SPELHOE HUNDRED 



GREAT BILLING 



below. There are also several 19th-century tablets to 

 members of the Elwes family, one of them by Flaxman 

 with female figure in bas-relief In the chancel floor is 

 a brass plate with rhyming inscription to Justinian 

 Bracegirdle, rector (d. 1625), 'Who four and fift>' 

 winters did afford this flocke the pasture of God's 

 heavenly word'.^ 



There are three bells, the first by Alexander Rigby of 

 Stamford 1684, the second undated from the New- 

 comb foundry (i6th century) at Leicester, with an 

 imperfect inscription, and the third, of l jth-century 

 date, by John de Yorke of Leicester, 'in honore Beate 

 Marie'. There is also a priest's bell dated 1664.^ 



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

 flagon by John Bodington 1697, the gift of Lady 

 Henrietta O'Brien in January 1698-9, a bread-holder 

 of 1703 given by Lady O'Brien in 1804, and a modern 

 chalice and paten.* 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows: (i) baptisms 

 1662-1811; (ii) marriages 1664-1762; (iii) burials 

 1662-1810; (iv) marriages 1754-1812; (v) burials 

 1810-12.5 



The churchwardens' accounts begin in 1771. 



In the churchyard is buried Mrs. Dora O'Connor, 

 who died in 1933, aged 103. She was daughter to Cary 

 Charles Elwes of Billing Hall. To the north-east of the 

 churchyard is a Roman Catholic burial ground for 

 members of the Elwes family since they adopted that 

 faith in the time of Mr. Valentine Cary Elwes (f. 

 1868). 



The church of Great Billing was 

 JDFOIVSON given to Leicester .'\bbey, soon after its 

 foundation, by William Barry, lord of 

 the manor, and confirmed by Henry II shortly after- 

 wards.* In 1250 Roger de Wanton unsuccessfully 

 claimed the advowson in right of his wife Julia, a 

 descendant of Simon Barry,' and in 1 269 the abbot gave 

 the advowson to Roger and Julia in exchange for lands 

 elsewhere.* Subsequently Robert Barry evidently ob- 

 tained the advowson, which he alienated to the Crown 

 in 1 28 1.' Henry VI exchanged the advowson in 1440 

 for that of Eton, Bucks., with William Whaplade and 

 others,'" but Edward IV re-exchanged them, thus re- 

 covering Billing advowson," which remained vested 

 in the Crown until the reign of Elizabeth. In 1291 

 the value of the church was £,i'^ and it was re- 

 turned in 1535 as worth j^i9.'-' Elizabeth bestowed the 

 advowson and rectory upon Sir Christopher Hatton, 

 Lord Chancellor, and his heirs in I 579,'* on whose 

 death in l 591 they passed in accordance with the terms 

 of his will to his nephew, Sir William Newport, who 

 assumed the name of Hatton." On the latter's death, 

 without male heirs in 1 597, the right of presentation 



was inherited by Sir Christopher Hatton, a cousin of the 

 Lord Chancellor. Sir Christopher died in 1619.'* His 

 son Christopher, who was then a minor in ward to the 

 Crown," was created Baron Hatton of Kirby in 1643 

 and was succeeded in 1670 by his son, another Christo- 

 pher, raised to the peerage in 1683 as Viscount Hatton 

 of Gretton,'* who sold the advowson in 1706 to the 

 Master and Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford, 

 in whom it is vested at the present day." 



In 1625, when the advowson was temporarily in the 

 Crown, Daniel Cawdry was presented to the church. 

 He was a parson of strong presbyterian views and was 

 one of the leading members of the Assembly of Divines 

 appointed by Parliament in 1643 for the regulation of 

 religion: he was averse to personal violence being used 

 against the king, but refused to submit to the Act of 

 Uniformity in 1662 and was therefore ejected, dying 

 shortly afterwards at Wellingborough where he had re- 

 tired. He was the author of numerous pamphlets, both 

 against Anglicans and Independents." 



Billing Hospital. By his will dated 

 CHARITIES 25 February 16 14 John Freeman gave 

 a tenement for the accommodation of 

 four aged widows and one aged widower and he also 

 gave to the inmates 40/. a piece yearly out of certain 

 lands in the parish of Holbeach. These payments were 

 increased by Sir Edward Gorges and Katharine his 

 wife to £6 apiece as recited in indentures of lease 

 and release dated 6 and 7 October 1 69 1 . The original 

 hospital was pulled down and a new building erected on 

 land set out by the Inclosure Commissioners in 1778 in 

 lieu of the original site. The property now consists of 

 four cottages with gardens and stock producing about 

 £^ 5 yearly in dividends. 



The Church Field. On the inclosure of the parish an 

 allotment of 2i acres was made to the churchwardens in 

 lieu of land in the open fields anciently appropriated to 

 the repairs of the church. The land is let for £^ yearly 

 which sum is applied towards church expenses. 



Brake Money. On the inclosure of the parish a piece 

 of land awarded to the lord of the manor was charged 

 with an annual payment of £4 in lieu of the right of the 

 poor to cut bracken. 



George Wortley Lovell, by codicil to his will proved 

 in P.C.C. in 1 848, gave ;^i 30 to the rector and church- 

 wardens upon trust to apply the interest in the distribu- 

 tion of meat to the poor. The legacy was invested and 

 the dividends amounting to about £■} los. yearly are 

 distributed in doles by the rector and two trustees ap- 

 pointed by the parish council in place of the church- 

 wardens with the Brake Money. 



The several sums of stock are with the Official 

 Trustees of Charitable Funds. 



' To Ciroline, wife of R. C. Elwes, d. 

 181Z. 



' The full inscription is given in Bridges, 

 op. cic. i, 407. 



' North, CA. Belli of Norihanlt. 192, 

 where the inscriptions are given, 



* Mirkham, Ck. Plait of Norihanli. 32. 



' The entries between 14 March 1679 

 ind May 1688 were collected in 1689 

 partly from loose papers written by Dr. 

 Moody and the parish clerk and partly 

 from information of the Inhabitants : note 

 in Register. 



' Dugdale, A/on. vi, 466, 468; Nichols, 

 Leici. I (2), Appendix. 68. 



' Cur. Reg. R. i 37, m. 2. 



' Feet, of F. Div. Co. 53 Hen. Ill, no. 



34- 



' Ibid. Northants. 9 Edw. I, no. 67. 



'° Cal. Pat. 1436-41, p. 454. 



" Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 24. 



" Pope Mch. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 40. 



" l^alor Eulit. (Rec. Com.), iv, 325. 



'< Pat. 2 1 Elii., pt. 2, m. 37. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), ccxnii, 82; 

 Excheq. (First Fruits) Plea R. 12, no. 108. 



" G.E.C. Peerage (2nd ed.), vi, 396. 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



■» G.E.C. Peerage, vi, 397; Feet of F. 

 Northants. Mich. 22 Chas. II; Rccov. R. 

 Mich. 22 Chas. II, 9. 246. 



"> Bridges, Northanii. i, 406. Inst. Bks. 

 (P.R.O.). 



" Dicl. Nal. Biog. In 1662 John Bourne 

 and Edmund May presented to Great 

 Billing church, but this was probably due 

 to the confusion caused by the ejection of 

 Uaoiel Cawdry in that year. 



73 



