■ ■ ■ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http ://arch i ve . o rg/detai Is/arch itectu ral notOOarch Published bv Jolta Henry Beaker, Ojriibrd, March. I s . 11 1846 . - ARCHITECTURAL NOTICES OF %\)t Ci)ttrct)es OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. DEANERIES OF HIGH AM FERRERS AND HADDON. LONDO N, JOHN HENRY PARKER, 377, STRAND; AND BROAD-STREET, OXFORD. M DCCC XLIX. OXFORD : PRINTED BY I. SHRIMFTON. The Architectural Society of the Archdeaconry of Northampton beg to acknowledge the gift of the following illustrations in this volume : The West Door of Irthlingborough, by Lord Northampton. The Views of Cranford St. Andrew and Cranford St. John, by the Rev. Sir George Robinson, Bart. The Interior of Finedon Church, by the late Rev. S. W. Paul. The Font of Finedon, by the Rev. G. A. Poole. The View of Bozeat Church, by Lord Northampton. Crick Church, by the Rev. C. L. Swainson. Winwick, by the Rev. J. A. Jeremie. Font of Thornby, by the Rev. J. Couchman. Font of Cold Ashby, by the Rev. W. Mousley. Porch of Yelvertoft, by the Rev. J. J. Hodson. £2. 2s. towards the View of Watford Church, by Lord Henley. Corbel in Long Buckby, by the Rev. J. Smith. The Font of West Haddon, by the Rev. H. M. Spence. The Tower of Welford, by the Hon. Frederick Villikrs, M.P. The Coffin-lid at Sulby, by the Rev. G. A. Poole. The Capital of South Pillar at Naseby, by the Rev. J. Jones. The Interior View of Spratton Church, by the Rev. J. Bartlett and the Rev. J. F. Cobb. Ruins of the Church at Boughton, by the Rev. G. S. H. Vyse. South Chancel Door, Weston Favell, by the Rev. R. H. Knight. Capital of Pillar, Brington, by the Rev. H. Rose. Sedilia, East Haddon, by H. B. Sawbridge, Esq. Sedilia, Harleston, by the Rev. D. Morton. Priest's Door, Flore, by M. H. Bloxam, Esq. CHUECHES DESCRIBED IN THIS VOLUME, WITH A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. [the steel plates are distinguished by an asterisk.] Page Higham Ferrers ........ 1—29 * West front ofChurch, shewing also the School-house, (restored,) \ the Cross, and part of the Bede-house . . . / frontis P iece * Ground-plan of the Church and Church-yard ... 1 The Church-yard Cross, with the Bede-house and Vicarage . . ib. * The Western Doorway . . . .. . 2 Sculpture, representing the Disciples at the Sepulchre . . 3 Section of Porch ....... ib. Diaper-work in the vault of the Porch .... 4 Buttress, North-west Angle ...... ib. Termination of Chamfer of Buttress . . . . 5 Window and Priest's Door, in Chancel .... 9 * Interior of the Chancel, looking west (restored) . . . 10 * Arrangement of Tiles in the pavement of the Altar steps . . 12 Shields of Arms from tomb ...... 12 — 14 Sections of E. E. Capital, South Aisle . .... 14 * Interior of the Nave, looking east . . . . 15 Sections of Capitals of the north and centre Aisles . . . ib. E. E. Piscina in South Aisle . . . . . . 16 Sculptured Stone from the South Aisle .... ib. The Font, with plan ....... ib. Brass to Thomas Chichele and Agnes his wife . . . 17 Brass of Henry Denton, Priest ..... 18 Decorated Niche with zigzag ornament, from Dorchester Church . 20 Archbishop Chichele's College ..... 25 The Bede-House ....... 26 Chelveston CUM Caldecot ...... 30—35 N.E. View of Caldecot Church ..... 30 Clerestory Window . . . . . . . 31 Corbel, South Aisle of Nave ...... 33 Hargrave ......... 36—42 S.E. View of the Church ...... 36 Tower Window ....... 37 Section of the arch of the South Doorway ib. Clerestory Window ....... 38 The South Doorway ....... ib. Painting on the Wall, St. George and the Dragon ... 40 b CHURCHES DESCRIBED IN THIS VOLUME, Page STANWICK ......... 43—52 * South View of the Church . . . . . 43 The Font . . . . . . . ib. Ground Plan of Tower, and Second story of the same . . 44 Buttresses of Tower ....... ib. Interior of West Window ...... 45 Corbel-table on Tower ....... ib. Stair-turret, North-west angle of Tower .... 46 Base and Chamfers, South Doorway ..... 47 Termination of the hood-mould of the Porch .... 48 E.E. Sedile ........ 49 RAUNDS ......... 53—66 * West Front of the Church ...... 53 The Church -yard Cross ...... ib. Section of the arches of the West Porch .... 54 * The West Window, (restored.) ..... 55 Sunk Panel, South side of Tower ..... ib. Window of the North Aisle ...... 56 East Window ........ 57 Cusp of East Window ....... ib. Buttress at south-east angle ...... 58 Parapet ... . . . . . ib. Clerestory Window ....... 59 Roof of the Nave . . . . . . . ih. Details of Roof ....... 60 Jamb of Chancel-arch ...... ib. Buttress of Chancel-arch . .... ib. * Plan of the Church ....... 61 Section of Chancel-arch . . . . . . ib. The Font . . . . . ... . 62 Floriated Tombstone of the 1 3th century .... 64 Barn of the 13th century ...... 65 Ring stead . . . . . . . . 67 — 74 General View of the Church from the S.E. .... 67 West Window of Tower ...... 68 Sections of Capitals in Chancel ..... 70 Fresco Painting . . . . . . . 71 Section of Shaft of the Font ...... 72 Arms of Drayton, inserted by mistake at .... 63 Ground-plan of the Church ...... 73 DENFOllD ......... 75—79 S.E. View of the Church ...... 75 West Window, South Aisle ...... 77 Stalls in Chancel ....... 78 Mouldings of Stalls ....... ib. Shield of Arms . . . , . . . 79 * WTTTT A TiTRT OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. vii Page Woodford. . 80 -93 T-nfovinr nf* flip P!TlTll t pTl • ♦ XIllcllUI ul tile V^IlUlUll • • • 80 * N.W. View of the Church . 81 T^ntfvpsc: nf HTnWPT • . • • XJU.LLIC00 Ul X v it Li • • • » ib. Pinnnplp nf TnwPT . • • X llllldl^lC Ul 1 v W CI ■ • • • 82 South Porch and Door 83 TVTnnl rli n rrc r\f nnfpv o -n rl "mnPV AvPri OT TiOOT AYXuLllU.lll^o Ul UULCl clll H miiei v/ii \j±. l/uui » t • 84 Leaden Pipe of Roof 86 v r lan oi ine v^iiurcn • ••••• 87 Capitals, YV coL clltl Ul lidvc • • • • • ib. Credence Tahle • • • • • • ib. The Font 88 Interior of the Church ..... 89 Wooden Effigies ot Sir Walter and Alianora lrayJli . on Diapered pattern on ^V^ooden Effigies .... ib. Arms of Symon Malory . • . • • 91 Great Addington ...... . 94- -102 The South Porch ...... 94 * S. W. View of the Church ..... 95 Section of Arch, West Doorway .... ib. Lozenge "Window m the Tower .... ib. Slpptirm nf A vpli of* Rplfrv "Win flow ib. Panelled band on the Tower ..... 96 Sipptinni ax A vpli c\x nnfpy* rmn lntipv Donvwi v of Pnv^n IJCL/llUllo Ul XllVyll VJL UUIC1 cl 1 1 LI HHlCi JL/VJUIWclV \J 1 X yjl VsLL • 97 Piscina and Sedilia in Chancel .... ib. The Font . . . . . 98 Piscina in Chantry ...... QQ y j Brass of John Bloxam ...... 10O Arms of Wake and Vere (called by mistake Bloxam) 101 Little Addington ...... 103- -109 * N.E. View of the Church ..... J 03 Wpst Hnnrwav f» COL 1/UU1 VV East Window, are of the same period. The Nave and Aisles were rebuilt in the time of Edward III., and shortly after- wards the side walls of the Chancel were raised, and the Clere- story introduced with a new roof, in imitation of that of the Nave. The high pitch of the roof of the original Church may be distinctly traced in the east gable of the Chancel, and on the east side of the Tower, where the string or weather-moulding remains, shewing that the original Church had no Clerestory; but the western Responds remaining shew that it had Aisles. The Spire was rebuilt in 1826, having been destroyed by light- ning, but the original pattern was faithfully copied. The few dates which are recorded respecting this Church agree in a re- markable manner with the architectural character. The earliest presentation which has been found is in the register of Oliver OF NORTHAMPTON. — RAUNDS. 65 Sutton, bishop of Lincoln, John de Twyford in 1254, Edmund the son of King Henry being the patron : this is just about the period when we might expect to find the original Church completed. In the 28th of Edward III., (1355,) " the patronage of this Church by the gift of Henry duke of Lancaster, was appropriated to the dean and chapter of the college of Newark in Leicester, and the vicarage again ordained." This also accords exactly with the period when we should expect the rebuilding of the Nave and Aisles to have been completed. Near the Church is a fine barn of the thirteenth century, with a very high-pitched roof, the gables, with their finials, and the TEE BARN. buttresses on the south side are perfect, and of clear Early English character. The timbers of the roof have been a good deal patched, but the principals are original : their feet are embedded in the wall against the buttresses at about four feet from the ground, and they meet at the point, where they are attached to a short collar-beam, being slightly curved, each pair of principals thus forms a lofty arch, the edges of the beams are chamfered, and the terminations of these chamfers are of early character. i. h. p. K 66 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. INCUMBENTS OF RAUNDS AND TIME OF INSTITUTION. Joh. de Twyford. Hug. de Vienna, Subd. . . . 1258 Walter de Reding. Petr., dictus Guerrer, Subd. . . 1304 Dom. Walt. Reginald, Diac. . . 1307 Tho. de Cherleton, Acolit. . . 1308 Galfr. de Vylers . . . . 1317 Galfr. de Bicleswade, CI. . . 1329 Joh. de Welbourne . . . . 1346 Will. Mariot, Pbr. d . . . . 1390 Joh. Upton, CI 1408 Joh. Russell, CI. . . . . 1413 Will. Sandbache, Pbr. . . . 1429 Joh. Scelton, Pbr 1431 Will. Barry, CI. ... . 1434 Tho. Wright, Pbr 1487 Joh. Warner, Pbr 1442 Dom. Rob. Clevelonde, Pbr. . . 1477 Dom. John Wales, Pbr. . . . 1477 Dom. Walt. Dyotson, Pbr. . . 1497 Tho. Plowright, Pbr. . . . 1509 Will. Cannam, CI 1548 Geo. Howghe, CI. . . . . 1554 Anton. Redshaw, Occ. . . . 1561 Ric. Sutton, CI 1564 Thos. Walkington, CI. . . . 1608 Mich. Westfield, CI. ... 1609 Ambros. Fishe, CI. . . . 1619 Will. Holmes, CI. (ob. 1653) . . 1623 Sam. Peake, Occ 1665 Simon Cowper, M.A. . . . 1700 Richard Cardwell, B.A. . . . 1723 Peter Drinkwater, M.A. . . . 1724 Geo. Tymms 1731 John Glassbrooke, B.A. ... 1 745 James Smyth, B.A. . . . 1781 Henry Ryder Knapp, M.A. . . 1805 William Roles . . . . 1817 Edward Barton Lye . . . 1820 d This incumbent, the first presented by the New College of the Blessed Mary at Leicester, is instituted to the vicarage only ; thenceforth the benefice remains a vicarage. Since the Dissolution the advowson has been in the crown. RINGSTEAD. vicarage. &t. Mm tfie Ftrgtn. deanery PATRON, op THOMAS BURTON, ESQ. HIGHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. GENERAL VIEW. HIS Church consists of Nave and north Aisle, Chancel, north Chantry and Vestry, north and south Porches, and west Tower and Spire. 35 x 1 1 v i o r. The Spire of Ringstead is a very pretty object from the opposite side of the river, forming one of a series, embracing Thrapston, Denford, Raunds, Stanwick, and Higham Ferrers, all visible at the same time : approached from Raunds it is first seen from the brow of a hill, on the north side of which the Church stands, and from its singular disproportion to the Tower in point of height and 68 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY character, excites an expectation which is disappointed on an actual survey of the Church. The Tower is of three stories, in the lower of which a square door has been opened through the centre of the basement mould- ing, which is bold and good. The two pairs of buttresses, of one stage only, terminate in a plain slope under the first string-course. The second story is pierced with a long- narrow Early English window with a square head, to which a character as decidedly Early English as the usual lancet could be, is given by the very singular and perhaps unique carving of the top stone. The third story is without windows, and terminates in a corbel-table of notch-heads, from which springs the octagonal broach Spire. The squinches are unusually lofty, and so are the first spire lights, which are in fact the belfry windows ; the first stage of the Spire, thus enlarged by the exaggerated squinches and by the canopied windows, forming the bell-chamber a . These windows are of two lights, separated by an octagonal shaft with an Early English capital, and inserted in a pointed arch springing from a jamb of two chamfered orders, having an engaged shaft with a moulded capital in the square recess between them : a cross surmounts the pediment. The other two series of lights are of two piercings and of one piercing respectively, and all occupy the cardinal faces of the Spire. The height of the Tower to the sill of the belfry windows is forty feet ; the whole height of Tower and. Spire cannot be less than eighty-five or ninety feet. a The bells, six in number, are not ancient, the great bell, which has this legend : and are inscribed only with the names of the *' E to the church the Itbtng call, churchwardens and of the bell founders, except ^nD to the Cjrauc IE summon all." OF NORTHAMPTON. — RINGSTEAD. 69 In the west of the north Aisle is a window of one depressed ogeed light, and the buttresses at the north-west angle are Decorated. The first window to the north is late Early English, consisting of two lancets, with a circle between them, within a pointed arch, the outer face of the mouldings, of a single hollow chamfer, being flush with the wall : a circumstance to which this style owes its character, quite as much as to the design of the tracery. The dripstone terminates in heads. This bay of the north Aisle is without basement moulding or string-course, while the rest of the Aisle eastward of the Porch, though farther removed from the Tower, has the basement of the Tower continued round it. The north Porch is Decorated, with a very rich outer doorway, the jambs of which consist (or rather did consist, for some of the members have perished) of four columns set in deep hollows, not in square recesses, as is more usual in Early English, with bases and capitals which seem to belong to that style; but the ball-flower in the outer suit of arch-mouldings, and the foliated ogee termina- tion of the dripstone, belong to the next style : and it should be noted that the arch-mouldings very imperfectly carry up the more prominent lines of the jambs, difficulties which will perhaps be best construed into a proof that a Decorated arch surmounts Early English jambs. The two west bays of the Aisle have three- light subarcuated Perpendicular windows inserted between Early English buttresses. The two Chantry windows are recently restored, but after the old model, which gives them a late Deco- rated character ; they are two-light, and square-headed. The east Chancel window, which is figured in Sharpe's series, is described by the editor, as "an elegant variety of a design by no means uncommon, in which an arch is carried in the tracery over the two side lights, and filled with three trefoils or cinquefoils. The tracery too, which in the present instance forms one side of this arch, is curved inwards, as it approaches the window-arch; and accommodating itself to the form of the two large piercings in the centre of the window, offers a good example of that pliability which is so distinguibhing a character of the Flamboyant style. The two large piercings in the head of the window, which may be 70 CPIURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY called dixfoils, also indicate its late character. The jamb mould- ings are quite plain. The tracery is of one order onlyV The south windows of the Chancel are of three lights, of very long proportion, with Decorated tracery not of the best or most graceful character. The leading lines are a circle resting on two intersecting semicircles, and the subordinate tracery inclines to the Flamboyant. The Nave windows, though not exactly like these, are of the same late and unsatisfactory character ; they differ more in mouldings than in general design, and perhaps the Nave may be placed a few years later than the Chancel, on this ground. The south Porch has at least as much merit as any other portion of the Church. It is supported by good angle buttresses, round which the basement of the Nave is carried : the upper member of the basement moulding rises, after a single return on each side, over the pointed door. The roof is groined within, and without still retains its high pitch, and its original stone construction. The Clerestory and Parapet are Perpendicular, the Roofs are lowered throughout, (the original pitch of the Nave roof still appearing on the Tower,) and are covered with lead. E n 1 1 x t o r. Descending four steps from the south Porch, we reach the Nave, separated from the north Aisle by tall piers, of a quatrefoil section, with Early J |§|| j|||f., English moulded capitals and bases. The piers in continuation of these which sepa- rate the Chancel from the Chantry are cylindrical, and of less height c , but all support arches of two chamfered orders. The Tower-arch is closed, it is of three |ir "I 1* "I 1 Sections of Capitals. chamtered orders, supported by circular shafts in square recesses, and the dripstone terminates in a cluster b Decorated Windows, part vi. bottom of the plinth, and the girth 5 feet. c The height of the Aisle piers is 9 feet The height of the Chantry piers is 7 feet 7 inches from the top of the capital to the 2 inches, and the girth 4 feet 6 inches. OF NORTHAMPTON.— RINGSTEAD. 71 of leaves to the north, and in a bracket, of which the lower part is broken off to the south. Across the Chancel-arch is the base of a stone screen, which, from the very small fragment of tracery remaining, seems to have been of rich Decorated design. Surrounding the Chantry is the base of a parclose, also of stone, which was lower, and probably less elaborate. There are three Sedilia, Decorated, of equal height ; and in the usual relative position a single Piscina, with notch-heads for the label terminations : there is also an Ambrie of two trefoiled recesses, the one over the other. The Vestry, which is a portion separated from the east end of the Chantry by an original wall, is entered by a Decorated door, and on the wall are remains of fresco painting, retaining traces of FRESCO PAINTING-. considerable elegance, though too much damaged for successful restoration. The part we succeeded in clearing was a kneeling figure of a female saint, drawn entirely in yellow and red ochres, on a dark olive ground, semee (to borrow a term from heraldry) of circles of red surrounding the sacred monogram I. H. C. red on a white ground. The figure has far more grace than usual, and the combination of colours is very har- monious. 72 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The Font stands against the first pillar within the north door. The shaft is of a very singular section : the plain octagonal bason either does not belong to it, or has been set upon it with very little care. There are a few late Perpendicular bench-ends, on the finial of one of which is a shield bearing a cross d . There is a handsome oak table, apparently once the Altar, now discarded for one of very inferior character. The roofs are open, of low pitch, and poor throughout. A few traces of painted glass remain in the Perpendicular windows of the north Aisle. Bridges says there were once the portraits of the twelve Apostles, four of which only were entire when he wrote. There is not a single monument of any architectural character. HE Tower and Spire, which are decidedly Early English, are the first portions of this Church ; and with these, on the authority of the basement-moulding, we must class the external wall of the north Aisle, while the capitals of the Nave piers, identical in character with those of the Tower-arch, enable us to decide their relative date with the like precision. To these we must add the lower part of the outer door of the north Porch, and the inner door of the south Porch, (over which the serrated moulding is carried,) and we have enumerated all the original features of the Church, and these we may assign to the first half of the thirteenth century. d Ferhaps Drayton. Argent, a cross indented gules. OF NORTHAMPTON.— RINGSTEAD. 73 The Chancel is late Decorated throughout, as well as the south wall of the Nave, the doorway excepted ; and of the same charac- ter are the west window of the north Aisle, and the two buttresses at the north-west angle, together with the two Porches, with the exception of the earlier jambs of the outer north door. The clerestory windows were inserted about the same time, and still later the Perpendicular windows in the north Aisle. The parapet throughout, and the clerestory, are of the latter date. There is a path called the friar's path leading from Ringstead to Raunds, the only trace to be found of the ancient dependance of the Church, together with that of Denford, on the Abbey of Chester. The two Vicarages are still united. Bridges mentions that the sum of six pounds, arising yearly from lands, is appropriated to the use of the Church and of the poor, but neither this nor any part of it is now applied to the support of the fabric. g.a.p. — j.c.p. GROOND-PLAN OF RINGSTEAD CHURCH. I. 74 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. INCUMBENTS OF RINGSTEAD WITH DENFORD, AND TIME OF INSTITUTION. Petr. de Cestna, ad eccl. de Denelord. 1 Lot Alan Strangman 1462 Rob. Burnell e . Will. Toundeyr 1478 Rog. de Albo Monasterio Olyv. Rygby. Walt, de liiorp . 1 907 i zy / Rog. Reyne .... 1487 Will, cie otrixton .... 1298 1500 Tho. de Bynyngton 1 3^0 Joh. Wodewarde 1525 Tho. de Arwe .... 1 ooL Rog. Walkott. Rog. de Burton. Tho. Whytynge, CI. ad Vic. de Denford Tho. de Hampcotes . 3 1368 cum Capel de Ringstede 1545 Will. Gotham .... 1378 Jac. Roberts .... 1554 Joh. Layote 1389 Hen. Beddforde 1556 Will. Denford, Cap. ad Vicar Eccl. Edward Mouslie. de Denford ..... 1399 Tho. Freeman 1561 Will. Bullok 1403 Ric. Cooke .... 1728 Rob. Wylson. John Glassbrook, M.A. . 1752 John Gedon 1446 Wm. Waterhouse, B.A. 1766 Tho. Poulter 1447 Isaac Gaskarth 1777 Will. Mannyng .... 1448 Charles Proby, M.A. 1812 Joh. Selby 1453 John Watson, D.D. . 1822 f Rob. Saxundale .... 1455 e Consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells on Palm Sunday, 1275 ; Archdeacon of York, and Chancellor of England from 1274 to his death in 1292. He was a great man in all his offices, and remarkable as an Ecclesiastical architect. f The patronage was formerly in the Abbat of St. Werburgh, Chester, but 3 Hen. V. it was appropriated to the see of Coventry and Lichfield, for the support of the Bishop's table. The Vicarage was ordained in 1396. Since the Dissolution the patronage has passed through several hands. DENFORD. DENFORD CHURCH. HIS Church is very prettily situated on the banks of the Nen, about two miles from Thrapstone, and a mile and a half from Ringstead, with which last it forms one benefice; it consists of Nave, north and south Aisles, Chancel, south Porch, and west Tower and Spire. 76 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY ?cxter( or. The two lower stories of the Tower are early Early English, distinguished by a stringcourse, at the angles of which are knots of foliage, which are repeated below the belfry, at the angles of what was probably the base of the original coping. In the basement story is a long lancet. These two stories are rubble throughout, with ashlar quoins. The Belfry a , which seems a little more recent, is of ashlar. The windows, of two lights, occupy the central portion of an arcade of three arches, of which the outer ones are unpierced. The arches spring from shafts with moulded bases and capitals ; the lights are trefoiled, with a trefoil in a curvilinear triangle in the head. The lower mould- ing of the parapet again terminates in foliage : the corbel-table is of notch-heads : the parapet wall is a little canted at the angles ; and there are four octagonal pinnacles, with conical caps, of which, however, the points are gone. The Spire, the angles of which are beaded, is square at the base, but immediately assumes an octagonal form, and where the faces become equal two stringcourses are carried round them. The lower spire- lights are of two lancets, with a lozenge in the head, beneath a canopy surmounted by a cross. Pairs of buttresses have been added at the angles of the Tower. The original fabric of the north Aisle is of very early Decorated, as appears from the door, and the north-east window; but Perpen- dicular buttresses have been added, and three-light Perpendicular windows inserted, the old hood -mouldings being worked up. The north Chancel has no early work remaining, except just at the angle, where is a square stone, pierced with a quatrefoil in a circle, which may have opened into the Chancel through one of the northern stalls. A low door, blocked up, in the angle of the Aisle, had possibly some connexion with this, and also with the rood-loft, to which it may have been an approach from without. a There are six bells, without inscriptions. OF NORTHAMPTON. — DENFORD. 77 The east window of the Chancel has a Perpendicular head and tracery inserted over early Decorated jambs : the mouldings change at the beginning of the tracery. The south Chancel-wall is built in alternate courses of light and dark stone : the windows are early Decorated, of simple intersecting tracery. The east window of the south Aisle is late Perpendicular, under a four-centred arch, so much depressed as to be almost triangular. The lights are without foliations, but the mouldings are somewhat complicated and of two orders. A stringcourse of the roll- moulding shews that the whole of the Aisle, as well as the south Porch and the buttresses, are Deco- rated; and the south-east window of three lights, with plain inter- secting and simply chamfered mul- lions, is of the original elate. The square-headed two-light win lows, in the south and west of this Aisle, though at first sight late Deco- rated, should perhaps be referred to the very late Perpendicular, when there was a partial return to Deco- rated forms, but without the spirit of that most fascinating style. The parapets of the south Aisle are furnished with very large gur- goyles. The Porch has the old high pitch of roof without. The serrated moulding over the door would indicate an earlier date, if the base- ment moulding did not forbid its being placed earlier than the Decorated of the Aisle. The Clerestory is of four square-headed two-light Perpendicular windows. The roofs are of low pitch, and lead throughout. 78 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Enter tor* The Nave is of four bays, the arches of two chamfered orders, those on the south with a singular stop chamfer. The piers are quatrefoil in section, the capitals and bases of decidedly Early Eng- lish section, but on the north side they rest merely on a square plinth bevelled at the angles. Their height is 9 ft. from the top of the capital to the base of the plinth, and their girth 5 ft. 6 in. The Chancel-arch is lofty, of two chamfered orders, springing from brackets. The east window bears the same marks as it does outside of its substitution for one of earlier date. But the STALLS IN CHANCKL. principal feature of this Chancel, and indeed the most remarkable in the Church, are the stalls, four on the north and three on the south side, both at the west end of the Chancel, separated by three - clustered Early English shafts with excellent capitals, and rich trefoiled arches. There is a slight differ- ence in the suites of mouldings, but none in character, between the two sets of stalls. The piscina is a single trefoiled niche. Mouldings of Stalls. OF NORTHAMPTON. — DENFORD. 79 The Tower-arch is wholly closed. The great west lancet would open beautifully on the Church. The Font, against the second north pier, is an octagonal bason resting on a cube bevelled at the upper angles. The base of the rood-screen remains, and there is some late Perpendicular screen- work at the east end of the north Aisle, with shields painted with the instruments of the Passion, and much painting and gilding still remaining, especially a good gilded crest of the Tudor flower. There is a piscina, and a large square bracket in the south Aisle. A little painted glass remains, chiefly in the north Aisle. In one of the windows of the south aisle is a shield bearing argent a saltire gules. ^rcfituctural $|(#tora. HE lower part of the Tower is early Early English. The Belfry and Spire have been added later, but in the same style. The whole of the rest of the Church, is, in its original fabric, of early Decorated. The clerestory has been added, and several windows inserted in different characters of Perpendicular. The records of the transfer of property in Bridges do not throw any light on the history of the Church. Denford has an income of more than £20 annually, arising from land, and Church houses, which sum is in the hands of the churchwardens, and is expended in repairs 5 . g.a.p. — J. CP. b The Incumbents of Denford and Ringstead are given in page 74. WOODFORD. rectory. a>t. Jttarg tfie Ftrgtn. deanery PATRON, OF LORD ST. JOHN. HIGHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. INTERIOR OF WOODFORD CHURCH. ROSSING the valley of the Nen, we arrive at Woodford, the Church of which will be found amply to repay the trouble of a careful examination, both by the beauty of execution in many parts of detail, and by the peculiarities of its construction and arrangement a . The Church consists of a western Tower with a Spire, — a Nave with north and south Aisles, and a Clerestory, — a Chancel, — a north, and a south Porch, to the east of which latter is attached a compartment, which will be presently noticed. a A farm-house on the north side of the doorway of Decorated character, with its label Church-yard presents some features similar resting on a mask. There is also in one of in style and date to parts of the Church ; for the rooms a bracket, of apparently later cha- instance, a range of three buttresses, two of racter, supporting two blank arches in a them chamfered at the edges, and a pointed wall. i CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. «i Before entering on the description of the Church in detail, the peculiarities of its plan must be observed. In the first place, the two ranges of piers between the Nave and Aisles do not corre- spond with each other, the fourth pier (from the westward) on the north side being opposite to the third pier on the south side. In the next place, there is a transverse arch across the Nave between the said piers, with indications of arches across the Aisles also. Besides which, the two piers on the south side, westward of these, have transverse arches across the Aisle; those on the north side having none. The division of the Nave is marked externally by a break in the wall of the clerestory. Icxttx i ot\ The Tower is of four stages (reckoning by the stringcourses on its west front) below the parapet. The lowest of these is plain, a modern door being made on the south side. The next above has a lancet window on the west side, with a hood-moulding. The chamfer of the jamb and architrave is wide and shallow. On both the north and south sides are some broken stringcourses, the lower one terminating abruptly, and apparently carried on at a different level from the same vertical line, though without any return. This may be in consequence of modern alterations. These two stages have pairs of buttresses of three slopes at the corners, which are set a few inches from the angles of the square of the Tower, and cut off a portion of it, so that the projecting angles of the third stage of the Tower overhang the receding angles of the buttresses, and they are supported by brackets in the form of heads. The third stage is plain on the south and west sides, but on the north has a small lancet window of two orders. Above is the Belfry story with a two-light Early English, or transitional pointed window in each face. The lights are M 82 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY separated by a shaft, the plan of which is a square, set cardinally, and chamfered slightly on the outside angles. The shafts of the south and east windows are also chamfered, in a less degree, on the interior angles ; the others which are not so, are probably not original. These lights are pointed, and included in a blank pointed arch on shafts with decidedly Norman capi- tals and square abacus. The string under the Belfry window is terminated at each angle by knobs of foliage b , as also is that below the corbel- table under the parapet. A plain flat parapet with a good coping surmounts a trefoiled corbel- table, and the angles have beautiful pinnacles, the plan of which consists of eight alternate rounds and hol- lows, the circumscribing line not being broken by any angle. The top of each of these pinnacles is a some- what remarkable composition of heads and crocketed canopies, and is crowned with a bold finial. They seem to belong to the Decorated period, and are well worthy of careful examination. The Spire is ribbed at the angles, has high slopes over the squinches on ■ the diagonal sides, finishing with grotesque heads, and three spire-lights on each of the cardinal faces. The squinch is a semicircular arch across the angle of the Tower. The spire- lights are Decorated, of early character, and very good composition. The Spire is terminated with a handsome finial. The South Aisle and Porch. — The west window is Perpen- dicular, of three lights, its arch rather depressed. The south-west angle of the Aisle is chamfered off to the height of about seven feet from the ground, and has a smaller chamfer above. The window of the westernmost bay of the south Aisle is also a depressed Perpendi- cular one of three lights, with a string below it. The Porch, which occupies the next bay, has a buttress running westward, between which and the south face of the Aisle, is a pointed arch with a chamfer. To the westward of the Porch door is a space for a parvise staircase, of which remains are found in the inside, though h As in the neighbouring Church of Denford. OF NORTHAMPTON.— WOODFORD. 83 the parvise itself is destroyed, and a flat parapet surmounts the Porch, which slopes away from the building like an Aisle. SOUTH PORCH AND DOOR. The outer doorway is a very beautiful pointed one of Early English character. The architrave may be said to have five orders, marked by bowtells more or less varied from the circle, and with bold casements between. The three lower orders are supported by a cluster of five shafts, three of which are detached and two engaged. The next order corresponds with a salient angle in the plan of the impost, and the next rests upon the edge of the capital of a bold engaged shaft. The shafts are banded, and have fine capitals and bases. The Porch is groined, with plain chamfered ribs. The inner door has four orders. The first pointed, and forming part of the vaulting system. The second round, and marked by a bold label and singularly enriched moulding. In the space between this and the pointed arch above is a trefoil arch, on each side of which is a trefoil having mouldings and cusps. The next order is 84 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY also semicircular, and has a still more enriched bowtell than the last. The lowest is a fine trefoil arch with deep mouldings. Moulding of outer Arch of Poor. Moulding of inner Arch of Door The jamb has five shafts, three of which stand forward, and the other two, of smaller size, recede, and are seen through the spaces between the former. They have good capitals. This beautiful and remarkable composition will be better understood by the engraving than by any description. Eastward of the Porch, and having the same range of wall fronting to the south, is a room which has been vaulted, and opens into the Nave with a fine Early English pointed arch. It is lighted externally on the south and east by small triangular openings, very plain and rude. Erom the manner in which the vaulting-shafts are built up in the wall, this addition to the Porch would seem to be part of a Chapel or Chantry of larger size. The next bay to the eastward has a Per- pendicular four-light window, with eight abatement lights in the head. The next is a narrow bay between plain and deep buttresses ; it has no door or window, but exhibits a break in the masonry, as if a pier had been walled up. The next two bays have four-light Perpendicular windows, but the buttresses are not similar. The easternmost of these windows is longer than the others, the string beneath it being depressed, with a return. The east window is a Perpendicular one of three lights. OF NORTHAMPTON. — WOODFORD. 85 The Chancel. — The westernmost window on the south side of the Chancel is a Perpendicular one of four lights. The Chancel door, which is pointed, has a continuous impost with a bold convex moulding. Its hood-moulding is returned in a string running to the westward. Above the door is a string which marks a slight diminution in the thickness of the wall, and passes under a three-light Perpendicular window, which occupies the east bay of the Chancel. The buttresses at the eastern angles of the Chancel are in pairs, and consequently run cardinally : they are not the full height of the wall. The parapet, which projects beyond the wall, has a concave moulding under it enriched with corbels, of which each alternate one is a mask. The copings seem generally to be original, and of Decorated character ; though simple, they deserve to be carefully studied. At the eastern angles of the Chancel are elegant pinnacles. The east window has four lights, with intersecting mullions unfoliated. The east bay on the north side has a two-light window, with the mullion branching into the architrave without foliation. The north side of the Chancel has a door like that on the south side. Next to this is a window, similar to that last described, and close to the end of the north Aisle of the Nave is a small arch of two orders, with a hollow chamfer. The string, which runs above this and the door, passes beneath the two windows. The North Aisle and Porch. — The window at the east end of the Aisle is a three-light Perpendicular one. At the north-east angle is a handsome gurgoyle. The angle has a pair of buttresses running cardinally, but leaving a salient angle of the wall. The two easternmost bays have three-light Perpendicular windows. The next (to the westward) has a two-light flat-headed win- dow, with a label on corbels. The head of this has rather a Decorated character. The next bay, without the intervention of any buttress, has a three-light Perpendicular window. The next is occupied by a Porch, the door of which has a large shaft in the jamb, and some swelled chamfers in the mouldings of the architrave. The buttresses of the front run east and west, but not north and south. The sides have each a single trefoil-headed 86 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY light. The pitch of the gable has probably been much lowered. The westernmost bay has a Perpendicular window of three lights. At the north-west angle are a pair of buttresses and the remains of a corbel. The west window of the Aisle is a beautiful one of two lights, with Decorated tracery. The clerestory has five two-light windows, with flat heads, having labels on masks. There is a difference between the three western ones, and the two eastern ones, which latter are in a wall, the face of which pro- jects above a foot beyond that of the other part; the break in the masonry corresponding with the transverse arch across the Nave. The north face of the Tower, and also that of the Chancel, pro- ject beyond the adjoining walls of the clerestory. All the roofs are at pre- sent of a low pitch, whatever may have been their original form. The leaden pipes for carrying off the water from the roof are much enriched. J£ n 1 1 x t o r. The first pier of the south Aisle (reckoning from the western wall) is octagonal, and has (abutting against the west wall) a pointed arch of two chamfered orders, of which the highest projects so as to form a kind of label. A transverse pointed arch thrown across the Aisle from this pier is supported by a bracket resting on a head in the south wall. The second bay, which has a similar pier-arch, comprises the Porch and its eastern addition, and has also a transverse arch to the eastward ; the pier is a round one. The third bay has a large pointed pier- arch similar to the others, and its eastern pier is larger and less regular in its plan, as it carries the transverse arch across the Nave and has indications of the arch across the Aisle ; the next pier is a round one, the arch being pointed, and with more numerous mouldings ; the wall of the Aisle exhibits an arch cor- responding with the small bay we have remarked on the out- BiHskea Tiy J.HParlccr. Oxford. lS/jS . OF NORTHAMPTON.— WOODFORD. 87 side. This pier has no transverse arch. The next bay has a pointed arch abutting against a mass of masonry which forms the CAPITALS. WEST END OF NAVE liiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ III 'ii ,| ;' : -i; l :;i4 1 ' !■'■; rood staircase, and gives a most picturesque appearance to that part of the Church. The steps are still accessible, but the upper part is much broken. In the wall of the Aisle is a low arch with Early English or early Decorated mouldings ; it is much hidden by pews. In the south-east angle of the Aisle is a credence projecting from the wall ; there is a small piscina in the usual position, and there are brackets and niches in the rood-turret and masonry adjoining. The west bay of the north Aisle has a narrow pointed arch of a single order, without any chamfer or mould- ings. The pier is a round one with a fine sculptured capital, a string or projection in the wall forms the western impost, round, and of a wider span, of one order, and equally plain. The pier cylindrical, with sculptured capital. In this bay is the door of urudeuce 'J. able. The next arch is CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY number, are pointed, unfoliated, with good Early English mould- ings, and hoods with masks. The dividing shafts are round and detached, but the eastern and western sides have the continuous impost without a capital or string. WOODEN EFi.li_rI.hS OF sIK WALTEK AND AL1ANOKA TJRAYLLI. JWottumental IfiUmatttg, In the north Aisle lie two wooden effigies, supposed to represent Sir Walter Traylli and Alianora his wife. He was one of the lords of this manor, and dying before his wife, it may serve to account for their being placed asunder on the same tomb. He is habited in the simple flow- ing surcoat of the time of Edward I., With a gambeSOn Diapered pattern on Wooden OF NORTHAMPTON.— WOODFORD. 91 underneath it ; his hands uplifted ; the left arm supports a pavise shield : the sword hangs from a diagonal gigue or belt on the same side, and a plain baudrick or strap, with a buckle in front binds the surcoat to the waist. His wife, whose costume is more elegant, has a capuchon, or coverchief, falling from the head in gentle folds over an ample surcoat, which still preserves the marks of a tasteful diapered pattern. This effigy is interesting, both for its excellency as a monumental work of art of the period, and for exhi- biting marks of early painting in vermillion on its surface, c. h. h.] There is a marble altar-tomb, with a good brass of an armed figure, in the Chancel, to the memory of Symon Malory, who died in 1580. Over his head is a shield of his arms, a lion rampant^ double queued. There are other monuments and inscriptions, but of less interest. Architectural ^(storg. T would not be easy to give the architectural history of this in- P| teresting Church. In assigning a date to any part of a remote village Church, we must take into consideration other matters besides the characteristics of the style. It cannot be supposed that changes of fashion (as we may call it) so rapidly affected the village Church as the Cathedral : we must also make allowances for adap- tations to former work, as well as for the use of old materials ; and local peculiarities are not without their weight. I question if the round arches in the Nave (a feature observable in many North- amptonshire Churches) are of earlier date than much well-developed Early English work in larger buildings. The Belfry windows of the Tower exhibit more of the Norman character, and may induce us to assign this part of the building to the end of the twelfth century. The interior of the Chancel and the south Porch are of a pure and beautiful Early English, and decidedly belong to the thirteenth century, in all probability near the middle of it. The early date of the extremities, viz., the Tower and Chancel, precludes the 92 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY supposition that the transverse arch of the Nave, and the break in the clerestory, which is Perpendicular, betoken any alteration of plan in that part of the Church, though there is an evident differ- ence in the character of the pier- arches eastward and westward of the arch. The buckle is found in the Early English, the Deco- rated, and the Perpendicular portions. I am inclined to think that most of the walls of the Aisles and Chancel are original, later windows having been inserted. This renders the exterior less attractive to the antiquary, who upon closer inspection will not hesitate to pronounce the Church equal in interest to any other in a district remarkable for its curious and beautiful structures. A very remarkable irregularity will be observed in the ground- plan, the Chancel visibly declining to the north. This is by no means of infrequent occurrence, but it is seldom so decided as in the present instance. DIMENSIONS. Width of western face of Tower, including buttresses . . 22 2% Thickness of Tower-wall 5 3 Top of Tower measuring from ridge of parapet .... 19 7 Height to ridge of parapet 503 Height of pinnacle 5 0^ Length of Nave 86 31 Length of Chancel 417 Height of Nave, to ridge of parapet 26 5 Height of Chancel 211 Height of North Aisle 147 INTERIOR. Length of Nave 789 Thickness of Chancel-arch 2 7 Length of Chancel 40 11^ Width of Chancel 17 2 Total width of Nave and Aisles 43 9| Width of the Nave 16 Girth of a cylindrical pier 5 9 Tower, north to south 1011 Tower, east to west 124 I. L. P. The Rectory of Woodford was divided into two medieties, until 1747, when they were united, and became one benefice. The first mediety was originally called " the Northern," but afterwards " ex parte Cocke," from Giles Cock, presented in 1549. The other was OF NORTHAMPTON. — WOODFORD. 93 first called "the Southern Mediety," but afterwards " ex parte /Style," from John Style, admitted in 1541. The division appears to have taken place in the seventh year of King John, when a fine was levied of the advowson between Walter de Tylly, demandant, and Luke Maufee, deforciant, by which a moiety of it was conveyed to the said Luke and his heirs, and the other to the said Walter and his heirs. The right of patronage of both medieties was exercised in 1558 by Simon Malory, the first by permission of John Hamp- den, to whose family it seems to have passed from the Traylis after 1410. The second by permission of William Vaux, lord of Harrow- den. The name of Maufee does not once occur as exercising the right of patronage, but several other names, among which the prin- cipal are Vere, Bosco, Trayly, Pyel d , Holdeston, Thorley, and Vaux. UN L/ UMoJliiN 1 o r\ T? TUT? AT f\ X> T 1 XT T? T> AT A/TT?" T» TT7 1 T'V Alex, de Elmeham 1225 Hog. de Kyngested, alias Raundes . 