A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Sherd,' who was master in 1474,'' and it formerly con- 

 tained also fragments of painted glass, including shields 

 of Grey, Hastings and Valence, but these have 

 been lately taken out. The stairs are not centrally 

 placed, being shghtly nearer the east end : from a 

 landing below the window they lead east and west to 

 two large upper rooms, one at each end of the building, 

 said to have been for the ' co-brothers ' or chaplains.^^ 

 On the north side of the ground floor passage is a 

 room at the west end with a square-headed two-hght 

 window, and next to it one with a smaU pointed 

 external doorway. Next to this is a larger room, or 

 hall, hghted by two three-light ^-indows similar to 

 that on the staircase, and open to the roof, and at the 

 east end the kitchen, which has a large projecting fire- 

 place and a two-hght square-headed window in the 

 north wall. The roof of the building is of six bays. 

 Although the division of hall and kitchen is apparently 

 modern the construction of the two bays of roof over 

 the hall seems to imply that this part of the building 

 alone was always open its fuO height.*^ Of the two 

 upper rooms, which are 22 ft. by 20 ft., that at the 

 west end is hghted by the circular window and by 

 two square-headed mullioned windows on the north, 

 and two wooden-framed ones on the south side, and 

 has a fireplace in the south-west angle. The eastern 

 room has also mullioned windows on the north and 

 wooden ones on the south side, and a fireplace with 

 moulded jambs. Both rooms extend the full vvidth of 

 the building, and occupy two bays of the roof. 



The chapel is in plan a plain rectangle, 16 ft. wide in- 

 ternally by 44 ft. long, built of local red sandstone, and 

 the roof covered with blue slates. The three-light east 

 window is of the early 14th century with cusped inter- 

 secting tracery and moulded mullions and jambs, and 

 the chapel was probably wholly rebuilt in that period. 

 The entrance is at the west end. The north wall is 

 blank. The west wall is of the 15th century and has 

 coupled buttresses at the angles standing wholly 

 beyond the face of the north and south walls, i.e., the 

 west end is nearly 6 ft. wider than the body of the 

 chapel, and it is possible that the whole of the north, 

 south and east walls have been rebuilt on a narrower 

 plan, leaving the west end as it was and re-using the 

 east window.^ The building was extensively restored 

 in 1853-4 ''y '^^ Charity Commissioners, the whole of 

 the south wall being then taken down and rebuilt in its 

 present form with two two-hght windows in the 

 14th century style,** below the westernmost of which 

 is a small pointed doorway.^ The roof of five bays 

 and the wooden bell turret are modern. The building 

 was renovated in 1882, to which date the present 

 fittings belong. The buildings are now undergoing 

 further repair. 



The moulded west doorway has an almost semi- 

 circular two-centred head under a square label, the 

 spandrels of which contain quatrefoils with square-loaf 



flowers. The original double doors remain. Above is a 

 large four-centred five-hght window with Perpen- 

 dicular tracery and moulded jambs and mullions. The 

 two-armed cross on the gable is said to be original .The 

 doorway and west and east windows are of oolite. In 

 the east windows are considerable remains of 15th 

 century glass, including saints, a head of the Blessed 

 Virgin, an angel holding a sliield, and a kneeling 

 figure. 



The Master's House, now demolished, is said to 

 have contained work of every century from the 13th 

 to the 19th, and its architectural history was com- 

 pUcated.*' It was rectangular in plan with a south 

 porch and north-west wing, and had a frontage of 

 about 87 ft. The hall, 26 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 2 in., had 

 been divided in the 1 8th century. The kitchen and 

 offices were at the west end. 



THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD,^'' founded 

 by Richard de Stafford in the nth century, was in 

 Hardingstone parish, outside the liberties, on the 

 west side of the road leading to Queen's Cross. The 

 hospital btuldings, of which no description is extant, 

 included a chapel and churchyard which served the 

 inhabitants of Cotton End as a parish church. The 

 Lazar House is mentioned in the Assembly Books 

 from 1623 to 1823, when it was finally pulled down ; 

 it can have been Uttle more than a cottage at this 

 time, when there was only one recipient of the 

 charity. 



THE HOSPITAL OF ST THOMAS,^ founded 

 apparently in the 15th century, stood on the east side 

 of Bridge Street, just outside the south gate. In 

 1834 the residents removed to a new house in St. 

 Giles' Street, and the buildings were used for a 

 carriage-builders' shop until, in 1874, they were 

 pulled down to make room for a road to the new 

 cattle market.'* It was a rectangular 15th century 

 stone building, consisting of a large hall, 22 ft. 3 in. 

 wide internally with upper floor, and a chapel at its 

 east end 15 ft. wide by 16 ft. 9 in. long, the south wall 

 of which was continuous with that of the hall. The 

 roofs were covered with Collyweston slates. At the 

 time of demohtion the hall, or domicile, was 54 ft. 8 in. 

 long internally, but it had been shortened some 3 ft. 

 or 4 ft. at the west end, probably for street-widening 

 purposes. The original west elevation facing Bridge 

 Street, as shown in Bridges' History, had a central 

 arched doorway, with window on the south side, 

 and above these a row of quatrefoils containing blank 

 shields. Over the doorway was a four-light window 

 and on each side of it a canopied niche containing a 

 figure. The hall was, no doubt, formerly divided by 

 screens in the usual way, with cubicles arranged 

 round the walls : several lockers ^ remained in both 

 tlie north and south walls, but some had been con- 

 verted into uindows. In the middle of the north wall 

 was a large fireplace, one jamb only of which was 



'°Thi« may give the approximate date 

 of the 15th century alteration). 



" Brideei, //n(. of Noribanis. i 457. 



" Alloc. Arch. Soc, Reps. %n, 233. 



*' Ibid. 232. There are no buttresses 

 St the north-east and south-east angles, 

 and except at the west end, where it 

 is chamfered, the plinth is a mere set- 



•* They are said to have been indicated 

 by fragments found in the wall, but the 

 windows previously in the south wall 



were round-headed and probably of i8th 

 century date : ibid. 230. 



"The doorway is probably in its original 

 position, but the form of the previous one 

 is not known : ibid. 230. 



" Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xil, 225, 

 where there is a lengthy description by 

 Sir Henry Drydcn. His measured draw- 

 ing of the building in in the collection of 

 the North.impt. Arch. Soc. in the rooms 

 of the Ladies' Club. 



60 



'T.C./f. Northanis. ii, 159-161 ; Ser- 

 jcantson, Northanis Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 Vol. xviii. 



" V.C.n. Northanis ii, 161-2 ; Scr- 

 jeantson, Hospital ofSi.Thomat, Northampt. 

 (1909). 



"■The following description is based on a 

 paper by Sir Henry Dryden in Assoc. Arch. 

 Soc. Reps, xiii, 225-231. 



•"They were 3 ft. 3 in. high, 2 ft. 2 in. 

 wide, and 16 in. deep. There Were no 

 lockers in the upper room. 



