ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



gallery and the stripping of the plaster from the walls 

 inside, new roofs to chancel and aisle, and the renova- 

 tion of the fine 15th-century roof of the nave. 



No part of the existing building is older than the 

 latter part of the 13th century, to which period the 

 south doorway and a piscina and aumbry at the east 

 end of the aisle belong: three windows with forked 

 muUions in the aisle are little if any later in date, but 

 whether any of these features is in its original position 

 is uncertain. If the 13th-century church had an aisle 

 it would be narrower than at present, but the east end 

 may represent a chantry chapel, to the depth of which 

 the aisle was aftenivards widened. The tower is of the 

 latter part of the 14th century and the chancel may have 

 been rebuilt in its present form at the same time, but no 

 ancient features remain. The chancel arch, however, is 

 of I 5th-centur>' date, and in that period, perhaps about 

 1480, the nave assumed its present aspect, the arcade 

 being rebuilt, the clerestor)' and porch added, and the 

 aisle probably widened. The tower is embattled but 

 the parapets elsewhere are plain; the roofs of the nave 

 and chancel are covered with modern slates. 



The church is built throughout of rubble and the 

 chancel has an east window of four lights with modern 

 Decorated tracery and a modern window of two lights 

 on the south side. The piscina and double sedilia are 

 also modern. In the north wall is a flat four-centred 

 arched recess containing a tablet to Alexander lbs, 

 rector (d. 1606). The chancel arch is of two moulded 

 orders, on responds with capitals and bases similar to 

 those of the nave arcades, which have chamfered 

 arches of two orders. The piers are composed of four 

 rounded shafts with hollows between and the responds 

 are half-octagonal. On the north wall of the nave are 

 two I 5th-centur^' four-centred windows each of three 

 cinquefoiled lights, and a four-centred doorway to the 

 porch with carved spandrels: the original oak nail- 

 studded door remains. The roof is of five bays, of 

 flat pitch, with wall-pieces below the principals resting 

 on stone corbels carved with angels bearing shields 

 with emblems of the Passion. There are five two-light 

 clerestory windows on the south side, but only four 

 on the north, the easternmost bay being blank. 



The aisle is now open at its east end to the organ- 

 chamber by a modern arch, but the piscina and aumbry 

 remain in the south wall, the former with a trefoliated 

 arch ornamented with dog tooth, and jamb-shafts with 

 moulded capitals and bases; the aumbry trefoil-headed 

 and rebated all round. The easternmost window has 

 been restored and has early tracery in the head, but 

 the others are of two lights, c. 1280-90. The doorway 

 is of two orders, the inner square and the outer hollow- 

 chamfered on angle shafts with moulded capitals and 

 bases. It is no longer used, but the door remains. Near 

 to the doorway is a square-headed window of two 

 lights and segmental rear arch, the sill of which is 

 only about 2 ft. 10 in. above the floor. It appears to 



' Aiioc.Arch.Soc. Rpti.xxn,^n : 'The 

 east light was evidently always glazed as 

 the jamb and east side of the mullion have 

 hollowed splays, while for a height of 

 about 2 ft. 6 in. the jamb and west side of 

 the mullion arc square inside, showing that 

 the lower part of the west light had a 

 shutter.' The window is 4 ft. 9 in. high 

 and the sill 3 ft. 9 in. above the ground 

 outside. Its position is 4 ft. to the east 

 of the doorway. 



' Bridges, Hill, of Northanlt. ii, 132. 

 The inscription is now difficult to decipher. 



OLD 



aiUs WOLD 



be of 14th-century date, and its west light seems to 

 have been used as a low-side window.' 



The tower is of four stages, with diagonal buttresses 

 and a vice in the south-west angle. The west doorway 

 has continuous moulded head and jambs and above is 

 a four-centred window of three cinquefoiled lights. 

 The bell-chamber windows are of three trefoiled lights 

 with quatrefoil in the head and transom at half height, 

 the lower lights being cusped. Below the parapet is 

 a band of quatrefoils. The tower arch is of three 

 chamfered orders. 



The font is ancient, and has an octagonal panelled 

 bowl with quatrefoils in circles and shields in the 

 hollow member beneath, four blank and four with a 

 fret, possibly for Audley. 



The oak pulpit dates from the time of the restoration 

 of the church, but the lower panels are made up from 

 old bench-ends formerly in the gallery. 



The old glass described by Bridges as in the east 

 window is now in the square-headed window of the 

 aisle: it has the figure of a man in a blue gown carrying 

 the devil on his back and over his head a label inscribed 

 in black-letter characters 'All claterers i the kyrght . . . 

 schall hae yow for yowr waight'.^ It is probably of 

 early-i 6th-century date. 



Below the tower are mural tablets to Tresham 

 Chapman (d. 1794), John Chapman (d. 1795), and 

 others of later date. 



There are five bells in the tower, the treble by T. 

 Meats of London, 1825, the second dated 1723, the 

 third 163 1, the fourth a medieval bell inscribed 'Missi 

 de Celis habeo nomen Gabrielis', from the Leicester 

 foundry, and the tenor by Hugh Watts of Leicester, 

 1639.^ 



The plate consists of a silver paten without marks 

 inscribed 'Old, 1683', and a cup and cover paten of 

 1758 by John Payn, of Cheapside.* 



The registers before 181 2 are as follows: (i) bap- 

 tisms and marriages 1560-1653, burials 1559— 1653; 

 (ii) baptisms 1653^-4, 1662-92, marriages 1664-94, 

 burials 1663-78; (iii) burials 1678-1790; (iv) bap- 

 tisms 1692-1790, marriages 1695-1754; (v) marriages 

 1754-1812; (vi) baptisms and burials 1790-1812. 



The churchwardens' accounts begin in 1686. There 

 are copies of the Book of Homilies 1676, Jewel's 

 Apology 1 6 1 1 , and a Paraphrase of Erasmus containing 

 Romans to Revelation. 



About 1235 Robert de Hastings 

 ADVOWSON successfully brought an action against 

 Jordan le Breton, William of All 

 Saints and Christiane his wife, Walter St. Leger, William 

 Maudit, and Walter de Eringwurth, who claimed the 

 patronage of the church.* By 1275 the advowson was 

 in the hands of Thomas de Slypston and Lctya his wife 

 who had recovered it against /Vlice dc Bcauchamp, 

 John de Gaugy, and Hugh le Breton.^ Henry de 

 Hastings granted the advowson in 1285 to Theobald 



J North, Ch. BelU of Norihanii. 352, 

 where the inscriptions arc given. The 

 medieval bell has three stamps, one of 

 which, a cross with the words 'ihu mcrci • 

 ladi help', was in the hands of the Leicester 

 founders. The same stamps occur on a bell 

 at Wilby. The third bell has Hugh Watts's 

 shield, but the other stamps are those of 

 Tobie Norris of Stamford. Before 1825 

 there were four bells only. 



* Markham, Cli. Piatt of tJortkants. 

 218. 



' In the year 1653 is an entry by John 



BuUyvante, rector, to the effect that on 

 Sept. 22 the register was taken away and 

 'by a pretended act of Cromwell's usurpa- 

 tion delivered into the custody of Edward 

 Corbie, blacksmith and parish clerk', who 

 was constituted and sworn the Register 

 of the Parish. 



» Rot. Roktrti Gniittettt (Cant, k 

 York Soc), 160. Eringwurth's claim was 

 by grant from Maudit: Assize R. 633, 

 m. 81. 



' Rot. RicarJi GraTCitnd (Cant. & 

 York Soc.), 126. 



203 