1382 Joh. de Kirkeby. Ric. Harecourt .... 1410 Nic. de Mardefeld . 1285 Tho. Herte. Will, de Abington . Tho. David 1441 Rad. de Horton 1303 Will. David 1461 Adam Blundell . 1326 Hen. Waldon .... 1511 Rob. de Middleton-Keyens 1338 Geo. Trevylyan 1524 Ric. de Pikeryng . 1340 Joh. Dorman 1526 Rog. de Wodeford . 1348 Egid. Cock 1549 Joh. de Tweng 1349 Edw. Ball 1558 Joh. le Clere . John Smith 1608 Richardus. Will. Foster 1720 John de Rely . 1371 Will. Foster, Jun 1747 INCUMBENTS OF THE SOUTHERN MEDIETY. Rob.//. Rob.//. Walt. . 1225 Thos. Topclyfe .... 1445 John de Kirkeby Joh. Freman 1446 Rob. de Treyli . 1285 Tho. Hanley 1451 Ric. de Bosco 1288 Joh. Freman John de Tichemers 1300 Will. Hovenden .... 1453 Will. Lawrence . 1358 Stephen Brasier .... Walt, de St. Germano 1393 Will. Inet 1455 Joh. Fraunceys 1394 Joh. Carter 1462 1400 Joh. Porchett .... 1494 Joh. Fox .... Will. Clarke 1523 1408 John Style 1541 Oliv. Grene .... 1417 Edw. Ball 1558 Will. Seyton .... 1437 Hugo Lloyde .... 1608 1442 Wm. Becher ..... 1638 Will. Freke Will. Lloyd 1648 1443 Will. Friend 1720 TWO MEDIETIES UNITED, JUNE 25, 1747. Sir Andrew St. John 1756 Henry Ryder Knapp 1795 Tho. Rennell . . . . 1770 Wm. Lathman Batley . 1817 <] Nicholas Pyel of Irthlingborongh presented John Fox in 1400. GREAT ADDINGTON. RECTORY. ®\l S>atntS. DEANERY PATRON, OF Rev. J. TYLEY. HICHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. THE SOUTH PORCH, GREAT ADDINGTON. HE Church of Great Addington consists of Nave, north and south Aisles, Chancel, north Vestry and south Porch. Tower. — The singularly beautiful Decorated Tower is by far the most remarkable feature of this Church. It is of three stories, with CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 95 buttresses, of good projection, set on diagonally, dying at the bottom of the Belfry story. The west door has three suites of good mouldings, besides the dripstone, which is separated from the plane of the arch by a deep hollow. Above the door is a niche for a figure, over which the first stringcourse is carried by two risings. The second story is pierced with a lozenge-shaped ^^w^^. window, filled with Decorated tracery of somewhat late character, LOZENGE WINDOW IN THE TOWER. of which the leading lines form a vesica piscis. The Belfry windows are of the ordinary Deco- rated two-light quatrefoiled cha- racter, but with better mouldings than usually occupy the same relative position in a small Tower. The panelling beneath the battlement is of a singular and elegant form (see woodcut next page) with a Seftion of arch of Belfry Wind* 96 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY low parapet; upon this course the original Tower probably concluded, but a crenellated parapet has been added, pierced with cross-oylets. The lower story of the south side of the Tower has a lozenge like that before men- tioned, but with less elaborate foliations, and in the second story is a two-light quatrefoiled window under an ogeed dripstone. The north side has but one narrow light in the second story. The height of the Tower to the top of the battlements is fifty- three feet. There are four bells, but not of a date to give interest to the inscriptions. North Aisle and Vestry. — At the west end of the north Aisle is a square two-light Perpendicular window. The north wall has three two-light Decorated windows, also square-headed. The door is round-headed but clearly Decorated, the dripstone being the roll- moulding terminating in heads : the doorway itself has no mould- ing, but a plain chamfer. The Vestry is a continuation of the Aisle, but of less depth and height. Chancel and South Aisle. — The east window of the Chan- cel is Perpendicular, under a four-centred arch, of three five- foiled lights, with the usual trefoiled abatements. The dripstone terminates in heads. The two long square-headed windows in the south Chancel are Perpendicular, as are also the east and west windows in the south Aisle. The south wall of the south Aisle has two original Decorated windows, that to the west of the Porch of a character something earlier than the other ; as is very often the case, even where, as in the present instance, there is no reason to suspect any variation in the dates. One great square-headed window has been inserted much to the disadvantage of the exterior effect, and to the partial destruction of a monumental recess within. Porch. — Although the outer doorway of the Porch is round- headed, and enriched with the chevron moulding, so as to have at Fanelled Band on the Tower. OF NORTHAMPTON.— GREAT ADDINGTON. 97 first sight a Norman aspect, yet on more minute inspection we are disposed to call it Early English, the mouldings being decidedly of that style. The prevalence of ronnd arches in the Early English of this district has been already noticed by Mr. Petit in his account of Woodford Church ; and the cheveron occurs sometimes even in Decorated work, as in the niche at Dorchester, figured at page 20 of this volume. Section of arch of outer Doorway of Porch Section of arch of inner Doorway. Interior. The inner doorway of the Porch is of the same date with the Tower, to which also the sepulchral recess in the south Aisle must be referred, and also all the pillars xx9v on the south side, and all but one on the north. This last is of a quatrefoil section, and with fair Early English cap and base. The Chancel-arch is Early English of two chamfered orders, and a stringcourse along the south side is of the same date. The sill of the south-east window is brought down so low as to form a seat for the Priest ; and at the side, in the jamb, a piscina under a cinque foiled niche is introduced. Piscina and Sedi 98 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The Font, which stands against the pillar within the south door, is Early English, with shafts attached to a round stem, and the basin ornamented with heads and corbels in a singular and unusual manner. THE FONT, GREAT ADDTNGTONT. The Vestry is entered by an original Decorated door, and a hagioscope (a mere long narrow slip) looking from the Vestry pierces the wall. The Tower-arch is unhappily closed. The stairs of the rood- loft are blocked up, but two little trefoil-headed windows remain, opening into the south Aisle. There are some remains of a poor late parclose in the north Aisle, and in several parts of the Church, old wood panelling, which retains the original painting, is worked up into pues. It is plain also that the walls have been in many places adorned in distemper, though none is at present laid bare. There are several good open benches of late Perpendicular work. The roofs are all of low pitch and very poor. The last bay, eastward, of the north Aisle is a chantry, separated from the Aisle by an arch of two chamfered orders, and in the OF NORTHAMPTON. —GREAT ADDINGTON. 99 south-east angle is a bracket, and a piscina in the form of a pillar attached to the wall, with an octagonal capital ornamented with a PISCINA IN CHANTRY. rose on each face. The water-drain, on the top of the capital, is under a slight canopy. The history of this chantry is best collected from the description of the following Jttonumttttg. Under a sepulchral recess, towards the east end of the north Aisle, is a recumbent effigy in white marble of a man in armour, his head resting on a cushion. The head is uncovered. A collar of SS is clasped on his breast with a rose. He wears a belt, with a dagger suspended to it at his right side. His hands are joined in prayer, and his feet rest on a collared beast. Over this monument, but in modern character, is the following inscription ; " Here under lieth the body of Henry Vere who died in the year of K. Henry VIII. , and left behind him three daughters, coheirs, the eldest, Elizabeth, was married to John Lord Mordant, first Baronet of this kingdom." 100 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY This inscription is imperfect. It not only omits the year of the death of Henry Vere, but it does not mention that he was the founder of the Chantry in which he is buried. This additional information is supplied by a brass on a raised slab of black marble, which formerly stood in the same Chantry, but now at the north side of the Altar. It is remarkably perfect, and worthy of notice as an elegant though OF NORTHAMPTON — GREAT ADDINGTON. 101 late specimen of this kind of monument. It represents a priest habited in alb, stole, and chasuble, with the maniple over his left arm, and supporting in both hands a chalice, in which is a wafer bearing the sacred monogram I. H. C. On a label issuing from his mouth are the words -Jftlt IBti mtsereu met. The evangelistic symbols are on four detached circles of brass, at the four corners, and around the verge of the slab, on a brass fillet set within the moulding, is the following inscription; — (Bxatz pro afe JttagtStu 3}op3 23Ioxam prtmt (Eapellam tsttus cantarte beate jfttau'e, qui ofmt qtttnto bte IBtcembrts, &nno £tt Jtttllmo qumgentcstmo £££ cujus antme proprietor 3Beus &men. f^enrtctts Vm crat tttnfcator tsttus cantarte*. There are a few scattered remains of glass ; the Virgin and Child in the east window of the south Aisle is more entire than any other device. The following arms also occur : In the Chantry window quarterly, first and fourth argent on a bend azure three lozenges (?) or : second and third org. a cross gules b . In the east window^ of the Chancel, but apparently brought thither from some other place, Argent, two bars gules, in chief three torteaux: (Wake.) On a monument is the fol- lowing coat, Sable, on a fess or, between three cinquefoils Argent, two mullets pierced of the field: (Lamb.) There are certain lands the profits of which are applied to the repairs of the Church. a Of the endowment of this Chantry, and other matters not collected from these monu- ments, Bridges informs us that it was endowed with lands to the yearly value of £6. by Henry Vere, for a priest to sing for ever for himself and his ancestors. By his last will he like- wise directs his lands and tenements at Sywell to be sold, and with the produce to purchase as much as his executors could for his Chantry. In 1535, 26 Hen. VIII., the sti- pend of £6. was paid by the convent of St. Andrew in Northampton. In his last will he gives this order about his monument : " Item I will that my towmbe be made in our Lady Chapell with a voute in and a tombe of the sari bosyd on it." &c. b Bridges gives also Argent a cross gules impaling sable, three marigolds or. None of these coats seem con- nected with the foun- der of the Chantry, who would bear quar- terly gules and or, in the first quarter a mul- let, argent. the wall of alabaster, ;e with a pictour em- Hloxam. 102 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. &rri)imtural Sttetorg* O part of the present fabric reaches back to the first Church of which there is mention, for Wolnot, steward of the household to Witlaf, king of Mercia, gave the ad- vowson of the Church of Adyngton to the Abbey of Croyland, which grant was confirmed by the king A.D. 833. The Porch and the Chancel, together with the Font, and one north Pier, are Early English, so that we may infer that in the thirteenth century the Church was at least partially rebuilt, and consisted then, as now, of Nave, Aisles and Chancel. To these was added (about 1350) the Tower, which is Decorated, and the south Aisle, as it now stands, and the Decorated portions of the north Aisle. The general character of the Chancel is now Perpendicular, from the insertion of windows ; and the clerestory and parapet throughout, even the battlements on the Tower, are to be referred to the same style. All these changes in the structure, from the Early English to the late Perpendicular of the north Chantry, were effected during the occupancy of the Veres : but perhaps the Decorated portions are to be referred to the Abbey of Croyland, the western door being generally indicative of some connexion with a monastic body. In the same way the western doorway of Little Addington, to be mentioned presently, is doubtless a vestige of the interest of the Abbot and brethren of Sulby in that Church. INCUMBENTS OF GREAT ADDINGTON AND TIME OF INSTITUTION. Simon de Braytoft 1238 Will. Cockland 1509 Bartholomeus . Christoph. Backhouse 1541 Tho. de Pikworth . 1284 Christ. Bacchus 1558 Joh. Coleman .... 1293 Tho. Coxe 1578 Joh. Aucon, occ. . 1398 Will. Noke . 1640 Rob. Guy 1401 Josias Hall . 1019 Joh. Spenser . 1404 Rob. Smith 1G92 Alex. Denny, al. Snayth Robert Lambe, B.A. 1755 Ric. Forester . 1432 Robert Lambe 1757 Rad. Mertell 1448 John Bettinson, M.A. 1767 Alex. Craplace . 1459 Edward Tyley 1778 Hen. Goodfellowe . 1469 James Smyth 1784 Rob. Grymston . . . . 1477 James Tyley, B.A. , 1799 Joh. Obyns 1478 Richard Etough, D.D. . 1831 Tho. Thornton . . . . 1484 James Tyley, B.A. 1832 Joh. Wyseberd . . . . 1503 The advowson was in the Abbey of Croyland unti I the sup- pression of monasteries. G. A. P. J. C. P. LITTLE ADDINGTON vicarage. at. Jttary tfje Ftrgfo. deanery PATRON, OF G. CAPRON, ESQ. HIGH AM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW, HE ground-plan comprises Nave, north and south Aisles, north and south Porches, (over the former of which is a Parvise, now blocked up and not accessible,) and west Tower and Spire, engaged in the last bay of the Aisle, on either side. 3£xt trior. Tower and Spire. — The Tower is of three stories, supported by pairs of buttresses, which die under the Belfry story. The lower stage is occupied by a very rich door with figures, most of which have utterly perished, in a wide casement or cavetto, running round 104 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the jambs and arch, the whole flanked with pinnacled buttresses, and surmounted by an ogeed and crocketed hood-moulding. The window in the second story is a two-light window, with the flowing tracery of fully-developed Decorated, the hood, which is of the scroll- moulding, terminating in heads. The Belfry story is somewhat recessed from the surface of the lower walls, except at the angles. The windows are all of two lights, and the tracery, which is earlier NORTH WINDOW OF BELFRY South Window of Belfry in character than the jambs, has been taken most probably from some other part of the Church at the erection of the Tower : the east and west have the very usual Decorated quatre- foil in the head : the north is of geometrical character, with trefoiled lights, and a quatrefoil in a circle in the head : the south, the tracery of which still retains the groove for glazing, has trefoiled lights, the cusps of that peculiar character which usually indicates the transition from Early English to Decorated, and a trefoil in a circle in the head, of the same very early character. A series of four-leaved flowers runs in a casement in the jambs of all these win- dows. Over the centre of the west window is the figure of a boy holding a book. On the north and west side is a shield with the arms of Pyel, viz., a bend betweeii two mullets pierced. OF NORTHAMPTON.— LITTLE ADDINGTON. 105 The parapet rests on heads, has gurgoyles at the corners, and a series of quatrefoils on three (viz., the south, cast, and west) sides, and is embattled. The pinnacles have been recently restored, but in very bad taste. The Spire is Decorated throughout. North Aisle and Porch. — The north Aisle is early Decorated in original character, but the east and north-east windows are late Perpendicular insertions, (temp. Henry VI.) The north Porch is early Decorated, with a groined Roof, over which is the Parvise of later date, now blocked up. Chancel. — The Chancel has been sadly curtailed in height and length, but a very good Decorated two-light window, with complex jamb mouldings, and a roll hood-moulding, terminating in heads, is inserted in the east wall. This window probably occupied some less important place in the original Chancel. The Priest's door is very low ; and a trefoiled lyclmoscopic window is blocked up beneath the transom and glazed above. South Aisle and Porch. — The south Aisle is of the same date with the north Aisle, in its original character, but the south-east window has been replaced by a larger and far more elaborate one of three lights, and reticulated tracery, of two orders of mouldings. The south Porch is late Decorated, but the inner door is of a very early type, having two jamb shafts in square recesses, with two suites of mouldings answering to them in the arch, and notch-head ter- minations to the dripstone ; all indicating as early a date as can be included in the Decorated style. Clerestory. — The Clerestory is of three square-headed Deco- rated windows of two lights, and notch-head terminations to the labels. The under moulding of the parapet is carried round the spouts. 5 titer tor. The first impression on entering the Church is due to the beauty of the Nave-piers and Arches. The section of the north Piers is a square with semicircles attached to the sides, leaving the angles p 106 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY free. That of the south Piers is more complicated, and very elegant ; it is of four segments of a circle each enriched with a fillet, alter- nating with four pointed bowtels. The arches, which are three on each side, have good early Decorated mouldings ; the hoods, which are of a bold roll moulding, commence at the west with a crowned head, and are carried over each arch, both in the Nave and on the Aisles. SECTION OF ARCH SECTION OF SOUTH' PILLAR. The south respond at the east end is richly foliated. The Chancel-arch, (which however is wholly blocked up,) springs from Decorated brackets, supported by half figures ; and the Chancel roof is lowered to such excess that the east window, small as it is, loses its pointed head. The Rood-screen remains, but there is no other ancient wood- work. The Tower-arch, which is lofty, of four chamfered orders, is filled up with boarding and galleries ; and the north and south arches of the Tower are also blocked up, the last bay of the south Aisle having being used as a School, and that of the north Aisle as a Vestry. This total shutting out of the Tower from the Nave is the more to be regretted, because a peculiarity in the Church is thus converted into a defect, whereas it might have been a beauty of in- frequent occurrence. The Font is late Perpendicular ; what appears OF NORTHAMPTON.— LITTLE ADDINGTON. 107 to be the bason of a font, coeval with the earliest part of the Church, is thrown aside among the rubbish at the base of the Tower. There is a hood which covered a Piscina, and a bracket, at the east end of the south Aisle, and a Piscina in the north Aisle, indi- cating the existence of Chantry altars. There can be little doubt that the Altar in the south Aisle was erected at the same time that the window adjoining was enlarged and enriched, in which case its elate will be about the middle of the fourteenth century. The Roofs are of open wood, but poor and of low pitch ; the mouldings of the principal timbers, where they remain, are Decorated. As in most of the Churches in this district, there is a great differ- ence between the level of the north and south sides. In this case the inner door of the south Porch is eight steps higher than that of the north. A little Decorated stained glass remains in the north Clerestory. There are no monumental remains of any interest, and the only heraldic memorial occurs on a brass plate in the Chancel, Paly of six, on a bend three quatrefoils slipped, for Saunderson. PLAN OV LITTLE ADDINGTON CHURCH 108 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY glrcf)(tectuval ^tgtorj). ^ vei T ear ty tyP e °f tne sou th door, and of _some of the F f llitll w * nc ' ows * n ^ }0 ^ 1 ^ s l es > together with those now in the g&M&p Belfry, which mnst have previously occupied some other place, obliges us to refer this Church to the last quarter of the thirteenth century. The Tower is something later, and it is ap- propriated with some certainty to Pyel, the founder of the college in the Chinch of Irthlingborough, whose interest in this neighbour- hood commenced in the year 1354 a . The south-east window of the south Aisle is also of the time of Pyel, as well as the ancient Chancel, if we rightly infer that the present east window was a part of it. The Clerestory was added earlier than usual, and the last change is the insertion of two late windows at the east end of the north Aisle, at the time probably of the endowment of a Chantry there, and the erection of the room over the north Porch, for the accommodation of the Chantry priest. The first recorded possessors of the manor of Addington were the Watervilles, who held it, at the time of the Conqueror's survey, under the abbey of Burgh, and from whom it was anciently called Addington Waterville. Before the 28th Edward L, the Abbey of Sulby had attained considerable property in Addington, and at this date they acquired, in addition, the rights of the Abbey of Burgh, in this manor. Every part of the Church therefore was erected while the Abbey of Sulby had possessions here, and the greatest portion while they held the seniory, and the advowson : and it is worthy of note that Robert Goodall, the last Abbot of that house, was Vicar here from April 1512, to December 1513, his successor, William Hanwell, being the last Vicar presented by the Abbey. When the Chancel was reduced to its present meagre scale, does not appear. " See the following History of St. Peter's, Irthlingborough. OF NORTHAMPTON.— LITTLE ADDINGTON. 109 INCUMBENTS OF LITTLE ADDINGTON, AND TIME OF INSTITUTION. Nic. de Stanford 1224 Joh. Gryssingham . Joh. de Copthanfred 1234 Joh. Couper . Lawrence de Haverberge. Tho. York Rob. de Frekeham . 1265 Hen. Geffus . Tho. de Museley 1273 Will. Cornewall. Will, de Stanewyk 1281 Joh. Garnon . Nic. de Mousele. Rad. Swyneshede. Job. de Guthmundele 1315 Joh. Coke Joh. de Kybbeworth 1317 Ric. Makan . Robertas. Joh. Balshaa . Tho. de Affordeby . 1349 Rob. Goodale Will, de Burton Noveray 1359 Will. Hanwell Will. Writh .... 1361 Will. Smyth . Will. Noveroy 1368 Will. Bradshaw Hen. Gamyll de Bothby 1374 Ric. Pooley Ric. Broune .... 1405 Laurent Saunderson Joh. Bray .... 1411 Nathan Hewson Tho. Lambard 1415 Ric. Crashawe Will. Shille. Anthony Sanderson, S.T. Tho. Porter . . 1422 Jobn Sanderson, B.A. Will. Hill. William Sanderson, B.A. Joh. Lylyford 1435 Tho. Sanderson, L.L.B. The advowson was in the Abbey of Sulby until the dissolution of monasteries. G. A. p. IRTHLINGBOROUGH. RECTORY. PATRON, THE EARL FITZWILLIAM. Sbt Jeter's. DEANERY OF HICHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. THE WEST DOOR. |HE Church of St. Peter at Irthlingborough, formerly, like its neighbour at Higham Ferrers, Collegiate, is perhaps a more remarkable, though hardly so beautiful an object as that stately structure. Like Higham, the main portion of the fabric was erected while the Church was merely parochial, though the building received very considerable alterations and additions at the time of the institution of the Collegiate Chapter. It consists of a Quire or Chancel with Aisles, a Nave with Aisles, north and south Transepts, and western Porch, connected with which last, at Published "by J. H. Packer, Oxford, CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. Ill a little distance to the west, stands the most remarkable feature of the Church, the detached Tower or Campanile, with its lofty octagon. @ x t 1 r t o t% As the most usual approach is from the east, and the position of the Campanile hinders the west Front from being a prominent por- tion of the structure, it will be more convenient to commence the description of the external features of the Church with the Quire and its appurtenances, and proceed westward. Quire. — The Quire is large, consisting of four bays. The east front is formed by the end of the Quire only, as the Aisles do not extend beyond the three western bays, the Sacrarium being thus marked in the construction. It is of great height in proportion to its breadth ; the roof is at present of a low pitch, and furnished with an embattled parapet, which is continued over the gable : the bat- tlements are of very slight elevation in proportion to the embra- sures. The original high pitch may, however, be distinctly traced on the east wall ; the alteration was evidently made to introduce a Clerestory, and that, as at Higham, at an earlier period than is usually assigned to such changes ; the Clerestory windows, four on each side, being Decorated, though certainly late in the style. They are square - headed, of three trefoiled ogee lights ; the labels terminate in blocks, pro- bably intended for subsequent carv- ing; like most of the windows in this part of the Church, their jambs and mullions are formed of plain hollow chamfers. The east end has two buttresses continuous with the eastern wall, and gurgoyles at the angles. The east window is large, of Early Decorated character, consisting a n . . -. , -. THE EAST WIJSUJUW oi nve lights under a single arch 112 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY without tracery ; the label terminates in notch-heads. Below is a plain string, continued round the buttresses, and under the single window below the Clerestory, in the Sacrarium, which is of two lights, with the mullion simply branching into the arch. South Aisle of Quire. — At the east end there is at present no window, although there are traces of one having been blocked up. Near the angle with the Quire is a small buttress, crossed by two strings. Two strings of Early English character are continued with some variety in form, size, and height throughout the south side of the Church, being cut through, when necessary, by the windows. Of these in this Aisle, there are two similar to that already mentioned in the Sacrarium. The angular buttresses are of singular design, being low, of one stage only, and united at the basement-moulding by a kind of stopped chamfer ; at about the centre of the height they are crossed by one of the strings just mentioned. There is also a plain buttress of two stages between the windows. In the western bay is a plain doorway, now block- ed ; its label is formed by one of the strings. This Aisle has a lean-to roof covered with lead, but no parapet, except at the east end. South Transept. — The Transepts pro- ject only from the Aisles, and are about the same height; the Clerestory of the Nave and Quire continuing uninterruptedly above ; so that nearly all cruciform effect is lost, the Transepts sinking into mere appendages to the Aisles. Indeed their title to the name of Transepts may be doubted, as they do not form a regular cross, their walls not being in a line with each other, but with the southern one most to the west. The south Transept has a low gable to the south, and has a parapet throughout ; there are buttresses at the angles continued from the east and west walls. The Early string is continued along the east wall, but is cut through by a window similar Double Buttress at the an£le. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 113 to those already described, but the mouldings of the label, jambs, and mullion are more complicated, and it seems to have been originally furnished with tracery. In the south front is a Decorated window of three lights, the tracery reticulated and qua- trefoiled ; the face of the mullions and tracery bars is very flat ; the arch is slightly ogeed. The label of this window is returned at right angles, and a string in continuation of it, of nearly the same sec- tion, is carried along the whole front, and also along the west wall, till it meets the window of that side, which is a very long lancet, with the lower part blocked up ; the jamb has a single remarkably bold hollow chamfer. THE WEST WINDOW. Nave. — This part of the Church is a very little higher and wider than the Quire ; it is embattled* at the sides, but not over the west gable, which is of low pitch 5 the high gable, however, antecedent to the erection of the Clerestory, may be distinctly seen a On one of the battlements on the north side is carved the figure of a rose. Q 114 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY over the west window. The Clerestory windows are four in num- ber, late Perpendicular, with very depressed arches ; they have three foliated lights, but without tracery. The west window ranges with them, and is of a pattern not uncommon in this county, being late Decorated, of three lights, subarcuated, with very graceful Flow- ing tracery. Its unusually lofty position is owing to the large western porch to be presently mentioned, which connects the Church with the Campanile and the Collegiate buildings. Over the eastern gable are the remains of a sancte-bell cot, which appears entire in the print given in Bridges' Northamptonshire. South Aisle. — The south Aisle of the Nave has a lean-to roof, with a parapet. The string continued from the Quire Aisle runs along it for some distance, till it breaks near to what seem to be the marks of a blocked doorwav. The Aisle is lighted to the south by a square-headed Decorated window of three lights, with tracery similar to that in the south Transept, but the jambs are more richly moulded. The terminations of the hood- mouldings are monsters, with the ends of the moulding in their mouths. The west window corresponds in style with the great east window, having three lights similarly grouped under a single arch. At the south-west angle of this Aisle is a very curious fragment, the spring of a well-moulded Decorated arch, nearly the full height of the Aisle ; and below it, with a part of the same moulding continued down it, what seems to have been a door jamb. This must have been connected with some part of the Collegiate buildings ; yet it is difficult to conceive what can have been its purpose. The height would suggest a gateway, the smaller jamb below indicating the place of the little gate, or hatch, almost always occurring at the side of the greater gate, and generally under the same arch ; yet this seems a very singular position for a gateway with reference to the Church and the other buildings 15 . North Aisle. — This Aisle has also a lean-to roof, but no para- pet except at the west end. The ground rises very much here, so that the wall is remarkably low. In the west wall, which is not b Is not the porch the entrance to the College as well as to the Church, and the room over it the porter's lodge ? OF NORTHAMPTON — IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 115 in a line with those of the Nave and south Aisle, is a square- headed window of four lights, late Decorated, and perhaps mani- festing in its tracery a slight inclination to Perpendicular. There are no buttresses on the north side, but a well-moulded Decorated doorway now blocked up, over which may be traced the outer order of the jamb of a contemporaneous window, in which a sort of square panel is inserted ; beyond is a Debased window of three lights, and farther still to the east one of Decorated character, of two lights under a square head. North Transept. — The north Transept rises a little above the level of the Aisle ; it has a low roof with a parapet, but the north front has a somewhat higher gable standing free. Below it is a three-lighted window, similar to that at the west end of the south Aisle. At the angles are very small low diagonal buttresses, from which a string runs along the east and north walls ; on the west it is returned at right angles, and stops abruptly at about half the length of the wall. This Transept has no window to the east. North Aisle of Quire. — This Aisle, which does not extend quite so far eastward as that on the south side, has a lean-to roof, but the height of the wall diminishes gradually toward the east in a very singular manner. The parapet, which at the east end is not so high as in the remainder of the Aisle, is adorned with quatrefoiled circles containing small blank shields. This ornament however is occasionally interrupted, and the two eastern panels have, instead of the quatrefoils, shields of arms, which are given in Bridges, afess crenelle between three crescents, impaling a sinister bend lozenge. But of this bearing the sinister side only is at present intelligible, the dexter being nearly effaced. The east window of this Aisle resembles those in the south side of the Quire. The only window to the north, which, if any reliance is to be placed on the print in Bridges, was of two lights with a quatre- foil in the head, has been turned into a doorway, and a low seg- mental arch with a keystone substituted for the original head ; the jamb however remains, consisting, like so many others in the Church, of a hollow chamfer. The arch of a blocked up window may also be traced in the north wall of the Sacrarium. 116 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Campanile, Porch, etc. — The Campanile and the remnants of the Collegiate buildings are so closely connected with the Church that they can hardly be separated from the description of its ex- terior. A large late Decorated Porch occupies nearly the whole west end of the Nave, having four doorways opening to the car- dinal points ; they have all similar mouldings with some differences in the terminations of the labels; and those to the north and south, the ornamental side of which is of course external, have plain segmental arches towards the interior of the Porch. On each side of the eastern doorway leading into the Church is a trefoiled stoup, and two niches, beneath the latter are the arms of Pyel, the Pounder of the College, a bend between two mullets pierced ; these last are each of two stages with groined canopies, of which the latter have more elaborate jambs, and are more richly crock- etted, with pinnacles on each side springing from heads on a level with the spring of the lower canopies : the statues have completely disappeared. Over the western doorway is also a trefoiled niche with panelled buttresses and grotesque heads below. This has evidently been intended for a lamp-niche, the opening or chimney being on the other side of the wall, where it opened into a room, the marks of the floor of which may still be seen. This niche was originally higher, and lowered when the present flat ceiling of the Porch was inserted. The outer roof is tiled, and at present of rather high pitch, but hipped to the east, so as not to interfere with the west window of the Church. Under this window may, however, still be traced the marks of the original roof, which was of very low pitch. The Porch is at present lighted by a modern pointed window on each side, but traces of several square- headed windows may be seen in the south wall, one of which still retains its label d . The western doorway of the Porch opens into a building joining on to the Campanile ; the south side of this is nearly the height of the Church, and has in it a lofty arch of construction. In the lower part of a large buttress of three stages on the west side is c See ante, p. 104. man within the memory of man. The same d There was a chamber over the porch, with room was used for a school. The whole was a fire-place, and it was inhabited hy a poor removed about three years ago. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. U7 what at first sight appears to be a similar arch on a much smaller scale. In reality, however, this buttress is only a continuation of the west wall of the Porch, and by entering within the building to which the western door leads, it will be seen that it is a com- plete arch, yet it does not go through the whole thickness of the wall. Just above is a narrow window, similar to two on the north side of this very perplexing fragment, and one on the east blocked by the roof of the Porch. The singular and striking, if not beautiful, Campanile, forms from its commanding height a conspicuous object in the surround- ing landscape, although when seen from positions where the body of the Church is not visible, its appearance is not e perfectly eccle- siastical, resembling rather a turret of some magnificent mansion. It consists of a square tower of four stages, two of which rise above the Church, crowned by an octagon of two stages, finished with a pointed roof or low spire of lead. The f whole is of late Decorated style, and its date is ascertained by the arms of Pyel being displayed in several places. The three lower stages of the square tower are supported at the angles by buttresses standing a little apart on each side the corner. The main portion of the Belfry stage recedes a little from the plane of the lower part, leaving, as is so often the case, a kind of flat square turret or pilaster at the angle ; these are chamfered off at the parapet, which is embattled, into quasi-oc- tagonal pinnacles, which possibly have been broken off. The three lower stages are divided by strings continued under the two lower sets-off of the buttresses. The windows in this part of the tower, are, without exception, single lancets ; of these in the upper stage there is one in the north, south, and west faces, with the Founder's arms over them. That to the west is less completely blocked than the rest, and has plainly been cinquefoiled. The middle stage has lancets to the north and west, the lowest to the west only, but in e Similarly the detached Campanile of New College, Oxford, joining on to the city wall, lias a half military character about it. f The writer of the present account sees no reason to doubt this, and he is confirmed here- in by several competent judges. It is however fair to mention that others equally competent, including several of the Editors, consider the square Tower to be of Early English date, supposing of course the tracery to be inserted in the lancet windows contemporary with the addition of the octagon. US CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the north face there is a square-headed window, set on one side toward the east. The Belfry win- dows are double, but are likewise single lancets, furnished, however, with Flowing tracery in the head ; between each pair is a trefoilecl niche under a high pediment ; on the north and south sides the statues are only mutilated, on the others completely destroyed. The buttresses 5 on the south side are new, and but feeble imitations of the elder work ; a vast buttress has also been built against the eastern face as high as the Belfry windows, concealing the entrance to the Campanile and whatever windows may have been on that side. The Campanile had previ- ously been in a somewhat dangerous state, which had been in- creased by opening a small doorway in the south wall without even turning an arch. Till that time it would seem that there was no access to the Tower except through the Porch. The Tower still leans very perceptibly to the south-east. The two stages of the octagon are divided by a string ; in the lower one, six of the eight faces have a single-light window trefoiled with a square head, but in the north-west is a mere square light without tracery and much smaller, while the western face is blank. In the subordinate faces are small doorways, of the square-headed trefoil form, opening on to the parapet of the square tower ; and in the south face is a small square-headed opening below the window. The upper stage has in each face a square-headed window of three trefoiled lights with quatrefoils in the head. Above these is a corbel-table immediately below the parapet which is somewhat re- cessed, and is adorned with a battlement pierced with cruciform loop-holes. e There seems room to doubt whether there west angle, and whether the great arch of con- were originally any buttresses at the south- struetion did not supply their place. OF NORTHAMPTON — IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 119 The h interior of the Campanile is well deserving of examination as it affords sufficient evidence that, extraordinary as it may seem, the octagon was employed for the domestic purposes of the College, agreeing with its semi-secular appearance without, and affording a striking corroboration of the most probable explanation of the somewhat analogous round Towers in Ireland. The octagon formed internally three stories divided by floors, all of which may be distinctly traced, and of the upper one a considerable portion remains ; they are connected with each other by stair- cases and passages formed in the thickness of the wall. The lower chamber is lighted by the square openings immediately over the parapet of the square tower ; it contains a square-headed fire-place in the north wall, and an oblong recess in the east ; a seam in the south wall would almost induce the opinion that the chamber had been divided by a diagonal partition. The second chamber has no fire-place ; but in the third is one similar to that in the lower story. The large square-headed windows of this stage are only partially open for light, assuming within the form of trefoiled lights with a deep splay, and square head with concave shoulders. It is however a singular fact that they shew no signs of having been glazed, which agrees with the other proofs of these rooms having been used for domestic purposes : it being generally found that in domestic buildings the casements were moveable, the hooks on which they were hung, or the pin-holes by which they were fastened to the wall frequently remaining. From this story an ordinary stone staircase, not a newel, leads to the top of the Tower. It should be remarked that the cardinal faces of the octagon are within uninterrupted continuations of the walls of the square Tower, and the others are supported on squinches, like a spire. To the north-east of the Campanile are three Subterranean h " In the window on the ground-floor of ern vault — drew a rope through that window the tower the arch is formed of some very soft to ring a hell. Was the bell rung to rouse the stone. On the inside of that arch are some tenants of the chambers in the lantern?" grooves, evidently formed by the friction of a Communication by the Rev. R. A. Hannaford, rope ; implying that some person in a chamber Rector, on the outside — which is just above the west- 120 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Chambers, the entrance to which has been recently opened. There are two vaulted rooms stretching to the north, and a third to the left of the outer one, all communicating with each other. The vaulting, which is formed of very obtuse arches, rises from corbels ; in the two first chambers it is merely quadripartite, in the lateral one rather more complicated. The key-stones are re- spectively a rose, a shield charged with the arms of Pyel, and a head. Into the first chamber the angle of one of the buttresses of the Campanile projects, shewing these chambers to have been added since its erection. They are lighted by small apertures just above the level of the ground ; in those to the B08S . north seem to have been fire-places. Indeed when the excavations were made some wood ashes were discovered, and some pipes. These chambers bear the traditional name of " old Marlom's Par- lour," but no reason has been preserved for the appellation. The small square-headed windows of the crypt opening to the east are locally known as " the Cheney Holes," a designation as little intel- ligible. Crypt. — Under the south Transept is a Crypt, consisting of one bay of quadripartite vaulting formed of lofty arches rising from low shafts. It is approached by a passage in the thickness of the west wall, opening by a narrow door from the Aisle. Enter tor. As the Campanile is undoubtedly the main point of attraction in this Church, the interior, although handsome, and, as far as regards the mere fabric, in a tolerable state of preservation, is far from having so striking an effect as its external features, and the most remarkable details are chiefly of that kind which enter com- paratively little into the architectural construction. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 121 CAPITAL IN THE CHANCEL. Quire. — Though the Quire is not rich in decoration and is covered with a low timber roof of no great merit, it still has, from its great height, a very good effect on the whole. It is divided from the Aisles on each side by two Early English arches of two cham- fered orders with a plain label, rising from clustered columns of the qua- trefoil section, with moulded capitals of no great richness, all similar, ex- cept that belonging to the north- west respond. The responds have a chamfer and a single half column attached; the bases both of piers and responds follow their shape, and are moulded with but little under- cutting. The arches are filled with Perpendicular parcloses of various patterns, crowned with a crest of the Tudor flower. This Church, like Higham, retains the Collegiate arrangement of the Quire, but the stalls are less perfect and of less merit in their original design ; the desks are very plain ; the misereres are much mutilated, but on one of them may still be traced an angel bearing a shield. Some of the stalls on the north side have been removed ; but on the south the arrangement seems complete, consisting of four stalls longitudinally and two in the return. The Altar is reached by two steps ; on each side is a square bracket; on the north, besides the blocked window, may be traced a square-headed doorway and a sepulchral niche similarly blocked. The Clerestory windows are under elliptical arches, the others under pointed ones. On the south side may be traced sedilia blocked up, if not a piscina. Aisles of Quire. — These have tim- ber roofs with details, as far as they are preserved, of Decorated charac- ter; that in the south Aisle cuts off DETAIL OB' KOOE. 122 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the blocked eastern window. The arches between these Aisles and those of the Nave correspond with those in the Quire. On the sonth the arch is rilled by a parclose of late work. In this Aisle towards the north-east corner is an octagonal bracket, and below it a larger one. Across the north-east angle is a cinque- foiled "Hagioscope" with a battlement. In the south part of the HAOiUdGuPB, &c IN THE SOOTH ALSLh,. east wall is a grotesque face placed within a wreath, with fragments of Norman strings above and below \ and in the north wall is another octagonal bracket. In the north Aisle it may be remarked, as showing the great accumulation of soil on that side of the Church, that the doorway cut through the window is reached from within by a considerable flight of steps. Nave. — The Nave, like the Quire, has a low and poor timber roof. It has four arches from pillars like those in the Quire, but with capitals on the north side like the single one mentioned above, while on the south they have nearly the same members, but on a smaller scale. That these pillars supplanted earlier ones appears from the Norman plinths which still remain to their 1 These were found detached, and were inserted here to preserve them about sixteen years ago. