A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



two chamfered orders, the inner order on half-round 

 responds with moulded capitals and bases. 



The 12th-century font has a circular bowl orna- 

 mented with an arcade of intersecting round arches 

 and with a cable moulding round the top. It formerly 

 stood on a plain circular drum and two steps,' but is 

 now on a small roughly shaped pedestal and base. 



The plain panelled oak pulpit has a moulded top 

 and base and on the front panel is incised 'F.S. 1579', 

 within a shield. 



In the nave and aisles are sentences of scripture 

 painted on the walls;- and the pillars are painted grey 

 with orange-coloured capitals. In the north aisle is a 

 memorial to seven men of the parish who fell in the war 

 of 1914-18. 



There is a ring of five bells cast by Gillett and John- 

 ston of Croydon in 1914.^ 



The silver plate consists of a cup of 1570 and a 

 paten of 1 591; there is also a pewter flagon, and a 

 pewter plate dated 1702.* 



The registers before 181 2 are as follows: (i) all 

 entries 1562-1653; (ii) December 1655-95;^ (iii) 

 burials February 1 678/9-1 7 59; (iv) baptisms 1706- 

 49; (v) baptisms 1750-1813; (vi) marriages 1754- 

 1812; (vii) burials 1773-1812. 



In the church is preserved the head and upper part 

 of the shaft of a 1 2th-century wheeled cross, which was 

 found in 1869 in pulling down a barn in the village.^ 



The cross proper, which bears the figure of Our Lord, 

 rises from beautifully carved foliage, with projecting 

 heads at the sides above a horizontal moulded and 

 sculptured band.' 



In the churchyard is the base of a cross consisting of 

 a square socket stone with chamfered edges, containing 

 a small portion of the shaft.* 



William II, le Roux, advocate of 

 ADVOU'SON Bethune, gave the church to the abbey 

 of St. James outside Northampton' by 

 l2og. The abbey presented to the vicarage in 1227, 

 saving a portion to themselves.'" St. Andrew's priory 

 had received a grant of tithes from Michael de Pres- 

 ton," and when this church was appropriated to St. 

 James's Abbey in 1277 the pension was reserved'- and 

 still paid in 1535.'-' The vicar, it was arranged in 1277, 

 was to have the manse on the south of the church and 

 the house that 'Sarra called the nun' used to dwell in. 

 The abbey held the advowson and rectory until its 

 surrender in 1538.''' They were sold by Edward VI 

 to Matthew White and Edward Bury,'^ and purchased 

 from them by Francis Samwell,'^ of Upton, who pre- 

 sented in 1555," and the rectory and advowson de- 

 scended with Upton (q.v.) until 1865,'* after which the 

 advowson was acquired by the Rev. J. L. S. Hatton. 

 From 1903 until now it has been in the possession 

 of P. Phipps, esq.," the present patron. The living 

 is a vicarage. 



WHISTON 



Hyctintune, Hyittintune (x cent.); Wicetone, 

 Wicentone (xi cent.); Wychintone, Huchentone (xii 

 cent.); Whiston (xii cent, onwards); Wichenton, 

 Whichestone (xiii cent.); Wystone (xiii-xvi cent.). 



The area of the civil parish of Whiston is 833 acres 

 of land and water. The soil is red and heavy, the sub- 

 soil clay, ironstone, and limestone, the chief crops 

 cereals and roots. ^° The population was about 14 

 families in 1720,^' which would about equal the 66 

 persons of 192 1 ; it has since declined to 49. ■" 



The small village, not far from the Nene, the 

 northern boundary of the parish, is pleasantly situated 

 at the foot of Combe Hill, on which stands the 16th- 

 century church. Place House, a detached farm-house 

 on the west side of the village, with remains of a moat, 

 incorporates some portions of a medieval building, two 

 buttresses of which are attached to one of the angles of 

 the present house, which is a plain rectangular building 



of two stories with mullioned windows^-! and thatched 

 roof. There is a local 'tradition' that the original house 

 was a seat of King John.^* 



Brihtnoth, who became earldorman of 

 MANORS the East Saxons about 953 and died in 

 991,^5 gave WHISTON and all appur- 

 tenances to Ramsey Abbey, in perpetual alms. Edgar 

 the Peaceful, Edward the Confessor, and other kings 

 confirmed, as did Pope Alexander III in 1178.^* 



In 1086 the abbey held 3 hides in Whiston and 

 Denton and also a house and 5 acres of land in Bra- 

 field pertaining to Whiston.-' Of half an acre of this 

 last estate Countess Judith had the soke, as well as I 

 virgate attached to Yardley Hastings.^* In the 12th 

 century the abbey fee was l^ hides, the Huntingdon 

 fee of Countess Judith's successor. King David, I 

 'great' virgate.-' Thevillwas held of Ramsey Abbey in 

 1284;^" and the manor was said to be held in chief in 



• Jour. Brit. Arch. Assoc. (184.6), 2. 

 It is so shown in a drawing by Sir Henry 

 Dryden dated June 1838, in tlie North- 

 ampton PubHc Library. The bowl is 2 ft. 

 6 in. diam. at top, narrowing to about 2 ft. 

 at the bottom, and is 17 in. high. 



2 One over each pillar, and over the 

 north and south doorways. 



3 They are recastings of a former ring 

 of four, to which a new treble was added. 

 Of the old bells one was dated 1630, two 

 1638, and one 1719: the inscriptions are 

 given in North, Ch. Bells of Northants. 



393- 



* Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 



252. 



5 Inside the cover of vol. ii are baptisms 

 from July 1702 to February 1702-3. 



^ Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xx, 89. 



' Markliam, Stone Crosses of Northants. 

 103, where it is figured. See also drawing 



by Sir Henry Dryden, dated November 3, 

 1884, in Northampton Public Library. 

 The total height is 2 ft. 9 in. and the width 

 at the top 15 in. The cross was placed in 

 the church in 1884. 



^ Markham, op. cit. 104. 



9 Dugdale, Alon. vi, 114. 



'" Rot. Hug. de Welles (Cant, and York 

 Soc), ii, 135, 222. 



" Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fol. 79. 



" Rot. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York 

 Soc), 131. 



'^ Valor Eccles. (Rec. Com.), iv, 331. 



'■t Ibid. 319; Rot. Robert! Grosseteste 

 (Cant, and York Soc), 162, 219; L. and 

 P. Hen. f^IH, xiii (l), 404; xiv (l), p. 605. 



■5 Cal. Pat. Edw. VI, ii>, 151- 



*'' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccx, 69. 



" Bridges, loc. cit. 



'^ Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 2S-29 

 Eliz. J ibid. Div. Co. Mich. 27 Chas. IIj 



ibid. Hil. 7 Anne; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 

 2), ccccxlii, 27 ; Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.) ; Clergy 

 Lists. 



"> Crockford, Cler. Dir. 



20 Kelly, £);>. (1936). 



2> Bridges, Hist, of Northants. i, 388. 



-- Census (1931). 



-5 The lower windows have square- 

 headed hghts, but those of the first-floor 

 windows are round-headed. 



-* Whellan, Northants. (1874), 283: 

 according to the tradition 'part of the stone 

 was carried away to build the manor-house 

 at Ecton'. 



25 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



'<• Cartul. Alon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), i, 

 280, ii, 56, 73, I 36, iii, 167. 



-' V.C.H. Northants. i, 319a. 



-^ Ibid. 351*. 



" Ibid. 376J. 



JO See below. 



288 



