A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



chambers over it.' The chambers and vaulting are gone, 

 but the circular stairs remain, leading to a dilapidated 

 loft. He also mentions stone stairs in the house, and 

 a window ' at the east end, now almost filled up, 

 where probably was formerly a chapel,' but there is 

 now nothing by which this part of the building can 

 be identified. 



The builder of the house was probably Geoffrey 

 de la Mare, who died in 1327, leaving a son Geoffrey 

 only a few months old, who would hardly have been 

 likely to do any building before 1350,' and, on 

 architectural grounds, a date of about 1320 seems 

 probable. 



In 1349 Master Michael de Northburgh, the 

 king's clerk, had licence to enlarge his mansions at 

 Northburgh and Tyborn by 12 ft. towards the 

 king's highway,' but it is not clear whether this entry 

 can refer to Northborough manor-house. 



IV^LDERAM HJLL (Walraund, xiii cent.), 

 now a dilapidated farmhouse on the right bank of the 

 River Welland, is mentioned in the latter part of the 

 13th century, and frequently afterwards.' In the 

 time of Henry VIII £+ was paid to the bailiff of the 

 manor of Maxey by Nicholas Baxter as rent of 

 Walderam Hall, also 5^. for the ' crossing of travellers 

 with merchandise from the country to the market of 

 Deeping with carts and horses.' * The hall was granted 

 by Edward VI with toll and fishery to David Vincent 

 for twenty-one years, and in fee to Sir William 

 Cecil in I 561 by Queen Elizabeth.' It now belongs 

 to the Fitzwilliam family, and has lately been trans- 

 ferred from the civil parish of Maxey to that of 

 Northborough, but for ecclesiastical purposes it is still 

 m Maxey parish. 



The advowson of St. Andrew's' 

 JDyOfVSON church at Northborough was granted 

 by Geoffrey of Northborough to 

 Walter, abbot of Peterborough, in the 13th century.' 

 In I 248 William, abbot of Peterborough, and Philip, 

 prior of Fineshade, agreed to present to this church 

 alternately,'' but ten years later the prior of Fineshade 

 quit-claimed to the abbot of Peterborough all right 

 in the church.' In 1384 the abbot granted the 

 advowson to William Wright of Northborough, Joan 

 his wife, and William their son for their lives.'" In 

 the 1 6th and 17th centuries the right of presentation, 

 as in the case of many other churches, was leased by 

 the dean and chapter of Peterborough," to whom the 

 advowson had been granted in 1541 after the dissolu- 

 tion of the monastery.'^ The dean and chapter are 

 still the patrons of the living. 



The church of St. Andrew has a 

 CHURCH chancel, a large south chapel (the Clay- 

 pole chapel), nave with north and south 

 aisles and south porch, and a bell-turret on the west 

 gable of the nave 



The west wall of the nave is the oldest part of the 

 building. It belongs to an aisleless nave of the be- 

 ginning of the twelfth century, 22 feet wide, and 

 probably of the same length as the present nave. The 

 bell-turret on its west gable was built at the end of 

 the same century, and north and south aisles were 

 added in the second quarter of the 13th century. 



The chancel also may have been rebuilt about the 

 same time. The chancel arch, r. 1320, is central 

 with the nave but not with the chancel, and there is 

 evidence to show that at some time in the 14th cen- 

 tury, after the building of the chancel arch, the north 

 wall of the chancel was taken down and rebuilt a 

 little inside its old line, thus throwing the arch out 

 of centre. The east wall was rebuilt at the same 

 time, but the east part of the south wall may have 

 been left undisturbed. The clearstory of the nave is 

 also of the first half of the 14th century. About 

 1340-50 the south chapel was added to the church. 

 It is of the highest excellence, both in detail and pro- 

 portion, but far too large for the rest of the building, 

 which it completely overpowers. A rebuilding of the 

 south aisle of the nave on the same scale seems to 

 have been contemplated, but was never carried out, 

 and the work remains unfinished, its date suggesting 

 that it is one more example of the stoppage of church 

 work caused by the Black Death. The only addition 

 to the church after this date is the south porch, 

 c. 1500. 



The chancel has an east window of three lights, 

 the mullions being of the 14th century ; but the 

 head of the window has been destroyed and replaced 

 by a flat lintel. In the north wall are three 14th-cen- 

 tury windows of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil 

 in the head, and there is a similar window in the east 

 part of the south wall, with a square-headed priest's 

 door to the west of it. On the outside are traces of 

 a pentise roof along the south wall and covering the 

 doorway. 



The external recess, east of the doorway, is 

 probably modern, and may have been made to serve 

 its present purpose of holding the tombstone of an 

 18th-century rector. 



In the south-east angle of the chancel is a small 

 arched piscina low down in the wall ; it may be of 

 the 13th century ; and west of it, under the window, 

 but at a higher level, a 14th-century piscina with a 

 shelf and ogee head. 



The south chapel opens to the chancel by a wide 

 arch of two continuous orders with wave moulding ; 

 it has formerly been filled with a screen. To the 

 west of it, in the south-west angle of the chancel, 

 is a square recess in the wall. The chancel arch 

 is of two chamfered orders with half-round responds, 

 the capital on the north side being carved with 

 14th-century foliage, while that on the south is 

 moulded. 



The south chapel is faced with wrought stone 

 within and without, and has on the east two large 

 windows of three trefoiled lights with tracery in the 

 heads under moulded segmental arches. The lines 

 of the tracery generally are flowing, but vertical 

 lines occur, marking the impending change of style. 

 Between the windows are the remains of two tall 

 richly-carved canopies for images above a projecting 

 shelf with carved brackets at each end and a deep 

 band of foliage beneath. The altar which stood 

 below has left no trace, but in the south-east angle is 

 a projecting piscina. In the south gable of the chapel 

 is a large window of five trefoiled lights with flowing 



' He was living in 1350. Pat. 24. 

 E.iw. Ill, pt. i,m. 37</. 



2 Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 20. 



8 HanJ. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 14 ; Cott. 

 Nero, C. vii, 20+. 



< Mins. Accta. 3-4 Hen. VIII, Nn. 8+. 



' Pat. 3 Ellz. pt. X, m. 29. 



^ This church is said by B.icon {Liber 

 /?c^/i) to be under the invocation of 

 St. James and St. Andrew. 



* Swapham, fol. 2191/. 



510 



8 Feet of F. Northants, 32 Hen. Ill, 

 No. 565. * Swapham, fol, 290. 



1" Pat. 7 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 22. 



1^ Accts. in custody of the Dean and 

 Chapter at Peterborough. 



" Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 14-17. 



