WYxMERSLEY HUNDRED 



made an agreement as to the pool in 1278.' In 1326 

 Ralph Cusyn, perf>etual vicar of Brafield, made an 

 agreement as to tithes from the mill called 'Clyfford 

 mylne'.- William la Zouche quitclaimed all right in 

 the two Clifford mills and the pool in 1 396.^ The 

 abijey dovecote is mentioned 1 296.'* 



The abbey received 1 10/. io<<'. rents and farms here 

 in i|;35-' After the Dissolution the abbey property 

 in Houghton, including 'three good mills' at Clifford, 

 was leased to the miller, William Chamberlayne, re- 

 puted a 'common lease-monger', who let the mills 

 decay.* For this propert)' he appeared as free tenant 

 at the royal court of Great Billing.' In 1573-+ the 

 abbey's possessions were granted to Christopher Fen- 

 ton and Bernard Gylpyn.* 



The church of ST. MJRT THE 

 CHURCH riRG IN consists of chancel, 30 ft. 6 in. 

 by 16 ft. with organ-chamber on the north 

 side, clerestoried nave, 42 ft. 8 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., north 

 and south aisles each 16 ft. 8 in. wide, south porch, and 

 west tower, 11 ft. 9 in. by 1 2 ft. 3 in., all these measure- 

 ments being internal. The width across nave and aisles 

 is 55 ft. 3 in. 



The north aisle with its extension eastward is an 

 addition of 1873,' at which time the body of the church 

 underwent a very extensive restoration, amounting 

 almost to a rebuilding, and esternaUy, with the excep- 

 tion of the tower, and in some degree the chancel, very 

 little original work remains. The building is of iron- 

 stone, with separate low-pitched gabled roofs to nave 

 and aisles, behind straight parapets. The chancel roof 

 overhangs and, with the porch, is covered with red 

 tiles. Internally all the walls are plastered. 



The restoration of 187 2-3 '"included the removal of 

 south and west galleries (the stairs to which, however, 

 at the west end of the south aisle still remain)," the 

 erection of new roofs, the building of the porch, and 

 of a new south arcade and clerestory. All this work, 

 together with the new north aisle and its arcade, is in 

 the style of the 14th century, to which period much 

 of the old building appears to have belonged. The south 

 doorway, however, though much restored, is of 13th- 

 century date, as is the greater part of the tower. The 

 doorway has a semicircular arch of three orders, the 

 two outer ones square and the innermost with a slight 

 chamfer. The hood-mould is keel-shaped. The arch 

 springs from moulded imposts and from single jamb 

 shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. '^ The 

 13th-century portion of the tower is of three stages, 

 with pairs of buttresses at the western angles, the upper 

 or original bell-chamber stage having on all four sides 

 an arcade of five pointed arches on shafts with moulded 

 capitals and bases, the middle and end arches being 

 wider than the others. '^ The arches are plainly cham- 

 fered and have keel-shaped hood-moulds. There is also 

 a shaft at each angle of the tower at this stage, below 



LITTLE 

 HOUGHTON 



which the buttresses stop. The bottom stage of the 

 tower was originally blank on all three sides but at the 

 time of the restoration two lancet windows were in- 

 serted in the west wall. In the second, or middle, stage 

 there is a single original lancet opening on the north 

 side, with keel-shaped hood-mould. 



In the 14th century the tower was heightened by 

 the addition of the present bell-chamber, which has 

 tall pointed windows of two trefoiled lights with quatre- 

 foil in the head, and terminates with a battlemented 

 parapet, below which is a band of quatrefoiled circles. 



The heightening of the tower seems to have formed 

 part of a very complete 14th-century reconstruction 

 of the church, which probably included the build- 

 ing of a new chancel. The pointed east window is of 

 three trefoiled lights with new reticulated tracery and 

 muUions, but the double hollow-chamfered jambs and 

 head are old. The chancel has a chamfered plinth 

 and diagonal angle buttresses, and there are two 

 restored pointed windows of two trefoiled lights in 

 the south wall and a single modern window of the 

 same character on the north. The two sedilia and 

 piscina form a single architectural composition of 

 three uncusped ogee arches, in the spandrels of 

 which are unpierced trefoils. The piscina, which has 

 a circular bowl, is plainly chamfered, but in the 

 sedilia the roll and fillet is used. At its west end the 

 chancel opens to the aisle on each side by a pointed 

 arch of two chamfered orders, on half-octagonal 

 responds with moulded capitals and bases, and the 

 lofty arch to the nave is of the same character, but 

 wholly restored. The chancel screen was erected in 

 1873, and the rood and attendant figures were added 

 in 1918. 



Bridges states that in his day the east end of the south 

 aisle was 'parted off from the rest' and was called the 

 vicar's chancel. '■♦ It covers the chancel about 8 ft., 

 but is not structurally divided from the aisle: at the 

 north end of its east wall is a priest's doorway, now 

 blocked. '5 In 1921 this chapel was restored to its proper 

 use. There is a modern organ-chamber on the north 

 side. 



The modern nave arcades are of three bays with 

 pointed arches on octagonal pillars with moulded 

 capitals and bases and on responds of similar design. 

 There are three clerestory windows on each side, and 

 all the windows of the south aisle are modern. The 

 wide and lofty 14th-century tower arch is of three 

 chamfered orders to the nave,'* the innermost order on 

 half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and 

 bases. 



The font has an early-i3th-century circular bowl 

 on an octagonal shaft and four legs, on a circular plinth 

 and step. The bowl is ornamented with a species of 

 straight-topped 'arcading'. 



The oak pulpit dates from 1873. An oak screen 



« Ibid. 86 C. 42-3; Harl. MS. 4714, 

 ff. I d, 6. 



' Cott. MS. V«p. E. xvii, fol. 66. 



' Harl. Chart. 86, C. 15. 



* Pope Nick. Tax. (Rrc. Com.), 53. 



' yalor Ecclei. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 237. 



' Cl, of Rcq. bdles. zo, no. 124, 22, 

 no. 70. 



' Ct. R. (Ccn. Scr.), portf. 194, no. 53. 



' Bridges, op. cic. 374. 



' Bridges, about 1720, describes the 

 church as consisting of 'a body, south 

 aisle, chancel, and west tower* only. The 

 width across nave and aisle was 3 5 ft. 6 in. : 



Hill, of Norlhantt. i, 374. 



"> The faculty is dated 25 Jan. 1872. It 

 was proposed 'to reconstruct the body of 

 the church by the restoration of the south 

 piers and arches (which were pulled down 

 many years since) and to add a new north 

 aisle thereto*. No architectural features 

 were involved in the restoration, the tower 

 not being touched. The architect was Mr. 

 C. Buckcridge, of London. 



" It is a structural stair built partly in 

 front of the tower, to which it now gives 

 access. It terminates externally over the 

 aisle in an octagonal turret with pointed 



stone roof. 



" The bases are new; the capitals have 

 simple stiff foliage. 



" The narrower arches, originally open, 

 are now blocked. 



'■• Hill, cf l^tirikanii. i, 374. He also 

 says, *it appears to be the chapel which the 

 lord of the manor had appropriated to the 

 use of himself and his family*. 



'5 There is no pricst*s doorway in the 

 chancel. 



"* On the west side of two orders only, 

 the outer one square. 



269 



