BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



have been preserved : (l) Calvin's Commentary on 

 Isaiah, 1609, and (2) The Second Book of Homilies, 

 1676. 



The only medieval monument that has survived 

 is a beautiful 15th century table tomb, ' said to have 

 been erected for one of the Gobion family,' ** now 

 against the east wall of the new north aisle.*' It is 

 of white alabaster, with six canopied niches on the 

 long side and two at the south end containing shield- 

 bearing angels and weepers. There is no effigy, and 

 the brass inscription round the verge has disappeared. 



The 1 8th century mural monuments include those 

 of James Keill, M.D. (d. 1719), who 'opened by the 

 surgeon's knife a path for the physician's skill ' ; 

 Edmund Bateman (d. 1731), Town Attorney of 

 Northampton, 1689-1700; Edward VVatkin, vicar 

 1735-86, and his son John VVatkin, D.D., vicar 

 1786-95. There are also monuments to members of 

 the families of Goodday (1683-1797) and Woolston 

 (1717-1778)." 



There are ten bells, two trebles having been added 

 in 1895 to a ring of eight cast in 1783 by Edward 

 Arnold, of St. Neots." 



The plate is all modern and consists of a set of eight 

 pieces, all silver-gilt, presented in 1883 by Benjamin 

 Vialls : it comprises a cup, two patens and a strainer 

 spoon of 1876, a cup, flagon, and brcadholder of 1882 

 and an alms dish of 1881.*" There are also a plated 

 cup and five plates. Four pewter basins are exhibited 

 in the church. 



The registers before 18 12 are as follows : (l) 

 bapisms, marriages, and burials 1559-1747, with 

 gaps 1584-87 and 1613-16 ;2* (ii) baptisms and burials 

 1748-1812, marriages 1748-1766; (iii) marriages 

 1754-1789; (iv) marriages 1789-1812. There are 

 churchwardens' accounts 1628-39, J^53~7o> 1683- 

 1709 and others till 1855. 



The churches of St. Peter, the Holy 

 ADVOWSONS Sepulchre and All Saints arc all, 

 as we have seen, probably as old as 

 the Norman Conquest. The Priory of St. Andrew, 

 by the charter of Earl Simon I,** confirmed by 

 Henry I and Henry II,*' had the presentation of all 



the churches in Northampton, and Bishop Hugh of 

 Lincoln's charter** specifies nine by name : All 

 S.iints', St. Giles', St. Michael's, Holy Sepulchre, 

 St. Mary's (by the Castle), St. Gregory's,*^ St. 

 Peter's, St. Edmund's and St. Banliolomcw's, as well 

 as the chapel of St. Thomas. AH these churches 

 then were in existence by 1200, and wc have records of 

 presentations to all of them by St. Andrew's priory 

 between 1219 and 1247.** Other churches men- 

 tioned in the records or by Henry Lee are St. George's 

 in the Castle,*' St. Lawrence's outside the North gate, 

 St. Catharine's in College Lane,*' St. Martin's in the 

 North quarter,** and, outside the liberties, St. 

 Leonard's in Cotton End** and St. Margaret's in St. 

 James' End, but it is not likely that all or most of 

 these were parish churches. The inquest for the 

 taxation of parish churches in 1428'* gives the number 

 of parishes as eight, naming all those of 1200 with 

 the exception of St. Bartholomew's. The Valor 

 Ecclesiasticus** also omits St. Bartholomew's as 

 well as St. Peter's, which was not in the gift of 

 St. Andrew's, but St. Lawrence's is described as a 

 chapel attached to the parsonage or rectory of St. 

 Andrew's.^ Leland says that there were seven 

 parish churches, two being in the suburb. It would 

 appear therefore that the number of parishes was 

 constant from 1200 to the Reformation, though other 

 churches may have been used for parochial purposes. 



After the Reformation the ecclesiastical parishes 

 of Northampton were reduced to four. St. Sepulclire's 

 absorbed the parishes of St. Bartholomew's and 

 St. Michael's ; St. Giles' that of St. Edmund's ; 

 and All Saints' that of St. Mary's by the Castle** and 

 St. Gregory's, the latter by the authority of Cardinal 

 Pole, when the site of St. Gregory's was converted 

 to the use of a free school.^ In a suit as to tithes 

 due to the vicar of St. Giles' in 1598 it was deposed 

 that the parish of St. Edmund's had been deceased 

 for about 60 years.** The same record gives the 

 bounds of St. Giles' parish at the same date.*' 



The four ecclesiastical parishes of Northampton 

 remained unaltered till the 19th century. The 

 smallest, St. Peter's, remains unaltered still : but 



twcnt)r-four ibieldi of arms in the windows, 

 and a later copyist in 1614 noted twenty- 

 three (hields on tombs and windows. 

