A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



entries i 586-1623; (ii) baptisms 1628-74,' marriages 

 1624-71, burials 1624-74; (iii) baptisms 1675-1702, 

 marriages and burials 1675-1701; (iv) baptisms and 

 burials 1702-75, marriages 1702-54; (v) baptisms 

 1775-1811, burials 1775-1810; (vi) marriages 1754- 

 1812. 



In the churchyard west of the tower is a memorial 

 cross to those who fell in the war of 19 14— 18. 



The church o( ALL SAINTS, on the Midland road, 

 was built in 1868 and enlarged in 1890. It is of stone, 

 in the 14th-century style, and consists of apsidal chancel, 

 clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch, and vestry. 



The church oi ST. BARNABAS, at the west end of 

 the town, was erected in 1 893 as a chapel of ease to the 

 parish church. It is built of red brick with Bath stone 

 dressings in the style of the 14th and 1 5th centuries and 

 consists of chancel, nave, aisles, vestry, and south porch. 

 Outside, at the west end, is a Weldon stone cross 

 erected in 1920 as a War memorial. 



The church of ST. MART, serving an ecclesiastical 

 parish formed in 1904, was built, at the expense of the 

 late Misses Sharman, from designs by J. N. Comper. It 

 is of local ironstone with Weldon dressings, and consists 

 of chancel and nave with aisles and north and south 

 chapels, two-storied north porch with bell turret, and 

 west tower. The three western bays of the nave and 

 the tower were completed in 1930; there is a classical 

 screen carrying a rood loft, and some good modern glass. 

 The church is said to have been 

 ADFOWSON granted with the manor of Welling- 

 borough (q.v.) to the abbey of Crow- 

 land in the loth century.^ A priest is mentioned among 

 the abbey tenants in 1086.' The church was appro- 

 priated to the abbey before 1229"* and was valued at 

 ^40 in 1 291.5 At the time of the Dissolution, the 

 rectory was leased to John Peke for ^33 6s. %d., while 

 another ^5 was received from the tithe hay let from 

 year to year.* The rectory was granted for life in I 543 

 by Henry VIII to William, Lord Parr, who had been 

 steward of the manor under Crowland, and two years 

 later the grant was extended to 8 years after his death.' 

 It passed on the division of the Hatton property to Sir 

 Robert Rich and his wife* and, except for a short period 

 in the 19th century, has been owned by the lord of 

 Wellingborough Manor (q.v.).' In 1837 the im- 

 propriator was the Rev. Charles Pasby Vivian, when the 

 lord of the manor was Quintus Vivian.'" 



The advowson of the vicarage, which was instituted 

 before 1229," was held by Crowland Abbey until its 

 dissolution.'^ It was granted with the rectory to Princess 

 Elizabeth,'^ and has since belonged to the impropriators 

 of the rectory.''* In 1802, however. Earl Brooke 



sold the next presentation to William Price,' ^ whose 

 executor, William Davis, presented to the living in 

 1 8 1 o. ' * The advowson now belongs to Major Strafford 

 Byng-Maddick. 



In 1229 the vicarage consisted of the small tithes, 

 the altar dues, and half a virgate of land," which still 

 was attached to the vicarage in the i6th century.'* 

 In the 13 th century a pension of 46/. was paid yearly 

 to Crowland Abbey," but in 1535 40J. was paid 

 to the abbot and 6;. 8a'. to the almoner.^" During 

 the Commonwealth, the living was increased from the 

 first-fruits and tenths.^' In 1555 William Blinko, the 

 vicar, was deprived of his living under Queen Mary.^^ 

 In 1633, another vicar, Thomas Jones, was chosen by 

 the Bishop of Peterborough to be present at the transla- 

 tion of Archbishop Laud to Canterbury.^' Complaint 

 was made of his preaching alternate Sunday afternoons 

 at Higham Ferrers for a salary of 20/. a year and so 

 giving his parishioners an excuse 'to gad after Mr. 

 Perne of Wilbye'.^'' He was a staunch royalist and was 

 twice imprisoned under the Commonwealth, finally 

 dying in gaol.-' 



With the growth of the town, new parishes have been 

 formed: All Saints, in the gift of the vicar of Welling- 

 borough, in 1872; St. Mary, in the gift of trustees, in 

 1904; and St. Barnabas, in the gift of the Bishop of 

 Peterborough, in 1910. The Roman Catholic church 

 was built in 1885 and there are a Friends' meeting 

 house,^* two Congregational, one Baptist, and three 

 Methodist chapels. 



