LEIGHTON BROMSWOLD
Lecton (xi cent.); Leghton, Leghton upon Brouneswold (Brunneswold) (xiv cent.).
The parish of Leighton Bromswold contains 3,128
acres, about half of which is arable and half grass land.
Salome Wood is a fairly large plantation in the north
of the parish, and there are one or two coppices.
The soil is heavy and the subsoil is Oxford Clay.
The land is undulating and is watered by two brooks,
the one flowing from the west through the north and
middle part of the parish; and the other, the Ellington
Brook, flowing eastward through the southern part of
the parish, forms the boundary for short distances.
Between these brooks is a high ridge of land known as
the Bromswold. On this ridge and also northward
of the northern brook the land rises to rather over
200 ft. above the Ordnance datum and from the ridge
it falls about 100 ft. to the southern brook and about
70 ft. to the northern. The population is chiefly
engaged in agriculture.
The village is on the ridge between the two brooks
and contains some 17th-century timber-framed and
plastered houses. The village street lies along the
road to Old Weston, with Sheep Street branching off
to the north-east to Duck End, and Leighton Hill to
the south. The church stands at the south-east
end of the village, with the Manor Farm, formerly
called Church Farm, to the west.
South-east of the church is the site of the Prebendal
Manor House. We may assume that the Prebendary
of Leighton Manor always had a good manor house
upon his estate, and it would seem that Henry
Carnbull (1478–1506) rebuilt this house. Leland
says: 'One Carneballe, prebendary there, dyd builde
a peace of a praty House standinge within a Mote.'
Gilbert Smith (1506–1548), the next prebendary, had
a school there and later sold the manor, no doubt by
a forced sale, to Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, and the Prebend
of Leighton Manor then ceased to exist. This house
probably stood somewhat south-east of the present
Gatehouse; and in it Sir Robert Tyrwhitt and his
successors, Sir Henry D'Arcy and Sir Gervase Clifton,
lived. Sir Gervase Clifton (1591–1618) began to
build a new house from the designs of John Thorpe.
He probably altered the moat and formed the banks
with terrace walks and bastion corners inside it, and
in 1616 he built a new Gatehouse within an extension of the moat at the north-west side of the
site. Whether he built any part of his new house is
uncertain; some wrought stones were found in the
west garden and in the moat in 1904, but it is very
doubtful whether he actually built anything. Thomas
Norton's map (c. 1660) shows a very fine house
standing in the centre of the moated inclosure,
but the sketches on old maps are generally only
imaginative pictures, and this is no proof of the size
or appearance of the house. Eighty years ago it was
asserted that the house was still standing in 1750,
and that people only recently dead could remember
it and said that it was a red brick house with stone
dressings; but it is probable that this was the old
Prebendal house left standing while the new house
was being built. John Thorpe's plan for the House
and Gatehouse still remains in the Thorpe collection
in Sir John Soane's Museum. It shows an entrance
porch on the west, a great hall in the middle with
open roof, screens and dais, and behind the hall a
large room having the long gallery with three bay
windows facing east above it. Northward of the hall
was the great chamber on the first floor, and a great
staircase at the north-west corner, projecting north
from which was the chapel. Westward of the hall were
kitchen, larders, etc., with a bakehouse projecting
northward to correspond with the chapel. On the
west side of the house was an inclosed courtyard
with the Gatehouse on the western side.
Plan of Leighton Bromswold Gatehouse
The Gatehouse, which still remains, but converted
into a Vicarage house in 1904, consisted of a central
carriage way with a large arch at each end, and a room
on each side of it; at the four angles were small
square projecting turrets, those on the east containing
staircases. The side rooms had a floor above them,
and the whole was then covered by a flat lead roof,
the angle turrets being carried up each with a small
upper room and covered with pyramidal tiled roofs.
At some period, probably soon after it was built,
the rooms on each side of the carriage way were enlarged
by extending them to the northern and southern
faces respectively of the angle turrets—the foundations
of the older walls and the beams in the floors above
being found in 1904. The great arches were closed in
and a floor was inserted across the carriage way. A
large oven was built against the south-east turret.
Some of the old walls were very rotten and had been
much cut into to form doorways and other openings,
while many of the windows had been blocked up.
