WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



HARDINGSTONE 



acres, land and water, that of Far Cotton 382 acres, the 

 respective populations in 193 1 being 704 and 7,268. 

 The former shows a decline from 1921, the latter 

 2,000 increase. The soil is clay and loam, the sub- 

 soil stone and gravel, the crops wheat, barley, and grass. 



The pleasant village of Hardingstone, 1} miles 

 south-south-east of Northampton, stands about 275 ft. 

 above the ordnance datum and commands a fine view 

 of Northampton and the Nene Valley. A few 17th- 

 century ironstone thatched houses remain in the village, 

 but in nearly all cases the windows have been altered 

 and the mullions removed; one of these houses, on the 

 north side of the main street, has a good four<entred 

 moulded doorway. The lofty Hunsborough Hill was 

 a late Celtic settlement; Roman coins and pottery have 

 been found.' The parish became almost entirely church 

 land in the 1 2th century and maintained two religious 

 houses on its own soil, the Cluniac abbey of Delapre 

 and the leper hospital of St. Leonard. A bederaan 

 dwelt in the so-called Hermitage- near thesouth bridge,' 

 for the repair of which he no doubt collected alms. 



Of the two mills belonging to the royal manor at the 

 time of the Conquest one, then known as Canchesmclne, 

 was apparently for a while in the hands of Grimbold, 

 who gave its tithes to the nuns of Delapre before 1135.'* 

 The mill itself may have come to the nuns when Earl 

 Simon II gave them all that Hugh Grimbold held in 

 Hardingstone,' but it was in the hands of the Crown 

 from 1 196 to 1 199, when it was given to King David.* 

 It was eventually given or restored to the abbey, as the 

 mill of Conches, Kong, Congenes, or Quengions' was 

 knov\Ti in 1591 as 'Quyn Johns alias Quingeons mills 

 alias Nunne mills'.' Rush mills and Marvell's mill rose 

 in the 12th century and were given to St. Andrew's. 

 A postern in the town wall and a causeway 7 ft. wide 

 led to the latter.' Two corn-mills, called Cotton or the 

 Abbot's, and from later owners Walgier's and Sam- 

 well's, belonged to St. James's Abbey, Northampton; 

 and there were medieval fulling-mills and for a while 

 a gig mill for dressing cloth; it was pulled down under 

 a statute of Edward VI. In 1591 the Quingeons or 

 Nun mills were composed of three mills under one roof 

 and of a wheat mill standing by itself, and a centenarian 

 witnessed that the gig mill had stood between them and 

 the south bridge. Thomas Sandbrook had lately built 

 a windmill which took away custom from the Queen's 

 mills and also dug a ditch about St. Thomas's house (a 

 hospital on the South bridge) and diverted water from 



the royal mills.'" Marvell's mill saw an unsuccessful 

 pioneer venture in cotton in the i8th century;" Rush 

 mill became a paper mill and was making paper for 

 Government stamps in 1874.'- 



Near the mills a cast-iron bridge was made over the 

 Nene in 1842. 



The Eleanor Cross stands on the east side of the 

 London road on the brow of the hill, about a mile from 

 Northampton. It is one of the three remaining crosses 

 erected to mark the resting-places of the body of Ed- 

 ward I's first wife, Eleanor of Castile, on its way from 

 Harby in Nottinghamshire, where she died on 28 

 November 1290, to Westminster, and although it has 

 been more than once restored, much of the original 

 work remains. With the other 'Eleanor Crosses' it was 

 erected about 1292'-' and is a very beautiful example of 

 late- 13th-century architecture. 



The cross stands on modern basement steps, octagonal 

 on plan, and is built of stone in three diminishingstages,'* 

 the character of the original termination being un- 

 knovMi." In 1900 the custody of the monument was 

 handed over to the Northamptonshire County Coun- 

 cil.'* The first recorded restoration was in 1 7 1 3, when 

 the Justices of the county, 'seeing its dilapidated condi- 

 tion', made an order for its repair." A cross 3 ft. high 

 was erected on the summit, four sun-dials with mottoes'' 

 were placed on the third stage facing the cardinal points, 

 and on the west side of the bottom stage was placed a 

 white marble tablet surmounted by the royal arms, 

 with a long Latin inscription." The steps were re- 

 newed in 1762 and other repairs made,-" but it was not 

 until 1840 that any extensive work of restoration was 

 carried out. This was done under the direction of 

 Edward Blore, who removed the cross from its summit 

 and put the present broken shaft in its place. The dials, 

 royal arms, and inscription tablet were likewise re- 

 moved, and the structure itself somewhat drastically 

 renovated, one of the gables being entirely rebuilt.^' 

