Part II: Daventry to Northampton

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PART II.

FROM

NORTHAMPTON TO LONDON.

IN a preceding year, I determined to vary part of my journey to the capital, by quitting the common road near Daventry . I began with making a digression about five miles to the south of that town, as far as Fawsley . I passed through the village, and by the church of Badby . The manor, in Saxon times, was bestowed on the abbey of Crowland , by one Norman , a sheriff; and the grant was confirmed by Witlaf and Scored , kings of Mercia , in 868. That great convent held it for no very long period. In 1017 it devolved to Leofric Earl of Leicester , by the death of his brother, also of the name of Norman , to whom the house of Crowland had granted it for one hundred years, on the payment of a pepper-corn: but Leofric severed it from Crowland , and bestowed it on the abbey of Evesham . On the dissolution, Henry VIII. gave it to Sir Edmund Knightly , third son of Richard Knightly of Fawsley ; and it now is the sole property of Lucy Knightly , Esquire.

IN this parish, and at a small distance to the west of the village, is Ardbury-hill , noted for the vast ditch and rampart which surround it. It is of an irregular shape, conforming to that of the hill; notwithstanding which, it may have been Roman , and possessed afterwards by the Saxons ; who bestowed on it the present name of Ard , which signifies, in the British , high; and Bury , which, in their own tongue, denotes an eminence.¹

AT a small distance from hence is Badby long the property of a family of the same name. Sir William Catesby , one of the three favourites of Richard III. was lord of this manor. His ancestors possessed the place in the reign of Edward III; and it continued in his posterity till the infamous conclusion of his line, in Robert Catesby , the execrable² contriver of the Gun-powder Plot.

FROM Badby , I rode through some woods, and through Fawsley-park , to the house of Fawsley , the seat of the antient family of the Knightleys ; standing in an improved demesne, above some pretty pieces of water, which wind along a fine wooded dell.

THE present owner derives it from a very long race of ancestors, who were settled here from the year 1415: at which time it was purchased by Richard Knightly , descended from a Staffordshire family: taking its name from a manor in that county, which they had possessed from the twentieth year of William the Conqueror.

THE present house is a motley building; part being exceedingly old, part middle-aged, and part new. The hall is a magnificent gothic room, of a vast height, timbered at top, and fifty-two feet long. The recess, or bow-window, is richly ornamented at top with sculpture in stone. All the other windows are very large, and placed at a great height above the floor. In every one are the arms of the family, and their alliances. I enumerated above sixty; for it has been greatly allied, from very early times.

THE chimney-piece is large, grand, and well carved. Above it is a great window. The smoke is conveyed by flues passing on each side of it; so that the chimney does not in the lest disturb the uniformity of the room: at the lower end are two arched doors. There would be a faultless propriety, if it was not for a modern wooden skreen trespassing on the lower end.

THE kitchen is most hospitably divided. On each side of the partition is an enormous fire-place, fitted for a hecatomb of beeves: they are placed back to back, so as not to interrupt their respective operations.

THE portraits preserved here are very curious: that of Sir Valentine Knightly caught my eye first, as senior of the company. He is represented halflength, in black, with short brown hair, whiskers, and a small beard; one hand on his sword, the other on his side. I find nothing more remarkable of him, than being father to a more active spirit,

SIR Richard Knightly: who is painted in two periods of life; once in advanced years, sitting; his head kept warm by a coif; his dress black; his ruff laced. Near him are his spectacles, a Bible, and hour-glass. Between his legs is a little girl playing with his stick, while he, laying one hand on her shoulder, forms a true picture of aged affection. In the inscription he is stiled of Norton ; a manor belonging to the family, and possibly the residence of Sir Richard at this time.

THE other portrait represents him in the thirtythird year of his age, A. D. 1567 . On his head is a bonnet: his dress is yellow: his cloak black: his ruff small. He is painted with a sword and small rod. It should seem, from some not illwrote lines, that he had passed his youth licentiously; but afterwards made a most rigid reform.

