BRINGTON
Bryningtun (x cent.); Breninctune (xi cent.);
Brynintone (xiii cent.); Brympton (xiii-xv cent.);
Brungtuna (xiv cent.); Brynkton (xiv-xvi cent.);
Brynton, Brincktone (xvi cent.).
Brington parish forms a long, narrow strip of land
about 4 miles in length from north to south and covers
1,055 acres. The land rises from the brook forming
the southern boundary, where the height is a little
over 100 ft. above the Ordnance datum, to about
245 ft. in the north on the borders of Northamptonshire. Some parts of the high land here are known
as the Wolds. The soil and subsoil are clay with
tracts of boulder-clay. The greater part of the parish
is occupied by four large farms including Church
Farm and Rectory Farm. A road from Kimbolton
passes from south to north through the middle of the
parish and a part of it is known as Cockbrook Lane.
The village is formed round a triangle of roads, the
apex of which is to the south, where the Kimbolton
Road forks; Church Lane forms the base of the
triangle in the north. The church is at the northwest angle of the triangle and Church Farm, to the
south of it, is a timber-framed 17th-century house
with some later additions. On a chimney-stack are
the initials p h and date 1617. Belonging to the
farm are two 17th-century barns, one of which bore
the arms of Pocklington and the date 1672. (fn. 1) At the
east end of Church Lane is a 17th-century timberframed and thatched cottage, now the post office,
and near it is the square base of a wayside cross.
An Inclosure Award was made in 1804. (fn. 2) The nearest
railway station is at Kimbolton.
Manor
Athelstan, the Ealdorman of East
Anglia, who was called the 'half-king,' (fn. 3)
held BRINGTON, which descended to
his son Aylwin, founder of Ramsey Abbey. It was
granted by Aylwin to Ramsey, (fn. 4) and subsequently to
1086, when it was assessed to the geld as a 'manor'
of 4 hides, it became a member of the manor of Old
Weston (q.v.), together with Bythorn; Brington and
Bythorn formed one 'vill' in 1285. (fn. 5)
About 1360 there died a Margaret de Brington
who held lands in Brington that had been granted to
Ramsey by William de Walde, kt. of Old Weston, in
the time of Henry III, and the family of Bythorn
claimed these lands. (fn. 6) A fuller account of these
families will be given under Bythorn and Old Weston
(q.v.).
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
of a chancel (29¼ ft. by 19¾ ft.), nave
(40 ft. by 19 ft.), west tower (9½ ft. by
8½ ft.) and south porch. The walls are of coursed
rubble with stone dressings, but those of the tower
are of ashlar; the roofs are covered with tiles and lead.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey, 1086, but is recorded elsewhere as existing
in 1178. (fn. 7) The 12th-century church evidently consisted of a chancel and an aisleless nave, the former
being rebuilt in the 13th century, and the latter
c. 1330. The western tower and spire were added
about 1370, and the porch a few years later. The
chancel was again rebuilt and the rood-stairs added
about the middle of the 15th century, and probably
at the same time the nave walls were heightened and
a new roof put on. The nave roof was renewed in
1674, and some repairs were done to the chancel
in the next year. The church was restored in 1868,
when the chancel was re-roofed with a high-pitched
roof and the walls heightened. (fn. 8)
The mid 15th-century chancel has a three-light
east window with a four-centred head; northward of
it is a square-headed locker. In the east gable, outside, is a lozenge-shaped stone with the date 1675.
The north wall has a two-light window with a fourcentred head; and portions of a 13th-century double
piscina built in, consisting of jambs with attached
shafts, circular central shaft of Purbeck marble,
moulded capitals and bases, moulded lintel, and a
chamfered shelf without basins. The south wall
has two windows similar to that in the north wall, the
easternmost of which has the sill carried down to
form a seat; and a modern doorway under a 17thcentury square label. The contemporary chancel
arch is two-centred, of two chamfered orders, the
inner order resting on semicircular attached shafts
with moulded capitals and chamfered bases. To the
south of it is a square-headed squint.
The nave, built c. 1330, has in the north wall a late
14th-century two-light window with a four-centred
head, an original square-headed two-light window,
and a late 14th-century doorway with continuous
moulded jambs and a four-centred head. At the
extreme east end, the rood staircase has been built
as a projection from the wall, and the lower doorway
has a square head; the similar upper doorway is in
the angle of the east wall. The south wall has two
original square-headed two-light windows, a threelight window of c. 1350 with rich tracery in a twocentred head and containing some small fragments
of 14th-century glass, and an original doorway with
a two-centred head of two continuous moulded orders.
The low-pitched oak roof, of 1674, is of four bays and
has chamfered beams, jack-legs and braces, but incorporates a few 15th or 16th century moulded beams
in the western bay, and at this end the jack-legs rest
on two grotesque carved stone corbels; the eastern
tie-beam bears the date 1674.
The west tower, built about 1370, has a two-centred
tower-arch of three chamfered orders, the inner order
resting on attached semicircular shafts with moulded
capitals and bases. The west window is of two
lights, with a two-centred head; in the stage above
is a small single-light in the west wall, and a squareheaded opening on to the roof; and the belfry windows are two-lights with transoms and two-centred
heads. The tower has clasping buttresses at the
north-west and south-west angles rising to the sills
of the belfry windows; a moulded plinth; and a band
of panelling, partly of trefoiled niches and partly of
quatrefoiled circles and lozenges, below the spire.
