A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



unite the tower and spire in a single composition. The 

 broaches extend the full height of the lower openings. 

 The spire has plain angles and two upper tiers of lights 

 on the cardinal faces.' 



The font is of the early part of the 14th century and 

 has a plain octagonal bowl with moulded under-edge 

 and shafted stem: there is a rectangular recess cut at the 

 north-west angle, probably for the fastening of the cover. 



The pulpit and fittings date from 1863. A number 

 of 1 8th- and igth-century memorial tablets are grouped 

 below the tower. In the nave is an early- 18th-century 

 communion table with curved legs. There were for- 

 merly traces of a wall painting in the vestry.^ 



A ring of six bells was cast in 1682 by Henry and 

 Matthew Bagley, of Chacomb,^ four of which re- 

 main in the tower. The treble and fourth were recast 

 by Gillett and Johnston in 1914, the old bells rehung 

 and a clock erected. 



The plate consists of a silver cup and paten c. 1682, 

 a plated paten and flagon, and two brass alms dishes.'' 



The registers before 18 12 are as follows: (i) all 

 entries i 570-1639; (ii) 1665-1701; (iii) 1702-1745; 

 (iv) 1745-95; (v) baptisms 1796— 1812; (vi) marriages 

 1754-1812. 



The church of Ringstead has always been annexed 

 as a chapel to that of Denford, with which it was 



held by the abbey of Chester until the Dissolution.' 

 In 1550 the joint rectory and advowson were leased 

 by the Bishop of Coventry and Lich- 

 ADVOWSON field to Nicholas and Mary William- 

 son,* and since that date the advowson 

 of Ringstead has descended with that of Denford 

 (q.v.), the present patron being Captain Nigel Stopford 

 SackviUe. 



The Ringstead Gift is administered 

 CHARITIES by the incumbents and churchwardens 

 and two other trustees in conformity 

 with the provisions of a Scheme of the Charity Com- 

 missioners of 2 August 1864. This charity was formerly 

 called the Charity Estate, but its origin is unknown. 

 The property consists of 27 a. o r. 5 p. of land in Ring- 

 stead let to various tenants and producing in 1924. 

 ^44 16;. \d. 



The Scheme directed that three-fourths of the net 

 income should be applied to educational purposes and 

 the remaining fourth for the benefit of the deserving 

 poor. 



A sum of 16;. a year understood to have been given 

 by a person named Wells is paid out of the Drayton 

 Estate by Mr. William Dodson of Woodford Mill, 

 Ringstead. This is applied as part of the Ringstead 

 Gift. 



RUSHDEN 



Risdene (xi cent.); Risscheden, Rissendene, Rysshe- 

 dene (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Rushden, containing about 3,775 

 acres, lies to the south of Higham Ferrers with which 

 the town is now continuous; and the town has a station 

 on the Wellingborough and Higham Ferrers section of 

 the L.M.S. railway, the nearest main line station being 

 at Irchester, about 2 miles eastward. The town, which 

 in 1 88 1 was no more than a large village with 3,657 

 inhabitants, grew very rapidly during the last decade of 

 the 19th century, the increase in the population be- 

 tween i8gi and 1901 being over 5,000. The census 

 returns of 1931 showed that the number of inhabitants 

 had then risen to over 14,200, this growth being 

 due chiefly to the establishment of the boot-making 

 industry. 



The present rectory-house appears to have been 

 built about 1870, and cannot therefore claim to be the 

 birthplace of either of the two clerics of distinction who 

 were born at Rushden. Daniel, the son of Thomas 

 Whitby, born on 24 March 1638, when his father had 

 been rector about seven }'ears,' afterwards became 

 famous for his advocacy of the inclusion of non-con- 

 formists within the church and for his Paraphrase and 

 Commentary on the Nezv Testament. John Lettice son of 

 the Rev. John Lettice and Mary daughter of Richard 

 Newcombe, rector of the neighbouring parish of Wy- 

 mington in Bedfordshire, was born on 27 December 

 1737.* He lived to a great age, dying on 18 October 

 1832; but though 'greatly respected by his parishioners' 

 at Peasmarsh, Sussex, for whom he wrote The Village 

 Catechist, he is better known for his writings on secular 



subjects such as travel, history, and antiquities, than for 

 any contribution to theology. 



The parish of St. Peter was formed 14 October 191 3 

 from parts of the old parishes of Irchester, Irthling- 

 borough, and Higham Ferrers, the church having been 

 built in 1907. There is also a Roman Catholic church 

 of St. Peter in the Higham road, which was opened in 

 1905. The Baptist chapel in Little Street was built in 

 1797 and is now used as a Sunday school, a newer 

 chapel having been built in 1884 and enlarged in 1893. 

 The Zion Baptist chapel in Station Road was built in 

 1800 and that in Park Road just a hundred years later. 

 The Independent Methodists have a chapel built in 

 l88g, with a mission chapel on the Wellingborough 

 road established in 1901. There is another Methodist 

 chapel in FitzwiUiam Street. The head-quarters of 

 the Salvation Army are in Queen Street and the Church 

 Army has a social centre built in 1920 on the Irchester 

 road. 



The town was governed by a local Board of Health 

 from 25 March 1891 until the establishment of an 

 Urban District Council under the provisions of the 

 Local Government Act of 1894;' it is lighted with 

 electricity,'" and has water-works at Sywell, which were 

 completed and opened in July 1906. 



Rushden Hall stands almost in the centre of the town, 

 near the church, and is a two-story building of various 

 dates erected round a small rectangular court}'ard, with 

 the hall in the south range. The greater part of the 

 house, which is of local limestone with red tiled roofs, 

 appears to be of the i6th century, but has been much 

 altered and modernized. The south front has project- 



' The height of the tower to the sill of 

 the lower windows is 40 ft. ; the whole 

 height of tower and spire about 85 ft. 

 or 90 ft.: ibid. 68. 



^ Chs. Archd. N'ton, 71, where it is 

 figured. 



1 North, Ch. Bells of NorthanH. 391, 

 where the inscriptions are given. On the 

 new bells the old inscriptions have been 

 retained. 



* Markham, Ch. Plate of t\orihanti. 

 249. 



5 V.C.H. Northants. iii, 196. 

 ' Close R. 1652, pt. 26, m. 4. 

 ' Diet. Nat. Biog. ' Ibid. 



« 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73. 

 '<> Under the Electric Lighting Order 

 Confirmation Act (2 & 3 Geo. V, c. 116). 



44 



