WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



GLAPTHORN 



The south porch, of the 14th century, has an outer 

 arch, with half-round shafts and moulded capitals, and 

 a stone bench along each side. 



The tower has a plain parapet and four belfry 

 windows of two trefoiled lights, of 15th-century style, 

 repaired in the 17 th century or later. In the second 

 stage are narrow single-light openings, and on the 

 ground stage the west window, of two uncusped 

 lights with a lozenge over, is of modern stonework, 

 and below it are traces of a west doorway. 



The tower arch is a plain pointed square-edged 

 opening, made in the west wall of the nave when the 

 tower was built ; and over it, visible only from the 

 interior of the tower, are two small arched openings 

 in the old west gable of the nave, against and upon 

 which the tower is built, which are too small to have 

 held bells, and must have lighted the roof of the nave. 

 They are of 13th-century date. 



The nave and aisles have flat-pitched leaded roofs 

 and plain parapets, and the chancel roof is of steeper 

 pitch, with CoUyweston slating. The woodwork of 

 the roof is modern, as are all the wood fittings of the 

 church, except three plain 16th-century bench-ends 

 in the nave. Some 15th-century linen-pattern 

 panels and tracery are used up in the chancel read- 

 ing desks, and the pulpit has some 17th-century 

 work. The poppy-head of a 15th-century bench- 

 end forms part of the font cover. 



There are many traces of wall painting in the north 

 chapel and aisle — a border of foliage round the 

 arches, and a diaper of roses on the wall, with traces 

 of figure subjects. On the north wall are bands of 

 ornament at the level of the springing of the windows, 

 and a little above that of their sills and to the east 

 of the north doorway is a large figure holding a staff, 



but too much damaged to be certainly identified, which 

 is of later date than the bands of ornament, being 

 painted over them. There are also traces of painting 

 on the west wall of the north aisle. 



In the sill of the south-east window of the 

 chancel is a piscina, and in the south wall of the 

 north chapel a good late 13th-century pillar piscina. 

 In the south wall of the south aisle, at the east end, 

 is a third piscina, with an arched head, and there are 

 image-brackets on both sides of the east windows of 

 the north chapel and south aisle. 



The font stands at the west end of the south aisle, 

 and is of the 15th centurj', with octagonal bowl and 

 stem, with quatrefoiled panels and foliage. 



On the buttresses at the north-west angle of the 

 north aisle is cut a set of verses in English, dated 

 4 February, 1604, at present partly overgrown with 

 ivy. 



The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, and alms- 

 dish of 1813, and a plated flagon. 



There are three bells, the treble by Henr}- Penn, 

 1710 ; the second a mediaeval bell, inscribed innore 

 SATTi MARIA lOHANNts SLEYT ME FECIT ; and the tenor, 

 also mediaeval, with sancte andrea ora pro nobis. 



The first book of the registers contains marriages from 

 I 568 to 1788, baptisms from 1583 to 1748, burials 

 from 1614 to 1812. The second contains baptisms 

 from 1749 to 1812, and the third marriages from 

 1776 to 1812. 



Glapthorn shares with Cotterstock 

 CHARITIES and Tansor in BeUamy's Charity, ^5 

 being devoted to apprenticing poor 

 children in this parish. John Webb by will about 

 1765 left ;^I0, of which interest was to be spent in 

 a dole of bread, but the payment ceased about 1826. 



KING'S CLIFFE 



Clive (until xiv cent.). Kingsclive (xiv-xvi cent.). 



The parish of King's ClifFe is in many ways one of 

 the most interesting in this district. A bailiwick of 

 Rockingham Forest, of which it formed a part, took 

 its name from the village. The parish is exceptionally 

 well wooded, and nearly 2,000 acres have only been 

 brought into cultivation within the last sixty years. 

 The large tract of woodland called Westhay in the 

 north was an extra-parochial district in Rockingham 

 Forest until 1869, when it was added to King's 

 ClifFe. As its name denotes, the parish was closely 

 connected with the royal house, and has only been 

 for about a century in private hands. It is one of the 

 largest parishes in the neighbourhood, covering about 

 3,750 acres, of which i ,6 1 9 J^ are arable, 1,5 loj pasture 

 and 478 woodland. The Willow Brook, which formsits 

 western boundary for a short distance, runs close 

 beside the village, and widens near the church into a 

 lake. The Seaton and Wansford branch of the 

 London and North-Western Railway crosses the 

 parish, having a station a short distance north of the 

 village. Several good roads converge at King's ClifFe, 

 the chief being from Blatherwycke, Apethorpe, Easton 

 on the Hill, and Wansford. 



The sub-soil of the parish is various, the village 

 being on inferior oolite, a narrow stratum of which 

 runs up towards the north, while on each side of this 

 is a belt of great oolite, and beyond cornbrash. The 



top soil is very heavy ; the chief crops are wheat, 

 beans, and barley. The staple trade is wood-turning.' 

 A large number of old stone quarries and some 

 gravel pits are scattered over the parish, but none 

 are now worked. Charcoal-burning was carried 

 on to a small extent until the middle of the 1 9th 

 century. 



There are many springs, especially near the village ; 

 one called the Spa, about half a mile to the south, was 

 formerly well known for its medicinal properties, and 

 its waters are still sometimes used by the people of 

 the neighbourhood.' 



The surface of the parish is undulating, but does 

 not rise in any place more than 200 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum. The village is built on the highest 

 part with grey stone houses, roofed with CoUyweston 

 slates, though a few retain the old-fashioned thatch, 

 which sixty years ago was almost universal in the 

 village. The long main street runs east and west, 

 the church standing a little back from it on the 

 south, just to the west of the Hall yard, the site 

 of the ' King's House,' which was often used as a 

 royal hunting lodge in the 13th century. At the 

 east end of the village street stand the new alms- 

 houses, endowed by Mrs. Cornforth ; and in Park 

 Street, branching from the main street to the north. 



^ Sec article on Industries, p. 292. 

 ' Morton, Nortbants, 274, 



579 



