HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED 



RAUNDS 



The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of 

 1570, an alms plate of 1656 given by Barbara Lang- 

 horne, a paten of 188;, and a plated flagon.' 



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

 I 563-1748, marriages i 566-1748, burials i 560-1748; 

 (ii) baptisms and burials 1 749-1 812; (iii) marriages 

 1756-1812. 



During the greater part of the 1 3th 

 ADVOfVSON century the advowson descended with 

 the manor (q.v.) and in 1 205 William 

 son of Amfrid of Newton recognized that it was the 

 right of Richard of Newton.- Sir Richard son of Henry 

 of Newton recovered the advowson against John de 

 Gatesden and was succeeded by his son Richard, 

 patron in 1272,' who in 1281 sold the advowson to 

 Walter de Trailly, lord of Yelden in Bedfordshire,'* 

 and it followed the descent of the manor of Yelden 

 until 1374,' with this exception that Isabel widow of 

 the elder Richard recovered the presentation of 1 29 1 

 from Eleanor, Walter's widow;* but the latter pre- 

 sented in 1305.' 



Between 1374 and 1380 the advowson had passed 

 into the possession of John Curteys,^ lord of Wyming- 

 ton in Bedfordshire, and it followed the descent of that 

 manor* until 1598, when both were sold to William 

 Bletsoe.' In 1606 William Bletsoe sold the advowson 

 and rectory of Newton Bromswold to Robert Hewet of 

 that parish, yeoman, who in 161 5, before the marriage 



of his son Michael with Elizabeth, widowed daughter 

 of Edward Aspin, settled them on his other sons Ed- 

 mund and Edward Aspin that they might present 

 Michael to the living and hold in trust for Elizabeth 

 and her sons by Michael.'" Edmund presented his 

 brother in 1634." In 1663 James Seaton presented 

 Edward Troll," to whom in 1669 Robert Hewett, clerk, 

 transferred the advowson.'^ From 1710 until 1778 

 with two exceptions and again in 18 17, the patron was 

 a member of the Bletsoe family ;'5 Edward Tanqueray, 

 patron from 1783 to 1788,'^ presented also in 1 8 2 2 and 

 1829. Major Penrice, patron from 1836 to 1841, was 

 succeeded in or before 1843 by All Souls College with 

 whom the advowson still remained in 1883. In 1885 

 the patron was the Rev. W. ."Xger, then rector, and he was 

 succeeded by Mr. O. E. .Ager. From him it passed to Mr. 

 S. G. Stopford Sackville, who in October 1920 trans- 

 ferred it to the Bishop of Peterborough. Since 1927 the 

 living has been amalgamated with that of Chelveston.'* 

 The church estate consists of about 

 CHARITIES 6 acres of land situate in the parish. 

 The origin is unknown, but the rents 

 have been applied for a great number of years to the 

 expenses of the church. The charity is administered by 

 the rector and a co-opted trustee in accordance with the 

 provisions of a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 

 1 2 August 1 890. The land is let to several tenants and 

 produces £^ 1 5/. yearly. 



RAUNDS 



Rande (li cent.); Raines (ivi cent.). 



The ecclesiastical parish of Raunds, which contains 

 about 4,460 acres, touches Huntingdonshire on its 

 eastern and north-eastern sides. The soil is for the most 

 part heavy and grows wheat, barley, roots, and seeds, 

 but a great number of the inhabitants arc employed in 

 the boot-making industr}', the population in 193 1 being 

 3,683. There is a station on the Kettering and Cam- 

 bridge branch of the L.M.S. railway about i^ miles 

 north-cast of the large modern village of Raunds. 



The village, which is famous for its church tower, 

 one of the finest in Northamptonshire, is the head- 

 quarters of the district Society of Bellringers. The 

 curfew is still rung on week-days from Michaelmas to 

 Lady Day at 8 p.m., and as late as 1886 the Gleaning 

 Bell was still rung, as a signal that gleaning might begin, 

 if the gleaners agreed to pay for it." An urban district 

 council of twelve members was formed under the Local 

 Government Order of 1897. In 1935 the parish of 

 Stanwick (q.v.) was added to the urban district of 

 Raunds and the number of councillors increased to 

 fifteen. 



A large 13th-century stone barn, which formerly 

 stood near the church on the south side, was pulled 

 down about 1850. It had a high-pitched roof and end 

 gables with finials, and was seven bays in length, with 



buttresses of two stages and tall loop windows in the 

 upper part of the walls.'* 



Thomas Walkington, the author of Tie Optick 

 Glasse of Humours, which has been described as a fore- 

 runner of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, was pre- 

 sented to the vicarage in 1608. He died in 1621, some 

 years before the birth of a writer on kindred subjects, 

 William Drage, who was the son of a yeoman at Raunds, 

 a great believer in astrology and a disciple of Dr. Prim- 

 rose, the opponent of Harvey; his medical works ob- 

 tained, in his own age, more than local fame. John 

 Grimbald, the builder of Trinity College library at 

 Cambridge and part of Clare College, was also born 

 here." 



There is a Baptist chapel and a Methodist chapel, 

 with Sunday schools which were built in 1874; and 

 another Methodist chapel was opened in 1 899. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey the 

 MANORS king held loj hides in Higham Hundred;'* 

 and it appears from an inquest held in 1 3 1 8 

 that this included one virgate in Raunds, 'containing 

 forty acres and making half a hide'; this was of the 

 ancient demesne of the Crown and 'never belonged to 

 the fee of Peverel'." It was then held of the king by 

 the Earl of Lancaster of whom it was held by various 

 tenants in villeinage; and it seems to have followed the 



' Markham, Ch. Plait of Norlhanls. 



' Cur. Rfg. R. iii, 290; iv, 31. 



' Rot. Rot. Groneieiie (Cant. & York 

 Soc.), 164; Rol. Ric. Gm-vtsend, no. 



* Feet of F. Northants., file 52, no. 73. 



» Cat. rn<f. p.m. ii, 483; ^.C.H. Beds. 

 iii, 176; Bridges, loc, cit. 



•" Coram Rege R. i 34, m. 8 



' Bridges, loc. cit. 



» y.C.H. Btdi. iii, 1 1 8 



• Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 40 Eliz. 



'° Recov. R. Mich. 19 Jas. I, m. 10. 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



" Feet of F. Northants. East. 20 

 Chas. II. 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.)i Bacon, Lihtr Rtg. 

 823. 



** CUriciil Guide\ CUrgy Liit\ informt- 

 tion from the episcopal registrar. 



'» l^orthantt. N. & Q. i. 248. This was 

 done in many parishes of the county. 



'*• It is figured in Chs. Arch. N*ton 

 (1849), 65; the buttresses on the south 

 side were then perfect, but the timbers of 

 the roof had been a good deal patched. 

 The principals were original, 'their feet 

 embedded in the wall against the buttresses 

 at about 4 ft. from the ground*. 



»' Diet. Sat, Bicg. 



'* r.C.II. Sorthants. i, 308^. 



»» Cat. Misc. Intj. ii, 371. 



29 



