A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The origin of the town lands of 



CHARITY' Northborough is unknown, but they 



were in existence at least as early as the 



beginning of the reign of Elizabeth.' The proceeds 



were then, as they still are, used for church purposes. 

 The property now consists of six acres in Maxey 

 Outgang, and a piece of land in Newborough, 

 producing together about /^lo a ye.ir. 



PASTON 



The parish of Paston, bounded for some dis- 

 tance on the north by the alleged Roman Car-dike, 

 included in 1831 the hamlets of Walton, Werrington, 

 and Gunthorpe, and covered an area of 3,464 acres. 

 These hamlets are all now separate civil parishes, and 

 Werrington, since 1 85 3, is also a separate ecclesiastical 

 parish. Walton was at first annexed to Werrington, 

 but since 1888 has been again attached to Paston,' to 

 which also part of the hamlet of Dogsthorpe, in the 

 civil parish of Peterborough Without, belongs for 

 ecclesiastical purposes. The population of Paston in 

 1 90 1 was 88, that of Gunthorpe 57, Walton 556, 

 and Werrington 724. 



The parish is flat, and very little wooded, except 

 for a few plantations in the south-west corner. There 

 are 1,713 acres of arable land, 1,342 of pasture, 

 and 86.^ of wood. The main road from Peter- 

 borough to Lincoln runs through the parish in 

 a north-westerly direction, and along it both Walton 

 and Werrington are built. The Syston and Peter- 

 borough branch of the Great Northern Railway 

 traverses the parish a short distance to the west, 

 almost parallel to the road ; there is a station on this 

 line at the north end of Walton village. The great in- 

 crease of the population of Walton within the last ten 

 years is largely due to the proximity of this railway. 



The subsoil of the parish is Oxford clay in the 

 northern and eastern portion, cornbrash in the southern, 

 and great oolite in the western. The topsoil is mixed, 

 the chief crops are wheat, barley, and pulse. The 

 inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture, but 

 many, especially of the newer residents in Werrington 

 and Walton, are employed by the Great Northern and 

 Midland Railw.iys. Stone and gravel are both worked 

 in the parish to a small extent, and there are two 

 brickfields, the Star Pressed Brickworks in the east of 

 Paston village, and Werrington brickyard in the north- 

 west corner of that parish. 



Paston and Gunthorpe were enclosed in 1794; the 

 award is in the muniment room of the dean and 

 chapter of Peterborough. The village of Paston 

 is built along a road branching off the main road 

 from Peterborough to Lincoln in an easterly direc- 

 tion south of Walton village. It is small, but its 

 buildings are widely scattered. At the western ex- 

 tremity is the church, and at the eastern is the village 

 green with its almshouses, the rectory house being about 

 midway between them. Paston Hall, the residence of 

 Mr. Iley, is to the north, and about half a mile to the 

 eastward, at the end of Paston ridings, is Grenfell 

 House, supposed to be on the site of an ancient 

 manor-house, near which are Payne's Nook and the 

 Shouldcr-of-Mutton Farm. The rectory is an in- 

 teresting building of H-shaped plan, though the hall 

 which formed the central part is almost entirely 

 destroyed. In the south wing are some moulded 

 brick chimney-shafts of 16th-century date, but the 

 house seems to have been refaced, if not mostly re- 



built, about 1620, the east gable of the north wing 

 being a pretty piece of work of that date, with a four- 

 light mullioned window and shaped finials to the 

 gable. Several rooms retain good oak panelling, and 

 the chimney-pieces in the two ground-story rooms in 

 the south wing are good examples of their kind. 



In the village, north-east of the rectory, is a row of 

 almshouses one story in height, founded by Edmund 

 Mountsteven in 1630. The square-headed doorways, 

 the mullioned windows, and the plain gables, are 

 in keeping with the simple and unpretending build- 

 ings, set down on the edge of a tract of common land 

 through which the road runs. 



The village of Walton, now almost a suburb of 

 Peterborough, and connected with it by an electric 

 tramway, lies mainly about the road between Peter- 

 borough and Lincoln. Between 1853 and 1888 it 

 was annexed for ecclesiastical purposes to the newly- 

 formed parish of Werrington, but at the latter date 

 was transferred to Paston. Services are conducted in 

 a mission-room connected with the parish church of 

 Paston. There is a Wesleyan chapel in the village. The 

 manor-house stands on the east side of the Peter- 

 borough road ; near it is a stone dovecote in a dilapi- 

 dated condition. There is a school, built in 1 901, 

 for infants. 



The village of Werrington is situated on rising 

 ground on the high road between Peterborough and 

 Lincoln, other roads leading from it to Paston, New- 

 borough, and Walton, while a bridle-path connects it 

 with Peakirk and Glinton. It is well built of the 

 local grey stone, and has an attractive and well-cared- 

 for appearance. In the midst of it stands the church, 

 and there are also schools, vicarage house, and Wesleyan 

 and Primitive Methodist chapels, opened in 1835 and 

 i860 respectively. To the north stands Werrington 

 Hall, near the village green, while the manor-house is 

 at the north-east extremity. A windmill stands at a 

 short distance from the village to the north-west, upon 

 the Lincoln road. ' Innhams ' meadow in this parish 

 claims to be tithe-free, as having formerly furnished 

 grass or rushes to strew the church on the feast 

 Sunday, which was the first after Midsummer Day, a 

 custom for many years discontinued. Nearer to the 

 village is Ham Field, with a farmhouse of the same 

 name. The tithe which formerly belonged to Paston 

 was transferred to Werrington in 1876. The en- 

 closure award of 5 August, 1805, for Walton and 

 Werrington is in the custody of the vicar. 



The hamlet of Gunthorpe consists of two farm- 

 houses and a few cottages, inhabited by their labourers, 

 and is situated about a quarter of a mile north from 

 Paston church. 



The viU o{ PASTON is said to have been 



MANORS confirmed to the abbey of Peterborough 



by Wulfhere in 664, and by Edgar in 



972.' Ingulph states that the manor was part of the 



possessions of the monastery of St. Pega.* 



1 Panic, for leases ^ (P.R.O.). 



° Birth, Cart. Sax. No. 22 ; yi. S. Chron. (Rolls Scr.), i, 220, see introduction to Soke. 



512 



' Accounu and Paferi, 1 890-1, Ixi. 

 * Fulman, Scriptorii, 56. 