They begin,

                        In vita Fortuna .
So hitherto, by helpe of hevenlie powers,
My doubtful liffe hath ronne his postinge race;
Whos recklesse youthe hath passed such stormie showers
As might have cute me of in halfe this space.
Yet mightie JOVE, by his celestial grace,
Hath brought my barke to such a blissful shore,
As daylie doth advaunce me more and more.
                        In vita Fortuna .

It is probable he had an enthusiastic turn. He took part with the puritans, who early began to give disturbance to the church of England . Their spirits were so greatly embittered by the unfavorable conclusion of the mock conference between their ministers and the royal paedagogue, in 1603,³ that they gave vent to their rage in a variety of most scurrilous pamphlets against the prelatical order. These were the productions of secret presses, that travelled from place to place. The lord of Fawsley was found guilty of harboring them. He was cited before the Star-chamber, and would have been severely treated, had it not been for the mild Whitgift , archbishop of Canterbury , who had been the principal object of their abuse.⁴ The agreement of Sir Richard with Sir Francis Hastings , in a petition to the house for granting a toleration to the Roman catholics, must not be thought inconsistent with the views of his party; for, had success followed, the puritans might have clamed, and most probably obtained, the same indulgence. He died in 1615.

His first wife was Mary , daughter of Mr. Richard Fermor , of Easton Neston ; his second, was Lady Elizabeth Seymour , sixth⁵ daughter to the protector Duke of Somerset . There are two portraits of this lady: one dated 1590, aet . 40. Her hands and face are small: her dress a quilled ruff; black gown hung and beset with vast strings and rows of pearls. The other is also in black, with a high ruff. This lady brought her husband seven sons and two daughters: she died in 1602, and was interred in the church at Norton .⁶

A FULL-LENGTH of Thomas Lord Grey of Groby , in armour, long hair, a turnover and boots; with a boy in red giving him his helmet. This nobleman was eldest son to the first Earl of Stamford , and married to Anne , second daughter of Edward Bourchier Earl of Bath . He is represented as a young man of mean abilities; who took a determined part in the civil wars against his sovereign, was active against him in the field, and submitted, when others, equally warm in the cause of liberty, declined the dangerous office, to sit among the judges on the trial of the king; and finally, to sign his name to the warrant which brought him to the block. These services were fully rewarded. He had lands to the amount of a thousand a year bestowed on him,⁷ and revelled in the plunder of the royal manor of Holdenby ; but before the Restoration, death luckily rescued him from the fate of his brother-delinquents.

I MUST close this list with mentioning two most beautiful heads of women, done in crayons; much to the honor of the fair performer, a lady of the present generation.

THE church is dedicated to St. Peter , and was bestowed by Henry II. on the monks of Daventry . On the dissolution, it was given to the college of St. Frideswide, Oxford ; but is now in the gift of Mr. Evesham Knightly . Within, are numbers of antient tombs of the family, even from its first settlement in this country; but many of them much mutilated. That of Sir Richard Knightly , who died in 1534, and Jane his wife, are magnificently represented in alabaster, recumbent, on an altar-tomb: he in armour, with a herald's mantle over it, and a defence of mail over his thighs.

SIR Edmund Knightly , and his wife Ursula , sister to John Vere Earl of Oxford , are figured on a brass plate; he, according to the fashion of the times, is armed, notwithstanding he was a serjeant at law. He died in 1542.

A VAST mural monument preserves the memory of another Sir Valentine and his spouse, Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Ferrers of Badesly , in Warwickshire . He died in 1566. This memorial is a great pile of marble, with a great black sarcophagus in the middle, and finished with a pediment.

THE seats of the church are most ridiculously carved with a variety of droll subjects: such as a cat fiddling, and the mice dancing; an animal riding on a sow, bridled and saddled: and other figures equally calculated to spoil the gravity of the best-disposed congregation.

