TIXOVER
Tixouer, Tichesovre (xi cent.); Ticesoure, Tichesora (xii cent.); Tykesore, Tykesovere, Tykeshovre,
Tykessore (xiii cent.); Tekyssovere, Tyxover (xv
cent.); Tekesore, Tyxore (xvi cent.).
Tixover is a small parish containing 842 acres on the
Northamptonshire border of Rutland. The river
Welland divides it on the south from Wakerley and
on the east from Duddington. The village is small and
stands very low on the left bank of the Welland, just
off the main road from Uppingham to Peterborough.
The church of St. Luke stands at some distance from
the village on the bank of the Welland in the south of
the parish and is approached by a footpath through
the fields. The cottages are of stone with stone roofs.
The Manor Farm is in the village, and Tixover Hall
is on the main road to the east of the village. Tixover
Grange and Tixover Lodge are in the north of the
parish in isolated situations. The parish was inclosed
in 1802.
Remains of a Roman villa were discovered many
years ago near the Grange, and on levelling a hill
near the church a stone coffin was found.
Manor
At the time of the Domesday Survey
TIXOVER was part of the king's manor
of Ketton. (fn. 1) Henry I, between 1104
and 1106, granted it to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln (fn. 2)
(d. 1123), probably for life, as he afterwards gave it
with half the manor of Manton to the Abbey of
Cluny by a charter dated between 1130 and 1133, (fn. 3)
and, like Manton, Tixover remained in the possession
of the abbey till the lands of the alien abbeys were
seized by Henry V.
In 1205 it was granted with other manors of the
Abbey of Cluny to the Abbot of Chertsey during the
king's pleasure, (fn. 4) and in 1268 the abbot leased it to
Imbert de Montferrant, for life. Imbert was still
holding it in 1275. (fn. 5) Otherwise its history is the same
as that of Manton, the two manors passing from time
to time into the king's hands and being farmed together till restored to the abbey. (fn. 6)
In 1323 a question arose as to the king's right to
custody of the manor during a voidance of the abbey.
The escheator had seized the manor till the new
abbot should do fealty, but the abbot claimed that the
manor had always previously remained in the keeping
of the house during a voidance, and Edward II ordered
that the issues should be restored until the records
of Chancery could be examined on this point. (fn. 7)
Tixover manor followed the same descent as
Manton (q.v.) to Charles Dale. (fn. 8) It was sold by his
trustees in 1679 to Henry Stafford of Blatherwick
(co. Northants). (fn. 9) William Stafford, son of William
Stafford, of Blatherwick died in 1687, leaving as heirs
his sisters Susan, wife of Henry O'Brien, and Anne,
wife of George Evans, afterwards Lord Carbery. (fn. 10)
Tixover manor and Blatherwick were assigned to
Susan, and she, then a widow, and her son, Henry
O'Brien, made a conveyance of the manor in 1728. (fn. 11)
This was probably a settlement on Susan's second
marriage in that year with Arthur Geoghegan of
Castletown in West Meath. (fn. 12) Arthur assumed the
name of Stafford, and he and his wife were holding
the manor in 1737. (fn. 13) Henry O'Brien, son of Susan,
died in 1757, leaving an only child Susannah, wife of
Edward O'Brien of Inistimon (co. Clare). Susannah
and Edward made a conveyance of the manor in 1764, (fn. 14)
but in 1758 Donatus O'Brien, brother of Henry, and
third son of Susan [Stafford], with his wife Mary
and son Donatus were holding it, (fn. 15) and in 1779 it
belonged to Henry O'Brien, second son of the elder
Donatus. (fn. 16) Henry died in 1811, when his son
Stafford succeeded. Stafford, who was sheriff of
Rutland in 1809, married Emma, daughter of Sir
Gerald Noel, bart., in June 1808. Their son Stafford
Augustus O'Brien held the manor in 1832. (fn. 17) In 1847
he assumed the additional name of Stafford. He died
without issue in 1857, when his brother Henry Stafford
O'Brien, who also assumed the surname Stafford,
succeeded. His son Horace Stafford O'Brien succeeded him in 1880 and is the present owner of the
manor. Tixover Hall is the residence of his second
son, Major Horace Henry Stafford O'Brien.