 None of these now remain. Twenty- 

 eight of these coats are figured in Ser- 

 jeantson, op. cit. 137-143. 



'• Bridget, Hill, of Norihanti. y 445. 

 The male line of the Gobions became 

 extinct in 1301, but the tomb may have 

 belonged to one of their descendants, the 

 Paynell-Oobions, or the Turpyns : Scr- 

 ieantton, op. cit. 145. 



"In Bridges' day it stood 'against the 

 cast end of the south cross aisle.' Serjeant- 

 ion, writing in 1911, says 'it has been 

 moved three times during the last sixty 

 years." 



" The inscriptions on all the monu- 

 ments earlier than the 19th century are 

 given in Serjeantson, op. cit. 146-159. 



'• North, Ch. Belli fj Nortbantt, 347, 

 where the inscriptions on Arnold's bells 

 are given. The two trebles are by Taylor 

 of Loughborough. Before 1783 there 

 were six bells. Quarter chimes were 

 added in 1845 striking on all ten bells. 

 The earliest reference to a clock occurs in 

 1633: the present clock was erected in 

 1865. 



" Markham, Ch. Plate oj NorihanH, 203. 

 The older plate was stolen in 1892 : it 

 included a cup and paten presented in 

 1683, a flagon of 1735, a breadholder of 

 1756, and a cup of 1878. 



" No marriages arc recorded in 1642, 

 1644, 1653-4, and no burials in 1642-44, 

 1647-51, and 1654-59: Serjeantson, op. 

 cit. 184. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 190. 



"Cal.Cb.R.xv. 118. 



'* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 191. 



" For the parochial history of St. Mary's 

 and St. Gregory's see R. M. Serjeantson, 

 Hist. 0/ the Ch. of All Saints, Northampt. 

 c. viii. 



" Rot. Hug. de IVelles (Cant, and York 

 Soc), 106, 142, 149, 271 ; Rot. Rob. 

 Grosseteste, 177, 231. 



•' The west window was still there in 

 Lee's time. Lee, Coll. p. 98. The ' St. 

 Miles in Cock Lane ' mentioned by Lee, 

 p. 99, is St. Michael's. See Boro. Rec. 

 ii, 528. 



" A chapel of ease to All Saints, de- 

 molished in 1631. Boro. Ric. '\l,^^l. Sec 

 above, p. 21, and Serjeantson, op. cit. 

 pp. 60-62. 



"In 1274-5 '^i' chapel had been 



55 



without a chaplain for twenty years, and 

 was ruinous. Roi. Hund. ii, 2. But in 

 1348, Edward III was presenting to it, 

 as in the gift of an alien priory. Cal. Pat. 

 1348-50, p. 247. 



"' The chapel was probably older than 

 the hospital and had all the adjuncts of 

 an ordinary parish church. Serieantson, 

 Leper Hospitals of Northampt. pp. 7-10. 



*^ Feudal .■lids, iv. 504. 



" Valor Ecd. iv. 315-6. 



" Dugdale, A/oB. /?ng/. v, 195. Pat. R. 

 36 Elii. pt. 14 ; 6 Jas. I. pt. 30 ; II Chas. I. 

 pt. 24. Lee says St. Lawrence's was 

 called the lawless church, because mar- 

 riages were performed there without 

 license (p. 99). 



"In 1590; see Serjeantson, op. cit., 

 p. 97. In 1549 the communicants in St. 

 Mary's parish numbered 150, as against 

 62 In St. Gregory's, 1,000 In All Saints', 

 and 1,140 In St. Giles'. Chantry Cert. 

 Roll 35, mm. i-i d. 



"■ In 1556 ; V.C.H. Northanls. Ii, 236. 



" Coram Rege Rolls. 33 Eliz. mm. 22, 

 81 d. See R. M. Serieantson, Hist, of 

 the Ch. of St. Giles, Northampt., p. 287. 



" For an account of the bounds as 

 beaten in 1851 see ibid. p. 228. 



