A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Elizabeth Lumley, the fifth daughter, predeceased 

 her mother, and her son John had conveyed his rights 

 to his son Henry by the time of Isabel Harrington's 

 death.' Henry Lumley was born about 1500 and by 

 1532 had conveyed his fifth share to William Saunders 

 of Welford.^ The latter, dying in February I 541, left 

 his manor of Brixworth to his wife Dorothy for her 

 lifetime, with remainder successively to his sons 

 Francis, Thomas, George, Saul, and Clement.' In 

 February i 542 Dorothy was granted an annuity of ^^lo 

 from the manor during the minority of Clement, the 

 eldest son and heir of William Saunders, together with 

 his wardship and marriage.* On her death the manor 

 passed to Francis, the second son, who was in possession 

 of it in I 567.' By his second wife, Eleanor Challoner, 

 Francis Saunders had two sons, Edward, born in 1556, 

 and William. On the marriage of Edward to MiUicent 

 daughter of John Temple in 1583 Francis settled the 

 manor of Brixworth on him. Francis died in June 

 1585.* Edward Saunders died in September 1630,' 

 leaving a son Edward who had been born in 1588. 

 On the death of this Edward the manor passed to his 

 son Edward,* and from him to Francis Saunders, after 

 whose death, early in the 18th century, it was sold to 

 Sir Justinian Isham, bart., of Lamport. It seems 

 probable that the fifth share of the manor which was 

 inherited by James Ashton, the heir of Agnes wife of 

 Thomas Ashton, came into the possession of Francis 

 Saunders about 1560 or 1570, and was held by the 

 Saunders family jointly with the share purchased from 

 Henry Lumley.' 



About 1720 John Bridges writes of the manor: 

 'Two-fifths of the lordship, comprizing the manor of 

 Wolphage, are now in the hands of Mr. Finch of 

 Hertfordshire: two-fifths in Sir Justinian Isham, bart. 

 by purchase from the family of Saunders; and the 

 other fifth, in course of descent from Michael Wright, 

 in Edward Wright of Oakham, Esq. The three manors 

 are held jointly and the court kept at the cross; the 

 profits of the court-leet, court baron, amercements, 

 and stallage for the fair being proportionally divided. 

 Waifs and strays belong to him W'hose third-borow 

 seizes them.''" 



The manor has never since been reunited. The 

 descendants of Sir Justinian Isham now hold the share 

 he purchased, but the other two changed hands several 

 times in the i8th century. In 1753 John HoUis was 

 in possession of one-fifth of the manor," in 1775 

 Matthew Combe,'- and in 1786 Nicolls Raynsford.'^ 

 John Elderton owned two-fifths in 1773.'* In 1854 



the three shares were held by Sir Charles Isham, bart., 

 WUliam Wood, and Mrs. Locock,'^ and by 1 890 Lord 

 Wantage had possession of the lands of the Locock 

 family in the parish.'* By 1920 there were only two 

 lords of the manor, Mr. W. T. Vere Wayte Wood and 

 Sir Vere Isham, bart., the present holders. 



Simon son of Simon gave to the .'Vbbey of Delapre 

 the service of the heirs of Simon son of Hugh the 

 Miller of Brixworth and the rent which they paid for 

 'Kyngsmulne'.'^ A reference to 'Kingsmilne' also occurs 

 in a 1 3th-century deed,'' and this may be the site of the 

 water-mill attached to the Saunders manor in 1670." 



The church of ALL SAINTS stands 

 CHURCH on high ground^" on the north side of the 

 village, and in its present state consists of 

 a clerestoried nave of four bays, 60 ft.^' by 30 ft., 

 originally aisled; a quire, or presbytery, of two bays, 

 30 ft. square, with a south chapel, 34 ft. by 1 3 ft. 6 in. ; 

 an apse, 19 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft. 1 1 in., polygonal externally 

 but internally semicircular, surrounded below the 

 ground-level by a sunken ambulatory, 7 ft. 6 in. wide; 

