SPELHOE HUNDRED 



OVERSTONE 



widow dying the following year, the manor came to 

 John Wood,' who in 1610 settled it on his daughter 

 Magdalen on her marriage with Sir Thomas Ed- 

 mondes.^ They had one son Henry, after whose death 

 without issue in 1635^ Sir Thomas settled the manor 

 on his three daughters Isabel la Warr, widow, Mary, 

 afterwards the wife of Robert Mildmay, and Louisa the 

 wife of Thomas GwiUiams.* Sir Thomas died in 1639' 

 and in 1640 Louisa and her husband gave up their 

 right in the manor to Mary and Robert Mildmay,* 

 Isabel having evidently died before without issue. 

 Mary and Robert were succeeded by their son Henry, 

 who was holding the manor in 1656.' On his death 

 without issue in 1662, his estates passed to his brother 

 Benjamin Lord Fitz Walter who sold them in 1672 

 to Edward Strafford,* whose son Henry pulled down 

 the old manor-house and built a new one in its place, 

 which he sold with the manor in 1737 to Thomas, 

 afterwards Sir Thomas Drury, bart.' Through Sir 

 Thomas the manor passed together with the advowson 

 of Little Billing (q.v.) to Lord Brownlow, who con- 

 veyed it in 1 79 1 to John Kipling, one of the clerks in 

 chancery and Keeper of the Public Records,'" of whom 

 it was purchased in 1832 by Mr. Loyd," father of 

 Lord Overstone, after which date it has a descent 

 identical with that of Abington Manor (q.v.). 



The park which now surrounds the house 

 PARK originated in the licence given to Gilbert de 

 Millers by Henry III in 1255 to 'inclose with 

 a dike and hedge or with a wall, his wood of Ouiston, 

 and to make a park thereof. ' ^ It is referred to in 1358, 

 when John Warjii of Yardley, a canon of Ravenstone 

 Priory (Bucks.), and others poached deer in Sir Walter 

 Manny's park of Overstone.'^ During the reign of 

 Henry V'lII several grants were made of the keepership 

 of the park.'* 



In 1275 '^'° roills are mentioned as belonging to the 

 manor," which were there also in 1372.'* In 1545 

 Baldwin Willoughby received a 2 1 years' lease of a water- 

 mill," which was granted with the manor is I 550 to 

 Thomas Smy the.'' The secondmill must have fallen into 

 disuse before this date as there is mention of one only, 

 which descended with the manor during the i6th and 

 17th centuries although at the present day there is no 

 trace of it. 



The church of ST. NICHOLAS, which 

 CHURCH stands within the park about a quarter of a 

 mile north of the mansion, was erected on 

 a new site about 1803 at the sole charge of Mr. John 

 Kipling, in place of an older building which was then 

 puUeddown." The old church stood in front of the for- 

 mer manor-house and consisted of chancel, nave, north 

 aisle and embattled west tower.*" No adequate record 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. i), clxixii, 38; 

 ibid. (Scr. 2), cccclxi, 8 1 ; Baker, Northanls. 



i-57- 



' Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 8 Jas. I. 

 ^ Chan. Inq, p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxcviii, 42. 

 « Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 12 Chas. I. 

 * Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxcviii. 



of it has been preserved, and the belief that it belonged 

 to the Decorated period^' is based on insufficient data. 



The present building consists of chancel, i 5 ft. 6 in. 

 long by 19 ft. 6 in. wide, with vestry on the north and 

 organ-chamber on the south side; nave, 30 ft. 6 in. 

 by 10 ft. 3 in., south aisle, 1 1 ft. wide, and west tower, 

 1 1 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft. 2 in., all these measurements being 

 internal. There is also a porch on the north side of the 

 tower. The chancel and nave are under a single slated 

 eaved roof, and the tower is of three stages with em- 

 battled parapet and pinnacles. As originally built, the 

 church consisted only of chancel, nave, and tower, with 

 west gallery and squire's pew on the south side of the 

 chancel.-- It was in the Gothic stj'le of the day, faced 

 with Kingsthorpe stone, and the interior was described 

 in 1849 as being 'emphatically neat'.-' In 1903 the 

 building was restored, the south aisle and organ-cham- 

 ber added, the gallery removed, and the interior 

 remodelled. All the fittings, including the font** and 

 pulpit are modern. There are mural tablets from the 

 old church to Frances, wife of Henry Stratford and 

 daughter of Thomas Penruddock (d. 1717), Edward 

 Stratford (d. 1721), and Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. 

