A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



character: the 18th-century marble font, of good 

 design, is in the churchyard. The pulpit and other 

 fittings are modern. 



The monument of Sir William Parr, Lord Parr of 

 Horton (d. 1546), and his wife Mary Salisbury has 

 already been described,' but other monuments in the 

 chancel are of scarcely less interest. Of these the earliest 

 are the fine brasses of Roger Salisbury (d. 1492) and 

 his two wives, now on the north wall, but in Bridges' 

 time 'within the altar rails on a large grey marble lying 

 on the ground'.^ The figures are 2 ft. 4 in. high and 

 represent 'a man in armour and on each side of him a 

 woman in the habit of the times', below which are the 

 inscription and the indents of the figures of four 

 children.-' 



The monument to Sir William Lane (d. 1502) is 

 also on the north wall.* It bears the effigies of Sir 

 William and his wife kneeling opposite each other at 

 a desk, with their two sons' and five daughters. Above 

 are eight small shields of arms and the monument is 

 surmounted by a large shield of fourteen quarterings 

 with helm and crest.* 



There is also a wall monument erected in 1756 by 

 the Earl of Halifax in memory of his brother Edward 

 Montagu and of his sister Henrietta,' together with 

 several brass and other tablets to members of the 

 Gunning family.* 



There are three bells; the first by Thomas New- 

 combe of Leicester {c. 1567-8) inscribed '-f- lacobo'. 



the second inscribed 'Sancta Katerina ora pro nobis,' 

 probably by John Saunders of Reading (1539-59), and 

 the third by James Keene of Woodstock 1 641 .' 



The silver plate consists only of a cup and paten of 

 1862 given, together with a brass flagon and alms dish, 

 by Mrs. Gunning Sutton in memory of Sir Robert 

 Gunning, bart.'" 



The registers before 18 12 are as follows: (i) all 

 entries 1605-23; (ii) baptisms 1612-1741-2 (Feb.), 

 marriages and burials 1 626-1 741-2; (iii) baptisms 

 and burials 1743-1812, marriages 1743-54; (iv) 

 marriages 17 54-1 8 12. 



Early in the 13th century Richard 

 ADVOWSON Gubion granted to the Abbot of St. 

 James, Northampton, the church of 

 Horton with 'Presteswode' and the croft of 'Byry- 

 stede'." The advowson of the vicarage was held by this 

 house until the Dissolution'-* and before 1535 the rec- 

 tory of Piddington had been annexed toit.'^ In the 13th 

 century the rectory of Horton was valued at 6J marks, 

 exclusive of a pension of \ mark paid to the prior of 

 St. Andrew's, and in 1 535 it was at farm for 60/.''' In 

 1559 Elizabeth granted the rectory and advowson of 

 Horton with Piddington to John Doddington of Lon- 

 don and John Jackson," and from them it passed to Sir 

 William Lane who died seised of it in 1616.'* It was 

 in the gift of the lord of the manor until 1924, when 

 Mr. Winterbottom gave it to the Bishop of Peter- 

 borough. 



GREAT HOUGHTON 



Major, Magna (xiii cent, onwards); Michel (xiv 

 cent.); Moche (xvi cent.). See Little Houghton for 

 variants of 'Houghton'. 



The parish of Great Houghton lies west of Little 

 Houghton and like it is bounded on the north by the 

 River Nene, where there is a mill and a lock. Its area 

 is 1,702 acres of land and water, and the soil, subsoil, 

 and crops are the same as those for Little Houghton. 

 A detached part of the parish was transferred to that of 

 Horton in 1884." The height rises abruptly from about 

 190 ft. by the river to 358 ft. in the south. The village 

 is in the northern part and pleasantly situated on an 

 eminence 260 ft. above the ordnance datum, with its 

 church to the north-west. There were about 40 fami- 

 lies in the village in 1720.'* The population of the 

 parish in 1931 was 250. Within the last eighty years 

 about 40 old thatched cottages have been pulled down 

 and some 20 new ones built." Great Houghton Hall, 

 a large three-story square stuccoed building of brick 

 and stone, stands near the entrance immediately north 



' y.C.H. Northanrs. i, 4.16, where it is 

 figured. See also Bridges, op. cit. i, 370. 