 and a western tower, 12 ft. 4 in. by 14 ft. 9 in.,^^ to 

 which is attached on the west side a large stair-turret 

 of semicircular form. The quire, or presbytery, is 

 interposed between the nave (of which it is a prolonga- 

 tion) and apse, and the tower is surmounted by a stone 

 spire, 147 ft. high. ^5 



Its early date and the many important architectural 

 problems connected with the church have made it one 

 of the most frequently noticed buildings in the kingdom, 

 and it has not unjustly been described as forming on 

 the whole 'the most instructive monument in the early 

 history of our national architecture'.^* The church was 

 restored and greatly altered in 1 864-6, a square-ended 

 chancel, which measured internally 27 ft. 6 in. by 

 19 ft. 2 in. and was apparently of 15th-century date, 

 being then removed,^' and the apse rebuilt in its present 

 form; the south chapel was at the same time shortened 

 by a bay at its west end, and a south porch near the 

 west end of the nave was taken down.^* The roof of 

 the nave, the south chapel, and the tower, spire, and 

 stair-turret were repaired in 1900—5. All the roofs 

 are modern. 



Briefly stated the building is a large basUican church 

 of the 7th centurj', with modifications in later Saxon 

 and medieval times. The main fabric is now generally 

 accepted as all that remains of the church of a monastic 

 settlement established at Brixworth, c. 680, by the 

 monks of Peterborough, which was no doubt at the 

 same time a parish church.^' The buildings of the 



I Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxiii, 105. 



^ Recov. R. Hil. 23 Hen. VIII, ro. 528. 



3 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixiii, 24.. 



■» L.andP. Hen.Vnl,\\\\,%. 137(15). 



s Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 9 Eliz. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxi, 193. 



' Bridges, Hut. NorthanH. ii, 83. 



* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 9 Will, 

 and Mary. 



» Ibid. East. 23 Hen. VIII; Chan. 

 Proc. (Ser. 2), 5, no. 79. 

 '"• Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 82. 

 " Recov. R. Hil. 26 Geo. II, ro. 302. 

 '2 Ibid. i8Geo. Ill, ro. 230. 

 '3 Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 27 

 Geo. III. 

 '■* Recov. R. Trin. 13 Geo. Ill, ro. 29. 

 '5 P.O. Directory, 1854. 

 '^ KeWy, Directory of Northants. 1890. 

 ■' Chart. R. 2 Edw. Ill, m. 15, no. 47. 

 '8 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 5025. 



■» Recov. R. Mich. 22 Chas. II, ro. 33. 



2° The ground on which the church 

 stands falls from north to south, and is at 

 the brow of a high tableland overlooking 

 a valley through which one of the tribu- 

 taries of the Nene runs southward. The 

 site is 41 1 ft. above sea-level : Assoc. Arch. 

 Soc. Repts. XX, 344. 



2' The nave is 60 ft. 5 in. on the north 

 side and 59 ft. 4 in. on the south, the west 

 wall being set askew to the north and 

 south walls : ibid. 345. 



^^ The greater length is from north to 

 south. All the above measurements are 

 internal. There is a set of measured 

 drawings of the church by E. Roberts, 

 1863, in the Spring Gardens Sketch Book 

 (six plates). 



^3 Height to top of spire from ground : 

 to top of vane, 153 ft. Measurements by 

 E.Roberts, 1863. 



^* G. Baldwin Brown, Arts in Early 

 Engl. (1903) i, 65. 



-5 The medieval chancel had a 15th- 

 centur)' east window of three lights and 

 one of two lights on the north side, with 

 a smaller two-light window near the west 

 end in the older part of the wall at a lower 

 level. On the south side was a doorway 

 and two square-headed windows, each of 

 two trefoiled lights, and near the west end 

 a square-headed two-light low-side win- 

 dow. Details of the two low-side windows 

 are given in Assoc. Arch. Soc. Repts. xxix, 

 392. That in the old wall on the north 

 side was removed when the new apse was 

 built, but its position can still be traced. 



2* Other work done during the restora- 

 tion is noted below. 



" G. Baldwin Brown, Arts in Early 

 Engl.{ir-S) ii. i°5. "3- 



152 



