PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



the entrance hall, now converted into a dining-room, 

 while the date 1656 occurs on the head of a lead rain- 

 water spout. 



There was a chapel belonging to 

 yfOrOffSON the abbey of Peterborough, at Long- 

 thorpe, at least as early as 1 1 89, 

 when it was confirmed to them by Richard I.' It 

 was appropriated to the sacrist's office, and was served 

 under him, together with the 'chapel of Burch,' now 

 the church of St. John the Baptist at Peterborough, 

 by a chaplain who ever^* year at Michaelmas brought 

 the keys of the chapels and laid them on the altar and 

 received them back at the hands of the sacristan. In 

 return he had the corrody of a knight in the abbot's 

 hall and some other emoluments.' In the time of 

 Abbot Robert of Sutton,' the old chapel was taken 

 down and rebuilt on a new site, at the instance and 

 charges of Sir William of Thorpe.' The chapel 

 remained a chapel of ease to St. John the Baptist until 

 1850, when Longthorpe was erected into a separate 

 parish by an order in council. In return for paying 



CoUyweston slates, and the walling is of freestone 

 rubble with wrought quoins and dressings. 



The chancel has an east window of three lights, 

 c. I 500, with a transom, the inner jambs being those 

 of the 1 3th-century window. In the north and south 

 walls are coupled lancets, and near the north-west and 

 south-west angles small trefoiled low side windows, 

 all of original date. There is a trefoiled piscina with 

 a shelf in the south wall and a square locker in the 

 north wall, and on each side of the east window is an 

 image-bracket. The nave is of three bays with 

 pointed arches of one chamfered order, and circular 

 shafts with moulded capitals and bases, the shafts 

 having a diameter of only 14 inches. The pro- 

 portions of these arcades are exceedingly good, but 

 here, as so often happens, the details of the arcades 

 are slightly different, those of the north being better 

 than those of the south. The north aisle has a single 

 north window of two trefoiled lancets, and similar 

 windows at east and west, while the north doorway 

 has a pointed arch of one continuous order, with a 



Longthorpe Tower 



A Girderobf 



8 jEurj to 'b^cmenrs 



?\dT> d Toj) Flew 



WM 7*' ccflt 



j^ioo of the vicar's stipend, the advowson belongs to 

 the Fitzwilliams of Milton.' 



The church of St. Botolph ' stands in 

 CHURCH the village, south of the road, on a level 

 site, having the River Nene at some little 

 distance to the south. The churchyard lies mostly to 

 the south, being but little wider from east to west 

 than the length of the church. 



The date of the building is fixed to 1262-74 ^Y 

 the entry noted above, and the fabric of f he chapel built 

 at this time remains to-day without material alteration,' 

 consisting of a chancel about 25 ft. square and nave 

 and aisles 47 ft. by 49 ft. ; the details being simple 

 and well designed, and the proportion of breadth to 

 length unusually large. The roofs are covered with 



roll moulding.' On the south side of the east window 

 is a bracket, and a second, larger and elaborately 

 moulded, at the east end of the north wall. 



The south aisle is a counterpart of the north in 

 respect of its windows and doorvvay, save that the 

 doorway has no roll moulding, and there are brackets 

 on each side of its east window, and a trefoiled 

 piscina of ^. 1320 in its south wall. 



The inner jambs and rear arch of the west window 

 of the nave are original, but the tracery is of the 

 1 7th century, with two plain round-headed lights and 

 a transom. Over it in the gable are two arched 

 openings, now below the roof and glazed as windows, 

 but formerly serving for bells. Below them is a very 

 flat pitched weather mould, and above them a modern 



> Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 

 ^ Swapham, fol. 229. 

 ' 1262-73. 



* Bridges, ii, 572, quoting from a Peter- 

 borough register (Reg. Kirton, 12S). 



* Bishop's Faculty Bk. at Peterborough. 



• The invocation is given by Bacon 

 {^Liber Regji) as St. John the Baptist. 



" It seems to have been in bad con- 

 dition in 1552, and was repaired in 1683, 

 when it) graveyard was consecrated, as 



459 



recorded on a brass formerly at the west 

 of the chancel and now in the south aisle. 

 ® An ornamental detail due to the fact 

 that it can be seen from the highway 

 close by J the south doorway, which can- 

 not be seen, is quite plain 



