A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



square stone pillar,' chamfered at the angles, and with 

 chamfered plinth, which is apparently no part of the 

 original font. A plain octagonal stone font bowl recently 

 found is in the rectory garden. 



The wooden pulpit is modern. 



There is a much-restored 1 5th-century chancel 

 screen, with four openings on each side of the doorway 

 and two large panels below. The altar is a restored 

 Jacobean communion table with eight turned legs. 



An oak poor-box dated 1597 has three inscriptions 

 cut on the post — 'God save the Queen', 'Pray for the 

 good estate of all well-doers', and the name of the donor, 

 Thomas Mahew. 



In the chancel is a 17th-century oak chest with 

 three locks. The royal arms, dated 1776, are over the 

 north doorway.^ 



There is a fair amount of late-ijth-century seating 

 in the nave and north aisle, with panelled fronts and 

 ends, and moulded rails. 



Traces of wall paintings remain over the north 

 arcade, apparently the figures of patriarchs.^ 



A slab of Weldon stone, on which is roughly 

 scratched a 'Nine Mens Morris' diagram, was found 

 in the west wall of the north aisle in 1868; it is now in 

 the Northampton Museum.* 



There are four bells, the treble dated 1603, the 

 second 1748, the third by Tobie Norris of Stamford 

 1675, and the tenor a 16th-century bell inscribed 

 'S. Antonie', cast at Leicester by Thomas Newcombe 

 (i56o-8o).5 



The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of 

 161 8, a pewter flagon, and a pewter bread-holder by 

 Thomas King 1675.* 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows: (i) baptisms, 

 marriages, and burials i 572-1682; (ii) baptisms and 

 burials 1 68 3-1 7 56, marriages 1 68 3-1 7 54 ; (iii) baptisms 

 and burials 1756-1813; (iv) marriages 1755-1812.' 



In the churchyard, against the north aisle wall, is 

 a large stone coffin* with coped lid, found at Middle 

 Lound in 1893.' 



The advowson having been subject 

 ADVOIVSON to various grants made for lives by 

 owners of the rectory manor has fur- 

 nished matter for dispute on more than one occasion. 



According to Bridges, John son of Richard de Des- 

 borough presented in 1327 and again in 1328, as John 

 called 'le Lord' of Desborough. The presentation was 

 made in 1 349 by Margaret widow of John Lord of 

 Desborough. ■" On 26 January 1384 Richard le Lord 

 of Desborough, son and heir of Margaret, made a 

 grant to Richard Mayhew" of the first presentation to 

 the church of Hargrave, but when John Mayhew, 

 clerk, '^ was presented by Richard Mayhew of Des- 

 borough and John, Bishop of Lincoln, their right to 

 present was disputed in 1 390 by John Fossebrook and 

 Margaret his wife, who claimed that Richard Lord, 



son and heir of Margaret, had on 6 January 1384 

 granted to them all his lands, &c., in Hargrave, with 

 the advowson of the church, for the rent of a red rose. 

 The bishop and Richard Mayhew maintained that the 

 right to make the grant in 1384 had not been in Richard 

 Lord's hands as his mother was then still living.'^ The 

 advowson was held by the Pultons with the manor 

 (q.v.). It was in 1605 conveyed by William Bird and 

 his wife Agnes to William Catlyn,''' in whose hands it 

 was in 1623. '^ William Catlyn was the owner when, on 

 23 June 1660, a petition was presented for securing 

 tithes in Hargrave as a sequestered living.'* It was held 

 in 1674 by Elizabeth Barker; in 1684 by John Sprigg; 

 in 1726 by Edward Cuthbert; in 1745 by William 

 Bunbury and Mary Bunbury, spinster; and in 1797 

 by William Fonnereau, clerk," who at the Inclosure 

 Act of 1802 was still holding it, the Rev. Charles 

 Fonnereau being rector. It was directed by this Act 

 that an allotment should be made in lieu of tithes.'* 

 John Fox was holding the advowson in 180;. In 1864 

 and subsequently it was held by the incumbent, who 

 was also lord of the manor. At the death of the Rev. 

