A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The nave and chancel appear to have been continu- 

 ous and the chancel had two large three-light east 

 windows with a buttress between, over which was a 

 single vesica-shaped opening. The walls of the chancel 

 still stand almost their full height and both the window 

 openings remain, but the arch of the northern window 

 and all the muUions and tracery are gone: between the 

 windows internally is a canopied niche. The building 

 is 28 ft. wide inside at the east end' and has a moulded 

 plinth and diagonal angle buttresses. The piscina re- 

 mains in the usual position in the south wall of the 

 chancel, and farther west is a large low-side window,^ 

 now blocked, with cinquefoiled square head, hood- 

 mould, and wide segmental rear arch. The south 

 chancel wall stands a considerable height for a length 

 of about 33 ft. and for a further distance of 15 ft. 

 westward is about three or four courses high. All the 

 waUing is of rubble. 



The chapel opened from the north side of the 

 chancel by an arch about 10 ft. from the east end, and 

 had east and west windows. It measures internally 

 23 ft. by 16 ft. and has a diagonal north-east angle 

 buttress, but though much of its walling stiU stands it 

 is completely hidden by ivy. Its east window has a 

 flat wooden lintel. 



The tower and west end of the building are level 

 with the ground. The churchyard is still used for 

 burials and is surrounded by a modern fence wall and 

 railing, with gateway on the west. Immediately out- 

 side the eastern wall of the chancel is a spring. 



The chapel of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, now 

 the parish church, stands in the village on the north 

 side of the main street, and consists of a rectangular 

 body, 68 ft. 6 in. by 27 ft. 6 in., small vestry, and west 

 tower, 8 ft. 10 in. square, these measurements being 

 internal. The tower dates from c. 1400, but is the only 

 part of the original building that remains, the body 

 having been rebuilt and enlarged-' in 1806, and again 

 in 1846 when the vestry was added. An extensive 

 restoration in 1 894 included the re-roofing and re-floor- 

 ing of the church, the removal of a west gallery and the 

 opening out of the tower arch. The early- 19th-century 

 enlargement consisted of a widening on the north side, 

 but the line of the old nave roof remains over the tower 

 arch. The south waU and tower face directly on to the 

 street. A school-house was built at right angles to the 

 tower on the north side in 1841.'' 



The body of the church is faced with coursed iron- 

 stone, and has plain parapets and low-pitched zinc- 

 covered roof. All the windows are square-headed, that 

 at the east end and one on the north side being of three 

 uncusped lights, the others of two lights. There is also 

 a two-light window high at the west end of the south 

 wall over the doorway, which formerly served the 



gallery. The four-centred head of the doorway is old.' 

 Over the east window is the date 1846, and a panel 

 inscribed 'e.m., i.y., 1702' is inserted over the three- 

 light window in the north wall. 



The tower is of rubble, of four stages, with diagonal 

 angle buttresses and battlemented parapets. The 

 pointed west doorway has mouldings divided by a 

 casement, and the restored west window and the win- 

 dows of the bell-chamber are of two cinquefoiled lights 

 with quatrefoil in the head. In the third stage facing 

 west is a panel inscribed 'This was repaired in the year 

 of our Lord 1653'. There is a vice in the south-west 

 angle. The two-centred segmental tower arch is of two 

 chamfered orders, with hood-mould, the outer order 

 continued down the jambs. 



The font, pulpit,* and all the fittings are modern. 



On the north wall is a tablet to Mary, wife of Col. E. 

 Mandeville Mortimore and eldest daughter of Sir John 

 Briscoe, who died 10 March 1706,' and in the choir 

 are brass plates in memory of (i) Lilly Anne, wife of the 

 Rev. G. S. Howard- Vyse {d. 1869) and Lieut. Harry 

 Granville Lindsay Howard-Vyse, killed in action in 

 Egypt, 1882, and (2) Major Granville William 

 Richard Howard-Vyse, who died in Kashmir, 1892. 



Three bells then in the tower were recast in 1907 

 by James Barwell, of Birmingham, who added two new 

 ones, making the present ring of five.^ 



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

 Birmingham make, of 1 8 54, a plated bread-holder, and 

 two brass alms dishes.' 



The registers before 1 81 2 are as follows: (i) bap- 

 tisms 1549-1767, marriages 1559-1754, burials 

 1 560- 1 767; (ii) baptisms and burials 1767-18 12; 

 (iii) marriages 1754-1812.'° 



The church of Boughton is not 

 ADVOWSON mentioned until 1201, when the 

 advowson was in dispute between 

 Alexander de Boughton, Simon de Boughton, Simon 

 son of Ogerand Hugh de Anvers." In 1202 Alexander 

 de Boughton recovered the advowson against Simon de 

 Houghton on the ground that his grandfather William 

 had presented the last person to the church.'^ The right 

 of presentation belonged to the de Boughton family and 

 descended with the chief manor, Major-Gen. Howard- 

 Vyse being patron at the present day. The tenure of 

 the de Boughton family and of Sir Henry Green later, 

 however, was contested by the Prestons, who claimed 

 the advowson as appurtenant to their fee in Boughton. 

 In 1273 it was included among the possessions of 

 Gilbert Preston'^ and it was recovered in 1276 by Alice 

 his widow against Laurence, his nephew and heir,"' who 

 in 1294 was sued by John de Boughton, then lord of 

 the manor, for wrongfully exercising that right. '5 Not- 

 withstanding this, Laurence settled the presentation on 



^ Bridges gave the length of the church 

 and chancel as 69 ft. 6 in., the breadth of 

 the body 27 ft. 8 in., and the tower i; ft. 

 6 in. by 9 ft. 



^ Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports^ xxxix, 388, 

 where it is figured. The opening is 6 ft. 

 4 in. high by 3 ft. wide : height of sill above 

 ground outside about 2 ft. 6 in. The 

 window is about 26 ft. from the east end. 



^ In Bridges' time the length of the 

 nave and chancel was 42 it. 4 in. and the 

 width I 5 ft. : Hist, of Northanls. 1,412. 



■♦ It bears a dated tablet with the initials 

 of the Rev. Richard H. Howard-Vyse, 

 rector. 



5 The date 1599 was over the doorway 



in Bridges* time, from which he concluded 

 that the chapel had been rebuilt in that 

 year : ibid. 



^ The pulpit, organ, and seating date 

 from I S94. 



' Inscription in Bridges, op. cit. i, 412. 



8 Two of the old bells were by T. 

 Briant, of Hertford, 1824, and the tenor 

 was dated 1 749 : North, Ch. Bells of 

 Northants. 196, where the inscriptions are 

 given. In Bridges* time there were three 

 bells dated 1653, the year in which the 

 tower was repaired. 



' Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 37. 

 The present plate was substituted for a cup 

 given by Mrs. Madan, wife of the Bishop 



of Peterborough, in 1808, an Elizabethan 

 cover paten, and a salver, all of which 

 were given in part payment of the new 

 silver, the balance being paid by the rector. 



*o Several children of the so-called Earl 

 of Banbury were baptized between 1662— 

 4, and on 1 5 February 1 657-8 'Lady Anne 

 Montague, daughter of the Rt. Hon. 

 Robert Viscount Mandeville and Aiue his 

 lady*. 



' ' Curia Regis R. i, 465 j ii, 20. 



■2 Assize R. 613. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. I, no. 25. 



'* De Banco R. 15, m. 26 d. 



*5 Ibid. 106, m. 17 d. 



80 



