A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



John Ekins of Rushden was lord in 1723,' but in 1773 

 it was the property of Mary Pacey, and in 1876 of Mr. 

 Spencer Pratt. 



Half a fee in Ringstead and Stanwick was held in 

 1242 of William Earl of Ferrers by Matthew de 

 Iverny,^ and subsequently by William de Walda,^ and 

 this was divided in 1275 between Roger Barbedor and 

 Ralf Waldeshef "i It seems probable that an arrange- 

 ment was made by which the land in Stanwick was held 

 by Waldeshef, and that in Ringstead (q.v.) by Barbedor, 

 for in May 1 298 William Waldeshef only is said to have 

 been holding in Stanwick of the Earl of Lancaster of the 



Stanwick in 1086, with a meadow of 8 acres." The 

 meadow and mill, with lands and pastures, were valued 

 at ,^8 I IS. for the taxation of 1291 ;"■ and seem to have 

 followed the descent of the manor. Two mills in Stan- 

 wick, 'being a water-mill and a windmill', parcel of the 

 lands of Peterborough, were leased to Edward Ferrers 

 and Francis Phelips on 19 May 1609." 



The church of'ST. LAIVRENCE con- 



CHURCH sists of chancel, 30 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., 



with north vestry and organ-chamber; 



nave, 59 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 6 in.; south aisle, 16 ft. wide; 



south porch, and octagonal west tower, 12 ft. 6 in. in 



13= Century 

 l+ffl Century 

 I5ffl Century 

 E21 I7IB Century 

 m 191 Century 



20 



Scale of Feet 



Plan of Stanwick Church 



honor of Peverel.^ The Waldeshef fee was held about 

 1330 by Ralf Waldeshef, the heir of William de Vaux;* 

 but the property, Hke that in Ringstead, was in 1428 in 

 the hands of Sir Simon Felbrigge.' It seems to have 

 passed not long afterwards to the College of Higham 

 Ferrers, and was granted, with other lands formerly be- 

 longing to the College, to Robert Dacres on 17 April 

 1543.* His grandson. Sir Thomas Dacres, held at the 

 time of his death in 16 16.' 



Certain lands in Stanwick, described in 1462 as a 

 manor, were held in the i 5 th century by the Tresham 

 family and followed the descent of Rushton (q.v.).'" 



Lands and tenements in Stanwick formed part of the 

 appurtenances of the manor of Cotes held by Sir Henry 

 Green at the time of his death in 1399." The property 

 followed the descent of his estates,'- and is mentioned by 

 Bridges in 1723 as 'a small manor consisting of rents of 

 the yearly value of ^{^1 i is. i iJ., reserved out of certain 

 lands formerly copihold but now manumised', belong- 

 ing to the Earl of Peterborough.'^ The date of the en- 

 franchisement is uncertain, but the rent is described as 

 a free rent at the death of Henry Lord Mordaunt in 

 1609, when it was of the yearly value of 38/. %J.^* 



There was a mill worth 20s. attached to the manor of 



' Bridges, loc. cit. 



^ Bk. of Fees^ ii, 933. 



3 See above, p. 4.1. 



■t Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 10. 



5 Cal. Ir.q. p.m. iii, 423, p. 296. 



Feud. Aids, vi, 568. 



' Ibid, iv, 4.6. 



^ L. (^ P. Hen. Fill, xviii, pt. i, 

 g- 47+ (27)- 



9 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclix, 119. 



"> Cat. Pal. 1461-7, pp. Ill, 431; 

 1476-85, pp. 201, 416. 



'^ Chan. Inq. p.m. I Hen. IV, pt. 2, 

 no. I. 



'^ Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 2 & 3 Phil, 

 and Mar)*; Recov. R. Trin. 18 Eliz. ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccix, 200. 



'3 Bridges, A'orMan/j. ii, 195. 



diameter, with tall stone spire. All these measurements 

 are internal. The width across nave and aisle is 37 ft. 

 7 in. 



The building is mainly of the 13th century, in the 

 earlier part of which, c. 1220-30, aisles were added to 

 an existing 12th-century nave, the chancel was rebuilt, 

 and the tower and spire erected. Some late-i2th-cen- 

 tury indented moulding is used in the reconstructed 

 chancel arch, but with this exception little or nothing 

 from the earher fabric has survived. The porch appears 

 to have been contemporary with the aisle, but a 

 chamber was built over it, probably in the 14th century, 

 and buttresses added: a window at the west end of the 

 aisle is also of this period. In the 15th century the 

 chancel was rebuilt and its width reduced by setting 

 back the south wall some 2 or 3 ft., new windows were 

 inserted in the aisles and parapets added to the walls. 

 That there was formerly a north aisle seems plain from 

 the nature of the outer wall of the nave and its junction 

 with the tower and chancel, and also from the evidence 

 of the plan: the remaining portion of the original north 

 wall of the chancel at its west end stands considerably in 

 front of the wall of the nave, and the tower and chancel 

 arches are no longer in its line of axis.'* Originally the 



'■* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccix, 200, 



'5 y.C.H. Northants. i, 314. 



"> Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 54. 



" Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. xvi; Cal. S.P. Dom. 

 1640, p. 659. 



■* The 13th-century roof-table on the 

 east side of the tower extends some dis- 

 tance beyond the face of the present nave 

 wall. 



52 



