A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



In 1304 he granted it to the abbot of Peter- 

 borough, its chief lord, John Marmion, the mesne 

 lord giving his consent.'^ 



Abbot Godfrey de Crowland assigned the manor 

 to the convent for his anniversary .^^ He was returned 

 as lord of Luddington in 1316,^* and it remained 

 among the temporahties of his house until the sur- 

 render of the Abbey in 1539.** In 1544 it was 

 granted to Sir Edward Montagu," and followed the 

 descent of Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.), but was not 

 sold by the Duke of Buccleuch in 191 3, and the duke 

 is still owner of the manor. Mr. James Cheney is 

 one of the chief landowners in the parish. 



Land in Luddington formed part of a knight's 

 fee in Great Gidding and Luddington, given by 

 Ingeram de Owe (Auco) to the Austin Canons of 

 Huntingdon^' and confirmed to them by Henry I.'^* 

 The lands and rents of the Priory in Fotheringhay 

 and Luddington together were valued at £^ gs. id. 

 in 1291 ^' and in 1539 its rents in Luddington alone 

 amounted to 102s. lld.^" The possessions of this 

 house in Luddington remained with the Crown until 

 1546, when they were sold with the manor of Great 

 Gidding to Edward Watson of Rockingham and 

 Henry Herdson, skinner, of London,^^ who in the 

 same year obtained licence to convey them to Sir 

 Edward Montagu.^- 



The church of ST. M.-IRGARET: con- 

 CHURCH sists of chancel, 22 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 2 in. ; 

 clearstoried nave, 39 ft. by 15 ft. ; 

 south aisle, 9 ft. 6 in. wide ; south porch and west 

 tower, 6 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 8 in., all these measurements 

 being internal. The tower is surmounted by a short 

 broach spire. The building is almost entirely of 

 15th century date, but it appears to have taken the 

 place of a 13th century church, which seems to have 

 had both north and south aisles. The building was 

 very completely restored in 1874, the chancel being 

 in a great measure modern work, but four lancet 

 windows, three on the north and one on the south, 

 which had survived the 15th-century rebuilding, were 

 retained in modern form. The buttresses and part 

 of the walling at the west end of the nave may belong 

 to the 13th-century church, the north buttress 

 indicating the line of the former north arcade. 



The building is of rubble masonry, with plain 

 parapets, large grotesque gargoyles,^^ and leaded 

 roofs to nave and aisle. The chancel is covered with 

 grey slates. All the roofs are modern. The spire 

 dates only from 1874, but is said to be a copy of a 

 spire long ago destroyed ; before the restoration only 

 its base remained, covered with a slated pyramidal roof. 



The chancel retains no ancient features except 

 its 15th-century arch with moulded capitals and bases. 

 The rood loft doorway remains on the north side, 



approached by a stairway, still perfect, in the north 

 nave wall, here thickened out. The nave arcade 

 consists of three pointed arches of two chamfered 

 orders, the outer running down the piers to the 

 ground, the inner resting on attached shafts with 

 moulded capitals and bases. All the windows of the 

 nave are four-centered, those of the clearstory of 

 two cinquefoiled lights, the others of three lights, 

 and at the east end of the aisle, in the usual position, 

 is a piscina with four-centered head and quatrefoil 

 bowl. 



The tower is divided by string courses into five 

 short stages, and has clasping buttresses and bell- 

 chamber windows of two cinquefoiled lights with 

 quatrefoil in the head. The tower arch is lofty and 

 of a single chamfered order. There is no vice. 



The font is of 1 5 th century date, with plain octagonal 

 bowl and stem. 



The oak pulpit and the seating are modern, but 

 some old linen pattern panels have been used up and 

 have been copied in the bench ends. There is a good 

 carved oak chest, probably of 16th-century date. 



The only ancient glass consists of some fragments 

 of late 15th-century canopy work in the east window 

 of the aisle and in one in the north wall.^ 



The two bells in the tower were cast by Henry 

 Penn, of Peterborough, in 1710.^* The frames were 

 renewed in 1861. 



The plate consists of a silver gilt cup and cover 

 paten of 1640, both bearing the initials of Richard 

 Faulkner, and the date 1641.^* There are also a 

 pewter alms plate and a brass alms dish. 



The registers before l8l2 are as follows : (i) 

 baptisms 1673-86, 1702-31, 1733-58, marriages 

 1673-1702, 1711-43, burials 1635-92, 1711-57; 

 (ii) baptisms and burials 1759-1812 ; (iii) marriages 

 1754-1812. 



The church, which until the latter 

 ADFOWSON part of the i8th century was dedi- 

 cated to St. Andrew,^^ has been 

 known as the church of St. Margaret of Antioch since 

 1791.^* It was included in the grant of the manor 

 {q.v.) by John, son of Thomas de Oundle, to the 

 Abbey of Peterborough, and remained one of the 

 possessions of that house until its surrender.^' Sir 

 Edward Montagu bought it with the manor in 1 544. 



The rectory, which was united to the vicarage of 

 Hemington before 1854, has, with the advowson, 

 followed the descent of the manor. In 1920 it 

 was conveyed by the Duke of Buccleuch with Heming- 

 ton to Mr. Benjamin Measures. 



An annuity of 13/. \d. is payable out 

 CHARITY of the estates of Lord Montagu for 

 distribution to the poor. The origin 

 of the charily is unknown. 



"Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4; 

 Cott. Chart, xv, iS. Cal. Pat. 1301-7, 

 p. 241 i Cott. MS. Vcip. E. xxi, ff. 16A, 

 17; Ibid. CIco. C. ii, fol. 81. 



" Sparkc, loc. cit. 



"Feud, /lids, iv, 23. 



■• A'a/or Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 279. 



" Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. i. 



" Chart. R. Ii4,m. 31. 



"Cart. Anliq. II. no. 8. 



" Pi<l>e Nicb. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 556. 



" faUr E<cl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 253. 



" Pat. R. 38 Ilcn. VIII, pt. 4, m. 40. 



" Ibid. pt. 6. 



*■ The g.irgoylc8 .ire a very conspicuous 

 feature of the building ; there arc four on 

 each side of the clearstory, four to the 

 aisle, and four to the porch, all very large 

 in comparison with the other architectural 

 details. 



** Bridges records the fragment of an 

 inscription : ' Joht ct Agnet uxoris ejus 

 . . . fenestra ..." in the uppermost 

 north windoWi and another window, 



' from the letters S and S in many places 

 of it appears to have had the portraits of 

 different saints.' He also records the 

 arms of Montagu in the cast window : 

 }hil. of Northants. ii, 403. 



*'•* I'or inscriptions sec North, Cb. Bells 

 0/ Norlhanis, 330. 



" Markham, Ch. I'hilt oJNorihants, 181. 



"Norihjnts .V. and Q. 1888, ii, 115; 

 Bacon, Liber Regis, 328. 



" Bridges, op. cit., ii, 402-4. 



'•' I'alor Eccl. (Rcc. Com), iv, 293. 



84 



