A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Scott, Duke of Buc- 

 clcuch. Ot a bend azure 

 charged with a motet of 

 six points betu^een ttoo 

 crescents or. 



Boughton in 1621. His grandson Ralph was created 

 Duke of Montagu in 1 705, and his son, the second Duke, 

 died in 1749, leaving two daughters, Isabel and Mary. 

 W'arkton went to the latter, who married George 

 Brudenell, who was created Duke of Montagu in 

 1766, with special remainder to his grandson Henry 

 James Scott, son of Henry 

 Scott, Duke of Buccleuch, and 

 Elizabeth, daughter of the first 

 Duke of Montagu. He suc- 

 ceeded as Duke of Buccleuch 

 in 1812 and the manor has 

 descended with the dukedom 

 to the present day.^^ 



The church of 

 CHURCH ST. ED.MUND 

 consists of chan- 

 cel 36 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., 

 clearstoried nave 35 ft. 8 in. by 

 14 ft. 9 in., north and south 

 aisles 15 ft. wide, south porch, 

 and west tower II ft. square, all these measurements 

 being internal. The width across nave and aisles is 

 51 ft. 6in. 



The nave arcades are of two bays : they appear to 

 have been originally of the latter part of the 12th 

 century, but have been very much restored. The two 

 semicircular arches on each side are of a single square 

 order and spring from a cylindrical pier with moulded 

 base and square abacus, and from plain imposts at 

 either end : the eastern respond on the north side 

 has a roll moulding at the angles, but the others are 

 square. The arches, however, in their present form 

 m.iy date only from the 1 8th century, at the lime of 

 the rebuilding of the chancel. In Bridges' time the 

 old chancel was standing : it had buttresses at the 

 east end and ' four stone seats' in the south wall near 

 the altar." On the north side the first Duke of 

 Montagu, who died in 1709, had built a 'place of 

 sepulture for himself and family,'^^ and some forty 

 years later, after the death of the second duke in 

 1749, the cliancel was entirely rebuilt in the style of 

 the day. It has four large recesses for monuments, 

 two on each side, and a wide round-headed east 

 window : externally it is faced with ashlar, and has a 

 high parapet and a pediment at the east end. The 

 burial place is entered from the east end of the north 

 aisle, and covers the cliancel about half its lengtli. 



The aisles were rebuilt and the clearstory added in 

 the 14th century, but were completely restored in 

 1867-8. They have plain parapets and leaded roofs, 

 but all the aisle windows arc modern, and those of the 

 clearstory, which are square-headed and of two trefoiled 

 lights, extensively renewed. The moulded south 

 doorway, however, is original, and a buttress with 

 triangular head remains at the north-west angle. 

 In the south aisle is a 14th-century piscina with 

 fluted bowl. The pointed chancel arch dates from 

 1867. In 1872 a vestry was added at the cast end of 

 the south aisle, partly covering the chancel. The 

 15th-century porch has been rebuilt : it has plain 



parapets, leaded roof and outer moulded doorway 

 with hood. 



The tower was built in the middle of the I5ih 

 century, and is of four stages, with broad angle 

 buttress of square section and vertical outline, and a 

 vice in the south-west angle. At the foot of the 

 buttresses above the plinth is a band of quatrefoils, 

 as at Kettering, and another band above the west 

 doorway. The doorway has continuous mouldings, 

 and is set within a rectangular frame with traceried 

 spandrels : over it is a three-light pointed window 

 with embattled transom. The three lower stages 

 are blank on the north and south sides, but in the third 

 stage facing west is a square-headed loop, and on the 

 east a doorway formerly opening on to the nave roof. 

 The bell-chamber windows are of two-lights with 

 embattled transom and a quatrefoil in the head, and 

 the tower finishes with a band of quatrefoils and 

 battlemented parapet with tall angle pu.nacles. The 

 height to the top of the pinnacles is 70 ft. The 

 arch to the nave is of three chamfered orders, the 

 inner springing from half-round responds. 



The font consists of a shallow octagonal bowl 

 shaped from the square, set on a modern stem. 



I'he monuments in the chancel are of more than 

 local interest, and of their kind are fine examples of 

 the sculptural art of the period. In the western 

 recess of the north wall is that of John, 2nd Duke of 

 Montagu (d. 1749), by Roubiliac, with an allegorical 

 group of Charity and her nurslings exhibiting a 

 medallion of the duke to the mourning duchess. Op- 

 posite, in the south wall, is a group of the three Fates, 

 also by Roubiliac, commemorating the duke's widow 

 Mary Churchill (d. 1751), fourth daughter of the first 

 Duke of Marlborough. The second monument on the 

 north side is to the memory of Mary, Duchess of 

 Montagu (d. 1775), youngest daughter and co-heir 

 of the second duke, and takes the form of an allegorical 

 group within an architectural setting designed by 

 Robert Adam, the sculpture executed by Peter 

 Matthias Van Gclder. It was erected by her husband 

 George, Duke of Montagu and 4th Earl of Cardigan, 

 who survived her 15 years, dying in 1790, when the 

 dukedom became extinct. The remaining recess on 

 the south side is filled by a seated statue, by Thomas 

 Campbell, of Elizabeth Montagu, widow of Henry, 

 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, who died 1827, erected by her 

 grandson Walter Francis, 5lh Duke of Buccleuch. 



At the cast end of the south arcade, below the arch, 

 is a wall monument, with shield of arms and rhyming 

 inscription, to Thomas Johnson, 1657.^* 



There are five bells, the first and second by J. 

 Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1887 ; the third by 

 T. and J. K.ayre, of Kettering, 1718; the fourth by 

 Thomas Eayre, 1761, and the tenor by Hugh Watts II, 

 of Leicester, 1638.''' 



The plate consists of a paten without marks 

 inscribed ' Given to the parish of Warckton, Nortliton- 

 shcir An. dom. 1683,' and a modern medixval cup 

 and paten of 1868, given in 1876. There are also a 

 pewter Hagon and breadholder.^* 



" Rccov. R. Trin. 9 Chai. I, ro. 40; 

 Mil. 3 Anne, ro. 223 ; Eait. 33 Gen. II, ro. 

 1I2 ; 8 Geo. Ill, ro. ijc) ; Feel of F. Div. 

 Cot Trin. i) Clian. I ; Mich. 1O58 ; 

 Nortlianlt. EaU. 33 Geo. II j 16 Geo. Ill ; 

 Priv. Slat. 47 Geo. Ill (Sen. II, cap. 6) ; 



G.E.C. Complete Peerage (Montagu of 

 Boughton). 



•* llriJgr'R, //ii/. Nerthatits. ii, 264. 



"■ IM.I. 263. 



'" The iiiHcription it given in Hii(If,'rs, 

 op. cil. ii, 264. 



" North, Ch. ItfUt of Sorthanls. 42S, 

 whore thr itiBcrlptions nii the old belli 

 air given. Thrir wrri- fiMir lu-IUin 1700. 



'** Markham, Ch. Vluf of Nortbanti. 

 Z97. In 1K43 there were also an Elixa- 

 bethan cup and cover paten. 