 R. S. Baker in 1897 it was still so held. It then came 

 into the possession of Miss Elizabeth F. Baker, who was 

 holding in 19 10, and now Lady Murchison is patron 

 and lady of the manor. 



The church was taxed in 1291 at ;^8 13/. 4.2'." 

 In 1535 the Valor Ecclesiasticus returned the value of 

 the rectory as ^^14 3/. \\d., of which 6/. %d. was 

 deducted for pension to the prior of Huntingdon, and 

 los. id. for proxies and synodals.^" 



Lands and rents given by divers persons for the 

 maintenance of obits, &c., in Hargrave, worth 10/. 

 were recorded at the suppression of the chantries.^' 



By an Award of the Inclosure Com- 

 CHJRITIES missioners dated 22 May 1804 land 

 was allotted for the benefit of the 

 herdsman of Hargrave. Land was also allotted to the 

 churchwardens in lieu of certain other lands the rents 

 of which had been applied from time immemorial to 

 the repair and services of the parish church. There has 

 been no herdsman since the inclosure, when his duties 

 came to an end, and the rent from the allotments was 

 applied for many years for churchwarden purposes. 

 An Order dated 3 1 January 1902 made by the Charity 

 Commissioners directed that 1 1 a. I r. 29 p. of the land 

 allotted should form the endowment of the Ecclesias- 

 tical Charity under the administration of the church- 

 wardens, and the remaining land of 6 a. o r. 27 p. 

 together with the herdsman's cottage should form the 

 endowment of the Non-ecclesiastical Charity, to be 

 administered by two trustees appointed by the parish 

 council. The land belonging to the Ecclesiastical 

 Charity is let for £"] "js. 6d. yearly, which is applied 

 towards church expenses. The land and cottage belong- 

 ing to the Non-ecclesiastical Charity produces ^^9 yearly. 



' The pillar is 3 ft. 5 in. in height in- 

 cluding the plinth, and 20^ in. square. 

 Height from floor to top of bowl 4 ft. 9 in. 



^ In I S49 they were on top of a screen 

 below the tower arch; Chs.Archd.N^ton 39. 



3 Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports^ viii, p. cxiii. 



♦ Ibid, xi, 132, where it is figured. The 

 slab is 23 J in. by iz\ in., and 4. in. thick. 



5 North, Cfi. Bells of Northanis. 290, 

 where the inscriptions are given. The 

 tenor bears an older rebus shield, but the 

 lettering is Newcombe's. 



<• Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 

 144. There is also a pewter ahns dish: a 



brass alms basin was purchased when the 

 church was restored. 



' The second volume contains the 

 names of two persons 'touched by His 

 Majesty to the intent to be healed of the 

 disease called the King's Evil', February 

 1683 : it has also a long list of briefs. 



* It is possibly Roman: V.C.H. North- 

 ants. i, 218. 



' Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports, xxii, 83. It 

 is a monolith 6 ft. 10 in. long, 2 ft. 2 in. 

 wide and i ft. 10 in. high: the lid is 7 in. 

 thick sloping to 4 in. 

 "> Cal. Pat. 1313-17, pp. 684, 695. 



" Cal. Close, 1385-9, p. 148. 



■^ Thomas Mayhew, chaplain of Har- 

 grave, was pardoned for the death of 

 Robert Basse of Dene in 1377: Cal. Pat. 

 1377-81, p. 393. 



" De Banco R. Mich. 14 Ric. II,m. 326. 



'* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 3 Jas. I. 



'5 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



"i Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, 105a. 



^7 Ibid, vii, lO^a. 



■8 Priv. .\ct. 42 Geo. Ill, c. 37. 



■9 Ta.x. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 40*. 



^0 Op. cit. (Rec. Com.), iv. 313. 



^' Chantry Certif. xxxv, 17. 



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