A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



three-light windows, the main lights having trefoil 

 heads, while above them are in each window six up- 

 right trcfolled lights under a square head, looiiing like 

 late I jth-century work, but the details of the masonry 

 point to a date not later than 1350. The labels over 

 the windows have mask dripstones. In the sill of 

 the west of these windows is a blocked square-headed 

 low side window 26in. by 13 in. with an internal 

 rebate for a shutter, and a hole for the fastening bolt. 

 The iron grate which filled the opening is still in 

 position. 



The chancel arch is lofty, of two chamfered orders 

 with half-octagonal capitals and responds. It belongs 

 to the date of the general rebuilding of the nave 

 about the middle of the 15 th century. 



The nave is of four bays, with arcades of the same 

 detail as the chancel arch, and over them a contemporary 

 clearstory with four windows a side, each of three 

 cinquefoiled lights. 



The windows of both aisles are of the same design 

 and date as those of the clearstory, but of larger size. 

 The north wall of the north aisle is older than its 

 windows and has buttresses and a plain north doorway 

 of early 14th-century date. In the east wall of the 

 south aisle is a small 14th-century arch, close to the 

 low side window : it does not show on the inner face 

 of the wall. The aisle was with this exception en- 

 tirely rebuilt with the nave, and has one window 

 at the east, three on the south, and one at the west 

 of the design already noted. The south doorway has 

 a four-centred arch and continuous mouldings, andover 

 it is a contemporary porch with a four-centred outer 

 archway, formerly fitted with doors for which the 

 hooks remain. 



The tower is of three stages with diagonal western 

 buttresses, which, with the top stage, are ashlar-faced, 

 the rest of the walling being of small rubble in the 

 upper part of the second stage, and of coursed rubble 

 below. This may point to a break in the work, but 

 the tower is of one design and build, and there was 

 probably no long interval during its construction. 

 It has a vice at the south-east angle, which runs up 

 to the base of the spire and is capped with a stone 

 spirelet, the ballflower cornice at the base of the 

 spire being carried round it. The spire has two 

 tiers of spire-lights, the upper of single lights the 

 lower of two lights with blank quatrefoils over them. 

 The belfry stage has two-light windows with trefoils 

 or quatrefoils in the heads.' The second stage has 

 a large quatrefoiled circular window on the west, 

 blocked within except for a small trefoiled opening, 

 the lintel over which is formed by two early 1 2th- 

 century shafts, one covered with a pattern of inter- 

 secting diagonal lines. In the ground stage the west 

 window has lost its tracery, and is now a single 

 wide light with a crocketed ogee label, and in the 

 north and south walls are plain lancets. The tower 

 arch has a plain chamfer, the outer order dying out 

 above the springing, while the inner order springs 

 from large corbels in the shape of crouching human 

 figures. 



The fragments of 12th-century carving built into 

 east end of the south aisle are four, the largest being 

 2 ft. in length. Three are inside the church and one 

 outside. All have the same detail, a round-arched 

 arcade with cushion capitals and a ' nebuly ' string 



over the arcade, the scale being very small, so that 

 the stones would seem to have belonged rather to a 

 font than to an architectural member. The carved 

 stone in the east wall of the church ' is of great 

 interest, as being an example of the 'spoon' orna- 

 ment, specimens of which may be seen in situ in 

 the late Saxon church at Stow in Lincolnshire, or 

 at Barholme, in the same county, about 8 miles 

 from Paston. 



The roofs of the nave and aisles are contemporary 

 with the 15th-century alterations, of low pitch with 

 simply moulded timbers, the wall plates in the nave 

 being embattled. The chancel roof is also of low 

 pitch, retaining a few moulded beams, but is much 

 patched. Across the chancel arch is a good 15th- 

 century screen, also repaired, with solid panels below, 

 and open arches with tracery above, the loft having 

 been removed. The south doorway of the nave has 

 a contemporary panelled door, but no other old wood- 

 work remains, and there is no ancient glass or wall 

 painting. In the north chapel are placed several 

 early grave slabs, and in the chancel in front of the 

 sedilia is an inscribed slab, ' Hie jacet Rogerus Haw- 

 ville quondam rector ecclcsie. . . .' Above the 

 sedilia is a mural monument to Edmund Mount- 

 steven, 1635, with a small figure kneeling under an 

 arch with a projecting pediment carried by black 

 marble columns. Below is a black marble slab with a 

 long inscription. 



The plate comprises a silver cup and cover paten 

 of 1715, a cup of 1836 and a paten of 1845, of very 

 ornate design, given by the Rev. Joseph Pratt in the 

 latter year, and an alms dish of 1 807, given by the 

 same donor in 1 836. 



There are three bells, the treble by Tobie Norris 

 of Stamford, 1607, the second undated, by Joseph 

 Eayre, and the tenor by Hugh Watts of Leicester, 

 1 60 J. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms 

 and marriages from 1643 to 1703, and burials from 

 1643 to 1704; the second, baptisms from 1705 

 to 1788, marriages from 1705 to 1754, and burials 

 from 1704 to 17S8 ; the third, marriages from 1754 

 to 181 3 ; the fourth, baptisms and burials from 1788 

 to 181 3. 



Edmund Mountsteven by his will 

 CHARITIES dated 9 Februar>-, 1635, left all his 

 personal and real estate to be sold by 

 executors for the uses of his will. Six almshouses were 

 to be built on Paston Green for six poor persons of 

 the parish, and land was to be bought producing 

 j(^20, or at least j^l2 per annum. The j^20 is now 

 a rent charge on land in the parish ; £1^ is devoted 

 to support of the almshouses, £j for apprenticing 

 children, and £2 for an annual sermon. 



The church estate in Paston consists of rents of 

 j^20 from land in the parish of Whittlesea, used for 

 church purposes. 



The Rev. Joseph Pratt, by a deed dated in 1887, 

 gave the interest on ^^128 16/. 3a'. consols (held by 

 the official trustees), to be used for church purposes. 



Thomas Spicer by will of 20 September, 1693, 

 left 10/. per annum from profits of Holland Woods 

 in Gunthorpe for a money dole to the poor of Gun- 

 thorpc. In 1873 this rent charge of 10/. was with- 

 held, and is still unpaid. 



' Over the head of the south window, 

 on the inner face of the wall, is the head 



of an early 12th-century window with 

 sunk star ornament, built in upside down. 



518 



' Now (1906) placed for safety in the 

 north chapel. 



