winchester, possession was regained. The manor is assigned to the abbey in the Domesday Survey (1086) and by several confirma- " DiiJgci, Uiit. NortbaHts. ii, 241. refer to the Sessions House, which cvisted " Ibid. 55-8 ; Webb, F.ngl. Local Govit. '• Hull op. cit. 4^. twenty ycart earlier. I3in, ijm. " Bull.op. cit. 70. ''» A stone bearing the dale 1640, " Bull, op. cit. 160, 161 j //hoc /Jrri. " Birch, Caria/. S Pat. R. 23 Elii. pt. 2, no. 2. " Bull, op. cil. p. 15. *: Pat. R. 45 Elit. pt. I. *• Bull, op. cit. p. 15. " Chan. Inc|. p m. 7 Chaj. I, no. 43 " Bull, op. cit. (Supplement), 55-6. •• Recov. R. Mich. 4 Jai. II, ro. 87; Feet o( F. Notthanti. Mich. 4 Jat. II. " Bull, op. cit. p. 58 ; Feet of F. Northanl). East. 2 Geo. II. " Pat. R. 37 Elii. pt. 18, m. 19. '• Ibid. 14 Jas. I, pt. 22. "> Bull.op. cit. 86-91. " The axis of the tower inclines con- lidcrably to the north-west. " Billings (1843) sayi that the nave and aisle roofs appeared to have been recon- 221 ftructed. On one of the tie beams of the nave was a plate with the date 1688, and a beam in the south aisle was dated 1678. The south aisle roof had been rcleadcd in the latter year and the nave roof in 1789: y^rri. Ilium, of KrtlrringCb. 13. '* The restoration was carried out under the direction of Sir Arthur Blumfield. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE side the chancel opens to the chapel by a 15th-century arcade of two arches, and on the south by a similar arcade of tliree arches, all of two moulded orders on piers composed of four attached slufts with separate capitals and bases. The north chapel is about 28 ft. long internally by 18 ft. 6 in. wide, and has a five- light east window and two three-light windows in the north wall with three-centred heads, cinquefoiled lights and transoms ; all are restorations. In the south- I5th-century work of three bays, the principals of which are increased in depth and connected with the wall-pieces by braces, with solid spandrels carved in low relief. Both chapels are separated from the aisles by moulded arches, and the chancel arcades are filled with modern screens. There is also a modern screen between the north chapel and the aisle. The nave arcades follow the design of those of the ^^^^^^^^M^^?3&2^^E-^ BloCKeo cJOorv/ay F^^--^^?--^^^^^^^^^% B 14- Ei Century early OI5Ii! Century C.I4- 50 ^1512 Century C.I470-80 ^'LsL^ EZj Modern 10 20 30 «0 50 Scale of Feet Plan of KerrERiNC Church E S T R I E S -■ j.«j^»-X" .■■'.-:' ' I east corner is a cinquefoiled piscina, and in the east wall, north of the altar, a niche for a statue. The roof is of two bays, with good carved tie-beams. The south chapel, sometime known as ' Mr. Sawyer's aisle,'"* is about 38 ft. long by 21 ft. in width, and is faced with ashlar. It is divided into three bays, and has a five-light cast window, and three four-centred windows of three liglits on the south, with Perpendicular tracery, but no transoms. The rood-screen crossed the whole church, and the stair- way to the loft, with lower and upper doorways, is in the south-west corner of the chapel, but no part of the screen remains. In the north-west corner, higli in the wall, is the doorway to the chancel Kift, and below it a consecration cross within a roundel. TiiC roof of the chapel is a very beautiful piece of chancel, with clustered columns of four attached shafts and well-moulded arches. The windows of the aisles are all of three cinquefoiled lights, with four- centred heads and embattled transoms, but the west window of the north aisle is higher and narrower than the corresponding window on the south side.^ At the east end of both aisles there were altars against the screens, the aumbries in connection with which remain, and in the north aisle a niche for a statue. Tlic early 14th-century north doorway has a moulded arch and jamb shafts, with moulded capitals, but the bases are hidden ; the door bears the date 1682. The porch is set at an oblique angle, a position accounted for by the ancient entrance to the church- yard, with which it is in line." It is of two stories, with low-pitched gable, access to the chamber being " From 16th-century Kettering wilU it appciri there were chaprli of St. John the Hjptiit, probably that on the luuth ■ide ; a Lady chapri with a tabernacle or niche for the figure of the Virgin, which ii probably repreicnted by the remaini of the niche in the nortli chapel ; and the chapel of St. Kalherine which may have been at the eait end of the nnrtii or south aisle. There were aWo gilds of St. John the Haptist.Our Lady, and the Holy Sepulchrr (Hull, op fit. Supplement, 21, 22.) 222 " Over the west end of the south aisle is a panel with the names of the church- wardens and the date 1746, probably the year in which the west hay was refaced in ashlar. '■" hillings, op. cit. 1 1. w h u 3 O c/2 o HUXLOE HUNDRED kettp:ring by a stair-turrtt at the north-west corner of the aisle. The pointed outer doorway is set within a square frame, the spandrels of which are filled with quatrc- foils in circles, and above are three canopied niches, the outer ones formerly occupied by statues of St. Peter and St. P.iul, whose emblems appear on shields below. The porch has a square-headed two-light window on each side, but no wall benches ; the chamber is lighted by a similar window facing west. The clearstory windows are of three cinqucfoilcd lights with four-centred heads and moulded jambs. The magnificent tower and spire arc equal in height," and are amongst the best examples of work of their kind in the kingdom. The wliole tower was carefully i-iiilii;:;:;.. Kettering : Church Porch designed with relation to the spire whicii it was to bear and the slope of the buttresses was contrived with this end in view. The tower is of four stages, with a slight set-back at each stage, and finishes with battlemented parapets and octagonal angle turrets. There is a vice in the south-west angle. Above the moulded plinth is a band of quatrcfoils in circles, which is continued round the enclosing rectangular frame of the west doorway. The doorway is richly moulded and flanked by small panelled buttresses, terminating in lofty pinnacles, and has a crocketcd hood with large finials ; the spandrels are filled with Perpendicular tracery. The tower buttresses are well set back from the angles, and there is a band of quatrefoils marking each stage. The great west window is of five lights, with transom and Perpen- dicular tracery, and the stage above is filled on each face with five transoraed panels, the middle one of which is pierced. On each side of the bell-chamber stage are three admirably proportioned windows of two trefoiled lights with transoms, and the battle- ments have cross loopholes. The spire was repaired in 1887, when 31 ft. were taken down and rebuilt'*; the angles are crocketcd, and there are three sets of lights on the cardinal faces, the two lower with mullions and tracery. The tower arch is of four chamfered orders, the innermost springing from half- round responds. The font and pulpit are modern. There are some traces of mural paintings ; on the north clearstory wall, near tlie chancel arch, is the figure of an angel with gaze apparently directed to the rood above the loft, and in the spandrel of the arch below is a fragment of a post-Reformation text.''' On the inncrwall of the nortii aisle are the remains of a figure of St. Roeli on a blue ground powdered with gilt stars.*" A fragment of 15th-century glass, with kneeling figure bearing an inscription to the Blessed Virgin, remains in a window of the south chapel, and another inscription in the same window '. . . pro statu magistri Tho. Bloxham,' may have reference to this figure." In the south chapel is a small brass plate to Edmund Sawyer (d. 1630) and his wife Ann Goodman, of Blaston, with kneeling figures ; the chapel also con- tains a 17th-century bookstand and desk for two chained books, tlie chains of which remain.*^ In the vestry is an old iron-bound chest with three locks. There is a ring of ten bells. The two trebles are by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon, 1921, the third and fourth by Richard Sanders, of Bromsgrove, 1714, the fifth by John Taylor and Co. of Lough- borough, 1890, the sixth a recasting by Taylor, in 1905, of a bell by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, dated 1714, the seventh dated 1630, the eighth by Thomas Eayre, 1732, the ninth by the same founder, 1722, and the tenor by VV. and J. Taylor, 1832.*^ The plate consists of a cup c. 1663, inscribed ' The gift of Elizabeth Crosey to Kettering Church,' with the maker's mark re four times repeated; a plate of 1716 inscribed 'The gift of Mrs. Fowler in the parish of Kettering who dyed the 27th of Aprill 1715 ' ; a flagon of 1756, by William Sliaw and William Priest ; a silver-gilt chalice of 1908, given in 1915 ; a silver-gilt chalice by Frank Knight of Wellingborough, given in 1926 ; a silver-gilt ciborium of 1914, and another by Frank Knight, 1926. There are also two plated dishes 1871, and a pewter flagon. The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1637-1680, marriages and burials 1637-1681 ; (ii) baptisms 1681-1710, marriages 1697-1709, burials 1683-1710; (iii) baptisms and burials 1710-1812, marriages 1710-1754; (iv) marriages 1754-1781; (v) marriages 1781-1812. In the third volume is a terrier of 1727. The advowson belonged to the ADVOW^ON abbot and convent of Peterborough down to the dissolution of that house. It was granted with the manor to Lord " Billingt gives the height from the floor of the nave to the baie of the spire ai 88 ft. q) in. and of the tpire (without the vane) 88 ft. 8 in. •* Bull, WiK. 0/ Kettering, p. 72 it. The last II ft. were entirely new work. The height of the «pirc was slightly increased, the total height of tower and spire, ex- clusive of finial and vane, being now 178 ft. loj in. •• It runs "... Cod which givcth his abundance to all things living. That they doe good, that they be rich in good works." •^ It was discovered about 1840. The figure is represented in a scarlet coat, an angel holding his right hand, a dog against his left leg, with wallet and escallop shell, and in his left hand a pilgrim's staff. The figure was at one time attributed to St. Jamei the Greater. *' In Undges' time there were 'broken portraits of saints and bishops in most of the windows of the aisles ' ; op. cit. ii, 243. 223 ^^ The cover of one book also remains. In an inventory of 1745 are named the Book of Homilies, Jewel's Apology, and Foxe's Acts and Monuments. *^' North, Ch. Belli of Northanis. 315, where the inscriptions on the older bells are given. During the restoration of 1890-91 the bell-chamber floor was raised several feet. The 17th century wooden pillars which formerly supported the tinging and organ gallery now form part of a staircase in the ringing chambrr. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Parr in 1 544 and reverted to the Crown on his death in 1546. It was granted in 1550 and again in 1552 to William Parr, Marquis of Northamp- ton,** nephew of Lord Parr, but was forfeited on his attainder in 1554. In 1558 it was granted to Thomas Reve and Christopher Bullyt, who sold it in the same year to Henry Goldeney.** It had passed to Edward Watson in 1561, and has remained in the hands of the family of Watson, Lords Rockingham and Sondes,** then of George Lewis Watson, and has followed the descent of the Watson shares of the manor (q.v.). There are the modern churches of St. Andrew in Rockingham Road built in 1 870; St. Mary the Virgin, in Fuller Street (1895); All Saints, in William Street (1899) ; and Mission Churches of St. Luke, Alexandra Street (1876); St. Philip's, in Brook Street (1893) ; and St. Michael's, Garfield Street, built in 1894. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Edward, in the Grove, was built in 1893, and there are many Non- conformist chapels, including those known as Toller Chapel, first built for the Independents in 1723 and called after Thomas Northcote Toller, and Fuller Chapel for Baptists, named after Rev. Andrew Fuller, pastor there 1783 to 1815, both in Gold Street. The Church and Town Allotment. CHARITIES In the Parish Book it is stated that ^50 was given by James Cater and j^io by Alderman Pack, which sums were laid out in the purchase of 5 doles of meadow ground lying in Killingholme and Walcots, the rents to be applied to put forth poor children to trades. The old brass tablet of Charities states that John Pettifer gave the rent of Emmerton's Holme (or Lads' Holme), which consisted of about 3V acres, for putting out of poor people's children. By the award of the Inclosure Commissioners dated 23 Nov. 1 805 two allotments in the Middle Field, containing respectively 8 a. i r. 30 p. and 8 a. 16 p., were awarded to the Rector, Church- wardens and Overseers in lieu of lands appropriated for apprenticing, for the church and for the poor. The lind, which is let in allotments, produces a net rent of about ;^43 yearly. The charity is administered by the rector and churchwardens and four trustees ap- pointed by the Urban District Council in place of the overseers. l2/43rds of the income are applied by the churchwardens towards church expenses. 26/43rds, together with the dividends amounting to £() <)s. yearly on £378 is. lod. Consols (representing accumu- lations of income), are applied in the maintenance of Exhibitions in conformity witli a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 17 Jan. 1896, and 5/43rds are distributed to the poor by the trustees of Hunt's Charity. Poor's Allotment. An allotment of 9 a. I r. 17 p. was set out on the inclosure for tiic poor in lieu of their rights of cutting fuel on certain lands. The land is let in allotments and produces about /^20 10/. yearly, and the Ofiicial Trustees of Charitable Funds hold a sum of j[H^7 15/. loJ. Consols producing ^£21 ■}!. Sd. yearly in dividends. This sum of stock represents the investment of mine rents under lease to the Kettering Coal and Iron Co. The income is applied by the rector and two trustees appointed by the Urban District Council in the distribution of coal and in donations to the Kettering and District Nurs- ing Association. By his will, proved 23 Feb. 1617-18, William Cave gave £20 to the poor. A rentcharge of £1 2s. on 3 doles of meadow land was purchased with this sum. By his will dated in 1733 Thomas Dawson, inn- keeper at 'The George' in Kettering, gave £50 to the poor, and Mrs. Ann Dawson, his widow, added ;^io. A rentcharge of £^ was purchased with these sums aided by a donation from tlie parish. These two charges are paid out of land belonging to Mr. James B. Sutton. Christopher Eady in 1680 gave ^^4 yearly to the poor out of the White Hart Inn and one yard of land. This charge was redeemed in 1891 by the transfer of ^^160 2J per cent. Annuities to the Official Trustees. These charities are distributed in doles to the poor in January by trustees appointed by the Urban Dis- trict Council in place of churchwardens and over- seers. The endowment for this parish of the charity of Edward Hunt — -particulars of which are given in the Charities of the parish of Warkton — consists of /I384 6s. T,d. Derby Corporation 6 per cent. Redeem- able Stock and ;^388 2s. ^d. Middlesbrough Corpora- tion 6 per cent. Stock, producing £46 6s. lod. yearly in dividends. The charity is administered by the minister and 6 trustees appointed by the Urban District Council, and the income is distributed to the poor. The .Mmshouse Charity of Edmund Sawyer and others is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Com- missioners dated 28 Oct. 1910, and comprises :— (i) Sawyer's Hospital, founded by will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 23 June 1688, consisting of 6 almshouses and a rentcharge of £6 paid by the owner of the Boughton Estate. (2) Elizabeth Baker's Charity for Bread. Deed poll 15 Sept. 1790 and declaration of trust 30 April 1816, originally ;^I50 South Sea Annuities, and— (3) Martha Baker's Charity. Will proved at North- ampton 23 July 1782, originally ;^20o South Sea An- nuities. The endowments of these two charities are now represented by £277 13^. 8(/. 5 per cent. War Stock producing j^l3 \js. id. yearly. (4) James Gibbon's Charity. Will proved in Preroga- tive Court 18 May 1888; endowment ,^500 Queensland Government 4 per cent. Stock, producing ^^20 yearly. The Duke of Buccleuch, as owner of Boughton House in V\'eekley, is the patron of the charity, which is administered by a body of trustees consisting of the rector and seven others. The income is divided equally among the six almswonien who to qualify must have resided in Kettering for not less than ten years. One almswoman, called Baker's Almswoman, must be a member of the Church of England. The Stock is with the Official Trustees. Anne Aldwinklc by codicil to her will, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 2 Nov. 1 793, •' Pat. R. 4 Edw. VI, pt. 7 ; 5 Edw. VI, pt. 5. •• Ibid. 4 & ; Ph. & Mjry, pt. 3. " Chan. Inq. p.m., bdlc. 37^, no. 93 ; Feet of F. NorthanH, Mich. 18 Jai. I ; Eait. 1652 ; llil. i6i;3 ; Trin. 29 Chai. II ; Rccov. R. jlil. l6i;3, ro. 65; Trin. 19 Ch.ii. II, ro. 165; 224 Hil. 9 Geo. II, ro. 189; Ea»t. 14 Geo. II, ro. 3ii 26 Geo. II, ro. Si $8 Geo. Ill: ro. 260. HUXLOE HUNDRED KETTERING gave to the vicar and churchwardens a sum of stock producing ^^30 yearly, to be applied as to j^I2 to the inmates of Sawyer's Hospital, ^^2 10/. for a person to read and pray with the inmates, £\ \os. for the pur- chase of books, j^5 to the poor, and the remainder to the poor at Christmas. A sum of /600 Navy 5 per cent, was appropriated to answer this bequest. Tlie capital money was never transferred to the minister and churchwardens, and a draft scheme was prepared in 1894 but was never carried through. No payment has been made in respect of this cliarity for the last 20 years. Sir John Knightlcy, Bart., by a codicil to his will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 18 .\pril 1 81 2 gave ^([200 in support of the Sunday Schools. The endowment consists of ;^l8o 4J. 2d. Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and the interest amounting to ^4 10/. yearly is applied by the rector, churchwardens and over- seers for the benefit of the Sunday School. Thomas Dash, by his will proved 28 Sept. 1841, gave ^£50 to the rector and churchwardens in sup- port of the Sunday Schools. The legacy with accu- mulations was invested in ^91 5/. lod. Consols svith the Official Trustees, producing £i 5/. id. in dividends. Mrs. McGrouther's Charity. Many years ago a Mrs. Mary Hogg established by subscription a charity for the relief of aged poor widows, which became known as ' The Kettering Poor Widows' Fund,' and Mrs. Sophia Susan McGrouther, by deed dated 29 May 1872, gave ;^3oo Bank Annuities, the interest to be applied for the benefit of poor widows or single women of good character not under 50 years of age. The annuities became z\ per cent. Consolidated Stock, and this was converted into (^lo"] \6s. 31/. 5 per cent. War Stock standing in the names of the Rev. C. B. Lucas and C. E. Lamb. The charity is administered by Mrs. Alice Lamb, of Warkton. Monthly payments are made to about 25 poor widows. James Gibbon, by his will proved 18 May 1888, gave £500 Queensland Govt. 4 per cent. Stock upon similar trusts to Mrs. McGrouther's Charity. The stock is standing in the same names, and the dividends amounting to yr20 yearly are distributed in cash to about 16 poor widows. The Great Meeting House known as Toller Chapel is comprised in an indenture of II March 1723, and the following charities are in connection there- with : — (1) By his will, proved at Northampton 15 July 1732, Samuel Langley gave an annual sum of ^^i out of his lands for the benefit of the minister. This charge is paid out of land in Nether Field now the property of the Kettering Industrial Co-operative Society, Ltd. (2) Matthew Wilson, by will proved in the Prero- gative Court of Canterbury 3 Feb. 1827, gave £500 for the benefit of the minister. This sum is placed on mortgage. The following charities are administered by the deacons of the chapel and the income amounting to £l\ is. lid. yearly is applied in cash and other dis- bursements to about 20 poor persons and in the purchase of books for use at the chapel. (l) Joseph Wright, by his will proved in Preroga- tive Court of Canterbury 2 Jan. 1746, gave ^^30. (2) John Wakelin, by will proved at Northampton 12 Jan. 1793, gave £i,o. (3) John Meadows, by his will proved at Northamp- ton on 27 Nov. 1799, gave /50. (4) Ephraim Busweli, by will proved in Prerogative Court of Canterbury 7 Aug. 1801, gave /50. (5) George Satchell, who died 22 April 1835, by his will gave j^20, the interest to be distributed in meat at Christmas. (6) Joseph Nunneley, by will proved at Northamp- ton 16 .August 1769, gave ;tioo, on trust that £1 los. should be paid to the minister yearly, zos. distributed in meat to the poor, and 30J. in cash to the poor. (7) Miss Mary Mce, by will proved at Northamp- ton 24 July 1826, gave £19 19/., the interest to be applied in distribution of books. (8) Joseph Wright, by will proved 2 July 1834, gave £^0 for the general purposes of the Meeting. (9) Thomas Dash beforementioned, by will gave ;{^loo, the interest to be applied in the distribution of meat. The endowments of these charities were originally placed on mortgage, but those of Joseph Wright 1746, Wakelin, Meadows, Busweli, Satchell and Nunneley now form part of a sum of ^^41 2 Js. 6d. 5 per cent. War Stock in private names and a sum £y os. ()d, part of the dividends on this sum of stock, is applied in satisfaction of these legacies. The endowments of the charities of Mee, Wright (1834) and Dash are represented by £177 5j. id. Consols with theOfficialTrustees of Charitable Funds, producing £^ Ss. \d. yearly. The charity of Nathaniel Collis was founded by declaration of trust dated 11 April 1849. The en- dowment, which originally consisted of shops, is now represented by ^^300 Consols in the names of George Barratt and two others. The dividends amounting to £7 los. yearly are applied by the trustees of the Great Meeting in the distribution of cash to about 40 poor and the purchase of hymn books for use in the chapel. Jane Curchin, by will proved 9 March 1900, be- queathed the sura of ^^200, to be called Mrs. Curchin's Bequest to the trustees of the Toller Chapel, the interest to be distributed in money, coal, flannel or calico. The personalty was insufficient to pay the bequest in full, and ^156 15/. was all that was received. This was invested in 5 per cent. War Stock and forms part of the above-mentioned sum of ^^41 2 "js. 6d. In respect of this bequest a sum of £6 5/. 6d. is dis- tributed in money payments to about 36 poor and in garments. The following charities are in connection with the Fuller Baptist Chapel comprised in an indenture dated 25 Feb. 1816:— The Fuller Allotment. By the Inclosure Award of 23 Nov. 1805, a piece of land in Middle Field, Ketter- ing, was granted for the support of public worship in the Fuller Chapel. The land was sold and the pro- ceeds invested in ;^2lo is. Sd. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, pro- ducing/lo 10;. 2(/. yearly, which is applied to expenses of the chapel. By his will, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 6 Feb. 1734-5, ]°^ Davenport devised land and hereditaments to trustees for the benefit of the minister of the Protestant Dissenters called the 225 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Baptists or Anabaptists in Kettering. The property consisted of about 5 acres of land with a house and stable. This was sold some years since and the pro- ceeds invested in £523 16/. id. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Official Trustees, producing ^26 3/. lOt^. yearly. The trustees of the Fuller Baptist Chapel were appointed trustees by scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 15 March 1918. The income is applied to the general expenses of Fuller Chapel. Mrs. Beeby Wallis, by will proved in Prerogative Court of Canterbury 6 May I Si 3, gave /400 to the minister and deacons of the Particular Baptist Con- gregation upon trust to apply the interest yearly as to £2 los. to the minister for preaching occasionally in neighbouring villages, £2 I0.r. in Bibles and hymn books for poor of congregation, £^ to poor of congre- gation, ;^4 10^. in repair of Meeting House and residue for minister. The money was invested in Consols, which were sold in 1897, and the proceeds, £^SS '■'•1 after being placed on mortgage were subsequently invested in £480 lys. ~d. 5 per cent. War Stock, with the Official Trustees, producing ^24 oj. 10(/. yearlv. In 1924 £16 los. was placed to the general fund of Fuller Chapel, £2 IQS. to the Hymn Book and Bible Fund, and ^^5 was distributed to the poor. Thomas Gotch, by his will proved in the Preroga- tive Court of Canterbury 12 March 1806, gave ;£loo to the minister and deacons of the Baptist Meeting upon trust to distribute the interest among the poor of the congregation. The money was placed on mort- gage, but was subsequently invested in £170 los. 8J. Consols standing in the names of William Timpson and three others. The dividends, ^^4 5;. yearly, are distributed to tlie poor. Mary Marlowe, by her will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 13 March 1779, gave to trustees ;{^I50, part of ^^,900 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, towards tiic support of the minister of the Particular Baptists at Kettering, and £co 3 per cent. Bank An- nuities to the poor members of the congregation. At her death there was not suflicient property for the trustees to execute her will, and the money was put into Chancery. In 1787 the share for this charity was fixed at ^^l 8.r. The capital is invested in Consols and the trustees now pay 17s. 4d. for the minister and 5/. \od. for the poor. Elizabeth Seward, by her will dated 2 June 1753, gave to trustees j^400 South Sea Annuities upon trust to pay the interest to the ministers of the four con- grcgationsof Particular Baptistsof Bolton of the Water, Alcester, Leicester and Kettering. The capital is in Consols, and the sum now received for Kettering is £'i IS. lod. yearly. Mrs. Agnes Percival, by her will proved 24 March 1917, gave /I400 to the trustees of the London Road Congregational Church upon trust to apply the interest in religious work in connection with the chapel. The money was invested in ^^411 18/. lod. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Ollicial Trustees of Charitable Funds producing ^^20 i2j. yearly in dividends. William Wilson, by his will proved at Oxford, June, 1928, gave /^loo in augmentation of Agnes Percival's charit)'. £q6 l8s. 5 per cent. War Stock was purchased by the Oificial Trustees of Charitable Funds and produces ^^4 i6s. lod. per annum. Mrs. C. Arnsbv, by her will proved at Peterborough 12 March 1912, bequeathed the residue of her estate to the trustees of the Strict Baptist Church Jehovah Shalom, Wadcroft, for the benefit of the church. The endowment consists of ;^4lo loi. Gd. 3J per cent. War Stock and ^^81 3;. T,d. 5 per cent. War Stock in names of D. E. Rootham and two others, and pro- duces £\i 8/. 4J. yearly in dividends. The income is placed to the church incidental fund. The Wicksteed Village Trust is comprised in an indenture dated 29 Jan. 1916. 181 acres of land, known as Barton Seagrave Suburb Estate, used as a public park, and 41 acres called the Pebbleford Building Estate, were granted to trustees for the amelioration of the conditions of the working classes in and near the town of Kettering and elsewhere in the LInited Kingdom, by the provision of improved dwellings with gardens, etc. In 1924 ^^8,119 i6s. jd. was received from sale of turf, loam, gravel, refresh- ments, farm sales, etc. Tiie following legacies were left for the endow- ment fund of the Kettering and District General Hospital : — Miss Laura Rebecca Morris. Will proved 27 Aug. 1908; gavCj^iooasan addition to the endowment fund. This sum has, with other monies, been invested in /]65o Dominion of Canada 3J per cent. Stock in the names of F. Mobbs and three others. The Rev. Cecil Henry Maunsell. Will proved 23 Dec. 191 1, gave /l,ooo. The legacy, less duty, was invested with other monies in £550 Glasgow Corporation 3 per cent. Stock and ;^6o7 L. & N.W.R. 3 per cent. Deb. Stock. Mrs. Mary Ann Brown. Will proved 12 April 191 1, gave ;^20. This was invested in Glasgow Corporation 3 per cent. Stock, and forms part of the above- mentioned sum of ;^55o.*' Sir Edward Nicolls, by his will proved in the Pre- rogative Court of Canterbury, 17 |uly 1717, gave land situate at Haslebeech, Sulby, Hardwick, Old, Wil- barston, and Walgrave, amounting altogether to about 593 acres, to trustees upon trust to pay out of the income thereof ^^30 yearly to each of the incumbents of the following parislies — namely, Northampton All Saints, Kettering, Rothwell, Oundlc, Hardwick, Mouhon, Cjuilsborough and Spralton, and he directed that the residue of the income siiould be applied to charitable uses at the discretion of the trustees. The land has been sold and the proceeds invested in /i,6o8 11/. jd. Consols and £15,900 ijs. ^d. 4 per cent. Funding Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, producing £(>j6 \s. Sd. yearly in dividends. Each of tiic respective incumbents re- ceives a cheque yearly for£30, and the residue is applied in special grants varying from j^20 to j^30 to other incumbents and in donations to hospitals. •' There .Trc Bcvcr.Tl other legacies mentioned in the yearly report of the Ilotpital, but information concerning them has not been obtained. 226 HUXLOE HUNDRED LILFORD-WITII-WIGSTHORPE Lyllofordc (xiv cent.) ; W'ykenclliorp (xiii cent.) , Wykyiigesthorpe (xiv cent.). This parish, though inchidod in the Hundred of Hu.\loe, is locally situated in the Hundred of I'i)lebrook. It lies on the east bank of tiie Nene, which is spanned by a handsome stone bridge with fluted pilasters, erected within a short distance of Lilford Hall in 1796. The hamlet of Wigsthorpe forms the eastern portion of the parish, the road from Thrapston to Oundlc running between it and I.ilford. 'I'hc few houses which constitute the village are clustered round the railway crossing in Wigstliorpe. In Bridges' time I.ilford possessed a village of 12 houses and a church dedicated to St. Peter, and the hamlet of Wigsthorpe also held 12 houses. A fine soft spring of water to the south of Lilford Park marks what was once the centre of Lilford village. The greater part of the Lilford portion of tlic parish is occupied by Lilford Park. Lilford Hall lies near its western limit, and possesses an extremely charming view, across the Nene, of Pilton with its old church and manor house. The Hall is a fine example of late Jacobean work built in 1635, this date appearing on two great chimney stacks in the court at the back of the house. The estate then belonged to the family of Elmes, and it must have been William Elmes, who succeeded in 1632 and died in 1641, who was the builder. The three principal fronts are treated in the traditional Jacobean manner, with niullioned windows and gables, some of wliich are straight in outline and some curved, the whole being disposed symmetrically; but the entrance front has no projecting wings, its line being only broken by a large semicircular bay window of two stories at each end, and a porch of one story in the middle. Wings project at the back and form a kind of court. This general disposition is indicative of the end of the Jacobean period. The architectural treatment is quite simple, but none the less satisfactory on that account. An unusual feature is the grouping of many chimney flues in a long straight row with separate shafts all joined together at the top. The house stands well up above the adjacent river Nene and has charming prospects. Sir Thomas Powys, who purchased the property in 1 71 1, decorated the interior in the fashion of the time. The upstairs drawing room retains its original character, and the main staircase dates from this period ; but the entrance hall and corridor appear to have undergone alterations. There is one room, the library, where the oak panelling and a handsome oak chimneypiece of the early house still remain ; otherwise the interior work is of the 1 8th century and later. Relatively small but judicious additions have been made by the present Lord Lilford. The stables at the rear form part of the architectural grouping. They are of the 1 8th century, simply but carefully planned and they add to the interest of the general arrangement. The gardens have been admirably laid out in modern times, and in conjunction with much fine old timber, form an attractive setting to the house. In aviaries attached to the house is a collection of rare birds. The area of the parish is 1827 acres of land and 13 acres of water. The ground near the Nene is liable to floods, and nowhere rises to much more than 200 ft. Tiie soil is clay ; the sub-soil clay and rock. To the west of the Thrapston road it is good : to the east of it, cold and inferior. The chief crops grown are wlicat, barley and beans. The population in 1921 was 164.* The vicarage is annexed to the rectory of Achurch, where the rector, the incumbent of the combined churches, resides. The Public Elementary School (mixed) was built about 1845 by Lady Lilford, and enlarged in 1866 by Lord Lilford to hold 90 children. The children attend from the adjoining parishes of Pilton and Tliorpe Achurch. Barnwell Station, on the London Midland and Scottish Railway, is just within the parish boundary. In the time of King Edward the MANOR Confessor, 5 hides in LILFORD were the property of Thurchil, who held them freely. They had probably been afterwards granted to Walthcof, Earl of Huntingdon, who married Judith, the Conqueror's niece. Judith continued to liold in I086''' after the execution of her husband in 1075. Their eldest daughter and coheir Maud was given in marriage by William to his Norman follower Simon de St. Lis or Senliz, who was made Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, and after his death she was married to David, later king of Scotland, who became Earl of Huntingdon.' The overlordship followed the descent of the earldom and honour of Huntingdon {see Fothering- hay). The tenants in demesne were the Oliphants (Olifard, Holyfard) who from being holders of land in England under the kings of Scotland transferred their allegiance to Scotland, becoming magnates and peers there.^ Three branches of the family appar- ently held lands within the counties of which the King of Scotland was earl. The earliest member of the family as yet found is Roger Oliphant who witnessed a charter of Simon de St. Liz to St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton, not later than 1108.^ In the survey of the reign of Henry I (l 100-35) William Oliphant was holder of 5 hides in Lilford of the king of Scotland and was living about 1147.' He was probably succeeded by David Oliphant godson of King David of Scotland, who assisted at King David's escape after the rout at Winchester in 1141.' It was he probably who was attesting charters to 1 167.* His successor was possibly William whose name appears in these counties about this time.' Walter Oliphant was given as a hostage by William of Scotland in 1174'" and a William and his sister Agatha were ' The poll books show there was one freeholder in the paiish in 1705, Richard Bailey, and that in 1831 the vicar, the Hon. Fredk. Powys, clerk, the one free- holder, resided at Achurch. * V.C.II. A'erihanii, i, 354J. ■ Farrcr, Honours and Kntgbts' Fees^ ii, 296. ♦ V.C.H. NoTlbants. i, 291. ' Round, Feuil. Engl. 223-4. 227 " V.C.II. Norlhanis, i, 365*; ste ah ibid. 291. ' Farrcr, op. cit. 354. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. '» Ibid. 355. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Oliphant. Guhs three crescents argent. connected with Northamptonshire in 1 201.^1 It was another Walter, probably, whose land in Lilford was in 1216 committed to Ralf de Trubleville.'''* This Walter was a man of considerable importance in Scotland, holding the office of justice of Lothian and being constantly in attendance on the king." He presented to the church of Lilford in 1228" and he^^ and William'^ Oliphant were dealing with lands in Lilford and Wigsthorpe in 1 232. In 1 242-3 the heir of Walter Oliphant (as though Walter were dead) is said to hold one fee in Lilford of the Earl of Albemarle of the Honour of Huntingdon." This heir was apparently David Oliphant, one of the magnates of Scotland, who in 1244 was returned as holding one fee in Northamptonshire of William de Forz, Earl of Albemarle, and Christine his wife.'* It would seem that this David was dead without issue before 1266 when Walter de Moray (Moravia), apparently one of his heirs, presented to the church of Lilford.'* Divorgilla his widow, described as Lady of Lilford, held the manor of Lilford for life by gift of Walter de Moray, who reserved the advowson of the church.*" Divorgilla Oliphant gave to Divorgilla daughter of Sir Walter Montfichet (Montefi.xo) all the lands in Armiston which she held by gift of Roger Wallenger, with re- mainders to Divorgilla Montfichet's brothers Laurence and John.2' In 1287 William Montfichet, Lord of Kirgill (Kirkhill) in Scotland, and heir of the Lady Divorgilla Oliphant, Lady of Lilford, granted the lands he had received from her to Laurence son of Sir Walter de Montfichet, his kinsman, with rever- sion to John son of the said Laurence.^^ Jn 1296 Divorgilla claimed the advowson of the cliurch of Lilford against William son of Walter de Moray, and the King presented because the lands of Scottish magnates iiad been taken into his hands.*' However, in 1299, the presentation was quashed as having been made in error, the patronage belonging to William de Moray.** In 1300 the manor and advowson of Lilford were conveyed by William de Moray to Anthony Bek, the famous Bishop of Durham,*^ and he bequeathed them at his death in 1 3 10 to his great nephew Sir Robert de Willoughby, first Lord Willoughby of Eresby, and Margaret his wife, daughter of Edmund Lord Deyncourt,*' Sir Robert being son of Alice wife of Sir William de Willoughby and daughter of John Bek of Eresby, brother of the bishop.*' Sir Robert de Willoughby obtained confirmation of his title** and in 1316 was returned as holding Lilford Willoughby. Or a fret azure. and its members.*' He died in the same year seised, jointly with his wife Margaret, of the manor and advo\vson held of John de Britanny as of the Honour of Huntingdon by the service of one knight's fee, his heir being his son John aged 15 years.^ John de Willoughby confirmed a grant of the manor for life to William de Willoughby and in 1330 was called upon to justify his claim to soc and sac, tol and theam, infangenthef and outfangenthcf, free warren, view of frank-pledge, freedom from pontage, tolls, sheriff's aids, etc., in Lilford.^' John de Willoughby was returned as holding half a knight's fee in Lilford in 1346.** He was present at the battle of Crecy in that year and died in 1 349.^ He was succeeded by his son Sir John de Willoughby, tliird Lord Willoughby, who settled the manor of Lilford and its member Hockington in 1361.^ He took part in the battle of Poitiers and died in 1372, having settled the manor on his son Robert, fourth Lord Willoughby, and Robert's second wife Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouche of Haringworth.^ He re-settled the manor and advowson in 1376** and in J384 he and his wife Margaret granted the advowson to Sir John Holt and others.^' He died seised of the manor in 1396 and was succeeded by his son William, fifth Lord Willough- j,y_38 William died in 1409 leaving a son Robert, sixth Lord Willoughby.^ The manor of Lilford had, however, been settled for life on Joan widow of William, who after his death married Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, and later Sir Henry Brounflete. She died in 1434,** when Robert sixth Lord Willoughby succeeded. He was engaged in the wars in France, being present at Agincourt, and died in 1452. His heir was his daugliter Joan, the wife of Richard de Welles,'" seventh Lord Welles, who was summoned to Parliament in her right as Lord Willoughby, retaining this title apparently after her death in 1460. The paternal estates of her husband, forfeited by the attainder of his father Lyon or Leo, Lord Welles, slain at the battle of Towton, where he fought on the Lancastrian side, were restored to him in 1464-5, and in 1468 he obtained full restitution in blood and honours. But in 1469 he, his son-in-law Sir Thomas Dymock, and his son and heir, Sir Robert de Welles, were all beheaded near Stamford, in consequence of the latter's participation in the Lincolnshire rebellion.