 The monument stands on the floor of the 

 chancel, a little to the north. At the top 

 the tomb measures 6 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft. 6 in. 



^ Op. cit. i, 369. 



' Hudson, Mont. Brasses of Northants., 

 where the brasses are figured and described. 

 The date, however, is wrongly given as 

 1481. The man is bareheaded and with 

 clubbed hair, in ornamented plate armour, 

 his feet upon a dog. The two female 

 figures are almost identical. Each wears a 

 mitred head-dress, a tight-sleeved and 

 tight-bodiced gown, with a full and ample 

 dress deeply trimmed with fur. 



* In Bridges' time it was on the south 

 wall. 



s One of them holds a skull. 



^ The inscription is given in Bridges, 

 op. cit. i, 370. 



' The inscription reads 'Edw. Montagu 

 G. Comitis de Halifax fratri unico et 

 Arabellae Trevor conjugibus ex antiquis 

 comitibus de Sarisb. & Heref. oriundis 

 optimis parentibus: et Henriettae sorori 

 dilectissimae Georgius Montagu p. anno 



MDCCLVl'. 



' Sir Robert Gunning, bart. 1S16, Sir 

 George Gunning, bart. 1823, Sir Robert 

 Henry Gunning, bart. 1862, the Rev. Sir 

 Henry JohnGunning,bart. 1 885,SIrGeorge 

 William Gunning, bart. 1 903, and others. 



' North, Ch. Bells of Northanls. 309. 

 '" Markham, Ch. Plate of Nortkants. 

 161. 



262 



of the church: there is no record of its erection, but it 

 is apparently of early- 19th-century date.-" 



The parish was inclosed under agreement in 1612;^' 

 but this was apparently the inclosure for which Thomas, 

 Lord Brudenell, was fined ,^1,000 and ordered to 

 restore 8 farms by Archbishop Laud (i.e. in 1633 or 

 later), being accused by the archbishop of 'devouring 

 the people with a shepherd and a dog'. Brudenell 

 asserted that it was a 'most benign and charitable in- 

 closure' such as England could not produce a second, 

 and that he had not 'decayed' a single house. ^- Daniel 

 Ward of Little Houghton (q.v.), who bought Mor- 

 daunt's manor here, received in 161 8 licence to inclose 

 132 acres in the two places. 



The wake was the Sunday before Michaelmas. ^^ 



The lands of Great Houghton belonged 



MANORS in 1086 to two fees, the fee of Peverel and 



the honor of Huntingdon. Osmund was 



the pre-Conquest tenant of i hide, \ virgate, and 2 



carucates, held in 1086 by William Peverel who had 



" Harl. Chart. 50 H. 11; Rot. Hug. de 

 Welles (Cant, and York Soc), iii, 93; 

 Cal.Pat. 1313-17, p. 524. 



^* Bridges, i, 369; Rot. Rob. Grosseteste 

 (Cant, and York Soc), 245. 



'^ Falor Eccles. iv, 328. 



^'* Ibid. 319; Bridges, i, 369. 



'5 Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 15, m. 35. 



'^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser, 2), ccclxiii, 209, 



■' Kelly, Dir. (1931); Local Govt. 

 Board Order 14,660. 



" Bridges, Hist, of Nortkants. i, 370. 



*' Local information. 



20 Nortkants, N , & Q. N.s. V, 28, where 

 a drawing of the north front, by G. Clark, 

 is reproduced, ^' Bridges, loc. cit. 



^2 Cat. S.P. Dom. 1635-6, p. 399. 



23 Bridges, op. cit. 373. 



