A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



probably came to Sir Robert Kirkham and his suc- 

 cessors with the other lands of that house.' 



In one or two of the many documents concerning 

 the gift of the manor of Adington Parva to the con- 

 vent of Sulby by Humphrey de Bassingburne, it is 

 said the quarter-fee he held in Cotterstock was 

 included in the gift.' But land there is never men- 

 tioned in any description or valuation of the lands of 

 Sulby, and it seems more likely that the land held 

 by the Bassingburnes in Cotterstock was either that 

 which was afterwards known as Holt's manor in Cot- 

 terstock, or the land held with some in Glapthom, of 

 which an account is given in that parish. Possibly 

 Humphrey merely granted overlordship rights to Sulby 

 Priory. 



View of frankpledge in Cotterstock was granted 

 with that of sever.il other places to the earl of Glou- 

 cester some time in the reign of Henry III.' It 

 remained in the hands of the holder of the honour of 

 Gloucester until the attainder and execution of the 

 duke of Buckingham in I 5 I 3.* It w.is then granted by 

 Henry V'lII to Lord Cromwell,' whose son sold it to 

 Thomas Brudenell,* in whose family it has remained. 

 The right of presentation to the 

 JDFOJVSON church of St. Andrew,' to which the 

 vicarage of Glapthom is annexed, 

 belonged to the holders of the Torpel fee and their 

 successors in Cotterstock until it was appropriated to 

 the college or chantry in 1340.' A vicarage was 

 ordained at the same time. It was then for a few 

 years served by the college, the provost, who 

 became later merely an incumbent of the church, 

 being presented after 1398 by members of the Holt 

 family.' From that date the presentation has followed 

 the descent of Holt's manor in Cotterstock. Viscount 

 Melville is the present patron. The rectory and 

 tithes after the litigation of the i6th century with 

 regard to the possessions of the college were divided 

 between the owners of the two manors.'" Viscount 

 Melville, lord of both manors and patron of the 

 church, is now also lay rector. 



The church stands to the west of the 

 CHURCH Nene, at a short distance from the river, 

 its site being on ground rising from the 

 level water-meadows through which the river runs. 



The church has a large chancel with a north vestry 

 (built 1877), a nave with north and south aisles and 

 south porch, and a west tower. A college was 

 founded here in the 14th century by John Giffard," 

 the foundation charter being dated 1338, and the 

 chancel was probably rebuilt a few years earlier in 

 order to accommodate the provost and members. The 

 nave retains at the east in both north and south walls 

 a little herring-bone masonry belonging to a church 

 built not later than the end of the nth century, 

 probably a small aisleless building of nave and chancel 

 only. Its nave was about 30ft. long by 12ft. gin. 

 wide inside, the latter dimension being retained to 

 the present day, though the nave has been slightly 



lengthened. The only record of I zth-century altera- 

 tions is given by the west door\v.ay of the tower, 

 inserted after the tower was finished, and not during 

 its building. It may perhaps have been the south 

 doorway of the nave. Aisles were added in the 13th 

 century, and a west tower also. The nave clearstory 

 belongs to the 14th century, and the aisle walls may 

 have been rebuilt about the s.ime time, as they show 

 no 13th-century features. The south porch is an 

 addition of c. 1440. The church underwent a 

 •restoration' in 1878, at which time the plaster was 

 stripped off the internal walls. 



The chancel has an east window of five cinque- 

 foiled lights, two of three lights on the north, and 

 three on the south, all with flowing tracery in the 

 heads, of excellent design and detail." Below the 

 first window on the south side is a cinquefoiled pis- 

 cina, and west of it three sedilia with stepped seats 

 under three arched heads, of which that to the west 

 is cinquefoiled, the next trefoiled, and the third un- 

 cusped. In the north wall is a small arched recess," 

 and west of it an original doorway to the north 

 vestry, which has been completely rebuilt, and a 

 second doorway of which the jambs only are ancient. 

 None of the fittings of the collegiate quire remain, 

 but the position of this doorway shows that the stalls 

 did not extend as far east as this point. The rood- 

 loft staircase, which was at the north-east of the nave, 

 was entered from the north-west corner of the chancel. 



The nave is 36 ft. long, and has north and south 

 arcades, with pointed arches of two chamfer^^d orders, 

 circular shafts, and octagonal capitals. Both arcades 

 are of the earlier part ef the 13th century, but are of 

 somewhat different detail. The bases of the south 

 arcade '* have angle spurs, which do not occur on the 

 north, and the capital of the central pillar has incised 

 fleurs-de-lis on the bell, while that on the north is 

 plain. The clearstory has two square-headed windows 

 a-side, each of two trefoiled lights, with cusped 

 spandrel lights over, r. 1340. Externally there is a 

 contemporary cornice over the windows and a plain 

 parapet. 



The north aisle has two north windows of the same 

 description as those in the clearstor)', an east window 

 of two trefoiled lights with a trefoiled light in the 

 head, also of the first half of the 14th centurj', and 

 a 16th-century west window of two uncusped lights 

 under a square head. At the south-east of the aisle 

 is a 13th-century piscina with a trefoiled head and 

 roll cusps, and in the north-east angle an image bracket 

 with carved detail. 



The north doorway has continuous mouldings of 

 plain 1 4th-centurj' type, and a square head inside. 

 Round the west and north walls runs a stone bench, 

 stopping a short distance from the east end of the 

 aisle, and the same arrangement exists in the south 

 aisle. The south aisle has a 14th-century east window 

 of two trefoiled lights with a trefoiled light in the 

 head, and a south window of the same date near the 



1 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 4.49. 

 ^ Writ to Inq. a.q.d. File 33, No. 17 ; 

 Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 26. 

 8 Hun J. R.(Kcc. Com.), ii, p. 14.. 



* For descent of honour of Gloucester 

 see Glapthom. 



5 Pat. 30 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 15 ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), xciv. No. 35. 



* Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 16 Eliz. 

 " Will of William Houghton, 1523 



Bk. 13, fol. 153, Northampton Probate 



Office), mentions churchyard of St. An- 

 drew's in Cotterstock. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Burghersh, 232. 

 ' See Provost's manor, above. 



" Exch. Dep. 3 Jas. II, Trin. No. 6. 



" For history of College see ' Religious 

 Houses ' in this vol. 



" The external string below the east 

 window of the chancel has a plain cham- 

 fer above and below, a common 12th- 



century detail, and is returned a short 

 distance along the north and south walls, 

 where the section changes to one of nor- 

 mal i4.Lh-century date. This points either 

 to a re-use of old material in the first part 

 of the work, which would be begun from 

 the cast, or, what is perhaps more likely, 

 a pause in the work. 



1* Probably for the Easter sepulchre. 



^■^ They are modern copies of old work. 



