A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



in the west gable, and a diagonal angle buttress on which 

 was an incised cross. Foundations of buildings, pro- 

 bably belonging to the chapel of the Holy Trinity, are 

 reported to have been found to the south and south- 

 east of the house and remains of stone cofSns have been 

 dug up.' The chapel of St. David, attached to the 

 hospital, was situated nearer to Northampton,- and was 

 a small rectangular building without buttresses measur- 

 ing internally about 27 ft. long by 1 3 ft. 6 in. wide, with 

 a plain continuous chamfered doorway at the west end 

 and an east window of two lights.^ The chapel was 

 converted, probably during the i8th century, into two 



Kincsthorpe: The Church 



small cottages, a floor being placed at mid-height to 

 form a second story and modern doorways and windows 

 inserted in the side walls.* The roof was covered with 

 thatch, but some of the timbers appeared to be original. 

 At some later time cottages were built against the 

 chapel concealing the greater part of the west and the 

 whole of the east end. The eastern gable and part of 

 the north wall stiU stand, but the rest has been destroyed. 

 In the upper part of the village where the ground 

 rises to 329 ft. are one or two boot factories which give 

 employment to some of the inhabitants, and outside the 

 village on the Harborough Road lies the Northampton 



Borough Hospital for infectious diseases. Here is also 

 a white freestone quarry which has provided stone for 

 the barracks, the General Hospital, and several build- 

 ings in Sheep Street, Northampton. 5 It used to be of 

 considerable importance and in 1464 Margaret the 

 widow of Sir William Lucy died seised of a quarry in 

 Kingsthorpe, presumably this one.* There are also 

 limestone quarries and lime-kilns in the parish. 

 There is a Baptist chapel here built in 1835. 

 The name perpetuated in a street called Semilong is 

 probably a corruption of South Millwong; for Henry 

 Coup of Northampton in the reign of Henry I Vmentions 

 in his will 3 acres of arable land 

 in the field of Kingsthorpe above 

 the furlong called 'Southmylle- 

 uonge' and in 1555 John Bayley 

 was ordered to enlarge his ditch 

 at 'South my He uonge' near his 

 mill on penalty of 6j. %dP 



Through Kingsthorpe Hol- 

 lows runs a small stream, the 

 Wallbeck, so called in the i6th 

 century. In 1 547 it was laid 

 down at the court held at the 

 manor that 'no man of no out 

 Towne shall not digge nor dame 

 nor fysche in the broke called 

 Walbeck broke, from Swailuong 

 hedd to Walbecke, in penalty of 

 y. 4/' 



Several families of consider- 

 able wealth and importance 

 resided at Kingsthorpe in the 

 1 7th and 1 8th centuries, among 

 them being those of the Cookes, 

 Morgans, and Lanes. A Robert 

 Cooke was bailiff here in the 

 reigns of Henry VIII and Ed- 

 ward VI and was one of the three 

 inhabitants sent up in 1 547 to 

 bring the important case of the 

 rights of warren before the 

 Star Chamber.* His grandson 

 Robert, who married Elizabeth 

 Morgan, died in 1609' and was 

 succeeded by his son Francis, 

 who, dying in 1658,'° left several children, the eldest 

 of whom, Francis, married Bridget the daughter of 

 Sir Richard Lane and died without issue in 1704." 

 His sister Sarah married Sir William Pritchard, who 

 was Lord Mayor of London in 1682 and Member 

 for the City in the Parliament of 1702. He died in 

 1705, his widow surviving him till 1718;'^ she was a 

 great benefactor to Kingsthorpe, for she repaired the 

 church and built the tower house and by her will dated 

 26 April 1707 left {^'^ for apprenticing poor boys after 

 they had been taught for 2 years in the free school. Her 

 brother Thomas built the schoolhouse upon ground 



' Aisoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxiv, 173: 

 'In 1882, when Lady Robinson came to 

 reside at the house, the cottages adjoining 

 the building on the northern side were 

 removed, and new study, kitchen and 

 offices were erected in their place. The 

 old hall and staircase on the southern side 

 were thrown into the dining room.' Plans 

 and elevation of the house asitwasin 1882 

 are given. 



^ Opposite the site of the old turnpike 

 gate: ibid. 174. 



3 Ibid. A plan, sections, and west 

 elevation are given. There was a single 

 light window over the doorway in the 

 west gable. The side walls were 1 2 ft. 

 high to the wall plate, and the gables about 

 24 ft. high. 



■* Ibid. 173. Two fire-places were made, 

 one to the north of the west doorway, the 

 other at the east end the flue of which was 

 carried up through the east window, the 

 mullion of which and the apex of the arch 

 were cut away. The mullion was used in 



the jambs of one of the modern windows. 



5 F.C.H. Northanis. ii, 300. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. IV, no. 29. 



' From Deeds in Kingsthorpe Church 

 Chest, cited by Mr. Glover in Kings- 

 thorpiana. 



8 Ibid. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccx, 138. 

 '" Ibid. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii, 49. 

 " Serjeantson, Church of St. Peter, zio 

 seq. 



" Did. Nat. Biog. 



82 



