A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



lower than the others, which are 13 ft. 6 in. high. The 

 structure is a very fine example of the stone-built barns 

 of the early 15th century.' 



A second tithe-barn in the town, probably that of 

 the manor of Hatton, of the same general character but 

 reduced in length, has recently been demolished.^ 



The old Free School-house stands to the north-west 

 of the parish church and is a large two-story building of 

 ironstone with mullioned windows, red-tiled roofs, and 

 two gables on the principal or south front towards the 

 churchyard: on the north side it faces directly on to 

 Church Street. The building was restored in 1904, 

 since when it has been used as a Church House. A sun- 



Wellincborough: The Hind Hotel 



dial on one of the gables is dated 162 1. ^ Over the door- 

 way on the south front is a panel inscribed: 'Edward 

 Pickering of Swasey in the county of Cambridge Esq"" 

 one of the sons of S'' John Pickering, late of Tichmarsh 

 in this county Kt. and Barn'. an° Dni, 1682 gave to this 

 Free school 1301- for the advancem'. of learning — 

 Aspice, Respice, fac simile.' Adjoining this on the right 

 is a second panel,* with the inscription: 'Richard Fisher 

 of Wellingborough gent, gave to the schoolmasters of 

 this place £\ 5 per an. for the further encouragement of 

 Learning An° Dni 17 11', and beneath both a third 

 panel inscribed: 



<DIA0MA9E2I multum debeo 

 Barberis autem nihil. 



Immediately adjoining the school-house on the west 

 is a gabled house' with stone slated roof and panel on the 

 north front dated 1608. 



The Hind Hotel,* at the west end of the Market 

 Place, is said by local tradition to have been in course of 

 erection at the time of the battle of Naseby. The build- 

 ing, which is of two stories with gabled attics, is faced 

 with local ironstone and its design is attributed to 

 William Batley, of Wellingborough.' As originally 

 built it was quadrangular in plan, with a central court- 

 yard and an entrance gateway 10 ft. wide in the middle 

 of the principal front and one at the opposite end from 

 the stable yard. On three sides of the courtj-ard was a 

 colonnade supporting an open balustraded passage on 

 the first floor, from which the bedrooms opened.* The 

 building, however, has undergone many alterations and 

 in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury had sash windows on the 

 ground floor. These were re- 

 placed by the present mullioned 

 windows in 1872, and in 1878 

 the staircase was altered: the 

 gateway had been closed in 1 869 

 and the space converted into an 

 entrance hall. In 1 891 the long 

 north front to Burystead was 

 rebuilt and a wooden portico 

 erected over the entrance. The 

 front to the Market Place is 

 about 69 ft. long and has three 

 regularly spaced roof gables with 

 plain coping and finials, the 

 windows in which have a wide 

 round-headed middle light: on 

 the first floor the windows are 

 transomed and alternately of 

 two and three lights. Two lead 

 spout-heads are dated 1 741, and 

 two others 1762. The broad 

 17th-century oak staircase has 

 turned balusters and square 

 newels with shaped tops and in 

 one of the upper rooms is a good 

 four-centered stone fire-place. 

 The courtyard is now covered in. 



A market cross, built in 17 19 in front of the Hind 

 Hotel, was taken down in 1798: it is described as con- 

 sisting of a stepped base 'surmounted by a beehive- 

 shaped rotunda, which served the purpose of a prison', 

 over which was an octagonal fluted shaft with vane.' 



The Golden Lion Inn at the bottom of Sheep Street 

 is a small but picturesque stone building, probably of 

 early-l7th-century date, with an overhanging timber 

 and plaster gable, recently restored.'" The house is said 

 to have been the dwelling of Thomas Roane, who died 

 in 1676." 



In Sheep Street'- is an old stone and timber building 

 with overhanging upper story of plaster and thatched 

 roof broken by gables, which since its restoration c. 1 9 1 7 

 forms one of the most picturesque groups in the town, 

 the broad surface of the plaster contrasting with the 



' J. W. Fisher in Assoc. Arch. Sec. 

 Reports^ xl, 313, where 3 plan, section, and 

 elevation are given. The building is 

 ventilated by small triangular openings 

 formed by a sill and two stones meeting 

 at the apex and by long narrow slits in the 

 gabled ends. There are diagonal buttresses 

 at three of the angles. 



^ It stood behind the buildings near 

 the junction of Market Street and Cam- 

 bridge Street and was used as a garage. 

 Its internal dimensions were about 62 ft. 



6 in. by 18 ft. 



^ According to Bridges the date '1619' 

 was on the tablet with the Latin inscrip- 

 tion : Hist, of Northants. ii, 153. Cole 

 says that the school was built in 1620: 

 Hist, of fVellingborough^ 227. 



♦ In Bridges' time this panel was blank : 

 op. cit. ii, 153. 



5 No. 27 Church Street, now the dwell- 

 ing of the caretaker of the Church House. 



^ The name is derived from the crest of 

 the Hattons. 



' Cole, op. cit. 266. His epitaph on the 

 wall of the church vestry is noticed below. 

 He died in 1674. 



8 Northants. N. Sf Q. v, 177-82. 

 ' Cole, op. cit. 243. There was prob- 

 ably a market cross before 17 19. 



'" The plaster which formerly covered 

 the entire surface of the gable was removed 

 and the timber work revealed. 

 " Cole, op. cit. 123-4. 

 '^ Numbered 29-30 Sheep Street. 



136 



