ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



FAXTON 



1785 with his wife Mary conveyed it to Sir James 

 Langham, bart., of Cottesbrooke,' with which manor 

 it has since then descended. 



Mawsley Wood is referred to from an early date. 

 In 1292 Thomas de Lodinton received licence to 

 inclose with a small dyke and low hedge, bring into 

 cultivation, and hold in fee simple, 5 acres in Mawsley 

 Wood within the Forest of Rockingham.^ An extent 

 of the manor of 13 14 includes a wood, presumably this 

 wood, within the forest. ' The hamlet of Mawsley in 

 which it lies gave its name to a hundred at the date of 

 the Domesday Survey, but before 13 16 this had been 

 included in that of Orlingbur)'.* When Bridges wrote 

 it was 'an hamlet of one or two cottages and a wood' 

 and had always been held with the manor.' It was an 

 eitra-parochial district until annexed by Act of Parlia- 

 ment to Faxton. 



The church of ST. DENIS stands in an 

 CHURCH isolated position in the fields and consists 

 of chancel, 22 ft. 9 in. by 15 ft. 4 in.; 

 clerestoried nave of four bays, 42 ft. 8 in. by 1 8 ft. 6 in. ; 

 and south aisle, 7 ft. 9 in. wide, all these measurements 

 being internal. Over the west gable is a bell-cote con- 

 taining two bells. 



The building is largely of 1 3th-century date, but 

 incorporates parts of a I2th-centur)' chapel, the north 

 doorway being of that period, and possibly the jambs 

 of a doorway now in the aisle. New windows were 

 inserted in the chancel and one in the aisle in the 14th 

 century and the chancel arch was then reconstructed. 

 The clerestory is an addition of the i 5th century, as is 

 probably the double-gabled bell-cote. The chancel is 

 of coursed stone, without buttresses, and has a modern 

 slated caved roof. The east window* is of three trefoiled 

 lights with geometrical tracery, but is wholly restored, 

 and there is a modern two-light window of the same 

 style in the north wall. The south wall is blank, except 

 for a plain lancet at its west end which has a transom 

 at about a third of its height, the lower opening, now 

 blocked, having formed a low-side window. The block- 

 ing consists of a single stone, through which a small 

 oblong hole (now glazed) has been cut.' In a similar 

 position opposite in the north wall is a rectangular 

 window of the same height, but slightly narrower and 

 undivided, and with slightly sloping sill.' In the usual 

 position in the south wall is a square-headed piscina with 

 projecting circular bowl moulded on the edge, and 

 above it, forming one composition, a cupboard for the 

 cruets. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders 

 with hood-mould on each side, the inner order resting 

 on half-octagonal responds with moulded bases and 

 oak-leaf capitals. 



The arches of the nave arcade are of two chamfered 

 orders springing from octagonal pillars with moulded 

 capitals and bases, and a moulded corbel at each end, 

 that at the east supported by a head. Two of the 

 windows in the north wall are double lancets and the 

 third a 15th-century insertion: the doorway has a 

 round arch of a single square order, .^t the east end 



of the aisle is a double lancet with circle in the head, and 

 in the south wall a trefoil-headed piscina and two 

 windows, one with forked muUion and the other of two 

 trefoiled ogee lights. There is also a small round- 

 headed window high in the wall near the west end, 

 probably a later insertion. The clerestory windows are 

 square-headed and of two lights. The I ;th-century 

 nave roof has moulded tie-beams, and wall-pieces on 

 carved stone corbels, but is now in a bad condition. 

 The west bay of the nave is partitioned off up to the 

 roof, and forms a vestry. 



The font is a relic of the 1 2th-century church, and 

 has a plain circular bowl, short stem, and chamfered 

 base. On the north side of the bowl is a small rudely- 

 cut rectangular recess. 



The pulpit is modern and the square deal pevw are 

 in a very dilapidated condition. Services in the church 

 are infrequent. 



Above the nave arcade, between the two derestory 

 windows, is a black and white marble monument to 

 Sir Augustine Nicolls, kt., who 'having laboured in the 

 high and painful calling of a most revered and just 

 Judge for the space of four years fell under the heavy 

 burden at Kendall sitting there Justice of Assize and 

 coming to give judgement upon others, by his comfort- 

 able and Christian departure received, we assuredly 

 believe, his judgement with mercy, in the year of our 

 Lord 1616, the third day of .■\ugust'. Sir Augustine is 

 represented in his judge's robes kneeling before a desk, 

 between the figures of Justice and Wisdom, and with 

 his shield of arms above. The monument was restored 

 in 1705. 



There are also mural monuments to Sir Edward 

 Nicolls, bart. (d. 1682), Susannah Danvers, a benefac- 

 tor (d. 1730), John Nicolls Raynsford (d. 1746), Mrs. 

 Hester Raynsford, widow of Francis Raynsford and 

 daughter of Sir Justinian Isham (d. 1763), Elizabeth, 

 wife of John Flamwell (d. 1 781), and Elizabeth, widow 

 of the above John Nicolls Raynsford (d. 1 8 10). 



The two bells are dated 1703; the smaller, now 

 badly broken and long disused, bears also the name of 

 the founder, Henry Penn of Peterborough. 



The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of 1670, 

 the former inscribed 'For Faxton Chappell 1671'. 

 There is also a pewter plate inscribed 'For Faxon 

 Chappel 1753'. 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are contained in a single 

 volume, beginning with baptisms in 1753 and marriages 

 in 1756. 



The church was given to the priory 

 ADFOfVSON of Lewes, in Sussex, by Guy de 

 Balliol' in the 12th century, and about 

 1 1 80 the prior complained that Thomas, rector of 

 Lamport, with the connivance of Simon Malesoures, 

 caused the bodies of dead parishioners of Faxton to be 

 buried at Lamport. The dispute was settled by the 

 priory giving up all their rights in Faxton in return for 

 an annual paymentof 40/. from the rector of Lamport.'" 

 About 40 years later payment of this sum, then stated 



' Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 25 Geo. III. 



' Cat. Pat. 1281-92, p. 438. 



3 Cal. Inq. p.m. v, 526. 



« r.C.H. Sorihanii. i, 298. The vills 

 in Maw5lcy Hundred appear in separate 

 lists in the 18th-century rolls of Orling- 

 bury Hundred : ex inf. Miss Joan Wake. 



* //«/. of NortAantt. ii, 241. In the 

 returns of knights' fees made for feudal 

 aids Wm. de Vescy was holding 2 fees in 



Faiton, Mawsley, and Walgrave; in 1316 

 Faxton and Mawsley are bracketed to- 

 gether : FeuJ. /HJt, iv, 2, 21. 



'* Bridges records the arms of Nicolls in 

 the old east window, with the inscription 

 'Cujus insignia haec loca tenent is conse- 

 cratione hujus capctlac cadcm insignivit' : 

 Hilt, of Norlhantl. ii, 95. 



' Alloc. Arch. Soc. Refnrli, ixi», 409. 

 The lancet is 33 in. high by 12 in. wide: 



height of top light 19 in. The sill is 3 } in. 

 above the floor inside. 



' Ibid. 410. The opening is 33 in. high 

 by 10 in. wide. Height of sill from floor 

 inside 30 in. 



" CM. Doc. France, 512. 

 '" Ckartul. of Lrwti Priory (Suit. Rec. 

 Soc.), i, 127. The Balliols were benefac- 

 tors of the priory elsewhere. 



171 