** The heir of Sir Robert de Welles (whose execution followed that of his father) was his sister Joan, who, being then the childless " Curia Reg. R. ii, 73. " Farrer, !oc. cit. '* Bain, Cat. Doc. Seoll. 144, 139. " Bridgci, Hill. Northanli. ii, 242. " Feet uf F. Northanti. caie 171, file 15, no. 285. '• Ibid. no. 284. " Bk. of Fees, 938. " Farrer, loc. cit. " Bridgei, loc. cit. " Farrer, loc. cit. " Buccleuch Deedi, F. 1, 2, 4, 5. " Ibid. ••Bain, Cal. Doc. Scoll. ii, 725; Cal. I'ai 1292-1301, p. 184. " Ibid. 444; Bain, op. cit. 1104. " Feet of F. Northanti. 28 Edw. I, c«ie 175, file 58, no. 3S6. " Cal.I'al. 1307-13, p. 375. " G.E.C. Ciimflfie I'etrage, viii, 141. "Chart. R. 4 I'dw. II, m. 1, no. 10; Cal. Chan. 1300-26, p. iSi; Cal. Pat. '3°7"'3i P- 375 ) cf. I'lac. /Ibbrev. (Rec. Com.), 31 1. ■• Feud. /liJi, iv, 28. •" Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Edw. II, no. 78 ; Cal. Ing. Ed. II, vi, no. 60. •' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 575-6- 228 '• Feud. /liJs, iv, 449. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 241. •' Marl. Ch.irt. 58, A. 48. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (iit noi.),78. •• Harl.Chart. 58,0.9, 20. " Feet of F. Northanti. 7 Ric. II, caie 178, flic 87, no. 60. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Ric. II, no. 54. •' Ibid. II lien. IV, no. 29. «" Ibid. 12 Hen. VI, no. 43. *' G.E.C. Complete Peerage. " Ibid ; Rolls of Pari, vi, 14511, 287a. HUXLOE HUNDRED widow of Richard Piggott of London, married as her second husband Richard Hastings, brother to VV'iUiam, Lord Hastings, Chamberlain of the Household to Edward IV.''* A faithful Yorkist, he obtained a grant in 1470 of the lands his wife would tiave inherited but for the attainder of her father and brother. Lilford and its member, as conveyed to himself and his wife Joan by grant of Thomas Fitzwilliam, senior, and Thomas Fitzwilliam, junior,** were expressly excepted from the act of attainder and forfeiture against Richard Lord Welles, his son Lord Robert, and his sons-in-law Thomas de la Laund and Sir Thomas Dymock and others, and from the petitioa for its repeal presented in 1485** by the heirs of Lord Welles. In 1473 Lilford was conveyed by Sir Richard Hastings, kt., and Joan his wife, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Welles, kt., sometime Lord de Welles and Willoughby, to William Brown of Stamford, John Brown of Stamford, Sir William Stoke, kt., Thomas Stoke, clerk, John Elmes of Henley-on-Thames, and William Est.*' In 1475 an exemplification was obtained at the request of William Brown of Stamford, merchant, of the article in the act of attainder exempting Lilford from its operation, as being at the date of the passing of the act in tlie hands of the Fitzwilliams, by whom it had been conveyed as above to Sir Richard Hastings and his wife, who afterwards sold it to the said William.*' William Brown settled the manors of Lilford and Papley on himself and his wife Margaret, with remainder to John Elmes and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William and Margaret, for the life of Elizabeth, to William Elmes, the son and heir of John Elmes and Elizabeth, to John brother of the said William, and to the heirs of Elizabeth, and the heirs of each successively. Both William and Margaret died in 1489.** From this date the manor of Lilford follows the descent of Warmington and Papley (q.v.) to the death of Arthur Elmes in 1663. Jane, widow of Arthur Elmes, seems to have married Sir Francis Compton, kt. and had a life interest in the manor which she and her husband conveyed to Sir John Langham, kt. and bart. in 1666.*' Arthur Elmes evidently died without issue and was succeeded by his cousin Thomas Elmes, the youngest son of Anthony Elmes of Greens Norton. He was knighted as Thomas Elmes of Lilford in 1688'' and died in 1690. He was succeeded by his brother William Elmes, who made various settlements of the manor of Lilford cum Wigsthorpe and the advowson,'* He died in 1699, ' the last male branch of that ancient and honourable family of the Elmes. '^^ John Adams and other trustees under the abovementioned settle- ments conveyed the manors of Lilford and Wigs- thorpe, the rectory and advowson, to Sir Thomas Powys in 171 1, who took a fine of them in 1713." Sir Thomas Powys, the second son of Thomas LILFORD-WITH- WIGSTHORPE Powys of Henley (co. Salop) and of Anne daughter of Sir Adam Littleton, was the judge who conducted the trial of the Seven Bishops in 1688. He died in 1 719, and was buried at Lilford.^ Thomas, his eldest son by his first wife Sarah, daughter of Ambrose Holbech * * «' ** 0 4 0 * ♦ * ■♦■ 4 V£_ 0 MJ Elmes. Ermine two ban iMe chargtd with elm leaves. Powys, Lord Lilford. Or a lion's leg razed set bendwise between itvo crussleis Jitchy gules. (co. Warwick), who succeeded him, married Catherine, daughter and heir of Thomas Ravenscroft of Broadlane (co. Flint), and died in 1720. His son and heir, also named Thomas, married Henrietta daughter of Thomas Spence, Serjeant of the House of Commons.^ He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was M. P. for the county from 1774-97. A man of great parliamentary talents and distinguished integrity, lie was one of the batch of peers created during the ministry of William Pitt in 1797, being created Baron Lilford on 26 October. He married Mary, the daughter of Galfridus Mann, and died in 1800. His son Thomas succeeded him at Lilford, as second baron. Thomas Atherton Powys, third baron, inherited Lilford at his father's death in 1825." The Lilford estates, increased by a succession of inheritances, to which the eventual inheritance from Sir Littleton Powys, elder brother of its purchaser Sir Thomas, must be added, were, after the death of Thomas Powys, third Baron Lilford, at Lilford Park in 1861, dealt with by the Lilford Estate Act, passed on 29 July 1864,^' as the result of a Chancery suit instituted by his son Thomas Littleton Powys, the fourth baron, for the purpose of amending the will of his father, dated 24 February, 1 84 1. From the operation of this Act, Lilford, with its chief messuage, park and pleasure grounds, was expressly excluded. It was as an ornithologist that the fourth baron, one of the founders of the Ornithologists' Union, left his mark on Lilford,^* the valuable collections he made being housed there. He travelled much, and wrote on his subject. After being twice married he died in 1896, and was succeeded by his son John, the present and fifth baron. The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem near Clerken- well had a preceptory at Dingley as early as the reign of King Stephen, with lands valued in 1535 at /[108 13/. 5}ii." In 1330 the prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem claimed view of frankpledge *«G.E.C. op. cit. viii,78. " Rolls of Pari. v\, 145a. " Ibid. 287a. " Feet of F. Div. Co.. Hil. 12 Ed. IV, file 76, no. 90. Wm. Brown had m.irricd the daughter and heir of John Stoke of Warmington, by which marriage Warming- ton became hii. *' Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 508. Joan died • P 'i°i-S- ** Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, nos. 476, 478, 525.533- " Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 18 Chai. 11; Recov. R. Mich. iS Chaj. II, ro. 2q. '° Bridge), op. cit. ii, 243, cit. M.I. ; Harl. MS. 1553, fol. 41 ; Shaw, Knights of Engl, ii, 264. " Recov. R. Mich. 3 Wm. & M. ro. 7, 286 ; Trin. 5 Wm. & Miry, ro. 7. " M. I. " Feet of F. Northanti. Hil. 1 1 Anne. '« Di t. \al. Biog. " G. '■.<". Complete Peerage, v, 80. " G.I..C. loc.cit. '" Priv. Stat. 27-8 Vict. c. 10. »" Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. Memoir by hii Bislcr, Mr«. Drewitt. " Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. vi, 801. 229 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in Glapthorn from his tenants in Fotheringhay, Lilford, etc. f and on 1 8 August 154.2 a messuage in the tenure of WiUiam W'hyte of Lilford, which had belonged to the preceptory at Dingley, was granted to Robert Tyrwhitt, the king's Serjeant, with meadow lands, rent, etc.''' The church of ST. PETER was taken CHURCH down in 1778, and no part of it remains on the site."- Three arches from the nave arcade were, however, set up in The Lynch, below Achurch, close to the river, and the monument to Sir Thomas Povvys was removed to Achurch church. According to Bridges,^ the church of Lilford consisted .>iLFORD Church Ruin of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and west tower and spire, but part of the south aisle appears to have been taken down before his time.®* There were four bells in the tower. The registers began in 1560, the first volume containing all entries to 1778, together with a long list of briefs (1712-54), and accounts of perambulations of the parish in 1718, 1722 and 1726. A vicarage house was built in 1714. The communion plate is now at Achurch. The presentation to the church ADFOIVSON was made in 1 228 by Walter Oliphant, and the early liistory of the advowson is to be found with that of the manor (q.v.), with which it was held until, in 1383-4, Robert de Willoughby of Eresby and his wife Margaret made a conveyance of land in Lilford and of the advowson to Sir John Holt, kt., and others, from whom they were acquired in 1387 by John de Buckingham, Bishop of Lincoln.*' The bishop bestowed them as ' bought and acquired with the goods bestowed on him by God,' on the dean and chapter of Lincoln, for the endowment of a chantrey called Buckingham's or Burghersh (Burg- hervvahas) Chantrey in the cathedral, of two chaplains and two clerks, to pray for the good estate of Pope Urban \'I, the King (Richard II), Queen, bishop, etc., and the souls of Edward III, Queen Philippa, the bishop's parents, etc.'"" In 1398 a vicarage was ordained by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield" and in 1535 Thomas Palfreman was receiving iod. for the church of Lilford as chantrist of Bishop John Buckingham.^ On 26 September 1552, among much monastic property then granted to Thomas Cecill and Philip Bold, the rectory, church, and advowson of the vicarage of Lilford, late belonging to this chantry, were included.''' Before 1558 they had been acquired by Edmund Elmes, who was then holding them with the manor (q.v.) with wliich since then they have again been held. Lilford was one of the parishes wliich received an augmentation of its living under the Commonwealth."" About 1755 Thomas Powys, father of the first Lord Lilford (see above), pulled down such of his tenants' houses as were in Lilford, and built others in their place in Wigsthorpe; he then petitioned the Bishop of Peterborough (alleging as his reason that it was now necessary for the vicar to reside at Wigs- thorpe in consequence of the removal thither of the inhabitants) for leave to obtain a conveyance to himself of the old vicarage house in Lilford, and to erect instead, before I January 1757, a substantial house of stone for a new vicarage upon a certain piece of land in Wigsthorpe. The bishop gave his consent in an instrument dated 27 March 1756," but when Thomas Powys died on 2 April 1767, the old vicarage house and lands had not been conveyed to him. By indenture of 21 August 1767 the ground on which the old vicarage formerly stood was conveyed by the vicar and churchwardens of Lilford to his son, the fourth Thomas Powys of Lilford.'- He completed the work his father had begun, by obtaining in 1778 an Act of Parliament" authorising the consolidation of the rectory of Achurch and vicarage of Lilford (he was lord of both manors and owner of the advow- son in each parisii), and the removal out of Lilford parish of both church and vicarage into Acliurch. Lilford church was to be pulled down and the materials used for the repair of that of Achurch, the vicarage newly erected in Wigsthorpe to be exchanged for a house and 2 acres of land near the rectory lands in Achurch, and an acre added by him for a graveyard there ; this was accordingly done. In this Act it was stated that the parish church of Lilford was "> Plac. de Quo ll'arr. (Rcc. Com.), " Pat. R. 34 Men. VIII, pt. 6, m, 30; /.. and I'. Urn. /'///, xvii, g. 714 (1 5). " An cngr:iving of ' Lilford, ncir Oundlc, taken from Ay Church ' dated 1757, ihowt the church Handing 3 ihort distance to the louth-eait of Lilford Hall. The tower wai of three itagei, lurmounted by a ipirc. In 1310 an indulgence wai granted to thoic viiiting the altar of the Blcned Virgin Mary in the pariih church of Lilford and giving to the fabric of the church or maintenance of the chaplain lerving that altar (Line. Epii. Reg. Memo Dalderby, 161.) •• Ilist. Northonis. ii, 242. •* Among the monumenti were a frecjtone figure of a prieit on a tomb in the chancel, a bran tablet--to Arllnir Devenshyre (1573) and Oicth hii wife (1574) — a itone with a bran inscription torn off, and otheri to members of the Elmci and Powyi familiei j Bridge), op. cit. 243-3^ The dimeniioni of the bmlding are given ai follow! ; church and chancel 102 ft. 2 in. long, body and aislei 48 ft. broad, tower 12 ft. by 9 ft. 10 in. •' Chan. Ini|. p.m. S Ric. II, no. 42. •« Cal. Pal. 13S.S-9.PP- 3'2, SyS- " Line. Epi«. Reg. Memo. Buckingham, iii,4S2. "' I'alor Kill. (Rcc. Com), iv, 9. •" Pal. R. 6Ed. Vl.pt. 9. '» Cal. S.I'. Don,. i'>58-5(), p. 274. " Close R. 7 Geo. Ill, pt. 23, no. 17. " Ibid. '• I'M. Stal. 18 Geo. III.c. 9. HUXLOE HUNDRED LOWICK falling into decay, and would be an expense to repair,''' and it was enacted tliat as niucli of the building as Thomas Powys might require should be left as a private chapel to his mansion house, in which tlie rector of Lilford cum Achurch was to perform divine service, and the rest sold or otherwise applied to repairing Achurch church : the inhabitants of W'igs- tliorpe and Lilford to be in future rated for repairs with tiiose of Achurch. Before the passing of the Act the profits of the vicarage of Lilford, exclusive of the vicarage house and a small homestead thereto belonging, consisted in some small tithes and a right of common belonging to the vicarage house, for which the lord of the manor paid in ' nature of a composition ' ^^65 yearly. Under tile Act of 1778 it was agreed that 65 acres called \\ igsthorpc Little Wold, and 46 acres, tlic east part of a piece of ground called W igstliorpe Great Wold contiguous, siiould be vested in the rector of Achurch in lieu of all tithes. An exchange was also effected of the vicarage and land in Wigs- thorpe already referred to for a house and lands in Achurch.'* A chapel was at one time in existence at W igsthorpe, the presentation in 1347 being made to ' tlie church of Lilford with tlie chapel of Wygesthorp.' In Bridges' time no trace of this cliapel remained."' Ricliard Ragsdale by his will CHARITIES dated 30 Jan. 171 1 charged his land and hereditaments in Bythorne and Thorpe Achurch with 20s. yearly for tiic poor of Lilford. 20s. is received yearly in respect of this charge and distributed by the cliurchwardcns to the poor on St. Thomas's Day. V\'illiam Lassells by will dated 9 Sept. 1770 gave /^loo, owing to him on a mortgage of the tolls of the turnpike road between Market Harborough and Bramp- ton to be applied in 'putting apprentice' poor children of VVigsthorpe. Tlie principal sum has increased to /164 9;. Cjd. LOWICK Lolwyc, Lufwyc (xi, xii cent.) ; Lufwik (xiii cent.) ; Lufwyk, Luffewyk (xiv cent.) ; Luffwyke (xvi cent.). The area of the parish is 2,028 acres. The soil is clay, limestone and ironstone, and produces wheat, barley and turnips. Harper's Brook flows in a south- easterly direction through the village and parish, eventually falling into tlie Nene, and the land rises from 50 ft. to 100 ft. on each side. From the high land here are striking views down the valley of the Nene. In a field to the south of the village is ' the Lowick oak,' one of the largest in the country and a survival of Rockingham Forest. Bridges states that about half a mile south-east of the church in the open fields are Huxlow Furlong and Huxlow Cross where the statutes have been kept within the memory of persons now living.' This probably indicates the place v\here the hundred court was held. The village lies along the road from Tlirapston to Brigstock. Leland about 154S described it as ' the pratiest place in these quarters'- and it still retains its beautiful surroundings. The church stands at the north end of the village; south of it are the White Horse Inn and a stone 14th-century barn belonging to a once important grange where Jones of Nayland (1726-1800), the well-known divine, was born. The barn has a thatched roof and good end gables. It is of five bays measuring internally 60 ft. by 21 ft., and has four original loops on the east side and one in the south gable; two in the west wall are blocked. There is a wide modern opening on the west side. Near the corner of the road to .^Idwinkle is a house bearing the date 1731. The rectory house, standing to the south-west of the church, a substantial stone build- ing in Elizabethan style, was erected in 1855-6. To the east of the rectory is the Manor Farm, which lies south of St. Peter's Church and, like it, east of the main road. The school, formerly called from the costume ordained for it by its founders tlie Green Coat School, lies further south still. In the south of the paris-li is the house known as Lowick Lodge, with an old quarry to the west of it, and another to the east. In the north of the parish is Glebe Farm. About a mile south-west of the village is Drayton House standing in gardens of remarkable beauty and surrounded by a park of about 200 acres. The house consists of a main block, substantially of I4tli-century date, with its longer axis from north-east to south-west, which is covered on the north side by a range of buildings added in the 15th century. Its main entrance is from a courtyard on the south side, inclosed by buildings of different dates, and bounded on the south by a 14th-century wall, in which is an arched gateway of much later date in a line with the principal doorway of the house. On the east side of the court the buildings, chiefly Elizabethan, are continued along the end of the main block to a tower at the north-east corner, beyond which they are prolonged by a wing projecting northwards. Those on the west side, of various dates, are carried across the end of the main block as far as the north-west tower, which stands above this end of the 15th-century addition already mentioned. The main block, containing the hall and present dining-room, together with a smaller block at the east end, which projected a bay northward and contained the vaulted cellar with the solar or great chamber above, was the dwelling-house of the Draytons and the Greens, and is probably rather earlier than 1328, when Simon de Drayton obtained licence to crenellate '* Before the increase of their ettatei recorded in the history of the manor, the Powyi lords of Lilford had not only felt equal to meeting this expense but had in the case of '■ Mr. Powys ' (by his executors) paved the chancel with Ketton square stones, cornered with black marble ; and Sir Thomas Powys, kt., before his death in 1719, hadin I7i4with his I.ady Elizabeth bestowed on it 'a new altar piece, written and painted by Mrs. Creed, daughter of Sir Gilbert Pickering, in the seventieth year of her age, with the communion table, railing, 231 a piece of plate, a pulpit cloth and table cloth of green tabby': Bridges, Hist. Nortbants, ii, 246. '^ Then in the occupation of Joseph Weed. " Bridges, Ills!. Norihanis. ii, 241. ' Ibid. 246. • l.cland, /itnerary, i, 8. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE the house.' The building thus followed the usual plan of the medieval manor-house, with a hall between the solar block at one end and the kitchen and its offices on the other. The crenellated wall of 1328 inclosed the court on three sides : a considerable length of it remains on the south, and there are por- tions of it in the lower parts of the east wall. The house thus stood across the middle of a walled inclosure, with another court upon the north side. The arrangement of the buttresses in the south wall of the courtyard indicates that there was originally a gateway on the site of the present one, and it is probable that the screens of the hall were entered at the position of the present doorway.^ Henry Green, how-ever, who died in 1467-8, appears to have made an entrance-porch upon the north side of the hall, which he covered with a range of buildings, continued westward and returned southward as a south-west wing nearly as far as the boundary-wall. The old building was thus inclosed on the north and west sides by these additions ; and about the same time a two-floored building was added at the south- east corner of the house, communicating with the cellar and great chamber. In 1584 the north-east wing, which bears the date upon its west front, was added by the second Lord Mordaunt of Turvey. At the south-east end of it a tower was built, and was joined to the 15th-century projection at the other end of the solar block. The whole of the east side of the house was thus covered, and, beyond these buildings, a lower range was con- structed as far as the boundary wall, forming a south- east wing and inclosing the east side of the court. Lord Mordaunt appears also to have heightened the north-west angle of the house into a tower corre- sponding to that at the opposite end of the building. Some important alterations were made by Henry Mordaunt, second earl of Peterborough, towards the close of the 17th century. The main entrance to the house, w'hich, at any rate since 1468, had been on the north, was shifted from north to south, what had been the basecourt now becoming the entrance court- yard. A new gateway was made in the boundary wall. The gardens were laid out, the small ban- queting houses at the corners of the east garden were built, and the work of refurnishing the interior of the house was begun. These works were continued and completed on a lavish scale after the marriage of Lord Peterborough's daughter and heiress, Mary, Duchess of Norfolk, to Sir John Germain. The whole south front of the main block, now the principal front of the house, was refaced and transformed ; sash-windows were freely inserted in place of the old mullioned windows in other parts of the building ; and the fine scries of iron gates and stone gateposts was made for the approaches to house and gardens. The interior of the building was greatly altered by the insertion of new staircases, and the hall and great chamber received their present form. During the long tenure of Drayton by Sir John Germain's widow, Lady Betty (Elizabeth Berkeley), the entrance courtyard received some additions. The buildings adjoining the east and west sides of the gateway, behind the I4th-centur>' wall, are earlier than her time ; but she fitted up the chapel east of the gateway, and added the colonnades on the east and west sides of the court. Towards the close of the 1 8th century. Lord George Germain (Sackville) decorated the dining-room on the west side of the house and the drawing-room in the Elizabethan north-east wing. Subsequently, in the time of Mr. W. B. Stopford-Sackville, new kitchen offices were built west of the dining-room, and various minor works of restoration and repair were effected by him and his son, the late Mr. S. G. Stopford-Sackville. The house stands in a hollow, and the best general view is obtained from the rising ground at some distance to the south, by the gate, now standing isolated at the head of a grass slope, which formed the main outer approach. From this point, at a level higher than the roofs, it is possible to distinguish clearly the component parts of the building and trace the additions which have inclosed and transformed the main block : the view is one of remarkable interest and beauty, and from this point alone the symmetrical balance of the towers at the further corners of the main block can be fully appreciated. The present south front, through which the court- yard is entered, measures approximately 240 ft. from east to west. At the west end, on the site of the old brewhouse, is a modern building, projecting westwards and southwards, the space between which and the line of the 14th-century wall of inclosure is filled by an Elizabethan addition at the end of the south-west wing. The 14th-century wall, which slopes slightly south of east, is continued for 65 ft. with three buttresses to the point where, beyond the third buttress, it is broken by the gateway. This, 18 ft. wide, with a round arch between two curved niches, and with a pediment in which is the shield of Mor- daunt with an earl's coronet, apparently occupies the site of an earlier gateway. East of this is a fourth buttress, and the old wall is continued for another 65 ft., with an intermediate buttress, to the end of the south-east wing, which is 20 ft. broad. The face of the lower part of this end, with an inserted 16th-century window, is still part of the old wall, whicli is slightly gathered in at this point. The east or garden front of the house is 235 ft. long from north to south, and consists of four portions. For some 80 ft. from the south end, tlie Elizabethan south-east wing, a low building of two stories, incor- porates, as on the south side, portions of the boundary wall in its lower part. North of this is a three storied block, the south part of which is the 15th- century projection from the great chamber and cellar, while the north part belongs to the Elizabethan additions, but was largely refaced in the l8th century. This is followed by the north-east tower, which rises a story above the roofs, witii tall angle-turrets, and is crowned by an elegant leaded cupola on wooden pillars, added in the 1 8th century. The front is completed by the north-east wing, 100 ft. from north to south, with three doors above a vaulted basement. • The late Mr. G. F. Dodley, who viiiicd Drayton in 1900, thought that the dctalli of the cellar pointed to a date ai early ai 1270 J but, compared with other local work of a limilar kind, they ihow no ch.iractcriitici which are ncccuarily earlier th.in c. 1300. * It icrmB that the north porch, added in the 15th century, tlien became the principal entrance; but there arc no 232 signs of an earlier entrance in connection with it, and the opening from it into the hall ii an oblii|ue cut, which secmt to have been made ai part of a new arrange- ment. ">S I s S 5 I 3< •N ^ s IS S O V-" .m^. Ijii^ ^"^382=^ LowicK : Dr.wion UoisE Loun K : Dkwion IloUii. HUXLOE HUNDRED LOWICK The lowest floor, on a higher level than those in the rest of the house, is entered from the garden by a stone stair parallel with the wall of the tower, and an excellently proportioned doorway, inserted by Sir John Germain, whose shield is carved above it. The style of this wing is tlie local variety of Elizabethan stonework, without any mixture of foreign influence : the gables and their kncelers, at the north end of the block, are ornamented with stone balls, but otherwise the work is simple and severe. The garden front has three projecting chimney- blocks, rising into massive stacks, with moulded tops and shafted angles. As already mentioned, this com- posite east front was much altered by the substitution of sasli-windows in the 1 8th century for the earlier mullioned windows ; but in recent times some of the muUioned openings have been restored. The north-east wing is returned eastwards at its north end, and there is a similar, but wider projection on the west side, which gives it a T shape. The north front, 60 ft. long from east to west, rises from the ground without any projection, and was somewhat altered in the 18th century by the insertion of a row of alcoves at the ground level and of a large Venetian window, now removed, on the top floor. The north- west projection is externally 20 ft. east to west and 18 ft. north to south. The west front of the range is well lighted, as the fireplaces and chimney-blocks are all on the opposite side ; and mid-way in the wall between the north-west projection and the return which covers the junction of the building with the older part of the house, a rectangular projection with mullioned windows lights the north end of the drawing-room and the rooms on the upper floors. At its south end this wing was returned 20 ft. westward along the north face of the cellar at the end of the main block, the first floor being added to the area of the great chamber. The return, with a small 18th-century addition on the west, projects about 10 ft. from the north front. This, though somewhat modernised, is mainly of the 15th century. The main portion, 95 ft. from east to west, forms a range covering the hall and dining-room in the principal block, and has an inserted doorway approximately in the middle, the story above which is crowned by battlements with a high half-octagon centrepiece, entirely different in design from the battlements of the rest of the building. It is clear, as stated already, that this part of the front originally formed a projecting porch with a room above, and that the spaces on either side were filled in later, so that their outer walls were flush with the north waU of the porch. There are signs of a break in the masonry east of the porch which point to this. .. If these additions were originally batllemented, the battlements were removed and wooden dormer windows with square pediments substituted, pro- bably by Lord Peterborough. The mullioned windows of this part of the front have been very thoroughly restored. To the west is a modern projecting block with a front of 20 ft., and to the west again the 15th- century work, slightly recessed from the rest, con- tinues for 32 ft. to the angle of the building, this portion forming the base of the north-west tower, which, like the other, is finished with battlements and an added cupola. The west front retains considerable portions of iSth-century walling, and the wing added to the house at that period had a frontage of 118 ft. The modern kitchen, which projects westward, occupies most of the north part of this front. At the south-west angle is a large modern projecting building, which, as pre- viously stated, is connected with the rest of the entrance front by an addition of Elizabethan date. Returning to the gateway in the south front, we pass beneath its vault into the paved courtyard, which is an oblong measuring 50 ft. from north to south by 108 ft. between the colonnades from east to west, the latter measurement being slightly reduced, owing to the inward, though not exactly parallel slope of the colonnades, on the north side. The vaulted gateway-passage measures 25 ft. from north to south, including the archways at either end. East of the passage is the chapel, internally 48 ft. from east to west by 18 ft. from north to south, and on the west side a line of offices connects the gateway with the kitchen. These belong to Lord Peterborough's buildings, but the furniture of the chapel was added by Lady Betty Germain.' The colonnades which form covered passages on the east and west sides of the court were also added by her. They are of rather poor Tuscan Doric design : the columns, six on each side with pilasters against the end-walls, are set at somewhat wide intervals. The entablature is heavy : in the middle on each side is the shield of Germain impaling Berkeley. The friezes, instead of being composed of triglyphs alternating with metopes, have the awkward arrangement of a single triglyph above each column. The buildings on either side of the court, at the back of the colonnades, contain a number of rooms, but nothing worthy of special remark : their date and relation to the plan have been noticed already. On the north side rises the principal front of the house, the core of the wall being of the 14th century, but entirely hidden by the Palladian casing added by Sir John Germain after 1701. The name of the architect whom he employed is not known, but the design is so unlike the ordinary English work of the age that he may have been a foreigner, probably a Frenchman. The doorway, approached by a flight of steps, the sides of which curve inwards as they ascend, is in the middle of the fafade, and is flanked by Corinthian columns supporting a pediment. This rather over- whelming composition, which fiOs the whole height of the front, is treated with much liveliness and originality of detail : in the capitals figures of hawks, in allusion to Sir John Germain's crest, take the place of the conventional volutes. Above the doorway is Sir John's shield, charged with the escutcheon of Mordaunt. On either side the wall is pierced by three tall windows, which light the hall on the east and the dining-room on the west. Each of the windows next the doorway is finished at the top by curious scrolled ornaments : the rest have pediments, one on each side round, and the other triangular. There is no order between the windows, but the angles are finished with flat pilasters. The design as a whole is unorthodox and restless ; but the general effect is sumptuous, and the omission of pediments from the windows next the doorway gives relief to the imposing central composition. The » Some of its hangings, representing chisical temples in the Pompeian style, tre preserved in various parts of the house. 233 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE building has a low attic, almost hidden by a tall parapet. The doonvay gives access to the south end of the hall, which measures 53 ft. east to west by 32 ft. north to south. The inner walls were cased at the same time as the facade, and all medieval features, including the screens, were removed. The timber roof, however, remains above the flat plaster ceiling. The fireplace is in the middle of the north wall. In 1850 the walls were painted in imitation of marble by an artist named Roos. Apart from its fine pro- portions, the room has no striking architectur.il features, and its general plainness is in strong contrast to the elaborate decoration of the fa9ade. On the west side of the hall are two doorways, one at either end. That on the south opens into the dining- room, which occupies the site of the original kitchen and buttery, and measures nearly 40 ft. east to west by 22 ft. north to south. This room was magni- ficently decorated by Lord George Germain in 1771 and 1772 : his crest appears above the doorway on the inner side. The ceiling is ornamented with coloured plaster reliefs, executed with great delicacy and repre- senting patterns of fruit and flowers : festoons of vine-leaves and bunches of grapes decorate the coved cornice. The walls and window recesses have white plaster reliefs of classical figures, foliage and vases on a buff ground ; while long moulded panels on the walls frame portraits. The general character of the work, including the ornamentation of the fire- place, is very like that of the brothers Adam ; but the plaster-work is in much bolder relief than their usual designs, and wa' long attributed to Italian artists. An examination, however, of the household books of Lord George's steward, Henry Gladwcll, the results of which were published by the late Mr. Stopford-SackviUe in 1915,* showed that the plaster- work was designed by William Rhodes, the carving by one FoxhaU, and the painting by one Hakewill, and that workmen from London were employed in the execution. North of the dining-room, a passage, on the pro- bable site of the pantry and part of the old kitchen offices, leads to the present kitchen and the south- west wing. About half way down this passage on the right hand is a wide opening to a hall in the 15th-century block, from which a wooden staircase of rectangular plan, with elegant newels and balusters, simple in design, ascends to the first-floor rooms of this part of the house. This is of early 17th-century character, contemporary with the chimney-pieces of the rooms to which it leads. The rooms at the end of the passage are entered from lobbies in and adjoining the ground floor of the tower at this end of the building, in the north-east corner of which is a vice belonging to the 15th-century work. At the west end of the north side of the hall, a doorway, cut obliquely in the wall, opens into the ground floor of the 15th-century porch, which gives access to the garden and to two rooms, one on cither side. These contain no features of interest. The two bedrooms, however, on the first floor of this block, approached by the staircase which has been mentioned, have good chimney-pieces of the beginning of the 17th century, and in the south wall of one of them .1 • Allot. Archil. Soc. Rtpi, &• Papen, xxxii, yi-gi. blocked window opening has been uncovered, with a cusped head and hollow chamfer, which was formerly one of the outer windows of the hall. The second doorway on the north side of the hall at the east end, opens to the foot of the grand stair- case which leads to the great chamber on the first floor at the east end of the hall. This staircase, rectangular in plan, was added by Sir John Germain, and probably took the place of an earlier stair. It has a wrought-iron baluster, similar to the fine ironwork of the outer gates and railings, which may have been designed by Tijou. The walls are painted, in the sumptuous but rather tasteless fashion of the period, with representations of Olympus and Hades by Lanscroon, a Dutch disciple of Verrio. Opposite the foot of the stair, a doorway leads into the cellar beneath the great chamber, which is also entered by two doorways in the east wall of the hall. This, structurally unaltered since the 14th century, measures internally 45 ft. north to south by 20 ft. east to west, and is divided by three octagonal pillars on the centre of the longer axis into eight bays of vaulting with chamfered ribs. The work, like much local work of the period, is plain, and, as has been noted above, is probably some years earlier than the fortification of the house by Simon de Drayton in 1328. The capitals and bases of the pillars have convex mouldings. The pair of bays at the north end project beyond the north wall of the hall, and so communicate directly, as already noticed, with the grand staircase. In the north part of the west wall is a two-light window of the 15th century, now opening into an adjoining room. On this side also there is a doorway into the colonnade on the east side of the courtyard, which communicates with the rooms in the south-east wing. There are two doorways in the east wall, the southern one of which leads into the ground floor room of the small building added to this corner of the house in the 15th century. From the north-east bay of the cellar a stair descends to the vaulted basement which occupies the whole length of the Elizabethan north-east wing. This has a middle row of pillars, dividing it into ribbed compart- ments, the details of which have been modelled upon those of the medieval cellar. The bosses are carved with the arms of Northamptonshire families. From the south-east bay, in which is the doorway from the grand staircase, a short flight of steps leads to a lobby, from which two steps ascend eastward to the passage which forms the vestibule of the Eliza- bethan wing. At the farther end of this passage is the doorway to the east garden, and on the right hand at this end, in the tower, is the geo- metrical stair to the upper floors on the east side of„ the house. The geometrical staircase, a wooden spiral without supports, was part of the additions made by Sir John Germain, and gives access to the whole of the upper part of the east range, including the great cliamber, which is entered by a doorway directly opposite the doorway from the head of the grand staircase. This room, as has been said, occupies tiie site of the medieval solar, which corresponded in dimensions to tiie cellar below, but was enlarged northward by Sir John Germain. It is now called the King's dining-chamber, a name given to the solar after the visit of James 1 to Drayton in 1605. It is liglitcd 234 ui -rs ^: 2 ^ ^ S u o u s -s -s o^-s ^ tnsO O oo z U o HUXLOE HUNDRED LOWICK by pairs of long sash windows in the east and west walls, and is wainscoted with tall oblong panels of handsome proportions with bolcction mouldings, in which are hung a series of portraits of the Mordaunt owners of Drayton. There is a good plaster ceiling, contemporary with the panelling : the cabinets and other furniture belong for the most part to the time of the second Lord Peterborough. A doorway at the south-east corner communicates with the rooms in the south-east wing, which contain much tapestry. From the southernmost of these, in which the Eliza- bethan panelling remains, a doonvay leads into the private gallery at the east end of the chapel. Above the entrance to the great chamber, doorways from the geometrical stair open into the upper floors of the north-east wing, which remains to be described. The lowest floor, entered from the passage which leads to the geometrical stair, contains three rooms which open into one another. The south room, 38 ft. north to south by 21 ft. east to west, is the drawing-room, with a projecting bay in the north- west corner. It was redecorated by Lord George Germain in 1 773-4, whose portrait by Romney is above the handsome marble fireplace. William Rhodes was employed for the plaster work. The ceiling has a formal and elaborate pattern ; but the beautiful relief-work which has been noticed in the dining- room appears again in the frieze. North of the drawing-room is a smaller drawing-room, and beyond this is the state room, fitted up as a bedroom by Lord Peterborough, whose arras are on the chimney-piece, attributed with high probability to John Webb. Side doors at the end of this room open into the projections which give the wing its T shape. That on the east side is a powdering closet, with panels of Chinese work. From the room on the west there is a stair to the upper floors, at the foot of which is a door- way to the terrace along the west front of the wing. These rooms contain much fine furniture and china, to describe which would require a detailed inventory. The furniture of the state room, including a handsome four-post bed and Mortlake tapestry hangings, is practically left as it was in the time of Lord Peterborough and his daughter, the duchess of Norfolk, while the other rooms chiefly reflect the taste of Lady Betty Germain and her heir. Lord George. The suite of guest-chambers on the first floor calls for no special description, their most interesting feature being the small concealed chamber or hiding- place between the floor of the powdcring-closet which leads out of the northernmost room and the ceiling of the one below. The whole length of the top floor is occupied by the long gallery or library, which was fitted with book-shelves by Sir John Germain, who also, as already said, inserted a Venetian window at the north end. This was removed by the late owner and a raullioned window substituted ; at the same time a new coved plaster ceiling was made in place of the plain ceiling which had been put in during the 1 8th century. This is relieved witii shields bearing the arms of Mordaunt, Germain, Berkeley, and Sackville. Here, as in the rooms below, a powdering-closet projects from the wall near the north-east corner. This was fitted up as a boudoir for the duchess of Norfolk with inlaid Ciiinese panelling, a mirrored ceiling, and par- queted floor. Between the doorways from the geometrical stair to the first-floor bedrooms and the gallery, there is a door to the two rooms upon the top floor of the building upon the south side of the tower, the lower rooms of which are entered from the great chamber and cellar respectively. Of these, the nortliern, known as the Norfolk room, is hung with p.inels of Mortlake tapestry. Of the numerous portraits in the house the most interesting are the Mordaunt portraits in the great chamber, the series of portraits of the Berkeley family, to which Lady Betty Germain belonged, in the first- floor rooms of the Elizabethan wing, and the two por- traits of Lord George Germain, of which that in the drawing-room, by Romney, has been mentioned. The other, by Reynolds, is in the sitting-room on the east side of the 15th-century porch. A portrait of Lady Betty, by Kneller, was added some years ago to the Berkeley series. The large portraits of royal and noble persons in the hall, and of Louis XIV and William and Mary in the dining-room, were placed in the house by Sir John Germain. The fine lay-out of the gardens and approaches has been referred to. The iron gates are of great beauty. The finest of these afford access to the wide open space in front of the entrance gateway. On each side of the middle gate, in the head of which is wrought the shield of Howard impaling Mordaunt, are stone gateposts crowned with figures of birds in allusion to the crest of Mordaunt ; while Sir John Germain's hawks crown the posts of the lateral gates. The date MDCci is worked as a monogram into the heads of some of the gates, and occurs elsewhere in the house. Other gates were placed at the extremity of the east garden, and at the top of the long incline of park in front of the house. The iron railings of the stair to the doorway of the hall, and of the stair from the east front to the garden, are also of the same period. All this work was probably designed by Tijou, to whom the iron gates at Hampton Court are due. The east garden is ornamented with a great profusion of lead statues and vases, which form one of the largest col- lections of the kind remaining ; these, like most similar work of the day, probably came from the work- shop of Van Noodt in London. LOfVICK formed part of the great fief MANORS of the Bishop of Coutancesin 1086/ and the overlordship passed after his for- feiture to the Clares, later earls of Gloucester,* and followed the descent of the overlordship of Thrapston (q.v.). The under-tenants holding of the Bishop in 1086 were Edwin and Algar, who held 2 hides less one virgate, which had increased in value from the time of Edward the Confessor from 10s. to 25^.' Edwin's holding possibly represented that of the Nowers (de Nodariis), as he also held Stanion, which went with this holding, while Algar also held Islip which went with Drayton manor. In 1 2 17 Robert de Nowers presented to the church.