NAVISFORD HUNDRED 



WADENHOE 



remainder to Rev. George Hunt (d. 1853), son of 

 Rowland, son of the last-named Thomas. George 

 Hunt was succeeded by his son the Right Hon. 

 George Ward Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer and 

 First Lord of the .-Vdmiralty. His son George Eden 

 Hunt succeeded him in 1877 and died in 1892 leaving 

 i son George Ward Hunt, captain in the Northamp- 

 tonshire regiment, who was killed in action in 1915. 

 His son George Edgar Ward Hunt, born 191 1, is the 

 present owner.'' 



In 1249, Edmund de Lacy obtained a grant of free 

 warren'"' and Ebulo Lestrange and his wife claimed it 

 in 1330. They also claimed view of frankpledge, 

 pillory, tumbrel, the assize of bread and ale, and 

 waifs.** View of frankpledge was held by the lords 

 of the manor in the 17th century. ''^ 



In 1298, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, was granted per- 

 mission to inclose 30 acres pertaining to the manor 

 of Wadenhoe, lying within the 

 Forest of Rockingham, in order 

 to make a park.*' 



A water-mill and free fishery 

 are mentioned in 1356** and 

 two mills are referred to in 1656 

 and again in 1818.** 



The church of 

 CHURCH ST. GILES con- 

 sists of chancel 

 27 ft. by 16 ft. with a modern 

 vestry on the south side, clear- 

 storied nave 36 ft. 6 in. byl9 ft., 

 north and south aisles each 

 12 ft. 6 in. wide, north porch, 

 and west tower with saddleback 

 roof 15 ft, by 14 ft. 6 in., 

 all these measurements being 

 internal. 



The tower is all that is left 

 of a late 12th century church 

 (c. 1 195-1200), the chancel and 

 nave of which were rebuilt 

 some time in the next century. 

 The nave arcades are of this 

 period, that on the north being 

 the earlier, but the aisles appear 



to have been rebuilt and widened in the 14th century, 

 when the clearstory was added, the porch erected, 

 and some alterations made in the tower. The chancel 

 was recased externally early in the l8th century and 

 the tower restored,*' and in 1901 there was an exten- 

 sive restoration of the fabric when the floors of the 

 nave and aisles were lowered to their original level 

 and the tower was underpinned to a solid foundation.*' 

 The roofs are all modern, those of the nave and aisles 

 being leaded and the chancel roof tiled. The parapets 

 throughout are plain. 



The ground falls rapidly from west to east and the 

 chancel stands high above the level of the churchyard : 



on the north side there are two steps down to the 

 porch and five from the porch to the floor of the 

 church. The chancel has an east window of two 

 lights with a circle in the head, originally c. 1250, 

 and there are single lancets in the north and south 

 walls. The vestry is of brick and is five steps below 

 the chancel level. The 13th century arch to the 

 nave is of two chamfered orders, the inner one resting 

 on moulded corbels supported by grotesque heads. 



The north arcade (c. 1250) consists of three pointed 

 arches on piers composed of four attached shafts with 

 moulded capitals and bases, a half-round respond 

 at the east end, and a corbel at the west. The pellet 

 ornament occurs in the capitals of the respond and 

 of the first pier, and small rosettes in that of the 

 second pier. The piers stand on large plinths. The 

 south arcade may be as late as 1280-90 and differs 

 from the other in that the shafts have a fillet on the 



10 3 O 



K) 



20 



30 



-I — 



*o 



22 Cent, late 

 CJ250-80 

 I42J Cent, late 

 » ED 18™ Century 

 □ Modern 



Scale of Feet 



Plan of Wadenhoe Church 



face ard there is a half-octagonal respond at each 

 end. The capitals|aIso vary, those of the east respond 

 and second pier having'rather bold conventional stiff 

 up-turned foliage of large veined leaves and round 

 stems. The plinths have claw corners. 



The windows of the north aisle are all of 14th 

 century date, that at the east end being of three 

 trefoiled lights with modern reticulated tracery, the 

 others of two lights with quatrefoil in the head. On 

 each side of the east window is a moulded corbel 

 for a statue. In the south aisle the east window is of 

 three tall trefoiled lights, with slight piercings, 

 c. 1280, and near it, in the usual position, is a pointed 



** The account of the Hunt tiicceiiion 

 wai kindly supplied by the late Mrs. Mary 

 C. Hall, great-aunt of the present owner. 

 See also Burke, Landed Gentry^ under 

 Hunt of Boreatton. 



" Cat. Chart, i, 346, 357. 



•' Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), p. 

 5.8. 



♦• Feet of F. Div. Cos. East 1656, no. 

 189. 



♦' Cal. Close, 1296-1301, p. 164. 



'* Chan. Iiiq. p.m. 29 Edw. IH (i»t 

 nop.), no. 6. 



" Recov. R. East. 1656, ro. 189 ; ibid. 

 East. 58 Geo. HI, ro. 215. 



" During the incumbency of the Rev. 

 Brooke Bridges (instituted 1713), Bridges, 

 the historian, says the chancel and tower 

 were built at the charge of the present 

 incumbent,' but as regards the tower this 



can only refer to restoration or repair: 

 Hut. of Northants. ii, 390. 



*' The pillars of the nave arcadci were 

 also underpinned as it was found that 

 they stood immediately over faults in the 

 rock, causing their bases to be crushed to 

 a dangerous extent : ex. inform. Mr. W. 

 Talbot Brown, F.S.A., architect of the 

 restoration. 