The arches of the carriage way are of stone with a
frieze and cornice above them and flanked by Doric
columns supporting ornamental pilasters once surmounted by stone crests. Parts of an open balustrading of the flat roof still remain on the west side. The
windows in the four turrets are square-headed twolight windows with transoms; two or three other
similar windows, but without transoms, remain, but
most of the other windows were insertions of late
date. The external appearance of the house has been
little altered by the works of 1904; a low porch has
been built across between the turrets of the west
front, and a shallow bay window has been inserted in
the great arch on the east front: on the north and
south the rebuilt walls between the turrets have been
taken down, and the central part of the house has been
projected slightly in advance of the turrets on these
sides. The Gatehouse had no ancient fireplaces, and
only four modern ones; the two larger stone chimneypieces now in the house came from Stow Longa
Manor House, which had recently been pulled down.
The staircases were quite modern and of mean design;
the turned balusters of the present staircase came
from Stow Longa Manor House. A finely carved oak
beam, now over the bay window of the middle room,
was found in the house. Much of the old stone
found on the site was used for the new work.
The village is about four and a half miles north-east
from Kimbolton station on the Kettering and Cambridge branch of the London Midland and Scottish
Railway.
In 1289 Reymund de Solerettis, a merchant of
Figeac, while passing 'with his harness and men,
between the Ascension and Whitsuntide,' was
attacked and robbed by Vincent of London and Hugh
'whose surname the jurors know not.' (fn. 1) The merchant
came in a dazed state to Coppingford and Upton
and raised the hue and cry about midday, and 'the
men of those towns followed the evildoers to Albrichelee
[Aversley] wood whither he stated they had fled,
but could not find them . . . because it was so dark
that it was almost impossible to see.' Afterwards,
however, the robbers were taken, and hanged at
Lincoln. (fn. 2)
Nicholas Grimald or Grimbald (1519–62), the poet,
is supposed to have been born in the parish.
William, treasurer of King John, in 1211 obtained a
charter for a fair to be held on the feast of the Invention
of the Holy Cross (3 May). (fn. 3) There were later two
fairs, one on May Day and the other on 24 September. (fn. 4)
The following place-names occur in local records:
Churchestreete, Plowewright's (xv cent.); (fn. 5) Knolle
Hill, Bury lease, Sallam green (xvi cent.). (fn. 6)
An Inclosure Award was made in 1765–6 (6 Geo. III)
and a Tythe Award in 1851.
Manors
The manor of LEIGHTON BROMSWOLD, which contained land for
19½ ploughs, belonged to Turchil the
Dane in the time of Edward the Confessor;
and presumably passed, like Conington (q.v.) and
Sawtry, to his successor Earl Waltheof, and Judith
his wife. (fn. 7) Waltheof (d. 1076) granted it to the
cathedral church of St. Mary of Lincoln (founded in
1072), and this gift was confirmed by William I. (fn. 8)
There were then 30 acres of meadow and 10 acres
of underwood belonging to the manor. The demesne
of the Bishop of Lincoln was worth £20, and 3
hides less one virgate of the land were held of him
by three knights, the joint value of their holdings
being 60s. (fn. 9)
Bishopric of Lincoln. Gules two leopards or and a chief azure with the Virgin and Child or therein.
It is said that Remigius, the first Bishop of Lincoln
(1072–92), divided the estates of the church of Lincoln
into prebends. Out of Leighton he formed two prebends;
the one which became known
as 'Leighton Manor' consisted
of the manor of Leighton
Bromswold, and the other,
called 'Leighton Ecclesia,'
comprised the rectory and
advowson. (fn. 10) The manor of
Leighton Bromswold was held
by the prebendary of Leighton
Manor until 1548. (fn. 11)
In 1230 the prebendal
manor of Leighton Bromswold was held by William,
Archdeacon of Wells and
Canon of Lincoln, who in that year brought several
actions to recover land in Leighton against William
Terry, William the Baker, William de Salue and
Richard, son of Agnes, alleging that Alean, his predecessor, had been seised of it in demesne in the reign
of Henry II. (fn. 12) Probably the deforciants were representatives of Alean's feoffees, and their holdings
may even have been those of the knights mentioned
in Domesday Book; at any rate, they seem to have
established their right to hold of the archdeacon
as of his prebend. In 1231 William the Baker, whom
Stephen Carpenter and Clarice his wife had vouched
to warranty, acknowledged the right of the archdeacon to a quarter and three parts of a virgate,
in return for which the archdeacon granted him the
premises for life at a yearly rent of 6s., with reversion
to the prebend. (fn. 13) William Terry and William de
Salue, however, seem to have refused to agree to
have their inheritance merged in the demesne.
