A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The church*' was in the gift of the 

 ADVOWSON lord of Benefield in 1 225,88 and has 

 followed the descent of the manor 

 (q.v.) since that date. In 1329 William of Benetfeld 

 obtained licence to alienate land in this parish to a 

 chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the 

 church of Benefield for the King and the souls of 

 himself, his ancestors and benefactor s,** and in 1515 

 William Newman bequeathed 40^. to the same church 

 ' to by a coope.'*'^ Its rectory was the occasion for 

 several suits in the l6th centur>' in which the lord of 

 the manor was involved. Between 1525 and 1529 

 the parson, Richard Robinson, appealed to the Star 

 Chamber against George Zouche the patron ' and also 

 a man of great strength and powre ' for keeping him 

 out of his benefice by force and threats.*^"" More 

 than thirty years later George's son and heir, Sir 

 John Zouche, was sued in Chancery by Thomas 

 Washington, clerk, for withholding the deed of presen- 

 tation by which he had granted him the living and 

 instituting another rector.'^' The plaintiffs of 1591 

 were laymen — Francis Flower who sued the last 

 Zouche lord of Benefield and his uncle, William 

 Zouche, for non-fulfilment of an undertaking to sell 

 him a lease of the rectory of Benefield, and William 

 Tate, who complained of the detention by the same 

 defendants of the indentures and bonds by which 

 they had sold him the same rectory.'''' 



Church Estate. In 1683 theCom- 



CHARniES missioners of Charitable Uses decreed 



that the rent of certain tenements and 



lands, which had been given by the family of Benning- 



ton, should be applied to and for the repair of the 

 Parish Church. Under the Inclosure Act passed in 

 I George IV, an allotment of 1 3 a. o r. 4 p. was set out 

 and awarded to the Churchwardens in lieu of the 

 original property. The land produces (io yearly 

 and the Charity is also possessed of ;^ioo 5 per cent. 

 War Stock standing in private names and representing 

 accumulations of income. 



Poor's Land. The same Commissioners in 1683 

 found that certain sums of money given by persons 

 named Bennington and Wright for the poor had been 

 laid out in the purchase of a close of land containing 

 4 acres. The property consists of a field at King's 

 CliflFe containing 5 a. and let for ^4 5/. yearly. 



The Poor's Money. The Commissioners previously 

 mentioned found that other persons gave altogether 

 £io for the poor. This money was originally secured 

 on a mortgage, but has since been invested in 

 £?i1 l()i. Sd. Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the 

 Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and pro- 

 ducing £■} I/, id. yearly in dividends. The 

 income of the Poor's Land and the Poor's Money 

 is distributed in doles on St. Thomas's Day to about 

 18 poor. 



By his will dated 1783 the Rev. Francis Broade 

 gave ;^ioo to the Rector and Churchwardens the 

 income to be distributed to the Poor on Good Friday. 

 The money is now represented by ^103 15/. 3;^. 

 Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees 

 of Charitable Funds and producing ^3 12s. Sd. yearly 

 in dividends which is distributed among about 18 

 poor. 



HEMINGTON 



Hinintone, Hemintone (xi cent.) ; Hennington, 

 Hemingtone, Heminthon, Hevinton (xii cent.). 



The parish of Hemington covers an area of 1,354 

 acres and stands at an average height of 200 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum. The subsoil is Oxford clay 

 with cornbrash in the east. The upper soil varies. 

 About a third of the land is laid down as grass and 

 the remainder, except for about 15 acres of woodland, 

 is arable land producing barley and wheat. 



A road leading from Great Gidding to Polebrook 

 goes through the village past Hemington Lodge, and 

 the vicarage, church and school. North of the school 

 a branch road goes eastwards past the remains of the 

 old Manor House, which survived as two tenements 

 in 1888. This, the second Northamptonshire home 

 of the Montagus, was surrounded by a moat, inclosing 

 8 acres. The last member of the family who lived 

 here was Elizabeth Harington, widow of the second 

 Sir Edward Montagu, known as ' The Blind Lady 

 Montagu.'* Dean Swift, writing to the Duke of 

 Montagu in 171 3, nearly a hundred years after this 

 lady's death, said, ' I was at Hcmmington according 



to your order, and found no mansion house there, and 

 was informed it had been pulled down about 30 years 

 before.'^ The population of Hemington numbered 

 106 persons in 1921. 



Part of HEMINGTON was given with 

 MANORS Barnwell St. Andrew (q.z:) to Ramsey 



Abbey by Ethelric Bishop of Dorchester. 

 The gift consisted of 3 hides and 2 virgates of land.^ 

 The area by 1086 and in the 12th century had 

 fallen to 2j hides.* The tenants in fee holding of 

 the Abbot as at Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.) were the 

 le Moynes^ until Abbot William de Godmanchester 

 purchased the manor with Barnwell in 1276.' In 1293 

 Abbot Sawtry appropriated Hemington to the uses 

 of the Abbey ceilar.' After the Dissolution the Crown 

 in 1540 granted the manor to Sir Edward Montagu, 

 Chief Justice of the King's Bench.' From 1540 the 

 manor descended with Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.), 

 but the Duke of Buccleuch did not sell it with that 

 manor in 191 3, and is still owner.* 



Another fee in Hemington, also 2^ hides, the soke 

 of which lay in Oundlc, was held of the abbot of 



" Dedicated to St. Mary, P.C.C. lo 

 Holder. 



•• Rot. //u?. Je Ifellei (Cant, and York 

 Soc.) ii, 123. 



•• Cal. Pal. 1 327- JO, p. 364. 



•»' P.C.C. 10 Holder. 



»••' Star Cham. Proc. Hen. VIII, bdlc. 

 17, not. Z51 and 257. 



"" Ch.in.Proc. (Ser. 2), bdlc. 190, no. 76. 

 "■"1 Ibid. Elir,. F. I 7., no. 29 ; T.t. 8. 

 ' C. Wiic, The Monlagui oj Boiighwti, 

 12, 28. 



• Duke 0/ Buccleuch MSS. (Hi«t. MSS. 

 Com. Rep.) i. 359. 



• Cariul. Man. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.), 

 i, 280. 



80 



« r.C.H. Norihanis. i, 318*, 367a. 



• Ibid. 



• Cariul. Men. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.) 

 lii, 18;. 



' Ibid, ii, l..\o. 



' I'.it. R. 31 Men. VIII, pt. 6, m. 31. 

 " Inf. from Messrs. Nichull, Maniity 

 and Co. 



