WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



HORTON 



aged 17. At this date the manor was still held of the 

 barony of WahuU by sen-ice of one knight's fee, suit 

 of court and 6s. yearly towards the castleguard of 

 Rockingham.' 



At the beginning of the reign of Charles I William 

 Lane sold to Ralph Freeman, alderman of London, 

 all rights in the manor together with the rectory and 

 advowson.^ This estate is said to have passed into the 

 possession of Sir Henry Montagu,' who was created 

 Earl of Manchester in 1626-' and died in 1642.5 

 Three years later a recovery relating to the property was 

 suffered between Edward, Lord Montagu, Margaret, 

 dowager Countess of Manchester, third wife of Sir 

 Henry Montagu,and his half-brother George Montagu, 

 esq., son of the said Margaret.* This George ap- 

 pears to have become lord of Horton and was buried 

 there in 168 1.'' His grandson George* was party to 

 settlements in 1712 and 1738.' George Montagu was 

 appointed auditor of the Exchequer in 171+ and in 

 the following year became Baron and then Earl of 

 Halifax as nephew and heir of Charles, the fourth 

 son of George Montagu of Horton.'" His son 

 George Montagu, Earl of Halifax, succeeded him 

 in 1739 and died at Horton without issue male in 



Montagu. Argent a 

 Jeue indented of three 

 feints gules and a border 



saitUf (quartered vjith or 

 an eagle vert. 



GuNNi.sG. Gules a fesse 

 sable ermined or bet^veen 

 three doves ivith three 

 crosses formy party gules 

 and azure on the fesse. 



1 77 1." The estate was purchased by Sir Robert Gun- 

 ning, K.B., minister plenipotentiary at the Courts of 

 Denmark, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, who was created 

 a baronet in 1778 and died at his seat at Horton in 

 1816.'^ This family owned the manor until 1 8 87, when 

 it passed to Pickering Phipps, esq., J. P., brewer, of 

 Northampton. In 1899 Mr. George H.Winterbottom, 

 of Manchester, purchased the manor and estate and 

 resided at Horton House" until his death in 1935. 

 The property was then sold to Mr. W. Storey, of 

 Portsmouth, who resold most of the estate in small lots. 

 The church of ST. MARY THE 

 CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel, 25 ft. by 

 15 ft., nave, 33 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 3 in.; 

 south aisle, 8 ft. 6in. wide; south porch, and west tower, 

 10 ft. 3 in. square, all these measurements being in- 

 ternal. The width across nave and aisle is 27 tt. 10 in. 

 With the exception of the nave arcade, and in a less 



degree of the tower, which are of early-i4th-century 

 date, the fabric retains very little ancient work. The 

 slated roofs are all new and without parapets, the roof 

 of the chancel being considerably higher and of steeper 

 pitch than that of the nave. The chancel is faced with 

 coursed roughly dressed stone, but in the nave, aisle, 

 and porch the walling is finely dressed and in alternat- 

 ing courses (three and two) of limestone and local iron- 

 stone. 



Bridges, writing about 1720, states that 'the church 

 has been repaired by the Earl of Halifax, and is now 

 handsomely pewed with oak and paved with freestone','* 

 and though in 1862 the fabric underwent an extensive 

 restoration, amounting almost to a rebuilding, some 

 traces of this 18th-century 'repair' still remain. The 

 more recent work is in the style of the 14th century; 

 but the chief interest of the building lies in its monu- 

 ments. Internally all the walls, except those of the 

 tower, are plastered, and the floors tiled. 



The chancel has pairs of buttresses at the east end 

 and a modern pointed east window of three lights with 

 Decorated tracery. In the south wall are two modern 

 pointed windows of two trefoilcd lights, but the north 

 wall is blank. No ancient features have survived. The 

 sanctuary floor is of marble, and there is a single marble 

 sedile in the south side. The chancel arch is modern: 

 there is no screen. 



The early- 14th-century nave arcade is of three bays, 

 with pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing 

 from octagonal pillars with moulded capitals and bases, 

 and from moulded corbels at the ends: the double roll 

 is used in the bases. The nave roof is of low pitch, and 

 the wall above the arcade is unpierced. All the windows 

 in the nave and aisle are modern, ' ' of one or two lights, 

 and of Decorated character. The south doorway and 

 porch are modern.'* 



The tower is of rubble and is of three stages marked 

 by strings, with diagonal buttresses on the west to the 

 height of the lower part of the second stage only. On 

 the west side, near the top of the lower stage, is an 

 original pointed window of two uncusped lights, with 

 an elliptical opening in the head, the hood-mould of 

 which has been cutaway. The tower retains the straight 

 moulded parapet of the i8th century, with short 

 pilasters at the angles,'^ and a lofty and elaborate iron 

 vane: in the middle stage there is a large circular open- 

 ing on three sides, those to the south and west serving 

 for clock dials, the other glazed. The single-light 

 pointed bell-chamber windows are of very plain 

 character and apparently of late date, but they are 

 partly covered by the wooden frames of the louvre 

 boards. The pointed tower arch is of a single order, 

 chamfered on the edge and without hood-mould. There 

 is no vice. The ground story of the tower is used as 

 a vestry, separated from the nave by a low oak screen 

 erected in 19 10. 



The font in use is modern and of an elaborate Gothic 



■ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), cccliiii, 

 109. 



' Rccov. R. Mich. I Chjs. I, rot. 6, 

 2 1 ; Close R. 1 Chas. I, pt. i o, nos. 3,12. 



^ Bridges, j, 368^. He was son of the 

 first Lord Montagu of Houghton. 



* G.E.C. Peerage (2nd ed.), viii, 365. 

 » Ibid. 368. 



» Rec. R. East. 21 Chas. I, rot. 10. 



' Bridges, i, 370. Cf. Rec. R. East. 20 

 Chas. II, rot. 178; Feet of F. Northants. 

 Trin. 30 Chas. II. 



• G.E.C. vi, 246. 



' Close R. 12 Geo. II, pt. 4, no. 8. 

 Cf. Rec. R. Trin. 11 Anne, rot. 195; 

 East. 12 Geo. II, rot. 324. 



"> G.E.C. vi, 246. 



" Ibid. 247. 



" Diet. Aat. Biog.; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. iii, 248; Rec. R. Hil. 57 Geo. Ill, 

 rot. 29J Mich. 1 Wm. IV, rot. 415; 

 Burke, Peerage and Baronetage^ '93*- 



'^ From 1889 to 1899 Horton House 

 was occupied as a preparatory school for 

 boys. 



'* Hist, of Northants. i, 369 : the chancel 



261 



was divided from the nave by 'a wainscot 

 screen supported by fluted pilasters of the 

 Ionic order'. 



■> The walls of the nave and aisle above 

 the plinth appear to have been wholly 

 rebuilt. 



"■ The small trefoil side-lights of the 

 porch are old. No porch is mentioned by 

 Bridges. 



" Bridges speaks of an 'embattled 

 tower". The parapet may therefore be 

 later in date than the work done by Lord 

 Hahfai. 



