A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



kinson, now vicar of Sutton, who lives at the Grange 

 and whose family has owned land in the district for 

 over a century. 



The church was a chapelry to 

 y^DFOlVSON Castor until 185 1, and as such was 

 confirmed to Peterborough Abbey by 

 Richard I and Henry III.' The bishop of Peter- 

 borough presented to the benefice after its erection into 

 a separate vicarage in 1851. In 1903 it was united 

 with Upton and the right of patronage is now exer- 

 cised alternately by the bishop of Peterborough and 

 the Rev. W. Hopkinson. 



The church is dedicated in honour of 

 CHURCH St. Giles," and stands at the west of 

 the vilLige close to the bank of the Nene, 

 the ground falling from the west side of the church- 

 yard to the river. The building is small, having a 

 chancel 21 ft. by 13 ft. with south chapel, nave 

 34 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 3 in., and south aisle 6 ft. 6 in. 

 wide. There is no tower, and the single bell hangs 

 in a bellcot at the west end of the nave. The plan 

 has developed from a nave and chancel church of the 

 early i zth century, the dimensions of the nave of which 

 have remained unaltered, though it is probable that all 

 the walls except the east wall have been rebuilt. The 

 jambs of the chancel arch belong to this date. About 

 the end of the 12th century a south aisle of two bays 

 was added to the nave, and the chancel was rebuilt or 

 enlarged and the south chapel added in the 13th cen- 

 tury. The north doorway and west window of the 

 nave belong to the first half of this century, and it is 

 possible that the walls in which they are set were 

 rebuilt at the time. The bellcot may be of any date 

 from the 13th to the i6th century. In the latter 

 part of the 15 th century the nave walls were raised 

 and the pitch of the roof heightened ; the clearstory 

 on the south, and the three windows on the north, 

 belong to this time, as do the diagonal buttresses at 

 the west end of the nave. 



In 1 867-8 the chancel and south chapel were in 

 great measure rebuilt, some of the old features being 

 re-used. The east window of the chancel is modern, 

 having three lancet lights with two circles and a 

 quatrefoil over them, and on either side of the window 

 are stone corbels carved with human heads, for im.iges. 

 Towards the east end of the north wall is a small 

 ogee-headed light of the 14th century, whose purpose 

 is difficult to understand, and further to the west a 

 15th-century window, square-headed with two cinque- 

 foiled lights and a transom, all the lights having an 

 internal rebate for a frame. In the south wall is a 

 piscina with a trefoiled arch over it, and higher in 

 the wall an opening with a segmental-arched head, 

 cut straight through the wall, opening to the south 

 chapel. West of it is an arch of two chamfered orders 

 with half-octagonal responds and moulded capitals, 

 opening to the south chapel. It seems to be of late 

 1 3th-century date. The south chapel has inserted in 

 its rebuilt east wall a very small lancet, and in the 

 south wall two coupled lancets. To the north of the 

 small lancet a 13th-century string with an elaborate 

 form of dogtooth ornament has been built into the 

 east wall of the chapel. At the west the chapel opens 

 to the south aisle by a modern arch of two chamfered 

 orders. 



The chancel arch is a modern copy of 12th-century 

 detail, the original arch having long since been de- 

 stroyed and its opening blocked by a plastered partition 

 standing on a wooden beam, which rested on the 

 capitals of the responds. The responds are like those 

 in the neighbouring church of Upton, and of about 

 the same date, not later than 1 1 20, with twin shafts 

 on the inner jambs, and nookshafts on the west side. 

 The capitals are carved with interlacing scrollwork, 

 and the moulded bases have the indented ornament 

 which is to be found also at Castor and Maxey. 

 There was formerly a low stone screen at the entrance 

 to the chancel, an interesting feature which, unfortu- 

 nately, was removed in 1867. In the north wall of 

 the nave are three late I Jth-century windows of two 

 cinquefoiled lights under four-centred heads. Between 

 the second and third of these windows is the north 

 doorway, of plain 13th-century work, with a pointed 

 arch of two chamfered orders. 



The south arcade is of two bays, with round arches 

 of two chamfered orders, square abaci with recessed 

 angles, and plain circular bell capitals and shafts, 

 c. 1 200. Over the arcade is a clearstory of the 

 date of the windows in the north wall, with similar 

 details. 



The south aisle is shorter than the nave, and has in 

 its east bay a square-headed south window of two un- 

 cusped ogee-headed lights, and in its west bay a square- 

 headed south doorway with zigzag and pellet ornament 

 on the soffit of the lintel, and shoulder corbels at 

 either end. In the west wall of the aisle is a two- 

 light window which seems to be modern, with detail 

 like that in the south wall. To the east of the south 

 doorway is a stone bench end, 8 in. thick, the upper 

 part carved as a lion with tail curved over above his 

 back ; the bench to which it belonged existed till 

 within recent times, and the whole was probably 

 coeval with the aisle. In the west wall of the nave is 

 a tall lancet window the stonework of which has been 

 renewed. The middle part of the wall, in which it is 

 set centrally, projects slightly from the general face, 

 the greater thickness being on account of the bellcot 

 above. This has two arched openings under gabled 

 heads, and contains one bell. The wall face on the 

 south of the projecting portion has been rebuilt flush 

 with the projection, destroying the balance of the 

 front. The font, near the south doorway of the nave, 

 has an octagonal panelled bowl on a central octagonal 

 shaft and eight smaller shafts with capitals and bases ; 

 it may be of the 14th century, and the panels on the 

 bowl are probably a later alteration. The woodwork 

 in the church is modern, but the corbels to the nave 

 roof are old, and must date from the raising of the 

 walls late in the 15 th century. 



The plate comprises a small silver beaker, c. 1650, 

 of rough workmanship, with no marks ; it may have 

 been made locally in imitation of the foreign beaker 

 at the neighbouring church of Upton ; a plated 

 flagon, and two pewter plates, with diameters of 

 8^ and 9J in. respectively. 



There is one bell by J. Warner & Sons, London, 

 of 1867. 



The registers begin in 1758; one book contains 

 marriages from 1758 to 1807, burials from 1763 to 

 1812, and baptisms from 1770 to 18 1 2. 



' Cart. Antiq. DD. 1- ; Chart. R. 1 1 of Castor, left in 1528 to the chapel of (Will in Northampton Probate Registry, 



Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 19. St. Giles in Sutton 31. 4.1/. and to the I?k. D. fol. 39S). Bacon (Libir Rigis) 



' Thomas Mosse, of Upton in the parish chapel of St. Helen of Upton 6j. %J. gives St. Michael as the dedication. 



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