HAMFORDSHOE HUNDRED 



broken lines of the ground story, in which is a bay 

 window and wide entrance gateway. The building is 

 probably of early- 17th-century date. 



The White Swan Inn (where Queen Henrietta 

 Maria stayed in 1628) was pulled down in 1 829. 



The new bridge of the River 

 Nene, opened in Decern ber 1 890, 

 took the place of a 'very long and 

 very picturesque erection', with 

 round arches and two cut-waters, 

 erected c. 1630' and known as 

 the 'Long Bridge'.^ 



Wellingborough School was 

 refounded in 1 8 80^ on a new site 

 on the London Road and the 

 buildings, which are of red brick 

 in the style of the Queen Anne 

 period, have been enlarged in 

 1888, 1895, and 1913. Ini93i 

 a new Grammar School, built 

 on modern lines round a quad- 

 rangle, was opened on the Dod- 

 dington Road. 



The town and manor formed 

 one of the most important posses- 

 sions of Crowland Abbey from 

 the loth to the i6th century, 

 with a prosperous market, but 

 the townspeople do not seem to 

 have obtained any measure of self- 

 government, but rather found 

 their right of electing certain 

 officials a burden on the score 

 of expense.'' A series of manor 

 accounts of the 13th and 14th 

 centuries were first kept by the 

 reeve only, and the usual officials 

 of a manor appear, but between 

 1285 and 1289 a collector began 

 to return a separate account for 

 all rents and similar payments.' 

 The collector was elected by the 

 tenants, but in 1385 an agree- 

 ment was made by which the 

 collector in future was to be 

 appointed by the abbey. This 

 agreement, which contained 

 other clauses, marked the con- 

 clusion of a quarrel between the 

 abbot and the townspeople* at 

 the time of the Peasants' Revolt 

 when much damage was done 

 to the abbey demesne.^ The 

 collector still accounted for the 

 rents at the time of the Dissolution' and it was pro- 

 bably for rent-collecting purposes that the town was 

 divided into quarters, of which the names Netherend, 

 Upperend, Westend, and Eastend have survived in 



WELLING- 

 BOROUGH 



documents.' The Guild of St. Mary (q.v.) took a 

 leading action in the affairs of the town and applied 

 part of its revenues to the repair of the bridges in the 

 town. As early as 1227 a relaxation of 1 3 days' penance 

 was granted to those giving alms for the repair of 



Wellingborough: Sheep Street (before 1917) 



Staplebridge at Wellingborough,'" and it was probably 

 for the repair of this bridge, under the mysterious name 

 of 'Sancta Pilbrigge', that Gilbert Champneys in 1375 

 bequeathed money." Breke Bridge is mentioned in 



' Sorlhanll. N. & Q. iv, 73, 121; 

 Astoc. Arch. Six. Rfpcrtt^ xx, p. Ixxxiii. 

 The first bridge was probably erected at 

 the end of the 14th century. 



' Including its supplementary arches 

 over the low lands it w-as of great length. 

 All the stone from the old bridge, which 

 was 1 2 ft. wide, has been worked into the 

 new one, the width of which is 36 ft. It 

 is constructed of steel girders filled in 

 with concrete laid on brick and stone 

 piers: Auoc, Arch. Sot. Rrporls, xx. 



p. Ixxxiii. 



> y.C.H. Northanli. ii, 27, where the 

 history of the school will be found. 



< Norihanli. N. & Q. vi, no. 857; 

 Cat. Pal. 1408-13, p. 447. 



* Wellingborough Account Rolls, in 

 possession of Queens' College, Cambridge, 

 and seen by the courtesy of the President 

 and Fellows of the college and of Dr. F. M . 

 Page. 



' Norihanli. N. & Q. vi, no. 857; 

 Cal. Pal. 1408-13, p. 447. 



' Cal. Pal. 1 38 1-5, pp. 357-8; Early 

 Chan. Proc., bdlc. 68, no. 29 ; Cal. Cloie, 

 1381-5, pp. 461-3. 



• P.R.O. Min. Accts. Hen. VIII, 2020. 



» Ct. R. (P.R.O.), portf. 195, no. 94, 

 m. 2i no. 97, m. 2. 



■» Rol. II. dt ffelUi (Cant, ic York 

 Soc.), ii, 225. 



' ' Hhi. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, pt. i, p. 47 b. 

 'Stapilbrigg' can obviously be expanded by 

 a scrivener, unacquainted with the name, 

 into 'Sancta Pilbrigge*. 



IV 



137 



