BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



original, and two square-headed two-light windows. 

 There was no arched wall opening to the chapel at the 

 east end of the ' domicile ' and no trace of any division 

 between the chapel and the lower room, though pro- 

 bably a screen had existed.'' The upper room had 

 several windows. The chapel had an east window of 

 four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery and a 

 canopied niche on cither side within : in the south 

 wall was a piscina and a window of three lights. 

 Both chapel and domicile had open timber roofs, the 

 former of two, the latter of five bays, with wind braces 

 under the upper and lower purlins. 



After its vacation in 1834 the building was used for 

 business purposes.^^ 



Two hospitals stood outside the north gate of the 

 town in Kingsthorpe parish ; the Leper hospital of 

 VValbeck" and the hospital of St. David and the 

 Trinity,** founded in 1200 by the prior and convent 

 of St. Andrew's on the petition of Peter, son of Adam. 



THE COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS,^ founded 

 in 1460, stood on the west side of College L.inc, oppo- 

 site the end of College Yard, and consisted of a 

 priest's house for the warden and fellows and a 

 garden. It was used as a hospital for the sick during 

 the plague of 1603 to 1605, being then the property of 

 Abraham Ventris.** 



There were two HERMITAGES, one on the west 

 and the other on the south bridge. 



THE CASTLE HILL MEETING is prob.ibly 

 older in origin than 1662," though it was augmented 

 by secessions from St. Giles' and St. Peter's in that 

 year. In 1672 licenses were 

 NONCONFORMIST granted for worship in 6 

 CHAPELS. houses in Northampton, of 



which three were Presby- 

 terian and two Congregational.'* The definite 

 history of the Castle Hill congregation begins 

 with the ministry of Samuel Blower in 1674 ; and 

 his meeting house was one of the few that escaped 

 the fire. The present Castle Hill Chapel was built 

 in 1695 and is now known as Doddridge Chapel. It 

 is a rectangular building with hipped roof. On the 

 south side is a sundial on which was originally the 

 motto, ' Post est occasio calva, 1695.' Within, the 

 roof was propped inside by two great wooden pillars, 

 and there was a heavy white pulpit with sounding- 

 board and galleries. In 1852 the building was 

 enlarged and newly roofed, the pillars removed and 

 new gaUeries put up. A spacious vestibule was 

 added on the south side in 1890 covering the doorways. 

 There are five other Congregational chapels, of which 

 one was built in the 18th, three in the 19th, and 

 one in the 20th century. 



COLLEGE STREET CHAPEL is the second oldest 

 Free Church centre. In its origin it was a secession 



from Castle Hill Meeting, though friendly relations 

 were maintained between the two, and the members 

 met for some seventeen years at Lady Fcrmor's house 

 in the south quarter. The ' Church Covenant ' at 

 the time of the formal establishment of a Baptist 

 church is dated 27 October 1697 ,'* and the chapel in 

 College Street was built in 1712. Beginning as an 

 Independent, it became a Baptist community. As 

 Castle Hill is associated with Doddridge (1729-53) so 

 College Street is connected with the Rylands, father 

 and son, the elder famous for his ministry (1759-86) 

 and his school; the younger (minister 1786-93) for 

 his friendship with Carey and share in founding the 

 Baptist Missionary Society (1792).** There are 

 eight other Baptist chapels in Northampton besides 

 the College Street Chapel, which was rebuilt in 1863. 

 Of these one, Providence Chapel, Abington Street, was 

 built in the eighteenth and the rest in the 19th 

 century. 



There are six Wesleyan chapels, four Primitive 

 Methodist chapels, two chapels of the Plymouth 

 Brethren, one Unitarian chapel, and two Salvation 

 Army barracks. 



The Friends were early persecuted in Northampton, 

 and several died in Northampton gaol. They have a 

 meeting house in Wellington Street. 



The cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese of 

 Northampton, opened as ST. FELIX CHURCH in 

 1844, now the church of St. Mary and St. Thomas 

 of Canterbury, is in the Kingsthorpe Road. The chapel 

 of St. John's hospital in Bridge Street is also used as 

 a Roman Catholic place of worship. There is a 

 Jewish synagogue in Overstone Road. 



To the account of the early schools of 

 SCHOOLS. Northampton in the previous volume**" 

 should be added a reference of the 

 year 1 232. John de Duston, presented in that year 

 to the church of St. Bartholomew's, Northampton, 

 by the prior and convent of St. Andrew's, and being 

 examined by the archdeacon of Northampton, was 

 ordered to frequent the schools of Northampton and 

 study there, and at the end of the year to present 

 himself to the archdeacon for re-examination.*' In 

 1258 the Grey Friars of Northampton were granted 

 ten oaks from Silverstone Forest for the building of 

 their schools.*^ In the same year the Black Friars 

 were given sixgood oaks for the\TS.tudyioomi{studta).*^ 

 Possibly these buildings are to be associated with the 

 transitory university of Northampton, whose history 

 was given in the previous volume.** 



The Grammar School*^ endowed by Chipsey in 

 1541 and housed first at ' The Lamb ' in Bridge Street 

 and later on the site of St. Gregory's Church, in the 

 modern Free School Street, was moved in 1867 to new 

 buildings in Abington Square, and in 1911 to the 



*' ' The part of the east wall of the 

 domicile outiide the chapel roof wai 

 wooden framework, covered with lath 

 ■nd pUitcr,' except a imall piece of atone 

 work covering the wall over a doorway 

 at the eait end of the hall north of the 

 chapd : Auk. Arcb. Soc. Reps, ziii, 

 227. 



"The chapel and the east part of the 

 hall were used as a carriage house, double 

 doors being inserted at the east end below 

 the window. After the rebuilding of the 

 welt wall, probably early in the 19th 

 century ,a small house had been constructed 



in the north-west part of this hall, and a 

 large doorway made in the south end of 

 the new west wall to admit carriages. 

 Some 14th-century glass from the Hos- 

 pital is now in the Church of St. Sepulchre: 

 Cox and Serjeantson, /list of Ch. of Holy 

 SepuUbre, Norihampt. 50. 



" V.C.H. Northantt. ii, 162 ; Nortbanu. 

 Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. xviii. 



" y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 154-6. 



''- tbid. 



•• Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints, 

 Northampt., p. 72. 



*^ V.C.H. Nortbanu. Ii, 69; T. Cas- 



61 



quoine, etc., Hist of Castle Hill Cb. 

 Northampt. 1896. 



"' Cal. S. P. Dam. 1671-2, p. 306 ; ibid. 

 1672,238,379; ibid. 1672-3, 178,259,261. 



'» J. Taylor, Hist, of College St. Ch. 

 (Northampt. 1896), p. 3. 



*» y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 74; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



♦»• y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15, 16. 



*' Line. Rec. Soc. vi, 170. 



♦•Close R. 42 Hen. Ill, m.6. 



"Ibid. m. 2. 



" y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15-17. 



" Ibid, ii, 234-41. 