FROM Fawsley I returned into the London road, near the eighth stone from Toucester ; and crossing it, reached the village and church of Flore , or Flower , pleasantly seated on rising ground, at a small distance from the great road. In Doomsday-book it is called Flora ; perhaps from its agreeable situation. I left the church unvisited. I must speak from Mr. Bridges ⁸ of the most remarkable particulars. It is dedicated to All Saints . It was bestowed in the reign of king John , by a Ralph de Kaines , on Merton abbey , in Surrey ; but at the dissolution, was given to Christ-church, Oxford ; under the patronage of which it continues.

ON a grey stone, in brass, is the figure of the VIRGIN, clasping our SAVIOUR in her arms. Beneath them are Thomas Knaresburght , in armour, and Agnes his wife; both with suppliant hands, addressing themselves to the object of the adoration of their days. She in these words: O Blyssyd Lady, pray to IHU, of us to have mercy . He died in die ramis palmarum , 1450; she, on the 26th of March , 1488.

THE following curious epitaph informs us of the end of Robert Saunders , and Margaret his wife.

ROBERT Saunders , the seconde sone of Thomas Saunders of Sybbertoft , lyethe here buryed:

To Margret Staunton , the heyre of Thomas Staunton , he was fyrste marryed;

WHICH Margret being dead, Joyse Goodwyn he tooke to wyfe.

THE XIII daye of November , A°. XCV°. XLIX. he departyd thys lyfe;

AND restethe at GOD'S pleasure, tyll the daye of perfection.

GOD sende us and hym then a joyful resurrection. Amen.

CLOSE by Flower I enter on the new turnpike road, which forms a communication between Daventry and Northampton , and which opens into the London road between Dodford and Weedon .

ABOUT two miles from Northampton , I passed through the village of Upton , and by Upton-hall , the seat of Sir Thomas Samwell , Baronet, and property of his ancestors since the year 1600; when it was purchased from Sir Richard Knightley by William Samwell , Esquire, a gentleman of antient Cornish descent.

AFTER a short space, I crossed the northern water, or Naesby-head , a river that rises due north, and by its junction a little below with another stream, which flows from Fawsley-pools , forms that which receives at Northampton the name of Nene. Leland calls one of these branches the Avon ; the other the Weedon .

I ENTERED this beautiful town at the west gate, and passed beneath the site of the castle. Nothing, excepting an outer wall and foss, remains; in part of which is a vast stratum of ferruginous geodes .

OPPOSITE to the castle is a great mount, once the foundation of some more antient fortress; perhaps one of the line efforts which crossed this and the neighboring counties. One exists at Toucester , and another I shall have occasion to speak of, lying about three miles to the east. I cannot speak with certainty of the period in which it was occupied by the Saxons , who gave it the name of Hamtune . Mr. Bridges supposes it to have risen from the ruins of Eltavon , a Roman station on the side of the town. It appears that the Danes were possessed of Northampton in 917; and from thence long made their barbarous excursions.⁹ Before the year 1010, they had quitted the place; but in their inroads in that year, they burnt the town, and desolated the country.

IN 1064, it found in the Northumbrians , under Morcar , who had advanced as far as Northampton , a cruel set of banditti, who committed most unprovoked outrages. They murdered the inhabitants, burnt the houses, and carried off thousands of cattle, and multitudes of prisoners. But in the reign of Edward the Confessor, here were LX burgesses in the king's lordship, and LX houses. At the time of the Conquest, fourteen were waste; but at the time of the survey, there were forty burgesses in the new borough.¹⁰

Simon de Sancto Licio , or Senliz , a noble Norman , founded here the castle. He had married Maude , daughter of Waltheof , the Saxon earl of Northampton , and succeeded to the title.

THE Conqueror bestowed this town, and the whole hundred of Fawsley , then worth forty pounds a year, on St. Liz , to provide shoes for his horses.¹¹ From that period it became considerable, and frequently was the seat of parlements, and was on several other occasions honored with the royal presence.

