ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



BRIXWORTH 



very much worn, with indents of a figure, border in- 

 scription and shield. 



There is a brass plate to Edward Saunders(d. 1630),' 

 and in the south chapel a marble mural monument to 

 John Wright (d. 1680). There are numerous 19th- 

 century memorials. 



A 1 4th-century stone reliquary, containing the reputed 

 throat-bone of a saint, is set on a plain stone bracket in 

 the north-east angle of the nave, near the pulpit.^ 



A large iron-bound chest with two locks in the 

 south chapel is probably of 17th-century date. 



The organ occupies the western part of the south 

 chapel. 



Before the restoration the roof of the nave and 

 presbytery was of plain tie-beam construction and of 

 low pitch covered with lead; the new roof, which is 

 slated, follows the pitch of that erected in the 14th 

 century, the tabling of which remained on the east 

 face of the tower.' The battlemented parapets pro- 

 bably date from the 15th century; at the east end the 

 gable has been rebuilt. The south chapel has a lean-to 

 leaded roof behind a plain parapet. 



There is a ring of five bells, the first four cast in 

 1622, and the tenor by Henry Bagley of Chacomb in 

 1683.^ A new dock was erected in 1897. 



The silver plate consists of a cup and cover paten of 

 1700 inscribed 'Donum Rich. Richardsoni Vicarij 

 Brixorthensis anno 1699'; a paten of 1873 given 

 by Richard Lee Bevan in 1883; and a flagon of 

 1873. There are also a pewter flagon and four pewter 

 plates.' 



The registers before 1 8 12 are as follows: (i) bap- 

 tisms 1562-March 1758, marriages 1565-March 

 1758, burials 1 546-May 1759; (") baptisms and 

 burials 1 760-1812; (iii) marriages 1754-October 

 1797; (iv) June 1798-1812. 



The advowson was held at an early 

 yfDFOWSON date by Arnold the Falconer, but was 

 given to Salisbur>- Cathedra], which was 

 confirmed in possession of it by Henry II.* It was 

 attached to the chancellorship of the cathedral as a 

 prebend,' and remained in the gift of the chancellor 

 until 1 840, when it passed to the Bishop of Peter- 

 borough.' In 1 291 the rectory was worth/^2 1 6/. 8/ and 



the vicarage £\ 1 3/. 4^/. ;' by i 5 3 5 the rectorial prebend 

 was worth £18 and the vicarage ^^14 19/. whence 

 3/. \J. was paid to the Archdeacon of Northampton 

 for procurations and synodals.'" It was endowed with 

 j^20o of Queen Anne's Bounty to meet a donation 

 of £200 from Sir Justinian Isham in 1726." The tithes 

 were commuted for land in 1780. 



There was a chantry chapel of St. Mary situated in 

 the churchyard,'^ founded in 1327 by WiOiam Curteys, 

 a London merchant, in fulfilment of the wishes of his 

 father Simon, and endowed with three messuages, 

 30 acres of land and 100/. of rent." In i 549 part of 

 the land was granted to William Cecil and LawTence 

 Eiresbie,'* while the next year the chapel, except the 

 bells, was given to Richard Heybourne and William 

 Dalbye.'' Three cottages and some land which had 

 belonged to the chantry were given to Thomas Reeve 

 and George Cotton in 1 552, to hold of the king as of 

 his manor of East Greenwich.'* 



In the manor-house of Wolfage there was a chantry 

 founded by Sir James Harrington." 



A piece of land appropriated to the 

 CHARITIES use of the poor now yields about ^^40 

 annually. It is not known how this 

 property came to be settled, but at the time of the 

 inclosure of the parish an allotment of 3J acres was 

 awarded to the vicar, churchwardens, and overseers of 

 the poor in trust. An allotment of 6J acres was set out 

 on the inclosure in lieu of certain open field lands 

 appropriated to the repair of the parish church. It 

 now produces about ^14 yearly. 



Thomas Lelam in 1601 devised a rent-charge of 

 8/. a year for the poor payable out of a house in 

 Brixworth. By deed of 14 September 1665 Thomas 

 Roe conveyed lands to trustees to pay ^lo yearly to the 

 schoolmaster in Scaldwell. Subsequent to the inclosure 

 of 1780 the allotment made in lieu of the original land 

 was found to be sufficient for the support of two 

 schoolmasters, and in June 1822 it was decided that 

 the money should be divided between the school- 

 masters of the parishes of Brixworth and Scaldwell. 

 The charity now yields about ^{^135 a year, and has 

 been reorganized under a new scheme by the Board of 

 Education.'* 



* Son of Francis Saunders of Wclford, 

 lord of the manor of Brixworth: inscrip- 

 tion in Bridges, op. cit. 



' The relic was found in a small 

 cylindrical wooden box in November 1 809 

 on taking down a bracket from the wall in 

 the back of a pew in the middle window 

 on the south side. The reliquary contained 

 ■ fragment of bone and a 'slip or filament 

 of paper or parchment which fell to powder' 

 on being exposed to the air. The box and 

 relic were corrunitted to the care of a M iss 

 Elizabeth Green of Brixworth, on the 

 death of whose surviving sister in 1875 they 

 were given to the vicar of Brixworth and 

 by him restored to the church. The 

 reli<)uary is believed to have been the 



original receptacle of the relic. It was 

 found in 'the mortuary chapel south-east 

 of the choir', and is now protected by 

 a slender iron grille. The fact that there 

 was a gild in the parish in honour of St. 

 Boniface has caused the relic to be ascribed 

 to that saint: inf. from Par. Afag. 1809, 

 quoted in article by the Rev. John F. Hal- 

 ford, vicar, in Diac. Mag. (n.d.), exhibited 

 in the church. 



' Allot. Arch. Sx. Rplt. XX, 346. 



* North, Ck. Billt of Norihanii. 209, 

 where the inscriptions are given. Nos. 1-4 

 have the foundry shield with a crown 

 between three bells: the tenor has the 

 royal arms. 



s Markham, Ch. Plate of NorihanD. 53. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 1196. 



^ Cal. Pap. Reg. viii, 459. 



' Under the .\(:t 3 & 4 Vic. c. 1 1 3 (41): 

 ex inf. Mr. H. Savory. 



' Tax. Eccl. (Rec.'Com.), 39. 

 '° Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 73; iv, 

 306. 

 " Bridges, Hill. Norikanli. ii, 82. 

 " Cal. Pal. EJxu. ri, ii, 355. 

 " Cal. Pal. 1324-7, p. 132; 1327-30, 

 p. 69. 

 '* Cal. Pal. Edvi. VI, ii, 355. 

 " Ibid, iv, 24-5. " Ibid, iv, 254. 



" Whellan, Hiil. Northanii. 854. 

 '• y.CH. NorihaMi. ii, 283. 



157 



