A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



continued until 1827. The plan attached to the faculty 

 of that year," shows a nave of four bays and south aisle 

 10 ft. wide. A former north aisle of the same width had 

 apparently long been taken down, except for the eastern 

 bay, the so-called 'cross aisle'; the north arcade also 

 remainded standing though blocked. In the rebuilding 

 both arcades^ were removed and the north wall was 

 rebuilt farther out, in line with the north wall of the 

 then existing 'transept', the nave being placed under a 

 single wide-spanned roof At the west end the responds 

 of the former arcades still remain: they are half-octagonal 

 on plan and have moulded capitals of 14th-century 

 date, and the chancel arch is of the same character and 

 of two chamfered orders. The tower arch springs 

 from moulded corbels of the same period; all of which 

 implies a reconstruction in the 14th century of a 13th- 



ScALE OF Feet 



Plan of Denton Old Church 

 {^from the plan attached to the faculty, 1827) 



century structure, to which probably aisles were then 

 first added. 



The chancel is lighted solely from the east and has a 

 flat plaster ceiling. The nave has three windows on 

 each side, and one at each side of the tower at the west 

 end. There are north and south doorways and the 

 walls are well buttressed. There is a west gallery with 

 good panelled front, on which are the royal arms of 

 George IV. The flat plaster ceiling of the nave is coved. 



The tower has small diagonal buttresses of two stages 

 on the west side, but is without strings below the bell- 

 chamber stage. Above the lancet window on the west 

 side, already mentioned, is a clock dial and higher again 

 on three sides a small pointed opening. On the south 

 side there is a rather bigger pointed opening about mid 

 height.5 All these openings are very plain, with square 

 jambs, the heads of the smaller ones being of one stone. 

 The bell-chamber windows resemble those of the nave, 



but have cast-iron frames of two traceried lights.* The 

 tower finishes with a battlemented parapet, pyramidal 

 roof, and vane. The angle pinnacles are apparently of 

 18th-century date. 



The font is of cylindrical type, 16 in. high, covered 

 with a sunk geometrical pattern, and stands on a tall 

 moulded base of later date. The bowl may be ancient, 

 but it has no lead lining and is spoiled by paint. 



The pulpit is modern. The organ is in the gallery. 



On the south wall of the chancel is a black marble 



tablet within a stone border, put up in i6ig by David 



Owen, rector of Yardley Hastings, with a long Latin 



inscription recording the benefactions' of William 



Andrew and setting forth a grant by the rector to 



Andrew and his heirs to be buried in the chancel.* 



There are three bells in the tower, the first by R. 



Taylor and Sons, of Oxford, 



1827; the second by James 



Keene of Woodstock, 1625; 



and the third dated 1629.' 



The plate consists of a cup of 

 1570, with the maker's mark AL 

 linked, a cover paten without 

 marks, but c. 1650, made to fit 

 the cup, and a paten without 

 date letter inscribed 'I.H., 

 W.W., Churchwardens 1683'.* 

 The registers before 1 8 1 2 are 

 as follows: (i) all entries 1540— 

 1653; (ii) 1653-97; (iii) bap- 

 tisms and burials 1716— 41, 

 marriages 1716-38; (iv) bap- 

 tisms and burials 1741-1812; 

 (v) marriages 17 54-1 8 12.' 



In the churchyard is a cross 

 in memory of twelve men of 

 the parish who fell in the war of 

 1914-18. 

 The church of Denton was a 

 ADVOWSON chapelry, stated in 1535 to be an- 

 nexed to Yardley Hastings,'" but by 

 the 1 8th century, and probably earlier, it was a 

 chapel to Yardley Hastings and Whiston, both in the 

 gift of the Earl of Northampton, whose rectors per- 

 formed duty here in alternate years and divided the 

 tithes." In the 19th century, farms of 140 acres 

 and 64 acres belonged respectively to these two 

 rectors.'- When a separate benefice was made in 

 1892 Denton became a vicarage in the gift of the lord 

 of the manor. '^ 



Church Land. The endowment of this 

 CHARITY charity consists of about 7 acres of land 

 let in allotments, the rents of which 

 amounting to ^£13 (approximately) yearly are paid 

 to the churchwardens and applied towards church 

 expenses. 



* The faculty is dated April 20, 1827. 

 In it the building is described as 'in a very 

 decayed and dangerous state'. The build- 

 ing was re-opened for worship on Septem- 

 ber 25, 1828. 



* The pillars were octagonal, with 

 responds of the same character at each end, 



2 A clock dial on the north side at this 

 height may conceal a similar opening. 



* Probably put in in 1827, when the 

 treble bell was recast. 



5 These included a pension to six 

 widows of Yardley Hastings, the gift of 

 a clock to the chapel of Denton, and the 

 adornment of its chancel. 



' Bridges, Hist, of Norihanls. i, 355, 

 where the inscription is given. The tablet 

 was then on the east wall of the chancel. 

 David Owen was rector 1598— 1623. 



' North, Ch. Bells of Nort/iants. 247, 

 where the inscriptions are given. In 1552 

 there were three bells and a sanctus bell. 



8 Markham, Ci. Plate of Northatits. 97. 



^ The first two volumes were rebound 



in 191 3. The first page of vol. i is torn, 



but the entries probably began in 1538. 



There is a gap 1697 to 1716. 



"> Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 329. 



" Bridges, i, 355; T. Bacon, Liber 

 Regis, 835. 



'2 Kelly, Directories 1854-85. 



" Ibid. 



248 



