HIGHAM FERRERS HUNDRED wollaston 



The gable has a plain coping. In both north and south 

 walls are two windows of two coupled lancets, with 

 segmental rear arches, and in the usual position in the 

 south wall a double piscina with plain chamfered arches 

 on moulded jambs with dog-tooth ornament and de- 

 tached shaft with moulded capital and base. The 

 bowls are fluted and the hood-mould is a continuation 

 of the internal string-course. The sill of the easternmost 

 window on each side is lowered to form a seat, and there 

 is a stone wall-bench on the north side between the 

 windows. In the south wall is a shouldered priest's 

 doorway plainly chamfered, and at the west end two 

 narrow oblong low-side windows opposite each other, 

 that on the south being the larger.' Each window is 

 now glazed and has a modern oak shutter within. The 

 chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner 

 springing from moulded corbels. 



The nave is lighted on the south by two sets of 

 coupled lancets, one on each side of the porch, and on 

 the north by a similar window near the west end and a 

 single lancet towards the east, all with segmental rear 

 arches and jambs continued to the floor. Above the 

 windows externally, at the level of the apex of the 

 hoods, is a string-course or corbel table of notch-heads, 

 and at sill level a string differing in section from that of 

 the chancel. The nave has also a moulded plinth, 

 which in the chancel is wanting. Both stringcourses 

 and plinth are returned along the west wall for a dis- 

 tance of about 4 ft. 6 in. The pointed west doorway is 

 of three chamfered orders with hood-mould, the two 

 outer on shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and 

 above it is a large unrestored sexfoil window with con- 

 tinuous label of the same form.^ In the gable above is a 

 modern semicircular opening. The bell-cote, or turret, 

 which measures internally 7 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in., is 

 carried by a plain recessed pointed arch of a single un- 

 moulded order at the west end of the nave, within 

 which is the arch of the widely splayed west doorway. 

 Access to the turret is by a circular stair south of the 

 supporting arch and by a passage stair in the thickness 

 of the west wall. The turret is of rubble with slated 

 roof, and has a plain rectangular louvred opening on 

 the west, with loops to north and south: it contains a 

 single bell, cast by Henry Bagley of Chacombc, in 1 67 1 .^ 



The much-restored south doorway has an arch of two 



hollow-chamfered orders, the outer on shafts with 

 moulded capitals and bases,'* and the outer doorway of 

 the porch is of two continuous chamfered orders. The 

 north doorway is of a single hollow-chamfered order 

 and hood-mould. The western portion of the nave floor 

 is raised a step. 



There is a 15th-century chancel screen, bearing 

 traces of colour, with moulded uprights and top rail, 

 plain sill, and five traceried openings on each side of the 

 doorway. The solid lower portion is new. 



The font and pulpit are modern: a wrought-iron 

 hour-glass stand is now set on the top of the screen. 

 The 1 8th-century communion table, with turned legs, 

 is in the nave. 



The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of 1628, 

 and a pewter flagon without marks.' 



The earlier registers were destroyed in the fire at 

 Bozeat vicarage in September 1729: the earliest existing 

 volume contains entries of baptisms, marriages, and 

 burials from 1730 to 181 2. 



The first recorded presentation was 

 ADFOIf^SON made in 1230, but no record of the 

 living was made in 1 291, and in 1428 

 it was not taxed because there were only seven house- 

 holders in the parish.* The advowson descended with 

 the manor (q.v.) and was long held with the vicarage 

 of Bozeat, with which it was transferred by Earl 

 Spencer to the Bishop of Peterborough in 1922. It was 

 united with Wollaston in 1929.' 



The profits of the rectory, then leased to Thomas 

 Lovett, were returned in 1535 as £j is.bti} In 1562 

 a grant of all tithes, grain, cScc, belonging to the late 

 monastery of Delapre was made to Richard Pype, 

 citizen and leather seller, and Francis Bowyer, grocer, 

 both of London, and included all tithes, great and small, 

 extending to 33/. ^. yearly, in the parish of Strixton, 

 now or late in the occupation of John Spencer.' A 

 lease of these tithes was in 1 565 the subject of Chancery 

 proceedings instituted by William Spencer of Mears 

 Ashby and Robert Spencer of Lincoln's Inn against 

 Paul Stretely and George Packe of Strixton,'" and they 

 were in 1582 conveyed by William Spencer and his 

 wife Isabel to George Carleton," who with his wife 

 Elizabeth granted them, as formerly belonging to the 

 rectory of Wollaston, to Paul Stretely in 1583.'^ 



WOLLASTON 



Wilauestone (xi cent.); WuUaueston (xii cent.); 

 Wolaston (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Wollaston lies on the Bedfordshire 

 border and is separated from Doddington on the north- 

 west by the River Nene, whose marshy banks supply 

 rushes for the mat-making which still holds its own as 

 a means of employment in the neighbourhood, though 

 the place of chief industry has been taken by boot- 

 making. The village stands about 2J miles south from 

 Wellingborough station on the Northampton and Peter- 



borough section of the L.M.S. railway; it is lighted 

 with gas from its own works, built in 1872, and sup- 

 plied with water by the Higham Ferrers and Rushden 

 joint water board from their works at Sywell. A fair 

 number of good 17th-century stone houses remain in 

 the village, some of them modernized, but others pre- 

 serving their original architectural features. On the 

 west side of the church is an undated two-story house of 

 this period with gabled dormer windows and thatched 

 roof, and on the south side another thatched house with 



' Alloc. Arcli. Sac. Rrpcrii, iiii, 447. 

 The south window is 3 ft. 11 in. high by 

 10 in. wide, that on the north 2 ft. 4 in. 

 by 9 in. The sills are 1 z in. above the floor 

 inside. 



' This window, long blocked, was 

 opened out in 1924, when painted glass, 

 representing the Virgin and Child, was 

 inserted. 



' North, Ci. Belli of Koriianii. 410. 

 The bell is said to have been brought from 

 Bozeat. 



* The bases are original, and arc now 

 about 17 in. below the level of the porch 

 floor, from which there is a descent of four 

 steps to the nave. 



» MtTkham,CA. Plaieof Moriianti.iy^. 

 When the church was rebuilt a burial 



paten and chalice of i jth-centurydatc were 

 found in a tomb under the chancel wall. 

 ' FeuJ. Aidi, iv, 51. 

 ' Order in Council, i; Aug. 19Z9. 

 • Kj/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 311. 

 ' Pat. R. 6 Elii., pt. 6, no. 29. 

 '» Chan. Proc. Ser. 11, bdlc. i68,no. 72. 

 " Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 24 Elii. 

 '» Ibid. Mil. 25 Elii. 



IV 



57 



