WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



YARWELL 



transferred to Sir Guy Wolston, and from him passed 

 to William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, and so to the 

 crown in the same way as the manor of Apethorpe. 

 The forestership and land were granted by Edward VI 

 to John earl of Bedford for the life of himself and his 

 son Francis. Their reversion was granted by Philip and 

 Mary to Sir Walter Mildmay in 1558,' and it remained 

 with his descendants, lords of the manor of Apethorpe. 

 Sulehay Woods lie in the north of the parish of Yar- 

 wcll ; they were formerly an extra-parochial district in 

 Rockingham Forest. Old Sulehay Lodge and New 

 Sulehay Lodge, the official residences of the foresters of 

 the bailiwick, are both just within Nassington parish. 

 The church of St. Mary Magdalene 

 /iDV^OJVSON at Yarwell has always had the same 

 incumbent as Nassington, but is a 

 separate parish. It is served by a curate of Nas- 

 sington-cum- Yarwell, who is appointed by the vicar 

 of Nassington. 



The church is dedicated in honour of St. 

 CHURCH Mary Magdalene, and stands on the south 

 side of the village street, on ground sloping 

 down eastwards to the valley of the River Nene. 

 The ohurchyard extends an equal distance north and 

 south of the church, and adjoining it on the west is a 

 narrow strip of ground on which the old vicarage 

 house formerly stood. The church is a 13th-century 

 building, with chancel and north and south chapels, 

 nave, and west tower. The nave formerly had north 

 and south aisles, but after the fall of the north aisle in 

 1782, the south aisle was pulled down, and the 

 arcades built up as at present.^ 



The east window of the chancel is of three cinque- 

 foiled lights under a straight-sided four-centred head 

 of the beginning of the 1 6th century, but the lower 

 parts of its internal jambs belong to a wider window 

 of earlier date. 



The chapels open to the chancel by arcades of two 

 bays, with obtuse pointed arches of two chamfered 

 orders, circular shafts, and moulded capitals which 

 have a line of nailhead ornament on the north arcade, 

 but not in the south ; the details of the latter are 

 altogether inferior to those of the former. The north 

 chapel has a stone bench along the north and east 

 walls, and two plain windows on the north of one 

 and two lights with square heads, the stonework being 

 modern. In the south chapel is a similar bench, and 

 in the west wall a blocked arch, which formerly 

 opened to the destroyed south aisle of the nave. It 

 has also two windows on the south, of no great anti- 

 quity. The chancel arch has plain chamfered orders 

 with half-round capitals, responds, and bases, the 

 details being like those of the arcade in the north 

 chapel. The nave is of three bays, contemporary 

 with the chancel, the arches being walled up with 

 18th-century masonry, and plain 'factory' windows 

 with iron frames inserted, the heads of the arches 

 forming the heads of the windows. As in the chancel 

 the details of the north arcade, though of the same 

 general arrangement and date, are superior to those of 

 the south arcade, and have in addition a line of nail- 

 head ornament. The doorways in the blocking of 

 the middle bays on the north and south sides are of 

 the date of the windows, with plain round heads. 

 The tower appears to have been in a great measure 

 rebuilt in the 17th or i8th century, and has a plain 

 parapet and belfry windows of two uncusped four- 



centred lights under a square head. The west window 

 of the lower stage is of two lights with a circle in the 

 head ; part of the tracery seems to be old work 

 re-used. The tower arch is semicircular, of no great 

 age, and partly blocked ; the lower parts of the jambs 

 of a former tower arch remain. 



The church contains no old woodwork or fittings. 

 The chancel and chapel roofs are new, and the nave 

 roof has plain king-post trusses dating from the altera- 

 tions of the end of the i8th century. The roofs are 

 covered with Collyweston slates, and on the gable of 

 the chancel is an old gable cross, which may be of the 

 14th century. 



There is no old glass, but on the west side of the 

 chancel arch are remains of a chequer-pattern in red 

 and buff, and other traces of colouring, stopping 

 against the line of a screen or partition on the soffit 

 of the inner order. There are also traces of colour 

 on the arcade of the south chapel, and of false joint- 

 ing in red on that of the north. The font is modern, 

 with a small octagonal bowl on an octagonal shaft. 



In the north chapel is an altar tomb with a black 

 marble slab, to Humphrey Bellamy, 171 5, known as 

 the ' Beggar Boy's ' tomb. 



The plate consists of a silver cup of 1786, and a 

 paten given by Mrs. Margaret Arney in 1 70 1. The 

 date letter on the cup is indistinct, but may be 1702. 



There are three bells, the treble being mediaeval, 

 by an unknown founder. It bears the letters ' hi ' in 

 black letter smalls. The second is dated 1714, and 

 the tenor is by Joseph Eayre of St. Neots, 1754. 



The earliest registers are entered in 1572, the first 

 book containing baptisms from 1579 to 1643, from 

 1649 tJ 1714, and from 1722 to 1748; marriages 

 from 1572 to 1637, from 1639 to 1646, from 1654 

 to 1673, and from 1699 to 1709 ; burials from 1579 

 to 1645, from 1654 to 1709, and from 1721 to 1748. 

 This book is very carelessly kept, and there are 

 numerous gaps. In the middle are minutes of various 

 vestry meetings from 1 62 1 to 1640. The second 

 book comprises baptisms and burials from 175 1 to 

 1799, and marriages from 1752 to 1753 ; the third 

 book contains marriages from 1754 to 1812. 



There are two books of churchwardens' accounts ; 

 the first from 1684 to 1807, and the second from 

 1807 to 1833. 



Yarwell receives the annual rent 

 charge of £g, and the dividends on 

 j^i07 15/. I0(/. consols (held by the official trustees), 

 in respect of Lady Grace Mildmay's benefaction for 

 apprenticing poor children of the village.' 



The Church and Poor's Estate produces £^i 10/., 

 of which j^i6 15/. is used for church repairs, and the 

 rest distributed to the poor in money. 



Benefactions amounting to ;^40, given by persons 

 named Cannon and Arney, produce j^l 3/. 41/. a year, 

 which is distributed to the poor. 



There is also a fund known as the ' Beggar Boy's 

 Bread Money,' to which a local legend is attached. 

 It is said that a poor beggar boy named Humphrey 

 Bellamy coming through Yarwell was so kindly treated 

 that he vowed if he ever became rich he would be 

 buried at Yarwell and leave money to the poor. In 

 1715, when a London merchant, he gave ^10 to 

 the poor, the interest of which is known as ' Beggar 

 Boy's Money.' He was buried at Yarwell, in the 

 tomb still existing in the church. 



CHARITIES 



' Pat. 3 and 4 Phil, and Mary, pt. iii, m. 33. 



^ From notes by the late R. P. Brereton. 

 603 



' See Apethorpe. 



