A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



dently won his case, and in 1277-8 the presentation 

 was made by Sir Baldwin Wake as guardian of the 

 heir of Baldwin de V'ere.''' From this time the ad- 

 vowson followed the descent of the manor, which was 

 the same as that of Drayton (q.v.). 



The charity of Henry Medbury, 

 CHARITIES founded by will dated 27 December, 

 1705, is administered by the rector 

 and four co-optative trustees in conformity with a 

 scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 Feb. 

 1S92. The property originally consisted of two alms- 

 houses, land, and tenements in Earls Barton and Islip. 

 The land was sold in 1920 and the proceeds invested 

 in sums of £z,\(p ijs. 2d. Consols and ^^1,900 6j. 8 J. 

 4 per cent. Funding Stock with the Official Trustees 

 of Charitable Funds, producing £138 ^1. 6d. yearly in 



dividends. The Official Trustees also hold a sum of 

 ^£130 15J. 4^/. Consols to a Rebuilding Fund Account 

 the dividends upon which are invested in augmenta- 

 tion of the principal. 



In 1924 j^26 was paid to the two almswomcn, who 

 are widows and members of the Church of England. 

 The almswomen must be inhabitants of Islip, or, 

 failing that parish, then of Earls Barton. Failing 

 Earls Barton, then of any of the following parisiies : 

 Thrapston, Slipton, Twpvell, Lowick, Denford, 

 Woodford, Titchmarsh or Aldwinklc. 



Four clergymen's widows receive £20 each, the 

 Vicar of Earls Barton receives £l, and ^3 is paid to 

 him for distribution to the poor of that parish. £j 

 is also applied by the rector and churchwardens of 

 Islip in doles at Christmas to 30 recipients. 



KETTERING 



Cytringan, Kyteringas (x cent.) ; Cateringe (xi 

 cent.) ; Keteringes, Ketteringe (xii, xiii cent.). 



The civil parish and urban district of Kettering 

 covers 2,814 *t^tes, of which the town occupies the 

 greater part ; there are still, however, over 1,000 acres 

 of pasture and arable land growing corn and roots. 

 The soil is iron and lime stone, and in 1766 borings 

 were unsuccessfully made for coal. The land rises 

 from the River Ise on the east and a stream on the 

 west to a height of a little over 300 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum. Objects of the Bronze Age and the 

 Romano-Briti;h and Anglo-Saxon periods have been 

 found in the parish, suggesting an early settlement of 

 the district. 



The town stands on high ground and probably 

 owes its importance to the fact that it is a centre of 

 the road system of the Midlands. In 1086 and 

 probably before, Kettering was a prosperous agri- 

 cultural manor and grew into a trading town with the 

 grant to the abbot of Peterborough of a market here 

 on Fridays, in 1227.' The building of a ' noble hall ' 

 faced with stone, by Walter, abbot of Peterborough 

 (1233-45)-, added to the importance of the town and 

 brought traffic to it when the abbot was in residence 

 there. The town remained a prosperous market 

 town down to the dissolution of Peterborough .'\bbcy 

 in 1540. Leland refers to it about 1535 as a ' pratie 

 market town,' and Camden, about 1600, as a market 

 town of considerable resort. Owing to its easy access 

 from all parts, it was selected in 1625 as the place for 

 holding the quarter sessions'" whicii gave it increased 

 importance in the county. In 1613 the justices 

 petitioned that the sessions might be held alternately 

 at Northampton and Kettering,' but this apparently 

 was not done, and in 1629 the Earl of Wesunorlaiid, 

 then Custos Rotulorum, built in tlic IMarket Place 

 ' a very fair sessions house.' A reference at this lime 

 to the old session house suggests that the sessions had 

 been held there for a long time previously. It was 

 said that the town could accommodate all those who 

 usually appeared at tlie winter session of tlie five 



hundreds and those who attended could return home 

 the same night after they had done their service, 

 ' whereas when the session was at Northampton they 

 were forced to lie there two nights at charges.'' 

 Kettering was also a meeting place of the musters, 

 and, as the musters were held almost annually, the 

 billeting and payments to the muster master became 

 a burden to the inhabitants for which repayment was 

 very irregularly made.* 



During the Civil War, Kettering's sympathies were 

 mainly on the Parliamentary side. The imposition 

 of ship-money was strongly resented. Francis 

 Sawyer, brother of Edward Sawyer who lived at the 

 Manor House in 1638, refused to pay this tax and 

 assaulted the collectors,' and in 1640 the grand jury 

 at the quarter sessions held at Kettering complained 

 to the Bench that there was ' a great and unsupport- 

 able grievance lying upon the county under the name 

 of ship-money to be raised for providing of ships, for 

 which their goods were forcibly taken and detained.' 

 They prayed for redress from a burden which they 

 were not well able to bear.* In August following, 

 there was a meeting of ministers of the neighbourhood 

 at tlic ' Swan ' in Kettering to consider the oath in 

 ' the late Book of Canons ' known as the ' Etcetera 

 0.1th.' Those attending resolved never to take the 

 oath but rather to lose their livings." Led by the 

 Sawyer family, Kettering remained Puritan in sym- 

 pathy throughout the Civil War, although for a time 

 in 1643 it was a rendezvous for the royal troops.'" 



The town suffered severely from the plague in 

 1665, which claimed some 80 victims." The justices 

 of the peace presented a petition to the Bishop of 

 Peterborough, calling attention to the distressed con- 

 dition of the town by reason of the plague and asking 

 for relief out of tlic money collected.'^ 



Tlic failure of the crops in 1795 was the cause of 

 much distress, and bread riots took place at Kettering ; 

 wagons loaded with flour passing through the town 

 had to be protected by soldiers, wlio were attacked by 

 the niob.'^ 



'* Rol, Rich, dt Gravtiend (Cant, and 

 York Soc), xTvi, p. 133. 



' Cal. Chan, i, 21. 



' AH.1. MS. (n.M,)io25, i34. 



• IJuke ol Uucclcuch, lliil. MSS. Com. 

 Rtf. i, 168. 



• Cal. S. v. Dom. 1611-1S, p. 218. 



' F. W. Hull, lint, of KclUrini;, p. 16. 



'Cal. S. P. Dorn. 1629-31, p. 452; 

 Hill. MSS. Com. Rfp. x, App. vi. p. 32. 



' Cal. S. I'. Pom. 163K-31J, pp. 5-16, 34, 

 36,45, l6i, 455; 1625.49,588. 



218 



" Ibid. 1639-40, p. 312. 

 ' Cj/. S. I'. IJom. 1640, pp. 636-8, 644 ; 

 1640-41, 7 ; Hull, op. cit. 19, 20. 



'" llull.cip, al. 20,21. "Ibid. I".P. 32. 

 " L.msdownc MS. 1027, p. 155^, 158. 

 '•Bull, op. cit. 38. 