 In 1884^- the foundations were made secure and the 

 steps renewed, their number being increased from seven 

 to nine.--" 



The lowest stage of the cross is octagonal, with 

 traceried sides, buttresses at the angles, and a sculp- 

 tured cornice with cresting. The panelling on each 

 side is in the form of a pointed arch, divided into two 

 'lights', with traceried head under a crocketed tri- 

 angular canopy with foliated finial. In the head of each 

 'light' is a shield suspended from a knot of foliage, 



' f^.C.H. Narlhann. i, 217-19. For 

 Saxon rcmiins see ibid. 253-4. 

 ' Ibid, iii, 61. 

 ' Add. Chare. 47056. 



* Uugdale, Aton. Angl. v, 192. 

 ' Cat. Chart. 1327-41, p. 86. 



* Pif^e R. 7 Ric. I (Pipe R. Soc), 34; 

 / yohn, 9. On the deprivation of David 

 King John gave the mill to Reynold dc 

 Lyons : Rol. Liii. Chus. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 264. 



' y.C.ff. KortAants. iii, 29. 

 ' Eich. Dep. 33 E\u. no. 20. The 

 derivation of the later name from the mills 

 having been 'part of the dower of Queen 

 JoanofNavarre'(/'/(jf<*-A'tjm/joy"A'crMjn/j. 

 148) is an unconvincing piece of folk ety- 

 mology unsupported by evidence. 

 ' y.C.II. Sorihiinii. iii, 29. 

 '° Eich. L)ep. East. 33 Eliz. no. 20; 

 Mich. 37 & 38 Eliz. no. 40, the former 

 rich in archaic technical terms. 

 " P'.C.H. Korifianit. loc. cit. 

 " Whellan, Ca». 266. 



" y.C.H. Hens, iii, 443, says Waltham 

 Crosswas begun in 1291 and finished before 

 Christmas 1292. The Iifvrnlory of Hist. 

 Monts. Herts. 78, says Waltham Cross 

 was erected c. 1 294. 



'♦ The first stage is about 14 ft. in 

 height, the second 1 2 ft. 



" The cross was apparently already 

 called 'Headless' in 1460, when the battle 

 of Northampton was fought in this parish : 

 tiorthnnts. N. & Q. ii, 70; iv, 218. 



'* C. A. NIarkham, Stcrte Crosses of 

 Sorthants. 14. Use has been made, by 

 permission, of Major Markham's account 

 of the cross in the following description. 



" The cost was not to exceed ,^30. 



'* The mottoes, which are given in 

 Bridges, /////. of Sortkants. i, 359, were 

 omitted when the dials were repaired in 

 1762. 



" Given in Bridges, op. cit. i, 358. It 

 recorded the restoration of the cross by 

 the Justices 'in that most auspicious year 

 171 J in which Anne, the glory of her 



mighty Britain . . . restored peace to 

 Europe after she had given it freedom'. 



^'* A second tablet, on the south side, 

 removed in 1840, recorded this. 



" Assoc. Arch. Soc. Ref>. vii, 119: a 

 paper by Edmund Law, architect, 1862, 

 illustrated by five plates showing the extent 

 of the new work. With Blore were asso- 

 ciated George Baker and his sister as 

 'joint superintendents'. 



" The 18S4 restoration was under the 

 direction of Edmund Law, who (except for 

 the steps) found the structure in 'fair 

 repair'. 



" In 1894 the Society for the Protec- 

 tion of Ancient Buildings reported that 

 few repairs were needed; the Report is in 

 the Local Collection at the Public Library, 

 Northampton. In 1902 the County Coun- 

 cil had the croi^s carefully examined and 

 measured drawings of it made by W. A. 

 Forsyth : see Proc, Soc. Aniiq. (Ser. 2), 

 xix. 69-74. 



'-S2 