During the second half of the 14th century the
township of Leighton, like other parts of England,
seems to have been in a disturbed state, for in 1356
Richard Buckeden of Leighton received a pardon
of outlawry for his neglect to answer an indictment
under the Statute of Labourers. It appears that he
and others had come by night and broken 'the stocks
which had been made by the King's mandate for
the safe-keeping of delinquents against the statute,
and that they threw them into a grave.' (fn. 14) In 1385,
too, the bond men and bond tenants of the prebendary of Leighton withdrew their services and
leagued themselves by oath to resist him. (fn. 15) It was,
moreover, a Leighton man, John Veyse, who dared
in 1406 to appeal the Abbot of Ramsey of treason;
but he was hanged at Huntingdon on the abbot's
acquittal. (fn. 16)
The manor remained in the hands of the prebendaries until 1548, (fn. 17) when it was conveyed by the
prebendary, Gilbert Smyth, to Sir Robert Tyrwhitt
the younger and his wife Elizabeth. (fn. 18) The manor
remained in the possession of the Tyrwhitts and passed
by the marriage of their daughter and heir Katherine
to Sir Henry D'Arcy, who dealt with it by fine in
1569 and 1580. (fn. 19)
Cornwallis. Sable sprinkled with drops argent and a fesse argent with three choughs thereon
In 1591 it was settled on Katherine, daughter and
heir of Sir Henry D'Arcy, on her marriage with Sir
Gervase Clifton, (fn. 20) who was created Baron Clifton
of Leighton Bromswold in 1608, and died in October
1618, his wife having died before him. (fn. 21) The manor
had been settled in 1613 on their daughter Katherine
(after her father's death suo jure Lady Clifton of
Leighton Bromswold) on her marriage to Esme,
Lord Aubigny, afterwards Baron Stuart of Leighton
Bromswold and Earl of March, (fn. 22) who succeeded his
brother in the Dukedom of Lennox in 1624, a few
months before his own death. (fn. 23) Katherine survived
him until 1637, when the manor passed to her son
James, Duke of Lennox and Richmond, who died in
1655 and was succeeded by his son, Esme. (fn. 24) On the
death of Esme as a child in 1660, Leighton Bromswold
was inherited by his sister Mary, (fn. 25) who married Richard
Butler, Earl of Arran, and died without issue in 1667.
The Earl of Arran, having purchased the estate,
settled it on Charlotte, his daughter by his second
wife. (fn. 26) In 1700, when Charlotte married Charles, Lord
Cornwallis, a fresh settlement
was made of the manor, (fn. 27)
which subsequently followed
the descent of the Barony
and, after 1753, the Earldom
of Cornwallis. (fn. 28) In 1763
Charles, Earl Cornwallis, who
was afterwards twice Governor-General of Bengal, and
was created Marquess Cornwallis in 1792, was vouchee
in a recovery. (fn. 29) The manor
was apparently sold in 1786
and in 1789 was acquired by Lord Porchester and
Thomas and Richard Brandon, and the Brandons
presented to the church in 1790. (fn. 30) The estate was,
it would seem, bought by the trustees of John Norris
in 1793, and on the death of John Norris, presumably his son, in 1853 it was put up for auction and
purchased by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who
still hold it.
A mill rendering 3s. is mentioned among the
appurtenances of the manor in Domesday Book; (fn. 31)
and references to the lord's windmill occur in 1247 (fn. 32)
and 1444. (fn. 33) There is no mill now in the township.