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 123 BASE IN THE NAV bases. On a part of the label of the western arch of the south side the tooth-ornament is carved in remark- ably low relief. Near the spring of the eastern arch on the north side is a bracket. As the Transepts only project from the Aisles, the arcades are continued to the Chancel- arch without distinction. The majestick lan- tern, the especial glory of a cruciform Church, is here absent, no less than at Rushden and Finedon, and we have not the beautiful substitute for it which those Churches supply in the rich strainer-arches across the Nave. The Chancel-arch rises from shafts corre- sponding with the other pillars, but with the bases remark- ably stilted; the arch is low for the present height of the Church, having been doubtless designed for its original state without a Clerestory. A Norman capital is built into the wall, near the north spring of the arch, which may have served the purpose of a bracket. The Rood-skreen is at present cut down at the level of the stalls, but the position of the Loft can be seen against the arch, having involved the mutilation of its capitals ; the Rood-doorway remains on the south side. The Pulpit, on the south side of the Chancel-arch, is of wood, with good Perpendicular paneling. The Font is of the same character; octagonal, embattled, and with paneling on each face both of the shaft and bowl. There are considerable remains of plain open seats, but many pews have been introduced, as well as two very ugly and quite needless galleries, one at the west end, the other in the north Aisle. The west window has well-moulded jambs, and there is a small cinquefoiled niche beneath it. CAPITAL OF THE CHANCEL- A KCI 124 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Aisles. — In the north Aisle, at the west end, are some remains of a stone bench-table. The west window appears to have been originally pointed, and to have had its head destroyed at the lower- ing of the roof. The small Decorated window in this Aisle has a segmental rear-arch with a label and hollow chamfer. The west window of the sonth Aisle has also a label and two grooved chamfers. In this Aisle is a niche with a low ogee sept-foiled arch, crocketted, and terminated in a fmial. On each side is a paneled buttress terminated in a crocketted pinnacle ; below, on the basement, is a row of alternate roses and four-leaved flowers. Transepts. — The north Transept, which is completely blocked off by boarding from the rest of the Church, and is without a floor, is entered from the Aisle by an arch similar to those in the rest of the building. Its most remarkable feature is a large blank arch at the ARCH IN THE NORTH TRANSEPT. east end, which can never have been open, and of which there is no trace outside. It will be remembered that there is here no window, and that the strings and basement-mouldings are continued without interruption. The arch itself, which is of Early English date, ex- tends the whole breadth of the east end of the Transept ; it is not very richly moulded, and springs from a chamfered angle ; to Published "by J. E. Parker. Ojctbrd. 1646 . OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 125 which, at some height from the ground, are attached three small shafts whose capitals support the arch mouldings, and in one mem- ber have the broach chamfer. The south Transept is divided from the Aisle by a segmental arch rising from semi-octagonal responds, having a different capital from the rest; in its east wall is a piscina k under a pointed segmental arch, below which is a string apparently of Norman date. piscina, south transept. 0L o n u m t n t a I & t m a t n & P N the south Aisle of the Choir are several ancient tombs ; the most remarkable is at present at the east end of the Aisle, whither it was removed about ten years ago, but in the plate (No. xiii.) in Hyett's Sepulchral Remains of Northamptonshire, it appears in its original position under the most eastern window on the south side, pointing east and west like other tombs. As the plate gives only an idea of the general effect, and does not show the details with much exactness, it may be advisable to describe the monument with some minuteness. It is of curious and somewhat debased character, apparently of the period when Italian taste first began to affect our national architecture. The tomb itself is paneled, and between the panels are large quatrefoils with feathered tracery in the angles, three in number, enclosing blank shields ; the basement has a row of quatrefoils. The canopy rises from five round pillars with round capitals, the pillars at the two ends being covered with fret-work. From these spring arches, multifoiled, with crocketted ogee canopies ; the remainder of the canopy, which is flat-headed, is covered with paneling ; at k Wrongly marked as sedilia in the ground- plan. 126 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the top is a row of four-leaved flowers. The north end is solid, adorned with blank arches and paneling similar to the others; the south is open, like the west ; the side against the wall is divided by buttresses into three compartments, the central one corresponding to two arches. In this are the matrices of mural brasses representing a man and a woman in a kneeling posture, with a scroll from each, and shields at the four corners ; in each of the outer compartments are similar traces of two smaller scrolls. The under surface of the canopy is groined with very singular vaulting, of rich but somewhat debased character. The whole is of black marble, except the three plain columns, which are of wood, and were inserted at the removal of the tomb. In the north-east corner of this same Aisle is the mutilated effigy of a lady, "supposed," according to Bridges, <£ to be one of the Cheyne family." On the south side is the monument of the munificent founders of the College, John Pyel and Joan his wife. Their effigies lie on a paneled high-tomb (figured in the same plate in Hyett) adorned with four large quatrefoils, enclosing each a blank shield hung, as it were, upon a rose. On the floor is the matrix of a brass of a knight and lady under canopies. There is also near the entrance of the Quire a small brass without any effigy, but with this inscription : " ©rale pro ata Bru Ifttcartft JFrgsebg pti'mt Decant tsttus <£olUgit, qui obttt a°. Wnu ffl(E><&° . . ." The blank, as usual, has never been filled up, but it would appear that the Dean died in 1415, in which year his successor Thomas More was appointed. In the Quire is also the matrix of the brass of a Priest with a shield of arms below, and circles once, in all probability, containing the Evangelistic symbols at the corners. Two inscriptions are further to be seen in Bridges, of which no trace whatever remains at present. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 127 ^ v c 6 ( t e c tural ffiiztovg. P the early history of this Church nothing appears to be ascertainable from documents ; that a Church however existed in the Norman period is clear from the traces which still remain, and which seem to prove also that the present Church was erected on its foundations. This was probably in the reign of Henry the Third ; and though subsequent changes have materially altered the appearance of the Church, the original ground- plan does not seem to have been disturbed. That both Nave and Chancel had high-pitched roofs without a Clerestory has been already shown ; the destruction of the heads of windows at the west end of the North and the east end of the South Aisle seems to show that the Aisles had high-pitched compass-roofs also. We may not improbably suppose that the Transepts were similarly finished, and, if so, their relative importance, at least in the exter- nal view of the structure, must have been much greater than at present. The Church was still however without a Tower. The early part of the fourteenth century appears to have seen no alteration in the fabrick, beyond the insertion of a few windows ; but the latter part of the reign of Edward the Third was the period of most important changes both in the material structure and in the number and quality of its ministers. In the year 1354 John Pyel, citizen and mercer of London, who afterwards in 1373 was Lord Mayor of that city, purchased of Sir Simon de Drayton the manor of Irthlingborough, which was held under the Abbot and Convent of Peterborough. In 1376 this worthy benefactor began the foundation of a College in the Parish Church of St. Peter, but, dying before its completion, it was brought to perfection by Joan his widow in 1388. To these two persons we can have little hesitation in assigning whatever parts of the Church correspond in style with their date. The Campanile and the western Doorway of the Church being marked with the arms of the Founder afford no difficulty ; and we cannot doubt but that the whole of the Collegiate buildings were then erected, 128 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY and the roofs of the Quire and its Aisles brought to their present form to admit of the erection of the Clerestory of the Chancel, added doubtless to give more dignity to that part of the building when it became the seat of a Collegiate Chapter. All the later Decorated windows may also probably be referred to the same time. During the fifteenth century little seems to have been done except in the way of furniture ; the beginning of the sixteenth was probably the time when the Nave was assimilated to the Quire by the addition of a Clerestory and the lowering of the roofs. Since then little or no change has taken place in the fabrick; its main features have remained uninjured, disfigured only by incongruous arrangements. The manor of Irthlingborough belonged to the Abbey of Peter- borough from the earliest times, though it seems to have been gene- rally held under the Abbots by lay tenants. At the change of the Abbey into a Cathedral Church, it formed part of the endowment given by Henry the Eighth to the Dean and Chapter of his new Foundation, in whose hands it still continues. The College founded by John Pyel consisted of six Canons, one of whom was Dean, and four Clerks. The Church had previously been a Rectory in the gift of the Abbot and Convent of Peter- borough ; but it was now appropriated to the College, parochial duties being performed by one of the Canons, though the cure of souls was formally vested in the Dean, as appears from the Charter of Richard the Second given in Dugdale. In this respect the Foun- dation differed from Higham Ferrers, where the parochial Ministry remained quite distinct, with a Vicar independent of the Chapter. The right of presentation to the Deanry was in the Abbey and afterwards in the Bishop of Peterborough ; to the other Canonries alternately in the Abbey and the heirs of the Founder. William Alcoke, the fifteenth and last Dean (the quick succession of these dignitaries is remarkable) was admitted in 1535, and about 1548 the College was suppressed and a Vicarage appointed. The remains of the Collegiate buildings have been already described. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHLINGBOROUGH. 129 DIMENSIONS OF ST. PETER S CHURCH, ft. in. ft. in. Quire 40 2 by 18 19 North Aisle of do 23 5 by 13 4 South Aisle of do 29 11 by 16 3 Nave 46 11 by 20 7 North Aisle of do 46 2 by 14 6 South Aisle of do 46 2 by 15 9 Transept 89 9 by 18 9 Campanile 15 4 by 12 10 ) Height of do. to the f q ! From Bridges, upper battlement j > all &a(nt$' C&urcfK HIS Church had been destroyed long before Bridges wrote. Considerable remains of it seem however to have existed in his time built into a house, and the Church-yard had been used for burial within the memory of man. Now however all traces of building are demolished ; only the foundations of the eastern and northern walls can still be made out, and from this slight evidence it would appear that the Church was considerably smaller than St. Peter's. The great proportionate breadth of the eastern wall would seem to show that the structure had Aisles to the Chan- cel. Within the circuit of the Church are two fragments of grave- stones, one bearing date 1670, agreeing with what Bridges states as to the employment of the Church-yard for burial after the destruction of the Church. These remains are to be seen in an open field just out of the village, lying some way south-east of the Collegiate Church, on the path from the latter to Higham Ferrers. The Church of All Saints was a Rectory in the gift of the Abbot and Convent, and afterwards of the Dean and Chapter, of Peter- borough. It was but slenderly endowed, being valued in the reign of Anne at no more than £13. 13s. 4d. The Rectory of All Saints and the Vicarage of St. Peter were consolidated by a deed bearing date Sept. 7, 1770. That instru- s 130 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY ment states, that the Church of All Saints hath been, beyond the memory of man now living, devastated, and the materials of which it was built taken away : that the scite of the same, or the Church- yard on which such Church anciently stood is used as a close : and that not any Corps have been buried therein of many years past. The deed then declares, cc We consolidate, incorporate, unite and annex the Vicarage of St. Peter with all its tythes, fruits, profits, rents, oblations, glebe lands, members and emoluments ecclesiastical, both spiritual and temporal, which may in any wise thereunto belong, to the Rectory of All Saints in Irthlingborough aforesaid, so that in all future time they may be presented to, taken, held and enjoyed as one ecclesiastical benefice, by the name of the Rectory of All Saints in Irthlingborough with the Vicarage of St. Peter thereunto annexed, with cure of souls." In 1723 Sir Thomas Wentworth agreed to pay to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty £200, to be applied, as soon as the Governors should advance a like sum, in augmentation of the Rectory of All Saints, to which the Vicarage of St. Peter is annexed, in Irthlingborough. In consideration whereof the Dean and Chapter granted to Sir Thomas the advowson of the Rectory of All Saints absolutely. And Sir Thomas agreed to purchase land for the Dean and Chapter of the yearly value of £10; and until the purchase should be made he agreed to pay them £10 yearly, to be applied towards the repairs of the Cathedral. As no further proceedings appear to have taken place the yearly sum of £10 continues to be paid to the Dean and Chapter as Fabrick money. In the centre of the village is the shaft of a Cross standing on eight steps. It is Early English, of an irregular octagonal shape, the subordinate faces being little more than chamfers ; these are adorned with crockets of a simple and early form. The capital is enriched with trefoil foliage, and is finished with a square abacus. A little way from Irthlingborough, close by the railway station, is a picturesque ancient bridge. E. A. F. OF NORTHAMPTON.— IRTHL1NGBOROUGH. 131 INCUMBENTS OF ST. PETER'S, IRTHLINGBOROUGH, AND TIME OF INSTITUTION. RECTORS. Radulphus occur, circa 1200 Galf. de Hendon 1292 Will, de Rupell. Thos. de Friskeneye 1327 Galfrid de Wermington 1273 Anton de Goldesburgh . 1348 DEANS OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. Ric. Frysseby. Joh. Wyseberde 1494 Tho. More . 1415 Egid. Cowper 1509 Joh. Blaunchierd. Will. Taillard 1581 Ric. Lynne 1453 Ric. Stocks .... 1519 Tho. Honyborn. Will. Lane .... 1526 Joh. Townesende 1483 Will. Stokes .... 1528 Rog. Tockett . 1490 Will. Alcoke .... 1537 Will. Rawlyns 1491 VICARS. Will. Crane . occur. 1641 Wm. Withers 1745 Ric. Kingston occur. 1667 Francis Greenwood 1752 Sam. Wastell . occur. 1670 Geo. Pasley Malin . 1762 Will. Trontbeck . 1718 Geo. Warcup Malin 1803 Thos. Bright . 1738 Richard Ash Hannaford 1830 FINEDON. VICARAGE. DEANERY OF PATRON, %t Mm fte Ftrgtlt. HICHAM FERRERS. REV. S. W. PAUL. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. yew trees, intermixed with hollies, fitting inhabitants of a church- yard, and most venerable witnesses of the sanctity of the sacred edifice, it presents one of the most beautiful and complete pictures in the county ; one which the ecclesiologist may think himself happy in having to describe. The very lichens seem to cling to it with a feeling of its beauty, tinging its surface with a mellow grey, in loving harmony with its stately but not uncheerful majesty. The Church consists of west Tower and Spire, Nave, and north and south Aisles, with south Porch and Parvise : north and south Transepts, and Chancel, with a Vestry, lately erected. Tower and Spire. — The Tower is of four stories, with pairs of buttresses of five stages, dying beneath the belfry. The west door is set within a pointed canopy with buttresses and ogced and foli- w 2 sr is © © sr em wj&cm - sr ©irt m- seaefe Published "by J-H-Rasfcec, Oxford.. 1847 . OF NORTHAMPTON. — FINEDON. 133 ated hood-mouldings. The window over it is of three lights, with reticulated but uncusped tracery, and the reticulations are not elongated, as in the Aisle and Chancel windows. The windows in the third story are of two lights, with the usual Decorated quatre- foil in the head : a course of panelling surrounds this story, answer- ing in depth to the arch of the window, and composed of pointed trefoils in acute-angled triangles, arranged alternately with the base and the apex uppermost. Over this very rich portion, which presents an approach to the panelling of the succeeding style, is the belfry. The windows are double, each of two lights, with a quatre- foil in the head, and with jambs and arches of three orders of mouldings, of greater elegance than is usual in this position. Over this is a course of quatrefoils, and the Tower terminates in a kind of corbel-table, composed of trefoils, separated by label-like pendents from the lower moulding terminating in heads. The parapet is embattled, pierced with cross-oylets, and furnished with gurgoyles at the angles. The pinnacles have perished. The Tower is 76 feet high to the top of the battlements. The Spire, with two series of two-light windows, under pediments with crosses at the apex, is beaded at the angles, and rises to the height of 133 feet. All is of one date, from the ground, and is a beautiful composition, with very rich details 3 . The great uniformity of the rest of the Church renders a length- ened description unnecessary. Nave, Aisles, Transepts and Chancel. — The ground-plan gives the general form, and the exterior view will supply features a There are six bells, inscribed, — 1. Ex dono Gilbert Dolben " Armiger" 1688. Recast 1825. " Call a solemn assem- bly." W. and J. Taylor, Founders, Oxford. Thomas Boddington and Peter Smith, Church- wardens. 2. " Holiness unto the Lord." Recast by W.and J. Taylor, Oxford, 1825. Thomas Bod- dington and Peter Smith, Churchwardens. 3. " Praise God upon the high sounding cymbals." Recast by W. and J. Taylor, Ox- on. Thomas Boddington and Peter Smith, Churchwardens. 4. "A voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord." Rev. S. W. Paul, Vicar. Richard Vincent and Vincent Bailey, Churchwardens. 1779. Recast 1825. 5. " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Cast by Watts of Leicester, 1639. Recast by W. and J. Taylor, Oxford, 1825. Thomas Boddington and Peter Smith, Churchwardens. " Watch, for ye know not the hour of death." W. and J. Taylor, Oxon, fecit. Cast 1613, and recast 1825. Sir English Dolben, Lord of the Manor. Rev. S. W. Paul, B.D., Vicar. Thomas Boddington, Peter Smith, Church- wardens. ft. • 134 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY which are repeated with very slight variations throughout the struc- ture. The same basement moulding is carried round Aisles, Tran- septs, Chancel, and Porch. The buttresses are everywhere of bold projection and very good details ; they appear with greatest effect at the angles of the Transepts, and of the Porch. Windows. — The windows are of two characters. ( a ) All those in the Aisles and Chancel are of three lights, under ogee heads, with elongated uncusped reticulated tracery ; and the south of the south Transept is of the same form. With these must be classed the great east window, which only differs from them in being of five lights, and in the awkward insertion of a circle among the reticula- Interior. Exterior. SECTIONS OF EAST WINDOW. tions in the head. (/?) All the rest, i. e. all the north Transept windows, and all except the south window of the other Transept, are of three acutely-pointed uncusped lights, the central one carried to the points of the arch, and the spandrels pierced b . In the interior a difference in the rerevault gives more variety to the windows. In the Aisles, where all the windows are of the first b Precisely the same description serves for part of it, he may very well have borrowed a the west window of Acton Burnell Church, window , perhaps especially pleasing to his eye, built by Bishop Burnell, temp. Edward I. from the design of his uncle. And we shall find the same name recurring in For an account of Bishop Burnell's con- the history of Finedon, but it would be impos- nexion with architecture, see Mr. Hartshorne's sible to throw the transepts of Finedon Church paper On the ancient Parliament and Castle of so far back; though if Philip Burnell, the Acton Burnell, published in the Archaeological nephew of the Bishop, built this Church, or Journal for December, 1845. OF NORTHAMPTON.— FINEDON. 135 kind (marked a), the rerearch is of one chamfered order, with a simple hood-moulding terminating in notch heads. In the Chancel, where the tracery is of the same character, the rerearch is also of a single order, but the chamfers are moulded, and the hood, which terminates in heads, is more elaborate, and separated from the arch by a deep hollow ; and the arch is sup- ported by an engaged octagon shaft, in the moulded splay of the jamb, with foliated or moulded caps. In all these cases there is a considerable internal splay ; but the rerearch of the east window almost coincides with the window arch; it is of two orders of mouldings, each supported by shafts with foliated caps. The Tran- sept windows, of the second kind (marked have a rerevault very nearly resembling that of the Chancel windows, but the capitals are richer, and the stop chamfers are various and remarkable. In addi- 136 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY tion to these variations, the west windows of the Aisles are somewhat elongated, that they may more worthily occupy their higher space : and thus varied, windows of only two types occupy so large a Church without sameness or poverty of effect. The approach to the Chancel roof is in the angle of the north Transept and Chancel. The roofs are of low pitch; that of the Nave with a clerestory of two-light Decorated windows, with ogeed heads, and all the walls are finished with battlements. Porch and Paevise. — The exterior features of the south Porch and Parvise, with the approach to the latter in the angle of the Porch and Aisle, will be seen in the engraving. The roof of the Porch is groined, with a flowered boss at the intersection of the groining ribs. Over the Porch is a Parvise, in which is contained a valuable library, which was founded, and the first books placed there, by the late Sir John English Dolben, Bart., A.D. 1788. It contains about 1,000 volumes, among which are several valuable editions of the Fathers, and a very fine copy of the General Councils. There is also a curious collection of divinity of the age of the Puritans. The inner door of the Porch is pointed outside, but within it is under a segmental arch. Entering at the south door, the view of the WEST END OF SODTH AISLE. E n 1 1 v i o v fully sustains the effect which was produced on a first approach. The Nave is of four bays. The piers are lofty, of a quatrefoil section, which is continued through the bases and capitals. The OF NORTHAMPTON.— FINP^DON. 137 SECTION OF CAPITAL AND BASE capitals are moulded, except that at the south-west corner of the south Transept, which is enriched with foliage proceeding from the CAPITAL OF NAVE AND TRANSEPT PIER, WITH SECTION OF ARCH. SPRING OF STRAINING ARCH. mouth of a mask ; and the brackets of the Chancel-arch have the same character . The arches are of two suites of mouldings, and a bold hollow intervenes between the hood-moulding and the arch ; c These have been lately freed from successive coats of plaster, which had quite concealed their beauty. T 138 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY a feature which recurs through almost every part of the interior, where a hood-moulding is introduced. The most singular part of the interior is the straining arch be- tween the last nave piers eastward, rendered necessary by the thrust of the arches across the Aisles, which bear the weight of the western sides of the Transepts. This arch was not inserted until the Clerestory had been visibly thrust in, and the ingenuity with which the remedy of a serious defect has been converted into a great ornament cannot be too much commended d . Its character is suf- ficiently shewn in the engraving. We may add, however, that the same arch occurs at Rushden, in the same relative situation, and that the mouldings are the same in each, though the designs are slightly varied. A very bold stringcourse of the roll-mould- ^JL —^ jl ing ran originally all round the Church, but in the Chancel it has been cut away to ad- mit wainscoting (now happily removed), and throughout the Nave, Aisles, and Transepts it stringcourse has been run in plaster, though, without the smallest doubt, after the original section and in the proper place. Commencements of groining ribs at each corner of the Chancel, seem to indicate that it was intended to have had a stone roof ; the roof is now wood, low, Perpendicular, with bosses at the intersec- tion of the secondary timbers, and the spaces ceiled. The screen, which will be seen in the interior view extending across the Chancel-arch, is of stone. The only decoration it ever had beyond a very simple moulding was in the arch over the central door, and this has been destroyed ; whatever other effect it may have had must have been derived from the loft which it sup- ported. We have already had to mention a stone screen at Ring- stead, where there was also a parclose of the same material. The same is the case at Laughton en le Morthen, in Yorkshire, where d As this is by no means a common arrange- ing Church of Easton Maudit, and the far more ment, it may be well to refer to other instances. important examples at Canterbury, Salisbury, That of Rushden is mentioned above. There and Wells, will occur to every one. is another in the north Aisle of the neighbour- OF NORTHAMPTON.— FINEDON. 139 there is no Chancel-arch, for which the greater solidity of the rood-screen may be considered a partial compensation. The ancient Norman stone Font is worthy to replace the more modern one of composition. The Nave and Aisles are filled with excellent open seats, of late Perpendicular character, as appears by a crest of the Tudor flower along the top of the open-work. And so far as we know they are unique, in having original doors, of the same character with the bench-ends. Their dimensions are as follows: height, 2 feet 11 inches; width, 3 feet 5^ inches; width of seats, 11 inches ; width of book-shelf, 7 inches. These seats were rescued from destruc- tion by a proper exercise of authority in a former dignitary ; for in 1619 Christopher Coles, the Vicar, and the Churchwardens, made several orders for assigning and selling pews in the Church, which Dr. Pinfold, the Chancellor, as being contrary to law, declared null and void. It has always been the custom to separate the men and the women in this Church, the men occupying the seats down either side of the Nave, the women those in the Aisles. SEAT END. 110 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The very handsome Chancel pavement of Ketton stone, with small lozenges of black marble at each angle, was put down at the beginning of the last century, by a legacy from Mr. John Dolben, who died off the Cape on his voyage to the East Indies, in whose will are these words, " which pavement I desire may be instead of any monument to me." There are four steps to the Altar, besides one at the Chancel- arch. The door to the Vestry is ancient : and in the south wall, which is of course also the north wall of the Chancel, are a Piscina and locker, coeval with the Church. The Vestry has been added, in very excellent taste, by the present Incumbent. In the south Aisle stands a large and very handsome chest, but not at all of an ecclesiastical character. It is inlaid with ebony and ivory, and within it, together with the splendid Church books, are an alms-plate, and a bason used at Baptism, of mother-of-pearl and silver. There are a few matrices of brasses, and other ancient sepul- chral stones, on the pavement, but no monument of any interest remains. While this description has been passing through the press, the Chancel has been cleared of a huge Reredos, which concealed more than half the east window, and of wainscoting of painted deal, which lined the whole of the walls. The removal of these has exposed the design and position of the original stringcourse, the remains of four very rich Seclilia, the canopies of which have been groined, and a very singular arched aperture in the south wall, in the usual place of the window of confession. Externally this feature had been visible before, and was supposed to be an old doorway to the Chancel, but a very trifling accumulation of soil would account for that which was before of fenestral character, being on a level with the ground, and assuming the appearance of a door. Within, the sill is considerably above the present floor of the Chancel, so that a person could more conveniently sit upon it, than step from it to the floor ; besides, it is very improbable that there were two doorways, both original, in the south wall of the Wlb&Mt ©IF 3F2MEJ®©]Sr ©HLW2E<5IS<= MjHsheaty J.H.Parker. 03fori.a8 4 6 . OF NORTHAMPTON. — FINEDON. 141 Chancel. Still this aperture has on the whole more the aspect of a door than of a confessional, as it appears in every other instance with which we are acquainted ; and in respect of form, though its use can hardly be questioned, it is probably unique. It may be added, that the external arch was removed some years past by the present Rector, and substituted for a square door, with a simple wooden lintel to the outer staircase to the Par vise. This feature, which appears in our view of the exterior, is com- paratively modern, though the mouldings of the door thus taken from the Chancel make it now appear original, except on a close inspection of the masonry, where it joins one of the aisle but- tresses. The ancient ascent to the Parvise was from the south aisle, in the thickness of the west wall of the Porch, but the door- way to this is now blocked. So great an improvement as the removal of the wretched wainscoting from the Chancel reminds us that we cannot leave this Church without expressing great satisfaction at its progressive return, under the care of the present Rector, the Rev. S. W. Paul, to its ancient beauty : we have still, however, to regret the destruc- tion of the ornamental portion of the Chancel-screen, the damage which the Sedilia, and the Chancel generally, received in the course of erecting the wainscoting, the entire removal of one of the Chancel windows, and the construction of a burial vault beneath the Altar. The closing of the Tower-arch and the painting of the Nave piers are perhaps within a probable remedy. architectural % t s t o r HE whole of the Church, except the Tower and Spire, is of one character, and in all probability owes its erection to one person, or to one great effort of the parishioners. Its date is early in the fourteenth century. The Tower and Spire are quite a separate work. The east buttresses are carried into the Nave, as if it were wholly independent of any 142 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. support from the Church, and not a basement moulding, or any other feature, is continued into the Nave or Aisles. Finedon belonged to the Crown, with short intermission, from the Conquest to 25 Henry III., when it was given, with the advow- son of the Church, to William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle. Four years after, a moiety of it passed to Richard de Bolebeck, but it was soon after divided into four portions, the inheritance of four daughters of Hugh de Bolebeck. Two of these shares passed into the hands of Robert Burnell, Chancellor to Edward I., and Bishop of Bath and Wells. This is the only name of any interest to the ecclesiologist that occurs in connection with Finedon, and Bishop Burnell died (1290) a generation too early to be associated with the Church, though Philip Burnell, his nephew, who succeeded to the property here, may have inherited with it his uncle's munifi- cence and taste in architecture. The building of the Tower and Spire is still to be accounted for, but we can only find that the Abbey of Croxton presented for the first time in December, 1349 e , and continued to hold the advowson till the suppression of the Monastery ; and as this is about the date of the Tower, it may be inferred with some probability, that it was the first fruits of the liberality of that Abbey. In confirmation of this, we may observe that there is a western door, which is usually taken to indicate some connection with a monastic body. G. A. P. e Bridges says it was appropriated to Croxton Abbey by Clement VI., in 1357, in considera- tion that the Church of the Monastery, and several houses belonging to it, had been de- stroyed by fire, and great part of their posses- sions lying northward ravaged by the Scots; but the Abbey of Croxton had presented three times before the above date. BURTON LATIMER. g>t. Mm tt)e Ftrgtn. deanery OF HIGHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. Ground-plan. — Tower and Spire, north and south Aisles, Chancel, and north Porch. The Church-yard is surrounded by lime-trees. Tower and Spire. — The Tower is of three stories. The first story is pierced on the north by a later door, which breaks in upon the base-moulding and the masonry : it is of Decorated character, while the Tower is throughout Early English. The second story is ornamented on the north, south, and west sides by an Arcade, of three pointed arches. The arcades are blank except that the central arch to the west is pierced with a single lancet a . This stage of the Tower is longer on the west side than on the others, at the expense of the lower stage, and thus greater importance is given to the west front, and greater length to the west window ; an arrangement of which all the effect in the interior is lost, by the blocking up of the Tower-arch. The Belfry story is considerably recessed from the one below. The windows are double, divided by an octagonal shaft, with three face-shafts, answering to two shafts, one in each order of the outer jamb. The hood, as well as that of the arcade below, is of an early moulding, and rises and falls with each arch. These windows were originally finished without tracery, but in each window a quatrefoil, at the head of two trefoiled lights, has been inserted. This has at first sight a RECTORY. PATRON, D. BEVAN, ESQ. a The central arch to the south seems also to have been pierced. 144 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Decorated aspect, but it may probably be referred to the next style, when the Spire was added. The Tower- stair, which is entered within by a very good Early English door, and is lighted with DOOR OF TOWER-STAIR. singular loop-holes, is carried up a projecting turret at the south- west angle, to the top of the Belfry story, where its original portion terminates in a series of notch-heads. The battlements to the whole of the Tower, and that part of the stair-turret which rises above the Belfry, together with the Spire, are later. The Spire- lights are under crocketed pediments, the crocketed coping springing from heads. The rest of the exterior is described in very few words. Aisles. — The present character of the Aisles and Clerestory is late Perpendicular, though decided traces of an earlier date will be noticed in the architectural history. All the Aisle windows are of three cinquefoiled lights, under a four-centred arch. The Parapet is not embattled. The Clerestory is of six two-light win- dows, on either side, under three-centred arches, and the Parapets are crenellated with returned cappings. The north Porch is Per- pendicular with angle buttresses, and a pointed door, over which is a bracket for a figure under a trefoiled ogeed and crocketed OF NORTHAMPTON. — BURTON LATIMER. 145 niche b . The south door is round-headed, of two suites of late Norman or Early English mouldings. Chancel. — The Chancel is late Early English (about 1280). It is of considerable height, and the windows north and south, all of two trefoiled lights, have circles in the heads, cnsped with trefoils, qnatrefoils, and cinquefoils. The east window is a recent insertion. The buttresses are of two stages of small projection. Interior* It is only on entering that we become aware of considerable Norman remains. The Nave is of six bays and a half, the Tower trenching on what would have been the seventh bay westward, half the arch of which becomes a flying buttress to the Tower. The three pillars next to the Tower on- the south are cylindrical, with square cushion-shaped capitals, and the round arches have plain soffits, but the second arch has a round beading running along its edge on the side next the nave, and the third has, in addition, a chevron moulding, but no part of these decorations occupies the chamfer plane, or prevents the general effect of the soffits from being flat. The piers and arches opposite are different from these, and each from the others. The first pier is cylindrical, with foliated capital ; the second is in section a square, with semicircles attached to the sides, and the foliated capital is of considerable elegance ; the third is in general effect a square, with the angles rebated, and shafts in the hollows, while on the west side a semicircle is added, which is in fact a respond to the preceding pier. The two angle- shafts, towards the Aisle, terminate in caps at little more than half the height b Upon the inner door is the following legend. 3lf;on ©amppon aviO 3l)0an ftps t»pf. U 146 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY of the piers. The first and second arches are pointed, of two orders, with plain soffits, and an Early English hood. The third is round, with a single plain soffit, only the edge being beaded, and is of decidedly Norman character. The remainder of the piers, both north and south, are late Early English, of quatre- foil section, supporting lofty arches of two chamfered orders with hood-mouldings, answering to the date of the piers. Strange as are the transitions of style in the piers and arches already noted, the greatest anomaly yet remains to be described. The third arch on each side, taking its western spring from a Norman pier, rests on the east on an Early English one, of totally different section, the arch itself being not Early English, (which would be little remarkable,) but Norman. The south side displays the incon- gruity of character most strikingly, for the arch thus supported between a Norman and an Early Eng- lish pier is intensely Norman in charac- ter, with its flat soffit and chevron moulding. Nothing but a figure can fully convey a notion of this anomaly. It will be seen on reference to the draw- ing in the margin, that a portion of the Norman abacus remains under the Norman arch, and above the Early Eng- lish capital. This seems to prove that the piers in the Nave, where they are Early English, have not been cut out of Norman piers, for then the abacus would be the most available part out of which to form part of the capital. In short the Church eastward is either rebuilt or of a different date, and at the place where the old and new structures unite, an arch on each side has been underbuilt. The interior of the Chancel in its present state affords little addition to the features which have been noticed in the exterior, except certain arrangements which cannot well be styled architec- tural or ecclesiastical. A rood-loft, the tracery of which seems CAPITAL, SOUTH SIDE. 'ioderruJJoor a. Font. i . j\fich& under Window level with floor . c. J'treplaxc . \ d. Doorway built vp. JYormaru. JEoj-ly EnxilisTh. Jransition, or Early Decorated;. U.E. with, lale, T. insertions . Terpendzcular . d 1 Scale 25 feet to an, inch, ■ J.HXe Keux. Published bv J.H.Parkrer. Oxford.1847. OF NORTHAMPTON. — BURTON LATIMER. 147 coeval with the date of the Chancel, though the lower part is Per- pendicular, till lately occupied the usual place across the Chancel- arch ; this has been removed to within about twelve feet of the east wall, and forms a Tteredos, inscribed with the Commandments, &c. The space behind is furnished and used as a Vestry, an outer door being inserted in the east wall, and a fire-place with a chimney occuping the usual place of the Seclilia. The Font, which is plain and good, stands in its original place on two steps, against the third pier between the Nave and south Aisle. It is lined with lead, and the drain is open. It has a heavy canopy of late design, on which traces of painting and gilding still remain. The pattern is stars of different colours on a dark ground. Between the spandrels of the Nave-arches are paintings in dis- temper of the twelve Patriarchs, but they are of no great antiquity. There are several old open seats, and many close pews ; but all have been made to face westward, the pulpit having been removed towards the west end. There is a poor man's box against the first pillar within the north door, probably of the date of the canon requiring its intro- duction ; but it is now never used. The Nave roof is the original Perpendicular timber roof, almost fiat, with an embattled wall-plate, and bosses of foliage at the intersections of the main timbers. The Aisle roofs are of similar character, but plainer. On a stone just without the Chancel, have been brasses of a man and his wife, with eighteen children, nine sons and nine daughters, with shields at the corners and inscriptions. Of these only the nine daughters and one shield remain : this is however sufficient to assign the stone to the family of Boyvill, to which the coat belongs ; a fess between three saltiers : probably Richard Boyvill and Gresyll his wife, who died early in the sixteenth century, lie beneath. There are no other monuments of any interest. 148 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. & r 1 1) i ' t 1 1 1 tt r a I it t s 1 r HE very singular arrangement of the piers and arches within, is in itself sufficient to indicate a complicated history. The first three bays and a half on each side are Norman, and the Church of which they formed a part must have extended farther westward than Avhere it is now interrupted, in the middle of a bay, by the Tower. It is certain also that there were Aisles to the Norman Church, and the north Aisle had an arch over it from the third pillar, but whether this was connected with a Transept does not appear. The Tower was added early in the thirteenth century ; the whole of the present Church and Chancel eastward of the fourth pier in the Nave, is of the close of the same century. The Aisles also (though at present they have a late Perpendicular character) were rebuilt at the same date, as appears from the stringcourses, of which, on account of the light they throw on successive changes in the fabric, the mention is postponed to this place. A stringcourse of the pointed bowtel runs round the whole of the Chancel under the windows ; and the same string is continued along the north Aisle westward as far as the Porch, and along the two eastern bays of the south Aisle. But this string is interrupted by the inserted Perpendicular windows, and a string of decidedly Perpendicular character is joined to it and dips under the windows, rising again to meet the old string. The same Perpendicular string is carried round the Porch, so that by the same process of reasoning by which we prove that the east end, at least, of the Aisles is of the same date with the Chancel, we infer that the Porch is of the same date with the inserted windows, (about 1450). The last bay westward, and the west wall of both Aisles are without any string, and the base- moulding of the Tower is quite of a different section. At the same time with the Aisle windows and the Porch, the Clerestory and parapets Avere added; and it was probably to restore the Steeple to its relative importance, which it had lost by the addi- tion of a Clerestory to the Nave, that the Spire was built. BARTON SEAGRAVE. ^/^~^Tf s I>01 T a mile and a quarter to the south-east of "ijH^WIp; Kettering, is the little village of Barton Seagrave, WJsrlOU^ so surrounded by groves of lofty trees as not to be visible until it is entered. Even the Church as well as the Manor- house and Rectory are alike concealed from view until a near approach. The Church consists of a Nave, south Aisle with Chantry Chapel annexed, having something of a transeptal charac- ter, Chancel, Tower, and north Porch. QSVttviov. This edifice as it now exists is clearly the work of two differ- ent periods, distant from each other. Originally it was entirely Norman, and judging from the paucity of mouldings and rude- ness of execution, it may be classed perhaps among the early a Liber Regis. Bridges, St. Botolph, but the feast now follows the festival of St. Peter. 150 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY examples of that style. The west and north walls of the Nave as high as within a foot or two beneath the Clerestory windows, and the Tower as high as the flat buttresses on the four faces of it, are of the original Norman work. The Clerestory with its singular windows, the south Aisle, Chantry Chapel, and upper portion of the Tower, are additions which belong to the early part of the Decorated period. Of the original Norman windows, one still remains in the north wall of the Chancel, and some of the mould- ings are still visible of another in the north wall of the Nave; walled up probably when the neighbouring windows of Decorated character were inserted, and the additions in the same style effected ; and two in the Tower. The upper stage of the Tower has a Decorated window in each face of it. Of the other windows of this Church there is a lancet at the west end of the south Aisle, and the rest are of debased bordering on domestic architecture. It is probable that a Norman window once lighted the west end of the Nave, and it may here be mentioned that when the present window Avas inserted a few years ago, by the late Rector, there was taken out of the wall, some feet below the present gable point, a hip-knob representing some monster with a human head in its mouth. The same device is repeated in very low relief, NORTH DOOR. OF NORTHAMPTON.— BARTON SEAGRAVE. 