POLEBROOK HUNDRED 



OUNDLE 



Undala, Undela (x cent.) ; Oundel (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Oundle is situated on the Nene, 

 which almost surrounds the level ground called St. 

 Sythc's meadow. This ancient market town is 

 situated on the higher ground to the north-west, on 

 the neck of this little peninsula. The hamlets of 

 Ashton and Elmington lie to the north-east, across the 

 river; Biggin and Churchfield to the west. The land 

 near the river is liable to floods, but the main part 

 of the town stands from 25 ft. to 35 ft. above the 

 level of the river, and the ground rises on the east and 

 west boundaries to about 250 ft. 



The area of the parish is 4,992 acres, of which 

 3,144 acres are in Oundle and 1,848 in Ashton. In 

 1895 Biggin and Churchfield, with the rural portion 

 of the township, were added to Benefield,* the area of 

 Oundle being thus reduced to 2,228 acres. The land 

 is mainly permanent pasture. A private Act, un- 

 printed,- was passed in 1807 for the inclosure and the 

 tithes of Oundle ; under it the vicarage was augmented 

 by 66 acres.' 



There are several mineral springs in the neighbour- 

 hood,* and a century ago the making of bobbin lace 

 was a local industr)'. 



A road from Thrapston on the south crosses the 

 river Nene by the South or Crowthorp Bridge, which 

 has six round keystoned arches and a plain sloped 

 coping, but is of no architectural interest. There 

 were formerly two crosses on the old bridge 12 ft. 

 apart, the bridge extending ' 20 ft. from one cross to 

 the north and 40 ft. from the other to the south. '^ 

 The road continues north and again crosses the Nene 

 by the North Bridge on its way to Elton and Peter- 

 borough. The North Bridge was rebuilt and widened 

 in 1912-14. It consists of eleven arches, six over the 

 river proper and five more widely spaced in the approach 

 from the town. A tablet recording a former rebuild- 

 ing, found during the course of repair in 1835, has 

 been inserted in the parapet ; the inscription reads : 

 ' In the yere of oure Lord 1570 thes arches wer 

 borne doune by the waters extremytie. In the yere 

 of oure Lord 1 57 1 they wer bulded agayn with lyme 

 and stonne. Thanks be to God.' On the east side 

 of the bridge is the railway station (opened 1845) on a 

 branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. 

 Near by on the river is a wharf or dock. Other roads 

 from Stoke Doyle, Benefield, Glapthorn and Fothering- 

 hay converge on the town. At the junction of the 

 roads from Benefield and Stoke Doyle, the district was 

 formerly called Chapel End, from the medieval 

 chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Leiand, refer- 

 ring to this chapel about 1540, describes it as ' the 

 church or chapel of St. Thomas now of our Lady.' 

 The site of the chapel is at present approximately 

 occupied by Jesus Church. 



The town has many picturesque stone-built houses, 



La xto n. Argent a 

 chei'eroti gobotiy ermine 

 and sable between three 

 griffons* heads gules 

 sprinkled Kith drops of 

 gold. 



chiefly of 17th and 1 8th century date, and some 

 retaining earlier work, but the growing needs of 

 Oundle School have necessitated the removal of 

 several interesting blocks of buildings, notably in New 

 Street. The new buildings, 

 however, are everywhere de- 

 signed to harmonise with their 

 surroundings, and add not a 

 little to the pleasant aspect 

 of the town, being mostly 

 in a late Gothic style adapted 

 to modern needs. The gram- 

 mar school and almshouse on 

 the south side of the church- 

 yard, which was a recon- 

 struction by Sir William 

 Laxton of the then existing 

 guildhall,* was pulled down 

 in 1852 to make room for the 

 new Laxton School building, 

 and new almshouses were built on a near site. The 

 new school building has an open ground story, with 

 wide four-centered arches, square-headed mullioned 

 windows above, and a gable to the Market Place. 

 The bronze tablet formerly over the entrance of the 

 old school has been built into the end wall ; it bears 

 the escutcheon of Sir William Laxton between the 

 arms of the city of London and of the Grocers 

 Company and an inscription in Latin, Greek, and 

 Hebrew, the Latin version of which reads, ' Vndellae 

 natus Londini parta labore Laxtonus posuit senibus 

 puerisque levame.' New school buildings adjoining 

 were erected in 1885. 



The Town Hall and Market House, which stands in 

 the middle of the Market Place, is a plain but not 

 unpleasing gabled building of two stories erected in 

 1 826, in which year the market cross, which stood to the 

 east of it, at the top of St. Osyth Lane, was destroyed. 

 The cross, which was dated 1591, consisted of a tall 

 shaft on two octagonal stone steps, and was surrounded 

 by a pent house of timber, also octagonal, with high- 

 pitched roof covered with stone slates.' Tlie war 

 memorial stands in the Marl-et Place. 



At the corner of West Street (formerly the High 

 Street) and New Street is a house now turned into a 

 shop on the ground floor, with a panel in the gable 

 inscribed ' 1626 W.W.,' the initials being those of 

 William Whitwell, who built the block of property 

 on that site, which extended to, and apparently 

 included, the Talbot Hotel in New Street. Part of 

 this property was pulled down for the Post OSice, 

 erected in 1903, but the Talbot Hotel, originally the 

 Tabret,' remains unaltered, and is a picturesque gabled 

 building of three stories, with mullioned bay windows 

 and wide central archway. The staircase is a good 

 example of the period, with moulded rails, turned 



' L.G.B. Order 33,586 ; a imall transfer 

 had been made in 1885, L.G.B. Order 



'7.763- 



•47 Geo. Ill, Sesi. i. Cap. 19. The 

 ■ward was nude in 1811. 



' W. Smalley Law Oundle's Story, 35. 



*J. Morton, Nai. Hist, of Nortbantt 

 (171a), p. 273. 



' .Markham, Crosses of Nortbants. 9Z. 



•The guildhall was described in 1565 

 as' a very fair hall builded with freestone ' j 

 it measured yz ft. by 38 ft. ; \V. Smalley 

 Law, Oundle's Story, 35. 



' Markham, Crosses of Sortbants. 93. 

 Every Thursday at mid-day a bell is rung 

 at the parish church to denote that the 



85 



market has opened. Up to about forty 

 years ago two bells used to be rung on 

 Sunday at 7 a.m. to indicate that it was 

 the Sabbath day. 



•The name Talbot is from the ' talbot 

 passant,' the crest of Mr. WhitweU's 

 wife's family, the Griffins, which he 

 adopted ; W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 90. 