I MUST particularize the great council held there in 1164, in which the contumacy of Thomas Becket was punished by a heavy fine. At this time, the whole people came, as one man ; and yet all were unequal to the pride and obstinacy of the single prelate.¹² The other great council, or parlement, was summoned in 1176, to confirm the statutes of Clarendon ; in which the rights of the crown and customs of the realm, especially as to judicial proceedings, had been established.¹³

DURING the civil contests in which England was so unhappily involved, Northampton came in for its share of the calamities incident to war. In that between king John and the barons, it was stoutly defended on the part of the king against Robert Fitzwalter , fanatically stiled marshal of the army of God and the holy church ;¹⁴ who, for want of military engines, was obliged to raise the siege.¹⁵ This post was of such importance, that, after the charter of liberties was extorted from John , the constable for the time being was sworn (by the twenty-five barons appointed at a committee to enforce its execution) to govern the castle according to their pleasure. This was done in the fullness of their power; but as soon as the perjured prince got the upper hand, he appointed Fulk de Breans (a valiant but base-born Norman) to the command, as one in whom he could entirely confide.¹⁶

IN the year 1263, the younger Mountfort and his barons held it against their sovereign Henry III. The king marched against them with a strong force; and having with his battering rams formed a great breach in that part of the town walls nearest to the monastery of St. Andrew , entered the place, and, after a short but vigorous resistance, made the whole garrison prisoners.¹⁷

IN 1460, Henry VI. made Northampton the place of rendezvous of his forces. The strength of his army encouraged his spirited queen to offer battle to his young antagonist, the Earl of Marche , then at the head of a potent army. A conference was demanded by the earl, and rejected by the royal party; who marched out of the town, and encamped in the meadows between it and Hardinston . The battle was fierce and bloody; but by the treachery of Edmund Lord Grey of Ruthen , who deserted his unhappy master, victory declared in favor of the house of York . Thousands were slain, or drowned in the Nen: among them the duke of Buckingham , Earl of Shrewsbury, John Viscount Beaumont , and Lord Egremont . The duke was interred in the church of the Grey Friars ; others of the men of rank, in the adjacent abbey of De la Pre ; and others, in the hospital of St. John , in the town.

THE town had been inclosed with a strong wall, probably before the reign of King John ; for mention is made, in the second year of his reign, of the east-gate, one of the four. The walls were of breadth sufficient for six men to walk abreast. Both walls and castle were early neglected; for they appear to have been in 1593 in a ruinous state;¹⁸ yet the latter was used as a prison before the year 1675: and within had been a royal freechapel, dedicated to St. George ; to which a chaplain was presented by the crown, with a salary of Ls. a year.

IN the civil wars, Northampton was seized by Lord Brook , for the use of the parlement. In 1642, he fortified it with a foss and ramparts; converted the bridges into draw-bridges; and brought several pieces of cannon here to defend it, in case of attack. Whether it distinguished itself by any particular acts of disloyalty beyond other places, I cannot say; but in 1662, pursuant to an order of council, the walls, gates, and part of the castle, were demolished.¹⁹

THE most antient of the religious houses in this town was the priory of St. Andrew , founded about the year 1076, by Simon de St. Liz , (first Earl of Northampton of his name) and Maude , his wife. He peopled it with Cluniacs , and in 1084 made it subject to the abbey of St. Mary de Caritate , a monastery upon the Loire . This occasioned it to undergo the common fate of all alien priories, that of being seized into the king's hands. It was surrendered to Henry at the dissolution, by Francis Abree , then prior; who, in reward for his ready compliance, was appointed the first dean of Peterborough .²⁰

ITS revenue, according to Dugdale , was £ .263. 7s. 1d. ; to Speed, £ .344. 13s. 1d. The house stood near the north end of the town, and, with the demesne lands, was granted by Edward VI. to Sir Thomas Smith .²¹

THE Grey Friars , or Franciscans , had a house on the west side of the place. They originally hired a habitation in St. Giles's parish, but afterwards built one on ground given them by the town, in the year 1245. John Windlowe , the last warden, and ten of his brethren, surrendered their poor revenues, of £ .6. 13s. 4d. per annum , on October 28th, 1539;²² after which it was granted to one Richard Taverner .