Church
The church of ST. LUKE consists of
chancel 28 ft. by 13 ft., nave of two bays
26 ft. by 13 ft., north and south aisles
respectively 9 ft. and 6 ft. wide, south porch, and west
tower 12 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being
internal. The width across nave and aisles is 32 ft.
The building is of rubble throughout with ashlar
quoins and dressings and externally is very plain in
character. The roofs are all modern and are covered
with overhanging stone slates. There is a clearstory
on the south side only, the roof of the wider north
aisle covering the nave wall almost its full height.
The gables are without coping, and there is a complete
absence of buttresses. Internally, except in the
tower, all the walls are plastered.
The tower belongs to a 12th-century church the
rest of which was rebuilt early in the 13th century.
The porch was added in the 15th century. The
south arcade is c. 1200 and the north arcade slightly
later, but when the body of the church was rebuilt
and aisles added no increase in the size of the nave was
made, the length of which is less than that of the
chancel. The north aisle was apparently widened
subsequently, (fn. 18) the old materials being re-used, but
the position of its west window was altered. In the
main, therefore, the whole of the building, with the
exception of the tower and porch, is of the early part
of the 13th century.
The massive Norman tower is of three stages
marked by bold stringcourses and has a chamfered
plinth and a small round-headed window in the
west side of the otherwise blank lower stage. The
middle stage is blank on the north and west sides,
but on the south there is a round-headed window
of two orders, the outer with edge-roll on jambshafts with cushion capitals and moulded bases, the
inner with a continuous roll and cheveron on the wall
plane. Both windows are without hood-moulds.
The bell-chamber windows consist of three tall roundheaded openings of a single square order, the arches
springing from chamfered imposts; the middle
opening on each side is now blocked. (fn. 19) The tower
terminates in a later roughly constructed battlemented
parapet, below which, in the middle of each wall,
is a gargoyle. There is no vice. The string between
the first and second stages is enriched with hatching (fn. 20)
and with star ornament; the upper string is chamfered
on both edges. Internally the tower opens into the
nave by a beautiful semicircular arch of three moulded
orders, the inner order on half-round responds and
the two outer on detached jambshafts on both sides,
all with enriched cushion capitals and moulded
bases on high chamfered plinths. (fn. 21) On the north
side the capitals have ornament only at the angles,
the cushion surfaces being plain, and the bases are
fluted, but on the south the bases have a series of
round mouldings and the capitals are enriched on the
flat surfaces as well as at the angles, the lozenge pattern
occurring on the upper part. The chamfered abaci
on both sides are quite plain, as are also the hoodmoulds. The arch has a large soffit roll,
with a series of smaller round mouldings
on each side. Above it the lower
stringcourse of the tower extends along
the whole of the wall, between which
and the line of the original nave roof (fn. 22)
is a tall round-headed opening, (fn. 23) slightly
to the south of the axis of the tower.
The 13th-century chancel has a squareheaded east window of three lights the
sill of which is 8 ft. above the ground.
The window has single-chamfered jambs
and mullions and the lights are long and
narrow like the usual lancet windows of
the period, but the tops are square and
quite plain. All the windows, both in
chancel and aisles, are of this character,
but only the east window has a hoodmould. Though the claim that these are
unaltered 13th-century windows has been
questioned, (fn. 24) there seems to be no sufficient reason for stating that they are not contemporary with the building, though their character
is unusual. (fn. 25) There are two single-light widely
splayed windows on each side of the chancel, (fn. 26) set
somewhat far apart near the east and west ends, and
in the usual position in the south wall a plain pointed
piscina recess with circular bowl. (fn. 27) In the north wall
is a rectangular aumbry and along its western portion,
extending as far as the altar rails, a stone bench table.
A similar bench on the south side has been shortened
at its east end for the erection of a monument. (fn. 28) The
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, without
hood-mould, springing from rather roughly fashioned
octagonal chamfered capitals, or imposts, below
which the square jambs are plastered. The arch
may have been altered at the time of the erection of the
rood-loft, the stairs to which remain on the north
side, with entrance from the east end of the aisle,
as well as the square-headed upper doorway.