Ten acres of underwood are mentioned as belonging
to the manor in 1086. (fn. 34) At a later date Henry II
is said to have afforested a grove at Saleue, to the
great damage of the lord of Leighton; (fn. 35) and it was
accordingly disafforested by Edward I after the perambulation of 1301. (fn. 36) In 1356 we hear that John,
son of Thomas under the Hull, had been killed at a
wrestling match in Salome Wood in 1335. (fn. 37) In 1364,
however, John de Newenham, prebendary of Leighton,
obtained from Edward III a grant of free warren
in his demesne lands and licence to inclose Salome
Wood, with the pasture adjoining, in order to make
a park. (fn. 38) The prebendary complained in 1367 that
William Payn and others had broken his closes and
entered his free warren. (fn. 39)
Further inclosures were made during the 15th and
16th centuries, but these appear to have been made
for the purpose of increasing the pasture land rather
than enlarging the park. Henry Carnbull, prebendary
in 1500, inclosed the pastures of Leighton Bromswold;
and several of the tenants afterwards inclosed the
crofts belonging to their tenements, though 'it was
not denied that Tyrrwhyt had common at certain
times of the year' in those crofts. (fn. 40) Tyrwhitt himself
inclosed Salome field; but this was 'dysclosed and
laid open and the field converted from pasture to
tillage as of old' with his consent. At an inquiry
before the Court of Requests in 1553 Philip Gill
related how he with the vicar and another tenant had
gone to Tyrwhitt as a deputation from the tenants to
ask that a right of way might be excepted from the
inclosure of Salome field for their cattle to reach
Salome Green, and how Sir Robert declared that
'if any of the tenants were not satisfied with the
inclosure . . . or that Knole Hill and Sallam Layse,
which he had appointed in recompense for the
common . . . was not sufficient recompense, he wuld
hymself as he was true Christyan man and Knyght
helpe to plucke up withe his owen hands thenclosure.'
Apparently no objections to his proceeding were
raised at that time, but he seems to have compensated the freeholders at the expense of certain copyholders, and this led to the difficulties which ended
almost immediately in the 'dysclosure' of Salome
field. (fn. 41)
The meadows around the site of Sir Gervase
Clifton's Manor House still bear names which would
indicate the former existence of a park here, such as the
Vicarage Park (now glebe), the Great Park and Upper
and Nether Park.
The district known as SALOME (Salne xiii cent.;
Salene or Saleue, Salewe, xiv cent.; Salom, xv cent.) (fn. 42)
included a wider area in the middle ages than the
wood which now preserves the name. In 1230
William de Salue held of the prebend one and a half
virgates of land in Salome and nearly half a virgate
in Leighton, which William, Archdeacon of Wells,
claimed as part of the demesne. (fn. 43) This William de
Salue may perhaps be identified with the William,
son of Roger de Salue, who held of Nicholas de Emberton in Great Gidding (q.v.). His kinship with Robert
de Sales, whom the Archdeacon of Wells had claimed
in 1229 as his native, (fn. 44) and with John de Sale or Salue
who married Geva, the daughter and co-heir of Alice de
Stilton, (fn. 45) is not clear. His family, however, continued
to hold land both in Gidding and Leighton for over
200 years. Both John Salom the elder and the younger
are mentioned at Gidding in 1443; (fn. 46) and one of them
occurs at Leighton Bromswold in the following year. (fn. 47)
The last reference to the family that has been found
in local records is that to John Salom, who was a
juror at the court of Gidding in 1486. (fn. 48)
A larger holding than that of William de Salue in
1230 was that of William Terry, who was concerned
in a like lawsuit with William, Archdeacon of Wells,
about two and a half virgates in Leighton. (fn. 49) He was
apparently succeeded by Walter Terry, who held one
hide of land there in 1253. (fn. 50) Walter granted it to
Thomas Terry, who promised in return to maintain
an inn (hospicium) for Walter in Leighton and to render
a yearly rent of 2 marks, 7 quarters of wheat, and 7
quarters of barley, during Walter's lifetime. (fn. 51) The
descent of the holding after this date is obscure, the
evidence being insufficient to warrant its identification
with the large freehold held in the 14th century by
the Lorde family or any other in Leighton.
