A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



On the south side of the church is a churchyard cross 

 consisting of a tall and slender octagonal shaft set in a 

 square socket on two plain steps. The shaft slightly 

 tapers and at the top is a tenon which originally fitted 

 the head or cross arms.' 



The church of Spratton, with i acre of land called 

 Overebrech, was bestowed on St. James's .'\bbey, 



Spratton Church: The West Doorway 



Northampton, by Simon de Creton between i i8o and 

 1205,^ and these gifts were confirmed by his grandson 



Simon in 1235,^ and by the latter's 

 J DFOfFSON grandson John in 1311.-' In 1266 



Richard Gravesend, Bishop of Lincoln, 

 enabled the abbey to appropriate the church in view 

 of the great claims on the hospitality of the monks.' 

 In 1270, after the institution of Giles le Rous, Arch- 

 deacon of Northampton, to the church of Spratton,* 

 certain tithes and lands were allotted to the abbey, 



among them being meadows called Bromhillwell and 

 Pyndersmead.' About this date Simon son of Simon 

 de Montacute, lord of Little Creaton manor, claimed 

 the advowson of Spratton Church but was bought off" 

 by the abbot, Adam Kelmersh, for 20 marks.'* The 

 rectory and vicarage were valued at ;^io 13/. 4/ and 

 ^4 13/. 4</. respectively in 1291,' and in 1309 the 

 ordination of the vicarage was 

 confirmed in great detail by the 

 Bishop of Lincoln. ■" In 1312 

 Edward II tried to dispossess 

 the abbey of the advowson on 

 the ground that the church 

 had been appropriated without 

 licence, but the abbot proved 

 that the advowson was appen- 

 dant to the honor of Leicester 

 and showed a legal appropria- 

 tion in the reign of Henry 

 III," and he therefore obtained 

 a confirmation of Edward II in 

 1316."^ In 1535 the vicarage 

 was rated at ;^i 5 and the rectory 

 was leased out for a rent of 

 ^14,'^ of which a pension of 

 1 3^. 4<j'. paid to Lincoln Church 

 was deducted.''* After the dis- 

 solution of the abbey in 1538" 

 the rectory and advowson 

 were bestowed upon Anthony 

 Stringer in 1543,'* who in the 

 same year obtained licence to 

 alienate them to Laurence Man- 

 ley of Northampton." The 

 latter soon afterwards obtained 

 one moiety of Maxe's Manor 

 and also Downhall Manor, 

 which with the rectory and ad- 

 vowson remained in the Manley 

 family for over 100 years, but 

 during the last quarter of the 

 17th century the Manleys 

 parted with all their possessions 

 in Spratton, the rectory and 

 advowson being sold separate- 

 ly. Between 1673 and 1684 

 Michael Bateman purchased 

 the advowson from Lawrence 

 Manley junior and Mary his 

 wife and John Manley, clerk,'* 

 and presented his son Royle Bateman to the church." The 

 patronage descended to Royle, who died in 1733 leav- 

 ing two daughters and co-heirs, Anne the wife of Giles 

 Watson and Elizabeth the wife of Benjamin Okell.-" 

 As .A.nne died childless in 1762, the advowson vested 

 entirely in her sister, and the latter's only child Eliza- 

 beth, who married Francis Beynon.^' By his will dated 

 1774 Francis Beynon left the advowson of Spratton to 

 his only surviving child Elizabeth Anne, the wife of 

 Andrew Hackett of Moxhull, Warwickshire, with 



' Markham, Crosses of NortAi2nts. 106. 

 The total height is 12 ft. 3 in., the shaft 

 alone 9 ft. 1 1 in. The cross is probably of 

 14th-century date. 



2 Cott. MS. Tib. E. V, fols. 68 d, 71 d. 



3 Ibid. fol. 70; Feet of F. Northants. 

 19 Hen. Ill, no. 34.2. 



■< Cott. MS. Tib. E. V, fol. 68 d. 

 5 Ibid. fols. 70 d, 71 d. 



'' Harl. MS. 6950. 



' Cott. MS. Tib. E. V, fol. 70 d. 



* Ibid. fol. 70. 



« Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 40. 



>» Cott. MS. Tib. E. V, fol. 71. 



■" De Banco R. 190, m. 6; Cott. MS. 



Tib. E. V, fol. 71 d, 72. 



'^ Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 524. 



^3 Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 323. 



106 



'•* Ibid, iv, 319. 



■5 L. & P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 183. 



"> Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. vii, m. 28. 



" Ibid. pt. ii, m. 18. 



'8 Recov. R. Trin. 25 Chas. II, m. 12. 



■9 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



2° The mural monuments in Spratton 

 church. 



^' Berry, Surrey Genealogies^ ii. 



