A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



5^ in. wide, with a rebate for a door, giving access 

 tea carefully-plastered recess 17 in. wide by iz in. 

 deep, which may well have been used for containing 

 the pix with the reserved sacrament. The chancel 

 arch, of nearly the full width of the chancel, has half- 

 round responds and a pointed arch of two hollow- 

 chamfered orders. The bases have an early look, but 

 the arch is probably of the 14th century. The nave, 

 39 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., is of three bays, with pointed 

 arches of two chamfered orders, and circular shafts 

 with moulded capitals and bases. The details of the 

 south arcade are much better than those of the north, 

 and of the four capitals on the south three have nail- 

 head ornament, which does not occur on the north. 

 The clearstory windows, three a side, are large quatre- 

 foils, probably 14th-century ; and the weathering of a 

 high-pitched roof which existed before the clearstory 

 shows on the east face of the west tower. 



The north ' and south aisles are contemporary with 

 the arcades, and are respectively lift, and loft. 

 10 in. wide, with windows all of one type, of two 

 lights with a circle in the head ; on the north side 

 the circles show evidence of having been septfoiled, 

 and probably those on the south once had the same 

 detail. Both aisles have west windows, but none at 

 the east. At the east end of the south aisle is a good 

 trefoiled piscina with a label over, and a large drain. 

 The blocked north doorw.iy has a trefoiled head with 

 feathered cusps, and a segmental rear arch, while the 

 south doorway has a plain outer arch ' of two con- 

 tinuous chamfered orders. 



The south porch has stone seats on either side, and 

 a semicircular outer arch with half-octagonal shafts 

 and moulded capitals. The west tower is of three 

 stages, and opens to the nave with an arch like those 

 of the arcades, but loftier, with oct.igonal capitals to 

 the responds. There is a vice at the south-west angle, 



and a pair of buttresses at the north-west. The west 

 window of the ground stage is a single lancet, and on 

 the second stage are lancets on north, west, and south. 

 The four belfry windows * are of two lights divided 

 by a shaft with moulded capital and base, under a 

 moulded semicircular arch with detached shafts in the 

 jambs. The cornice above has a variety of carved 

 corbels, in some cases forming groups of three, and 

 the tower is capped by a plain octagonal spire, with 

 two tiers of single spirelights, the lower tier on the 

 cardinal, and faces the upper on the intermediate. 



The roofs are all of low pitch, the chancel being 

 slated, the rest leaded, and the parapets are plain. 

 There are no gable crosses, and the woodwork of the 

 roofs is not ancient. 



The font is a plain roughhewn octagon 3 ft. 2 in. 

 high, and z ft. 5 in. in diameter. It has no detail 

 whatever. The woodwork fittings of the church are 

 modern, but the communion table is of the 17th cen- 

 tury, with turned legs, and shows remains of red 

 paint. 



The plate comprises a silver cover paten, which 

 has lost its hallmarks, but on the upper surface is en- 

 graved the date 1610 ; a silver cup, paten, and fl.igon 

 of 1851, presented 1852, and an old pewter plate 

 with obliterated London marks. 



The bells are three in number, the treble by 

 Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1630, and the second and 

 tenor by Tobie Norris, 161 8. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms 

 from 1587 to 1737, marriages from 1587 to 1736, 

 and burials from 1587 to 1733. The second con- 

 tains baptisms and burials from 1734 to 1745, and 

 from 1755 to 1812, with only one entry, in 1749, 

 between 1746 and 1755; also marriages between 

 1755 and 1759. The third book contains marriages 

 from 1759 to 1812. 



EYE 



Aege (x cent.), Eya, Eia (xii cent.). 



The parish of Eye extends over an area of 2,711 

 acres, the soil in some parts presenting the character- 

 istics of the fenland, while in others it is of a mixed 

 kind upon Oxford clay or alluvium. The industries 

 are chiefly agricultural with the modern and successful 

 addition of brick-making, which is carried on princi- 

 pally at Northam and Eye Fletton. In consequence of 

 this industry Eye is more populous than most villages 

 of this district; there were 1,366 inhabitants in 1901. 

 Bridges, writing in the early part of the I 8th century, 

 alludes to the pursuits of fowling and fishing which had 

 occupied many of the inhabitants before his day, but 

 which had then died out.' There are 1,564 acres of 

 arable land and 902! of pasture. 



The village consists of one long wide street, being 

 built, as its name implies, on an island in the fen, a 

 long ridge of gravel, on which runs the road from 

 Peterborough to Crowland. The outlying houses of 

 Northolme, Eyebury, and Oxney all owe their existence 

 to the same cause, being built on outlying ridges 

 running north or south from the main settlement. 



The fen is long since drained, but the contours of the 

 land are still to be seen. 



The manor house, the residence of Mr. Arthur 

 Page, on the north side of the street, has one room 

 with good 18th-century panelling, but shows nothing 

 of earlier date, and there is no other building of any 

 architectural interest in the street. 



In the village is a Primitive Methodist chapel, and 

 a Methodist Free church, opened in 1851. The 

 National School was built in 1855, an infant school 

 being added in 1874. 



The railway station is at Eye Green, on the Great 

 Northern and Midland joint line from Peterborough 

 to Wisbech. 



An alarming incendiary fire, aggravated by scarcity 

 of water and a prevailing hurricane, broke out in the 

 village on Monday, 28 November, 1848, doing 

 damage to the extent of ^^1,500 before the opportune 

 veering of the wind to the southward saved ' the 

 beautiful village of Eye from being laid in ruins." 

 The parish was enclosed in 1820 ; the award is in 

 custody of the parish council. 



1 The north wall leans outward con- 

 siderably, and the buttresses have been 

 strengthened to support it. 



3 On the east jamb of this arch is an 

 unusually elaborate consecration cross, 

 zj in. high with foliate ends to the arms. 



incised on a lozenge shaped stone 6 in. 

 by 4 in., which is let into the stonework 

 of the jamb, and was evidently intended 

 to be filled in with a coloured inlay or 

 something of the sort. 



' Bridges, Narthantt, ii, 513. 



490 



* The labels of these windows, as of 

 all the other windows in the church, end 

 in masks, a detail of constant occurrence 

 throughout the neighbourhood. 



• Lincoln Mercury* 



