A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



held it of the king of England, while Nassington and 

 Yarwell were held in chief of the king of England. In 

 consequence, on the death of Earl David, leaving an 

 heir under age, the custody of Nassington and Yarwell 

 was at first granted separately from Fotheringhay to 

 Emeric de Clairvaux, though later they were kept 

 with Fotheringhay by Ranulf, earl of Chester, uncle 

 of the heir, John ' le Scot.' ' On the death of John, 

 when his lands held of the honour of Huntingdon 

 were delivered, prior to division among the heirs, to 

 Alexander, king of Scotland, Nassington and Yarwell 

 with two other manors held in chief were especially 

 excepted.' 



From about the time of Edward IV the history of 

 Nassington and Yarwell is somewhat different from 

 that of Fotheringhay, for they were let by the royal 

 holders to under-tenants, the owners of Fotheringhay 

 retaining however the courts and other manorial 

 rights. It appears that only part of the land in 

 Nassington was so granted, but all the manor of 

 Yarwell.' 



In 1480 a suit for dower was brought by Egidia, 

 the widow of Henry Ridel, against Robert Hallcy, 

 son-in-law of Henry, and among the lands claimed 

 were the manors of Nassington and Yarwell.* The 

 next possessor of land in Nassington, and the manor 

 of Yarwell held of the queen, was Sir Guy Wolston, 

 and from him they passed to Sir Walter Mildmay, 

 and so to the Fanes, earls of Westmorland, exactly as 

 the manor of Apethorpe did. The overlordship of 

 the manor of Nassington was granted by Queen 

 Elizabeth, who, like her brother, Edward VI, held 

 courts for it and Yarwell, to Alexander King and 

 Thomas Eastchurch in fee in 1599.' Alexander 

 King, the survivor of the two, in 1606 released all 

 his right in the manor to Sir Anthony Mildmay, son 

 and heir of Sir Walter, tenant of the manor,^ whose 

 descendants from this time have been sole possessors 

 of that manor. It remained in the hands of the earls 

 of Westmorland until 1904, when it was sold with 

 Apethorpe to Mr. Leonard Brassey.' 



The lord of the manor of Nassington and Yarwell 

 had the same liberties as the lord of Fotheringhay, 

 except pillory and tumbrel and assizes of bread and 

 ale.* A court leet is held in November each year for 

 the manor at the ' Queen's Head ' or ' Three Mill Bills ' 

 at Nassington. 



There were two mills appurtenant to Nassington 

 in 1086, and they appear continually in accounts and 

 surveys of the manor until the 14th century. The 

 present representative of these is probably the Yarwell 

 mill. There was also a fishery between Nassington 

 and Yarwell, which was conveyed to Sir Anthony 

 Mildmay with the manor from Alexander King. 



PREBENDAL MANOR.— The prebendary of 

 Nassington, who in addition to the church had re- 

 ceived a grant of land in Nassington and Yar- 

 well,' is said to have exercised manorial rights. 



though no court is now held. His land in Nas- 

 sington is called a manor in a 16th-century suit,'" 

 and also in 1650, when it was sold by the com- 

 missioners for the sale of the land of deans, pre- 

 bends, etc., to Edward Bellamy. It was then in the 

 tenancy of Mildmay, earl of Westmorland, on a 

 twenty-one years' lease." The prebend of Nassington 

 was dissolved under the Act of i 836, and the lands by 

 that of 1 840 passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners." 

 The prebendal manor was acquired by the Earl of 

 Carysfort, the present owner, in 1875. 



There was a priest at Nassington 

 ADFOWSON in 1086. The advowson belonged 

 to the king, and was made part of 

 the endowment of the prebend of Nassington in 

 Lincoln Cathedral by Henry I, the founder and 

 patron of the prebend." The church remained 

 attached to this prebend until its dissolution under 

 the Ecclesiastical Commission Act of 1 836, and .accord- 

 ing to the provisions of an Act in 1840 the advowson 

 was transferred to the bishop of Peterborough, the 

 present patron.'* 



The church is dedicated in honour of 

 CHURCH our Lady," and consists of a chancel 3 3 ft. 

 4 in. by 20 ft., nave 61 ft. 3 in. by 17 

 ft. 4 in., with north and south aisles, the full interior 

 width across nave and aisles being 49 ft. 8 in., south 

 porch, and west tower 18 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 3 in. over 

 all, and about 1 1 ft. 4 in. square inside. The tower 

 is finished with a tall stone spire rising from an 

 octagonal belfry, and at the west ends of the aisles, 

 flanking the tower, are chambers narrower than the 

 aisles, their west walls being level with the west face 

 of the tower. 



The stone used in the building, both for ashlar and 

 rubble, is an oolite resembling Ketton stone, but 

 probably from a local quarry. Barnack rag is also 

 used. 



The roofs are all of low pitch, leaded, except those 

 of the western chambers, which are covered with 

 Collyweston slates. The chancel and the clearstory 

 over the nave have embattled parapets, while those 

 of the aisles are plain. The masonry details of 

 both aisles are very good, the gabled 14th-century 

 buttresses of the south aisle being specially well 

 designed. • 



The story of the building can be taken back to pre- 

 Conquest times. The south-west angle of the nave of 

 an aisleless church of the first half of the llth cen- 

 tury, or earlier, still exists to a considerable height, 

 the characteristic quoins of long and short work 

 remaining up to the level of the sills of the 15th- 

 century clearstory windows. The width of the nave 

 of this church was probably the same as that of the 

 present nave, 17 ft. 3 in. inside, and about 23 ft. over 

 all. It was clearly a large building, and it is quite 

 possible that the length of the present nave is much 

 the same as that of the pre-Conquest building,'* about 



1 Close, 4 Hen. Ill, m. 4, 5 ; 5 Hen. 

 in, pt. i, m. iS. 



5 Ibid. 21 Hen. Ill, m. 11. 



8 Esch. Accts. (Scr. 2), File 682 ; 

 Partic. for Sale Aug. OtF. No. 792. 



■• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 66, No. 59. 

 These may have been only small portions 

 nf land, as was the case with other lands 

 called manors in this suit (see Uphall in 

 Vfford). 5 Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. iii. 



' Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 4 Jas. I. 



7 Doc. in possession of Mr. Leonard 

 Brassey. 



8 Quo fVarr. R. (Rec. Com.), p. 547. 

 ' Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1,274. 



>» Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2) bdle. 102, No. 20. 



^^ Close, 1650, pt. xxxvi. No. 5. 



" 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, sect. 22. 



13 Dugdale. Alon. vi, 1274. 



1^ 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, sect. 41. 



^ Bacon (Liber Regii) gives All Saints 

 as the invocation of this church. 



1^ The east respond of the south arcade 

 of the nave is built with a straight joint 

 against a plastered surface which may be- 

 long to the original nave. (Information 



588 



from Canon Barrett, formerly vicar). 

 A length of about 60 ft. is very usual 

 in the naves of the larger pre-Conquest 

 churches, just as one of about thirty is a 

 common dimension in the smaller types. 

 In this part of Northamptonshire the nave 

 of Barnack church probably preserves its 

 pre-Conquest dimensions of 60 ft. by 2 ^ ft, 

 inside, while the nave of Wittering is 

 30 ft. by 1 6 ft., Peakirk (slightly length- 

 ened at the west), 33 ft. by 15 ft., and the 

 original nave of Tansor, probably of pre- 

 Conquest date, was about 32 ft. by 14 ft, 



