A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



1346.' View of frankpledge, courts leet and baron, 

 and other feudal dues belonged to the manor of Ir- 

 chester,^ and in the 14th century Emery de Nowers 

 paid his overlord Thomas of Lancaster 2S. a year for 

 view of frankpledge in his own manor of Little Chester. ^ 

 About the same time a custom called Couvi/l-thressing 

 was exacted by the earl from his tenants of Irchester 

 and Knuston.3 



The church of ST. KATHARINE 

 CHURCH consists of chancel, 43 ft. 4 in. by 19 ft. 

 6 in., with north chapel about half its 

 length, clerestoried nave of four bays, 63 ft. 6 in. by 

 19 ft. 8 in., north aisle, 16 ft. wide, south aisle, 1 1 ft. 

 wide, south porch, and west tower, 12 ft. 6 in. square. 



nave arcades, part of the plinth of the original late- 

 I3th-century north-aisle wall remaining on either side 

 of the doorway, but the doorway itself is of early-i3th- 

 century character and was probably removed from the 

 wall of the earlier and narrower aisle to its present posi- 

 tion. The west wall of the north aisle retains a portion 

 of that of its predecessor, and there are traces at its 

 south end of a blocked opening, including part of a 

 jambshaft and the spring of an arch, which may imply 

 that the 12th-century nave had an engaged western 

 tower. The building was completed in its present form 

 at the close of the 14th century, when the tower and 

 spire, the clerestory, and the porch were erected. In 

 the 15 th century new windows were inserted in the 



12m Cent ^c 1380-1400 

 1131 Cent ■ISICent 

 n+Ii Cent EHModern 



Scale of Feet 

 lo 20 30 



Plan of Irchester Church 



with lofty spire, all these measurements being internal. 

 The north chapel and north aisle are continuous, with- 

 out division, and the width across nave and aisles is 

 52 ft. 



The building is of rubble throughout and the walls 

 are plastered internally. It was extensively restored in 

 1889 under the direction of J. L. Pearson, R..^., when 

 the present high-pitched leaded roof of the chancel was 

 erected* and the other roofs renewed. 



The lower part of the wall between the chancel and 

 the north chapel appears to be in part of the I2th cen- 

 tury, and the western responds of the nave arcades are 

 also late in that century, together with the plinths of 

 the two westernmost piers of the north arcade. The 

 12th-century church was thus not much smaller than 

 the present building, with an aisled nave and somewhat 

 shorter chancel. The two half-round western responds 

 have square abaci with heads or foliage at the angles, 

 and the plinths in part retain their foot ornaments and 

 the lower member of the base moulding. The 12th- 

 century church was rebuilt and the chancel lengthened 

 in the course of the 13 th century, when the north chapel 

 was added, and in the 14th century the north aisle 

 appears to have been rebuilt and united with the chapel, 

 which was widened for that purpose. The present 

 width of both aisles is, however, contemporary with the 



■ Cal. Chart. J?, i, 332; Cal. Pat. 1345- 

 8, p. 477. 



* Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 8 1 ; Edw. 

 Ill, file 6, m. 24 ; Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane), 



bdle. 105, nos. 1497, etc.j 



chancel and the roofs altered: the parapets of the aisles 

 are of that period. 



The chancel is substantially of the 1 3th century, with 

 moulded plinth, string at sill level, and coupled angle 

 buttresses of two stages. The four-centred east window 

 is set within 13th-century jambs, probably belonging 

 to a triplet of lancets, and is of five trefoiled lights with 

 vertical tracery. The three windows in the south wall 

 are of the same type, the easternmost of two lights, the 

 others of three, but the mullions and tracery are 

 modern.5 At the east end of the south wall is a double 

 aumbry, with its eastern opening splayed, and west of 

 it a beautiful trefoil-headed piscina and a single arched 

 sedile with its seat on the same level as the piscina: 

 there was probably another seat, if not two, but this 

 was blocked in the 14th century, when larger windows 

 were first inserted in the wall. There is also on this 

 side a 13th-century priest's doorway with voussoirs 

 alternately of ironstone and freestone, shafted jambs, 

 and inner trefoiled arch with foliated cusps. In the east 

 wall, north of the altar, is a rebated aumbry, and the 

 north wall is pierced at its west end by a fine late-i 3 th- 

 century arch of two orders, opening into the adjoining 

 chapel, with additional shafting on the side next the 

 chancel. East of this was a two-story vestry entered 

 from the chancel by a doorway with rounded trefoiled 

 Pari. Surv. * The plain parapets of the old low- 



(Duchy of Lane), no. 57. 



3 Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. 

 24. 



pitched roof were removed. 

 Ill, file 6, m. 5 The three south windows, after being 



long blocked, were opened out in 1889. 



24 