151 together with other extremely rude carvings, on the tympanum of the north door into the Nave. The north Porch is modern. The parapet of the Clerestory is plain, that of the Tower is embattled. ittttviot. The Nave is divided from the Aisle by two pointed arches, supported by a single octagonal column with moulded capital, and by two responds. At the east end of the Aisle is a small arch of similar character, now walled up, which once led into the Chantry Chapel, in the south wall of which is a trefoiled Piscina. The Tower is central, between the Nave and Chancel, and was once entirely open. The Tower arches are original, and the west faces of both are adorned with one deep hollow and one convex mould- IMPOST, TOWER ARCH. CLERESTORY WINDOW. ing, and a double row of billet mouldings, supported by a single shaft on each side, and a rude and far-projecting abacus whose under surface is sculptured with (in some places) a double, and in others a single row of the cable moulding ; this feature is continued on both sides of the arch the whole breadth of the Nave. The east faces of these arches are perfectly plain. The south wall of the Tower has been broken through, and a wide pointed arch constructed in it, leading into the Chantry Chapel, which gives it the transeptal character before alluded to. 152 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The Font, cylindrical and plain, stands now within the lath and plaster passage leading through the Tower to the Chancel. In the latter some Sedilia of early Decorated character, and remark- able for their position and arrangement, have been lately dis- covered, in a mutilated condition ; they have since been carefully restored. Probably the Piscina is still behind a coating of plaster. arrfii'tertural iHStorp* T is needless to repeat what has been already said of the dates of the several portions of this Church. It may, how- ever, be well to mention that the Decorated portions having been added during the time that it belonged to the Priory of Kenilworth, may account for the number of heads, apparently portraits of monks, which occur, and for the more than ordinary pains which have evidently been taken both as to the choice and execution of all the details. h. r. KETTERING. RECTORY. DEANERY OF patron, Sbt. ^eter anU §bt. Iftaul. higham ferrers. HON . R. WATSON. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. HE Church of Kettering, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, would have a fair claim to a full and minute description, were it not that our Society has already been forestalled by the admirable work of Mr. Billings a : which is so complete in its description, and so amply and faithfully illustrated, that it leaves little to be added. a "Architectural Illustrations and descrip- R. W. Billings." A work, the excellence of tion of Kettering Church. Twenty plates. By which is only equalled by its cheapness. OF NORTHAMPTON.— KETTERING. 153 The ground-plan consists of Nave and Aisles, Chancel and north and south Chantry, west Tower, and north Porch. The Porch is to the Church at an angle nearly of four degrees to the south-west, while the Tower is in a line almost as much to the north-west. This, which is hardly perceptible in the building itself, shews itself very remarkably on the ground-plan. The Porch is so slanted obviously to face the chief path leading to the Church from the Town. <& jr 1 1 r i o t% The Tower and Spire, which form so conspicuous an object from the neighbouring country, fully bear out their striking ap- pearance on a closer survey. The Tower is of four stories, with bold string-courses, and rich panel-courses, quatrefoiled, but each of a different pattern, running round the top of each story, and carried round the buttresses, which are of six stages set on in pairs about two feet from each angle of the Tower, and die in the corbel- table beneath the parapet. The western doorway is especially rich, the deeply-moulded arch being crocketed, and flanked by pinnacled buttresses, while the quatrefoiled panel-course of the basement moulding is carried up at right angles over the door- way, and the spandrels are filled with tracery. The great west- ern window rises from the top of the doorway, through the course of panelling which divides the first from the second story, and occupying the whole height of the second story, breaks in upon the next course of panelling with the point of the arch and of the dripstone. The third stage is panelled to the width of the belfry window in the stage above, which is a handsome triplet, each of two lights, and transomed. The most singular feature of the Tower is the battlemented parapet, castellated with hexagon turrets at each corner, pierced with cross-oilets, and set on after the manner of a broach with a projecting eave resting on a corbel- table of heads; but the Spire itself rises as in ordinary cases of x 154 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY battlemented Towers. The stone of the battlements is different from that of the Tower, and this has led to a notion that it is an addition to the original design, but the perfect symmetry and correspondence of all the parts prove the contrary 15 . The same castellated form occurs on the still more remarkable Tower of Oundle, and will be condemned only by those who have not learnt that variety of form and arrangement is one of the chief excel- lences by which Gothic Architecture recommends itself to our regard. The Tower is built independent of the body of the Church, all its constructive and decorative features being carried out on the eastern, as perfectly as on the western side. "It is worthy of notice, as shewing the proportioning ideas of ancient architects, that although the string-courses, or rather the orna- mented portions," (what we have called panel-courses,) "appear of the same size, looking at the Tower, they gradually enlarge as they approach the summit: thus the first or basement is 13 J inches, the second 141, the third 17|, the fourth 19, and the uppermost, under the parapet, 22 inches c ." A few years ago the noble western front was obstructed by a large barn and other unsightly buildings. These by the public spirit and liberality of the inhabitants and neighbourhood have lately been removed, and a good broad approach with a handsome flight of steps has been formed ; and there are now few parish Churches in the kingdom that have so fine a western front set off to so much advantaged The exterior of the Nave and Aisles, though presenting the ordinary features of a Perpendicular Church, is by no means worthy of the handsome Tower ; the masonry is of an inferior de- scription, being, with the exception of Sawyer's Aisle, rubble-work, poor of its kind, and the extremely depressed arches of the win- dows, particularly in the east windows of the Aisles, shew a deterio- ration of style. The parapet all round the Church is of the same b The constructive symmetry of the Tower and Spire is minutely shewn in Mr. Billings' plans, both being within a few inches of the same height. c Billings. d The Kettering peal of eight bells bas long been celebrated both for its chimes and bell- ringers, and inscriptions on the belfry-walls record the " Grandsire tripples" of 5040 changes performed in 2 hours, 40 minutes. OF NORTHAMPTON.— KETTERING. 155 date, and, excepting the Chancel, which has the gurgoyles or water- spouts of the earlier style, the string-course marks a distinct change in the system of roof drainage, the stone-work being con- tinued round the Perpendicular water-pipe, as is common in Per- pendicular Churches in this district. " The sill-course of the new mullions has never had the mouldings worked, a peculiarity which we have not noticed in any other ancient specimen. On the north side the blocks are chamfered to the shape of the mullion, but the south windows are left roughly squared, as in modern practice, until the completion of the other parts. Neither have the tran- soms of the southern windows been finished, and battlements which are worked in those of the north side are here left in out- line. From west to east the ground upon which the Church stands has a slight ascent, and the basement of the south side, instead of being horizontal, takes the level of the ground 6 ." The exterior of the Chancel, apart from the Aisles, is, with the exception of the parapet, wholly of early Decorated work, or rather of the transition style between Early English and Decorated. The east window is of three trefoilecl lights with three plain circles in the head, with small supplemental tracery ; the mouldings, very minute and rich, are given in Billings. The pitch of the roof was probably lowered when the Perpendicular parapet was substituted, on which the base only of the cross still remains, as is the case also on the eastern gable of the Nave. A blocked-up doorway, east of the present Chancel door, suggests, when the present incon- gruous Ionic screen is removed, the best site for a Vestry, which is at present much required. The tracery in the north Chancel window is very curious, and perhaps, in the inverted curve of the main lines, and the singular form of the centre member, unique. The North. Porch is a fine example of the ordinary Perpendi- cular Porch, with a Par vise over it. Three richly canopied niches remain over the doorway, with shields under the brackets ; the central shield is vacant, that to the east is charged with two keys in e Billings. 156 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY saltire, the western one with two swords in saltire, emblematical of St. Peter and St. Paul, the patron saints of the Church, and whose images with that of St. Mary probably filled the three niches. interior* The interior presents a very handsome appearance, but its real beauty can only be estimated by Plates xvi. xvii. and xviii. of Mr. Billings' work, which exhibit it with the high pews, galleries, and other excrescences removed. The whole of the interior, with the exception of the east part of the Chancel, already mentioned, is of one date. The Nave is of six bays, the pillars, bases and capitals being of that late Perpendicular character so common in this dis- trict. The aisles are nearly as wide as the Nave. The Chancel itself is more than three-fourths the length of the Nave, but this length is apparently lessened by the Chancel-aisles, which, though in this case but partly occupied, seem to suggest to modern archi- tects one of the most feasible ways of retaining a good Chancel, imencroached upon, but offering ample accommodation on the sides ; a result which may be easily gained by a correct fitting up of the rest of the Church. On the wall of the north Aisle are the remains of a painting in distemper, commonly but erroneously called fresco, of St. James the Greater. The pilgrim's habit points oat the saint for whom it was intended, though Mr. Billings, without any apparent reason, assigns the figure to St. Christopher. This Church adds another to the many sad tales of painted glass which has disappeared even recently. Bridges, who wrote in the last century, mentions, that " in most of the windows of the iles are many broken portraits of saints and bishops." Not a fragment now remains in the Nave- aisles, and even the inner edge of the cusps of the stone-work of the windows have suffered under the hands of modern glaziers. In one of the windows of the north Chancel- aisle, are a few fragments of Perpendicular glass, in one of which is an inscription, wrongly given in Billings, but which appears to be Utrgo Do SKgna OF NORTHAMPTON. — KETTERING. 157 postcris tsto bentgna, and on another part of the same window the imperfect legend pro statu 23Io.\!)am: there is also a chalice with glory proceeding from it, and in the south Chantry a few monograms ; that of the Blessed Virgin (JWarta) being per- fect. The Rood-loft doorway is still visible on the south-west Chancel pier, and the staircase is probably blocked up within f . A niche and Piscina in the south-east corner of the north Aisle mark the spot where an Altar formerly stood. In Bridges' time this Aisle was separated from the Chancel by a screen. The roof of the south Chancel-aisle called " Sawyer's Aisle" is a very good specimen of its period, and deserves careful restoration. The roof-brackets are angels bearing shields with the emblems of the Crucifixion. There is a good old iron-bound parish chest, and a moveable reading-desk, with the chains still attached, which once probably held the Homilies and Jewel's Apology, ordered to be set up in Churches. A similar desk, but fixed, exists in the neigh- bouring Church of Waldegrave, and if the custom should ever be revived of leaving our Churches open for private devotion, these Bible and Homily desks may form a fitting co-restoration. The east window of the Chancel, the oldest and most beauti- ful in the Church, has just been disencumbered of the stone and wood-work which have for a long time marred its proportions, for the laudable purpose of inserting a painted glass window to the memory of the late Rector. This ancient and appropriate kind of memorial, which, while it commemorates the departed Chris- tian, adds real beauty to the Church in which it is erected, is now, it may be hoped, universally taking the place of those mural tablets and sculptures to which walls, windows, piers, and all architectural symmetry and simplicity, were mercilessly sacrificed, and which seldom gave any other return for the graces they de- stroyed, than the heathen emblems of urns and sarcophagi, and f Bridges says that " On the back of the screen, dividing the north ile from the Chan- cel, is the figure of a man with four sons, a woman with four daughters, and behind them a son and a daughter. Above them is this in- scription, Orate pro ambus Willielmi Bur- GIS ET J OH ANNE ALICIE ET ELIZABETH UXO- RUM EJUS ET ANIMABUS OMNIUM BENEFACTO- rum suorum Amen. Under them the following; Who so redis mi name siial have godvs BLYSSING AND OUR LADY, AND MY WVFISDOO SEY THE SAME." 158 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. inverted torches, which have scarcely any intrinsic beauty beyond the material of which they are composed, and which mean, if they mean anything, that the body is burnt not buried, and that the soul is not alive for ever, but has eternally perished. The only monument of any antiquity and interest in the Church, is a brass of Edmund Sawyer, with the coat lozengy argent and azure, on a pale three escallops, a coat assigned to the family by William Camden, Clarencieux. arr&i'tertural J&tatorp* A Church must have existed here before any part of the pre- sent building was erected, as Ranulph de Ferrariis is mentioned as presented to the living by the Abbot of Burgh in the year 1225 ; whereas the earliest portions of the existing fabric, the inner door- way of the north entrance, and the east end of the Chancel, which are early Decorated, cannot be earlier than about 1260. At this time a Church must have been erected with Chancel, and at least a north Aisle ; the present north doorway may be supposed to stand on its original site. The Tower and Spire are of the date of about 1450, when the westernmost bay of the Nave must have been destroyed, as the Tower is built quite independent of the body of the Church, and has all its ornamental and constructive features carried completely round. The rest of the Church, Nave, Aisles, Chancel-aisles, and Porch, is all of one date, late Perpen- dicular, and the builders have followed the line of the Chancel rather than, which is more common, the line of the Tower. T. J. WARE TON. RECTORY. DEANERY PATRON, OF THE DUKE OF HIGHAM FERRERS. BUCCLEUGH. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. HE ground-plan comprises Tower, Nave, and north and The village of Warkton stands in the midst of the noble avenues planted by John Duke of Montagu, Master of the Ordnance, gene- rally called " the Planter/' which render this one of the most richly and delightfully wooded countries in the kingdom ; and the Church- yard has its full proportion of silvan beauty, the Tower appearing to great advantage among the trees by which it is surrounded. This Tower, which is a complete and untouched specimen of the Perpendicular of the fifteenth century, is of four stories, with crenellated parapets, and foliated pinnacles. The buttresses are of four stages, of small projection, and embrace the angles of the Tower. The basement moulding, which is carried round the but- tresses, has a series of quatrefoils over the ground table. The Avest door is pointed, within a square panel, and the spandrels are occupied with a quatrefoil, and trefoils. The label terminations are heads. The jamb-mouldings, which are continuous, are good and effective, the most distinctive feature being two bold round bowtels, with their corresponding casements. Immediately over the door is a course of quatrefoils, and over this a three-light pointed window, under an ordinary dripstone with plain returns. The lights are once crossed with an embattled transom, and have the usual batement-lights. An oblong square-headed loophole occurs in the next story. The Belfry windows are of two lights, with embattled transom, and a large quatrefoil in the head, partially following the line of the arch over the lights, so as to give it some- thing of the flowing character of the preceding style, with which however it has no connexion. A course of quatrefoils, pierced by 160 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY a gurgoyle, again occurs under the battlements, which are con- siderably recessed from the face of the Tower; and the angles are finished with octagonal crocketed pinnacles. The height of the Tower to the top of the pinnacles is seventy feet a . The Tower is unhappily the only part of the Church which sub- mits to description in the terms of Gothic Architecture, the Chancel having been wholly rebuilt in a meagre Palladian style to receive several splendid monuments of the Montagu family in the taste of the last century, and all the rest of the Church having been re- duced as far as possible without entire rebuilding, to the same absence of all ecclesiastical character. The few traces, however, which remain of the more ancient features, prove that the Church was at least a century older than the Tower. Decorated buttresses appear in each Aisle, and the south door is also Decorated, but the south Porch is Perpendicular. BUTTRESS, WEST END OF NORTH AISLE. CROSS ON THE NAVE. Over the Nave gable is a very beautiful cross : the parapets also are generally retained, and are good. a There are four bells ; the first is inscribed " Gratum opus Agricolis lntactum sileo percute dulce sono. Thomas Eayre, fecit. 1761." w OF NORTHAMPTON.— WARKTON. 161 WEST DOOR. Interior. Within, the Church has suffered as much as it has without. The Tower-arch is excellent and lofty, but the lower half of it is obstructed by an organ gallery. As we must be contented with the most scanty information concerning the original appearance of this Church, we may quote Bridges' description of those parts which are now lost to the ecclesiologist. " In the east window are some imperfect coats of arms, and a broken inscription in Gothic letters near the Altar. In the south wall of the Chancel are four stone seats. At the upper end of the south Aisle is a holy water bason. The angles of the buttresses at the east end of the Chancel are topped with stone- work of a different form." The monuments in the Chancel, or rather mausoleum, are de- scribed in Hyett's Sepulchral Memorials of Northamptonshire, with the exception of that of Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleugh and Y 162 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. Queensbury, by Campbell, which exceeds the rest in severe beauty of conception and execution. HIS Church owes its dedication to the gift of the lordship of Warkton to the Abbey of St. Edmund's, in Suffolk, by Matilda, queen of William the Con- queror ; and if the round arches in the interior are Norman, we should infer that on entering into possession the convent immediately erected a Church here. No help is afforded in the subsequent history of the fabric, by any notes of transfer of property or other parochial or manorial matters in Bridges, unless the name of Henry Pyel, of Irthlingborough, who was pre- sented to the Rectory in 1352, and who was probably a son of John Pyel, the founder of the College in that place, be taken as fixing with some probability the date of the Nave and Aisles, and perhaps of the original Chancel. The Tower is Perpendicular throughout, and a west door, in so small a Church, may indicate its connexion with an Abbey b ; and to the Abbey and Convent of Bury, patrons of the Church until the suppression, (when it passed to Sir Edward Montagu,) it probably owes its existence, while the mouldings of the door would suggest the same date as that of the College of Archbishop Chichele at Higham Ferrers, G. A. P. J. C. P. b Those Churches which were in the hands which a chapter of priests might render of of monastic bodies were usually furnished with more frequent occurrence, a west door, for the better effect of processions, GRAFTON UNDERWOOD. RECTORY. PATRON, THE RIGHT HON. ROBERT VERNON SMITH, M.P. St. gjames tfje ffireat. DEANERY OF HIGHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. HE Church of St. James, Grafton Underwood, consists of Tower and Spire, Nave, north and south Aisles, south Porch and Chancel. (Bfttviov. The Tower is of three stories. The first story has a single plain west lancet ; the second is without windows ; the third or belfry story is of two-light Early English windows, but Decorated monials have been inserted in the north and south sides. The whole is of rubble, with ashlar quoins, and in the west face of the second story 104 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY is a little herring-bone masonry. From within a plain battlement rises a Decorated Spire. To the west end of the north Aisle, extending along the north face of the Tower, a Vestry has been added ; but the window is either an ancient lancet, or so nearly resembling one, that at first sight this addition has an early aspect. The north windows of the Aisle are of three lights, Perpendicular, under four-centred arches. The east window of this Aisle is Decorated, of three lights, square- headed, and there is a Decorated buttress at the angle. Chancel. — The north window is of two lights, Decorated. The east end is sufficiently represented in the accompanying plate. The south wall has been curiously patched in early times. The door is pointed and very plain, and belongs to the original Chancel, as well as the most western window of two lights, trefoiled, after the advanced Early English fashion, with an uncusped circle in the head. The other window is a good late Decorated window of three lights, with flowing tracery. The string of the east end of the Chancel is carried under the windows, but it assumes a dif- ferent character as it passes over the door. The angle buttress is Decorated. The South Aisle is proved to have been Decorated by the string-course which passes under the windows, and it retains its west window and its door of that character, but in the east and south Perpendicular windows with four-centred heads have been inserted. The Porch is of great proportionate length. The door is of two chamfered orders, the inner one springing from an engaged shaft. The dripstone terminates on one side in a rose, on the other in a notch-head ; and it is worthy of note that throughout this Church the dripstone terminations vary even in the same label : in one place in the north Aisle, a notch-head, which is generally taken to indicate an Early English or early Decorated date, ap- pears together with an ordinary plain Perpendicular return ; while the moulding, part of which is of the same stone with the notch-head, proves the whole of the work to be of the later style. OF NORTHAMPTON. — GRAFTON UNDERWOOD. 165 The Clerestory is of square-headed windows of two trefoiled lights, and, with the parapets, is Perpendicular. Interior* The Nave is of three bays ; all the pillars are cylindrical, with circular bases, but the abacus on the north is square, on the south round, and there is a marked difference in the foliage. Those on the north would pass for Norman, both from their shape and the massive leaves curling under the aba- cus, but they are probably not earlier than the others, in which the nail-head running up the veins of the leaves indi- cates an Early English date. The arches are equally equivocal in their character; those on the north are of two orders with plain soffits ; those on the south also of two orders, the outer plain, the inner chamfered. The same simple label runs over all, which springs on the south side from rude heads. The Chancel- arch springs from brackets, of which a drawing is given, and in the Chancel are two niches, one in the north-east angle, with a smaller one above it ; and a plainer one to the north. The Sedilia are three, Deco- rated, as is also the Piscina, in which part of the shelf remains. Near the east end is a square hole, too high up for a locker, and which seems to have penetrated the wall, as it appears, though blocked up, on the outside also. There is besides a square locker with the door remaining at the north. There is a very plain Piscina in the south Aisle, denoting that there was there a Chantry-altar. 166 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. The Tower-arch is closed. There are some fragments of good Perpendicular wood-work, and the base of the Rood-loft remains. Two monuments only of any pretensions appear in this Church : one in the north Chantry to the Lady Anne Eitzpatrick ; and an enamelled brass on a black marble slab, beneath an elaborate hearse, in the Chancel, to the Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, daughter of John, Earl of Upper Ossory : but as both these are modern, it does not come within the province of this work to describe them. The arms of Fitzpatrick occur everywhere on monuments and hatchments, — sable, a saltire argent, on a chief azure three jleurs de lys or. Bridges mentions sable, a chevron between three mullets argent, and argent a cross engrailed gules, as occurring in the north window of the Chancel : the latter is for Drayton a . These have disappeared. HE very early character of the Tower, and of the Nave piers on both sides, would lead to the conclu- sion, that this Church consisted of Tower, Nave, and Aisles, when Henry III. began his reign, at which time (1216) Philip de Worcester held the lordship : but no part of the pre- sent Chancel seems older than about 1300, and the south Aisle in its present features is of about the same date, the inserted windows of course excepted. Again, about the middle of the reign of Edward III., when the lordship belonged to a family named Seymour, the later portions of the Chancel were erected, and the Chantry was added to the north Aisle. There are still Per- pendicular insertions to be accounted for, but here documents fail. G. A. p. j. c. P. a 22 Edward III. Simon de Drayton ob- a wood in this parish, from which it derives the tained leave to enclose and convert into a park addition of Underwood to its name. CRAOORD ST. ANDREW, WITH CRANFORD ST. JOHN. RECTORY. DEANERY PATRON, OF REV. SIR GEO. S. HIGHAM FERRERS. ROBINSON, BART. HUNDRED OF HUXLOW. HE two Cranfords, recently consolidated into one Rectory, are in many respects twin Churches, coeval in their most ancient parts, and each presenting the most pleasing portion of the prospect from the site of the other. The Church of Cranforir M. an&reto owes a great part of its picturesque effect to its situation within the park, and close to the mansion of Sir George S. Robinson, Bart. It is not, however, without features more exclusively archi- tectural. It consists of Tower, Nave, north Aisle, Chancel, north and south Chantries, and south Porch, with a transeptal addition to the north Aisle, erected by Sir George Robinson, the present Patron and Rector. tifttviav* The Tower has a pointed west door a . Over this is a single small lancet. The belfry- windows are of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a circle in the head, on the south, east, and north sides ; on the west the trefoils are subtrefoiled, so as to produce a rather richer effect. All these characters indicate the transition from Early English to Decorated. The engraving renders any description of the upper portion of the Tower superfluous. The North Aisle, which was originally Decorated, retains a square-headed two-light window, and a door of the original cha- racter, now forming the entrance to the new Transept ; but a three-light five-foiled window, under a low four-centred head, of a The Abbey of Peterborough had rights here. 168 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY about the middle of the fifteenth century, is inserted in the east end. The east window of the Chancel is pointed, of three lights, of ordinary Perpendicular character. That of the south Chantry is also Perpendicular, recently inserted. The Priest's door is under a depressed ogee, of a shape and with mouldings which shew it to be anterior to the date of the Chantry. WINDOW. CLERESTORY WINDOW. The south of the Nave is Decorated throughout : the window between the Chantry and the Porch, and the triangular trefoiled Clerestory windows, with finials to the dripstones, splayed to a round-headed arch within, deserve to be noted : the same Clere- story lights are found also in the two neighbouring Churches of Cranford St. John, and Barton Seagrave, and may suggest a con- necting link between the history of these Churches. The Porch is Decorated, with little trefoiled lights at the side. Jtttertrrr* The Nave and north Aisle are separated by three semicir- cular arches of two orders, with flat soffits, resting on cylindrical columns, which give them a Norman character; but the re- OF NORTHAMPTON. — CRANFORD ST. ANDREW, 169 sponds have an Early English section, so that we must class this with several neighbouring Churches, which retain the cylin- drical pillar, and the round arch of the Normans, though they are of the succeeding style. The Chancel-arch is Decorated. The Tower-arch has been recently thrown open, by the removal of an unsightly gallery; the effect of this restoration is, as it always must be, excellent. The removal of the gallery displayed a feature of some elegance, and perhaps unique. One of the arch mouldings is connected with a bowtel in the jamb by a broach chamfer, the point of which terminates in a little cluster of leaves. The whole of the Church has been filled with very rich and substantial open oak seats, and the Pulpit, which is also recent, is of the same costly character, with ancient carved panels intro- duced, of the five following scenes of our Lord's Passion ; Christ washing the disciples' feet; Christ taken prisoner; Christ before Pontius Pilate ; Pilate washing his hands ; the Last Supper. The stone Reredos after that at Geddington, is new. The whole of these enrichments and improvements are the work of Sir George Robinson, the present Rector. The Eont is a plain octagon, resting on a four-sided shaft, three sides of which have been enriched with Early English tracery. There are fragments of ancient English glass in the east win- dow, and the rest is filled with German painted glass, containing many coats of arms of foreign families. JHonuttuntal ftemautsu GAINST the wall of the north Chantry are arranged five small brasses, which formerly rested on the Chancel floor. They are appropriated by the at- tendant inscriptions to John Eossbrook (1418) and Matilda his wife, and to John Eossbrooke (1602) and his two wives. The z 170 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. former legend is worthy of transcription, as recording the name of the " dry nurse" of Henry VI. |^tc jacct 3Jof)ts jfosscbrofe &rmtg. qxii otittt bit trie mensts <©ctobn's &nno Worn Jffltllmo <&<&(&QLX171M et Jfflattfoa uxor ejus que futt sicca nutrtx Bno ij sgall be sabrix The pavement of the Chancel, also, within the Altar-rails, is of en- caustic tiles, and is among the enrichments provided by the present Rector, as well as the glass of the east window, in which the consolidation of the two Rectories is happily commemorated by OF NORTHAMPTON. — CRANFORD ST. JOHN. 173 the insertion of the figures of St. Andrew and St. John, on either side of our blessed Saviour, and the following inscription running beneath them. (tolesife truaims aptrtr GDranfortr gb cti . gjofjamife 33apt: zt £> cti . &nteae pro usu helium consotfatts, Hectore uno 23nufictoque functts, ijtnebtcat GMmstus. 1841. A little old glass remains, and the following coats of arms have been inserted, taken from the north Chantry window : — 1. England. 2. gyrone of 12, argent and gules c , 3. the same as 2, with a label of three points azure. arr&i'tertural &f0i4rp« ROM the very early character of the Nave piers and arches, and of the lower story of the Tower, we infer the existence of a Church, Tower, Nave, north Aisle and Chancel, not much later than A.D. 1200, of which however the parts just mentioned alone remain. The present Chancel has an east window of about 1290, which is probably about the date of the north Aisle and Chantry, though the latter has been greatly altered from its original character. The Clerestory and Belfry are about the middle of the next century. Bridges says that the Chancel was rebuilt in 1674, but the east window must have been retained. We shall best express our respect for the feelings which are em- bodied in the erection of the south Aisle, which appears in the ac- companying view of the Church, by giving the following inscription from a foliated panel in the interior : — " This south Aisle was buil^ to the glory of God, A.D. 1842, by the Rev. Sir George S. Robinson, Bart., Rector, as a memorial of the early translation to the Church in Heaven of two beloved children, George William Robinson, born 9th March, 1828, died 17th October, 1836. Agnes Lucy Robinson, born 1 1th July, 1840, died April 17th, 1841." On a scroll beneath " 1 beltebe tlje Communion of ^amts." t. j. g. a. p. c This coat belongs to the family of Basingbourne, a name which cannot be found in Bridges' history of the two Cranfords. NEWTON-BROMSWOLD. RECTORY. DEANERY patron, gfct. Jeter's, of ALL SOULS' COLLEGE, HIGHAM FERRERS. OXFORD. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. ^ HERE is something very primitive and rural in the appearance of this little Church, as you find it in the midst of the fields after a long cross-country drive. It consists of Tower and Spire, Nave, north Aisle, south Porch, and Chancel. The Aisle extends along the north side of the Tower, in a compartment now roofless, and in a sad state of neglect, but which would form an excellent Vestry, with an en- trance to the Church through the blocked up doorway. The Chancel is the most interesting feature, from its high- pitched tiled roof and overhanging eaves, with bold coping stones and hip-knob at the east end. The whole is of one date, Deco- rated. The Belfry windows would give the same date to the Tower, though there seem traces in the masonry of earlier work. The flat-ogee doorway in the north Aisle is also Decorated, but Perpendicular windows have been inserted in this Aisle, and the walls of the Nave with the Porch are Perpendicular from the ground. The Clerestory, of three windows on the south side, without an Aisle, has the usual unsatisfactory appearance of this arrangement. On entering, the Eont, standing to the south against the west- ernmost Nave-pier, is, as it should be, the first object that presents itself to the eye. It is a plain octagon, but tracings of a pattern for carving are visible on its sides. The cover is rude and heavy, but appears to be original. The piers between the Nave and north Aisle have a section which would generally be called Perpendicular, but the capitals have a Decorated character ; the arches, however, are four-centred CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 175 Perpendicular, agreeing in elate and character with the rest of the Perpendicular work of the Church. A great part of the old open oak seats remain, though not free from the encroachment of modern deal pews. The Pulpit is poor Perpendicular work. At the east end of the Aisle a bracket and rude Piscina denote a small Chantry, raised on one step ; from this to the Chancel was a hagioscope, now blocked up. The roof is original, resting on stone corbels. The Tower below is open with good effect, though there is no west window ; the upper part of the arch however is blocked up and obscured by an unnecessary gallery. The bell-ropes are seen from the Church, nor can there be any reasonable objection to their appearance in Churches of much greater pretensions than this. Certainly they form no excuse, as they are often alleged, for blocking up the Tower from the Nave. The most remarkable feature in the Chancel is the series of six shallow arches of equal height stretching along the whole south wall, from the east end to the door. The easternmost contains a Piscina, the rest resemble shallow Sedilia, but the Church had no connection with any religious house, to explain the existence of so large a number. On the north side is an arch of six feet span, but with nothing to indicate whether it is a founder's tomb or an Easter sepulchre. There are two ordinary brasses of ecclesiastics of the dates 1426 and 1487, the inscriptions of which are given in Bridges. A few fragments of painted glass remain. The head of a Bishop under a canopy in the north-east window of the Aisle is very good ; there are also two heads of saints in one of the Clerestory windows. A little eastward of the Porch was the Church-yard cross, of which the base only remains. T. J. EUSHDEN. RECTORY. PATRON, THE LORD CHANCELLOR. »t mm. DEANERY OF HIGHAM FERRERS. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. WEST PORCH. HE Church of Rushden is one which may claim a very high rank, even in this district, from much beauty and singularity both of outline and detail, especially from the perfect elegance of its magnificent steeple. It consists of a Chancel and Aisles, Transepts, Nave and Aisles, north and south Porches, and western Tower and Spire. a CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 177 Tower and Spire. — The bold and lofty Steeple a good deal resembles Higham in its main outline, but surpasses it in the greater elegance of its taper Spire. It is, as would appear, origi- nally of the Decorated style ; though it has undergone considerable alterations during the Perpendicular period. Of its four stages, two of which rise above the roof, the three lower are supported by double buttresses, placed not quite close to the angle : on the top of each is a large grotesque head. In the lower stage is the western entrance, seemingly of the original Decorated work ; it is formed by the same sort of shallow porch as at Higham, but of much less richness. The small flying buttresses which connect it with the buttresses of the Tower on each side, are a remarkable feature. Both doorways are without shafts ; the outer, which is much larger than the interior, has a straight gabled canopy, adapted to the high pitch of the Porch itself ; between it and the head of the arch is a trefoiled niche, deprived of its statue. The space between the two doorways is left quite plain, and is covered with a single narrow bay of quadripartite stone groining from corbels. It would seem, however, that some change has taken place since its original erection; as in the masonry on both sides may be traced a large half-arch, like that before mentioned at Irthling- borough, but on a smaller scale, as if the part below had been originally open, and afterwards filled up. The door appears ancient, having a bold trefoil in the head. The only window in any of the lower stages is the west window, Perpendicular, of three lights, inserted under an early label, terminating in masks. In the third stage to the north, south, and west, is a small two- lighted window. The Belfry stage is truly admirable ; the general character of its rich cornices, and the very effective angular pilasters, may be suffi- ciently understood from the engraving. We must however remark the excellent jamb-mouldings of the graceful Perpendicular Belfry windows, and the fact that they are let in beneath arches of con- a a 178 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY struction, cut off at the sides by a triangular panel, trefoiled, rising from a head. The elegant turrets at the corners of the parapet are panelled, but without arches or foliations. Of the details of the noble Spire, attention should be called to the lights, which are Deco- rated, and of which the lowest range has a remarkably long quatrefoil in the head, and to the open crockets at the angles. Nave. — The Nave is embattled, the battlement being continued round the crocket on the spire. low eastern gable, and has a Clerestory of no great elevation. The windows over the Transepts are merely square-headed cinque- foiled openings of one light, though of considerable breadth ; the others are of two lights, with Perpendicular tracery. The windows throughout the Church are mostly of two types ; one early Geo- metrical, which, with two exceptions, are of two lights, with a foli- ated circle in the head, and of remarkable elegance; the other Perpendicular, of large size, which, though presenting considerable diversities, retain a very marked character ; somewhat similar ones being found in the Churches of Titchmarsh and Grendon. The arches are four-centred, but yet in some instances acutely pointed, and the windows themselves of considerable height, the upper segments being not distinguishable from straight lines. The tracery begins considerably below the spring of the arch, and is often divided into stages by transoms, sometimes embattled, or by uniting two lights under one arch, so as to form a row of quatre- foils. Though these windows are constructed on a principle con- trary to the commonly received ideas of beauty, it cannot be denied that the general effect of them is rich in the extreme. Aisles. — The Aisles are embattled like the Nave, the battle- ment being continued round their low gables. In the west face of each is a small round-headed window of debased character : that to the north has the date of 1718 in the label termination. The western bay of the south Aisle is occupied by a Decorated Porch of plain character, which does not extend quite to the west end ; OF NORTHAMPTON.— RUSHDEN. 179 its gable, though still rather high, appears to have been originally of steeper pitch. To the north of a small trefoiled-headed window in its west face is a very perceptible seam in the masonry. Another larger Porch of Perpendicular date, with a low gable, corresponds to this in the north Aisle and reaches nearly to the west wall. The outer doorway has a four-centred arch, slightly ogeed, with well- moulded jambs ; there is a square label, and spandrel filled with quatrefoils. The well-wrought window at the west side is of a size not very usual in such a position. The Porch is vaulted from shafts, with discontinuous imposts. The groining has ribs of rather complicated design, which in their foliations present an approxi- mation to fan-tracery. The inner doorway is Early and very graceful ; it has a trefoiled arch rising from shafts with moulded capitals. Over the Porch is a Parvise, which is accessible only by a ladder ; it has a tolerable timber roof and a fire-place : a square- headed window to the west, which formerly lighted it, was blocked in the year 1829, — it is difficult to conceive why, — and a niche above the outer doorway opened and glazed instead. Transepts. — The Transepts project from the Nave, and are but little inferior in height; they have low gables and plain parapets ; that in the south Transept being adorned with a good ball-flower cornice. They have small and very low dou- ble buttresses at the angles. Most j of their windows are Geometrical ; ' that in the south front has three trefoiled lights under a single arch, | with the spandrels of the centre \ light pierced with a trefoil; that corresponding to it on the north side is very remarkable, and far j from beautiful ; its intersecting IIctm^ tracery bars hardly deserve the window, north transept name, being little more than mouldings, and the foliated circles between them look as if cut out of the solid : and, what is very 180 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY rare, they are concentric, and consequently do not harmonize with the arch of the window. Chancel and Aisles. — The Chancel is rather lower than the Nave, and has, like it, a low gable ; the Aisles have lean-to roofs, joining it, and having the battlement continued round the whole. The exterior is Perpendicu- lar through out, except the plain Early Priest's door in the south Aisle. The windows, mostly of the character mentioned above, are of considerable rich- ness, having the labels in several places crocketed ; that of the east window of the Chancel is carried up into a now empty niche, and that of the north Aisle is enriched with a four-leaved flower. In the south Aisle, the round ter- minations of the labels, with the exception of a single win- dow, contain roses. EAST WINDOW. East end of North Aisle. South Aisle of Chancel. LABEL TERMINATIONS. The two windows in the north Aisle, though palpably of the same late date, are of another character ; the tracery, as is not unfrequently the case at this period, might be almost looked upon as a return to Decorated forms. The arches are four-centred, of the more usual and more graceful variety of that shape. The east end, and indeed Published. tv J.H.Eaxlser. Oxford. 1847 OF NORTHAMPTON.— RUSHDEN. 181 the whole view from the south-east, is excessively striking. The effect of the great breadth of the Chancel and Aisles, which have the appearance of ranging under one immensely wide gable, is most singular, excess in this proportion being so much rarer in our ancient Churches than in any other. At the north-east corner is an embattled staircase turret of octagonal form ; its cornice, like the parapet near it, is adorned with four-leavecl flowers and heads. At the other angle is a buttress, continued from the east wall, running through the parapet, and terminating in a pinnacle containing niches and statues now mutilated. Interior* The general aspect of the Church within is very striking, though at first sight not very intelligible. It has however much more cruciform effect than is usual where a genuine lantern is absent, on account of the greater height of the Transepts, the size of the arches leading into them, and the rich strainer arch across the Nave. Chancel and Aisles.— Of the three bays of the Chancel, the eastern is divided from the Aisles by a solid wall, the two others have four-centred arches with moulded architraves, springing from pillars of the hollow lozenge form, with shafts attached to the cardinal faces. On the north side the eastern arch is partly blocked up by a large and unsightly monument in the Aisle. The other arches have parcloses across them, of late date and no great merit. There are some remains of stalls, but poor, and of small extent. The accompaniments of the three Altars at the ends of the Chancel and its Aisles, remain in good preservation. The Sedilia and Piscina of the high Altar are Early English, of sin- gular beauty, the details of the shafts, capi- tals, labels, and foliage, being of great merit. They form an arcade of four pointed trefoil capital, sedilia. 