A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



royal arms of the later Hanoverian sovereigns are in 

 the nave, and there is also a brass chandelier of eighteen 

 branches given in 1808 by George Rooke, rector.' 



There are wall memorials in the chancel to John 

 Wilson, rector (d. 1695); Humfrey Betty, rector (d. 

 1737); William Underwood, 'many years Postmaster 

 of Oxford, Witney, and Burford' (d. 1760);^ Edward 

 Lye, rector (d. 1767); James Gardiner, rector (d. 

 1799); George Rooke, rector (d. 1856); and others. 

 In the north aisle is a memorial to thirty-one men of 

 the parish who fell in the war of 1 914-18. A lych-gate 

 was erected in 1902. 



There is a ring of six bells, cast in 1723 by Henry 

 Penn of Peterborough.^ 



The plate consists of a plated cup and silver paten 

 given by the Rev. G. H. Rigby, rector, in 1892, and 

 two plated patens and a flagon, all inscribed 'Yardley 

 Hastings'. ■♦ 



The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all 

 entries 1 5 5 o- 1 6 5 3 ; (ii) 1 6 5 3- 1 700 ; (iii) baptisms and 

 burials 1701-1812; (iv) marriages 1754-87; (v) mar- 

 riages 1 787-1 8 1 2. 



The earliest known patron was the 

 ADVOWSON prior of the Hospital of St. John of 

 Jerusalem in England who presented 

 to the living in 1232,' but the right was recovered by 

 William de Valence and Guy de Lusignan who had 

 custody of the manor during the minority of an heir, 

 and they presented WiUiam de Sexthorp in 1251.* 

 From this date the advowson descended with the 

 manor. When assigned to Agnes, Countess of Pem- 



broke, in 1349 it was extended at 40 marks yearly.'' 

 Richard, Earl of Kent, appears to have assigned it to 

 Edmund Howard who presented Master Robert 

 Carter in 15 19,* but it was acquired by Sir WiDiam 

 Compton before 1528.' A grant of the tithes of the 

 demesne of Yardley to the prior of St. Andrew's, 

 Northampton, by Simon de St. Liz was the cause of 

 later friction between the prior and the rector.'" In 

 1223 it was agreed that the latter should pay 9 qrs. of 

 wheat and one bezant worth zs. in lieu of tithes" and 

 this was ultimately converted into a pension, stated in 

 1 5 3 5 to be 26/. 8<2'. ' ^ At this date the rectory, valued at 

 20 marks in the 13th century,'^ was rated at ^15 13^. z\d. 

 and included Denton.'* 



John Towers, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, 

 was instituted rector here in 1623 and had dispensation 

 in 1628 to hold with Yardley the vicarage of Hahfax." 

 Edward Lye, Anglo-Saxon and Gothic scholar and 

 Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, was presented to 

 the church by the Earl of Northampton in 1750 and 

 was buried here in 1767.'* 



Andrewe's Dole. An annuity of \s. 



CHARITY was given or settled in 1 6 1 9 by William 



Andrewe for the benefit of six poor 



widows, but the payment of the annuity has long been 



withheld and must be regarded as lost. 



According to the ancient 'customes' recorded in 

 1607 the rector had to give a Christmas dinner to the 

 town, and also to provide straw in the church at Easter 

 and Christmas 'that parishioners might be warm in 

 church with comfort to hear God's word.'" 



present positions or placed with those in 

 other parts of the church in some one win- 

 dow'. This was not done. 



* He became rector in 1805 and died 

 in 1856. His father,of the same name, died 

 in 1807 (M.I. in chancel). 



^ 'Who by care and industry acquired 

 an hansom Fortune, which he by Will 

 divided amongst his poor relations.' 



3 North, Ch. Belk of Northann. 452, 

 where the inscriptions are given. 



♦ Markham, Ck. Plate of Norlhants. 

 325. An older chased silver chalice and 

 paten disappeared about the time that the 

 present vessels were given ; ex inf. the 

 Rev. W. F. Need. 



5 Rot. Hug. de fVelles (Cant, and York 

 Soc), ii, 167, 248. 



*> Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York 

 Soc), 248. 



' Cul. Close, 1346-9, p. 583. 



8 Bridges, i, 398. 



' Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dcxciii, i. 



"> Dugdale, Mon. V, 1 90; cf. Cal. 

 CAari. iv. III). " Bridges, i, 398. 



'^ yalor Eccl. iv, 329. 



" Bridges, i, 398. 



'♦ Falor Eccl. iv, 329. 



IS Diet. Nat. Biog.; Cal. S.P. Dom. 

 1628-9, p. 190. 



'* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



^' Marquess of Northampton, Hist, of 

 the Comptons, app. viii. 



300 



