A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The advowson of the church of 

 ADVOU'SON Denford appears to have been held 

 by Hugh, Earl of Chester," after the 

 forfeiture by the Bishop of Coutances. Before lioo, 

 the earl granted it to the abbey of St. Werburgh at 

 Chester." In 1394, it was obtained by Richard 

 (le Scrope), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,'" who 

 two years later appropriated it to his table, on con- 

 dition that a vicarage was ordained.'^ Before 1535, 

 the vicarage of Denford was united to the chapelry 

 of Ringstead.*" In 1551, Richard (Sampson), Bishop 

 of Coventry and Lichfield, leased the rectory and the 

 advowson of Denford for a hundred years at a rent 

 of ^18 to Nicholas Williamson of Kingsthorpe and 

 his wife Marj'.*' She married as her second husband, 

 John VVarde, and they were sued for the rent by 

 Bishop Thomas (Bentham).'- The property passed 

 to Bridgit, apparently the daughter and heir of 

 Nicholas, who married Thomas Williamson, presum- 

 ably her cousin.*' In 1588, Thomas and Bridgit, 

 together with their son Nicholas and his wife Anne, 

 sold the rectory to Lewis, Lord Mordaunt,** whose 

 descendants owned the advowson and rectory till 

 after 1681,*^ whether still as leaseholders of the 

 Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield or as freeholders 



does not appear. They were probably sold after 

 the death of Henry, the last Earl of Peterborough, in 

 1697.*^ In 1720, the rectory was sold by William 

 Freina, clerk, and his wife Bridgit, Mary Cleter, 

 widow, and Stephen Ashby to Jeremiah Sambrook,*' 

 who had recently bought the manor (q.v.). He pre- 

 sented to the vicarage in 1752,** and both advowson 

 and rectory passed with the manor in 1764 to Leonard 

 Burton*' and his descendants. 



Before 1874, Miss Leggatt was patron of the living."*' 

 In 1898 it belonged to S. G. Stopford Sackville of 

 Drayton House, Thrapston, and is now owned by 

 Mr. Nigel Stopford Sackville. 



Church Estate. There is no docu- 

 CHARITIES mentary evidence of the origin of 

 this charity. The property consists of 

 meadowland containing about 4 acres and 4 cottages 

 with gardens, the whole producing ^^31 13^. yearly 

 which is applied to church expenses. 



Three cottages and a garden situate in Pegg's Lane 

 were sold in 1916 and the proceeds invested in 

 ;^2ll 10/. \d. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Official 

 Trustees of Charitable Funds. The dividends on 

 this sum are invested in augmentation of the 

 principal. 



FINEDON 



Tingdene, Thingdene (xi cent.) ; Thyngden, Tyn- 

 den (xiii cent.) ; Thynden (xiv cent.) ; Thingdon 

 (xvi cent.) ; Finedon (xviii cent.). 



The parish of Finedon contains 3,541 acres of land. 

 It rises to a little over 300 ft. above the ordnance 

 datum from the River Ise which forms the western 

 boundary. The sub-soil is Upper Lias, and Great and 

 Inferior Oolite, the surface soil being clay producing 

 wheat and barley. The parish was formed into an 

 urban district in 1894 with a council of twelve 

 members. It was inclosed under a private Act of 

 Parliament.* The large village lies at the inter- 

 section of the roads from Wellingborough to Thrap- 

 ston and from Higham Ferrers to Kettering. It is 

 a somewhat uninteresting looking town of red- 

 brick houses, a red brick water tower on the Irth- 

 lingborough road being a prominent landmark. 

 The rectory house stands on the north-west of 

 the church and is a well-designed building of two 

 stories, faced with ironstone and roofed with CoUy- 

 weston slates, erected in 1688 by Roger Altham, 

 rector. A few late 17th or early 1 8th century 

 houses remain in the old part of the town, one of 

 them in Mulsho Square with a thatched roof, is dated 

 1693 and another in the same square is dated 1736. 

 In Church Street, the Charity School for girls is a 

 well-designed two- story house with slated roof erected 



in 171 2, while the Gothic revival is represented by the 

 Almshouses in the same street, built in 1847 and by 

 the Bell Inn. At the west end of the town is the 

 Old Hall or manor house which was rebuilt about 

 1835,- and enlarged some twenty years later,' but it 

 incorporates on the north-west side some rooms 

 belonging to a former structure, which appears to 

 have been an Elizabethan house of only moderate size. 

 The existing mansion is a picturesque gabled building 

 of local yellow stone, with Weldon stone dressings.'' 

 Iron-stone was formerly worked and the Finedon 

 Ironworks belonging to the Glendon Iron Ore 

 Company are now disused. The principal industry 

 at the present time is the manufacture of boots and 

 shoes. Finedon station on the London Midland and 

 Scottish Railway is two miles from the village in 

 Isham parish. 



In the reign of Edward the Confessor, 

 MANORS Queen Edith held the great soke of 

 Finedon, which contained 27 hides of 

 land in six hundreds. In 1086 it was in the king's 

 hands and formed part of the ancient demesne of the 

 crown. Only 1 1 hides were in the later hundred of 

 Huxloc and a holding of 9J hides seems to represent 

 the manor of FINEDONfi In the 12th century 

 survey of the county, the king held 10 hides there.' 

 The men of Finedon in 1 388 successfully claimed that 



'• Dugd.ilr, Man. Angl. ii, 385-6, cit. 

 Chart. R. 2 Ilea. V, pt. 1, m. 26. 



" Ibid. ; Rol. Roll. Grotitleue (Cant. 

 • nd York Soc), 167 ; Rol. Ric. Gravestnd 

 (Cant, and York Soc), 126. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Ric. II, no. 80; 

 Cat. Pal. 1391-96, p. 516. 



"Ibid. p. 686; 1399-1401, p. 51.1; 

 1413-16, p. 391. 



•» Ta/or F.cd. (Rcc. Com), iv, 3 1 2. 



•' Chan, Proc. (Srr. ii), bdlc. 35 (119). 



•• Ibid. ; Walwr C. Metcalfe, f m.(. 0/ 

 Nortbanli, 55. 



" Ibid. ; Feet of V. Northants. Kast. 

 13 Eliz. ; Mil. 29 Eliz. 



•« Tcct of F. Northants. Mil. 30 Elii. 



■' Ch.TH. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) cccix, 200; 

 Feet of F. Div Cob. 'Frin. 19 Jas. I ; 

 Rccov. R. nil. 19 Jas. I, ro. 40; 

 Initit. Bk». (I'.R.O.) 1648, 1677, 1681J 

 Feet of F. Northantj, Div. Cos. Uil 6 

 Geo. I. 



«• G.E.C. Complrte Peerage. 



" Feet of F. Norlh,iiil«. Mil. 6 Geo. I. 



" Initit. Bk.. (P.R.O.). 



196 



'• Feet of F. NorthanU. East. 4 

 Geo. III. 

 •» Whellan, llisl. of Nonbanu. 1874, p. 



75'- 



' Priv. Act 45 Geo. Ill, c. 44. An 

 Incloiurc award of 1808 ii in the custody 

 of the vicar. 



■ 'Fhis date is on one of the cliitnneys. 



• The dates 1851, 1856, and 1859 occur 

 on parts of the house. 



• A'orrAun/j.A'.iiiK/p. (NcwScr.),iv, 161. 



• V.C.H. Nonbanu. i, 308a. 



• Ibid, i, 3890. 



