A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



united to Crowland. Ingulph magnifies this state- 

 ment into a monastery. 



Apart from St. Pega, Crowland Abbey had tradi- 

 tionally a very ancient connexion with Peakirk. The 

 spurious charter of VViglaf in 833 confirmed to that 

 abbey three virgates of land in Peakirk, the gift of 

 VVulgetis, ' once my butler.' ' This gift is mentioned 

 in several later spurious charters ; in 948 it is called 

 two virgates of land." In 1 1 16 there was an arrange- 

 ment between John, abbot of Peterborough, and 

 Geoffrey, abbot of Crowland, concerning the socmen 

 of Crowland in their demesne at Peakirk,' and in the 

 13th century there were several agreements between 

 the two monasteries in which reference is made to 

 one virgate of land in Peakirk held by Crowland.* 



The marsh of Peakirk, known more generally as 

 the North Fen, extended far beyond the limits of the 

 present parish of Peakirk, along the banks of the 

 Welland from the north of Peakirk to Deeping Gate. 

 It was confirmed to Peterborough Abbey by the 

 spurious charter of Wulfhere^ and by the charters of 

 Richard I and Henry III.' In the time of Richard I 

 Ralph Wake, as lord of Deeping, claimed common 

 on this marsh. The abbot of Peterborough declared 

 that none save his tenants of Peakirk, Clinton, Maxey, 

 and Northborough had right of common there, and 

 the case was decided amicably in his favour by the 

 judgment of several of the most distinguished knights 

 of the abbey.' 



Peakirk formed part of the manor 



MJNOR of Clinton, and its history is given 

 under that place. No family can be 

 traced as holding for any length of time in Peakirk, 

 and probably the tenants of Clinton were also tenants 

 of Peakirk, as the two names seem to have been almost 

 interchangeable. 



In the 1 6th century a family named Angel, who 

 intermarried with the Claypoles of Northborough, lived 

 here.' A branch of the Foe family also resided here 

 during part of the l6th and the 17th centuries.' 



The advowson of the church 



ADFOWSON. of St. Pega'" belonged to Peter- 

 borough Abbey. The church, 

 with its chapel of ease at Clinton, is mentioned in 

 the confirmation to Peterborough by Pope Eugenius 

 in I 146." On the dissolution of the monastery the 

 advowson was granted in 1541 to the dean and 

 chapter of Peterborough, to whom it still belongs.'* 

 Clinton was made into a separate ecclesiastical parish 

 in 1865." 



Seats in Peakirk Church were reserved for the folk 

 of the Borough Fen before the creation of the parish 

 of Newborough.'* 



Nathaniel Spinckes, one of the most learned and 

 saintly of the non-juring bishops, was rector of Peakirk- 

 cum-Glinton from 1685 to 1690. His best known 

 work is The Sick Man Fisited, published in 1712.'^ 



The church of St. Pega consists of 



CHURCH chancel with north vestry and north 



chapel, nave of three bays with aisles and 



south porch, and bell turret on the west gable of the 



nave. Its architectural history goes back to pre-Con- 

 quest times, as the eastern angles of an aisleicss nave 

 of the iith century or somewhat earlier still exist. 

 It was 1 7 ft. 6 in. wide over all, and its length was 

 probably much the same as at present, about 3 5 ft., 

 but the west end of the nave is now of later date. 

 Of the chancel of the first church nothing remains. 

 A north aisle was added about 1 1 70, and a north 

 chapel to the chancel some years later. The west 

 wall of the nave was rebuilt about the same time, and 

 the bell turret is probably of the last years of the 

 century. The chancel arch dates from the end of 

 this century, and it is likely that the chancel was 

 rebuilt at the same time. A south aisle was added to 

 the nave about 1220, and the south porch is probably 

 part of the same work. The north vestry was added 

 in the 14th century, and the chancel again rebuilt in 

 the latter part of the 15th, about 1475-80. 



The chancel measures internally 25 ft. 6 in. by 

 1 2 ft. 9 in., and has an east window of five trefollcd 

 lights with tracery, under a four-centred head, and 

 two south windows o( three cinquefoiled lights under 

 four-centred heads. These windows date from 

 c. 1480, and their external labels show a very late 

 instance of the survival of the mask dripstone. In 

 the south wall is a plain arched piscina,'* probably re- 

 used from a former chancel, and in the north wall a 

 square locker rebated for a door. The north vestry 

 opens to the chancel by a small four-centred doorway, 

 and has also a modern west doorway to the north 

 chapel. It is lighted on the east by a window of two 

 trefoiled lights. Adjoining the vestry on the east is 

 the north chapel, of the end of the 12th century, but 

 retaining no features of that date except the arch to the 

 chancel, which is pointed, of two orders, the outer 

 chamfered and the inner moulded with keeled rolls 

 on the angles and a rounded roll on the soffit. The 

 capitals are scalloped and recessed at the angles. The 

 north window of the chapel has three wide trefoiled 

 lights, and a four-centred head, probably of the later 

 part of the I 5th century. 



The chancel arch has well-designed foliate capitals 

 and a moulded square-edged abacus recessed at the 

 angles, f. I 1 80. The responds are half-round, and 

 have been heightened, probably at the time of the 

 insertion of a rood loft. The arch is pointed, of two 

 chamfered orders, probably 13th-century work rebuilt. 



The nave of three bays has a north arcade with 

 round pillars and scalloped capitals with recessed 

 angles. The arches are semicircular, of the same 

 detail as that to the north chapel, except that the 

 angle-rolls on the inner order are not keeled. The 

 south arcade has pointed arches of two chamfered 

 orders, with round pillars and moulded capitals and 

 bases ; the nailhcad occurs on all capitals except that 

 of the east respond. The south-east angle of the 

 early nave, with long and short quoins, is well seen 

 from the outside, in the angle between the chancel 

 and the south aisle ; the north-east angle is covered 

 with whitewash, but its jointing can be made 

 out with little difficulty. The clearstory is an 



' Kemble, Cod. Dip. i, 301. 



^ Ibid, ii, 280. ^ Swapham, fol. 1 18. 



* Feet of F. Northants, 7 John, No. 

 19^ ; Ibid. 31 Hen. Ill, No. 548 ; 

 Abbrev. Plac. p. 39 (Rec. Com.) For sub- 

 sequent history of this land sec Clinton. 



' Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 22. 



« Cart. Antiq. DD. 17 ; Chart. R. 19 

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



■ Sec. Antiq. MS. No. 60, fol. 57*. 

 Among the knights were Ankctil de 

 St. Mcdard, Roger de Torpel, and Geoffrey 

 de U Mare. 8 Lay Subs. }Jg, §55. 



' ibij- m, m. m- , , 



^^ Bacon [Liber Regii) states this church 

 to be under the invocation of AH Saints. 

 See also will of Thos. Chapman (1528), 

 Northants Wills, Bk, D, fol. zo6. 



520 



'* Sparke, 5irr//»Wr«, p. 79. 



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



** Order in Council, 7 Jan. 1865. 



^* NorthantSy N. and Q. ii, 24. 



^* Diet. Naf. Biog. 



^* In the head of this piscina is a small 

 flue, first noted by Mr. J. T. Irvine, as if 

 a lamp had been set in the recess. Sec a 

 similar feature at Castor church. 