ABOVE this house was a priory of Carmelites , or White Friars , founded in 1271, by Simon Mountfort and Thomas Chetwood . It was valued at £ . 10. 10s. and granted to William Ramesden ,²³ after being resigned by John Howel , the last prior, and eight brethren.

THE Dominicans , or Black Friars , were fixed here before 1240. John Dalyngton was either founder, or a considerable benefactor. Its revenues were only £. 5. 11s. 5d. ²⁴ It was resigned to the crown by its prior William Dyckyns , and seven of his friars.

William Peverel , natural son to the Conqueror, founded, before 1112, a house of Black Canons , in honor of St. James . This Peverel had no less than forty-four manors granted to him in this county. The revenues of this house amounted to £ . 175. 8s. 2d. according to Dugdale ; or £ . 213. 17s. 2d. according to Speed. Henry VIII. granted it to Nicholas Giffard .²⁵ Its last abbot was William Brokden , who, with five monks, resigned it in 1540.

THE Austin Friars , or Friars Eremites , had a house here in the Bridge-street , founded in 1322, by Sir John Longueville of Wolverton , in Buckinghamshire; and several of his name were interred there. John Goodwyn , the prior, with seven friars, resigned it to the king in 1539. It was soon after granted to Robert Dighton . Its revenues are unknown.²⁶

THE college of All Saints was founded in 1459, with licence of purchasing to the value of twenty marks. It consisted only of two fellows. In 1535, it was found, clear of all reprizes, to be worth XXXIXs. IVd. College-lane , in this town, takes its name from it.²⁷

THE hospital of St. John is an antient building, standing in Bridge-street . It consists of a chapel, a large hall with apartments for the brethren, and two rooms above for the co-brothers. It was founded for the reception of infirm poor, probably by William St. Clere , archdeacon of Northampton ; who died possessed of that dignity in 1168. He is supposed to have been brother to one of the Simon St. Cleres ; but Leland justly insinuates, that they never were called by that name, but by that of St. Liz .²⁸

AT the dissolution, its clear revenues were £. 57. 19s. 6d. Sir Francis Brian was then high steward of the house, and had 40s. yearly; and eight poor persons were maintained at 2d. a day each: a charity founded by John Dallington , clerk, and confirmed in 1340, by Henry Burgherst , bishop of Lincoln . It is at present governed by a master, and two co-brothers or chaplains, whose salary is £ . V. each, with XIs. each, in lieu of firing, and Xs. on renewing of leases. The eight poor people are named by the master, and maintained in lodging, firing, and common room, and 1s. 2d. weekly.

ST. Thomas's hospital stands a little more to the south of St. Johns , beyond the south gate, in the suburbs called The Quarters , which extend to the south bridge. This owes its foundation, in 1450, to the respect the citizens had for St. Thomas Becket . Originally it maintained twelve poor people: six more were added in 1654, by Sir John Langham ; and one more of later years, by Richard Massingberd . It is governed by a warden, who is one of the aldermen; and the vicar of All Saints is the chaplain, with an annual salary of £ . III. XVIs. VIIId. ²⁹

I FIND, besides, an hospital on the south side of the town, in the parish of Hardingstone , dedicated to St. Leonard , for a master and leprous brethren; founded before 1240. The mayor and burgesses were patrons. Dugdale valued it at ten pounds a year.³⁰

