A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The arch between the nave and tower is of three 

 orders, the innermost order being set upon half- 

 octagon responds with hollowed sides. The tower 

 itself is of the same date as the rest of the church, and 

 is of three stages, with plain parapet, angle pinnacles 

 and pyramidal roof with vane. Below the parapet is 

 a corbel table with large dog-tooth alternating with 

 heads and other ornaments widely spaced. There 

 are diagonal buttresses of two stages on the west side 

 and a renewed three-light west window on the ground 

 floor. The middle stage has a single trefoiled window 

 north and south, and on the west a circular sound- 

 hole. The two-light belfry windows have early 

 bar tracery. There is no tower stair. 



The font is a plain octagonal bowl with octagonal 

 pedestal and a 17th-century cover. There is a stone 

 bench along the wall of the south aisle internally. 

 Against the east wall of the north transept is a bracket 

 for an image, and near this are the brasses of William 

 West (d. 2 Feb. 1 390-1) and his wife Joan (d. 

 16 Dec. 141 5), with a curious representation of their 

 children, headed by a priest vested in apparelled alb, 

 crossed stole, amice and maniple. This is inscribed : 

 Orate p aiab) supdcore Witti West W Jolina ac pro 

 alab) dtTi Johis West capetti Willi West marbler et 

 Alicie qndam v.xis Rici Alasoii. Necno W octo pilore 

 lib'ore pdcore Willi W lohanne. Pater nost fjf Aue. 



The roofs, pulpit and other fittings are modern. 

 The organ is in the south transept, which also forms 

 a vestry. The interior of the church is plastered. 



There is a ring of five bells, the treble being an 

 addition in 1897 to a former ring of four. It is by 

 Taylor of Loughborough. The second and tenor are 

 by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1647, the third is a 

 blank bell, and the fourth, inscribed 'Thomas,' bears 

 the stamp of the early Leicester founders, but is 

 probably by Thomas Newcombe II (1562-80).*^ 



The plate consists of a cup of 1820, a paten of 1842, 

 and a flagon of 1857, all London make, and a silver 

 basin with the mark of William Shaw and William 

 Priest, of London.''* 



The registers before 1 81 2 are as follows : (i) bap- 

 tisms 1660-1708, marriages 1662-1703, burials 

 1660-1707 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1704-1812, 

 marriages 1708-1753 ; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. 

 The first volume contains a list of briefs 1708-64, 

 and a terrier of rectory lands. There are church- 

 wardens' accounts from 1675 to 1769, and a tithe 

 book 1781-1838. 



The advowson was held by the 

 ADVOWSON abbey of Westminster with the 

 manor until the Dissolution,^ and 

 was granted to Thomas, bishop of Westminster, in 

 1541.*^ Ten years later it was granted to Nicholas, 

 bishop of London, by Edward VI,^^ but was held in 

 1608-9 with the manor by Henry Lord Mordaunt." 

 The presentation was made alternately by the Crown 

 (presumably during vacancy of the see), and the 

 bishop of London from 161 7 to 1648,^ and since 

 then by the bishops of London^* until, after 1786, 

 Sudborough was transferred to the bishopric of Peter- 

 borough, in whose gift it now is. A vicarage had been 

 ordained early in the 13th century, a pension of one 

 gold piece (mark) to the perpetual vicar being reserved 

 on presentations to the church made c. 1214,^ and 

 one of zs. in a presentation made in 1221-2.*^ 



Tithes in Sudborough were held by Robert, Earl 

 of Salisbury, in 1608.*^ 



A piece of grass land containing 

 CHARITIES II acres appropriated to the repairs 

 of the church is let by the church- 

 wardens to the Islip Iron Co., Ltd., for /12 yearly, 

 which is applied towards the upkeep of the church. 

 Henrietta Laura, Marchioness of Bath, established a 

 Sunday School in 1788, and transferred a sum of 

 ;^666 13/. ^d. 3 per cent, annuities to trustees upon 

 trusts declared in a deed dated 20 October, 1788, for 

 the support of the school. Tlie stock is now 

 £666 135. ^d. Consols with the Oflicial Trustees of 

 Charitable Funds, producing ^^16 13J. \d. yearly in 

 dividends. The trustees consist of the rector and 

 three others. 



TWYWELL 



Tuiwella (xi cent.) ; Twywclle, Twiwell (.\ii cent.). 



The parish of Twywcll is low-lying, nowhere rising 

 over 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The sub- 

 soil is Great and Inferior Oolite. One of the many 

 small streams of the district crosses the parish in the 

 south. Twywell station, on the Kettering and 

 Huntingdon branch of the London Midland and 

 Scottish Railway, lies to the south-cast of the village. 

 The parish was inclosed by private Act of Parliament 

 in 1765,* and by a Local Government Order, dated 

 25 March, 1885, the detached portion of the parish, 

 called Curtlcy, was joined to the parish of Slipton. 

 In 1874, the ironstone deposits in the parish were 

 worked by the Newbridge Iron Ore Co.^ A number 



of flint weapons and a few relics of the Roman occu- 

 pation have been found in the parish. The manor 

 house stands in the village and formerly the family 

 of Mulsho for several generations had a house of 

 some size.' There Mrs. Hester Chapone, the essayist 

 and writer of poems and pamphlets, and daughter of 

 Thomas Mulsho, was born in 1727.* The rectory 

 house, a large plain three-story stone building, erected 

 in 1760, stands to the south-west of the church. 

 Here lived Horace Waller, who was rector of Twywcll 

 from 1874 to 1895, and is known as an explorer in 

 Africa. On his return to England he look a very 

 active part in the movement against the slave trade 

 in East Africa, and wrote many works on Africa.* 



"North, Ch. Belli of Norlhanii. 

 410. 



'-' M.irkham, Ch. Plair of Norlhantt.ij^. 

 The maxV on the baiin ii indiitinct, but 

 imjr be that for 1755. 



" Epi«c. ReR. ; Cat. Pal. etc. 



" A. onrf P. Urn. I' 1 1 1 , Kvi, g. 50J (35, 



P- »44)- 

 " Pat. K. 4 Edw. VI, pi. 4. 



" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 6 Jas. I; 

 Chan. Ini|. p.m. (.Scr. ii) cccix, 200. 



'" Instil. Hks. (P.R.O.) 1617-4S. 



" Ibid. i6fio 1786, etc. ; Lewis. Topof^. 

 niii. (1849). Ttic presentation was the 

 •iibjcct of Ch.inccry Proceedings in 1623. 

 Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), bdlc. 338, no. 12. 



•" Rot. l/uro. dr ll'elhs (Cant. & York 

 Soc), i, 3, 21, 66. 



»' Ibid, ii, 101;. 



"' Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 6 Jas. I. 



'Act of Parliament, 5 Geo. Ill, c. 



35- 



' Whellan, II11I. of Norihanls. 1874. 



" Bridges, //ii(. Norihanls. ii, 262 ; cf. 

 Chan. Int^. p.m. (Srr. ii), dcclxxx, 58. 



* Did. Nal. Wing. 



» Ibid. 



248 