The CHANTRY oi^it. Mary was endowed in 1328 

 by John de Surflet, vicar of Wellingborough, with an 

 annual rent of 5 marks to provide a chaplain to say mass 

 in the 'church' of St. Mary.^' Possibly a separate chapel 

 of St. Mary then existed, as a road called St. Mary Lane 

 is mentioned in the 1 6th century^' and in 1 500 Richard 

 Clerke bequeathed 6/. 8</. for the repair of the chapel of 

 St. Mary.^' More probably the 'church' was the chapel 

 of St. Mary in the parish church. 



The G UILD of St. Mary'o was founded in the parish 

 church of Wellingborough and was formally constituted 

 and endowed with lands and rent in 1392." It consisted 

 of brothers and sisters who yearly elected two wardens 

 or aldermen. 3^ Further endowments were made by Sir 

 John Gubben, priest, William Elyott, and Simon 

 Blewitt." The last-named left by will, in 1 505, 8 acres 

 of copyhold land for a chaplain to celebrate mass in the 

 chapel of St. Mary,''' but after some years John Smart, 

 claiming to be Blewitt's heir, recovered possession of the 

 land. In spite of the intervention of Lord Parr and 

 other Wellingborough inhabitants in 1544, Smart 

 seems to have been in possession in 1 5 5 1 .'^ At the sup- 



' Baptisms 1624— 7 have been cut out. 



2 Dugdale, Alon. ii, 1 14. 



3 y.C.H. Northanls. i, 319. 



'> Rot. H. de fVelles (Cant. & York Soc), 

 ii, 148, 264-5. 



5 Tope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 39. 



' Min. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 2020; 

 cf. Priv. Act of Pari. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 28; 

 Exch. Dep. by Com. Trin. 22 Eliz. no. 7. 



' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xviii, p. 547 ; 

 XX, pt. i, p. 678. 



8 Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Jas. I; 

 Hil. 14 Jas. I; Mich. 15 Jas. I; Trin. 17 Jas. 

 I; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxxix, 193. 



' Ibid. C. 142, cccclxix, 90; di, 63; 

 Recov. R. Mich. 12 Chas. II, r. 191; 

 Mich. 3 Geo. I, r. 308; Hil. 14 Geo. 

 II, r. 241; Hil. 12 Geo. Ill, r. 323; 

 East. 40 Geo. Ill, r. 370. 



'" Cole, op. cit. 33. 



' ■ Rot. H. de IVelUi (Cant. & York Soc), 

 ii, 148. 



'^ Rot. R. Groueteste (Cant. & York Soc), 

 248 ; Rot. Ric. Gravesende (Cant. & York 

 Soc), 109, 1 21-3; Falor Eccles. (Rec. 

 Com.), iv, 305. 



" Cal. Pat. 1549-51, p. 239. 



'■• Cole, op. cit. 57-61 (list of presenta- 

 tions); Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



'5 Recov. R. Mich. 43 Geo. Ill, r. 30. 



■* Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.) 1810; Cole, 

 op. cit. 60. 



■' Rol. H. de fVelles (Cant. & York Soc), 

 ii, 148. 



'8 Exch. Dep. Northants. Trin. 22 Eliz. 

 no. 7. 



'9 Cott. MS. Nero D. x, fols. 177 d., 

 182; Tax. Eccles. (Rec. Com.), 42*. 



20 Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 305. 



" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1653-4, p. 39. 



" Northants. N. & Q. i, 215-16. 



" Cole, op. cit. 59. 



-* Cal. S.P. Dom. 1633-4, p. 193. 



25 Cole, op. cit. 59. 



2' The Friends' meeting house was built 

 in 1 8 19, but Wellingborough has been a 

 stronghold of their Society since the 17th 

 century. 



" Inq. a.q.d. file 202, no. :2; Pat. 

 2 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 3. 



^^ Cal. Pat. 1549-51, p. 20. 



29 Cole, op. cit. 146. 



3" Cal. Pat. 1 39 1-6, p. 175. 



3" Inq. a.q.d. file 420, no. 19; Cal. Pat. 

 1391-6, p. 175. " Ihid. 



33 Aug. Off. Misc. Bks., vol. I29,f. 130. 



34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 



144 