^" His successor Almaric was dealing with an ' V.C.H. Norihanls. i, 3116. • Cal. Inq. iv, no. 435 ; Plae. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.). 543. * y.C.H. Nortbanls. i, 311*. '» Rol. Hug. di Wtlles (Cant. &■ York Soc), i, 13; Almaric, son of Ralph dc Noweri, was holding landt in Nortbanti in 1198-9, 1209 {Abhrev. Plac. Rec. Com. 9, 61). Robert may have been son of Ralph de Nowers, living 1211 [V.C.H. Bucks, iv, 345, where the Noweri pedigree is let out). A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE eighth part of a knight's fee here in 1240'^ and held three parts of half a fee of the honour of Clare in 1242-3.^'- He presented to the church in 1247^^ and was succeeded before 1261 b_\' Robert deNowers,*'' who may be the Sir Robert son of Sir Ralph de Xowers who in 1 285 granted lands here to Thorney Abbey, reserving Drayton and Robert le Lord'" were returned as holding Lowick apparently as feolTees. John de Nowers, who died in 1327, was succeeded b) his grandson John, son of his son John.^' Grace, widow of John de Nowers, the grandfather, was holding an eighth of a fee in 1346,'^''' and presented to the church in 1349.^^ In 1357, Roger <^?^/' >£ H^0^^{iii^^%^^ ^^i- Lowick : Drayton House Gates to himself 6 ' stikkes ' of eels yearly.'^ Robert was followed by William de Nowers, who married Isabella, daughter and co-heiress of Peter de Goldington, in the time of Henry HI.'* Robert de Nowers, possibly as trustee, granted the advowson and land in Lowick to Almaric son of William and Isabella, in 1303." John, son of Almaric, in l3l3conveyed, possibly in settlement, the manor and advowson to John de Chetyngdon and Elizabeth his wife,'" who in the following year were returned as holding with Henry de Dccn half a fee in Lowick and Stanion.'" In 1316 Robert de Verc, Robert de Ardcrne, Jolin de Tychmarsh, Simon de Tony, evidently a trustee, granted to John de Nowers and Maud his wife an acre of land in Lowick called Lolesacrc, the advowson of the church, and the reversion of the manor of Lowick.-' John de Nowers in 1364 granted to John Barker a rent of 8 marks from tenements in Cliestcr and Lowick.^"' Hctwecn this last date and 1367 the manor and advowson had passed to Sir Henry Green of Boughton, and from this date it followed the manor of Drayton (q.v.). This manor of DRAT'TON passed, after the for- feiture by the Bishop of Coutancc in 1088, to cither Aubrey dc Vere, senior, or his son Aubrey the Cham- " Fcft of F. Northanti. caie 173, file 29, no. 395. " nk. of Ftei, ii, 937. '* Bridget, op. cit. ii, 247. " Feet of F. Northantt. caic 174, file ^f>, no. 802. "Red Bk. of Thorney, pt. iv, fol. 23 ; L>nid. MS. 1029, fol. 86b. '• /Ihbrn. I'lac. (Rec. Com.), 187. " Feet of F. Northanti. 32 F.dw. I, caie 175, file 60, no. 457. " Ibid. ca«c 175, file 64, no. 134 ; John died in 1 327 ; he married Grace, daughter of Robert FitzNicl. Other members of the Noweri family were granting lands to Chetyngdon, Inq. a.q.d. 10 Edw. II, cxx, 14; Cat. Pal. 1317-21, p. 238 J 1354-8, p. 284. '• Ca/. Inq. Edw. II, v, no. 538; Chin. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Ixviii, 62 ; Pytchley, Bk. 0/ Ftti (Northanti Rec. Soc), 93. "> Feud. Aids, iv, 29. " I'.C.U. Buiks. iv, 345; Wrotteiley I'ed. from Vlea R. 2;, 126; Agnei, widow apparently of John de Noweri, who died v. p., was holding in 1344. Feet of F. Northanls. case 177, file 77, no. 261. " Frud. Aids, iv, 449. " Bridges, loc. cit. "Col. Close, 1354-60, p. 407; Close R. 31 Edw. Ill, m. 15. "Co/. Close, 1364-8, p. 54. 236 HUXLOE HUNDRED LOWICK berlain and was held by the latter in the reign of Henry I.''* On his death in 1 141, this manor passed to Robert his younger son, who undertook to keep to the agreement made by his father as to the tithes of certain lands in Drayton.-' As shown under Great Addington (q.v.), Robert married twice and had a family by each wife, Drayton passing on his death to Henry, his son by the second wife Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell. Henry died about 1 193-4, •''"'^ ''■' son, who was known as Walter son of Henry son of Robert, succeeded him. Walter married Lucy daughter of Gilbert Basset of VVeldon, and either he or his son Henry discarded the name of Vere and took that of Drayton. Walter-** died in 1210-11, leaving a son. Sir Henr)' de Drayton, who granted lands to the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, Northampton.-' He died in 1253 seised of 2 carucates and 3 acres of land in Drayton and Islip held of the king in chief, and a toft held of Robert son of William de Lowick by the rent of iJ. yearly. He was succeeded by his son Baldwin, then aged 30 years.^ Baldwin died in 1278, seised of a capital messuage, fishpond, 2 dovecots, a mill, 6 vir- gates of land, £^ 4J. yd. rent of freeman at Drayton and Islip, perquisites of court and 19 acres of land at Lowick, all held of the king in chief, by the service of finding a Serjeant at his own cost when the king was with his army.^* His son John, aged 24 years and more at his father's death, did homage for his father's lands before 14 August 1278,^ and in 1284 he was returned as holding 4 J hides in I slip and Drayton of the king in chief by serjeanty.'' John died in 1 291, seised of the manor of Drayton, held of the king as half a knight's fee, doing suit at the court at Gcddington.** Simon his son was a minor in 1299,^ but in 1302 he had done homage without prov- ing his age, and he had seisin.^' Simon settled Drayton Manor on his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Lindsey, in 1321-2.^' He was frequently engaged in public aflfairs.^ He served on a mission to the abbey of Cluny in 1323,'' and attended the king witli men at arms for service against Roger de Mortimer and other rebels in 1326,'"' and for an expedition to Gascony in 1 331,'" and represented Northamptonshire in the par- liaments of 1322, 1329^- and 1336." He had licence to impark 30 acres at Drayton and in 1327 had received 3 grant of free warren in Drayton, Islip, Lowick and Irthlingborough." In 1331 he was appointed forester of Brigstock and Geddington in Rockingham Forest.^ In 1338 Simon settled the manor,^' and was returned in 1346 as holding half a fee in Drayton, Islip, Adding- ton and Twywell." He made a further settlement of lands in Brigstock and Lowick in 1355 on his wife Margaret, with remainder to his grandson Baldwin son of John de Drayton and his wife Alice in tail, and then to Gilbert, brother of the said Baldwin.'"* Earlier in the same year he had been indicted for the death of Sir Ralf Darcy,'*' but on 3 May 1355 received the king's pardon.*"" He died on 31 May 1357,^' and on 4 August following the manor of Drayton held of the king in chief, and messuages, land and rent in Lowick held of the Earl of Gloucester,^- were delivered to Mar- garet his widow. Margaret died in 1358,-^^ and was succeeded by her son John in the manor of Drayton, the messuages, land, etc., slie had held in Lowick being delivered in 1359 to Baldwin, son of John de Drayton and Alice his wife.^'' In the same year John de Drayton settled the manor of Drayton, held of the king in chief, on Baldwin and Alice.^* From John and Baldwin de Drayton the manor passed in 1362 to Henry Green,*" son of Thomas Green of Boughton, who married Katherine, the sister of John and daughter of Sir Simon de Drayton.*' He was Lord Drayton. Argent a cross engrailed gules. Green. Azure three harts tripping or. Chief Justice of England and the father of two sons, Thomas his heir, and a younger son Henry, described by Halstead as ' the delight and hopes of his old father,' who endowed him with Drayton, Lowick, Islip and Slipton, and procured his marriage with Maud, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Mauduit, lord of Warminster and other manors. Sir Henry Green settled the manor and advowson of Lowick on the younger Henry in 1367,*' and died in 1369.*" Thomas the son succeeded, but his homage was respited because he was fighting in France.^ Drayton was fur- •• V.C.H. Nortbanli. i, 365a. "Dugdale, Man. Angt. ii, 603. " He wai probably the Waher de Drayton who held half a fee in Northanti in 1 194-5: Red Bk. oj Excheq. (RoUi Ser.), 81. " Drayton Chart. 63, 96, 105, 106. Among the Drayton charter! of about thit date there are reference* to Henry, •on of Thomas de Drayton (105) ; William de Drayton and Geoffrey his brother (105); Henry ion of Walter de Drayton (63). » Cal. Inq. Hen. HI, i, no. 284. " Ibid. Edw. I, vol. ii, no. 260; Cal. Fine, i, 97. " Ibid, i, 99. " Feud. Aids, iv, 12. ** Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, 10. " Cal. Close, 1302-7, p. 396. ■• Ibid. 1296-1302, pp. 567, 609. " Cal. Inq. Edw. Ill, X, no». 369,446. '• Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 556. ••Ibid. 716. "Ibid. 1323-7, p. 651. *' Ibid. 1330-3, p. 267. *' Ibid. 1327-30, p. 527. *'Ibid. 1335-7, P- 66i- *• Ca/. Pat. 1327-30, p. 319; Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 13 ; Chart. R. I Edw. Ill, m. 29, no. 51 ; Plac. de Quo If'arr. (Rec. Com.), 543. *^ Cal. Pat. 1330-34, p. 53. " Ihid. 1338-40, p. 128 ; inq. a.q.d. f. ccxlvi, 16. *' Feud, .lids, iv, 449. " Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 284. "Ibid. 236. •^ Ibid. 210. In hit earlier days he, as also Henry de Drayton, Oliver de Nowers, and William le Deen of Lowick, had ap- peared ai guilty of deeds of great violence. Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 582 ; 1317-21, pp. 82, 177, 192; Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 71. " Cal. Inq. Edw. Ill, x, no. 369. "Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 369. •• Cat. Inq. Edw. Ill, vol. x, no. 446. 237 ** Cal. Closej 1354-60, p. 553. She wai probably the daughter of William Cran- ford. ** Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.). 68. " Bk. of Deeds belonging to I»ham« of Lamport, p. 17. ^' Halstead, Succinct Genealogiei, 151. (An account of the owncri of Drayton manor, printed in 1685 by Henry, Earl of Peterborough. Only about 24. copiet arc said to have been printed, but the volume was reproduced in facsimile .is far as the Greens of Drayton are concerned, fnr private distribution by Francis \'inton Green of New York in 1895. ^"^ ^^py of the original is at Drayton and two are in the B.M.) ** Halstead, op. cit. 153-4. *• Chan. Inq. p.m. 43 Edw. Ill (pt. i), 48. *" Cal. Close, 1 369-74, p. 48 ; see also P- 53- A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ther settled on Henry Green by John de Drayton and his son Baldwin in 1372-3.*' In 1385 he received the grant of a market every Thursday in his town of Lowick, and of a fair there yearly at Whitsuntide, together with free warren in his lands in Lowick and Islip.*'- His faithful service to Richard, by whom he was knighted, won him various rewards, including the house of the Lord Cobham in London with all its furniture. He shared the king's downfall, and was executed with the Earl of Wiltshire and Sir John Bushey on 29 July 1399 after the treacherous surrender of Bristol Castle.*^ He left two sons, Ralf and John, and upon the petition of Ralf his forfeited property was restored to his family by Act of Parliament in 1400." In the same year he was returned as seised of the manor and advowson of Lowick, held of the Earl of Stafford, and of the manor of Drayton held in chief.^ His heir Ralf complained in 1401 that his houses at Lowick had been broken into and his property damaged.*" After his brother John had in 141 5 released his right, he settled Drayton and Lowick and the ad- vowson of Lowick on his wife Katherine, daughter of Anketill Mallory,*' who survived him. At his death in 141 7 she was holding the manor of Drayton of Joan Queen of England as of her manor of Geddington, and the manor of Lowick of Sir Thomas Green, kt., by knight service.** She married as her second husband Simon Felbrigge, who in 1428 was holding of the honor of Gloucester the half- fee in I slip, Drayton, Great Ad- dington and Twywell which had formerly belonged to Simon de Drayton.*' Ralf was succeeded by his brother John, who inherited all the lands his father Henry had held except those which fell to Ralf's widow Katherine in dower. He married Margaret, daughter of Walter Green of Bridgnorth, and died in 1432-3, leaving issue Ralf, wlio died young, Henry afterwards lord of Drayton, Margaret wife of Sir Henry Huddlestone, and Isobel the wife of Sir Richard Vere of Thrapston and Addington.'" Henry, son of John Green, who was sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1455, was dealing with the manor in 1454." In 1457 he settled the manor on the marriage of his daughter and heir Constance, one of the richest heiresses of England, with John Stafford, younger son of Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, who was afterwards created Earl of Wiltshire.'- By his will dated 3 Sep- tember 1467 Henry Green directed that the feoffees of his lands and tenements in Lowick called Coles Thynge and Bcsviles Thynge should grant them tf) Sir John Stafford and his wife on condition they did not hinder the performance of his will, and also his woods of Langliill, Farthingshaw, and Tolke- thorp. He left directions for the disposal of his pro- perty and of a chantry for two chaplains in the parish church of Lowick. He was succeeded by his son-in- law, John Stafford, who though a Lancastrian was made Earl of Wiltshire in 1469-70. The earl died in 1473 leaving a son and heir Edward, aged three years. Edward Earl of Wiltshire married Margaret daughter of John Viscount Lisle, on whom he settled Lowick, I slip, Sudborough, Ringstead, and other manors and died without issue on 24 March 1498-9, follow- ing on a sickness said to have been contracted when on his way to fight for the king (Henry VII) at Blackheath Field against the Cornish rebels." The succession after his death was the subject of a long dispute between the Earl of Shrewsbury, his cousin, and the heirs of his grandfather, Henry Green.'* His heirs were Elizabeth Clieney, late wife of Sir Thomas Cheney, kt., and daughter and heir of Mar- garet (who had married Sir Henry Huddlestone), a sister and heir of Henry Green, father of his mother, Constance Green, and the four daughters of her sister, the other sister and co-heir of Henry Green, Isobel, who had married Sir Richard Vere of Addington. These last were Elizabeth, wife of John Mordaunt, serjeant-at-law ; Amy or Anne, late the wife of Hum- phrey Browne ; Constance, late the wife of John Parr ; and Audrey or Etheldreda Vere, who married John Browne.'^ In consequence of the death s.p. on 3 April 1502 of Elizabeth Cheney, and in August 1502 of Constance Parr, followed on 5 September 1506 by that of Anne wife of Humphrey Browne, who left a son George, an inquisition as to the property held by the Earl of Wiltshire at his death was held in 1513-14,'* in which it was returned that the manor of Drayton was held in chief, and the manor and advowson of Lowick of the abbot of Peterborough ; and that Thomas Mon- tagu, William Pembcrton and others had been en- feoffed of these manors to the uses of the Earl's will. After judgment for John Mordaunt and Elizabeth his wife, George Browne, John Browne and Audrey his wife," an award by Robert Brudenell and Richard Elliott assigned the lands of the Earl of Wiltshire to John Mordaunt, Esq., and his wife Elizabeth ; Humphrey Browne, Esq., husband of the late Amy Browne, and George Browne, his son and heir ; Sir Wistan Browne, kt., and John Browne, his son and heir, and Audrey his wife, on the ground that deeds had been produced giving thein in tail to the ancestors of Constance, mother of the Earl of Wiltshire, and that no will had been produced devising them to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The Earl of Slircwsbury was to receive 200 marks to be paid to him at St. Paul's in London.'* In 1515 he released to the successful claimants all his right in the manor of Drayton.'* John Browne and Audrey his wife were dealing with one- third of the manor and park of Drayton, and of the manor and advowson of Lowick in 1526,*" and in 1537 a conveyance of these manors was made by George Browne to Humphrey Browne.*' In Easter term of 1544 Sir Humphrey Browne and Elizabeth his wife and their son George Browne with Mary liis wife conveyed their third of this property to Sir John Mordaunt, Lord Mordaunt,*^ the husband of Eliza- *' Book of Dccdi belonging to Ishams of Lamport, p. 17; Halitcail, op. cit. p. 170. ••Chart. R. 9 6- 10 Ric. II, m. 14, DO. 21. " Ilalitrad, op. cit. 154, 183. •"■ Ibid. i85,cit. /nj/>«imi(j, 13 Hen. IV. •* Chan. Inq. p.m. file 155, no. 15. "Cat. Pal. i3<)q-i4oi, p. 551. "Cloic R. 3 Hen. V, m. 24; ibid. 4 Hen. V_ m. 20; Feet of F. Div, Cos. 4 Hen. V, no. 4;. *' Chan. Ini). p.m. 5 Hen. V, no. 41. '" Frud. Atdi^ iv, 49. '" Haljtead, op. cit. 154. " Ibid. 193-5. " Ibid. 197, 201. " llridgcn, lliit. Norlhanli. ii, 250. " Halitead, op. cit. 210-21 1, 217, **>»0 6^^/s^ Germain. Azure a cross engrailed or. Sackville. Quarterly or and gules a bend vair. George Sackville, succeeded in 1785, and was dealing with the manors of Drayton, Lowick, Islip, Slipton and Sudborcugh by recovery in 1788" and 1 791.** In 1815 he succeeded his cousin in the dukedom of Dorset. At his death unmarried in 1843 Drayton House and the above manors descended to his niece Caroline Harriet, daughter of the Hon. George Germain and wife of William Bruce Stopford,** J. P., D.L., who in 1870 assumed the additional name and arms of Sackville. Mr. Stopford-Sackville was the third son of the Rev. the Hon. Richard Bruce Stopford, fourth son of the second Earl of Courtown. He was high sherifT in 1850 and died in 1872, his widow surviving him until 1908. Their son Sackville George Stopford-Sackville succeeded them and died in 1926, when the estate passed to his nephew, Mr. Nigel V. Stopford-Sackville, the present owner. One and a half virgates in Lowick which had been held freely by Lefsi in King Ed- ward's time was entered in the Domesday Survey as held by Sibbold of the Conqueror. Its value had risen from 4J. to loj.i This seems to be the I J virgates held in the 12th cen- tury Northamptonshire Survey by Ralf Fleming of the fee of David, Earl of Huntingdon,^ and at a later date by the family of Lowick of the honour of Huntingdon. Ralf, son of Sibbold de Lowick, on becoming a member of the fraternity, gave his David, Earl of Hun- tingdon. Or three ptlcs gules. ••Feet of F. Northanta. Mich. 1560, ro. 1095. •* G. E. C. Complete Peerage (Mor- daunt). »5 Ibid. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccix, 200. "' O. E. C. op. cit. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 14 Chai. I, ii; Pat. R. 15 Chai. I, pt. 10. "' Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Chas. I, no. 64. "> G. E. C. Complete Peerage. " Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 32 Chas. II. " G. E. C. op. cit. " C. E. C. Baronetage, It, 173. " Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Geo. I. " G. E. C. op. cit. »« Priv. Stat. II Geo. Ill, cap. 2. " Recov. R. Mich. 29 Geo. Ill, 287. »«Ibid. 31 Geo. Ill, ro. 41. "G. E. C. op cit. ' V.C.H. Northants. i, 34v<'f "Ibid. 365. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE land to the abbey, confirming the gift in the presence of his elder brother, Guy.* In 1227-8 Maud, widow of Ralf de Lowick,'' was dealing with a messuage which apparently Richard, son of Ralf de Lowick, granted to U'alter de Denford of the fee of Earl John^ Ump. Hen. III. It was returned in 1275-6 that Hugh, son of Alan of Lowick, had for 18 years withdrawn 21. yearly from 2 assarts in Lowick,* and in 1284 that Hugh son of Alan held half-a-hide of land in Lowick of the honour of Huntingdon of the heirs of Denford, and these heirs of Robert de Brus, who was holding it of the king.' In the nest year The church of ST. PETER consists CHURCH of chancel 30 ft. by 17 ft., north chapel 29 ft. by 14 ft., clearstoricd nave of four b>.ys 53 ft. by 16 ft., north and south aisles, south transeptal chapel 19 ft. by 13 ft., south porch, and west tower 14 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. The south aisle is 8 ft. 3 in. wide and the north aisle 11 ft. 4 in., the width across nave and aisles being 40 ft. 5 in. The building stands on high ground at the north end of the village and, with the exception of the tower, is faced with rubble. It has plain parapets and flat- !:^131!iCENT □ 14 S! Century c. 1375-1400 EZD 1 5 in Century A C3 Modern blocking of N. Doorway JO 5 ^) 10 20 Tombs I Rplpb Greece (I4l51t Wife 2JHenr^ Greeoe (WbgjtWife iElorl of Wiltsl)ire(l500) ♦ DucJjess of NorfblKOTOJ? .SSir Jobn Germon(l7l^ fe DuKe of Dorset (1543) 50 Scale of Feet Plan of Lowick Church Robert, son of Hugh Aleyn of Lowick, was dealing with land in Lowick,* and in the same year Robert son of Robert de Lowick, possibly the grandson of Hugh, with Robert, son of William, settled a messuage and land in Lowick.' Robert, son of Robert de Lowick, and William, son of Robert de Lowick, were dealing with lands in Lowick in 1 295-1 303, and Robert, son of John, and Letticc his wife from 1 330-1 343 with lands which Robert Aleyn senior gave them and which Thomas, son of Robert the clerk of Lowick, held in 1370, John, son of John de Lowick being a witness 10 In 1443 Ralf Lowick of Lowick appeared in a plea of debt of ^11 61. 8J. to Sir Simon Felbriggc, kt.'> The name of Anthony Lowick appears as respon- sible for a return of musters in 1539.^^ It seems possible that the property of the Lowicks is repre- sented by a manor of Lowick with which Thomas Pyckeringe, Gent., and Margaret )iis wife were dealing in 1585." pitched leaded roofs. Internally all the walls are plastered. There were restorations in 1869 and 1887. The church was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the 14th century, but on the north side of the chancel are an aumbry and a small blocked doorway of the 13th century, while the two-stepped sedilia and the piscina on the south side arc 14th century work earlier than the general rebuilding. Of the plan of the church before this rebuilding nothing definite can be said, but the trefoiled piscina in the south chapel appears to be of the 13th century, and altliough the chapel itself was rebuilt there was probably little alteration in the fabric of the adjacent south aisle. The rebuilding is clearly due to Sir Henry Green, who succeeded his father as lord of Drayton in 1369. The shields of himself and his wife, a member of the Wiltshire family of Mauduit, occur on the roof of t!ic north aisle and in the windows of the chancel. The first work taken in hand was the reconstruction of the nave and aisles. The nave arcades have plain octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases, and • Red Bk. o( Thorncy Abbey, I.anid. MS. 1029, (ol. 7jb. • Feet of F. Norlhanti, 12 Hen. Ill, CJle 172, file 23, no. 236. Ml.irl. Chart. 53B, 51 J, b. • Roi. Ilund. (Rcc. Com.), 4 Edw. I, p. 7. ' Feud. Aids, iv, 13. ' Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 433- •Feet of F. Northantn. 13 F.dw. I caic 174, file 54, no. 158. llrnry dr Drayton held a toft in Dr.iyton of Rolnrl, •on of William de Lowick in 1252-3. Cal. Iftij. lien. lll,i, 284. 240 '" Drayliin Chart. 35, 49, 61 ; Buc- clcuch Coll. J II, 13, 16, 22. " Cal. Pal. I44i-'i, p. 120. "/.. an,/ /'. Urn. Ill I, xlv (I), p. 2S3. " Rccov. R. Mich. 27 Eliz. ro. 3; Feet of F. Northani», Ea«t. 27 Elir,. LowicK Church from the Souni-wtsT Li.uuK Chlrcii : ScKi;t.\ lo South CiuptL HUXLOE HUNDRED LOWICK the arclics arc of two clumfcred orders, the outer order being considerably stilted. The clearstory is of the same date as the work below. The masonry of the aisle walls is very rough, and it is probable that here and elsewhere in the body of the church the materials of the earlier building were re-used. The narrower south aisle, as already mentioned, was probably left without much alteration, a new doorway being made and, at a later date, new windows inserted. The blocked doorway of the north aisle has excellent mouldings of two orders divided by a casement ; the four-centred four-light windows arc divided by battleniented transoms but have tracery of a very late Decorated character. There is a window with similar tracery in the west wall of the south chapel. The character of all this work points to the end of the third quarter of the 14th century as its date. The south chapel appears to have been finished last : its south window is of six lights with two battlemented tran- soms and fully developed Perpendicular tracery, and below the sill is a string-course similar in character to that of the north chapel of the chancel. The chancel and north chapel followed, the chapel being the full length of the chancel and wider than the north aisle, from which it is divided by an arch of two chamfered orders on half-octagonal responds. The wide single arch between the chancel and chapel may be a later reconstruction of an arcade of two bays, but the eastern part of the north wall was left unpierced, and in this are the two sedilia of the chapel, with ogee gabled heads, which seem to be rather earlier than the rest of the work. The east windows of both chancel and chapel are of five cinqucfoiled lights with Perpendicular tracery and traceried transoms, and the other windows north and south are of similar type but of four lights. Those in the north wall of the chapel, however, were altered to three lights as the work proceeded, it being found advisable to make a buttress in the middle of the wall, and the lights next to the buttress were left out. There is a very massive contemporary buttress covering the south-east angle of the chancel, the walls of which were weakened by the large window openings. The double sedilia of the chancel are at two levels, with ogee heads and crocketed canopies, and further west below the window of the first bay is a moulded priest's doorway. The chancel arch is of rather later character than the rest of the arches in the church and was evidently left for reconstruction to the last. The rebuilding of the chancel seems to have been under- taken as part ot the work due to Sir Henry Green, but was probably not completed at the time of his death in 1399. The clearstory windows are four-centred and of three cinqucfoiled lights without tracery. The east window of the south chapel diflters considerably from . the other windows of the church, being of four lights with transom and thick central mullion dividing it into two pointed openings with quatrefoil tracery and a large pointed trefoil in the spandrel. The two- light west window of the south aisle is of the same character as those of the clearstory, but that in the south wall is a late insertion with Perpendicular tracery and dropped labels. The porch has an outer con- tinuous moulded doorway and trefoiled openings in the side walls. At the east end of the north aisle is a cusped wall recess close to the ground, intended for a tomb, but too small for a full-sized eftigy. 'I'he beautiful west tower is built of dressed stone and belongs to the early part of the 15th century. It is of four stages, with a vice in the north-west angle, and is surmounted by a lofty lantern.*^ Above the moulded plinth is a band of quatrefoils, and another at the top of the second stage, level with the top of the clearstory, and a third of quatrefoiled circles below tlie battlemented parapet. The moulded west doorway is set in a rectangular frame with quatre- foiled circles and blank shields in the spandrels, and about it is a three-light traceried window. The two- light bell-chamber windows have tracery of distinctly 14th-century character, but this must have been the result of conservative feeling on the part of the builders. The lantern rises from behind the parapet and is supported by flying buttresses from the four great angle pinnacles which are raised so as to be nearly as liigh as those of the lantern. All twelve pinnacles are finished off by weathercocks. The three lower stages of the tower arc blank on the north and south, except for a small square-headed two-light window in the third stage facing south. The lofty arch to the nave is of three chamfered orders, the innermost on half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases. Of the old woodwork of the church the chief remains arc the roof of the north aisle, which is of five bays with moulded beams and carved bosses, and seven bench ends with poppy-heads in the south aisle. The roofs of the cliancel, north chapel and porch were renewed in 1887 ; the roof of the south chapel is also modern and that of the south aisle much restored. The south chapel is inclosed by a modern stone screen. The font is of the 13th century and consists of a plain octagonal bowl on a pedestal of clustered keel- shaped shafts. An entry in the churchwardens' accounts records the taking down of the rood-loft and the filling of the holes in May 1644, and in the following July payment was made for the ' glazing of the windows when the crucifixion and scandalous pictures were taken down.' The pulpit and other fittings are modern. The church contains a considerable amount of ancient stained glass. The upper halves of the four windows of the north aisle are filled with 14th-century figure glass of extreme beauty. The figures, with one exception, originally formed part of a large Tree of Jesse, which may have been in the east window of the chancel, and each is surrounded by vine branches. The figures in the westernmost window are, in the centre lights, David and Solomon, and in the side lights, Rehoboam and Asa. The remaining eleven figures from west to cast are Jacob, Isaiah, Elijah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezckiel, Jeremiah, Isaac, Joseph, Zacharias, and Micah. The glass has been rearranged and portions of a broken inscription in Norman-French occur at intervals. This inscription seems to have come from an earlier window, one figure of which, with the word ' drayton ' below, is preserved in the easternmost light of this series, and represents ** It may have •uggcsted the lantern at i» the crown of the tower, while at Fothcr- the tower becomes the pedestal of thi» Fotheringhay, but at Lowick the lantern inghay the proportions are altered and lantern. 241 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE a knight in armour kneeling and holding a church. The figure appears to belong to the early part of the 14th century, and may represent one of the Veres from whom the manor passed to the elder Sir Henry Green. His shield displays the arms of Drayton and his sword has IHS upon the pommel.^^ In the traceries are numerous small figures of saints, amongst whom are St. John Baptist, St. Andrew and St. Michael, and two female figures, perhaps the Blessed Virgin and St. Margaret. The order in which the figures are placed is arbitrary and unnatural, and the borders and other accessories have been destroyed, but the glass is nevertheless of very great interest and value. The tracery of the lower halves of the windows in the chancel and north chapel was originally filled with a series of shields representing the alliances of the Greens,*' but the royal shields of the east window are gone, and new shields have been inserted in this window and in one of the north windows of the chapel. In the remaining north window of the chapel and the two south windows of the chapel the old shields remain." In the middle of the chancel floor is the gravestone of John Heton, rector of l.owick 1406-15, who died in the same year as Ralph Green. Tlie slab is plain except for a border inscription which reads 'Hie jacet Dominus Johannes de Heton quondam rector ccclesiedebenyfeldeet nuper de Lufwyck cujus aninic propicietur Deus Amen. Credo quod Rcdemptor mcus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrectus sum et in came mea videbo deum salvatorem.' It remains to notice the series of monuments to the lords of Drayton. The magnificent alabaster table-tomb of Ralph Green (d. 1417), son of the rebuilder of the church, and his wife Katharine Mallory, stands under the arch between the chancel and north chapel, and is one of the finest works of the Chellaston school of carvers. The monument, as agreed upon by indenture,'* was completed by 1420. The sides of the tomb are panelled and contain ' images of angels with tabernacles bearing shields ' and standing on small pedestals. The tabernacle- work is now much mutilated and the shields blank. The inscription is gone. The effigies have already been described." On the north side of the south chapel is a marble table-tomb with brasses of Henry Green, who died 22 February (' in fcsto Sancti Petri in Cathedra ') 1467-8, and his wife Margaret. He wears an elaborate suit of armour, witli spurs, andhis wife has a head-dress with horns. The shield of arms bears a chequered coat quartering an engrailed cross : small brass scrolls repeat the motto ' Da gloriam Deo.' The monument of Edward Stafford, second earl of Wiltshire, who died 24 March 1498-9, is in the middle of the south chapel. It consists of a high tomb of alabaster with elaborate efiigy,^" and round the edge is an inscription formed by letters knotted in allusion to the badge of the house of Stafford.^' Tlicre are two memorials of the family of Mordaunt. One of these is a tablet of Raunds stone in the eastern sedilc of the north ch.ipel (which was mutilated to re- ceive it), with a much abbreviated and ungrammatical Latin inscription commemorating William, second son of John, first earl of Peterborough, wlio died at the age of eight in 1625. The other monument is that of Mary, daughter of the second earl of Peter- borough, who married first the seventh duke of Norfolk and secondly Sir John Germain. The duchess of Norfolk, who died 17 November 1705, is buried against the east wall of the north chapel, and her monument bears a recumbent statue,^^ and the shield of Mordaunt as an escutcheon of pretence on the shield of Germain. Sir John Germain married as his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Charles, earl of Berkeley. He died 11 December 1 718, and his monument, with a recumbent statue,^* is against the north wall of the chapel. There is a small brass to his widow (d. 1769) in the western sedile of the cliapel. Against the east wall of the south chapel is a monu- ment commemorating Charles Sackville, fifth duke of Dorset (d. 1843), and his brother the Hon. George Sackville Germain (d. 1836), wlio are there buried. There are six bells, the treble by J. Tajlor and Co. of Loughborough, 1896, the second and third undated by Hugh Watts II of Leicester (1615-43), ^1'*= fourth recast by Taylor in 1884, the fifth inscribed ' Richarde Woode made me,' and tlie tenor by Hugh Watts, 1619." The plate consists of a cup, paten, flagon, and almsdish of 1723-4, each inscribed ' Loffwick Church 1724,' the cup in addition having the arms of Lady Elizabeth Germain : tliere are also a plated cup and breadholder.2* The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) bap- tisms 1542-1794, marriages 1557-1649 and 1665- 1744, burials 1557-1692; (ii) marriages 1746-1753, burials 1694-1812 ; (iii) baptisms 1795-1812 ; (iv) marriages 1754-1811. The advowson of St. Peter's, ADVOWSON Lowick, was held with the manor, but has been occasionally settled or leased separately. In 1303-4 Robert de Nowers granted it with a wood in Lowick by fine to Amery or Almaric de Nowers,"' who recovered it in the same year against Thomas Curzoun and Margery liis wife."' John de Nowers, the " The knight is figured in .Issoe. Arch. Sac. Kcpori$, xvii, ■;(,. The fi(;urc h.i3 been ascribed to Sir W.iltcr dc V'lrc, who aiiumcd the armi <>( Drayton, but the Rev. (',. A. Poole al I ributcd it to the second Sir Henry Green, the restorer of the church ; see ' Stained Glass in Lowick Church' (1861) in ibid, vi, 53-64. " They are figured and described in Halslead's Snccmri Ceiicnlofirt (ilS;). " The existing shields are described in ^itoc. Arch. Sic. Re/ii. ivii, 71-73. '•The indenture is dated 14 February, 141S-19; the cost was to be 'forty pounds slcriing.' " f'.C.H. Noribiinn. i, 401). "The cfTigy is described in I'.V.H. XorthiiHts, i, 413. " On part of the edge a schoolmaslir of l.owick has scr.TtcIicd his inilials and the lf>;cnd ' quondam lutlim.i.qistrr luiius opidi.' 