HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



BOZEAT 



jambs and head set in a rectangular frame with cusped 

 spandrels; the window is more elaborate, with ogee 

 head and crocketed hood-mould, of two cinquefoiled 

 lights, battlemented transom, and modern quatrefoil 

 tracery. In the middle stage facing west is a plain 

 round-headed opening, which, though modern, repro- 

 duces an original feature. There is no vice. The semi- 

 circular tower arch is of two unmoulded orders with 

 rounded label, on quirked and chamfered imposts: 

 above it, now opening to the nave, is a small round- 

 headed window. The broach spire rises from a 14th- 

 century corbel table of tendrils and heads, and has plain 

 angles and two sets of lights on its cardinal faces: the 

 broaches are very low. 



The ijth-century chancel screen has been restored 

 and its battlemented top rail is new. It consists of 

 three main bays, the side ones subdivided, with solid 

 lower panels and traceried openings. The screen retains 

 traces of gilding and colour, and in the eight lower 

 panels is a series of paintings, those on the north side 

 representing the expulsion from Eden and the Annun- 

 ciation: on the south the figure of one of the Three 

 Kings remains, but the second panel is blank and the 

 others have single unidentified figures. Much of the 

 nave seating is also of i jth-century date. 



The font has a plain octagonal bowl and pedestal on 

 a moulded base. The wooden pulpit is modern. In the 

 nave is an oak chest dated 1686, with the names of 

 the churchwardens, and in the chancel an 1 8th-century 

 brass chandelier of nvelve lights. The royal arms of 

 George III (before 1 801) are over the tower arch. 



There are five bells, the first by Henry Penn of 

 Peterborough 1723, the second a recasting by Taylor 

 & Co. in 1884 of a medieval bell, the third undated by 

 Newcombe of Leicester, and the fourth and tenor by 

 Hugh Watts of Leicester, dated respectively 1635 and 



1633.' 



The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of 

 1636, and a modern brass alms dish.^ 



The earlier registers were destroyed in a fire at the 

 vicarage 9 September 1729. The existing first volume 

 contains entries of baptisms and burials from September 

 1729 to 1812, and marriages from 1729 to 1754: the 

 second volume marriages from 1754 to 1781. 



The church was granted to the 

 ADFOirSON abbey of Dryburgh (co. Berwick) 

 (probably by its founder, David King 

 of Scotland) and leased by Dryburgh to the abbey of 

 St. James without Northampton for a rent during the 

 life of Athelard, after the death of ./Edgar his father, 

 of 20s. and a bezant, or 2/., and after the death of 

 Athelard for a yearly payment of 2 J marks. ^ It was 

 then granted circa 1 1 50-60 by Walter de Isel to the 

 abbey of St. James.* In 1291 the church was valued 

 at £6 yearly, and a pension from it of ;^i 1 3/. 4^. was 

 paid to the Prior of St. Andrews,' to whom, according 

 to Bridges, the pension of 2 J marks had been assigned 



by Dryburgh Abbey.* In the Fa/or of 1 5 3 5 the rectory 

 was returned as appropriated to the abbey of St. James, 

 and the vicarage was valued at £6 yearly.' The advow- 

 son was held with the manor of Marshes (q.v.) in the 

 first grants made of that manor after the Dissolution, 

 and both rectory and advowson were conveyed by John 

 Marshe and his wife Alice to John Dobbes in 1557, 

 and by him to Baldwin Payne.' 



The rectory seems to have been already held on lease 

 by a member of the Payne family. It had been leased 

 for 21 years on 2 June 1526 to John Hardwyke of 

 Sharnbroke, co. Bedford, by the abbey of St. James, 

 and on surrender of this lease was in 1 545 granted to 

 Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, junr., by the Crown.' William 

 Payne subsequently sued George and Richard Payne'" 

 to recover possession of a lease of the rectory which, it 

 was stated, had been granted by the abbey on 24 March 

 1538 to Richard Cromwell, esq., for 80 years from the 

 expiration of the former lease to John Hardwyke; after 

 which Richard Cromwell had conveyed his interest to 

 Daniel Payne, who had bequeathed it in 1558 to his 

 son William, the plaintiflf". It is not clear what the con- 

 nexion between Baldwin and Daniel Payne was. The 

 rectory was apparently next held in moieties by two 

 Payne ladies, by whom it was conveyed with the ad- 

 vowson to Lewis Lord Mordaunt, one half by Thomas 

 Pacye and Denise his wife in 1 573," the other half by 

 Ursula Payne in 1575.'^ By Lewis Lord Mordaunt 

 and Henry Mordaunt his son and heir the rectory and 

 advowson were in 1600 conveyed to John Wiseman,'^ 

 and they continued to be held with the manor (q.v.). 

 Earl Spencer, who presented in 1796, being owner of 

 the impropriate rectory at the passing of the Inclosure 

 Act in 1798. In the following century the rectory was 

 held by Dr. Lawrence, Archbishop of Cashel, whose 

 representatives held it in 1849, Earl Spencer being then 

 still patron.'* The advowson is now held by the Bishop 

 of Peterborough, to whom it was conveyed by Earl 

 Spencer in 1922. '^ 



The sum of ^20 was left for the 

 CHARITIES poor by a person named Cox. In re- 

 spect of this a sum of £1 is distributed 

 in bread by the churchwardens the first Sunday after 

 Christmas. 



An allotment of 1 3 acres was set out on the inclosure 

 of the parish for the following purposes: 1 1 acres 3 roods 

 thereof for reparation of the church; I acre for repair 

 of the wells in the parish ; and i rood for the parish 

 clerk. The land is let for ^^14 19/., and of this ^i 6s. 

 is applied by two trustees appointed by the Parish 

 Council in cleaning the parish well and the remainder 

 is applied by the churchwardens in the repair of the 

 church. 



In 1830 a sum of 5/. yearly was distributed to the 

 ten oldest men of the parish from issues of the lands 

 of Mr. Thomas Dexter, by whom it was then ad- 

 ministered.'* 



• North, CA. Brill of Sorihanii. 198, 

 where the inscriptions arc given. The old 

 second had the H.S. shield of the Bury St. 

 Edmunds foundry three times repeated (cf. 

 third bell at Newton Bromswold). 



' Markham, Ch. Plait of Norihanlt. 40. 



' Cott. Chart, ni, 13. 



< Harl. Chart. 52, C. 4. 



» Tax. Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), 40. 



* Hill, of Northanli. ii, 160. 



' Op. cit. (Rec. Com.), iv. 311. 



• Pat. R. 2 & 3 Ph. and M . pt. 5 ; Feet of 

 . Northants. Mich. 3 and 4 Ph. and M. 



L. and P. Hen. nil, XX, p. 683. 



"> Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), ciliv, 97. 



■■ Feet of F. Northants. East. 15 Elix. 



" Ibid. Trin. 17 Elii. 



" Ibid. Mich. 42 and 43 Eliz. 



'* Lewis, To/Kg. Diet. (1849). 



" Order in Council, 3 March 1921. 



" Cliar. Coirni. Rep. 1 830, xxiii, 313. 



