A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



on which Henry VIII entered under the provisions of his Chantry Act of 1545.^ That Act 

 made no provision for the continuance of schools. So this early elementary school, after a 

 career of little more than half a century, disappeared for ever. 



SPRATTON 



At Spratton there was 'one chauntrie,- cauled the chauntre of Sprotton, founded to 

 mayntayne a preste there to syng in the parishe churche of Spotton {sic) for ever. The valewe 

 of the landes appertaining to the said chauntrie ^^5 I2i. ; whereof rents resolute 23s. 6d. ; 

 the kinges tenthes I05. ; for ye prestes stipend jSs. bd. et seq.' 



At the dissolution in 1548^ this is described as 'the chantry there (Sprotton) founded 

 within the parishe churche there, by whom yt ys unknowen, to finde a preest to sing for ever ; 

 worth in landes and tenements £Z i8f. "j^d. ; rents resolute ds. J^d. ; and to Bernard 

 Brandon, preest, doctor of Dyvinitie, mete to serve a cure, at the age of 40 yeres, and hathe 

 no other lyving, ;^5 6s.' 



From neither of these chantry certificates should we have gathered that this chantry was 

 also a school; but we have direct evidence that it was, for in 1520 Thomas Hartwell, 

 chantry priest there, by his will* gave 'to every scolar of my paryshe that can syng, 4^., and 

 that cannot, 2d., and to every scholar that I have else, id., and that haue been my scolars, 

 beying at my buryal, a peny, and as moche at the moneth day ; to every scolar of myne that 

 are present, and to such as have been my scolars, beying then in holy orders, present at my 

 buryall, I2i.' 



Barnard Brandon, D.D., no doubt also taught a school there ; but as we have no 

 mention of it in the chantry certificates we must assume that it was a song school only, or not 

 by foundation a grammar school. 



FAWSLEY 



Here there was, for a time at all events, an endowed elementary school, for 

 Sir Richard Fawsley, knt., by will in 1528 left 10 marks for the wages of a secular priest to 

 sing for his soul in the parish church for 20 years, ' and the said priest shall during the sayd 

 tyme teach children their playne song after the nombre and rate that my executors shall think 

 mete and convenyent, without any thinge taken of the sayd children, or of their friendes, for 

 ther techinge.' This bequest would have run out by 1548, which is no doubt the reason 

 why there is no mention of it in the chantry certificates. 



Doubtless there were numerous other such endowments which have not yet come to 

 light to show that it is not only in these latter days that ' rich men living peacefully in their 

 habitations ' have made provision for the elementary education of their poorer neighbours. 



ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTY OF NORTHAMPTON 



Abthorpe. — Mrs. Jane Leeson built a school in Abthorpe about 1642, and by will 

 proved 1649 devised lands to pay ^^8 yearly to a schoolmaster for teaching poor children 

 gratis. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1737 'for enabling the Master of the Free 

 Grammar School within the said Hamlet of Abthorpe and Foxcoate to be Vicar' of the parish, 

 the then schoolmaster to be vicar so long as he should continue to be master, and the person 

 at any time to be appointed to be in Holy Orders and vicar of Abthorpe so long as he 

 continued to be master. In 1833 the school was taught by a deputy of the vicar, and was 

 then probably an elementary school only. The present national school, seating 139, appears 

 to be held in the original school building, enlarged in 1866, and the endowment of ;|^8 yearly 

 is applied to its support. 



Aldwinkle. — By will of 19 May, 1663, the Rev. Richard Thorpe directed that 

 a quartern of land in Barby should be settled upon the school at Aldwinkle, if there should be 



' Engl. Schools at the Reformation, p. 64, Chan. Misc. R. bdle. xiii, file 5. 

 ' Chant. Cert. 36, No. 13. ^ Chant. Cert. 33. 



' Northampton Probate Registry-, Bk. B. 38. 



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