182 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY arches, over the two westernmost of which are straight-lined Canopies, with a trefoil in the space between them and the point of the arch ; those over the eastern, if they have ever been com- pleted, would appear to have been cut through by a window open- ing into the Aisle, which can however be very little, if any, later than the arcade itself, as its lights are unfoliated, and the quatre- foil in the head exhibits the very earliest form of tracery ; instead of a splay, this monial and quatrefoil are repeated in the face of OF NORTHAMPTON.— RUSHDEN. 183 the wall next to the Aisle. The position of this very curious and elegant window is very singular, and its use by no means apparent ; there is no trace of its ever having been glazed, as there is no groove, but only small holes at intervals, as if for a shutter. The cill of the east windows, both in the Chancel and south Aisle, is brought down to form a reredos to the respective Altars. To the north of the high Altar is an excellent niche, under an ogee canopy between two pinnacles ; the crockets with which it is enriched are well worthy of attention. In the north wall is a small door- way opening into a narrow passage leading to the staircase -turret at the north-east corner of the Church. This passage extends behind a solid wall, the west face of which, being embattled and enriched with panelling, appears to have served as a reredos to the Altar which anciently occupied the east end of the north Aisle a . In the south Aisle, the site of the Altar is marked by a crocketed ogee Piscina, trefoiled. The wide and lofty Chancel-arch, which is of the earlier period, springs from semi-octagonal responds, whose capitals seem how- ever of later date, more resembling those in the Nave, and the arch from the north Aisle into the north Transept appears con- temporary. The Rood-skreen, which is good Perpendicular, is in fair preservation, being perfect with the exception of its doors ; another Skreen, with an excessively rich cornice, fills the northern arch. The south Chancel- aisle is entered from the south Transept by an elaborate Perpendicular arch, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest ornaments of this beautiful Church. The arch, which is well moulded, springs from clustered responds, with capitals con- taining heads. On the west side, the square label enclosing its rich spandrels is supported by angels standing on brackets and holding scrolls, that to the north inscribed In (Soft IS all, to the south, £n CBrofc fielp. On the soffit of the arch is this legend: §?te ard)* mate &ue fcodjar anfc Julian fits fogf of foljos sofolus $ro& fiate merct upon, glmen. Across the arch runs a Parclose, perfect * Another but plainer instance of this not very common arrangement will be remembered at Higham Ferrers. 184 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY except that the doors are wanting ; it is of very good design both in its panelling and its open tracery. Transepts. — The large Perpendicular window inserted in the east wall of the south Transept has niches in the jambs, and its cill is brought down for a reredos. The Piscina is singular, having a round-headed cinquefoiled arch without label, but on its shoulders are two octofoils enclosed in circles ; above is a plain bracket. In the north Transept are two aumbry es. The arches PISCINA, IN SOUTH TRANSEPT. AUMBRY, IN NORTH TRANSEPT. into the Aisles of the Nave spring from corbels in the wall, which being placed much lower than the capitals of the pillars, give the arches a very irregular and awkward shape. The pro- jecting part of the Transept is skreened off by parclose work. Nave and Aisles. — These are of three bays ; the arches, of two chamfered orders, being of the earlier date ; those leading into the Transepts are much broader and loftier than the rest ; the octa- gonal pillars, from the mouldings of their capitals, which on the first pillar on each side are especially complicated, and the singu- larly awkward way in which they are made to join to the arches, would seem to be an alteration of the Perpendicular period. From the first pair of pillars to the east in a line with the Tran- sept walls, and the arches between them and the Nave Aisles, ^ ^> 6 10 ^ 2.0 3o 4f> 5g Feet. ScaZ& 25 feet to an< incfv. co. Piscina. c . SeJilia & Piscina. . J. ELLeEeux. Published ~by J. H. Farker , Oaf ord, 1847 . O.Jewitt.del, OF NORTHAMPTON. — RUSHDEN. 1 85 rises a beautiful and elaborate strainer arch across the Nave, which differs too little from that already described at Finedon to need a de- tailed account. Near the north door may be remarked an appearance in the floor somewhat like the base of a column. The large Perpendicular window in this Aisle has niches in its jambs, and retains figures in the stained glass with labels. All the roofs in the Church are of timber and low-pitched; the Aisles have compass roofs. That of the Nave is very good, rising from angel corbels and adorned with bosses, and those over its Aisles are of similar character : that in the north Aisle is highly ornamented, and the principals rise from wooden niches now empty ; that in the north Transept has open panelled OOHBEL OF NAV't, ROUP. ROOF OF AISLE 15 1) 186 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY spandrels : the rest are very poor. At the east end of the south Aisle the weather -moulding of an earlier and lean-to roof remains. The very handsome Font, which stands in the western part of the Nave, exhibits a mixture of Early English and Decorated details. It is of the usual form, an octagonal bowl on a shaft of the same shape ; the former is enriched with foliage of Early English character ; the latter with tracery of various patterns, mostly Geometrical. The wooden Pulpit, of Perpendicular date, exhibits different patterns of tracery on several panels. At the west end of the north Aisle is a square-headed fire-place, apparently ancient, very much resembling those in the Campanile at Irthling- borough. A few open seats remain, but pews have encroached on most of the area of the Church ; one in the north-east corner of the Nave, just outside the Rood-screen, is a singular and early instance with a canopy. There is only one gallery, at the west end, erected in 1829, quite blocking up the Belfry arch. In the Church-yard is a rare instance of a high tomb in the open air, having a row of large quatrefoils, and an inscription now illegible. arr&ttertural 5? i $ t o r N the absence of records, it is fortunate that we have sufficient internal evidence to ascertain the date of the several parts of the building with tolerable accuracy. Though so much altered, there can be little doubt that the whole circuit of the walls is of one date ; namely, about the accession of Edward I., marking the transition from the Early English to the simplest Geometrical OF NORTHAMPTON.— RUSHDEN. 187 forms. This is shewn by the prevalence almost throughout the Church, both within and without, of a single string of that date, which forms the label of most of the contemporary windows and doorways, and is often cut through by the later insertions. The Church at this period must in its outline have pretty much resem- bled the first appearance of Irthlingborough, as already described ; but it seems to have had a western Tower, as fragments of earlier masonry may be discerned in the lower part of the present one. Whether there was a Clerestory cannot be ascertained, as no traces remain of the original roofs. The Tower and Spire appear to have been erected more re- cently, during the prevalence of the later forms of the Decorated style. There is reason to believe that considerable further altera- tions took place at this period, though they have left but very small traces behind them. The Transepts, it will be remembered, have low-pitched roofs, and round the parapet of the south is a Decorated cornice. As there is no mark of a gable remaining, if it ever had a higher one, it must have sprung from the present level. The Clerestory windows over this part are also different from the rest, and apparently earlier. Further, had the Nave retained the high roof, which we may suppose it had at first, until the final changes, we might expect to find some trace of it against the Tower, either inside or out, which is not the case. We must therefore conclude that at the time of its erection the roofs of the Nave and Transepts were lowered, and a Clerestory introduced, exactly as was done to the Quire of Irthlingborough Church about the same time. To the early days of Perpendicular we may probably refer the Nave pillars, (which differ completely from the palpably late ones in the Chancel,) and possibly the strainer arch, together with the windows of that style in the Tower, which shew no trace of the peculiar character of the later specimens in this Church . Finally, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Church assumed its present form ; the Chancel piers and arches, and the windows and battlements, being altered to the prevalent taste of the period, to which also must be ascribed the present Clerestory and roofs. e. a. f. WO L LA ST ON. VICARAGE. PATRON, F. DICKENS, ESQ. DEANERY OF HICHAM. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. HE larger part of this Church having fallen down in the year 1737, there is only the Tower and Spire, with the north transept of the original fabric, remaining. These portions are, however, so exceedingly good, that they furnish us with great cause for regretting there is no more left. It was originally a cruciform structure, with transepts rather short in pro- portion to the massive character and altitude of the central Tower. As this, with the exception of the north fragment already referred CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 189 to, is all that is left of the earlier edifice, a few words will be suffi- cient to describe it. In addition to the well-executed masonry, the eye is pleased by the just symmetry of the general outline, forming both an admirable specimen of ecclesiastical architecture when viewed immediately near, and a striking object from its lofty elevation, when seen at a considerable distance from the village. The Tower has triple cylindrical shafts at its angles, and double- lighted belfry windows joined in pairs on the four sides, with a richly sculptured corbel-table under the broach, from whence the Spire springs. This is octagonal, duly adapted in size to the Tower, has four of its sides splayed at the base, is pierced with two tiers of gable-headed windows on the cardinal points, and with single ones on the intervening faces. The whole is a fine specimen of the Decorated style of architecture prevailing in the early part of the reign of Edward the Second. The other portions of the Church are rather remarkable for their heaviness and utility than for any features meriting commendation. c. h. h. STEIXTON. RECTORY. £l Homaltf. DEANERY PATRON, OF HIGHAM. EARL SPENCER. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. HIS Early English building offers but little variety for description, and being of one style throughout, an ac- count of it must necessarily be brief. But although there may exist few points to which, taken by themselves, the attention may be particularly directed, it is a Church which, when viewed in its entirety, presents the most interesting features for examination, and it may be added the most valu- 190 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY able ones for an architect to copy. It is pre-eminently simple in its arrangement, consisting of merely a Nave and Chancel : each east kmd. lighted by two pairs of lancet windows to the south, those in the latter being half the width of the former, so as to suit the diminished proportions of the eastern part of the building. The western elevation, even disfigured as it is with the modern bell-tower, shews the design of genius, whilst the triple lancets at the east, with their surmounting quatrefoils, evince elegance and simplicity united. It is this admixture of the plain and useful with the just distribution of decoration where it is wanted, that renders Strixton one of the best models for an unexpensive, yet not totally unadorned village Church that can readily be adduced. Commencing at the west end we have a plain Pointed door of OF NORTHAMPTON.— STRIXTON. 191 two orders, with simple chamfers to the voussoirs and the jambs ; above which is a circular sexfoiled win- dow, having the hoodmould carried entirely round it. A string-course runs a little below the eaves, allround the north and south sides of the building, and is decorated at inter- vals with those chamfered blocks, which have sometimes been called sexfoil window buckles, and sometimes masks, or notch-heads, and which have expe- rienced so much difficulty in obtaining a sufficiently descriptive name. The eastern window is formed of three lancets with quatrefoils over the head of each : the lancets being externally enclosed by a hoodmould terminating in chamfered blocks, whilst internally the whole six lights are included under a hoodmould of the same kind. A low doorway opens into the Chancel on the south side, contiguous to which is a small square-headed side window. The staircase of the western bell-tower is in the thickness of the south-west angle of the wall. This bell-tower, or rather bell-cot, is of wood, and is carried upon a stone arch within the west gable, an unusual and good arrangement. There are several examples of external arches of this kind to carry a stone bell-cot, but an internal arch is very uncommon, if not unique, and seems to shew that the bell-cot either was originally of stone, or was intended to be so. On entering the Church through a Pointed equilateral doorway the same simplicity of design is apparent. An open roof, a rude columnar Font, a late Rood-skreen, the stand for an hour-glass, a few plain open seats, a bench-table running round the Chancel, and a double Piscina, form the chief, if not the whole of the objects which arrest attention. Nor does the eye wish to seek for any other objects of attraction, as the excellent proportions, the absence of superfluous decoration, and the primitive appear- ance of the fabric within and without, banish all causes for re- gretting that the building is neither more spacious in its size, nor more elaborate in its embellishment. c. h. h. 1 11 CHESTER. VICARAGE. DEANERY patron, Sfet- 3&atl)arine. OF higham. F. DICKENS, ESQ. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. «lHE Steeple of Ircliester Church forms a very conspicuous object among the noble group of Spires of which it is a ^SS* member, but with the exception of that lofty and truly graceful portion, a nearer investigation reveals but little worthy of detailed remark. The Church is of the usual parochial type, and the general character of its architecture most thoroughly common- place, as free from striking deformity as from striking beauty. ©jrtertor* Tower and Spire. The Tower rises two considerable stages above the body of the Church, the belfry-stage being unbuttressed; the Spire with which it is crowned is remarkable for having, though — - THE CORNICE a broach, much morejthe air of one rising from within a parapet. Instead of the short squat form of most of the Northamptonshire broaches, it tapers in a manner rivalling Higham or Rush den. Its great height, the very small size of the squinches connecting it with the square Tower, and the slight projection of the spire-lights, all combine to render it one of the most elegant and aspiring of its class. At the same time it may be doubted whether the small- ness of the squinches improves the aspect of the composition on a nearer approach, as it somewhat breaks the connexion between Published by J.H.Parker. Oxford. 184?. CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 193 the Tower and Spire, an effect which would have been obviated by the addition of pinnacles. It would appear also to be of much later date than the generality of broaches. The tracery of the spire-lights, and of the south and west belfry-windows, is complete Flowing Decorated of the reticulated kind ; to the north it is of earlier character, though not necessarily of earlier date ; to the east the tracery is actually Perpendicular, but may possibly be original. The very deep recessing of these windows, though formed by mere mouldings without shafts, is worthy of notice, and is very effective. The west window and doorway are Perpendicular, and clearly insertions, but they harmonize very well with the general cha- racter, the arches being of the simple pointed form ; the mouldings of the doorway, though, as well as those of the window, totally different from those of the Belfry-stage, are well worked, and have bowtells furnished with bases, but without capitals. The rich cornice under the Spire, composed of monstrous heads united by stalks, and the local feature of the different coloured courses of masonry are also worthy of attention. Outline. The only high-pitched roof is that of the Sacristy, a plain modern addition to the north of the Chancel, but which, with the exception of its hideous window, harmonizes very tolerably with the building. The roofs of the Aisles, having distinct gables, nearly conceal the low Clerestory. The Chancel is about the height of the Aisles, and of great length ; that dimension indeed possesses throughout the building a very undue preponderance over that of height. Windows. The windows throughout are poor, and mostly square headed. Those in the north Aisle are of three lights, with mere trefoiled arches without tracery. They appear however to be Decorated, and not very late in the style. Those in the Chancel are Perpendicular with depressed arches ; the three on the south side are completely blocked, otherwise that part of the building, though not first-rate, would have had by no means an unpleasing appearance. The tracery of the east window is poor, but with very well wrought jambs, which appear to be vestiges of a former window, as they are much patched ; their bases are dis= c c 194 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY similar, and appear to be fragments of Early English work, but look more like capitals or bands than bases. Doorways. The doorways are by far the most attractive features of the exterior. The Priest's door with its graceful shafts, its inner trefoiled arch, and its voussoirs alternately of different colours, is an elegant example of Early English, the foliage in the cusps especially has a very pleasing effect ; the north and south THE FRlkST'rf DOOR doorways are of the same style, but of less richness. The shafts however of the north door are very graceful, standing detached, and having a delicate nail-head in their capitals. The south Porch appears to be of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, exhibiting features of both styles, without any signs of insertion or alteration ; it is an erection of rather ambitious design, but of very clumsy execution. OF NORTHAMPTON. — IRCHESTEK. 1 95 Enter ton Chancel. — The spacious Chancel, from the want of height, and the poor timber roof, which it shares with the rest of the Church, and especially from its blocked windows, and utter absence of all furniture, has on the whole a very desolate look ; but the inquirer will be amply repaid by the very elegant Piscina and Sedile of Early English date : these very much resemble the Priest's door, having the same trefoiled arches, but with the further ornament of capitals of foliage. They have at first sight very much the appearance of a AMBRIES, PISCINA, AND SEDILE. double Piscina, especially as the floor has been raised almost to their level ; but the western arch has no drain, while that in the eastern is remarkable, being a shallow raised bason. The arch also is wider, and has foliage in its cusps, while the other has a flower, and is besides furnished with a shaft, while the Piscina has moulded jambs. In the north wall is a perplexing fragment, consisting of a single panel of irregular shape containing a quatrefoil ; the wall in its neighbourhood sounds hollow. To the east of it are traces of an arch, but no indications of it can be discovered in the present Sacristy. The walls are Early English throughout, and the Chancel- arch, which rises from good responds, seems contemporary. Nave and Aisles. — The Nave has four Decorated arches, spring- ing from handsome octagonal pillars of the same date, which how- 196 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY ever rest upon Norman plinths, some of them retaining the charac- teristic tongues of foliage, and one the lower moulding of the base. Of the same style are the western responds, two sturdy half columns, whose square abaci, and heavy capitals, in rude imitation of the Ionic, form a striking contrast with their more elegant neighbours. Some Norman fragments are also worked up again in a curious manner as terminations for some of the arch labels. Between the Chancel and the Chapel into which the north Aisle is pro- longed, is a single arch of very different, and apparently earlier, character, having its responds and the inner order of the arch, channeled with complicated mouldings ; the capital is of a different form, a single large chamfer occupying on the south side the space of many members above and below, by no means to the improve- ment of the design. In the north wall of this Chapel, evidently contemporary, is a plain sepulchral niche. The Belfry-arch, which is even more completely shut off from the Church than usual, rises from semi-octagonal responds. Furniture. — The lower part of the Rood-screen alone remains in its original position ; the open-work having been cut down and o o Ewrr r.ieis. sc BENCH END. OF NORTHAMPTON. — IRCHESTER. 197 converted into stair-rails for the Pulpit ; it must have been a fine Perpendicular specimen. Another screen or parclose surrounds a large pew at the east end of the south Aisle, but both open-work and paneling are of very poor character, the latter being a coarse form of the linen pattern. Another parclose, which formerly sur- rounded the north Chapel, has been removed. The Pulpit is a very good example of a very bad style, being covered with elaborate carving of cinque-cento character, and possessing all the barbaric richness of the best works of that period. There are a large num- ber of excellent open seats, with flat ends adorned with very good paneling ; but many pews have intruded. Font. — The Font, a curious, though certainly not beautiful specimen of Early English, will be found described and engraved in Van Voorst's series. arc!) tteitural fetsitorp* HE existence of a Norman Church with Aisles is proved by the fragments already mentioned, and there can be little doubt that its arcades survived until the substitution of those which now occupy their place ; on the evidence of a single mutilated string, the east wall of the north Aisle may be assigned to the same date. Now however no other portion remains ; the existing Church being chiefly the result of extensive alterations during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. During the former the Chancel was plainly rebuilt : how much reparation was ex- tended to the Aisles is less clear ; but at least the north and south doorways preserved in the subsequent rebuilding were inserted in the Norman walls. The Decorated alterations are, as we have seen, of very great extent, affecting the greater portion of the building; and though not strictly contemporary, would appear to have followed very rapidly upon one another. The rebuild- ing of the north Aisle is fixed to the early part of the reign 198 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. of Edward III. 8 , by a shield bearing arms, which appear to be those of Lovell, occurring over the doorway, and on the west buttress ; and the name of that family is found connected with Irchester only at that period. The arcades of the Nave may be part of the same work, or but very little later. The Steeple, South Aisle, and Porch, all seem somewhat later, exhibiting palpable approaches to Per- pendicular. Yet the difference in workmanship is so great that it is difficult to believe that they are actually part of the same repa- ration. Nor do the insertions undoubtedly belonging to that style seem to belong to one date ; as the west window and doorway, though they cannot be part of the original design of the Tower, are of much better, and apparently earlier, work than the windows in the eastern parts. Since then, little or no alteration has taken place in the fabric itself ; though it is to be hoped the next histo- rian of Irchester may have to record many changes in its condition, especially the opening of the Belfry-arch and the blocked Chancel windows, and the restoration of the Chancel screen to its proper place. It may be worth noticing that in a house adjoining the Church- yard an ogee arch, evidently that of a large window, is easily traced: it is said that till of late years the building retained many other remains of antiquity. e. a. f. a Bridges mentions a brass, now removed, of John Glynton, who died in 1506, and Isabel his wife : adding, " it is said traditionally that this Glynton built the North Aisle." This must be inaccurate. BOZEAT. vicarage. % t jixarg tfie Ftrgtn. deanery PATRON, OF HIGHAM. EARL SPENCER. HUNDRED OF HIGHAM. j^l^jlHE Tower is Early English, of three stories, which are divided by plain string-courses, the upper story having a double-lighted opening with cylindrical shafts on either side, and a cylindrical sub-shaft with plain capital, which in turn supports either side of a small semi-circular arch, the whole window being included under a slightly pointed serrated hood-mould. Erom a shallow corbel-table supported by heads connected by undulating foliations, there rises an octagonal broach Spire having two tiers of windows on the cardinal faces, with projecting gabular headings. The lower range of windows have elongated quatrefoils in the spaces ; the windows above are plain, and have lost the central mullion. This Tower has suffered greatly from the insertion of a large ogee window and a late Decorated doorway beneath it, at the west end. By way of remedying the injury, the half of each of them seems to have been walled up soon after the mischief was done, and the Tower cramped and buttressed to arrest its entire destruction. The extensive cracks and bulgings on the north side, which are supposed to have happened in 1753, however, shew that it is still in a very insecure state, the whole of the Tower being much shaken. The north Aisle has three square-headed win- dows of two and three lights each, acutely trifoliated ; a plain parapet to the roof, and two plain double stage buttresses. There is a fair window of two lights with cross quatrefoils in the head at the east end. The Chancel has two double-light Perpendicular windows on the north and south sides : the east window of three lights, has reticulated tracery in the head. The Chancel has also a Priest's door, and an unusually long side window with a mullion, to the left of the entrance. 200 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. The south Aisle, like the Nave and the north Aisle, has a plain parapet, and square-headed windows of three lights. These seem to be insertions of a later period, as there is an interruption of the string-course. The south entrance to the Church is through a lofty Perpen- dicular Porch, which has a bench-table on each side. The door- way within, though low, is of good Early English character in its mouldings, originally having two cylindrical shafts on each side, the foliated capitals of which now only remain. On entering the Church it is found to be divided into three bays, having two octagonal piers on each side of the Nave resting on square bases. The eastern and the western arches of both Aisles die into the wall, instead of resting on correspondent capitals. There are three Clerestory windows of two lights on the north and south sides. The pewing is generally open, low, and of an un- ostentatious character. The Font is lined with lead, octagonal, shallow, and supported on a thin circular shaft. A good, though late Decorated Rood-screen (which still retains marks of painting and gilding) divides the body of the Church from the Chancel ; which part of the building, beyond its double Piscina and fair pro- portions, presents nothing remarkable. The staircase of the Rood- loft still remains on the north side, and there are brackets, canopies, and Piscinas at the end of each Aisle, shewing the former existence of Altars in those places. A house and eight acres of land were formerly given to maintain a cross, standing, as reported, within the Church-yard. The profits, says Bridges, are now applied to the repairs of the Church. c. H. H. Published, oy J.H. Parker. Oxford- 1848 , CRICK. RECTORY. PATRON, ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE OXFORD. Sbt. iWargaret. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. SOUTH VIEW OF THE CHURCH. |HE general character of the Tower and Spire of this Church, which is by far the most beautiful in the deanery, will be gathered from the drawings. We may, however, direct attention to the cusping of the Belfry windows, as very characteristic of the close of the thirteenth century ; to the ball-flower on the chamfered angles of the Belfry a , and in the jambs of the first spire-lights ; to the heads in the hollow of the table beneath the Spire, and to the bases of octagonal pinnacles still remaining. The Aisles are of five bays. The low shallow buttresses indicate their Early English foundation, but Decorated windows have been inserted in both Aisles, and in the S. is an additional series of buttresses of the same character with those in the Chancel. On n Found also at Braunston, where they tention to a model for the restoration of the might have done good service in directing at- Tower and Spire. d d 202 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY reference to the ground plan it will be seen that the Tower is not in the centre of the present Nave, and that the N. Aisle is narrower than the S., though the outer walls of both are of the same date. The Nave was probably increased in width at the expense of the N. Aisle, at the time of the building of the Chancel. The E. end of the Chancel is figured in the engraving. The N . and S. windows are of the same date with the beautiful E. window, though the tracery of the most western ones on each side is of a less elegant design. The confessional 15 window is circular, and a seat was found behind it during recent repairs. It is blocked up. The N. and S. doors of the Chancel are among the most elegant features in the Church. The jambs are richly moulded, and the S. door-way plane is figured with oak branches. The dripstones are crocketed and ogeed with foliated finials. The S. door has been made to open again, as it did originally, into a vestry, the foundations of the original vestry having been dis- covered at the building of the J] present one. The Clerestory, which is of Perpendicular character, is of seven windows on the S. and of four on the N. side. The lower moulding of the parapets is carried round the aperture for the water-pipes ; an arrangement peculiar to late Perpendicular. Interior. — Entering by the S. Porch, through an original Early English door with the dog-tooth in its mouldings, we find traces of an earlier character than any part of the exterior presents. The responds at the S. W. and at the S. E. have a decidedly Early b In using this name for the present the Society does not prejudge the question of the use of this window. OF NORTHAMPTON. — CRICK. 203 English section, and there are two cylindrical piers, with Early English abacus and foliage to the capitals, and one of them with the nail-head running round the base. The rest of the piers are octagonal and of Decorated date. All the arches are pointed, of two orders, simply chamfered, except the first at the S., which is part of the Early English fabric, in which the chamfers are hollowed. The Tower-arch is obstructed by an organ gallery. The wide and lofty Chancel-arch springs from brackets, so that no obstruction to the eye is offered by its abutments. The bracket on the N. is a crowned head, most probably that of Edward III., and that on the S. a head with long hair, and a mitre, on the front of which is a cross, like a cross of dedication, or those which distinguish a stone altar c . c The interior of the Chancel windows is somewhat difficult to describe without confu- sion, for the mouldings of the rear arch spring from corbels, which in some instances form a group with the subject of the corbels of the hood- moulding. We shall describe them sepa- rately, noting when there is this arbitrai-y con- nexion between the two subjects. We commence with the corbels of the rear ribs ; beginning from the N. W. I. A winged figure with a man's face, ape's ears, the fore claws of a beast, and a forked tail ; the tail being a miniature repetition of the head, the chin forming the point, and the ears the two barbs. II. A grotesque head, with an oak-branch issuing from the mouth. III. An oak-branch, fructed. IV. A winged monster, with claws, and a dragon's tail. V. An oak, fructed. VI. An ape at the foot of a hazel bush bearing nuts, with some smaller animal in one hand. VII. A lion, supporting a shield charged with a cinquefoil. corbels. 204 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The Church at one time seems to have been ornamented throughout with rich painted glass, and the walls decorated with fresco paintings.- Some remains of the latter were discovered during the late repairs about five years since, and mention is made of the former in the Harleian MSS. of the British Museum. " I saw two fair monuments of a Knight and Lady surrounded with cinquefoils. In the window his gown is all covered with cinquefoils of Thomas de Astley, and there is another, the wife of this Thomas, her gown all cinquefoils. This Church is for the most part gloriously set out with the arms of the Le Astleys in the fairest manner that can be imagined." Harl. MSS. 2129. Furniture. — The Sedilia and Piscina are under the S. E. win- dow, which is shortened to admit them, as is also the opposite, win- dow to afford space for the vestry. They are very rich in design and evidently of the original fabric. Just without the Chancel, on the N. side, is the door to the rood-loft. The steps still re- main. The loft is gone. The screen, which remained until lately, has been converted into decorations for the modern rere- dos, which is raised on a base of white stone, with a course of quatrefoils at the top. The Font is a cylindrical bowl, resting on three monsters VIII. An armed figure with wings and an oak tree by his side. The subjects of the several hood-moulding corbels are as follow. 1. A female head. 2. A part of the oak-branch which issues from the mouth of the grotesque No. II. above. 3. A crowned head. 4. A head of an ecclesiastic. 5. A venerable head with a long beard. 6. A head with a fillet under the chin, and THE FONT. the tongue protruded. The ape in the corre- sponding rear rib corbel has his hand on the neck. 7. A lion, whose tail is intertwined with that of the lion in the rear rib moulding, No. VII., supporting a shield charged with a fess between six cross crosslets. 8. A man's head. The hood-mouldings run into an ogee above, which supports the Evangelists with their symbols. One of these is quite gone, none is perfect. Scale 24fee£ tol inch. TubEsTicilDj J.H.Parker, Oxford, 1848 . OF NORTHAMPTON.— CRICK. 205 and adorned with hemispherical figures, which appear, from one or two instances in which the design has been carried out, to have been intended to be cut into ball-flowers. It is lined with lead, and has an open water- drain. The pulpit is of Painswick stone, designed in harmony with the Church. The seats in the Aisles are open. Those in the Nave have just missed this praise, but they are not too high. The Chancel is furnished with open seats running E. and W. The Altar plate, which is extremely beautiful, has been furnished by the care, and chiefly at the cost of the present Rector, the Rev. C. L. Swainson, to whom the Church is indebted for its judicious arrangement, and for very substantial repairs. Within the memory of man there were Altar candlesticks, but they cannot now be recovered. arrftttectural Ststorg* HIS Church is of three marked architectural eras, besides the Perpendicular additions. The S. door, and the lower portions of the Aisle walls, the responds in the S. Aisle, and two pillars and one arch on the-S. are of pure and decided Early English. II. The Tower and Spire begin to partake of the next style. III. The Chancel, and large insertions in the Aisles, together with all the piers on the N. and two on the S., are pure flowing Decorated. At the date of the earliest portions the Camvilles, whose chief seat was at Lilbourne, held considerable property in Crick. And to them we may perhaps assign the erection of the original fabric. Before the addition of the Tower, the Astleys became possessed of two portions of the estate of the Camvilles, and of the advowson ; one by the marriage of Thomas de Astley, with Maud, sister and 206 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY co-heiress of Roger de Camville, and the other by succeeding to the share of Petronilla, another daughter and co -heiress, who had married Richard de Curzon. The Astleys were patrons throughout the whole of the period during which the Church was in progress, if we except a short interval during which the Mowbrays litigated the right of presentation. Thomas de Astley was the head of this house in the reign of Henry III., he was a man of much import- ance, which he threw unhappily into the scale of the rebels. He was slain at Evesham. His son Andrew recovered his possessions, in consequence of the composition at Kenilworth, and to him we may ascribe the Tower and Spire. 29 Edward I., his son Nicholas succeeded, who died without issue, and Thomas, son of Sir Giles de Astley, his younger brother, obtained the inheritance. To this Sir Thomas the often repeated Astley shield, with the coat of the Beauchamps appropriates the third portion of the work : he married Elizabeth, daughter of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. In the eleventh year of Edward III., 1338, he founded a chantry con- sisting of four secular priests in the parish Church of Astley, in Warwickshire; and in the 17th of the same reign, he obtained licence from the crown to change this establishment into a Dean and Canons, and began the erection of a beautiful Collegiate Church. His affections seem now to have centred in his new foundation, for 36 Edward III. he settled certain tenements in Crick, to the yearly value of ten shillings, on the Dean and Canons of Astley, and in the 2nd of the following reign meditated the settlement of the advowson of Crick on the same capitular body. Now we presume that the Chancel of Crick was barely erected d , when the Church of Astley was commenced ; and that the more recent foundation robbed the earlier one of a little finish, as well as the parish of Crick of a small portion of its temporalities. An inspection of the Church at Astley bears out this statement. As left by Sir Thomas Astley it was a splendid cruciform Church, with a Spire, which, from its height, was called the Lantern of d The pediments of the Decorated buttresses the N. Aisle are equally unfinished. The both in the Chancel and the S. Aisle rise from Sedilia too are left without part of the carving square blocks, uncarved, and the windows of evidently comprehended in their design. OF NORTHAMPTON.— CRICK. 207 Arden. Of this edifice only the choir remains, but it has all the peculiarities even to the sections of the mouldings, remarked in the Chancel of Crick. There is however one difference between the two, which goes still farther to confirm the above inferences. At Crick the arms of Astley alone appear on the corbel-table, while they are impaled with those of Beauchamp in the interior. This is sufficient to prove that Crick was finished after, and but just after, the marriage of Sir Thomas Astley with Elizabeth Beauchamp : at Astley, on the other hand, the arms of Beauchamp occur throughout the corbel-table alternately with those of Astley, so that when this Church had been brought to a less perfect state, Sir Thomas had already acquired the right of associating the coat of the Beauchamps with his own. We assign, however, not the Chancel only, but also the inserted windows, and other additions in the S. Aisle to Sir Thomas Astley. The buttresses, made necessary by the extent of alterations in this Aisle, are of the same character with those of the Chancel : but besides this, the tracery in the head of the windows assumes the form of an her ' oldie cinquefoil ; perhaps a unique instance of such an appropriation of an Architectural feature, by giving it an heraldic form. The material still further helps out our argument. There are two kinds of stone used, the Northamptonshire, and the Warwick- shire red sand-stone. The most ancient and the most modern are of the former : the Tower and Chancel, with the insertions which we have attributed to Sir Thomas Astley, are of the latter. The introduction of the Warwickshire stone is probably connected with the possession of estates in that county by the Astley s. Thus the deductions from History, Genealogy, Heraldry, and the building materials, together with the parallel features in another Church, harmonize exactly with those that are purely Architectural, concerning the original structure and subsequent alterations of this Church. c. l. s. g. a. p. WINWICK. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, iWt'Ctad. HUNDRED OF THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. GUILSBOROUGH. ^jjp^iHIS little cross Church stands prettily on rising ground, with an old mansion to the N. and a tolerably extensive view to the W,, but it is not in itself remarkable, except for the pleasing effect which it shares with almost every cross Church. The Chancel and Transepts are uniform in general character, though a little difference in the string and mouldings proves that they were built at separate times : they are very plain Early English, the N. and S. windows of the Transepts being however early Deco- rated insertions. The Nave is without Aisles, but has a Clerestory, which is, as well as the lower part, Decorated, though of a later character. The Porch is also Decorated. The Tower is, as far as masonry is concerned, the best part of the Church. It is early Perpendicular, except the W. window, which seems to be an insertion of the reign of Henry VI or VII. Interior. — The Font is circular, very plain, probably coeval with the Chancel : it is lined with lead and has an open water- r OF NORTHAMPTON.— WINWICK— THORNBY. 209 drain. There are some good open seats ; the base of a rood-screen, and a stall in the Chancel, are all late Perpendicular, the stall so late as to have the linen pattern, though surmounted with Per- pendicular tracery. There is a sepulchral recess at the end of each Transept. The E. windows of the N. Transept are blocked up by two vast monuments of the Craven family. The roof is now of low pitch, but the details of a better roof may be discerned, especially in several well-carved bosses. The E. window sadly destroys the character of the whole Church. The Chancel invites and would amply repay restoration ; and this Church would stand high among small village Churches, if the Tower-arch a and the N. Transept were thrown open, and open seats after the pattern already on the spot, were made to replace several pews. g. a. p. RECTORY. PATRON, REV. J. COUCHMAN. THORNBY. St. JWattjjefo. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. SMALL Church, with Nave and Chancel, both originally Early English, as appears from the string- course on N. of Nave and Chancel, and a window blocked up in N. of original Chancel. But the Chancel to the S. and E. has had several Decorated insertions, and the Nave on the S. side has now a Perpendicular aspect from the inserted windows. The Tower and Porch are Perpendicular. The Eont has a Norman bowl, of some merit : the rest is of later date. G. A. p. THE FONT. a Nothing could be easier; there is no gallery, and the arch is only closed by a wooden partition. E e COLD ASHBY. VICARAGE. PATRON, REV. W. MOUSLEY. St. Bents. