A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



time, was included in the charters of Richard I and 

 Henry III to the monastery.' 



In 1291 the profits of this manor, with the stock, 

 a mill, and the court, amounted to /i 3 3/. •j\'!. ;' on the 

 death of Abbot Godfrey there was a capital messuage 

 and a wind-mill belonging to the manor, and the 

 value had risen to £zo 9/. \d} 



On the dissolution of the monastery the manor of 

 Werrington was granted in 1541 to the bishop of 

 Peterborough,' who until the 19th century let on 

 long leases the capital messuage and lands. In 1619 

 it was let to Christopher Sumer during the lives of 

 William and Robert Sumer and John Wildbore, and 

 was in their tenure when the manor and capital 

 messuage were sold in 1649 by the commissioners 

 for the sale of bishops' lands to Sir William Roberts.' 

 This sale was rescinded at the Restoration. The 

 manor in i860 was vested in the Ecclesiastical Com- 

 missioners* under the Act of 1836, and in 1863 was 

 transferred to the dean and chapter of Peterborough, 

 the present lords.' 



One or two families can be traced who resided in 

 Werrington continuously for several centuries. The 

 first bears the name of Salomon or Salman, probably 

 from one of the earliest tenants Solomon, son of Ralph, 

 who held land in Werrington in II99.' In 1270 a 

 ' Salamonc de Wytherington ' was among the tenants 

 of the manor,' and in l 3 1 9 Robert Solomon and Joan 

 his wife made an agreement with Nicholas of Cam- 

 bridge concerning land in Werrington.'" A field in 

 the parish bears the name of Salmon's wong. 



In the 1 6th century a family of the name of Raw- 

 lins owned land here for some time," part of which 

 was called ' Puthokes Holt ' commemorating some 

 14th-century tenants." 



The church of St. John the Baptist " of Werrington 

 was until 1853 a chapel of ease to Paston. It is 

 mentioned with Paston .as a chapel appurtenant to 

 Peterborough Abbey in the charter of Richard I." 

 The patron is the bishop of Peterborough. 



The church stands on the north side of the village 

 street, and consists of chancel with north chapel and 

 vestry, and nave with aisles and south porch. On the 

 east gable of the nave is a gabled bell-cot with two 

 openings. 



The oldest work belongs to a building of f. 11 30, 

 which had a chancel and a nave with south aisle. 

 The bell-cot on the east wall of the nave was built 

 towards the end of the 12th century, and the wall 

 thickened on the east side to carry it. 



In the 13th century the south arcade of the nave 

 was rebuilt, a chapel added on the north of the 

 chancel, and the north wall of the nave replaced by 

 an arcade and north aisle. The chancel was rebuilt 

 in the 14th century, and the south porch was added 

 about the same time. 



The dimensions of the present nave, 49 ft. 6 in. 

 by 19 ft., are those of the 12th-century building, and 

 the south aisle retains its original width of 7 ft. The 

 chancel, 27 ft. long, is probably a little larger in both 

 dimensions than the 12th-century chancel, but its 

 north wall seems to be on the original lines. 



The church has undergone many repairs in modern 

 times. The west wall of the nave has probably been 

 rebuilt, and a stone in its gable records repairs of 

 1680 and 1884. The north and west walls of the 

 north aisle and the north w.ill of the north chapel arc 

 modern ; there is a modern vestry on the east of the 

 chapel, and the chancel was rebuilt with the old 

 materials in 1 90 1 -2. The west wall of the south 

 aisle is original, but the south wall has been rebuilt, 

 and of the south porch only parts of the south end 

 and gable are ancient. 



The chancel has an east window of three trefoiled 

 lights with net tracer)', parts of which are ancient, 

 and date from a rebuilding c. 1330. On either side 

 are stone corbels for images, with human heads on the 

 underside. The two south windows, of two lights 

 with details like those of the east window, have new 

 tracery, but the heads and jambs are original. At 

 the west end of the south wall is a low side window 

 with a square head and pointed rear arch. The sill 

 is flat and the window rebated for a wooden frame 

 on the inside.'* 



The north chapel opens to the chancel with a wide 

 semicircular arch of two chamfered orders of early 

 13th-century date but much repaired, with half- 

 octagonal foliate capitals and half-round responds with 

 moulded bases. In its north wall is a square-headed 

 window of three trefoiled lights with trefoiled tracer)-, 

 c. 1340, and at the west an arch of two chamfered 

 orders, dying into the walls at the springing, gives 

 access to the north aisle of the nave. It appears to 

 be of the date of the north arcade of the nave. The 

 chancel arch, 6 ft. 2 in. wide between the responds, 

 has a semicircular arch of two orders, the inner order 

 having soffit and angle rolls, and the outer, which 

 occurs on the west side only, a line of horizontal zig- 

 zag under a heavy roll-moulded label. The capitals 

 are scalloped, with sunk star ornament on the south 

 capital, and a chamfered abacus which is continued as 

 a string along the west face of the wall. The inner 

 order has half-round shafts on the jamb, and on the 

 west side are nook-shafts to the outer order. The 

 details are very like the contemporary work in Peter- 

 borough Cathedral. On the east side, as has been noted, 

 the wall has been thickened some seven inches by the 

 addition of an arch of 14 ft. span with plain cham- 

 fered abaci framing the chancel arch. 



The nave has north and south arcades of three 

 bays. The details of the south arcade are much 

 superior to those of the north, and it is probably of 

 earlier date, c. 1 200-20. It has clustered piers of 

 four engaged shafts, with good moulded capitals and 

 bases, the capital of the second pier from the east 

 having a line of nailhead on it. The arches are of 

 two chamfered orders, so obtusely pointed as to be 

 almost round, and over them are labels springing 

 from bosses of carved foliage. It is to be noted that 

 the tooling of the voussoirs of the outer order of 

 these arches is diagonal, while that of the inner is 

 vertical. At either end of this arcade the angles of 

 responds belonging to a destroyed 12th-century arcade 

 may be seen. 



1 Cart. Antlq. DD. 17; Chart. R. 

 19 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 19. 



a Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), p. 53. 



^ Sparkc, ScriprorcSy p. 1 84. 



* Pat. 33 Hen. VUI, pt. iii, m. 13. 



' Close, 1649, pt. iii, No. 36. 



' LonJ. Guz. 24 Feb. i860, 641. 



7 Ibid. 24 March, 1863, 1670. 



8 Feet of F. Northants, 10 Ric. I, No. 

 84. 



9 Abbre'v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 178. 

 " Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 81 d. 



" Lay Subs. R, \^, JfJ ; Chan. Proc. 

 (Ser. 2), Bdle. 155, No. 16. 

 1'^ Cott. Vesp. E, xxi, 79. 

 1' Bacon (Liber Regis) gives St. Mary 



516 



and St. John the Baptist as the dedication 

 of this church. 



» Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



15 The description of the church in 

 Sweeting's Parish Churches in and near 

 Peterborough^ published in i 868, mentions 

 (p. 85) that there were stone seats round 

 the chancel at that time. 