The freehold known in the 16th century as
LORDES MANOR may probably be identified with
the land held in 1378 by John Lord, (fn. 52) whose name
first occurs in 1338. (fn. 53) In that year John le Lord
received a pardon for the death of Robert le Clerk of
Leighton, as it appeared that he had killed him in
self-defence. This John was probably of an earlier
generation and may have been the father of the John
Lord who held in the reign of Richard II. In 1378
a rent of 6s. 2d. and 2 capons receivable from the
tenement of Walter Julian was granted to John
Stukeley and others by John Lord, who at the same
time settled his land in Leighton. (fn. 54) In 1381 he
granted to John de Herlyngton a rent of 30s. in
Leighton, together with the service due from Thomas
Cornwaille and his heirs for the tenement which
John Lord had previously held. (fn. 55) The family continued
to hold under the manor for at least sixty years;
another John Lord is referred to at Leighton in 1444. (fn. 56)
The last of the name to whom reference has been
found, Henry Lorde, died on 19 April 1534, when his
reputed manor in Leighton is described as being held
of Thomas Wingfield as of his manor of Kimbolton. (fn. 57)
His heir was said to be Richard Parell, the son of his
sister Magdalen, aged eight; (fn. 58) but in 1548 Thomas
Perell, the son of Henry's sister Maud, was found to
be the heir (fn. 59) —probably Richard had died. The
history of the freehold after this date has not been
traced.
Church
The church of ST. MARY consists of
a chancel (46¾ ft. by 20¼ ft.), nave
(58¼ ft. by 24 ft.), north transept
(18¼ ft. by 20¼ ft.), south transept (17½ ft. by 20¼ ft.),
west tower (15 ft. by 14 ft.) and north and south
porches. The walls are of coursed rubble with stone
dressings, except the tower, which is faced with ashlar,
and the roofs are covered with tiles and lead.
Plan of Leighton Bromswold Church
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey (1086). A chancel and an aisled nave were
built about 1250, but this chancel was apparently
rebuilt about 1310, and large transepts were added
to the nave some forty years later. Probably the
aisles were partly rebuilt and new windows inserted
in them, and perhaps a clearstory added to the nave
towards the end of the 15th century. At the beginning of the 17th century the church was in a
ruinous condition, and apparently about 1606 a rebuilding was commenced; the south arcade and aisle
were pulled down and the south wall of an aisleless
nave and south porch built. The work, however,
was stopped for lack of funds, and for twenty years the
church was 'so decayed, so little, and so useless, that
the parishioners could not meet to perform their duty
to God in public prayer and praises.' (fn. 60) The nave was,
of course, roofless, and it is said that the Duke of
Lennox's barn was used for divine service. Shortly
after 1626 the Rev. George Herbert completed the
work by pulling down the north arcade and aisle and
building the north wall of the new aisleless nave and
the north porch; he re-roofed the whole church and
put in the pulpit, reading desk, dwarf screen and
seating. The west tower was built by the Duke of
Lennox in 1634. (fn. 61) The church was restored in 1870.
The 14th-century chancel has a four-light east
window with original jambs, but a late 15th-century
depressed four-centred head; on the north side of it
a 13th-century capital (now mutilated) has been built
in as a bracket. The north wall has two original
three-light windows with intersecting tracery in a
two-centred head; a late 15th-century three-light
window with a depressed four-centred head; and a
13th-century locker with trefoiled head and stone
shelf. The south wall has three windows similar to
those on the north; a small late 15th-century doorway; a blocked original doorway, only visible inside;
a blocked low-side window; a reset 13th-century
double piscina having one whole and two half semicircular intersecting arches with interpenetrating
mouldings, carried on a central shaft and two detached
jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The
13th-century chancel arch is two-centred, of two
chamfered orders, the lower order resting on triple
attached corbel-shafts with moulded capitals and
modern corbels. The roof is modern, but the moulded
principals of 1626 remain. The weathering of the
earlier roof remains above the chancel arch.
The nave has, on each side of the chancel arch, the
13th-century respond column of the former arcades;
they are semicircular with moulded capitals and bases.
The 17th-century north wall has a reset late 15thcentury three-light window; a reset 14th-century archway to the porch, of two chamfered orders (probably
the old arch between the aisle and transept re-used),
the lower order resting on mutilated corbels, reset and
altered in the 17th century; and a slight recess close
to the west end, as for the inner splay of a window.
The 17th-century south wall has features similar to
those of the north wall. Both walls have splayed
plinths, but those on the south appear to be of rather
coarse workmanship and do not extend round the
porch, while those on the north are finely wrought and
are carried along the east and west walls of the porch.
