A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The Town Land consists of an allotment contain- 

 ing 4 a. 2 r. 10 p. comprised in an enclosure 

 award made under 

 j^5 9/. per annum. 



14 Geo. Ill, cap. 2, let at 

 By an order of the Charity 



Commissioners dated 27 April, 1900, I a. o r. 3 1 p. 



part thereof, was apportioned as an ecclcsi-istical 

 charity. There is also an allotment under the same 

 award of 2 r. 1 7 p. for the repair of the highways. 



EASTON ON THE HILL 



The parish of Easton is one of the largest in 

 the hundred of VVillybrook. It is picturesquely 

 situated on the south side of the Welland valley on a 

 ridge, on whose slope the village of Collj'weston is 

 built a short distance to the south-west. The parish, 

 with a populaton of 821 in 1 90 1, covers about 

 3,375 acres, of which 15 are water, 2,065 arable, 

 860J pasture, and 36 1 woodland. The soil is 

 of a sandy character on an upper lias and in- 

 ferior oolite foundation. It is very productive, 

 but the population in this parish is not so entirely 

 engaged in agriculture as the rest of the hundred. 



The Old Rectory, Easton on the Hill. 



Messrs. John Lee & Sons' fur factory employs about 

 thirty hands, while some are engaged in the ironstone 

 works belonging to the Marquis of Exeter, and many 

 work in Stamford. In the i8th century Easton was 

 much celebrated for its limestone, for which the 

 many old quarries in the parish were principally 

 worked. There are still a few lime-burners in the 

 parish. Slate is also worked to a small extent. 



The principal road is that running through the 

 parish in a north-easterly direction from Collyweston 

 to Stamford. Near the village of Easton this is 

 crossed by another road from King's Cliffe towards 

 Tinwell, and a short distance north of the village a 

 road also strikes off in an easterly direction towards 

 Peterborough. 



The village of Easton is built to the west of the 

 road from Collyweston to Stamford. The High 

 Street, which joins the main road nearly opposite the 

 turn towards Peterborough, divides the village into 

 two portions, that south of the road being called the 

 new town. The greater part of the village is, north 



of the High Street, built round a qu.idrangle of roads, 

 of which the High Street forms one side, with a road 

 branching oiF from each corner. A Wesleyan Metho- 

 dist chapel, rebuilt in 1874, stands at the north-west 

 corner of the quadrangle. The endowed schools are 

 situated where the road to Peterborough diverges from 

 the road to Stamford. A large modern house in the 

 parish, with good grounds, is now occupied by 

 Mr. Neville Day. 



Near the present rectory, at the north end of the 

 village, is a building said to have been the rectory 

 until the building of the present house about the 

 middle of the 1 8th century. 

 From its size it would certainly 

 be better adapted for a celi- 

 bate priest than for a parson 

 with a family, and all the in- 

 dications point to its not having 

 had more accommodation in 

 the past than it now posiesscs. 

 It consists of two floors, the 

 access to the upper one being 

 by a stone staircase in the north- 

 east corner. The east wall ap- 

 pears to have been partly rebuilt, 

 but it retains the old recesses 

 for the fireplaces ; the entrance 

 door has been rebuilt, and the 

 roof is modern ; otherwise it 

 seems to have survived fairly 

 intact. The upper floor, how- 

 ever, has evidently been raised 

 some 12 or 18 in., the old 

 moulded beams and stop-cham- 

 fered joists being re-used. The 

 mouldings of the window-jambs 

 and the four-centred heads of 

 the lights point to the early part 

 of the 1 6th century as the date 

 of erection of this interesting little house. There 

 are no indications left of any internal walls, but the 

 disposition of the windows suggests the probability 

 of the ground floor having been all one room, while 

 the upper floor may have been divided into two. 

 For many years the building has been used as a 

 cow-house or stable, with a loft over it. 



The parish was enclosed in 1820, and the award is 

 in the custody of the parish council. Among the 

 place-names found in this parish are the Cranes, 

 Hollebrynke, Crekele, Crabtree Corner Sale, Priest 

 Coppe, and Dankesale Coppe. 



EJSTON at the Domesday Survey was 

 MANORS situated partly in the hundred of Willy- 

 brook and partly in the soke of Peter- 

 borough, then called Upton Green hundred. Rolland 

 held of Eudo ij hides in Easton in Willy brook 

 hundred, which had been held by Drond freely in 

 the time of King Edward the Confessor. There was 

 land for four ploughs and a mill, rendering 20/. — the 

 whole was worth £6. Rolland also held of Eudo 



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