'f'here were two chantries in the church, that to Edward Stafford, I'.arl of Wiltshire, was probably in the south chapel. (I, inc. F.pis. Reg. Inst. Smith, 218; Memo Smith, i6fi). In I4')7 Henry Green by his will founded a chantry of two priests to pray for the soul of Sir Henry (ireen, the (Ihief Justice, and his ancestors (Halstead, .S'urciffc/ Gfncalortci^ '99-) '= Described in I'.C.II. Nortlxinii. i, 412. "Ibid. " North, Ch. Hells of Northants. 329. The ttfth bell has the stamp and cross of the early Leicester founders as used by Robert Newconibc. Richard Wood may have been a foreman in the Newconif>c foundry. The treble was an ad2 \os. Sd. yearly in dividends. The income is applied to church expenses. Mrs. Nlary Wheat in 1 77 1 gave /30 to the poor. This legacy is now represented by £43 15J. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees, producing^^l is. id. yearly in dividends, which is distributed by the churchwardens in money to three poor persons. The recreation ground was conveyed by deed dated 25 October, 1921, which is enrolled in the books of the Charity Commissioners, pursuant to the provisions of the Mortmain Charitable Uses Act 1888 and Amendment Act 1892. SLIPTON Sliptone (xii cent.) ; Sclipton (xiv cent.) ; Slypton (xvi cent.). The small parish of Slipton formerly comprised only 768 acres, but in 1885 a detached part of Twywell, called Curtley, was added to it, bringing up the area to 825 acres.' The ground rises east and west from a stream flowing through the parish to the Nene. The soil is clay and the subsoil ironstone and lias. The crops are chiefly corn and roots. There is a considerable amount of scattered woodland in the northern part of the parish. Between Long Lown Wood and Ekins Copse is a moat, probably repre- senting the site of a manor house. The Islip Iron Company have extensive mines of ironstone, and tramways connect the quarries with the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The village stands on rising ground along the branch road to Sudborough, the church being on the east side. An Inclosure Act was passed for the parish in 1770, when 560 acres were inclosed.'' The population was 85 in 1921. In 1086 the abbey of Peterborough MANORS held one hide and one virgate in Slipton.* In the survey of the time of Henry I a hide and a virgate in Slipton was of the fee of William de Curcy, Richard Fitz Hugh had two-thirds of a hide of the abbot of Peterborough, and Roger, nephew of the abbot, held one-third of a hide.'' The Curcy honour extended into many counties, and was held by four successive tenants of the name of William de Curcy, the last of whom died in 1 194. His sistei Alice married firstly Hugh de Nevill, the forester, and secondly Warin Fitz Ceroid. John, son of Hugh Nevill, died in 1235, leaving a son Hugh. The honour passed later to the Lisles.' The Curcy manor in Slipton, a member of Brixworth, the head of the honour in •• Ftet of F. Northant*. 6 Edw. II, caic 17;, file 64, no. 13;. "Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, case 177, file 78, no. 342. •"' Bridges, Hisi. Nortbanii. ii, 247. •'Feet of F. NorthanH. 31 Edw. Ill, caie 177, file 80, no. 449. •■ Initit. Bks. (P.R.O.). ■' tlalstead, op. cit. 160. •' Cal. Pat. I 3 17-21, p. 27. •» Pat. R. 27 Eliz. pt. 4. '" For the souls of Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth, Edward Stafford; late Earl of Wiltshire, his parents, John Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife Constance, John Whittlebury, Esq., Humfrcy Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, Sir Henry Green, kt., and Mabel his wife. Sir Henry Greene, kt., and Maud his wife, and other relatives (spcciBed), friends, and benefactors. •' Cal. Pal. 1494-1509, pp. 162, 173. " Ibid ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), zziii, 39- »" Pat. R. 3S Hen. VIII, pt. 7 ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xxi (ii), g. 648, nos. 39, 52. ' Local Gov. Bd. Order, 25 Mar. 1885. ' Priv. Stat. 1 1 Ceo. Ill, cap. 4. > y.C.U. Northanu. i, 314 b. * Ibid. 365. ' The descent of the Curcy honour will be found in TiiTCT, Honours and Knigbti* Feti, i, 103 ct leq. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Northampton, was, it would appear, held in demesne by Simon, son of Simon of Brixworth and Cranford (q.v.), who held the advowson of the church of Slipton. There were five successive Simons son of Simon, the last of whom died in 1280 without issue. In the early part of the 13th century, however, the Simon son of Simon interest seems to have passed to the Veres, when William, son of Robert, son of Aubrey [de Vere] gave to the Master of the Hospital of St. John of Northampton 3 virgates of land in Slipton which Ralph de Stanhern and l.eza his wife, who was the daughter of Wyberd, had held. This gift was confirmed by Baldwin de Vere, brother of William, and Hawise,his wife, and in 1227 by Walter de Drayton.' In 1235-6, the Hospital of St. John of Northampton was holding a quarter of a fee in Slipton direct of Margery de Rivers, heir of the Curcy honour.' From Walter de Drayton the principal manor of Slipton passed with the manor of Drayton in Lowick (q.v.) to the present day. Richard Fitz Hugh, who held two-thirds of a hide of Peterborough, has been identified with Richard, son of Hugh de Waterville,* whose mesne lordship under the abbot of Peterborough went to the Bassing- bournes of Benefield (q.v.). The Daundelyns, of Cranford St. Andrew (q.v.), held under the Bassing- bournes seven-eighths of a fee in Addington, and one- eighth in Slipton.* In 1346 John Lewkenor was the sub-tenant under John Daundelyn,'" and in 1359 John de Lewkenor and Elizabeth his wife conveyed lands herf to Simon Simeon and another,^' which in 1380 were apparently included among the fees formerly held by Geoffrey Lewkenor, and at that date by Simon Simeon.*- This holding is lost sight of, but probably became absorbed by the chief manor. The third of a hide held by Roger, nephew of the abbot of Peterborough, ancestor of the Torpel family, has not been identified. It may have become the small mesne fee held by the Fauvel family of Peter- borough Abbey. In 1167 lands in Slipton are said to have belonged to the Fauvel fee, and are so returned in 1215 and 1346, the under-tenant being the Master of the Hospital of St. John of Northampton.*^ A portion of the fee held by the Veres of Addington of the honour of Huntingdon, in Twywell, which extended into Slipton, has been dealt with under Twywell (q.v.). The church of ST. JOHN THE CHURCH BAPTIST stands amongst fields on the east side of the village, and is a small stone building consisting of chancel 24 ft. by 13 ft. 3 in., nave 38 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., with bell-cote over the west gable, and south porch 8 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. A single-light window on the north side of the chancel and the chancel arch are of 13th-century date, and the main part of the fabric is probably of that period, but it appears to have been largely recon- structed in the 14th century, when the porch was added and new windows inserted. At some time not known the chancel was shortened by about 10 ft., but the foundations being uncovered in 1910 the east end was rebuilt in accordance with the original plan.*^ The building is of rubble throughout, and the roofs are low pitched. Both roofs are modern, the chancel slated, the nave leaded. The modern east end of the chancel reproduces no known ancient features, but the windows are in the style of the 14th century. At the west end of the south wall is an original square-headed window of two trefoiled lights, and opposite it on the north the lancet already mentioned, the head of which is in two stones, and without a hoodmould.*'* The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases. The nave has north and south doorways opposite each other, and two windows on each side, those east of the doorways being of three lights, the others of two. The windows and the south doorway are of 14th-century date, but the north doorway, now blocked, has a four-centred arch, and is a 15th-century insertion or replacement. The west wall is thickened out in the middle to carry the bell-cote, and is pierced at about half height by a restored quatrefoil opening witliin a circle. The bell-cote appears to have been rebuilt in the l8th century, or perhaps later. Inter- nally the walls are plastered, and the floor is flagged. The porch has diagonal buttresses, moulded outer arch, and a niche in the gable with a modern (1917) figure of St. John the Baptist. The font is ancient, and consists of a plain octagonal bowl and stem. The pulpit and fittings are modern. In the chancel is a floor slab to Samuel Deacon, rector {d. 1 707), and a mural tablet to Thomas Scriven, rector of Twywell and vicar of Slipton {'i- 1737)- The bell was cast by John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, in 1846. In 1843 the church possessed a small silver cup, a pewter flagon, and two pewter plates, but there is now only a modern silver-plated paten and alms- dish." The registers begin in 1670 ; all the entries to 1812 are in one book." The War Memorial cross in the churchyard is fitted into the socket stone of an ancient churchyard cross. The advowson probably belonged, ADyOJVSON in the 12th century, to Simon, son of Simon, lord of the Curcy fee of Brixworth, of which Slipton was a member. He seems to have granted it to Cirencester Abbey. A dispute as to the advowson arose between them in 1199."* In the following year it was held by the abbey of • DtijUin Chart, noi. 40, 41, 93, 96. ' I'jrrcr, op. cit. 118. • Mellow* in PyubUy Bk. of Feti, 74 n. • Ibid. 77 n. '» Ffud. Atdi, iv, 448. " Feet of F. North.inti. caie 177, file 81, no. 483. " Cal. Cloir, 1377-8, p. 443; Chan. In'i p m 2 Kich. II, no. ;7. " McUov,,, PylcbUy Bk. oj Feci,%^, 86, 87- , '* The new chancel was dedicated 22 February, 1911. '* The sill it 4 ft. 6 in. above the ground outBide,and thcupeninRis the f>amc height. Whether it ihould be classed at a lowside window is n(»t ceitain. The till of ihc window on the south side is only 3 ft. 6 in. above the ground, but the opening cannot 244 be classed at a lowside window. In the south-west angle of the adjoining buttress, close to the ground, it the head uf a small blocked rectangular opening. '* M.trkhnni, Cb. i'late of l^ottbants.z^t). '" The register book recordt the plant- ing of ash trees round the churchyard in 1740. '" Curia lUg, R. (Rcc. Com.), i, 342, 432- HUXLOE HUNDRED SUDBOROUGH Cirencester," but that abbey, which in 1 291 was receiving a pension of 10;. from the church,-" liad parted with the advowson before 1 251 to the Hospital of St. John of Northampton, who made the pre- sentation in that year.-' The hospital retained the advowson until the Dissolution, when it came into the hands of Francis Morgan and Ann his wife, by whom it was conveyed in 1553 to John Lord Mordaunt," lord of the manor, since when it has con- tinued to be held witii the manor. In 1614 the next presentation was granted to Twyford Wathe,-' member of a family in Slipton. In 1557 Twyford W'athc, of Slipton, was dealing with land here,''* and in 1640 Twyford Wathe, of St. Alb.ins, made a composition with John, Earl of IVterborougli, for afforestation chargeable on lands in Slipton, Lowick, Cranford, and Twywell, within the ancient perambulation of the Forest of Rocking- ham." In 1705 John Laughton was holding the advowson.-" Church Lands. By an Inclosure CHARITIES Award in 1771 land was set out for the church. The land was sold and the endowment now consists of ^^500 10;. Sd. India 3 per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charit- able Funds producing £1$ os. \d. yearly in dividends, which is applied by tlie rector and churchwardens for church repairs. SUDBOROUGH Sutburg (xi cent.) ; Suburg, Subburc, Suthburg, Silburk (xiii cent.). Sudborough lies in the district formerly a part of Rockingham Forest, and covers an area of 1,819 acres. The land, which is of clay, with a subsoil of clay and limestone, rises north-east and south-west from Harper's Brook, which flows in a south-easterly direction through the parish. The principal crops are wheat, barley and beans. There are considerable stretches of woodland on the higher land. In the north-east angle of the parish is Lady Wood Head, to the west of which is .'\ssarts Coppice. In the north- west is Cat's Head Wood, with Cat's Head Lodge to the south of it. Snapes Wood, lower down along its western boundary, is a continuation of Long Lovvn Wood, in Slipton. In the extreme south of the parish is Round Lown Wood, with New Lodge at its southern end. The village lies in the valley of Harper's Brook along a by-road leading from the main road from Thrapston to Market Harborough, to the main road from Thrapston to Kettering. The church is on the south side of the road, with the rectory house, a pleasantly situated stone building erected in 1826 by the rector of the day, on the east. Near by is the school built in 1 84 1, by the Duke of Cleveland. The manor house stands at the west end of the village. The population in 1921 was 207. At one time a considerable number of women of the village were employed in lace-making, and an extensive brewery was carried on. Stone is procured for buildings and roads, and about half a mile to the north of the village there were formerly brickworks which have been converted into a poultry farm. There is a tradition that at a place called Money- holes in the parish, where there are large earthworks and ponds, once stood a monastic establishment, but there is no evidence to support it. Another tradition connects a corner near Lady Wood, now ploughed up and long known as the Soldier's grave, with the attempt of the Black Watch to return to the Highlands in 1743. It is said to be the burial place of one of the regiment who died during tiicir sojourn in Lady Wood. In the north of the parish is Sudborough Green, with Sudborough Green Lodge. Land in SUDBOROUGH was granted MANORS in 1066 by Edward the Confessor to the abbey of Westminster,* which in 1086 held 3 hides with a mill and woodland 7 furlongs in length and 6 in breadth.^ By the reign of Henry I this property had diminished to 2j hides.* In 1276 it was stated that the abbey had re- turn of writs in Sudborough and Islip,* and in 1329-30 the abbot claimed to hold in frankalmoin by virtue of a grant of King Henry III, in- spected and confirmed in 1 291 by his son King Edward.^ The abbey held the manor until the Dissolution, when the fee farm of £'J was granted to the dean and chapter of Westmin- ster by Henry VIII,* fresh grants of these manors being made by Queen Mary in 1556,' and by Queen Elizabeth in 1560.* The first recorded tenant of the abbey in Sud- borough was Bartholomew de Sudborough, who in 1225-6 levied a fine with Richard, abbot of West- minster, as to his custom and service.* The next was Walter de Denford who, with Sarah his wife, wlio was probably the heir of Bartholomew, levied a fine with Henry de Drayton of common of pasture in Sudborough in 1231-2."' In 1236 Isabel, wife of Ralph de St. Sampson attorned the said Ralph and William de St. Sampson against Walter de Denford for a third part of the pannage of his wood of Sud- borough." A fine was levied of land in Sudborough between William [? Walter] de Denford and his wife Sarah, and Gilbert de Denford in 1 240-1 ;'^ and in Wf.STMINSTER AuBEY. Gules the crossed keys of Si. Peler toilh the ring of S;. Edward in the cbtej all or. '• Curia Reg. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 175. '• Pope Nicb. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39 b. " Roi. Robl. Grojj««(c (Cant, and Vork Soc), 244. " Feet of F. Northantl, East. 7 Edw. VI. "Hatl. Chart, iii A.8. " Releaic, Harl. Chart. 112 A.7. "Ibid. Ill H.32. « Initit. Bks. (P.R.O.). ' Cott. Chart, vi, 2. ' V.C.H. Norihanti. i, 317. ' Ibid. p. 365a. « Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com), ii, 7. ' I'lac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com), 506. ' L. and P. Hen. I'lII, xvii, g. 714 (5 PP- 394. 396) J P"K 34H"> Vlll.pt. 5, 245 ' Ibid. 3 and 4 Phil. & Mary, pt. 5. Mbid. 2 Eliz. pt. II. • Feet of F. Northants, 10 Ilcn. Ill, case 172, file 18, nu. 124. '0 Ibid. 16 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 26, no. 304. "Cat. Close, 1234-7, p. 33+- " Feet of F. Northants. 25 Hen. Ill, case 173, file 32, no. 456. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 1249 Sarah, the widow of Walter do Dcnford, brought an assize of novel disseisin against Gilbert, son of Walter, and others of a tenement in Sudborough." Either Sarah herself or possibly a daughter of her name may be indicated in a fine levied between Walter do la Hyde and Roger de la Hyde and Sarah his wife of a messuage and land in Sudborough in 1259-60.** Before 1284 Sarah de Denford had granted the manor to Reginald de Waterville and Extranea his wife when Reginald was holding the vill of the abbot.** From Reginald, who survived his wife, it descended to his three daughters, Joan, the wife of Robert de Vcre, Maud, sometimes given as Elizabeth, the wife of Robert de Wykeham, and Margaret, the wife of Henry de Tichmarsh.*^ Tlie third part which went to Robert de Vere and Joan, his wife, passed to their son Robert, who apparently forfeited for rebellion,*' and his lands in 1329-30 were in the hands of Henry de Percy and Robert de Tolthorp,*' probably feoffees in trust fur Maud his wife, who had an interest in the manor as dower, witli reversion to Sir Nicholas de la Beche.'* What Sir Nicliolas's interest was is uncertain, but he and his wife Margery died without issue and it then ceased. Tliis third seems to have passed to the Mallorys. In 1358 William Mallory of Sudborougli granted a rent of j^20 out of his manor of Sudborough to John Pyel, citizen and merchant of London, and Joan his wife,-" and in the same year .\nketyn Mallory granted a rent of 20 marks to William de Sandford. John Pyel's holding was conveyed by him in 1363 to Henry Pyel, rector of Warkton and others,-* and in 1376 Henry Pyel, then archdeacon of Northampton, and others conveyed the manor of Sudborough to John Pyel of Irthlingborough, Simon Simeon and others.22 In 1385-6 Simon Simeon with John Curtcys granted to Joan, widow of John Pyel, a rent of 50 marks out of the manors of Irthlingborough, Cranford, Sudborough and elsewhere.^' It is doubt- ful if John Pyel's estate ever comprised the manor or a part of the manor. Ankctyn, who succeeded William Mallory, in 1 360, settled a manor of Sudborough on his daughter Ala and her husband, Thomas Green of Isham, and their heirs.-' Another daughter, Kather- ine, also brought to her husband Ralph Green, nephew of Thomas Green, apparently a manor of Sudborough. Sir John Dantrc and Alice his wife, daughter of Randolph Boys and heir of Robert Vere, in 1394 attempted unsuccessfully to obtain possession of the manor from Thomas Green.^'' John Green succeeded his father Thomas^" and died heforo I.)45. His widow Isabel is said to have occupied with Richard Stacy, since the death of Sir William Mallory in 1445, lands in Sudborough of which Sir William had died seised, and left a son and heir Tliomas.^' This Thomas Mallory dispossessed Thomas, son of John and Isabel Green, of the manor of Sudborough, held of the abbey of Westminster,^ but Thomas Green later recovered possession. The manor continued to descend in the Green family, of which Sir Thomas Green, kt., who witnessed a charter of Edward, Earl of Wiltshire, in 1494, dealing with the Wykeham manor, was probably a member.^' In 1529-30 this Green manor of Sudborough was in the hands of Richard Rayne and Joan his wife, daughter and heiress of Thomas Green, deceased, who settled it on their son Thomas. In 1531 and again in 1534, Thomas Rayne, son of Richard Rayne and Joan, with Dorothy his wife, were dealing with this property,''" these conveyances being probably preparatory to a con- veyance of this manor to the owners of the other manor of Sudborough representing the Wykeham third, then held with Drayton in Lowick (q.v.). The third of Robert de Wykeham and Maud de Waterville was conveyed by Robert, their son, and his wife Eliz.ibeih, in 1309-10 and 1311-12, to Robert de Ardcrn.^* The wife of Robert de Ardcrn was Nichola, possibly the daugher or sister of Robert de Wykeham.^ Ardcrn had grants of free warren in his lands at Sudborough in 1317, 1327 and 1328 and he was holding them in 1329-30.^ After his death Nichola his widow married Sir Thomas de Wake or Wade,** to whom this third of the manor passed. In 1345 Sir Thomas Wake and Nicliola conveyed their tliird to Simon de Drayton,^ to whom it was confirmed three years later by John de Wykeham, grandson of Maud de Waterville, and Parnel liis wife.^ It passed after the death of Simon de Drayton to his son John de Drayton and his grandson Baldwin.*' From them it went about 1362 to Sir Henry Green, who had married Katherine, daughter of Simon de Drayton.'^ From this time this third part, and from the middle of the 16th century the Vere third part, passed with the manor of Drayton in Lowick (q.v.) until the end of the 17th century. When Bridges wrote it was in the hands of Lady Torrington, relict of Thomas Newport, Lord Tor- rington, by purchase from the Earl of Peterborough, and according to him Lady Torrington owned vvitli the manor all the parish except two or tluee small freeholds. Lady Torrington died in 1735.'° In 1805 it was held by William Henry, Earl of Darlington,'"' who was created Duke of Cleveland in 1833, and the Dukes of Cleveland were later in the century lords of the manor.** The third of the manor which went to Henry de " Cal. Cloit, 1247-;!, p. Z27. " Feet of r. Northant«. 44 Hen. Ill, caie 174, file 43, no. 732. " Feud. Aidi, iv, 12; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 570. '• Ibid ; Pyuhley nk. of Fees, 43. '' C'j/. Pal. 1321-4, p. 156; Fine R. 1; Edw. II, pt, I, m. 12. " Plar. de Quo Ifarr. (Rec. Com), 570. '• Cal. Cloie, 133') 4', P- 129. "Clote R. 32 Edw. Ill, mm. 9, 11 ; Cal. Cloie, 1354-60, p. 521. " Iliid. I3'>'>-4| p. 523. " Feet of F. Northanti. caic I78,file8;, no. 696. '• Cloie R. 9 Rich. If.pt. i.m. S. " Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 EJw. IV, no. 16; Feet of F. Northanti. caic 177, file 81, no. 491. «' Cal. Close, 1392-6, p. 260 ; Cal. Pal. i4oi-<;, p. 443. '• Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 Edw. I\^ no. 16. " Ibid. 25 Hen. VI, no. 4. '" Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 Edw. IV. no. 16, " Robert Ilalilead, Surcinrl Geneahgiei, 10(1. '" Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 22 lien. VIII; Mil. 26 Hon. VIII. "Feet of !■'. Northanti. caie 175, file 62, no. 50 ; file 64, no. 104. »« Wroltcslcy, /><■,/. from Vha R. 2S. "Cal. Chan. R. 1300-26, p. 366; Chart. R. I Edw. Ill, m. 25, no. 45; 2 Edw. Ill, m. 10, no. 33. •* Wroltcslcy, loc. cit. " FeetofF. Northanti. case 177, file 77, no. 298. " Ibid, file 78, no. 348. •' Cal. Pal. 1354-8, p. 2R4. '" Il.ililead, op. cit. 151. " llul. oj Norlhatils, ii, 254; G.E.C. Complrle Peerage. •" Rccov. R. Trin. 45 Geo. Ill, ro. 4r>8, •' Whellan, llisl. of Norlhanli. (1878 Ed.), 774- 246 SuDBOKOLcii : Anglo-Saxon Cross Sldboroh.h Church from thi Solth-easi HUXLOE HUNDRED SUDBOROUGH Tichmarsh and Margaret dc Waterville passed to their son John and from him to his son Henry and his wife Joan.^' It dcscenJoJ with the Tichm.irsii Manor in Tichmarsh (qv.), and was represented by the manor of Somercetts in Tichmarsh, Sudborough, and I.owicii of which a grant was made to John and Cjilbcrt Pickering in 1587-8." In 1490-1 a dispute arose about common of pasture in Lowick Leyse pertaining to Lowick, and Brigsy Leycs (Brigstock Leys) pertaining to Sudborough, which was referred by the inhabitants to Kdward, Earl of Wiltshire, as chief lord over botli lordships.** SUDBOROUGH P.-IRK, which was originally held with the manor,*^ was in 1670, with a messuage, 10 acres of meadow, 530 acres of pasture and 10 acres of wood and appurtenances in Sudborough, Lowick, and Brigstock, in the hands of William Montagu, and Mary his wife, who conveyed it by fine to Montagu Lane.« SUDBOROUGH GREEX was referred to in 1540 in a licence to impark Lyvedcn Park, the westcrri side of which was described as abutting upon it.*' In 1795 an Inclosure Act was passed for Brigstock, Stanion, and such part of the parish of Sudborough as is called Sudborough Green. It was stated that the commoners in Brigstock and Sudborough inter- commoned with each other in certain commons, called Brigstock Commons ; and the Great and Little Green adjoining the same, and that the cattle upon these commons were liable to escape into the Haye or Walk of Farming Woods, part of the Forest of Rockingham. An allotment of these greens was made.** The church of JLL S.IINTS consists CHURCH of chancel 33 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft., nave of three bays 40 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft., north and south aisles each 8 ft. 6 in. wide, north and south transcptal chapels each 14 ft. by 13 ft., south porch, and west tower 9 ft. by 9 ft. 10 in. The width across the nave and aisles is 38 ft. 8 In., and across the transepts 50 ft. 6 in. All these measurements are interna!. The church was entirely rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century, probably in place of an aisleless cruciform building, the influence of which is apparent in the transeptal plan. The tower and nave with its aisles seem to have been rebuilt first, followed by the transeptal chapels and chancel, which were completed c. 1280-90. No substantial addition was made subsequently other than the porch, which was built in the 15th century, when new windows were also inserted in the aisles. Tlie building was repaired in 1808, and again in 1830 when a west gallery was erected. In 185 1 the gallery was taken down and the north aisle rebuilt ; the porch was rebuilt in 1870, and the chancel restored in 1871-72. At a later restoration (1891) two stones were found under the north-east pier, which together forriied part of a pre-Conquest cross. They were replaced in the position in wliich they were found but unfortunately covered with cement so that the carving is obliterated.*' The chancel is divided externally into two bays by buttresses, each of which is finished by a small pedi- ment set in the middle of its upper slope and orna- mented on the outfr face by a spherical triangle with ciisping. Over the pairs of buttresses at the eastern angles are handsome octagon pinnacles, the tops of which seem to have disappeared. There is a plain doorway in the south wall. Tlie windows retain their original geometrical tracery, of a very elegant type, with applied cusping ; the lights have trcfoiled heads, and the mullions are moulded. The east window is of four lights with a flat head, and has internally a segmental rere-arch. The lateral windows on either side from cast to west are respectively of three, two, and one light, the narrower openings having obtusely pointed rerc-arches. On the north side the single light of the western window is lowered with a transom, forming a low-side opening. Tlie corresponding window on the south has a low sill and may have been planned in the same way, but the lower part was never open. This window, like all the others, has a square hood outside ; in this case the hood is finished with very curious head-stops, rudely carved with roughly indicated hair. On the south side of the chancel internally are two sedilia with beautiful late 13th-century moulded arches springing from dwarf columns. In the eastern seat, which is a step higher than the western, is a piscina with fluted bowl. Opposite, in the north wall, is a tomb-recess with a drop arch, containing an efhgy of Sir Robert de Vere (d. 1249), which has already been described.^ The arch between the chancel and nave is of the same character as the arches of the nave arcades, with rather plain half-octagon responds. The piers of the nave are cylindrical, with bases which in some cases have water-mouldings. Tlie capitals are of two types which difler slightly in design as regards the abaci and the section of the upper mouldings. The arches are of two orders, the inner order having a hollow chamfer. From each pier a transverse arch is carried across the adjoining aisle to a respond ; the chamfers of tliese arches arc stopped by small broaches above the capitals. Similar arches are carried across the cast wall of each transeptal chapel. The transept windows have good geometrical tracery, which in the north chapel has been much restored ; that in the three-light soutli window of the south chapel is a remarkably beautiful example of early bar-tracery. In this and in the east window are some fragments of old glass ;^l and in the south wall of the south chapel there is a piscina with octagonal bowl, large hollow- chamfered arch and hood. The windows of the aisles, as already noted, are 15th-century insertions. The north and south door- ways of the nave are contemporary with the arcades, and the north doorway has a well-preserved roll and triple fillet moulding in its outer order. The porch has a high gable and outer arch of two moulded orders, the inner springing from half-round responds with moulded capitals. The walling throughout is of rubble, with plain parapets to chancel and aisles, and eavcd roofs to the transepts. The chancel roof is leaded. *■ Plot, de Qut Warr. (Rec. Com.), 570. "Pit. R. 30 Elij. pt. 8. ** Hililcid, op. cit. 205. " Feet or F. Div. Cot. Hil. 6 Jii. I ; Cbao. loq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cccix, aoo. " Feet of F. Northanfs. Ilil. 21 and 22 Chas. II. «' L. and P. Hen. VI II, xv, g. 831 (50). " Priv. Stat. 35 Geo. Ill, cap. 58. •" Norlhants. N. and Q. (New Ser.), i, 26. '» V.C.H. Noribanls. i, 394-;. ^' 15th-century quarries with fleurs dc lii and ' Maria ' in monogram. 247 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The arch between the nave and tower is of three orders, the innermost order being set upon half- octagon responds with hollowed sides. The tower itself is of the same date as the rest of the church, and is of three stages, with plain parapet, angle pinnacles and pyramidal roof with vane. Below the parapet is a corbel table with large dog-tooth alternating with heads and other ornaments widely spaced. There are diagonal buttresses of two stages on the west side and a renewed three-light west window on the ground floor. The middle stage has a single trefoiled window north and south, and on the west a circular sound- hole. The two-light belfry windows have early bar tracery. There is no tower stair. The font is a plain octagonal bowl with octagonal pedestal and a 17th-century cover. There is a stone bench along the wall of the south aisle internally. Against the east wall of the north transept is a bracket for an image, and near this are the brasses of William West (d. 2 Feb. 1 390-1) and his wife Joan (d. 16 Dec. 141 5), with a curious representation of their children, headed by a priest vested in apparelled alb, crossed stole, amice and maniple. This is inscribed : Orate p aiab) supdcore Witti West W Jolina ac pro alab) dtTi Johis West capetti Willi West marbler et Alicie qndam v.xis Rici Alasoii. Necno W octo pilore lib'ore pdcore Willi W lohanne. Pater nost fjf Aue. The roofs, pulpit and other fittings are modern. The organ is in the south transept, which also forms a vestry. The interior of the church is plastered. There is a ring of five bells, the treble being an addition in 1897 to a former ring of four. It is by Taylor of Loughborough. The second and tenor are by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1647, the third is a blank bell, and the fourth, inscribed 'Thomas,' bears the stamp of the early Leicester founders, but is probably by Thomas Newcombe II (1562-80).*^ The plate consists of a cup of 1820, a paten of 1842, and a flagon of 1857, all London make, and a silver basin with the mark of William Shaw and William Priest, of London.''* The registers before 1 81 2 are as follows : (i) bap- tisms 1660-1708, marriages 1662-1703, burials 1660-1707 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1704-1812, marriages 1708-1753 ; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. The first volume contains a list of briefs 1708-64, and a terrier of rectory lands. There are church- wardens' accounts from 1675 to 1769, and a tithe book 1781-1838. The advowson was held by the ADVOWSON abbey of Westminster with the manor until the Dissolution,^ and was granted to Thomas, bishop of Westminster, in 1541.*^ Ten years later it was granted to Nicholas, bishop of London, by Edward VI,^^ but was held in 1608-9 with the manor by Henry Lord Mordaunt." The presentation was made alternately by the Crown (presumably during vacancy of the see), and the bishop of London from 161 7 to 1648,^ and since then by the bishops of London^* until, after 1786, Sudborough was transferred to the bishopric of Peter- borough, in whose gift it now is. A vicarage had been ordained early in the 13th century, a pension of one gold piece (mark) to the perpetual vicar being reserved on presentations to the church made c. 1214,^ and one of zs. in a presentation made in 1221-2.*^ Tithes in Sudborough were held by Robert, Earl of Salisbury, in 1608.*^ A piece of grass land containing CHARITIES II acres appropriated to the repairs of the church is let by the church- wardens to the Islip Iron Co., Ltd., for /12 yearly, which is applied towards the upkeep of the church. Henrietta Laura, Marchioness of Bath, established a Sunday School in 1788, and transferred a sum of ;^666 13/. ^d. 3 per cent, annuities to trustees upon trusts declared in a deed dated 20 October, 1788, for the support of the school. Tlie stock is now £666 135. ^d. Consols with the Oflicial Trustees of Charitable Funds, producing ^^16 13J. \d. yearly in dividends. The trustees consist of the rector and three others. TWYWELL Tuiwella (xi cent.) ; Twywclle, Twiwell (.\ii cent.). The parish of Twywcll is low-lying, nowhere rising over 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The sub- soil is Great and Inferior Oolite. One of the many small streams of the district crosses the parish in the south. Twywell station, on the Kettering and Huntingdon branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, lies to the south-cast of the village. The parish was inclosed by private Act of Parliament in 1765,* and by a Local Government Order, dated 25 March, 1885, the detached portion of the parish, called Curtlcy, was joined to the parish of Slipton. In 1874, the ironstone deposits in the parish were worked by the Newbridge Iron Ore Co.^ A number of flint weapons and a few relics of the Roman occu- pation have been found in the parish. The manor house stands in the village and formerly the family of Mulsho for several generations had a house of some size.' There Mrs. Hester Chapone, the essayist and writer of poems and pamphlets, and daughter of Thomas Mulsho, was born in 1727.* The rectory house, a large plain three-story stone building, erected in 1760, stands to the south-west of the church. Here lived Horace Waller, who was rector of Twywcll from 1874 to 1895, and is known as an explorer in Africa. On his return to England he look a very active part in the movement against the slave trade in East Africa, and wrote many works on Africa.* "North, Ch. Belli of Norlhanii. 410. '-' M.irkham, Ch. Plair of Norlhantt.ij^. The maxV on the baiin ii indiitinct, but imjr be that for 1755. " Epi«c. ReR. ; Cat. Pal. etc. " A. onrf P. Urn. I' 1 1 1 , Kvi, g. 50J (35, P- »44)- " Pat. K. 4 Edw. VI, pi. 4. " Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 6 Jas. I; Chan. Ini|. p.m. (.Scr. ii) cccix, 200. '" Instil. Hks. (P.R.O.) 1617-4S. " Ibid. i6fio 1786, etc. ; Lewis. Topof^. niii. (1849). Ttic presentation was the •iibjcct of Ch.inccry Proceedings in 1623. Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), bdlc. 338, no. 12. •" Rot. l/uro. dr ll'elhs (Cant. & York Soc), i, 3, 21, 66. »' Ibid, ii, 101;. "' Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 6 Jas. I. 'Act of Parliament, 5 Geo. Ill, c. 35- ' Whellan, II11I. of Norihanls. 1874. " Bridges, //ii(. Norihanls. ii, 262 ; cf. Chan. Int^. p.m. (Srr. ii), dcclxxx, 58. * Did. Nal. Wing. » Ibid. 248 HUXLOE HUNDRED TWYWELL There are a few two-story lytli- century stone houses in the village ; one at the south end with a mullioncd bay window on the ground floor has a panel in the gable inscribed t " a 1663, and the cottage now used as the post office is dated 1660. Another house with thatched roof has mullioncd windows and a good four-centered doorway, and west of the church is a picturoscjuc, but much modernised, I7tli-century farmhouse with stone-slated roof and wooden dormers ; attached to it is a rectangular dovecote with end gables and lantern. Another dovecote of the same character stands in a field farther north. In 1086 the abbey of Thorney held M.1N0RS 3 hides, less it virgatcs, of land in 7U"i'li'KLL,* but a few years later their holding was said to consist of 2 hides only.' The abbey obtained various additional grants of land in the following centuries,' and held the manor of Twywcli in frankalmoin of the king in chief until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.' Abbot Guntcr (1085-1 1 1 2) granted it for life to Aubrey dc V'ere, the Cham- berlain, and a similar grant was made to his son Robert.*" In the 13th century. Abbot Jakesley (1261-93) granted it for life to Sir William Hay, knt., in exchange for the manor of Clapton ; Sir William as- signed the manor to John Hay, and Abbot Odo (1293- 1305) gave certain lands in it to the convent, for the celebration of the anniversary of John Hay, at a rent of 2/. 6d. a year." Although leases of the site were made, the manor seems usually to have been held in demesne.^ In 1544, Henry VIII granted it to William, Lord Parr of Horton, but his lands escheated to the Crown*' and the manor was not alienated, although various grants and leases were made and certain tenements in the parish were granted out.*'* A second manor of TII'l'lt'ELL can be traced back to an entry in Domesday Hook. In the reign of I'ldward the Confessor, Earl Waltlieof held it, but in 1086 his widow Countess Judith had I J hides of land here.*" In the follow- ing century David, Earl of Huntingdon, owned it,^' and it was held of tlie Hono\ir of Huntingdon for half a knight's fec.^^ I'.irt of the land attached to it seems to have been in SIipton.23 This manor seems to have been a member of the manor of Harrold (co. 15eds), which was held by the Morin family of that part of the honour of Huntingdon which fell to Hastings, Earl of Pcmbroko.2-» In the middle of the 13th century Ralpii Morin conveyed his interest to John TTTT7T Ekins. Argittt a bend indcnicd iable bclKCen Itl'O crosilcis Jilchy gules. Thorney Abdey. Azure three crozicrs be- ttveen as many crosslets or. Grey. Barry ardent and azure tvilh three roundels gules in the chief. de Grey, and this mesne lordship continued with the family of Grey de Ruthin.