HAMFORDSHOE HUNDRED 



arch is modern. From the chapel a squint is directed 

 through the jamb of the north window to the high altar. 



The nave is loftj', with leaded roof, and clerestory on 

 the south side only. The arcade consists of four pointed 

 arches on circular pillars, copied from the existing one 

 of the late 1 2th century. All the arches are modern and 

 there is a third modern pier immediately to the east of 

 the original one, the two western arches being thus 

 widely separated. The 13th-century pier from which 

 the tower arch springs is composed of four half-rounds 

 with slender shafts between and has a moulded capital 

 and base. The respond is of similar type. The arch is 

 semicircular but depressed, of two orders, the inner one 

 moulded. 



The tower externally is of two stages, the upper cor- 

 responding to two floors within, and has an embattled 

 parapet with angle pinnacles, and buttresses facing west 

 to the lower stage. The north side is almost entirely 

 covered with ivy and only the bell-chamber windows 

 can be seen. These, as on the south, consist of two 

 lancets under a single label, divided by a shaft with 

 moulded capital. On the east a mullion takes the place 

 of the shaft and there is no label, and on the west a later 

 square-headed window has been inserted. Below the 

 beU-chamber windows on the west is another window 

 of the same type, and on the west a modem projecting 

 vice to the ringing chamber. 



The font and pulpit are modern, but the bowl and 

 stem of a plain octagonal font are in the churchyard. 



In the east window is some good Elizabethan glass 

 dated 1580.' 



The north chapel contains mural monuments to 

 Robert Wilmer (d. 1612), the Hon. Lady Mary 

 Wilmer, wife of William Wilmer (d. 1729), and tablets 

 (i8th century and later) to members of the family of 

 Pell of Sywell Hall. 



There are three bells, the treble by Henry Baglcy of 

 Ecton 1 70 1, the second dated 1766, and the tenor an 

 alphabet bell by Hugh Watts of Bedford 1611.^ 



WELLING- 

 BOROUGH 



The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of 1706 

 given by the Rev. H. Cockayne Cust, rector, in 1 8 16, 

 a small paten, Birmingham make 1907-8, and a pewter 

 flagon.' 



The registers before 18 12 are as follows: (i) baptisms 

 1 571-1677, 1683-7, marriages 1 572-1677, burials 

 1 572-1674; (ii) baptisms and marriages 1675-1747, 

 burials 1678-1747; (iii) baptisms and burials 1748-70, 

 marriages 1749-60; (iv) baptisms 1 771-18 12, burials 

 1771-83, 1787-1812; (v) marriages 1754-1812. 



The advowson of Sj^vell was in- 

 JDFOfVSON eluded in the grant of Maud de Munde- 

 ville to the Priory of St. Andrew;* 

 with that house it remained until the Dissolution. 

 Henry VIII granted the advowson and rectory to John 

 Mersh in 1543.' It follows the same descent as the 

 manor (q.v.) until 1 8 14 when Lord Brownlow ob- 

 tained it in exchange for the advowson of Overstone.* 

 The Earls Brownlow were patrons until 1872 in which 

 }ear the right of presentation was transferred to the 

 Duchy of Cornwall. In 1923 the living was united 

 with that of Overstone, and the joint benefice is now in 

 the alternate gift of the Duchy of Cornwall and of Mr. 

 G. E. Stott.7 



The Charity of Ambrose Marriott, 

 CHARITIES founded by will proved in 1736, con- 

 sists of a rentcharge of ;^2 issuing out of 

 a house and 20 acres of land in the parish of Welling- 

 borough known as Highfield Lodge. The income is 

 distributed in money. 



Owen Pell by his will, proved at Birmingham, 

 3 June 1867, gave £150 to the rector upon trust to 

 apply the income in the distribution of flour to poor 

 widows two days before Christmas and two days before 

 Shrove Tuesday. The legacy less duty was invested in 

 £142 9/. J J. Consols with the Official Trustees. The 

 dividend amounting to £'i I is. yearly is applied in the 

 distribution of flour as directed by the will to 5 poor 

 widows. 



WELLINGBOROUGH 



Wendlesberie, Wedlingaberie (xi cent.); Wenlinge- 

 burc (lii cent.); Wcndlingburgh (xiii-xvi cent.); 

 Wellyngburgh (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Wellingborough contains 4,253 acres. 

 The subsoil is Lias and Great Oolite.* The Rivers Nene 

 and Ise form the eastern boundary of the parish, while 

 another stream which joins the Ise forms the northern 

 boundary. The London road from Kettering passes 

 through the town, which is served by two stations on 

 the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway. From 

 the London Road Station, a mile to the south, a fine 

 avenue of trees leads up to the town. 



On the west side of the town, behind Sheep Street 

 and overlooking the Swans Pool Brook, is the house called 

 'Croyland Abbey', which embodies some remains of the 

 manor-house of the abbots of Crowland, including the 

 fragment of a 13th-century doorway. Cole, writing in 

 1837, said that a considerable part of the house had 

 been taken down 'of late years', and Bridges early in the 



1 8th century records the then recent demolition of an 

 ancient granary near the entrance. The building ap- 

 pears to have been reconstructed in the 17th century, 

 and a good oak staircase of ^. 1670, with square newels 

 and shaped flat balusters together with some mullioned 

 windows of the same period remain. The building was 

 modernized about i860, but part of a fine 15th-century 

 open roof belonging to the great hall of the manor house 

 is still in position above the ceiling of the west wing. It 

 consists of two-and-a-half bays, with a moulded and 

 embattled tie-beam and upper collar, purlins and wind- 

 braces — the rafters being modern — and formed the 

 eastern end of the great hall: the rest has gone. 



The tithe-barn still stands to the north-west of the 

 house and is six bays long, marked externally by but- 

 tresses, built chiefly of local ironstone with limestone 

 courses at intervals, and covered with thatch. Its internal 

 dimensions are 77 ft. by 2 1 ft. 6 in., and it has two wide 

 doorways on each side, those on the west side being 



' Bridges mentions 'some broken por- 

 traits and imperfect Gothic inscriptions' 

 in the east window of the aisle : //«/. of 

 NortAants. i'i^ 148. These have disappeared. 



* The inscriptions arc given in North, 

 Ch. BtlUof Norihatiini^ In 1700 there 



were four bells ; the second is now want- 

 ing, a pit is left for it in the (comparatively 

 new) frame. The bells were restored by 

 Taylor & Co. in 19:3. 



' Markham, Ch. Plate of Northanli. 



277- 



* Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fol. 3 d. 

 5 L. and P. Hen. yill, xviii, pt. I, 226. 

 <■ Baker, Norihanls. i, 58. 

 ' Clergy Liili, 1817-72; Clergy Guide t. 

 » y.C.H. Nortluntt. i, Geol. Map I. 



135 