The broach spire has three tiers of spire-lights, all on
the cardinal faces; the two lower tiers are of two
lights and the upper tier is of single lights. The
tower stairs are in the south-west corner.
The late 14th-century porch has a two-centred outer
arch of two continuous chamfered orders, and a narrow
single-light in each of the side walls.
The font has a crude oval tub-shaped bowl of
uncertain date, but probably 12th or 13th century,
standing on a plain 14th-century base, square below
and octagonal above, with coarse ridged stops. It
has a simple 17th-century pyramidal oak cover.
There are four bells, all inscribed: C. & G. Mears
Founders London 1845. On the bell frame is cut
Jonathan Lewin Churchwarden. John Eaton fecit,
Titchmarsh, 1845. The bells are referred to as
early as 1396, (fn. 9) and in 1552 there were four bells. (fn. 10)
There were still four bells in 1796, although the
second was cracked; their inscriptions are given:
(1) Moriendum est omnibus. 1615. (2) - - - -.
(3) Multi vocati, pauci electi. 1604; w: c: (4) Annson
me fecit. (fn. 11) In 1840 the bells and frame are recorded
as being out of repair; and in 1842 three out of the
four were said to be cracked. (fn. 12)
The 17th-century Communion table has turned
legs and shaped brackets under the rails.
There are the following monuments: in the chancel,
to the Rev. Charles Favell, Rector, d. 1807; the
Rev. Francis William Lodington, Rector, d. 1857;
and floor slabs to John Knight, d. 1629/30; the Rev.
John Kippax, Archdeacon of the Isle of Man, d. 1760,
and Alice, his wife, d. 1761; and the Rev. John Kippax, Rector, d. 1777; in the tower, to the Rev.
Oliver Pocklington, Rector, d. 1681; and Philip and
Elizabeth Hustwaite, and Hannah Lord their daughter,
erected 1748.
There is only one ancient register: baptisms
and burials 5 July 1685 to 15 November 1812, and
marriages 6 April 1708 to 5 November 1753.
The church plate consists of a silver cup engraved
with the arms of Pocklington, Paly of six argent and
purpure (fn. 13) a bend counterchanged, and inscribed 'Brington
com Huntingdon. 1664,' hall-marked for 1663–4;
a silver plate hall-marked for 1638–9 or 1678–9; a
plated flagon; a coarse pewter flagon; a small pewter
plate; a brass plate inscribed 'Brington. 1903.'
Advowson
Old Weston was the manorial centre, and Brington the ecclesiastical
centre, of a group of hamlets consisting of Old Weston, Brington and Bythorn. Although
the church and priest at Old Weston (q.v.) are mentioned in 1086, no such entries occur for the other
two hamlets; all three churches, however, were in
existence in 1178, when Pope Alexander III confirmed
them to Ramsey Abbey. (fn. 14) Both Brington and Old
Weston (q.v.) were stated to be 'mother' churches
in the 13th century, (fn. 15) but a little later the former
had become the head of the three; Bythorn and
Old Weston were subsequently chapelries to it and
the united living was in the gift of Ramsey Abbey
until the Dissolution. (fn. 16) The capital mansion of the
rector was at Brington, and he continued to hold the
rectory in right of his church. In 1566 Thomas
Withers, then rector, leased the churches of Bythorn
and Old Weston with all tithes and oblations to Sir
Robert Tyrwhitt, kt., for 70 years. Sir Robert, in
1567, demised his interest to Sir Henry Darcy, kt.,
who granted it to Peter Ashton, of Old Weston
(q.v.). (fn. 17) The interest in the lease seems to have passed
later to Thomas Parratt, and in 1598 to Sir Gervase
Clifton, of Leighton Bromswold.
The advowson was apparently retained by the
Crown until 1581, when it was in the queen's hands, (fn. 18)
and granted with the manors in this year to Edward
Downing and Peter Ashton. (fn. 19) Thomas Ashton was
patron in 1601. (fn. 20) In 1616 Robert Spicer and Mary
his wife, and Martin Perse and Katharine his wife,
conveyed the advowson to John Brasebone; (fn. 21) and in
1617 Martin Perse and Katharine conveyed it to
Richard Skynner and John Scott. (fn. 22) The living was
sequestered in 1645. (fn. 23) In 1663 Thomas Wright, M.D.,
presented Oliver Pocklington, (fn. 24) and although Thomas
Sheppard presented Abel Sheppard in 1666, Oliver
Pocklington was rector in 1668. John Pocklington
had become patron by 1681 and in 1690 presented
Henry Lee. (fn. 25) He sold the advowson at about the
same time to John Henry Lee, of Titchmarsh, (fn. 26) who
empowered his wife to sell it. As, however, he
mentioned his brothers-in-law, John and Francis
Weyman, in his will, (fn. 27) it is likely that the Weyman Lee
who was patron in 1714 (fn. 28) was his son. By 1755 the
advowson had come into the possession of Clare
College, Cambridge, (fn. 29) which still retains it.
There are no charities for this parish.