^^ The tenants in demesne were the Veres. Aubrey de Vere, the chamberlain {d. 1 141), held lands here for life, about which he made an agreement with the abbot of Thorney. This agreement was confirmed to Robert, his younger son.^* Robert married, as his cond wife, Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell After 1574, the manor seems to have been granted to sc(_ , ._ Sir William Cecil," later Lord Burghley, but probably of Twywell, with whom he received an addition to he only obtained the site of the manor and the land his property in Twywell." This manor passed with that had formerly been leased \\'ith it. In 1592, his son Thomas sold the 'manor' to Robert Dallyson,'* who in 1595 sold the site with 200 acres of land besides meadow, pasture, wood, etc., to Robert Ekins.*' This property was called the manor of Twywell and belonged to the family of Ekins certainly until 1720.** It was the Vere manor in Great Addington (q.v.).'^ In Domesday Book, the Abbey of Peterborough held no land in Twywell, but probably one virgate of its holding in Slipton lay in Tw)'well,29 and in the 12th- century survey of the county one great virgate in Twywell is assigned to Peterborough.*' Its subse- probably sold to the Duke of Montagu, since in 1765 quent history is lost until the close of the 14th cen- Mary, Countess of Cardigan, was lady of the manor.*» tury, when it may possibly reappear as a manor of • V.C.H. Northants. i, 3iqa. ' Ibid. 365a ; Dugdjle, Mon. Angl. ii, 604. • Abhrcv. Rot. Orig. fRec. Com.), i, 141 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no. 144 ; Cat. Chan. T, 77. • Cal. Close, 1234-7, p. 208 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 12, 29; Dugdalc, op. cit. ii, 613. '• Ibid. 603. " Ibid. 604. " Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), 69 (33) ; Dug- dale, op. cit. ii, 613. '• L. and P. Hen. nil, xix (pt. i), g. 141 (75)- '« Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 13 ; 16 Elir.. pt. 8 ; 17 Elir. pt. 5 ; Chan. Inij. p.m. (Ser. ii), dccUuz, 5S. In 1635 Francis Mulsbo died leised of 12} virgatcs of land in Twywell, some of which had been parcel of Lord Parr's manor, and all were held of the king a« of the manor of East Greenwich. " Hist. MSS. Com. Kcp. (Salisbury MSS.), ii, 42. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 34 Eliz. " Ibid. Mich. 37 & 38 Eliz. "Feet of F. Northants. East. 1658; Recov. R. Mich. 7 Geo. I, ro. 127; Bridges, //ill. Northants. ii, 262. " Act. of Pari. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 35. '■■ y.C.II. Northants. i, 351-2- " Ibid. 365a. == Dk. of Fees, i, 494 ; ii, 937' " Ibid. 249 " Farrcr, Honors and Knights' Fees, ii 3^7, 39<^- "' V.C.H. Beds, ii, 65. '« Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 603. " Drayton Chart, 104. " Bk. of Fees, ii, 937 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 12 ; Abbrev. Rot. Ong. (Rec. Com.), i, 222 ; Cal. Inq. vi, no. 517 (^the statement here made that Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, held under John de Hastings, is probably due to a confusion of names); ibid. no. 612 ; ix, no. 118 ; Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 569 i ^''^'^^ °' ^■ Northants. Mil. 31 Hen. VIII; Com. Pleas, Deeds Enr. Hil. 2 & 3 Edw. VI, m. 8d. ; Pat. R. i •; Chas. I, pt. 10. " V.C.H. Northants. 1,314^, 3<'5'' ("-S)- •» Ibid. 365a. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Waldtgrave. Party ar- gent and gules. TJVriVELL licid before 1384 by Sir Richard Walde- grave, knt.^' He or a later Richard made a settlement of the manor in 1437,'- and two years later his trustees granted it to his son Ricliard and his wife Alice and their heirs.'-' The younger Richard died in 1453,** but Alice held the manor until her death in I473, when it passed to Richard's nephew William.^ The latter died in 1528,^ but his son and heir George only survived him a few months, and the manor passed to his grandson William,^^ who dealt with it in 1532.^ No further men- tion of the manor apparently occurs. In 1453 and 1473 the manor was said to have been held of the Abbot of Ramsey for the service of paying one rose yearly,^ but in 1528 the overlord was stated to be the Abbot of Peterborough.'"' It seems possible that this may have been described as the manor of Slipton, which in 1562 George Lane held and in 1564 conveyed to John Bedell, who in 1576 granted it to Lewis Lord Mordaunt.^' Two mills are mentioned in Domesday Book on the manor of the Abbey of Thorney,payinga rent oijj.^d. a year,''^ but only one mill is mentioned in a buU of Pope .Mexander III.'" In 1330, Hugh de Walmes- ford claimed that the \'eres had held a view of frank- pledge in their manor time out of mind ; the royal officials denied his right, but Hugh was able to recover it on payment of a fine. He also successfully claimed the right of toll of salt in his demesne lands.'*^ In 1720 Thomas Ekins had a court leet, court baron a!id view of frankpledge in Twywell.^* The church of ST. NICHOLAS con- CHURCH sists of chancel 35 ft. by 14 ft. 10 in., with south vestry and organ chamber, clcarstoried nave of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., south aisle 13 ft. 9 in. wide, south porch, and west tower 8 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being internal. The church is built throughout of rubble, and has plain parapets and flat-pitched leaded roofs to nave and aisle and a slated eaved roof to the chancel. Internally the walls are plastered. The building was re-roofed in 181 1 and underwent an extensive re- storation in 1867, wliich included the removal of a west gallery and the rebuilding of the tower arch, then in a ruinous condition. The main part of the fabric, comprising the tower, nave and the west portion of the chancel, is of the middle of the 12th century, but there is some reason for believing that the first church was of earlier date, to which short north and south transeptal chapels were added at the cast end of the nave walls about 1140-50. To this cross church the aisle was added about fifty years later, and towards the end of the 13th century the chancel was extended eastward and windows inserted in the aisle. The porch and clear- story are of the 15th century. At some subsequent period the western portion of the aisle was demo- lished, probably in order to save the cost of repair, and was rebuilt only in 1867.^* The composition of the south arcade is unusual. The broad semicircular eastern arch, which probably marked the entrance to the former transept, is of two plain chamfered orders and springs at the east end, at a height of 5 ft., from a flat respond with scalloped impost and chamfered abacus. The two western arches are also semicircular and appear to have been cut through the nave wall about 1 190, beginning from the west end. The western arch springs from a half-octagonal respond set against the old wall, and was made narrower but much higher than the older existing arch at the east end, the new middle arch filling the space between. The arches are of two chamfered orders springing at a height of about 7 ft. from octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. To allow of its meeting the older eastern arch the middle arch had to be stilted on that side, its outer order being made to spring from the new pier, while the inner order springs from a corbel above the capital ; the corbel is decorated with nail-head ornament. The chancel has a late 13th-century east window of three lights with intersecting tracery, and in the south wall arc two windows of the same period with forked mullions and a trefoiled piscina with fluted bowl. North of the altar in the east wall is an image-bracket. In the north wall, about 15 ft. from the west, is a round-headed 12th century window with wide inner splay, and further west again a rectangular low-side window with external chamfered opening and flat sill inside, perhaps a 14th-century insertion.^' There was originally a sacristy on the north side of the chancel at its east end, the blocked pointed doorway of which remains, together with a piscina and rectangular aumbry now on the outside of the building. The blank wall space on the inside is filled by a curious and highly interesting stone structure of late 13th-century date consisting in the lower stage of a broad segmental tomb-recess, the arch springing from short attached shafts, above which is a double aumbry, probably used also as an Easter sepulchre, and above this again a sloping stone desk with a book-rest for the reader of the Gospel.** The south wall of the chancel is pierced at its west end by a wide two-centred segment arch of two chamfered orders, the inner order on moulded corbels supported by heads. The arch is of late 13th-century character and apparently opened originally to a chapel afterwards destroyed ; before tlic erection of the •' Chart. R. 7 & 8 Ric. II, 111. 13, no. '5- "Feet o( F. Northanti. Mich. 16 Men. VI. "Chan. Inc). p.m. 32 Ilcn. VI, no. 36. » Ibid. »» Ibid. 18 Edw. IV, no. ii. " Ibid. (Ser. ii), jlviii, 79. •' Ibid. 85. "Recov. R. Trin. 24 Hen. VIII, ro. 123. '" Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Ilcn. VI, no. 36; 18 F.dw. IV, no 22. "Ibid. (.Scr. ii), xlviii, 79, 85. " Recov. R, nil. 1562, ro. 340; Feet of V. Nortli.mts. Mil. 7 Elii. ; Cal.Ftnf, Eait. 18 Eli7.. " y.C.II. Norihanti. i, 31911. " Dllgdale, Mon. Anej. ii, 604. " riar. it Quo H'urr. (Rec. Com.), 569. *' Recov. R. Mich. 7 Geo. I, ro. 127. " Norlbampl. Mercury, 2 Nov. 1867, 250 where an .iccount of the rcttorntion i« given. The church was reopened 30 October. *' It i> 3 ft. 8 in. high by 12 in. wide, and 2 ft. 6 in. above the ground outside. An'JC. Arch. Soe. Rrps. jxii, 4<;i. *" The lower stage, or tomb recess, is 6 ft. lo in. wide by 3 ft. 3 in. high ; the structure above in 4 ft. 4 in. wide and 4 ft. high to the top of the slope of the deik. TwYvvhLL Church from Tiit Sou in TwYWhLL Church : Kaster Sipulchrk HUXLOE HUNDRED •IWYVVELL organ chamber and vestry in 1)595 '' ''-'J '""K been blocked. The chancel arch is apparently of the same period and consists of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The north wall of the nave retains near its west end a widely splayed round-headed 12th-century window and a contemporary doorway, now blocked, which externally has a shouldered head with cabled lintel and roundel cusps, hatched tympanum, and sunk- star hood mould. The round arch to the northern transcptal chapel has long been blocked, and now contains a two-light window with forked mullion, the tracery of which, however, is modern.'" When the arch was made there was an earlier round-headed window high in the wall, part of the head of which is still visible with a course of herring-bone work to the east of it. At the west end of the aisle is a small restored 12th-century window with modern round head, and in the south wall two late 13th-century windows with forked muUions. A three- light window with intersect- ing tracery in the east wall now opens on to the vestry, to which a doorway has been cut through the middle light. The 12th-century soutli doorway has a semi-circular arch of two orders, the inner with a continuous round moulding, the outer with cheverons on nook- shafts with capitals of very conventional foliage and moulded bases. The middle cheveron, or keystone, is carved with a head on the upper part, and the hood has a billet and indented moulding. On the east side of the doorway inside is a stoup with projecting moulded bowl. The porch is of local type, with stone bench tables, diagonal buttresses and outer doorway of two moulded orders, the inner on h.nlf-round responds with moulded capitals and high bases : the roof is covered with red tiles. The 15th-century clearstory windows are square-headed and of two lights. The tower is of three slightly receding stages, and seems to be of 12th-century date to the corbel table, though the large two-light bell-chamber windows are probably c. 1 190, and contemporary with the nave arcade. The west window is a single round-headed opening, but the north and south sides are blank in the lower stage. In the middle stage the head of a 14th century window is inserted on the south side, and the string between this and the upper story has a species of large nail-head moulding. The bell- chamber windows are of two lights under semi- circular arches, but their heads have been cither blocked, or, as on the north side, opened out with early Perpendicular tracery. Above the windows is a corbel tabic of grotesque masks and notch heads, and over tliis again a b.md of quatrcfnils and I5tli-century battlementcd parapet with angle pinnacles. The tower is without buttresses and there is no vice. The font consists of a plain unmounted octagonal bowl of late 12th or early 13th century date, on a circular moulded plinth, and has a good flat Jacobean wood cover with central post and curved side pieces. The pulpit and fittings are modern. The present chancel roof dates from 1867, and the stalls were erected in 1898 to commemorate the work of the Rev. Horace Waller (rector 1874-95), one of the original 2 Centurv □ cII90 cl290 S 1 51iJ Century CZl Modern Scale ofPeet Plan of Twywell Church members of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa : thev are characteristically carved to represent his labours in that region. Set within tlie rercdos are three small stones from Calvary given to Mr. Waller by General Gordon in 1880. In the chancel floor are the grave slabs of Thomas Ekins, gent. (d. 1713), and of Dorothy Ekins (d. 1720), daughter of Arthur Brooke of Great Oakley. In the top light of one of the aisle windows is the shield of England (l and 4 France, 2 and 3 England) with a label of five points. On the jambs of the south doorway, now within the porch, are eight scratch dials — four on each side. There arc five bells, the first and second by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1907, and the third a recasting by Taylor in 1867. The fourth and fifth are 15th-century bells cast in London, the former inscribed ' In multis annis resonet Campana Johannis,' and the tenor '\'ox Augustini sonet in aure Deo.'™ The plate consists of a cup of c. 1570, a flagon of 1887, and a modern plated cup, paten and bread-holder. There are also a pewter flagon and plate." The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) baptisms 1586-1667, marriages and burials 1577-1667; (ii) baptisms, marriages and burials 1668-1754 ; (iii) baptisms and burials 1755-1812; (iv) marriages 1755-1812. " The window may have btcn originally Both the old belli have one of the at the end of the transept. floriated croisei introduced by John Wal- '° North, Cb. Belli of Norihanls. 423. grave (1418-40), and the tenor hat alio 251 Walgrave'j trade mark. The fourth bears the mark of Robert Crowch (i43i)-5o). " Markham, Ch. Plate oJNorthanti. lU. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The advovvson of the church of JDI'Oll'SOy Twyvvell was held hy the Abbey of Thorncy '- and afterwards passed with the manor to Robert Dallyson,*' w-ho sold it to John Richardson, clerk, in 1592." In 1628,^ the archdeacon of Northampton and John Gage presented, and in 1637^* William Gardner, the vicar of Slipton, possibly as trustee, as the advowson seems in the same year to have passed to Nicholas Richardson." In 1660 it was in the possession of Agnes Webb, widow, who seems to have sold it in 1664.** Presen- tations were made in 1665 by Edward Trott, clerk, in 1668 by the Earl of Exeter, in 1705 by Thomas Ekins, and in 1737 by William Smith, who presented William Scriven, who was patron and rector in 1765.^' In 1769 John Scriven was patron and incumbent,^ and in 1793 Elizabeth Scriven, spinster, probably his daughter, presented to the benefice.*'- In 1794 Henry Leete and William York appear,*- but in 1795 Elizabeth Scriven, together with Benjamin White- house and his wife Ann, sold it to John \\ illiamson.*^ In 1799 the latter presented tlie Rev. William Aling- ton,** who had married his daughter Sarah. The advowson passed to Rev. John Alington, son of William and Sarah, who died in 1863. His son William died in 1874''* and was succeeded by his brother Julius, whose son, Mr. Charles Alington, is the present owner.** A pension of 20/. was payable from the rectory to the Abbey of Thorney in 1291*' and was recorded among its possessions at the Dissolution.** It Was granted by Henry VIII to Lord Parr*' and was sold with the advowson by Robert Dallyson in 1592.™ Thomas Ekins by will dated CHARITIES 26 May 1709 gave 20s. yearly to trustees out of his house and close in Twywell to the poor. This rent-charge is now paid by the Islip Iron Co., Ltd. John Harris in 1753 gave ^^lo to the poor. A piece of land in Ringstead now let for ^^l 4.1. yearly was purchased with this gift. The Charity of Thomas Archer founded by will dated I Dec. 1829 is now represented by a sum of £36 14J. id. Consols producing i8.f. 4d. yearly in dividends. The income from these three charities is distributed by the rector and churchwardens in bread to about 12 recipients. The Bell Rope Charity. A sum of %s. is payable to the churchwardens by an Inclosure Award out of a piece of land in Twywell. The payment was awarded in lieu of land formerly appropriated to the use of the church, and the money is carried to churcii expenses account. WARKTON Werchinetone (xi cent.) ; Werketon (xii cent.) ; Werkenetone (xiii cent.) ; Warkyngton (xvi cent.) ; Wotton (xvii cent.). Warkton parish, covering an area of 1,921 acres, rises from the eastern bank of the River Ise to a hciglit of 338 ft. above ordnance datum. Tiic soil is of limestone, clay and red loam, and is, and in mcdia-val time was, for the greater part under pasture. The village stands on the brow of a hill and from it fine avenues of trees run in the direction of Weekley and Grafton Underwood. These avenues the parish owes to John, Duke of Montagu, known as Duke John the Planter, from the miles of sucli avenues he planted in this and adjoining parishes. Buried beneath the road at the east end of the bridge over the Ise, is a medieval arch (? 14th century) wliichoriginally crossed the stream, the old course of which can still be seen in the field to the south of the road. The church lies in the centre of the village, and the houses are grouped for the most part in its vicinity. Opposite the church, on the other side of the main road, is the rectory, which was built by the Duke of Buccleuch in the middle of the 19th century to replace the old thatched rectory house then pulled down, which occupied a lower and less favourable position. In 1922 the ecclesiastical parish of Warkton was united to that of Weekley under the name of Warkton-cum-Weekley. The incumbent of the united benefices resides at Weekley, and the rectory house at Warkton with part of the glebe was in the same year sold to Mr. Charles Edward Lamb, who has since occupied the house. To the north of the church is the school built in 1S67 by the Duke of Buccleuch. Even in this somewhat remote spot the effects of the Civil War were being felt in 1643. Nicholas Estwick, rector of Warkton, in a letter to Edward Montagu prays that peace may come, adding ' We do already taste the miseries of Civil War.'i Bridges writes of a close with a petrifying spring, where a petrified human skull was found, and of two quarries of excellent stone. In the west of the parish is a long and deep trench. Just over the southern boundary is Warkton Spinney, and in the south is Warkton Lodge, while Cinquefoil Lodge is in the east. The population in 1921 was 192. An Inclosure Act was passed in 1807, and an award made in 1810, when an allotment was made for tithes. The common and open fields in the parish and manor were then about 1,300 acres in extent. The glebe lands were 34 acres ; the inclosed glebe land, including the churchyard, was 3 acres in extent.^ " Rm. Rob. Groiieleile (Cant, and VotV Soc), 182 ; Cal. I'al. 1301-7, p. 381. "Pat. R. 17 Ellz. pt. 5 ; Iict o( F. Northanti. Mich. 34 & 35 Elii. " Ibid. " Initil. Bit. (P.R.O.). M Ibid. *' Rccov. U. llil. 13 Cbai. I, ro. 6. " Iniiil. nkt. (P.K.O.), 1660, Ififii ; Rfcov. R. Eail. 16 t'hai. II, ro. 37. " Inilit. Ilki. (P.R.O.); U.icon, Litirr Rfgii, 828. •" Inilit. Bin. (P.R.O.). •' Ibid. •» Ibid. "" Feet o( F. North.mti. Mich. 35 Geo III. " Initit. Bk.. (P.R.O.). "* llurke, LanJrJ Grnlry, 1925. " Imp from ihr Riv. I'. 11. \,-M\f,. " Pope Nich. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39b. •" I'ulor litdn. (Rec. Com.), iv, 291. " I., and 1: Hen. VIll, xix, pt. i, g. 141 (75)- '» Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 34 & 35 VXtr. < lliu. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lord Montagu of Hc-au)icn), 160. ■ Priv. Slat. 47 Geo. Ill, Sees. II, cap. (>. HUXLOE HUNDRED WARKTON Bury St. Edmunds AliDKV. Azure ibrrf crotvus each surrounding a pair of crossed arroivs all or. Before the Conqiicu lf'.-IRKTO.\' was M.^NOR the property of i'Elgifu, wife of Earl iElfgjr and mother of Karl Morcar. It was given to the abbey of Bury St. Edmund by Queen Maud, wife of the Conqueror,* and continued to be held with other possessions of .Elfgar which the abbey acquired in Scaldwell, Boughton and East Earndon.* In the Domosday Survey it was entered in Navisland hundred among the lands of St. Ed- mund, held by tiie abbot him- self of the king, and it had risen in value from £y to £S. There were 3 J hides there, a mill and woodlands 3 furlongs in length and 2 in breadth.' In the 12th century North- amptonshire Survey 4 hides in Warkton were entered in Northnavisland as held of the fee of St. Edmund.* At the end of the 12th century the abbot of St. Edmundsbury conveyed the manor to Ernald de Herlaw, who in 1 201 reconveved it to Samson abbot of St. Edmundsbury for 60 marks, giving an undertaking to burn the charter made to liim by the abbot.' The soke of Warkton comprised the lands of the abbot of St. Edmundsbury in the district, perhaps those which had been held by ^^Llfgar. It was divided into the In-Soke and the Foreign-Soke. The In-Soke included Warkton, Boughton and Geddington, and the Forcign-Soke Scaldwell, Houghton next Scaldwell (Hanging Houghton), Lamport, Kilmarsh and Maid- well, Clipston, Braybrook, Ugthorp, East Farndon and .Arthingworth.* All the tenants owed suit at the abbot's court of Warkton, but the tenants of the In-Soke paid a rent and had many services to perform, particularly when the abbot visited the manor. The tenants of the Foreign Soke mostly paid a rent for all services.* The abbot had his hall here as early as the 12th century, at which his steward lived, and here the abbot had a miraculous preservation from lire in Ii86.>» In the early part of the 13th century a dispute arose between the abbot of Peterborough and the abbot of St. Edmundsbury regarding the manor of Warkton, wliich the former claimed to be within his seven hun- dreds. It was agreed that the bailiff of the seven hundreds should have supervision of the view of frankpledge and St. Edmundsbury should pay a marl: yearly for quittance of all claims by Peterborough. '^ There were courts and halimotes at Warkton. The native tenants had to pay the usual fines for marrying their daughters or for their sons frequenting the schools and also for Icyrwite. The abbot of St. Edmundsbury was quit of reg.ird of the forest by charter of II71, confirmed at later dates. '^ There seems to have been a flourishing community of tradesmen in the 13th century at Warkton. We have mention of William the Carpenter, who paid a capon for his shop ; Richard de Pit for two salt pans, three capons ; Richard the Smith for his smithy, two capons ; Robert le Iremongcr izd; Richard at the Bridge over the Ise, 61/. ; and John Confort who held a messuage near the Cross." Warkton was included in a list of manors appro- priated to the cellarers of the abbey for which cus- todians were appointed in 1215.'* In 1284 the abbot of St. Edmund held Warkton in pure alms of the king in chief,*' and in 1 291 he received from it the considerable sum of ^^22 15J. 5{(^.** The abbot was having difhculties with his tenants about rights of common and other matters early in the 14th century, and possibly as a result of these disputes he leased the manor, excepting the advowson of the church and view of frankpledge, in 1312 to the homage of the court of Warkton for 12 years at a rent of £&o a year.*'" The abbot obtained a grant of free warren in 1330*' and proved his claim to view of frankpledge and weyf in the Manor** from time immemorial. In 1414 William Cratefeld, abbot of St. Edmunds- bury, leased the manor for ten years to Thomas, Earl of Dorchester, at a rent of ^25 a year,andin 1417 the Earl, who had been created Duke of Exeter, wrote complaining that the abbot had arrested his farmer of the lands for arrears of rent due from him.'* The abbey of Bury St. Edmunds continued to hold the manor until the Dissolution, when in 1535 it was in lease to Thomas Lane for a rent of ^^32. On 20 March 1541, the manor and advowson of the rectory of Warkton, together with its soke, as part of the late possessions of the abbey, with all the lands of the abbey in Warkton, were granted for life to Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's Bench,"* to whom on surrender of this patent a fresh grant was made in fee on l8 March 1542.^* Lands in Warkton were granted with tlie manors of Holwell, Brlxworth, Lamport, Hanging Houghton, etc., by Robert Burdon of Hanging Houghton and his wife Joan, and Robert Burdon, junior, to Sir Edward Montagu in 1541.21^ The manor seems to have been settled on Ellen the third wife of Sir Edward Montagu, Lord Chief Justice, who in 1557 leased it to her son Edward.^"" It descended to Sir Walter Montagu, kt., younger son of Sir Edward Montagu and grandson of the Lord Chief Justice, who in 1604 settled it on his second wife Ann. He died without issue in 1616, his wife Ann surviving him, and his heir being his brother, Sir Edward Montagu,^^ created Lord Montagu of • Memorials of S. Edmund's Abbey (Rolls Ser.),Ui, 4. • V.C.II. fforibanti. i, 285, 318. •Ibid, i, 318. • Ibid. 389A. ' Bucclcuch MSS. Warkton Bk. pp. 1,4. • Ibid. 21 et scq. In one list ' Lulcham,' poisibly Lolham in Maxcy parish, is added. A dispute as to reliefs payable in the soke arose in 164S ; Excheq. Dcponi. Trin. 24 Chas. I, no. 1. • Ibid. 21. " Ibid. 5, 7 ; Mem. of St. Edmund't Abb. (Rolls Scr.), i, 268 j ii, 125 ; iii, 22. " Bucclcuch MSS. Warkton Bk. 8 ; Reg. Robt. Swaffham, cxlv, 5d. ; cf. Lansd. MS. 1029, 21 lb. " Bucclcuch MSS. op. cit. 34 ; Chart. R. 17 John, m. 7; Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 41; 1247-51, p. 281. " Ibid. 42. '« Chart. R. 17 John, m. 7. '' Feud. Aids, iv, 12. " Po/ie Nicb. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 54*. "•Bucdeuch MSS. Warkton Bk. pp. 6, 10. " Chart. R. 4 Edw. Ill, ni. 18, no. 43; Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 189. " Plac. de Quo ll'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 560. '» Bucdeuch MSS. Warkton Bk. p. 33. •0 L. and P. Ilcn. VIII, xvi, g. C78 (56) ; Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. 5. " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvii, g. 220 (63); Pat. R. 33Hen. VIII,pt. 7. »!• Com. Pleas, D. Enr. Mich. 32 Hen. VIII, m. 7d. "b U,st. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lord Montagu of Beaulieu), 6. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccclxv, '54- A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Scott, Duke of Buc- clcuch. Ot a bend azure charged with a motet of six points betu^een ttoo crescents or. Boughton in 1621. His grandson Ralph was created Duke of Montagu in 1 705, and his son, the second Duke, died in 1749, leaving two daughters, Isabel and Mary. W'arkton went to the latter, who married George Brudenell, who was created Duke of Montagu in 1766, with special remainder to his grandson Henry James Scott, son of Henry Scott, Duke of Buccleuch, and Elizabeth, daughter of the first Duke of Montagu. He suc- ceeded as Duke of Buccleuch in 1812 and the manor has descended with the dukedom to the present day.^^ The church of CHURCH ST. ED.MUND consists of chan- cel 36 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., clearstoried nave 35 ft. 8 in. by 14 ft. 9 in., north and south aisles 15 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower II ft. square, all these measurements being internal. The width across nave and aisles is 51 ft. 6in. The nave arcades are of two bays : they appear to have been originally of the latter part of the 12th century, but have been very much restored. The two semicircular arches on each side are of a single square order and spring from a cylindrical pier with moulded base and square abacus, and from plain imposts at either end : the eastern respond on the north side has a roll moulding at the angles, but the others are square. The arches, however, in their present form m.iy date only from the 1 8th century, at the lime of the rebuilding of the chancel. In Bridges' time the old chancel was standing : it had buttresses at the east end and ' four stone seats' in the south wall near the altar." On the north side the first Duke of Montagu, who died in 1709, had built a 'place of sepulture for himself and family,'^^ and some forty years later, after the death of the second duke in 1749, the cliancel was entirely rebuilt in the style of the day. It has four large recesses for monuments, two on each side, and a wide round-headed east window : externally it is faced with ashlar, and has a high parapet and a pediment at the east end. The burial place is entered from the east end of the north aisle, and covers the cliancel about half its lengtli. The aisles were rebuilt and the clearstory added in the 14th century, but were completely restored in 1867-8. They have plain parapets and leaded roofs, but all the aisle windows arc modern, and those of the clearstory, which are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights, extensively renewed. The moulded south doorway, however, is original, and a buttress with triangular head remains at the north-west angle. In the south aisle is a 14th-century piscina with fluted bowl. The pointed chancel arch dates from 1867. In 1872 a vestry was added at the cast end of the south aisle, partly covering the chancel. The 15th-century porch has been rebuilt : it has plain parapets, leaded roof and outer moulded doorway with hood. The tower was built in the middle of the I5ih century, and is of four stages, with broad angle buttress of square section and vertical outline, and a vice in the south-west angle. At the foot of the buttresses above the plinth is a band of quatrefoils, as at Kettering, and another band above the west doorway. The doorway has continuous mouldings, and is set within a rectangular frame with traceried spandrels : over it is a three-light pointed window with embattled transom. The three lower stages are blank on the north and south sides, but in the third stage facing west is a square-headed loop, and on the east a doorway formerly opening on to the nave roof. The bell-chamber windows are of two-lights with embattled transom and a quatrefoil in the head, and the tower finishes with a band of quatrefoils and battlemented parapet with tall angle pu.nacles. The height to the top of the pinnacles is 70 ft. The arch to the nave is of three chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-round responds. The font consists of a shallow octagonal bowl shaped from the square, set on a modern stem. I'he monuments in the chancel are of more than local interest, and of their kind are fine examples of the sculptural art of the period. In the western recess of the north wall is that of John, 2nd Duke of Montagu (d. 1749), by Roubiliac, with an allegorical group of Charity and her nurslings exhibiting a medallion of the duke to the mourning duchess. Op- posite, in the south wall, is a group of the three Fates, also by Roubiliac, commemorating the duke's widow Mary Churchill (d. 1751), fourth daughter of the first Duke of Marlborough. The second monument on the north side is to the memory of Mary, Duchess of Montagu (d. 1775), youngest daughter and co-heir of the second duke, and takes the form of an allegorical group within an architectural setting designed by Robert Adam, the sculpture executed by Peter Matthias Van Gclder. It was erected by her husband George, Duke of Montagu and 4th Earl of Cardigan, who survived her 15 years, dying in 1790, when the dukedom became extinct. The remaining recess on the south side is filled by a seated statue, by Thomas Campbell, of Elizabeth Montagu, widow of Henry, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, who died 1827, erected by her grandson Walter Francis, 5lh Duke of Buccleuch. At the cast end of the south arcade, below the arch, is a wall monument, with shield of arms and rhyming inscription, to Thomas Johnson, 1657.^* There are five bells, the first and second by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1887 ; the third by T. and J. K.ayre, of Kettering, 1718; the fourth by Thomas Eayre, 1761, and the tenor by Hugh Watts II, of Leicester, 1638.''' The plate consists of a paten without marks inscribed ' Given to the parish of Warckton, Nortliton- shcir An. dom. 1683,' and a modern medixval cup and paten of 1868, given in 1876. There are also a pewter Hagon and breadholder.^* " Rccov. R. Trin. 9 Chai. I, ro. 40; Mil. 3 Anne, ro. 223 ; Eait. 33 Gen. II, ro. 1I2 ; 8 Geo. Ill, ro. ijc) ; Feel of F. Div. Cot Trin. i) Clian. I ; Mich. 1O58 ; Nortlianlt. EaU. 33 Geo. II j 16 Geo. Ill ; Priv. Slat. 47 Geo. Ill (Sen. II, cap. 6) ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage (Montagu of Boughton). •* llriJgr'R, //ii/. Nerthatits. ii, 264. "■ IM.I. 263. '" The iiiHcription it given in Hii(If,'rs, op. cil. ii, 264. " North, Ch. ItfUt of Sorthanls. 42S, whore thr itiBcrlptions nii the old belli air given. Thrir wrri- fiMir lu-IUin 1700. '** Markham, Ch. Vluf of Nortbanti. Z97. In 1K43 there were also an Elixa- bethan cup and cover paten. W =o s" \. ^^,5^' 4^ a: :j HUXLOE HUNDRED WOODFORD The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) baptisms and burials 1559-174.1, marriages 1559-1740; (ii) baptisms 1742-1812, marriages 1742-1756, burials 174I-1812; (iii) marriages 1756-1812. The church- wardens' accounts begin in 1769. The church was held with the ADfOlf'SOX manor by the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, and appears before 1191 in a list of churches of manors belonging to the abbey as worth 10 marks yearly.-* In 1291 it was valued at ^^ll 61. SJ. yearly." At the Dissolution, the profits of the rectory, then leased to I.eo Kyng, were/[l9 6/. 8ee Thrap- iton. " Cott. MS. Vcjp. E xxi, fol 78 d. «' Ibid. Cleop. C i, fol. 146 ; Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 659. *' Cal. Fine,vV\, p. 200, 212; Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill (pt. i), no. 36. ♦» Add. MS. 25288, fols. 8, 15 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 49. " Bridges, loc. cit. '■ Ibid. " Ibid. p. 266. *• Chan. Inq. p m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 117. '• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Eliz. " Ibid. Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Recov. R. East. ] Jai. I, ro. loi. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1652. " De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270 ; Cbron. Petrob. 22. " Ibid. 150. " Cott. MS. Vesp. Exxii.fol. 1121/. •" Feud, .lids, iv, p. 29. •' Cott. MS. Vesp. Exxii.fol. wod. " Ibid, xxi, fol. 791/. In 1346, John dc Drayton sued Robert de Bois for the pre- sentation to the mediety of the advowson of the church, as having the custody of John Trailly, a grandson of William. The result does not appear, but neither John de Drayton nor his father, who was said to have died seised of i of the manor, ap- pears to have done homage to the abbot ; cf. De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270. "Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fols. i^xd, liid. " Ibid, i, fols. 146, 133. •' Cal. Pal. 1364-7, p. 124; Cal. Close, 1364-68, p. III. "Add. MS. 25288, fol. 15. •' Ibid. " Feud. Aids, iv, 49. 257 " Bridges, op. cit, ii. 267, cit. Episc. Reg. '" Ibid. 266. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4 & 5 Eliz. " Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 151^. " Feud. 'Itds, iv, 49. "* Bridges, loc. cit. " Close R. II Edw. IV, m. 5 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xviii, 95. '^ For descent sec Aldwinkle All Saints ; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 25 and 26 Eliz.; Hil. 39Eliz. ;Hil. i6Chas. I. " Ibid. Hil. 1657. " Feud. Aids, iv. 49 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. V. nos. ^^& 103. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 19 Jas. I. '» Feet of F. Northants. East. 43 Edw. III. Tissington had the wardship of Henry Bozoun, who came of age in 1369 (see ante.) A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE A second holding in Woodford, which appears later to have been called JRJILLT PLACE or NOR- WICWS MAXOR, belonged in the reign of Edward the Confessor to the soke of Peterborough Abbey.** It consisted of a hide and a virgate of land, which were held by Burred, but in 1086 it had been granted to the Bishop of Coutances who held it in chief of the king.^ In the 12th century survey, it appears as a holding of li- hides belonging to the fee of Peter- borough,*^ but this probably represented an attempt by the abbey to recover the land after the bishop's forfeiture. It was unsuccessful and at some subse- quent date the land was granted to the Clares and was held of the honour of Gloucester as half a knight's In 10S6, the bishop's tenant was named Ralph,** but early in the 12th century Guy de Trailly was the sub-tenant.*^ Either the name Guy is a mistake for Geoffrey, or else the mesne tenant's name is omitted and Guy was the tenant in demesne and the ancestor of the Trailly s of Woodford. The mesne tenants under the Clares were undoubtedly the Traillys, who held the manor of Yelden in Bedfordshire,*' and Sir John Trailly was holding the half-fee in 1398,** but after this date the mesne lordship disappears. The tenants in demesne be- longed to another branch of the family, of which Guy may have been the first. In 1241, William de Trailly seems to have been the tenant,*' and he was probably the father of Richard and Geoffrey Trailly, who obtained by marriage two shares of the manor of Wood- ford (q.v.). Certainly the half- fee passed to Richard Trailly and his heirs, represented in 1403 by Walter Ilger.*" It passed shortly afterwards to Sir Jolin Holt, who died seised of Trailly Place in 1419,'* and was succeeded by his two sons Hugh*^ and Richard. The latter died in 1429, when his heir was his cousin Simon Norwich.*^ John Norwich died seised in 1504, when the manor was said to be held in chief of the king.*^ His great- grandson, Simon, sold it in 1570 to Simon Mallory,'* who was lord of the chief manor of Wood- ford (q.v.). All the tenants in Woodford did suit of court at the abbot's court for tlie Hundred of Huxloc and were geldable, but Richard de Clare, Earl of Glou- cester, withdrew the suit of his Woodford tenants to his Icet at Denford.** He also claimed certain privileges that were held by the Abbey in the Hundred, Trailly. Or between four gules. a cross marllets namely, the return of writs, pleas de vaviio vetito, view of frank-pledge, gallows and the assizes of bread and ale." In the l8th century. Lord St. John of Bletsoe had a court leet and court baron in the manor of Woodford.'* A mill was attached to Roger Maufe's manor in Woodford in 1086, when it paid 2s. a year,*' and a water-mill was attached to the manor in 1718.^ When Simon Mallory sold his Woodford possessions to Sir Rowland St. John in 1621, three water-mills were included in the sale.* These were probably the three mills of which his father died seised, called Dodcs Mills.^ Two other water-mills, called WiUicoat mills, seem to have been in the Crown in the reign of Henry VIII, and were granted in 1544 to William, Lord Parr of Horton.* They had reverted to the Crown before 1560, when Elizabeth granted them to William Garrard and others, but this grant was surrendered two years later.* They were afterwards granted to Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Throckmorton, who sold them to Henry Gierke of Stanwick. He died seised of them in 1574, when his heir was his son William.' They passed, however, to Gabriel, the brother of William, and on his death in 1623 he was succeeded by their nephew Christopher, a minor.' A free fishery is mentioned as appurtenant to the manor of Woodford, after its division amongst the daughters of Robert Maufe. Thus in 1332 a quarter part of a fishery in the Nene worth 4/. a year was included in the settlement made by Henry Trailly of his share of the manor.