Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Toronto http://www.archive.org/details/memorialsofoldnOOdryd - ^<ftftft/'0»^V^MVM*V^^ Memorials OF Old Northamptonshire. The " Akmada Hoi-sk," Wicston (158S). Wcf'' MEMORIALS OF OLD NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. EDITED BY ALICE DRYDEN. With many Illustrations. LOxNDON: BEMROSE AND SONS, LIMITED, 4, SNOW HILL, E.G. ; AND DERBY. 1903. AU Rights Reserved. N^X>7€ PREFACE. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE is so rich m interest, both historically and architecturally, that it has been thought that another book, which does not encroach upon the provinces of the county history or guide-book, but which seeks to illustrate certain objects of interest and historic association, would not be out of place. In considering the subjects, I thought that many people would like to have some of my father's notes on the county. I had intended to include a few that were unpub- lished, but on further consideration I found they were so incomplete that instead I have reprinted some that were only accessible to a limited number in the pages of the Architectural Societies' Reports. I have endeavoured, by cutting these down, to bring them to a level of more general interest, without impairing the value of the con- tribution. My thanks are due to all those who have helped with illustrations, but especially to the Writers who have so Gotch, kindly contributed chapters; also to Mr. J. A. Mr. C. A. Markham, Father Gerard, S.J., Mr. Henry Ellis, and others, who have helped me with various notes. Alice Dryden. CONTENTS. Page A. Dryden I Northamptonshire Villages . By The History of Northampton Town By M. JOURDAIN 14 The Castle of Tichmarsh By the late Sir H. Dryden, Bart., Hon. F.S.A., Scotland The Monumental Effigies By Albert Hartshorne, F.S.A. The Northamptonshire Homes of George Washington's Ancestors By A. Dryden 45 The Gunpowder Plot By M. JOURDAIN 53 The Northamptonshire Militia in the Reigns of King Henry Sir H. Dryden . 69 Vni. and Queen Elizabeth . By Fawsley By the Lady Knightley 99 The Royal Forests By A. Dryden 109 Sir Thomas Tresham and his Symbolic Buildings By M. JOURDAIN 129 Hospital dedicated to St. John the Baptist at Northampton By Sir H. Dryden . 145 John Dryden in Northamptonshire By Percy Mundy . 155 Queen Eleanor's Crosses By A. Dryden 164 175 Fotheringhay and its Memories . By M. JOURDAIN Drayton ..... By W. Ryland Adkins 187 Two Edwardian Houses—Wood- croft and Northborough By A. Dryden 207 216 Literar}' Associations By M. JOURDAIN Sir Christopher Hatton and his Homes ... By A. Dryden 230 Index ... 247 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. The impression on the cover is a fac-simile of the seal used for many years past on County documents and papers. There is no evidence of any other seal having ever been used, till recently, in the office of the Gustos Rotulorum of the County. Page The Armada House, Weston .... Frontispiece {Photo by Mr. J. A. Goich, Block lent by Northants Architectural Society) Village Street, Morton Pinkney . (Photobv A. Dryden) 4 Village Cross, Brigstock ...... 8 (Photo by A. Dryden, Block lent by B. T. Bais/ord) Village Stocks, Eydon . (Photo by A. Dryden) 12 Dame Elizabeth Carey, Stowe Nine Churches {PhotobyA. Dryden) 40 The Washington House, Sulgrave . (Photo by A. Dryden) 44 Washington Arms . (Block lent by Mr. Stuart-Beattie) 52 " Plot-Room," Ashby St. Ledgers . (Photo by a. Dryden) 52 The Dower House, Fawsley . (Photo by a. Dryden) 98 Bay Window, Fawsley . (Photo by A. Dryden) 104 Stag- with Hunting Strength of Running Hounds . .110 (Block lent by Mr. Baillie-Grohman) Various of Breeds Sporting Dogs 500 Years Ago . .116 (Block lent by Mr. Baillie-Grohman) Hawking Tower, Althorp Park . (Block lent by B. t. Bats/ord) 122 Portrait of Sir Thomas Tresham . .128 (From photo the property of the Duke o/ Bitccleuch) Triangular Lodge, Rushton . .136 (From a print in the " Gent. Mag." Dec. 1841. C. J. Richardson, F.S.A., del. ; J. Swaine, sc.) New Building, Lyveden . (Photo by A. Dryden) 142 Cross, . Queen's GeddingtOn (Photo by H. Cooper, Northampton) 1 64 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Queen's Cross, Northampton {,Photo hy A. Dryden) 170 The Statues, Queen's Cross, Northampton 174 {Lady Marian Alford, del. ; O. lewitt, sc. Blocks lent by Messrs. Abel, Norihatnpton.) Fotheringhay • 174 Woodcroft Castle • {Photo by Mr. R. Scriven) 186 Entrance Front, Drayton . {Photo by Mr. G. Nichols) 188 Drayton . {Photo by Mr. G. Nichols) 196 Northborough {Photo by A. Dryden) 210 Holdenby Gate . {Photo by Mr. G. Nichols) 230 Kirby, West Front . {Photo by A. Dryden) 240 Kirby, Hall Porch . {Photo by A. Dryden) 244 \ NORTHAMPTONSHIRE VILLAGES. pRTHAMPTONSHIRE might almost be termed an undiscovered county, so little is known of