A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of Rockingham and sister and co-heir of Charles the 

 second marquess, the P'itzwilliams obtained possession 

 in 1 769 of the great estates of VVentworth and 

 Coollattin. From this date till 1857 Milton was the 

 winter residence and VVentworth the summer resi- 

 dence of the Earls Fitzwilliam. No noblemen were 

 more prominent in politics on the Whig side than 

 the Fitzwilliams, and in the schism over the French 

 Revolution Lord Fitzwilliam went with Burke. 



The viceroyalty of Ireland held by the fourth earl 

 ('795) W3s of high political importance, and the 

 friendship between this nobleman and Fox was 

 personally and politically most intimate until the 

 Whig party broke up. The fifth earl when Viscount 

 Milton was member for the county conjointly with 

 Lord Althorp at the time of the great Reform Bill. 



The Fitzwilliams were the great leaders of the 

 Whig party in north Northamptonshire, as the Cecils 

 of Burghley were of the Tories. 



Milton stands in a park of about 1,000 acres 

 heavily timbered, particularly with oak. The 

 northern half has for many generations been used as a 

 deer-park, and now contains 230 fallow deer. They 

 are of the dark type, not greatly mottled, and are by 

 tradition held to be descended from the fallow deer of 

 Rockingham Forest, which formerly extended to 

 Milton. 



In the park, half a mile to the east of the house, are 

 the kennels of the Fitzwilliam Hunt. The buildings 

 have been used as such continuously since 1 767, 

 while the stud book preserved at Milton contains evi- 

 dence that there was a pack of hounds there before 

 that date. The kennels are built in that quaint style 

 of pseudo-Gothic which often marks the third quarter 

 of the 1 8th century, and they contain two archways 

 of older date, said to have been brought from else- 

 where, though they may possibly be relics of a 

 mediaeval barn. In the south-eastern quarter of the 

 park is a heronry of 1 30 nests, much the largest of 

 the three in the county, and one of the largest 

 in England. It was begun a century ago by a 

 single pair of birds, and rapidly grew to its present 

 size. 



Besides the oaks, some of which are of great 

 antiquity, there are several trees in the park and 

 gardens which deserve special mention. In one of 

 the smaller woods on the south is a tree said by 

 Waterton to be the first weeping beech known, and 

 the one from which all others are sprung. It is not 

 itself a large tree, and there is a much finer one on 

 the lawn to the south of the house. Two large chest- 

 nut trees in the garden are noticeable, their branches 

 having drooped to the ground and taken root, send- 

 ing up fresh trees from the new roots. The park itself 

 is generally flat, except towards the river, on the 

 south, where it undulates, and forms the picturesque 

 bank above the bridge built in 1 7 16, and belonging 

 to Mr. Fitzwilliam, which marks the point where 

 formerly was Gunwade Ferry. On the rising ground 

 near the bridge stands a fine old 1 7th-century house 

 known as the Ferry House, now the residence of 

 Mr. Woodford, Mr. Fitzwilliam's agent. There 

 are several pieces of ornamental water in the park.' 



An account has already been given 

 JDFOIVSON of the partition of the land, and the 

 advowson of the church of Castor 

 between the brothers Richard and Geoffrey of Castor,* 

 when the former, a priest, received the church and 

 one-third of the land. The same writer also tells us 

 that Richard afterwards took monastic vows at Peter- 

 borough, and gave to the abbey the church of Castor 

 and the land belonging to the same. This action 

 seems to have caused dissension between the brothers, 

 but finally Geoffrey released to the abbey for himself 

 and his heirs his interest in the church. Walter, of 

 St. Edmunds, from 1243 to 1246, was summoned to 

 Rome to answer a charge of contempt, in having pre- 

 sented to the church of Castor according to royal 

 instead of papal dictation. This Use majesle was 

 atoned for by a yearly pension conferred by Abbot 

 Walter on a near relative of the pope.' 



In 1 541 the rectory, and all portions, tithes, 

 and pensions in Castor, formed part of the grant 

 made by Henry VIII to his newly-founded bishopric 

 of Peterborough.' The parsonage of Castor was 

 annexed to the bishopric of Peterborough, to be held 

 in commendam in 1633, a transaction recorded in the 

 diary of Archbishop Laud;' but in 185 i, under the 

 Ecclesiastical Commission Act of 1836, the rectory, 

 with the chapelries of Sutton and Upton, was 

 detached and dissevered 'from the see, in consideration 

 of which the bishop was assigned a yearly payment of 

 £6jl,^ the right of presentation being also in his 

 hands.' 



One mention has been found of a gild in Castor ; 

 in 1499 Robert Mayden left his croft on the hill and 

 all its belongings to the gild of the Blessed Virgin 

 Mary in Castor.' 



The church is dedicated in honour of 

 CHURCH St. Kyneburga,* and consists of chancel, 

 central tower with spire, north transept, 

 large south transept with eastern aisle, nave with 

 aisles, and south porch. A religious house was 

 founded at Castor in the 7th century, and the site of 

 the present church, within the lines ofa walled Roman 

 camp, is very possibly that of the early monastery, but 

 no part of the present building is older than the first 

 quarter of the 12th century. Apart from its historical 

 associations and the beauty of its architecture, the 

 church is very valuable as a dated example, for we 

 have the double witness of records and the still extant 

 dedication inscription that it was consecrated in 1 1 24. 

 The building, as it then stood, had an aisleless nave 

 55 ft. by 24 ft. external measurement, a central tower 

 24 ft. square, north and south transepts 1 3 ft. by 

 24 ft., and a chancel whose length and eastern termi- 

 nation cannot now be stated. Of this church the 

 tower, north transept, and west end of the nave still 

 stand ; part of the west wall of the south transept 

 also remains, and the south doorway of the nave forms 

 the inner doorway of the 13th-century south porch. 

 The developments which have brought the church to 

 its present plan are as follows : — The chancel was 

 pulled down, and replaced about 1220 by the present 

 fine building, 41 ft. long inside. The south aisle of 

 the nave, with the south porch, was then added, and 



^ For history of a small amount of land 

 formerly part of Milton, see Paston. 



'•* Supplement to Guntons Peterborough^ 

 p. 276. 



^ Sparke, Scriptores. 



* Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 13. 

 ' Gunton, p. 83. 



' Ecclet. Com. vol. Yii, B. M. 5157 C. 

 7 Sweeting, Parish Churches near 

 Peterborough. 



478 



' John Kempster (1522) left his body 

 to be buried in the churchyard of St. iCeny- 

 burgh of Castor. Wills in Northampton 

 Probate Registry, BIc. B. fol. 90. See 

 also Bk. B. fol. 146. 