* Again in 1592, a free fishery was sold with Woodford or Pycl's manor by Lord Vaux to Simon Mallory,® and is frequently mentioned after the manors had passed to the St. Johns." The church of ST. MART-THE- CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel 40 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., clearstoried nave 79 ft. by 14 ft. 3 in., north and south aisles 12 ft. 6 in. wide, north and south porches, and west tower 11 ft. by 12 ft. surmounted by a spire. The width across nave and aisles is 44 ft. 10 in., and the total length of the church 138 ft. 6 in., all these measurements being internal. There is a modern vestry and organ chamber on the north side of the chancel. The church, which is of rubble throughout, was restored in 1867. The chancel was then partly rebuilt, and has a modern high-pitched tiled roof, but all the other roofs are leaded and of flat-pitch behind plain parapets. Internally, with the exception of the tower, all the walls are plastered. The architectural history of the building appears to be briefly as follows : the original structure was an •• V.C.U. Norlhants. i, 311. " Ibid. •• Ibid. 388A. '* Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Chroti. Pelrob. p. 114; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edv/. II, no. 68 ; 36 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 36; 46 Edw. Ill (ut nos), no. 6i ; 16 Ric. II, no. 27; 22 Ric. II, no. 46 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 41. " V.C.II. Sorihanii. i, p. 311. •• Ibid. 338ft. •' y.C.II. Brdi. iii, 176; Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Cat. Fine, vii, 212; Chan. Inq. p.m. 4'i F.dw. Ill (lit not.), no. 62. " Ibid. 22 Ric. II, no. 46. " Rol. Rob. C'rosirleiie (Cant, and York Soc.) 203 ; Bh. of Fees, ii, 937. "" Feud. Aids, iv, 12 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 36 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 41 ; Crt/. Ftnr, vii, 212. •' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Ilcn. V, no. 43. " Ibid. 8 Hen. V, no. 103. " Ibid. 30 Hen. VI, no. 13. " Ibid. (Ser. ii), xviii, ;ii. ■" Ibid. (Ser. ii), Ixxxix, 99 ; cxii, 111;; Feet of F. NorthanU. Hil. 12 Eli/. ; W. C. Metcalfe, ^111/. of Norlhanls. pp. 35, 112. ■* Kol. Hund. (Rcc. Com.), ii, 7 j Cbron. Pelrob. p. 114. " Rol. Hund. (Rcc. Com.) ii, 7. •" Recov. R. Trin. 4 Ceo. I, ro. 1 28 j Mich. 21 Ceo. Ill, ro. 372. 258 »» y.C.II. Korlhanls. i, 317*. ' Rccov. R. Trin. 4 Geo. 1, ro. 128. " Ibid. nil. 19 Jas. I, ro. 17. * Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxxviii^ 109. * L. and P. lien. VIII, xix, pt. i, g. 141 (75)- » Pat. R. 2 Klir,. pt. 13. • Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), clxxi, loi. ' Ibiil. ccccvi, 4. " Colt.MS. Cleop. Cii,fol. ijirf. • Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 34 Eliz. '" Ibid. Hil. 22 Elir.. ; Recov. R. Trin. 4 Geo. I, ro. 128 ; Mich. 29 Ceo. HI. ro. 564. Woodford Church from thf. South-east Woodford Church ; The Interior, looking East HUXLOE HUNDRED WOODFORD aisleless early I2th century church vvitli nave and chancel of equal breadth, to which about 1200 a north aisle and chancel chapel were added. The tower also is of this period. In the 1 3th century a new chan- cel of great length was built east of the older chancel, which was thrown into the nave, the old chancel arch being replaced by a new one ; at the same time the north aisle was widened and a south aisle with porch of two stories added. A lateral chapel, witli narrow east and west aisles, was also planned just east of the porch projecting from tlie soutli wall of the church. This was probably completed, but only its west aisle remains, the rest having been taken down in the 15th century when the aisle walls on imposts, but that at the east end has been cut away. The arcade prob.ibly occupied the whole extent of the north wall of the early cliantcl, wliich was after- wards joined up to the new work built from the east. The chancel is of three bays with coupled angle buttresses of two stages and a modern east window of tiiree lancets." The nortli and south windows of the eastern bay in tlieir present form*- are also modern, dating only from the restoration, but the chancel is substantially of 13th-century date, the south wall retaining a keel-shaped string at sill level and a priest's doorway in the middle bay with continuous moulded head and jambs. The piscina and triple sedilia are also original. They form a single compo- I2ffl Century C.I200 C1250-80 C3 142! Century H(I5I!J Century □ Modern Plan of Woodford Church both sides were largely rebuilt or new windows inserted. The spire and north porch are additions of the early 14th century. The original nave was 46 ft. long, and its eastern limit is still marked by compound piers in both arcades and by the 13th-century transverse arch between them. The north arcade is of four bays, with three round arches and a narrow pointed one at the west end, all of a single square order, springing from cylindrical piers with moulded bases and sculptured capitals, and from moulded imposts at either end. The capitals differ in character ; that of the western pier has on two sides a face with foliage issuing from the mouth, but on the others the foliage is of con- ventional stiff-leaf character. The eastern arch is considerably wider than the others, the spacing of the arcade being thus very irregular. Beyond the compound pier, which has half-round responds on its north and south faces, is the arcade of the old chancel, which consists of two round arches similar to the others springing from a cylindrical pier with moulded capital and base ; the work is rather later than that just described, the capital having nail-head ornament, but followed closely on it. The responds have moulded sition of four uncusped pointed arches, the seats being on one level and divided by detached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The piscina has a plain bowl and hollow-chamfered recess, with a small shaft in its east jamb. The north wall below the window is blank, but farther west, in the middle bay, is a pointed doorway now opening to the modern vestry.*^ The western bay is occupied by a 13th- century wall arcade of three uncusped hollow-cham- fered arches on clustered shafts of quatrefoil section with moulded capitals and bases and single jamb shafts. In the south wall opposite is a similar arcade of four arches opened out and restored in 1867, the arch next the priests' doorway being very narrow, but there is no indication that the arcading extended farther east on either side. Within the western arch of the north arcade is a trefoil headed low-side window, originally fitted with one vertical and four horizontal iron bars, one of which remains.''' The western window in the south wall is a 15th-century insertion of four lights with Perpendicular tracery. The 13th-century chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases. The ritual chancel extends about ** The former window was of four lighti with interiecting mullions. " They are of two trefoiled lighti •imilar to the west window of the north aisle. Formerly the north window was of two lights with forked mullion and that on the south a three light perpendicular insertion : Cbi. Arcbd. Nortbampt. 85. *' It probably opened originally to a sacristy covering the middle bay. 259 ^* Assoc. Arcb. Sac. Reps, xxix, 457. The window is now blocked on the out- side by the organ : the opening is 3 ft. 5 in. high by 18 in. wide, and the sill is z ft. Sin. above the floor. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 8 ft. west of the chancel into the nave : there is a dwarf wall, but no screen. Tlie south arcade of the original nave has three wide pointed arches of two chamfered orders dying into the wall at the west end and at the east resting on a half-octagonal respond. The piers and the respond have moulded capitals and bases, but the western pier is octagonal and the other cylindrical with an octagonal capital. Transverse arches are carried over the aisle from both piers as well as from the compound pier farther east, all similar to those of the arcades. The western arch rests on a moulded corbel in the south wall, but the other two spring from 13th-century piers of four clustered shafts which originally marked the entrance to the lateral chapel but are now built into the later walling ; of these piers the capital of the western is carved with stiff-leaf foliage, but the other is simply moulded, and both have moulded bases.** The extended arcade, on the south side of the old chancel, is of two bays with pointed arches of two hollow chamfers and deep moulded hood, springing from a cylindrical pier** with circular moulded capital and base and from a half-octagonal respond at the east end. At the west the arch dies out. The 13th-century arch across the nave, which was substituted for the original chancel arch, is of two chamfered orders, the inner on half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases, and north of it a transverse arch is carried over the aisle, as on the suuth side.*' The south doorway and porch are very beautiful examples of 13th century work, with elaborate mouldings and richly decorated. The inner doorway is of two main orders, the inner forming a trefoiled arch and the outer a moulded round arch with delicate foliage on both planes, and label over ; in the space above formed by the pointed wall-arch is a trefoiled niche containing a modern statue of the Blessed Virgin, with a moulded and cuspcd trefoil on each side. The jambs have three major shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and smaller attached shafts between ; the outer shaft on each side carries the diagonal ribs of the porch vault, which is of simple quadripartite form.** The outer doorway has an acutely pointed arch of three orders elaborately moulded with rolls and hollows, on clustered jamb- shafts with moulded capitals, bases and mid-bands. The hoodmould terminates in masks. The chamber over the porch was approached by a stairway in the west wall, which still remains, opening from the sill of a later window in the aisle, but the porch is now finished with a plain parapet. Of the building eastward only the narrow west aisle remains ; it is 5 ft. 8 in. wide, opening to the church by a pointed arch, and was covered by an oblong quadri- partite vault, the springing of which remains in three of the angles. The position of the corresponding cast aisle is marked by the clustered pier and a blocked arch to the aisle, but there has been so much rebuilding and alteration in later times that the original arrange- ment must remain in some measure uncertain. The wide middle bay was apparently vaulted and open to the church and probably was used as a chapel. An upper story forming part of the porch chamber may also be assumed, but whether this, too, was used as a chapel or for some other purpose it is impossible to say.*** All the windows of the south aisle are 15th-century insertions, those east of the porch being of four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery and four- centred heads. The end windows are of three lights, that in the west wall and a three-light window west of the porch being without tracery. The west window of the north aisle and one in the north wall are of the early 14th century, of two trefoiled lights, with pointed trefoils and quatrefoil over,^" but all the others are 15th-century insertions of three lights ; that at the east end is now blocked by the organ chamber. The 13th-century north doorway is of two moulded orders, the inner continuous, the outer on jambshafts with moulded capitals and bases. The porch has a modern slated roof without gable coping and an outer doorway of two moulded orders, the inner springing from half-round responds with moulded capitals and bases. It has single trefoiled windows in the side walls, but no benches. The east end of the north aisle is used as a morning chapel; in the south wall is a 13th-century piscina and remains of sedilia destroyed in the making of a tomb recess cut through the wall to the west of the new chancel arch c. 1 290. In the north wall, between the windows, there are two plain four-centred 15th- century niches. The stairs to the rood loft remain in an almost perfect condition on the south side of the chancel arch, entered from the east end of the aisle by a plain four-centred doorway. The staircase was made in the 15th century and projects into the aisle, from which it was lighted by small windows, now blocked, in the south and west.^* There is a small recess,'^ perhaps for a piscina, in the south wall of the aisle, and farther west a low wall-recess with two-centred moulded segmental arch. North of the east window is a niche with image bracket. The clearstory windows are square headed and of two trefoiled lights ; there are two on each side of the extended nave and three of plainer character to the old nave spaced to the bays of the south arcade. The tower is of four main stages with coupled buttresses about half its height, so placed as to cut off the square angles of the lower part ; the angles of the upper story thus overhang and arc supported by corbels in the form of heads. The buttresses are of two stages. On the west side in the second stage is a single hooded lancet with wide internal splay, and another smaller one on the north side. The bell- chamber windows are of two plain lancets divided by a square shaft and set within a pointed arch on shafted jambs with cushion capitals ; the tympanum ** Three ihafti of the wcitcrn and two of the eaitorn pier alone arc viiible. *• The pier i> of greater diameter than that oppoiite in the north arcade. *' The north aiilc arch ii new. In 1849 the reipondi alone remained : Chi. Ar(bd. Norlhampl. 87. ** The plan of the porch is an oblong measuring 8 ft. 6 in. from west to east by 5 ft. j the vaulting ribs arc chamfered. " The tlicor)' that it constituted a dwelling house above a vaulted under- croft used for no special purpose is not convincing and seems only to have been 260 advanced to account for an unusual feature. ■" The new windows in the cast bay of the chancel arc copied from these. " 'i'lu-re is no indication of the doorway to tljc loft, but it may be hidden by the plaster. " It ii 61 in. wide by 7] in. high. HUXLOE HUNDRED WOODFORD is plain. The tower terminates with a trefoiled corbel table and plain parapet with elaborate angle pinnacles.** The pointed tower arch has been rebuilt ; it is of three** chamfered orders, the innermost on half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The line of the high-pitched I3tl>-century nave roof rcm.iins above the arcii. There is no vice. The spire belongs to the same category as those of Denford and Grafton Underwood, with ' broaches ' behind the parapet, and has ribbed angles and three sets of lights on the cardinal faces. The lights are of early ' Decorated ' character and the lower lights are t ransomed. The 13th-century font has a plain hexagonal bowl on si.x detached sliafts with moulded capitals and bases grouped round a central cylindrical stem, and mounted on two hexagonal steps. On the underside of the bowl at the angles arc small sculptured faces. The roofs have been extensively restored, but the moulded tie-beams of tiie nave are old and the ridge and purlins in the western portion ; there arc also some old timbers in the south aisle roof and at the east end of the north aisle. The wooden effigies of Sir Walter Trailly (d. 1290) and his wife have already been described.*^ They lie under a two-centred segmental moulded arch cut through the wall between the north chapel and the extended nave.*' In the chancel is a grave slab with brass of Simon Mallory the elder (d. 1580), who is represented in armour, with shield of arms and inscription,*' and on another slab a brass plate with inscription to Dorothy wife of Simon Mallorv the younger, of Woodford, ' whoe had 15 sonnes and daughters ' and was buried 5 June 1639. There is some old glass in the top lights of the easternmost window of the north aisle ; it is mostly yellow and white and comprises six figures, including a king and two saints. In the west face of the northern compound pier is a heart-burial niche discovered during the restora- tion of 1867.** A chest in the nave is dated 1686. The pulpit and all the fittings are modern. There are six bells, the treble and third by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1913 ; the second and tenor, dated 1616; the fourth by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1662 ; and the fifth by W. and J. Taylor of Oxford, 1839.** The plate consists of a cup of c. 1570 with the maker's initials i m linked, a paten inscribed ' W. Yates, rector, W. Wootton, J. Mollis Eccl. Guard. 1683,' without date-letter, but with the mark e b thrice repeated; a jug-shaped flagon of 1863, and a silver gilt cup and paten of 1872 ; there is also a pewter tlagon with tlic maker's mark r b.*" The registers before 1812 are as follows* (i) bap- tisms and burials 16S0-1K00, marriages 1680-1753 ; (ii) marriages 1754-1812; (iii) baptisms 1806-1812, burials 1801-1812. The first pages of the third volume are cut out. The church of All Saints or St. ADl'OjySON Mary'i probably existed at the time of the Domesday survey, when the priest appears amongst the tenants of the Bishop of Coutances.^ To which holding in Woodford the advowson belonged at that time is not apparent, but probably the Maufcs claimed it. In 1 205 an agree- ment was made between Walter Trailly and Lucas Maufe, the tenants of the two holdings, that each should hold a mediety of the advowson,'^ and this division remained. TheTraillys' mediety was known as the northern, or later as Cock's mediety,** and was held by Walter's descendants until 1400,^ when Sir John Trailly, knt., died seised of it. He seems, however, to have granted it to Sir Gerald Braybrook, knt., and Edmund Hampden, who presented in 1411.^' Thomas Hampden and Richard Restwold presented in 1461, and John Hampden in 1511.^' John Hampden appears to have granted the presentation to different people in 1524, 1526 and 1549, and finally to Simon Mallory, who presented in 1558.^ In 1622, his nephew Simon Mallory sold a mediety of the advowson to Sir Rowland St. John,^' but he had also inherited part at least of the other mediety, so that it is not certain what was included in the sale.^" By 1648, however, the St. Johns had acquired both medieties,^! and Lord St. John is the present patron of the living. The other mediety, which was assigned in 1205 to Lucas Maufe and his heirs, was known as the southern or Style's mediety,** and was divided like the manor (q.v.) among the heiresses of Robert Maufe. In 1286 an arrangement was made by which John de Bois and his wife Alice and their heirs, as tenants of two parts of the manor, should make the first and third of every four presentations to the mediety, while Richard de Trailly, Roger de Bozoun, his wife Alice and their heirs, as tenants of a quarter of the manor, should make the fourth presentation, and Geoffrey Trailly, his son William and their heirs, the second presentation, as tenants of the last quarter of the *' The pinnacles were probably added when the spire was built ; their plan ' con- sists of eight alternate rounds and hollows, the top is a composition of heads and croclceted canopies and is crowned by a finial ' : Chs. Archd. Northampi. 82. ** There arc four orders on the west side, the two outer dying out. •* y.C.II. Norlhanls. i. 401. •• ' For upwards of twenty years the effigies were reposing at the west end of the church, having been removed from their arch, but on paving the north aisle in 1845 they were placed near their original situation at the east end of the aisle' (Cole, MS. Hat. oj Woodford). They were subse- quently replaced under the arch. •' The inscription reads ; * Here lyethe Sjrmon Malory the elder esquyer who dyed the daye of in the yere of our Lordc God McccccLxxx and whos soule is in the greate mercye of Jesus Christ our Savyor.' '** It contained a box in which a human heart was found wrapped in a piece of cloth : Northampt. N. &■ Q. 1K84-5, P- 75- *" The treble was added in 1913 to a ring of five, and all the bells rehung. The old second (now third) was by Tobie Norris 1673. The inscriptions on the old bells are given in North, Cb. Bells of Northann. 450. •" Markham, Cb. Plate of NorthanH. 321. " De Banco R. 537, m. 222; Recov. R. Hil. 19 Ja«. I, ro. 17 ; Bacon, Liber Regit, p. 823. 261 " V.C.H Nortbants. i, 311. " Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 7 John. The name Tilly in the fine seems an obvious error for Trailly. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 267; Bacon, loc. cit. " Bridges, loc. cit. ; Rot. Rob. Grosse- tesle (Cant, and York Soc), pp. 203, 226 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 Hen. IV, pt. 1, no. 42. "' Bridg's, loc. cit. " Ibid. «« IbiJ '" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 19 Jas. I. «» Ibid. Hil. 34 Elli. ; W. C. Metcalfe, Viiit. of Nortbants. pp. 25, 112. ♦■ Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.) 1629, 1638, 1648. *' Bridges, loc. cit. \ Bacon, loc. cit. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE manor.'" The reversal of the order of presentation by the two Traillys was due to the fact that Richard de Trailly was to make the first presentation and in fact had already done so in 1285.*' This arrangement is recited in a lawsuit of 1 346 and can be traced in the presentations down to the 16th century.** The share of the Bois passed with their manor (q.v.) to Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who sold it in 1592 to Simon Mallory,** and it presumably passed with the other property of the Mallorys in Woodford to Sir Rowland St. John, who first presented to one of the medieties of the church in 1629.'" Richard de Trailly's share passed with his manor (q.v.) to the Thorleys, and William Thorley presented in 1494,''* but it is not mentioned amongst his possessions at his death in 1515,'" nor in subsequent sales of Thorley's Manor.*" Geoffrey de Trailly's share in the mediety of the church also followed the descent of his quarter share in the manor (q.v.). After the sub- division of this holding on the death of Hugh de la Hay, William Rockingham presented in 1400, William Farnham and John Welles in 1437, Roger Lenton and John Welles in 1446, VV'illiam Aldwinkle and Roger Lenton in 1455.** In none of the later conveyances of Lenton's, however, is any share of the advowson mentioned,*- but in 1562 Robert Barley sold a quarter of a quarter of the mediety of the advowson to Simon Mallory,*' who presumably also acquired in some way the remaining shares in this mediety of the advowson. The abbot of Peterborough received, in the 13th century, 5 marks a year from the rectory of Wood- ford.** After the dissolution of the abbey, this portion was granted in 1 541 to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough.** The Woodford Charity Estate, CHARITIES administered by nine trustees in con- formity with the provisions of a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 July 1896, comprises the charity of Peter Gray (deed 7 May 1577), endowment 39 a. 3 r. of land and 4 cottages and barn in Woodford and a sum of ^35 js. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, produced by the sale in 1916 of a small piece of land known as the Schoolmaster's Garden and the charity of Susannah Louisa Baroness St. John — will proved in Prerogative Court 29 Nov. 1805— endowment of ^^129 os. ild. Consols with the Official Trustees. The land is let in allot- ments, and with the cottages produced £qo 8s. \d. in 1924. The dividends on the stock amount to £^ 2s. yearly. The income is applied in subscriptions to hospitals and in the distribution of coal. Whaley's Money. A rentcharge or customary payment of I3.r. \d. has long been received by the churchwardens out of land and distributed yearly among five poor widows. This charity is ascribed to donations by persons named Wales and Forscott. The Church Land was awarded by the Com- missioners upon inclosures in Woodford and Denford to the churchwardens of Woodford. The Denford inclosure took place in 1766. The property consists of 14 a. 3 r. 5 p. of land in Woodford let for ^18 17/. yearly and 3 r. of land in Denford let for £2 yearly. The Official Trustees hold a sum of £1,997 '5^- '°'^- Consols arising from investments of rents and royalties and producing ^^49 18/. ?,d. yearly. The income is applied towards general church expenses. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 14 Edw. I. ** Bridges, loc. cit. ; Feet of F. North- ant«. Trin. 14 Edw. I. *' De Banco R. 395, m. 270 ; Bridges, loc. cit. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 34 Eliz. ♦' Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.). *' Bridges, loc. cit. " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 1 17. " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Eliz. ; East. 40 Eliz. ; Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Mich. 1652. " Bridges, op. cit. 268 (\Vm. Bukyng- ham is given probably in error for Wm. Rockingham.) " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii),xviii,95, 511; Feet of F. North.-ints. Hil. 12 Eliz. ; Mich. 25 & 26 Eliz. ; Hil. 16 Chas. I ; Hil. 1657. " Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4 & 5 Eliz. " Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, fol. 60 d ; Pope Nub. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 40. " L. andP. Hen. yill,xv\,g. 1226(10). 262 I I I .? > 4 -^ ^ ^ ) h- o O < X o BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS Hecham (xi cent.) ; Hehham, Hcicham, Hckham (xii cent.) ; Hcgham, Hcighani, Hetham, Hecham Fereres, Hegham Ferrers, Hcgham Fcrrars (xiii cent.) ; Hecham Ferres, Higham Ferres, Hcgham Fercrs, Higham Ferrers (xiv cent.). The parish of Higham Ferrers lies between Stan- wick on the north, Chelveston cum Caldecote on the east, and Rushdcn on the south, the river Nene separating it from the parish of Irthlingborough on the west. It has an area of 1,945 ^cres, 696 of which are arable land, wheat, barley, beans being the chief crops, 810 acres of permanent grass and 13 acres of woods and plantations. The soil is mixed, the sub- soil for the most part Great Oolite with streaks of Cornbrash on the east and I'pper Lias on the west. The parish is generally 200 ft. above the ordnance datum, rising in the south-east to 300 ft. Open fields called ' The Buscotts ' and ' No Man's Leys ' were inclosed in 1800 and other waste lands in 1838.* In 1921 the population was 2,850. The town stands on rising ground on the main road from Bedford to Kettering ; the road from Wellingborough to Kimbolton crosses it here, enter- ing at the south end of the town and leaving at the north end, in order to bring all the traffic through the market place to pay toll. The southern part of the main road is called the High Street, the middle part College Street and northward Station Road. Running parallel to this road on the west side is a lane called Back Lane. The church is in the middle of the town on the east side. South-west of it is the Market Place or Market Stead, around which and northward of it are the more important buildings. The late 13th-century market cross in the Market Place consists of a stone shaft with foliated capital surmounted by a modern square abacus and iron weather vane. The shaft is octagonal for the greater part of its height, but becomes circular near the top ; it is now stayed up by three iron struts, which also serve as supports for lamps, and the base consists of a conical pile of masonry, probably formed by casing round the original steps. The total height of the cross is 14 ft. In Bridges' time the shaft terminated in a small stone cube carved with a Crucifixion.* The cross in the churchyard, known in 1463 as ' the VVardeyn Cross,' was restored in 1919 as a war memorial. The Stump Cross and Spittle Cross, which once marked the northern and southern boundaries of the borough, have now long disappeared. The town hall, a small plain detached building of two stories in the Market Square, was erected in 1808, probably on the site of the Hall of the Burgesses repaired in 1395.** On the south of the town hall and adjoining it, there stood in the 17th century the town bakehouse where leaseholders of the manor of Higliam Ferrers were bound to bake all their bread, the custom of the house being to ' backe ye bread well for Twoe pence the bushell.'* The old manor house on the east of the market, rebuilt before 1838, is supposed to have been the dwelling place of the Rudd family.* A few old stone houses remain in the town : No. 5 Market Square, with two-story muUioned bay win- dows and four-centred middle doorway, is probably of late 16th-century date, but has a modern eaved roof in the place of former gables. Nos. 3 and 4 Wood Street, south of the church, now occupied by the Post Office and a coflee tavern, is a building apparently of 17th-century date, on the front of which is a long strapwork plaster panel ; at the north end of the town is a modernised block of cottages with a panel inscribed ' N.K. Ano 1603,' and another building at North End is dated 1728. On the east side of College Street is a house with panel inscribed 't^E '7°9>' ^"'J ^°5. 7 and 8 Market Square is a well-designed 18th-century stone building of two stories with drafted quoins, cornice and slightly advanced pedimented centre. The Bedehouse, standing on the south side of and parallel with the church, at a distance of about 28 yds., is a 15th-century structure consisting of a hall 65 ft. 9 in. long by 24 ft. wide internally, with a chapel 18 ft. 6 in. square at its east end. The build- ing, which was restored in 1923, is faced on the north and west sides with alternate courses of light free- stone and red ironstone, but on the south and east with rubble, and the hall is divided into six bays by buttresses of two stages. There is a bell-cote over the west gable and the eaved roof is covered with modern tiles. The hall has a large projecting stone fireplace in the middle of the south wall, with moulded four-centred arch, and a pointed doorway with crocketed hood at the west end ; there are also door- ways at each end of the south wall, and one on the north side in the third bay from the west. Above the west doorway is a large window^ of five cinque- foiled lights with slightly ogee head, crocketed label with finial andheadstops, and modern vertical tracery, and in the north and south walls two square-headed windows of two cinquefoiled lights with transoms and pointed rear arches. The hall was formerly divided by screens and no doubt had a western vestibule and space round the fire ; it contained thirteen cubicles arranged round the walls, the positions of which are indicated by lockers, five of which in the north wall east of the doorway, long ' /leu, Priv. and Lot. 40 Geo. Ill, cap. 36 ; I Vict. cap. 11. • Alloc. Arch. Soc. Reft, xxiii, 179. •• Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. lii, App. ix, p. 551. • Pari. Surr. Northanti. 33. * Colt, Hisl. of Higham Ferrtrl, 91-3. * Some ttained glass remained in the window in Bridges* time — in the southern division the arms of the see of Canterbury, in the middle France and England 263 quarterly, and in the northern division the arms of Chichclcy. Above the arms were ' miniature portraits of our Saviour, the Virgin, and leveral bishops mitred.' : Hilt, oj Northanti. ii, 178. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE filled up and plastered over, have been opened out and restored.' The fine open timbered roof is of six bays and has curved moulded principals carried down as wall pieces and resting on moulded and battlemented corbels ; the wall plate is also battle- mented. The bell-cote has a trefoiled opening, and canopied niches facing north and south ; it contains a bell by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, 1737.' The chapel is divided from the hall by a pointed arch on the soutli-west,^'' seems to be in part contemporary with it, and although large alterations obscure any real evidence of date, the thick walls point to a corrobo- ration of this idea. A room at the north end, now the study, has a ceiling with good moulded oak beams and cornice together with indications of a large open fireplace. About 18 ft. west uf the north-west angle of the church tower stands the School House, a beautiful HiGHAM FrRHhRs: The Squark of two moulded orders, the inner on half-round responds with battlemented capitals, and by a modern wooden screen. The floor of the chapel is raised 2 ft.'io in. above that of the hall, to allow for a vaulted crvpt or bonc-house,access to which was by an external doorway on the north side. The chapel was for long in a ruinous condition,* and in its present state is largely a restoration. The cast window is of three lights with moulded jambs and elaborate modern tracery ; the north and south windows' arc of two lights with vertical tracery and ogee crnckctcd hood- moulds. The piscina has a square bowl and trefoiled head with crocketed hoodmould. The vicarage house, which adjoins the Bcdchouse 15th-century structure. It is of three bays divided by buttresses, with a window of three lights in each bay and one of five lights at the east and west ends. The cast window and those on the north side have long been blocked. The building, which measures internally 36 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., is faced with ashlar, and has a moulded plinth, string at sill level, and pierced battlemented parapet above a cornice ornamented with roses and other flowers. The buttresses, which at the angles are set diagonally, are of three stages and arc carried up above the flat- pitched leaded roof as crocketed pinnacles. The windows arc all four-ccntrod, with hoodmoulds and cincjuefoilcd lights, those at the east and west having • The lockcri arc z ft. wide by .ibout 3 ft. high and itand 18 in. above the floor. ' Cbuichti^ /Ircbd. Noribamfit. 26. ' An engraving of 181 1 ihowi it tooflcii, the e.iit window without tracery and the •ill broken. It wai * unroofed and quite ruinoui ' in 1849 : ibid. 27. • In Bridget' time * the imperfect 264 portrait! of »aint« and kings' remained in thcBe windows : op. cit. ii, 178. *" It« north-east anple is joined to the louth-weit angle of the Bedehouie. BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS vertical tracery. The sills are about 8 ft. above the floor, allowing room beneath for a doorway in each of the end bays on the south side. The easternmost doorway has a continuous moulded four-centred head, but the other is set within a rectangular frame with carved spandrels. Below the west window, which is more elaborate than that at the east, are four small cinqucfoiled openings, l* originally ligiiting a vestibule formed by a screen which may have had a gallery above. In the south wall, about lo ft. from the east end, is a newel stair leading to the rood-loft, the lower and upper doorways of which remain. ^^ The original flat-pitched roof is of three bays with moulded principals, each bay divided into eight com- partments by moulded ribs. There are remains of colour in the eastern bay. Covering the south-west doorway inside is a small oak screen dated 1636. The floor is boarded and the walls plastered. Tlie building was re- stored in 1914-15 and is now used as a choir vestry and practice room. The remains of the College buildings, which have long been in a ruinous condition,*' stand in the main street, now called College Street, some little distance north- west of the church. The buildings formed a closed quadrangle of the usual collegiate type, but little remains beyond the front of the gatehouse in the east range facing the street, and a portion of the south range, still roofed, in which L_-""_r_"Z] the chapel was situated; the other 13 151!! CENTURY ranges have disappeared.*'' The buildings were of two stories, faced with rubble, and what remains is of 15th-century date. The south range, which face* on to a narrow lane, is in use as a farm house, but it has been much altered from lime to time and many of its architectural features destroyed.** It has an eaved roof with coped end gables, the original one at the east end forming part of the main elevation of the college towards the street, in the same plane with the gatehouse. In Bridges' time the ruins of the north range were still visible,** and Buck's view (1729) shows the walls standing to a height of some 6 ft. or 7 ft. ;*' it also shows the east front extending its full length and considerable remains of the west range, which appears to have contained the hall.** The quadrangle was about 15 yds. square,*' and was entered from the east through a moulded four-centred archway still stand- ing, with square label and quatrefoiled circles con- taining blank shields in the spandrels. Above the arch are three tall canopied niches, now empty, but which probably contained statues of the three patron saints of the college, and a square-lieadcd window of three cinqucfoiled lights with moulded jambs and label. The canopies of the niches break through a string at sill-level, now carried along the whole elevation, but originally stopping at the junction of the east and south ranges. The outer wall of the east range stands its full height and contains also a two-light square-headed window'^" in the upper story, and a single-light window in the ground floor.''* The extent of the existing east wall north of the south range is 36 ft., and the whole length of the clevalioa to College Street 59 ft. The chapel was in the eastern portion of the south range and was probably about illj Entrance II ?■ ^-'ATEWAy IT 1(3 EiHl Subsequent □ Modern Scale of Feet Plan of Hicham Ferrers College 46 ft. long, with a width of 17 ft. 6 in., entered from the quadrangle at the north-west through a pointed doorway with square label, which still exists. It was lighted at the east end by a large five-light window now blocked, part of the crockcted hoodmould of which, with its linial, still remains above a recon- structed two-light window afterwards inserted in the gable. Two large heads, or corbels, which flanked the window outside are still in their original positions, as are also two carved image-brackets inside. The window appears to have been about 12 ft. wide and its sill about 7 ft. above the floor, but it had been blocked before Bridges' time and a large fireplace and chimney built in front of it, the chapel having been converted into a kitchen.^* At the time this was done the east end of the south range assumed its ** These windows, long blocked, have been reopened and glazed, with wooden shutters behind the glass. *' The doorways arc four-centred with continuous mouldings. The sill of the upper doorway is 8 ft. above the floor. "They were so described by Bridges at the beginning of the fSth century, when the building was an inn with the sign of the Saracen's Head : Hiit. Noribanii. ii, 17S. " The south end of the east range, as far as the gateway, is shown roofed in Bucli's drawing, 1729. " It was restored in 1914, when the west wall and part of the south wall adjoining were rebuilt and the thatched roof replaced by one of Colleyweston slates. The south range originally ex- tended further westward. " Op. cit. ii, 178. " The doorways stood their full height. ^* The drawing shows the lower part of three large windows high above the ground in the west wall. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 178. '° Buck's drawing shows a corresponding two-light window, now destroyed, north of the entrance. ■' A modern lintel doorway has been inserted between this window and the entrance. " Op. cit. ii, 178. This may have been done in the 17th century. "The top of the chimney was removed from the apex of the gable in 1914. 265 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE present aspect, the gatehouse stringcourse being continued to the angle of the building. The north wall of the chapel has been so much repaired that the positions of any windows or other features which it may have contained cannot now be traced. High in the south wall is a reconstructed two-light window, and another at the west end of the north wall beyond the chapel, with two single-light windows below on the ground floor. The position of the eastern wall of the west range can be traced, but no portion of the structure itself remains.^' A fragment of walling containing a 15th-century doorway forms the inner dividing wall of a cow-shed to the north-west of the college buildings.