its beauties and associations by the general public. A good many people may know it as the home of the Pytchley, famous amongst packs in a famous fox- hunting district ; the student of architecture may know it as the setting of some of his fairest gems ; but it is quite unusual to put forward Northamptonshire as a happy hunting-ground for lovers of pretty scenery and good buildings, having historical associations to ennoble and sanctify them both. And yet it is so ; the scenery has a charm all its own, it never wearies the eye with an endless flat plain, nor the spirit with an oppressively large hill that blocks out the view beyond. Here, in a dip, the road is a mere solitary lane, with its wide grass sides, its ditches full of ferns and wild flowers, and its hedges of old hawthorn mingling in the early summer their sweet scent the yet in flower beyond May with sweeter beans ; then in a few minutes the road rises to the top of a hill, with a view around for miles over undulating woods and fields, with here and there the famous spires—proud land- marks of centuries—pointing upwards from their villages to help men's minds to noble thoughts and teach them from the beauties of the present how much they owe to the painstaking industry of the past. Pleasant as the scenery is, these buildings of the past, both ecclesiastical and domestic, are the glory of the county. Northampton- shire has been specially fortunate in producing everything requisite for building, and having always been rich, its ;; 2 Memorials of Old Northamptonshire. inhabitants have left behind them such grand legacies to posterity as Peterborough Cathedral, the monumental work of the Fenland monks ; Burghley House, built by the great Cecil ; Kirby Hall, now, alas, in ruins, a palace of Sir Christopher Hatton ; Rushton Hall, the home of Sir Thomas Tresham (who built such quaint conceits as the Triangular Lodge, the " New Bield " at Lyveden, and the Market House at Rothwell) ; Apethorpe ; Castle Ashby Drayton, successively embellished by the De Veres, Greenes, Mordaunts, and Sackvilles ; Deene Hall ; Milton ; Rockingham ; Fawsley ; and among the smaller places, Lilford ; Dingley ; Ashby St. Legers ; Canons Ashby Woodcroft, an old moated castle ; and Northborough, an Edwardian manor-house. " In this Shire a Travyller maye in the highwaies as he commonly travelleth, number in some Places twenty, at some stations thirty, or more Parishe Churches. And so much the rather for that the most parte of the steeples in all that Countie are carried very high with a kinde of Spire like unto a Pyramys." These are the quamt words of Xorden, one of our earliest county historians. The county has thus long been celebrated for containing " more spires and more squires than any other county in England." Some malicious " person has tried to add more mires " ; and another, " more haughtiness and less hospitality " ; and another, " springs and spinsters." Space forbids any description of the churches, as well as any attempt to enter into the history and chronicles of the large " salutarie and profitable seates," or the stories of the smaller ones that are still remaining, for, to quote Norden again, " No Shire within this Realme can answere the like Number of Noblemen." The numerous and humble villages claim to be noticed. They are better worth attention than those in most counties, owing to their well-built stone houses, many of which are of the seventeenth and latter part of the six- teenth centuries. The picturesque irregularity of the Northamptonshire Villages. • 3 buildings, with bits of old brick here and there, the high- pitched thatch roofs, with their growths of vegetation, and sometimes the brightly-painted outside shutters and doors. produce a glow of colour foreign to many English dwellings. When the Wars of the Roses ended, the need for fortified houses declined ; this, coupled with the rise of the woollen industry and the buying of estates by merchants, was the starting point of domestic building in the country ; so it came about that the rich and prolific soil of Northamptonshire soon attracted those able to invest money. Agriculture was not, however, the only remunera- tive occupation that attracted money to the county. The shoe trade was from an early date one of its staple industries. Compared to many parts of England, the villages of Northamptonshire are compact, the lone houses, or lodges, as they are called, being few in number. The houses face the street, with no gardens in front, these being " out back way." In some cases there is a green with the houses situated all round it, and generally with trees in the middle, formerly the chosen spot for the village stocks. The houses are built of the stone of the district, and there seems to have been hardly a lordship in olden times with- out its quarry.