A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The chancel has a plaster ceiling, and the nave a 

 modern hammer-beam roof. In the Burghley chapel 

 the roof is modern, of flat pitch with moulded timbers, 

 but in the aisles of the nave the original flat roof 

 remains. The church contains a great quantity of 

 modern oak fittings, and in the Burghley chapel a 

 wooden lobby over the new east doorway is made up 

 of well-designed oak panelling of (. 1600. 



There is a good deal of old glass in the church, 

 mostly of the 15th century.' It is, however, very 

 fragmentary, and mixed with modern glass ; the most 

 interesting pieces being in the window just west of 

 the organ in the south aisle. In the three lights are 

 Moses striking the rock ; Samson carrying the gates of 

 Gaza ; and David and Goliath ; and below them the 

 Crucifixion ; the angel and the women at the tomb ; 

 and the Resurrection. Below the last two are the 

 verses ' Quod vivas Christe ccrtum docet angelus 

 iste,' and ' Quem saxum texit nigrans. . . us exit.' 

 In the east window of the chancel the best preser\'ed 

 pieces are one of the royal arms in a garter with two 

 angels on each side, early 1 6th century, and a set of 

 figures showing a seated king within a wreath, with an 

 archbishop and a bishop on one side, and two bishops 

 on the other. The arrangement of the figures is, of 

 course, modern. 



The font is older than any p.irt of the existing 

 church. It has an octagonal bowl on a modern stem, 

 the faces of the octagon being worked with window 

 tracery designs of early 14th-century style. The 

 details are poor, and the carving shallow, and some of 

 the work has a rather modern look, but there seems 

 no reason to doubt its antiquity. 



The earliest Cecil monument in the Burghley 

 chapel is that against the east wall to Richard Cecil 

 and his wife, 1552. Close to it in the eastern arch 

 of the arcade between the chancel and chapel is the 

 splendid monument of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, 

 K.G., Lord High Treasurer of England, who died 

 in 1598. The monument is approximately of this 

 date, and has a life-size effigy armed and wearing 

 the mantle of the Garter, and holding a long 

 wand in the right hand ; at the feet is a lion. 

 The canopy above is upheld by ten marble columns 

 with Corinthian capitals, and has two semicircular 

 arches with panelled soffits, and floral ornaments 

 in each panel. Above is a panel with the Cecil 

 arms and supporters, flanked by strapwork and 

 heraldry, and finished above in gabled form with 

 the Cecil crest as a finial. At the east and west 

 ends of the canopy are pairs of obelisks rising from 

 scrolled brackets which are designed to take the thrust 

 of the arches. The base of the tomb is in two stages, 

 with marble panels, the inscription being on the 

 upper pair of panels on the south side. Many kinds 

 of marble are used in the monument, and its colour 

 and gilding and excellent state of preservation make it 

 one of the finest specimens of its kind in existence. 



In the north-west corner of the chapel is a large 

 monument of white marble to John Cecil, Lord 

 Exeter, 1700, and his wife, 1703. 



The plate consists of a silver communion cup, 

 c 1570, with the mark of a fish in an ellipse, which 



occurs elsewhere in the neighbourhood, and probably 

 belonged to a local silversmith ; the cup was pre- 

 sented to the church by the Marquis of Exeter in 

 1879, together with a modern copy : a third cup of 

 1722, the gift of Margaret Lamb: a silver paten of 

 1630 : another of c 1688, two silver plates, 1682, 

 the last three being also the gift of Margaret Lamb : 

 and two silver flagons, 1722, with the arms of 

 Walsburge. 



There are six bells by C. and G. Mears of London, 

 1850. 



The first book of the registers of St. Martin's con- 

 tains baptisms and burials from 1572 to 1628, and 

 marriages from 1582 to 1628. The second, baptisms 

 from 1628 to 1642, marriages and burials from 1629 

 to 1642. There is a gap from 1642 until 1660 

 when the third book begins and carries on baptisms, 

 marriages, and burials, from 1660 to 1728-9. Book 

 four contains baptisms and burials from I 729 to I 776, 

 and marriages from 1729 to 1766. Books five and 

 six contain marriages from 1 754 to 1 800. Book 

 seven, baptisms and burials from 1777 to 18 12. 

 Book eight, marriages from 1800 to 181 2. 



There was a church of All Saints beyond the 

 bridge, said by Peck to have been of pre-Conquest 

 origin, but he appears to base his theory only on a 

 passage in Domesday which really refers to Stanford 

 in Guilsborough hundred, not to Stamford.' It 

 was, however, probably in existence by 1146, when 

 Pope Eugenius confirmed to Peterborough 'churches' 

 in Stamford ' and certainly in 1 1 89 when it is 

 specifically mentioned in the charter of Richard I.' 

 In 1434 Bishop Grey of Lincoln issued a commission 

 for the union of the vicarage of the parish church of 

 All Saints beyond the Bridge of Stamford with that 

 of St. Martin's.' All tradition of the division south 

 of the bridge into two parishes has now disappeared, 

 but as late as Henry VII property was described in 

 deeds as in the ' parish of St. Martin's, late All 

 Hallows.' " 



The church, which stood in the Water Street, was 

 probably destroyed in 1462, when Stamford suffered 

 much at the hands of the Lancastrians on their 

 southern march.' 



There were several other ecclesiastical foundations 

 in Stamford Baron besides those already mentioned — 

 the hospital of St. John and St. Thomas the Martyr,' 

 and the house of St. Sepulchre, and the hospital of 

 St. Giles, were all confirmed to Peterborough by 

 Richard I. There were apparently two chapels 

 attached to the first one in honour of either patron, 

 for, on the dissolution of Peterborough Abbey, the 

 advowson of the chapel of St. John was granted to 

 the bishopric of Peterborough" and that of St. Thomas 

 with the chapel of St. Giles to William Cecil by 

 Edward VI. '" William Cecil, however, in I 598 died 

 owning the lands of all three, and also those of St. 

 Sepulchre and St. Mary Magdalene." 



Lord Burghley's Hospital was founded 

 CHARITIES in or before 1597 by William Lord 

 Burghley and, by a deed of the year 

 mentioned above, was endowed with a yearly rent- 

 charge of ^^ 1 00 on lands called ClifFe Park in the 



1 It came chiefly from Tattcrshall 

 Cfiurch, having been given by Lord 

 Fortcscuc to the marquis of Eiteter, and 

 was set up here about 1758, with other 

 old glass from Snape, and a little from 

 somewhere in Warwickshire ; the whole 

 being glazed in by Peckitt of York, the 



well-known glass-maker. — From notes by 

 the late R. P. Brereton. 



2 Peck, SfamforJ, iv, 18. 



* Sparke, Scriptoreif p. 78. 



■• Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



' Epis. Reg. Line. Grey, 172. 



528 



8 Cal. of Anct. DeeJs, D. 427 



' Peck, Stamford, xiv, 39. 



^ See under Religious Houses, p. 164. 



5 Pat. 35 Hen. VHI, pt. iii, m. 13. 



lo Ibid. 3 Edw. VI, pt. V. 



^1 Chan. Inq. p. m. (scr. 2) cclvii, 91*. 



