SPELHOE HUNDRED 



ABINGTON 



Abendon (xii cent.); Abynton, Habinton (xiii-xiv 

 cents.). 



Since 1900 the civil parish of Abington has ceased to 

 exist, a portion having been included in the municipal 

 borough of Northampton, while the rest has been 

 amalgamated with Weston Favell. For ecclesiastical 

 purposes, however, it still forms a parish. In 1902 

 certain adjustments of boundaries were made between 

 Abington and St. Giles, Northampton.' 



The ancient civil parish of Abington had an area of 

 357 acres, mostly under permanent grass. The soil is 

 loamy and marl, and the subsoil consists of sandstone 

 and clay; the chief crops were wheat and barley. The 

 population in 1891 was only 121 and had risen by 1901 

 to 553, the town of Northampton having grown to the 

 east by the erection of new factories; as a result of 

 further building it had increased to 8,958 in 193 1. 



The parish ran north and south and was long and 

 narrow, widening out towards the centre where .Abing- 

 ton Abbey and the park are situated. It was bisected 

 by the road leading to Wellingborough which runs 

 north from Northampton and then takes an easterly 

 bend, thus inclosing two sides of the park. The south 

 boundary was formed by the Billing road, while the east 

 boundary skirted the rectory, which w^as included in the 

 parish of Weston Favell. The level of the ground rises 

 slightly from south to north, where the highest point of 

 335 ft. is found: the lowest ground, about 268 ft., lies 

 where the Wellingborough road takes a slight descent 

 towards the centre of the parish. 



Abington Hall, known as Abington Abbey,^ the seat 

 of the Bernards and Thursbys, was instituted asa private 

 asylum in 1845 and was used for that purpose until 

 Lady Wantage presented it with about 20 acres of land 

 to the Northampton Corporation, who afterwards pur- 

 chased an additional 4 acres comprising the park and 

 threw it open to the public in 1897; further land was 

 acquired in 1903, making the total area about 116 

 acres, and the manor-house was converted into a 

 museum. It is a quadrangular building originally of 

 early- 16th-century date, but altered and largely rebuilt 

 about 1675-8, and refronted on the south and east sides 

 more than half a century later. As first built the house 

 was apparently one room thick on all four sides of the 

 courtyard,^ with the great hall in the south and the 

 offices in the east wing. From the evidence of the great 

 hall, the only part now remaining, it was a building of 

 two stories with gables and mullioned windows, but 

 after his acquisition of the property in 1669 William 

 Thursby seems to have pulled down the greater part of 

 the house and rebuilt it on a larger scale, adding in front 

 of the old one a new south wing containing two large 



rooms, staircase, and entrance.* The water-tower in the 

 park bears W. Thursby's initials and the date 1678,' 

 and this may be assumed to be approximately the time 

 when the rebuilding of the house was completed. Some 

 time in the i8th century the south and east wings were 

 refronted in the plain classic style of the day, most hkely 

 by John Harvey Thursby after his succession to the 

 estate in 1736.* A few changes were made in the 

 buildings subsequently,^ and after its acquisition by 

 the Corporation of Northampton it was restored and in 

 parts altered to adapt it to the purposes of a museum.* 

 The north and part of the west wing have been 

 reduced to one story, and all the roofs are now covered 

 with red tiles in place of the old CoUcyweston slates. 



The south and east wings are of two stories with a 

 string at first-floor level, cornice and plain parapets, the 

 walling being of coursed undressed stone with ashlar 

 quoins and dressings. On the south side the ends and 

 middle slightly project and in each front is a good 

 pedimented doorway. The windows have moulded 

 architraves and barred sashes, and the Thursby crest 

 occurs on the lead rain-water heads. The great hall, 

 which is the height of both stories,' is 38 ft. 9 in. long by 

 21 ft. wide, with a projecting gabled bay at the north- 

 west corner overlooking the courtyard. The bay has a 

 mullioned window of four lights and in the wall adjoin- 

 ing is a similar window, both square-headed and without 

 transoms. The doorway at the north end of the screens 

 is now blocked and all traces of the screen itself have 

 disappeared, probably in the 1 8th century, to which 

 period the fire-place at the west end belongs. The roof 

 is divided into four bays by plain hammer-beam 

 principals, the beams terminating in figures of angels 

 holding blank shields. The roof is apparently of 16th- 

 century date, but with the exception of the windows 

 there are no other architectural features of this period in 

 the apartment. The bay window contains some heraldic 

 glass removed from the old manor-house of G reat Billing 

 in about 1776, with the achievement of O'Brien, Earl 

 of Thomond, and other arms. 



At the west end of the south wing is a fine panelled 

 room the wainscoting of which belongs to the early- 

 i6th-century house. It is chiefly of the conventional 

 linen-fold pattern but includes some panels carved with 

 the emblems of the Passion, the heraldic devices of the 

 Lillings (three pikes) and the Bernards'" (a muzzled 

 bear), rural scenes and subjects from yEsop's fables. 

 The cornice has a running vine pattern and the frieze 

 includes subjects illustrating the months and seasons. 

 An Elizabethan table in this room was formerly in the 

 old Town Hall, Northampton. No other panelling 

 remains in the house, but the oak staircase in the south 



' Local Govt. Boird Order, no. 43,787. 



' The name 'Abbey', by which the 

 house is now known, does not appear to 

 have been acquired until after its sale by 

 J. H. Thursby in 1841 : Sir H. Dryden's 

 MS. notes, Northampton Public Library. 



' The present courtyard measures 69 ft. 

 10 in. from north to south and 55 ft. 

 10 in. west to east, but whether these were 

 the original dimensiont cannot now be 

 • tated. 



♦ There is no documentary evidence of 

 this, but the plan seems to warrant such a 

 coDclution. "The thick middle wall of the 



IT 



existing south wing would be the original 

 outer wall of the 16th-century house: Sir 

 H. Dryden's MS. notes. 



* The water-tower stands some dis- 

 tance to the north-east of the house, near 

 the fish-ponds, and is two stories in height 

 with slated pyramidal roof. It is buttressed 

 on the west side where the ground falls, 

 and has a stairway in the south-east angle. 



' From the fact that a portrait of 

 Francis Smith, architect, of Warwick, en- 

 graved by Van Haeckcn, is dedicated to 

 John Harvey Thursby, it has been con- 

 jectured that Smith designed the new 



fronts. 



' e.g. the ground-floor windows to the 

 east of the entrance on the south side were 

 lengthened. 



' In 1845 the building was opened by 

 Dr. O. T. Pritchard as a private lunatic 

 asylum styled 'Abington Abbey Retreat", 

 and so continued until after the death of 

 the third Dr. Pritchard in 1892. 



• The height is given as 35 ft. 

 '" On one of these panels are the initials 

 MlB, perhaps indicating the John Bernard 

 who died in 1 508 and Margaret his wife. 



65 



