A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



brother of William de Landwathe,' and it descended 

 with the Landwathe manor until 1466, when Margery 

 Harrowden presented.- It seems then to have become 

 divided into moieties, as John Smith presented in 1489 

 and William Lane, by grant of Smith's representative 

 William Spencer, in 1 5 1 1 , while James Charell in right 

 of his wife Helen, widow of Thomas Harrowden, 

 presented in 15 10 and 1529.^ Sir Edmund Knightley 

 surrendered his patronage with the manor to Henry VIII, 

 and in 1557 or 1558 it was granted to Gregory and 

 John Isham.-* John Smith's moiety passed from his 

 heirs Margaret Belcher and William Spencer to 

 William Lane who held it in 1516.* His son Ralph 

 who died in 1 540 held half the advowson, which was 

 sold with the land for ^40 by his son Robert Lane to 

 John Isham in 1569.* Euseby Isham, the son of 

 Gregory, granted his moiety to John Isham, who sold 

 both shares to Giles Barnwell in 1575, from whom it 

 was purchased for ;^240 by Sir Christopher Hatton 

 the next year.' Remaining in the possession of his 

 family until 1676, the advowson was then sold by 

 Christopher, Lord Hatton, to Brasenose College, 

 Oxford,^ the present patrons. 



The Rev. John Townson, D.D.,' by 

 CHARITIES deed dated 12 May 1668 conveyed a 

 messuage and land in the parish of 

 Duston to trustees for the benefit of the poor of Wold. 

 On an inclosure of the parish of Duston an allotment 

 of 33 acres was set out in lieu of the lands devised. 

 The land is let for about ^107 yearly. 



John Ward by deed dated 2 5 August 1707 conveyed 

 to trustees a cottage in Wold for the poor. The pre- 

 mises were sold at the time of the inclosure for ;^20, 

 which sum was applied towards the inclosure expenses 

 of Townson's land. 



On an inclosure of the parish 1768 an allotment of 

 24 acres was awarded to the rector, churchwardens, 

 and overseers. The charit)' is regulated by a scheme 

 of the Charity Commissioners dated 3 January 1908 

 under which one-third of the net income forms the 

 Poor's Allotment educational foundation and the resi- 

 due is applicable for the general benefit of the poor and 

 is distributed in bread. The land is let for £1 5 yearly. 



Avice Lucas gave ;^40 for industrious poor widows 

 or fatherless children. This sum together with ^28 

 arising from the rents of Townson's Charity was laid 

 out in the purchase of I a. i r. of land which was 

 conveyed to trustees by indenture dated 13 April 1752. 

 The land, which is usually called The Smaller Poor's 

 Close, is let for £() \os. yearly which is distributed by 

 the trustees of Townson's Charity to poor widows. 



The Church Cottages and Church or Town Land, 

 as to which no deeds or writings are to be found, con- 

 sist of several small properties, producing about £\'^. 

 There is a charge of /^5 a year on the Church Allot- 

 ments in respect of Parr's Benefaction. The Cottages 

 and School Garden were determined in 1906 as being 

 applicable to educational purposes together with £1, 

 part of the interest of James Parr's Benefaction. The 

 remainder of the rents is applied by the rector and 

 churchwardens to church expenses. 



James Parr in 1774 gave ;^ioo upon trust that £2 

 a year be distributed among the poor at the discretion 

 of the minister, churchwardens, and overseers and the 

 residue of the interest, about ^^3, paid to the school- 

 master for the instruction of six children. 



A rent-charge of i 5/. originating under the will of 

 Francis Baxter is paid by Mr. H. E. Beers out of an 

 orchard in Wold. The money is distributed in bread 

 by the trustees of Parr's Charity. 



ORLINGBURY 



Ordinbaro (xi cent.); Orlingberge (xii cent.); Or- 

 dingber, Orlingeber (xiii cent.); Orlebere (xvi cent.); 

 Orlebear (xvii cent.). 



Orlingbury is a compact parish about twice as long 

 as it is broad, with an area of 1,939 acres. The soil is 

 of good fertile mixed character, the substratum being 

 Great Oolite limestone, white sand, ironstone, and 

 Upper Lias clay. The principal crops are cereals. 



The western edge of the parish, bounded by Wal- 

 grave and Hannington, is about 450 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum. From this the ground slopes slowly 

 to the east, and in the north-east corner of the parish, 

 around the village of Orlingbury itself, the level falls 

 to 330 ft. In the south-east the ground falls rapidly, 

 and is only 220 ft. at the parish boundary on the 

 Orlingbury-Little Harrowden road. 



The village green, around which the village is built, 

 is at the crossing of two by-roads, which connect it with 

 the Harrowdens, Pytchley, Broughton, Hannington, 

 and Isham. South-east of the village green, on the crest 

 of the hill facing Little Harrowden, is Orlingbury Hall, 

 built by Richard Young soon after 1700, and now the 



residence of Mrs. Jacques. It is a well-designed build- 

 ing of two stories, with barred sash windows, pedi- 

 mented doorway, and grey-slated eaved roofs. It is 

 faced with local ironstone and the long front eleva- 

 tion is divided into three bays by wide pilasters. It 

 stands on the site of the old manor-house inhabited 

 successively by the Lanes, Toftes, and Chibnalls; 

 which, in 1678, contained about 20 rooms and paid 

 tax on 13 hearths. •" On the right of the hall is the 

 rectory, built in 1703," and on the opposite side of the 

 green stands the church of St. Mary. South-east of 

 the church is a gabled rectangular dovecote, probably 

 of the 1 7th century but without architectural features.'^ 

 A small chapel for dissenters was built in 1830, and 

 there is a public elementary school, erected in 1845. 



The village itself is very compact, but scattered in the 

 fields to the west are several farms. In the far north- east 

 corner of the parish stands Badsaddle Lodge, a house 

 which, in Bridges' time (c. 1700) was moated.'^ South- 

 east of this on the Orlingbury-Hannington road stands 

 Wythmail Park Farm, a moated house which marks the 

 site of an ancient hamlet and manor of that name. 



Knightley charters, nos. 22-4. 

 Bridges, Hist, of Northants, ii, 172. 



3 Ibid. 

 5 Isham Book of Deeds, 

 " Ibid. 



' Ibid, and Feet of F. 

 19 Eliz. 



Ibid, 

 p. 148. 



132. 



Mich. 18 and 



^ Brasenose Quatercentenary Monographs 

 (Oxford Hist. Soc), vi, 49. 



' His father, Robert Townson, held 

 the living of Wold from 161 7 till 1620, 

 when he became Bishop of Salisbury : Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. 



'" Lay Subsidy Northants. 254, no. 14 



'* The date and the initials of Nathaniel 

 Bridges, then rector, are on a spout- 

 head. 



'- Northants N. & Q. iv, 66. 



'^ Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 121. 



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