The south arcade of the nave consists of two semicircular arches of two chamfered orders, with hood
mould on both sides, springing from half-round
responds and a cylindrical dividing pillar, all with
circular capitals and bases. The west respond has
a plain bell capital, but the capital of the pillar is
carved with a very simple water-leaf, while that of the
east respond has more naturalistic stiff-leaf foliage. In
the later north arcade the arches are pointed and of two
chamfered orders, springing from an octagonal pillar
the capital of which has boldly carved natural foliage,
and at the east end from a half-octagonal respond with
moulded capital. At the west end the arch rises from
a moulded corbel supported by a mutilated figure, or
draped torso, partly restored. (fn. 29) There are hood-moulds
on both sides of the arches, with stops on the nave
side only. The bases in both arcades are moulded.
Plan of Tixover Church
The south doorway has an inner chamfered trefoil
arch with plain chamfered jambs, set within a round
arch with keel-shaped edge-mould and cheveron
hood with an outer line of nail-head. The round
arch springs from moulded imposts and jambshafts,
with moulded bases and carved capitals, that on the
east side having water-leaf and the other stiff-leaf
foliage. The blocked north doorway has a pointed
moulded arch apparently of 13th-century date. (fn. 30)
The south aisle has a single-light window at its
east end and one of two lights in the south wall, but
in the north aisle the east window is of two lights and
that in the north wall of three; there is also a singlelight window at the west end. All these windows, as
before stated, are of one type, with square heads,
and are widely splayed, with dropped sills.
There is an image bracket above the east window of
the south aisle, but the piscina, if still existing, is
covered by a large pew. On the east side of the
doorway is a portion of a stone wall bench. (fn. 31)
The three circular quatrefoiled clearstory windows
on the south side are modern.
The late 15th-century porch has a four-centred
doorway of two continuous chamfered orders, without
hood-mould, and a single-light square-headed window
in the east wall.
The font, now under the tower, has a plain square
bowl with chamfered angles, standing on a slender
modern shaft and four legs with moulded bases. (fn. 32)
The stone pulpit dates from 1859.
Against the south wall of the chancel, between
the windows, is an imposing marble monument with
effigies of Roger Dale (d. 1623) and his wife, who are
represented kneeling on either side of a prayer-desk
under separate rounded canopies and entablature
supported by composite columns, with arms and
inscription above. On the base are the kneeling
figures of two daughters.
Inserted in the two-light window of the south
aisle is some foreign glass, including a panel with a
figure of St. Katharine of Alexandria, and another with
coat of arms and Latin inscription recording Iodocus
Knab, provost of the church of Lucerne, 1646. (fn. 33)
There is a tablet in the south aisle to Richard
Merveilleux (d. 1832).
In the tower is a single medieval bell inscribed
'Sancta Fides ora pro nobis.' (fn. 34)
The plate consists of a paten of 1767–7, and a cup
of 1770–1 by Jacob Marshe. (fn. 35)
The registers begin in 1754.
In the churchyard are four coped coffin lids.
Advowson
Tixover was a chapelry of Ketton,
and the advowson belonged to a
prebend of Lincoln. The advowson
was probably given to the Bishop of Lincoln at the
instance of Maud, queen of Henry I (d. 1118), at
the same time as the manor, for there is an inspeximus
dated 1329 of her charter granting to Robert, Bishop
of Lincoln (d. 1123), 'Ticesoure and all that pertains
to that manor.' (fn. 36) The king presented in 1267, the
manor being then in his hands, (fn. 37) but in 1275 the advowson was said to belong to a prebend of Lincoln. (fn. 38)
Ten years later the king sued Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln,
and the Dean and Chapter for the advowson of
Tixover, stating that King John had presented his
clerk Albinus, who was admitted and instituted and
took the profits of the living, and from King John
the right of patronage descended to the succeeding
Kings of England. Bishop Oliver denied the seisin
of King John, (fn. 39) and appears to have made good his
claim. The advowson was held by prebendaries of
Lincoln to 1855, but by 1888 it was in the hands
of the Bishop of Peterborough, (fn. 40) who is the present
patron. Tixover was attached to Ketton until 1900,
but it is now a vicarage annexed to Duddington
(co. Northants).
Charities
The Poor's Land is comprised in
indentures of lease and release dated
23 February 1802, and is regulated by
a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 1 June
1927. The endowment of the charity now consists
of land at Tixover containing about 3 acres let at an
annual rent of £5, and a sum of £78 13s. 1d. 3½ per
cent. Conversion Stock held by the Official Trustees
and producing in dividends the sum of £2 15s. per
annum. The net income is distributed by the rector
and two trustees appointed by the parish meeting
among about seven poor people of Tixover.