^ The names of Newland, St. Botolph's Street and Botolph End survived from the 14th and 15th cen- turies^ to the l8th,2* and the town records of 1488 mention ' Le Shoprowe,'^ where more than 160 years earlier the eight butchers' stalls, valued at 100;. and the eight shops leased to the linen merchants for 48/., probably stood.^* Shops and stalls situated in the market place of Higham Ferrers were leased to the mayor by Richard III in 1485, when the King under- took to provide flags or sedges for their roofing from his meadow called ' le Middell Wroo.'^ The ap- pointment of an examiner of leather about seventy years later*' shows the burgesses already engaged in one of their two chief trades of the present day,'i the other the manufacture of boots and shoes, well estab- lished by the middle of the last century'^ and now employing a still larger proportion of the working population.^ In the reign of Elizabeth a meadow, known as the Tradesmen's or Craftsmen's meadow, was let by the reeve of the manor to the poor crafts- men of Higham Ferrers for [j 8j. dd. a year,^ a rent which before the middle of the following century had been increased to £zi.^ The London Midland and Scottish Railway has two stations in the parish, one in the town, the terminus of the Higham Ferrers branch, the other, called Irthlingborough, a mile to the north on the Northampton and Peterborough branch. Amongst the many other place names of the town and parish which have vanished from present-day maps are Britwinescote of the 13th, the ' litill,' ' mydill ' and ' grete Wroo,' ' Chapcllhyll, ' Thwert- lond ' of the 15th, the ' neastcs pasture,' ' St. Edeses- waie,' ' Northbury close ' of the l6th, ' Every yearcs land,' 'Gunsticks,' ' Hancrosse field,' ' Buric close,' ' le Gore ' by ' Skinners close,' ' Buscot,'^ ' Flcxland ' of the 17th century, whilst ' W'armanshill ' survives from 1649 as Warmonds Hill in the south-west of the town. In 1556 the men of Higham Ferrers were especially commended for their loyalty displayed in the late rebellion.^' Higham Ferrers has gained renown as the birth- place Oi Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1414 to 1443, who was born about the year 1362^ and probably educated at the grammar school under Henry Barton. Of his benefactions to his Chicheley. Or a cheveron benveen three citujfoils guUs. RuDD. Azure a lion argent and a quarter or. native town a full account has been given in an earlier volume with details of his family^ which was of considerable importance in the parish from the 14th to the 17th century.''* Less general but perhaps more personal interest is attached to the best known member of another old and well-reputed family of this town, Captain Thomas Rudd, a distinguished engineer and mathe- matician, whose memorial tablet in the parish church describes him as the sixth of that name by descent since his ancestors came to Higham Ferrers to dwell.*^ It was perhaps on account of his loyalty to Charles I, whose chief engineer he became in i640,''2 that his election as mayor that year was strongly opposed by some of his fellow burgesses'*' and in the days of the Commonwealth he was sequestered and heavily fined.'*' Later in the 17th century Bunyan is said to have been accustomed to preach in a small Bap- tist chapel afterwards used as a coal house.** The town has now both Baptist and Wesle)an chapels. Higham Ferrers Castle was one of the CASTLE baronial castles built shortly after the Conquest, probably by one of the two Peverels. Little is known of its history apart from its connexion with a series of distinguished owners whose succession followed that of the manor (q.v.). It is referred to in 1298 and 1327** as the capital messuage and passed as the castle in the grant to Aylmer de \'alcnce in 1322.*' Payments for castle guard were made as late as 1694.*' It stood north of the parish church. Leland describes it as ' now of late clenc fallen and taken down,'*' and in 1610 John Norden found it 'altogether ruinate.'*" The three '• Buclc'i view ihowt the lower part of three window* in what wai then an incloiing wall on thii tide. •♦ Poiiibly belonging to a dovehouie ihown in Buck's view in this position. »//i«. MSS. Com. Rfp. xii, App. 9, PP- 5T,33- •♦ Bridges, loc. cif. " Ibid. •• Chan Inq p.m. Edw. in, file m. 24. ••Misc. Bks. (Duchr of Lane.) (ol. lood. «> //«(. MSS. Com. loc. cit P- 534- " Census iryi . "V.C.II. Norihanli. a, 326. •' Census 1921. " Pari. Surv. (Duchy of Lane.) 55. " Ibid. 54. P.Trl. Surv. Norlhants. 33. '• ' The BuBcotts ' was one of the open fields of Higham I*"crrers inclosed in 1800. •' Pat. R. 2 and 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8, m. 17- '• Dean Hook, L$vet of the Archbishops of Canterbury, i, 129. " y.C.H. Northanls. ii, 177-79, 218-19. " Ihst. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. 9, PP- 53'>-3' i P"'- R- * ""d 3 ''•''I- '"J M. pt. 8, m. 27 ; Northanls. N. and Q. i, 142. 266 " Cole, Hist, of Higham Ferrers, 58-60 i D. N. B. " Cal. S. P. Dom. 1640-41, pp. Ii6, 329. " S. P. Dom. Chas. I, ccccUx, 38. " Cal. Com. for Comp. i, 88 j ii, 1534, " Cole, op. cit. 94. " Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81 ; Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 24. " Pat. R. k; Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 23. " Ibid. 7 Will, and M. pt. 3, m. 2. *• /(in. V, 94. '" A Delineation of Norihamplonshiri : ' the foundations and ruyns doe declare that it halh bin a place of some accompt.' IIiGHAM Fkrrlks : The Bedi; House Hicham Ferrers : The College BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS wards covered practically the whole of the area lying between the church and tiie Kimbolton road,^* the site measuring about 380 yards from north to south, and in breadth varying from 180 yards at the north end to 140 yards near the church. On the east it was bounded by the Bury Close. The early castle stood at the north end of this area, but no trace of a motte or its defending ditch having been found, it has been sur- mised that the llth century stronghold was of the ' keep-and-bailev ' type.'- Two arms of the ditch and the corresponding ramparts still remain, the eastern arm in its entirety, about 485 feet long, and the southern arm in part,'* but of the keep or other build- ings nothing has survived. There is reason to believe that the buildings mentioned in the bailiff's account of 1313-14 and in later manorial accounts of the same century, were at the south end of the sitc,'^ but the location of the various places named cannot be determined. There is occasional mention of the draw- bridge, and the House of the Drawbridge is also referred to.** There were two outer gates, that on the west known also as the Town gate, and that on the cast as the Field gate. There is also mention of the Middle gate, the Great gate under the Lord's Chamber, and the small postern gate near the churchyard. The chapel is referred to in 1375," and early in the ne.xt century its roof was releaded and the floor repaired. Extensive repairs of the buildings were going on from 1429 to 1432, when the ' turret at the north end of the chapel ' is mentioned." One of the chapel windows contained the king's and queen's arms and an image of St. Edmund.** The Great Hall was destroyed by fire in 1409-10, but was rebuilt a year or two later." In 143 1 the stairs from the door of the Hall to the chapel were repaired, and in 1433 the Town gate was partly rebuilt. The Lord's Chamber, ' Lady Philippa's Chamber,' the Young Lord's Chamber,*" and several other places are named in 1376, and in a later account ' Lord Derby's Chamber.'*' There are also frequent references to the knights' chamber, the friars' chamber, the steward's, receiver's, and auditor's chambers, tlie treasury chamber,'^ and the kitchen, larder, buttery, pantry and other offices.*' In 1462-3 the kitchen was re-roofed and partly rebuilt. Other references are to the stables,** the great barn, the granary, the hay-house, ox-house, cattle-sheds, sheep-house, and kiln-house.*' During the last decade of the 15th century and the early years of the l6th, the castle buildings suffered from neglect and were de- scribed as 'all rased and in great ruin and decay' in 1523, when Sir Richard W'ingfield was licensed by the King to take down and carry away as much stone from the site as he thought sufficient for the re- building of the castle of Kimbolton.** In 1591 it was reported that the manor-house, long since in decay, had been in ancient times a castle standing in a place called the Castle Yard.*' This appears to have been the capital messuage or manor place commonly called the Castle Yard which the Parliamentary Commis- sioners found in the tenure of Thomas Rudd in 1649.** In the garden of the Green Dragon Inn, formerly within the area of the outer ward of the castle, are the remains of a rectangular dove-house.*' The Lordship of Higham existed LORDSHIP as a territorial entity before the Con- quest. We learn from the Domesday Survey (1086) that Gitda had held the manor and its appendages in 1066. Possibly at one time the whole hundred belonged to Gitda's predecessors in title, but in 1086 William Pevcrel held in Higham Ferrers 6 hides and as members of the manor he had in Rushden 6 hides, in Chelveston and Caldecote I hide and 3 virgates, in Knuston I hide and ij virgate, in Irchester I hide and 3 virgates of soke [land], in Farndish 3 virgates of soke [land], in Poddington (co. Beds.) i hide of soke [land], in Easton Mauduit ij- virgate and in Raunds 7J hides and J virgate of soke [land].'" There were also in Bozeat ij virgate and in Hargrave J hide, the soke of which belonged to Higham Ferrers.'* Fractions of knights' fees were held of the manor of Higham Ferrers in the following places: Bozeat, Irchester, Raunds, Blisworth, Rush- den, Quinton, Denton, Ditchford, Caldecote and Chelveston, Ringstead, Stanwick, Chester near Irchester, Hargrave, and Farndish.'* Higham Ferrers was held in the time MANOR of Edward the Confessor by Gitda or Githa, whom Mr. Round has identified as the wife of Earl Ralf of Hereford, a nephew of Edward the Confessor. It passed after the Conquest to William Peverel," said, but with little authority, to have been an illegitimate son of the Conqueror. He was a baron of the Cotentin and a famous general and trusted minister of King William. In 1086 Peverel had in Higham Ferrers 6 hides, whereof two were in demesne, a market, a mill and a considerable quantity of woodland. There was then a priest, indicative of a " Rev. W. J. B. Kerr, Higbam Ferren and III Ducal and Royal Caslle and Park (1925), 100. "Ibid. 102. Mr. Kerr wa> of opinion that the lile of the keep was where there ii now ' a deep annular depretsion,' about 60 ft. in diameter, the appearance of which luggeitcd to him that it was ' caused by the removal of the foundations of a massive round tower ' : ibid. 115. " Ibid. 102. A length of about 340 ft. remains open : the original length cannot have been more than 420 ft. The width of the east arm at mean w-inter water level is about 42 ft., and at the surface level of the counterscarp 72 ft. The height of the rampart above the natural surface level does not exceed 10 ft., but it has been flattened out into a broad terrace or platform. " Ibid. 103. •' ' The new tower beside the draw- bridge ' is mentioned in an early account of the reign of Edward IV : ibid. 104. *• The windows, which had been broken by a great wind, were then repaired : ibid. 107. " Ibid. 108. " Ibid. " The auditor's accounts show that a sum of ,^204 IIS. 3d. was expended on the rebuilding of the Hall in 1410, ,^56 in 141 1, and ^65 15*. \d. in 1412. A stone tower was erected over the great gate of the Hall : ibid. 108-9 ; ^a/. Pat. 1408-13, p. 108. •° After the passing of the Duchy of Lancaster to the Crown the Lord's Great Chamber and the Lady's Chamber became respectively the King's and Queen's Chambers : ibid. III. •' Ibid. no. " Probably identical with the ' checour- hous ' mentioned in 1416 : ibid. 112. " Scullery, sauccry, chaunderye, ewery, cellar, wine-cellar, storehouse, and bake- house : ibid. 112. " The steed stable, the long stable beside the east gate, the long stable near the town, the steward's stable, the receiver's stable, the auditor's stable, and the friars' stable: ibid. 118. "Ibid. 119. " Ibid. 122 ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 22, fol. 62b. •' Ibid. 117, fol. 190. •' Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 32. •• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep!, xxxiii, 369. The internal dimensions are 36 ft. by 16 ft. 10 in. : the west and two end walls stand about 1 1 ft. high. '• y.C.H. Northanti. i, 336-7. " Ibid. 338. " See Farrer, Honors and Knigbis' Fees, i, 201-6. '» y.C.H. Northants. i, 289, 336A. 267 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE church.''* William Peverel died in 1114'^ and was succeeded by his son William, who was a strong sup- porter of King Stephen. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln in 1 141, when his lands were forfeited but were restored to him in 1 143. In 1 153 Henry Fitz Empress granted to Ranulf Earl of Chester, on condition of his support, great possessions, in- cluding aU the fee of William Peverel, except Higham." The grant never took effect, but some nine months later Ranulf Earl of Chester died, poi- soned, it is said, by WiUiam Peverel. On the accession of Henry to the throne as Henry H, Peverel, to avoid punishment, became a monk, probably at Lenton (co. Notts.). His lands were seized by Henry H in 1 155" and Higham Ferrers was for a year and a half farmed by Froger, archdeacon of Derby.'* In 1157 it was granted, probably for life, to Robert de Ferrers, second Earl of Derby, who had married Margaret, daughter and heir of William Peverel, her brother Henry being then apparently dead.'^ After the death of Robert in or about 1159, Higham Ferrers was granted in 1 161 to WiUiam, the King's brother, who died in 1164.** The manor remained in the King's hands until 1 189, when King Richard I granted it to his brother, John Count of Mortain.^i John farmed it to William de Sancte Marie Ecclesia,*- later Bishop of London,*' and after- wards to WiUiam Briwerre.** In 1199 WiUiam de Ferrers, fourth Earl of Derby, son of WiUiam and grandson of Robert, second Earl of Derby, purchased for 2,000 marks from King John the manor, hundred and park of Higham Ferrers and cer- tain other lands, at the same time relinquishing what claim he had through his grandmother, Margaret Peverel, to the other lands of WiUiam Peverel.** William de Ferrers died in 1247 and was succeeded by his son William fifth Earl of Derby. As a favourite at the Court of Henry III he received many grants of privileges, including the right to free warren in Higham Ferrers in 124S, a yearly fair in 1250 and the erection of a borough in 1251.** He died in 1254 and was succeeded by his son Robert sixth Earl of Derby, then under age and in the custody of Edward, the King's son. He came of age in 1260, when he joined the Baronial party. In 1264 he was sent to the Tower and his lands were seized by the King, but in the following year he was pardoned on paying a heavy fine. A few months later, how- ever, he again joined the rebel forces and was taken prisoner at Chesterfield in 1266 and his lands were a second time taken into the King's hands.*' In the same year Henry III granted all the Earl's pos- sessions to his son, Edmund Earl of Chester, who was created Earl of Lancaster in the following year.** Under the Dictum of Kenilworth Robert de Ferrers could redeem his lands on payment of seven years' pur- chase, and he evidently made an attempt to regain them, for in 1269 Edmund was ordered to restore them.*' An .igreement was reached whereby Edmund and his heirs were to hold the estates until Robert should pay the sum of ^^50,000 for their redemption.'*' Although Robert and his son John de Ferrers made several attempts to obtain possession of their patri- mony they never succeeded. Edmund Earl of Lancaster died seised of Higham Ferrers in 1296.*! His son and heir Thomas Earl of Lancaster, being taken prisoner at the Battle of Boroughbridge, was beheaded in 1322 when his lands mm \A7T7 Ferrers, fairy or and gules. Lancaster. Enghiiid with a label of France. were seized by tlie Crown.*^ Higham Ferrers was then granted to Aylmer de Valence Earl of Pembroke'* who died in 1324''' and his widow, Mary de St. Pol, exchanged her rights here for other lands.'* On the accession of Edward III in 1327 Henry, brother and heir of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, was restored and was succeeded in 1 345 by his son Henry who was created Duke of Lancaster in 1 35 1. He died on 24 March, 1360-1, leaving two daughters, Maud, the elder, who married firstly, Ralf Earl of Stafford, and secondly, William Duke of Bavaria, but died child- less in 1362 ; Blanche, the younger daughter, at the age of eleven became the first wife of John of Gaunt son of Edward III. The manor of Higham Ferrers seems to have been settled on Blanche," who at her sister's death became sole heir to her father's great estates. In 1362 John of Gaunt was created Duke of Lancaster. Blanche died in 1369 and John in 1399 when he was succeeded by their son Henry of Boling- broke who later in that year ascended the throne as Henry IV when the lands of the Duchy of Lan- caster, including Higham Ferrers, merged in the Crown. Higham Ferrers is still part of the Duchy of Lancaster," although it was included in the jointures of the Queens Consort of Edward IV, Charles I, Charles II and James II.'* Lands in Higham Ferrers forfeited to the Crown on the attainder of Francis Lord Lovel of Tichmersh, after the battle of Bosworth were granted by " y.C.H. Nortbanti. i, 336A. '* Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 762. '* Cott. Chart, xvii, 2. " Ibid. '• Hunter, Great Roll of the Pipe (Rec. Com.), 42 ; Red Ull. of Excheq. (Rolli Scr.)ii, 681. '• Complete Peerage^ loc. clt. '° Farrcr, op. cit. i, 203. " Hunter, Great Roll of the Pipe (Rec. Com.), p. 97. •• Fjrrcr, loc. cit. •■ D. N. B. " Farrer, loc. cit. " Fine R. i John, m. 23 ; Hardy, Rot. de Oblal. et Fm. p. 3 ; Pipe R. I John, m. 2d. "• Cal. Chart. 1226-57, pp. 332, 350, " Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 198, 203. "' Cal. Pat. 1266-72, p. 22, 127. " Ibid. p. 336. •° Coram Rcge R. Mich. 2 and 3 Edw. I, m. 6. Tiic Countcia of Derby »ccnii to have held Higham in 1275, probably ai dower ; Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.) il, 4, 10. " Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, no. 423. 268 " Abhrev. Rot. Orii>. i, 264 j Cal. Fine R. iii, 105. " Cal. Pat. 1321-4, pp. 87, 113. " Cal. Inq. vi, no. 518. "■Cal. Pal. 1327-30, p. 37; 1334-8, p. 250; 1338-40, p. 242; Cal. Clou, 1327-30, p. 109. w Feet of F. Div. Coi. V.:iU. 35 Edw. Ill, no. 78 j Ca/. /'<«. 1361-4, p. 118. •' /hti Priv. and I.or. 1 Vict. cap. II. •" Feet of F. Div. Co«. Trin. 15 Edw. IV, no. 102, ; I'at. R. 5 Chas. I, pt. 15, no. 6j 24 Cha>. II, pt. 9, no. I ; I Jaa. II, pt. 17, no. I. BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS Henry VII to Sir Charles Somerset, afterwards Lord Herbert and Earl of Worcester,"* in i486,' and in- cluded by him in a settlement of ISH-'* Ten years later he left them to his son George' who in 1553 joined liis grandson William third Earl of Worcester in obtaining licence to alienate them to Gilbert Pykering and others.'' A payment of one mark to F.lias the doorkeeper for the carriage of summonses in the years 1166-67 AAAA AATLA a/wi Vuny LovEL of Tichmersh. Barry tvavy or and gtdes. S o M I R s E T. France quartered zutth England i« a border goboiiy argrnt and azure. and 1169-70* had developed at the close of the cen- tury into the serjeanty of Ascelin and Andrew of Higham who then held three virgates of land, valued at lis., for the service of carrying the writs of the honour of Higham. In 1235-36 their successor Nicholas the Serjeant collected scutage from the fee of Earl Ferrers in Northamptonshire.' Four acres 'in every yeareland called Serjeants peece,' which belonged to the manor of Higham in 1 691 were probably once part of this fee.' The land in Higham Ferrers which formed part of the endowment of the college' was included in the grant of the advowson (q.v.) to Robert Dacres but the college house itself remained in the Crown until 1564 when Elizabeth granted to John Smith and FJchard Dufiield the site of the college with all buildings, etc., within the site and the orchard or close called SafTron Yard containing 2\ acres. The bells and all lead of the gutters and windows were reserved to the Queen.' A mill, rendering las. on William Peverel's manor in 1086,*" was possibly the mill of Dichford, for which as the third of a knight's fee scutage was paid in 1235-36I' and was on the site of the mill in which Simon de Cotes held the twenty-fifth part of a knight's fee of Prince Edmund,'^ who at his death in 1298 was seised of three watermills in Higham Ferrers.'' The mill or mills of Dichford and the ' mill by Higham ' of the 14th and 15th centuries" had been replaced before 1505 by three watermills under one roof called Dichford mills and three others also under one roof called Higham mills.'"' The ' Higham and Dichford mills ' were an appurtenance of the royal manor of Higham Ferrers when it was settled in trust for the Queen in 1672.'° A fishery which belonged to the three watermills of 1298 was called thirty years later a fishery in the Nene. In the reign of Charles I the fishing of Stan- wick Mcer in the None was one of the appurtenances of the manor." Free warren, granted to William de Ferrers in 1248"* and enjoyed by his successors," was amongst the libenies for which Henry Earl of Lancaster was called upon to produce his warrant in 1329. At the same time he had to make good his claim to use gallows, pillory and tumbrel and hold the assize of bread and ale as his predecessors had done.-" Courts, leet and baron, pleas and perquisites of court and view of frank-pledge are amongst the appurtenances of the manor of Higham Ferrers recorded from the 13th to the latter part of the 17th century.-' As early as 1086 Higham was an BOROUGH important town with its market valued at 20/. a year.'^^ It thus re- mained until the middle of the 13th century, when William de Ferrers fifth Earl of Derby took an interest in developing its prosperity. We are told that when crossing St. Neots Bridge he had a fall from his litter in which he usually travelled, being a sufferer from gout.-' It may be possible that he was on his way to or from Higham Ferrers, where he seems to have resided occasionally, and in which he had a special interest. In 1248 he acquired the right of free warren over his lands there, and in 1250 he ob- tained a grant of a fair there on the vigil, day and morrow of the feast of St. Botolph (17 June).^^ On the feast of St. Gregory (12 March) 1251 the earl manumitted 92 of his villein tenants of Higham Ferrers^^ and enfranchised their offspring {sequeles) lands, tenements and chattels, granting that their lands in future should be held in free burgage.^* Thus Higham became a free borough. This charter, which was confirmed by Henry HI in the same year, is interesting and unusual in giving the names of those who became the first burgesses and were pro- moted from a servile status to the freedom of bur- gesses. This charter had disappeared from the borough archives when in 1556 Philip and Mary bestowed another on the town, and in their preamble spoke of its loss through lack of safe custody or by ill chance. All former liberties were confirmed and Higham Ferrers was declared a free borough which with mayor, seven aldermen and thirteen chief burgesses •• Complete Peerage (New Ed.), viii, 200. ' Cat. Pal. 1485-1494, p. 100. • Feet of F. Div. Cos. East. 5 Hen. VIII, no. 4. • Coll. Top. et Gen. v, 305. • Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 6, mm. 8, 9 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich, i Mary ; Recov. R. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516. In the two latter documents these lands are called a manor. ^ Ptpe Roll, 13 Hen. II, p. 114; 15 Hen. II, p. 73 (Pipe R. Soc). • Book of Fees, i, 9, 495. ' Add. Chart. 13593. • V.C.H. Nertbanu. ii, 177-179. »P.it. R. 6 Ellz. pt. 7, no. II. '» y.C.n. Northann. i, 336A. " Ilk. oj Fees, i, 495. ** Feud. Aids, iv, 14. " Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81. '« Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdle. 10;, no. 1496, m. 6; Pat. R. 3 Hen. V, pt. 2, m. 36. "Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 21, fol. 157. '« Pat. R. 24 Chas. II, pt. 9. " Rent, and Surv. (Duchy of Lane.) bdlc. 8, no. 4. " Cat. Chart. 1226-1257, p. 332. " Pat. R. 31 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 13. 269 '» Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 580. " Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, no. 423 ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.) 580 ; Pari. Surv. Northants. 5 ; Pat. R. 31 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 13 ; 7 Will, and M. pt. 3, no. 2. " y.C.H. Northants. i, 337. " Matth. Paris, Chron. Mag. (Rolls Ser.) V, 431-2. " Cal. Chart. 1226-1257, pp. 332, 350. '^ That they were of servile tenure is shown by the use of the word sequeles, which is not used in the case of freemen, " Chart. R. 36 lien. Ill, m. 25. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE was to form a body corporate and politic for ever. The corporation thus constituted was empowered to plead and be impleaded, make statutes and ordi- nances, use their own seal and make perambulations in the borough of which the boundaries already existing were confirmed. Regulations for the elec- tion of the mayor and his associates were followed by nomination of the first body of these officers under this charter. By the grant of markets and fairs with their profits and court of pie-powder, the sovereigns relinquished ancient appurtenances of the manor, as probably they also did by the establishment of a court of record for pleas within the borough not Seal of the Borough of Higham Ferrers. A device of a hand stretched horizon- tally in blessing above nine human beads all looking inwards. exceeding ^5, to be held every Monday in a common hall, and by giving ' lawedaies ' and view of frank- pledge. The nomination of the chaplain, school- master and beadsmen of the college of Higham Ferrers was now transferred from the Crown to the corporation.^ A fresh charter granted by James I in 1604 em- powered every mayor of Higham Ferrers for the time being to be justice of the peace and also justice for the preservation of the statutes of artificers and labourers, and weights and measures, and freed mayor, aldermen and burgesses from service on assize, jury or inquisition whilst resident in the borough. They were besides to have return of assizes and all other royal writs and no sheriff, bailiff or other foreign minister of the Crown was allowed to enter the borough for the return or execution of writs. A general confirmation of all privileges, liberties and franchises accorded by former incorporations fol- lowed.^ In 1664 the mayor and corporation of Higham Ferrers petitioned the king for the renewal of their charter with certain alterations of which the most important was the extension of the money limit of their power to hold pleas from ^5 to £\o.''^ This and other proposed changes which concerned the fairs and markets were embodied in the new charter of -August 1664 after a confirmation in general terms of the ancient liberties of the borough. It was also provided that the court of record should be held before the mayor, two aldermen, two chief burgesses and the steward of the borough and parish of Higham Ferrers.*" Within twenty years Higham Ferrers had followed the example of other boroughs by surrendering its charters to the Crown, and obtained their renewal in letters patent issued in February 1684. This charter also was confirmatory, embodying the early clauses of the charter of 1556, and in it too the mayor, aldermen and burgesses were nominated. Henceforth the corporation was to have its own recorder, the Earl of Peterborough being appointed to this new office for life. Another change was the nomination, also for life, of Goddard Pemberton, who headed the list of aldermen, as justice of the peace. The election of the successors of both these officers was vested in the mayor and corporation, and the number of fairs was reduced to one.** The old corporation of Higham Ferrers was ex- tinguished by the Municipal Corporation Act of 1882 which at the same time provided for the grant of new charters of incorporation. Accordingly, on the petition of certain inhabitant householders of the parish of Higham Ferrers, the Committee of the Privy Council formulated a scheme called ' The Borough of Higham Ferrers Scheme ' by which a municipal borough was created in place of the old corporation. All property which had been vested in the mayor and his fellow burgesses by right of their office was now transferred to the new governing body, which became the sanitary authority in place of the Welling- borough Union, with charge of the town well, town pump and sewers. The new charter was granted on 16 July 1887.32 The burgesses held Higham Ferrers of the Crown as of the Duchy of Lancaster at a fee-farm rent, which between 1504 and 1515 amounted to j^l8 12;. I (/.,** in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to X'5 '9'- 5J'/-,*'and in 1649 to_^i6 a year.** ' Borough rents ' of the annual value of ^^19 %s. 2^d. were referred to in the settlement of the manor on Queen Catherine wife of Charles II.** From a suit brought early in the i6th century by one Thomas Giles of Higham Ferrers against Robert Pypwell, then mayor, it appears that this tax was collected from the king's tenants of the Duchy of Lancaster in the town who were responsible for the good repair of their tenements.*^ Any man failing in this duty after due warning by the mayor was liable to ejection by his successor should twelve lawful burgesses of the town testify that his tenement was still in decay. The descendants of William dc Ferrers' enfranchised tenants enjoyed free burgage as an hereditary right, and the earliest record preserved in the Town Hall of Higham Ferrers, •' Pat. R. 2 and 3 Phil, and M. pi. 8, m. 27. In connexion with the laat cUuie it ii noteworthy that about eighty ytari later Laud'i vicar-general found the poiieiiioni of the College much improved •ince they came into the handi of the cor- poration [S. P. Oom. Chai. I, cccx, ijj. '" Pat. R. I Jai. I, pt. 4, ra. 25 ; Col. S. P. Dom. 1^03-10, p. 129. " S. P. Dom. Chai. II, «cix, 46, 46 (1) ; Entry Bk. i6, p. 172 ; 18, p. 62. •» Pat. R. 16 Chai. II, pt. 14, no. I. " Ibid. 36 Chai. II, pt. 6, no. 24. "Act Fnv. and Lcc. 49 and 50 Vict., 270 cap. 58 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App- 9, p. S3''- "Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 317, no. 57. " Rent, and .Surv. porlf. 13, no. 33. " Pari. Surv. Northanti. no. 32. •• Pat, R. 24Chal. II, pt. 9. " Early Chan. Proc. loc. cit. .:' "^, 3 t F mmmX) ^.v-'v '^mrn^. u X BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS the roll of the borough court, ' Curia Burgi ' or ' Halmote ' for 4 Edward I [1275-6] shows that their survivors and heirs were already occupied with the admission of new burgesses. At tlie same time they were dealing with surrender of and admission to property and ple.is of debt and trespass, and issuing licences to brew.^ Jurisdiction in cases of breach of the king's standard of weights and measures was exercised here by the king's chief steward of the Duchy of Lancaster in northern parts, by whom in 1426 certain offenders were fined ' for the abuse of their bushels,' the mayor being merely entrusted with the custody of the faulty vessels until they were rectified.'* In 1 591 commissioners of the Duchy of Lancaster found that the mayor and corporation of Higham Ferrershad felons' goods and toll of passengersthrough the town and other places in the Hundred,*" liberties presumably of earlier date than 1556." A minor privilege which the mayor and his associates claimed to enjoy by charter in 1618 was that of having two persons in the town to draw wine.^ Higham Ferrers had a mayor as early as 1377, from which year a fairly complete list of these officers might be drawn up from the borough rolls.*' The 15th century records of the Duchy of Lancaster show the king and his servants dealing with the mayor alone as the representative of the corpora- tion,** and in the early years of the next century Robert Pypwell, mayor, described the town as incorporated ' by the name of Mayre and Com- monalty' time out of mind.** The charter of 1556 fixed the Monday following St. Luke's day for the annual election by the aldermen and chief burgesses of an alderman as mayor, and entrusted the choice of the thirteen chief burgesses to the seven aldermen. It empowered the mayor to appoint a serjeant-at-mace for the execution of processes, mandates and other business of the borough, and, together with the aldermen, to elect from year to year a Serjeant of the borough, a bailiff, two constables and all other ser- vants necessary to the corporation.** There was already a steward of the borough, before whom a new mayor was sworn upon his entrance into office.*' To this body of officers, as has been stated above, a recorder was added in 1684.** In 15QI, the mayor was also serving as clerk of the market, coroner and escheator.** The incorporation of the borough in 1556 was followed within two years by its representation in the House of Commons, and from 1557-8 until its disfranchisement in 1832 Higham Ferrers sent one member to Parliament.'" The right of election belonged to all inhabitants of the town who were not receiving alms.** From time to time Higham Ferrers, doubtless on account of its connexion with the royal household and the Duchy of Lancaster, was represented in Parliament by men of rank and of importance in political life. Such were Sir Christopher Hatton, member in 1571, through whose influence when Lord Chancellor, Richard, afterwards Sir Richard Swale, president of Caius and a master in chancery, was returned for Higham Ferrers to the Parliament of 1589. A later Sir Christopher, afterwards Baron, Hatton,*'' steward of the manor of Higham Ferrers in 1636, was representative of the borough in the Long Parliament. He was one of those who were returned in consequence of the exertions of Queen Henrietta Maria to bring in her nominees as the burgesses of the towns of her jointure.*' Other mem- bers of parliament for this town distinguished as statesmen and lawyers were, in 1601 , Henry Montagu, afterwards Earl of Manchester, who succeeded Coke as Chief Justice of the King's Bench and later became Lord High Treasurer. In 1741 Henry Seymour Conway was returned as member at the beginning of a long career as soldier and politician ; Frederick Montagu, member from 1768 to 1 790, became lord of the treasury under the Marquis of Rockingham in 1782.** He was succeeded by John Lee, solicitor- general in the same ministry.** Windham, secretary of state and afterwards secretary for war under Pitt, was returned for Higham Ferrers in 1807, and held the seat until his death three years later. Names of more local interest are those of Sir Thomas Dacres, member in the parliament of 1625-26, and Sir Rice Rudd, who represented Higham Ferrers from 1678 to 1681, and again in 1688-89. He was the grandson, through his mother Judith, of Captain Thomas Rudd and a native of Higham Ferrers.** A manor called 'BOROUGH-HOLD' in the l8th century*' was still in the possession of the mayor and corporation in 1838, when its boundaries were determined by Act of Parliament.** In 1874 this property, which was vested in the new corporation by the Act of 1886, was said to consist of 53 acres, 3 roods and 27 poles of land.*® A market which had belonged to William PeverePs manor in 1086, when it rendered 20/. a year,*" was held weekly on Saturday in the 13th*! and 14th cen- turies.*^ In 1485, Richard III leased the issues of the tolls of the market and fairs of Higham Ferrers with all shops and stalls situated in the market place,*' to the Mayor and his successors for twenty years.** The fair on the vigil, day and morrow of St. Botulph (17 June) granted to William de Ferrers at his manor of Higham Ferrers in 1250** and an appurtenance in 1298,** continued to be held in the following century •• Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, a pp. 9, p. 530. "Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdlc. 105, nos. 1496, 1498A. «• Mi«c. Bk». (Duchy of Lane.) 117, fol. 188. " Thty are not mentioned in the charter of Philip and Mary. " Hisl. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, 314. "Ibid, xii, app. 9, p. 531, «« Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdle. 105, no.i498A; Miic. Bk«. (Duchy of Lane.) 10, fol. locxl. •'Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 317, no. 57. " Pat. R. 2 & 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8, no. 27. " Ibid ; ef. S. P. Dom. cccclxx, no. 38. <» Pat. R. 36 Chai. II, pt. 6, no. 24. "Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 117, fol. 188. " V.C.H. Northanls. Genealosical Vol. ii, 380. " Bridgei, Hist. Nortbanti. ii, 170. " D. N.B. " S. P. Dom. Chaj. I, cccclxix, 11. " n. N. B. " Ibid. " Ibid ; Complete Baronetage^ ii, 64. " Bridges, loc. cit. " Priv. Act, I Vict. cap. 11. 271 '» Whellan, Hist. Norlbartts. 914. "•V.C.H. Northants. i, 336*. "Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81. The form of the stalls in the market also belonged to the manor at this date. •' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.) 580. •'These were probably on the sites of the butchers' stalls and the eight shops leased to merchants of linen in 1327 (Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 24). " Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 20, fol. lood. •' Chart. R. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 13. •• Chan. Inq. p.m. 26 Edw. I, file 81. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE after Thomas Earl of Lancaster had received the grant of asecond at Michaelmas." Both were claimed by his brother in 1327®* and their issues included in the lease of Richard III. The markets granted by Philip and Mary were held weekly on Monday and Saturday.** In 1664 the Monday market, which had fallen into disuse before 1649,'" was transferred to Thursday and the Saturday market appropriated to the sale of horses and cattle.'^ In the latter part of the 1 8th centur)', the county historian wrote that there were three weekly markets, on Monday, Thurs- day and Saturday, the two former disused and the third much decayed.'- Four fairs granted in 1556 included the old-estab- lished fairs of St. Michael and St. Botolph and two newly appointed for the feasts of St. Katharine and St. Matthias.'^ By the first charter of Charles II, these were reduced to two, held on the Thursdays next before the feasts of St. Philip and St. James and of St. James the Apostle ;'* by the second to one, for the sale of cattle and merchandise on the Thursday before the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.'^ It is likely, however, that other fairs, not authorised by this charter, continued to be held in the town. In the 1 8th century there were seven, described by the historian of Northamptonshire as ' all well accustomed,' on the Thursdays before the feasts of the conversion of St. Paul, of St. Matthias, of St. Philip and St. James, and of St. James the Apostle, on the 17 June, at Michaelmas and on the feast of St. Catherine.'* Five were held in 1838, on the Thursdays before 12 May and 5 August, on 7 March, 28 June and 6 December," and also in 1874, when the dates in March, August and December remained unaltered, but the other two fairs had been transferred to the Wednesday before 5 February and the Thursday before 1 1 October.'