I MUST not omit mention of the short-lived university which existed in this town; and which arose from the following occasion:—In 1238, Otho , the pope's legate, happened to visit the university of Oxford , and took his residence at the neighboring convent of Osney . He was one day respectfully waited on by the students; who were insolently refused admittance by the Italian porter. At length, after intolerable provocation from the clerk of the kitchen, a Welsh student drew his bow, and shot him dead.³¹ The resentment of government, and the fear of punishment, caused the first secession of the students to Northampton , and other places. In succeeding years fresh riots arose, and occasioned farther migrations. At length, these migrations were made under sanction of the king; who imagined that the disturbances arose from the too great concourse of scholars to one place. It is said, that not fewer than fifteen thousand students settled in this town. Whether from resentment of former proceedings against them, or from the usual dislike youth has to governing powers, they took the part of the barons. They formed themselves into companies, had their distinguishing banner, and, when Henry III. made his attack on Northampton , proved by far his most vigorous opponents. After the king had made himself master of the place, he determined to hang every student; but being at length appeased, he permitted them to return to Oxford , under the conduct of Simon Mountfort , and abolished the university of Northampton .³²

THE town is finely situated on an eminence, gently sloping to the river, which bounds it on the south, as it also does on the west. The streets are in general strait, and very handsomely built. The great market-place is an ornament to the town: few can boast the like. Much of the beauty of Northampton is owing to the calamity it sustained by fire, on September 20th, 1675; when the greatest part was laid in ashes. The houses were at that time chiefly wooden. Twenty-five thousand pounds were collected by briefs and private charity towards its relief; and the king gave a thousand tons of timber, out of Whittlewood forest, and remitted the duty of chimney-money in this town for seven years: so that it was soon rebuilt; and changed its wooden edifices for more secure and ornamental houses of stone.

THE church of All Saints fell a victim to the flames. The old church was a large pile, with a tower in the center. It was rebuilt with great magnificence, and is a considerable ornament to this pretty town. The portico is very elegant, supported in front by eight columns of the Ionic order. The body stands on four lofty columns, and has a neat dome in the middle. The roof is beautifully stuccoed. This church, and that of St. Peter , were bestowed on the priory of St. Andrew , by Simon de St. Liz , the founder. All Saints is at present in the gift of the members of the corporation, who are inhabitants of the parish.

THE church of the Holy Sepulchre is supposed to have been built by the Knights Templars, on the model of that at Jerusalem . The imitative part is round, with a nave issuing from it. In the round part is a peristyle of eight round pillars, thirteen feet eight inches high, and twelve feet three in circumference. The capitals consist of two round fillets: the arches sharp and plain. The space from the wall to the pillars is eleven feet: the diameter, from the inside of one pillar to that of the opposite, is twenty-nine feet two inches. In the center of the area stands, in the church at Jerusalem , the supposed sepulchre;³³ and it is probable a model might be placed in those which we find of the same kind in our island; for, besides this, the Temple church in London , and St. Sepulchre's in Cambridge , are built on the same plan. The steeple, and some other parts of that in question, have been added since the building of the circular church.

ST. Peter's church is a singular building. Two corners of the tower are ornamented with three round pillars: above these are two, and above them one; all gradually less than the others. The middle of the tower is ornamented with small round arches, which are continued along the outside of the body of the church, and have a good effect Within are two rows of round arches, carved with zigzag work: the pillars which support these are alternately single and quadruple. A small monument commemorates John Smith , that eminent metzotinto scraper,³⁴ who died in January 1742, aged ninety.

THE advowson of this church was given by Edward III. to the hospital of St. Catherine , near the Tower, in London , and still remains under its patronage.

WHOSOEVER intended to clear himself of any criminal accusation in this town, was obliged to do it in this church only; having here first performed his vigil and prayers in the preceding evening.³⁵ St. Giles's church stands in the east skirts of the town; but contains nothing worthy notice.

IN old times Northampton was possessed of three other churches, which are now destroyed. St. Bartholomew's stood on the east side of the road going to Kingsthorp ; and was bestowed by St. Liz on his convent of St. Andrew . St. Edmund's stood without the east gate, and was also under the patronage of St. Andrew's: and the church of St. Gregory was the third; also the property of that much-favored house.