The 14th-century north transept has a four-light
east window with reticulated tracery in a two-centred
head. The north wall has a late 15th-century threelight window with a depressed four-centred head.
The west wall has, near its northern end, a blocked
late 14th-century doorway; and at the southern end
the weather stones of the early aisle roof remain.
The 14th-century south transept is similar to the
north except that it has no doorway in the west wall.
In the east wall is a rectangular shelf-bracket ornamented with ball-flowers and supported on a carved
head. The south wall has a trefoiled-headed piscina
and a rectangular locker.
The roofs of the nave and transepts are all of 1626,
and have moulded beams, jack-legs with moulded
pendants and panelled braces.
In the north transept are some 17th-century red
and yellow glazed flooring tiles.
The 17th-century west tower is of Renaissance
character; it has a two-centred tower arch of two
moulded orders resting on square responds with
moulded imposts. The west doorway has a semicircular arch with keystone, and above it is a plain
rectangular tablet; above this is a window of two
round-headed lights. In the stage above is a rectangular window surrounded by a simple architrave. The
belfry windows are coupled round-headed lights. The
tower has clasping buttresses carried up above the
parapet and terminating in large obelisk-shaped
pinnacles finished with balls. The tower itself has a
modillioned cornice, an embattled parapet, and a flat
lead roof. The stairs are at the south-west corner.
The 17th-century north porch has a mid 13thcentury north doorway, perhaps the old door of the
former aisle in situ; it has a two-centred head of
three orders, the two outer orders springing from
detached jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases
and the inner order continuous. The porch has no
buttresses, but the plinth of the nave is continued
along its east and west walls.
The 17th-century south porch has a mid 13thcentury south doorway, almost certainly rebuilt,
as it does not seem to be quite on the line of the
former aisle wall; it has a two-centred arch of three
moulded orders enriched with the dog-tooth ornament,
and resting on four detached jamb-shafts on each side,
having moulded capitals and bases. The east wall
has a plain square-headed 17th-century window.
The porch has buttresses square at the angles,
probably largely of 13th-century material re-used.
The font is made up of two 13th-century circular
moulded capitals and a piece of circular shaft. The
cover is largely modern, but has a 17th-century ball
on the top.
There are five bells, inscribed: (1) + I.H.S.
Nazarenvs rex Judeorvm fili Dei miserere mei +
George Woolf Vicar I: Michell: C: W: W: N. 1720;
(2) ABCDE FGHIKL MNOPQR. Thomas
Norris made me 1641; (3) and (4) same as (2);
(5) Esme Catherina. In 1552 there were four bells
and a sanctus bell. (fn. 62) The bells were rehung, in a
new frame, in 1902.
The dwarf screen under the chancel arch, and
practically all the seating throughout the church, is of
1626, and has simple oak framing with some turned
balusters and knobs; a modern screen in the south
transept is made up of similar old material. A curved
screen in the north-west angle of the tower is made
up of old panelling.
The pulpit and reading desk, both with sounding
boards, and also the Communion table, are of similar
character. The modern lectern (1903) incorporates
some oak balusters and knobs from the staircase of
Stow Longa Manor House. There are two chairs in
the chancel of c. 1700; a 16th-century chest in the
south transept; and the north and south doors
with their frames are of 1626.
On the tower floor is the matrix of a 15th-century
brass with figure of a man and inscription plate.
In the north transept is an alabaster altar-tomb
with mutilated effigies of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, d. 1572,
and Elizabeth (Oxenbridge), his wife, d. 1578. The
sides are divided into panels with figures of a daughter
and two infants, and shields of arms (1) Quarterly
1 and 4, three peewits; 2 and 3, a chief indented;
(2) a lion rampant, within a bordure; and (3) the
two coats impaled. Also in the north transept a
mutilated alabaster effigy of Katherine, daughter of
Sir John and Elizabeth, and wife of Sir Henry D'Arcy,
d. 1567. Lying loose, close to these monuments, is
a broken stone crest.
There are two lead rain-water pipes on each side
of the chancel with elaborately shaped heads and
decorated with crests, etc., one of them dated 1632;
on the north transept two somewhat plainer pipes and
heads, dated 1634; on the south transept two others,
similar, but not dated.
