A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Hospital of St. Bar- 

 tholomew. Party argent 

 and sable a cheveron 

 countercoloured. 



granted j\ virgates of land in Wollaston to the Hospital 

 of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield,' Hugh, the Master 

 of the hospital, obtaining warranty of charter from 

 him in 1218.^ He also granted the grazing of 14 oxen 

 wherever his own oxen should 

 feed in Wollaston;^ and some 

 years later William de Bray 

 added two roods of arable land.'' 

 The holding, which was known 

 as Barthilmew's Fee, remained 

 in the possession of the hospital 

 until the Dissolution, and was 

 in the tenure of John Coke on 

 13 January 1547, when it was 

 included in the grant to the 

 mayor and citizens of London 

 as trustees of the new founda- 

 tion. ' 



During the early part of the 13 th century the Abbey 

 of Delapre by Northampton received several small grants 

 of land in Wollaston. These included a confirmation 

 from Hugh de Newburgh of the grant of the 'minster' 

 at Wollaston, given by Robert de Chocques with the land 

 behind the court; from Robert de Newburgh i virgate 

 and the land called Northyrne; from Roger de New- 

 burgh the land behind the Abbey's houses, between the 

 two roads; from Samson the son of Samson, Gerscroft, 

 Brintyngesholm meadow, and common of pasture; 

 from WiUiam de Bray rent in Nedham in Wollaston, 

 and from William son of Simon de Wollaston two 

 messuages in Nedham Street.* This property and that 

 belonging to Lavendon were probably retained by the 

 Crown and became amalgamated with the manor, as 

 the advowson, part of the property of Delapre, was 

 afterwards in the possession of John Earl of Bridgwater. 

 Each of the manors in Wollaston had a 

 MILLS mill mentioned in 1086.' That belonging to 

 the larger manor was granted by William de 

 Betun to Peter son of Adam about the end of the 12th 

 century,* and was afterwards bestowed by Robert son 

 of Roger de Newburgh on the Hospital of the Holy 

 Trinity by Northampton.' In 1218 the master of the 

 hospital obtained a quitclaim of a mill in Wollaston 

 from Philip the son of Robert and Basile the daughter 

 of Stephen.'" John, master of the hospital {c. 1233), 

 granted their mill to Robert son of Ralf de Wolaston." 

 Subsequently the hospital granted it with the adjacent 

 land to the College of St. Mary at Leicester in 1376.'^ 

 The Dean and Chapter of the College at first paid a 

 yearly rent of 40J. for the land, but 20s. of this was 

 released to Dean Peter de Kellesey, by Richard BoUe- 

 sore, master of St. Davids, as the water-mill was found 

 to be 'entirely decayed'. '^ It seems afterwards to have 

 been rebuilt, as there were two mills belonging to the 

 manor in i590."'' 



The church of ST. MART THE VIRGIN consists 

 of chancel, 35 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in.; central tower 



and broach spire, north transept, 20 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in. 

 wide; nave, 54 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 3 in., and north and 

 south aisles 14 ft. wide, all these measure- 

 CHURCH ments being internal. The tower is 13 ft. 

 square at the crossing and the width across 

 nave and aisles 5 1 ft. 3 in. A former vestry at the east 

 end of the south aisle now serves as an organ-chamber. 



Before 1735 ^^^ church was an early- 14th-century 

 building with aisled nave of four bays, 'a cross aisle 

 from north to south covered with lead and a chancel 

 tiled'," but on 13 November of that year 'the body of 

 the church, supported by six pillars, suddenly and 

 unexpectedly fell down','* and in the rebuilding which 

 followed in 1737" the chancel was reconstructed and 

 the south transept removed. The new nave was built 

 in the classic style of the day, with the vestry covering 

 the south side of the tower, the tower arches were filled 

 in with rubble and plastered over, leaving two low- 

 openings from the nave to the chancel,'* and a gallery 

 erected at the west end. Of the 14th-century structure 

 only the tower and spire and north transept remained; 

 subsequent changes have respected the 18th-century 

 building, which externally remains unaltered. In 1 824 

 the north transept was fitted up as a Sunday school," 

 and in 1 841 north and south galleries were erected.^" 

 In the course of an extensive restoration in 1885 the 

 tower arches were opened out, the side galleries re- 

 moved, the north transept rebuilt, and the organ 

 removed from the west gallery to the south of the tower. 



The chancel is faced with coursed freestone, but 

 is without buttresses and its red-tiled eaved roof is 

 modern. The east wall was rebuilt in 1902 and the 

 three-light traceried window is of that date, as are also 

 the tracery and muUions of the three round-headed 

 18th-century windows in the south wall. The north 

 wall is blank. Two lead spout-heads bear the date 

 1 772.^' Internally the walls of the chancel, as elsewhere, 

 are plastered. 



The beautiful 14th-century tower is open to the 

 church in the lower stage through four sharply pointed 

 arches of three chamfered orders, the innermost spring- 

 ing from half-round responds with moulded capitals 

 and bases, the others continued below moulded imposts 

 and stopped at the bottom with notch-heads. All the 

 arches are alike and have hood-moulds on each side. 

 Bands of ironstone in the masonry below the arches 

 afix)rd variety and contrast in colour. The vice is in the 

 south-east angle of the tower, and externally takes the 

 form of a hexagonal turret, sloped back with stone roof 

 at the height ot the top of the beU-chambcr windows. 

 The windows are double on each side, and of two 

 trefoiled lights, with simple tracery in the head;-^ the 

 lower part of the lights is blocked. The angles of the 

 tower are strengthened by small triple shafts stopping 

 beneath a richly sculptured corbel table of heads and 

 flowers connected by tendrils, from which the spire 

 rises, and above the bell-chamber windows on each 



' N. Moore, St. Barthohmeivi Hospital., 

 i, 367. 



^ Ibid. 369; Feet of F. Northants., file 

 14, no. 1. 



^ Moore, op. cit. i, 256. 



* Ibid. 447. 



5 L. and P. Hen. Fill, xxi (2), g. 771 



(>4). 



<■ Harl. Chart. 54, D. 14; Chart. R. 

 2 Edw. Ill, m. 15, no. 47. 



' y.C.H. Northants. i, 347, 354. 



8 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 1897. 



^ Ibid. C. 1909. The hospital was also 



known as St. David's, Kingsthorpe. 



■° Feet of F. Northants., file 16, no. 53. 



" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 1867. 



" Ibid. C. 160. 



" Ibid. C. 2729. 



** Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. no. 115. 



^s Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 200, 

 where the dimensions are given as 'church 

 and chancel 119 ft. long, body and aisles 

 49 ft. 9 in. broad, cross aisle 68 ft. long*. 



'*• Note in Parish Register. 



'^ '1736-7, Feb. 24. The church began 

 to be rebuilt' : Par. Reg. 



■8 WhichcUo, Annals of H-'ollaston, 5: 

 the chancel was enclosed by iron gates and 

 very little used. 



" Ibid. II. 



20 Ibid. 13. 



^' Whether this indicates the year of the 

 reconstruction of the chancel, or simply 

 the erection of the spouts, is uncertain. 



^- The window jambs are of three orders, 

 the middle hollow chamfered, the others 

 moulded : the two outer orders are con- 

 tinued round the head. 



60 



