SPELHOE HUNDRED 



KINGSTHORPE 



himself and his son Laurence, after his death;' and Sir 

 Henry Green, who purchased the reversion of the manor 

 in 1340,- conceiving the advowson to be appendant, 

 brought an action against Sir Thomas de Preston in 

 1350, after the death of Sir Thomas and Joan de 

 Boughton. Judgement was given for Sir Henry Green 

 and damages were awarded him, being the value of the 

 church for the past two years, during which a nominee 

 of Sir Thomas had held the living.^ After this date the 

 lords of the manor continued in undisturbed possession; 

 but Anne, the widow of Richard Humphrey, and 

 Augustus Crispe presented in 1551, 1554, and 1559 

 when they were holding the manor on lease.* In 1 2 54,5 

 and in 1291* the church was valued at ^^6 and in 1535 

 the rectory was worth £t, i per annum.' In 1 364 the 

 Pope granted an indulgence of i year and 40 days to 

 those who assisted the church of Boughton, in which 

 many miracles of healing were wrought.* 



Even before the parish church became quite ruinous 

 in the i8th century its place was taken by a chapel in 

 the village, the present church, for in i 547 the chantry 

 commissioners noted that 'it is to be remembered that 

 there ys one chapell situated within the town of Bough- 

 ton, wherein comonly the said ii prestes do celebrate 

 for the ease of the parishioners, for the parish churche is 

 distant iii pts. of a myle from ye towne or any house'.' 



When, in 1257, Adam Russel and Alice his wife 

 quitclaimed land in Boughton to Peter son of Roger de 

 Boughton for the rent of supplying to the chaplain 

 ministering daily in the chapel of St. John \d. towards 

 the support of thecommon light,'" it is probable that the 

 reference is to the parish church, but the chapel seems 



to be referred to in 1 329 when licence was given for the 

 continuation for a year of the chapel of St. Thomas the 

 MartjT, built of old times." This chapel probably 

 originated in a chantry of uncertain foundation. In 

 1535 Richard Taylor and William Russell were the 

 chantry priests there and the yearly value, which was 

 ;^io, was divided between them as salary'^ and when it 

 was dissolved and the priests pensioned in 1 547-8, 

 there were no jewels or ornaments belonging to it." 

 Part of the chantry's possessions, 10/., the rent of one 

 cottage in Northampton, was claimed by the Crown in 

 1558 against Richard Hanington. These premises were 

 devised to the two chantry priests in 1460 for a term of 

 years which had expired by 1558 and Richard Haning- 

 ton claimed them as heir to Anne Hanington, widow.'* 

 The Charity of Richard Humfrey, 

 CHARITIES or Humphrey, founded by will dated 

 30 November 1 547 is regulated by a 

 Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 14 April 

 1924. The property originally consisted of 3 cottages 

 and about 50 acres of land in Pitsford. The cottages 

 and land have been sold and the proceeds invested. 

 The sum of ^^522 9/. ^d. is held to the account of the 

 Church Extraordinary Repair Fund. The remaining 

 stocks produce about ;^i90 annually in dividends. The 

 trustees are the rector and churchwardens, 2 trustees 

 appointed by the parish meeting and 4 co-optative. 



The Earl of Strafford's Charity consists of a yearly 

 sum of ;^5 paid by Major-Gen. Howard-Vyse out of 

 lands at Boughton and Pitsford which formerly belonged 

 to the Earls of Strafford. The charity is distributed in 

 fuel to poor householders. 



KINGSTHORPE 



Torp (xi cent.); Thorp (xii-xiii cents.); Kynges- 

 thorpe (xiv cent.). 



In 1900 the greater part of the civil parish of Kings- 

 thorpe was added to the Northampton municipal 

 borough while the remainder was amalgamated with 

 Boughton and Moulton Park, but subsequently, in 

 193 1, the remainder of the old parish was absorbed 

 into the borough. The area of the old parish was 1,020 

 acres. Wheat, barley, rye, and potatoes are grown, 

 while a small amount of market gardening is carried on 

 by the villagers. The soil is light loam with a subsoil 

 of lime and ironstone. 



Kingsthorpe lies to the north of Northampton, with 

 which it was formerly connected by an electric tram- 

 way, but this was replaced in 1935 by a motor-omnibus 

 service. Except in the vicinity of the church and of 

 the 'Green', where it retains some measure of its old- 

 world picturesqueness, the village has become largely 

 urban. A few old stone houses remain. Nos. 16—18 

 High Street is a thatched 17th-century building with 

 modernized windows, and No. 8 Welford Road, with 

 end gables and pantiled roof, is of about the same date. 

 Within the last few years many villas and small houses 

 have been built and entirely border one side of the hill 

 which leads to Kingsthorpe. On the other side of the 



road, however, a more countrified air is preserved by 

 Kingsthorpe Hall, the residence of Francis Thornton, 

 esq., which stands in nicely wooded grounds, surrounded 

 by a park wall. The older part of the village lies west of 

 the road ascending from Northampton and includes the 

 church of St. John the Baptist, surrounded by fine elms, 

 the old green on which is a spring caUed Kingswell, 

 which never fails or freezes, and one of the three mills, 

 known in old times as the Nether Mill and now called 

 Kingsthorpe Mill. Of the other two mills, that known 

 as the South or St. Andrew's Mill stands in the extreme 

 south-west corner of the parish, where the ground hesas 

 low as 206 ft., close to the site of the ancient priory of St. 

 Andrew; the North Mill is the farthest away from the 

 village and is now in Boughton parish. 



The medieval hospital'* stood on the east side of 

 the highway from Northampton at the entrance to the 

 village.'* It had been converted into a blacksmith's shop 

 before about 1 870, when it was turned into a private 

 house; further alterations and additions were made at a 

 later period but the house, thus enlarged, was de- 

 molished in 1928. The ancient portions apf)ear to have 

 been of the late 12th century and included a wide 

 blocked arch on the west side with two small lancet 

 windows in the filling, a larger lancet (removed in 1 897) 



' Fe«t of F. Northants. 30 Edw. I, 

 no. 415; Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 11018. 



' Feet of F. Northants. 13 Edw. Ill, 

 no. 195. 



> Dc Banco R. 363, m. 53. 



♦ Baker, N^rthantt. i, 37. 



» Cott. MS. Nero. D. x, fol. 175 d. 



* Pi>i>i Nich. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 2 1 o, 43. 



' /'a/or £«/«. (Rec. Com.), iv, 313. 



• Cat. Papal PrI. i, 500. 



• Chant. Cert. no. 36, fol. 10. 



■0 Feet of F. Northants. 41 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 707. 



" Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Burghershe, 

 fol. 204 d. 



" yahr Ecclti. (Rec. Com.), iv, 323. 



■> Chant. Cert. no. 36, fol. 10; ibid, 

 no. 35, fol. 6; Norihanii. N. &f Q. i, 105. 



>* Memo. R. L.T.R. East, i Elii. m. 63. 



" t'.C.II. Aoriijnrs. ii, 154-6. 



*^ The site is just within the mile radius 

 from Northampton near the junction of 

 Kingsthorpe Grove with the highway. 



IV 



81 