There are the following monuments: in the chancel,
to the Rev. Thomas Ladds, vicar, d. 1899; in the nave,
to Ernest Cook, d. 1917, Wilfred Barwell, d. 1918;
Lewis Robert Jellis, d. 1933; in the south transept,
to Hugh Brawn, d. 1917; in the tower, floor slab to
William Chapman, d. 1687.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages and burials, 4 November 1653 to 27 June 1716;
(ii) the same 29 June 1716 to 12 December 1813, with
exceptions as (v) and (vi) below, marriages end 9 April
1753; (iii) marriages 7 April 1755 to 2 September
1783; (iv) marriages 14 October 1783 to 18 October
1804; (v) baptisms and burials 8 October 1783 to
23 September 1791; (vi) baptisms 5 August 1788,
and burials 7 November 1791 to 24 June 1797;
(vii) marriages 13 October 1806 to 16 June 1812.
The church plate consists of a large silver cup
engraved with the quartered arms of Catherine
(Clifton), Duchess of Lennox, in a lozenge, and her
crest, a bull's head rising out of a ducal coronet,
both repeated twice, hall-marked for 1627–8;
a silver cover paten for the same, engraved with the
same crest, no date-letter; a silver flagon, inscribed
'Leighton Bromswold Church 1878,' hall-marked
for 1878–9.
Advowson
The church of Leighton Bromswold with the rectory and advowson
passed with the prebend of 'Leighton
Ecclesia' in Lincoln Cathedral from the time, it is
said, of Bishop Remigius (fn. 63) (d. 1092) until 1839.
A vicarage was constituted about 1249, the vicar
receiving all oblations, obventions, tithes of lambs,
wool, cheese and milk, and fruits, the tithe of the
lord's windmill and a year's hay for one palfrey,
with the lesser tithes pertaining both to the church
and the chapel at Salome (Salu') except herbage,
pasture and pannage of the wood. Robert de Maperton, who was presented and admitted in that year,
had permission to have fellow chaplains to serve the
cure. (fn. 64) The prebend of Leighton Manor was valued
at £46 13s. 4d. and the prebend of Leighton [Ecclesia]
at £35 6s. 8d. and the vicarage at £4 13s. 4d. for Pope
Nicholas's taxation in 1291. (fn. 65) The prebendal church
was valued at 53 marks and the vicarage at 7 marks in
1428, the sum raised for the subsidy being £4. (fn. 66)
In 1553 the prebend of Leighton Ecclesia was valued
at £18 gross and £13 14s. net; (fn. 67) the prebend of
Leighton Manor at £68 19s. 2d. gross and £57 15s. 1d.
net; the vicarage at £7 and the chantry at £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 68)
The prebendaries of Leighton Ecclesia were in the
habit of leasing the advowson, and consequently
the right of patronage was frequently exercised by the
owners of the manor and others as lessees. In this
way it was held by the Tyrwhitts, Sir Gervase Clifton (fn. 69)
and Sir Henry D'Arcy (1580), (fn. 70) Lord Cornwallis
(1736), Thomas Brandon and others (1790), John
Keysall and John Norris (1802). (fn. 71) In 1839 the
patronage passed to the Bishop of Ely.
The chapel of Salen is mentioned in 1248 (fn. 72) and in 1299
the question arose as to its being a sanctuary. (fn. 73) In
1444 the sum of 16s. 8d. was paid 'pro le riggyng and
redyng de la chapell, hall and le chaumbre' at Leighton
Bromswold. (fn. 74) This is the last reference we have
found to the chapel. The site is marked on a map by
Thomas Norton (c. 1660) (fn. 75) as a square inclosure at
the north-west corner of Elecampane Close near the
south-west angle of Salome Wood. Near it is a spot
marked St. Tellin (St. Helen) Well. The inclosure is
still represented by a slight mound and ditch, and
recent excavations by Dr. Garrood have disclosed
the foundations of the chapel, tiles, glazed pottery,
fragments of medieval painted glass, and a coin of
Gaucher de Porcein (1314–1329); while a damp depression in the ground near by may represent the
well.
There was a chantry at Leighton Bromswold
apparently in the church, which was founded by
Master Gilbert Smith, Archdeacon of Northampton,
and endowed with a pension payable by the Priory of
St. Andrew in Northampton. (fn. 76)
There are no charities for this parish.