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GU1LSBOROUGH. THE I-'ONT. OWER, Nave, Chancel, and South Porch. The Tower is Decorated, but would be wholly wanting in character but for a buttress-like projection on the S. for the stairs, which throws a little window out of the centre. The Nave has at the N. portions of a Norman door, but no other part of the Church is of a date approaching to the Norman era, the rest of the Nave being Per- pendicular 15 , and the Chancel de- based. The Porch is late Per- pendicular, with quatrefoils for the side windows. The inner door is a four-centred arch, with- in a square hood, and with quatrefoils in the spandrels. The Font is late Perpendicular, and by far the best feature in the Church. The Tower-arch is obstructed by a gallery. Until lately there were several open seats. These have been replaced by pews. There are three bells ; on the first, said to have been brought from Sulby Abbey, is the legend : — jfttota ITocor ^no IBni 0L(&(&(EX17M. There are also two or three coins, and a medal of an oval form, the central device of which is an extended hand erect, imbedded in the metal after the inscription, but the position of the bells in their frames makes it difficult to decypher them. At the date of the Norman door Cold Ashby belonged to the Monks of Coventry. Subsequently the religious houses of Daventry, Pipewell, and St. John of Jerusalem had rights here, the advowson being in that of Daventry. g. a. p. b There is, however, one Decorated window, without any contemporary feature, in the S. wall of the Nave. YELVERTOFT. THE PORCH DETAILED description of this Church, though it is by no means remarkable either for size or beauty, would occupy a considerable space. We shall only advert to some of its peculiarities. In the first place it has, besides the usual N. and S. Aisles, an additional Aisle to the S. The date of the Nave and original Aisles is Decorated, in which they agree with the present Tower, Chancel, and Porch ; that of the additional Aisle Perpendicular. A very rich Decorated Porch, with a beautiful outer doorway, must have been taken down and rebuilt in its present position. Yet the only trace of Perpendicular work about it, is in the jambs to the windows, inserted under Decorated quatrefoiled heads. The first, or original S. Aisle, extends one bay into the Chancel, the wall of which has evidently been opened m 212 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. to receive the arch of communication. The S. window of this Chantry is of four lights, square-headed, with a clumsy kind of reticulation in the head, and no cusps a . The Chancel was originally Decorated, and the three-light reticulated and quatrefoiled window remains, but there are Per- pendicular windows N. and S. One of the Perpendicular insertions is the most remark- able feature in the Church. It is the tomb of an Ecclesi- astic, to receive which a whole bay of the N. side of the Chancel has been rebuilt. The exterior is adorned over the whole surface with courses of quatrefoils of different cha- racters. Within, the effigy reposes beneath a rich canopy of alabaster 5 . The whole agrees with a tradition which assigns this tomb to John Dyeson, Rector from 1445 to 1479, who is said to have left a considerable sum for the repairs of the Church. To this bequest we may probably trace the insertion of a course of cross quarters over the E. window, in the exterior ; and in the interior the great quantity of good old open seats, in the possession of which this Church is still happy. The three Sedilia are rich, but not very good in details. They are Perpendicular, but earlier than the tomb opposite, as appears from the fact that the floor of the Chancel has evidently been lowered since the Sedilia were made, whereas the tomb rests naturally on the present level. g. a. p. THE WINDOW OVER THE TOMB. a The same window occurs at Braunston, except that there the spaces are cusped. It is evidently Decorated. b In the window above, Bridges notes the portraits of three persons : and on a lable the inscription nututs Et coopcnuatts me. CLAY COTON. RECTORY. ^ ^ntoto DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, HUNDRED OF REV. T. SMITH. GUILSBOROUGH. ^^j]OWER and Spire, Nave and Chancel. The whole of the Church is Decorated, and is probably of about the same date with the Chancel of Crick ; i. e. the first half of the reign of Edward III., and it has the faults as well as the beauties of an inferior work of that style. The windows of flowing tracery make it a picturesque object, seen as it is from the S. with a stream running beneath it, and a little clump of trees breaking the outline ; but the work is poor, and the windows are disproportioned in size to the fabric. The Tower is very small and low, and has a diminutive Spire. The Nave windows are three on each side, of three lights, alternately of flowing and reticulated tracery. The Chancel has three windows of two lights with a quatrefoil in the head to the S., and two windows and a door to the N. The E. window is now square-headed, the lower part of the jambs only is of the original fabric. The buttresses at the E. angles of the Chancel terminate in a pediment : one of the features in which this Church agrees with the Astley additions to the Church of Crick. Interior. — The Chancel- arch is wide and lofty. There is a Piscina, with a shelf under the same niche, which rises singularly above the sill of the window. The Eont is extremely rude. There are some carved late Perpendicular seat ends, not very good ; but one is worth noting for the figure of a man in armour beneath the panelling. The roof has some of the original timbers : it has been much lowered, and is in a very bad state. Bridges says, "on the south side is a leaded Porch," and " in most of the windows are considerable quantities of painted glass." Of the latter an excellent fragment remained consisting of quarries of a pattern of continuous flowering, with a coat of arms in the midst, till last year ; it is now gone. 214 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. The patronage was in the Abbey of Leicester, but was generally exercised on the nomination of the Astleys ; the only name that occurs in connexion with the Church or manor till Henry VIII. G. A. p. LILBOUMK. VICARAGE. PATRON, THE LORD CHANCELLOR. gill faints. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. SMALL Church, with Nave, Aisles, Chancel, and W. Tower. The Nave and Aisles, judging from two very rude Early English couplets in the N. Aisle, were of the thirteenth century, but all character has been taken away from them by mean in- sertions in every succeeding style. The Tower is Decorated, but poor. The Chancel alone deserves commen- dation. This derives a great deal of expression from its windows, tw r o of two lights on either side, and one at the E. of three lights. The rood steps remain in the S. Aisle. There is a sancte-bell cot over the Nave gable, and the bell is still preserved in the Church. t. j. g. a. p. CHANCbL WINDOW o STANFORD. DEANERY OF HADDON. £>t. iitcfjolas. VICARAGE. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. |HE Church is separated from part of the parish, and from the park of Stanford Hall, the property of Lady Bray, by the river Avon ; the same which afterwards flows beneath the beautiful collegiate Church of Stratford, and washes the grave of our greatest poet. The character of the whole of the original fabric, which is singularly uniform, is that of the first half of the fourteenth century, during which time the Abbey of Selby in Yorkshire was possessed both of the Lordship of Stanford, and of the advowson of the Church. The Tower a is original, except the parapet and pinnacles b , which are debased, and though very bad in detail add considerably to the general effect of the whole. Squinches still remain, to shew that the original plan embraced a Spire. The W. windows of both Aisles are blocked up, and as their places are occupied with monuments in the interior, it is to be feared that they will remain so. The drawing shews windows of two characters, which are intermixed in both Aisles. The but- tresses are good, of three stages ; the basement, with the roll- moulding, is carried round them as well as round the Porch. There is a trefoil heading to the outer door of the Porch, not in itself of much importance, but which may throw some light on the history of the Church : for the Porch itself, like the Nave and Aisles, is of the limestone of the county, while the inserted trefoil a The W. window has been lengthened into nacles in the Chancel, and balls upon the a door, an interference with the strength and Porch, all equally bad in character, and beauty of the fabric which we have too often greatly interfering with the beauty of the to deplore. Church. b We will not again allude to certain pin- 216 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY is of the Warwickshire red sand-stone. Now the Tower and the Chancel have their dressings also of this red stone ; and as there is evidently some, though little difference in the date of the Nave and Aisles, and of the Tower and Chancel, while the character of either part does not necessarily imply that it is the later, this little incident of the same stone being used in an evident after insertion in the Porch, which is used as dressings of the Tower and Chancel, would seem to indicate that the later date is to be given to these portions of the Church. In the Chancel the Buttresses are deeper and more massive : the windows are all of the plainest Decorated type, the E. of five, the rest of three lights. Up to the sill of the E. window rises a mound covering a sepulchral vault ! The Clerestory is Decorated, but in all probability an addition, the original Church, as almost universally except in Churches of great pretensions of that age, having one roof over Nave and Aisles. The striking effect of the interior is due chiefly to the absence of seats throughout the Aisles and a great part of the Nave, and to the slenderness of the pillars, rising with continuous mouldings into pointed arches, which are surrounded by a hood of the roll-moulding c . The Tower-arch is obstructed with an organ gallery supported by Grecian columns of stone. The organ once belonged to the royal palace of Whitehall, but it was sold by Cromwell, and erected here. Beneath this gallery across the Tower-arch is some good Perpendicular screen-work. The present rood-screen was brought some years past from Lutterworth. The effect of the Chancel is still good, though every thing has been done to destroy it. The lower half of the E. window is covered with a barbarous reredos ; the windows next to it N. and c The arches vary in height: those on the North, 15 ft. 7h in- South, 16 ft. 7 in. S. being about a foot higher than those on the 15 8f 16 8 N. and each being higher than that to the 15 9^ 16 11^ W. of it. 15 10 16 101 SECTION OF PILLAR, OF NORTHAMPTON. — STANFORD. 217 S. arc obliterated by Imge monuments j the walls are panelled with painted woodwork. Open stalls remain, and one Miserere, but they were never very good, and now they share in the general desolation. The roof is so much lowered that it cuts off the top of the E. window, and although both the Nave and Aisles afforded good though late examples, it is altogether without character. A Chancel which is comely against all these disadvantages, must once have been very beautiful. In the S. Aisle an elegant Piscina, and a bracket of wood still mark the place of a chantry altar : the sill of the next window has served for scdilia. In this Aisle there is also an original sepulchral recess of much beauty, with its mutilated recumbent figure. The rest of the monuments of the Church, which are numerous, are valuable as family memorials, and curious as exhibiting the decline of eccle- siastical art, but they add nothing to the architectural beauties of the Church. "There is very elegant furniture for the pulpit, reading desk, and communion table, of crimson damask with a broad border of various coloured silk, a large bible and prayer book, bound like- wise in damask and embroidered with gold. The whole was worked by Lady Rowe, and dedicated to the service of this Church, gratefully to commemorate her own and Sir Thomas Rowe's preservation in a violent storm at sea, on their return to England from Turkey d , whence they precipitately fled on account of the Sultan's having discovered too great a regard for Lady Rowe, who remarkably excelled both in the beauties of hei* person and her mind. This gift and history are recorded in a leaf of the bible, in the hand-writing of that day 6 /' No Church would more readily accept, and more abundantly repay, a judicious restoration than this. Even now it affords an excellent model for a Decorated Church of moderate size, great beauty, and not very great expense. The patronage, until the dissolution of monasteries, was in Selby Abbey, Yorkshire. 31 Henry VIII. it was purchased of the crown, d He was sent ambassador to Constantinople in 1621. F f * Brid-es. 218 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY together with the manor of Stanford, and other possessions of the Abbey, by Thomas Cave, Esq., in whose representative, Lady Bray, it now remains. The painted glass is very important ; and Mr. Winston (to whose valuable ''Hints on Glass Painting" the attention of the student is directed) has been induced to give the results of his minute examination of it in the following paper. g. a. p. The minute description of the painted glass in this church that follows is given for the purpose of enabling the beginner to study c accurately on the spot the varieties of ancient glass, of which, especially of the Decorated period, this church possesses so rich a store ; for until men of education, the patrons of glass painting, are themselves convinced, by actual observation, of the difference of texture between modern and ancient glass, it is in vain to hope that the glass painters themselves will care to remedy this the greatest of their defects. The effect of ancient glass paintings is still almost as little approached in modern art as it ever was ; and it will be found that this deficiency mainly arises from the difference of texture^. All old white glass, in- cluding that of the seventeenth and even of the eighteenth century, is superior to the modern in tone and richness of effect, as is proved by a c Most of the Stanford glass may be ex- amined closely, by a person standing on the level sill of the window. Thus many minute particularities of execution may be noticed. It will be found that all the Decorated figures, &c, are shaded with smear shad'mg, so light as scarcely to be observed from the floor of the church : and that the Decorated diaper grounds are also smeared on. On the other hand, the grounds and shadows of the Perpendicular glass will be found to be executed by stipple shading; of this the best specimen is afforded by the Cinque Cento kneeling groups in the east window of the chancel. The student should also observe the difference between white glass coloured with yellow stain, and the yellow pot-metal glass, both which occur in all the Decorated work in this church : as well as the streakiness of the older ruby, and the comparative evenness of tint of the later ruby. The canopy in the easternmost light of the second window from the west on the north side of the chancel, is worthy of notice, on account of its easternmost pinnacle being formed of a piece of white glass cut from a sheet of imperfect ruby, a few streaks of which colour may be seen crossing the pinnacle. This employment of imperfect ruby is not un- common in Decorated and Early Perpendi- cular glass. d There is no doubt that age does to a cer- tain extent improve the effect of a painted window. The light brown film spread over the glass, and which seems to be the united result of decomposition of the surface, and the adherence to it of extraneous matters, im- proves the tone and corrects the rawness of the glass, in a far less degree however than is generally supposed. Indeed pieces of Deco- rated and Early English glass may be found which are not thus affected, and which are perfectly harmonious and mellow in tone when seen either close or from a distance. It is the distant view which generally betrays the inferiority of modern glass. The present state of the ea^t window of Bristol cathedral shews that the richness and effect of Early Decorated glass do not depend on the dirt at least with which windows are sometimes absolutely ob- scured. OF NORTHAMPTON. — STANFORD. 213 glance at any common old latticed window in a cottage or church ; and this difference of effect is apparent not only in the quarries which have been corroded by atmospheric action, but also in those which are per- fectly clear and transparent, it being occasioned by the quality of the glass itself. And this difference in texture is not confined to white glass, but extends also to all kinds of coloured glass, and becomes more and more obvious in proportion to the antiquity of the example. Indeed the different modes of design and execution which constitute the differ- ent Styles of ancient glass-painting, were, for the most part, introduced concurrently with the changes in texture produced by constant efforts to improve the manufacture by rendering the material more pure and pellucid. Thus, in an Early English or Early Decorated glass-painting, along with the streaky ruby, the rich milky white glass, and the varying tints of the other pot-metal colours — which necessarily vary with the irregular thickness of the glass in the sheet — we continually find asso- ciated a more mosaic composition, a less elaborate style of execution, and a greater absence of diapers and other embellishments of flat surfaces, than is usually exhibited in later work, composed of glass more even in thickness, and consequently more level and even in its colouring. Yet in the modern imitations these important differences in the texture of the material are overlooked or disregarded ; and designs as dissimilar as those of the sixteenth and thirteenth centuries are repro- duced without scruple or modification, in glass either of the same tex- ture, or of one so slightly different as to be unimportant. It is there- fore not surprising that the result should be unsatisfactory. Various attempts have been made of late to produce a manufacture like the ancient material. The most successful of these consists in roughening the surface of the glass by casting it, or pressing it when soft, on wire gauze. But glass thus made produces an effect only ap- proximating to, not identical with, that of old glass. For the roughness of the surface of the modern glass disguises but imperfectly its difference from old glass in its internal texture. One great defect of this glass is the uniformity of its thickness in the sheet, which is fatal to variety of tint in the white glass and pot-metal colours. Another defect is the want of tone which it exhibits in comparison with old glass. It may be that this latter defect arises either from a difference in manufacture or a difference in material, or from both, between our glass and the ancient ; but until some scientific effort is made to discover the true cause it is in vain to hope for any improvement. The component parts of ancient glass are mentioned in many ancient treatises, of which the most valu- able and curious is contained in the Diversarum Artium Schedula of Thcophilus, which has recently been translated in the " Hints on Glass Painting," and also by Mr. Hendrie. 220 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Stanford church contains, for its size, a considerable quantity of Deco- rated glass, besides smaller portions principally belonging to the Perpen- dicular and Cinque Cento styles ; and although all has suffered much from having been rearranged and altered by incompetent persons, it possesses great interest, and will amply repay the student who bestows on it a careful examination. An attempt will now be made to describe and assign dates to the several portions of this glass, beginning with the Decorated portion. The earliest painted glass in the church is certainly that in the east window of the chancel ; and judging from its general character, and from the circumstance that several of the coats of arms displayed in it relate to individuals more or less allied to the family of Edward II., this glass is perhaps as early as the close of that monarch's reign. In the topmost tracery light of this window is a royal head d , very similar to the king's heads on the coins of the first two Edwards, — on a green circular panel; the space between which and the stone work, seems to have been filled originally with foliage represented on white glass, a small portion of which still remains in situ at the top and bottom of the panel. The two tracery lights which form the next row f i'om the top, must have each contained a figure, now lost, but whose position is clearly shewn by the blank space left in the coloured ground of the light. The next row of lights consists of three openings ; the two outermost of which respectively contain the figure of a bishop in mass vestments, on a coloured ground : the subject of the centre light is a representation of a Divine Person, seated, with a mound or globe at His feet, also on a coloured ground : this last figure is much mutilated, h iving lost the head and upper part of its body. The next, which is also the lowest row of tracery lights, consists of four openings, in each of which is displayed a shield of arms, surrounded by a white ground ornamented with foliaged scroll-work stained yellow. The first shield (counting from the north), is charged with the royal arms of England, differenced with a blue label of five points e . These arms were certainly borne by Edward II. whilst Prince of Wales, and there is reason to believe that they were likewise borne by Edward III. in his father's lifetime. The second shield displays the royal arms of France f , being most pro- bably those of Queen Isabella, the consort of Edward II., through whom Edward III. derived his asserted right to the crown of France. On the third shield are the royal arms of England g , which may be assigned d The position of this head is calculated to t Azure, semee of fleurs de lis, or. — The excite surprise until it is perceived, on look- queen's marriage took place in 1308. She ing at the window, that the topmost light, died in 1357. notwithstanding its position, is, owing to its g Gules, three lions passant guardant, in smallness, by no means conspicuous. pale, or. — The king was deposed in 1327, e Gules, three lions passant guardant in having ascended the throne in 1307. p ile, or, a label of five points azure. PAINTED GLASS, STANFORD. IR(M TEE EAST V.1KTOW. PAET OF THE ROYAL ARMS BEFORE 1340 OF NORTHAMPTON.— STANFORD. 221 to King Edward II. ; and on the fourth shield are the same arms as the last, but differenced with a label of three points, argent, — the bearing of Thomas of Brotherton, earl of Norfolk, the elder half-brother of Edward II. h The lower lights of the east window have been closed up with masonry to a considerable height 1 , but a great deal of the original glazing is retained in the open portion : viz., the glass in the heads of all the lights except the southernmost, and the remains of canopies which occupy the space between the lowest saddle-bar and the top of the inserted masonry. The intervening space is filled, partly with glass of a much later date, partly with Decorated glass, taken from other win- dows, intermingled with fragments of the original glazing. The follow- ing is the arrangement of the glass remaining in the heads of the lower lights. The head of the first light from the north is adorned with a rich border k , and filled with a white ground, ornamented, as is common in this style, with foliaged scroll-work in outline, overlaid, so to speak, by an interlaced pattern of quatrefoils and straight bands painted on the glass. In the midst of this pattern is inserted a shield, displaying a remnant of the arms of Thomas Lord Wake 1 ; a nobleman who was doubly connected with the royal family by the marriage of his sister to Edmund, earl of Kent, the younger half-brother of Edward II., and by his own marriage to Blanch, daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster" 1 , first cousin of Edward II. The head of the second light is similar in its arrangement to the first ; the arms on the shield are those of War- ren", probably for John Plantaganet, earl of Surrey. The head of the centre light is chiefly filled with a canopy, covering a figure of the Blessed Virgin, sitting, with the Divine Infant in her lap, which canopy descends as low as the bottoms of the shields in the adjacent lights, leaving only a narrow strip of the white ornamented ground visible beneath it. The head of the next light is arranged like the first ; the arms on 11 Created earl of Norfolk 1335 ; ok S.P.M. 1 338. 1 The glass having been previously re- moved. k The border of this light is formed of a yellow ivy leaf, on a blue ground. That of the next light, of covered cups, alternately white and yellow, on a red ground. That of the next, of yellow oak leaves on a blue ground. The border of the fourth light is the same as the second ; and it appears from the border attached to the remains of the canopy, that the border of the last light was the same as that of the first. ' Lord Wake bore, — Or, two bars gules, in chief three torteauxes. Of the shield in the window, all below the upper bar has been destroyed. Lord Wake was summoned to parliament from 1317 to 1348, and died in the following year, S.P. m This nobleman was restored in 1327 to the earldom which had been forfeited by his brother's attainder in 1321. I!e died J 315. n Cheeky, or and azure. John Plantaganet died earl of Surrey in 1347. He succeeded to the title in 1304. 222 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the shield are those of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex p , who married Elizabeth Plantaganet, sister of Edward II. The head of the last light is entirely filled with Decorated glass, taken from the side windows of the chancel q . There is every reason to believe that the portions of canopies already mentioned as being at the bottom of the lights, formed part of the original design of the window. The borders which are attached to them exactly correspond with the borders round the heads of the lights 1 ', and the glazing exactly fits the lights, which are much wider than those of any other window in the church. The glass itself is also of quite as early a character as the rest. Of these canopies two s have thin spires placed on a background of ruby, reticulated with rows of light blue beads; two others* have back grounds of blue, reticulated with red beads; whilst the centre canopy has a green back ground reticulated with white beads 11 . In its present imperfect state it is impossible to determine with any certainty what was the original arrangement of the glass in the lower lights of this window ; but Ave may perhaps infer from the heads of these lights being grounded with white ornamental patterns, and the heads of the canopies being placed on coloured grounds, that the coloured ground on which the head of each canopy reposed, terminated like a pointed panel, the top of which nearly approached, if it did not actually reach, the white pattern glass above in the head of the light ; so that any intervening space between the latter and the panel, was filled up with a continuation of the white pattern. This mode of tcrm- o Azure, a bend, argent, between two cot- tises and six lions rampant, or. p He died in 1321, having succeeded to the title in 1297. q This light in all probability also con- tained a coat of arms, which may perhaps be discovered by searching the heralds' visita- tions of Northamptonshire. It is not impos- sible that the shield of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who married Joan Plantaganet, sister of Edward II., may have occupied the light. He died in 1295. r See ante, note k. s i. e. the first from the north, and the first from the south. t i. e. the second from the north, and the second from the south. u In the centre light of the chancel east window, below the figure of the Virgin, is inserted a portion of canopy work, which, from its general character, from its spires being on a blue ground, and the cup border being attach- ed to the light which exactly fits the stone work, would seem to he a lower part of the same canopy which remains either in the second light from the north, or the second from the south side of the window. The only circumstance which appears to contradict the supposition, is, that the crockets of the prin- cipal spire, differ in form from those of the principal spire in all the other canopies in the east window. One other similar crocket has been inserted into a canopy in the second window from the west on the south side of the chancel. The portion of canopy, the principal subject of this note, has a rather flat pediment or gable with white crockets. Remains of two or three similar pediments have been worked up amongst the fragments inserted in the east window, and one other pediment has been inserted in one of the tracery lights of the first window from the west in the north aisle of the nave. These facts will convey some idea of the manner in which the glass in this church has been mutilated and transposed. PAINTED GLASS, STANFORD. FROM A WINDOW IN THE CHANCEL. OF NORTHAMPTON.— STANFORD. 223 mating the coloured back ground of a canopy is very common in Deco- rated work. Indeed instances of it may be seen in the east window of the north aisle of this very church x . Whether the canopies origin- ally reached the bottom of the window, or terminated abruptly within a moderate distance of it, leaving a corresponding interval of white pattern glass between, is a speculation into which it seems unnecessary to enter. But whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the nature of the original arrangement of the glass, there can be none as to the goodness of the effect of that which remains in the window, an effect principally owing to the quality of the material used, for it derives but little aid from the artist's pencil. Notwithstanding the stiffness of the colouring, and opposed as the hues nominally are, there is in this glass neither monotony nor want of harmony. The streakiness of the ruby, (which is nowhere more conspicuous than in the back grounds of the canopies,) and irregular thickness of the glass composing the other colours, produce an agreeable variety of tint ; and the white glass, the natural basis of the other colours, imparts to them all its own rich and mellow tone. The imperfect transparency of the material, though so slight in degree, greatly checks that tendency to diffuse its colour, which is characteristic of glass of all dates ; consequently, we here see blue and red glass intermingled with good effect as a mosaic, without pro- ducing the least appearance of purple. The next glass in order of date which demands our attention, is in the four side windows of the chancel now remaining open y . None of it appears to be earlier than 1340, or thereabouts, and it evidently forms parts of two different designs. The second window from the west, on the north side, has the heads of two of its lower lights filled with the spires of canopies, of a bold and lofty character 2 , placed on a white diapered ground a . The canopies themselves are gone, but a canopy (covering the figure of a bishop) which appears to belong to this win- dow, has been inserted into the east window of the north aisle of the nave. There is nothing else remaining to indicate more particularly the original design of the window, which greatly differs from that of the others, except perhaps the topmost tracery light b , in which is a group of figures richly coloured, the subject of which it is not easy to discover. But, judging from the analogy of other examples, it is not improbable that this window originally contained two rows of canopies, one above the other, in each of its lower lights, either touching, or separated from each other by an interval of white pattern glazing. x See the first and second canopies from the spire, north in the lower lights of this window. a Two of the canopies in the east window y The first window from the east on each of the north aisle (the second and fourth from side has been stopped up. the north side) are placed on similar grounds. z An angel playing on a musical instrument b This light appears to have been made up. is introduced above the finial of the principal CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The heads of the lower lights of both the south windows, are filled with portions of glass belonging in fact to three windows in- termixed, but alike in general design. Each portion consists of a rich border, and a ground work of white glass ornamented, according to the Decorated fashion, with a pattern of foliaged scroll-work, &c, at the bottom of which appear the finials of a canopy. These finials exactly fit the flat topped canopies, of which there are ten yet remaining in the side windows and one other inserted in the east window of the chancel d . And it is tolerably clear that originally three of the side windoAVs (probably the two on the south side and the first from the west on the north side) contained two rows of canopies in each of their lower lights ; the upper canopy touching the pattern glass in the head of the light, and the lower canopy being separated both from the upper one and the bottom of the window, by an intervening strip of white pattern glass. A few of the little circular coloured ornaments, which were formerly used to enrich the panels of white pattern glass, still remain in the windows e . Some of the original glazing of the tracery heads of these windows exists, though a good deal displaced. It would seem that the two principal tracery lights were richly coloured, the topmost containing a figure executed only in white and yellow stained glass. Thus these windows in their original state must have appeared as if they were crossed with horizontal belts of colour, formed by the cano- pies and principal tracery lights, which belts were separated by the intervals of white and yellow stained glass formed by the white orna- mented pattern ; a feature which is so common in Decorated windows, that it is unnecessary to cite examples of it. Beside the glass already noticed, there are two canopies in the second window from the west on the north side of the chancel, and a portion of white pattern glass in the southernmost light of the east window, which appear to have been taken from other parts of the church. Both the canopies are designed to carry high spires, and are in other respects dissimilar to the flat topped canopies which originally c This is proved by the borders attached to the canopies, and white patterns in the heads of the lower lights. There are ten canopies, alike in design, in the side windows, and one other inserted into the east window. Of these canopies four have borders of ivy leaves on a blue ground; four have borders of white and yellow covered cups, on blue grounds; and the remaining three have borders of yel- low oak-leaves on ruby grounds. There are six white patterns, having finials at bottom ; of these two have ivy-leaf borders, three have cup borders, and one has an oak-leaf border, in all respects like those of the canopies. The pattern inserted into the east window is ex- cluded from this account, as it perhaps may not have belonged to any chancel window. Its border is a yellow oak leaf on a red ground. d Under these canopies are SS. Peter, Paul, John, Philip, James, Barnabas, Matthias, and Andrew, besides three other saints having no distinctive emblems, and whose names have been removed from the bases of the canopies. e Amongst them is the double interlaced triangle. PAINTED GLASS, STANFORD. v OF NORTHAMPTON.— STANFORD. 225 belonged to the other chancel windows f . The portion of white pattern in the east window once formed the head of a lower light, in shape similar to those of the side windows of the chancel, but as it does not display the canopy finials like the other glass, it is possible that it may have been taken either from one of the side chancel windows now stopped up, or from one of the two windows in the body of the church which resemble the chancel windows in form g . The accidental position of this last piece of glazing affords a good opportunity for comparing it with the earlier pattern glass in the east window, and of remarking the difference of date indicated by the lighter and less substantial appear- ance of the glass. The rest of the Decorated glass is contained in the windows of the aisles, and as well as the two canopies and pattern last mentioned, varies in date from about 1340 to 1360. There is however so great a simi- larity between all the glass in Stanford church, in drawing and arrange- ment of colour, as to justify the supposition that it was all executed under the same superintendence, if not by the same artist. The east window of the south aisle h contains the most pleasing and the latest specimen perhaps of Decorated glass in the church. The tracery lights and heads of the lower lights retain their original glazing, which is in a remarkably perfect state ; but the two figures and canopies below 1 are certainly not in their proper places, if indeed they belong to this window at all, which is doubtful. The colouring of the tracery head of the window is excellently arranged according to the principles of the style. In the larger tracery lights are represented, in rich colours, a figure carrying a head in its hand, two angels swinging censers, on green grounds (the introduc- tion of which colour here in so large a quantity imparts to the whole composition its striking and vivid effect) the Crucifixion, and the Blessed Virgin, and St. John the Evangelist. The figures are rendered con- spicuous by being coloured lighter than the grounds on which they are placed, and this general mass of colouring is insulated and separated from the window arch, by the white and yellow stained glass on which are depicted the birds and fish k which fill the outer tracery openings. The heads of the lower lights of the window have ornamented white quarry grounds, against which are placed the coloured spires of lofty canopies, but the most remarkable features here are the grotesque and f Under one of these canopies is a figure of clearstory windows of the nave (which do not St. Margaret. The figure under the other now contain any painted glass), are three-light canopy has no distinguishing emblem. windows. s This might be ascertained by measuring 1 Under a canopy is St. Agnes. There is the windows. a female saint under the other canopy, but h This as well as the east window of the north without name or other distinction, aisle is a four-light window. All the rest, k The fish occurs in the Stanford windows except the east window of the chancel, and the more frequently than usual. G g 226 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY royal heads m introduced into the borders of the lights, and which, from the character of their drawing and execution, are strongly indicative of the date of the glass. The east window of the north aisle retains about the same proportion of its original glazing as that of the south aisle, and the general ar- rangement of the glass in the two windows is nearly alike, though the disposition of the colours in the east window of the north aisle is less pleasing 11 . In the upper tracery lights of this window is represented Christ as the Judge of the world, surrounded with angels, some of whom exhibit the instruments of the Passion, whilst others summon with their trumpets the dead, who are rising from their graves . Below are the Crucifixion, and the attendant figures of the Virgin Mary, and St. John the Evangelist. In the lower lights are the spires of four canopies, two of which are placed on coloured trefoil-headed panels p , which are backed by the white quarry grounds of the lights. Some of the lights are bor- dered with grotesque figures like those in the east window of the south aisle. The two canopies below are not in their original places. It is clear that one of these canopies, that under which is a figure of a bishop, belongs not to this window, but rather to one of the chancel windows, as has been suggested, and it may be doubtful whether the other canopy, under which is represented St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read, be- longs to this window. In speculating on the original arrangement of the glass in the lower lights of the east windows of the north and south aisles, it is only necessary to bear in mind that there are plenty of ancient examples to support the supposition that the canopies either descended to the bottom of the lights, or stopped within a short distance of it, leaving below them an interval filled with an ornamented pattern of white glass. Of the other windows of the church some are entirely devoid of Decorated glass, others have had inserted into them portions of it taken from other windows, while others retain some of the original glazing of their tracery lights. Of these last, two only require to be particularly noticed, viz., the first window from the east in the south aisle, and the second window from the east in the north aisle. In the principal tracery light of the former window is represented St. Michael in armour, which, judging from the remains of the figure, m The crowned heads are those of middle- glass. The two angels holding the instru- aged females, and of aged and youthful males. ments of the Passion fill the second row of n The nature of the subject, the Day of quatrefoils from the top. These two sub- Judgment, may have occasioned the employ- jects are on red grounds, all the others being ment of a more solemn key of colour. on blue grounds. ° These last, as well as the angels with the p Viz., the canopies in the first and third trumpets occupy the outer tracery lights, and lights from the north, are executed in white and yellow stained PAINTED GLASS, STANFORD, ST. ANNE, PROM THE EAST WINDOW OF THE NORTH AISLE. OF NORTHAMPTON.— STANFORD. 227 whose head and upper part of the body are gone, seems to belong to a date somewhat anterior to that of the glass itself q ; such a dis- crepancy, not uncommon in glass, may be reconciled by supposing the figure to have been copied from, some earlier form. In the two lower principal tracery lights are figures of angels swinging censers; all these lights are richly coloured. The smaller tracery lights are filled with birds and fish on white and yellow stained glass. In the north aisle window, the rich colouring is confined to the centres of the principal tracery lights, a very common Decorated arrangement, in which are represented an Agnus Dei, the eagle of St. John, and another emblem much mutilated 1 "; the emblems form circular patches of colour embedded in white and yellow stained glass ornamented with diaper patterns. The smaller tracery lights are likewise filled with similar diaper patterns. The later glass in Stanford church, viz., the Perpendicular and Cinque Cento fragments scattered over many of the windows, are insignificant in quantity, and unimportant in design. They are chiefly valuable for the sake of comparison with the earlier glass. The fine Cinque Cento group of kneeling figures in the east window of the chancel s , may be readily distinguished from the older glass which surrounds it, by the greater clearness and brilliancy of its white and coloured glass, and its more highly finished execution, the delicacy of which would have been lost on a ruder material, but is here needed to give richness and strength to the composition. Again, we may observe a delicacy of execution superior to the Decorated, but inferior to the Cinque Cento in vigour, as well as refinement, in the Perpendicular work inserted in the windows of the south aisle ; the material of which is more pellucid than the Decorated, and less pure than the Cinque Cento. This Perpendicular glass is of the latter half of the fifteenth century. It chiefly consists of small circles containing portraits of saints, emblems, or heraldic devices, enclosed in foliated wreaths, mostly of excellent design; and is executed in white glass enriched with the yellow stain. Of the specimens of heraldry in the windows, of which there are examples as late as the end of the sixteenth century, the most remark- able is the shield ornamented with the garter, and displaying a Tau 4 The lower part of the figure shews a loose surcoat, confined round the waist with a girdle, and reaching a little below the knees. The legs are in chausses of mail. The sword is belted round the body, and the shaft of a spear remains. The outline of a heater-shaped shield is very perceptible above. r The emblem of St. Luke, the red ox, which seems to have belonged to the same set of emblems, is inserted in one of the tracery lights of the first window from the west, on the south side of the chancel. The lion of St. Mark has been inserted in the tracery of the first window from the west of the north aisle. s Members of the Cave family, as appears from the arms on the tabard of the principal figure. 228 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. cross, with a bell appended which is inserted in one of the south windows of the chancel. The date of this glass is early in the sixteenth century. Some of the more complicated shields afford instances of false heraldry, occasioned by the difficulty of truly representing in glass, before the discovery of enamel colouring, the tinctures of the smaller quarterings ; and the later shields, in which enamel colours are used, exhibit in their comparative dullness the defect which always in a greater or less degree attends the use of enamel colours. In conclusion, it is impossible to refrain from expressing a hope that the painted glass in Stanford church, which, if we credit the tradition, was once saved from destruction by the pious zeal of the parishioners 11 , may long remain a splendid monument of ancient art, and an instruc- tive study for the amateur and artist. Injury arising from neglect is hardly to be expected ; there is more danger to be apprehended in these days from well-meant but ill-judged restorations. One professed glass-wright, let loose upon a church, is apt to do more mischief than all the iconoclasts and churchwardens from the Reformation downwards. These may have destroyed or suffered to fall into decay many an ancient glass painting, but they have in general left the remains of the original design to speak for itself; whereas the glass-wright, when he comes, too often obliterates all traces of the original design by arbitrary re- arrangements, made partly with a view to produce a sightly object, partly to save the time required for a more careful investigation. On the whole it seems the safer, and more prudent, as it certainly is the more conscientious course, to content ourselves with preserving these venerable relics by a timely patching and mending, and with trans- mitting them to posterity as they have descended to ourselves, the genuine evidences of ancient art, ungarbled and untampered with. c. w. 1 This is probably the badge of a knight of is inscribed san. anthon. the Garter, who was also a knight of the order u It is said, that at the Rebellion the of St. Anthony : but as the matter is under- parishioners turned out in defence of the going further investigation, it would be pre- church windows, and prevented their being mature to enter into any discussion. The bell broken by the Roundheads. WATFORD. VICARAGE. Cjjk ^0tCr. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, HUNDRED OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR. GUILSBOROUGH. SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF THE CHDRCH AVE, N. and S. Aisles, Chancel, N. Chantry, W. Tower engaged, N. and S. Porches, the former modern. The Aisles of this Church are both transition from Early English to Decorated. The whole of the N. Aisle with the Chantry is of the same character, the N. windows being of cusped intersecting tracery, and the E. window of the same date, though of a different and richer design. In the S. Aisle there are two plain lancet couplets westward of the Porch, but there is no structural indication that they are of a different date from the rest of the Aisle ; and it is well known that windows in that situation are often earlier in character than any others in the Church. The S. Porch is also so early as to retain the dogtooth in the corbel of the arch, but it is clearly Decorated 230 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. in its mouldings. The Chancel and the plain parapet throughout are Perpendicular a . The engaged Tower is wholly Per- pendicular. Its character in the in- terior is at present lost from the walling up of its E. and S. arches, but these will be opened shortly. The W. window is of four lights, and will have a very good effect from the Nave and Chancel. The Nave piers are of the original structure, but the Clerestory is late Decorated, and all the roofs are poor and bad. There are three Sedilia and a Piscina in the Chancel, and a Piscina in the S. Aisle. In the N. wall of the N. Aisle and in the S mouldings EAST WINDOW, NORTH AISLE are three sepulchral arches, wall of the same Aisle another with very rich They are all of the date of the Aisle, which is at present used as a school : if another room were provided, and the Chantry thrown again into the Church, it would add very greatly to the general effect. At the time of the date of the earlier portions of the Church (early in Edward I.) the parish of Watford was divided between the four daughters of Eustace Arden, but in process of time three portions centred in the family of Burnaby, and during their occupancy the Tower and Chancel were erected. The mansion in which the Burnabys resided was purchased by Sir George Clerke, who died in 1648. It is now the property of the Lord Henley, who is also lay Hector of the Church. The patronage, until the Dissolution, was in the Abbey of St. James, Northampton. t. j. g. a. p. R The priest's door is of the earlier date of dicular section, so that considerable portions the Aisles. The jambs of the S. windows of the old materials must have been employed also are of a Decorated rather than a Perpen- in the more recent work. LUNG BUCKLY. VICARAGE. PATRON, THE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD. St. ILnforence. