A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



his wife conveyed it to Thomas Hanbury.' There is 



no further mention of it until 1763, when Mary Hind- 

 man, widow, and Josiah Hindman were in possession;^ 

 they alienated it two years later to Francis Beynon,^ 

 patron of the church, from whom it passed to his 

 grandson Francis Beynon Hackett, holding it in 18 16.'' 

 Baker, writing in 1820, calls it 'a considerable estate'^ 

 and makes no mention of the manor, of which there is 

 no further trace. 



The other half fee by 1428 was divided equally 

 between Agnes Compworth, the heir of John Wattes, 

 and John Tybesore* but was probably afterwards 

 acquired in its entirety by William Gosage whose 



12™ Cent. (0.1120 

 TRAXS.C.I200 



E3I4IH Cent. 

 #.VW^ amr^^^mr^^^, KC2\5m Century 



Sc.\LE OF Feet 



Plan of Spratton Church 



daughter carried it in marriage to William Cope, who 

 held it in 1488 ; it was then worth £8 a year.' It passed 

 to John Cope, whose widow Anne, in 1 5 10, left the 

 manor to trustees to provide a portion for Anne, 

 daughter and heir of Edward Cope, her son, on her 

 marriage with William Lovett or any other son of 

 Thomas Lovett.* On Anne's death in I 5 1 3 the manor 

 became the right of her grand-daughter Anne Lovett' 

 but was sold soon after in accordance with the terms 

 of the will; for in i 571 these lands were in the posses- 

 sion of the families of Sprigg, Miller a/ias Brown, and 

 Chapman:'" the two latter were still freeholders there 

 in 1820," but all manorial rights have long since fallen 

 into abeyance. 



One virgate of land in Creaton was held in 1086 by 

 Robert of Robert de Buci,'^ and was amalgamated with 

 the land held of Robert de Buci in Boughton and 

 Spratton.'^ 



The church of ST. JNDREfF stands on high 

 ground in the centre of the village and consists of 



chancel, 29 ft. by 15 ft., with north chapel its full 



length 14 ft. wide, clerestoried nave of four bays, 



47 ft. 10 in. by 17 ft., with north and 



CHURCH south aisles, 12 ft. wide, north porch and 



embattled west tower, 9 ft. 3 in. square, 



all these measurements being internal. The tower is 



surmounted by a spire, and is a prominent landmark. 



The building is faced throughout with wrought 



ironstone''* in irregular courses, and except the tower 



has plain parapets and low-pitched leaded roofs. 



The earliest church was erected about 1 1 20 and had 

 an aisleless nave covering the same area as at present, 

 the west wall and south-east angle of which remain. 

 The western angles of this 

 early nave stand free about 

 3 ft. north and south of the 

 ^ tower, but less of the south- 

 east angle is now visible. 

 A rounded moulding with 

 double quirk, which ran 

 round the nave at a height of 

 about 6 ft., still remains at 

 the west end and at the south- 

 east angle, and the original 

 south doorway has been 

 moved outward to its pre- 

 sent position. About 1 195 

 the lower part of the tower 

 was built, "a doorway being 

 made into it from the nave, 

 and a north aisle added. 

 The upper stages of the 

 tower are rather later in date, 

 showing a well-developed 

 lancet style, but with inter- 

 vals the work may have ex- 

 tended continuously down 

 to about 1215-20. In the 

 14th century a new chancel 

 was built round the former one, which was then 

 pulled down, a south aisle added, and the north aisle 

 remodelled. A clerestory was also added at the same 

 time. In the next century several Perpendicular win- 

 dows were inserted. The spire and parapet of the 

 tower are also of 1 5th-century date. The chantry 

 chapel north of the chancel was erected about 1505 by 

 John Chamber. The interior of the church was restored 

 in 1847 by Sir Gilbert Scott, and the north porch 

 rebuilt.'* The spire was taken down nearly to the base 

 in 1870 and rebuilt. 



The chancel has an east window of three lights with 

 modern Perpendicular tracery, and in the south wall 

 are a 14th-century priest's doorway and two Perpen- 

 dicular two-light windows the jambs of which, however, 

 appear to belong to former 14th-century openings. 

 Below the westernmost of these is a small rectangular 

 low-side window, now blocked, widely splayed inside, 

 the sill of which forms a seat." The 14th-century 

 piscina has been restored ; the single sedile is within a 



□Modern (I847) 



' Feet of F. Northant?. Mich. 1 2 Anne. 



^ Ibid. Hil. 3 Geo. Ill; Recov. R. Hil. 

 3 Geo. Ill, m. 41 1. 



3 Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Geo. 

 III. 



■* Berry, Surrey Genealogies \ Recov. R. 

 Hil. 56 Geo. Ill, m. 328. 



5 Baker, Northants. i, 68. 



* Feud. Aids, iv, 36. 



' Knightley Evidences, cited by Baker, 



Northants, i, 66. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxviii, 38. 



' Ibid. ■" Baker, loc. cit. 



" Ibid. 



'- V.C.H. Northants. i, 336. 



" Bk. of Fees, 934. See above, pp. 79, 

 103. 



■* Mostly from Harleston quarries: 

 Chs. Archd. N'ton (1849), 244. 



^5 The tower is built against the old west 



wall without bond. 



'* The line of the roof of the old north 

 porch may stilt be seen. Bridges mentions 

 north and south porches at the beginning 

 of the iSth century {Hist, of Northants. i, 



465)- 



" Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports, xxix, 444. 

 The height of the sill above the ground 

 outside is 3 ft. The window is of 14th- 

 century date. 



104 



