A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



from 1660, the shaft of which is preserved in the 

 churchyard.** The wooden pulpit is modern, on a 

 stone base. 



A number of fragments of 12th and 13th century 

 ornamented coffin lids have been preserved ; four 

 of these are in the Round, and others are built into 

 the walls at the west end of the outer north aisle and 

 in the east wall of the north chancel chapel. 



In the Round, now against the north wall, is a 

 floor slab^ with five quadrangular brass plates and 

 border inscription,*' in memory of George Coles 

 (d. 1640) and his two wives. In the upper plate he 

 is represented standing between them giving a hand 

 to each, and is bareheaded, with falhng collar, doublet 

 and hose, and a short cloak ; the wives are in bodiced 

 gowns and wear wide neck ruffs and high crowned 

 hats. Below are smaller plates with two groups of 

 children, three by the first wife and nine by the second, 

 and under these again an emblem of clasped hands, 

 explained in eight lines of verse below. 



Amongst a large number of mural monuments^ 

 are memorials to members of the families of Fleetwood 

 (1676-1747), Churchill (1750-1803), Woolston (1705- 

 1775), Thompson (1786-1893), and others. 



A wall painting in the Round exposed in 1843 has 

 since disappeared, the walls having been stripped, 

 but there are traces of another on the splay of the 

 blocked westernmost window of the 12th century 

 chancel.** 



There is a scratch dial built bottom upwards into 

 the south-east angle of the porch about 7 ft. from the 

 ground.*" 



An oak lych gate was erected in 1888 at the west 

 entrance to the churchyard in Sheep Street. 



There is a ring of eight bells, seven of which were 

 recast in 1927 by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon ; 

 the old bell (now seventh) was cast by Henry Bagley 

 of Chacomb in l68l.*'- A clock is first mentioned in 

 1634 ; the present clock was erected in 1882. 



The plate is all modern with the exception of a 

 17th century pewter flagon, and four pewter plates 

 made bv Thomas King of London in 1675.*^ 



The earliest registers are as follows : (i) baptisms 

 1571-1574, 1577-1600, 1606-1722, marriages 1566- 

 1722,** burials 1571-1722,** (ii) baptisms and burials 

 1723-1778, marriages 1723-1754. The churchwardens' 

 accounts and vestry books begin in 1634. 



Built into the wall of a house^ at the south-west 

 corner of the churchyard is a stone of cruciform 



shape, with a rudely carved figure of our Lord on 

 the Cross, probably a gable termination on some 

 part of the church at the time of the building of the 

 tower.*' 



The church of ALL SAINTS stands in the centre 

 of the town on an island site bounded on the north by 

 Mercers' Row, on the south by George Row, on the 

 '.vest by the Drapery, and on the east by Wood Hill. 

 It was originally a cruciform structure consisting of 

 aisled chancel, central tower, north and south tran- 

 septs, and clearstoried nave with north and south 

 aisles, the oldest parts of which appear to have dated 

 from the 12th centuiy. The destruction of the 

 medieval fabric in the fire of 1675 was so complete 

 that only the tower and a small crypt below the 

 chancel were preserved. These are incorporated in 

 the present building, erected in 1676-80 in the 

 Renaissance style of the day, which consists of chancel, 

 rectangular nave, and west tower flanked by north and 

 south transepts. It stands on the site of the chancel 

 of the medieval church, the whole of which west of 

 the tower was destroyed, a small churchyard being 

 theie formed and the rest of the space thrown into the 

 roadway. 



There is no authentic drawing of the church as it 

 was before 1675, but Speed's map (1610) shows a 

 cruciform building with central tower, and a picture 

 made in 1669 by one of the artists accompanying 

 Duke Cosmo III of Tuscany indicates a long nave of 

 seven bays with west gable flanked by turrets or 

 pinnacles.*' In a descripticn of the old and new 

 churches by Henry Lee, town clerk in 1675, the writer 

 states that the old chancel was ' very large with great 

 stalls and large desks before them on the north and 

 south sides, and on the west side very gentile pews 

 with desks before them to lean upon,' and he quotes a 

 saying that the church was ' as large as some cathe- 

 drals.' At its west end were ' very stately gates at 

 the entiance and a veiy high and large window.' 

 There were ' three aisles,' and in 26 Henry VIII 

 (1534-5) 'the middle roof was made and raised very 

 high and lofty.' On the middle of the church wall 

 was a chapel erected by Mr. Neale (mayor in 15 39), 

 ' very finely built with white stone,' and there was ' a 

 south porch very great and large and over it was a 

 large room in which the spiritual court was held.' 

 There is also mention of a tomb and vault built in 

 1585 'in the place called the Lady Chapel in the 

 chancel,' and of ' an old strong building adjoining to 



" The baiin l« buried beneath the 

 prcient font. 



" The ilab ' has been moved several 

 times within the memory of man, so 

 that it is difficult to say what was its 

 original position ' : Cox and Scrjcantson, 

 op. cit. 88. 



•' The inscription reads, ' Here rcsteth 

 ye body of Mr. George Coles of North- 

 ampton w'h his 2 wives Sarah and Eleanor 

 by whom he had iz children. He gave 

 to pious uses xi' yearely for ever to this 

 towne and deceased y" first of January 

 1640.' 



•• ' At the time of the restoration of 

 the church the mural monuments were 

 all taken down, and much carelessness 

 and thoughtlessness characterised the 

 refiling.' Cox and Serjeantson, op. cit. 

 89, where all the inscriptions are given. 



•• Ibid. 67. 



*" It is a complete circle, with a per- 

 pendicular and a horizontal line cutting 

 across it, and radiating lines iii three of 

 the right angles thus formed. 



"Till 1898 there were six bells, of 

 which Bagley's remaining bell w.is the 

 fourth, two trebles by Mears and Stain- 

 bank in commemoration of Queen 

 Victoria's Jubilee, and dated 1897, being 

 then added. In the 1927 recasting 

 Bagley's bell, then sixth, became the 

 seventh. Another of the old bells was 

 dated 1681, the tenor 1733, the treble 

 1739, and two others 1805 and 1857 

 respectively. The inscriptions are given 

 in North, Ch. Bells of i\'orlhjnli, 349, 



*' The modern plate consists of a silver 

 chalice parcel gilt, and a silver paten of 

 1879, and a silver gilt chalice and paten 

 of 1884. Of the plates two arc inscribed 

 ' Saintse Pulkers,' and llie odifrs ' S.iint 



48 



Scplkers' and 'Saint Sepulkers' respec- 

 tively. 



*^ October 1648-November 1651 miss- 

 ing, a leaf being torn out. 



'* No entries for 1575 and 1576. 



** In north end wall of no. 68 Sheep 

 Street, facing the churchyard. 



*" Cox and Serjeantson, op. cit. 120, 

 where it is figured. The sculpture is 

 repeated on the other side of the stone- 

 [Northants N. and Q. ii, 240) which 

 measures 19 in. across the arms and about 

 20 in. in height. 



•' A sketch of this drawing is reproduced 

 in Rev. R. M. Serjcantson's Hut. oj Ch. oj 

 All Saintt, Northampi. (1901), 160, but 

 its architectural veracity is open to c|uei- 

 tion, especially as regards the tower, 

 which is shown with open arches. Mr. 

 Serjcantson's book has been used in the 

 following (ic-S( ription of the church. 