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. l^p^HE Tower is Early English, with pairs of shallow but- i^i^i! ^ resses ' between wn i° n the salient angle of the Tower J/iiKi is moulded into an engaged shaft, in the first stage. The W. window is a plain lancet, set in a shallow projection, like a wide buttress. The Belfry windows are in pairs, with a shaft between them. The corbel-table is good and original, but the battlement and rude gurgoyles are later additions. The rest of the Church has been so nearly rebuilt, in the worst possible style, that only the Clerestory wall and parapet, (not windows,) and the Chancel buttress and window jambs (not tracery) remain, to prove that the general character of the Church was Decorated. Within, however, more of the ancient fabric remains. The pillars and arches are Decorated. In the S. Aisle three roof corbels remain. The first (beginning at the W.) a black- smith's head, the second a female head, with the square dress of Edward III., and three fleurs-de-lys set like a coronet on the forehead, the third a crowned male head. In the Chancel are three sedilia of equal height, Decorated, and a five-foiled Piscina. There is also a square locker in the N. wall of the Chancel, and the place of a Chantry Altar is marked in the last bay of the N. Aisle, by a bracket. Under an arch between this Chantry and the Chancel there seems to have been a tomb. The arch itself is double, i. e. of the thickness and of the character of two walls, that of the ancient Early English Chantry and that of the Decorated Nave, which were here carried 232 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY alongside of one another instead of the first being abolished. The E. E. portion is of two hollowed chamfer orders, the other of two orders plainly chamfered; in the former Perpendicular brackets have been inserted. A parclose was once fixed in this archway. In the corresponding arch to the S. some similar patching occurs, shewing that the conversion of an Early English into a Decorated Church was done in a somewhat clumsy manner. WEST HADDON. VICARAGE. DEANERY PATRON, SatntS. OF HADDON. REV. H. M. SPENCE. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. t SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF THE CHURCH. T the close of the reign of Edward II., or at the be- ginning of the next reign, this was, in all probability, a very uniform Church, consisting of Tower, Nave and Aisles, Chancel, and S. Porch. We shall first describe those parts which still retain their original character. The Tower is massive and well proportioned. The basement very good. The buttresses in pairs of greater size and projection than is usual in this style. The Belfry windows all of two lights, OF NORTHAMPTON.— WEST HADDON. 233 the W. with a monial branching into the architrave, the N. sub- trefoiled, the E. and S. quatrefoiled*. All the windows of the N. Aisle are of two orders of the hollow chamfer, and have ogee heads. Those at the W., and westward of the porch in the S. Aisle are of the same character, the other S. and the E. window of the S. Aisle have more complex mouldings, and are not ogeed, but they are the same in date. The S. door also is original. All the windows have lost their tracery. The Chancel has nearly assumed a late Perpendicular character, but the marks of two low-side windows, N. and S., of the original structure remain. In the interior the Nave is of very considerable w T idth, of three bays, the pillars octagonal, the arches very obtuse. The tower-arch is very good, of three orders, but unfortunately blocked up, and obstructed by an organ gallery. The Chancel-arch is lofty, the respond a three-clustered shaft. The rear arch of the E. window of the S. Aisle springs from shafts with foliated capitals, and is enriched with the ball-flower in a casement or hollow. The rear THE FONT, See next page.. 234 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY arch of the S. window next to it has characteristic Decorated mouldings. The Clerestory is the feature which gives most expression to this Church, both in the exterior and the interior. It is of four bays, though the Nave is of three only ; it is of the date of Henry VI. The roof of the Nave is very good, though of low pitch, with angel corbels. The marks of a roof of much higher pitch still remain both on the Tower, and on the Nave. There is a Piscina in the Chancel, and two, one Decorated, the other Perpendicular, in the S. Aisle. There are marks of parcloses at the E. of each Aisle, and the capital of the pillar to which the northern one was attached is of a curious profile and device. The Font is Norman, square, with sculptures representing events in the life of our Saviour. There is a carved chest in the Chancel, but it does not ascend in date beyond the Reformation. The Norman Font shews that the present Church is not the first which has occupied this site : and we find that in the twelfth cen- tury Hugh Peor gave the Church to the Priory of Daventry, and that the donation was confirmed (1150) by the Prior of Coventry, reserving the claim of tithe to the Church of Winwick. The patronage continued in the Priory of Daventry till the Reformation. This Church gives the name to the Deanery. g. a. p. GTJILSBOKOUGH. vicarage. fi^t. Igftetorefcra tjje Ftrgtn. deanery of haddon. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. AVE, N. and S. Aisles, Chancel, W. Tower and Spire, N. and S. Porches. The Tower and Spire are the only portions of the exterior which retain their original character. The Tower is Early English, with pairs of buttresses at the angles rising to the base of OF NORTHAMPTON.— GUILSBOROUGH.. 235 the belfry story ; and on the S. side a projection for the stairs, which adds much to its effect. The belfry a windows are double lancets. The broach spire is Decorated : a date under the S. Spire lights indicates a rebuilding in 1618, but the effect is so perfect that the old stones were probably employed in the rebuilding. The Nave and Aisles were Decorated, and the mouldings of the window jambs, which consist of two sunk chamfers, with the details of the pillars and arches in the interior, indicate a date of about 1300. The tracery of the windows throughout has been inserted recently, and very large restorations have been carried on during the incumbencies of the late and present Vicars, the Rev. T. Sikes, and the Rev. J. D. Watson. To the former date are to be assigned the open seats in the Nave, and the very substantial oak roof b ; to the latter the very costly fittings of the Chancel: but it does not fall within our purpose to enter into minute and critical descriptions of recent work. Within the parish of Guilsborough is the township of Holywell, in which a Chapel was erected in the year 1840, dedicated to «§]|HE style is Early English, with an eastern apse, and a high pitched roof with a western bell-gable. The whole fabric is of the most substantial character ; the seats all open and carved : though the reason already given for the slight notice of the restorations of Guilsborough oblige us, however unwillingly, to leave this chapel imperfectly described. a Until recently there were but four bells : In addition to these inscriptions, those on these have been recast by Mears of White- the first and last of the old bells are repeated chapel, with tbe addition of two others, They by way of memorial on the first and last of are inscribed, the present peal, viz., on 1. master dobbe l : 1. >J< Laudo Deum verum. ch : ar : 1593. 2. >J« Plebem voco. 6. 1618. ms : naz : ivdjeorvm rex fil : 3. >j« Congrego clerum. dei : mis: mei. 1618. 4 t^t Defunctos ploro. b The seats were given by Mr. Sikes in 5. Pestem fugo. 1815, and the roof was put up by the parish at 6. Fcsta decoro. the same time. 836 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The family of Dyve had possessions in the parish of Guils- borough in the reign of Henry II. ; and by William Dyve the Church was given to the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem, and the prior and convent of that order presented until its suppression. G. A. P. WELFORD. VICARAGE. patron, gfct. JMary tfic Ftrgm. THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH, HE earliest portions of this Church are Early English. The Chancel and the N. Aisle are Decorated, and the S. Aisle has once had Decorated windows ; the Tower and Clerestory are early, the S. Chantry late Perpen- dicular, the N. Chantry (now used as a Vestry) pseudo-Palladian. OF NORTHAMPTON.— WELFORD. 237 Of the Early English portion part of the N. and the whole of the S. pil- lars and arches remain : the latter of five bays, the arches of two chamfered orders, springing from very low pil- lars, which are of various sections, round, octagonal, and clustered : a drawing of the most ornamental pillar is given in the margin. The arches as at Stanford increase in height from the W. eastward. The Eont, once of considerable elegance, but now greatly mutilated, is also Early English. The windows in the N. Aisle are square-headed, those in the S. are, and always have been, pointed, but (perhaps at the building of the pillar. Chantry) the arches have been depressed, and the tracery removed, a single monial being carried up to the point. The old roll-moulding dripstones, however, are retained. The window W. of the Porch has suffered no farther mutilation than the loss of the cusping at the head of its two lights. The E. window of the Chancel (the only vestige of its original character) is of three lights, reticulated and quatrefoiled, and is an excellent example of the kind. The S. Chantry, which extends beyond the Aisle in all its dimensions, is of late Perpendicular, (about Henry VI.) The drips of the Decorated windows which it has displaced are re- tained, and fitted to the four-centred Perpendicular window-heads. There is a Sancte-bett cot over the west gable. The roof of the Nave has unfortunately been under- drawn and plastered, and pews, without a central alley, have displaced the open seats. Two bench-ends alone remain, and these are remark- able as affording, apparently at least, a very early example of appropriation of seats. On a scroll is the name OTUU m Hobcll. The Tower is the most remarkable portion of the Church, and is 238 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. valuable as an example of a series of Towers evidently of the same date and by the same hand, scattered over a large portion of the diocese. Of these the most important are Church Langton, in Leicestershire, and Brampton, in Northamptonshire, and the list includes South Kilworth, Kelmarsh, Marston Trussell, Hazelbeech, Warkton, Stanion, with several others, all early Perpendicular in character. We shall find some future opportunity to recur to this subject. The patronage of the Church of Welford was in the atrteg of Jntlfcg until the suppression of Monasteries. The site of this religious house is between the parishes of Welford and Sibbertoft, but no vestige of it remains, except a few scattered stones, one or two coffins, and the coffin-lid here given. G. A. p. COFFIN-LID. NASEBY. VICARAGE. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, G. A. MADDOCK, Esq. &\\ g>atnts. HUNDRED OF GUILSBOROUGH. |HE Parish Church of Naseby stands almost on the field of the fatal fight so disastrous to the cause of King Charles the Martyr, and within a stone's cast of the source of Shakspere's Avon ; but there is nothing in the Church itself to sustain the interest of its site. The original Church was early Decorated, and of this style the Nave and Aisles, and the lower part of the Tower, remain. The Chancel has been rebuilt, but not of its ancient proportions. The Tower has had a good belfry story, with double windows, and sur- mounted with an unfinished crocketed Spire, added about the date of the Tower of Welford a . The ball at the top of the Spire is said to have been brought from Boulogne by Sir Giles Al- lington, when that place was taken by the English in the reign of Henry VIII., and placed on his house at Horseheath in Cam- bridgeshire, whence it was transferred to its present place by Mr. Ashby b . In the interior there is nothing re- markable but the stilted pillars on the N., and the well-carved capitals CAPITAL, S. SIDE OF NAVE. on the S. PILLAR, N. SIDE OF NAVE «■ The inscriptions and medals on the first bell are interesting in connection with the battle which took place within reach of its voice. It is inscribed God save the King ; and on one medal the words Auspice regno surround the royal arms, and on two others the device is King Charles on horseback, with the epigraph Carolus D. G. Mag. Britan. Fran, et Hib. Rex. 1633. b See Mastin's History and Antiquities of Naseby. 240 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The Font is Norman, but poor. A row of horse-chesnuts on the W. side of the Churchyard well deserves to be mentioned, for the beauty that it lends to the Church. Without this happy relief all Naseby would seem smitten with a curse of unmitigated bleakness. g. a. p. C0TTESBR00KE. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, ^11 S»amtS. HUNDRED OF SIR J. LANGHAM, Bart. GUILSBOROUGH. HE situation of this Church is sequestered and pictu- resque. It stands about a quarter of a mile to the E. of the village, in the midst of pastures bounded by the park and woods which surround the mansion of the Patron. Approaching from the S., it is seen to great advantage, seated in a wooded dell, delightful glimpses of its grey walls being caught at intervals through the trees in the descent to it. The Church at present consists of a Nave, Chancel, and S. Transept, W. Tower, and S. Porch. It had originally a N. Transept and Porch ; the latter existed in the time of Bridges, and the remains of a stoup are still visible on the W. side of the N. door. At the time of the destruction of the N. Transept, (of which there is no account,) the arch by which it opened into the Church was converted into a large and very unsightly window. The whole fabric, with the exception of the Porch and all above the windows of the Nave on both sides, is original, and of one date and style, very early Decorated. The exceptions are comparatively modern and debased. The windows of the Nave, Chancel, and Transept are of various sizes, but of the same character, of four, three, and two lights ; and on each side of the extreme W. of the Chancel there is a long one-light window. The tracery of these windows is all made with larger and smaller circles now quite plain, although the occurrence of a quatrefoil in the head of a window PubTisW by J.R.Parker, Oxford. , ids* OF NORTHAMPTON.— COTTESBROOKE. 241 of two lights, in the W. of the Tower, precisely of the same character, renders it probable that they were all originally cusped. The capitals of the jamb shafts of the windows in the Transept are composed of very pretty and delicately carved foliage, but now encumbered with many successive coats of white and other washes a . The Tower is by far the most attractive portion of this Church, graceful in proportions, and simple in detail. Besides the W. window before mentioned, the beautiful belfry windows, and the embattled parapet with cross oylets, deserve attention. The parapet is further adorned with four shields, one in each face, bearing the arms of Butvileyn, a fess between three crescents. An original and very rich Decorated cross is set on the gable of the Transept at right angles to the plane of the wall; which is evidently not in its original position. It is to be lamented that a door has been broken through the basement story of the Tower on the S. side ; and that a flight of stone steps, inclosed with brick and covered with lead, has been built against the W. wall of the Transept, leading up to a door constructed in an original window. Within, there is scarcely anything left of the original arrange- ment. Every portion is ceiled with a flat domestic ceiling. The triple sedilia in the S., and the low arch in the N. wall of the Chancel, mentioned by Bridges, have disappeared, together with every vestige of the well-wrought screen, which, in his day, se- parated the Nave from the Chancel ; the floor of the Transept has been raised several feet above its ancient level, forming a burial- place beneath, and a family pew above, and the Tower-arch, one of the finest in the Archdeaconry, is concealed by a thin wall of lath and plaster. There is hope, however, that this will be removed ere long, together with the organ-gallery now standing in front of it, which will bring into view the fine W. window of the Tower. A modern monument to the Langham family rises to a con- siderable height from the middle of the Chancel floor, the same spot having been occupied, according to Bridges, by an incised 8 The arrangement of the E. end of the original E. window was a large window of Chancel seems to have been altered; it con- three or more lights like some of those in tains now two windows, apparently modern the Nave. The wall between the two E. win- imitations, it has been suggested that the dows is certainly of recent date. SPRATTON. VICARAGE. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, G^t. Htt^0. HUNDRED OF REV. J. BARTLETT. SPELHO. HIS Church, the Spire of which, from its situation on the top of a hill, is a pleasing object and a useful landmark for many miles, consists of Tower and Spire, Nave and N. and S. Aisles, Chancel, N. Chantry, and (recently erected) N. Porch. The Tower is perhaps the best, and the earliest of a series of very picturesque Towers, erected about the same time, among which are Weston Favell, Little Houghton, and Abington, and all of which, like that of Spratton, have received more recent additions. It is semi-Norman. The W. door has a semicircular head, orna- mented with the zigzag, and in the label is a series of grotesques among which is a dragon devouring a female figure a . The belfry story is enriched with a very good arcade, of pointed arches, the two central ones on either side being pierced b . A Perpendicular crenellated parapet, with cross oilets, rests on the original corbel- table of heads, and a Spire of the same date, ribbed at the angles, crowns the whole. The Tower-arch is low and small, but it has been opened, with very good effect. The history of the Church is best studied in the interior. The Nave is of five bays, the piers on the N. being circular with square bases, and square abaci, under which is foliage and other decorations of a very early type, the nail-head occurring in the W. respond. The arches are semicircular, of two orders, with plain soffits, except that the lower one is slightly bevelled. A very plain and early label runs over all. These piers, then, are of the original date of the Church, and traces of mouldings like those on the Tower on the ex- terior, shew that parts of the wall also of the N. Aisle are of the same early date. a The tail of the dragon is knotted so as to b Until late restorations a Decorated window form what would be called Runic characters. occupied the place of the pierced lancets. 244 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY The S. piers are also circular, but they are early Decorated, and support pointed arches. A little fragment of early moulding, how- ever, on the exterior, shews that this Aisle also extended originally as far eastward as it does at present, while the S. door, which is clearly contemporary with that in the Tower, leaves no doubt that the S. wall also rests on the original foundations. The Font is of the same early character. But at the date of the early Decorated, so largely found in the S. Aisle, other great changes took place. The N. Aisle was also made to assume a Decorated character, as well as the Chancel, which was indeed wholly rebuilt ; and the Clerestory was added in still later Decorated times. Both the Clerestory and the Chancel were however made to assume a Perpendicular character late in the fifteenth century. The window-jambs, the priest's door, a Piscina, a recess with a seat for Sedilia, and a window of confession (the latter seldom, if ever, found of late Perpendicular) remaining in the Chancel, to testify of its Decorated origin ; and the poor Perpendicular windows of the Clerestory breaking through the Decorated parapet moulding c . At the same time, or thereabouts, the E. wall of the S. Aisle was rebuilt without a window, a niche and other accessories of an Altar occupying its place ; and a late one was inserted in the place of the easternmost window, in the S. wall, and another in the place of the W. window of the S. Aisle. The debased N. Chantry concluded all ancient changes in this Church. Of details not hitherto noted, two Founders' tombs in the S. Aisle, of which the mouldings are very observable, and one in the N. Aisle, with mouldings of the same type, but less elaborate, pro- bably shroud the remains of the authors of the Decorated changes in the Church. A Piscina at the end of the N. Aisle (westward of the Chantry) shews that there was an Altar there, as well as at the E. of the S. Aisle. A window of the date of the Perpendicular portions is blocked up over the Chancel-arch. A round-headed window, originally opening over the Nave roof, but beneath the c In the late restoration, square Decorated pairs of the Clerestory demanded new win- windows were properly inserted, where the re- dows. OF NORTHAMPTON.— PITSFORD. 245 present roof, is closed up in the Tower. There are some good de- tails in the roof of the N. Aisle, consisting of original timbers and bosses, and some of the old seats remain, which are well imitated in the recent repairs. The late restorations, mainly due to the exertions and liberality of the Vicar, Curate, and principal parishioners, are by Mr. Scott ; they are in a very ecclesiastical spirit, and it is the highest praise to say that they assist in giving an archaeological description of the Church. The stone is most of it from the Harleston quarries, and the tone is very pleasing in the interior. The patronage was in the Abbey and Convent of St. James in Northampton, until the dissolution of monasteries. T. J. G. A. P. PITSFOO. RECTORY. DEANERY OF WEST HADDON. PATRON, £ t# Jfl arg t {j ^frgfo. HUNDRED OF COL. HOWARD VYSE. SPELHO. N a knoll at the N.W. angle of the village, em- bowered in the Church-yard elm trees, stands the venerable and massive E. E. Tower, which alone of all the Church retains its architectural features complete. Circular shafts, banded, run up the angle of the buttresses, but it is chiefly remarkable from the singular disposition of the belfry lights on the N. and S. sides. Here a single cinque-foiled light under a bold moulding is placed immediately to the E. of the principal two- lighted window ; both windows open into the same compartment within, and it seems difficult to explain the object of this arrange- ment. The S. doorway is a remarkable example of early Norman work. It is flat-headed with a rudely sculptured tympanum, representing the conflict of Faith with the Evil Principle a . The sculpture of a An engraving of it is given in Baker's Northamptonshire. 246 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY THE TOWER the jambs and semicircular arch was apparently never finished, but the whole has been much tampered with. The iron-work of the door is very old, and may be coeval with the stone-work, being of exactly the same kind as that at Egleton, Rutlandshire, where is a doorway of very similar design and date. The foliations, if they may so be called, at the end of the hinges, are produced by merely splitting the iron and curving it back. This, which seems to point to the origin of iron tracery, is noticeable, as such examples are frequently set aside from their rudeness, instead of being pre- served as valuable helps to date, and standards for restoration 1 ". The rest of the Church is a mere Decorated shell, having suf- fered almost every mutilation to which Churches have been sub- jected in times past, having the tracery of the windows cut out, the string-courses cut away, debased Perpendicular and still later in- sertions, a doorway blocked up, a lowered roof, a lean-to Vestry against the Tower, the piers between the Nave and Aisle removed, a flat ceiling thrown over both, a western gallery, and high ir- regular close pews. l> At Rushden, Irchester, and other Churches already described, there is much original iron- work worth notice and preservation. OF NORTHAMPTON. — BOUGHTON. 247 The Font, Decorated, which has been moved to the N. Chantry, is curious from a panelled projec- tion on one side, pierced with four holes, which may have been a stand for a book, or for the chrism oil, or for a figure. It is described and figured in Van Voorst's " Baptismal Fonts." There is a sepulchral arch and a piscina in the N. Chan- try, and the base of the rood-screen still re- mains. CHAMFER, CHANTRY. BOUGHTON. VICARAGE. DEANERY OF WEST HADDON. PATRON, £l gj ^ n t j) e baptist. HUNDRED OF COL. HOWARD VYSE. SPELHO. RUINS OF THE CHURCH. ogp^ PICTURESQUE ruin is all that remains of the ^ I IB! K inotlier ' Cnurcn of tms P arisn > and we may believe the Jit work of decay to have begun in very early times, for we find it noted in the time of Henry VIII. that "yt is to be re- 248 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. membred that there ys one chapell situat within the town of Boughton," [the Church now used,] "wherein comonly the said ii. prestes do celebrate for the ease of the parishioners, for the parishe churche is distaunt hi pts of a myle from y e towne or any house a ." — a distance which in other counties would not be "considered ex- cessive, but to the good people of Northamptonshire, accustomed to cluster round their parish Church, an intolerable grievance. Bridges describes the Tower and Spire as standing in his time, and Grose (1761) gives a view of them. They fell about the year 1785. The plan of the whole building, Decorated with insertions, is yet traceable in the Nave, Chancel, N. Chantry, and S. Aisle, extending to E. end of the Chancel b . What seems in Grose's view as a blocked-up doorway on the S. side, may have been an aperture for other purposes, as the wall to the E. is very boldly splayed away so as to admit a view of the high Altar. From the E. bank of the Church-yard rises St. John the Baptist's spring, which formerly furnished the element for Holy Baptism, but now, in the words of the historian of Northampton- shire " supplies the water for culinary purposes at the fair." The Church-yard has hitherto been the only parish burial-place : a new one was consecrated in 1847, contiguous to the Chapel already referred to, and which is now used as Cfte $ arfef) einmlh The Tower of this is alone original, being of late and poor Perpendicular work. This was repaired in 1599. The body was rebuilt and enlarged in 1806; and again enlarged, refitted, and a Vestry added in 1847. These facts necessarily remove it from our archaeological notices. The E. window is filled with painted glass by Messrs. Ward and Nixon, the gift of the present Hector. a Baker, from Augm. off. b But if we may trust Grose's drawing, this which at first glance would seem to be a S. Aisle, was under the same roof as the Nave, and the Chancel itself ended in a most un- usual arrangement of two three-lighted win- dows of unequal height having a buttress be- tween them, over which was a smaller window. MOULTON VICARAGE. PATRON, E. S. BURTON, Esq. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF SPELHO. I'll Ay HIS, which is one of the largest Churches in the Deanery, consists of Nave, Chancel, N. and S. Aisles, both ter- minating eastward in a Chantry, W. Tower, and S. Porch. The Tower is of three early Decorated stages, with a W. door, a two-light window in the second story, and the original Deco- rated belfry, to which is added an early Perpendicular belfry of considerable elegance. Over this was a small wooden Spire covered with lead, pulled down in the time of the Great Rebellion. The Aisles, though not of the same masonry, agree very nearly in character with the Tower. Their chief characteristic is the channeled and the swelled chamfer in the mouldings of the win- dows and doors*. In the S. Aisle and in the E. of the Chance], Perpendicular windows have been inserted in the original early a The N. window of the N. Chantry is the same as that figured in p. 168, as occurring in Cranford St. Andrew. Kk 250 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY and n Decorated jambs, so that these portions of the Church appear at first sight a century more recent than they are in reality. The Clerestory is of two-light square-headed Decorated windows. The parapet terminates at the E. with a grotesque figure. The old pitch of the Nave roof appears on the Tower within the Church. In the interior the Nave is of four bays, the S. piers arches are of ordinary Decorated character. The N. piers require more attention. The whole series seems to have been commenced of the pure Norman character of cylindrical pillars on square bases : but during the pro- cess the plan was altered, and the section became semi-Norman in the whole of the two easternmost, and the upper half of the two westernmost pillars. The section in the margin will explain this more readily than any description. All the arches are round, of two orders, with flat soffits. The Tower-arch is closed with galleries. The wooden roofs are old, except in the Chancel and in the S. Aisle : but the corbels, which were of figures, have been wantonly mutilated. The Font b also was " done away" when the Church was new pewed, and some rich parcloses, together with the open seats, of course shared the same fate. Doorways once opening to the Rood-loft remain, both N. and S. There is a Piscina in the Chancel, and in each Chantry : that in the S. Chantry alone has any elegance. In the sill of the E. window of the N. Chantry are two heads for brackets. The iron- work of the S. door is plain but very good. On a review of the whole we conclude that the N. piers and arches cannot be more recent, even in their semi-Norman form, than about 1200; but in the reign of Edward I. whatever else b Parts of it are built into the Church- yard wall. Its present substitute is a bason in a pew, with the word "font" on tbe door. CAPITAL AND SECTION OF NORTHAMPTON.— OVERSTONE. 251 then existed was removed, and the present Tower, Nave, Aisles, Chancel and Chantries, were erected : and indeed we find from Bridges, that at the close of the thirteenth century " the Church, Tower, and Church -yard were miserably in ruins, and in 1298 the Bishop of Lincoln issued a mandate requiring the parishioners to repair it." A Clerestory and a Porch added late in the fourteenth century, and the roofs successively lowered throughout, together with the addition of the present bell-chamber to the Tower, early in the fifteenth century, brought the Church nearly to its present proportions : but there is no clue to the founder of the Church, or to the author of any of these changes in the fabric. T. J. G. a. p. OVERSTONE. RECTORY. DEANERY OF WEST HADDON. PATRON, £l iSt'C&Olag. HUNDRED OF L, LLOYD, Esq. SPELHO. UR account of this Church must be a melancholy blank, the old fabric, which consisted of embattled Tower, Nave, N. Aisle and Chancel, having been ut- terly demolished in 1803, apparently for no other purpose than to throw the site of it and the Church-yard around it into the park, with which it is now indistinguishably blended. It was probably a Decorated Church, as there is an attempt, worthy of the com- mencement of the present century, at imitation of flowing tracery in the windows of the present building, which stands at the out- skirts of the park. The interior is emphatically neat, including a large parlour-pew with fire-place and chimney-piece. There is some good German painted glass in the E. window. Some mural tablets recording that the ordinary virtues have been removed here from the old Church, but not a mound marks the spot where " The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." It is only just to add that the present Proprietor and Rector are in no wise answerable for the facts which we here deplore. T. J. GREAT BILLING. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, ^t. g*ntafo. HUNDRED OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD, SPELHO. (jpS^ HIS was once a Church of very considerable beauty. /||K)1 The Tower (which is of three stories, of late or transition Jl&ffi Early English, and of good proportions and details) was originally surmounted by a Spire, which on April 11, 1759, was destroyed by lightning, and the Church was greatly damaged by its fall. A mansion of the Earls of Thomond, which Bridges describes as " an handsome old house, with pleasant gardens ad- joining,'' on the site of the present house at Billing, was taken down in 1776 by Lord John Cavendish, who undertook to repair the ruined Church, and in the course of this work he transferred to the Tower and Nave of the Church the very incongruous parapet and other ornaments from the mansion ; while the characteristic decorations of the old Church were neglected, even the monials of the windows being cast aside. Except the Tower, therefore, which is overpowered by the para- pet so unhappily set upon it, the exterior presents no feature worthy of note, except the very good S. door, of really Perpendi- cular character, with a foliated dripstone, meeting at the apex in a figure holding a shield, and forming the terminations by curling round a shield on either side. . Within, enough remains to determine the history of the Church and to prove its original elegance. The Nave is of four bays. The piers on the S. have a singular section, and very early Decorated capitals, and the responds, both E. and W., as well as the corbels of the Chancel-arch and of the Tower-arch a , have the same capitals. On the N. the piers are cylindrical, but agree in the profile of their capitals with those a Thanks to the present Rector, the Rev. J. Walker, the Tower- arch is open. CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 253 SECTION OF PILLAR AND PROFILE OF CAPITAL above noted, except in one instance where a Norman or transition cap and base occur, and where there is also a singularity in the spring of the arch, which shews that a portion of some older Church is here retained. The arches are all pointed, of two chamfered orders, and the same pointed hood-moulding runs over all, except one arch in the S., where it is serrated. The jambs of the E. window prove that it was of the same date with the Tower, Nave, and original Aisles. Thus there was once a Church of Nave, Chancel, N. and S. Aisles, and Tower, all of the same early character with the Tower. The S. Aisle was probably rebuilt early in the fifteenth century. And to this time may be referred three niches b with ogeed canopies, occupying the place of an E. window. As for the N. Aisle and Chantry, now a burial- place, they have no historic notes about them. The Font is of late Perpendicular design, deserting the old form of a bason with a shaft and base, and assuming that of an octa- gonal pillar somewhat expanded at the top, and panelled down its whole length. If the single Norman pier be taken to indicate an earlier Church here, the names of Mortimer and Rivers only occur between the Conquest and the reign of Edward I. ; but there must have been mesne lords with more immediate connection with the place. Under Edward I. c the name of Barre occurs, and as this family b The central niche contained an inscription disputed by Robert Barre, and decided in fa- in distemper, but it is illegible. vour of the crown. c 9 Edward I. the right of presentation was 254 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY "were great benefactors to the Convents of St. James and St. Andrew in Northampton," and as the dedication of the Church to St. Andrew seems to imply some connection with the latter house we may perhaps infer that the Church as it stood before 1759 was in great part of their erection. t. j. g. a. p. LITTLE BILLING. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, &\\ ^atntS. HUNDRED OF EARL BROWNLOW. SPELHO. LITTLE Church, which, except for its curious Font a , contains little to repay a visit. The outer walls of a Nave and N. Aisle (probably Decorated) have been rebuilt in meagre Perpendicular, under one roof, of which the timbers are supported in the midst by wooden posts. A N. Chantry, which was Decorated throughout, is now being rebuilt. The Chancel roof has been lately underdrawn and plastered, though externally the high pitch remains. There are some rude open seats, coeval with the earliest por- tions of the building, remaining. The bells hang in a little wooden turret at the W. end, neither architectural nor picturesque in its pretensions. We are disposed to attribute the oldest parts yet remaining of this Church to John de Longville, Lord of the Manor, who founded the house of Augustinian Friars in Northampton 16 Edward II. a This Font is figured in Van Voorst's vo- gular in shape and rude in workmanship, it lume of Fonts, and is thus described : — is chiefly interesting for its curious legend, " This jar-like and singular Font maybe which is written in characters exactly conform - placed early in the Norman period; both irre- able to the great seal of William the Conqueror. WILBERHTVS KRTIFEX ATQ : LEMENTARIUS HVNL FKBRICftVIT QVISQVIS SVVM VENIT MERLERE LORFVS PROLVL DVBIO LAPIT." OF NORTHAMPTON.— WESTON FAVELL. 255 The Lcmgvilles retained possession of the Manor till long after the Reformation, and portions of their mansion remain in the parish. t. c. H. T. J. G. A. p. WESTON FAVELL. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON. C^t # ;)|ettr. HUNDRED OF REV. R. A. KNIGHT. SPELHO. HIS little Church, which consists only of Nave and Chancel, Tower and S. Porch, adds its full share of beauty to the landscape of which it forms a part ; nor is it the less pleasing for its departure in general character from the usual type of Northamptonshire Churches ; its high roof and absence of aisles rather recalling those of Kent or Berkshire. The Tower belongs to the series already noticed in the account of Spratton Church. It is entirely transition Norman, recessed a little at each story, and considerably battered in the belfry story. In the first story a round door has been blocked up, in the second is a lancet couplet, the third is without windows, and the fourth or belfry story is of two lancets, with a hood-moulding rising and falling over their heads, and carried round the Tower. There is besides a little square window just below the corbel-table of heads, on the E. and W. sides. A Spire, which was erected on this Tower, was destroyed by lightning in 1726, and the base having been covered with a low roof, makes a picturesque addition to the Tower. The N. door of the Nave, and the priest's door, are either contemporary with the Tower, or, as is more probable, before it. The Chancel windows are of three lancets under one dripstone, of a style later than the Tower : the E. window is late and bad Per- pendicular, within the dripstone and jambs of a window of the same style with those at the N. and S. 256 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. In the interior we have to regret the closing both of Tower and Chancel-arch with galleries, and the ceiling of the Chancel. There is a good hour-glass frame by the Pulpit. The Font is a copy of that at Abington, but much inferior to it. PRIEST S DOOR Behind the Altar is a curious piece of needle-work a . The Pulpit is cinque cento ; the Rood-screen of still later cha- racter. Is it the gift of Sir John Holman, who is recorded to have wainscoted the Chancel with oak ? In the reign of Henry II., to which time we would refer the Church, Richard de Weston held lands here ; and in Henry III., when the Chancel was perhaps rebuilt, Sir Hugh Favell occurs, who "gave rent-charge of viii.'d. per annum lying in Northampton, for the supply of a light, called St. Mary's light, in the church of WestonV After this no historic interest attaches to the fabric. T. J. G. a. p. a " Sir John Holman neatly wainscotted the ton Favell December 1698. Her maiden Chancel with oak. Over the Altar is represented name was Jane Fawtry, and herself of Dutch the Passover in needlework hy his Lady ; above extraction." Bridges, it isinscribed Gloria Deo, and below itWES- b Bridges. ABINGTON RECTORY. PATRON, LEWIS LLOYD, Esq. ^Peter an* f aul, DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF SPELHO. HE whole Church, except the Tower, was rebuilt in 1821, (the rest having been blown down whilst under- going repair,) at the sole expense of J. H. Thursby, Esq., then Patron of the Living a . The Tower retains marked traces of its original semi-Norman character, though a Perpendicular W. door and window have been inserted, and a Perpendicular belfry added, at about the same time that the more important Tower of Little Houghton received a like addition. The Font is octagonal, late Perpendicular. The Pulpit is very rich, but of the unecclesiastical character of the seventeenth century. It is the only thing about the Church which can be called handsome, and may be the gift of one Thomas Rocke, " a great benefactor to this Church, who died Jan. 3, 1715. iEtatis suse 80," as his monument testifies. T. J. G. A. P. a The following particulars from Bridges will convey some information concerning the original Church. " The Church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, consists of a body, north and south ile, and chance], leaded. At the west end is an embatteled tower, in which are three bells. Round the Tenor is inscribed, Sum rosa pul= sata mttntlt jWarta oocata, and round the se- cond, En multts anms rcsonet compana Soljan- ntS. At the east end of each ile is a Chauntry- chapel leaded. In the east window of the chapel in the north ile are these Arms, Gules, a/ess between six cross crosslets or, with these remains of an Inscription . . . J^ltltttset C . . . In the north windows of the same ile are cer - tain broken figures, and in the left hand of one of them a label with this inscription, %\jt Jttarta gratis? plena, IBomtnus tecum. In the east window of the chapel in the south ile is the figure of a person praying at a Table, with a book before him, and under him the follow- ing inscription, ©rate pro ammabus . . . 3Rob. 33uIlofe .... In another pannel are the figures of three women praying, and in several scat- tered panes these words ^gts chaptll . . altctem. . . . marcj uxor . . . And in the south window of the said chapel are these arms, Gules within a bordure engrailed three pikes hauriant in pale argent. In the west window of the Tower are these arms, Gules, a fess indented between six cross crosslets argent. " Upon several Bricks which lie dispersed in the chancel are these arms, three cross cross- lets fitche, on a chief a rose and a mullet of six points, as also the arms of Westminster." L 1 BRINGTON. RECTORY. PATRON, EARL SPENCER. Sbt. iilnrj). DEANERY OF HADDON HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE. MONUMENT ON THE EXTERIOR. HIS Church is seen to great advantage, when approached from the N. and W., standing at the verge of a hill with a sudden and precipitous descent to the N., clown which winds the road to the neighbouring village of East Hadclon. It consists of Nave, N. and S. Aisles, Chancel with Chapel adjoin- ing, S. Porch, and W. Tower. The Tower, (with the exception of its battlements, W. door and window,) the walls of the Aisles, and most of their windows, the external monumental arch with its canopy, and recumbent effigy of an ecclesiastic, the pillars and arches of the Nave, and the Font, are all of one period or nearly so, and in the absence of all docu- mentary evidence may be dated early in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. There is a peculiarity in the pillars and arches of the S. side of the Nave which is worthy of notice; the pillars CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 259 CAPITAL, S. SIDE OF NAVE BUTTRESS, SOUTH AISLE are octagonal, but each side is hollowed, which gives them the appearance of fluted columns 3 ; the arches are of two hollowed chamfered orders, and the soffit is also hollowed. These pillars are higher and the arches more acutely pointed than those on the N., where the pillars are simply octagonal, and the arches of two plain chamfered orders : but notwithstanding this difference in the design, the whole seems to be of one period. The buttresses of the E. and W. angles of the S. Aisle are remarkable for their size and triple pedimental terminations, and the gurgoyles are gigantic and grotesque. The E. and W. windows of this Aisle are evidently Perpendicular insertions ; and the rest, which have been lately restored and are exactly similar to those in the N. Aisle which are original, might justify a later date for the walls, having reti- culated tracery, like the windows at Harleston which are known to be as late as 1325. The W. window of the N. Aisle is of two lights, acutely pointed and uncusped. The E. end of the same a The same will be found in the responds to of the mouldings also, the same preference the Chancel-arch, and to the two first arches of the hollowed chamfer is observable in both of the Nave at Harleston, and also in the shafts Churches, of the Sedilia. In many of the minute features 260 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Aisle is occupied by a beautifully proportioned arch of late Per- pendicular work leading into the N. Chapel, which belongs to the Spencer family, and contains many sumptuous monuments to the memory of various members of it whose bodies are interred beneath b . This Chapel, and the Chancel and Clerestory of the Nave are evidently the work of one period, and the style of all is late Perpendicular. In the will c of Sir John Spencer, Knt., dated April 12, 1522, only two days before his death, it is affirmed that he had almost rebuilt the parish Church of Brington; and this can only be referred to those portions of it just mentioned. The Rector at that time was Thomas Heritage, presented by Sir John Spencer in 1513; he was also chaplain to Henry VIII., and sur- veyor of that monarch's works at Westminster, and it is highly probable that he gave the design, and superintended the execution of these works also for his patron at Brington. In the year 1846 a bay of five sides with a long window in each was added to the N. side of this Chapel by the present Earl Spencer ; on the floor of which, and forming a border to it, is an ornamented brass, bearing the following inscription : — " Sfl&fe 23ag foas erects ftg jfre&ericfc fourth (JBarl Spencer to fte memorg of fits JFatfjer, jOTotfjn, anti 23rotfier, bt?., Cfaora,e gjofin secontr . gjofjamus, and two angels in the tracery above with harps. The windows on each side of this contain portraits of the second and third Earls, in circles surrounded by wreaths, and the two extreme windows contain the armorial bearings of the deceased, and of the present Earl and Countess, alike encircled. All the four have borders copied from original glass, and all the quarries are adorned with a fret, and the tracery lights with flowers. The E. window of the Chancel contains an original figure of St. John Baptist, but some portions of it have been restored with modern glass. There is a double Sedile and a Piscina in the S. wall of the Chancel. Another Piscina of unusual size remains in the S. Aisle, and near it, worked in the thickness of the wall, is a winding stair- case leading to an upper door, which probably opened upon a Rood- screen of a Chapel at the E. end of this Aisle, on the E. wall of which are four plain brackets, two on each side the window. By the Rood-screen of this Chapel the great Rood-loft of the Chancel- arch probably was ascended. Many of the original open seats remain in good preservation. From the Heraldry displayed upon the poppy heads, and a pedi- gree given by Mr. Baker in the Manorial history of the parish, it is clear these seats must have been put up between the years 1445 and 1457. For in the former year Sir Edward Grey, who, on the decease of his father, became Lord Grey de Ruthyn, married the daughter and heiress of Henry Lord Ferrars of Groby, by which marriage he became lord of the manor of Nobottle, and patron of this Church, and also Baron Ferrars of Groby. The arms of Grey and Ferrars are repeated many times, together with those of Lord Grey's mother, (herself an heiress of the house of Astley of Astley in the county of Warwick,) and other coats of the alliances of the ancestral heirs of the Ferrars family. In the latter year Edward 262 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY Lord Grey de Ruthyn and Groby died ; and none of the connections by marriage posterior to this are heraldically noticed on these seats, (although the son and grandson both married heiresses,) which we may presume would have been the case had either of these been the donors of the seats. They have been stencilled in red with a kind of fleur-de-lis pattern. The E. and W. windows of the S. Aisle were probably inserted by the same patron and benefactor, as well as the W. door and window of the Tower, the label of the former indeed is terminated at each end by a shield, the one bearing the arms of Lord Grey's mother, the other those of his wife. The battlements seem to have been added about the same time. Until lately the Chancel-arch was closed by a large gallery pew belonging to the Spencer family, which in 1846 was removed by the present Earl : who proceeded in the following year to reseat the whole of the Church with open oak seats after the original pattern, adding a Pulpit and Reading-desk of similar design. During the present year (1848) the same benefactor has pre- sented a large and fine-toned organ with an appropriate case, built by Mr. Holdich of Greek-street, Soho. The Porch was erected in 1832 at the sole expense of George John, Earl Spencer, after a design by Mr. Blore. h. r. HOLDENBY. RECTORY. patron, ^11 Sbatnts. THE CROWN. HIS Church stands in a lonely spot some distance from the village, and under the terrace on which are the remains of the once magnificent mansion erected by the Lord Chancellor Hatton 3 . The Nave is divided from the Aisles by three pointed arches on each side, resting on octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases. The Tower-arch is open, and a It was purchased by James I., who occa- Naseby it became the prison rather than the sionally resided here. After the battle of palace of Charles I. