A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of which has gone, and in the north wall a moulded 

 recess at floor level, now emptj-, the hood-mould of 

 which is cut away. 



The 12th-century south doorway has a semicircular 

 arch of two orders inclosing a sculptured tympanum. 

 The inner chevron-moulded order is continued to the 

 ground below the imposts, but the outer order, com- 

 posed of beak-heads, rests on shafts with sculptured 

 capitals and moulded bases. The tympanum has al- 

 ready been described.' The oak door and its iron 

 hinges are ancient: the ends of the hinges are split and 

 curved back to form foliations. 



The tower has a plain parapet with angle pinnacles 

 and retains all its architectural features. It has a 

 moulded plinth and double buttresses of four stages, 

 with a banded circular shaft running up the contained 

 angle. Below the bell-chamber story the walls are 

 blank except on the west, where there is a single trefoil- 

 headed window. The pointed bell-chamber windows 

 are of two trefoiled lights, with hood-moulds termi- 

 nating in heads, and double chamfered jambs. The 

 windows are placed in the usual position in the middle 

 of the wall on all four sides, but on the north and south 

 a second opening of slightly less height, and consisting 

 of a single cinquefoiled light, occurs farther east.- The 

 tower arch is of three continuous chamfered orders. 

 There is no vice. 



The lower part of a 15th-century chancel screen, 

 which seems to have been in position before the rebuild- 

 ing of the church,^ is now at the west end of the north 

 aisle, where it makes part of an enclosure forming the 

 vestry. The moulded uprights have been cut away 

 30 in. above the lower solid-panelled portion. 



The font is of 14th-century date and consists of an 

 octagonal bowl, with canopied niches, on a panelled 

 and buttressed stem. On the west side of the bowl is a 

 projection from the rim forming a ledge, in which are 

 four small holes, probably intended for the fixing of 

 a desk."* 



There are five bells, the treble by Henry Bagley of 

 Ecton, 1698, the second by James Keene of Wood- 

 stock, undated, and the others dated 1632, also by 

 Keene. 5 They were rehung and tuned in 1893. 



The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of i 560, a 

 paten of 1 63 5 given by Elizabeth and Deborah Stephens 

 in 1685, a paten and flagon of 1870 given by the Rev. 

 Granville Sykes Howard-Vyse, rector,* and a bread- 

 box given in 1919 in memory of Lieut. Nightingale. 



The registers begin in i 560. The first volume con- 

 tains all entries, with certain omissions, until 1723; the 



next covers the period 17 14 to 1746 and is followed 

 by 'volume four', containing entries of baptisms from 

 1748 to 1 812, marriages 1747 to 1771 and burials 

 1 7 5 1 to 1 8 1 2 . 



The right of presentation to the 

 ADVOWSON church of Pitsford was appurtenant to 

 the fees held of the WahuU Barony and 

 was exercised alternately by the two feudatories, one of 

 the moieties being granted with the manor to Godescall 

 de Maghelines in 121 5.'' This part of the advowson 

 passed through Robert Leicester and Lettice to Robert 

 de Hauton and his wife Agnes of whom it was pur- 

 chased in 1354 by Sir Henry Green.* 



The other moiety was alienated by the Pitsfords to 

 the Boughtons of Boughton,' of whom it was probably 

 acquired by Sir Henry Green with Boughton manor 

 and advowson in 1340.'° The advowson remained 

 attached to the manor, although it was leased out during 

 the 1 7th century," and is at present in the gift of Maj.- 

 Gen. Sir R. G. H. Howard-Vyse. 



The rectory of Pitsford was valued at 8 marks 

 c. 1 2 54,'^ and at ;^5 \y.\d.\v\. 1291.'^ In 1535 it was 

 worth ;^i8 10/.''* and in 1544, Thomas Saxby, the 

 rector and incumbent, compounded for the rectory, 

 stated to be worth ^17 19^. 5a'.'5 



One of the rectors of Pitsford was Robert Skinner, 

 the second son of Edmund Skinner who was rector 

 there before him. He succeeded his father at Pitsford 

 in 1628, but in 1636 was appointed Bishop of Bristol 

 and rector of Green's Norton. In 1 64 1 he was trans- 

 lated to the see of Oxford, but imprisoned in the Tower 

 the same year and deprived of Green's Norton in 1643 

 for his malignity against the government. At the 

 Restoration he became one of the King's Commissioners 

 of Oxford University, and was appointed Bishop of 

 Worcester in 1663 where he died in 1670.'* 



Earl of Strafford's Charity. A yearly 

 CHARITIES sum of ^{^5 is paid for the use of the poor 

 by Mr. J. H. Marlow out of lands 

 formerly belonging to the Earls of Strafford. The 

 money is distributed by the Parish Council in cash to 

 about 60 recipients. 



Lieut.-Col. John Vesey Nugent by Indenture dated 

 26 January 1910 gave a sum of £600 Consols tor the 

 general benefit of the poor, and appointed the rector, 

 churchwardens, and chairman of the Parish Council to 

 be the trustees. The Stock is with the Official Trustees 

 of Charitable Funds, and the dividends are applied in 

 subscriptions to the Hospital, in the distribution of coal 

 to the poor, and in grants to the sick. 



SPRATTON WITH LITTLE CREATON 



Spretone(xi cent.); Sprocton, Sprotton (xiii-xvcent.). 



In 1 83 1 the parish of Spratton included the hamlet 

 of Little Creaton; since 1884 the latter has been amal- 

 gamated with Great Creaton for civil purposes but it is 



still ecclesiastically part of Spratton. The parish has an 

 area of 2,248 acres, mainly permanent grass. The soil 

 is clay and marl with a subsoil of stone, and produces 

 crops of wheat, barley, and oats. 



' V.C.H. Northants. ii, 196—7, where it 

 is figured. The doorway has been restored : 

 some of the chevrons — four in the arch 

 and thirteen in the jambs — are new or 

 re-tooled. 



^ Both windows open to the bell- 

 chamber, which seems at no time to have 

 been divided. 



5 Cks. Archd. N'lon, 24.5. 



* That the holes were not intended for 

 the hinge of the font-cover is proved by the 



staple not being opposite the projecting 

 ledge : the font is figured in Paley's Baptis- 

 mal Fonts^ 1844, and in Francis Bond's 

 Fonts and Font Ccvers^ 69. The present 

 cover is modern. 



5 North, Ch. Bells of Nortkants. 383, 

 where the inscriptions are given. 



^ Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 

 240. 



' Harl. MS. 6950. 



8 Feet of F. Northants. 28 Edw. Ill, 



no. 403. 



^ Line. Epis. Reg., cited by Baker, 

 Northants. i, 63. 



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

 no. 195 ; De Banco R. 363, m. 53. 



" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



'2 Cott. MS. Nero D. x, fol. 175 d. 



" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40. 



'* Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 324. 



'5 Composition Bk. iii, 20. 



'^ Diet. Nat. Biog. 



TOO 



