A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The existing Independent congregation appears to 

 have originated from these efforts, and in 1690 or 

 1691, soon after the Toleration Act, a meeting house 

 was built, which in 1724 became the property of the 

 congregation.^ It continued in use until the 

 present Congregational Chapel in West Street was 

 built in 1864. John Paine (1801) left ;£300 to it. 



The Baptist Chapel, now part of New House, 

 Stoke Road, is stated to have been founded in 1800. 

 The present building in West Street dates from 1852. 



The Wesleyan Methodists had two ministers in 

 1827.^ The old chapel was in New Street ; the 

 present one, in West Street, was built in 1842. 



The Jinks family, carriers, set apart a room in 

 their house in West Street, where Mass was said 

 occasionally from 1807 to about 1880 by priests from 

 Peterborough. Fr. Ignatius Spencer, the Passionist, 

 preached his first sermon there.^ 



The Feoffee or Town Estates 

 CHARITIES comprised in Indenture of Lease 

 and Release dated 9 and 10 July, 

 1828, include the following property, viz. : allot- 

 ments in Stoke Road ; a field called ' Bouners Home ' 

 containing 3 roods ; Wakerley and Dovehouse Close 

 and Cottage containing 22a. 2r. 32 poles ; a field 

 on Heme Road containing la. 3r. 9p. ; a field on 

 Stoke Road containing 4a. 2r. 29p., and a field at 

 Elton, Hunts, containing 7a., and wharf and land at 

 North Bridge, Oundle ; £z^ os. ()d. India 3 per 

 cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable 

 Funds ; a sum of ;^2lo los. 6d. 5 per cent. War 

 Stock in the names of John Miller Siddons and 

 others, the whole producing in 1924, with the income 

 from Franklyn's Charity mentioned below, ^^96 is. \d. 

 The estates are chargeable with annual payments in 

 respect of the following benefactions which were paid 

 to and became merged in the general property of the 

 Feoffees, viz. : £20 given by William Thirlby to the 

 poor ; ^10 given by Ralph Robinson, half the income 

 to be applied towards the repair of the church and 

 half towards repairing the highway in Oundle ; ^^lo 

 given by Thomas Orton, the interest to be employed 

 in such good charitable uses as the Feoffees should 

 think fit; £\2 given by Hester Lucas, the interest 

 to be applied in the purchase and distribution of 

 copies of the Netu Whole Duty of Man ; and /[lo 

 bequeathed by Thomas Webb in 1753, the interest 

 to be applied in the distribution of penny loaves on 

 St. Thomas' Day by the vicar and churchwardens. 



Francis Hodge by his Will dated 11 November, 

 1695, gave j^20, the interest to be applied in the 

 purchase of Bibles for poor children and like pur- 

 poses. 



In 1924 £z was distributed in doles to 8 persons ; 

 ;f3 wa? expended in gifts ; ^^3 10/. 6d. in Bibles ; 8;. 

 in bread on St. Thomas Day ; ^£20 to the Oundle 

 Nursing Association ; £5 5/. ^d. to the Beneficiaries 

 of Clifton's Charity, and ^^8 ijs. iid. was expended 

 in material and labour on Ashton Road. 



By his Will dated 12 May, 1544, Thomas Franklyn 

 gave about 13 acres of land for the relief of the poor. 

 The land was sold and the endowment of this Charity 

 is now represented by a sum of j^336 lis. od., Consols 

 with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds pro- 



" T. Coleman, Indep. Churcbei in Norlhanti. 253-7. 

 " W. Sm.illcy Law, op. cit. 129. 

 " WheUn, Nonhanii. 714. 



ducing £% 8/. 4^. in dividends, which sum is applied 

 by the Feoffees of the Town Estates 



The Almshouses of Sir William Laxton were founded 

 by a Codicil to his Will dated 27 July, 1556, and are 

 under the management of the Grocers' Company of 

 the City of London. The almshouses are for the 

 accommodation of 7 poor men, who receive a weekly 

 stipend, and a nurse. The Official Trustees of 

 Charitable Funds hold a sum of £1,664 Consols 

 producing ^^41 12s. od. yearly in dividends. This 

 sum of Stock represents the redemption of a yearly 

 payment of £\l l2s. od. issuing out of propertv in 

 the City of London in the possession of the Grocers' 

 Company. 



Parson Latham's Hospital, founded and incor- 

 porated pursuant to the Statute 39 Eliz. c. 5, by 

 Deed Poll dated 15 May, 161 1, is regulated by 

 schemes of the Charity Commissioners dated I July, 

 1910, i6 January, 1914, and I March, 1921. It is 

 administered by a body of 10 Trustees. The fuU 

 number of almspeople shall be not less than 8 and 

 not more than 12. They shall be poor widows or 

 spinsters of not less than 50 years of age. The 

 endowment consists of land situate in various parts 

 of the Counties of Northampton and Huntingdon 

 aggregating about 397 acres, and the following sums 

 of stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable 

 Funds: £900 13/. 31^. 5 per cent. War Stock; 

 £293 16;. 2d. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock, and 

 ^^307 13/. id. 4J- per cent. Conversion Stock; the 

 whole producing nearly ;^650 in 1924. Out of the 

 income a sum of j^5o is payable to the Trustees of 

 Parson Latham's Educational Foundation. In 1924 

 stipends amounting to ;^I49 10s. od. were paid to 9 

 inmates, £1^ 15/. od. was expended on medical 

 attendance and nursing, £3 was distributed to 6 

 poor of Oundle, £2 to 4 poor of Polebrook, and £2 

 to 8 poor people in Kirton in Holland in County of 

 Lincoln. 



The Parish of Oundle participates in the Charity 

 of Clement Bellamy founded by Will dated 12 October, 

 165S. It is administered by a body of Trustees 

 appointed by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners 

 dated 3 June, 1910. The property consists of 

 £2!^'i ijs. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees of 

 Charitable Funds producing £6 is. Sd. yearly in 

 dividends and a rent charge of j{^20 issuing out of 

 land in Cotterstock called Bartons Holme. The 

 income is subject to a payment of £S to the Bellamy 

 Educational Foundation, and the residue is applicable 

 in putting out apprentices to some useful trade or 

 occupation deserving and necessitous boys and girls 

 whose parents have been boiu2 fide resident in one of 

 the parishes of Cotterstock, Glapthornc, Oundle and 

 Tansor. 



Jemima Creed's Charity, founded by will dated 

 II February, 1705, is administered by a body of 

 trustees in accordance with a scheme of the Charity 

 Commissioners dated 22 January, 1909. The pro- 

 perty consists of a building used as a chapel, about 

 20 acres of pasture land known as Law's Holme near 

 Ashton Bridge let for ^^25 yearly, and a sum of 

 £224 lis. 6d. Consols with the Official Trustees of 

 Charitable Funds producing £^ izs. 41/. yearly in 

 dividends. The stock arose partly from accumula- 

 tions of income and partly from the sale of 31 poles 

 of land. Out of the net yearly income ^£20 is applic- 



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