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. OF NORTHAMPTON.— HOLDENBY. 263 springs from the side walls. The Chancel-arch is very wide, but is almost concealed by a heavy screen of revived Italian work. The Chancel was entirely rebuilt a very few years ago by the pre- sent Rector, Rev. S. L. Crawley, from a design by Sir H. Dryden, Bart., in the Early English style. The upper story of the Tower is a good example of plain Perpendicular work. Only one window in this Church remains in its original state, it is of early Decorated character, and possesses a few fragments of painted glass, which are evidently not in their original position : from the jamb mould- ings of the other windows, it may be presumed that they once possessed mullions and tracery of similar character. There is a low Clerestory wall on the N. side without windows, but one roof covers all on the S. side ; it is quite evident, however, that the S. Aisle had once an E. and W. gable, and of course an indepen- dent roof. Eont and shaft octagonal, and quite plain. h. r. WHILTON. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, glfttovCfo. HUNDRED OF WILLIAM ROSE ROSE, Esq. NOBOTTLE GROVE. IP; HIS small Church is of Early English origin, the arches of the Nave (only two on each side) are pointed, and *est upon short cylindrical columns, with very simple moulded capitals ; these portions, together with the basement story of the Tower, (in the W. face of which a modern window has been inserted,) and some part of the Chancel walls, are the only remains of the original fabric. The two upper stories of the Tower, the Aisles, and the rest of the Chancel, were all rebuilt about eighty years ago by William Rose, Esq., the patron at that time. The same benefactor gave the six bells. In the year 1795 the Chancel walls were raised a few feet, a staircase to an organ-loft was added on the north side, and the whole covered with a new roof by the late Rector, Rev. William Lucas Rose, who also at the same time gave the organ. h. r. EAST HADDON. VICARAGE. PATRONS, Sbt Jftarg tj)0 ITttQin. DEANERY OF HADDON. LORD CLIFDEN, HUNDRED OF H. B. SAWBRIDGE, Esq., NOBOTTLE GROVE. AYSHFORD SANDFORD, Esq. HE Church is situated nearly in the centre of the village. It consists of W. Tower, Nave, S. Aisle and Porch, and Chancel. The Tower is low, but of well-executed masonry, and was rebuilt in 1673 j it has three stages, with massive buttresses in pairs at the angles, with an embattled parapet and pinnacles. The W. Doorway is Decorated, with deeply recessed mouldings, it is late in the style ; probably it formed part of the former Tower a . There is a Decorated Tower-arch of three chamfered orders, resting on circular engaged shafts, but it is walled up, having an organ gallery in front. The Nave is separated from the S. Aisle by four Decorated arches, each of two chamfered orders, resting on low octagonal pillars, with plainly moulded capitals. It is lighted by three win- dows on the N. side, each of three lights, with Perpendicular tracery, two of which have been inserted in Decorated arches. There is a fragment of stained glass remaining in one of the foils, of early Perpendicular work. On the S. side there is a Clerestory of three small square-headed windoAvs, each of two trefoiled lights. The S. Aisle and Porch were rebuilt in 1839 with the old mate- rials. There are five square-headed Perpendicular windows of plain character. Formerly there was a Parvise over the Porch, and a Piscina in the E. wall of the Aisle. The Chancel is separated from the Nave by a lofty Decorated arch, resting on Norman piers, with engaged shafts, and sculp- a There are five bells, all cast in 1621. There is an inscription on the great bell :- Cum sono si non vis venire, Nunquam ad preces cupies ire. CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 265 tured capitals. On the S. side are three windows, each of two lights, with tracery of late Decorated character. There are two similar windows on the N. side. The E. window of three lights, of cnsped intersecting tracery, has been lately in- serted. On the S. side is a Priest's door, under a depressed ogee arch : eastward of this on the S. side are three stone Sedilia, in the S ED ILIA AND PISCINA. Decorated style, and a Piscina. On the exterior, to the S., there is a cornice with the ball-flower, and grotesque figures sculp- tured in the hollow. The Font b is Norman ; a circular bowl, having a human figure rudely sculptured in relief, holding two winged serpents under his arms, supposed to represent the conquest over sin at Baptism. It stands in the Nave, behind the last pier to the W., near the S. door. The roofs of the Nave and Chancel are both modern, though of good character ; the Church throughout has recently undergone considerable repairs. The Inspeximus Charter of Ed. II. to the Abbot and Convent of Sulby, recites and confirms the Church of East Haddon, with its pertinencies, of the gift of William de Dyve, son of Hugh de Dyve c . l) It is figured in Van Voorst's " Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts." c Mon. Ang. ii. 630. m m 266 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY In the 25th of Edward III., 1351, the Rectory was appropriated to the Convent, and about the same time the Vicarage ordained. The Chancel may be ascribed probably to this date. At the dissolution the Rectory and advowson of the Vicarage fell to the Crown ; and in the 3rd of Elizabeth 1561, were granted to Sir T. Challoner and his heirs. Sir Christopher Hatton died possessed of them in 1591 d . H. I. B. RECTORY- PATRON, EARL SPENCER. HAELESTON DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. SeJDILIA AND PISCINA. r^ WP GREAT part of the history of this Chnrch is recorded * n a con ^ em P orai T MS. written by Henry de Bray, a re- < Q^ ^JiSl? sident in the village, and the principal landed proprietor, while the whole Church (except perhaps the Tower and Porch) was u Bridges and Baker. OF NORTHAMPTON. — HARLESTON. 267 being rebuilt. It is of so great value for our present purpose, that we shall be excused if we give a very short history of the author. He was the great grandson of a certain lady, named Quena, who married during her minority, without having obtained the consent of her feudal lord. This step, for a time, deprived her family of the chief part of her property ; but her descendants of the third and fourth generation asserted their rights, and, after many tedious lawsuits, succeeded in recovering what was thus proved to have been unjustly alienated. Henry de Bray did, what at that period it was probably very unusual for a country squire to do, — he kept a kind of journal. This document is now in the British Museum, and forms No. 761 of the Lansdown manuscripts. It contains 82 leaves, many of them with writing on both sides. Amongst various matters, the lawsuits included, there is a closely written page " concerning the Church of Herleston and its Parsons" which we give entire, and shall make frequent use of it, as we proceed with the history and description of the Church. Extract from Bill. Lansdown No. 761. Register Hen. de Bray. Fol. xxij. DE ECCLESIA DE HERLESTON. M agister Willielmus de Lichefeld habuit ecelesiam de Herleston per presentationem prioris de Lenton. Dominus Petrus de Grendon similiter presentatus per Priorem de Lenton. Magister Swydo de Russheton similiter presentatus per Priorem. Dominus Jocelynus similiter presentatus per Priorem de Lenton. Magister Petrus Sansom clericus de Curia Romana similiter presentatus per Priorem. Magister Rogerus de Stowamerco fait procurator suus. Ipse fuit Rector xxxvj annos. Magister Walterus de Plossi presentatus per Priorem. Eo tempore Willi- elmus de Eerrars presentavit, et Hugo de Staunton et Clementia uxor ejus presentarunt. Et Prior de Lenton per assisam (ult ?) presentationis re- cuperavit, xxx die May anno domini m°cclxxix. Et Willielmus de Eerrars et Hugo de Staunton in misericordia. Magister Willielmus de la Barre institutus ad presentationem Prioris anno domini m°cclxxx. Magister Willielmus de Letacombe institutus per Priorem de Lenton anno domini m°cclxxxij secundo. Magister Ricardus de Het institutus ad presentationem Prioris de Lenton 268 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY anno domini m°cc nonag : secundo incipiente. Et ipse de novo fecit Cancellam, anno dom : mill cccxx. Tota ecclesia facta fuit de novo tempore dicti rectoris anno dom : mcccxxv. Rogerus de Lomelay invenit ferramenta et verruram ; Henricus de Bray petram et merremium. Johannes Dyve carpentriam. Anno Dom : mill , cc. nonag : quarto tradita fuit una acra teme in Grindale quod vocatur Belle-ropes magistro Ricardo de Het tunc Rectori, per comita- tem villee, pro cordis campanarum sufficiendis . Et ipse Ricardus fuit rector xlij annos. Magister Johannes de Avestan successit ei per collationem, anno Domini mcccxxxiiij. The Church consists of a Tower, Nave, N. and S. Aisles, Chancel, and S. Porch. There is also a small eastern crypt, rendered necessary by the sloping of the ground on which the Church stands. This crypt is entered by a flight of stone steps on the N. side of the Chancel, towards the E. end. It has a simple groined roof, with chamfered ribs a . The whole fabric is of the stone of the parish. The Tower b is a most substantial structure, and seems much older than the rest of the Church : it is Early English, and there can be no doubt that the whole existed in 1294, in which year the manuscript before mentioned records "that an acre of land B The interior dimensions are as follows : ft. in. ft. in. Tower 9 6 by 9 6 Chancel 34 9 — 16 6 Nave 59 6 — 16 6 Aisles 9 2 Total width 39 4 b The Tower has suffered considerably from modern arrangements. Originally it could only be entered from the Church. Within the memory of persons now living, an opening was made on the S. side, in which a door appears, in mockery as it were of the architectural taste which reared the goodly fabric around. The belfry too was approached through the Church, by a beautifully con- structed circular stone staircase, in the angle of the Tower and N. Aisle. But this arrange- ment was found, we must suppose, to be in- convenient, and an opening to the staircase was made on the outside, and the original en- trance was walled up. The space within ap- pears to have been deemed insufficient for the suitable accommodation of the ringers, for deep scoopings have been made in the walls. Keystones of arches, too, in the upper part of the Tower have been removed, in order that there might be no impediment in the way of the ropes. Happily, an immense thickness of solid masonry (the walls of the lower story are five feet thick) has in some degree secured the structure from the mischief which might have been expected to follow such treatment. Two serious rents have however appeared, and the arch of a window has declined considerably from its perpendicularity, but the present active and intelligent Churchwardens have stayed the evil by means of very substantial iron-work. Other disfigurements are capable of a still easier remedy. The Tower-arch is closed by a very recent and very dissightly gallery : and above this there is a narrow pas- sage, with a balustrade, affording access to the belfry, through a small pointed door, of origi- nal construction. The gallery might be re- moved, and the passage above rendered more harmonious with the Church in its character. OF NORTHAMPTON — HARLESTON. 269 in Grindale was given, by consent of the village, to Richard de Hette the Rector, to purchase ropes for the bells " and that the land, from this circumstance, was called "Bell ropes ." The Chancel is next in date to the Tower, having been rebuilt, according to the MS. of Henry de Bray, by Richard de Hette, in 1320. There are still very considerable portions which retain their original character, but unfortunately the E. window has been modernized, the N. windows have been walled up, and the S. windows have been deprived of their cusping, some of which changes were probably made when the original high pitched roof was lowered d . A lychnoscope on 'each side has been closed. Externally, therefore, we can only pronounce the door ? two trefoiled windows of one light each, a very diminutive lancet window by which the crypt is lighted, and two buttresses, . -i • • T a- j • i if • SECTIONS OF MOULDINGS OF ARCH to be original, in tne interior, mere is AND JAMB, PRIEST'S DOOR. more of the original details. In the S. E. angle of the Chancel there is a trefoiled niche, which contains a piscina, and a stone shelf. The piscina rests on a bracket representing a large head. On the S. side there are three sedilia of equal height, the trefoiled arches of which are beautifully executed. These arches, consisting of roll and fillet mouldings, are supported by octagonal shafts, of which the sides are slightly hollowed, a peculiarity which they share with the responds of the Chancel-arch, and (as has already been observed at p. 259) with the S. pillars of the neigh- bouring Church of Brington. The arches of the S. windows are segmental pointed, resting on slender shafts engaged with capitals and bases of Early English character. (See woodcut, next page.) The body of the Church was completed five years after the erection of the Chancel. This, which is stated on the authority of c There are six bells. On one of them are the words" Can tate Domino canticum novum ;" but on the rest little more is recorded than the years in which they were founded, and the names of the makers. d The weather mouldings both of the origi- nal roof, and of an intermediate one preceding the present roof, are visible. The roof is now ceiled. 270 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY CAPITAL OF WINDOW SHAFT. the manuscript, is confirmed by an inscription on Richard de Hette's monumental incised slab 6 . Henry de Bray, after recording that Richard de Hette " rebuilt the Chancel in 1320/' says, that "the whole Church was re- built in the time of the said Rector, A.D. 1325." He adds particulars, which place in a most favourable point of view the liberality of private indi- viduals at that period. "Roger de Lomelay," he informs us, " found the iron-work and the glazing ; Henry de Bray, the stone and wood; John Dyve" (who married Henry cle Bray's only child) " the carpentry." We have no direct evidence of the manner or extent of the assistance which Richard de Hette gave to the fabric of the Church, but besides the general super- intendence of the whole work, we should be disposed to attribute to him the N. Aisle. There is sufficient difference of detail between the two Aisles to suggest the belief that they have their separate history, and we naturally refer the more elaborate fabric to the munificent builder of the Chancel. The masonry of the N. and S. Aisles is nearly as it was left in 1 325. The former Aisle is far more elaborately finished than the latter, the windows and door are very good specimens of the Decorated style. The windows (with the exception of those at the W. end of each Aisle which consist only of two lights) are of three lights, with reticulated quatrefoiled tracery, and ogee arches. The dripstones over the windows of the N. Aisle are considerably more ogeed than those of the S. Aisle, and their points terminate in the lower table of the parapet cornice, which is adorned with curious and characteristic devices ; and the finials of the parapets are beautifully carved. e ©rate pro antma IGMcartU tfe 1|ctte qui fecit CTanceUum cujus auxtlto futt cccUsta facta anno Domini JWOTXX qutnto. OF NORTHAMPTON.— HARLESTON. 271 In the interior the N. is equally superior to the S. Aisle. The hood-mouldings of the door and windows stand I out in far bolder relief. | Wh Among the heads m 1 which the labels termi- nate, we discover those of a King, a Queen, and a Bishop. These may have been intend- ed to represent the un- fortunate Edward II., 1 i'?^ Isabella his wife, and the then bishop of Lin- coln, Henry de Burg- liersh SECTIONS, head of door and window, n. aisle. The Clerestory windows are of a very late Perpendicular date. They were, probably, either entire insertions, or were enlargements of original ones. The alteration may have been made, as in the case of the Chancel, when the roof was renewed. The Porch was built subsequently to the S. Aisle, but at what time cannot now be discovered. There is a well-executed niche over the entrance arch. There is nothing remarkable in the interior of the Porch, except a pedestal placed at the right hand of the entrance into the Church, at IBIH the extremity of the stone bench. It is Perpendicular in style, and must have been introduced long after the porch was built. Prom its position, it may probably have been the stone on which a stoup rested. Pour lofty arches supported by ^ 11 ° SECTION OF MOULDINGS OF CAPITAL octagonal shafts with moulded ^ arch of porch. capitals and bases connect each Aisle with the Nave. About five years ago, on removing some wainscoting and a fire- 272 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY place from the S. side of the S. Aisle near the E. end, a consider- able portion of a Piscina was discovered. Orders were immediately given for its restoration, and the work has been fairly executed. The Font is of cylindrical form, a little larger in diameter at the top than at the bottom. It is quite plain, and beneath it there is a small portion of circular column, adorned with four rudely carved heads ; the whole resting on a modern chamfered circular base. Some fragments of painted glass of Decorated date remain in the heads of some of the windows. In concluding our remarks on the fabric, we think it a duty on the part of our Society to state, that within the last few years a considerable quantity of earth has been removed from the foun- dations. Previously the basement moulding, in many parts, had been buried ; now the whole fabric appears in its original and fair proportions. Another, and a far greater advantage, has likewise been gained ; the interior is perfectly dry, and the damp floor and green dripping walls of former days are no longer to be seen. The patronage of this Church was for many centuries vested in the Priory of Lenton, near Nottingham. That Priory was founded by William Peveril, a natural son of the Conqueror, who largely endowed it, and conveyed to it several advowsons, this being one. The earliest Incumbent mentioned by Henry de Bray in his manuscript, is William de Lichefeld, who, he says, held the Church of Herleston by the presentation of the Prior of Lenton. After four other individuals had been similarly presented to the living by the Priors, the right to the patronage was disputed. The advowson was claimed by William de Ferrars, Hugh de Staunton and Clementia his wife, but unsuccessfully ; for on the 30th of May, 1279, the lawsuit, at an assize, was decided in favour of the Priory. In 1329 the claim was renewed by Thomas, son of Hugh de Staunton. On this occasion it was arranged that the right should be determined by single combat. A certain William Fitz-Thomas appeared on the part of Thomas de Staunton, and William Fitz- John undertook to do battle for the Prior. The whole of the pro- OF NORTHAMPTON.— BUGBROOKE. 273 ceedings preparatory to the conflict are minutely detailed by Dug- dale in his Origines Juridiciales, and are of a most interesting description. Happily the point in dispute was not left to be settled by this kind of arbitrement ; for though the combatants appeared at the appointed time, duly armed, and were sworn at the bar in the prescribed form, the principals had come to an amicable agreement; Thomas de Staunton relinquished for him- self and his heirs all claim to the advowson. From that time till the Reformation, the Priors of Lenton continued to enjoy the un- disputed patronage. " After the dissolution it formed part of an extensive grant in 6 Edward VI. to Edward Lord Clynton and Sage, in exchange for manors and lands conveyed to the crown, and in compensation for former grants which were rendered void by having been previously granted out to other persons f ." It soon passed into other hands. Towards the close of the seven- teenth century it belonged to the Andrew family, from which it was transferred along with the Harleston estate, by purchase, to Earl Spencer in 1832. d. m. BUGBROOKE. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, JiltaVJ) 3 . HUNDRED OF REV. J. H. HARRISON. NOBOTTLE GROVE. 9- •5 HE whole of this Church was originally Early English ; the portions which remain of that date are the pillars and arches of the Nave, the W. window of the S. Aisle, and the W. and one window more in the N. Aisle. The other win- dows of the Aisles are Decorated, (but some of them have lost their tracery,) and the Tower and Spire are of the same style. There are two good Decorated windows on the S. side of the Chancel. The Clerestory is an addition of the Perpendicular f Baker's History of Northamptonshire. a Liber Regis. Bridges says St. Michael. n n 274 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. age, and the E. window and one window on the S. side of the Chancel are insertions of the same character late in the style. The pillars are cylindrical on the S. (one having a foliated capital) and octagonal on the N. side of the Nave with moulded capitals. The N. Aisle extends beyond the Nave and communicates with the Chancel by a low pointed arch ; a piscina seems to indicate that this portion of the Aisle was a chapel. Attached to the E. end of this Aisle, and extending to a level with the E. end of the Chancel, is a Vestry b of rather early Perpendicular character with a two-light window at the E. end. The window, which once lighted the E. end of the N. Aisle, still remains closed towards the Aisle, but has been lately opened towards the Vestry, and is of singular design ; it is of two uncusped lights, of transitional character between Early English and Decorated ; on the exterior the hollow mouldings of the small arch-heads are rilled with a series of foliations not very unlike the crockets of a later period, while the same mouldings on the other side are adorned with the tooth ornament. The rood- screen of rich Perpendicular work remains almost entire, and some traces of its original painting and gilding are yet visible. The Font is octagonal, and of Perpendicular work. The Porches are modern. A considerable addition to the churchyard, lately made by the Rev. J. H. Harrison, the present Rector and Patron, has much improved the site of this Church. The Rectory was given to the Abbey of Greistein in Normandy, by William, Earl of Morton, in the reign of Henry I. ; 14 Ric. II. it was granted to Edward de la Pole. It afterwards came to the Crown, and was granted 34 Henry VIII. to Sir Edward Knightly. h. r. b This seems to have been its original des- tination : the door by which it is entered from the Chancel is of the same date with the Vestry. KISLINGBURY. RECTORY. DEANERY OF HADDON. PATRON, ^ et0r flntr ^ au j a< HUNDRED OF REV. R. HUGHES. NOBOTTLE GROVE. HE accompanying engraving gives the exterior of this Church so perfectly, that it is only necessary to add that the hollow moulding of the string-course under the windows all around is thickly set with four-leaved flowers, and that in the moulding of the S. door, the four-leaved flower alter- nates with the ball-flower. The Vestry has been rebuilt, the door .NORTH DOORWAY AND DOOR FROM CHANCEL TO VESTRi. into it is original and has two hollow mouldings each adorned with a continuous wreath of flowers. On either side of the E. window of the Chancel is an extremely rich and well executed octagonal canopy engaged, five sides appearing; the brackets are gone. Sedilia triple, with straight canopies crocketed. Piscina with a St. Luke, according to Bridges. 276 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY ogee canopy, crockets and finial. The pillars of the Nave octa- gonal, and unusually lofty, with moulded capitals. Arches acutely pointed. Font circa 1450, octagonal, with quatrefoil on each side, shaft panelled. The arms, "said to be those of the Lisles,' 7 mentioned by Bridges as existing on the Steeple, are no longer discernible, but there is a projecting stone on the S. side of the Tower which may have had arms upon it. h. r. RECTORY. PATRON, EARL FITZWILLIAM. HARPOLE DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. SOUTH-WEST VIEW. HE styles in this Church are much mixed. The Priest's door and the S. door into the Church are pure Norman. The Chancel-arch, about half the breadth of the Nave, is acutely pointed, and rests upon Norman engaged shafts, with indented capitals. The pillars of the Nave are all oc- OF NORTHAMPTON. — HEYFORD. 277 tagonal, but lower on the N., where they support three wide- pointed arches, than on the S. side, where they support four arches more acutely pointed. The N. Aisle is wider than the S. ; at the E. end of the former is a wide depressed arch, now closed up, resting on brackets, once an entrance to a Chapel, in the N. wall of which are two low arches with Early English mouldings resting on slender engaged shafts, with capitals of oak-leaves well executed. This Chapel communicates with the Chancel by a wide and low pointed arch. The Tower-arch is acutely pointed of four chamfered orders ; the first stage of the Tower has a triplet of equal height, resting on engaged shafts, with moulded capitals and bases, only the middle window open. The Eont and shaft are cylindrical, the former richly covered with Norman sculpture. Nearly all the win- dows of the Church and Chancel are of good Perpendicular character. h. r. HEYFORD. RECTORY. DEANERY OF H ADDON patron, gjSk. ^petcr an& 3|aul. hundred of REV. J. L. CRAWLEY. NOBOTTLE GROVE. SklLLARS and arches on the N. side of the Nave, and the whole of the N. Aisle, Early English. Pillars octagonal ; arches acutely pointed, with merely chamfered edges : S. door acutely pointed, with one row of the tooth-ornament on a very small scale ; jamb-shafts gone : pillars and arches on S. side of Nave Decorated ; the pillars octagonal, the arches very wide and almost elliptical, the point being scarcely developed. The walls of the S. Aisle, and the Porch were rebuilt, temp. Philip and Mary ; towards the E. end of the Aisle is a monument of that date with kneeling figures to the memory of Judge Morgan and his wife and their offspring. The Tower-arch is closed ; on the N. side of the Nave, close up to 278 CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY the timber-roof (which is almost flat, though with good mouldings, and bosses) is a huge head with the tongue hanging out, possibly a bracket in connexion with the original roof. On the other side are two angels bearing plain shields, belonging to a second roof, the present having other supports. The windows of the Clerestory are quatrefoils, those on the S. are no longer visible externally, the roof of the Aisle being above them ; on the N. it may be plainly seen that the wall of the Clerestory was raised above the original win- dows during the Perpendicular period. Some very plain original open seats with square ends remain. The Chancel-arch rests on brackets, in the N. wall of the Chancel is a wide depressed arch, beneath which are two altar-tombs with brasses to the Mauntell family, on a plain slab. On the same side is a square locker, and on the S. a Piscina. Windows and all the mouldings of the Chancel Decorated. Font plain, cylindrical, shafts short with plain base. A remarkably rich saddle stone and foliated cross on the gable of the Chancel. On the S. door is an original iron cross, with a ring of cable form depending from the centre, it is about 3 feet long, and the transverse about 2, one-half of the latter is gone, and some of the details at each end of the upright beam. The stancheon, with its ring, is in the usual place. h. r. VICARAGE. PATRON, DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CHRIST CHURCH. FLORE. &ll Saints. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. HIS Church, which stands in the middle of a spacious churchyard, is mainly an Early English structure, though it has Decorated and Perpendicular portions. The pillars and arches of the Nave, Early English, the pillars clus- tered, with moulded capitals, except one on the N. side which is OF NORTHAMPTON.— FLORE. 279 prettily foliated, the arches chamfered. The E. wall of the Chan- cel has been rebuilt towards the close of the fifteenth century, and some windows of the same date have been inserted, but two early Decorated windows remain, without cusping. There is a square locker in the N. wall, with some good original iron- work on its folding-doors ; in the same wall on the floor is a small pointed re- cess with chamfered edge. On the S. side is an Early English double Piscina of singular design, with a solid stone shelf running along the back of both recesses. The Sedile is a plain pointed recess with chamfered edge : the label which once ran round the whole is gone. There are three brasses, 1. Man in armour and lady, 1450. 2. A similar subject, 1500. 3. A Latin cross with inscription, 1534. The rood-loft stair-case in the N. W. angle of the Chancel-arch remains, but the door is walled up. There is an original Vestry on the N. side, circa 1450. The Priest's door has a row of the tooth ornament on a large scale all round it. Part of the rood-screen remains. The Tower is Decorated, and has a good original deep door in the W. face of it. Some of the windows have lost their tracery, some are reticulated. This Church once belonged to the Priory of Merton. h. r. THE PRIEST'S DOOR RECTORY. PATRON, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD. BRAMPTON DEANERY OF HADDON, HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. N W. VIEW OF CHURCH. PPROACHED from the W., the situation, as well as the form, detail, and colouring of this Church, combine to form a subject irresistible to the passing artist. It remains very much in its original state, and is a good and very uni- form example of a village Church in the Decorated style. The tracery of most of the windows is reticulated. The E. window, and one on the N. and another on the S. side of the Chancel, are insertions of debased style. The Clerestory windows were originally square, with probably a quatrefoil in each, those on the N. side are closed up, and on the S. very late Perpendicular windows have been inserted in their stead. The pillars of the Nave are octa- gonal, with moulded capitals, the arches pointed and of two cham- fered orders, the engaged columns of the Chancel-arch are clus- tered and cylindrical. The Tower-arch is closed, but may be seen in the Belfry, it is of four chamfered orders, and rests upon the side CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 281 walls without brackets. The Nave and some part of the N. Aisle still retain the original open seats, which are plain with square ends. On the N. side of the Chancel is a small portion of original seating with a poppy-head. Near the Communion Table is the matrix of a brass, which consisted of a floriated cross with some animal at the foot, and above it a half figure of (probably) an ecclesiastic. The rood stairs are left, shewing clearly that they were constructed after the completion of the original edifice. The Font is a paraboloid resting on a cylindrical shaft with plain mouldings. There is a remarkably pretty Decorated window of two lights in the W. face of the Tower ; the battlements appear original, although of the step kind. The Porch is unusually large, but seems never to have had a room over it. The windows in it are closed up : they were of an oblong form, shewing internally a segmental arch, the edge of one of which is adorned with the tooth ornament. The arch of entrance has three chamfers, and rests upon shafts, some engaged and some detached, the latter have been removed, the capitals of all have very simple foliations. Over the S. door is a shield bearing the arms of France and England quar- terly, as they were borne by Edward III., so that this Church was probably erected about the time that monarch first laid claim to the crown of France, and this supposition agrees perfectly well with the architectural detail. THE PARISH CHEST There is a curious chest with original iron-work in front, whicli seems to be coeval with the Church. n. r. o o VICARAGE. PATRON, DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CHRIST CHURCH. RAVENSTHOEPE. DEANERY OF HADDON HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF THE TOWER. j|&=^|j]HE pillars of the Nave are octagonal with moulded , r/lF Ml ca P^ a ^ Sj arcnes pointed, of two chamfered orders, hol- sSllfc lowed. In S. Aisle a monumental arch, piscina and W. window of early Decorated character, which appears to have been originally the style of the whole fabric, including S. Porch and Tower, the Belfry windows of which are double lancets. The Clerestory and other windows are Perpendicular. The Font is cylindrical and plain, the supports are not original. The Chancel was rebuilt in 1808, on a smaller scale, without any regard to architectural propriety. Underneath the Communion Table is a large and curious chest, covered all over with thin plates of iron crossing eacli other at right angles. There is a good deal of ori- CHURCHES OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF NORTHAMPTON. 283 ginal open seating left with square ends much enriched with a variety of good tracery and small buttresses. It appears from a document in the Registry at Lincoln, that the Vicarage was endowed in 1318, and that the Church was dedicated to St. Dionysius. According to the Liber Regis, this Church was once in the possession of the Knights Templars, but this must be a mis- take, for the Knights Hospitalers, to whom it was given by Robert de Cales, presented in 1233, nearly a century before the suppres- sion of the Templars. u. r . BROOKHALL. RECTORY. PATRON, T. R. THORNTON, Esq. SbSb. peter an* Paul. DEANERY OF HADDON. HUNDRED OF NOBOTTLE GROVE. HIS is a very small Church, and has only a S. Aisle, separated from the Nave by two round and one pointed arch, resting on two short cylindrical columns ; in it is a trefoiled monumental arch crocketed with finial, all the hollow mouldings of wdiich are thickly set with ball-flowers ; on the floor beneath it is a slab with the matrix of a brass, consisting of a flo- riated cross and inscription for Peter de Thurleston, Rector 1281. The N. side of the Nave seems to have been rebuilt about the mid- dle of the fifteenth century, and the same date may be given to the S. Porch and upper story of the Tower ; the construction of the Tower as well as the arrangement at the W. end of the Nave would indicate that the original design was a gable Belfry. The Pont is octagonal and has a flower on each side (in a hollow moulding be- tween the bason and the shaft) of Perpendicular character. It has a high original cover. The Chancel has been almost rebuilt by the present Rector, when it was shortened several feet. The S. door is semicircular, very simple and without shafts. h. h. INDEX OF CHURCHES. UlUg tU 11 • • PAGE 257 XlcVKJIvl .... PAGE 977 Higham Ferrers . . \ A H r\ i vi fv^rvn Tiif f id AQUlllgLOIlj J-illUie . . Holdenby .... 9R9 X>dl LUll OtJctglcLVtS . « Irchester .... Billingj Grctit . . ■ Irthlingborough 11U Tallinn* T.irfla 9^4 Kettering 1 W lOZ JjQUgllTOIl • • • • 9.17 Kislmgbury . . . 275 JlJU/jCcXu • • • • 199 Tnl nnnrnA JJllUUUlilC .... 214 TldllipiUll . • • • 280 TVTrvnlf rvr» IXLUUlLUil . . . . 249 Briiigton • . . . 9^8 Naseby .... 239 JDIUCHIActll • • 283 Xi C W LUL1 ±J1 U111E5 W UlvA . . 174 JjUCKUjy JJUIlg 231 V/VCloLUllC ■ . . • 251 Bugbrookc . • • — # o Pifsfnrd JTlUblUltl . 245 XVd till LID . • • * 53 (~1h tiltrocf* An r»nm 1 h p^fif V^IltJl VtJovUUl CU.1J.1 \j<&l\JLs5\s\J\j 30 T? a wn cf Vi nrnp J-Vai VCllo tliuiwo . » . 282 vld y vUlvll • • • 213 Ringstead . 67 210 "RncV»dpn ±\»U.ollLlt/ll • • . • 176 Cottesbrooke 240 Spratton . . 243 Cranford St. Andrew . . 167 Stanford . . 215 Cranford St. John . 171 Stanwick . . . . 43 Creaton .... . 242 Strixton . . 189 Crick .... . 201 Thornby . . 209 Denford .... 75 Warkton . . 159 Finedon .... . 132 Watford . . 229 Flore .... . 278 Welford . . 236 Grafton Underwood . . 163 Weston Favell . . 255 Guilsborough . . 234 Whilton . . 263 Haddon, East . . 264 Winwick . . 208 Haddon, West . 232 Wollaston . 188 Ilargrave 36 Woodford . 80 Harleston . 266 Yelvertoft . 211 Harpole .... . 276 Subscribers to tbe ©fmrcbes tu tbe ^rcbteaconrg of jSortfmmpton. 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Esq., Northampton Proof Higgins, Mr. W Plain Higgins, W. T. Esq. . . . Proof Hill, Rev. B., Collingtree Hodson, H. M. Esq., Wellingboro' Plain Hogg, Rev. J., Brixham Holdich, Rev. T., Maidwell Holdich, Rev. John H., Maidwell Proof Hoskins, W. Esq., South Perrott, Somerset Proof Hugall, J. W. Esq., Cleveland House, Cheltenham . . . Proof Hughes, Rev. W. H., Kislingbury Proof Hughes, C. H. Esq., Northampton Proof Hussey, R. C. Esq., Birmingham . Proof Isham, Rev. R., Lamport Hall . Proof Isted, A. Esq., Ecton . . . Proof Ives, Rev. C, Braddon . . Proof Jackson, Mr. J., Leeds James, Rev. Dr. T., Peterborough Proof James, Rev. T., Theddingworth (2 copies) ..... Proof James, Miss, Theddingworth . Proof James, F., Esq., 51, Lincoln's Inn . Proof SUBSCRIBERS. Jeffrey, J. Esq., Northampton Jenkins, Rev. J. C, Ashby St. Leger Jewitt, Mr. O., Headington, Oxford Jones, Rev. Francis, Kettering Kennard, Rev. G. Klitz, Mr. J. F., Northampton Knight, Rev. D. T., Earl's Barton Knight, Rev. R. H., Weston Flavel Lamb, H. Esq., Kettering . Langley, Rev. Dr., Olney Law, Mr., Northampton Law, Rev. W., Marston Trussell . Lee, Rev. P. H., Stoke Bruern Leonard, Rev. R. W., Charlton Lightfoot, Rev. J. P., Wootton Littledale, G. H. Esq. . Littledale, Miss .... Littledale, Miss E. Livock, J., Esq., London Lye, Rev. E. B. Macdonald, Rev. A., Cotterstock . Mackenzie, F. Esq. Macpherson, Rev. A., Roth well . Madge, Rev. T. H., Kettering Mainwaring, C. Esq.,Coleby, Lin- colnshire .... Markland, Rev. J. H., Bath . M'Korkell, Mr. C, Northampton . Malim, Rev. G., Higham Ferrers . Malim, F. Esq., Grantham, Lincoln Manning, J. Esq., Harpole Mansell, R. Esq., Peterborough . Marriott, Rev. J. P., Cottesbach . Marsh, Rev. G., Peterborough Marshall, Mr. J. N., London Marshall, Mr. W., London Matthews, Rev. R. M., Bowden Maunsell, W. T. Esq., Thorpe Malsor . . . . Maunsell, Rev. G. E., Thorpe Malsor Morrell, F. Esq., Oxford Morton, Rev. D., Harlestone Murray, J. Esq., Albemarle St. . Murray, Mrs. Scott, \ Danesfield, ) Murray, Miss Scott, / Gt. Marlow j Nethercote, H. Esq. \ Moulton \ Nethercote, J. R. Esq. J Grange. J Newbolt, Rev. W. H., Paulerspury Newby, Rev. H., Wooton Newcome, H. Esq. Nussey, Rev. J., Oundle Nuttall, R. Esq., Kempsey, near Worcester .... Oliver, Rev. John Orford, C. W. Esq., Birmingham . Palmer, J., Esq., Carleton Park . Parker, Rev. Edward, Oxendon . Parker, Joseph, Esq., Oxford Parker, C. Esq., Upper Bedford Place Parker, Mr. Owen, Higham Ferrers Parkins, Rev. S., Hackleton Parkinson, Rev. J. R., Grimsby . Paul, Mrs., Finedon Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Plain Plain Plain Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Plain Plain Proof Plain Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Pearson, Mrs., Husband's Bosworlh Proof Pedlev, Rev. J. T. Pell, Samuel, Esq. Percival, S. Esq., Northampton . Proof Percival, A. Esq., Peterborough . Proof Petit, Rev. J. L., Uplands, Shiffnal Proof Poole, R. Esq Proof Poole, Rev. G. Ayliffe, Welford (2 copies) .... Proof Poole, W. S. Esq. Pooley, R. B. Esq., Oundle . . Plain Powys, Rev. A. L., Titchmarsh . Proof Poynder, Rev. Leopold, Sibbertoft Proof Pratt, Rev. J., Paston, Peterborough Proof Rands, G., jun. Esq., Northampton Proof Reddall, J. Esq., Dallington . Proof Relton, F. B. Esq. . . . Proof Rickett, Capt. J., Oundle . . Proof Robertson, Dr., Northampton . Proof Robertson, G. Esq., Northampton Proof Robinson, Rev. H., Hazlebeack . Proof Rokeby, Rev. H. K., Arthingworth Proof Rose, Rev. H., Brington (2 copies) Proof Rose, Rev. J., Wilton (2 copies) . Proof Rose, W. S. Esq., Cransley . . Proof Rough ton, William, Esq., Kettering Russell, J. W. Esq., Oundle Sanders, Rev. P. Sanders, Rev. T., Moulton . . Proof Sanderson, Rev. T., Little Addington Proof Sargeant, Rev. John, Stanwick . Proof Sartoris, F. Esq., Rushden Hall . Proof Saunders, Rev. Dr., Charter House, London Sawbridge, Mrs., East Haddon . Proof Scarr, Rev. R. W., Shenley . . Proof Scriven, R. Esq., Castle Ashby . Proof Scriven, Mrs. R. F., Castle Ashby Proof Scriven, G. Esq., Castle Ashby Sharp, T. Esq., Northampton . Proof Sherard, E. C. Esq., Oundle . Proof Short, Rev. A Proof Slater, W. Esq., Guildford St., Lond. Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof Smith, Rev. J. T. H., Flore Smith, Rev. J., Long Buckby Smith, Rev. Sydney L., Brampton Smyth, W. Esq., Little Houghton Smyth, Mrs., Little Hougbton Smyth, Rev. S., Lois Weedon Smyth, Rev. C, Little Houghton Smyth, Rev. W Smyth, Rev. E Spence, Rev. H. M., West Haddon Spence, Rev. J., Culworth Stockdale, Rev. W., Mears Ashby Stoddart, Rev. Dr., Lowick Stone, G. Esq., Blisworth Stopford, . W. B. Esq., Drayton House (2 copies) Stopford, Miss Sutton, W. H. Esq., London Swainson, Rev. C. L., Crick Swainson, Rev. J., Ecton Swann, Rev. C. H. Taylor, Rev. W. A., Lichborougl Tenton, S. S. Esq. Proof Proof Proof Proof- Proof Proof Proof Proof Proof SUBSCRIBERS. Terry, H. Esq., Northampton . Proof Thornton, T. R. Esq., Brockhall . Proof Thornton, Rev. P., Brockhall . Proof Thornton, Rev. W., Dodford Thornton, Rev. J., Kimholton . Proof Thornton, E. Esq., Brockhall Thnrsby, F. Esq., Leamington Hastings .... Proof Toulon, S. S. Esq., London . . Plain Traherne, Rev. J. M. . . . Proof Trotman, Rev. F. S., Dallington Veysie, Rev. D., Daventry Villiers, Hon. Capt., Sulby Hall Vyse, Rev. G. S. H., Broughton . Proof Wake, Rev. R., Courteenhall . Proof Wales, Rev. W., Northampton . Proof Walford, Rev. O., Charter House, London Proof Walker, G. Esq., Easton Maudit Proof Wallis, O. Esq., Overstone . . Proof Wartnaby, George, Esq. . . Proof Watkins, Rev. C. F., Brixworth . Proof Watkins, Mrs Proof Watson, Rev. J. D., Guilsborough (3 copies) 2 plain, and one . ' Proof Watson, Mrs., Daventry . . Proof Webster, Rev. K., Barnoak . . Proof Wetherall, Rev. J., Rushton . Proof Wetton, Mr. G. N., Northampton (2 copies) . ■ . . Proof Wheelwright, Miss, Oundle . . Plain White, Rev. F. H. . . . Proof Whitton, Mr., Northampton Whitworth, H. B. Esq. . . Proof Wilkes, Mrs Plain Wilmot, R. E. E. Esq., Ch. Ch. Oxford Proof Wilson, C. T. Esq., Oundle . . Proof Wilson, Rev. W., Desborough Winfield, J. F. Esq., Birmingham Proof Wing, Rev. J. . Proof Wing, Tycho, Esq., Thorney Abbey Proof Wood, Rev. R. W., Husband's Bosworth ..... Proof Wood, T. Esq , Bedford . . Proof Wood, Miss, Oundle . . . Plain Woolfreys, Mr., Northampton . Proof Wray, Rev. G., Ufford . . Proof Young, Rev. J., Stanwick Young, A. A. Esq., Orlingbury . Proof oxford : printed by i. shrimpton. ERRATA. Page 218, line 3, for Bray read Braye. „ 231, line I, for Buckly read Buckby. „ 264, among the patrons of East Haddon, for Lord Clifden read Rev. E. Smyth.