A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



jambs and head within a square frame with traceried 

 spandrels, and immediately above it is a large pointed 

 transomed window of three cinquefoiled lights with 

 elaborate rectilinear tracery and hood-mould. The 

 lower stages are blank on the north and south, but the 

 third stage has a square traceried opening on the north 

 and west. The upper, or bell-chamber stage is very 

 lofty, and the hood-mould of the windows is taken 

 round the tower as a string. The pointed windows are 

 of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head 

 and cusped transom at half-height. There is a vice 

 in the south-west angle. The tower terminates with 

 a battlemented parapet, gargoyles, and tall angle 

 pinnacles.' The lofty pointed tower arch is of two 

 chamfered orders towards the nave, the outer order 

 continuous and the inner on half-octagonal responds 

 with battlemented and moulded capitals and moulded 

 bases.- 



The font is modern, but an 18th-century pillar font 

 with small fluted bowl has been converted into a 

 receptacle for alms. The pulpit and other fittings are 

 modern. 



In the floor at the east end of the north aisle is a 

 blue slab with small brass inscription to John Mortimer 

 (1446),^ and on another slab at the east end of the 

 nave are the figure brasses of a lady and her two hus- 

 bands, with the indents of three shields above and of 

 an inscription below, apparently of late-i5th-century 

 date.* 



On the north wall of the chancel is a monument to 

 Thomas Willoughby (d. 1682). 



There is a ring of five bells; the first and fourth are 

 by Hugh Watts of Leicester 16 18, the second by the 

 same founder but undated, the third a 16th-century 

 bell inscribed 'Sit nomen Dominum Benedictum', and 

 the tenor by Thomas Eayre of Kettering 1761.^ 



The silver plate consists of a straight-sided cup and 

 cover paten of 1655. There are also a pewter flagon 

 and two pewter plates.* 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows: (i) baptisms 

 1559—1672, marriages and burials 1559-1695; (ii) 

 baptisms 1695-1812, marriages 1695-1744, burials 

 1695-1707, 1733-1812; (iii) marriages 1754-6; (iv) 

 marriages 1776-18 12. 



In the churchyard is a memorial cross to six men of 

 the parish who fell in the war of 1914-18. 



The earliest known presentation 

 ADFOIFSON to the church of Grendon was made 

 by John, Earlof Huntingdon, in 123 1 

 after a dispute about the right of patronage with the 

 Abbot of Jedburgh.' In the subsequent division of the 

 honor this right passed to Isabel de Bruce, who pre- 

 sented in 1 249 with the assent of Henry de Hastings.* 

 It was held by her heir Robert de Bruce in 1 290^* and 

 forfeited to the Crown before the vacancy in 1316.'° 

 Edward III granted this advowson with others in 1 342 

 to the hall which he had founded in the University of 

 Cambridge," and it passed with the rectory to the new 

 foundation of Trinity College in 1 546.'^ This college 

 still presented in the 19th century, but in 1926 trans- 

 ferred the advowson to the Bishop of Peterborough." 

 Poor's Land and Parish Clerk's Land. 

 CHARITIES In lieu of a piece of land, understood 

 to have been given to the poor of this 

 parish by the Rev. R. Shelborne in about 1665, an 

 allotment of 8 a. i r. was awarded under an Inclosure 

 Act and another allotment of I a. 2 r. 20 p. adjoining 

 the former was awarded at the same time to the parish 

 clerk. The lands are now let and the rent of the Poor's 

 Land amounting to ^10 yearly is distributed to the 

 poor by two trustees appointed by the parish council 

 and the rent of the Parish Clerk's Land is received by 

 the churchwardens and paid to the parish clerk. 



Richard Pipes Coles by his will proved 23 August 

 1909 gave the sum of ^200 to the vicar and church- 

 wardens, the income to be applied towards the relief 

 of the poor of the parish. The endowment is now re- 

 presented by ^^178 3/. 4a'. London County 3J% Con- 

 solidated Stock held by the Official Trustees, and the 

 yearly dividends amount to £6 4/. iJ. 



The Charles Markham Memorial. Under a declara- 

 tion of trust dated 18 February 1928, Major Anderson 

 gave ^^125, the income to be applied by the vicar and 

 churchwardens as the trustees, for the benefit of the 

 poor of the parish. The endowment is now represented 

 by ;£r62 15X. iid. 'i^°'o Conversion Stock standing in 

 the name of the Official Trustees and the dividends 

 amount to ^^5 ly. 10/ 



HARDINGSTONE 



Hardingestone (xi cent, onwards); Hardingestorp 

 (xi-xiii cent.); Hardingesthorn (xii-xv cent.); Her- 

 dingestone, Ardingesthorn (xiii cent.); Harthingistorn, 

 Hardynstone (xiv cent.); Hardenston (xvii cent.). 



Hardingstone is a parish and head of a rural district.' "• 

 Cotton End and Far Cotton (Cotes xii-xiv cent.; 

 Chotes xii-xiii cent.; Cotom xiv cent.), formerly 

 hamlets, were incorporated in 1868 with the borough 



of Northampton for parliamentary purposes and con- 

 stituted the civil parish of Far Cotton, in Delapre Ward, 

 under the Local Government Act of 1894; in 1900 the 

 greater part was added to the municipal borough of 

 Northampton and the rest annexed to Hardingstone. ■' 

 Part of the ecclesiastical parish was assigned to Far 

 Cotton in 1875."' 



The area of the civil parish of Hardingstone is 2, 5 8 1 



' The pinnacles are modern, the old 

 ones having been removed about 184.8: 

 Whellan, Northants. (1874), 261. 



^ On the west side the arch is of three 

 chamfered orders, the two outer ones dying 

 into the wall. 



^ The plate is aa in. by 3 in. The in- 

 scription reads: 'Hie jacet Johes Mortimer 

 armig. qui obiit xviii^ die mens. Aprilis A^ 

 Dni. MccccxLvi et Agnes ux. eius quof. 

 aiabs. p'piciet' De^ Ame.' 



■* Hudson, Brasses of Northants. {1853), 

 where the brass is figured. 'The male 

 figures are in plain plate armour; each is 



bareheaded with clubbed hair, and hands 

 covered with gauntlets raised in prayer. 

 One figure rests on a lion couchant, the 

 other on a dog. Constant attrition has nearly 

 effaced every line upon the figure of the 

 woman.* The figures are 2 ft. 1 1 in. high. 



s North, Ch. Bells of Norihanis. 281, 

 where the inscriptions are given. The first 

 and second are alphabet bells. In 1552 

 there were four bells and a sanctus bell. 



' MiTkh3m,CA.PlateofNorlAanls. 137. 



' Rot. Hug. de H'elles '(Cant, and York 

 Soc.),ii, 168,253. Possibly King David had 

 made a grant of the church to Jedburgh. 



* Farrer, op. cit. ii, 9 ; Rot. Rob. Crosse- 

 teste (Cant, and York Soc), 240. 

 » Bridges, i, 357. 



■» Cal.Pat. 13 1 3-7, p. 387. 



" Ibid. 1340—3, p. 495. 



■2 L. and P. Hen. yill, xxi (2), g. 648 

 (51). " Ex inf. Mr. H. Savory. 



'■• Union formed 1835 {Lond. Gaz.). 



■5 Kelly, Dir. (1931). In 1618 St. 

 James's End, Cotton End, and West Cotton 

 were included in the liberties of Northamp- 

 ton, but not for long; V.C.H. Northants. 

 iii, 31. 



'^ Land. Gaz. 29 Oct. 1875, p. 5087. 



252 