^ The church of ST. MART THE CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel, 46 ft. by 20 ft., clearstoried nave of four bays, 72 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles, the former terminating in a Lady Chapel and vestry on the north side of the chancel, an additional north aisle, 10 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and west tower, 15 ft. square, with lofty spire. The width of the north aisle is the same as that of the nave, and the chapel and vestry being equal in size to the chancel, the plan of the building is somewhat unusual, the internal effect being that of two naves of equal size with corresponding chancels. The south aisle is 10 ft. 6 in. wide and the total width across nave and aisles 69 ft. 3 in. All these measurements are internal. No part of the church is earlier than the 13th cen- tury, but a considerable portion of tlie building erected in that period still remains, though altered in the following century and later. The existing chancel, nave, south aisle and tower are substantially those of the 13th century fabric, the aisles of which were equal in width, and though later windows have been inserted and the aisle wall rebuilt, the doorways, south nave arcade and other architectural features remain unaltered. All this work belongs to the first half of the 13th century and was probably begun at the east end about 1220-25, the tower being completed about 1 250. The first change in the plan was about 1325-30, when the north aisle was widened and the Lady chapel built in its present form, the north nave arcade being then taken down and the present one erected. The chapel was probably built first and the aisle afterwards made of the same width. The two arches which divide the chapel from the chancel were cut through the 13th- century wall, and at the same time new windows were inserted in the chancel and south aisle and other alterations made. With the exception of the priests' doorway, the south nave arcade and the south door- way, there is thus little original architectural work recognisable east of the tower, though the plan of the nave and chancel remains unchanged. The alterations in the chancel were probably due to Law- rence St. Maur, canon of Hereford (d. 1 338), whose brass is now on the table tomb between the chancel and chapel, but the tomb was constructed for a mem- ber of the House of Lancaster as indicated by the heraldry on the lower part ; a powdering of bees is painted upon the canopy. Whether it was ever used for its intended purpose is doubtful, as the actual table tomb is of later date, but it is not unlikely that the monument was erected by Henry, Earl of Lan- caster (d. 1345) for himself, and that the Lady chapel was added and the north aisle reconstructed at his charges, he being the lord of the manor.'^ There is little difference in date between the north arcade of the nave and that of the outer aisle : the latter may be an addition a few years after the work of reconstruction was completed, or it may have merely been left until the end of the enlargement, while the arcade may belong to its beginning. The whole of the north side of the church, however, appears to have been completed in its present form by about 1 340, and may be considered as of one build, the same plinth and stringcourse and the same kind of dressed masonry being used both in the Lady Chapel and the north aisle. The spire, as originally built, was added about the same time, but the clearstory belongs to thi; first half of the 15th century, when low-pitclicd roofs behind parapets were erected and two windows were inserted, one at the east end of the south aisle, and the other at the west end of the outer north aisle. In the 15th century, also, Archbishop Chicheley no doubt erected the rood screen and stalls, one of which bears his arms and another those of the see of Canterbury. Other screen work is of the same period. In 1631-32 the spire and part of the tower were rebuilt, following a collapse of the former, which did great damage to the tower, since which time, apart from restoration, the fabric has remained un- •' Chart. R. 18 F.dw. I, m. ro. •" /'/j o o n o CO o z < o OS » a: U o o < P4 «=» — — SIlcOo if liD Hicham Ffrrers Church from the North-east T ^ Hicham Firrers Chlkch : 'I'hl Interior, showing Screen of Chancel from Chapel BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS war of 1914-18, wliile the Cliapcl of the Kingdom, in the south aisle, is set apart for intercession for work overseas." In the latter is a trcfoil-lieaded piscina with beautiful foliated cusping and label terminations and fluted bowl. Below the eastern portion of the aisle is a small ijth-century crypt, or bonc^hole, 10 ft. 10 in. square, originally vaulted in four compart- ments, but now covered with a modern brick barrel roof, access to wiiich is by a doorway and stair in the south wall."- The west window of the main north aisle is of five cinquefoiled lights, with plain intersecting tracery and pointed trefoils above the cusping. The Lady chapel has a tall ogee-headed east window of five trcfoiled lights, with reticulated tracery and canopied niche over, similar in type to the east window of tlie chancel, but less elaborate in character."'' Tiie two contemporary north windows are respectively of tiiree and five lights, the larger one, towards the east, being similar to tiiat at the west end of the inner north aisle, and the other like those in the south aisle. The east wall of the chapel is flush with that of the chancel, with a buttress of two stages between the windows, the eastern end of the church thus consisting of two equal low-pitched gables. The chapel retains at its east end the original sacristry, formed by screening off a portion, 8 ft. wide, with a solid wall against which the chapel altar w.is placed. A trefoil-headed ogee piscina, with plain bowl, remains in the usual position immediately west of the screen wall. The organ loft is over the west portion of the chapel. The tower is of three main stages, with moulded plinth, pierced parapet and angle pinnacles. The whole of the south side, the south-west and south- east buttresses and the upper stage were rebuilt in I63I-32,''' and though much of the old masonry was re-used and the chief architectural features retained, the work shows unmistakable signs of its late origin. The south buttresses, which were rebuilt on a larger scale and carried up four stages to the spring of the arches of the bell-chamber windows, are asthetically detrimental to the otherwise graceful lines of the tower, the appearance of which, as left by the 13th- century builders, must have been of exceptional beauty. The original work, however, survives uninjured in the lower stages on the west and north sides. The double west doorway is covered by a shallow recessed porch (1 1 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in.), with pointed outer arch of two richly moulded orders on shafts with foliated capitals. The heads of the two inner doorways are low segmental arches, the moulding of which is continued down the jambs, and round each opening are carved the foliage and half-figures of a Tree of Jesse, the main stem of which, rising between them, blossoms into a rich foliated capital, supporting an ornamental bracket and housing for a lost image of Our Lady and Child. The sides of the porch, which is recessed in the thickness of the wall, have arcades of two trefoilcd arches on shafts with moulded capitals and bases, above which a chamfered mid-arch springs from moulded corbels supported by heads. The surface of the pointed barrel vault on either side of the mid-arch is completely covered with a rich diaper, except at the bottom of tiie outer compart- ment on tlic north side, where there is a sculptured figure of a man in the stocks playing a musical instrument. Above the heads of tiie inner doorways is a moulded stringcourse, which, breaking round the bracket, forms the base of a pointed tympanum, the middle part of which was occupied by tiie Virgin's statue. The space behind the statue is plain for about two-thirds of its height, above which the surface is diapered, the trefoilcd head inclosing a sun and moon. Tiie remainder of the tympanum on either side of the central figure is carved in low relief, with a scries of roundels, or medallions, five on each side, in which the following subjects are represented : North side (rt) the Visitation, (A) the Annunciation, (c) the Adoration of the Three Kings, {d) our Lord among the Doctors, (c) our Lord's baptism ; South side {a) the Adoration of the Shepherds, (h) the Crucifixion, (f) the Vision of Zacharias, (d) the three Marys at the Tomb, {e) the harrowing of Hell."^ The 13th-century window above the porch is of two trefoilcd lights within an arch of two chamfered orders on shafted jambs ; in the spandrel is a seated figure of our Lord in glory. The window may have been originally higher in the wall, and the porch probably had a gable over it. Between the porch and the north-west buttress are two trefoilcd wall arches on banded shafts, one over the other, but the corresponding treatment on the south side was destroyed in the 17th century, though an image bracket, together with one on the north side, remains. The original coupled north- west buttresses are of two stages with gabled heads terminating in grotesque figures. In the lower stage of the tower on the north side is a 13th-century trefoilcd wall arcade and a window of two plain lancet lights within a containing arch, the spandrel carved with the figure of a man playing on a pipe and tabor. The shafts of the arcade and window are banded and have moulded capitals and bases. Re- mains of a similar arcading survive in the reconstructed lower stage on the south side. In the middle stage facing north is a 13th-century window of two plain lancets within a trefoilcd chamfered arch on shafts with foliated capitals, but on the south side the wall is blank. The bell-chamber windows are the old ones re- used : they consist of two lancet lights with transoms, set within a pointed arch of two moulded orders on shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. The lancets have shafted jambs and a triple mid-shaft, and from the hoodmould a string runs round the tower. The 14th-century parapet rests on an older corbel •' Fry, op. cit. 12. •■ The crypt is lighted by a window on the cast side : the short vaulting shafts remain. *' The mullions and tracery arc un- moulded. E. A. Freeman, writing in 1849, says ' the lower part, apparently at a later date, has been cut off by a transom/ Churches oj Archd. Northampt. 8. The transom has been removed. "* Two panels, formerly on the west face of the tower, are now inside the church. The first records that the ' steeple was begun to be builded ' 20 April 1631 : it was one of two panels flanking the clock. The inscription in- tended for a second panel was forgotten, 275 but later was engraved on a stone, for some time lodged in one of the niche* lower down ; it records the completion of the tower in November 1632 : Fry, op. cit. 5. *^ The last is shown in the usual con- ventional way by the open jaws of a monster, and in the angle is a very tmall figure holding a hatchet. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE table and consists of a series of pierced quatrefoils. From the pinnacles pierced flying buttresses are carried to the spire, the angles of which are ribbed and crocketed. There are three sets of gabled spire lights on the cardinal faces, the bottom one tran- somed and of two lights with 14th-century tracery: on the east side is an ogee-headed doorway behind the parapet. The whole of this work, in its present form, dates from 1632, though the old wrought stones have been re-used. The 13th-century tower arch to the nave is of four chamfered orders springing from attached shafts on each side with moulded capitals and bases, the larger of the shafts having a fillet at the apex. Above the arch is a shouldered opening, and the line of the original high-pitched roof remains on the east side. Between the tower arch and the north arcade, at HicirA>.r Ff.rkexs Church : Tun Font ground level, is a 13th-century wall arch on shafts with moulded bases and capitals, in one of which tlie nail-head ornament occurs.'" Tiie vice was originally in the south-west angle of the tower, with communica- tion over the west doorwav to another in the north- west angle, but access to this is now obtained by a modern stairway" with external doorway in the angle of the north aisle. The fine early 15th-century rood screen has four traceried openings on eacli side of the entrance, with solid lower panels, battlemented cornice and moulded stiles and rails. The modern cove, traceried loft and the rood with attendant figures were designed by Mr. J. N. Comper. There is no original rood-loft stair or doorway. In the west bay of tlic chancel are seven stalls on each side and three return stalls. The return stalls and three on the south side have original traceried fronts, but the other fronts are modern. There are also four original standards with moulded and carved tops. All the stalls retain their misericords, the centrepieces and supporters of which are carved in a variety of subjects ; among these are an angel holding a shield with the arms of Archbishop Chicheley, a pelican, the heads of a king, a bishop and others, a lion, pelican, phoenix-winged serpent, foliage, etc. The arms of the see of Canter- bury are on one of the supporters. Behind the north range of stalls a 15th-century traceried screen of seven openings fills the arch to the Lady chapel, but the enclosing screen at the west end of the chapel is modern. There are also parclose screens round the chapels at the east end of the outer aisles: that to the north chapel is modern" at the west end, but its south side is of 15th-century date, with doorway and traceried openings, carved cornice and solid lower panels. The south chapel screen is rather later, with two tiers of panels below the traceried openings, the bottom tier having linen pattern ornament. Both these screens have been restored to their places after having been mutilated and converted into pews." The pulpit and seating are modern. ^ The 15th- century font has an octagonal bowl with carving on tlie four major faces, on attached sliafts with moulded bases, and chamfered plinth. In the tower window recess are four 13th- century coffin lids. The monument on the north side of the chancel mentioned as probably having been erected by Henry Earl of Lancaster includes the battlemented arch already described as forming the canopy of the tomb, its end buttresses being taken up as pinnacles. The canopy preserves a considerable amount of its original colour,- but the tomb itself was altered in the 17th century, probably when Lawrence St. Maur's brass was placed there. Two of the four shields of arms' on each side may be reproductions in stone of the four brass shields now missing from the slab, and the pilasters between are clearly of the 17th century. The stone containing St. Maur's brass was no doubt originally in the chancel floor but was placed in its present position in 1633.* The brass is that of a priest in mass vestments below a canopy, but the border is imperfect : above the figure is our Lord and four Apostles, and the inscription below reads : ' Hie jacet Lawren' de Sni ISLiuro quonda rector istius ecre cui' an' ppiciet' dns'.^ In the chancel, north of the altar, is the brass of Richard W'ylleys (1523.O, warden of the college, in cope, and soutli of the altar that of another ecclesiastic the inscription of wliich is lost. There are several brasses in the Lady chapel ; the oldest commemorates Thomas Chicheley (d. 1400) and Agnes his wife, parents of the Archbishop, on which is a floriated Latin cross with the figure of our Lord in the centre •* There it a larger nail head in the ab.ici. •' The projecting itairway bccomei octagonal above and ia carried up .ns a turret, with a figure of Archbiihop Chichclc on top. " It datci from 1923 and ii in mcrriorjr of Cecil Crew, lomciime Native Com- miiiioner in Southern Khodriia. It wai deiigncd by .Mr. W. Talbot Brown. " Fry, op. cit. 12. ' Freeman in 1S49 recorded th.it there were ' a few remains of open scats in the north aisle,' but with this exception the church w.is pcwcd throughout. There was a west gallery, which completely hid the tower arch : Churchn of Archd. Sorthftmpi. 17. ' The beci have been .nlready noted. "The shields are (1) Engl.md, (2) Lan- caster, (3) Two chcvronels and label of three points, (4) chequy with a canton chetjuy. * I-'ry, op. cit. 10. * This and the other brasses in the church are figured and described in Franklin Hudson's Mon, Braises 0/ Northanls. 1853. 276 BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS and the emblems of the four Evangelists at the extremities of the arms. Another, with double canopy, represents thearchbisliop's brother, William Chicheley (d. 1425) and Beatrice his wife, tlie man in civilian dress : it has a long border inscription in English and the emblems of the Evangelists at the corners." Near to it is the brass of William Thorpe, merchant (d. 1504) and Marion his wife, two small figures, the man in civilian dress, with scrolls, groups of six sons and six daughters and the Evangelists' symbols. Other brasses in the Lady chapel without date or inscription comprise a civilian, a woman (imperfect) and a child ; there is also the indent of a female figure. In the south aisle chapel, near the altar, is the brass of Henry Denton, chaplain of Chelveston (d. 1498), who is represented in mass vestments. There is no medieval glass. At tlie west end of the north aisle are two suits of 17th-century town armour suspended from iron stanchions fixed to the wall. Each suit consists of breast and back plates, to which are attached a pair of broad taces. There is also a pikeman's steel cap, with low comb and broad flat brim.' In the chapel at the east end of the outer north aisle is a 16th-century iron chest with an elaborate lock and two large siiields of arms painted on the front, one with the double-headed eagle of the Empire.* There is a scratch dial on one of the buttresses of the soutli wall of the chancel. Tiiere are eight bells, two trebles by Taylor of Loughborough having been added in 1 892 to a former ring of six. The third is by Robert Taylor & Co., of St. Neots, 1820, the fourth and sixtii re- castings by Taylor in 1892, the fifth an alphabet bell dated 161 1, the seventh dated 1636, and the tenor 1633.° The plate consists of two silver cups and cover patens of 1653 given to the church in that year by John Boughton ; there is also a pewter flagon, and brass alms dish.i" The registers begin in 1589 : the first volume con- tains entries to 1641, the second 1653-1693, the third 1694-1742, and the fourth 1742-1801. To the west of the tower is a 14th-century church- yard cross II ft. high on a Calvary of four circular steps ; the shaft, square below and above, is splayed for the greater part of its length so as to form an irregular octagon, with sliglitly hollowed sides, orna- mented on the broader faces with oak-leaf foliage and on the narrower with ball flowers, leaves, and crockets. The head was restored in 1919, and a Calvary group (west) and figure of our Lady and Child (east) added to the capital." The church of Higham Ferrers is ADVOWSON dedicated to the honour of St. Mary the Virgin.'- It may be assumed tliat there was a church here in 1086, when there was a priest in the manor of William Pevcrel.*' He gave the church to the priory of his own foundation at I.enton*'' before 1113,'" but thougli tliis grant was confirmed by Henry I and later kings," as also by Innocent 111," the church formed part of the forfeited possessions of the younger William Peverel. Richard I presented to it, and when in 1 237 William de Ferrers claimed the advowson as an appurtenance of his manor of Higham Ferrers he won his suit.'* The plea and judgment in the suit are interesting. The earl pleaded tliat King John had given to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, Higliam with the hundred and a half and otlier their appurtenances, and the carl quitclaimed the rest of the lands formerly of William Peverel to the king. The judgment in the earl's favour was based on the points that the manor was in the hands of King Richard when he presented, and King John afterwards gave the manor to the earl with all its appurtenances and the advowson was an appurtenance of the manor. The church descended with the manor (q.v.) until in 1354 Henry Duke of Lancaster obtained licence to make it part of the endowment of and appropriate it to the Hospital of the Annunciation which his father had founded at Leicester," and he was about to convert into a college.-" It belonged to that house when in 1422 Archbishop Chicheley obtained licence to found his college at Higham Ferrers,^' which he described nine years later as established on condition that for all future times its master or warden should be presented to the perpetual vicarage of the parish church of Higham Ferrers by the dean and chapter of the Newark college and bound to continual residence and the cure of souls there.-- In 1535 the church of Higham Ferrers was amongst the spiritualities of the College of Newark, Leicester,-' and eight years later Henry VIII granted it to Robert Dacres, of Cheshunt,^ Master of the Requests and one of his Privy Councillors. From Robert, who died that year, the advowson of Higham Ferrers descended through his son George, and grandson, Sir Thomas Dacres, of Cheshunt, to his great-grandson Thomas,^^ whose right of presenta- • This brass was rep.iircd and parts renewtd in igzj : the date of death is recorded by a modern inscription. ' Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxxvi, qj, where the armo-jr is figured and described. It was brought to the church from the old Town Hall at its demolition. The date of the armour is c. 1650. ' The chest was the gift of Mrs. Mack- worth Dolben. • North, Ch. Bells of Northaius. 305, where the inscriptions on the old bells are given. There is also a priest's bell of 1660. '" Markham, Cb. Plate of Korthants. 158. " Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxiii, 178. The capital is square and deep, with plain moulded members below and tri- angular ornaments on the four facet. The shaft is S ft. high, of Wcldon stone, the steps of local ironstone. *^ Iltst. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 9, p. 532 ; Bridges, His:. Sorihanis. ii, 173 ; Bacon, Lih. Re^. 824. ■> y.C.H. Northants. i, 336*. " Chart. R. 141, m. 9, no. 7. *^ He died in June, 11 13. Complete Veera^e (New Ed.), iv, 771. '» Ch.nrt. R. loc. cit. " Cal. Pap. Reg. Letters, i, 18. " Bracton's Note Bk. 1236; Rot. Rob. Crossetesle (Cant, and York Soc), 178, 196. "• Inq. a.q.d. file 313, no. 1 ; Pat. R. 29 Edw. in, pt. I, m. 22; Close R. 30 Edw. Ill, m. I2d. " Dugdale, .l/on. Angl. vi, 1397. "VClI. .\orthanis. ii, 177-79; Cal. Pat. 1422-29, p. 472. 277 *2 Cal. Pap. Re^. Letters^ viii, 330-31 ; Stowe MS. m. 59-62. 23 Valor F.ccles. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 169-70. " Pat. R. 34 Hen. MH, pt. 7, no. 10. In this grant, which included the rever- sion of certain messuages and lands in Higham Ferrers, formerly of Archbishop Chichelcy's college and leased by the last master and two of his predecessors, and which was accompanied with the condition of tiie maintenance of two chaplains in the parish church and a schoolmaster in the town {see above) : the advowson ii described as one of the possessions of the Higham Ferrers college. '* Clutterbuclc, Herts, ii, loi ; Berry, Cotintv Genealogies^ Hens, 66 ; Cussans, Herts, i, pt. iii, 188 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 7 Jas. I; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) ccclix, 119 ; Ct. of Wards, file 54, no. I18. A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE tion was usurped, in 1631 by Archbishop Abbot and in 1635 by Laud.-* In 1662, however, this second Sir Thomas Dacres had recovered the patronage,-' and two years later, with his son Thomas and grand- son Robert, made a settlement in which the church of Higham Ferrers was included.-* Robert was seised of it in 1670,-' 1676 and 1691.'" A petition dated 12 February 1725-6, was presented to his son and heir Thomas, then patron, by the townsfolk of Higham Ferrers, in which they claimed fulfilment of his promise to allow them the choice of the next vicar,^^ which he did by presenting the candidate of their recommendation.^- Within the next ten years he seems to have sold the advowson to the Earl of Malton, afterwards Marquis of Rockingham,^ patron in 1735 and 1745.*^' From his son and heir, Charles Marquis of Rockingham, Prime Minister of England, who died without issue in 1782, the advowson came to the grandson of the first Marquis, William Went- worth, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam,'^ patron in 1800. His son, Charles William, Earl Fitzwilliam, patron in 1838,'* was succeeded by his third son, the Honourable George Wentworth Fitzwilliam of Milton, Peter- Dacru of Cheshunt. Or a chei'fron sable bel-uweti jbri-e roundels gules eaeh charged tvitb a scallop argent. Watson, Marquis of Rockinghnm. Argent a cbeveron azure bcKveen three martlets sable wtth three crescents or upon the cbeveron. Fitzwilliam. Lozengy argent and gules. borough, since whose death in 1874. his son, George Charles Wentworth Fitzwilliam, of Milton, has been patron.^' The rectory of Higham Ferrers followed the descent of the advowson (q.v.) down to the dissolution of the college of Newark. It had been leased with a burgage lying to the south of the rectory house and also tlie rectories of Caldecote and Chelveston by the dean of the college in 1 5 30 for 40 years to Laurence Washing- ton and Elizabeth his wife. In 1567 Queen Elizabeth granted a lease to John Jones for a term of 21 years from the expiration of the lease to Washington. Further leases in reversion were granted by the Crown in 1570 to Nicholas Stere for 31 years, and in 1574 to John Jones for 21 years. The interests under these leases seem to have been acquired by Christopher Freeman, who in 1602 obtained a lease for his life and the lives of Martha his wife and his sons Ralph and George.** In 1606 he had a grant of the chapels, messuages, mills, glebe lands, tithes, etc., in the parishes of Higham Ferrers, Chelveston and Calde- cote, parcel of the said rectory.^ An action was brought in the Court of Chancery by Henry, son of Christopher Freeman, regarding the liability to repair the chancel of Higham Ferrers church. The plaintiff, Henry Freeman, admitted his liability as owner of the rectory, but claimed that Christopher Rudd and i\Iartin Creake as lessees had allowed the chancel to fall into decay and ruin. It appears that Christopher Freeman, by his will dated in 1610, left the parsonage house, tithes, etc., to his wife Martha, for life, with remainder to Ralph his son and heir. Martha afterwards married Anthony Herenden, and then neglected to repair the chancel, but being threatened with proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Court, leased the tithes to Christopher Rudd and Martin Creake. The lessees held them for some ten years before the death of Martha in 1621. Ralph Freeman having predeceased Martha without issue, he was succeeded by his brother Henry, the plaintiff, who had to disburse 200 marks on repairs to the chancel, for which he sued the lessees Rudd and Creake.'"' Another Henry Freeman owned the rectory in l68i.''i In 1696 one moiety belonged to James Johnson and his wife Judith, and this or the other moiety was held by Susan Wickham, widow, in 1714.*^ Both belonged to Thomas Dacres in 1731, and have since descended with the advowson (q.v.). The chapel of Jesus in Higham Ferrers was included in the grant to Robert Dacres and still owned by his heirs in 1731. The following charities are ad- CHJRITIES ministered by the Mayor of Fligham Ferrers and 11 other trustees in conformity with a scheme of the Charity Commis- sioners dated 3 April 1914, under the title of the United Charities : — Charity of Archbishop Henry Chicheley for Bedes- men founded under a licence from the Crown in 1422, originally consisted of the Bedehouse and Garden Ground and an annual charge of ^^24 10;. out of land belonging to Robert Dacres. The endowment is now represented by ^^890 8s. %d. New Zealand 4 per cent. Inscribed Stock, ^^239 zs. id. India 3 per cent. Stock and a yearly payment of j^4 by the Corporation of Higham Ferrers. " Init. Bki. (P.R.O.). Bolh prclatci held that the advowson belonged to Canterbury (S. P. Uom. Chai. I, ccxriii, 128). " In.t. Bki. (P.R.O.). «• Feet of I', Uiv. Coi. Trin. 16 Cha.. II. "Ibid. Mich. 12 Chai. II. •« Init. Bki. (PRO.). " Norihanis. N. and Q. i, 34-5. " In.t. Bk.. (P.R.O.). "See Rccov. R. Hil. 5 Geo. II, ro. 135. He is said to have sold the college estates, included in the grant of the advowson to Robert Dacres, to the Earl in 1734- Whellan, Hist. Northants. ()|6. '* Bacon, Lib. Regis. 824-25. •^ Complete Peerage (New Ed.) luc. cil ; Burke, Peerage, 1927. *• Act Priv. and Loc. 40 Geo. Ill, cap. 36 i I Vict, cap II. " Cler. Guide ; Clergy List ; Burke, loc. cit. '» Pat. R. 44 Eliz. pt. 33, m. 17. " Ibid. 4 J.ii. I, pt. iq. *" C'han. Prnc. (Scr. ii), cccxiviii, 14. «■ Ibid. *' Kccov. R. E,ist. 33 C'has. II, ro. 169. Feet of V. Northants. Trin. 8 Will, and Mary ; Trin. I Geo. I. 278 BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS Nicholas Latham's Dole consists of a yearly pay- ment of j^3, paid by the bailiff of Parson Latham's Hospital in Barnwell. Nicholas Latham died about 1620. The Honourable Lewis Watson about the year 1708 gave £50. Elizabeth Frei-man, by her will dated 18 Tcbruary '7'5. g-i^'-'^^o. Richard W'aijstaff, who died in August 1 747, by his will gave 20/. a year to the poor and 10/. yearly to the minister for a sermon. The endowments of the three last mentioned charities consist of 2 acres of land known as Thorp End Close, which produced £7 i6s. 6d. in 1924. John Dewberry's charity originally consisted of a yearly sum of j^i which had long been paid as a rent- charge issuing out of land belonging to Earl Fitz- william. This charge was redeemed in 1914 by the transfer of £^0 Consols to the Official Trustees. .Ann Sanders, who died in July 1804, gave ^^50 to the poor, and Mrs. Maskell, by her will dated about 1819, gave ;£20. These two gifts are now represented by £6() lis. gJ. India 3 per cent. Stock. George Newman, by his will proved in the Preroga- tive Court of Canterbury 3 November 1855, gave such part of his personal estate as he could lawfully b'^queath for charitable purposes for the support of six poor almswomen. The legacy, together with accumulations, was invested in ^^5,834 12^. c)d. India 3 per cent. Stock. Selina Dennis Pressland, by her will proved in the Peterborough Registry, 3 June 1891, gave ^^3,000 for the benefit of poor widows. The legacy was invested in ;^3,030 6s. id. Consols. The gross income of the charities amounted to ;^3i3 is. 6d. in 1924. The yearly income of the charity of Archbishop Cliicheley is applied in stipends to 13 bcdespeople, being 12 men and one woman. ^^33 13/. was so ap- plied in 1924. There are six almswomen who receive a stipend at the rate of 8/. per week. They occupy almshouses which are held on a yearly tenancy from the Cor- poration at a rent of ^51. A stipend of not less than ^^5 yearly is paid to each of not more than 15 poor widows called the Pressland Widows. The residue of the income of tlie charities is applied for the benefit of the poor generally at tlie discretion of the trustees. .Archbishop Chichclcy before-mentioned also pro- vided for the maintenance of two chaplains. In respect of this a sum oi £1$ a year is paid to the vicar in augmentation of the vicarage out of the estates of Earl Eitzwilliam. By her will Mrs. Wilde, who died about 1814, gave £'}o to the poor. .\ sum of ,^27 was received by the vicar in respect of this legacy and the interest amount- ing to ^l js. was distributed in bread during winter. Owing to the insolvency of the holder this charity has been lost. By an award, dated 27 December 1839, of the In- closure Commissioners 9 a. I r. 31 p. of land situate in the beast pasture was allotted to six trustees for the use of the inhabitants as a recreation ground. In 1910 the trust was transferred to the Town Council of Higham Ferrers. The land is let for grazing at a rent of £j per annum, which is applied in the upkeep of the gates and fences. The Church Land. By the award above-mentioned 6 a. I r. 1 1 p. of land in the beast pasture was allotted to the churchwardens for the benefit of the church. The land is let in allotments to about 50 tenants and produced ^16 6j. 8d. in rent in 1924. The income is applied to church maintenance. By declaration of trust dated 13 July 1910 a sum of ;^2oo India 2j per cent. Stock was transferred to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds by John Crew, of the Manor House, upon trust that the divi- dends should be applied by the vicar and church- wardens towards the repair of the church. The dividends amount to £^ per annum. By an indenture dated 20 March 1866 it was declared that the interest to arise from a sum of £100 given by Mrs. Ann Burgess should be applied in pro- viding clothing for one or more needy local preacher or preacliers of the Wesleyan Society in Higham Ferrers Circuit. The gift was invested in ^{^88 gs. lid. Consols and the income amounting to £2 4J. is applied in the purchase of suits of clothes every few years. The last distribution took place in 1893, when three suits costing ^^lo 101. were distributed to three recipients. The several sums of stock are standing in the name of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. HIGHAM PARK Park of Hecham (xii cent.). Park of Hegham Ferrers (xiv cent.). Higham Park, the park attached to Higham Ferrers Castle, was formerly extra-parochial and included in the liberty of Rushden, but is now an independent parish. It lies in the south-east of Higham Hundred, on the borders of Bedfordshire and covers 600 acres, of which 167 acres are in the parish of Knotting in Bedfordshire. About half the total area is arable land where wheat, oats, barley beans and turnips are grown and the remainder permanent grass. The surface is friable clay, the subsoil Oxford clay witli streaks of cornbrash. In 1921 the population numbered thirteen persons. There has never been a parish church, but there was a chapel attached to the Great Lodge of the Park which fell into decay with the house. The park was at one time surrounded by a ditch. The principal entrance was on its north-west side by the road leading indirectly from Rushden. A moated inclosure, now partially destroyed, marks the site of the Great Lodge, where the keeper of the park lived. 279 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE It was described as in Rushden in 1327* and consisted in the 15th century of a hall, chapel, chamber, kitchen, brewhouse and bakehouse.^ There were a dovecot^ and two fishponds* in the grounds. Besides the Great Lodge there was a Little Lodge or New I,odge which stood in the i6th century at the south end of the park.* The present Old Hall, now a farm house, was possibly built on a new site when the Great Lodge fell into decay in the time of the Commonwealth.^ At the end of the i8th century the Great Lodge was known as Higham Park House. The park was said in 1649 to be well wooded and to contain many valuable trees. It was, however, disparked by 1671' and the land converted into arable and pasture. The earliest mention of the park seems to belong to the I2th year of Henry II (1166), when tlie sheriff of Northamptonshire owed ^15 16^. lojW. for the ex- change of the park of Higham.* King John's grant of Higham Ferrers to the Earl of Derby shows, however, that the King's great-grand- father, Henry I, had acquired the park from the elder William Peverel and that it remained part of the royal demesne until 1199.^ It was enlarged in or before 1 166 by Henry II, who inclosed within it certain lands for which he gave in exchange to tlie tenants, Ricliard and William de Newton and Aleswas or Halenod Bochard, land elsewhere in the same fee.'" Thence- forward payment on this account was made yearly into the Exchequer.^' After the grant of 11 99 these three knights redeemed their old inheritance and the lands they had held in exchange were absorbed in the manor of Earl Ferrers. '^ Higham Park, thus reduced to its earlier dimensions, followed the descent of the manor of Higham Ferrers (q.v.) until 1672. In 1298 and again in 1327 it is called the park of Rushden, of which parish it formed part until the latter part of the last century, but later in the 14th and throughout most of the 17th century it was generally known as Higham Ferrers Park. In 1406, Henry IV leased its herbage and pannage to Thomas Beston and the parker was charged to provide him with a key of the gate of the park that he might have free entry with ins cattle. l' Two leases of the same for twenly-one years were made by James I in 1604, first to William Purvey and afterwards to Sir John Stanhope, vice-cham- berlain of his household. These leases included the warren of the park, all buildings there and the office of keeper. These were followed, early in the next year, by a grant in socage of Higham Ferrers Park to Sir George Hume, Chancellor of the Exchequer.^* In 16:0 Sir John Stanhope, now Lord Stanhope, surrendered his claim to the park of Higham Ferrers in Northamptonsliire and Bedfordshire to the king for j^400.** William Purvey was dead, but his lease was still in force when a fresh one was granted in 1618 to John Levingston, groom of the bedchamber, for life and twenty-one years beyond. 1® This was to come into force in March 1624, and in this month instruc- tions given a year before were renewed to Sir Thomas Tresham, verderer of Rockingham Forest, to report on the game and woods in Higham Ferrers Park. He found great disorder prevailing, and the new keeper refused to take charge until a survey had been made." In the following November Sir Robert Osborne was ordered to examine the deer-stealers from Higham Ferrers Park, and three weeks later steps were taken to arrest Edward Ekins who was chiefly responsible for the outrages there.'* The park formed part of the jointure of Queen Henrietta Maria in 1630." Sir John Levingston had died more than three years bcforCj^" and in or about 1632 his widov/, who then held the remainder of his lease, petitioned Charles I to renew it to her son,^' presum- ably the James Levingston, groom of the bedchamber, in 1625,^2 who leased the keeper- ship of the park to Francis Dyn in 1649.^' A later lessee. Sir Robert Long, bart., Auditor of the Exchequer, exchanged his in- terest for permanent posses- sion in 1672, when he paid j{j8oo for the grant in free socage of Higham Ferrers Park with its appurtenances.'''* In the following year he was succeeded by his nephew and heir Sir James Long, bart., of Draycot Cerne,^* whose great- grandson, the third Sir Robert I-ong, was seised in the latter part of the 1 8th century .'•^^ The Parliamentary Commissioners of 1649 declared Higham Park to be tithe frc\-,2' but about 60 years later tithes from this estate belonged to the rectory of Rushden.-* Long of Drnycnt. SahU crusily and a lion ardent. ' Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 27. ' Rev. W. J. I!. Kerr, Higham Ferrers, 165-9. • Ibid. 164. ' Ibid. 163 : Pari. Surv. Nortliants. no. 34. ' Kerr, op. cit. 169. • Pari. Surv. NorthanU. no. 34. ' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1671-72, 25. • r,pe Roll 12 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.) 64. • I'inc R, 1 John, rn. 23 ; Pipe Roll, i John, m. 2d ; Royal Charter* (Duchy of Lane.) 49. '» Pipe Roll, 2 John, m. 4d ; Il.irdy, Rot. dc Ohlal. el Ftn. 61. " Pipe Roll, 13 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.) 1 13 ct scq. " Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4d. " Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 16, fol. 52, 65. '* Pat. R. I Jas. I, pt. 7, m. 29. >' Feet, of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 8 Ja>. I. '• Pat. R. ifi Jas I, pt. 1 1, no. 4 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1611-18, p. 597. " Ibid. 1619-23, p. 539 i 1623-25, pp. 195, 202. '" Ibid. p. 388 ; 1623-25, p. 407. '» Pat. R. 5 Chas. I, pt. 15, no. 6. " Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 34. "' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1631-33, pp. 476-77. " Ibid. 1625-26, pp. 23, 195. " Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1649. " Pat. 24 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 14; Cal. S. P. Dom., 1671-72, p. 25. " Complete Baronetage, iii, 257-59. "' Brid,:;os, Xorthiinis. ii, 194. *' Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 34. •» Bridges, loc. cit. ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. MSS. of Mrs. Sackville, i, 4?. 280 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY University of California, San Diego DATE DUE T]tQ,^i^nm /\\' a 39 UCSD Libr. UC SOllTHfRN RrniONAL I IPRARY f ACIl ITY D 001 047 326 2 Univ Sc I ! I