 Paul Ives, rector (d. 1792): later ones commemorate 

 John Kipling (d. 1830), Harriet, Lady Overstone 

 (d. 1864), Lord Overstone (d. 1883), and Canon 

 E. J. Birch, rector 1857-1900. In the east window is 

 some late medieval German glass, with figures of our 

 Lord and St. John the Baptist. 



There are three bells: the first an alphabet bell by 

 Hugh Watts 1609, the second by Henry Bagley 1676, 

 and the third by Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, 1 903.-' 



The plate consists of a bread-holder of 1689 in- 

 scribed 'The gift of Paul Ives, rector, to the church of 

 Overston 1704'; a cup and paten of 1735, the former 

 inscribed 'Overston. This cup and Paten were ex- 

 changed at ye expence of Doctor Paul Ives, Rector, for 

 ye use of ye Communion Table, 1736'; and a flagon 

 of 1735 given by Dr. Ives in the following year.-* 



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

 1673-1812, burials 1680-1812, (ii) marriages, 1754- 

 1812. 



The advowson of Overstone 

 ADVOWSON Church, first mentioned in 1223," 

 was appendant to the manor until the 

 end of the 17th century when it was sold by Edward 

 Stratford to Robert Ives,*' in whose family it remained 

 until 1743 when Paul Ives conveyed it to Sir Thomas 

 Drury, bart.*' It was thus re-united with the manor, 

 and descended with it until 1923, when the rectory 

 was united with that of Sywell (q.v.), the patronage of 

 the united benefices being exercised alternately by the 

 Duchy of Cornwall and Mr. G. E. Stott.'" 



» Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 15 Chas. I. 

 ' Ibid. Div. Co. Hil. 1656. 

 • G.E.C. Peerjf^t, iii, 373; Feet of F. 

 Northants. Mich. 24 Chas. II ; Recov. R. 

 East. 25 Chas. II, m. 144. 



' Close R. II Geo. II, pt. iv, m. 12; 

 Baker, S'urihanlt. i, 58. 

 '" Baker, Northanii. i, 58. 

 '* From information supplied by Mr. 

 Dickson. 



" Cal.Pat. 1358-61, p. 51. 



" C<j/. CAar/. 1226-57, p. 441. 



'* L. and P. Hen. yill, i, 54, 277; iv, 

 654. 



■^ Mins. Accts. bdle. 1089, no. 6. 



"> Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edvr. Ill ( 1 st nos.), 

 no. 38. 



" L. and P. Hen. I'lll, xx, 4 1 8. 



" Pat. 4 Edw. VI, pt. viii, m. 9. 



'^ Faculty for taking down old church 

 1803. The new church was not conse- 

 crated until July 1807: Baker, Norikanii. 

 i, 60. 



2° Bridges, Hill, of Kcriiantt. i, 460. 

 The chancel had a tiled roof, the nave was 

 leaded, and the east end of the aisle was the 

 burial-place of the Stratford family, built 

 about 1718. 



" Chi. Archd. of A'Vsn, 2 5 l . 



** The pew had a fire-place and chimney- 

 piece. 



" Chs. Archd. N'ton, 251. 



'♦ The font dates from 1903, and is in 

 memory of Canon Birch, rector (d. 1900). 



** In 1552 there were three bells and a 

 sanctus bell. Bridges records three bells in 

 the old church, but until 1903 there were 

 only two bells in the present tower. 



'<• Markham, Ch. Phif of Northanls. 

 Z24. About 1800 a chalice was sold by 

 the consent of the whole parish. 



" Harl. MS. 6950. 



'» Baker, Sorihanis. i, 58. 



» Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.)i Feet of F. 

 Northanls. Hil. 17 Ceo. II. 



" Kelly, Directory of Northanii. 



IT 



97 



