A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



ritual arrangements survive. There is, however, a small 

 ogee-headed aumbry in the east wall of the chapel at its 

 south end, and at the north end a carved corbel. The 

 chapel is open on the south side by two pointed arches, 

 the westernmost of 14th-century date, the other later, 

 which may indicate that originally the aisle covered 

 the chancel for only about half its length. The arch 

 between the chapel and the former north aisle of the nave 

 is also of 14th-century date. In the nave, north of 

 the chancel arch, facing west, is a recess with foliated 

 head, probably the remains of the reredos of a nave 

 altar. 



The exceedingly interesting cylindrical font has 

 already been described.' On account of the palaeo- 

 logical peculiarit)- of its inscription, as well as from its 

 resemblance to a Saxon baluster shaft, the font is 

 generally attributed to the pre-Conquest period, but is 

 probably not earlier than the i ith century.- 



In the north chapel is an 18th-century wooden 

 communion table. The pulpit and other fittings are 

 modern. 



There are three modern bells, cast about 1 850.' 



The plate consists of a silver cup of 1682 with the 

 maker's mark I N within a heart, inscribed 'The Parish 

 of litle Biling in Northamptonshire', a paten without 

 date letter but of about the same period with the 

 maker's mark E B repeated. There are also two pewter 

 alms dishes and a pewter flagon of 1714.'' 



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

 and burials 1632-1740, marriages 1632-1720, 1735- 

 41; (ii) baptisms and burials 1741-1812, marriages 

 1744-54; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. There is a book 

 of churchwardens' accounts 1722-1886. 



The rectory house, which stands close to the church, 

 has a good 1 8th-century panelled entrance hall and oak 

 staircase. 



There is no mention of Little Billing Church in the 



Domesday Survey, but soon after the foundation of St. 

 Andrew's Priory, Northampton, between 1093 and 



1 100, Walter fitz Winemar and Osanna 

 ADVOWSON his wife presented it to the prior and 



convent. 5 This gift was confirmed 

 by Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, los. being 

 assigned to the priory as an annual pension.* This 

 pension continued to be paid to the priory until the 

 Dissolution.'' The priory was a cell to the French 

 priory of St. Mary de la Charite and therefore during 

 the French wars of Edward III the presentation to the 

 church of Little Billing was often exercised by the 

 Crown.* In 1535 the value of the benefice was 

 j^l I I y. \d? and the church was annexed by the CrowTi 

 on the dissolution of St. Andrew's in 1538. It was 

 apparently granted to Richard Wudcocke, who sold 

 it in 1548 to Sir Thomas Brudenell, who died seised 

 of it in 1549,'° when it was said to be held of Arthur 

 Longuevill, but instead of passing to his heir with his 

 other possessions it escheated to the king, by whom it 

 was granted in the next year to Sir Ralph Sadler and 

 Laurence Wennington." The advowson is found in 

 1630 in the hands of Richard StockweU,'^ but there 

 is no record of its history during the interval. 

 Anne Bracegirdle in 1648 presented by reason of the 

 minority of her son Justinian,'^ who, with his wife 

 Martha, sold the advowson to Richard Woodford in 

 1669.''* It remained in the Woodford family until 

 1741 '5 when John and Mary Woodford conveyed it to 

 Ambrose Isted of Ecton,'* by whom it was probably 

 afterwards sold to Sir Thomas Drury, bart., passing 

 on the latter's death in 1759 to his two daughters and 

 co-heirs, in undivided moieties." The younger daugh- 

 ter, Jocosa Catherine, purchased her late sister's moiety 

 in 1770 and married Sir Brownlow Cust, bart., after- 

 wards Lord Brownlow, in whose descendant, the pre- 

 sent Earl Brownlow, the advowson is now vested.'* 



BOUGHTON 



Buchenho, Buchetone, Buchedone, Bochetone (xi 

 cent.); Boketon, Buketone, Buckton (xii-sv cent.). 



Boughton is a parish covering an area of 2,060 acres. 

 The soil is marl and clay with a subsoil of stone, while 

 the chief crops are wheat, barley, and beans. The 

 parish, which is heart-shaped, is crossed from north to 

 south by the road running from Northampton to Market 

 Harborough, which skirts Boughton Park, the property 

 of Mr. Frank Panther. Baker, writing about 1820, 

 describes Boughton House" as 'nearly levelled with the 

 ground',^" but gives a view made from a sketch of about 

 thirty years before,^' which shows a gabled building 



enclosing three sides of a quadrangle.^^ The park and 

 adjacent grounds were well wooded and interspersed 

 with temples, triumphal arches, and artificial ruins.^-' 

 No remains of the old house are left. The present 

 house, called Boughton Park, to distinguish it from the 

 Duke of Buccleuch's seat near Kettering, was built 

 about 1 844 by Lt.-Gen. R. W. H. Howard- Vyse. The 

 village of Boughton lies to the east of the park and 

 contains a house, formerly the residence of Captain 

 Whyte-Melville, who wrote many of his novels here. 

 In the village are a number of 17th-century thatched 

 houses, on one of which, south-west of the church, is 



' V.C.}i. Northants. ii, 187. 



^ See also Paley, Bapl. Fonts, where it is 

 called early Norman. 



3 North, Ch. Bells of Northants. 192. 

 The bells are very difficult of access. In 

 1552 there were two bells and a sanctus 

 beU. 



♦ Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 



33- 



5 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fol. 55. 



' Ibid. fol. i + d.j A. Gibbons, Liher 

 j4ntiquus, 40. 



' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40; 

 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1,108, no. 21; Valor 

 Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 314. 



' Cal. Pat. 1340-3, p. 577; ibid. 1348- 

 50, pp. 296, 326; ibid. 1 38 1-5, pp. 478, 

 480. Ini4i7 the priory leased the advowson 



to William Gadesby, clerk, and to Richard 

 Wilby for the term of the former's life: 

 Campb. Ch. x, 2. 



' Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 326. 



^° Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), txxxix, 106. 



" Pat. R. 4 Edw. VI, pt. iv, m. 27. 

 Wudcocke's title was probably based on a 

 usurpation by Longuevill. 



'2 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



■3 Ibid. 



'* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 2 1 Chas. 

 II. 



■5 Bridges, Northants. i, 409. In 1702, 

 however, George Dixon exercised the 

 right: Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



'* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 15 

 Geo. II. 



" Baker, Northants. i, 28, 57; G.E.C. 



76 



Baronetage, v, 86, 



•8 Ibid.; Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



*^ It is called the 'Manor House' in 

 Bridges' History (i, 410) and described as 

 'old but not large'. Part had been pulled 

 down by Sir John Briscoe. 



^0 Baker, Hist, of Northants. i, 36. 



^* Ibid. 'When I had scarcely entered 

 into my teens.' 



^^ Ibid, i, 35. Baker says the house was 

 occupied by the Earl of Ross for a short 

 time after the death of the Earl of Strafford 

 and subsequently became the rendezvous of 

 the Pytchley Hunt while under the 

 management of John Ward, who was the 

 last occupier. 



" Ibid, i, 36. 



