PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



CLINTON 



clearstory gargoyles are large and well carved. The 

 aisle roofs retain some ancient timbers, and the porch 

 roof is of the 15th century, but the nave roof dates 

 from I 847, and that of the chancel is modern, as is all 

 woodwork of pews, etc' In the south aisle are two 

 old wooden chests, one of deal, the other of oaic, the 

 latter being a log, 8 ft. long by 1 3 in. square, hollowed 

 out. 



There are no remains of ancient glass or painting. 



The font at the west end of the south aisle has a 

 square bowl on a square base, and is of the 1 2th 

 century, with shafts at the angles of the bowl, while 

 the sides are covered with ornament in low relief, 

 zigzag and sunk star on the east and west, and two 

 saltire patterns on each of the other two. 



In the churchyard are two much-damaged stone 

 effigies of the I4.th century ; one, south of the 

 church, representing a woman with falling headdress 

 and wimple, and hands clasped in prayer ; the other, 

 west of the south porch, a man in civil dress with a 

 horn slung to his right side, and above it a mutilated 

 object which hangs diagonally across his body, and on 

 the left side a long staff or bow. 



There are six bells by Thomas Osborn of Down- 

 ham in Norfolk 1798-9. 



The plate consists of a silver communion cup of 



1710, inscribed Glinton, 1711, a standing paten of 



171 1, inscribed Glinton, 1712, a flat paten of 1868, 



and a flagon of 1871 There is also a brass alms- 

 dish. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms 

 and burials from 1567 to 1796 and marri.iges from 

 1567 to 1754. ; ^^^ second, marriages from 1754 to 

 1814 ; and the third, baptisms and burials from 1797 

 to 1814. There are churchwardens' accounts from 

 1659 to 1813. 



Glinton church-land consists of 



CHARITIES, land and tenements containing about 



30a. producing £jo I p. 6d. in 



1902, which are applied to church repairs and other 



expenses. 



Anne Ireland, by will of i January, 1 7 1 1 , left j^ 1 00 

 for a charity school in the parish of Glinton-cum- 

 Peakirk. 



Upon the Glinton enclosure an allotment was 

 made in lieu of land belonging to the school, and 

 similarly in respect of this land upon the Borough 

 Fen enclosure. The joint rents, amounting to 

 [^\1 4f. "jd., are used for educational purposes. 

 The official trustees hold a sum of ^^50 19/. zd. 

 consols, arising from investing proceeds of sale of 

 land. 



Ann Scott's chanty, founded by will in 1870, 

 consists of ^^192 10/. \d. consols (official trustees), 

 the proceeds of which are used for the provision of 

 fuel for the poor of Glinton. 



HELPSTON 



Helpeston (until xv cent.). 



This parish covers 1,860 acres, of which 1,091^ 

 are arable, 4 94 J pasture, and 100^ woodland. The 

 soil is gravelly with a rocky substratum. Artesian 

 wells have been bored, and water of good quality 

 obtained at an average depth of 80 feet. A small 

 amount of stone was formerly quarried here, and 

 there were also brickfields, but both these and the 

 quarries are now disused. A large amount of lime- 

 stone is found, and lime-burning is carried on, while 

 paper-making on an extensive scale forms an im- 

 portant industry. The population was 623 in 1901. 



The King Street passes through the entire parish in 

 its westernmost portion from north to south, and an 

 ancient dike called Ramdike comes within the eastern 

 limit. The Midland and Great Northern Railways, 

 running alongside, pass through the northern part near 

 the boundary. 



The situation of Langdyke Bush, marking the 

 meeting place of the hundred court of Nassaburgh, 

 is pointed out in this parish. 



The village of Helpston is grouped about four 

 cross roads, and has many points to render it 

 attractive to the eye. The buildings are mostly of 

 the local grey stone, and in the centre of the village 

 near the church, with its wooded graveyard, is an 

 ancient stone cross, and also a monument to John 

 Clare, known as ' the Northamptonshire peasant poet.' 

 Clare was the son of a farm labourer, and from 

 childhood showed great interest in the beauties of 

 nature and a genuine power of versification. Through 

 the influence, not alw.iys judicious, of kindly patrons 

 he was able to publish in 1820 ' Poems of Rural Life 

 and Scenery.' This met with success, largely due to 



* The marks of the position of the rood-loft arc very 

 noticeable. 



interest in the phenomenon of a peasant poet. It 

 was followed in 1821 by 'The Village Minstrel,' 

 in 1827 by 'The Shepherd's Calendar,' in 1835 by 

 ' The Rural Muse,' all superior in merit, but com- 

 mercial failures. In spite of an annuity of ^^45 a 

 year, due chiefly to the generosity of Lords Exeter and 

 Spencer, Clare, who had married in 1820, suffered 

 from severe poverty. His place of work failed ; a 

 small farm which he was led to take only made him 

 poorer, and to support a large &mily he underwent 

 great privation himself. He had become known to 

 many literary men, and his shelves filled with their 

 works, which they had presented to Clare, partly hid 

 from the visitors to the cottage how destitute he really 

 was. He removed to the neighbouring village of 

 Northborough in 1832, but was no more successful 

 there, and repeated illnesses ended in such mental 

 weakness as led to his becoming an inmate of St. 

 Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, where he spent the 

 last 23 years of his life. Clare was a genuine poet, 

 ' full of high thoughts unborn,' as he sang ; but often 

 the thought was born with fine and true expression. 

 The bulk of his verse is a faithful transcript of the 

 scenery round Helpston, and of his own life and sur- 

 roundings. His keen observation was blended with a 

 wistfulness of strain which raises his verses into poetry. 

 The sight of nature about him was suffused, as his own 

 lines say, with 

 The thought of summers yet to come which I shall never see. 



The parish was enclosed in 18 20; the award is in 

 the custody of the clerk of the parish council. 



There are Primitive and United Methodist chapels, 

 built in 1 87 1 and 1863, and a mixed Council school. 



Half a mile from the east end of the vill.ige is the 

 station, and near this are the large mills of Messrs. 

 Towgood for the manufacture of paper and boards. 



495 