AMONG the public buildings, I first speak of the county hospital; not on account of the beauty or magnificence of the house, for it is laudably destitute of both; but because the subscription which supports it does honor to the province, by proving the benevolence of its inhabitants. That of 1779 amounted to near eight hundred pounds; and the number of patients perfectly cured, from its foundation in 1744 to the former year, was not fewer than thirteen thousand one hundred and fifty.³⁶

THE county hall is a very handsome building, and ornamented in a manner which gives dignity to courts of justice. The vulgar are affected with external shew, and never pay half the respect to a judge scampering in boots and bob-wig up the stairs of a barn-like court, as they would to the same person, who adds solemnity to his merit, and assumes the garb suited to his character.

THE jail is at a small distance from the sessions house, and was originally built as a dwelling-house by a Sir Thomas Haselwood , and sold by him to the justices of the peace.

THE town or guild hall, is an antient building, in which the corporation transacts its business. Northampton was incorporated by Henry II. Henry III. gave it the power of chusing annually a mayor and two bailiffs, to be elected by all the freemen; but Henry VII. ordered by charter, that the mayor and his brethren, late mayors, should name forty-eight persons of the inhabitants, with liberty of changing them as often as was found necessary; which forty-eight, with the mayor and his brethren, and such as had been mayors and bailiffs, were annually to elect all future mayors and bailiffs. There are, besides, a recorder, chamberlain, and town-clerk. The mayor, late mayor, and one other member of the corporation, nominated by the mayor, aldermen, and bailiffs, are justices of the peace within the town for one year. The mayor, recorder or his deputy, and one justice, are necessary to form a sessions: they have power in criminal cases to try all offenders; but wisely leave all, except petty larcenies, to the judges of assize.³⁷

Northampton is among the most antient boroughs. In the parlement held at Acton Burnel , in the time of Edward I. it was one of the nineteen trading towns which sent two members each. Every inhabitant, resident or non-resident, free or not free, has liberty of voting: a cruel privilege for such who have of late years been ambitious of recommending their representatives.

---

¹ Morton , 524.

² Dod's Church Hist . ii. 430.

³ Rapin , ii. 162.

⁴ Bridges , 66.

⁵ Vincent's Discoverie , 483.

⁶ Bridges , 79.

⁷ Drake's Parl. Hist . xx. 50.

⁸ P. 506, &c.

⁹ Sax. Chr. 104, 106.

¹⁰ Doomsday-book , in Morton's Northampt .

¹¹ Blunt's Antient Tenures, 16.

¹² Lord Lyttelton's Henry II. 41 to 56.

¹³ The same, v. 264, octavo, 2d edit.

¹⁴ Cambden , i. 519.

¹⁵ Dugdale Baron , i. 219.

¹⁶ Dugdale Baron . i. 743.

¹⁷ Carte , ii. 141.

¹⁸ Norden , as quoted by Bridges , 432.

¹⁹ Bridges.

²⁰ Willis , ii. 160. The recantation which he and his poor monks were forced to make, is well worth perusal. See Appendix .

²¹ Tanner .

²² Willis , ii. 160.

²³ Tanner , 386.

²⁴ Bridges , 455.

²⁵ Tanner , 377.

²⁶ Bridges , 456.

²⁷ Bridges , 458.

²⁸ Leland Itin . i. 10. and Bridges, 456.

²⁹ Bridges , 457.

³⁰ Tanner , 386.

³¹ Wood's Hist. Ox . i. 89.

³² Bridges , 426.

³³ See Sandys's Travels .

³⁴ Mr. WALPOLE, Engravers , 105.

³⁵ Bridges , 445.

³⁶ In lieu of this, a General Infirmary was erected and opened in 1793; the annual subscription to which, for the present year, amounted to £ .1933 16s. 6d. ; the number of in-patients admitted in 1809 was 825, of out-patients who received benefit from the charity 1286. ED.

³⁷ Bridges , 433.

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