A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



manor in 1799,' and William Oliver Harris owned it 

 in 1 874,^ but the manorial rights appear to have lapsed. 



FEE OF HUNTINGDON. The overlordship 

 descended with the manor of Preston^ (l-^-) the last 

 mention found being 1428. Winemar's hide, aug- 

 mented by ^ of ^ hide, was in the tenure of his suc- 

 cessor Michael de Hanslope in the time of Henry I,'' 

 while Walter de Preston, (younger) son of Winemar, 

 gave f of the tithe of his demesne here to St. Andrew's 

 Priory, Northampton. ' Gilbert de Preston died seised 

 in 1274 of 6i virgates, with 14 customers each holding 

 J virgate, of this fee* and a manor here descended with 

 the manor of Preston' (q-^-) until, in or before 1329, 

 Laurence de Preston enfeoffed 

 George de Longueville of Little 

 Billing, who married his daughter 

 Isabel.* Laurence retained a 

 mesne lordship and the service of a 

 rose yearly, as recorded in 1438.' 

 The manor passed by settlement 

 to Margaret wife of Sir Richard 

 Ros for her life, in 1459;'° ^^^ 

 otherwise it descended with the 

 manor ofLittle Billing (q.v.) until Longueville. Gula a 

 162 1 when Sir Henry Longue- f'"' '^''""tty ermi„e he- 

 ville died seised. It had been set- 

 tled for her life on his widow Katharine, daughter of Sir 

 Edward Cary" and sister of the first Viscount Falkland. 

 She died in 1635,'- and in the same year we find this 

 manor in other hands, though her son Edward Longue- 

 ville retained Little Billing. Samuel Fryers, clerk, 

 patron of the living, and Elizabeth his wife conveyed it 

 to Caleb Stephens and Philemon Stephens with the 

 advowson,'^ after which it disappears. 



The church of ST. GEORGE consists 

 CHURCH of chancel, 25 ft. by 14 ft.; clerestoried 

 nave, 40 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 6 in.; north and 

 south aisles each about 12 ft. wide; south porch, and 

 west tower 9 ft. square, all these measurements being 

 internal. The width across nave and aisles is 42 ft. 6 in. 

 There was formerly a north porch. Both aisles are 

 extended eastward to form chapels, and cover the chan- 

 cel about half its length.'* 



The building was repaired in 1844, and in 1865 

 was extensively restored under the direction of WiUiam 

 Butterfield, when the chancel arch and the arches 

 between the chancel and the chapels were rebuilt, the 

 north porch taken down, and a new south porch, in the 

 style of the 14th century, erected. The chancel, nave, 

 and aisles are of limestone rubble, and the tower and 

 porch of coursed ironstone. The roofs of the nave and 

 aisles are leaded, and that of the chancel is covered 

 with modern red tiles. There are battlemented para- 

 pets to the nave, but the tiles and lead of the chancel 

 and aisles overhang. Internally, except in the tower, 

 all the walls are plastered. 



The building is in the main of 13th-century date 



including the chancel, nave arcades, and aisles, but 

 with one exception all the windows are later insertions. 

 The tower was erected late in the 14th century, and 

 some time in the i 5th century the clerestory was added 

 with a sanctus bell-cote over the chancel arch, and new 

 windows were inserted in the chancel and aisles. 



The east end of the chancel, which stands free of the 

 aisles or chapels, is without buttress or strings, and in the 

 north wall it retains an original lancet window, splay- 

 ing wide internally,'^ the hood-mould of which has 

 head-stops. The pointed east window is of three tre- 

 foiled lights but the mullions and geometrical tracery 

 are modern;'* below the sill outside is a length of keel- 

 shape moulding. On the south side is a wide 15th- 

 century window of three cinquefoiled lights, the 

 vertical tracery of which has a transom in the middle 

 light. The 1 3th-century piscina has a trefoiled head, 

 and wooden shelf, and the 1 5th-century sedilia are also 

 of plain design with chamfered jambs and cinque- 

 foiled arched heads; the seats are on one level. The 

 chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner 

 springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded 

 capitals and bases. The arch, like those north and 

 south of the chapels, has been entirely rebuilt, but its 

 details, if a copy of the old, point to the original arch 

 having been erected late in the 13th century. The 

 lateral arches are of a single chamfered order, on 

 moulded imposts. The chancel has a modern open 

 roof of three bays and the floor is tiled. The reredos 

 is in the 1 3th-century style. The former chapels, which 

 are now used respectively as an organ-chamber (north) 

 and vestry" (south), belong structurally to the nave 

 aisles.'* 



The nave arcades are alike in design and consist of 

 three pointed arches of two orders, with a straight 

 outer and hollow inner chamfer, springing from cylin- 

 drical pillars with circular moulded capitals and bases, 

 and at the east end from half-octagonal responds similar 

 to those of the chancel arch: at the west end the arches 

 rest on corbels carved with large four-leaf flowers. The 

 capitals of the pillars differ only slightly from those of 

 the chancel arch responds, and the double-roll bases 

 stand on high square plinths. 



The aisles are externally of four bays marked by 

 buttresses and have a keel-shaped string all round at 

 siU level, except at the west end of the south aisle. 

 The windows are all square-headed and of three or, 

 in the western bays, two cinquefoiled lights, and all 

 have moulded jambs and mullions and hood-moulds 

 with head-stops. The 1 3th-century south doorway has 

 a pointed arch with outer moulded order on nook-shafts 

 with moulded capitals and bases, inner chamfered order, 

 and hood-mould with head-stops. The north doorway 

 is of the same character but is now blocked and the 

 shafts and capitals have been renewed. Above it is a 

 niche with mutilated trefoiled head on nook-shafts 

 with moulded capitals and bases. 



* Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 39 Geo. 

 Ill; Com. Pleas D. Enr. Trin. 39 Geo. 

 Ill, rot. 155. 2 Whellan, loc. cit. 



3 Bk. of Fees, 494, 501, 938; Cal. Inq. 

 p.m. V, 412, p. 235; ibid, vi, 612, p. 390; 

 ibid, ix, 122; Cal. Close, 1374-7, p. 189; 

 Feud. Aids, iv, 7. 



■• V.C.H. Northants. \, 375. 



s Farrer, op. cit. 95; Cal. Chart. 1327- 

 41, p. 119. 



*' Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, 69 ; Cal. Close, iijz- 

 9, p. 222. 



' References as for overlordsliip. 



* Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 559 j 

 Inq. a.q.d. 3 Edw. Ill, file 206, no. 7; 

 Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Flea R. 83. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Hen. VI, no. 38. 



■» Ibid. 36 Hen. VI, file 169, no. 36. 



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

 93 ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 17 Jas. I. 



'2 Baker, Hist, of Northants. \, 27. 



" Feet of F. Northants. East, i o Chas. I. 



'■* Total length of north aisle 53 ft. 

 z in., of south aisle 55 ft. 7 in. 



'5 The width of the opening is 9 in., 

 splaying internally to 5 ft. 6 in. It has a 



flat lintel inside. 



'^ If the tracery is a copy of the old 

 work the original window must have been 

 inserted in the 14th century. It has double 

 hollow-chamfered jambs. 



" The vestry was formed in 1888 as a 

 memorial to Charles Edward Hammond, 

 rector 1882-7. 



'* The absence of dividing arches made 

 it necessary at the time of the restoration 

 to introduce large three-stage buttresses 

 north and south of the chancel arch in 

 order to counteract its thrust. 



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